J-"' ^-^ ^1^ *^ OF TERRO ELLIOTT THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES FROM THE LIBRARY OF ERNEST CARROLL MOORE DURING THE REIGN OF TERROR Grace Dalrymplc Klliott From the portrait l>y Cos\vay DURING THE REIGN OF TERROR Journal of my life during the French Revolution BY Grace Dalrymple Elliott With an Introduction and Notes Translated from the French by E, Jules Meras IWew STURGIS & WALTON COMPANY 1910 Copyright 1910 By STURGIS & WALTON COMPANY Set up and electrotyped. Published March, 1910 u CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION ( . ,. 9 V v ~ PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION 19 CHAPTER I Outbreak of the Revolution ......... 29 CHAPTER II Conversations with the Duke of Orleans Sketch of Marie-Antoinette Unpopularity of the Duke of Or- leans with the Court He visits England The Neth- erland Revolutionists My Passport stopped Colonel Gardiner, English Minister at Brussels Gross insult offered to the British Government Interview with the Belgian Revolutionary Leaders Infamous Conduct of Capuchin Priests My Return to Paris The Festi- val of the Federation at the Champ-de-Mars Louis XVI. Marie-Antoinette Talleyrand The Duke of Orleans daily drifting into the hands of the most violent Revolutionists Conversations with the Duke Marie- Antoinette visits my House and Gardens Intrusted with a Commission b> Marie-Antoinette The Cheva- liers du Poignard A Leader wanted for the Royalists 47 CHAPTER III Conduct of Monsieur, since Louis XVIII. Gentleness of Louis XVI. Royal Family escape to Varennes 5 CONTENTS PAGE Brought back to Paris Their brutal treatment by the Mob Position of the Duke of Orleans His disposi- tion He joins the Army The Mob break into the Tuileries, and insult the King Marie-Antoinette's last appearance in public The loth of August My Flight to Meudon Return to Paris Adventures Murder of the Swiss Guards Extraordinary escape of Mar- quis de Chansenets 69 CHAPTER IV The Princess Lamballe's Murder Incidents in the Es- cape of the Marquis dc Chansenets My Adventures in aiding him Domestic Spies Terror during Domicil- iary Visit Interview and Conversation with the Duke of Orleans The Duke procures the escape of the Marquis to England 95 CHAPTER V The Murder of Louis XVI The Duke of Orleans prom- ises not to vote Visit of the Duke of Orleans and the Due de Biron to me Conversation relative to the death of the King The Duke of Orleans breaks his solemn promise Anecdote of an attached Servant of the King General Terror My Illness; the Duke sends to me Anxious to get away to England The Duke unable to assist me I upbraid him for his con- duct in voting for the King's Death His Defence The Countess de Pcrigord's horror for her situation Begs my aid to get away Monsieur de Malesherbes - Another Domiciliary Visit Madame de Perigord con- cealed in a Closet Melancholy position of the Duke of Orleans I am arrested 127 CONTENTS CHAPTER VI PAGE Taken to the Guard-Room, where I pass the night Walked between Soldiers to the Mairie to be examined The Duchesse de Grammont and the Duchesse du Chatelet before the Mairie also Their miserable Fate Frightful Scenes at the Feuillants Encounter the Duke of Orlears there My examination and alarm Brutality of Chabot, the Capuchin Civility of Verg- niaud Letter of Sir Godfrey Webster I am allowed to dqpart, but stopped by Chabot The Duke of Or- leans arrested, with the Comte de Beaujolais Affect- ing Scene between the Due de Biron and the Comte de Montpensier The Due de Biron sent to St. Pelagic Madame de Perigord leaves her Children with me I am sent to St. Pelagic Meet Madame du Barri Her Violence at her Execution Fatal Letter of Mr. Vernon I am released 153 CHAPTER VII My Flight, on being warned that I am to be arrested Incidents of my Flight Reach Meudon I am pur- sued and sent to the Prison of the Recollets, at Ver- sailles Brutality of the Section A Condemned Jew Dr. Gem imprisoned in the same room with me Our miserable Food I procure the discharge of Dr. Gem Deprived of everything, and pray for Death Brutality of Gaoler Young Samson the Execu- tioner the Queen's Death 175 CHAPTER VIII Death of the Duke of Orleans Melancholy feelings on the Event Nothing found among his Papers concern- 8 CONTENTS PAGE ing me Crasseau the Deputy His Brutality to me Imprisoned in the Queen's Stables The Prisoners from Nantes Conveyed to Paris Insulted by the way General Hoche Madame Beauharnais Ma- dame Custine The Alarquis de Beauharnais is sent to the same Prison Affecting parting between the Count de Custine and his Wife The Reign of Terror Santerre I am released 195 Notes . , . .. : ,., -.1 [] 1.1 t . 221 INTRODUCTION The memoirs of Miss Elliott offer a twofold in- terest: they show the attitude of the Due d'Or- leans, Philippe-Egalite, during the course of the French Revolution, and they present a picture of the revolutionary prisons. This last picture is not always accurate. Miss Elliott has for the Due, whose mistress she had been and whose friend she continued to be, an affectionate good-will: it would be childish to deny it, but making allowance for this good-will and the inaccuracies pointed out, these memoirs retain a genuine historical value. As stated in the preface to the first edition, it was the Prince of Wales who introduced Miss Elliott to the Due d'Orleans. After a dissolute youth, the future Philippe-Egalite, had one day discovered that he was passionately fond of Eng- land. It is possible that his mind was not quite clear as to what was most worthy of admiration: 9 no INTRODUCTION the clubs, the English frock-coat, the horse-races or the beautiful example of order and of liberty presented by English institutions. The Due d'Orleans was, through his marriage with Mademoiselle de Penthievre, the wealthiest of French princes. He was tall, strong, and, al- though of heavy features, did not lack majesty. He enjoyed the sports, was with Lauzun, his favo- rite, one of the leaders of anglomania recently made fashionable by them. Very popular in Lon- don and making frequent stays there, it is difficult to give the exact date when the due d'Orleans made the conquest of Miss Elliott. The year 1786 has been mentioned, but at that date the due d'Orleans was already the lover of Madame de Buffon, the last of his mistresses and the only one to whom he remained faithful. However that may be, it is in 1786 that Miss Elliott came to France. The Palais-Royal offered at that time a rather novel spectacle: it was the hour when the first at- tempt towards an opposition to the monarchy was being organized. Out of hatred to Marie-Antoi- nette with whom he had been quite friendly when she was Dauphine, whose lover, it was said, he had INTRODUCTION n tried to become, the due d' Orleans had boldly thrown himself into the first Fronde against the king, that of the Parliaments. There was noth- ing very grave in this : he had been refused the post of grand amiral, he had intentionally been kept away from the government affairs, his feelings had been hurt in matters of precedence, and in showing his vexation and playing the liberal prince, he only followed the ordinary tradition of the younger sons of the royal house. It may be believed that the due d'Orleans obeyed specially the counsels of the Genlis family in whose hands he had then abdi- cated his entire authority. Madame de Sillery de Genlis, having been his sweetheart ten years be- fore, had shown towards him an affection wholly maternal and gently authoritative. Their first bonds had been untied without tears, for the sweet- heart had kept for herself what was important to her ambition and her love of intrigue, an almost absolute influence over the mind of the due d'Or- leans. Madame de Genlis had had her husband ap- pointed captain of the guards and her brother chancellor to the due, thus occupying all the roads 12 INTRODUCTION to his confidence. She had reserved to herself the functions of gouvernante to the children of Or- leans and was then bringing up in a pavilion of the convent of Bellechasse, and as far from the duchess as it was possible for her to do ; the due de Chartres (the future Louis-Philippe), the due de Montpen- sier, the comte de Beaujolais and Mademoiselle de Chartres who became Madame Adelaide. The salon of Madame de Genlis was opened only to those entertaining her views, for it was not by chance that a dense group of future members of the Convention met there. It is certain that Miss Elliott had no share in these political intrigues. When she arrived in France she was no longer the mistress of the due for whom she had no doubt only been one of those fancies on which the duchess d'Orleans closed her eyes. To having been a friend without influence, Miss Elliott owes her being spared in the vindictive memoirs of Madame de Genlis. Wealthy, thanks to two pensions, bestowed by the Prince of Wales and her husband's family, Miss Elliott, having confided her daughter to the care of Lady Chol- mondeley, was free : she was pretty and was not