The Sun.
London, England, 1817-09-13 00:00:00

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[PRIG E. SEVENPENf%rt. .

I'RI FE CORRESPONDENCE.

. . ,
PARIS, SEPT. S —I send you an exiiiiination of
•
a pretended Louis TAIL at Itontie, it is now
handed a boo! in Pat is, and I have obtained a copy.
What is very extraordinary is, that while this.ini-
post,hr is in prison,
,another pretended Louis
XVII. thought proper to call, not a fortnight ago,
on Marshal who commands at Rouen,
and explain his rights. Some suppose this second
impostor to be only an agent of the Police, which
wishes to divide Public attention. The whole-fa:
brication of Charles de Navarre is absurd-;
some ladies of high rank believe, or affect to
lieve, that be is really the ii fortunate Dauphin,
and support him in itixiity in his prison.

• 7-7!, - •
• PRETENDED LOUIS vitr.
NARRATIVE OF THE MANNER IN WHICH THE IN..
PoSTUEE OF •THE PRETeNDED LOUIS
DETAINED IN THE PRISON OF ROUEN, WAS Ens-
COVERED.

'A General in gartison at Rotten hearing a pre--
tended Louis XVII. often mentioned, and seeing
that credulity every day gave more consistence to
the imposture, employed an officer of his regi,-
ment, in the month of ,lanoary last, to phi infor-
mation about this individual ; and engaged hint
particularly to do his utmost to see hint, to be en-
abled to judge personally of what kind of man lie.
was, and what means he had for playing the part.
and supporting the character he bad assumed.
The officer went to tite_prison, enjoying that
full liberty which is allowed to prisoners to whose
detetvion little- importance is attached. He rem
quested to speak with him. The prisoner refused
at first to appear ; but when he was told that thiS
gentleman was an old officer of the Royal army
of Vend6e, he presented himself under ti,e name
of Charles of Navarre, without raising hishatid
to his hat, which lie kept constantly on his bead.
His. distrustful character made him believe that
the officer was iinposing Upon him, in calling him-
self a Vendetta. To remove his doubts, be asked.
him certain questions about the name-and posi-
tion of several villages, as well as about the ap-
pearance•aii conduct of the different chiefs of the
Royalist party, which he named to him. The
Vicomte Seepeaux was the person it how Cholci
of Navarre was best acquainted with.
After being convinced that the officer did not
deceive him, he gave him his entire confidence,
and communielted to him'all the facts which he.
had collected to proVe his identity with Lquis
XVII.; proofs entirely destitute of any appear=
ance of reason to a min of reflection, hut pos-
sessing; such a degree of probability as to deceive,
blind credulity. The 'officer, in his turn, put to
him some questions "upon the locality of some
villages and chateaux on the right bank of the
Loire, which he appeared to he well acquainted
with. Among others he named to hint the chateau
of Angri, belonging to the family of Turpin. At this
name the pretended Charles of Navat re appeared,
agitated, and the blood rushed to his lace ';
tint he was not disconcerted, and said he.
knew very well that mansion ; that it was art
old castle surrounded with diiches full of water,
and that it 'could not be entered bait by lower.,
ing the drawbridge. This description was exact;
bat he added that he did not know the fa-
mily of Tornio. The Officer was upon this
convinced that the prisoner had been in La Ven
d6c. The account which he gave of the diirer,eut,.
battles of the Vendean war, in a very eiretoustan,..
tial manner, convinced hint likewise that .iie had
taken part in the events both of the first and se-
cond. The conversation lasted- for two hours,.
The pretender on the following clay had another
interview with this Officer, but the latter obtain-,
ed front him no new piece of information. This
man has a very bad appearance, and his manner of
expressing himself slreus-that lie has had no edu-
cation, and that he belongs to the lowest cht'ss of'
society; • big he has a natural quickness, and a cha-
racter of incredible perseverance. He eutplOyed
himself while in prison in king'wooders
and the trade is one with which he seems to be
well acquainted. This Officer being on duty at
Vat is in the mouths of. April, May, and June last,
had frequent opportuhities of seeing Viscountess
Tnrpin, 'and spoke to her of the prisoner of
Rouen, in the hope of obtaining from her some
information concerning hint: She rememhe-rea
having received ihto •her house, in 1795, a child
about ten years of age, who called himself the
son of Barron de \resift, and who a year alter:eon's
was recognized by his sister, the daughter of a
wooden shoemaker at Desin ; and she mentiotxd
that she should not be surprised, from the repre-
sentation given of him, that this :vas the same

