I had no objection to this singular favor,
provided it were not solicited in my name. As she never spoke of it
a second time, I afterwards thought her proposition was made to
sound me, and that the party did not think proper to have recourse
to an expedient which would have put an end to everything.
A few days afterwards the marechal received from the Cure of
Deuil, the friend of Grimm and Madam d'Epinay, a letter informing him,
as from good authority, that the parliament was to proceed against
me with the greatest severity, and that, on a day which he
mentioned, an order was to be given to arrest me. I imagined this
was fabricated by the Holbachiques; I knew the parliament to be very
attentive to forms, and that on this occasion, beginning by
arresting me before it was juridically known I avowed myself the
author of the book was violating them all. I observed to Madam de
Boufflers that none but persons accused of crimes which tend to
endanger the public safety were, on a simple information, ordered to
be arrested lest they should escape punishment. But when government
wish to punish a crime like mine, which merits honor and recompense,
the proceedings are directed against the book, and the author is as
much as possible left out of the question.
Upon this she made some subtle distinction, which I have
forgotten, to prove that ordering me to be arrested instead of
summoning me to be heard, was a matter of favor. The next day I
received a letter from Guy, who informed me that having in the morning
been with the attorney-general, he had seen in his office a rough
draft of a requisition against Emile and the author.
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