502 Letter from Pan's, upon Affairs in general. [Nov. 



important cures ; and the clergy, having a great preponderance in the state, called 

 to itself all that was distinguished throughout the country. In the present day, the 

 old class of grand vicars and abbes has disappeared. There is no longer a 

 single respectable family, who dares attempt to impose the sacerdotal office on 

 their children. None take orders now but those who are suffering from poverty, 

 and whose indolence will not allow them to think of taking a different calling. 

 Their passions, compressed by the severity of Catholic discipline, burst forth at a 

 later period, with the more force, since they are not restrained by the respect due 

 to a society with which they never mixed, and are engaged in a sort of warfare 

 against them. Formerly the young abbe's had mistresses among women of title: 

 nor did this prevent them from looking forward to good benefices. At present, 

 the priests are chaste until the moment when their passions, which had been re- 

 pressed in a manner so contrary to nature, overstep every human check, and reveal 

 themselves by some dreadful crime. In the departments, the activity of the 

 bishops has sometimes intervened in sufficient time to interrupt the prosecution 

 of the family or public authorities, to enable the guilty to escape. Near Paris, 

 this is more difficult; a cure has just been condemned to the gallies by the crimi- 

 nal court of Versailles, for an outrage against public decency. The Abbe Contre- 

 fatto, accused of the same crime, was brought before the judge of instruction, who, 

 alone, supplies the place of your grand jury. The Jesuitical congregation, terrified 

 at the dishonour that was about to fall on the cloth, took care to get M. Frays- 

 sinous, nephew to the Bishop of Hermopolis, minister of public worship and in- 

 struction, named judge of instruction. Conformably to the wish of his masters 

 M. Frayssinous hastened to declare that Contrefatto was virtue personified, and he 

 was even about to issue an order for the arrest of those who had levelled their 

 accusations against so upright a person. Thus Contrefatto got out of the diffi- 

 culty triumphant. He presented himself at the office of the Constitutionnel accom- 

 panied by a young priest, and requested the editor to state that he had been 

 declared innocent of the charge made against him. " By all means," replied the 

 editor, " it is our duty, as well as pleasure, to cause the innocent to triumph. But 

 of what crime were you innocent ? of what were you accused ? Inform us of' it, 

 that we may proclaim the fact." Contrefatto made no answer. The same ques- 

 tions were put to the young Italian Abbe who accompanied him, and he was also 

 silent ; and neither being inclined to state what the alleged crime was, left the 

 office together. In passing through an adjoining street they were recognised by 

 the mob, who abused Contrefatto, and were on the point of rolling him in the 

 mud, which, thanks to the neglect of the police, is so abundant in all the streets of 

 Paris ; but he escaped, and took refuge in a guard bouse. Soon after this, a party 

 of gens-d'armes came and conveyed him away in a hackney coach. It was not pru- 

 dent for him to return to his lodgings, which were near the spot, and where the 

 little child of eight years, who had been the victim of his monstrous brutality, also 

 resided. He was conducted to the prefecture of police, followed by a crowd of people, 

 uttering cries of indignation as they went along. " Look," said they, pointing to the 

 vehicle, " there is another malefactor whom the police is wresting from the hands of 

 justice, and the vengeance of the laws, like the Cure* Maingrat, who, after having cut 

 three of his victims in pieces, is retained by the King of Sardinia, in a house of cor- 

 rection at Fenestrelles ! Let us prevent his escape!" The soldiers and gens-d armes 

 seemed to partake of the popular indignation ; they, however, conducted him in 

 safety to the prefecture. The censorship, that docile instrument of Jesuitism, pre- 

 vented the insertion of a single word as to the scene of the preceding evening. Not- 

 withstanding all this, the worthy and independent judges of the royal court had 

 been informed of the facts; conformably to the law, they directed the procureur 

 duroi,or attorney-general, to prosecute, "and named one of their counsellors as the 

 judge of instruction. The latter instantly issued a warrant for the apprehension 

 of Contrefatto, and sent an officer of the court to the agents of police, who had 

 already proceeded to the residence of Contrefatto, with a view of endeavouring to 

 suppress the proofs of his crime, that the court had taken cognizance of the affair, 

 so that the agents should withdraw, and henceforth await the decision of the 

 court. The prosecution commenced at once; after a delay of two months, the 

 trial has taken place, when a jury of twelve, of which the majority held public 

 employments, decided, with only one dissenting voice, on the guilt of Contrefatto, 



