The New York Herald Newspaper, September 6, 1873, Page 4

te 4 FRENCH FERVOR, A Herald Correspondent at the Sideboard of a Wealthy Merchant of Rheims. Interviewing an Ecclesiastical Lawyer. The Virgin Mary in Reply to Some Children of Auch. “Priez, Fete Penitance, Auch Sera Detruit Dans Peu de Tants.” ‘THE CLERGY ATTACHED 10 NO PARTY. Free-Thinkers Rather Persons of Refreshing Audacity Than Olose Reasoners. THE GREAT RELIGIOUS REVIVAL. The Miracle Wrought in the Case of Ar- mand Wallet, Who Saw the Virgin Mary During a Period of Six Days. THE CURE OF ALFRED FONTES. The Opinion of M. Renan on These Man- ifestations from Above. DOCUMENTARY PROOFS. The Argument of the Roman Cath- olic Church as Set Forward by the Vicar General. KueEms, August 10, 1873, Tam dining with one of the greatest ofthe prince merchants of Rheims, in Champagne, or what isnow called the Department of the Marne; and it is here worth noting that a French merchant has very ttle in common with an English merchant, When an Englishman goes into trade he con- tracts the manners, habits and prejudices of the class to which he belongs, and to ‘which he has either risen or descended. 1 say @escended, because I have no sympathy whatever with that worship of Commerce’ which is a part of the national jaith of England; and we have very ‘ancient authority (that of Jesus, son of Strach) for the belief that a merchant can hardly be an honest man. Let him have by all means the things which belong to him, all the commodities which can be bought by money, substantial houses overfur- mished, fast trotting horses and greetings in the market place from those who have need of him. But he is entitled to no respect, and should be taught to take off his hat before scholars and men of science, who might have been richer than he had they deigned to sell their souls for money. I am writing only of THE BRITISH MERCHANT, at present a deal too much puffed up by peerages and penny papers; for the fact 1s simply this: Englishman who condescends to trade in any shape wellknows that he means to amass money by Toguish methods, and he does it with his eyes open to the consequences. They are consequences which ought to make him an object of good-humored contempt to honest people, ‘Ihe fellow has chosen & short road to riches, He believes it'them. Well, let him enjoy them and keep his distance from those who have higher and purer objects of devo- tion. But THE FRENCH MERCHANT is a very different sort of person. He is possibly an ex-Duke, upset by a revolution, who has turned to earning his living. Perhaps he has sacrificed him- self for an elder brother, or to provide a portion for an orphan sister. There is generally some romance at the bottom of his mind, and he conducts his trade upon chivalrous principles, quite astonisuing to the British mercantile mind, with a peerage in full view of it. THE RHEIMS MERCHANT with whom I am dining traces his descent in an unbroken line froma French lord, whose harness shone at Ivry near the white plume of Navarre. Men of his illustrious line hewed aown the Englisn archers before Orleans and broke the Saracen ranks at Tours. They rode site by sjde with Bar- barossa and sat in council with Charlemagne. His father was an officer of the body guara of Charles X., and when the Bourbon throne crashed down he had to do as he could. So he laid aside his tities, put by his sword and took to ciphering tll better times. Better times? Suppose we say, what ne thought better times, A VICAR GENERAL of a neighboring diocese has been asked to meet me and a jamous ecclesiastical lawyer, and we sit down to a table laid in a garden to talk of the affairs of the Church over good wine, tat capons and the royal barbel of the Marne. I measure the size of the ecclesiastical lawyer and find him about five feet two inches in height. His forehead is square and hard, his hair is of that neutral tint which never turns gray. His face is dry and lean. He hasnot an ounce of flesh about him Irom head to heel, He has the compact, self- contained look of a man accustomed to deal with facts and to waste few words even upon them. “Monsieur,” I say to him, after a glass ef that old Madeira—which has iong since disappeared from the wine market—has put a vivacious comma (it was the Greek note of interrogation, What’s the next dish ?) toour soup, “Monsieur, Iam here to represent the greatest newspaper in the world, What I am about to write upon the grand national pilgrimages of France will be hotly discussed and contemptuously ridiculed. 1 shall, indeed, address @ large Roman Catholic population; but even they will not be disposed to take my statements upon trust. Whatever I write will be examined, sifted, disputed, denied, I cannotput my trust in fowers of rhetoric; they would be despised and laughed st. 1am writing for a people deeply, perhaps pas- slonately, engaged in what is called THE ‘BUSINESS OF LIFE.’ J must not tell them old wives’ fables. What I want are the name, the date, the proo! which always surround a fact. I dare not state it barely unless I can add that 1 saw it with my own eyes. Now, I have seen no visions; I have witnessed no mira- cles.” “Monstear,”* answered the ecclesiastical lawyer, “the profession of an advocate would befmpossibie if he could only deal with facts within his personal knowleage. He must rety upon testimony which, judged by the rules of evidence, is satisiactory.” We had by this time got from the soup to the peaches, for, remembering Swifts excellent maxin, ver speak for more than HALF A MINUTE AT 4 TIME,” Thad given him my discourse in small doses. “Monsieur,” I replied “ you have answered me Dy an epigram. Forgive me ifl add that 1am not convinced by i, Scofers are very fond of saying that you can mever drive a miracie into close quar- ‘ers, and deal with it face to face.” “Ah!” said the ecclesiastical lawyer, and he saised one of his rigid