The Sun. — 1846-04-18 (London, England)

EXECUTION FOR MURDER IN FRANCE. A striking defect in the French criminal law is the regulation by which criminals sentenced to death are not informed of the day on which they are to die until about an hour before the time fixed on the day itself. The criminal, lulled by a false hope of his appeal to the - superior court being successful, or of his petition to the King for mercy being listened to, refuses to attend to the pious exhortations of the chaplain, thinking that he will have no necessity for repentance, and passes his time in a state of brute carelessness, in which he is encouraged • by his fellow-prisoners, who flatter him with the idea i that at most he will get off with travaux forces, hard labour for life. This continues till some morning he is suddenly informed that in an hour (sometimes even less) he is to ascend the steps of the guillotine. At first, stunned by this information, he shows no exterior signs of emotion ; the chaplain attempts to pour consolation into ears yet deafened by the sounds of death, and ere the miserable man can be made to understand that that is his last opportunity for making his peace with an offended Deity, he is given up to the executioner, the axe falls, and his soul is in the presence of its Judge. Even the English system, bad as it is, is better than this. A lamentable instance of the effect produced by this regulation lately occurred at Mezieres (Ardennes). Jacques Loney had been condemned in January last to death for assassination, against which sentence he had appealed, and confidently expected that it would be mitigated to hard labour for life. On the sth of March his appeal was rejected, a fact of which he was left in ignorance until the 9th instant, the day fixed for his execution, which was to take place in the Place St. Julian, at nine o'clock. At half-past seven,' Lonay, who had been present at mass with the other prisoners, was detained by the chaplain, the Abbe Garot, for the purpose of communicating to him the fatal news; the Abbe, however, overcome with emotion at the thought that the man then standing before him, full of life and vigour, would in a few minutes be a lifeless corpse, he had not courage to announce to him the sad truth. The clerk then read to him the decree of the Court of Cessation rejecting his appeal; and, as he seemed not to comprehend the purport of the decree, it was at last explained to him that he must no longer !ncount on the mercy of man. Lonay then protested his nocence,,walked up and down the oratory, clasping his hands and groaning piteously. He was then left to the exhortations of the priest, to which he may replied by groans and protestations of innocence. This scene lasted till the arrival of the executioners. On their atternptng to bind his arms, he stiffened them against his side, saying he could walk well enough without being pinioned. He refused to drink a glass of wine offered him by the turnkey, and walked without assistance to the exterior door of the prison, where, on be_holding the crowd, he uttered a plaintive cry and turned to the priest, who was by his side. After he had ascended the scaffold he confessed his guilt, and in a few minutes all was over_