INTRODUCTION 13 thirty years of age when the revolutionary era opened. Through her former intimacy with the due d'Orleans, she found herself attached to all those who had joined their fortune with that of the due. Biron, who had for the second time made the name of Lauzun famous, the due de Liancourt, M. de Talleyrand, the comte de La- marck, the friend of Mirabeau, the comte de Noailles and that squadron of pretty and amorous women, Madame de Buffon, the Marquise de Coigny, Aimee de Coigny, " la re'me de Paris," and others; all those, men and women, who had a common resentment against the Court and Marie- Antoinette. People are easily mistaken regarding the ideas which animated the nobility on the eve of the Revolution. There were two distinct currents. Some wished to free themselves from that depend- ence wherein, since Richelieu, the King held them and to win with him or against him a place in the government. This fraction of the nobility, with instincts clearly feudal, launched into the Revolu- tion smilingly a new Fronde was about to begin and at the start, as was classical, it went to ask tt2 INTRODUCTION the assistance of the Foreign powers. The other fraction, which affected sober airs and claimed to be inspired by the school of Jean Jacques, with the exception of the Liancourts or the La Rochefou- caulds, had no revolutionary designs. Its aim was simply to establish the English Constitution in France by giving to the House of Peers consider- able power in the councils of the government. Miss Elliott, and there is no doubt of it, did not trouble herself in anyway about her friends opinions; not being admitted to the secret meet- ings of Passy, nor to those of Montrouge, she thought that it was only a question of a series of riots, which would be quieted at the proper time, and in connection with which the name of the due d'Orleans was used without authority. As a matter of fact it is now known that the due d'Orleans took an important part in the revolu- tionary movement. His part was less that of a leader than that of one led, but the results remain. The due d'Orleans' faction, this entourage of the due on which Miss Elliott places the burden of responsibility, being carefully analyzed is reduced to a single man, Laclos. Laclos, in that terrible INTRODUCTION 1-5 game in which so many heads were to be the stake, supplied the required clear intelligence and strong will. The problem presented itself plainly to this officer of Engineers, experienced in the study of the sciences : it was necessary to group all disappointed or newly born ambitions around the due d'Orleans, sow gold to produce popularity, slander the queen and her entourage so as finally to put the king, al- ready deprived of the support of a portion of his nobility and at war with his Parliament, alone, face to face with the people. The due d'Orleans was then to come forward as lieutenant of the Kingdom to interpose between the nation and the King, and they would then control the government. From Mirabeau to Talleyrand, all those who aspired to power saw matters in the same light. Owing to the reluctance of Lafayette and Bailly, this plot only resulted in the due d'Or- leans departure for London after the October days. Laclos works out a second plan: the Constitution is based on two contradictory principles: the na- tion, from which all power emanates; the King, who does not receive his power from the nation. Between these two sovereign entities, strife is in- 16 INTRODUCTION evitable, one of these must disappear: the Orleans faction exerts itself so that it may be the King. What is necessary to accomplish this end? Death, which the plethoric condition of Louis XVI and his recluse existence, new to him, make possible, even still less a rash action from the King, the flight. On the morrow of Varennes, it seems that their hopes are realized and that the forfeiture of the throne and the regency of the due d'Orleans are about to be proclaimed at the same time. The due's indecision and the failure of the Champ de Mars attempt mark the end of the d'Orleans party. From that time on he is the prisoner of the Revolution for the same reason that Louis XVI is a prisoner. When Philippe-Egalite, from con- cessions to forfeitures, goes so far as to vote the King's death in the hope of saving his own head, it will be too late : shortly after that, his son's and Dumouriez's treason result in his sentence of death. Miss Elliott, without exactly placing the re- sponsibility for the acts of a prince without dignity or courage, understood that her friend the due d'Orleans, the Prince Rouge, had been more weak than criminal, as much sinned against as he was a INTRODUCTION 17 sinner. She pities him, and bears him no grudge for the painful calvary to which their former at- tachment has led her. But perhaps she somewhat exaggerates the hardships she suffered. If it is a fact that from 1786 to 1801 she re- mained in France, that she was kept under surveil- lance during the Terror and a companion in cap- tivity of old Dr. Gem at Versailles, her name does not appear on any of the registers of the Paris prisons. On her stay in different prisons, she gives pre- cise details, but the text of her journal contains in- accuracies which it is the duty of the historian to notice. Let us quote an example : the Cannes Prison. Miss Elliott reports a conversation which she had with Hoche at the Carmes Prison shortly before the coming of the marquise de Beauharnais; but, it is only forty days after the husband of Josephine that General Hoche was imprisoned in the Carmes. It was not in prison, but long before, that Josephine and her husband become reconciled; Custine, who was executed in January, 1794 and, whom our author mentioned as having been in the Carmes, was arrested at his residence, rue de Lille, i8 INTRODUCTION taken directly to the Conciergerie and from there to the scaffold : Hurrop, whom Miss Elliott pre- sents as a student of the Irish college, guillotined at eighteen, was really thirty-two and was in business. If the English editors' statement that these me- moirs were written after 1801 is accepted as exact, it is possible that these inaccuracies of detail may be imputed to failure of memory, or it may be that Miss Elliott, having so often repeated her misfor- tunes during the Revolution, was unable to resist the not unusual temptation to increase the number of anecdotes. Whatever may be the cause of these imperfec- tions, Miss Elliott's journal nevertheless, contains precious details. The information it supplies on a period but little known of the private life of Philippe-Egalite is particularly valuable. Even if it were admitted that certain episodes of the life in revolutionary prisons had been suggested to Miss Elliott and not lived by her, the ensemble of her account have none the less an appreciable value. The names of Chansenets, d'Araij, Sennason and Milor, which appear in the text, should read: Champcenets, d'Aray, Senozan and Milon. PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION The following narrative of the Life of Mrs. Dalrymple Elliott, during some of the most event- ful scenes of the great French Revolution, was composed at the express desire of his Majesty King George the Third. Mr. (afterwards Sir David) Dundas, physician to the king, was also Mrs. Elliott's medical attendant; and was in the habit of relating, during his visits to the Royal Family, some of the incidents and anecdotes which that lady had communicated to him at various times, in the course of conversation. The King became so much interested that he desired Mr. Dundas to request Mrs. Elliott to commit to paper the story of her Life in Paris, and to send it to him. With this intimation she readily complied, and accordingly the narrative was conveyed by Mr. Dundas to Windsor, sheet by sheet as it was writ- 19 20 PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION ten by her during her residence at Twickenham, after her return from France, at the Peace of Amiens, in 1801. Of her previous history Mrs. Dalrymple Elliott has left no record; but the Editor has gleaned a few facts relative to her birth and earlier years from those who knew her intimately during her residence in England, at the period when she drew up the following narrative, which may be interest- ing to the reader. She is represented as a lady eminently gifted by nature with beauty of person, and grace and elegance of manners; and she was wont to attract the admiration of all who ap- proached her, while she conciliated the regard and affection of those who were more intimately ac- quainted with her. Grace Dalrymple, the youngest of three daugh- ters of Hew Dalrymple, Esq., a branch of, and next in succession to, the noble family of Stair, was born in Scotland, about 1765.