by order of the Minister of Interior, Ledru Rollin, which, to a certain extent, lent an official character to her movements:—
Citizen Félix has assembled a company, with which he intends visiting various parts of France. It is his intention to have the masterpieces of our stage performed, the Citoyenne Rachel volunteering to be their interpreter. The Citoyenne Rachel has broken engagements to a large amount which she had abroad in order to remain in France! The devotion she has shown to the Republic in Paris, by her admirable creation of the "Marseillaise," she intends displaying in the Departments. The enthusiasm she has diffused here will doubtless produce also the most marvellous and salutary effect in our provinces. It is in the name of Art, over which the Republic intends extending its powerful and beneficial protection, that I request you will take into consideration the sacrifices she makes, and lend your assistance to facilitate the carrying out of her enterprise. Salut et Fraternité.
While at Montpellier, during this tour of 1848, Rachel visited Madame Lafarge, who was imprisoned in the Maison Centrale of that town. Marie Cappelle, veuve Lafarge, had been the heroine of the most singular drama of the century. Born in 1816, she was married by her guardians, in 1840, to a man whose acquaintance she had only made a few days before through an advertisement. Taken away to live in a lonely, tumble-down country house, in daily intercourse with this man, her indifference soon deepened into dislike, which was increased by the morbid idea that he had misrepresented his circumstances and means, and by the uncompromising attitude of his mother, sister, and servants. Who is ever to tell whether she was guilty or not? The great Berryer himself said, talking of the case, "The older I grow the less I venture to decide on the innocence or culpability of a prisoner." The evidence was overwhelming, but, we must remember, given by people who were
