•,(;_ ' '■■ ' . THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS I LIBRARY I JEAN B-AirL MAI? AT ^*rv THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS DURING 'THE TERROR' BY EDMOND EIRE TRANSLATED & EDITED BY JOHN DE VILLIERS WITH TWO PORTRAITS IN TWO VOLUMES VOL. I LONDON : CHATTO ^ WINDUS NEW YORK : DODD, MEAD ^ CO. 1896 LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA BARBARA PREFACE This does not pretend to be a history either of the Revolution or even of that period which, though so short, was yet so full of crime and anguish, and A\hich will for ever bear the dread name of the TeiTor. The most that is attempted in these pages is to present to the world a phase of this lugubrious epoch in the form of a rough and simple sketch. I have read the greater part of the ne\vspapers of the time, and have perused a considerable number of pamphlets ; I have paid particular attention to bills and posters, and M. Gustave Bord was good enough to })lace at my disposal his collection of miscellaneous documents, made with great care and diligence. Living for months together amidst these witnesses of events long past, it almost seemed to me that I had become their contemjjorary ; that, like the ' awakened sleeper ' of poor Cazotte — one of the first victims of the Terror — I, too, walked in the streets of the Paris of "'93 ; that I frequented its public places ; that, after a sitting of the Conven- tion, I strolled into a cafe of the Maison Egalite ; that I mingled Avith the crowd in the squares and the theatres, waiting my turn with the people in fi'ont of the bakers''-shops, following them sometimes with a heavy heart and swimming eyes as far as the Place de la Revolution or the barrier of the Trone Ren verse, where the tumbrel came jolting along through the midst of the hooting mob, and heads fell to the cry of ' Vive la Repuhlique !' vi PREFACE Recognising that the sole means of ridding my mind of these dark visions was to commit them to paper, I did so, and called my notes " The Diary of a Citizen of Paris during the Terror." I laid them aside for some time after writing them ; then one day I re-read my lines coolly and critically, as I would have read a stranger"'s work. Deciding to publish them, I thought it not unwise to add some notes and comments, for which I have drawn upon the latest works of historians and critics. I have left nothing undone in order to conscientiously fulfil my duty as an editor, and I have not hesitated to adduce any number of proofs, even at the risk of seeing the text swallowed up by the notes. The latter will at least prove, by their number and extent, that the most scrupulous care has been observed in the compilation of the Diary, that it contains no fiction, and that all the facts, even tlic most insignificant in appearance, are based upon authentic and contemporary documents. History, I know, is a Muse, and the most serious and severe of all. But though she should always be treated with respect, can she not occasionally be approached more familiarly ? Are we forbidden to invite her to descend from the heights upon which she loves to hold converse with masters, and would it be derogatory to her dignity to chat for a moment with us in a manner more befitting our weakness ? I, for myself, do not regret having followed her along humbler paths, where I have unearthed many lost details, many generous but forgotten acts, much noble devotion which it is a j)leasure to once more bring to light. At the very height of the Terror, whilst the Vendeans (the real and only heroes of '93) were shedding their blood for God and the King, how many honest citizens were there not in l*aris — men and women of the people — who laid down their lives to save, or at least to honour, their religious and political opinions ! Historians take httle note of them, but as it is oidy PREFACE vii right for the humble to help each other, I have made a point of incorporating their deeds in the following pages. In his life of Phocion, Plutarch relates how the enemies of that good citizen induced the people not only to order his body to be banished and carried out of Attic territory, but also to forbid any Athenian to bring fire to honour his obsequies. None of his friends dared, therefore, touch his body. A certain Conopion, who earned his living by this kind of work, carried the remains beyond the borders of Eleusis, and there burned them, Avhilst a woman of Megara carefully gathered up the ashes and buried them at night under her hearth. IMy ambition goes no farther than that. Like the woman of Megara, M'hose name Plutarch has not given us, I have piously gathered up the ashes of the vanquished and proscribed, and given them a humble resting-place. I think that I, in my turn, may address to my book the words she spoke to her sheltering hearth : ' I place in your keeping these relics of many good men, that you may guard them faithfully and return them some day to the tombs of their ancestors, when the Athenians shall recognise the wrong they have done them."* The following lines, rcith xvhich I may perhaps he pennitted to head this work, are contained in the report of M. Camille Doucet, Permanent Secretary to the Acadhnie Fran<^aise, upon the literary competitions Jbr the year 1889 ; ' Tlie second Gohert pi-izc is aicarded to M. Edmond Bire for an interesting volume entitled " Paris in 1793."'^ In this history of Paris in 1793 M. Edmond Bire places the narrative in the mouth of an imaginary witness, loho gives an account day hy day, not only of the events occurring in the capital during that aicful year, hut also qf the impression made hy them upon the terror- stricTcen mind qf the public. This daily report possesses all the interest erf romance and all the value of real history, not a single fact heing advanced zaithoid some authority or document to support it. The recital, though qf absorbing interest, has a natwal and easy flow. The author is not unknozcn, either as a scholar or as a xvriter ,■ by a former zvork, entitled " The Diai'y of a Citizen qf Paris,'''' and qf which the present volume is but a continuation, he had (d ready gained the approbation of the Academic for qualities xvhich that Institution is pleased once more to recogidse, and this time to reward.'' 1 Incorporated in the present work. CONTENTS OF VOL. I. CHAPTER I. THE FIRST SITTING OF THK CONVENTION II. THE SPONSORS OF THE REPUBLIC IH. JACQUES CAZOTTE IV. THE JOURNALISTS IN THE CONVENTION V. ROYALIST REPUBLICANS . VI. ROYALIST REPUBLICANS (concluded) VII. THE TUILERIES . VIII. THE OFFERING TO LIBERTY IX. OATHS OF ALLEGIANCE . X. A FETE AT MADAME TALMa's XI. THE ROYAL FAMILY IN THE TEMPLE XII. A RELIC XIII. THE NINE REFUGEES XIV. THE FORTY-EIGHT SECTIONS OF PARIS XV. THE SECTION OF THE PANTHEON XVI. NAMING THE STREETS OF PARIS XVII. BRISSOTINS AND ROBESPIERRISTS XVIII. PARIS DURING THE FIRST DAYS OF NOVEMBER, XIX. THE WITNESSES FOR LOUIS XVI. XX. M. ROLAND DE LA PLATIERE XXL THE FETE OF SAINTE-GENEVIEVE XXII. ' CASTOR AND POLLUX ' XXIII. THE GILLES AFFAIR XXIV. ' THE REGICIDES ' XXV. THE HOSTAGES OF LOUIS XVI. . XXVX. LOUIS XVI. AND THE CONSTITUTION XXVII. DANTON AND THE ' GREY FRIARS ' CLUB XXVIII. THE MIDNIGHT MASS 1792 1 5 20 30 36 43 65 76 80 84 92 99 101 105 115 121 125 127 130 145 149 152 156 159 166 176 184 196 CONTENTS OF VOL. I. (■HAPTER PAGE XXIX. DECEMBER 26, 1 792 . . . . 200 ■ XXX. THE SPEECH FOR THE DEFENCE . . . 20j XXXI. A LETTER FROM THE KING .... 210 XXXII. THE king's DEFENDERS .... 213 XXXIII. LOUIS XVI. AND THE WAR .... 219 XXXIV. TWELFTH NIGHT, OR THE FETE OF THE KINGS . . 230 XXXV. THE GIRONDISTS AND THE MAJORITY . . . 237 XXXVI. ANDRE CHENIER ..... 239 XXXVII. ' PAUVRE JACQUES ' . . . . . 243 XXXVIII. THE ' FRIEND OF THE LAW ' . . . . 249 XXXIX. THE SIXTEENTH OF JANUARY .... 257 XL. LECOINTE-PUYRAVEAU ..... 263 XLI. THE LAST DEFENDERS OF THE KING . . . 26,5 XLII. THE EVE OF THE TWENTY-FIRST OF JANUARY . . 268 XLIII. MARIGNIE ...... 271 XLIV. THE TWENTY-FIRST OF JANUARY . . . 276 XLV. A MAKER OF HISTORY ..... 286 XLVI. FUNERAL OF MICHEL LEPELETIER . ~ . 297 XLVII. THE WILL OF LOUIS XVI. .... 310 XLVIII. A NIGHT AT THE PALAIS DE l'eGALITE . . . 313 XLIX. A CAB-DRIVER ...... 320 L. THE ' CHASTE SUSANNA ' . . . . 322 LI. THE PHYSIOGNOMY OF THE CONVENTION . . 325 LII. THE CENSORS OF THE REPUBLIC ONE AND INDIVISIBLE . 331 LIII. THE WAR AGAINST CATS AND SPARROWS . . 333 LIV. THE RIOTS OF FEBRUARY 25, 1793 . . . 338 LV. LA HARPE AND THE GIRONDE .... 347 LVi. 'September!' ...... 350 LVII. .\ ' TRIBUNAL CRIMINEL EXTRAORDINAIRE ' . . 355 LVIII. A SPEECH BY VERGNIAUD .... 362 LIX. THE ' FEUILLE DU MATIN ' . . . . 