eyebrows, then let it fall. “Abe "car Genpral woked placidly as mo over a NEW YORK HERALD, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1873,—TRIPLE SHEET. aecanter of the rare old wine of Bonzy, and the merchant prince filled my glass, with a genial smile, There was silence. “You are hatching a thought,” my friend, said our host. “Bring forth.” “No, I am startled rather by a doubt.” “and the doubt is——?” observed the Vicar Gen- eral. “I am doubting the legend of Auch,” said I. ° “It is a very proper subject of doubt,” remarked the ecclesiastical lawyer, ‘‘but doubt is always in danger of GOING TOO FAR.” “What is the legend of Auch?’ inquired our host. “The legend of Auch," I replied, “involves @ | Small matter of orthography. The question is, Can celestial beings spell correctly or can they not? Some children at Auch have seen the Virgin Mary. They wrote to ask her what she wanted, and she answered them, also in writing, thus:— “‘Priez, sete penitance, Auch sera detruit dans peu de tants.’ What does this mean?” The Vicar General laughed a quiet, silent laugh of great enjoyment. The lawyer tightened his straight lips, Our host opened: his eyes with amazement. “Perhaps it means,” said the Vicar General, “that wherever there is a work of God going on there is a work of the devil beside it, When the unbelievers cannot meet us upon our own ground they endeavor to draw us on to theirs and totry our case upon a false issue. if the miracle of Auch is doubtful, the uncertainty which attaches to it in no way affects the miracles of Lourdes. But if the Virgin actually spoke to the children of Auch, and they wrote down what she said, they must have written it down in accordance with their knowl- edge of orthography at the time, or there would have been two miracles, Did the fishermen who were the first disciples of Christ, and Mary Magdalene, write pure Greek or pure Hebrew? If they did not, and a grammarian ofthe period had found grammatical faults in their nar- rative, would that have invalided their testimony as to what passed at the marnmage in Cana of Galilee, and respecting those wondrous words Which were spoken opon the Mount of Olives? There are many disputed texts, both in the Bible and in the New Testament. A scholar of the time of Pericles would possibly have smiled could he have heard St. Paul preach to the Athenians,” “You want the names, ana dates and proofs,” said the lawyer, “call upon me to-morrow morn- ing, and I will give them to you.’” Then the conversation became general and we spoke of French politics, The Vicar General observed “that the clergy had no politics as a body, and that some were legitimists, some Orleanists, some re- publicans, The form of French government had never been made a Church question, and never would be, very clergyman held his own opinion and was fully entitled to do so. The Old Testament, 8s well as the New Testament, rather POINTED TO A REPUBLIC than a monarchy; but the first duty of a priest was plainly to submit to the civil authorities whom he found in power.” My host accompanied me on foot to my hotel, for the August moon was shining at her full. Round the flelds of Rheims the harvest was getting in, and the pale gold of the reaped fields showed in strong contrast to the silver white of the roads, The roads are very good in France, and a delightfol means oftravelling through the Champagne coun- ty would be on horseback, with saddiebags, if alone, orinaphaeton and pair for a honeymoon tour. The next morning I called on tne ecciesias- tical lawyer, by appointment, and this was the sub- stance of our talk:— 3 We agreed, after more or less discussion and with more or less reservation upon either side, that freethinkers are rather persons of a refresh- ing audacity than close reasoners, They start trom the conviction that the world isall thelr own; that God has been definitely put aside as out of fashion, and that tne doctrines of the Catholic faith should be putin a dust hole beside the pagan fables. The professors of modern schools and colleges consider itaslur upon their reputation that it should be seriously supposed they believe in Christianity. Diplomatists remark with a sneer that religion has nothing to do with government, and politicians are careful not to admit priests into their pariia- ments, or pot to listen tothem if they are ad- mitted. But the people of France and other countries cling with pertinacity to their priesthood and their creed. The churches of Paris were never so full a8 last Easter in a period of political anarchy and vio- lent changes. Never was the crowd which wor- shipped in them more devout; never were the re- ligious convictions of the multitude so general or so profound as now that education is spreading among all classes. The radical newspapers of Paris and some of the great towns are very witty at the expense of the clergy, and amuse wine shop frequenters with profane jokes; but the Figaro and the best newspapers of the provincial press are all stanch supporters of Catholicism; and it has come © pass that we are now, alter nearly a century of infidelity, in the midst of a great religious revival. The revival has been or has not been approved by miracles from on high. Now either we must deny the possibility of miracles altogetner—and in that case we must reject the whole Scriptures—or we must admit the possibility of their occurrence, and then the proof. A miracle must be treated by the law of evidence, like any other extraordinary oc- currence. But most people, and more especially the Anglo- Saxon race, while perfectly ready to admit the force of logic when applied to terrestrial concerns, will not consent to argue at all about the affairs of heaven. They deny that a miracle has happened or can have happened, and they do not see the con- sequences of that denial, for in the same breath they loudly profess their belief in Holy