The Sun.
London, England, 1847-02-18 00:00:00

ENTRAORDINARY LITERARY

SQUABBLE.
(From Galignani's Messenger.)
Public interest has been much excited by a case be-
fore the Civil Tribunal of the Seine, in which the pro-
prietors of the Presse and Constitutionnel were plaintiffs,
and M. Alexandre Dumas, the celebrated romance
writer, defendant. The case itself; however, is nothing
more than an action brought against M. Dumas for the
breach of an engagement relative to the publication of
his romances. The hearing of the process commenced
on the 22d of January, when M. Lacon and M. Langlais,
advocates of M. Viron gerant of the Constitutionnel, and
of M. de Girardin, gerant of the Presse, exposed the case
of their clients. From their statements it appeared that
in March, 1845, M. Vs ron and M. de Girardin con- 1
ceived the idea that it would be most advantageous to
their journals to secure the exclusive services of M.
Alexandre Dumas, and thereby to prevent him from
enriching other newspapers with his productions. M.
Dumas having complied with their views, treaties were
drawn up between the respective parties. These treaties,
dated March 28 and 30, 1845, set forth that Alexandre
Dumas bound himself not to write, during the ensuing
five years, more than 18 volumes of romance per annum,
of which nine were for the Presse and nine for
the Constitutionnel. M. Viron and M. de Girardin,
on their part, bound themselves to pay the price M.
Dumas thought fit to put upon his own works
which was, that each volume, forming about twenty-two
feuiiekns, and consisting of lines (bits of lines being
counted as whole lines), should be paid 3,500 francs,
which made 63,000 francs per annum for the eighteen
volumes, or 315,000 francs for the five years. But as M.
Dumas, at the time of signing the treaties, was under
other engagements, it was stipulated that he should be
at liberty to fulfil them; and to prevent any misunder-
standing, they were stated to be as follow :—Five
volumes of the " Comte de Monte Christo," to be pub-
lished in the Debats ; "Le Fils de Milady, ou vingt ans
apres," in the course of publication in the Siecle ; six
volumes of " Le Vicomte de Bragelonne," to be deli-
vered in three months to the same newspaper ; the
"Chevalier de Maison-Roue," neNi../.4n4 inetilti.-TC,VCIft; •
publisher ; 6,000 lines of "La Fille du Thieent," to be I
supplied to the same person ; a volume of the "S Ile
de Louis XV. ;" the " Histoire de la Peinture," for M.
Bethune, a publisher ; six volumes called "La Guerre
des Femmes," for M. Potter, publisher ; and for M.
Bethune "Le. Fils de Milady," and the remaining
volumes of Monte Christo," and "Le Sitisle de Louis
XV." In the treaties in question it was also provided
that half of the eighteen volumes, or at least four to the
Constitutionnel and four to the Presse, should be
delivered by the Ist of July following, and the re-
mainder at the beginning of the month of Decem-
ber, or, at the latest, on the 15th. M Dumas, moreover,
bound himself to protest publicly against any advertise-
ments that might be made in any newspapers, contrary
to the stipulations of the treaties with the Presse and
the Constitutionnel. The two journals, immediately on
their treaties being signed, announced with great pomp
to their readers and the world the important news that
henceforth M. Dumas would write exclusively in their
columns. But their mortification was extreme to find
that in the month of August, 1845, the Siecle aunnounced
the publication of a novel, called "Le Trois lecousque-
taires," by the great romancer; that in September a
newspaper, called Le Soleil (now defunct), advertised
the "Batard de Mention," from his pen; that in the
same month, the Esprit Public advertised a work called
"Andrea del SartoMeest.seehich he was the author; that
on the 29th September the Siecle published a tale
called tin," Amazons," and advertised a work in four
volumes;' called'"Fabian," both by him ; that the
Patrie announced the publication of a romance in two
volumes, also by him; and that the Mode advertised
a work called " Elizabeth," of which he was to be the
parent. All this being in flagrsset violation of the
treaties that bound him to the Presse and the Con-
stitutionnel, and being moreoverctnost injurious to the
interests of those journals, M. ViSi•on and M. de Girardin
called upon M. Dumas disavow them. He
therefore wrote a letter to M.Teron, stating that the
publication of the " Amazone" by the Siecle was unau-
thorised by him, that he had sold it a year previously to
a publisher named Hetzel, who had resold it without
having any right so to do, and that he might prosecute
the Siecle in his name if he pleased ; but he took no
steps to stop the publication, neither did he adopt any
measures to prevent the advertising of works to be writ-
ten by him for other newspapers. Norwas that all; for,
though he had undertaken that four volumes should, be
delivered to the Constitutionnel on the Ist of July, he
did not deliver a line on that day, and tip to the month
of September following he had only delivered one volume
of a romance called the " Dame de Montsoreau."
Neither was that given all at once, 'as it oughi.'6',have
been, but bit by bit, day after day, so as fo cause
great inconvenience to the journal. At the end of Sep•
tember M. Vkon sent a legal summons to M. Dumas to
deliver the end of the manuscript of that romance, where-
upon M. Dumas set to work, and, when he thought
be had written enough, killed off all his personages.