375 LX. * LES NOCES DE FIGARO ' . . . . 382 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS CHAPTER I. THE nilST SITTING OF THE COXVEXTIOX. Friday, September Ql, 1792. Yesterday morning the walls of the capital bore the following proclamation M'hich had been posted up during the night, and which brought to the cognizance of the Parisians the demise of the Legislative Assembly and the birth of the Convention : ' The National Assembly decrees : That the Archivist shall summon the deputies to meet in the National Convention to- morrow, September 20, at four o'clock in the afternoon, in the hall set apart for thein in the national building of the Tuileries (the second apartment of the grand suite at the top of the grand staircase). ' That the Mayor of Paris shall give the necessary orders for a guard to be furnished for the members of the National Convention. ' That this decree shall be posted up to-night.'^ In conformity with this decree, the new representatives of the people met yesterday, at four oVlock in the afternoon, at the palace of the Tuileries, in the hall of the Cent-Suisses. The public was not admitted to this first sitting, no arrange- ments for its accommodation having yet been made. It M'as ^ ' Archives Nationales,' CI. 382 (Ass. Pol. Legislative). 1 2 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS half-past five when the sitting was opened, ]M. Ruhl, the deputy of the Bas-Rhin, the oldest member present, taking the chair. M. Tallien, member for Seine-et-Oise, and ]\I. Penieres, member for the CoiTeze, performed the duties of secretaries.^ After the names had been called over, which showed 371 deputies to be present,- the verification of the powers of each member was proceeded with. This was confined to an examina- tion of the election returns, and the proofs of identity of those elected ; but when it came to the turn of the deputies of Paris, murmurs of protest and dissent were heard on all sides. Two or three members pointed out that the elections held at the beginning of September had been in the hands of the same men who had organized the massacres ; they also protested against the substitution of open voting for the more legal and secret method of voting by ballot.^ These protests led to no results. The deputies of Paris M^ere admitted equally with all the others. In less than three hours the verification of the powers of the 371 members present was completed. The following resolution was then adopted : ' The citizens appointed by the French nation to form the National Convention, having met to the number of 371, and verified their jjowers, declare the National Convention duly constituted.' The first act of the Convention thus constituted was to elect its President and Secretaries. The Constituent and Legislative Assemblies had always proceeded to this operation in the privacy of their offices, and not in a general sitting. The new repre- sentatives decided that the President and Secretaries should be elected by an open vote, though it was but a few moments since thev had themselves condemned that manner of votino-.^ 1 ' Proces-verbal de la Convention Nationale,' imprimL' par son ordre, tome i. 2 Ihid. ^ The election returns of the departments of the Bouches-du-Rhone, la Corroze, la Drome, les Hautes-Pyrrnc'es, I'Herault, le Lot, I'Oise, and Seine-et-Marne, prove that the adoption of open voting was not limited to Paris. Of the 10f> deputies thus elected in violation of the law by these nine departments and Paris, 7 i voted for the death of Louis XVI. * ' Memoires pour servir u I'Histoire de la Conveutiou Nationale,' by Daunou, ch. ii. THE FIRST SITTING OF THE CONVENTION 3 Petion obtained 235 votes for the pre.sidency,^ a few votes being- divided between Robespierre and Danton.^ Condorcet, Brissot, llabaut Saint-Etienne, Lasource, Vergniaud, and Camus were appointed Secretaries.^ A rather important incident marked this election. Just as the Assembly was about to vote, M. Dubois-Crance, a former member of the Constituent Assembly, and who now sat for the Ardennes, the Var, the Isere, and the Bouches-du-Rhone, asked whether it was right that the first act of the Convention — the election of its President — should be performed with closed doors, and in the absence of the people of Paris. His last words were quickly taken up by several deputies, who declared that they were not sent by their departments to court the suffrages of the people of Paris.* The Assembly rose half an hour after midnight,^ and its second meetino- was fixed for ten o'clock next morning at the same place.^ The majority of the historians of the Revolution are silent con- cerning this first sitting of the National Convention held at the Tuileries on September 20. Thiers and Mortimer-Ternaux alone devote a few lines to it. Mignet, Lamartine, Barante, Michelet, and Louis Blanc, ignore it altogether, and seem to think that the Convention met for the first time on September 21, 1792. ' Tlae Republic,' says Louis Blanc (tome vii., p. 223), ' was proclaimed at the first sitting of the Convention. Of the 749 men who met on 1 ' Proces-verbal de la Convention Nationale,' tome i. 2 Revolutions de Paris, No. 1G7. 'Robespierre obtained six or seven votes ; he was present, but stood apart, mute and motionless. All eyes were turned upon him, but their glances spoke rather of insult than of respect.' — Daunou, oj). cit. 2 This is the fate which was reserved for the seven members who formed the first officers of the Convention : Petion, outlawed on July 28, 1793, committed suicide in June, 1794., to escape the scaffold ; Condorcet, accused on October 3, 1793, arrested at Bourg-al-Reine on March 27, 1794., poisoned himself in prison ; Brissot was guillotined on October 31, 1793 ; Rabaut Saint-Etienne, guillotined on December 5, 1793; Lasource, guillotined on October 31, 1793 ; Vergniaud, guillotined on October 31, 1793. Camus alone survived the Convention, General Dumouriez having saved his life by delivering him up to the Prince of Saxe-Coburg on April 1, 1793. * Revolutions de Paris, loc. cit. ^ ' Proces-verbal de la Convention Nationale.' *> ' Histoire Parlementaire de la Revolution,' by Buchez and Roux, tome xix., p. 9. 4 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS September 21, 1792, in that small apartment of the Tuileries in which so many deaths were to be decreed, how few were to return to their homes !' In these fom- lines there are six mistakes. The first sitting of the Convention took place, as we have seen, on September 20, and not on September 21. The Republic was not proclaimed during the sitting of Sep- tember 21, 1792 ; it is even a very remarkable fact that not one of all the speakers who called upon the Convention to pronounce the abolition of the Monarchy mentioned the word ' Republic !' The deputies who met, on September 21, first at the Tuileries, and afterwards in the Riding-School (see our second chapter), numbered 371, and not 749. The abolition of the Monarchy was decreed in the Riding-School, and not in one of the apartments of the Tuileries. The apartment of the Tuileries in which the Convention held its first sitting, and in which its members again met on the morning of the 21st, was the hall of the Cent-Suisses, situated in the central pavilion, or Pavilion de I'Horloge. When on May 10, 1793, it definitively took up its abode in the Tuileries, it did not return to its former quarters, but occupied the theatre, situated between the central pavilion and the Pavilion Marsan. The theatre of the Tuileries, which had been inaugurated in l67l by Moliere's ' Psyche,' and in which Voltaire had been crowTied in 1778 — in which the Convention sat from May 10, 1793, until October 26, 1795, and in which so many deaths were, indeed, decreed — was by no means a small apartment, for it could hold several thousand spectators. Michelet is as unfortunate in his account of the opening of the Convention as Louis Blanc. In tome iv., p. 329, he writes : ' Open- ing of the Convention (September 21, '92),' and he adds: 'On September 21 the Assembly crowds into the small hall of the Tuileries that had served as a theatre. This little Court theatre is to contain a world— a Avorld of infernal storms, the pandemonium of the Convention. The smaller the arena, the more fierce will be the struggles. . . . From the very first day, from the very first moment when they saw each other, these men suffered from their too close proximity. The few feet that separated these deadly enemies permitted neither a hostile word nor look to be lost,' etc. The picture is eloquently drawn, and Michelet creates a great effect with his little Court theatre ; he, however, forgets one thing, and this is that the Convention did not enter into occupation of it until eight months later ! CHAPTER II. THE SPOXSOES OF THE REPUBLIC. Sunday, Septeinber 23, 1792. Ox Friday/ at the same hour as the members of the Convention were assembhng for the second time in the hall of the Cent- Suisses, the members of the Legislative Assembly were taking their places on the benches in the Riding-School.