THE SENATE. 71 



amongst us, I should now come, at the end 

 of my career, to solicit that they should be 

 violated in my favour. Justice, severe and 

 impartial, is all I demand at this moment, 

 when I throw my actions open to the whole 

 world, to the first body of the nation, and 

 the highest judicial power which it pos- 

 sesses. May the axe of the law fall on my 

 neck, if I have at any time swerved from 

 the duties of a just man, which I owe to my 

 beloved country, or to my fellow-citizens! 

 May public indignation follow after the sen- 

 tence of the law, to confound me, if, in the 

 course of all my life, there is one only action 

 which refutes the pureness of my acknow- 

 ledged patriotism. Neither will there be 

 brought to my succour, documents that 

 might be obtained by money, by favour, or 

 by authority; those which I shall present 

 to you, are written between heaven and 

 earth, in sight of all the republic, to the 

 hearts of all those that have known me ex- 



