CALAS, JEAN, a Frenchman, remembered as the unhappy victim of fanaticism and the shocking maladministration of justice, was b. at Lacaparede, in Languedoc, Mar. 19, 1698. He lived as a tradesman in Toulouse, where lie had a very good reputa tion. One evening after supper (Oct. 13, 1761),. the eldest son of the C. family, Marc Antoine, a youth addicted to gambling, and subject to fits of deep melancholy, was found hanged in the warehouse. There was not a shadow of a reason for doubting that the unhappy young man had committed suicide; but popular rumor accused the father, or other members of the C. family, of murdering the eldest son, " because he had contemplated conversion to Catholicism." It was also asserted that a young man named Lavaysse, who was in the house on the fatal evening, had been dispatched " by the Protestants of Guyenne to perpetrate the murder." The clergy exerted all their influence to confirm the populace in their delusion. At Toulouse, the White Peni tents celebrated with great solemnity the funeral of the young man, and the Dominican monks erected a scaffold and placed upon it a skeleton, holding in one hand a wreath of palms, and in the other an abjuration of Protestantism. The family of C. was, in consequence of the popular excitement, brought to trial for the murder, and several deluded and (most probably) some bribed witnesses appeared against them. A Catholic servant-maid, and the young man Lavaysse, were also implicated iu the accusation. C., in his defense, insisted on his uniform kindness to all his children; reminded the court that he had not only allowed another of his sons to become a Catholic, hut had also paid an annual sum for his maintenance since his conversion. Ile also argued from his own
infirmity that he could not have prevailed over a strong young man, and referred to the well-known melancholy moods of the deceased as likely to lead to suicide; and, lastly, lie pointed out the improbability that the Catholic servant-maid would assist in such a murder. But all his arguments proved unavailing, and the parliament of Toulouse sentenced the wretched man—by a majority of 8 votes against 5—to torture and death on the wheel! With great firmness and protestations of his innocence to the last, the old man died on the wheel, Mar. 9, 1762. His property was confiscated. His youngest son was banished for life from France, but was captured by the monks, and compelled to abjure Protestantism. The daughters were sent to a convent. The young man Lavaysse was acquitted, and the widow of C. escaped into Switzerland, where she was so fortunate as to excite the benevolent interest of Voltaire, who brought the whole affair before the public, and, in his book Sur la Tolerance, proved that C. had fallen a victim to religious hatred and popular fanaticism. A revision of the trial followed, and, after full investigation, the parliament at Paris declared (Mar. 9, 1765 C. and all his family innocent. Louis XV. gave to the bereaved family the sum of 30,000 livres; but, strange to say, neither the parliament of Toulouse nor the fanatical monks were ever brought to account for this horrible judicial murder!