^ An immense crowd filled the galleries, and had it not been for my friend Beaulieu,^ who is well acquainted with the ushers of the National Assembly, it would certainly have been impossible for me to gain admission. In the hall itself there were, on the contrary, very few deputies present ; since the Tenth of August, the majority of the members of the Right — constitutionnels, Jeuillants, JeuillajitinSy 1 September 21, 1792. 2 The Riding-School stood on part of the ground now forming the Rue de Rivoli, near the corner of the Rue de Castiglione. •^ Claude Francois Beaulieu, journalist and historian, was born at Riom in 1754, and died in Paris in 1827. On June 27, 1789, he founded the paper called L'Assemblee Naliojiale, devoted to the reports of the sittings of the Constituent Assembly, and took part in editing the Nouvelles de Paris in 1790, the Postilion de la Guerre in 1792, and the Courrier Francaii in 1793. Arrested on the 8th of Brumaire, year II. (October 29, 1793), he was detained first in the Conciergerie, and afterwards in the Luxembourg until the fall of Robespierre. Set at liberty, he again turned to journalism, and was a second time proscribed. On the 18th of Fruc- tidor of the year V. (September 4., 1797), sentence of transportation was passed upon him as editor of the Royalist sheet called Le Miroir, but he was fortunate enough to elude the emissaries of the Directory. Besides his 'Diurnal de la Revolution de France pour I'An de Grace 1797,' Beaulieu published six volumes entitled 'Essais Historiques sur les Causes et les Effets de la Revolution Fran9aise' (1801-1803). From 1813 to 1827 he wrote most of the notices for Michaud's Biographie Universelle of the men of the Revolution. Few writers were better acquainted with that epoch, and even to-day there is no better work extant on the French Revolution than Beaulieu's ' Essais Historiques.' 6 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS moderes; moderantins and Fayc-tistes, all of which names they have successively adopted or received — have ceased to attend the sittings. There were, likewise, nianv emptv places amongst the INIontagnards and the Brissotins, but from another cause. Nearly 200 members of the Left have been elected to the Convention,^ and they were at the Tuileries with their new colleagues. A little after eleven o'clock twelve Commissioners from the Convention enter the hall of the Riding-School. One of them, ]M. Gregoire, a former member of the Constituent Assembly, and Bishop of Loir-et-Cher, announces that the National Con- vention is constituted, and that it is about to take possession of the usual place of the Legislation. This declaration is received with a tempest of cheers from the galleries. The President, IVI. Francois de Neufchateau, at last manages to obtain a hearing, and proclaims that the Legislative Assembly has completed its mission. He vacates his seat, and, followed by his colleagues, proceeds to the Tuileries to meet the new Assembly. AVhilst awaiting the reopening of the sitting, Beaulieu draws my attention to the presence of Bernardin de Saint-Pierre in one of the galleries. The author of the ' Etudes de la Nature '' was elected a deputy by the department of Loir-et-Cher, but did not see fit to accept the dignity.- Less forgetful than so many others, he still remembers the words addressed to him by Louis XVI. on his appointment as Director of the Jardin des Plantes and the Cabinet d'Histoire Naturelle : ' I have read your works; they are those of an honest man, and in appointing you I have sought a worthy successor to Buffbn.' The writer of the ^ Of the 749 members of the Convention, 77 had formed part of the CJonstituent, and 192 of the Legislative Assembly. Mortimer-Ternaux (tome iv., p. l..}7) has given a list of the members of the two Assemblies elected to the Convention. Montgaillard (' Histoire de France depuis la Fin du Rcgne de Louis XVI.,' tome iii., p. 3S7) errs in stating that only 7.5 Conventionalists had sat in the Constituent and 17 1. in the Legislative Assembl}'. Jules Claretie also makes a double mistake in his work on ' Camille Desmoulins et les Dantonistes,' where he says (p. 201) : ' There were 4,5 ex-Constituents and 1 17 ex-Legislators in the Convention.' '■^ No mention is made in any of the Itiographics of Bernardin de Saint- Pierre of his election to the National Convention. See in the recent and remarkable work by Gustavo Bord on the 'Proclamation de la R<''publiquc' the extract from the election returns in the department of Loir-et-Cher. THE SPONSORS OF THE REPUBLIC 7 * VcEux d\in Solitaire '' was certainly not born to sit in this pandemonium by the side of the heroes of June 20, of the Tenth of August, and of September 2. If he cares to busy himself Avith the interests of mankind, and with those of his country, it is ' at the end of his garden, on a little mossy bank, in the shade of a flowering apple-tree.' At a quarter-past twelve the members of the National Con- vention left the hall of the Cent-Suisses, and, crossing the garden, proceeded to the Riding-School. As they entered the hall two by two, the galleries received them with enthusiasm. This was, however, redoubled when the Due d'Orleans appeared arm-in- arm Avith Citizen Armonville, a wool-comber, who had on Sep- tember 4 been elected representative of the INIarne, as a reward for his share in the massacres of Rheims. Armonville was adorned with a red cap.^ ■NI. Petion then took the chair, and Camus, Condorcet, Verg- niaud, Brissot, Rabaud Saint-Etienne and Lasource seated them- selves at the clerks' table. When all the other deputies were seated, and the sitting was declared open, the spectators were struck by the small number of members present, more than half the deputies not having yet arrived. Another fact Avas also much commented upon. In the Constituent Assembly the parties known as the Right and the Left sat according to their appellation — the members of the Right to the right, and those of the Left to the left of the President. This Avas the practice at Versailles,"^ and things remained imchanged Avhen the Assembly Avas removed to Paris and established in the Ridina-School.^ When the Constituent Assembly was replaced bv the Legislative Assembly, the Feuil- lants and the Constitutionnels, Avho Avere about to form the new Right, occupied the seats to the right of the President's chair, the name of the party therefore still remaining in accord Avith its actual place. Since last January, however, a change has been made. In its sitting of December 27, 1791, the Legislati\^e 1 'Memoires pour servir u I'Histoire tie la Convention Nationale,' Daunou, ch. i. - Moniteiir of 1789, No. 48 ; 'Memoires deM. de Clermont-Gallerande,' tome i., p. 8G. 3 November 9, 1789. 8 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS Assembly determined to rearrange its seats in such a way as to bring the Right to the left, and vice vei\sd. The Ajni dn Hoi, edited by the Abbe Roy on, spoke of this change in the following terms in its number of December 50 : 'There being nothing left to upset in the monarchy, our legis- lators have taken it into their heads to turn their own Assembly topsy-turvy. The President's chair will take the place of the tribune, and the tribune Avill occupy the space formerly given up to the most illustrious throne in the world and to the clerks' table. It is hoped that this change may help to break down the barrier between the Right and the Left. . . . But, whatever is done, there will always be a Right and a Left in the Assembly, and the good will always manage to separate themselves from the bad.' The Journal dc Paris mive the followino; details : ' The hall of the National Assembly is about to be transformed ; one of the principal changes is that the tribune will be placed at the extremity of the left side, and the President's chair alniost half- way up the right side. This Avill have the effect of making the hall seem shorter, and though neither the President nor the Speaker will retain their former places, their relative position will be unaltered, as the)' will still face each other across the hall. We trust that this change, which brings members into a closer physical proximity, may soon cause but one ojnnion to prevail, and inspire the majority, or, rather, the whole of the Assembly, divided only upon the means of success, with the desire of firmly establishing the Constitution and liberty !' The change referred to by the Ami du Roi and the Journal de Paris was already an accomplished fact by the first days of 1792, and in its number of January 6 the Patriate Fran^ais stated that the Patriots would henceforth sit on the right of the Presi- dent. ' It is idle to think that the change in the hall of the National Assend)ly will end the division between the Patriots and the jNIoderates. The division is, and will be, as lasting as the Constitution, as society, as humanity, and the })arty opposed to the people will always be despised and spat ujion, wherever it may sit. We can, therefore, only laugh at the little trick that has been played upon the Patriots by })lacing the Presidenfs chair where the tribune used to be. The Patriots are thus become the Right ; but what matters it .