Writ, which ex- pressly asserts that miracles have happened, and that therefore they may occur again. “Persons,” said the ecclesiastical lawyer, “who have no preconceived opinions, and who can be convinced by evidence, would do well to consider seriousiy the following facts, which are of public notoriety and which ure certified by tne honorable endorsement of THE VISCOUNT DE LA VAUSSERIE. Here are the papers connected with them. This 1s the truth about them. Two children, living in the parish of Ste. Marie des Batignolles, have re- cently been cured of diseases in a manner which presents all the characteristics of a miracle.” Young Armand Wallet is the son of Alsatian parents, long established in Paris. His father isan upholsterer, residing at No. 36 Rue Truffault, at Ba- tignolles. The boy is thirteen years oid, and he had suffered jor a long time from an acute rheumatic af- fection, which attacked him every winter and which gradually disappeared with the return of warm weather. ’ In the month of January of the present year his sufferings were most intense, and they continued to increase for six weeks. During the last fort- night of that period Armand Wallet lost the use of his limbs and was carried in and out of bed. His State of health was also complicated by a nervous disorder and convulsions. On the 18th of Febru- ary, at eight o'clock in the morning, his malady was at its height and the buy appeared to be at the gates of deatn. Two hours afterward his Mmotber, who had absented herself a few minutes from his bedside, returned and found him crying with joy. “Mother,” said the child, ‘I see the Holy Virgin; there, yonder, near the window.” His mother, much agitated, replied:—“She has come to cure you; and then she went away to tell what was happening. When she came back again she found her child healed, all nfs pains were gone and have never since returned, His cure had ceen instantaneous, DOCTOR PIEDPER, 4 medical man living in the Rue Trufault, who was im attendance on the child, did not cail till toe next day. He then certifed to the cure, and declared that it was in no sense due to any remedies which he had employed. The apparition of the Holy Virgin appeared con- stantly to Armand Wallet for six days, only disap- pearing at rare intervals for some minutes, She was seen in the darkness as well asin the daylight or by the glow of a lamp. ‘The apparition was not of natoral height. It was no bigger than the palm of a man’s hand; but it appeared to be living, It moved several times. It pointed with its finger to indicate that the child should pray upon his knees, and to touch achaplet which was held out to it. It was not always robed in the same vestments. Sometimes the Virgin bore the infant Jesus in her arms; sometimes she held her hands outstretched and drooping in the attitade of the Immaculate Con- ception, Great numbers of people came into Mrs. Wallet’s rooms during those six days. THE APPARITION WAS SEEN BY MANY, and especially by children, A boy named Castan, one of the playfellows of Armand Wallet, always saw the vision at the same tume as he did. Blanche Nicot saw the apparition in presence of the Abbé de la Perche, Vicar of Ste. Marie, though he himself saw sothing. Marie Vassei also saw the apparition, The testimony of these children was sifted and found to agree in every detail and particular. Among grown up persons, Mme, Lemercier saw the Virgin twice. She 1s & grave, respectable per- son, fifty-three years old. First she saw the appa- rition clearly and then more dimly. Upon the seventh day Armand Wallet saw the apparition once more, and for the last time. These events caused a vast deal of conversation in the neighborhood, but were not the subject of any hostile commentaries, Meantime another child named Alfred Fontés, of Brazilian parentage, fell seriously ill, His disease was liver complaint, complicated by ulcers in the stomach and intestines, His family reside at No. 8 Place des Batignolies, and on the 25th of last February he was:placed under the care of Dr. Crestey, who resides at No, 48 Rue Lemercier. Alfred Fontés grew worse and worse every day and Dr. Crestey called in Dr, Moutard-Martin, phy- sycian of the Hospital Beaujon, for consultation. Dr. Moutard-Martin, after a careful examina- tion of the patient, pronouncea that he was af- ficted with an internal tumor of the gravest character, and, for the next /ortnight, the malady of Alfred Fontés resisted all the resources of sci- ence. He was seized with frequent vomiting; he could digest no nourishment, either solid or fluid. All hope of saving his life had been abandoned. ‘This was the state of his case on the 17th of last March. The Abbé Bourgeat, curate of Ste. Marie, had found it impossible to administer the commu- nion in extremis to the boy, on account of his con- tinual vomiting. He called to see Alfred Fontés, however, on Sunday, the 16th of March; and, on leaving him, was inwardly moved to tell bis mother that her child ‘‘would be suddenly cured.” The Abbé Bourgeat declares that in so saying he obeyed an irresistible impulse, which obliged him to pronounce those words, He was thinking of the miraculous cure of Armand Wallet when he spoke. On the next day, March 17, at ® quarter past eleven o’clock in the morning, Mme, Fontés en- deavored to administer some food to her son, but his stomach refused it as usual. Theo he said to his mother, who was bending over him witha piteous face, “If the Holy Virgin wills it she can cure me as she did littie Wallet.” (Here we come upon the faith which makes whole.) His mother then went into the next room to fetch something for him, and some moments afterwards her son called her back, crying out, “I am cured; I have seen the Holy Virgin.” The vision appeared to the child to have re- mained for several minutes, but Mme. Fontés as- serts that not one minute had passed before the cure was