The National Register.
London, England, 1816-04-29 00:00:00

TIIE NATIONAL REGISTER.

di tains ahem till thee answer for their crimes. In the eircet
oi.concealment. neither does the law punish without distit eimn;
it follows the dictates of ri null., and pious excaptions are lain
(lowa for the father, the son, the spouYe, the brother, and other
relatives in the S4llle degrt e. Here clemency stops, and jits•
tire commlices. Renee all who eutireal a convict, with whom
they are nut connected by ties of blood, are culpable. Bruce,
Hutehinson, and Wilson will, therefore, he guilty: if they have
concealed
_

hat the' happened on this Nisi:less? There have been
the coneealtuent and escape of Lavalette. Justice makes her
inquiries ; at first, those only are found who arc implicated in
the escape front prison ; and when it is shout to terminate its
enquiries, a ray of unexpected light is thrown on the mystery
of the concealment ; ether men and other projects are disco.
weed. Those engaged iu the escape from ;nabob ale.ialt
but to ~eve Laval' tte : those engaged in his cone. Malicia, by
saving Lavalette, wished, or at least appeal to have wished, to
excite to sedition or to revolt ;anti to excite any kiln! of (limit.-
tie_r, provided only it was disorder.
Butt the plan was foolish. Doubtless it wax; still, however,
we must examiee it. We most see by what hand* the apple of
discord was to be thrown amongst us. and the eoriespontience
teaches us, that some foreigners were seriously employed on
the happiness of France, that they were at work upon it, and
that they would derive great joy from their success! It is true,
however, that they are in IRV(' assistance, and that WC shalt
take good care to give them none. How, then, were the) to
make us happy in spite of ourselves? Now, gentlemen? Why,
as was done in i7VI. The correspondents did nut know any
better menus apparently, because there are ito tither. Thus
an appeal was to lie made to the friends of liberty, who were
to lout themselies iu motion; bete were to he movements in
the provinces; and, abort all, a good means of agitation won!ii
be the persecution of the Protestants, real or pretended! Oh !
ex relict' t ! nsis is on idea waieli fie wildfire, which spri ads
leer cuslagium aiming the rat, (emit 'Nark this n which
en,:tenthr. u spiril 4 lafillst lnuieeJ umii contempt for Me new &y-
-owl y.. . .

It- is clear that, if the people were an totally misled, the
revolution would be complete ; and it is for this very 'yawn
that revolution is impossible. Edward IVilson, at Loudon,
judged better of the state of France than his brother did at
Paris. He began to dim rim his predictions, and wait tbr facts.
He remarks, that if the French nation generally tom strongly
disinthned to the Bourbons. proof of this tootrid be doily maetfested.
And lie adds this observation : It so happen.; that there is no
nililuryf wee in the 1-evinces, und yet the provinces are tranquil.
On this subject he becomes inflamed. and says. that if it is
WiSlit'd to overturn the existing order of things, the fire mud be,
constantly kept, and ron,tantly risible, like a beacon of alarm in
France and in foreign countries.
May God avert this from us, and from foreign countries also !
We have all of us seen the sinister planet, portautous of storms,
the storm is pas,ed, and new signs announce to us that the earth
is pacified. Yes, we are at peace timomtz ourselves, and we
will be to with others. The nations are at peace, with the
single exception of some torkulimt men, to whom peace is war,
as our old Montaigne has observed. Very well, let them re-
main in war, its theatre shall not be extended; but let them
not imagine in their foolish thoughts that they will agitate
France, if their beacon ylataraa is perceived, we shall only hasten
to extinguish it, as we run to nut oat a tire.
I shall now confine myself to the terms oldie indictment: and
shall investigate % heth.iT the prisoners were accomplices in the
coneeahnent of Lavalette.

