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A SERIES OF TRAGEDIES 85
were nothing but a veil concealing
the most shameful
baseness. . . .
"For an instant I was attracted by socialism; but I
was not long in withdrawing myself from that party. I
had too much love for liberty, too much respect for individual
initiative, too much dislike for incorporation to
take a number in the registered army of the Fourth Estate.
I brought into the struggle a profound hatred,
every day revived by the repugnant spectacle of this society
in which everything is sordid, ... in which
everything hinders the expansion of human passions, the
generous impulses of the heart, the free flight of thought.
I have, however, wished, as far as I was able, to strike
forcibly and justly. ... In this pitiless war which
we have declared on the bourgeoisie we ask no pity. We
give death and know how to suffer it. That is why I
await your verdict with indifference." (11)
were also made to Presi-
In the case of Henry appeals
dent Carnot for mercy, but they, too, were ignored, and
Henry was guillotined a few days after Vaillant. A
month or so later, June 25, President Carnot arrived at
Lyons to open an exposition. That evening, while on his
way to a theater, he was stabbed to death by the Italian
anarchist, Caserio, on the handle of whose stiletto was
engraved "Vaillant."
This was the climax to the series of awful tragedies.
It would be impossible to picture the utter consternation
of the entire French nation. The characters that had
figured in this terrible drama were not ordinary men.
Their addresses before condemnation were so eloquent
and impressive as to awaken lively emotions among the
most thoughtful and brilliant men in France. They challenged
society. The judge refused Decamps a hearing,
and Ravachol undertook individually to destroy the