The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1836-01-15 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

YAW.," said he, " be pleased to fulfil one of my last wishes:—announce, in your sermon to the prisoners of Bicetre, that I repent what I have done; tell them that my example ought to be useful to them. I am very guilty, I know ; if I had not lost my family when I was quite young, I should not be in the situation I am now in."  At a quarter to nine o'clock the mournful procession arrived at the foot of the scaffold, which had been raised at one•o'clock that morning by torchlight. Lacenaire descended fisst from the cart; the pallid hue of his face was terrifying, his look was vague and uncertain; he muttered something, and seemed to seek for words which his tongue hail not the power of uttering. Avril, in his turn, got down from the fatal vehicle, but with a light and firm step, and took a tranquil view of the people assembled around. Constant in his resignation be approached La—Cent-fire—and embraced him.. old boy, said be, "I am going to commence the march." He then mounted the scaffold with a firm step, and was bound to the fatal plank. He turned round once more, and said " Come, Lacenaire, my old boy, courage; follow my ezample." These were his last words, for in another second the fatal knife descended, and his head rolled on the boards of the scaffold.  Whilst this appalling scene was passing, Lacenaire stood at the foot of the scaffold. The Abbe Montes endeavoured to divert his attention from the terrific spectacle. " Ah, bah!" replied Lacenaire in a weak voice; in vain he again tried to assume an appearance of courage which he now no longer possessed. "Is M. A]ard there ?" he inquired in a still weaker tune. On being told that he was present, he added, " I am— I am—very glad." He had previously announced that he intended to address the people, out he had not the strength to do so; his knees trembled under him, his countenance became completely changed, he only mounted the steps of the scaffold with the assistance of the executioner, and the fatal blow soon put an end to his life and to his sufferings. At the conclusion of the proceedings at the trial of Lacenaire several writers have endeavoured to form a correct idea of his character; we, however,carefully abstained from giving any opinion at the time, reserving our judgment until more decisive proofs could be adduced, and our anticipations have not been deceived. Some have attempted *to draw the character of Lacenaire from the line of conduct he pursued since the period of his arrest: he was.falsely judged. Lacenaire was by no means the person he wished to pass for—a.man conceiving himself unfortunate through the fault of" his fellow men, hesitating between suicide and crime, and plunging into the latter because society was unjust an‘cruel towards him; he was certainly not the systematic assassin:ichiodihnagdhsiisgpnoeidnaarpdalcikt eagaapinesnt ;soncii,e.trt,idieieskd: such men exist Such was the Lacenaire andiug hfoi sr t thine aatdel ande w of the Court of Assize, and such perhaps will be the character which dramatists and romance writers will attribute to him; but we must declare, for the honour of human nature, that suet) was not the man who had just lost his life upon the scaffold. Lacenaire had plunged into crime because debauchery, gaming, and idle habits would not allow him to seek a different course as a means of existence. lie was first a robber, then an assassin, not because they appeared to him lawful and proper avocations. but for the reason that he was bent upon gratifying passions which honest labour could not satisfy, and, finally, because he hoped that the day of retribution would never arrive. But to a considerable stock of vanity Lacenaire joined a cultivated mind. a rare understanding, and uncommon capacity, and this was the reason that he found it necessary to give a certain gloss to his profession of a robber and assassin. Hence  the part which he had undertaken to play, and which he bravely sustained as long as death seemed at a distance, as long as a gleam of hope remained; hence originated the character he had assumed, a character certainly not his, and which belonged to no one. He could no longer deny his crime; it was too well' known; there was no justifying it, for the details were but too horrible. Finding himseif in this predicament, he adopted the part of an inflexible logician, who would become wicked, not from depravity, buz from system, who robs and murders because be had deeply studied the theory of society. Execrable quackery! And this man, whom awkward commentators have held up as a philosopher, tries to snatch at this species of proffered sympathy; and this culprit, this assassin, whilst in the dungeons of the Conciergerie, in the condemned cell becomes a literary character, lays claim to publicity, and boasts of his talent. He writes his memoirs. We are unacquainted with their contents; we cannot say whether he has not once more endeavoured to develope his frightful theory, but, whatever they may be, there will be another page to add to these memoirs. It is absolutely necessary that those who peruse them should be aware of the last moments of the miserable historian who had placed himself in so bold and careless a manner in the presence of crime and of the scaffold.  Lacenaire, the "materialist," the "jovial and poetical" assassin, died trembling. He who would believe in nothing, and who would not repent, turned pale, and was unable to stand at the sight of the fatal spot. It was in vain that he exerted himself to play his part until the end; his strength failed him entirely. There is something consoling in the thought, that this criminal could not brave the fate which awaited him as boldly as he could have wished. His companion, Avril, who had boasted not of want of fear, who had acknowledged the enormity of his crime, who expressed contrition and hope of pardon in another world, died with calmness and resignation. At this trying moment he gave an example to Lacenaire of which no one ad supposed that the latter stood in need. On the scaffold he said to Lacenaire—" Come, now is the time to show courage. It is now your turn to imitate me!"  • In spite of these words, Lacenaire, when he wrote them, ePrtainly did not know that his execution would take place on the following day.