Art. 248 of the pen•l code declares guilty those who have
concealed, or caused to he concealed. Such are the terms of the
law. The nature of the fact is such, that there is a moral con-
viction, that those who concerted to get Lavalette out of France,
also came to an understanding as to the mode of accomplish-
ment, the moment the escape from prison took place; he who
wills the end, wills the means. It is also equally certain, that
Lavalette, issuing from an unknown retreat, had need of some
place of depot, where he might be at the disposal of those who
meant to carry him off. You has e not be and it said that the re;
was on their part any vont ttttt neation with the first asylum
14 here Lavelette was s►creted; this was not neer-wiry : it was
sufficieni that they provided for I • 40 imtue•diate its)Ill111 ;
and, by his passing the night there, that asylum became the
place of comealment.
What new happened? For the accused Hutchinson the fact
is material. Lavalette passed in his appartinems in the rile
Helder the night between the 7th and the Bth of January lust.
Hutchinson knew well that Lavalette wrs condemned, and it
was indeed his condemnation that excited the interest which he
felt in his fortunes. Thus, with respect to him, al: the conditions
of the law are fulfileir or rather all the prohibitions of the law
are violated, mid the accused stand's:convicted of the mime
charged.
The prisoner Bruce is not in a situation that admits of greater
doubt. It was to him that the first disclosure was made. He
was the man who inspired a predilection into the condemned ;
for lie who declared I elf so zealously in the affair of Mar-
shal Ney, would naturally be expected to sympathize with the
situation of Lavalette. Reliance was placed on him, therefore,
before trial was made. You see how he prided himself on the
action, how he claimed the first share in the inheritance of
glory. If any one is guilty, he is the noun. Nothing further
could be requited to establish ►he crime of which he is guilty.
He concealed likewise the condemned. The hour and the
place of meeting were agreed upon with the rest. In csonse-
quence, he is found w ith lintehiuson on the evening of Sun-
day ; he there receives Lavalette. It is he who receives him
principally, for at the appointed hour he descends to meet La-
valette ; lie conducts him from the stye et door to the apartment
which was appointed fur him, and into it he leads the condemn-
ed with his own hand, for In such a delicate matter he must du
every thing himself to make sloe of success.
As for the accused Wilson, he will pretend, perhaps, that he
is not included in the sante proof of guilt; for in strictness he
cay say, " I happened accidentally to he with my fi lend hutch•
insult; I went to his lodgings to enjoy my share of a bowl of
punch, and I saw M. Lavalette arrive. the meeting was acci-
dental, and shall I be liable to punishment for having merely
seen Lavalette ?"

This language, if it came from the lips of a mast who hail no
other communications from Lti‘aleite, might Le cuaciusive.
As matters are at present, it signifies nothing. There is here
a compact between three men to favour the escape of Laca-
tette, and, of course, to com•eal his person precious to his
ewape. It is impossible fur who was on Cie morniag
of the 9th at thi gate of the house in the rue de Nelder, for the
purpose of receiving Lavalette, to say that be did not know
his retreat, and still further to dec-aire that be lad not contri-
buted to supply him with one. Du we not hem speak of one
and the same trausaction concerted be twee;: ihemf 'fo conceal
lavalette, and lead hint off, the three coadjutors, therefore,
must necessarily hose concerted in a plan arranged for the
whole transaction. I might a-k if the offence of COIICC:1 111
(In reerli) does nut consist ectiiily in the act of affording
asylum i if to disguise a ama uZ oat likewise one 01 the tucans

APRIL e 9.

of eotiet...ling him, of secreting him from the pursuit of justice,
if lie who ordered his measure to be takes'. se los furnished the
uniform awe English officer, he who, to use an expression e.f
his.own, dressed inn: 4.n the road (fait fis toilette e7l routc,) by
cutting off some white hairs which appealed from below his
coigUre; if all (heat arc not indiscriminately guilty of having
disguised, concealed, and protected (merle) Lavalette? Hut
on this point I shall not enter into controversy; it will lie ter-
minated in another wry. Au asylum at Pavia was not enough,
another was necessary on the road,—thev stopped at Com-
piegne. At this time Wilson, who accompanied the terse-11er,
who had given orders that the carri...ge should arrive at Coos •
piegne at such au hour, and should stop at such a house. aas
not a stranger to the choice of his lodging; it was pre-engaged
before their arrival, they concealed in it Lavaleite.
The learned cutinsel entered into a variety of farther sren.
menu, which want of 4.440 in preve tits tis from in,erting, and-
concluded as follows: "i trust that I hoer sufficiently do
velopeel the. facts; 1111111 shall conclude by calling sour sullen -
time to the circumstances which tigueavate them. f speak not
of the ante.ntion, altheugh the iutention constitutes the essence
of the ulience, and though in this case the intention was truly
perverse and detestable; I speak not to you of the material
circumstance of the offence gt nensily ; the facts of escape and
concealment are its themselves • 'd acts —they are effected by
prudence and stratagem; lie who fit .4, or who conceals himself,
has no wish to brave any one, but here the final escape was
conducted with arms; and both he who fled, and those who
accompanied him, were leterniined to employ force, if tie.
eessaty. I pass over the circumstances of the led horses, in
order that the flight might be more rapid in case of obstacles--
this was in the nature °rite transaction, in the necessity of their
situation—but Lear possession of arms! and against whom
were they to be used ?—against the public agents of Ft ench au-
thority—against those who are charged with its ortlers—agaitist
all those indiscriminately so whom the superintendeuce and de•
relicc of public order have been intnisted. Here, ti.en, the
offence partook nithe initiative of an attack on the state; anti in
this point of view, which it is impossible to disjoin, it acquires
all the gravity of which It is perceptible. It has, then, called
fur the warmest reprobation, the strongest repression, and the
utmost extent of the punishment which the law provides for
similar offences."

