The Sun.
London, England, 1804-08-31 00:00:00

,SOLVENT DEBTORS.

Con.bmALL.--Yesterday the Court again sat,
when those Ins,lvent Debtors who meant to take
the benefit of the At of Grace, but In hilse discharge
was opposed the preceding day, were again brought
up, and Counsel heard on both sides. A variety of
causes were alledged for their detention ; but among
the number, the following cases only excited any

d gree of interest :
Maria Douglas, otherwi,se called the Baroness de
Mink.Wintz, was brought up, from the Fleet Prison,
in order to be discharged, The appearance of this
Lady attracted much notice in Court, from the de.
gance of her person and address. She was opphsed
on t!.e ground that she had represented herself as
the Baroness de Minkwintz, when she should have

described herself by. the name of Maria Duu.
glas, otherwise the Baroness de Minkwintz.--
Another ground nn which she was opposed ap.
peared to be in consequence of her having obtained
goods under fake pretences, by representing herself
as a p;rson of fortune, and stating to the trades.
people she employed, that she had an estate in Nor,
folk ; which, on inquiry, did not appear to be true.
Another charge of a' much more serious nature was,
for pawning the furniture of her reatly.ftirnished
lodgings, during the period .she resided in George.
• street, Hanover.square. The principal opposition
to this Lady's release was made by Counsellor Cosi.
woon,'on behalf of her creditors.
Frederick Farmer, an Attorney, was, brought
frbm the same prison at the. suit of a Mr. I, and
opposed, for having got from Mi. Hill a sum of,
money under false pretences, viz; that of granting
him an annuity on
,an estate, Which was already
Mortgaged. He was *wise remanded.
Aaron juda, who was remanded on Wednesday,
having detainers lodged against him on Tuesday last,
which made his debts amount to upwards of 15001.
was brought up. •
Mr. ALLEY, as Counsel for the Prisoner, entered
into a very long and able argument upon the con.
struelion of the Att of Parliament, and contended,
that. the Legislature. meant that those detainers
should wily atie4 the Priminee. previous to the pass.
ing of the Aft, which was on the 3oth of July, and
not
,any time before the Sessions and return of the
Warden.

The Court was decidedly of opinion, that the
Legislature did ,nnt refer tO the passing the Aft,
but to the time of holding the Sessions ; he might,
however, go hefote a Judge.—He was remanded.
Ten other Prisoneti were opposed, upon fraud
and other grounds; five of whom were discharged,
anti the rest remailded until the next Sessions.
The whole number, discharged, this day were,
three from Ludgate Prison ; two from the Poultry
and six from the Fleet.
The Court then" adjourned .to the loth of Septem.
ber ; on which day the RecoaDitit will, appoint a
day specially, for the further consideration of In.
aolveot Debtors' cases. '

PRETENDED DAUPHIN
OF FRANCE.

The fallowing Account of a Person who had obtained consi.
durable credit in France, as the Sou'of.l.o.o i s X V I. is given
in Korz>~UU journey front Berlin to Paris

Jean Marie Hervagault is the son of a
_tailor at
St. Leo, of a prepossessing figure, katup-s hearing
.great resemblance to those of Louis 'XVI. fair,
slender, lively, communicative 'without suspicion,
quickly penetrating, and feigning innocence in a
masterly manner ; of coUrse.a person of great en.
dowments, but t* no education. He is supposed
to be a natural son of the late Duke of Valeorinois,
who possessed estates in Normandy. The strange
events of the Revolution disordered his senses ; he
saw that many had raised themselves from ob.
s:ority, and he wished to do the same.. In Sep.
t.:mber, 1796, he left his father's house, and
strolled as a vagabond about the country, declaring
himself to be the son of a family of rat,k, reduced
to distress by the Revolution. His youth, his inno-
cent appe•trance, and the plau,ibility of his story,
every where procured him a favourable reception
and relief. -He had no passport, but was never a4c-
ed for one. He became bolder, and attempted
likewise to, carry oh his trade in the towns. He
came to Cherbourg, but was soon taken up its a va-
grant. His father, the tailor, being apprised of
this, hastened to fetch him, and was not a little
surprised to find him richly provided with money
and jewels, lie brought him back.to St. Leo, where
the brisk young blade, did nor, however, stay long,
btit soon ran away a second time, strolled through
the Department of Calvados ; and, having improved
bbth in body and mind, he became more ingeni.
ously inventive in his stories•than at first. He some.
times passed fur the son of the Prince of Monaco, and
sometimes for the heir of the Duke d'Ursel in the
Netherlands. He thus raised himself step by step,
and. ere long made himself a relation of Louis XVI.
of the Emperor Joseph 11. and of the King of
Prussia. For the sake of his safety, which was
threatened, he travelled in women's clothes, pre-
tending to he just returned from England, where
he had been taking some • money to his emigrant
father.

