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

S N, FEBRUARY 18, 1847.

came to me one day and, said, My dear Dumas, we
have the misfortune to be publishing at this moment a
romance so bad that we lose our subscribers. If you will
not write something for us—something amusing, in-
teresting, witty, such as you always write—we are lost.
And you must do that in eight days.' Eight days,'
said is a long time when one has nothing to do, but
it is short- when one has, as I have, five feuilletons to
write every day, and three horses, three servants, and
the railway continually waiting for copy.' Nevertheless,
as M. Viron was in great distress, as it was to him a
question of life and death, I said, I will take the en-
gagement to give you in eight days a volume of 6,000
lines, and that you may be sure that I will do so, take
136 pages of paper, number them, sign them, and I will
bring them to you in eight days, filled with the matter
of a volume of 6,000 lines.' I did so, and the gratitude
of M. Verna was extreme." M. Dumas went on to
complain, that some delay having one day occurred in
the arrival of the copy of the romance that he wrote
for the Constitutionne4 M. Wren put a notice in the
paper, saying it was owing to the negligence of M.
Dumas, a proceeding anything but friendly. Shortly
after M. Viron began an action at law against M.
Dumas, and when the latter said to him that it would
be better to settle their disputes by arbitration, M.
Veron replied—" My dear Dumas, it will be better to
leave them to the Tribunal—it will be cheaper, and
will not derange you, for ycu need not appear unless
you like." As to the advertisements in the Con-
stitutionnel and the Presse of his being obliged
to write exclusively for them, M. Dumas said
it was not suprising that the Siecle, the Com-
merce, the Journal des Debuts, the Democratique
PaOfique, and the Putrie, to all which he was
under engagements, should be annoyed at such a false-
hood being told to the public; and as they issued counter
advertisements, M. Veron and M. de Girardin became
angry. On the annullit g of his treaty with M. Dujarrier,
upon which he reminded the Tribunal his treaty with
Veron and Girardin only came into operation, be owed
24,000 lines to the Commerce. The romance called
" Fabien" had been given up to him by Dujarrier's trus-
t4444‘. qiEtlitailr-Lt4t).thr:

M. lireron taso declined it, and re-
commended hiin to give it to the Commerce to enable his
to get rid by so much of his treaties with that journal.
The Commerce at that period,-however, was in a dying state,
and being without money had not the means to purchase
romances. It was then- that "Fabien" was carried to
the Siecle, with which newspapers he had treaties secur-
ing him 190,000 francs in 10 years. The Siecle gave
him 12,000 f. for the work ; " but," continued M.
Dumas, " I felt tormented at its being described as
inferior to my other works. I read it, and I found
myself that it was really not equal to my other pro-
ductions. I determined to burn it ; and I did burn
it in the fire of my conscience. 'Fabien' has dis-
appeared—it will be never heard of again. Few men
would have made such a sacrifice as that !" As to
the " Amazone," it was, said M. Dumas, " a poor
little thing of 11,000 lines " that he has given a
year previously to M. Hetzel for his " Diable a
Paris." He had forgotten it, and the Tribunal would
readily .believe that a man who writes 100,000 lines
might easily forget 11,000. He now came to " An-
drea del Sarto," which appeared in the Esprit Pub-
lic. M. Castille, a gentleman connected with that
journal, paid him a visit and offered him three francs a
line to write something for it. "I replied," said M. Du
mas, "that the man who has charged you to offer me
three francs aline is either mad, or has no money, for in
my works there is a great deal of dialogue, and the mul-
titude of lines occupied by such words as oui, non,
vraiment, &c., and to pay three francs for a oui or a
non would be a folly." Then, said M. Castille, "we will
offer 12,000 f. to M. de Balsac for something of his." "M.
de Balsac," replied I, "is a man of great talent, and you
could not do better than apply to him if he will give you
something in the style of Le Pere Goriot, or Eugenie
Grandet.' It was after this conversation that the
Esprit Public published ' Andrea del Sarto,' which
is extracted from a great work called La Ga-
leria de Florence.' Gentlemen, I publish not only in
France but abroad.—(A laugh.) Here is a copy of the
Galerie de Florence ;' it is a magnificent work, but
being published abroad anybody could quote from it, and,
I repeat, the Esprit Public did so." With respect to the,
romance called " Elizabeth " being advertised in ttie
Mode, M Dumas declared that he had given no authority
for it, and that the proceeding was perfectly unjustifiable.
" What!" be added, "it is supposed that I could write a
romance called Elizabeth,' when I hate the name! I
ask pardon of any- lady here present who may be
named Elizabeth, but I am forced to avow that the
name- is "One of my antipathies. I have published 300
volumei, I have written 25 dramas, and I will defy
any person'.fo discover in any one o:my romances,
et in • any one of my (Varese -the word
'Elizabeth.' " He had now arrived' tit this " bittard de
Mauli)n." The Commerce, he had said, was dying, but
one morning it woke up with new life, and came to him,
and said, " You owe us four voluaies ; we were dead, it
is true, but we have come to life again, so pay us the four
volumes." In the treaty with M. de Girardin a reserve
had been made in favour of the Commerce ; he had sold
the " Batard de Mau!439" to M. Cadot, the publisher,
who, with M. de Girardin's consent, sold it to the
Commerce, receiving for it a price much higher than he
had expected, that he had offered M. Dumas, 7,000 f.
in addition .to what he had paid him. M. Dumas
here entered into more lengthened details to prove what
he had asserted with respect to the romances entitled
" Fabien" and "Ite Batard de Diaulfin." He had
undertaken to write a work called " MoSasoires d'un M -
decin," for the Presse, and !id written to demand that
the division intojeuilletons and volumes should be left to
him, so as not to injure the interest of the work ; and the
gentleman charged with the superintendence of the
I euilleton department of the Presse had consented to his
application in a letter which terminate d by saying to
him, " Who dare assign a limit 'to genius ?"—(The
reading of this phrase by M. Dumas himself drew forth
marks of astonishment from the auditory.) He went on
to say that he received from the Presse a sum of 10,000 E,
once paid, on condition that his volumes should consist
of 6,700 lines, instead of 6,000, as originally agreed ;
and that this made an economy of 30,000 f. to that
journal. The Presse had advanced him 6,000 f., but he
had reason to believe that it would not be demanded
from him if the success of the " Mt:noires d'un Medi-
cin," which were then being published, should carry its
circulation up to 30,000 copies. In the account pre-
sented to him by the Presse, a sum of 3,500 f. was put
down against him, but that was for :he registration of
the treaty. Excluding, then, the three sums of 10,000 f,
6.000 f., and 3,5001., his account with the Presse stood :
Received from the Presse 16,772 f. 50c., deduct profits of
the " Memoires d'un Midecin," 11,808 E, difference
4,964 f. 50c. against him. But as it had been arranged
that he should receive 3,500 E, the value of a volume in
advance, and as he had actually remitted copy worth
I,ooof. to the Presse, it followed that the Presse was
really in advance to him to the amount of only 464 f. 50c.
That was his account with the Presse. It would really
appear that it had been believed that the cause would
be pleaded in his absence when he was hunting lions,
but instead of that he was there hunting other
things.—(Laughter.)
M. Lenglais, advocate to the Presse, here made solve
observations.
The President desired him not to interrupt, but to
take notes.

