Note 375 — BOOK XI[336]
Alexander Teixeira de Mattos translation
The execution of Georges Cadoudal and his eleven companions took place on the 25th of July 1804, at eleven o'clock in the morning, on the Place de Grève. The evening before, the gaol-keeper at Bicêtre had entered Cadoudal's cell and brought him a petition for mercy ready for signature. Georges cast a glance at the paper, and saw that it was addressed "To His Majesty the Emperor." He refused to see any more. Turning to his companions:
"Comrades," he said, "let us say our prayers."
On the morning of the execution, Captain Laborde said to someone who asked him for news of the criminal:
"He has slept more peacefully than I."
On arriving at the Place de Grève, the Abbé de Keravenant made him say the Angelic Salutation: "Hail Mary, full of grace... Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now..."
Here Georges stopped.
"Continue," said the priest,"... and at the hour of our death."
"To what purpose?" asked Georges. "Is not now the hour of our death?"
Cadoudal insisted upon dying first, lest his comrades should imagine that he could survive them.—B.