18 July 1766
[ Tallentyre's Commentary: On October 1, 1765, the young Chevalier de la Barre had been arrested on a charge of mutilating crucifixes, insulting a religious procession, and "uttering blasphemies" in Abbeville. On February 28, 1766, he, d'Etallonde (a friend, who had escaped to Prussia), and Moisnel, a boy of eighteen, were condemned to death, after having their longues cut out and their hands cut off. Ten of the best avocats in Paris (the "ten humane and upright judges" of this letter) declared the brutal sentence illegal. A public appeal against it was made to the King. The case was re-tried at Paris, and the sentence confirmed. On July 1, 1766, la Barre (he was scarcely twenty) died "with the firmness of Socrates," after having been put to the torture. With his body was burnt, with other contraband works, the first volume of The Philo-sophical Dictionary of Voltaire--who, with many others, had believed up to the last in a reprieve. As it was considered that the works of the philosophers--and of the Philosopher-in-Chief, chiefly--had been largely responsible for La Barre's folly, Voltaire went for safety to Rolle, in Vaud. There he wrote his noble tract in the cause of humanity, The Death of the Chevalier de la Barre, which, as he hoped, "frightened the carnivorous beasts off others," not only saved Moisnel from a punishment so barbarously disproportionate to the crime, but forced the judges to drop the case altogether. He also obtained King Frederick's protection for d'Etallonde: and in 1775, when d'Etallonde was at Ferney, pleaded for the restitution of his civil rights in a pamphlet entitled The Cry of Innocent Blood."A lieutenant-general gagged" -- General Lally (see 26 May 1778, "The Last Letter").
"Five young men condemned to be burnt for folies which deserved Saint-Lazare." There were really only three, d'Etallonde, Moisnel, and the Chevalier de la Barre: Voltaire was as yet imperfectly acquainted with the details of the case. Saint-Lazare was the house of correction for juvenile offenders.
" The Preface of the King of Prussia." This was a Preface to a volume entitled Extracts from Bayle's Dictionary which had appeared in Berlin in 1766. The King turned the Preface into a panegyric of the proscribed and free-thinking Bayle (see 20 June 1733, "On the Liberty of the Press: and on Theatres").
"The theologian Vernet" was a Calvinistic pastor of Geneva, with whom Voltaire had quarrelled on the vexed subject of play-acting. Vernet made the mistake of attacking Voltaire in print. Voltaire replied in a Dialogue between a Priest and a Protestant Minister, which caused Vernet "to complain to the Council of Geneva that he was being held up to ridicule." To this complaint Voltaire--just two months before this letter was written--had made answer in one of the most stinging personal satires that ever fell from even his pen and was entitled The Praise of Hypocrisy. ]
July 18, 1766.Brother Damilaville has doubtless sent you, my dear philosopher, the "Narrative" of Abbeville. I cannot conceive how thinking beings can live in a land of apes who so often turn into tigers. For my part, I am ashamed to be even on the frontier. Truly, this is the moment to break all one's ties, and hide the shame and horror of one's soul in some far off land. I have not been able to get the report of the barristers' consultation: you doubtless have seen it--and shuddered. The moment for jesting has gone by: witticisms do not accord with massacres. What! these Busirises in wig and gown condemn to death in the most horrible tortures children of sixteen! and that against the judgment of ten humane and upright judges! And the nation allows it! People discuss it for five minutes, and then go on to the Opéra-Comique: and inhumanity, growing more and more insolent on the strength of our silence, tomorrow will cut the throats for which her fingers are itching--yours, first of all, for you have raised your voice against her.
Here, on one hand, is Calas broken on the wheel; on the other, Sirven hanged; a little further from home, a lieutenant-general gagged; and, a fortnight later, five young men condemned to be burnt for folies which deserved Saint-Lazare. What is the use of the Preface of the King of Prussia? Can he remedy such horrible crimes as these? Is this the land of gaiety and philosophy? It is rather that of the Massacre of St. Bartholomew. The Inquisition would not have dared to decide as these Jansenist judges have decided. Tell me, I beg you, what is being said, since nothing is being done. It is a feeble consolation to know that such monsters are held in abhorrence, but it is the only one that remains to our impotence, and I pray you to let me have it. The Prince of Brunswick is beside himself with indignation, rage, and pity. Redouble these passions in my heart by two words in your handwriting sent, by petite poste, to brother Damilaville. Your friendship, and that of a few other reasonable beings, is the only pleasure I have left.
The mistake of the Preface consists in supposing that the words In principio erat, etc., have been tampered with. They are two passages on the Trinity which have been interpolated into the Epistle of St. John. What a pity it all is! The time lost in unearthing errors might have been employed in discovering truths.
N. B. The theologian Vernet complained to the Council of Geneva that he was being held up to ridicule: the Council offered him a written testimony to his morality--as if to say that he had not been a highway robber, nor even a pickpocket. This last part of the guarantee seems somewhat rash.