1829. } a Police Officer. 57 
demned to eight years’ imprisonment, and to be exposed in the pillory in 
the market-place. Soon afterwards he was transferred to the Bicétre, 
and sent thence with the chain of galley-slaves to Brest. 
The treatment which these poor wretches experience at the hands of 
the argousins, who have the task of guarding them, appears to be inhu- 
man in the extreme. The description of one of the nights passed on the 
road is frightful :— 
« We passed the night on the stones in a church, then converted into a ma- 
gazine. The argousins made regular rounds, to assure themselves that no one 
was engaged in fiddling (sawing their fetters). At daybreak we were all on 
foot ; the lists were read over, and the fetters examined. At six o’clock we 
were placed in long cars, back to back, the legs hanging down outside, covered 
with hoar frost, and motionless from cold. On reaching St. Cyr, we were 
entirely stripped, to undergo a scrutiny, which extended to our stockings, 
shoes, shirt, mouth, ears, nostrils, &c. &c. It was not only the files in cases 
which they sought, but also for watch springs, which enable a prisoner to 
cut his fetters in less than three hours. This examination lasted for upwards 
of an hour, and it is really a miracle that one half of us had not our noses or 
feet frozen off with cold. At bed-time, we were heaped together in a cattle- 
stall, where we laid so close that the body of one served for the pillow of the 
person who laid nearest to him, and if any individual got entangled in his own 
or any other man’s chain, a heavy cudgel rained down a torrent of blows on 
the hapless offender, As soon as we had laid down ona few handfulls of 
straw, which had already been used for the litter of the stable, a whistle blew 
to command us to the most absolute silence, which was not allowed to be 
disturbed by the least complaint, even when, to relieve the guard placed at 
the extremity of the stable, the argousins actually walked over our bodies. 
« The supper consisted of a pretended bean soup, and a few morsels of half 
mouldy bread. The distribution was made from large wooden troughs, con- 
taining thirty rations; and the cook, armed with a large pot ladle, did not 
fail to repeat to each prisoner, as he served him, ‘ One, two, three, four, hold 
out your porringer, you thief; the wine was put into the same trough from 
which the soup and meat were served out, and then an argousin, taking a 
whistle, hanging to his button-hole, blew it thrice; saying, ‘ Attention, 
robbers, and only answer by a yes or ano. Have you had bread ?’— Yes.’ 
‘Soup ?’—‘ Yes.’ ‘ Meat?’—‘ Yes.’ ‘ Wine?’—‘ Yes.’ ‘ Then go to sleep, 
or pretend to do so.’ 
« A table was laid out at the door, at which the captain, lieutenant, and 
chief argousins, seated themselves to take a repast superior to ours ; for these 
-men, who profitted by all occasions to extort money from the prisoners, took 
excellent care of themselves, and eat and drank abundantly. At this moment 
the stable offered one of the most hideous spectacles that can be imagined ; 
on one side were a hundred and twenty men herded together like foul beasts, 
rolling about their haggard eyes, whence fatigue or misery banished sleep ; 
on the other side, eight ill-looking fellows were eating greedily without, not 
for one moment losing sight of their carbines or their clubs. A few miserable 
candles affixed to the blackened walls of the stable, cast a murky glare over 
this scene of horror, the silence of which was only broken by stifled groans, 
or the clank of fetters. Not content with striking us indiscriminately, the 
ow made their detestable and brutal witticisms about the prisoners ; 
and if aman, fevered with thirst, asked for water, they said to him, ‘ Let 
him who wants water put out his hand.’ The wretch obeyed, mistrusting 
nothing, and was immediately overwhelmed with blows. Those who had any 
money were necessarily careful ; they were but very few, the long residence 
of the majority in prison having for the most part exhausted their feeble 
resources. 
M.M. New Series.—Vour. VII. No. 37. I 
