The French papers in the autumn of 1821 mention, that a man named
Desjardins was tried, on his own confession, as an accomplice with
Louvel, the assassin of the duke de Berri. But, on his defence,
Desjardins contended that his confession ought not to be believed,
because he was so notorious for falsehood, that nobody in the world
would give credit to a word he said. In support of this, he produced a
host of witnesses, his friends and relatives, who all swore that the
excessive bad character he had given of himself was true, and he was
declared “not guilty.”
This case parallels with a similar instance some years before in
Ireland. A man was charged with highway robbery. In the course of the
trial the prisoner roared out from the dock that he was guilty; but the
jury pronounced him by their verdict “not guilty.” The astonished judge
exclaimed, “Good God, gentlemen, did you not hear the man himself
declare that he was guilty?” The foreman said, “We did, my lord, and
that was the very reason we acquitted him, _for we knew the fellow_ to
be so notorious a liar that he never told a word of truth in his life.”
* * * * *
_For the Table Book._