of condemnation. Every one will understand the painful
position in which he would be placed if his prosecution failed, and
Peter Leroux came back with his head upon his shoulders, to testify to
the weakness of M. Desalleux's eloquence. Let us not be too severe
upon the deputy of the public prosecutor: if he was not absolutely
convinced, it was his duty to appear so, and only the more meritorious
to utter such eloquent denunciations as for a century past had not
been heard at the bar of the criminal court of Orleans. Oh, if you
had been there to see how they were moved, those poor gentlemen of the
jury!--moved almost to tears, when, in a fine and most sonorous
peroration, he set before them the fearful picture of society shaken
to its foundations--the whole community about to enter upon
dissolution, immediately upon the acquittal of Peter Leroux! If you
had only heard the courteous eulogiums exchanged on both sides, when
the advocate of the accused, commencing his address, declared that he
could not go further without rendering homage to the brilliant powers
of oratory displayed by the deputy public prosecutor! If you had only
heard the president of the court, making the same felicitations the
text of his exordium, so well, that nothing would have persuaded you
that it was not an academical fete, and that they were not simply
awarding a prize for eloquence, instead of a sentence of death to a
fellow-creature. You would have seen, in the midst of a crowd of
'elegantly-attired members of the fair sex,' as the newspapers of the
province said, the sister of M. Desalleux, receiving the compliments
of all the ladies around her; while, at a little distance, the old
father was weeping with joy at the sight of the noble son and
incomparable orator whom he had given to the world.

Six weeks after this scene of family happiness, Peter Leroux,
accompanied by the executioner, mounted the condemned cart, which
waited for him at the door of the jail of Orleans. They proceeded
together to the Place du Martroie, which is the spot where executions
take place. Here they found a scaffold erected, and a considerable
concourse of persons expecting them. Peter Leroux, with the slow and
heavy ascent of a sack of flour going up by means of a pulley to the
top of a warehouse, mounts the steps of the scaffold. As he reached
the platform, a ray of sunlight, playing upon the brilliant and
polished steel of the instrument of justice, dazzled his eye