* Her father, a barrister, established his reputation by gaining for the plaintiff the celebrated Douglas and Hamilton cause, which Horace Walpole notices as one of * Miss Elliott was born in 1760, not in 1/65. PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION 21 the most remarkable of that period. He was af- terwards appointed Attorney-General to the Grena- das. He deserted his wife, a woman of remarkable beauty, a daughter of an officer in the army, who returned to her father's house, which she never afterwards quitted, and where she gave birth to this her youngest daughter, Grace Dal- rymple. This child was afterwards sent for her education to a convent in France, where she re- mained for some years, being withdrawn when she was about the age of fifteen, and brought to her father's house. At that time it was not the cus- tom, as in these later days, for young persons to mix in evening festivities ; but at one of the suppers given at her father's house, Miss Dalrymple was introduced. On this occasion, Sir John Elliott was present, a man older than her father ; who was so struck with her beauty that he made her an offer of marriage, which was accepted by her with the same inconsiderate haste with which it was proffered. Such an unsuitable and ill-assorted marriage, as might naturally be supposed, was productive of nothing but unhappiness. There was such a total dissimilarity of tastes, as well as 22 PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION of age, that there never existed any affection be- tween them. Grace Dalrymple, now Mrs. Elliott, mixed much in general society; and being so exquisitely lovely, very soon found admirers amongst those more suited to her age. In an evil hour for her, she unhappily became entangled in an intrigue; and her husband, after some indecent treatment, re- sorted to a court of law at once to procure a di- vorce, and to punish the author of their mutual wrongs. The first object was easily obtained, while the second resulted in a verdict of I2,ooo/. damages. In the meantime her brother removed her to a convent in France, assigning as a reason for the course which had been adopted, that the lady was about to contract an unsuitable marriage. Here Mrs. Elliott remained until she was brought over to England by Lord Cholmondeley. She was subsequently introduced to the Prince of Wales, who had been struck with the exquisite beauty of her portrait, which he had accidently seen at Houghton. So celebrated was she for her personal charms that there are several portraits of her by eminent painters still in existence, among PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION 23 others, one by Cosway, which embellishes this vol- ume, another, by Gainsborough, at Lord Cholmon- deley's. The young Prince was immediately fascinated with her beauty, and a most intimate connection succeeded. The result was the birth of a female child, who was christened at Marylebone church, under the names of Georgiana Augusta Frederica Seymour, Lord Cholmondeley and one or two other persons only being present. While Mrs. Elliott remained with the Prince, she of course mingled in the brilliant society about him, and among many other persons of distinction became acquainted with the ill-fated Duke of Orleans, afterwards known as Philippe Egalite so often mentioned in her memoirs. His fondness for Eng- land, its people, and its institutions was well known, and at that time he was popular here, especially in sporting society. We cannot ascertain with certainty when Mrs. Elliott again left England to reside in Paris; but probably it was about the year 1786. Her little daughter was left in charge of Lord and Lady Cholmondeley, but was occasionally permitted to 24 PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION visit her mother at Paris. On these occasions she was always accompanied by a nurse and a footman of Lord Cholmondeley's; but she never resided any length of time with her mother. The Prince of Wales, it is said, made Mrs. Elliott a handsome allowance, and she derived 2oo/. a year also from her husband's family. With these few prefatory remarks we now leave her to tell her own interest- ing story. ILLUSTRATIONS Grace Dalrymple Elliott from the portrait by Cos way Frontispiece FACING PAGE The Attack on the Bastille and Murder of de Launay 43 Lafayette 70 The Attack on the Tuileries 78 The Duke of Orleans (Philippe Egalite) . . .no Bailly, Mayor of Paris 154 General Hoche 200 Charlotte Corday 208 CHAPTER I DURING THE REIGN OF TERROR CHAPTER I In the year 1789, July the I2th, which was on a Sunday, I went, with the Duke of Orleans, Prince Louis D'Aremberg, and others whose names I do not recollect, to fish and dine at the Duke's cha- teau of Raincy, 1 in the Forest of Bondy, near Paris. We returned to Paris in the evening, meaning to go to the Comedie Italienne. We had left Paris at eleven o'clock in perfect tranquillity; but on our return at eight o'clock at the Porte St. Martin (where the Duke's town-carriage was wait- ing for him, and my carriage for me), my servant told me that I could not go to the play, as the theatres were all shut by orders from the police; that Paris was all in confusion and tumult; that the Prince de Lambesc had entered the gardens of the Tuileries, and put all the people to flight; that 29 30 DURING THE REIGN OF TERROR he had killed an old man [not true] ; that the French Guards and the regiment Royal Allemand (which was the Prince of Lambesc's own regi- ment) , were at that moment fighting on the Boule- vards of the Chaussee D'Antin, opposite the depot of the French Guards; that many cavaliers and horses had been killed; and that the mob were car- rying about the streets the busts of the Duke of Orleans and of Necker, crying, " Five le Due d' Orleans! Five Necker! " When my servant had given me this informa- tion, I begged the Duke not to go into Paris in his own carriage, as I thought it would be very im- prudent for him to appear in the streets at such a moment; and I offered him my carriage. On hearing of the events in Paris he seemed much sur- prised and shocked; he told me that he hoped it would be nothing, and that my servant, through fear, must have exaggerated the events. I thought that the Duke meant to show himself to the mob, and really had projects to make a party had he done so, but I never saw more unfeigned surprise than his when he heard that Paris was in such a DURING THE REIGN OF TERROR 31 situation. He then got into my carriage, and begged me to set him down at the Salon des Princes, a club frequented by all the nobility, and where he said he should meet people who would tell him the news. When we got to the club, how- ever, it was also shut by a police order, as was every other club in Paris. We then ordered my coachman to drive to the Duke's house at Mon- ceau, but as the troops were actually at that mo- ment fighting on the Boulevards, and the ground was covered with dead and wounded men and horses, we were obliged to go by the Carrousel, and along the Tuileries garden-wall to the Place Louis Quinze, which we found full of troops, both horse and foot. They were commanded by the Mareschal de Broglie, and had been for some days before encamped in the Park of St. Cloud, and had marched into Paris that evening. I never in my life shall forget the awful but beautiful appearance the Place Louis Quinze pre- sented at that moment. The troops were under arms, and the silence was so great that if a pin had fallen it might have been heard. They al- 32 DURING THE REIGN OF TERROR lowed no carnages to pass without the name of the person being given. I gave mine, and my horses were conducted through the ranks of cavalry at a foot's pace. They had no idea that the Duke of Orleans was in my carriage. We went directly to the Duke's house at Monceau. 2 By this time it was about a quarter past nine o'clock. On the Duke's arrival he found his servants in the greatest confusion and uneasiness, as nobody knew at the Palais Royal where he was gone; and a report had been circulated in Paris that day that he had been put into the Bastille, and be- headed by the King's orders. They told him that all his friends and the Princes of the Blood had been at the Palais Royal and at Monceau to in- quire about him; and that they were in the greatest consternation and anxiety. He, however, ordered his Suisse to let nobody see him that night except the Due de Biron; that he would sleep at Mon- ceau, but that if Madame de Buffon 3 came he would see her. I asked him " what he meant to do?" He said that he was very undecided, but that he should like to know what really was going on in Paris, and what they were doing, although DURING THE REIGN OF TERROR 33 by this time his own people had confirmed what my servant had said. He wished Prince Louis D'Aremberg could see the Due de Biron; that he then would hear something more, which would de- cide his conduct for that night. Carriages were not allowed to pass through the streets of Paris after ten o'clock. As the Duke wished to be alone, I went with Prince Louis to the Due de Biron's on foot. We saw many groups assembled in all the streets near the Tuileries and Place Louis Quinze. I was very anxious