•
ftt
, 0,, his rettirn to Rouen in August, this officer
was Moulted that a subalturu of his regiment,
called Gelinot, who lived in the neighbol.rhomi of
Villiers, and who .had been collector of the rents
of. that Commune, had seen a woman called De.
tinnily, %via) had come to Rouen to be exatnined
as a witness in the affair of the pretended Louis
XVII. and who Wai the sister of
,tlr-it aiiitna/ (this
is. the expression used). Ye .to:d him, h?sides,
that. the husband of the -woman was a shoemaker.
The officer then et-died to mind the of etub ir-
rassment_ which tic said Char es of Nara tie had
experienced when lie spoke of the chateau of An-
gri, mind the conversation he had with Madame
Turpin. The beating which these facts had oft
each other induced him to coosider them as of
sufficient importance to be communicated to his
General, who, in consequence, engaged him to
get more particular details from MEdgme Tnryin

:bout her little impOstot, and to iearii the !lathe
of the sister of the child.
Madame 'lurid% who had been led t Rotten
by the greatest of accidents, informed the Officer,
`that the name of the shoemaker, the father of the
child, was Arnnet. After hearing this fact, the
General went to the Prefect, and learned flout
him, that the woman Dalaunay was the daughter
of Bruner. This coincidence of name induced
theseiwn Gentlemen to wait upon Madame 'lns-
pin, to beg her to make her ,deposition to, the
-Judge of Instruction. Madame Turpin consent-
ed, and on the following morning (August 21) she
Went to the Palace of Justice, where, alter being
sworn, Site made the following declaration
:
"In the winter of 1t95-96, a Child, ill-dressed, of about
. , years of agr, came to ask alms at the door of a farm-house
of the town of Pow, about three leagues from Omelet, de-
Tiartment of the Moine and Loire. The farmer asked whence
• " he came, and he answered that lie was a child of Desin. As
' the farmer knew that family, he exclaimed, " How !—are
you a young gentleman of Desiii?" This good man imme-
diately received him, gave him accommodation, and went im-
inediately tothe head-quarters of the army, Mild) Were then
at the chateau of Bourmont, near Conn, to apprise Messrs.
Scepeaux and Matillon that he had in his house a young gen-
tleman of Desin, and ask them what he should do with him.
• PI. Charles Turpin, the nephew of Madame Turpin, who
happened to be at head-quarters, was charged by these two
timers's to beg his aunt to take care of the child. M. Charles
Turpin proceeded immediately to the eastleOf-Angri, and
Madame Turpin sent for the child to the house of the farmer,
-*hose name she has forgottrti. On his-arrival at the cba-
•, tean, he was clothed, treated like a child of the family, grad
'admitted to her table. She ramarited in-his manner the eih-
.barrassment of a. low-born,,infaut, which' attributed
attribut
to his timidity; but at the,end of ; or 4.days's he showed
..the ease of assurance that belonged to the character heas-
surue,l. By the ittformatiart he gave of the family of Desnt,
• he con rinctll Madanle Turpin that be was really the sou of
the baron whose name he bore..
" The war having commencekl, Madame ,Turpin was ob-
liged to conceal herself. She retired Tutu the neighbouring
---,mods Of Aulgri, and she intrusted to the' care of her game-
keeper the child whose obstinate character began to atoms:nee
ri.iulilesome dispositions. He showed, however, on one oc-
"eashist, that he was capable of gratitude.' At the ejtoch Utile
,battle which took place at Couveit-croix' near Nojaait, in
which M. Charles Turpin was engaged, Madame Turpin felt
'the most lirely alarms, not haring --heard of her nepheat fi
-more than 24 hours. This child went, found a 'three and a
.sabre, and scouring the country, brought news of her nephew.
"'Towards the end of 1796 the*Chevalier de Desin leaving
returned from emigration, and having learned that Madame
Turpin had iii her house a chill who passed under his name,
sad called himself the son of his brother, wrote her imme-
