第30章

'May servants who are dissatisfied with their wages use means to raise them by laying their hands on as much of the property of their masters as they may consider necessary to make the said wages equivalent to their trouble? They may, in certain circumstances; as when they are so poor that, in looking for a situation, they have been obliged to accept the offer made to them, and when other servants of the same class are gaining more than they, elsewhere.'" "Ha, father!" cried I, "that is John d'Alba's passage, I declare." "What John d'Alba?" inquired the father: "what do you mean?""Strange, father!" returned I: "do you not remember what happened in this city in the year 1647? Where in the world were you living at that time?""I was teaching cases of conscience in one of our colleges far from Paris,"he replied."I see you don't know the story, father: I must tell it to you.I heard it related the other day by a man of honour, whom I met in company.He told us that this John d'Alba, who was in the service of your fathers in the College of Clermont, in the Rue St.Jacques, being dissatisfied with his wages, had purloined something to make himself amends; and that your fathers, on discovering the theft, had thrown him into prison on the charge of larceny.The case was reported to the court, if I recollect right, on the 16th of April, 1647; for he was very minute in his statements, and indeed they would hardly have been credible otherwise.The poor fellow, on being questioned, confessed to having taken some pewter plates, but maintained that for all that he had not stolen them; pleading in his defence this very doctrine of Father Bauny, which he produced before the judges, along with a pamphlet by one of your fathers, under whom he had studied cases of conscience, and who had taught him the same thing.Whereupon M.

de Montrouge, one of the most respected members of the court, said, in giving his opinion, 'that he did not see how, on the ground of the writings of these fathers- writings containing a doctrine so illegal, pernicious, and contrary to all laws, natural, divine, and human, and calculated to ruin all families, and sanction all sorts of household robbery- they could discharge the accused.But his opinion was that this too faithful disciple should be whipped before the college gate, by the hand of the common hangman;and that, at the same time, this functionary should burn the writings of these fathers which treated of larceny, with certification that they were prohibited from teaching such doctrine in future, upon pain of death.'

"The result of this judgement, which was heartily approved of, was waited for with much curiosity, when some incident occurred which made them delay procedure.But in the meantime the prisoner disappeared, nobody knew how, and nothing more was heard about the affair; so that John d'Alba got off, pewter plates and all.Such was the account he gave us, to which he added, that the judgement of M.de Montrouge was entered on the records of the court, where any one may consult it.We were highly amused at the story.""What are you trifling about now?" cried the monk."What does all that signify? I was explaining the maxims of our casuists, and was just going to speak of those relating to gentlemen, when you interrupt me with impertinent stories." "It was only something put in by the way, father," I observed;"and besides, I was anxious to apprise you of an important circumstance, which I find you have overlooked in establishing your doctrine of probability.""Ay, indeed!" exclaimed the monk, "what defect can this be that has escaped the notice of so many ingenious men?" "You have certainly," continued I, "contrived to place your disciples in perfect safety so far as God and the conscience are concerned; for they are quite safe in that quarter, according to you, by following in the wake of a grave doctor.You have also secured them on the part of the confessors, by obliging priests, on the pain of mortal sin, to absolve all who follow a probable opinion.But you have neglected to secure them on the part of the judges; so that, in following your probabilities, they are in danger of coming into contact with the whip and the gallows.This is a sad oversight." "You are right,"said the monk; "I am glad you mentioned it.But the reason is we have no such power over magistrates as over the confessors, who are obliged to refer to us in cases of conscience, in which we are the sovereign judges.""So I understand," returned I; "but if, on the one hand, you are the judges of the confessors, are you not, on the other hand, the confessors of the judges? Your power is very extensive.Oblige them, on pain of being debarred from the sacraments, to acquit all criminals who act on a probable opinion;otherwise it may happen, to the great contempt and scandal of probability, that those whom you render innocent in theory may be whipped or hanged in practice.Without something of this kind, how can you expect to get disciples?" "The matter deserves consideration," said he; "it will never do to neglect it.I shall suggest it to our father Provincial.You might, however, have reserved this advice to some other time, without interrupting the account I was about to give you of the maxims which we have established in favour of gentlemen; and I shall not give you any more information, except on condition that you do not tell me any more stories." This is all you shall have from me at present; for it would require more than the limits of one letter to acquaint you with all that I learned in a single conversation.Meanwhile I am, &c.