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The Judges were punctual. At a quarter-past eleven they were all
assembled. M. Pataille arrived the last.
They sat at the end of the great green table. They were alone in the
Library.
There was no ceremonial. President Hardouin thus opened the debate:
"Gentlemen, there is no need to explain the situation, we all know what
it is."
Article 68 of the Constitution was imperative. It was necessary that the
High Court should meet under penalty of high treason. They gained time,
they swore themselves in, they appointed as Recorder of the High Court M.
Bernard, Recorder of the Court of Cassation, and they sent to fetch him,
and while waiting requested the librarian, M. Denevers, to hold his pen
in readiness. They settled the time and place for an evening meeting.
They talked of the conduct of the Constituent Martin (of Strasbourg),
with which they were offended, regarding it almost as a nudge of the
elbow given by Politics to Justice. They spoke a little of Socialism, of
the Mountain, and of the Red Republic, and a little also of the judgment
which they had to pronounce. They chatted, they told stories, they found
fault, they speculated, they spun out the time.
What were they waiting for?
We have related what the Commissary of police was doing for his part in
his department.
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