^ The Right will now THE SPONSORS OF THE REPUBLIC 9 be honourable."' In its number of January 7, the Ami dii Roi, too, said : ' By the change made in the Assembly, the llight has become the Left, and the Left the Right.' From that moment, and until the end of the Legislative Assembly, the members of the Mountain^ and the deputies of the Brissot party- therefore sat on the right of the President, whilst the Feuillants sat on his left. Nevertheless the Brissotins and the Montaonards still continued to be called the members of the Left, while the Constitutionnels and the Feuillants still kept the name of the Right. On Friday last no deputy could be found to take a seat on the President's left, that is, on the benches formerly occupied by the Royalist Constitutionnels ; all went over to the right, where the Patriots of the Legislative Assembly were sitting. As, however, the same side would not hold them all, and as, moreover, the members from Bordeaux and their friends were not at all anxious to sit with Marat and the mem- bers for Paris, Avho had taken their seats near the Mountain, at the right extremity of the hall, the centre benches were gradually filled ; a few members even went so far as to seat themselves in despair on the left of the President's chair,^ occupying the places once filled by the Girardins, the Beugnots, the Ramonds, the Dumas, the Quatremeres, and the Jaucourts. After the first moment of confusion has passed, the s})ectators in the o-alleries beein to look out for the more celebrated amono- the members. Beaulieu is not backward in pointing them out to me. He has attended nearly every sitting of the Constituent and Legislative Assemblies; he knows everybody, and all that is going on, and one of my principal reasons for keeping this diary is that he has undertaken to furnish me with the particulars for it. He has promised to keep me well posted up in all the news, and in what goes on behind the scenes. I will now pass in review ^ith him the most noteworthy of our new masters. With his tall stature, his noble mien and his beautiful white 1 A name applied to the extreme Democratic Party, from the circum- stance of their occupying the highest seats in the hall. 2 The appellation of Girondins was unknown at the time of the Legislative Assembly, and only came into vogue in January, 171)3. See my book on the ' Legende des Girondins,' p. 33, etc. 2 ' Physionomie de la Convention Nationale,' by J. A. Dulaure, deputy, in Le T/iermomctre du Jour, January 1, 1793. 10 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS hair, Petion looks every inch a chairman. Unfortunately his featm-es, pleasing enough at the first glance, are dull and with- out expression upon closer examination. Although thev are by no means harsh, there is something in them that repels confi- dence, while his receding brow indicates the mediocrity of his intellect. His hair is curled with an affectation unbecoming in a statesman, and recently "ave rise to the foUowino- iust observa- tion in the Atni du Peuple : 'Some of our sages, surprised at always seeing you with your hair so neatly cui'led in these troublous times, bog me to remind you of the value of time, especially to a magistrate, all of whose moments belong to the people."'! The Secretaries are scrutinized as closely as the President, especially two, Brissot and \^ergniaud. The latter is not beauti- ful ; he has a big nose, thick lips, bushy eyebrows, and a pale face thickly pock-marked. But his forehead is broad and high, his black eyes sparkle with intelligence, and his glance^ when he is not lost in thought, is very searching. His hair is very thick, and is powdered and frizzed like Mirabeau"'s.- Brissot, Avho has long ago discarded both powder and tail, wears his hair long and flat. He is below the medium height, but it is easy to disting\iish an energetic soul in this small body. His pale face and his grave and melancholy air form a striking contrast to the ruddy features and lively air of his colleague Camus.^ Among the members who took their seats on the centre benches may be seen ]M. La Revelliere-Lepeaux, an old member of the Constituent Assembly, and the Abbe Fauchet, formerly a member of the Legislative Assembly and Bishop of Calvados. Small in stature and hunch-backed, M. La Revelliere-Lejieaux forms a grotes(jue figure with his thin legs, greasy hair, and his cold, washed - out face. ]3eaulicu compares him to a cork 1 'Marat, the Friend of the People, to !Maitre Jt'rume Petion': DAmi du Peuplr, September 21, 17t)2. For Petion's portrait, see Mercier, ' Le Nouveau Paris,' xxxvi. ; 'Memoires' of Brissot, iii. lijH ; Bertrand de Moleville, 'Mc-moires,' i. 231 ; 'Memoires' of the Comte Lavallette, i. 07 ; ' Bibliotheque Nationale : Cabinet des Estampes.' - ' Notice sur Ver<:^niaud,' by Francois Alluaud, his nephew. 3 ' Souvenirs sur Mirabeau,' by Etienne Dumont. THE SPONSORS OF THE REPUBLIC 11 stuck upon two pins.^ The Abbe Fauchet, on the contrary, is one of the handsomest men in the Assembly ; his face beams with kindness and good nature ; lie has laid aside his clerical costume for a suit of dark brown. ^ Not far from the Bishop of Calvados, Louvet, the editor of the Senthiellc, is carrying on a conversation with Gorsas, the author of the ' Courrier des Departements.'' Citizen Louvet,^ with his blue eyes, fair hair, and delicate features, the sweet soft expression of his face and his slim and elegant figure, forms a complete contrast to Gorsas, who is })road-shouldered, has an immense nose, black hair and beard, black eyes, and thick bushy eyebrows.^ The members for Paris nearly all sit in the ■Mountain, to the right of the President. Danton, with his pock-marked face, terrible in its ugliness, and his piercing eyes, reminds one of the elder jMirabeau, the great orator of the Constituent Assembly,^ Near him sits Camille Desmoulins, his colleague in the Ministere de la Justice. Camille's joy is so great that he can scarcely con- tain himself; his bilious ftice is quite lit up. His smile was never more sardonic, nor were his black eyes ever more brilliant ; as he proudly raises his broad and well-shaped brow, his long black hair falls back and almost touches his shoulders. Alas ! my poor Camille, your 465 electors may have turned you into a deputy, but in spite of their votes you are, and will remain, a stanunerer.*^ ]\1. Robert, another of the men employed by Danton after the Tenth of August, is as eager as Camille to show his intense satisfaction, a feeling shared by his mistress, iVldlle. de Keralio, who is seated in the front row of our gallery. ]M. Robert often tui'ns towards us his fat face shining with pleasure and health.'^ On these same benches now occupied by the assassins of 1 'Les Brigands Demasques,' by Danican ; Lavallette's 'Memoires': ' Testament et Mort de La Revelliere-Lepeaux, Chef des Filous en Troupe ' (name given by the people to the theophilanthropists). 2 ' Vergniaud,' by Ch. Vatel, ii. 329. 3 Preface to Louvet's 'Memoires'; D'Allonville, 'Memoires Secrets,' iii. 302. ^ Courrier de Paris, January 24, 1791. ^ Beaulieu, 'Biographie Universelle,' article ' Danton.' 6 'Souvenirs de la Terreur,' by G. Duval, i. ol ; 'Camille Desmoulins,' by J. Claretie, p. 134. '■ Mme. Roland, ' Memoires,' Dauban edition, p. 327. 12 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS September, and seated near such men as Panis and Sergent, I am gTieved to see David, the painter of Socrates, and Marie Joseph Chenier, the author of ' Charles IX.,' both of whom I used to meet in the brilHant salon of the Trudaines in the Place Louis XV., now closed by the Revolution.