René-Pélagie de Montreuil, marquise de SADE (1741-1810). Manuscript in the hand of lawyer Gaspard Gaufridy (1729-1818), [1774]; 5 pages and a quarter in-fol. Important memoir, inspired by Sade, in which the marquise outlines events since the Marseille affair, defends her husband, and denounces her mother's maneuvers. "Dame Renée Pélagie Cordier de Montreuil, wife of Messire Louis. Donatien Adolphe Aldonce marquis de Sade, chevalier, seigneur de La Coste, Mazan, Saumanes et autres places, in her own right and as administressee of messieurs his children, will expose that she is in the cruel necessity to resort to the protection of the laws to repel at last the most blatant vexation that ever was. The innocent victim of the most sacred attachment, she claims the rights of humanity that have been outraged for too long. She was staying with her husband, the Marquis de Sade, on his land at La Coste in Provence, where she was joined by her sister, the delle de Launay, on the pretext of keeping him company and breathing healthier air. Divided between her attachment to her husband and her tenderness for her children, she enjoyed for a long time this peace which nothing should have disturbed, and her husband's eagerness did not allow her to suspect that a fatal passion was soon to become the focus of a series of misfortunes and misfortunes"... She recounts her husband's departure with a servant in June 1772 for Marseille, the criminal proceedings brought against him there, and her efforts on his behalf: "Although she was convinced that pure gallantry was the only subject of the proceedings, she realized that the most outrageous prejudice had seized all minds [...] her investigation was precipitated by some malevolent genius who feared the return of calm and reflection"... She denounced a crippling judgment handed down by a blind magistrate, inspired by a fatal prejudice... She tried in vain to appeal to her mother Mme de Montreuil: "but tenderness no longer spoke in her favor. To solicit for her husband is to be complicit in his deviations, his deviations! [...] her husband is more unhappy than guilty [...] a victim who must be sacrificed to the peace and happiness of the family that adopted him"... The Marquis had left for Savoy, and had written to Mme de Montreuil, hoping for a resource against the injustice that pursued him. When the President learned of her son-in-law's retreat, she used her maneuvers to have him arrested and imprisoned at the fort of Miolans, a "dreadful stay"... "But what will surprise any sensitive soul is that the lady of Montreuil, who had set herself up as the absolute despot of the Marquis de Sade's person, to the detriment of the law of nations.and public faith", intercepted all his letters... The Marquis was finally able to escape, which redoubled the ardor of the President's persecutions; he managed to return to France and retire to his land at La Coste. Mme de Montreuil, however, "looked with fear upon any attempt to justify her son-in-law and secure his freedom". On the night of January 6, 1774, she had an exempt police officer escorted by the maréchaussée sent to La Coste to seize the marquis and his papers: "the walls of the château were scaled, they entered with pistols and swords in hand", and the whole house was violently searched: "The marquis de Sade's study was the object of the last scene: family pictures were ripped out and cut up, the exempt de police especially distinguished himself by breaking into the desks and cupboards of this cabinet, he seized all the papers and letters he found there; some, at the whim of this exempt, became the prey of the flames, he separated others which he carried away"... The Marquise denounced this "abduction, which violates both the law of nations and the law of humanity, sacrificing the honor of the Marquis de Sade and his family to views relating solely to the Lady of Montreuil"... Etc. The memoir remains unfinished. Correspondance inédite (P. Bourdin), p.9-12.