The Sun.
London, England, 1870-10-19 00:00:00

AN IMPERIAL TRAGEDY.

TOURS, OCT. 15.
Few events connected with the miserable fall of the
Second Empire have made a more profound impression
than a catastrophe which has taken place at Paris. The
news of this affair is the most absorbing item brought by
the latest balloon mail. Interested as the Tours public is
in the progress of the blockade which is called a siege, it
forgets for the moment the forlorn condition of the capi-
tal on receipt of the intelligence that Judge Delesvaux has
committed suicide. The event and the revelations which it
discloses form another tragic episode in this most dramatic
of struggles. The papers from Paris tell us that Judge
Delesvaux destroyed himself in order to anticipate dis-
grace and punishment--though not the penalty of death
—before one of these tribunals over which he had so long
presided. His infamous deeds had come to light. There
was no escaping either arrest or exposure. The Imperial
servant's resolution, therefore, was taken. On the night
before he committed suicide he sat up all night writing a
quantity of letters. His servants observed his
remarkable activity, and displayed some uneasi-
ness—one valet even making an excuse for en-
tering his room at three in the morning whilst
M. Delesvaux was still at work. The intrusion was
sternly resented, and the manufacture of letters went on.
The valet, horrified at the appearance of the judge, whose
face wore an unnatural look, remained up all,night. At
six o'clock M. Delesvaux called him, handed over
the letters which had been written during
the night, and forbade anyone to disturb him.
Immediately afterwards he shot himself. The report of
the pistol alarmed the house ; the room was broken into
but it was too late—the judge was quite dead, with his
head shattered.

The legal functionary who has put this end to his
career was one of the tools, as he has been one of the
victims, of the Empire. He did much of the Im-
perial dirty work, and was elevated to honour
and dignity in consequence. At the coup d'etat
he displayed diligence on the side of the
President Louis Napoleon. He at the time acted as
Commissary of Police, and ultimately rose to the Presi-
dency of one of the civil courts, after long service in the
notorious Tribunal of Correctional Police. It was in this
latter. function that he rendered the Empire the most
valuable assistance. One of his chief branches of business
was the punishment of journalists who thought that the
Imperial Government was not exactly the form of rule
that France could wish. These unfortunate geLtlemen
had no chance whatever with M. Delesvaux. If there
was a case against them he made the most of it; and if
there was no case he invented one. People wondered why
he was such a terror to the race. They now learn the rea-
son. M. Delesvaux had a small salary, but, in addition,
was paid a commission upon every political prisoner he
convicted, the amount of the reward being regulated by the
rank of the victim, and the length of imprisonment, and
exorbitancy of the fine which M. Delesvaux had the
impudence to inflict. Such was the justice of the Emperor
Napoleon's reign. It was in this 'capacity as judge of the
Correctional Tribunal that M. Delesvaux more than any
other man in France, was able to crush the cause of liberty
in this country. Paid on such a system, it was natural
that M. Delesvaux should overdo his zeal. Some of his
condemnations were so flagrantly unjust as to
amaze Imperialists and Republicans alike. But
if such exoesses injured the Emperor, they did not in-
jure M. Delesvaux. • He was a man of lonely disposition,
seldom courted any body's company, and cared nothing
for the savage satires with which the journalists revenged
their injuries. Just the man for the post was the late
judge; but it seems that he had so much conscience that
he dare not face his exposure. It is a sad revelation,
and moreover it was not needed to root out the disease of
Napoleonism which has so long plagued this land. Tha
end has been effectually attained already.