diately to thank her foe the service which she believed herself
'rendering to his family, in taking care of a child Who cauld
:he nothing but a little knave and impostor, as his only ne-
phew was then iu Eugland. Madame Turpin, being thus
undeceived; hut not in any other way di 'satisfied with her
ward, sent for the inhabitants of the town of Desin, who re-
cognized him to be the son of the shoemaker Brunet. His
sister, being reduced to indigence by the war, begged that he
might he taken hack to Madame Turpin's. He was so ac-
cordingly, and remained tot five months; hot not beit able
to correct his bad dispositions, she sent him sway,and has taut
seen him since."
After this declaration the .Tudge of Instruction ordered the
Pretender to he brought to he confronted with Madame Tut-
pin. The officer retired for fear of being recognised by
Charles of Navarre, and of thus disturbing the interrogatory;
but as soon as be was carried back to prison, the officer cause
into the hall, where the clerk took down the following delta.
sition •
The prisoner entered with his hat upon his bead, and would
not take it off till after repeated injunctions by the Judge.
Do yon know Madame Turpin, the lady here ?—No.
This is Madame Turpin..-,No. She bad a hat ger head.
You know, then, the Viscountess of Turpin ?—Yes.
Where did you see her I—At the-castle of Angri.
You have then been there ?—=Yes.
Under what name did you present yourself there?—Uuder
the name of Baron Dean,.
How long were you therel—Eighteen months.
The suspicious character of the prisoner induced him to
put sonic questions to Madame Turpin to be assured if the
%kitties' was really the Viscountess.
Q. Prisoner.—Flow- many children bare you 1-41.- Two
daughters. The prisoner assented.
• Q. How are they called I—The names were mentioned, and
the prisoner a,selited.
Q. Where was your mother, and what was de called
A. She was concealed at Nowt, and her name was Bongard
de la I.igne.
, Q. What was the name of the person who mairageo at
Augri.—A. The Comniander Buffet, who was concealed at my
House • the prisoner assented. The prisoner then s•xelaimed,
8* This is a comedy, and affords me much diversion." lie was
about to put more questions, when the Judge ordered him to
be silent. Madame Turpin in turn examined the prisoner.
Do you remember the favour you did gle by benging me
intelligence of my nephew, and the gratitude I Marne(' fur
it ?—The prisoner exclishned, 0, I see you are indeed La
Ineointesse de Turpin by the mention of that anecdote."
Madame Turpin.—lf you. had folloated the advice I then
gave you, you would not have been now, it, thts situation,
and I should have been spared the painful duty of confront-
big von. '
Tire prisoner upon this exalted his bead, and ?email:7 iris
ckaracier or King, replied, " I take atlvlee from no one;
give advice; but adviees with me are
.counnands ; I net a So-
vereian." He reproached Madame 'f urpio with not showing
him that respect staid cousiderat•on due to a child who appear-
4-al under thename of Baton de Desin.
The Judge.—What cause of reproach have yon against Ma-
dame Turpin ? Did she not treat You like her Why and Shaw
eau all the tendetness of a mother ?-
Prisoner.—That is true; hot she sent me twice from her
house. The first conductor that she gave me showed me the
cruelty of the barbarous Simon, and the caller the fondness
if the perfidious Thomas; (wishing to attach to that idea the
reaseinbrance of the two guatdiana whom the unfortunate
Dauphin had in the Temple.) It deserves to be remarked,
that the two conductors were in reality called Simon and
Thomas. The Judge remanded the prisoner after this inter-
regatory, who went away,x saying, " If you are Madame Tut.,
yin, I bid you good day.
Madame Turpin said then, that she believed she could
identify the prisoner, as much as 20 years of distance per-
mitted, to be the same person Who, at the age of ten, passed
tootsclf off for the young Baron de Desin, and Mar was known
afterwards at Desin to be the son of Brunetti the wirodea-
shuemaker of that village. This declaration she signed.