effected. THE VISION SEEN BY ALFRED FONTES Was that of the Immaculate Virgin, dressed in garments of blue and white, respiendent with light, He had disiinguished her features, but had not been able to see her eyes. ‘When Alfred Fontés called his mother the vision had vanished, dnd never more returned, But the child was completely healed. The enormous sweil- ing in nis stomach had instantaneously disappeared, without any evacuation. His wasted limbs, worn by his illness to little more than skin and bone, recovered their size and healthy colors. He had neither pain nor sickness; his health was perfectly restored. He rose and made a hearty meal. Dr. Crestey was then enabled to pronounce that Alfred Fontés was quite cured, and he has had no return of his disorder. Dr. Crestey ends a medical certificate, going into all the details of the case of Alfred Fontés, by these words :— “These facts were witnessed by me on the day of their occurrence, and I affirm upon my soul and conscience (sur mon ame et conscience) that they are the result of a miracle (qu’ils sont le résultat d'un miracle), none of the gitts of science being able to furnish an explanation of them.” Here are two miraculous cures resting upon the evidence of numerous living people, whose con- current testimony would decide a case at law be- fore any tribunal in the world. Moreover, these things did not happen at an out-of-the-way village, in a distant province. They occurred at Bati- gnolies, a suburb of Paris, THE MIRACLES OF BATIGNOLLES have been the cause of a scribblers’ war. The comic papers adhere to the opinion of M, Renan, that unless a miracié is performed before the In- stitute of France it is no miracle at all. M. Lock- Troy says that young Wallet saw something ina looking glass resembling “a lady or @& bell,” and puts the fact of the boy's cure, which cannot be denied, into very funny language, But M. Louis Veuillot, editor of the Univers, sent M. Antonin Rondelet, a gentle- man of unimpeachable veracity and character, to make a thorough investigation ito the alleged miraculous cures at Batignolles, with a firm tnten- tion of exposing any attempt at humbug with the keenest pen in France. What M. Rondelet saw at Batignolles was this:— He saw, in the first place, a great number of the neighbors of the Wallet family, and went from shop to shop inquiring after them. Batignolles is suburb of Paris, much inhabited by ladies who have married without the assistance of a clergy- man or & magistrate, and when they have business inclinations they and the objects of their choice are very apt to turn to shopkeeping in their ma- ture years, They are LIVELY FROGS OF THE AVERAGE SORT, and when M. Rondelet began to talk to them of the Holy Virgin he was amazed at the hesitation, embarrassment and the visible suspicion with which they responded to his questions. A gargon, or free frogin @ bachelor state, began by giving an evasive answer. ‘He did not know,” that free bachelor frog; not he! What should he know of the Virgin Mary, since she did not appear at the “Oloserie des Lilacs?” “He had heard some- thing; he did not remember exactly what,’ He had, probably, never listened to a communication in the whole course of his life. No frog in a iree state ever does. He prefers to talk himself. M. Rondelet, however, got this free frog into con- versation, let him talk as long as he had breath, and then it turned out that he could hop along quite briskly to the very doors of Wallet’s lodgings. The iact was then revealed that this free frog ina bachelor state, being a gobe-mouche, or fly swal- lower, and having incautiously expressed his belief in the Batignolles miracies, for scnsational pur- poses, not wholly unconnected with his own ag- grandizement, had been set upon by unbelievers till his life had been made a burden to him. He had been mocked by agile journalists, note book in hand, who had got jokes out of him and printed. th next day to his utter confusion. Therefore, though he had often played with both of the chil- dren who haa been miraculously cured, he thought it wiser to say “Connais pas’ when they were menttoned In his hearing. A dark wooden staitcase, with a long passage at each landing, led up to Wallet’s lodgings, anda door on the third floor opened into them. MRS, WALLET HAD TO BE COAXED A LITTLE before she consented to appear, and was rather disposed vo hold intercourse behind a dvor, but she came forth at last. She was afraid of being bullied and laughed at, as she often had been before; but when her fears were overcome she gave Mr. Ron- delet every assistance in her power to clear up the mystery. The lodgings of the Wallet family are com- posed of two rooms, communicating with each other. In one of these rooms sieeps the boy Armand Wallet; the room adjoining it ia inhabited by his father and mother. Armand Wallet sleeps of & iittie iron edstead. His room is poorly furnished. On the day of his cure he wae much worse than be had been, and his father, in going to work that morning, had talen means to secure the attendance of the doc- tor on him. His mother said that she was making her own bed when she heard @ noise in the adjoining room, where her child was lying. The Holy Virgin had appeared to him. She was about twenty-five or thirty centimetres in height. She had extended her hand to him and motioned to him to kneel down. The boy had obeyed; he had risen from his bea; he had fallen upon his knees, and he was cured, He was ao compistely cured that a few moments afterwards he went down into the street, to the utter stupefaction of the neighbors, who were aware of the cruel and helpless nature of his malady. He went to see his piayfellows, and amused himselfin the very streets where the in- habitants are now shy of giving his address. “It is @ dangerous thing,” adds M. Rondelet demurely, “to be SUSPECTED OF SECRET RELATIONS WITH HEAVEN.” The amazement of the doctor who had attended young Wallet was very comic in its outward mani- festation. “He showed,” said the boy’s mother, “the whites of his eyes like man who was con- founded.” Then he salked ofa relapse. ‘There can be no relapse,” replied Mrs. Wallet, simply, ‘since he has been CURED BY THE BLESSED ViRGIN."’ So, after all, there was no looking glass in which something could be seen like *‘a lady or a bell’ in the Wallets’ lodgings. The evidence taken by M. Rondelet on the spot indeed confirmed the miracu- lous cure in every particular. He went into the details one by one. “All this is very well,” replied the unbelievers. “No doubt M. Rondelet is a man of honor and integ- rity. No doubt he bas verified the statements made to him and cross-examined his witnesses, It cannot be denied that the Wallets may be seen in the flesh, and that their son was cured, and that they have no mirror or anything like a lady or a bell in their lodgings. But we will not credit a miracie performed at Batignolles. To suit our views mira- cles should occur on the Boulevard des Italtens, at five o'clock in the afternoon, when we take our absinthe.” In short, the host of heaven should be summoned to do business at Tortoni’s coffee house, or to do none at all. This much is certain:—The boy Wallet was af- fliicted with a mortal sickness, and is cured, sud- denly, radically, whether miraculously or not. ‘That is the broad fact, which cannot be contested, and which is one among the many CAUSES OF THE RELIGIOUS REVIVAL IN FRANCE. Now, an allegation can only be proved or dis- proved by evidence, and there is absolutely no serious reason against the historical possibility of WHAT 58 CALLED 4 MIRACLE, and no one has a right to accuse a number of re- spectable people of deliberate falsehood and trick: ery for no object and without any temptation whatever, One of the most important documents in THE CASE OF THE BOY WALLET is the certificate of Dr. Piedier, who showed the whites of his eyes when he first heard of the chila’s cure, and could not believe in it ull he saw it, ‘HERE IT 18. “armand Wallet,” writes the doctor under the serious guarantee of his professional reputation, “gouffrais de rhumatismes articulaires depuis six semaines environ, lorsque se produisirent les attaques de nerfa (convuisions). Les convulsions se renouvelaient jusqu’a cing ou six fois dans les vingt-quatre heures, Le dix-septime (17th Feb- ruary, 1873) il en eat une en présence du médecin; il ¢prouvait des étouffements aursa des spasmes de poitrine, et de tout le corps, avec des mouvements saceadés des bras et des jambes. Et la verité eat que l'enfant Wallet, atteint de rhumatismes articu- laires sur aigus, de dyspepsie, et de chorée, afec- tions qui n’avaient pu étre guéries par les médica- ments, dont il avait A peine tait usage, a été instantanément gueri, lors de l’apparition qu'il avait eu de la Sainte Vierge le 18me .¢vrier & huit heures du matin.” Itis especially worth notice that no priest is mixed up in the Wallet case. No clergyman visited the Wallets, who were, indeed, a Christi: family, but only Christians of a very moderate measure. THE CASE OF ALFRED FONTES is supported by testimony equally conclusive. On Sunday, the 16th of last March, this boy was in a hopeless state of disease. On Monday morn- ing he was cured. Upon due request being made to Dr. Crestey, who had attended the case, that eminent physician did not hesitate to attest in writing the result of his observations as a medical man, and here is the certificate, signed by his hand:— “Panis, 20 mars 1873, “Je soussigné, docteur-médecin, demeurant Rue Lemerciler, No. 48, certifle avoir donné mes soins & VPenfant Alired Fontés, Agé de onze ans et demi, demeurant Place des Batignolies, No. 8, & partir du 25me iévrier. Cet enfant était malade depuis six semaines environ. Le docteur de la maison, M. Coffin, Pavait soigné pour une affection du foie, compliquée d'ulcérations intestinales et stomacales, Lorsque je vis Venfant, je constatai des désordres singuliers, qui pew a pea se généraliserent du foie dans l'intestin et le péritoine, accidents qui ne purent ¢tre modifiés par les traitements ordinaires, “Quelques temps apres, ces mémes accidents gagnerent l’estomac, et ils se produisirent des vomissements qui devinrent bient0t incoercibdies, Les aliments et les boissons cesstrent d’ctre tolérés, bien que lenlant conservat un grand appétit, ec qu'il y ett absence totale de flévre. Il y avait une douleur précordiale habituelle, et une sensation douleureuse tout le long de l'wsophage en méme temps, et dés le début, je constatal chaque matin une expuition sanguinolente qui se produisait sans toux, et qui cependant me pa- raissait provenir des bronches. Son état général empirant, je réclamai une consultation. “M. le Docteur Moutard-Martin, médecin de 1’HO- pital de Beaujon, fut appelé. Il diagnostiqua une tuberculose, s’étalanten méme temps sur le péri- toine et sur les organes thoraciques, Le prognostic fut de la derniere gravité.