"Whereas nothing is more urgent and necessary than the prevention of the propagation of such doctrines which are a crime against the rights of man and against the respect due to crowned heads--an insult to the people submissive to their government--and, in short, subversive of law, order, and subordination:"
"The military commission here assembled declares unanimously that all authors and printers of libellous books of the above-named deion, as well as booksellers and other persons engaged in circulating them, shall be deemed guilty of high-treason."
"In consideration whereof the defendant, John Frederick Palm, convicted of having circulated the pamphlet, 'Germany in her Deepest Degradation,' has been charged with the crime of high-treason, and the commission has unanimously found him guilty of the charge."
"The penalty incurred by the traitor is death."
"Consequently the traitor, John Frederick Palm, will suffer death, which sentence will be carried out this afternoon at two o'clock, when he will be shot." [Footnote: "Memoires d'un Homme d'Etat," vol. ix., p. 247.]
"John Frederick Palm," added the general, "you have heard your sentence, prepare for death!"
The interpreter repeated to the unhappy prisoner the sentence of the court-martial slowly, impressively, and emphasizing every word; and every syllable fell like a cold tear on Palm's heart and froze it.
It was, however, not only cold with terror and dismay, but also with determination and calmness.
Before these strangers, with their cold, indifferent faces, he resolved at once not to betray any weakness. He did not want to afford his assassins the pleasure of seeing him tremble.
His bearing, therefore, only manifested firm determination and grave calmness. He cast a single flaming glance, full of proud disdain, on his judges.
"Very well," he said, loudly and firmly, "I shall die; I shall go to God and accuse YOU before his throne,--you who trample on all state and international laws, and have not judged, but murdered me. My blood be on your heads!"
"Prisoner," said General St. Hilaire, quietly, "if you desire any thing before your death, mention it now, and if able to comply with it, we shall grant it."
"I have but one desire," said Palm, and now his voice trembled a little, and a shadow passed across his forehead. "I only wish that my wife may be permitted to spend these last hours with me, and to take leave of me!"
"Your wife?" asked the general. "Is your wife here, then? And if she be here, who has dared to advise you of it?"
"Nobody has advised me of it," replied Palm, "nor do I know whether she is here or not, but I believe it. Moreover, it would be but natural that she should have followed me hither. Permit me, then, to see her when she comes."
"Your request is granted. Return to your prison. A preacher will be sent to you to prepare you for death. Soldiers, remand the prisoner."
Palm saluted the gentlemen with a haughty nod, and slowly and solemnly raised his hand toward heaven. "I summon you to appear before the awful tribunal of God Almighty!" he said, in a loud and ringing voice. "Here you have assumed to judge me; there God will judge you!"
He turned around and left the room at the head of the soldiers.
"It only remains for us now to inform the municipal authorities of this city of what has to be done," said the general, after a short pause. "They must be present at the execution, for this act of justice shall not take place under the veil of secrecy, but openly under the eyes of God and men. Let the authorities, let the whole city witness how France punishes and judges those who, in their traitorous impudence, have offended against her honor and glory!"
He adjourned the court, and returned to his rooms to repose from so exhausting a session, and to prepare, by partaking of an epicurean repast, for the unpleasant duty that awaited him, viz., to be present at an execution.
The general was just sipping a glass of malmsey with infinite relish, and eating a piece of the excellent pate de foie gras which had been ordered from Strasburg, when a strange and long-continued noise on the street suddenly disturbed him in his epicurean enjoyment.
He placed his glass angrily on the table, and turned his eyes and ears toward the windows opening on the market-place. The noise continued all the time; it sounded singular and extraordinary, as though immense swarms of bees were filling the air with their humming.
The general rose and hastened to the window.
A strange spectacle, indeed, presented itself to his eyes. The whole market-place was crowded with people, not with threatening, violent men, rushing forward with clinched fists and flashing eyes, but with persons whose eyes were filled with tears, and who raised their arms in an imploring manner.
They were women and children, who had marched in solemn procession to the market-place, and now entirely filled it. The news that the court-martial had agreed on a sentence, and that Palm was to be shot by virtue of it this afternoon at two o'clock in the large ditch of the fortress, had spread like wildfire through the whole city of Braunau.
The citizens had received the news with intense rage and silent horror; the authorities and members of the municipality had received orders to repair at the stated hour in their official robes to the place of execution for the purpose of witnessing the dreadful scene.
Too weak to offer any resistance, and well aware that they could not count on the assistance of their own German superiors, they had to submit to the order. Bowing to the stern law of necessity, they declared, therefore, their readiness to comply with the behests of the French general, and to appear at the place of execution.