I
Was At The Very Point Of A Triumph; All My Preparations Were Made For
Inundating England With Our Manufactured
Notes; nothing was wanting
except some information in regard to numbering them - when my companion,
whom up till then I
Had regarded as AN HONEST MAN,* (* The italics are
Peron's.) took it into his head to steal some of the notes, which were as
yet defective, inasmuch as they lacked a few trifling but indispensable
formalities. He was arrested almost immediately; and as he had behaved
dishonourably towards me, he did not hesitate to relapse into sin in
another aspect. He revealed everything to the authorities; I was arrested
and plunged into prison with him; all my instruments, all our bank notes,
were seized - and Great Britain was saved from the ruin which I had
prepared for her!
"Evident as were the proofs of our project, I did not despair, thanks to
the nature of the criminal laws of England, of escaping death; but such
were the feebleness and fright of my wretched partner, that I had no
doubt of our common downfall if I were compelled to appear before the
tribunals in association with that cowardly wretch. To obviate the
aggravation of my own misfortunes, which could not have prevented his, I
determined to endeavour to get rid of him; and, as the author of both our
disasters, it was quite right that he should suffer. In a speech to him
that was very pathetic, therefore, I tried to prove to him, that, our
death being inevitable, we had nothing better to think about than how
best to sustain the sadness and ignominy that had come upon us; and that,
death for death, it was better to fall like men of honour than under the
hand of the executioner.
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