was accomplished in about five minutes, in which short time a beautiful fertile valley, with its gardens, orchards, pasture lands, sweet rural villages, and green waving woods, was changed into a dreary waste, beneath whose ruins were buried 484 human beings, with numerous sheep, goats, and cattle, and other property, amounting to about £90,000 sterling in value. The pious Swiss have erected a chapel over the village of Goldau, and an annual convention takes place on 2d September in order to pray that God may preserve them from such another visitation. Examinations of that portion of the summit of Mount Ruffi which still remains, however, has led to the conclusion that it too will likely fall at no distant date.

In 1841, a singular slip took place on Mount Ida, at Troy, in the state of New York. This mount, which is not of any considerable height, and is composed of a loose, gravelly strata, was under a fine state of cultivation, being covered in part with gardens, mulberry plantations, and orchards. The melting of the winter snow had produced a considerable freshet, and the spring rains had been very heavy also, so that this slip was adducible to the same primary cause which produced those greater motions on the Alps. There were comparatively few persons dwelling on this little hill at this time; but those who had their habitations there were awakened from their sleep during the night to find themselves moving gently forward in their houses. Comparatively little damage was done; and not the least remarkable appearance was that of houses which had previously stood at a pretty considerable elevation now occupying positions on comparatively low levels.

to relate one of the most remarkable; but so distrustful
had experience rendered the people, that they could never
be brought to annul, but only to modify the law. Un-
willingly, they consented to restore the royal privilege of
pardon; but to this day, in France, not only cannot the
verdict of a jury be reversed, but it is held criminal to
arraign its justice. Neither, when they pronounce their |
decision, can they recommend the criminal to mercy; the
sentence once registered must be executed; but to avert
the fatal consequences of this rigour, they have recourse to
two expedients. One is, that if they entertain a shadow of
doubt with respect to the guilt of the prisoner, they give
in a verdict of guilty, but with extenuating circum-
stances. This particularity will account for the verdict
in the case of Madame Laffarge, which surprised every-
body unacquainted with the forms of criminal jurispru
dence in France. There were no extenuating circum-
stances apparent to the public; but the jury feeling too
well assured of her guilt to acquit her, and yet not so
certain of it as to feel quite satisfied that it was right to
take her life, had recourse to this mezzotermine.
In cases, however, where the evidence has appeared, at
the time of the trial, so conclusive that this saving clause
has been omitted, should any subsequent disclosures raise
a doubt in favour of the prisoner, the Court of Cassation
comes to his aid. They take upon themselves to review
the proceedings, and in most instances succeed in discover-
ing that there is some flaw in the indictment, or that
some form of law has been overlooked, which involves a
necessity for a new trial. If neither of these imperfec-
tions be found, however, the sentence must be executed,
unless the royal pardon arrests the arm of the executioner,
even though the judge and jury were morally convinced
of the innocence of the sufferer. A French jury cannot
err, nor can their verdicts be revised.

How wonderful do God's works appear when viewed by even the most superficial observer! but how much more wonderful and majestic do they seem to the intelligent eye! He, the great Creator, raised the mighty hills It was in the latter end of the month of April, of the by the word of his power, and capped them with the year 1796, that a gentleman of the name of Joseph Leclouds of heaven. From the bosom of the vasty deep he surques arrived with his family in Paris. His age was called forth the lofty mountains, with their peaks of vitri- about thirty, his fortune easy, his character unimpeached. fied rock and their ribbed bosoms, where stratum was He had served his country with credit in the regiment of superposed upon stratum by his omniscient wisdom, and Auvergne, and, since his retirement from military life, over which He caused the herbage to grow. Men gazing had filled respectably and without emolument the situa on these mountains thought they saw in them an attrition of chef de bureau in his native district. He was a bute of their Maker, and called them the 'eternal hills;' man deeply attached to his family, undisturbed by anbut there is no rest in nature, not even in the essence of bition, unseduced by pleasure. His income of seven hunthe mountain-block; they are changing as a part of the dred a year sufficed for all his wants, and his object in incessant and universal change; and time, if not sent to coming to reside at Paris, for a few years, was not to sleep in the bosom of eternity, may yet behold these plunge into its gaieties, but to afford his children those Himalayan ridges hurled by a determined gravitation to advantages that the provinces could not supply. On the the level plains. arrival of this family in the metropolis, they established themselves as lodgers in the house of a notary called Monnet, in the Rue Montmartre; arrangements were made for the instruction of the young people, and Monsieur and Madame Lesurques anticipated much satisfaction in watching their progress. It will be admitted, we think, that the reasonable views of these worthy persons entitled them to all the happiness they promised themselves; yet so precarious are human hopes and expectations, that Joseph Lesurques and his family had not been many days in Paris before, without any fault of their own, they were plunged into an ocean of troubles from which no exertions of themselves or their friends could ever extricate them; an ocean whose waters of sorrow to this day embitter the bread of their descendants.