After he had ended his speech, which made a great im-
pression on the auditory, the sitting was suspended for a
quarter of an hour. 'when it was resemed, M. Clavean spoke
m defence of Eberle, mad particularly insisted on the impossi-
bility of his recognizing Lavalette in a disguise which was se
complete that every one was the dupe of it—even the gaoler
who gave his hand to the convict, and the gendarme at the
outer gate through which he passed. There was nu reason
why an extraordinary perspicacity should be expected from
Eberle. The language used by Eberle to his comrade at the
moment when the chair set off—" it is droll, those three women
did not say a word to me"—was exclusive of all suspicion of a
participation; for if he had been an accomplice, he would
have avoided any language which might have compromised the
success of the pint.
M. ISLacuee, the defender of Roquette de Kergaidee, en-
deavoured to dispose the jury in favour of his client, by the
recital of services which his ancestors and IIiCUSCIi. have ren-
dered to government. His only recompence was an annual
pension of 30 francs, for himself and every member of his
Mindy who had, like him, escaped the massact e of the colonies.
The learned counsel then dwelt on the /Acetic heisted' Madame
Lavalette and his client; and observed, that the three or four
minutes during which the gaol( r was detained by his wife, so
justly alarmed, were sufficient to secure the retreat of the
convict; tbr if Roquette had got assay from her directly, he
would have found Lavalette, alum the absence of the chair-
man kept nearly for that time at the gate oldie prison.
After several other observations, the learned counsel ob.
served—l arrive now at the hut charge against my client (at
the word last, an ah! of satisfaction was heard among the
auditors who visit scenes of this sort merely for amusement,
without reflecting on the importance of the functionary who
defends the accused)-1 mean the charge of not taking away
the handkerchief with which Lavalette covered his face. Ro-
quette was a man; and, as the advocate-general has observed
with a noble accent, he would not deserve the name of man
who could have been unmoved at such a scene.

M. Mv coy is, the counsel for Benoit, relied chiefly on his
being the servant of La viCette, who 'night have erred front
excess of devoted duty. He paid a Well tr.bute to Madame La-
valette, and mentioned as a subject of congratulation, that,
in the midst of crimes and misfortunes with which our eyes
were afflicted, they might repose with satisfaction on the noble
devotedness of conjugal affection. lie referred in favour of
his client to the deposition of Madame Lavalette, who had de-
clared that her boldness had done every thing. He compared
the conduct of his client with that of the widow Dutoit, and
complained that their situation was different—Jhe President
interrupted him, observing, that he t nut criticise the sen-
tence of the chamber of accusation.),—" It is cot to criticise
it," said M. Manguiri, "but to invoke it fur the sake of my
client that I speak (."
Wit . . .

The advocate then proceede.l to appeal to the maxims of
morality which recotnineild to domestics i:erolednta and oladi-
owe—maxims V.hicly said he, ai•pear to be coot, aty to the
regulations of positive law. . .

[there again the counsel was interrupted by the President
and the advocate-get:oral, who observed that he must not
appeal to any authority in opposition to the law.)
M. M11:01;IN protested as to the purity of his intentions, and
eonelinkil by referring to an expression of the advocate-gene-
ral, that his client had dime more than his duty: he left him,
therefore, with tnll contid once to the jury.
The sitting broke op at a quarter past five, and will be env-
t inued to-morrow, to hear the other Advocate, and At blinn1101;
up of the President.
It was remarked with interest that M. the Chief President,
I)EStZE, pier of Fratiee, was present to participate in the satis-
faction with which a nunicroas vet select auditory applauded
The talent and wise discretion ot the magistrate who directed
this important trial.