In a manuscript life of _Jemmy Twitcher_--the work will shortly appear
under the philosophical auspices of SIR LYTTON BULWER--we find a curious
circumstance, curiously paralleled by a recent political event. _Jemmy_
had managed to pass himself off as a shrewd, cunning, but withal very
honest sort of fellow; he was, nevertheless, in heart and soul, a
housebreaker of the first order. One night, _Jemmy_ quitted his
respectable abode, and, furnished with dark lantern, pistol, crowbar, and
crape, joined half-a-dozen neophyte burglars--his pupils and his victims.
The hostelry chosen for attack was "The Spaniards." The host and his
servants were, however, on the alert; and, after a smart struggle in the
passage, the housebreakers were worsted; two or three of them being
killed, and the others--save and except the cautious _Jemmy_, who had only
directed the movement from without--being fast in the clutches of the
constables. _Jemmy_, flinging away his crape and his crowbar, ran home to
his house--he was then living somewhere in Petty France--went to bed, and
the next morning appeared as snug and as respectable as ever to his
neighbours. Vehement was his disgust at the knaves killed and caught in
the attack on "The Spaniards;" and though there were not wanting bold
speakers, who averred that _Twitcher_ was at the bottom of the burglary,
nevertheless, his grave look, and the character he had contrived to piece
together for honest dealing, secured him from conviction.
_Jemmy Twitcher_ was what the world calls a warm fellow. He had gold in
his chest, silver tankards on his board, pictures on his walls; and more,
he had a fine family of promising _Twitchers_. One night, greatly to his
horror at the iniquity of man, miscreants surrounded his dwelling and
fired bullets at his children. The villains were apprehended; and the hair
of _Jemmy_--who had evidently forgotten all about the affair at "The
Spaniards"--stood on end, as the conspiracy of the villains was revealed,
as it was shown how, in anticipation of a wicked success, they had shared
among them, not only his gold and his tankards, but the money and plate of
all his honest neighbours. _Jemmy_, still forgetful of "The Spaniards"
cried aloud for justice and the gibbet!
Have we not here the late revolution in Spain--the QUENISSET
conspiracy--and in the prime mover of the first, and the intended victim
of the second rascality, KING LOUIS-PHILIPPE, the JEMMY TWITCHER OF THE
FRENCH?
The commission recently appointed in France for the examination of the
Communists and Equalised Operatives, taken in connexion with the recent
bloodshed under French royal authority, is another of the ten thousand
illustrations of the peculiar morality of crowned heads. Here is a sawyer,
a cabinet-maker, a cobbler, and such sort, all food for the guillotine for
attempting to do no more than has been most treacherously perpetrated by
the present King of the French and the ex-Queen of Spain. How is it that
LOUIS-PHILIPPE feels no touch of sympathy for that pusillanimous
scoundrel--_Just_? He is naturally his veritable double; but then _Just_
is only a carpenter, LOUIS-PHILIPPE is King of the French!
The reader has only to read Madrid for Paris--has only to consider the
sawyer Quenisset (the poor tool, trapped by _Just_), the murdered Don
Leon, or any other of the gallant foolish victims of the French monarchy
in the late atrocity in Spain, to see the moral identity of the scoundrel
carpenter and the rascal king. We quote from the report:--
_Quénisset_ (alias DON LEON) examined.--"_Just_ said to
me, pointing to the body of officers, 'You must fire _into the
midst of those_;' I then drew the pistol from under my shirt,
and discharged it with my left hand _in the direction I was
desired_."
O'DONNELL, LEON, ORA, BORIA, FULGOSIO, drew their pistols at the order of
LOUIS-PHILIPPE and CHRISTINA, and merely fired in the direction they were
desired!
"Where was this society (the Ouvriers Egalitaires)
held?"--"Generally at the house of Colombier, keeper of a
wine-shop, Rue Traversière."
"What formed the subject of discourse in these meetings, when you
were there?"--"_Different crimes_. They talked of _overthrowing
the throne, assassinating the agents of the government--shedding
blood, in fact_!"
For the Rue Traversière we have only to read the Rue de Courcelles--for
Colombier the wine seller, CHRISTINA ex-Queen of Spain. As for the subject
of discourse at her Majesty's hotel, events have bloodily proved that it
was the overthrow of a throne--the murder of the constituted authorities
of Spain--and, in the comprehensive meaning of Quénisset--"shedding blood,
in fact!" At the wine-shop meetings the French conspirator tells us that
there was "an old man, a locksmith," who would read revolutionary themes,
and "electrify the souls of the young men about him!" The locksmith of the
Rue de Courcelles was the crafty, sanguinary policy of the monarch of the
barricades. We now come to MADAME COLOMBIER, _alias_ QUEEN CHRISTINA.--
"Do you know whether your comrades had many cartridges?"--"I do
not know exactly what the quantity was, but I heard a man say,
and, Madame Colombier _also boasted to another woman, that they
had worked very hard, and for some time past, at making
cartridges_."
Madame COLOMBIER, however, must cede in energy and boldness to the
reckless devilry of the Spanish ex-Queen; for the cartridges manufactured
by the wine-seller's wife were not to be discharged into the bed-room of
her own infant daughters! They were certain not to shed the blood of her
own children. Now the cartridges of the Rue de Courcelles were made for
any service.