The Express. — 1867-03-01 (London, England)

OWN CORRESPONDENT.) PARIS. THURSDAY EVENING.  Murders are now so frequent that it is impossible to notice them all. I have read of three or four this week the particulars of which did not strike me as worth recording. But there is a very shocking case in the Droit to-day of the murder, preceded by the violation, of a pretty and modest country girl while she was walking home by herself across some fields, which I mention on account of the success with which a provincial advocate-general struggled against the tendency of country juries to find " extenuating circumstances " even in the worst cases. The case in question was tried at the Poitiers assizes, on Feb. 20. The public prosecutor, M. Gast, after stating the horrible facts, about which there was no doubt, concluded his address to the jury with the following remarkable peroration : And now, gentlemen, look at the case how you will, you must be convinced that the prisoner is in no point of view deserving of your pity. Nevertheless, the feeling against capital punishment is so strong that my duty is to ask my conscience, not merely whether, in this case, it is deserved, but whether it is absolutely necessary. On this head I submit to your judgment an argument which seems to me peremptory and decisive. It has pleased Providence to distribute the goods of this world in a very unequal manner. But happiness does not consist in the possession of riches ; it depends above all things upon a contented mind. Where in any station of life can you find greater or sweeter joys than those of family affection! It is by and through these affections that the poor is the equal of the rich, and on this ground the outcast of fortune is often more blessed than the great ones of the land. But the peasant and the artisan, the poor man in short, is forced by the conditions of his existence to suffer his wife and children to work alone in the field@ and to go from place to place along lone and un• frequented path., unaccompanied. When he thus necessarily confides the objects of his dearest affection@ to the public sense of right and wrong, he should be able to reckon on the unswerving protection of the law. And of what value is that protection against wretches like the prisoner whose whole lives are one continual rebellion against law and humanity For such men capital punishment alone has any terrors. Ah ! uo doubt it is as painful to you to award as it is for me to ask for such a verdict. But the voice of duty calls on me too loudly to allow me to yield to the tendency of the heart of man which leans towards mercy when he sees captive before him a disarmed helpless criminal. All of us here, whether judges, magistrates, or jurymen, have charge of souls. We must not, because our own children are safe from such attacks, neglect the interests of classes below us which are confided to our care. Every day the prisons and central houses of correction vomit forth upon society men like the prisoner. We must not by fatal indulgence encourage their crimes. It must not be that in some future day the mother of another victim may be in a position to reproach us with our weakness, and call us to account for the life and honour of her child. I beseech you to weigh these considerations in your heart of hearts, and then judge and decide. The jury found the prisoner, a man named Beauregard, guilty, and he is sentenced to be guillotined in the market-place of Chatellierault, the principal town of the commune in which the crime was committed.