THE STORY OF LESURQUES.

BY MRS CROWE.

ONE of the great grievances under which the French nation laboured, previous to the revolution of 1792, was the extreme inequality with which the law was administered. The judges were too frequently corruptible; the influence of the aristocracy was enormous; and if neither of these succeeded in averting an unpleasant verdict, the king's grace was ready to come to the rescue, provided it were solicited by a pretty woman, or that any interest, of whatsoever nature, disposed his majesty to a favourable view of the criminal's case. The law therefore became, in too many instances, a mere instrument of oppression, from which the people had everything to fear and nothing to hope; whilst the aristocracy used it as a convenient veil for their injustice and exactions.

It was to remedy these crying evils that the National Assembly established the trial by jury; but as people who have long suffered from one extreme are apt to seek a remedy in the other, they at the same time abrogated the right of pardon, enacting the terrible statute that, provided all the forms of law had been duly observed in a process, the verdict of the jury should be irrevocable. It was not long before instances occurred which exhibited the fearful nature of this edict; and of these we are about

F

There resided at that time in Paris a gentleman of the name of Guesno; he, as well as Lesurques, came from Douai, where the property of both was situated; and being gratified at the arrival of his townsman, the new comer was scarcely settled in his lodgings when Guesno invited him to meet a few friends at his, in the Rue des Boucheries, where he proposed to give a breakfast in celebration of this reunion. The immediate origin of this compliment appears to have been, that Lesurques had formerly lent Guesno two thousand francs, and though the latter had repaid the debt he still felt bound by the obligation. The company, for some reason or other, seems to have fallen short of the entertainer's intentions, since

1

whose spur-chain had been broken, and who had afterwards forgotten his sword at Lieursaint.

On the day of his arrest, Lesurques wrote the following letter to a friend :— Dear S.-Since my arrival in Paris, I have met with nothing but vexations; but a misfortune has now overtaken me that exceeds belief. I am accused of a crime, the very thoughts of which make me shudder with horror! Three women and two men, none of whom I ever beheld in my life before, have positively sworn that I was one of the band who murdered the Lyons courier! I leave you, who know me so well, and are also pretty well acquainted with the mode in which I have passed my time since I came here, to judge of the probability of this astounding accusation. But the dreadful consequences that may ensue, if this accursed lie cannot be disproved, render the most energetic proceedings necessary. For God's sake, assist me with your memory. Try and recall where, and with whom, I was at the time these people || assert that they saw me.' The writer then enumerates all the persons he can recollect to have conversed with on the day he was supposed to have been absent from Paris, including the Citizen Texier, General Cambrai, the Demoiselle Eugénie, Citizen Ledru, his wife's hairdresser, the workmen employed in his house, and the porter that kept his gate; and he concludes his letter by a request that his friend would frequently visit, and endeavour to support the spirits of his wife.