Many, very many people of rank and education
were deceived, for he flattered their former preju.
dices ; the ladies, in particular, slimed a decided
partiality for him, because he addressed their hearts.
His adventures began to attrad some notice, and
he was arrested a second time in female attire,
and concluded to prison at Bayeaux, at the distance
.of only ten leagues from St. Len. His father came
again to procure his deliverance, which, in consi.
deration of his youth, was indulgently granted,
and the lad replaced under paternal authority. He
was' now to learn the trade of a tailor ; an insulfer.
able thought to his mind. He broke loose a third
time.

In 1797, he was in the diligence or stage coach,
between Laval
.and Alenc,n, very plainly and di.
cently habited according to his sex. Not far from
the latter place he 'alighted, and brushed off to a
village by the' roadside, called Lcs ioncherts. Be.
ing benighted, he begged quarters of a peasant,
who directed him to the house of. Mademoiselle Ta.
lon Lacombe for better accommodation. To this
Lady he declared himself to be one of the family; of
Montmureney„ who had a castle and estates near
Dreux, but was obliged to fly from his persecutors.
She conceived a lively interest •for his situation,
and supplied him with money and clothes, which he
promised to repay upon his arival at DfeUX.• Here
be lived for a while much at his ease, acted the part
of a man of quality, and presented, fur instance, the
hustler, who saddled his riding-horse, with a louis.
d'or.

At last he felt himself induced to set off, and
Mademoiselle Lacombe accompanied him to Dreux,
to get back the value of what she had advanced to
him; They -safely reached the • place ; •but both
castle and estates had vanished. Can any thing be
more natural ? The Revolution accounts for every
thing. Poorer by fifty Louis d'ors, and richer in ex.
perience, the Lady returned !white. The young hero
.continually gained in . boldness, In .the month 'of
May, 1791, he ventured in the diligence to Meaux,
Only eight leagues from Paris, and -alighted. at the
inn, where he, indeed obtained some refreshment,
but, having no passport, was refused a night's lodg.
ing. The wife of a Pariimerchant, Laravines, who
happened to be at Meaux, took pity on him, and
permitted him tolleep in her warehouse. This en.
couraged him to ask further favotirs, and be sue.
ceeded. He represented himself as a rich fatmcr's
son, at Domery, who had fled to avoid' being en.
rolled as a recruit, and Madame made him a present
of four louis.d'ors, upon' which he hired a place in
the diligence for Strasbourg.
About one league from Chalons he disappeared,
and the postillion in vain Waited his return. He,
went to the village of Mery, and wished. to make
good his story at. the castle of GuignaucoUiti but,
being suspefled; he was pit under arrest, and taken
before the Justice of Peace at Cernon. Being •asked
who he was, he mysteriously replied ''He had no
answer to make to such a question." He was sent
to Chalons, where, being asked to give his name, he
proudly said, You will learn it but too soon."
At last he said, he was called Louis Antoine Jean
Francois de Langueville ; that his father was dead,
and that his mother, Madame Sainte Emilie, lived
at Baueville, near Pont Audemar, in the Depart.
ment of Eure. It must be confessed, that it is im.
possible to tell a lie more circumstantially.

Confined in the prison of Chalons, Hervagault
assumed as air of grandeur, and a Mysterious de.
portment ; he tempted the curious, give•significant
hints, and in short, ere long, it was- Whispered
About " it is the 'Dauphin! the son of Louis XVI!"
The jailor himself believed the story, and advanced
Min money. The wives of two merchants of the
town, Saignes and Felize, were initiated in the se.
cret, which 'soon . spread .about ; and no one any
longer *ilunbreci. His figure, his manners" You
need but see him," exclaimed the credulous souls,
" to recognize him at the very first look.'' All ae
inh4birants of Chalons, of the privileged OHM,
Were by degrees made confidants and adherents ;
and they all vied with-each other in supporting this
last ill.fated Offspring of their kings. His rabic was