^ Chenier seems to be more gloomy than usual ; a deep melancholy spreads itself like a veil over his pronounced features and puckered brow ; his countenance is decidedly more tragic than his plavs.'- Dressed with care and excellent taste, and M'ith his brown locks slightly frizzed, David still wears a society air quite out of keeping v;\\h the unkempt appearance of many of his colleagues. His glance is severe, and his face is almost com- pletely disfigured by a swelling in one of his cheeks.^ He seems to be on most affectionate terms with an ugly, vulgar- looking little man, whose features he is no doubt ambitious to transmit to posterity, for the little man is no other than the famous Drouet, the Postmaster of Sainte-jMenehould, now deputy for the JVIarne.^ Some members of the ' Jacobins ' and the ' Cordeliers ' who are seated near Beaulieu and myself point with legitimate pride to their favourite orators, Billaud-Varenne, Legendre, and Collot- d'Herbois, who have passed direct from these clubs to the National Convention. To hear them, this ex-comedian, with his curled coal-black hair, is more eloquent than Vergniaud himself. They cannot praise too highly the power of his voice and the beauty of his delivery. ' You Anil see,"* they cry, ' that this good Collot has no equal f They are no less enthusiastic concerning the oratorical powers of Citizen Chabot, the ex-Capucine of Rodez. Their glances rest lovingly upon his greasy head, and his dress awakens their most tender feelings. Like a true sans-culottc, 1 Concerning the Trudaines, see Lacretelle, ' Dix Annees d'Epreuves pendant la Ri'volutiou,' and the introduction to the ' CEuvres en Prose d'Andrt' Chi'nier,' by L. Becq de Fouquieres. Of the two brothers Trudaine, one, Trudaine do la Sabliere, lived in the Rue des Francs- Bourgeois ; the other, Trudaine de Montigny, occupied one of the mansions under the colonnade of the Place Louis XY. Both were guillotined on the »th of Thermidor, year II., a day after their friend Andre Chenier. ' 'Ivies Recapitulations,' by Bouilly, tome ii., p. 200. 3 ' Louis David, son Ecole et son Temps,' by E. J. Delecluzo, p. 2i). * Montlozier, ' Mtmoires,' ii. 151. THE SPONSORS OF THE REPUBLIC 13 Chabot leaves his neck and chest uncovered, wears a jacket instead of a coat, and dispenses with all nether garments except a pair of knee-breeches of common material.^ But our Jacobins are by no means exclusive ; while approving the severe garb of Chabot, they also admire the correct and elegant costume of Robespierre, Avith his frills and cuffs, Robespierre is of medium height, and looks rather delicate. His long chestnut hair is thrown back from a somewhat projecting brow ; his nose is straight, and carried with a slight upward tendency. His blue eyes are rather deeply set, and his lips are long, pale, and closely })ressed together.^ Right at the summit of the ^Mountain, higher than Danton and Robespierre, sits the Friend of the People, the hideous Marat, I was able to examine him closely. He has a large bony face, a flat nose, thin lips, eyes of grayish-yellow, a livid withered complexion, black beard, and brown hair,^ Every muscle of his body is constantly being moved by a nervous twitching that makes it difficult for him to keep his seat. Affecting an air of slovenliness,* he wears a dirty overcoat, a pair of leathern breeches, shoes A\ithout stockings, and a hand- kerchief tied about his head.^ Such is the Friend of the People, the man before whom all honest people tremble, before whom all villains bow. Has the Revolution upset the Monarchy only to substitute IVIarafs dirty handkerchief for the royal crown of the Bourbons .'* Meanwhile all confusion, noise, and private conversation has ceased. The sitting has commenced, and several members are already on their legs. The first to ascend the tribune is Mathieu, deputy for the Oise, Ducos, deputy for the Gironde ; Manuel, deputy for Paris ; Simond, deputy for the Bas-Rhin, and Chabot follow him in close succession. ' Repre- sentatives of the people,"* cries the last-named member, ' I ask 1 Beaulieu, ' Biographie Universelle,' article ' Chabot.' 2 'Vie Secrete de Maximilien Robespierre'; Ch. Nodier, 'Souvenirs de la Revolution et de I'Empire ' ; ' La Jeunesse de Robespierre,' by M, Paris, 2 ' Portrait de Marat,' by Fabre d'Eglantine, representative of the people. Paris, year II., at Maradan's ; 8vo. * Fabre d'Eglantine, op. cit. ^ 'Histoire des Montagnards,' by Alphonse Esquiros, ii., p. 195. 14 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS vou never to forget that it is the scms-culottes who have sent vou here/ The word sans-cidottes, well eni})hasized by Chabot, is heard without a murmur by the Assembly, and received enthusiastically by the galleries. A warm welcome is also accorded, a few minutes later, to Couthon, deputy for the Puy-de-Dome. Couthon has both legs paralvzed, and is obliged to be carried into the tribune by two of his colleagues. The infirmity from which he suffers, the delicacy of his features, his sweet but impassioned glances, and the persuasive accents of his voice, are calculated to gain him interest and sympathy.^ But take care. Under this pitiful appearance, behind these winning manners, there lies concealed an vuiconquerable ambition, envenomed by the recollection of his incurable and horrible infirmity.- Beaulieu, who watched and studied him closely during the time of the Legislative Assembly, said to me on leaving the hall : ' Be on your guard against weaklings and cripples !' ' I have no fear,** said Couthon, ' that the Monarchy will ever be mentioned again. If is fit only for slaves, and the French would be unworthy of the liberty they have gained were they to think of preserving a form of govern- ment marked by fomteen centmies of crime.' Collot-d'Herbois puts the question in a more categorical fashion. ' The abolition of the ^Monarchy,*' he cries, ' is a matter that you cannot })ut off till to-morrow, that you cannot put off till to-night, that you cannot put off one moment without betray- ing the wishes of the nation.'' In vain docs Quinette, deputy for the Aisne, maintain that the question should be adjourned mitil the Constitution itself is under discussion. Gregoire, still wearing his clerical garb, rushes to the tribune. ' There never was a dynasty,' says the Bishop of Loir-et-Cher, ' that Mas not a devouring race, living on human flesh. I demand that a solenm law be passed abolishing the Monarchy.' Basirc, deputy 1 'Les Conventionnels d'Auvergne,' by M. Bondet, p. 1 lo. - 'It appears that diiriug the autumn of 17S7 or 17SS Couthon spent a whole night in a very damp phice whilst waiting for an opportunity to make his way into the house where his lady-love lived. A few mouths later he was attacked by acute pains, which, in spite of every remedy and treatment, culminated in September, 171)1, in the entire paralysis of his nether limbs.' — Ivxtract from the ' Notes inedites' of M. de Barante. See also ' Les Conventionnels d'Auvergne,' by M. Bondet. THE SPONSORS OF THE REPUBLIC 15 for the Cote-crOr, points out what a terrible example it would be for the people if it saw an xVssenibly, charged with the safety of its highest interests, arriving at conclusions in a moment of enthusiasm ; he demands that the question be discussed. ' What need is there for discussion ?' replies M. Gregoire. ' Kings are morally what monsters are physically. Courts are the workshops of crime, and the lairs of tyrants. History is the martyrology of nations. We are all equally convinced of this truth. What need is there for discussion ? Let us vote, and leave till afterwards the drafting of a resolution worthy of the solemnity of the occasion." M. Ducos, one of the youngest members of the Convention, rises, and says : ' The preamble of your resolution will be the story of the crimes of Louis X\'L, a story with which the French people is only too familiar. There is no need for explanation after the light shed by the dawn of the Tenth of August.*" ' Vote ! Vote !' is the cry that now comes from all sides. The debate is closed, and a deep silence ensues. M. Gregoire's resolution is then put to the vote in the following terms : ' The National Convention decrees that the Monarchy is abolished in France.'' It is carried amid shouts of ' Vive la nation ! Vive la liberte f Of all the members of the Convention, the first to rise in favour of the decree was a deputy seated at the second corner to the right of the President ; it is d'Orleans — Joseph Egalite 1^ The sitting terminated at four o'clock. Superstitious })eople have remarked that the Monarchy, overturned on Friday, the Tenth of August, was abolished on Friday, September 21. The minute read at the opening of the sitting by M. Camus, one of the Secretaries, gave the number of deputies present as 371.