Connecticut western news., 1875-05-14
EXORTED CONFESSIONS.
A TArIEIInz Story sT The AboIirion sf Tortur
 in France.

t \ TArIEiInz SEory sT Ehe AboIirion sf TorTare l in France.
 "COme, II. le President de Page, |" said Mime. de Hac1ueviIIe, as we sat around the fine, tell us a story of what ! you have seen III past times. "Of what epoch, madame F asked the president, 's for there are three in my life; the first of my presidentship, the second of my exile, and the third of my soldiership. !" '' Tell us story of your first era-your | presldentship.
 ssAt an early period of hfe," said he, "I WAS appointed president of one of | the highest courts of France. The rank | of my family, it must be admitted, was the chief cause of my being elevated to that high situation, though without vanity I may say that l had distinguished myself III my studies more than most of | my young contemporaries. Placed near the summit of society by the office which filled, I strove upon entering on 1t to mitigate the rigor of the laws which 1t was my duty to put in force. These laws were st the time barbarously severe; and although the execution of them was often softened, the e(icts still remained, disgrace to our national code, and judges had it in their power, if they so willed, to push them to extremity. The most cruel of the laws to which allude was the edict permitting the question, or torture, to be applied to suspected or accused persons, which edict, up to 17S-, formed part of our national code This particular remnant of barbarism was seldom put in practice; but others, not so openly savage, perhaps, were l frequently put in force, and these I strove, as I have said, to mitigate. I had colleagues, however, who neither concurred with me in opinion or prac- tice, and who accused me of seeking popularity at the expense of my duty. As I would not yield to them, nor alter my conduct, I acquired their deepest dislike, and they endeavored, by con certing among themselves, to thwart me in every possible way. They seemed to grow more and more severe every day; and as it was my duty to pronounce the decrees which they formed, ,whateverthese deerees were, the unpOpularity consequent upon them fell principally upon me. At last, as a consummation to their severity, they decreed the revival of the torture in, certain branches of the criminal law, and I was obliged to submit to their wishes and announce the revival of the cruel practice from my seat of office. did not sit down tamely and see this bar barity put in force, which shocked me to the soul. But all my remonstrances and applications for its suppression were fruitless. I must now turn back and re- late circumstance which occurred five years before this revival of Q custom | that threw dishonor on 0 civilized land. I was then a student of law, and at- tending the lectures at the Sorbonne. One day, on issuing with a number of my companions from the scene of our studies, young girl met me on the stairs of the Sorbonne, threw her arms around my neck and called me ( her brother It was Francoise, my foster sister. Her mother, my good nurse, had died, and Francoise had come all the way from Montereau to Paris, a journey of twenty leagues, and across the snow, to see me and to claim my love. She did not ask in vain; I be- came indeed brother to her, establish ed her in my house and gave her an education which fostered into strength all her naturally noble qualities. This occurred, I have said, some years before the revival of the torture That torture, as have also said, struggled in vain to suppress, believing it, and, alas sec ing it, to be the scourge of innocence, and attended ever with cruelty and in justice. But my voice and my influence were exerted to no purpose. At this epoch was robbed. I carried my com plaint before the public prosecutor who was my friend and fellow official. The article stolen was snuff box, set with diamonds and of great value, both because of it's richness and because 1t had been my fathers. The public prosecutor first searched my own house, and it was not necessary to go further, for there the box was concealed in the trunk of Francoise, my foster sister. '' At this part of the presidents recital there was, general movement of sur prise among Mme. de Hacqueville' guests. The president himself appeared much affected by the recol1ections called up in his mind. He continued: s'Fran- coise, my foster sister, she who had come over the snow from Montereau, was dragged before the judges, my col leagues, who relying, they said, upon my impartiality, caused me to preside over them as usual. Francoise at first denied all, declaring her ignorance of the robbery and anything connected with it, and calling upon me to recollect her mother, Montereau, the snow she had traversed to embrace me on the steps of the Sorbonne, and our having fed on the same breast. In prosecution of my duty I, ordered the torture to be applied. The arm of Francoise was barred and the terrible instrument was ap- piled to her hand. Francoise shrieked at the outset; and oh, those cries and that look fixed upon me A sword has passed through me, but that look pierced me more keenly. As the torture pro- ceeded Francoise cried less and less. The officials crushed, according to GUS. tom, finger after finger, until the whole hand was bruised. Friends" said the president at this part of his story,
 "F'rancOise was innocent l knew it. It was who had placed the box in the trunk of the noble-minded girl, in order to make her be tried and condemned !'' Horror pervaded the minds of Madame de Hacqueville's party on hearing this shocking confession, but the president, after passing his hand over his eyes, continued in broken voice: " Francoise at length avowed herself the author of the theft, and tainted, crying that was her foster brother, and that she had come across the snow to embrace me
 upon the stairs of the Sorbonne.
 Friends" continued the president, z" the suferings to which that innocent girl
 was subjected, through my instru-
 mentality, had the object in view of free
 ing the land from dreadful evil, and
 the sacrifice had the effect which was
 contemplated. Would that the victim
 who, on her liberation afterward, fled
 unknown tO me from Paris and whom never again saw, knew that her foster brother was conscious of her innocence! :!
 At these words, like a shade conjure6
 E,.c,,,, H., 4c,,alc Gc..,,.o fran.