about the Duke's situation, and wished much to know the public opinion about him; we therefore mixed in the groups, and of course heard different sides of the question : some were very violent in the Duke's favour, others as violent against him, these latter accusing him of wanting to dethrone the King. This accusation shocked me so much, that I re- turned directly to Monceau, and told him of what horrors they accused him. I found Madame de Buffon with him, and as her politics and mine were very different, I called the Duke into the garden, and we walked there till two o'clock. I entreated him on my knees to go directly to Versailles, and 34 DURING THE REIGN OF TERROR not to leave the King whilst Paris was in such a state of tumult; and by that conduct to show the King that the mob made use of his name without his knowledge or consent, and to express how shocked he was at what was going on, which I really thought he was. He said that " he could not go at so late an hour; that he had heard that the avenues were guarded, and that the King would be in bed, and could not be seen at that hour," but he gave me his word of honour that he would go at seven o'clock in the morning. We did not find the Due de Biron, nor did the Duke of Orleans see him that night. He had gone to Versailles in the evening, thinking to find the Duke there, or to hear of him, as he had a house in the Avenues, besides his apartments in the Palace, as first Prince of the Blood. I then went home, my house being near his; and I heard in the morning that the Duke had gone to Ver- sailles. On the Monday the Comte D'Artois, the Prince of Conde, and the Duke of Bourbon made their escape. They did perfectly right, for they cer- tainly would have been murdered; but they did not DURING THE REIGN OF TERROR 35 at that moment mean or expect, perhaps, to leave their country for ever. All that day, which was the I3th July, Paris was a scene of riot and horror. The murder of Messrs. De Foulon 4 and Flesselles, Prevots des Marchands, is too well known for me to relate. I was unfortunate enough to try to go to my jewel- ler's that evening, and I met in the Rue St. Honore the soldiers of the French Guards carrying Mon- sieur de Foulon's head by the light of flambeaux. They thrust the head into my carriage: at the horrid sight I screamed and fainted away, and had I not had an English lady with me, who had cour- age enough to harangue the mob, and to say that I was an English patriot, they certainly would have murdered me; for they began to accuse me of be- ing one of poor Foulon's friends, and of wishing the people to live on hay, of which they had ac- cused him. I did not attempt to go further, but returned home almost dead. I was put to bed and bled, and indeed was very ill. I soon afterwards received a note from the Duke of Orleans, begging me to go to him di- rectly at Monceau, but I sent to the Duke telling 36 DURING THE REIGN OF TERROR him my situation. He came to me immediately, and was much alarmed to see me so ill. I asked him how he had been received at Versailles? and why he had returned so soon, as the States were then at Versailles in the Jeu de Paume, and he had apartments in the Chateau? He told me that on his arrival, he went directly to the King's levee, who was just getting up. The King took no no- tice of him; but as it was the custom for the first Prince of the Blood to give the King his shirt when he was present, the gentllhomme de la cham- bre gave the shirt to the Duke of Orleans to put over the King's head. The Duke approached the King, who asked him " what he wanted? " The Duke, in passing the shirt, said, " I come to take your Majesty's commands." The King answered him, with great harshness, " I want nothing of you return from whence you came." The Duke was very much hurt and very angry; and, leaving the room, went to the States, which I think were then sitting in the Jeu de Paume; and he returned to Paris at night. He was much more out of humour than I had ever seen him. He said, that " the King and 37 Queen disliked him, and that they would endeavour to poison him; that if he wished ever so much to be of use to the King and Queen, they never would believe him to be sincere; and that he never would go near them again, for he thought himself very cruelly used, as he really meant to be of use to the King; and had he been well received when he went to the levee, things might have been better for all parties, but now he should make friends of his own." From that very instant, indeed, I thought the Duke became more violent in politics; and al- though I never heard him speak with disrespect of the King, I certainly have heard him very, very violent against the Queen. I am very sorry: the Court should have considered the Duke's power, and been more cautious how it offended him, for I am certain that at that moment, had they treated him with consideration, and shown him more confi- dence, they might have withdrawn him from the horrible creatures who surrounded him Talley- rand, Mirabeau, the Due de Biron, the Viscount de Noailles, the Comte de la Mark, and others of less note. These were the first who dragged the 38 DURING THE REIGN OF TERROR Duke of Orleans into all the horrors of the Revo- lution, though many of them forsook him when they saw that he was unfit for their projects. They left him, however, in worse hands than their own; surrounded him with monsters such as Laclos, Mer- lin de Douay, and others, who never left him till they had plunged him in dishonour, and led him to the scaffold. The Viscount de Noailles told me himself, that it was he who introduced that monster Laclos to the Duke, and that he had recommended him as his secretary. This man was the cause of all the crimes which the Orleanist faction has been sup- posed to commit; and I am certain that the Duke knew little of what was going on in his name. The Duke was a man of pleasure, who never could bear trouble or business of any kind; who never read or did anything but amuse himself. At that moment he was very madly in love with Madame de Buffon, driving her about all day in a curricle, and at all the spectacles in the evening; therefore he could not possibly be planning con- spiracies. Indeed, the Duke's misfortune was to have been surrounded by ambitious men, who led DURING THE REIGN OF TERROR 39 him to their purpose by degrees, representing everything to him in a favourable light, and hurry- ing him on till he was so much in their power that he could not recede. Then they threatened to leave him, if he did not consent to their measures. I am certain that the Duke never at that time had an idea of mounting the throne, whatever the views of his factious friends might have been. If they could have placed him on the throne of France, I suppose they hoped to govern him and the country; and they were capable of any horrors to serve their own purposes. The Due de Biron excepted (and he was too much led by Talley- rand), there never was such a set of monsters as the unfortunate Duke's self-styled friends, who pretended to be acting for the good of their coun- try, at the moment they were plotting its total ruin. Such were the people in whose hands the Court had left the Duke. I say left; for I am persuaded that they might, at the beginning, have got him out of the hands of those intriguants, by showing him attention and confidence. He was too powerful to be neglected. Would that they had thought so too! for it would have saved the blood of the un- 40 DURING THE REIGN OF TERROR fortunate Royal Family, and, indeed, perhaps have saved Europe from the dreadful scenes it has ex- perienced since this horrid French Revolution. The Duke of Orleans was a very amiable and very high-bred man, with the best temper in the world, but the most unfit man that ever existed to be set up as a chief of a great faction. Neither his mind, his abilities, nor indeed his education, fitted him for such an elevation; and I long hoped that his heart revolted at the idea of bringing his country into a state of such cruel anarchy. His factious friends found this out at last, for they never could get him to attend to any of their pro- jects; and some of them were fortunate enough to make a sort of peace with the Court; leaving the unhappy Duke in the hands of those miscreants whom they had placed about him, who brought others with them like themselves, until they suc- ceeded in his total ruin and dishonour. This I am grieved to say; for I had known the Duke of Orleans for years, and he had always been good and kind to me as indeed he was to every- body who approached him. I had a sincere friend- ship for him, and would have given my life to save DURING THE REIGN OF TERROR 41 him from dishonour. Nobody can form an idea of what I suffered on seeing him by degrees run- ning headlong into every sort of disgrace; for I am convinced, from the bottom of my soul, that he never thought or intended to go the lengths he did. I have the great comfort of knowing, that from the first day of