^ The number of absentees nuist, therefore, have been 1 ' Memoires Historiques et Politiques du Regne de Louis XVI.,' by Soulavie, vi., p. 476. - Revolutions de Paris, No. IGS. Mortimer-Ternaux (tome iv., p. 04) thinks that the number given — 371 — is too high, and quotes the following fact in support of his opinion : ' The notes left by M. Fockedey, a deputy of the Nord, show that he did not arrive in Paris until September '24, and that the Committee of Inspection on that day handed him a card bearing the number 304. It is highly probable that the number of members whose election had been verified by an official return was intentionally substituted for that of the members actually present.' 16 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS 378, since the deputies elected to the Convention form a total of 749. Thus Mas this decree abolishing a ^Monarchy of fourteen centuries passed in a few minutes, without report or debate, by the deputies present merely nsing from their seats, and in an Assembly that was still lacking more than half its members. The decree of the Convention, immediately transmitted to the forty-eight sections, was proclaimed with a floui'ish of tiTimjjets at all the cross-roads the same evening. At nightfall bands of sans-cuhites patrolled the streets, calling upon the inhabitants to light uj) the fronts of their houses. The greater })art of the citizens complied with this demand, and until two o'clock in the morning, the city, illuminated as on a day of victory, re-echoed a\ ith threats of death against the King, the Queen, and the ari.stocrats.^ It is a remarkable fact that though the Convention, in its sitting of September 21, declared the ^Monarchy abolished, it did not formally decree the establishment of the Republic. It was not till the moiTOw, and in an indirect way, that the Republic was legally recognised. At the commencement of the sitting of September 22, the Convention, on the motion of Billaud-Varenne, decreed that ' all public acts were to be dated from the first year of the Republic." The seal of State was to bear the following words : ' Republique de France.' The national seal would represent a female figure seated u])on a bundle of arms, and holding in her hand a })ike .surmounted by the caj) of Liberty. - Beaulieu pointed out to me this morning that this decree, ])assed amidst jiieat confusion and when the sitting was scarcely opened, was not to be found either in the report of the Moniteur or in that of most of the other paj)ers. ' The Monarchy,' he added, ' was abolished amidst a good deal of noise, but the Republic has not been proclaimed. Its \\armest friends seem to have blushed for it upon its introduction into the world. It had to be smuggled in, as if it were contraband.' 'That is true,' I replied, ' but it is also a fact that France became a Republic on the day that the Legislative .Vssembly shouted, ^ Revolutions de Paris, No. 1G7. 2 Ibid, No. 1G8. THE SPONSORS OF THE REPUBLIC 17 "A^o more k'ni^-.s- f R}id nil its members swore eternal liatred to the Monarchy, lliat day was September 4, and for seventy-two liours Paris had already ])een .' Installed on the isth, the tribunal held its first real sitting on the '2()th. The first case was that of Colleuot d'Angremont ; it ended in a sentence of death, and D'Angremont was executed at ton o'clock on the evening of the 21st. ^ One of the two sections of the Revolutionary Tribunal established on March lo, WXi, sat in the same Hall of Saint Louis, then called Hall of Liberty, the other section occupying the former seat of Parliament, dubbed Hall of Equality. The Halls of Liberty and Equality were both burned by the Commune in 1M71, though the First Chamber of the civil tribunal of the Seine is now established upon the site of the old Hall of Equality. Before the fire of isTl the Hall of Liberty or of Saint Louis was used as a Court of Appeal. JACQUES CAZOTTE 23 officers, no one could again try him upon the same facts with- out impairing the sovereignty of that same people. His objection was oveiTuled, and the charge, drawn up by Fouquier-Tinville, was then read. M. Cazotte, who has been living at Pieny, near Epernay, for the past thirty-two years, kept up a very brisk correspondence from October, 1790, to July, 1792, with his friend M. Ponteau, secretary to M. de Laporte, intendant of the Civil List. These confidential letters, written by his daughter's hand, and containing the unveiled expression of his Royalist sentiments, were seized after the Tenth of August. Fouquier has manufactured a vast conspiracy out of them, and made the author of the ' Diable Amoureux ' the chief of the conspirators. Upon the demand of M. Real,^ the Public Prosecutor, the letters were read, the President frequently putting questions, which were all answered by the accused with remarkable coolness and serenity. The Aveakness of M. Cazotte's voice having called forth some remarks from the jury and the Public Prosecutor, the tribunal ordered a new seat to be arranged, to which the prisoner was con- ducted, after an adjournment of a quarter of an hour. I can almost see him now, seated near the Judges, and opposite the jury, with his daughter on his right and M. Julienne, his defender, on his left. I can again hear his replies, so clear, so exact, so noble, and so true, in which were sometimes heard the simplicity of an idealist, but in which there always rang the accents of an honest man. The following are a few examples :^ 1 Pierre Francois Real soon after changed his post of Public Prosecutor at the tribunal of August 17 for that of Assistant Solicitor to the Com- mune of Paris, and thus became the colleague of Hebert, editor of the Pere Duchesne. After having, on January 10, 1795 (21st of Nivose, year III.), presented a petition to the Convention in the name of the Corn-market section, ending with a demand for a democratic Republic or death — after having been appointed Historiographer to the Republic by the Directory, he became a Councillor of State under Bonaparte, and was, until ISl-l, the real head of the imperial police. During the Hundred Days he performed the duties of Prefect of Police. The former colleague of Fouquier-Tinville, Chaumette, and Hebert, the man who had demanded sentence of death against Cazotte 'for having conspired against his country,' died as a Count of the Empire on March 7, 1834. 2 For details of the trial of Jacques Cazotte, Nos. IG, 17, and 18 of the 'Bulletin du Tribunal Criminal du 17 Aout' may be consulted, as well as 24 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS AMien asked to what sect he helongs, whether it is not that of .the enUghtened {Uhnmnts), he repHes: 'I do not know whether I am on niv trial for beino- an ideahst, but my behef is that the counter-revolution can only be brought about by prayer.'' Again, he is asked to explain these words which occur in one of his letters : ' Since all the churches are closed either by order or by sacrilege, turn your houses into oratories.'' ' You know yery well,' adds the President, ' that the constitutional churches are not closed.'' He replies that he m ent to Mass and confessed to the constitutional \'icar. The President hereupon professing surprise that he should have gone to hear the ]VIass of a priest in whom he did not believe, he answers that, being Mayor of Pierry, and one of the oldest men in the place, he did so to set a good example. Besides, was not Judas, too, one of Christ's disciples, and did he not perform miracles with the rest of the Apostles .? The next words that he was asked to explain Avere Janaticism and rohhenj. ' By fanaticism I mean extreme excitement ; it reigns in all parties — in that of Liberty as well as in others. Fanaticism in Liberty is when every human consideration is left behind.' Referring to the plans contained in one of his letters, the President observed that they aimed at bringing the nation once more under the yoke of absolute obedience to the King. ' Such was not my intention,' re])lied Cazotte, ' since absolute obedience is due to God alone.' To this (juestion, ' How do you ex})lain this passage : " Let Louis XVL be careful not to yield to one of his weaknesses — clemency" .