APPENDIX TO CHRONICLE. 



333 



took up more than two hours. 

 The Aiivociitc -general then briefly 

 rerapitiilatetl the facts in the in- 

 dictment, (listingiiishinij; them as 

 they applied to the different pri- 

 soners; and remarked that the 

 chamber had remitted to the three 

 Englishmen the charge of having 

 conspired against the legitimate 

 government of France. After the 

 interrogatories of some of the 

 other prisoners, the pre.^ident ad- 

 dresseii himself to Mr. Bruce. 

 To the question, whether it was 

 not to him that the first overture 

 was made of the plan of trans- 

 porting Lavalette out of France ; 

 he leplied, " If possiljle I would 

 have etfected his escape alone ; 

 for I could not repulse a man 

 who had put his life into niy 

 hands. I, however, obtained his 

 consent to confide his secret to 

 one of my friends. 1 sjjoke to 

 one friend, who gave me a charge 

 to another. I will not name 

 these friends ; they will niune 

 themselves." Captain Hutclun- 

 son then declared it was himself 

 who received Lavalette at his 

 house previously to his escape, 

 and escorted him on horseback ; 

 and Sir R. Wilson took upon him- 

 self the whole measures adopted 

 for his escape, and acknowledged 

 all the facts related in tlie act of 

 accusation. This open confession 

 rendered superHvious with res- 

 pect to them the testimony of any 

 witnesses ; the appearance of 

 Madame Lavalette was, however, 

 too interesting to be passed over. 

 At hei' entrance a general mur- 

 mur of feeling or curiosity was 

 heard, and the three gentlemen 

 saluted hei with a proiound bow. 

 Overpowered by her emotions. 



she vi'Bs scarcely able to articu- 

 late ; ar length, being told by the 

 president that she was sunmioned 

 only on acc<mnt of some of the 

 accused, who had invoked her 

 testimony, she said, " I declare 

 that the persons who l>ave cal ed 

 me contributed in no jespoct to 

 theescapeof M. Lavalette (uiean- 

 ing from prhonj : no one was in 

 my confidence; I alone did the 

 whole." Being desired to say 

 whether she liad ever seen or 

 knoun the English gentlemen, 

 she looked at them for a moment, 

 and declared tliat she l>ad never 

 known nor before seen them. 



After the exauiination of the 

 witnesses, the advocate-general 

 uuide his address to the court. 

 Wlien he came to the agency of 

 the three Englishmen in tlie 

 otleuce which was tiie subject of 

 the trial, he particularly directed 

 the attention of his auditors to 

 the point of the asylum given to 

 the culprit before his departure 

 from Paris, and thatgi\en upon 

 the road, in a house at Coni- 

 ];e^gne, which, in the languiige 

 of the laus, constituted what is 

 called a recele. The simple fact, 

 said he, of concealing a con- 

 deumed criminal is of itself a 

 crime : and he quoted Blackstune 

 to shew that it is regarded as 

 such not less in England than in 

 France. This authority, how- 

 ever, he cited oidy in tfe cha- 

 racter of written reason, for it 

 was sufficiently imderstood that 

 there are no other laws in exer- 

 cise I'cgarding crimes conmiitted 

 in France, than Frenc!i laws. (.)n 

 this idea he somewhut enhuged 

 by way of stricture upon ISii" U. 

 VVilsou's refcreuce to the judicial 



forms 