and which was found wandering about the Place Royale. It was also ascertained that four other horses, bathed in sweat, evidently much over-ridden, had been brought into the yard of a stable-keeper named Muiron, at five o'clock in the morning. Muiron admitted at once that they had been hired on the previous day by two persons known to him; one was a Monsieur Bernard, the other was Couriol. The former was instantly arrested, but the latter, with the rest of the band, had effected his escape; nevertheless, as the whole country was on the alert, and the descriptions given by the innkcepers, where the four horsemen had baited, were extremely precise, there seemed little chance of their ultimate evasion. With respect to the fifth, the people at the post-office, where he had taken his place, described his person with equal accuracy. In the mean time, Couriol had taken refuge in the house of a friend, named Bruer, who resided at Château Thierry, whither he was traced and arrested. In the same house was found Guesno, who appears to have gone there on business of his own. They, however, seized him and Bruer also, together with their papers; but the two latter having clearly proved their alibi, were dismissed; whereupon Guesno demanded back his papers. 'Come to-morrow morning,' said the magistrate, and they shall be delivered to you.' Now, Guesno was extremely anxious about his papers, the want of which was retarding some business he had in hand, so on the ensuing morning he started betimes for the police-office, and, as the fates Lesurques, Guesno, Couriol, Bernard, Richard, and would have it, who should he meet on his way but his old Bruer, were all brought to trial, the three first as princifriend Lesurques? Naturally enough, they fell to discuss- pals, and the latter as abettors or receivers, on which ing this strange affair, which was then the theme of every occasion the witnesses swore as positively as before to the tongue, and, engaged in conversation, they proceeded arm | persons of Lesurques and Guesno. The last, however, in arm till they reached the office, where partly from proved a most satisfactory alibi, and Bruer succeeded in curiosity and partly for the sake of his friend's company, entirely establishing his innocence. Lesurques was less Lesurques consented to wait for Guesno till his business fortunate, although his alibi was also sworn to by fifteen was concluded. They were, however, so early that Dau- respectable witnesses, some of whom had lunched with benton, the magistrate, had not yet arrived, so the two him, others dined with him, at such hours as rendered it friends seated themselves in the ante-room, through which physically impossible he could have been at Mongeron or they expected him to pass, where several other persons Lieursaint on the day in question. The porter, and workwere also waiting, and amongst them the witnesses who men employed in his house, also gave testimony in his fahad been brought in from Lieursaint and Mongeron to vour. It was just as the jury were about to yield to the give evidence against Couriol and the others. weight of this evidence that the well-meant zeal of a townsman of Lesurques proved fatal to him. This man was a jeweller called Legrand, who had sworn to having transacted some business of importance with the accused on the day mentioned in the indictment, which fact was corroborated by another jeweller named Aldenoff. Elated at the weight of testimony brought in favour of his friend, Legrand most unfortunately proffered his books, where, he said, a certain entry would be found establishing the fact of Lesurques' presence in Paris on the 8th Floreal. The books were accordingly sent for and examined; but an evident erasure and alteration of a 9 into an 8 overthrew, not only the evidence of the jewellers, who were very respectable men, but seems to have cast a doubt on that of all the other witnesses. The president of the court pressed for an explanation, which Legrand not being able to give, an order was issued for his arrest, whereupon the poor man, entirely losing his presence of mind, confessed that he did not know to a certainty on what day he had seen Lesurques, but that, being entirely assured of his innocence, he had made that alteration in his book with the hope of establishing what he was satisfied was true. From that moment the tide of opinion changedthe evidence of the other witnesses was looked upon as the result of a conspiracy, and a certain degree of anger and resentment took possession of the minds both of judge, jury, and audience. Lesurques alone was calm; the more things went against him, the more unmoved he appeared.

Daubenton, in the meanwhile, having entered his office by another door, was busily engaged in looking over the informations relative to this business, when one of his assistants hastily entered to inform him that some women in the ante-room declared that two of the murderers were calmly sitting amongst them. The magistrate could not believe it, and he sent for the women, separately, to question them; but, in answer to his inquiries, they both positively reiterated their assertions. One was the maid, Santon, who had served the travellers whilst dining at the inn at Mongeron; the other was Grossetête, servant to Madame Châtelain, the limonadiére, who had mended the spur, given them coffee, and seen them playing at billiards; they were confident that they were not mistaken. Still the magistrate, who appears to have been most worthy of his office, could not bring himself to believe that the guilty parties would so recklessly run into the lion's jaws; and he urged the women to consider well the consequences of what they were saying-the lives of two of their fellowcreatures hung upon their breath-but their conviction was not to be shaken. He then bade them sit down, whilst he called in the gentlemen separately, and conversed with them both on indifferent matters, and also on the late assassination. When he dismissed them, promising Guesno to send him his papers, he again turned to the women, whom he hoped to find ready to retract their assertions; on the contrary, they were more than ever confident of their correctness. Nothing therefore remained for the magistrate but to order the 'immediate arrest of Guesno and Lesurques, although himself, especially after the late conversation, intimately persuaded of their entire innocence. What a dreadful situation for him! The two prisoners were immediately confronted with the witnesses, who one and all swore to their persons, agreeing, without exception, that Lesurques was the man

