The Sun.
London, England, 1865-06-05 00:00:00

A FRENCH DEMOCRAT,

Theodora Bac, the well-known advocate, died on Tues-
day, after a short illness, in his 56th year. Ho was a native
of Limoges, where ho was born in 1809, and was first forced
into notice by his defence of Madame Lafarge, for poison-
ing her husband, in 1840. The trial excited the most in-
tense interest in France ; indeed, almost to the exclusion
of every other topic. It greatly divided as well as inte-
rested the public ; many believed in her innocence, in de-
spite of all proof to the contrary, others as violently con-
demned her, and two or three duels took place between
her partisans and her adversaries. M. Bac defended her
throughout with the ardour of an enthusiastic, admirer
rather than with the calmness of a legal adviser. Ha
profited by the sudden celebrity he acquired on that
occasion to become a political loader; but he did not seem
to have any fixed notions, and hesitated long before
choosing his party. He at last flung himself into the
ultra-democratio ranks, and by the influence he held
over the working classes of Limoges contributed
greatly to the spread of the doctrines professed by
Pierre Leroux. For some short time after the pro-
clamation of the Republic ho was the leading popular
orator of Limoges; but he lost ground when it was found
that he was not implicated in the proceedings taken against
some of his friends for disturbances that occurred there.
He was, however, named one of the representatives to the
Constituent Assembly by the electors of the Haute Vienne.
He voted invariably with the Extreme Left. He would
have the country governed only by the Assembly or Con-
vention, without any such institution as the Presidency of
the Republic. "Power cannot be divided," he used to say,
re
in
it is either in the President or in the Assembly, as it was
the
King and the two Chambers, and in the struggle
which mast ensue between them one of the two must give
way. It is either the President or the Assembly who will
govern ; ono will annihilate the other." The Constitu-
tution of 1848 was not liberal enough for Theodore Bac.
He voted against it, as also against the order of the day
declaring that General Cavaignac iu putting down the June
insurrection had deserved well of his country. The will of
the country as manifested by the election of Prince Louis
Napoleon to the Presidency did not obtain his approbation,
and he persisted in his opposition after the election of the
10th of December. Ho took part in the attempts at re-
sistance to the coup d'etat in I;siris ; and while his friends
of the Haute-Vienne were waiting for his summons calling
them to arms, his name was put in the list of the represen-
tatives, who "as a measure of public security," were ex-
pelled from France. His friend the Prince do la Moskowa
interfered, and he was saved from the rigorous measures
employed against the others, because, with all his radical-
ism, the Government did not think he was a very formi-
dable opponent. He did not again take an active part in
public strife, and indeed was soon forgotten as ',a politician.
lie resumed the practice of his profession at the Paris bar;
but his reputation as an advocate fell far short of the ex-
pectations which his sudden celebrity in the Lafarge trial
had inspired.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.

THIS DAY.—Morning, llh. 20m.—Afternoon, llh. 48m
To-Monnow.-Morning, h. m.—Afternoon, 12h. 15m.