^' he replied : ' There Avere, of course, many criminals in the nation. I demanded that they should be ])unished, especially the authors of the Avignon massacres.' The fifth letter read, written some time after the King's flight to Varennes, contained this phrase: 'I was in favour of the flight, the very curious work published under the following title in the year VI. : ' Cazotte's Secret Correspondence with Tiaporte and Pontcau, Intendant and Secretary of the (Jivil liist, from I7!)() to 17!»'i, containing interesting details concerning the journey of the late King to Varenn(!S,' preceded by a hi.storical .sketch of the life and works of that celebrated man, together with his trial and sentence. JACQUES CAZOTTE 25 but never to the frontiers." Asked for the meaning of these words, he repHed as follows : ' I wrote that letter about the time of the King's flight ; I was always desirous, I do not deny it, that the King should leave a city in which his authority was dis- regarded and his person kept prisoner. I have likewise always desired that the National Assembly should leave Paris and sit in some other city, no matter which, provided it was mistress of its deliberations, which it was not in the capital, as the decrees passed by it testify."' As he spoke these words, M. Cazotte raised his voice some- Avhat, and the strong conviction that animated him did not fail to make a deep impression upon his hearers. Another letter, of more recent date, ran : ' Mon ami, ^ve have received five letters from Coblentz, Treves and Brussels, one of them being from a commanding officer and a man of real merit.' Having been asked to give the name of this officer, he replied very firmly : ' In my present position I shall not be such a coward as to turn informer, even should my silence cost me my life.'' Night fell, and the President asked the accused whether he was not tired. ' The tribunal," he added, ' is ready to grant you any time you may desire for taking rest or food." ' Mon D'leii ! Monsieur le President^ answered M. Cazotte, ' I am deeply grateful to the court for its consideration, but I feel quite ready to go on with my examination, thanks to the fever which is sustaining me. Besides, the sooner my trial is over, the sooner I, as well as my judges and the gentlemen of the jury, will be rid of it." The examination then recommenced, and went on right through the night, the unhappy man"s courage and presence of mind never deserting him for a moment. This strange conspirator had A\ritten in a letter, dated May 14, 1793 : ' My house is a house of prayer. Thus, whilst three-fourths of the churches are closed by Divine right and the rest by secular force, God establishes temples in human hearts where He is truly and faithfully served ... I have already told you that there are eight of us in the whole of France who, absolutely unknown to each other, like Moses, unceasingly uplift our eyes, our voice and our arms to Heaven." 26 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS ' AMiat does this mean ?^ asked M. Laveaux. ' I was told in a vision," replied the accused, 'that there were eight of us in France who raised our hands to Heaven. In support of what I say, I may remind you of Ashat is written in the Scriptures — that the young shall have dreams, and the old visions/ Another letter was then read in which one of the prisoner's relatives was mentioned. The President having asked him to give this relative's name, he replied : ' I should be very soitv to drag my family into the same position as I am in myself."' The incriminating letters were thirty-two in number, and most of them seven or eight pages long. Conspirators are not gener- ally so explicit. Tlieir perusal and the inteiTOgatory to which it gave rise occupied twenty-three hours. The light of day was just breaking thi'ough the windows of the court when the Public Prosecutor commenced his speech. M. Real was obliged to pay a tribute to the virtues of the man whom he was_ accusing. ' AMiy,' he said, addressing the prisoner, ' why must I call you guilty after seventy-four years of a virtuous life ? . . . The life that Jacques Cazotte led at Pierry Mas one of patriarchal simplicity. Beloved by the inhabitants who had gro^\^l up around him, he applied himself to making them happy ; why need he have conspired against the liberty of his country ?'' The Public Prosecutor concluded by saying that the participation of Jacques Cazotte in plots formed against the liberty of the sovereign ]icople had been fully proved. During tliis speech, of more than an hours duration, Cazotte kept his eyes constantly fixed u})on the Public Prosecutor, his face betraying not the slightest emotion. His daughter, on the contrary, seemed fully alive to all the points made by M. Real, and could not ivstrain lier tears when he drew his terrible con- clusions. Her father thereuj)on bent over her and whispered a few words in her ear that seemetl to quiet her. M. Julienne, the official defender, then replied to M. Real. I had not heard him speak before. He is a young man of very great talent, and possesses a marvellous flow of elo(|uence ; his only fault being that of excessive impetuosity. ^ His language ^ 'Souvenirs de M. Berryer, Doyen des Avocats de Paris, de 1774 a, 183H,' tome i., p. 'M'.). JACQUES CAZOTTE 27 is fiery, highly coloured, and brilliantly imaginative. His defence of M. Cazotte was marked by great power and depth of feeling, and his speech, which lasted only half an hour, drew tears from all present.^ M. Cazotte was as cool and impassive during the speech of his own lawyer as he had been during that of his accuser. His daughter seemed to gain more courage. Upon her pale face, and in her tearful eyes, I thought I saw a faint look of hope. The President then summed up, and the jury retired to consider their verdict, the trial up to this point having lasted twenty-seven hours. Meanwhile Mdlle. Cazotte was led out of the court and conducted to a room in the Conciergerie. The jury soon returned, and after hearing their verdict the Judge passed sentence of death upon the prisoner. Upon hearing his doom the old man half turned — no doubt in order to be quite sure that his daughter \\as not present — and his face, clouded for a moment, resumed its wonted serenity. The President then addressed the condemned man in the following strange words : ' Sad sport of old age ! Unhappy \dctim of the prejudices of a life passed in slavery ! You, whose heart was not large enough to feel the value of a sacred liberty, but who have proved by your tranquillity here that you know how to sacrifice even your life to support your opinions, hearken to the last words of your Judges ! May they bring to your soul the precious balm of consolation ! May they not only cause you to pity the fate of those whose duty it is to condenni you, but inspire you with stoicism in your last moments, and fill you with that respect which the law imposes upon us ! . . . Come, summon up all your courage and strength ; look death fearlessly in the face, and remember that it has no right to teri'ify a man like yourself." This speech did not seem to make the least impression upon M. Cazotte. Only at the words ' Look death fearlessly in the face ' he shook his head and raised his eyes to heaven with a composed and serene air. M. Laveaux continued speaking for some time. He praised the humanity of the law which sends old age and innocence 1 ' Proces de Jacques Cazotte,' p. cxxv. 28 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS to the scafFold. ' Have no fear !' he cried. ' Thouo^h the law is severe against those who transgress it, the sword soon falls from its hands when judgment is once pronounced. . . . Justice noAv sheds tears over those white hairs which she has respected until sentence has fallen upon you ; may that spectacle bring you to repentance ! . . .' I have not the courage to reproduce the whole of this watery and high-flown harangue, which was listened to by the audience in astonishment.^ The trial at length comes to an end, and ]\I. Cazotte is led away to the condemned cell. ' I am only sorry for my family,"" he said to those about him. The executioner having come to cut his hair, he requested him to cut it as close as possible, and to give it to his daughter. He then spent an hour with the priest. At the opening of the trial, the day before yesterday, he said to ]M. Julienne : ' I am ready for death, and went to confession three davs ao'o.