M. Dumas, turning to the advocate, cried "Take
your notes !—(Laughter.) Ah! it is M. Langlais who
interrupts me. I will just say a word to him. At the
last audience, Sir, you said that I had shown audacity
in hunting lions in Africa. I wish to tell you, Sir, that
you did not employ the proper word--you should have
said courage not audacity. I am not an academician, and
it is not a lesson of language that I give you; but I am
a man of the world, and I give you a lesson of polite-
ness."—(Sensation.) After this lesson to the Learned
Advocate, M. Dumas continued In admitting that the
Presse had advanced me 6,000 and 10,0001., it could
hardly be called an advance, for I (M. Dumas) did not owe
money to the Presse, but merchandise ! Besid, s it
would not have been surprising that, in a running ac-
count of 80,000 lines, the Presse should be in advance
to me (M. Dumas) to the amount of 6,000 f. Yet, after
the detail I have laid before you, I persist in saying that
the Presse was only in advance 4641., notwithstanding
M. de Girardin had to pay me 157,000 f. in five years."
After complaining of certain calumnies that had been
made upon him, and especially of that in which he
was represented as having given four volumes of
blank paper, under pretence that it was the manu-
script of a romance, in return for 12,0001., M. Dumas
proceeded :—" Gentlemen, I will now explain to you
the circumstance which led to my departure for Spain.
I had delivered 158,000 lines, that is forty-eight volumes
in eighteen months. I was worn out after having
written so much. I write all my volumes myself. I have,
it is true, an assistant, who is very good, very intelligent,
very devoted; but my labour is still considerable. lam
reproached with going to hunt lions in Africa, instead of
continuing the adventures of Balsamo' in the 'noires
d'un Melecin.' Yet I had asked permission to enjoy a
little repose, for I was unwell. AI. de Girardin knew
that, for on the day on which he gave me permission to
absent myself he dined with me at my villa at St.
Germain—he passed the evening with me—he stopped
with me until 3 o'clock in the morning, so much
did he amuse himself, and he then left in his
carriage, in company with Mdlle. Brohan, the actress of
the ThCatre Frangais.—(lnterruption.) Gentlemen, I see
no harm in that. An actress may pass two or three
hours in a carriage with M. de Girardin, or with any
one else. I did not say that in order to cast the least
reflection in the world on the morality of M. de Girardin
or the honour of Mdlle. Brohan."—(Smiles.) M. Du-
alas here read the certificates of several eminent phy-
sicians, and among them that of his " physician in ordi-
nary ;" for, said he, "I, too, have a physician in
ordinary ;" and that of the King's physician ; in all of
which he was strongly recommended to take repose,
on account of a complaint with which he was afflicted. He then concluded as follows :—_"l have spoken of
my labours to satisfy everybody, but I have
not spoken
of my sacrifices of money to keep
on friendly terms with
My adversaries. The annullation of the Dujarrier
treaty cost me 12,0001. ; I have no cashier, but I
know
I paid that sum. I burnt Fabien,' for which I had re-
ceived altogether 26,000 f., which I was obliged to repay.
I am not a good hand at arithmetic, but the cashier of
M. de Girardin can tell hew much that makes. I
owed two voktmes to M. Dumont, which I bought back