"Madam,"

addressed her in the most affecting manner. said he, "the public are convinced that you were carried into the house of Bancal by accident and in spite of yourself. They regard you as an angel destined by Providence to clear up this horrible mystery. Even though some folly were exhibited by you, the declaration which you went on to make, the immense service which you proceeded to render to society, effaced the recollection of it." Then addressing the woman Bancal: "Do you know this lady?" Madam Mason turned quickly towards Bancal, lifted her veil, and in a firm tone: "Do you know me ?" Ans. No. The President to madam Manson. Do you know this woman? Mad. Manson. No, I never saw her.

The President to Bastide and Jausion. Do you know this lady? Jausion. I only recollect of having seen her two or three times, in four or five months, making a visit to Madam Pons, my sister-in-law.

Madam Manson (briskly). Why then has he the audacity to salute me in full tribunal.

Bastide. I only knew the lady by having met her once in the street.

The president exhorted madam Manson anew to tell the truth. She threw an expressive glance upon the prisoners and fell down in a swoon. She was instantly carried out upon the terrace attached to the hall; and having come to herself, after very strong convulsions, she repeatedly cried out with the accents of the strongest terror, "Remove those assassins out of my sight! remove those assassins out of my sight!"

Madam Manson, being in a condition to reappear, is replaced upon the seat of the witnesses. The president addressed her kindly: Come, madam, endeavor to calm your agitation: do not be afraid, you are in the sanctuary of justice, in the presence of magistrates who will protect you. Courage! Let us know the truth. What have you

1

to tell us? Were you not present at the assassination of Fualdes?

Mad. Manson. I have never been at the woman Bancal's. (After a moment's silence) I think Bastide and Jausion were there.

President. If you were not present why do you think

so?

Ans. From the anonymous letters which I have received, and from the proceedings which they afterwards pursued in regard to me. (She then explained that after her declaration on the second of August, before the prefect, madam Pons, the sister of Bastide, came to see her, and she had promised that lady to retract her declaration, because it was false.)

President.

You tell us your first declaration is false: Do you know nothing then in regard to Jausion and Bastide? Why did you say you considered them guilty?

Ans. It was mere conjecture. (Madam Manson turns to Jausion.) One who has killed his child, may well kill his friend.

Jausion cast his eyes upon madam Manson: the latter continued in a firm tone; sir, I saw you.

President. How did he destroy his child. Ans. That affair was hushed up, but the public was not duped.

President. Have you no other ground for your conjecture than that the affair was hushed up? Ans. I have not been at the woman Bancal's: no, I have not: I will maintain this at the foot of the scaffold. (With an elevated voice.)

The president reminded madam Manson that she had held other language to irreproachable witnesses, and among others to Mr. Rodat, her cousin.

Madam Manson (deeply affected). I ratify in advance all that Mr. Rodat shall say; he is incapable of falsehood........ I have been before the prefect many times; I have made

unfounded declarations: they are false: I have retracted them. I promised this to madam Pons: the disclosures I made were drawn from me by fear of my father. If you knew with what I had been threatened!..

President. It is in the name of your unhappy father, distracted by a thousand griefs; it is in the name of justice, in the name of humanity, which groans over this horrible crime; in the name of nature, whose ties have been broken by a crime which alarms universal society, that I conjure you to tell us all you know. Why restrain the truth? Yes, if you have committed some indiscretion wherewith to reproach yourself, this moment will enable you to establish yourself in public opinion. See with what attention they hear you. Speak, speak then, I conjure you in the name of God, justify yourself. The public, alarmed by a crime committed upon the person of a man, whom you knew, of a magistrate who sat by the side of your father, demands nothing but the triumph of truth. It will love you, it will raise you to the skies if you will make the criminals known. Shew us that you have been educated in the love of justice: make us see that you love it and know how to obey it. Remember that you have often spoken of the honor of your family; that this honor cannot be allied with perjury, and the wounds it may receive cannot be soon healed. Speak, daughter of Enjalran! speak, child of a magistrate....

During this discourse the figure of madam Manson gradually changed; at the last words she fell into another swoon. On coming to herself she perceived at her side general Desperriers; and repulsing him with one hand, and laying the other upon the general's sword, she cried out, "You have a knife," and again fainted. Having soon recovered, she said to the president: Ask Jausion if he did not save the life of a woman at Bancal's.

Jausion. I do not know of having saved any body's

life: I have done many services, and have done them with pleasure, but I have no idea.... The eyes of the accused then encountered those of madam Manson; the latter turned away her own, and cried, with force, There was a woman at Bancal's-she was not saved by Bastide....

President. By whom? Were Jausion and Bastide there? Madam Manson. I tell you there was a woman at Bancal's. Bastide wished to slay her, and Jausion saved her. President. But Bastide and Jausion deny that they were at Bancal's.

Madam Manson. Bastide and Jausion not at Bancal's! ask Bousquier if he knows me. The president repeated the question.

Bousquier. No. I do not know her; I think I never saw

her.

President. And you, madam, do you know Bousquier ? Ans. No, I see him now for the first time.

President. Jausion and Bastide, you were at Bancal's. Which of you wished to save.... Madam Manson (in a loud voice). Not Bastide-not Bastide. President. If you were not at Bancal's, how do you know a woman was saved? Who told you? Ans. Every body. Blanch des Bouvires. President. Do you know the woman, who was saved at Bancal's?

Answer. I wish to heaven, I knew her. The moment is not perhaps far distant when this woman will shew herself. It was Mr. Blanch des Bouvires who told me there was a woman at Bancal's, whose life Jausion had saved; they spoke of E.... and de M... (Enjalran-Manson). Those are my names. Madam Manson again fainted, and recovering spoke in a low tone to the general at her side.

President. Where was this woman concealed? In a closet?

Madam Manson (in a broken voice and with tears). Yes, they say she was concealed in a closet. President. This

woman was not ill in the closet. Ans. It was not I who was at Bancal's; I know not whether this woman was taken ill in the closet; but I know that Bastide wished to kill her, and that Jausion preserved her and conducted her to the well in the city square.

President. In passing through Bancal's kitchen, did this woman see a corpse? Ans. I repeat that I was not at Bancal's. Pres. How can you know so many things, if you were not there? Ans. These are conjectures, which I have formed from the letters I have received, and the proceedings which the accused have taken in regard to me. I was told after I had made my first declaration, that Jausion had called for daggers; but when madam Pons came to see me, she assured me that it was untrue and that Jausion was tranquil. I received many invitations to visit them at their houses, but I did not go for fear of meeting some of the Bastide family.

After these words, madam Manson, with an embarrassed manner and in a low voice, having uttered the word oath, the president demanded if they did not exact an oath from the woman saved by Jausion. At this question, she endeavored to recover all her self-possession, and throwing an indignant and angry glance upon the accused, she answered: they say, they made her take a terrible oath upon the dead body; ask Jausion if he did not think the woman whose life he saved was madam Manson. Jausion denied having saved any person's life.

The president required general Desperrieres to be examined. He declared that immediately after the assistance he had rendered madam Manson when she fainted, she said, in presence of many others, save me from these assassins! that having made every effort to reassure her, she had answered, "you will not always be near me, general; if they escape, they will murder all the honest people in the 8

VOL. XXIII.-NO. XLV.