my place in the file according to the
order of our summons, and was next in rotation for trial, a smart and
overdressed young man stepped out of his place in the rank, and
drawing from his bosom a pamphlet in manuscript, presented it to me,
with the special entreaty that, "in case I survived, I should take
care of its propagation throughout Europe." My answer naturally was,
"That my fate was fully as precarious as that of the rest, and that
thus I had no hope of being able to give his pamphlet to mankind."

"_Mais_, monsieur," that phrase which means so many inexpressible
things--"But, sir, you must observe, that by putting my pamphlet into
your charge, it has a double chance. You may read it as a part of your
defence; it is a treatise on the government of France, which settles
all the disputed questions, reconciles republicanism with monarchy,
and shows how a revolution may be made to purify all things without
overthrowing any. Thus my sentiments will become public at once, the
world will be enlightened, and, though _you_ may perish, France will
be saved."

Nothing could be more convincing; yet I continued stubborn. He
persisted. I suggested the "possibility of my not being suffered to
make any defence whatever, but of being swept away at once; in this
case endangering the total loss of his conceptions to the world;" but
I had to deal with a man of resources.

"No," said the author and philanthropist; "for that event I have
provided. I have a second copy folded on my breast, which I shall read
when I am called on for trial. Then those immortal truths shall not be
left to accident; I shall have two chances for celebrity; the labour
of my life shall be known; nor shall the name of Jean Jacques
Pelletier go to the tomb without the renown due to a philosopher."

But further deprecation on my part was cut short by the appearance of
two of the guard, by whom I was marched to the presence of the
tribunal. The day had now waned, and two or three lamps showed my
weary eye the judges, whose decision was to make the difference to me
between life and death, within the next half hour. Their appearance
was the reverse of one likely to reconcile the unfortunate to the
severity of the law. They were seven or eight sitting on a raised
platform, with a long table in their front, covered with papers, with
what seemed to be the property taken from the condemned at the
moment--watches, purses, and trinkets; and among those piles, very