The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1864-08-08


or some time expected the news you send, Il has
rot the lees surprised and made mo sorry tnio
fachey). see by your letter that you have given
M the necessary orders for executing what com
Sbich Won have begun. Remain as long as
your presence is necessary, and then core aud
give nc an account of everything. You tell me |
nothing of Father Bourdalune. AS TO the desire |
TO open the body think, II Il can be avoided, u |
will be better mot to do so. Address compi. |
ment on my part 70 the brothers and sisters, and |
assure them that they will always find me dis
posed 70 give them marks of my protection.
As heart,css letter this as could well be writ
ten. all the desire Of the royal writer being
evidently 10 prevent further scandal the dlih-
culties which surreSfndcd the Gaze increasing
with every fresh step taken ~ throw light upon
n Ia Reynie aprenrs to have felt this and 70
have become embarrassed as 10 the way in which
he shou d furth, proceed. In letter 70 Lonvois
written on the llth OF october, 1851, he admits
that he cannot penetrate the darkness by which
be ia enyirOntd, and asks for further time for
r,fet on, though he owns, that, aiter having
reflected he may probably be in the Po,ltlOh OF
seeing less what he ought To- do. La hsynlo was
evidently bewildCred in labyrinth OF denuncin-
tiops and the trial seemed likely to last forever,
IN the minister Colbert had not decided 20 take
mn The question. lie saw that It's continued agita-
tion must have the eff q OF compromising, aud
might. possibly, convict Madame dc Montcspan
and Madame de ViYonne, with both of whom he
was connected by family alliances, aud OF turn
ing TO the disadvantage OF royalty itself.
lie accordingly desired the advocate Duplessis,
of whom mention has been already made, 10 lend
his aid in bringing the matter 10 crisis by con-
sideripg what course had better be adopted tow
ards the general body Of the prisoners. There
were he ob,eTved, three ways Of proceeding -
To c ntipue the trial, which was not now the
wish of the king; to pass sentence on the most
guilty such as Ls1ge, GuibOurg, and the girl
Voisin; OF 70 transport without sentence the
~. Nt,NT IN
the American islands, at ST. Domingo. Colbert
himself preferred the adoption of the second eX-
pedieDt, on the condition of also continuing some
twenty of The minor culprts in one OF the prisons
near Paris, and OF keeping the rest 'dH secret ~
Dlin TigOueUr."
Dupieshis eagerly took mp the matter, but Il
ia not necessary for us To follow the details of
bis arguments and opinions with reference to
the persons of quality chiefly compromised set
forth, as we have found them, by NJ. Pierre
Clement, of the Institute OF France, who has
examined all the original documents bearing
upon the question, the conclusion at which he
arrived being the essential point After point
ing out, as Colbert had done, that various
conrs might be taken, he advised that all the
prisoners should be summaTily dealt with, in
Sitting strongly upon the necessity OF putting
no n ore of them 10 the question, and that all
the proceedings should bic burnt. With certain
reservations the advice of Duplessis prevailed.
The papers were not desl oy ed nor were all the
prisoners sentenced; but sacrifices enough were
made.
La Reynies report tells US how the majority
| of the accus ed were disposed Of-the cdndiAc, be
| it remembered, and not the kings mstresses or
| the courlieIs who had been implicated IN these
dangerous and disreputable transactions. Thirty
| six Ters ons were put to death, among whom were
| La Voisn (the eluer), La Filastre, La VigereuX,
| q GER ain Madame de iTada, several priests, and
| Jean Mailard. an auditor OF accounts, suspect
| ed agent Of Fouquet. A great number under
went Imprisonment and deportation, and no
| fewer than eighty were detained by the kings
order; and judgment suspended over not the least
guilty Of the series-such as the girl Volsln, Le-
sage Guibourg, and several others, whose deposit
| tons had pressed most heavily on Madame do
Montespan, and the Duchess de Vivoune. What
| became of these people was never known, though
| the regi ters of the Bastile and Temoter fort.
resses q ould doubtless have told.
| Constituted by letters patent in the mouth OF
April, 1879, the Chamber OF the Arsenal tol
"Poison Chamber") was not dissolved till the
end of July, 1851, period of rather more thar
three years. The fact was announced in a lettel
from the king to the Chancellor Boucherat, II
which it was stated that the principal authors o
the crimes which had been brought TO the know
ledge of the commissaIies of the court having
been punished, it had been deemed advisable t
dissolve the Chamber, at the same time providing
for the sairty of the public. royal ordonnanc
was also issued about the same time, the preamble
! of which set forth that ga great number of magi
! clans and tnchanters, lately arrived in Franc
! | fr, m foreign countries, had made many dupe
l snd victims by practising vain curiOsities an
! | supersitiOns, and mingled s0rcery and poisoning
4 with impiety and sacrile9e."
g To remedy this evil, Louis the Fourteenth de
creed that all fortune .tellers of both shoul
8 Immediately leave the Kingdom, and then OF
q dtTed The penalty of death to be inflicted o.
Q wbosOeyer should be convicted of having per
r formed those sacrieglous and aOomina6i
masses, which had been one of the principa
9 | crimes borne witness TO in the late trial. Th
I sixth article OF the ordonnance showed the uu
> | certainty of the Chamber respecting the agenc
e | of mysterious pOisons - Shall be repute
I amongst the number, not only those which ma
: cause sudden and violent death, but those ais
G which cause illnesses by gradually underminin
0 health, whether the said poisOns are simple
g natural or compounded by artistic means"
o Finally, another article, which betrayed one
9 the chief prescriptions of La Reynie, prob
$ bitcd the employment as medicaments of certii
: cfestuTes, such as serpcn's, toads, yipers, &c
: without special permission, an injunction bea
ing On The lsye-pOwders de- tined for the king b
: Madame de MOntespan, according IL the test
9 mony Of various witnesses. What degree Of Gu
pability attached to the imperiOus faVorite au
G the rest OF the great persOnages involved in Il
widespread accusation which led to the esta
7, lisbment OF the Poison Chamber OF Paris, mu
., rather be inferred than declared, but the mora
of the time were such as to justify the worst su
n | piCions.