At this critical juncture, whilst the jury had retired to consider the verdict, a woman, in a state of excitement bordering on insanity, rushed into the court, and demanded to be heard. Being brought before the president, she declared, with the utmost vehemence, that Lesurques was entirely innocent of the crime imputed to him. The witnesses are deceived,' said she, by the extraordinary resemblance which exists between him and the real crimi

surques' innocence was Daubenton, the justice of the
peace; and as he had unfortunately been a principal agent
in the catastrophe, he felt that nothing could appease his
remorse but the re-integration of the victim's fame-a
tardy, but, as regarded his family, most important repa-
ration; and as this could only be effected by the arrest of
the other three criminals named by Couriol, he resolved
never to relax his exertions, till he laid his hands upon
them. It would fill a volume to recount the means he
used to effect his object; we can only here detail the re-
sult of his self-imposed and meritorious labours.
Two years had elapsed since the death of Lesurques,
before Daubenton discovered the slightest indications of
what he sought; but at the end of that time, he found in
the police reports, which day and night were brought to
him, the name of Durochat. This was the man who, un-
der the name of Laborde, had travelled with the courier,
and he was now in the prison of St Pelagie for a robbery.
There was no difficulty in identifying him; and, accom-
panied by Daubenton, four gensdarmes, and a constable,
he was conveyed to Versailles to be examined. On the
road, he expressed a wish to breakfast, alleging that he
had had nothing to eat since his arrest on the previous
day. They accordingly stopped at a small public-house,
and there Durochat requested a private interview with the
magistrate. The constable pointed out the danger of
trusting himself alone with such a confirmed villain; but
Daubenton, bent on obtaining the justification of Le-
surques, ordered breakfast to be served for himself and
the prisoner in a private room. They seated themselves
opposite each other, and Daubenton took up a knife to
open an egg; it was the only one on the table, the con-
stable having cautioned the maid who waited not to put
down a second.