daily SerV.l with-dainties-of everyatescr'pptilp-, lii7.!
rooms were elegantly furnished, masters were given
the jailor- treated him with deference and re_
sped ; his prisoner was allowed to walk about as
often as he pleased, but always in the disguise of a
female; in fine, his dungeon-was, as it were, meta.
morphosed pleasUre house.
Mean While the 'persons who were let into the se.
cret were mit sufficiently discreet. A word dropped
here and there, in the gladness of their hearts,
aroused the vigilance of the Magistrates ; and, after
this masquerade was played two months, Herva.
gault was made to undergo strider examinations.
,With artifice and gestures that seemed ro belie his
words, he now declared that he was the son of a
tailor at St. Leo. The father was applied to .in
writing, confirmed the truth of the declaration, and
the•offmdcr Was sentenced to One month's impri.
sonment. This mild punishment was considered as
a victory by•those who thought they really knew the
secret : during his trial, they trembled lest the real
origin of the prisoner should not escape discovery.
In order to -free him from the prying vigilance of
the police, they abundantly furnished him with
money and jewels, and thus facilitated his retreat.
He was very well satisfied with the issue, and now
began
.to at his part at. Vire, in the department of
Calvados. Here he made but a few proselytes,
was soon arrested again, and with greater severity
doomed to two years imprisonment. As the inha.
bitants of Vire only considered him as a young va.
gabond, he %you'd have passed these two years very
sorrily, had not his faithful' adherents at Chalons -
continued to support him, on which occasion the
confuting Madame Saignes conducted the corre.
ipondence. This woman really wished him well,
and advised him to apply the time of his confine.
ment to the improvement of his education ; but he
gave way to driiling, and at,the end of two years
left the prison worse than when he entered. Ma.:
Saignes herself went to fetch him from Vire
to eltalons, into the bosom of his faithful and
devoted friends. The most splendid preparations
were made for his reception. He arrived, re.
ceived congratulations, had flowers strewed at his
feet, and was treated with the most distinguished
resped. In short, the hbrn of plenty was again
most copiously poured out on the tailor's son of
St. Leo.

When the police discovered these proceedings,
his partisans, upon deliberation, found it expedient
to send the Dauphin on his. travels. His route was
so contrived that he every where found confidential
friends, who, being previously informed of his sup.
posed high birth, shewed hitn, all the respel due to
that exalted station.. He was once at Rheims, twice
at Vitry le naneais, and often at different little
country seats, where balls, concerts, and feasts of
every kind, were given in honour of him. At Vitry
he was splendidly and conveniently lodged at the
house of Madame de Rambecour, whose husband
closely followed all'his footsteps, waited upon him
.with the most attentive zeal,'and served him like a
valet. On St. Louis's day a superb fete was pre-
pared for him.; it being the feast of the Stint whose
name he bore. The Ladies sung songs composed in
honour of Itim. In the confidential circles which
he frequented they always called him, man Princy !
his par trait. was handed about as that of the Daqbin,
and it was reported that-the Pope himself had
im-
printed a mark on his leg, to know him again by
finally, a leiter. was handed about from a bi4hop, in
which that deluded prelate writes in expressions of
the profoundest resped for. this young vagibond .
and, by his example, convinced many who were
still wavering in their belief. Already was a court
formed round Louis XVII. He had immediately
his favourites, and was going to nominate those who
were to hold. the great offices of his househOld.
Many names of consequence were to be found
among them. They all glowed with enthusia•on,
and prefared to make the greatest sacr;fices. Men
of birth and rank deemed themselves fortunate in
being ab!e to perform the meanest drudgery of me-
nial service for him. Misers turned spenthlwilvit
that they might have the honour of entertaining
him. It was very natural that such
proceedings
should not , escape the eye of a vigilant police.
Fouche was inlOtmed at Paris of all that was going
forward at Vitra)! ; and a warrant put an end to.the
farce.

But even when taken into custody,
Hervagault
condu&ed himself with-i loftiness• and dignity that
struck all present with .a, dubious awe. His 'most
downcast confidants surrounded him with the most
heartfelt reverence ; orre of them, highly moved,
begged leave to embrace him ; and the tailor's son
negligently tendered his hand to kiss. The very.
first night of his incarceration, a most splendid feast
was given at the prison. Intercessiong were Made
for his release.apon bail, but in vain ; all that could
be obtained. was to mitigate, as much as possible, the
rigours of his captivity. He was constantly served
in the most sumptuousmanne'r, and so' accustomed
to this high style ofliv. ing, that once, a chicken, ,a'
pigeon, with a sallad and custard, being served for
his supper, he thought proper to find the fare 'in.
complete,• and indignantly dashed the mess on the
ground. Adtnet, the Notary, called him in his pri.
son Afouteipeear,, and was most graciously reward.
ed with the appellation of g• Man petit page, ?no;
petit 'valet dr chambre d'amitie."—Thus he acted his
part dispassionately, and with an air of the outlast
importance. Gring to mass, a servant carried his
player.lmuk and.cushion. He appointed a Secreta.
.ry, and made him sign in his name,' that of Louis
,Charles. Where a man bears a great name, said he
to the Justices, he is sure to be exposed to perseCu.
tiort. The Mayor of Vitry, owing to the great
concourse of people, found himself at last under the
necessity of putting him under closer confinement,
and, at the same time intercepted the enormous
supplies of wine and good cheer sent for his use.-
No person, but thosaabsolutely to amend him, was
-permitted admission without a ticker.

