The Press.
London, England, 1854-09-02 00:00:00

SATURDAY,

gested hypothesis, for he conducted himself with the most
perfect resolution. He neither attempted to palliate or deny
what he had done, nor did he seek to take shelter under
the plea of insanity, which the prosecutor would willingly
have accepted. But this resoluteness of a man conscious
of his own motives, which ho did not disguise, and regard-
ing which his sole difficulty consisted in his inability to
make clearly comprehensible to the court, is not at all in-
consistent with the confused, unstable behaviour of one
who, however suffering and desirous of vengeance, yet
shrunk from imbruing his hands in the blood of another.
To show the sort of wavering pitrpose with which his
mind became inflicted, we must state he armed himself
with two pistols, one, as we have seen, loaded with small
shot, and the other unloaded ; and the latter he said he
would have used to commit suicide had he not been
arrested ; nor would he have done even that on account of
previously settled purpose, but from a sudden idea pro-
duced by the effect the sight of the abbe's blood excited in
him. Had he indeed resolved upon committing murder,
he must have had opportunities enough, for he was con-
stantly following the abbe about, while the latter affected
to treat him as a monomaniac. During the long inter-
course, or rather mastership, exercised in the unfortunate
man's family, the priest had probably acquired an habitual
ascendancy, which Gauvain could never well shake off, and
in this way the declaration of the accused assumes an air
of truth, that it was on the spur of a fresh provocation, and
in a sudden burst of anger, he screwed his courage up to
the point of just hurting the priest,—a statement rendered
still more probable by the extraordinary testimony of the
Abbe Roy, than which nothing more curious was ever heard
in a court of justice. The abbe began by deposing to an
altercation which occurred the day before the assassination
at Gay's house, when he heard Gauvain accuse him of
having robbed him of his wife and his money ; and it is his
conviction that Gauvain had come to execute his project,
and had been prevented by his (the abbe's) presence. Now,
Gauvain'a version of the same story is, that Gay had called
out from his window to the passers-by to take care of the
dangerous madman, on which he forced his way into the
house, to show the world he was not the person described.
But we may easily reconcile apparent contradictions by the
general circumstance of Gauvain dogging the steps of
the abbe to his own door, and the latter's efforts to shake
off the intruder by crying out he was mad. To proceed,
however. Gay addresses his brother priest, telling him
that Gauvain was, indeed, mad, and as proof thereof main-
tained that his monomania had taken the form of jeal'msy
of himself. What follows is almost diverting. The abbe,
instead of relying on the impossibility of a clergyman com-
mitting adultery under any circumstances, begins to
describe the appearance of the lady, her age, and uglines
se enough to acquit him of all suspicion. She has, says
the tasteful abbe, " neither youth nor beauty, she is as
meagre as a skimmer, and as sottish, foolish, and
doltishly-shaped as she is old, ugly, and thin." How could
Father Confessor Roy suspect Father Confessor Gay of
making such a choice? By way of securing revenge for
his martyred friend, Abbe Roy determines on having a fling
at the old skimmer, and he voluntarily tells the court of a
letter, an actual love-letter, from the said spoon or skimmer,
which he bad found in the pocket of the priest Gay. He
spoke of it, as he simply avowed, because he knew it could
not compromise the reputation of his stainless friend, while
it showed Madame Gauvain to have sinned in heart.
Madame, stupid and old as she was, fired up ; the priest,
losing his temper, gave her the lie. The judge reprimanded
the priest, the latter became confused and angry, and the
truth came out. The abbe had, indeed, destroyed the
letter, most shamefully, as the court told him ; but such a
description of the contents were extracted from him as left
no doubt of the doings of the priest with the skimmer; and
Gauvain was at once acquitted, as he must have been by
any court on earth except that of the Inquisition
The effect of this exposure on the populace is not to be
exaggerated ; and the clerical reaction, which had been
setting in with characteristic violence, has received a
check which it is not likely to recover.

1

ONE of the most interesting excursions of the Emperor
and Empress of the French in their visit to the south-west
of France was to the Refuge of St. Mary at Anglet,
founded by the Abbe Cestac, canon at the Cathedral of
Bayonne. All the nuns came out in procession to receive
their Majesties, who entered the chapel, and, after having
prayed there for some time, proceeded to visit the gardens,
dormitories, refectory, (tc. The Emperor expressed him-
self highly pleased with the order and neatness of the
whole establishment. Their Majesties then went to visit
the establishment of St. Bernard, about a mile distant.
The Empress took the arm of one of the sisters, Al agde-
laine de Pazzi, and conversed with her during the walk to
St. Bernard. All the nuns of this order, to receive their
imperial visitors, stood in two ranks, in their usual attire,
which covers them so entirely as not to allow a feature of
the face to be seen, a large hood being drawn far over the
face. The Emperor and Empress passed between the
ranks, and when they had arrived at the end his Majesty
inquired if the rules of the order would not allow the hood
to be thrown back. The Abbe Cestac. who accompanied
their Majesties, replied that there was nothing to abso-
lutely prevent that being done, and immediately ordered
the nearest sister to uncover her head. This she did, and
presented to view the face of a young girl of sixteen, of
great beauty. The Empress took this nun with her in her
visit round the establishment, and at the end, handing to,
the abbe her purse, she said, " Here, Monsieur TAbbe,
you will take the contents of this purse as a souvenir of
my visit to this establishment." 'The purse contained
1,600 f.
Is the Journal (le St. Petersbourg of August 18 we read :--
"An anonymous inhabitant of the Netherlands, moved by
sentiments of devotedness to Russia, has offered the sum
of twenty Dutch florins for the expenses of the present war
His Majesty the Emperor has deigned to accept this offering'
and to express his imperial gratitude to the giver."