the horrors in Paris, I always warned the Duke, and told him how it would all end; and I have most awfully to lament the little influence I possessed over him ; for I ever detested the Revolution, and those who caused it. My conduct at that time is well known to all the King and Queen's friends, and by the French Princes now in England, who will do me justice, though they know the attachment I had for the Duke of Orleans, their very gentle but unfortunate cousin. Even when I saw him given up and shunned by everybody, I received him, and tried to make him sensible of his errors. He appeared sometimes as if he felt that he was wrong, and I flattered myself that he would leave it all; but he went from me to Madame de Buffon, of whom he was very fond, but whose politics, I am sorry to say, were those of Laclos and Merlin, whom he always found at her 42 DURING THE REIGN OF TERROR house, where he dined with them every day. They persuaded the pliant Duke that all which was go- ing on was for the good of his country; and of course what I had said was forgotten. To my deep regret, I found he was so surrounded that he could not escape their snares, and that I did no good. He only laughed at me, saying that " I was a proud Scotchwoman, who loved nothing but kings and princes." These thoughts have led me to digress: we will now return to the events which followed the I3th July, 1789. On the morning of the I4th, finding myself able to get up, I went by my garden to the Duke of Orleans, at Monceau, to try to see him before he went to the States. At his gate I found a hackney-coach in the first court, which surprised me, as hackney-coaches were not admitted there. I went directly into the garden, which was open. I saw the Duke in the room conversing with two men. On seeing me he came out, and asked me to make breakfast for him and the Marquis de Lafayette and Monsieur Bailly, two of his friends. I had known Lafayette at Strasbourg and in Paris, but had never seen the other man. I found by their general conversation that they DURING THE REIGN OF TERROR 43 came to consult the Duke about the events which were going on in Paris, and I heard afterwards that on this same day Lafayette was made com- mander-in-chief, and Bailly mayor of Paris. Whilst we were at breakfast, we heard the cannon, and the report of the taking of the Bastille, on which these gentlemen went off in a great hurry. The Viscount de Noailles and the Duke de Biron came in directly afterwards, and as I saw I could have no conversation with the Duke, I went away. The Duke came into the garden with me. I had only time to entreat him to go once more to the King and offer his services. He was very angry with me, and asked me whether " I was paid by his enemies to give him such advice? " and left me directly. I went home extremely unhappy, for I then saw that he was at open war with the King, which was what I dreaded the most, as from that moment I considered him entirely In the hands of his factious followers. In the course of that day the Bastille was taken, Monsieur de Launay and others were murdered, every sort of brutal excess was committed, and scenes of horror were occurring every hour. The mob obliged everybody to wear 44 DURING THE REIGN OF TERROR a green cockade for two days, but afterwards they took red, white, and blue, the Orleans livery. The streets, all the evening of the I4th, were in an uproar ; the French Guards and all those who were at the taking of the Bastille, were mad drunk, dragging dead bodies and heads and limbs about the streets by torch-light. The same day they went to the country-house of M. Berthier, 5 the Intendant of Paris, and forced him into a cabriolet to take him to Paris. When they got near Paris, a fresh mob, with some of the French Guards, met him, and with sabres cut off the top of the cabriolet. They then beat him and pelted him, and cut his legs and face. When they got him to the Porte St. Martin, they brought his father- in-law's (M. Foulon's) head, and made him kiss it, and then they forced him to get out of the cab- riolet, and hung him up to a lantern. They then dragged his body through the streets, and carried his head to the house of his father-in-law, where Madame Berthier, his poor wife, was lying-in. They took the head into her room; and she ex- pired that same evening from the fright. Such were the dreadful scenes of that day! CHAPTER II CHAPTER II From this period I saw little of the Duke of Orleans. I went to the chateau of a friend of mine at Ivry, near Paris. Many events happened in the course of the summer, known to all those who have read the history of the French Revolu- tion. My object being only to give some anec- dotes of the Duke of Orleans, I will not pretend to detail all the events which took place; nor indeed could any pen give an adequate description of them, or any idea of that horrid and bloody period, which is a disgrace to human nature. The Duke came twice to dine with me in the country, and I found his manner much altered. He was low-spirited, which never was his natural character. I always expressed great uneasiness to him on account of his situation; at which he laughed, and said that " I was very foolish, and that he had no reason to be uneasy; that I was 47 4 8 like all the aristocrats, and wanted to thwart pop- ular opinion; that he never was angry with people on account of their opinions about the Revolution, and wished that people would leave him alone." In October I left Ivry, and stayed in Paris all the winter. My house being near Monceau, I saw the duke very often; but as I perceived that what I said displeased him, I thought it best not to talk politics, when I could avoid it. At that moment I flattered myself that those horrible revolutionary principles would soon have an end, either by the French people finding out their own miserable sit- uation, and rallying round their monarch, or by the assistance of foreign troops. Though I dreaded the storm which then would have fallen on the Duke, yet I must own, and indeed I have often told him so, that I should prefer to hear of his per- petual imprisonment, even of his death, rather than to see him degraded and dishonoured. Soon after this came the 5th of October, a mem- orable and dreadful day. But I must here do justice to the Duke of Orleans. He certainly was not at Versailles on that dreadful morning, for he breakfasted with company at my house, when he DURING THE REIGN OF TERROR 49 was accused of being in the Queen's apartments disguised. He told us then that he heard the fish- women had gone to Versailles with some of the Fauxbourgs, and that people said they were gone to bring the King again to Paris. He informed us that he had heard this from some of his own servants from the Palais Royal. He said he was the more surprised at this, as he had left the Palais Royal gardens at nine o'clock of the night before, and all then seemed perfectly quiet. He expressed himself as not approving of their bringing the King to Paris; " that it must be a scheme of La- fayette's; " but added, " I dare say that they will accuse me of it, as they lay every tumult to my account. I think myself this is a mad project, and like all that Lafayette does." He stayed at my house till half-past one o'clock. I have no reason to suppose that he went to Versailles till late in the day, when he went to the States, as everybody knows. The unfortunate King and Queen were brought to Paris that evening by Lafayette's mob. I have entered into this subject that I may have an opportunity of declaring that I firmly believe the Duke of Orleans was innocent of the cruel 50 DURING THE REIGN OF TERROR events of that day and night; and that Lafayette was the author and instigator of the treatment the august Royal Family then met with. If the Duke of Orleans' greatest enemies will be candid, I am sure that they must acquit him of the events of that day, a day, which, in my opinion, de- cided the fate of the Royal Family, and which showed the country what dreadful events might be expected from such a set of monsters. The Duke of Orleans was even tried on this account, but the proofs were so absurd that it was dropped. And indeed it was clear to everybody, that Lafayette and his party were the only guilty people. It is well known that the King and Queen were never again allowed to return to Versailles. They were not even permitted to go to St. Cloud, though their health and that of their children required country air. They used to allow the poor Queen, as a great favor, to go out in her coach and six, accompanied by the Dauphin and Madame Royale, Madame Elizabeth, and Madame de Tourzelle. On these occasions they always looked dismal and unhappy; indeed they had every reason to be so, for very few showed the Queen the least respect. DURING THE REIGN OF TERROR 51 Even those who some months before would have lain down in the dust to make a footstool for her, passed her and splashed her all over. I used fre- quently to meet her Majesty when I was driving