No. 47.]

OR

MARTIAL JUSTICE.

WHILST I was lately at Cherbourg, a town in Normandy, celebrated as having been, in 1692, the scene of a naval combat, I found one topic engrossing universal attention, and furnishing matter for every discourse, namely, the condemnation of a young soldier, by a council of war, to death, for having lifted his hand against his corporal; and the courage the unfortunate man had displayed during his imprisonment.

As it is easy, in France, to obtain permission to visit persons under sentence of death, my curiosity prompted me to go and see the soldier, in whom the whole population of the town seemed to take so lively an interest; and having ascertained that he was confined in the fort of Querqueville, I set off, and in a few minutes arrived at his cell. I found him to be a young man about twenty-five years of age, rather tall, with an open countenance and a firm step; I advanced towards him -he rose and received me à la militaire, that is, without the least ceremony, and addressing himself to me, said, “A man's last moments are always curious, and pregnant with matter for reflection; I therefore invite you 'to be present at my execution-you will see how a 'soldier can die." Then parodying one of Pottier's most famous scenes, he exclaimed "What is death?— death! it is the mere alleviation of a sensitive mind."

Hincq (so the young soldier called himself) then told me that he was born at Valenciennes, that he had enlisted voluntarily into the army, and had been sent into the first company of fuzileers, stationed in the fort of Querqueville, and that on the fifteenth of July, while still labouring under the effect of the quantity of wine he had drank the night before, in celebrating the anni'versary of the taking of the Bastile, he had struck his corporal, and having been tried by a council of war, had been unanimously declared guilty, and condemned to die.

Scarcely had he finished repeating those celebrated lines of Casimir Delavigne, "that fate formerly refused not to the French the happiness of dying in the hour of victory," when the captain appointed to draw up the report of the case entered the prison, and exhorted him, in the most urgent and friendly manner, to appeal against the judgment the council had pronounced; but his entreaties were in vain-nothing could alter the determination of the prisoner, "I am aware," said he," of the gravity of my fault-I know that the law punishes it with death; and I prefer undergoing my sentence rather than run the hazard of its being mitigated into imprisonment and chains, which would for ever stamp my forehead with ignominy and tarnish the honour of my family."

The captain then withdrew, and I went out with him; and as we walked from the fort to the town, he related to me a variety of actions, all equally honourNO. XLVII. VOL. IV.

[VOL. 4.

able to Hincq. "He must be saved," said I, "he must be saved in spite of himself." Our military code, replied the captain, is so severe, I would almost say, so barbarous, that I despair of being able to snatch him from impending death. Then pressing my hand, he added -Farewell; and since it was I who, in the council, supported the accusation against him, so shall it be for me to obtain of the king's commissary the power to appeal against the judgment." This step, which was dictated by the most praiseworthy feeling, was intended chiefly to delay the fatal moment, and to give the wretched man time to make application to the clemency of the king. The appeal against the judg ment was made, and whilst the affair was under revision I paid the courageous Hincq several visits, during which I recognized in him many excellent qualities, though coupled with a violent aud impetuous character. I even, in a measure, became attached to him, and was buoying him with a hope of regaining his liberty, when a decision of the council of appeal at Caen ratified the original sentence, fixed the day of execution, and, in a moment, destroyed the glimmerings of hope my best wishes had kindled.

I was with Hincq when the fatal news was brought him; he heard it with an air of indifference, and sent for a clergyman, who administered to him the consolations of religion; and as the dreadful moment approached, his courage forsook him not, nor did he, for a single instant, abandon that determination of mind and manner which had characterized his whole impri

sonment.

At last the fatal day came; and the hour of execution was fixed for five in the afternoon. About three, he expressed a wish for some refreshment, and half a bottle of wine. "You see," said he, smiling, "I am resolved to take advantage of the short time I have to live." His modest repast finished, he began, with the utmost composure, to distribute, among those comrades who had visited him, the various trifles he possessed, and the little money he had remaining, with the exception of about thirty sols in copper, which he kept, as he said, to give among the poor he might meet on his way to execution.

At half-past four he was informed that the moment was arrived to leave the prison; when, perceiving that he had his best shirt on, he could not help regretting not having thought of that before, as his intention was to have given it to one of his friends. As he passed the gaoler's house, he stooped and said a few words of apology to the clergyman who attended him; then, pulling his pipe from his pocket, he requested permission to light it at the gaoler's fire;-having obtained it, without appearing in the least to wish to lengthen out his time, he bade farewell to his comrades, shook' hands affectionately with me, and, escorted by a strong detachment of soldiers and gendarmes, began his last -short march.

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