With this title, the
Journal de Chartres, on May 26
th, contained the following correspondence:
“Illiers, May 20th, 1867. Are we in May or are we at the carnival? Last Sunday I thought I was in this last time. As I was crossing Illiers, around four o'clock in the afternoon, I found myself in front of a gathering of sixty, eighty, perhaps a hundred kids, followed by a large crowd, shouting at the top of their lungs to the light of lamps: here is the sorcerer! here is the sorcerer! here's the crazy dog! here is Grezelle! They booed a brave and placid peasant, haggard-eyed, looking scared, who was lucky to find a grocery shop to serve as his shelter. After the songs and the boos came the insults, and the stones flew around, and the poor devil, without this refuge, was perhaps going to have a bad day. I asked a group that was there what that meant; I was told that for some time there had been a meeting of Spiritists, every Friday, at the Sorcery, commune of Vieu-vicq, at the Port d'Illiers. The great Pontiff who presided over these meetings was a mason named Grezelle, and it was this unfortunate man that had just been so much abused. It was because, they said, some very strange things had happened in recent days. He would have seen the devil; he would have evoked souls who would have revealed things to him that were unflattering for certain families. Soon after several women would have gone mad, and some men were following in their footsteps; it appears that the Pontiff leads the way; because of him, a young woman, from Illiers, had completely lost her mind. She would have been told that for certain faults she had to go to the purgatory. On Friday she said goodbye to all her relatives and neighbors, and on Saturday, having made her preparations for departure, she was going to throw herself into the river; luckily, she was being watched, and help came in time to delay her trip. It is understandable that this event touched public opinion. The family of this young woman was very upset, and several members, armed with a good whip, gave the Pontiff a beating, who had the good fortune of escaping their hands. He wanted to leave the Sorcery of Vieu-vicq, to come and establish his Sabbath in Illiers, at a place called “La Folie-Valleran.” It is said that two brave fathers of families, who served as his acolytes, begged him not to come to La Folie, because it is madness[1] to go there; there was also talk that the police would take care of the case. So, leave it to the kids from Illiers. They will know how to get rid of the thing. There are those things that die out, scared away by ridicule.Léon Gaubert.” The same journal, in its issue of June 13
th, 1867, contains the following:
“In response to a letter bearing the signature of Mr. Léon Gaubert, published in our issue of May 26th, we received the following communication, to which we scrupulously preserve its originality: La Certellerie, June 4th, 1867. Mr. Editor, In your newspaper of May 26th, you make public a letter in which your correspondent knocks me out, to show how I was mistreated in Illiers. Mason and father, I have a right of reparation, after being attacked so violently, and I hope you will tell the truth, after allowing the error to spread. “It is quite true, as that letter says, that the children of the school, and many people that I esteemed, pursue me, every time I go to Illiers. Twice, in particular, I almost died to the blows of stones, bats and other objects that were thrown at me, and even today, if I went to Illiers where I am very well-known, I would be surrounded, threatened, mistreated. Besides the materials that rain, the air is filled with insults: madman, sorcerer, Spiritist, such are the most ordinary sweets that I am treated to. Fortunately, this is all that is true, everything that your correspondent writes to you (the text bears: everything that your correspondent adds), is false, and has never existed, except in the imagination of people who have sought to arouse the population against us. Mr. Léon Gaubert, who signed your letter, is completely unknown in the region; I am told that he is an anonymous person, if I have correctly understood the word. I say that if we hide, it is because we feel that we are not doing good; I will, therefore, frankly say to Mr. Léon Gaubert: Do as I did and use your real name. Mr. Léon Gaubert says that a woman, because of excitement and Spiritist practices, has gone mad and wanted to drown. I don't know if she really wanted to drown; a lot of people tell me that it is not true, but even if it were, I have absolutely nothing to do with that. This woman is a salesperson, her reputation has been around here for a very long time. Nobody spoke yet of Spiritism here and she was already known, as she is now. Her sisters help her to persecute me. I tell you that she has never been concerned with Spiritism, for her instincts lead her in the opposite direction. She never attended our meetings, and she has never set foot in the house of any Spiritist in the region. Why then, you will ask me, is she angry with you, and why are they so angry with you in Illiers? It’s an enigma to me; I only noticed one thing, that many people, before the first scene broke out, seemed to have learned about it in advance, and that day, when I entered the streets of Illiers, I noticed lots of people by their doors and windows. I am an honest worker, Sir; I earn my bread honorably. Spiritism in no way prevents me from working, and if someone has the slightest serious reproach to address me, let him fear nothing. We have laws, and under the circumstances in which I find myself, I am the first one to ask that the laws of the land be observed. As for being a Spiritist, I do not hide it; it is very true, I am a Spiritist. My two boys, active young people, tidy and flourishing, are both mediums. Both love Spiritism and, like their father, believe, pray, work, improve and strive to rise. But what is wrong with that? When anger tells me to take revenge, Spiritism stops me, and tells me: all men are brothers; do good to those that hurt you, and I find myself calmer, stronger. The parish priest pushes me away from the confessional, because I am a Spiritist; if I came to him charged with all possible crimes, he would absolve me; but Spiritist, believing in God and doing good according to my powers, I find no favor in his eyes. Many people from Illiers do not act differently, and the one, from our adversaries, that throw stones at me now, because I am a Spiritist, would do better than absolve me, and would applaud me, the day he would find me in an orgy." Note. This quoted paragraph, which was in the original letter, was deleted by the newspaper.