my curricle. Of course I showed her every mark of respect in my power, at which she expressed her- self much pleased. Indeed she had the condescen- sion to send one of her equerries, M. de Chatiers, after me, to ask me how my daughter was, as her Majesty had been good enough to think her a beautiful child, and to take great notice of her when she was about three years old, at St. Cloud, and had sent the Duke de Liancourt for her, and kept her upon her knee all the time their Majesties were at dinner. From that moment I always felt myself obliged to the Queen for her kindness to my child. I believe that she was as amiable and good a princess as ever lived. She was cruelly slandered by the French nation. I have known intimately those who attended nearest to her Majesty's per- son, and from \vhom she hid nothing, and they as- sured me that she was goodness itself a kind and most affectionate mistress. Indeed she was 52 DURING THE REIGN OF TERROR too much so to many who did not deserve her kindness. The Queen's misfortune was that she had been brought very young to the Court of Louis the Fifteenth, where she was exposed to scenes of levity and improper society. She had thus imbibed a taste for fashions and public amuse- ments, which she could not have enjoyed, had she kept up her etiquette as a great queen. By this means she made herself many enemies amongst the formal old ladies of the Court, whom she dis- liked, and attached herself to younger people, whose taste was more suited to her own. This was never forgiven by the old nobility, and her most innocent actions were represented in a bad light; her enemies, indeed, accused her of every sort of vice. But let them reflect one moment on those who formed the Queen's most intimate so- ciety. It was Madame Elizabeth, the King's sis- ter, who was an angel, and as pure as snow. Was she likely to have connived in the Queen's dis- honour? The idea is horrid; yet the parties at Trianon, which were made so much the subject of calumny, were always under the management of that virtuous princess. Madame Elizabeth's at- DURING THE REIGN OF TERROR 53 tachment for the Queen continued till her last mo- ments, which I think proves more than sufficient for the unfortunate Queen's vindication. Lafayette's treatment of the Royal Family during their cap- tivity in the Tuileries was very harsh. He was always raising reports of their wishing to escape, that he might make himself of consequence both to the royalists and his friends the rebels. These reports always ended in some new insult shown to the Royal Family. At this time the Duke of Orleans became more and more execrated by the Court and the royalists, without having more power in his own party, who were constantly making use of his name while committing horrors in conjunction with Lafayette's party; and I must here again declare I do not be- lieve that what was called the Orleans faction ever even consulted the unfortunate Duke about their proceedings. Soon after this the Court seemed to treat the Duke a little better, and the King appointed him High Admiral of France, which surprised people at that moment. How- ever, his favour did not last. The King about that time was very ill with a cold, and kept his 54 DURING THE REIGN OF TERROR bed at the Tuileries. Of course all the nobility went to pay their respects to his Majesty. The Duke of Orleans went also. When the King heard that he was there, he said, " Let the Duke of Orleans approach my bed, and let all the curtains be opened, that he may see that it is I ; or a report will be raised in Paris that I have fled, and that somebody else was in the bed." This anecdote the Duke told me himself, and he was much displeased with the King on that account. Soon after this the ministers and the Court thought that if they could get the Duke out of Paris things would be quieter. They supposed him to have more partisans than he really had, and also more power. It was at this time that they conceived the idea of the Duke being made Duke of Brabant a very ridiculous plan. I believe, however, that the Duke was foolish enough to consent to it, and, indeed, to wish it much. For that purpose they gave him a sort of mission to England, but on what subject I never positively knew, as I never conversed with the Duke on that matter. Our ministers must know what brought him to England. Many ill-natured reports were DURING THE REIGN OF TERROR 55 spread in Paris, such as asserting that Lafayette had forced the Duke to leave Paris, as he had proofs that the Duke had attempted to get the King assassinated. This was false, as the Duke and Lafayette were at that moment good friends, and had met as friends the evening before the Duke went to England at Madame de Coigny's, where they were on the best of terms. I have some let- ters of Lafayette to the Duke since that period, full of respect and compliments. In the spring of 1790 I went to Brussels, and saw many of the Duke's agents, such as Comte de la Mark, Walgains the banker, and others; but I soon found out that the Comte was more active with a view of becoming Duke of Brabant himself, or at least of getting the dukedom into his own family. I saw him as active in that revolution as he has been in France. That country was then in full revolt against the Emperor. There were two rebel parties, the Vandernotts and the Vonckists: the first were so on religious pretexts, and the others were more inclined to the Jacobins of France. This party was the one which was supposed to fa- vour the Duke of Orleans; and of this party were 56 DURING THE REIGN OF TERROR the D'Arembergs. I had an opportunity of seeing both Vandernott and Vannpar [qy.], who was a monk of the order of the Penitents, and always wore the habit. He was a very clever, artful man, and under the mask of religion led the others. Vandernott was an avocat, very quick and active, and was the chief actor under Vannpar. At that period people who resided at Brussels were obliged to have a pass to go out of town. On sending one day to the town-house to get one to go to the Duke d'Aremberg 7 at Enghein, be- tween Halle and Conde, they sent me word that they had orders not to let me go out of the town. I was much surprised and shocked at this, as I con- sidered myself an English subject. I went imme- diately to Colonel Gardiner, our Minister at Brus- sels, 8 to complain. He said that " he was not surprised at anything the States did; that they had some days before stopped his own messenger going to England, and had broken open his despatches; that he had been to the States to complain, but had had no redress; that he did not mean to go to them any more till he heard from his Court what he was to do; and that if I insisted on his going on my DURING THE REIGN OF TERROR 57 account he would, but he thought he had better not." I said, I had a great mind to go myself to Vandernott, as I used often to meet him, and he always bowed to me. Colonel Gardiner thought that I should do right. I went accordingly that same day, and found Vandernott and Vannpar to- gether. I sent in my name, and was very well re- ceived. I stated my complaint, and that as a sub- ject of the King of England they had used me ill. He said that " he had never given such orders; tLat other members must have done it; that he was so much harassed by business that he could not be answerable for every fault that was committed. He was very sorry, and assured me I should from that moment have a pass to go and come from Eng- hien whenever I pleased." At the same time he told me that " he knew I was come from Paris, and there saw much of the Duke of Orleans, and at Brussels lived a great deal with the D'Arembergs, and of course was of their party." I assured him that " I was not; that though I saw much of those people, yet I never had liked their revolutionary conduct either in France or Brabant; that I always was a royalist, and ever should be such; that I was 58 DURING THE REIGN OF TERROR neither a Vandernottist nor a Vonckist. Both Vandernott and Vannpar smiled, and said "at least I was very honest; but as there were very few royalists in Brussels I was not dangerous, and they would not disturb me any more." They were in high good humour, as that very day they had re- ceived news of a victory over Vandermerck, a Vonckist general. The villagers were beginning to enter Brussels in procession, bringing large baskets filled with gold of all coins, to give to Vandernott to carry on the revolution. These processions were followed by monks of all orders, Capuchins, &c., on horseback with a cross in one hand and a sword in the other. They were closed by the hangmen of the villages and towns, carrying gallows and racks. In the evening these poor deluded people returned to their villages drunk and in complete riot. I witnessed many terrible scenes in Brussels, sim- ilar to those in France, but here religion was the pretext. I saw poor creatures murdered in the streets because they did not pull their hats off to Capuchins, or for