In 1845 he wrote nothing more, so that instead of nine
volumes he had only delivered five. In 1846 some
communication took place between him and M. Veron,
the result of which was that M. Dumas undertook
to deliver a romance, called the "Qurante Cinq," by
the beginning of December; but, instead of doing so,
he occupied himself in building a theatre, rehearsing plays, travelling in Spain, Algeria, and Tunis. Thus, I
in no respect had he acted up to this treaty, and M.
V‘ron felt called upon to demand his condemnation for
the damages he had occasioned, as also for the expense
to•which -he-had been put in registering the treaty, so
as to be enabled to plead upon it. With respect to the
Presse, that journal ought to have received nine volumes
previous to April, 1846 ; but it had not received a single
line. In May, however, M. Dumas gave it the first
pages of a romance, called the " M‘moires d'un
Mtitlecin," and subsequently delivered four volumes of
that work. But that was all—not another line had he
written. And yet the Presse have paid him as if he had
faithfully executed the treaty—it had advanced him
23,695 f. The Presse, said its advocate, had no alterna-
tive but to proceed against M Dumas, but it had faith
in his honour. It could, however, have wished that be
had shown a little regard for it, instead of scampering
over Spain and Africa, and showing his audacity in kill-
ing lions.
The proprietors of the Patric and the Siecle were
cited to the tribunal in conjunction with M. Dumas, on
the ground that in publishing his romances after the
treaty had been entered into between him and the Presse
and the Constitutionnel, they had inflicted an injury upon
the two newspapers for which they owed reparation in
damages. The advocate of the Patric, however, alleged
that the romance by M. Dumas, which it had published,
was in virtue of a treaty previous to that which bound
him to the Presse and the Constitutionnel, and therefore
it called upon the tribunal to award it damages against
those two journals for the injury they had caused it in
asserting the contrury. The advocate of the Siecle ex - plained that it had purchased the tale called the " Ama-
zone," from M. Iletzel, who had bought it from M.
Dumas, and paid him for it. The Siecle had also pur-
chased from NI. Dumas the romance called " Fabian,"
and had paid him 12,000 francs, though it had not yet
published it. This romance had been offered to the
Prose, but declined. As to the complaint made against
the Stede, of having infringed the treaty between M.
Dumas and the Constitutionnel and the Presse, the
Learned Gentleman contended that the Siecle was not
bound to know what treaties M. Dumas had made with
other journals; that when he offered his works it bought
them, as it had a right to do. Besides, the Siecle had
treaties with Al. Dumas, dating from 184•), by which it
had purchased of him 500,000 lines.
In the sitting of the Court on the 30th of January
the case was resumed. It having been announced that
M. Alexandre Durcas intended to plead his own cause.
an immense multitude assembled in the Salle des Pas-
Perdus—such a multitude, it is said, as has rarely been
seen in the old hall since the middle ages, when it was
the custom to amuse the good people of Paris by the
representation of religious mysteries. As soon as the
court was opened it was crammed to excess, in spite of
the exertions of a strong body of the municipal guard.
The benches of the judges were even occupied by seve-
ral ladies.
M. Dumas commenced by saying, that he had desired
to speak in his own case, because it was not an ordinary
one. It was not a discussion between man and man, but
a sort of duel between honour and honour. He re-
gretted that he did not see either M. Vikon or M. de
Girardin present for that obliged him to fire in the air,
and the ball, instead of traversing their bodies, would
fall at their feet. His treaty with them depended on the
annullation of a treaty with M. Dujarrier, but the day
after it was signed they announced in the Constitutionnel
and La Presse, that, as soon as the works then in
course of publication in other newspapers should be com-
pleted, he could only write in their journals. That,
however, was not true. lie had still eighty volumes to
give to other newspapers and other per.ons ; namely,
30,000 lines of " Monte Christ();, 24.000 lines of
" Vingt ans Apres," 36,000 lines of the " Vicomte de
Bragelonne," 24,000 lines of the " Chevalier de la
Matson Rouge," 24,000 lines to the Commerce, and several
thousand lines to the Putrie, and to M. Cadot. In all
he had to give 225,000 linos' or eighty volumes ; and,"
cried M. Dumas, " to give eighty volumes within the
time that was assigned me was a task that I alone could
execute. I contend, that if the members of the French
eighty
Academy had been called upon to supply
s w
alloed me, these
volumes in so short a time as wa
could not have done it—and yet they are forty ! No;
they could not have done it—they would have become
M. Dumas than went on to
bankrupt."—(Langhter.,
contend that his treaty with M. Viren was only ob-
ligatory upon the treaty
with M. Dujarrier being, for-
mally annulled, and that as such annullation osi took
place at the end of Januaryof 1846, he was not bound to
romances to M. V6,•on at the
beginning of
deliver four volumes of
He had been accused, he said,
of occupying his time in other things instead of writing
for the Constitutionnel. That was true, for ho had
written in order to liberate himself with respect to the
other journals with which
he,hich he had entered into engage-
moats.yes;" cried
" I have done what no other
man has done, nor ca
I have written at the same
time five different n
romances for five different journals.
hand."
was mine—every word was
written by my
I alone did it--curry line
d He then continued, "Up to the
moment at which o the action was commenced my rela-
tions with M. Y ron were always most friendly. IL