To please, I could not say black when I see white; I have convictions; to me, Spiritism is the most beautiful truth. What is it that you want? Do they want to force me to say the opposite of what I think, of everything I see, and when we talk so much about freedom, does one have to suppress it in practice? Your correspondent said that I wanted to leave the Sorcery to go and establish my Sabbath at Folie-Valleran. Seeing Mr. Léon Gaubert inventing so many unpleasant words, one would really say that he is possessed with rage, to give the clumsiest blows of the towel on everyone's head. Mr. Valleran is one of the most respectable landlords in the country, and by raising a magnificent building he given many workers the opportunity to earn money through honest and lucrative work. Too bad for the one who is upset or would only reluctantly imitate it. Be so kind, Sir, to convey my letter to your readers, to clarify, as it is fair, the persons whose first letter that you published has misled. Yours, etc.Grezelle.” The editor of the newspaper says that he scrupulously preserves its originality; he, no doubt, means by that the form of the style that, in a village mason, is not that of a man of letters. It is likely that if this mason had written against Spiritism, in an even more incorrect style, he would not have been found ridiculous. But, since he wanted so scrupulously to keep the originality of the letter, why delete a paragraph? In case of inaccuracy, the responsibility would fall on its author. To be strictly correct, the newspaper should have added that it had initially refused to publish this letter, and that it only gave in to the imminence of legal proceedings, whose consequences were inevitable, since it was about an esteemed man, attacked by the newspaper itself, in its honor and its consideration.
The author of the first letter, undoubtedly, thought that the burlesque disguise of the facts was not enough to throw ridicule onto the Spiritists; he added a gross mischief, by transforming the name of the locality, that is
Certellerie, into that of
Sorcellerie (Sorcery); it may be very witty for people who like bad taste jokes, but it is not a funny nor elegant joke; that kind of ridicule has never killed anything.
Should we consider these facts as regrettable? They are, undoubtedly for those who have been their victims, but not for the doctrine that they can only benefit.
It is one of two things: either the people who meet in this locality engage in an unworthy comedy, or they are honorable people, sincerely Spiritists. In the first case, it is to render a great service to the doctrine to unmask those that abuse it or that mix its name with ridiculous practices. Sincere Spiritists can only applaud anything that tends to rid Spiritism of ill-faith parasites, in whatever form they appear, and that have always been jugglers and charlatans. In the second, it can only gain from the repercussions resulting from controversial facts, because it excites people to inquire about what is happening; now, Spiritism only asks to be known, because it is certain that a serious examination is the best way to destroy the prejudices aroused by malice, in those who do not know it. Therefore, we would not be surprised if this scuffle did not have a result quite opposite to those that provoked it hoped for, and that it was not the cause of an upsurge in the number of followers of the locality. This is how it has been, wherever a somewhat violent opposition has arisen.
What to do then, the adversaries will ask each other? If we let it happen, Spiritism advances; if we act against it, it advances stronger. The answer is quite simple: recognize that what cannot be prevented is in the will of God, and the best thing to do is to clear its way.
Two of our correspondents, strangers to each other, gave us precise and perfectly consistent information on these facts. Mr. Quômes d'Arras, one of them, a man of science and distinguished writer, at the first account of these events, reported by the
Chartres journal, ignoring the cause of the conflict, did not want to hasten to take sides with the facts or with people, abandoned to the severity of criticism, if they deserved it; but he sided with Spiritism. In a letter full of moderation and convenience, addressed to the newspaper, he strived to demonstrate that if the facts were such as they were reported by M. Léon Gaubert, Spiritism had nothing to do with it, even when one could have used its name. Any impartial person would have seen it as a duty to give way to such a legitimate rectification. It was not so, and the repeated appeals only resulted in a formal refusal. This happened before Grezelle's letter, that was to have the same fate, as we have seen. If the newspaper feared raising the question of Spiritism in its columns, it should not admit M. Gaubert's letter; by reserving the right to attack, and refusing that of the defense, is an easy way to prove oneself right, but not much logical.
Mr. Quômes d'Arras, to ascertain the situation by himself, went to the scene. He was kind enough to send us a detailed account of his visit; we regret that the extent of this document does not allow us to publish it in this issue, in which everything that should be there did not find a place; we summarize the main consequences. Here is what he learned at Illiers, from various honorable people, foreign to Spiritism.
Grezelle is an excellent mason, owner at
La Certellerie. Far from being unreasonable, all those who know him can only do justice to his common sense, his habits of order, work, and regularity. He is a good father of a family; all of his fault is to bother the materialists and the indifferent of the region, by his multiple and energetic statements about the soul, their manifestations after death, and our future destinies. He is far from being the only supporter of Spiritism in the region, that counts, in Brou alone, on many and devoted followers.