passing a bust of Vandernott without bowing very low. His busts were put all DURING THE REIGN OF TERROR 59 over the town and even in the theatre. Vandernott was a very odd-looking man. He was, I fancy, about forty, rather tall and thin. He was full of vivacity, and did not look ill-natured, though very ugly. I never shall forget his dress. It was a Quaker-coloured silk coat lined with pink and nar- row silver-lace, a white dimity waistcoat, white cotton stockings, net ruffles with fringe round them, and a powdered bob-wig. The horrors now began to gain ground in Brus- sels. The Austrians got possession of the town, but were unfortunately driven out again by the patriots. There was a truce one night. During this time the poor Austrians were lying in the Park of Brussels, without food or anything they wanted, for the inhabitants of Brussels did not dare even to sell them an ounce of bread. Here they lay all night in the wet. As my house was in the Park, I gave them out of the window everything that was in the house of eatables and drink; and so did Prince Louis d'Aremberg, though it was not his brother's party, he having always remained a staunch royalist. As I feared when the Austrians left Brussels 60 DURING THE REIGN OF TERROR that I might be ill-used by the mob, I set off for Paris the next day, hoping to remain there quiet. At this time the Duke of Orleans was in England, but his enemies having propagated stories of his not daring to return to France, his friend the Due de Biron pressed him much to return, and show the world that he was not afraid of Lafayette. I was in Paris when the Duke returned, which was the 1 3th of July, 1790, at night. The following day, the 1 4th, was the first famous Federation, when the King and Queen went to the Champ de Mars, and when Monsieur de Talleyrand, then Bishop of Autun, said mass before their Majesties. The Duke of Orleans walked in the procession, and peo- ple were much surprised to see him, after the re- ports which had been circulated. I saw him that same day. He dined with me, as did the Due de Biron and others. He had brought me letters from England, where he had seen my daughter. The Duke expressed much regret at leaving England: would to God that he had stayed there ! He was, however, rather well received at Paris; but his faction was always afraid lest he should be better treated by the Court, DURING THE REIGN OF TERROR 61 and so slip through their fingers. They were en- chanted at his having been very much insulted one day at Court, as they saw that they had nothing more to fear from that quarter; and the Duke by that means became every day more and more in their power. I wish that the Court would have believed me. The Queen had very often expressed her approba- tion, and indeed had sent me kind messages as to my conduct during the Revolution. She well knew the advice I always gave the Duke of Orleans; indeed her Majesty charged me once with a mission to Brussels, which showed the opinion she honoured me with, though she knew that I saw the Duke every day. I always hoped to be of use, but alas ! I did not succeed. Madame de Buffon and the Duke's friends did everything they could to prevent his coming to me. They used to tell him that as I saw none but royalists and his enemies, I should get him assassinated. However, he never would give me up; and though he heard nothing but harsh truth from me, he always came to me, and he always assured me that he believed I was sin- cere in thinking I gave him good advice, but that the royalists had turned my head, and would cause my ruin. I wish that he had believed in my fore- sight, for I often foretold him what has since happened. I took at that time a house at Issy, near Paris, which belonged to the Duchess St. Infantador. She, poor woman, had been a friend of the Queen, who used often to go to Issy with her children to walk in the grounds. It was a beautiful place, and there her Majesty could enjoy a little quiet, without being followed by a crowd of National Guards. The people of the village accused the Duchess of hiding effects of the Court and royalists, and used to go in the dead of night and search the house. This plagued her so much, that she left France and returned to Spain, leaving orders that her house might be let. I took it for two years, but the village was so Jacobin that I left it, and bought a small cottage at Meudon, some miles further. The Queen came twice to Issy while I had it, and was always condescending enough to ask my leave to walk in the grounds. Her Majesty, hearing that I had thoughts of returning to Brussels, sent a great lady to my house DURING THE REIGN OF TERROR 63 with a small box and a letter for the Archduchess, which I was to deliver into her own hands. I did not intend going to Brussels, but I never made that known to her Majesty. I got a passport from Lord Gower, 9 our ambassador, and felt myself happy in taking this journey to be of use to the Queen. When I got to Brussels, the Archduchess had just left it with the Duke Albert; and as the Queen had foreseen the possibility of this, she had desired me in that case to deliver it to General Boileau, who was at Mons, commanding the Aus- trian army. The Queen's coming to Issy gave rise to a re- port that her Majesty had had a conversation with the Duke at Issy. The Duke would often dine with me there, and indeed often met the young nobles who had returned to Paris from Germany or England, in hopes of being of use to the King. But all their plans were ill-conceived and very ill- executed, turning out always to the unfortunate King's disadvantage, as they gave the conspirators an opportunity of confining the King and his fam- ily more severely. I was always uneasy when the Duke came and the royalists were present, as I was 64 DURING THE REIGN OF TERROR afraid of the Duke meeting with any insult in my house. That would have made me miserable. But as politics were never discussed, and the Duke was very civil and good-natured to them, nothing disagreeable happened; though the young men, as well as the Duke, seemed much embarrassed. They had all been his intimate friends before the Revolution, and had liked and respected him much; therefore their situation was more distressing. These nobles were what were called Les Chevaliers du Poignard. Everybody must remember the day when they rallied round the King at the Tuileries, a project which was not of the least use. They wanted num- bers, and an able chief. Had any prince of the Bourbons come to Paris, or planted a standard to make a rallying point for the royalists in any part of France, I really think the King might have been delivered; but very unfortunately there was no one chief on whom they could depend. I myself, since the reign of Bonaparte, have heard General Leopold Berthier, brother to the Minister at War, say that he and his brother would have repaired to any standard where there was a DURING THE REIGN OF TERROR 65 chief of the House of Bourbon, and have fought for the King to the last drop of their blood. I have heard other generals say as much. I am cer- tain that three parts, at least, of France would have done the same. What a misfortune for the world that this was not the case ! Even the brave and loyal Vendeans were sacrificed for want of a proper chief. That valiant and hardy people, in spite of all the calam- ities they had suffered, would ever have been ready to rise for the royal cause. Their loyalty and reli- gion will always keep them faithful subjects. The King, poor man, had now little exercise. When he rode out, accompanied by the few friends he had left, such as the Due de Brisac, the Cheva- lier de Coigny, and others, that wretch Lafayette always followed him with twenty or thirty of the officers of the National Guards, so that he seldom went out, as his rides were not comfortable in such company. CHAPTER III CHAPTER III Monsieur, now Louis XVIII. was in Paris dur- ing all these events; but he lived a great deal with people of letters, and seldom left the Luxembourg but to go to the Tuileries. Many have blamed this prince for his conduct when he went to the Hotel de Ville; but I am certain, and everybody is now convinced of it, that his motive for so doing was the hope of being of use to the unfortunate King, his brother. These were most certainly vir- tuous motives, although not attended with success. This prince has always been much respected by the King's friends, and those who blamed him the most saw that the motive was good. The friends of Lafayette were ever talking of the King's escape. Would to God that he had suc- ceeded in getting off! It would have spared France from many crimes, and saved the life of that virtuous monarch, who was too good to reign 69 70 DURING THE REIGN OF TERROR over such miscreants. He was religious, and could not bear to shed the blood of his subjects; for had he, when the nobles went over to the Tiers Etats, caused the unfortunate Duke of Orleans, and about twenty others, to be arrested and executed, Europe