"The examination," continues M. Dupin, "took place on the 29 Ventôse at midnight. On the 30 Ventôse, at two o'clock in the morning, the Duc d'Enghien was brought before the military commission. "On the minutes of the judgment we read, 'This day, the 30 Ventôse, Year XII of the Republic, _at two o'clock in the morning._' The words, 'at two o'clock in the morning,' which were only inserted because it was in fact that time, are obliterated on the minutes without being replaced by any other indication. "Not a single witness was heard or produced against the prisoner. "The accused 'was declared guilty!' Guilty of what? The judgment does not say. "Every judgment that pronounces a penalty is bound to contain a reference to the law by virtue of which such penalty is inflicted. [Sidenote: A scathing indictment.] "Well, in this case, none of these forms has been fulfilled: nothing in the official report bears witness that the commissioners had _a copy of the law_ before them; nothing shows that the president _read the text_ of the law before applying it. Far from it: the judgment in its material form affords the proof that the commissioners convicted without knowing either the date or the tenor of the law; for, in the minutes of the judgment, they have _left in blank_ the date of the law, the number of the article, and the place in which the precise words should have been quoted. And yet it was on the minutes of a sentence framed in this state of imperfection that the noblest blood was shed by butchers! "The deliberation must be secret, but the judgment must be pronounced in public: again, it is the law that speaks. Now the judgment of the 30 Ventôse certainly says, 'The council deliberated _with closed doors_;' but it does not mention that the doors were opened again, or intimate that the result of the deliberation was pronounced in a public sitting. Even had it said so, who would believe it? A public sitting at two o'clock in the morning, in the donjon of Vincennes, while all the issues of the castle were being guarded by gendarmes d'élite! But the fact is that they did not even take the precaution to resort to a lie: the judgment is silent on this point. "This judgment is signed by the president and the six other commissioners, including the judge-advocate; but observe that the minutes _are not signed by the registrar_, whose concurrence, however, is necessary to give them authenticity. "The sentence concludes with this terrible formula: '_shall be executed_ FORTHWITH, _under the care of the captain-judge-advocate._' "FORTHWITH! Cruel word, the work of the judges! FORTHWITH! And an express law, that of the 15 Brumaire, Year VI, granted the right of appeal for a new trial against any military judgment!"