® A partir de ce moment et durant quinze jours les accidents ne firent que staccroitre malgré tous les moyens employés. L’eniant en était arrivé & vomir constamment, non seulement tout aliment solide ou liquide, mais meme lorsqu’ll n’avait rien absorbé. “Lrétat général s’empirait et ne laissait plus aucun espoir, lorsque le lundi 17 mars, & onze heures du matin, apres que je venais de constater son état alarmant et des plus graves, l'enfant s’écria tout-A-coup qu'il était guéri, La mére accourut, constata que, en effet, le ventre qui, une heure avant, tait extr¢mement ballonné et douloureux, était devenu subitement plat et in- sensible. En méme temps, lenfant apu manger sans vomir. La digestion s’est faite pour la pre- mitre fois, la gaieté est revenue, les douleurs ont disparu, Ventant s’est levé ot asauté dans sa cham- bre avec des cris de joie. “Ces faits ont été constaté par mol le jour meme, et )’aflirme, en mon Ame et conscience, qu’tis sont le résuitat d'un miracle; toutes lea données scien- tifiques ne pouvant expliquer une pareille chose, Cette guérison instantanée se maintient depuis trois jours, et Ja guérison est absolue. “DR. URESTEY.” Imake no apology for publishing this document im the original, because | thought it hazardous to translate medical terms, and I therefore leave it, word tor word as it was written, to the attentive consideration of physicians in the United States, who will have no dimculty im understanding the precise signification which should be attached to each expression. Here also is a certificate from Dr. Coffin, who treated Allred Fontés in the e@riier stages of his malady :— MEDICAL CERTIFICATE OF DR. COFFIN, “Je soussigué, docteur en médecine de la Faculté de Paris, ancien interne des hdpitaux de Ja meme ville, médecin d’Etat civil du cinquiéme arrondissement (very high tities to confidence these) certifie avoir vu plusieurs fois dans le courant de janvier dernier, le jeune Fontés, agé de onze ans, Cet enfant se plaignait d’inap- pétence, de constipation opiniatre, et d’inaptitade autravail, Vers le 30 0u 31 janvier dernier, je le trou ouché, sans fiévre, trés somnolent, ores i etatteint d'une légere hematémese qui se calma au bout de deux ou trois jours sous Vypduence du repos au Uy 4 de quelques ord parations de ratannia. A ce moment, vers le 5 février environ, je constatal que le foie était volu- mineux et dépassait les fausses cOtes de trois ou quatre travers de doigt au moins, Je revenais voir le lendemain Venfant, pour rechercher les causes de ce rapide développement du foie quand, trouvantsa mére pres du lit, je engageai & prendre chez elle (t. @,home from school) ce petit malade dont l'état me paraisait sérieux en raison du Volume anormal du foie, Dr, E. COFFIN. “Panis, le 26 mars 1873,” Of course Dr. Coffin would have a remarkably unfortunate name if he were an English doctor; but then that does not happen to be the case, and French and English words have different significa- ions, although they may chance to resemble each Other, Beneath, also, is the certificate of the incum- bent of STE. MARIE DES BATIGNOLLKS, the parish in which Armand Wallet and Alfred Fontés reside, and who, upon the faith of a minis- ter of the Gospel, declares that the narrative of their cure is exact:— “PARISH OF STE. MARIE, “SEVENTEENTH ARRONDISSEMENT, “DIOCESE AND TOWN OF PARIS. “1 certify that the narrative of these two mira- cles is most scrupulously exact, and it is as curd (say rector) of St, Mary’s that I believe it my duty to affirm the perfect truth of them. “HEUGNEVILLE, Curé.” It is only fair to add that NOBODY HAS MADE ANY MONEY by the miraculous cures of these children, No human being has gained any advantage from showing them about or advertising them, or by turning them to account in any manner whatso- ever. “I think you will agree with me,” said the eccle- siastical lawyer, with a wry smile, after he had placed the narrative and proof above mentioned before me, “that the evidence upon which the Batignolles miracles rest would be quite saficient to hang 8 man by the body, though it may not be strong enough to save his soul.”’ The Vicar General, with whom I had dined the day before, then happened to call on the lawyer upon some business connected with his diocese, and ne asked me if I had satisfied my doubts. T answered that there was no question of my belief or disbelief, What I desired was to submit A SATISFACTORY STATEMENT tothe readers of the New YoRK HERALD. ‘‘Ah,”’ said the priest, tranquilly seating himself for an argument, ‘if they were only here we might dis- cuss disputed points with them in a friendly way. But as we poor clergymen seldom venture into the open lists of journalism, let me talk to them through you, and do you make such use of my words as you may think kind and courteous :— “Good Catholics,” he began, ‘generally believe in the possibility and in the convenience of miracles. Must I add that good Protestants do not believe in their propriety, at any rate, and per- haps notin their possibility? They are us far off from each other as the Antipodes. Nevertheless, the human voice is heard from Pole to Pole, and there may be means of making our- selves mutually understood. Those who doubt of miracles have probably excellent reasons on their side, and we should rejoice to hear them, We, upon our part, have facts and arguments which may not be wholly without interest to them. We Roman Catholics sometimes read @ little, and ‘we are not altogether unaccustomed to think. We should haye been too stupid if we had allowed ourselves to be maltreated by Voltaire, whtle wait- ing to be burned hereafter, if we had not now and then given some attention to our present position aud future prospects, which were decidedly alarm- ing when viewed exclusively in the light by which they had been placed before us at the Reformation. We are not stuck up people; we do not claim mir- acles as our peculiar property—as things which re- fect any especial glory on the Roman Catholic Church. On the other hand, we do not feel humti- tated by miracles, as some seem to suppose that we ought to be. “The glory of @ miracle is not due to man, but to God. It merely attesis His presence and His power, wen the natural course of things would do equally |. “Now the majority of modern thinkers do not take up the position either of atheists or of pure materialists. They admit the existence of ‘a first cause, or commanding power.’ UN DIRU ORDONNATEUR, “They acknowledge that there is ‘a something’ which governs the stars and places them in their order in the heavens, which regulates the seasons in due time of succession, and which has made that beautiful machine, the universe, which goes | 80 well and which has lasted so long with- out repairs. Surely these admissions should make the Almighty quoted above par in the commercial world, and business men might consent to show Him some respect even, in accordance with their own usages. For it cannot be contested that Goa is the promoter of @ successful speculation. He is @ great architect at allevents, He is a great pro- ducer. He pays more than cent per cent interest for the investments or the farmer and the scholar. You, Mousieur, for instance (the Vicar General bowed), are about to write to THE NEW YORK HERALD with materials which will not cost you ten sous. I presume that you will be paid a fair return for your outlay. Who gives you thatreturn? Who gave to you the means of laboring? You might have been blind, or smitten down with paralysis of the mind or body, and if so I might not have had the pleasure of seeing you here to-day. Suppose, just for the sake of argument, we agree to infer that ‘THE MYSTERIOUS SOMETHING,’ the unknown God of the Athenians, is at the bot- tom of these things ? Will that be a very extrava- gant sapposition ? Who else can be at the bottom of them? Few people are prepared to deny the ex- istence of @ Supreme Power, or to compare them- selves with it (say when they have the toothache), or to contest its omnipotence. Tne supreme Power must do something. What does it do? Business men answer that they ‘do not know.’ But THE UNKNOWN GOD, whose acquaintance they are too indifferent to make, does not despise them, for they are His creatures. Having made them, He can nave no ae- sire te leave them in the immense night and degra- dation of ignorance without any knowledge of their Creator. God keeps a school as wellas ‘the emi- nent philosopher’ who is rather disposed to make light of Him and to set up a god of himself, price one penny per copy, at the news agents’, The Almighty is for compulsory and gratuitous educa- tion, and in that respect more of a radical reformer than tho eminent philosopher with his cheap print. The materialists should really consider this; the aposties of cheap education should understand by this time that GOD 18 ONE OF THE PARTY. He has ordained that His Church shall obstinately persist 1m opening free schoois, “Moreover, when the Church is thwarted in this work, and cannot open enough free schools, either from want of money to provide masters or because experimental governments decide that man shall be taught alone by penny papers in their own interests; when the great of the earth no longer preach the Gospel to the poor, and when immortal souls Degin‘to languish in this oppressive silence, God inter#¥bes and speaks Himself. He reveals Himself to the oppressed souls, and raises them up to the height of His own majesty, “Extraordinary and inexplicable facts happen to disturb the ordinary course of human events, be- cause the eyes of men, too much accustomed to the wondrovs order and narmony of creation, be- come dim and forget to perceive their most amazing splendor. It 1s @ veil for the giory of God. He appears beneath it in lmeaments of such sove- reign bounty and sovereign power that faith cries out in very ecstasy of worship, ‘LO! GOD 18 THERE.’ “Yet, ‘Why,’ says the stockjobber, who has not mach time to attend to his soul, ‘why does not God speak openly to us, if He has anything to say? Let Him come to Wall street or Capel court and there may be talking with God in the intervals of business.’ “To this we Roman Catholics reply,” observed the Vicar General, “that God speaks in Wall street and Capel court as wellas elsewhere, but some people will not listen to Him. He who knows all things, is Cully aware of thels disinctination to oear Him, and He hides the brightness of Mts tace for & double reason.. He leaves to the faithful the merit of liberty. He preserves the unbeliever from the awful responsibility of disobedience after convie; tion, and without excuse or extenuating ciroum- stances. GOD WARNS, AND UR WAITS. All mankind did not perish in the Deluge, and ta the wilderness some were saved after the Sight from Egypt. God does not deal with man as @ tyrant or an absolute earthly king might do, bat rather as @ constitutional sovereign who is am exact observer of recognized laws, and who is de termined only to exercise the prerogative of grace or merey. “The abundance of miracles in recent times is by No means a good sign ior the presentage. it is, indeed, a recompense to some and a staf for faith to lean upon. It evinces tne presence of God and His watchiulness over the world, It proves that He, verily, will prevali over the po ot darkness and that the religious prospects of man- kind will improve, But it also attests the frailiy of the living generation. It may imply a terrible menace and a grievous judgment about to come upon us, Forty years of striie and battle followed the miraculous passage of the Ked Sea, when the Israelites under Moses were saved from the cap- tains and the host of Pharaoh, and another genera tion was born before the chosen people were al lowed to behold the promised land, The moment through whic we sre passing marks the period of another exodus, We have leit all old traditions and landmarks of thought behind us. We have turned our backs on Pharaoh and the thrones of kings, and we have marched away into # unex- plored country, of which, as yet, we have only Teached the border land, The future is safe, but miracles now doing must not be accepted asa sign that we are safe or that we shall be saved. Per~ haps Pharaoh will overtake us and lead us back into bondage. Amalek has full time to harass us, The new generation is still afar of inthe realms of time. “Up to the present date the miracles we have wit- nessea succor and encourage us; but they are not asubject of congratulation to us. They appear to be rather a mark of indulgent pity for ® society which is incapable of litting up its heart to God, and = = which id rather disposed to turn away from salvation