THE GALLEY SLAVE. [From Bentley's Miscellany.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VI, Issue 485, 27 March 1850, Page 4

THE GALLEY SLAVE. [From Bentley's Miscellany.]

Carron and Laurent were two galley slaves, who were "chained and tinrivited together" — that is to say, they became prisoners at the same time, and were freed on the same day. Laurent belonged to a good 1 family — Carron was a regular scamp. Here is the issue of their acquaintance at the galleys : — » "Monsieur Laurent returned to Havre, reprieved at all events ; had an overflovr of prosperity; married a lady possessed of a large fortune, aud appeared secured from further molestation. To see him sporting his hundred francs over a game of billiards, of rolling in his well appointed brougham to his bureau — as he might have been seen daily — a looker on would have deemed him the last man in the commune liable to it in any shape ; so false, so incomprehensible are appearances. With anxiety gnawing incessantly at his heart, his eye and ear and every sense acutely absorbed by the one great dread of detection, this man joked and laughed, gave soirees, and played his part as if he reclined upon rose-leaves, and contemplated an horizon as serene and fair as Innocence herself. Compared to such a life, and ceaseless racking of the mind, the momentary torture of the body would be a relief and happiness^ It should be here mentioned, that a forcat, or galley slave, even after his period of punishment has expired is, if discovered, for ever ineligible from becoming a holder of property or participator in civil rights, or even irom sharing the path of respectability. He has been branded as a felon, and is liable to be plucked of every shilling he may have accumulated in a course of repentance or tardy honesty, or be compelled to fly to the desert

for oblivion and a hiding-place.' Nothing can be more vicious in policy^ or more cruel and irreligious in practice, yet so it is ; and, wlieh ,Andre Carron encountered one of these ou,tcast8 j from Wciety ifi the sleek, portly roato of xatftf 1 and' credit'conveising 1 With a mag Hate" { olf 'tire fu'nfo and shareimafket'Ss-'a fainifiar; nWonder'ttfarhei 1 cHudKtetf'&fhWgooti 0 lufct in feting with his quondam^ paftneir 1 iß\ mi- 1 siery in such fellowship 1 and pldmage; and J 'ref-* solved to avail himself to J the" utmost^ oTthY unlooked-for, yet most' acceptable' "windMP/ Carron, however, soon squandered the considerable sura made ovet to him by Lauren 11,11 1, 1 for — as with his class in' general—^ the fellow^ was improvident, a gambler, and' a debauched and as soon discovered that his paWofn,' though an anwilling one, resided stf HaWe, andnotin' the sdutfr of Fraffcej- a%' hV wfc* given' to understand" at'their' sinister in'tefvieir on the evening recorded. He was not long in making his way to the former town, and; when he beheld the splendid pavilion so lately* built by the man he was in search of, became insatiable in his' demands 1 fof more ""hflsh^ money." To such an extent, iadeed, were 1 these demands' urged- by the threatening importuner, that the persecuted' merchant re- 1 solved finally to retreat upon his well-esta-blished reputation, and' to defy his tormentor for the future. This was within the last twelve month's ; and, when the late revolution broke' out in February, a temporary lull to his annoyance came with the crash of riot and bloodshed, which fell as a howling requiem on the 'affrighted country. With the revolution Andre disappeared from Havre ; most probably to the barricades of Paris, as- a volunteer in the cause of murder and pillage; but, when' he' saw M. Laurent's name placarded as 1 £ candidate for the high rank of sousprefet of :he Seine Inferieure ; when the June-shed blood had partially driedin the- thoroughfares; and new men became 1 again indispensable, he, emboldened by democratic ascendancy, instantly refastened on his ' prey, with fangs whetted on the tree of liberty ! and, in a" - moment of indiscreet frenzy, on being rudely repulsed by the functionary in embryo, denounced him to the mayor of the town as a liberated format, and erewhile branded felon. The chief magistrate, of course, in>duty required a distinct and satisfactory refutation of the accusation, saying, it is believed, how very easy it was for Mons. Laurent - to clear himself. The mayor and all r the' friend* of the implicated merchant, firmly believed the whole story to be based on the foulest calumny and an attempt at conspiracy and extortion, and had no doubts of his-unbaring his shoulder I on the spot without demur, and thus setting I the matter at rest. But the ruthless Carron, who stood by in grim effrontery, dared him to do so I and the negotiant, confused, if not dismayed, in countenance, retired to his home, saying, 'they should hear from on the subject ere long.' On this, it seems, he employed himself no further than in writing a confidential letter to a friend on whom he' imagined he could depend, adjuring him solemnly to prevent his person from being examined after death. He then insanely, it is but charity to suppose, put a pistol to bis mouth, and perpetrated the dreadful act of suicide. Married to an amiable woman — the father of several children — an example of amended life — the wretched victim to French, or,- as may be said with safety, to human misjudging policy in the inveteracy of its criminal code after expiation, had no alternative but to fly as' an cutcast in his old age, or commit the deed thua literally fotced tfpon him. The 'brand' was discovered! in-spite of the useless protestation of the friend against the scrutiny. In twenty-four hoars the body was buried, and in a little more than the same space of time after burial, the fact* of the sad case transpired as narrated in the text. In the first instance,' the -case of- M* Laurent's suicide was' attributed 'on 'Change' to embarrassed circumstances, owing to the revolution, notwithstanding his worldly appearance of well doing; others, sethislosess down to play, and asserted him to be deeply implicated in the vast conspiracy and insurrection of June. But, in addition to any ,dr all of these reasons, he is now known to have been dogged, threatened, plundered, and finally denounced by the heartless savage, who had him bound hand and spirit in the iron meshes of a ruinous secret, — a vampire of the mob, who would never have relaxed bis gripe, whilst life or money remained to itt unfortunate victim."