As for the women that, according to the
Journal de Chartres, Spiritism would have driven mad or led to guilty acts, it is a pure invention. The fact he is referring to is a well-known seller in Illiers, addicted to drinking, and whose sanity has always been weak. She is angry with Grezelle, and says bad things about him, no one knows why. As the Spiritist ideas circulate in the region, she must have heard about them, and she mixes them up with her incoherent remarks, but she has never given any serious attention to them. As for having wanted to drown, this thought would not be impossible at all, considering her usual state; but the fact seems to be invented. From there, Mr. Quômes d'Arras went to
La Certellerie, five kilometers beyond Illiers. "
When I arrived," he said, "
I asked for Mrs. Jacquet's house, whose name I had been given in Illiers. She was in the garden, with her child among the flowers, doing needlework. As soon as she knew the reason for my trip, she led me to the house, where we were soon joined by her servant, a twenty-year-old woman, a speaking medium and a fervent Spiritist, by Grezelle and his twenty-year-old eldest son. It was not necessary to talk long with this group of people to realize that we were in contact, not with agitated, sorrowful, singular, excited or fanatic minds, but with serious, reasonable, benevolent people, of perfect sociability; frankness, clarity, simplicity, love of the good, such were the salient features that were painted on their exterior, in their words, and I must admit, to my confusion, that I did not expect so much. Grezelle is forty-five years old, married and has two boys; both are writing mediums, as well as him. He calmly recounted to me the sufferings he was enduring, and the plots of which he was the object. Mrs. Jacquet also told me that, in the region, many people harbored the worst feelings against them because they are Spiritists. To my eyes it seemed very likely, and later I acquired the most complete certainty, that these various families are peaceful, benevolent to everyone, incapable of harming anyone, sincerely attached to all their duties; thanking God, I admired the firmness, the strength of character, the solidity of convictions, the deep attachment to the good of these excellent people, that in the countryside, without much education, without encouragement and without visible resources, surrounded by enemies and scoffers, have stood tall their principles, their faith, and their hopes, for four years; They have a courage to defend their flag against laughter, that unfortunately too often, is still lacking in our urban wise men, and even in many advanced Spiritists. Grezelle, the only one that has been positively mistreated, although he has been a Spiritist for three years, has all the enthusiasm of a neophyte, all the zeal of an apostle, and also all the exuberant activity of a mature nature, energetic and enterprising. Because of his business, he is continually mingled with the people of the region, and full of Spiritism, loving it more than life, he cannot help talking about it, bringing it out, showing its beauties, its grandeur, its wonders. With a really convincing and strong word, he produces, amidst the indifferent people that surround him, the effect of fire on water. As he does not consider either the time or the contrary circumstances, one could say that he sins a little by excess of zeal, and perhaps also from lack of prudence." The next day, in the evening, Mr. Quômes attended a Spiritist session, at Grezelle's, composed of eighteen to twenty people, among whom were the mayor, notables of the place, people of notorious honor, who certainly would not have come to an assembly of madmen with enlightened ones. Everything happened there in the greatest order, with the most perfect reverence, and without the slightest vestige of the ridiculous practices of magic and witchcraft. They start with a prayer, during which everyone kneels. To the prayers taken from the
Gospel According to Spiritism, they add the evening prayer and others, taken from the ordinary ritual of the Church.
“Our detractors, especially the ecclesiastics,” adds Mr. Quômes, “would perhaps not have noticed, without embarrassment and astonishment, the fervor of those sincere souls, and their collected attitude, denoting a deep religious feeling. There were six mediums, four of whom were men and two women, including Mrs. Jacquet's servant, speaking and writing medium. The communications are generally weak in style, the ideas are diluted and unchained; some manias even appear in the mode of communication; but all in all, there is nothing bad, dangerous, and everything that is obtained enlightens, encourages, strengthens, carries the Spirit to good or elevates it to God."
Mr. Quômes found in these Spiritists sincerity and unfailing devotion, but also a lack of experience that he endeavored to supplement by his advice. The essential fact that he observed is that nothing in their way of acting justifies the ridiculous picture that the
Journal de Chartres paints. The savage acts, that took place in Illiers, were therefore obviously provoked by malice, and appear to have been premeditated.
We are happy, from our part, that it is so, and we congratulate our brothers of the Canton of Illiers on the excellent feelings that drive them.
Persecutions, as we have said, are the inevitable prize of all great new ideas, and all have had their martyrs; those that endure them will one day be happy to have suffered for the triumph of the truth. Let them, therefore, persevere without discouragement and without faltering, and they will be supported by the good Spirits who observe them; but also that they never depart from the prudence required by the circumstances, and that they carefully avoid anything that might give our adversaries a hold; it is in the interests of the Doctrine.
[1] A wordplay, since madness in French is “folie” that rhymes with La Folie. (T.N.)
