—————— A TREATISE ON TOLERATION. [In 1762 Jean Calas, a Protestant of Toulouse, was done to death by torture on the wheel on the false charge of having slain his son, a suicide. His widow and children were put to the torture to extort a confession, in utter lack of evidence. Voltaire devoted years of unremitting labor to agitating the terrible crime and raising money compensation for the victims. His pamphlets aroused substantial sympathy and protests in England and over the Continent. His efforts led to the writing of over one hundred plays, poems, and pamphlets on the case. Voltaire had the satisfaction of witnessing the triumph of his long struggle. He narrates the facts in this Treatise, which expands into a sweeping exposure of the cruelties committed in the name of religion, in all ages and countries.] LIST OF PLATES—VOL. IV —————— MEMNON AND THE LADY’S UNCLE … _Frontispiece_ THE DISCONSOLATE WOMAN … 62 THE MAID OF ORLEANS AT THE STAKE … 144 WIDOW CALAS APPEALS TO THE KING … 286 ANDRÉ DES TOUCHES IN SIAM. André Des Touches was a very agreeable musician in the brilliant reign of Louis XIV., before the science of music was perfected by Rameau, and before it was corrupted by those who prefer the art of surmounting difficulties to nature and the real graces of composition. Before he had recourse to these talents he had been a musketeer, and before that, in 1688, he went into Siam with the Jesuit Tachard, who gave him many marks of his affection, for the amusement he afforded on board the ship; and Des Touches spoke with admiration of Father Tachard for the rest of his life. In Siam he became acquainted with the first commissary of Barcalon, whose name was Croutef, and he committed to writing most of those questions which he asked of Croutef, and the answers of that Siamese. They are as follows: DES TOUCHES.—How many soldiers have you? CROUTEF.—Fourscore thousand, very indifferently paid. DES TOUCHES.—And how many talapoins? CROUTEF.—A hundred and twenty thousand, very idle and very rich. It is true that in the last war we were beaten, but our talapoins have lived sumptuously and built fine houses. DES TOUCHES.—Nothing could have discovered more judgment. And your finances, in what state are they? CROUTEF.—In a very bad state. We have, however, about ninety thousand men employed to render them prosperous, and if they have not succeeded, it has not been their fault, for there is not one of them who does not honorably seize all that he can get possession of, and strip and plunder those who cultivate the ground for the good of the state. DES TOUCHES.—Bravo! And is not your jurisprudence as perfect as the rest of your administration?