What is to be here deplored as regards imprudence, is, that a writer, without exactly knowing the facts, should authoritatively pronounce such severe sentences against one of the most illustrious ornaments of our country.

Bailly did not even enjoy the puerile satisfaction of taking rank among the domiciled citizens of Melun.  For two days after his arrival in that town, a soldier of the revolutionary army having recognized him, brutally ordered him to accompany him to the municipality:  “I am going there,” coolly replied Bailly; “you may follow me there.”

The municipal body of Melun had at that time an honest and very courageous man at its head, M. Tarbe des Sablons.  This virtuous magistrate endeavoured to prove to the multitude, (with which the Hotel de Ville was immediately filled by the news, rapidly propagated, of the arrest of the old Mayor of Paris,) that the passports granted at Nantes, countersigned at Rennes, showed nothing irregular; that according to the terms of the law, he could not but set Bailly at liberty, under pain of forfeiture.  Vain efforts!  To avoid a bloody catastrophe, it was necessary to promise that reference would be made to Paris, and that in the mean time he should be guarded—­a vue—­in his own house.

The surveillance, perhaps purposely, was not at all strict; to escape would have been very easy.  Bailly utterly discarded the notion.  He would not at any price have compromised M. Tarbe, nor even his guard.

An order from the Committee of Public Safety enjoined the authorities of Melun to transfer Bailly to one of the prisons of the capital.  On the day of departure, Madame Laplace paid a visit to our unfortunate colleague.  She represented to him again the possibility of escape.  The first scruples no longer existed; the escort was already waiting in the street.  But Bailly was inflexible.  He felt perfectly safe.  Madame Laplace held her son in her arms; Bailly took the opportunity of turning the conversation to the education of children.  He treated the subject, to which he might well have been thought a stranger, with a remarkable superiority, and ended even with several amusing anecdotes that would deserve a place in the witty and comic gallery of “les Enfants terribles.”

On arriving at Paris, Bailly was imprisoned at the Madelonnettes, and some days after at La Force.  They there granted him a room, where his wife and his nephews were permitted to visit him.

Bailly had undergone only one examination of little importance, when he was summoned as a witness in the trial of the queen.

BAILLY IS CALLED AS A WITNESS IN THE TRIAL OF THE QUEEN.—­HIS OWN TRIAL BEFORE THE REVOLUTIONARY TRIBUNAL.—­HIS CONDEMNATION TO DEATH.—­HIS EXECUTION.—­IMAGINARY DETAILS ADDED BY ILL-INFORMED HISTORIANS TO WHAT THAT ODIOUS AND FRIGHTFUL EVENT ALREADY PRESENTED.