The History of a Crime Part 12

"Be off."

There were there thirty-five munic.i.p.al guards, commanded by a lieutenant, and with a drum at their head.

"But----" said the President.

The Commissary interrupted him with these words, which are literally given,--

"Mr. President, I am not going to enter upon an oratorical combat with you. I have my orders, and I transmit them to you. Obey."

"Whom?"

"The Prefect of Police."

The President asked this strange question, which implied the acceptance of an order,--

"Have you a warrant?"

The Commissary answered,--

"Yes."

And he handed a paper to the President.

The judges turned pale.

The President unfolded the paper; M. Cauchy put his head over M.

Hardouin's shoulder. The President read but,--

"You are ordered to dissolve the High Court, and, in case of refusal, to arrest MM. Beranger, Rocher, De Boissieux, Pataille, and h.e.l.lo."

And, turning towards the judges, the President added,--

"Signed, Maupas."

Then, addressing himself to the Commissary, he resumed,--

"There is some mistake, these are not our names. MM. Beranger, Rocher, and De Boissieux have served their time and are no longer judges of the High Court; as for M. h.e.l.lo, he is dead."

The High Court, in reality, was temporary and renewable; the _coup d'etat_ overthrew the Const.i.tution, but did not understand it. The warrant signed "Maupas" was applicable to the preceding High Court. The _coup d'etat_ had been misled by an old list. Such is the heedlessness of a.s.sa.s.sins.

"Mr. Commissary of Police," continued the President, "you see that these names are not ours."

"That does not matter to me," replied the Commissary. "Whether this warrant does or does not apply to you, disperse, or I shall arrest all of you."

And he added,--

"At once."

The judges were silenced; one of them picked up from the table a loose sheet of paper, which was the judgment they had drawn up, and put the paper in his pocket.

Then they went away.

The Commissary pointed to the door where the bayonets were, and said,--

"That way."

They went out by the lobby between two ranks of soldiers. The detachment of Republican Guards escorted them as far as the St. Louis Gallery.

There they set them free; their heads bowed down.

It was about three o'clock.

While these events were taking place in the Library, close by, in the former great Chamber of the Parliament, the Court of Ca.s.sation was sitting in judgment as usual, without noticing what was happening so near at hand. It would appear, then, that the police exhaled no odor.

Let us at once have done with this High Court.

In the evening at half-past seven the seven judges met together at the house of one of their number, he who had taken away the decree; they framed an official report, drew up a protest, and recognizing the necessity of filling in the line left blank in their decree, on the proposition of M. Quesnault, appointed as Procureur-General M. Renouard, their colleague at the Court of Cessation. M. Renouard, who was immediately informed, consented.

They met together for the last time on the next day, the 3d, at eleven o'clock in the morning, an hour before the time mentioned in the judgment which we have read above,--again in the Library of the Court of Ca.s.sation. M. Renouard was present. An official minute was given to him, recording his appointment, as well as certain details with which he asked to be supplied. The judgment which had been drawn up was taken by M.

Quesnault to the Recorder's Office, and immediately entered upon the Register of the Secret Deliberations of the Court of Ca.s.sation, the High Court not having a Special Register, and having decided, from its creation, to use the Register of the Court of Ca.s.sation. After the decree they also transcribed the two doc.u.ments described as follows on the Register:--

I. An official report recording the interference of the police during the discussion upon the preceding decree.

II. A minute of the appointment of M. Renouard to the office of Procureur-General.

In addition seven copies of these different doc.u.ments drawn up by the hands of the judges themselves, and signed by them all, were put in a place of safety, as also, it is said, a note-book, in which were written five other secret decisions relating to the _coup d'etat_.

Does this page of the Register of the Court of Ca.s.sation exist at the present time? Is it true, as has been stated, that the prefect Maupas sent for the Register and tore out the leaf containing the decree? We have not been able to clear up this point. The Register now is shown to no one, and those employed at the Recorder's Office are dumb.

Such are the facts, let us summarize them. If this Court so called "High," had been of a character to conceive such an idea as that of doing its duty--when it had once met together the mere organization of itself was a matter of a few minutes--it would have proceeded resolutely and rapidly, it would have appointed as Procureur-General some energetic man belonging to the Court of Ca.s.sation, either from the body of magistrates, such as Freslon, or from the bar, like Martin (of Strasbourg). By virtue of Article 68, and without waiting the initiative of the a.s.sembly, it would have drawn up a judgment stigmatizing the crime, it would have launched an order of arrest against the President and his accomplices and have ordered the removal of the person of Louis Bonaparte to jail. As for the Procureur-General he would have issued a warrant of arrest. All this could have been done by half-past eleven, and at that time no attempt had been made to dissolve the High Court. These preliminary proceedings concluded, the High Court, by going out through a nailed-up door leading into the Salle des Pas Perdus, could have descended into the street, and there have proclaimed its judgment to the people. At this time it would have met with no hindrance. Finally, and this in any case, it should have sat robed on the Judges' Bench, with all magisterial state, and when the police agent and his soldiers appeared should have ordered the soldiers, who perhaps would have obeyed them, to arrest the agent, and if the soldiers had disobeyed, should have allowed themselves to be formally dragged to prison, so that the people could see, under their own eyes, out in the open street, the filthy hoof of the _coup d'etat_ trampling upon the robe of Justice.

Instead of this, what steps did the High Court take? We have just seen.

"Be off with you!"

"We are going."

We can imagine, after a very different fas.h.i.+on, the dialogue between Mathieu Mole and Vidocq.

[4] This line was left blank. It was filled in later on with the name of M. Renouard, Councillor of the Court of Ca.s.sation.

CHAPTER XII.