nal, for whom they mistake him. I know him well-he has fled-and his name is Dubosque.' This woman, Madelaine Brebon, was Couriol's mistress; and in making this avowal, to which her conscience urged her, she admitted the guilt of her lover. Yet was she not believed, nor was her evidence investigated; the ill effects of Legrand's confession were yet too recent. Couriol, Lesurques, Bernard, and Richard, were found guilty-the three first being condemned to death, the last to the galleys. Guesno and Bruer were acquitted. As soon as the sentence was pronounced, Lesurques rose from his seat, and, with entire composure, declared his innocence, adding, that if a murder on the highway were a fearful crime, it would be well for his judges to remember that a judicial murder was no less so." Then Couriol arose. 'I am guilty,' said he; 'I confess it; but Lesurques is innocent, and Bernard had no part in the murder.' Four times he reiterated this assertion, and from his prison he wrote a letter, full of sorrow and repentance, to the same purpose. Lesurques knew nothing of the affair; the names of the other parties concerned were Vidal, Rossi, Durochat, and Dubosque; it is the last for whom Lesurques is mistaken.' Madelaine Brebon also made another effort to convince the authorities of their mistake; but, strange to say, neither her assurances, nor those of Couriol, who could have no interest but a conscientious one in denying for Lesurques what he avowed for himself, were sufficient to save the life of this unfortunate victim. It is true, a petition was sent into the directory, and the directory referred the matter to the corps legislatif. All they asked for was a postponement of the execution. Must Lesurques die,' said they, 'because he has the misfortune to resemble a criminal?' The answer of the legislative body was, that the process had been strictly legal; that a single case could not justify the violation of a well-con- 'You are afraid of me,' said Durochat to the magistrate, sidered statute; and that to set aside the verdict of a looking hard at him; you arm yourself already.' jury for the reasons advanced, would be equivalent to Take the knife,' said Daubenton, handing it to him. arraigning the wisdom and justice of the law as establish-Cut yourself a slice of bread, and tell me what you know ed. Since the right of pardon no longer existed, there thus remained neither hope nor help for Lesurques. On the day of his execution, he wrote the following letter to his wife, which, from the stoicism it exhibited, was very much admired by the republic, at that period, in the midst of their disorders, affecting a great admiration of classical heroism: 'My dearest love,-No man can elude his destiny-it is mine to die on a scaffold, the victim of an error. I shall meet my fate as becomes me. I send | you some of my hair; when my children are old enough, you will divide it amongst them. It is the only inheritance I have now to leave them.' Unhappily, it was so, his whole property being confiscated to the state. After sentence was pronounced on him, Lesurques also caused the following letter to be inserted in the public journals, addressed to the real criminal:- Be thou, in whose place I am to die, content with the sacrifice of my life. The day will probably yet come that you will find yourself in the hands of justice-then, remember me! Think of my children and of their broken-hearted mother, covered with disgrace. Restore them their good name; repair their dreadful misfortune, which has wholly originated in the fatal resemblance betwixt you and me.'

The executions took place on the 10th of May, 1797. It was Maundy-Thursday, and Lesurques, who conducted himself to the last with the most heroic calmness and self-possession, went to the scaffold in a complete suit of white, which he wore as the symbol of his innocence. He said, he regretted it was not a day later-Good-Friday being more suitable for such a sacrifice. As they went through the streets, Couriol stood up in the cart, and cried aloud to the people, 'I am guilty, but Lesurques is innocent!' The latter died forgiving all men, and calling God to witness the injustice of his sentence. Thus the climax of all injustice was committed through the very fanaticism of justice. Nothing was stable in the republic, so they determined that at least they would have one thing to hold fast by, and that was the law, right or wrong.

Amongst those who were perfectly satisfied of Le

of the affair of the Lyons courier.'

He had taken the right way. Durochat savagely clutched the knife; but in a moment more he stood up, and laid it on the table. 'You are a brave man, citizen!' said he, and I am a lost one. You shall know all.' Whereupon he made a full confession, confirming in every particular the account given by Couriol. He had himself fled on the first alarm, and the name of Lesurques he had never heard till after his execution. It was Dubosque that had repaired his spur at Mongeron-Dubosque that had forgotten his sword at Lieursaint. Some time elapsed before the other three were taken, but finally the exertions of Daubenton were crowned with success: Vidal, Dubosque, and Rossi, were arrested, and paid the penalty of their crimes. The confessions of Durochat and Rossi coincided entirely with that of Couriol; Vidal and Dubosque denied to the last, though no doubt remained of their guilt. A light wig, such as he had worn on the fatal day, being placed on the head of Dubosque, the resemblance betwixt him and Lesurques became so remarkable, as perfectly to account for the unfortunate error of the witnesses, who had also been led by a certain similarity of feature to mistake Guesno for Vidal.

The innocence of Joseph Lesurques was thus made manifest to all the world; nobody could doubt it; and his family seemed naturally entitled to the restoration of their property, and such a full and perfect vindication of his fame as a revision of his sentence alone could afford. And for these, we will not say favours, but sacred rights, they have never ceased to supplicate, backed by the support and assistance of several eminent jurists; whilst the good magistrate, Daubenton, devoted not only the latter years of his life, but a considerable part of his fortune, to the promotion of their suit. But, alas! without success-the verdict of a French jury cannot be revised! In 1842 died the widow of Lesurques, leaving a son and daughter, from whom, on her deathbed, she required a promise that they would never relax in those duties to their father's memory to which she had devoted her life. Her eldest son had