tham to seex it. after eighteen centuries of Christianity human reason would hardly seem to want the ald of miracles to assist belief. Civilized man should be able to read and to learn from the past. He should not constrain divine clemency to speak to, him by signs, as though he were a child or @ savage. “But there must be enough miracies so long as there are not enough Christians, and so long as there is not enough faith among those Christians to guide them up to heaven. When the whole world is converted there will be no need of mira cles, Tospread —~ THE LIGHT OF CHRISTIANITY is the’ only way to diminish supernatural occum rences. ot (and this is an important considera- tion,” the Vicar General gravely), “ifthe incre- dulity of Society finally denies the possibility of iracles tt will begin to make martyrs, A MARTYR IS A WITNESS, ‘and scoffers at miracles, who have power in thelt, hands and are resolved to use it, will merely cre~ ate witnesses of the fact they deny. When this happens, and it seems not unlikely to happen, the Roman Catholic Church will be proud, indeed. And the conscience of mankind, glorieusiy van- quished by miracles at last, will deciare that it believes in 4 TRUTH WHICH HAS BEBN SEALED BY BLOOD, that it credits the testimony of witnesses who have died rather than forswear themselves. It will @ grand day for the Christian religion, and as! grander day for human reason, even if martyrs can save a world which miracles cannot save.’ The Vicar General ceased his speaking with the same placid look as when first he addressed me. ‘There was no passion or excitement in his talk. He might have been reading a page of history or @ grave poem. He put the question as to modorm miracles simply and plainly before me as it ap- peared to him, and there I leave it. ART MATTERS, Novelties at Schaus’ Mr. Schaus, we are glad to say, has been at com siderable pains to keep a supply of noveltics om hand during months in which the only other novelty were a sky and an atmosphere of which no reasonable person could complain. Among the new things now at nia store are ‘The Bather’s At- tendant,” after Edwin Douglas, and engraved by James Scott; “The Shadow of the Cross,” the original of which was painted by Phil R. Morris; “The Strawberry Girl,” after Sir Joshua Reynolds, engraved by Samuel Cousins; ‘Romeo and Juliet,” etched by R. Mitchell, after 1. F. Dicksee, and “Great Expectations,” after Lejeune. There is also an exquisite engraving by Thomas L. Atkin- son (engraver of “Peace” and “War” and other celebrated works aiter Sir Edwin Landsecr) of “Lady Godiva,” from the original picture which attracted such vast admiration in the Invernational Exhibition of 1871, by J. Van Lerius, President of the Academy of Arts, Antwerp. A painting by Meyer von Bremen, entitled ‘The Honeymoon,” occuples a prominent piace in the gallery. A rustic interior is represented, with a young girl suspending her work and listening to the approach- ing footstep of her husband, who, bouquet in hand, steals toward her, not knowing that hia approach is perceived, Foreign Art Notes. The Town Council of Liverpool has had under discussion a proposal for the establishment of a fine art gallery for that important town. The cost is estimated at £15,000. Some opposition to the project has been shown, and the further considera- tion of it has been postponed, The Musée de Cluny has received a bequest of some importance from the late M, Cottenot, con- sisting of odjets @art, furniture and armor. The armor lately belonging to the Soltykof collection, for some time past deposited in the Chateau de Pierrefonds, is to remain in that place. A selection of sketches of landacapes by the late Mr. G. Wallwyn Shepheard, and reproduced by the: autotype process, is described as being composed’ of works which rank as rather pretty amateurish. productions, exhibiting trees and pastures, water and rocks, and other elements of nature, tran- scribed yee that recalls the artifices of the late Mr. J. D. Harding. But, artistically speaking, the 8! hes are of very small account, Mr. John W. Wilson, who lately presented a fine Constable to the Louvre, has lent his large collection of bine bg by ancient and modern mas- ters, for exhibition in the lery of the Cercie Artistique et Littéraire, at Brusseis. The exhibi- tion opened on the 1sth inst. M. Jules Claye, of Paris, has published a noble catalogue of this col- lection, superbly printed, with eye-cheering mar- gins, and, above all, enriched with fity-tive ad- mirable bag het 3 Py, French artists, showing, with their characteristic tact and skill, the pecu- Maries ot each painter, not merely the pecultar manner of each ver, A certain Proportion of the pictures are by English artists, an few bear names of note, such a8 Rey: rs. Seyforth and Her Daughter.” A much greater num- ber of these pictures are by Fie: and Dutch painters. With respect to h pictures at the Vien: wi i humiliati pounce forced upon our English artists, Beveuse 0 plotaee even thongh they bad b2en better selected than those now exhibited at Vienna, can- not possibly do justice to our native school. we know that Germans appreciate the English lection even such as it is, Still every one mae feel that English pictures, usual; gebinet oy and ag al most J ape ten genre treatment, necessaril; suffer when brought into cont} titfon wit! large canvases from France and even from Italy and Russia. We that 1t wore possible for the whole ct colors, what do we find? Why, that here - ously are the men and the wee that and an dis it in London. space assigned to Eng- << Popo Asif to make oe be ody ony Song arts are Of solence and art.” Never belore hea een t is right that our Ih painters, scul aren when They nnd themselves ‘horattotd in Vie ‘a9 they were in Paris, should know that it is to their generous and disinterested friends at What thels grativude will be que,’