The plan of this odious being, who takes pride in despising all things and considers nothing but the satisfaction of his passions, admitting none of the restraints imposed by civil or religious morality, was as follows:—­

We must first remark, however, that such plotting was familiar to a man who, ever since 1794 has played a double part, who for eight years deceived the Comte de Lille and his adherents, and probably deceived at the same time the police of the Republic and the Empire:  such men belong only to those who pay them most.

Bryond pushed Rifoel to crime; he instigated the attacks of armed men upon the mail-coaches bearing the moneys of the government, and the levying of a heavy tribute from the purchasers of the National domain; a tax he enforced by means of tortures invented by him which carried terror through five departments.  He then demanded that a sum of three hundred thousand francs derived from these plunderings be paid to him for the liquidation of his debts.

When he met with resistance on the part of his wife and Rifoel, and saw the contempt his proposal inspired in upright minds who were acting only from party spirit, he determined to bring them both under the rigor of the law in the next occasion of their committing a crime.

  He disappeared, and returned to Paris, taking with him all
  information as to the then condition of the departments of the
  West.

  The brothers Chaussard and Vauthier were, as the chancellor knows,
  Bryond’s correspondents.

As soon as the attack was made on the diligence from Caen, Bryond returned secretly and in disguise, under the name of Le Marchand.  He put himself into secret communication with the prefect and the magistrates.  What was the result?  Never was any conspiracy, in which a great number of persons took part, so rapidly discovered and dealt with.  Within six days after the committal of the crime all the guilty persons were followed and watched with an intelligence which showed the most accurate knowledge of the plans, and of the individuals concerned in them.  The immediate arrest, trial, and execution of Rifoel and his accomplices are the proof of this.  We repeat, the chancellor knows even more than we do on this subject.

  If ever a condemned person had a right to appeal to the
  Sovereign’s mercy it is Henriette Lechantre.

Though led astray by love, by ideas of rebellion which she sucked in with the milk that fed her, she is, most certainly, inexcusable in the eyes of the law; but in the eyes of the most magnanimous of emperors, will not her misfortunes, the infamous betrayal of her husband, and a rash enthusiasm plead for her?

The greatest of all captains, the immortal genius which pardoned the Prince of Hatzfeldt and