The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1835-11-20 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

THE SIEUR V-, A ROMANCE OF REAL LIFE  . The resolution which it was supposed had been formed by Morey, the accomplice of Fieschi of starving hiniself to death, is not the first example of the kind on record. The same mode of suicide has on several former occasions been successfully adopted by accused and condemned persons. It has been remarked that the horrible tortures of hunger do not produce delirium, or even annihilation of the intellectual faculties, except when violently imposed by power superior to that of the victim. The suffering, on the contrary, when incurred for the purpose of suicide, and endured with energetic but fatal determination, seems to excite and. invigorate the moral faculties, and to increase the acuteness of the senses: In spite of the exhaustion and prostration of the physical organization, the immaterial portion of the system acquires renewed strength, and attains an inconceivable developement of power. A very curious example of suicide, by means of starvation, occurred some . year§ ago in Corsica. During the elections, the Sieur V- rushed into the electoral college, armed with a dagger, which he plunged into the breast of a man who had done him some injury. The man fell dead at his feet. The assassination was committed in the full light of day, and in the presence cf an assembled multitude. Never was an act of Italian vendetta more signally executed. V- was tried, found guilty, and condemned to death. His high spirit and resolute character were well knoVti;- grid' it• Was suspected that he would seek, lay*, a voluntary death, to evade the disgrace by perishing on the scaffold. He was therefore vigilantly watched; and every precaution was taken to deprive him of the means of petting an end to his existence. He resolved to starve himself to death during the interval which elapsed between the sentence of the Court of Assize and the reply which the Court of Cassation wouldmake to the appeal he had addressed to it. He had succeeded in concealing from the observation of his jailors a portion of the food with which they supplied him, so as to make it be believed that he regularly took his meals. After three days subsistence, the pangs of hunger became insupportable. It then suddenly occurred to him that he might the more speedily accomplish the object he had in view, by eating with avidity. He thought that the state of exhaustion to which he was reduced would unfit hint to bear the sudden excess, and that it would inevitably occasion the death he so ardently desired. He accordingly sat dowu to the food which he had laid aside, and eat voraciously, choosing in preference the heaviest things. The consequence was, that he was seized with a violent fit of indigestion, from which, contrary to his expectation, the prison doctor speedily cured him. He then resumed his fatal design. He suffered again what he had undergone before. The torture was almost beyond his strength. His thirst, too, was intolerable. It overcatite his resolution. He extended his hand towards the jug of water, which had been placed in his cell. He thank with avidity, and, to use his own expression, he " was restored to life." To avoid yielding again to a similar temptation, he daily took the precaution of, overturning the jug of water which was brought to him. Lest he should be induced to raise it to his lips, he threw it down with his foot, not venturing to touch it with his hand. In this manner he paSsed eighteen days. Every day, at different intervals, he noted down in his album a minute account of his sensations. He counted the beatings of his pulse, and marked their number from hour to hour, measuring with the most scrupulous attention the gradual wasting of his strength. In several parts of his melancholy memento, he declares that he felt it harder to bear the agonies of thirst than those of hunger. He confesses that he was frequently on the point of yielding to the desire of drinking. He nevertheless resisted. He was surpzisedto find his sight become more and more clear, strong,  and accurate; it appeared to him like the developement of a new sense. The nearer he approached his latter moments, the more his power of vision seemed to in, crease. On this subject he thus expressed himself : " It appears as thuugh I could see through the thickest walls." sense of feeling likewise attained the most exquisite sensibility. His hearing and smelling improved in a similar degree. His album contains many curious statements on these subjects. The •Sieur V— had devoted some attention to anatomy and physiology; and he attributes the increased acuteness of his senses to the way in which the intestinal irritation acted on the nervous system His ideas, he says, were. numerous and clear, and were very different from anything he had experienced in moments of excitement or intoxication. They were all directed to logiCal investigation, whether he applied them to an analysis of material 'objects or to philosophic' contemplation. He also felt. himself inspired with a singular aptitude for mathematical calcu. lations, a study for which he had previously felt very little inclination. In short, he declares that he never derived so much gratification from his intellectual' condition, as throughout the whole duration of his physical torture. He made notes in his album to the last moment of his existence. He had scarcely strength sufficient to hold the pencil with which he traced the following words My pulse has nearly ceased to beat—my mouth is totally parched—but my brain retains a degree .of vigour which in my sad condition is the greatest solace Providence could bestow on me. It is impossible that I can live out this day. My jailors watch me and fancy they have adopted every precaution. They little think I have outwitted thein. Death annuls the sentence which 'has been prunouneed on me. In another hour, perhaps, they will find nothing but a cold corpse_.***.e expired as he foretold. His 'album has been carefully preserved. It is a record replete with interest to medical professors. The slow torture, endured with .so much courage, and described with such remarkable clearness, renders it one of the most curious documents in the annals of medical science.—Court Journal.