Peers. M. Delapalme had been Advocate-General, and had taken a prominent

part in the Press trials under the Restoration; M. Pataille had been

Deputy of the Centre under the Monarchy of July; M. Moreau (de la Seine)

was noteworthy, inasmuch he had been nicknamed "de la Seine" to

distinguish him from M. Moreau (de la Meurthe), who on his side was

noteworthy, inasmuch as he had been nicknamed "de la Meurthe" to

distinguish him from M. Moreau (de la Seine). The first Assistant, M.

Grandet, had been President of the Chamber at Paris. I have read this

panegyric of him: "He is known to possess no individuality or opinion of

his own whatsoever." The second Assistant, M. Quesnault, a Liberal, a

Deputy, a Public Functionary, Advocate-General, a Conservative, learned,

obedient, had attained by making a stepping-stone of each of these

attributes, to the Criminal Chamber of the Court of Cassation, where he

was known as one of the most severe members. 1848 had shocked his notion

of Right, he had resigned after the 24th of February; he did not resign

after the 2d December.

M. Hardouin, who presided over the High Court, was an ex-President of

Assizes, a religious man, a rigid Jansenist, noted amongst his colleagues

as a "scrupulous magistrate," living in Port Royal, a diligent reader of

Nicolle, belonging to the race of the old Parliamentarians of the Marais,

who used to go to the Palais de Justice mounted on a mule; the mule had

now gone out of fashion, and whoever visited President Hardouin would

have found no more obstinacy in his stable than in his conscience.

On the morning of the 2d December, at nine o'clock, two men mounted the

stairs of M. Hardouin's house, No. 10, Rue de Condé, and met together at

his door. One was M. Pataille; the other, one of the most prominent

The History of a Crime