present day they have
reached the state of dementia and idiocy provided for by Article 448 of
the Civil Code, and require the application of the remedies set forth
by that article, for the security of his fortune and his person, and to
guard the interest of his children whom he keeps to live with him.

"'That, in point of fact, the mental condition of M. d'Espard, which
for some years has given grounds for alarm based on the system he has
pursued in the management of his affairs, has reached, during the last
twelvemonth, a deplorable depth of depression; that his infirm will was
the first thing to show the results of the malady; and that its effete
state leaves M. the Marquis d'Espard exposed to all the perils of his
incompetency, as is proved by the following facts:

"'For a long time all the income accruing from M. d'Espard's estates are
paid, without any reasonable cause, or even temporary advantage,
into the hands of an old woman, whose repulsive ugliness is generally
remarked on, named Madame Jeanrenaud, living sometimes in Paris, Rue
de la Vrilliere, No. 8, sometimes at Villeparisis, near Claye, in the
Department of Seine et Marne, and for the benefit of her son, aged
thirty-six, an officer in the ex-Imperial Guards, whom the Marquis
d'Espard has placed by his influence in the King's Guards, as Major in
the First Regiment of Cuirassiers. These two persons, who in 1814
were in extreme poverty, have since then purchased house-property of
considerable value; among other items, quite recently, a large house
in the Grand Rue Verte, where the said Jeanrenaud is laying out
considerable sums in order to settle there with the woman Jeanrenaud,
intending to marry: these sums amount already to more than a hundred
thousand francs. The marriage has been arranged by the intervention of
M. d'Espard with his banker, one Mongenod, whose niece he has asked
in marriage for the said Jeanrenaud, promising to use his influence
to procure him the title and dignity of baron. This has in fact been
secured by His Majesty's letters patent, dated December 29th of last
year, at the request of the Marquis d'Espard, as can be proved by His
Excellency the Keeper of the Seals, if the Court should think proper to
require his testimony.

"'That no reason, not even such as morality and the law would concur in
disapproving, can justify the influence which the said Mme. Jeanrenaud
exerts over M. d'Espard, who, indeed, sees her very seldom; nor accou