Book 7. The Absolution: Second Phase: The Oath - Chapter 4. Curiosities Of The Business

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_ BOOK VII. THE ABSOLUTION: SECOND PHASE: THE OATH
IV. CURIOSITIES OF THE BUSINESS

All morality is denied by such an oath, the cup of shame drained to the dregs, all decency outraged. There is no reason why one should not see unheard-of things, and one sees them. In some towns, Evreux for example, the judges who have taken the oath sit in judgment on the judges who have refused it;[1] dishonour seated on the bench places honour at the bar; the sold conscience "reproves" the upright conscience; the courtesan lashes the virgin.

[1] The President of the Tribunal of Commerce at Evreux
refused to take the oath. Let us listen to the _Moniteur_:

"M. Verney, late President of the Tribunal of Commerce at
Evreux, was cited to appear, on Thursday last, before the
correctional judges of Evreux, on account of facts that took
place on the 29th of April last, within the consular
auditory.

"M. Verney is accused of inciting to hatred and treason
against the Government."

The judges of first instance discharged M. Verney, and
"reproved" him. Appeal _a minima_ by the "procureur of
the Republic." Sentence of the Court of Appeal of Rouen:

"The Court,--

"Whereas the prosecution has no other object than the
repression of the crime of inciting to hatred and scorn of
the Government;

"Whereas that offence would result, according to the
prosecution, from the last paragraph of the letter of M.
Verney to the procureur of the Republic at Evreux, on the
26th of April last, which is thus worded:--

"'But it would be too serious a matter to barter any longer
what we conceive to be right. The magistracy itself will owe
us thanks for not exposing the ermine of the judge to succumb
under the formality which your dispatch announces.'

"Whereas, however blamable _the conduct of Verney has been in
this affair_, the Court cannot see in that portion of the
letter, the offence of inciting to hatred and contempt of the
Government, since the order by which force was to be employed
to prevent the judges from taking their seats who had refused
to take the oaths, did not emanate from the Government;

"Whereas there is no ground, therefore, for applying to him
the penal code;

"For these reasons,

"Confirms the judgment without costs."

The Court of Appeal at Rouen has for its first President,
M. Franck-Carre, formerly procureur-general to the Court
of Peers in the prosecution at Boulogne; the same who
addressed to M. Louis Bonaparte these words: "You have
caused corruption to be employed and money to be
distributed to buy treason."

With this oath one journeys from surprise to surprise. Nicolet was but a booby compared to M. Bonaparte. When M. Bonaparte had had the circuit made of his valets, his accomplices, and his victims, and had pocketed all their oaths, he turned good-naturedly to the valiant chiefs of the African army, and "spoke to them nearly in these words:" "By the bye, you are aware I caused you to be arrested at night, by my men, when you were in your beds; my spies broke into your domiciles, sword in hand; I have in fact decorated them for that feat of arms; I caused you to be threatened with the gag if you uttered a cry; my agents took you by the collar; I have had you placed in a felon's cell at Mazas, and in my own dungeon at Ham; your hands still bear the marks of the cords with which I bound you. Bonjour, messieurs, may God have you in his keeping; swear fealty to me." Changarnier fixed his eyes upon him, and made answer: "No, traitor!" Bedeau replied: "No, forger!" Lamoriciere replied: "No, perjurer!" Leflo answered: "No, bandit!" Charras struck him in the face.

At this moment M. Bonaparte's face is red, not from shame, but from the blow.

There is one other variety of the oath. In the fortresses, in the prisons, in the hulks, in the jails of Africa, there are thousands of prisoners. Who are those prisoners? We have said,--republicans, patriots, soldiers of the law, innocent men, martyrs. Their sufferings have already been proclaimed by generous voices, and one has a glimpse of the truth. In our special volume on the 2nd of December, it shall be our task to tear asunder the veil. Do you wish to know what is taking place?--Sometimes, when endurance is at an end and strength exhausted, bending beneath the weight of misery, without shoes, without bread, without clothing, without a shirt, consumed by fever, devoured by vermin, poor artisans torn from their workshops, poor husbandmen forcibly taken from the plough, weeping for a wife, a mother, children, a family widowed or orphaned, also without bread and perhaps without shelter, overdone, ill, dying, despairing,--some of these wretched beings succumb, and consent to "ask for pardon!" Then a letter is presented for their signature, all written and addressed: "To Monseigneur le Prince-President." We give publicity to this letter, as Sieur Quentin Bauchart avows it.

"I, the undersigned, declare upon my honour, that I accept _most thankfully_ the pardon offered me by Prince Louis-Napoleon, and I engage never to become a member of any secret society, to respect the law, and be _faithful_ to the Government that the country has chosen by the votes of the 20th and 21st of December, 1851."

Let not the meaning of this grave performance be misunderstood. This is not clemency granted, it is clemency implored. This formula: "Ask us for your pardon," means: "Grant us our pardon." The murderer, leaning over his victim and with his knife raised, cries: "I have waylaid you, seized you, hurled you to the earth, despoiled and robbed you, passed my knife through your body, and now you are under my feet, your blood is oozing from twenty wounds; _say you repent_, and I will not finish you." This _repentance_ exacted by a criminal from an innocent man, is nothing else than the outward form which his inward remorse assumes. He fancies that he is thus safeguarded against his own criminality. Whatever expedient he may adopt to deaden his feelings, although he may be for ever ringing in his own ears the seven million five hundred thousand little bells of his plebiscite, the man of the _coup d'etat_ reflects at times; he catches vague glimpses of a tomorrow, and struggles against the inevitable future. He must have legal purgation, discharge, release from custody, quittance. He exacts it from the vanquished, and at need puts them to the torture, to obtain it. Louis Bonaparte knows that there exists, in the conscience of every prisoner, of every exile, of every man proscribed, a tribunal, and that that tribunal is beginning his prosecution; he trembles, the executioner feels a secret dread of his victim; and, under pretext of a pardon accorded by him to that victim, he forces his judges to sign his acquittal.

Thus he hopes to deceive France, which, too, is a living conscience and a watchful tribunal; and that when the hour for passing sentence shall strike, seeing that he has been absolved by his victims, she will pardon him. He deceives himself. Let him cut a hole in the wall on another side, he will not escape through that one. _

Read next: Book 7. The Absolution: Second Phase: The Oath: Chapter 5. The 5th Of April, 1852

Read previous: Book 7. The Absolution: Second Phase: The Oath: Chapter 3. Oaths Of Scientific And Literary Men

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