would have been saved from the calamities it has since suffered; and I should now dare to regret my poor friend the Duke, who, instead of dying thus regretted, lived to be despised and execrated, and to perish on a scaffold by the hands of those whom he had dishonoured himself to serve. These are cruel truths for me to tell, but such they are. Everybody knows that in the summer of 1791 the King and royal family tried to make their es- cape. I have no doubt that Lafayette was privy to the event, and afterwards through fear betrayed him. They were stopped at Varennes, used most cruelly, and brought back to Paris in a most bar- barous manner. I saw them in the Champs Elysees as they came back, and witnessed such a scene as it is impossible to describe. The inso- lence of the mob and the wretches that sur- rounded the travelling coaches they were in was very terrible. The faithful Garde de Corps, who Lafayette DURING THE REIGN OF TERROR 71 hac. followed the King, were tied hands and feet with ropes on the coach-box of their Majesties' carriage, which went at a foot-pace, that the mon- sters might follow. They were leaning on the coach, smoking, swearing, and talking the most indecent language. They prevented any air get- ting into the carriage, though the poor Queen was dying with heat and fatigue, for they had not been in bed since they left Paris, and it was one of the hottest days I ever felt. This was another dread- ful event. I left Paris that evening for Spa, 10 and found Monsieur, now Louis XVIII. , at Brussels. He had succeeded in making his escape by Valen- ciennes. I wish that the King had taken that road and gone alone, but he never could be persuaded to leave the Queen, as he feared that the mob would murder her. I stayed at Spa till Septem- ber. Would that I had never again returned to France! But at that moment we expected the Prussians, the Austrians, and Swedes to join and save France from any further faction; for though the King's arrest at Varennes had much damped the spirits of the royalists, the case was too interest- 72 DURING THE REIGN OF TERROR ing to be given up. Spa was full of emigrants, and they all expected soon to return to France. The unfortunate King of Sweden, who was him- self assassinated some months after, was a sincere friend of the King of France, and would have aided the counter-revolution with all his power. I knew him, and thought him one of the best-bred and most amiable men I ever saw. On my return to Paris I found that many of the emigrants had entered France in hopes of a change, but Lafayette and his friends had so surrounded both the outside and inside of the King's palace with spies, that it was hardly possible for the friends of the King or Queen to have any commu- nication with them; and their projects were again and again frustrated. I cannot recollect any other events of that year, except that on my return to Paris I found the Due de Choiseul and the Comte Charles de Damas had been arrested for being colonels of the two regi- ments which were to have favoured the King's es- cape. I had a letter given me at Spa by Cornte Roger Damas for his brother, and I was deter- mined to deliver it into his own hands, for fear it DURING THE REIGN OF TERROR 73 might contain anything about the passing events. He was imprisoned at the Mercy, a convent of Brothers in the Marais. I obtained admission there, and saw both him and the Due de Choiseul. They were in very low spirits, but the King got them relieved soon after. After this, I remained always either at Issy or in- Paris, till I bought my house at Meudon. 11 I often saw the Duke of Orleans, but was so disappointed at the very unfortunate turn everything took for the royal cause, that I avoided as much as possible listening to anything on the subject. I observed also how the Duke was daily lowering himself. I was, indeed, very unhappy. His faction, and of course himself, were accused of the disturbances which were going on. That faction, without the Duke, was capable of anything; still I do not be- lieve that all the riots were committed by it. La- fayette did much harm. The Duke of Orleans was taxed with having given large sums of money at the beginning of the Revolution to incite the French Guards to revolt. This I do not believe; nor could those who ex- amined his papers and affairs after his death ever 74 DURING THE REIGN OF TERROR find any evidence of this having been the case. Those who made this examination were not the Duke's friends, and would not have spared him could they have found it out. There were in his accounts only thirteen thousand livres for which they could not account; but so small a sum could not have paid such a body of men. Lafayette himself incited them to revolt. I am certain, that had the Duke of Orleans expected the Revolution to last more than six months, he never would have wished it. He had the great fault of not forgiving easily. His governor, the Comte de Pons, when he had finished the Duke's education, and he went out of his hands, made use of this expression : " I have finished the education of a young prince who will make a noise, but he must not be offended he does not pardon." This, however, was not quite the case, for I have seen him forgive; and never saw him nor heard him pay any ill-natured thing to anybody until his head was turned by the horrid Revolution. In the year 1792, the Duke went to join the French Army du Nord, commanded by the old Comte de Rochambeau. He had his three sons DURING THE REIGN OF TERROR 75 with him; at least, Monsieur le Due de Mont- pensier and the Comte de Beaujolais. I think that the Due de Chartres was then more advanced in Brabant with Dumourier, but I cannot remember the events of the army. The poor Royal Family got worse used every day: their existence indeed was terrible. When the French army was de- feated at Mons, the Due de Biron commanded, and the Dukes of Chartres and Montpensier were with him. It was their first campaign and I remember that it was after this period the Duke of Orleans went to join the army at Courtray, and took his youngest son, Comte de Beaujolais, with him. In the course of this summer, the 2oth of June, the Poissardes and the Fauxbourgs, headed by San- terre, came down to the Tuileries, and forced their way into the King's apartments, as the King would never allow the troops to fire on the mob ; indeed, most part of the troops were National Guards, who were no better than the mob that came. These miscreants forced the red cap on the King's head, and used gross and familiar language to him. They wanted to get to the Queen's apartments, as was supposed to murder her. It was Madame 76 DURING THE REIGN OF TERROR Elizabeth who prevented them. However, the Queen was frightened, and came and placed her- self by the King's side, to whom she always fled for protection. They brought a little red cap for the dear little Dauphin. He was present, dressed in the regimentals of the nation, for they had formed a corps of little boys which was called the Prince Dauphin's regiment. In short, this mob, after staying a great part of the evening, annoying the King and Queen, drinking and stealing everything they could lay their hands on, quitted the Palace, and left the Royal Family convinced that they had now nothing to expect but similar insults. At that period I received a letter from the Duke of Orleans, who was then at Courtray, which let- ter I have now before me, expressing his satisfac- tion at being out of Paris at that moment. In it he says: " I hope they will not now accuse me; " but if he was innocent, his friends perhaps were not; and the gross insult offered to the King at the Palace was imputed to Robespierre and Marat, who never were even of the Orleans faction. Af- ter the 2Oth of June, the people who wished well to the King and Queen were desirous that her Maj- DURING THE REIGN OF TERROR 77 esty should sometimes appear in public, accompa- nied by the Dauphin, a most interesting, beautiful child, and her charming daughter, Madame Royale. In consequence of this she went to the Comedie Italienne with her children, Madame Elizabeth, the King's sister and Madame Tour- zelle, governess to the royal children. This was the very last time on which her Majesty appeared in public. I was there in my own box, nearly op- posite the Queen's; and as she was so much more interesting than the play, I never took my eyes off her and her family. The opera which was given was Les Evenements Imprevus, 12 and Madame Dugazon played the sonbrette. Her Majesty, from her first entering the house, seemed distressed. She was overcome even by the applause, and I saw her several times wipe the tears from her eyes. The little Dauphin, who sat on her knee the whole night, seemed anxious to know the cause of his un- fortunate mother's tears. She seemed to soothe him, and the audience appeared well disposed, and to feel for the cruel situation of their beautiful Queen. In one of the acts a duet is sung by the soubrcttc and the