of treason on my part, and therefore felt no
hesitation to play traitor against me, by
offering such evidence as, taken with
everything else, left me few reasons to show
against my being shot. The judge recommended
to me, for my help before the court-
martial, a very able advocate of Bruchsal.
This gentleman busied himself in producing
and rebutting evidence; but, knowing how
court-martials act and think—since I had
sat on them myself—I relied more on my
own personal appeal. It was not usual to tell
the prisoners beforehand on what days they
were to be severally tried. A Prussian
officer, however, had the courtesy to let me
know that the fifteenth of September (one
thousand eight hundred and forty-nine) was
the day on which I was appointed to appear
and answer for my life.

On the eve of that day I bade farewell to
my friends, and, covering the window with a
cloak, lights not being permitted, I prepared
during the night my defence; then slept,
while my good wife was busy in Mannheim
searching after witnesses. She interested
many who were to be brought up against me,
and I think not without effect. In the morning
the friendly hostess of the Three Kings,
in Rastadt, sent me chocolate and a bottle of
good wine, to give me courage for the work I
had to do. Breakfast was not over when
certain gens-d'armes—who had once been
ready to lick my shoes—now distinguished
themselves by brutality of manner in their
dealings with me. They came to convey me
to the palace. The carriage they placed me
in moved very slowly, because of the throng
of soldiers who escorted it. The people
in the streets, who loathed these bloody
court-martials, came to look at me often:
not without loud expressions of their
sympathy; and the gens-d'armes were busily
engaged in taking note of the chief sympathisers.

The court-martial was held in a large
saloon in the palace. I found it thronged;
and there was a crowd without, to look in at
the windows. One part of the room was
raised two steps above the rest, and, on this
dais, there sat behind a table covered with
green cloth, my seven judges. To the right
of them, within a pulpit, sate the public
prosecutor with a secretary at a little table
behind. A little lower down, on the same
side, was the pulpit of the judge who had
conducted the preliminary investigation.
Parted from the space given to these officials
by a barrier, was the pulpit of the counsel
for the prisoner; and at its side was the
bench on which I sat, having gens-d'armes
with loaded arms at either elbow.

The public prosecutor charged me with
every offence punishable by martial law,
treason excepted; as I was not one of the
Grand Duke's subjects. He exhibited me
after the manner of a showman. "There,
gentlemen, you see the fierce and blood-
thirsty tiger; hitherto there have been
brought before you, smaller vermin; but
you see now the most cruel beast of the
whole tribe." I was denounced in a
speech full of virulent personal abuse as
one of the beginners of European revolution,
and as a person whom it was essential to
see instantly shot. My own advocate wrote
on a slip of paper which he gave me, that
he was much pleased by this unskilful
behaviour. When my turn came to defend
myself, I spoke for two hours; speaking for
my life, and trusting merely to the tone of
this direct address for any chance of life I
had. The speech was published and praised
even in hostile papers. The impression made
by it on the assembly was certainly favourable.

It was then asked by the President of the
court whether I wished the witnesses to be
sworn? They were sworn, and they
perplexed the court much by their evidence.
They were most of them artillerymen, who
had served under my orders; and in a
former process against one of their captains
(believing me to have escaped into
Switzerland), they had, for the benefit of their
imperilled comrade, diverted all the blame
they could from him to me. Now that
I was on the prisoner's bench, they were
desirous to reverse their policy, and gave
their evidence as far as they could with a
view to my acquittal. The public prosecutor
losing temper, exclaimed to the judges, "If
you do not condemn this fellow, the world
will say you favoured him because he was
your countryman." The audience, chiefly
composed of Prussian officers, murmured its
indignation. "It is more likely that the world
would say he was condemned because he was
your countryman," my counsel answered, and
he then made an excellent speech on my
behalf.

While my counsel was speaking I looked
at my judges, and saw little hope in their
faces. One, was a fair insignificant-looking
corporal, who was evidently feeling the
discussions tedious. Another, was a thin pale
young second lieutenant, with a little head on
a long neck. The captain was evidently one of
those whose soul poured itself out only on
drill; he had nothing in his head but buttons
and shoe leather. The first lieutenant was a
man who drank, and had wine in his brains. The
serjeant was a man with a black beard, who
kept his eyes gloomily fixed on the table, and
the common soldier was a man after the shape
and pattern of the major, who sat as president
of the court in the middle, stout and
stolid. When these judges retired, I was taken
into another room where a captain, who had
been in youth one of my comrades at the cadet
house, shortened the time for me with his
conversation. After the lapse of half an hour he
bade me take courage, for the long deliberation
was unusual, and a sign of disagreement
among the members of the court. The