Meanwhile, his offence was by 'no means consi.
dered in a political view, but merely as a matter be.
longing to the Cortedional to: the inquiry
and punishment of which he was accordingly left:
Mad ime .Sdignes was likewise tiiken up as his ac-
complice ; but there being no proni to eanvia her,
was acquitted in consequence. }Jeri:spear, in the

hegira:ling of the year t got, was Sentenced to four
years imprisonment as a sharrer and abuser of ►he
credulity of the people, and confined according:y
the House of Correction at Ostend. B ►tli the de.
linquent and the Attorney-Genera!, though upori
difF.rent grounds, appealed against this sentence to
the Government.

I

f

The matter was now to be treated at Itheima,.
when a new and very important aCtor suddenly burst
upon the scene of this tragic comedy. The aged
Prelate L. de S—, Bishop de V—, a man ve-
nerable for his integrity, universally respeeled for
the austerity of his manners, awl his profound learn.;.
ing, expressed his conviClinn that Hervagault was
the real and genuine Dauphin. He had even spoke
to the Surgeons that had anatomized the corpse of,
the pretended Dauphin in the Temple, who had in-
formed him it was not that of the real one. He re•
solved upon freeing his young Mouarch from the
chains of captivity, lent out considerable sums tea
effeel this purpose, abandoned the very funi9ions of
his office, came to Rheims, corresponded sivitli the
Prisoner by means of the keeper of the jail, and •
thought himself sure of his being the identical person.
The Dauphin's death appeared to him a mere politi.
cal lie of the National Convention. He even
thought it his duty to give to the negleiled Prince
a good education, and endeavoured to accomplish
this end with the purest and sincerest intentions.--
He sent him among other works, one day, Le Geni
du Christioniun, by Chateabtiant, and thetragetif
of 'Naha; upon which he received, to his surprtee,
this answer—i, Do you mock me t All this'l knout
by heart."
All the fears of the prelate were, lest the objea
his care should he sentenced to transportation. TO
prevent this, he strained every nerve, and made use
of the interest of every friend he could command in
Paris : he drew up a list of those persons to whom
he intended to intrust the fate of the Dauphin. In
it were found, amongst others, the names of Brissact
Necker, Madame de Stael, Montesson, RoquelatO
Angouleme, Talleyrand, Pays de Segur,
La Harpe, Sec. Some believed him, some did not,
some called him a Blonde', some a 30a4. The ea'
respondence was carried on in cyphers ; it even went
so far, that the projed was formed to 'marry the
Daupliin with a distant relation of the Royal &OLP
Hervagault at. first seemed to wave the PeciPc49ll
for he had, according to his own account, ssvots.
the oath of fidelity and affeetion
'to' the Queen ct!
Portugal's most amiable sister ; butefrom .
ctrX
movements, he yielded, and it was resolved to crl39'
levies of men for his service.
y v
But ere these negotiations Could possl i•t'en 9
the trial before the Criminal Tribunal at Rheims WA
once more publicly revised, and that in the presr4hC' a
,Q
of a numerous multitude of people; who all wets la
favour of the accused, loudly murmured against rv—
prosecuting Attorney-General, and with enthusiaaira
fervour applauded the official defender of Hera!'
gault. The judges, however, would not suffer (Nem,•
selves to he misguided,and confirmed the original senro.!
tence. While they were deliberating on the sulijzfl
io composure,
01
another room, the most painful anmety was tieviac_.
Gr-
in the countenance of every speCtator in court. H. er
vagault heard his sentence w vain A
smile of contempt ; and partizans, instead of
giving credit to the juridical ilecisi""' 91"117adiron.‘
persevered in their former preconceived op.
They continued to wait on him with roy
the place of his detention. Ile 11.4 a .I‘Y' 31" g
ocher ttrcas, a •silYcr cup, on which were cue letters . h
L. C. (I,,uisCharle•) engraved and decorated with
an tO
in antique French crown. • This ht
the itilot was his cypher. None, of his aillserou
deserted his cause ; on- the contrary their zeal
re
doubled, and the venetatie.BOihopof
CO""fire
ways headed them. Nay, the latter did 'Rot
al sell ice ota
his zeal to presents and good atP ice
~ he- even cc'
solved most aaivefy to exert hitii,elt; and being kn 4
formed that it was intended to bring his illusttiA3.
pupil front Rheims to Soissonb, detcrinille() to
rescue him on the road frorn the hands of his per. -
secutors. yQuzliful proje't (..,f an ~id. heal"!
betrayed ; the Bish.p and his papers wc4re
and it evidently appealed, opoi,- oral', that it way,
his intention to make the tailot's son of Sc• "co
aEt
the part of the D tophin. The Goveromer,E,
ever, had compassion on the hoary dotar'l, and .216'
him his liberty. Her vagaUli himself had-fated pe,ti
ter if the least pruspeEt of amendint.nt had a1`1441:e,t4
in his cundua ; her, as he formed another junto
ie
partizans at Suissons, it was thou4ht purr to snake
bun disappear.