"descente judiciaire" immediately took place:
the offices of the Caisse Générale des Chemins
de Fer were taken possession of by justice, and
seals were set on all the books of Monsieur
Mirès, whose credit disappeared from that day,
and with it fell, "in the height of its
prosperity, (!) the financial establishment which
I had contributed to maintain in a favourable
situation, notwithstanding the obstacles
of every kind that were accumulated in my
path."

The denunciation of the Baron de Pontalba
was to the effect that Monsieur Mirès had, on
his own personal account, made an operation
for a fall in the funds, resulting in a loss of
206,000 francs, which loss Monsieur Mirès
saddled upon the company; that he had
liquidated the accounts of numerous clients
without any previous intimation, the fact being
only made known to them by the intimation of
the liquidation itself; that in the course of the
years 1857 and 1858, MM. Mirès and Solar
had sold on their own account shares in the
Caisse Générale des Chemins de Fer which
either did not exist or which belonged to
certain clients; that the sale of these shares had
given rise to a double payment of coupons,
which, instead of being paid by MM. Mirès
and Solar, had been turned to their own profit;
and that they had issued twelve millions'
worth of bonds of the Port de Marseilles,
when only ten millions ought to have been
negotiated.

All these charges Monsieur Mirès severally
denied, after stating that the Baron de
Pontalba's denunciation was caused by the refusal
of his exorbitant claims for certain services
rendered—claims which were, however,
eventually admitted. On their payment—to the
tune of fourteen hundred thousand francs—the
seals were taken off Monsieur Mirès's books,
and the whole thing seemed to have blown
over. But Monsieur Mirès made a mistake in
supposing so; for, though he was led by the
Prefect of Police to believe, on the 6th of
January of the present year, that he might
freely resume the management of his affairs,
proceedings against him were resumed on
the 13th of February; on the 15th and
16th of the same month his books were seized
anew; and on the 17th he was himself
arrested and taken to the criminal prison of
Mazas.

How far it comports with English notions of
justice, to keep a man a close prisoner for months
without allowing him to communicate with
friend or advocate, or making him aware of
the specific charges to be brought against
him, we shall not stop to inquire: let it suffice
that, after two postponements, to give
Monsieur Mirès time to prepare his defence, he was
finally put on his trial before the Tribunal
Correctional of Paris, on the 27th of June, 1861.
Monsieur Solar, who was included in the same
indictment, did not answer to his name; he
was consequently condemned in default; and
the trial of Monsieur Mirès was separately
proceeded with, so far as related to the
charge of " escroquerie;" the other directors
of the General Railway Banking Company being
held civilly responsible for the acts of their
manager.

MM. Mirès and Solar, then, were formally
accused in court of making use of fraudulent
manœuvres to create a belief in a chimerical event,
by which they obtained various sums of money
from divers persons (named in the indictment),
and receipts and discharges from others,
thereby swindling them out of the whole or
part of their fortunes; of having sold securities
entrusted to them as soon as deposited
without the consent of, and without notice to,
depositors, this sale, affected at high prices,
producing upwards of 10,000,000 fr., which sum
was concealed from their clients, who were,
moreover, carefully kept in error by the receipt
of periodical accounts, sent to them by MM.
Mirès and Solar, in which they were debited
with interest on the sums advanced to them,
and credited with the produce of supposed
coupons belonging to securities which no longer
existed in the caisse; of fraudulently liquidating
their situation with regard to their clients,
and fictitiously selling, at low quotations, the
securities which they no longer had in their
possession, since they had in reality sold them
at an antecedent period when prices were
high; of turning to their own account the
difference between the prices of real and
fictitious sales, &c. &c.—all of which constituted
the acts of escroquerie for which they were
indicted.

How some of these swindling manœuvres
were carried out, was shown by the evidence of
the victims.

Vicomte d'Aure, formerly an officer in a cavalry
regiment, deposed that in 1858, being in want of
money, he had obtained an advance from the Caisse
Générale of 10,000 fr. on a deposit of 35 Austrian
railway shares. Some time after, he received a
letter saying that they had been sold for 12,000 fr.
As they were worth more, he complained, and was told
that if he would pay back the 10,000 fr. he should
have his shares, or that, if he preferred, he might
receive 2000 fr. to make up the 12,000 fr. "I am
not a man of business," added the witness, "and as
I had not 10,000 fr. to give, and as I saw that I was
fleeced, I took the 2000 fr." The president stated
that the shares of the witness had been sold for
14,000 fr.

A man named Bernard, a shop-porter, said that
he had deposited eight shares of the Victor Emmanuel
Railway in the Caisse Générale as security for
a loan. "After a while," continued the witness,
"I received a letter announcing that my shares had
been sold. I hurried to the caisse and asked, 'By
what right have you disposed of my shares?' 'Ah!'
was the answer, 'a general war is coming, and we
fear a fall!' I subsequently learned that a long
time before, my shares had been sold for more than
600 fr., and yet I was only paid 300 fr.! I saw
Mirès, and asked him how he could take on himself
to sell my property? He replied, ' If we had not
sold, you would have lost all!' The place was full
of people who had been treated as I was. They
made a great tumult; some of them said they had