^ Before leaving the Conciergerie, he asked for pen and ink, and wrote these words : ' Do not weep for me, my wife and children, and do not forget me, but remember never to offend God.' ^ ' Proces de Jacques Cazotte,' p. cxxviii. Jean Charles Thiebault Laveanx was born at Troyes in ir+i), and died in Paris in 1S27. Prior to the Terror he had been professor of literature at Stuttgart, professor of the French language and literature at the University of Berlin, and editor of the Courrier de Strashourrj. In 17!)3 he became editor of the Journal de la Montar/ne, Chef de Bureau Militaire du Departement de la Seine under the Consulate, and Chef de Division and Inspector-General of Prisons and Hospitals under the Empire, posts which he held until the second return of the Bourbons, in 1815. A distinguished lexicographer, he is the author of a ' Dictionnaire de la Langue Fran^aise ' and of a ' Dictionnaire Raisnnne des Difficultes Graramaticales.' Besides these two standard works, he published sixty-six other volumes and six pamphlets. And yet this indefatigable compiler, who has put his name to seventy volume-!, could not get that name correctly given by the historians who speak of him in connection with the tribunal of August 17, and many of whom, perhaps, had his ' Dictionnaire ' in their library. Buchez and Iloux (' Histoire Parlementaire,' xvii., p. 211), Louis Blanc (vii., p. 100), Granierde Cassagnac (' Histoire des Girondins,' ii.,p. 233), Hamel ('Histoire de Robespierre,' ii., p. 3S,'j), Wallon (' Histoire du Tribunal Rf'vohitionnaire de Paris,' i., p. 31) all write 'Lavaux.' Berriat Saint- Prix ('La Justice R(Jvolutionnaire Ti Paris,' p. 11), and Mortimei'-Ternaux (' Histoire de la Terreur,' iii., p. to) write ' Lavau.' Charles Monselet (' Flistoiro Anccdotique du Tribunal Revolutionnaire,' p. 233) is the only writer who gives the correct name of the President of the Criminal Tribunal of August 17. JACQUES CAZOTTE 29 On his way to the place of execution, Cazotte kept his gaze constantly fixed on high. It was seven o'clock at night when the tumbril reached the Place du Carrousel, and on perceiving the scaffold erected there he smiled. Before giving himself up to the executioner, he turned towards the crowd, and amid the silence that suddenly fell upon it he cried : ' I die as I have lived — true to God and my King l'^ *• * *- * * By her supplications Mdlle. Cazotte had managed to save her father s life during the massacres at the Abbaye, but the tribunal of August 17 was less merciful than that of Maillard. Heroic Sombreuil, may your father be more fortunate than Jacques Cazotte !- 1 ' Notice sur Jacques Cazotte,' by Bergasse. See also ' CEuvres de Cazotte,' 1817, tome i., containing the ' Correspondance ' and ' Proces.' ^ M. de Soiiibreuil had also been saved by his daughter and .spared by the iDorkers of September; he was condemned by the Revolutionary Tribunal, and executed on the 29th of Prairial, year II. (June 17, 1794). Michelet relates the episode of Mdlle, Cazotte at the Abbaye in the follow- ing peculiar way: 'Cazotte, the seer of visions and writer of comic operas, was none the less an aristocrat, and there were a good many written proofs against him and his sons. The chances of saving him were very slight. Maillard granted the young lady the favour of being present at the trial and execution, and of having free access everywhere. The brave girl took advantage of this permission to captivate the murderers, and she charmed them so effectually that, when her father appeared, he found no one willing to kill him.' — ' Histoire de la Revolution,' tome iv., p. 161. CHAPTER IV. THE JOURXALISTS IX THE COXVEXTIOX. Fnday, September 28, 1792. '\^'lIEX the members of the Convention substituted a Republic for a ^Monarchy — when they implanted in the soil of France, from which ^Monarchy had sjjrung like a natural product, in harmony Avith the genius of the French nation, with its good qualities and its faults, its greatnesses and its weaknesses — when they implanted in that soil, I say, a new form of government, having no roots or precedents in the past, did they fully grasp the gravity of the act they were committing ? Did they quite understand that their enterprise, in order not to be criminal, must be successful — must succeed, not partially or temporarily, but completely and for ever ? Yesterday — under Louis XVI. as under Louis XIV. — France was still at the head of European nations. This uncontested position it owed to the monarchical principle, to that happy concord which made us all — nobles, priests, citizens, artisans, and petisants — all Royalists. Some of us might have had grievances against the others, and at home we might have had many a question to thresh out amongst ourselves ; but abroad, before strangers, we had all only one heart, one faith, and one King. If a people have no unity they cannot possibly have greatness. Now, it is this very unity, the best and greatest of all our belongings, that the Convention destroyed, without discussion or deliberation, on the very first day of its existence. ]iy the estabHshnient of the Rejniblic there are now two nations in France ; there are, alas ! two Frances. The authors of this lamentable division can only obtain ])ardon l)y their own disappearance and self-effacement. THE JOURNALISTS IN THE CONVENTION 31 By their wisdom, their abiHty, and their virtues they must make us forget the Monarchy ; they must attract all minds and hearts towards themselves, so that under the Republic, as formerly under the Monarchy, France may again be one in heart, one in soul, one in faith. But if they do not obtain that result, if their triumph be limited to sowing the seeds of discord and hatred in the heart of the nation, to merely postponing instead of preventing the re-establishment of the ^Monarchy, and to giving up their country to alternations of anarchy and despotism — if such are to be the consequences of the proclama- tion of the Republic — then may they be accursed avIio have thus irreparably broken the old unity of France !^ September 29- I have just read over again the page I wrote yesterday while a prey to feelings of intense anguish. I should like to be able to efface it, or to believe that the future will belie my words — that the members of the Convention, honest, generous and moderate, will succeed in inspiring the whole nation with love for the Republic, and leave France happy, reconciled, and united. But how can I entertain such hopes when I look at this Assembly and let my mind dwell for a moment upon the elements of which it is composed ? Seventy-seven of its members formed part of the Constituent Assembly, but great care was taken, in making a choice amongst the eleven hundred members of the Constituent,- to include none Avho, whilst pledging themselves to the Revolution, refused at the last moment to countenance anarchy, nor any M'ho, like Barnave, Thouret, Chapelier and Bailly, thought something due to the claims of order, as well as to those of Liberty. Vadier, Prieur, LofRcial, Goupilleau, Voulland, Rew^bell, Dubois-Crance, Thibault, and sixty others quite as little known, are the old Constituents Avhom the electors have sent to the Convention ; 1 ' On September 21 France was proclaimed a Republic one and indivisible, in spite of the oracle Mirabeau, who declared that it was geographically monarchical.' — Peltier, ' Dernier Tableau,' ii., p. 393. - The exact number was 1,118, made up of 291 members of the clergy, 270 members of the nobility, and 357 of the Third Estate. Of the latter, 272 were barristers ('Memoires de Mirabeau,' edited by Lucas de Montigny, tome vi., p. 36). 32 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS jjossessing no talents, they make a show of most exagg-erated Opinions, and that suffices. Kobespierre, Buzot and IVIerhn owe their election, not to the talent they formerly displayed, l)ut solely to the violence of their principles and language. In the case, too, of the 192 members of the Legislative re- elected to the Convention the facts are exactly the same. They all sat on the Left, and all Avere the organizers or abettors of that A\'ar against Monarchy and religion A\'hich resulted in the Tenth of August and September 2. Are the new members of the Convention men to inspire us with greater confidence ? xVssuredly not. The Constituent Assembly contained 272 hamsters ;^ barristers and lawyers formed more than half the Legislative Assembly, and in the Convention thev are again in a majority. AATiat assemblies become in the hands of lawyers is fully proved by the history of the past foiu- vears. Let us take t^o of the most honest of these men. Here is Barnave, who comes to Versailles from the Dauphine. At Grenoble and Vizille he followed in the footsteps of Mounier, but he has no sooner taken his seat in the States- General than he separates himself from his master and friend. Mounier in astonishment asks him the reason of this rupture. 'INI. Mounier, you have made your reputation — I have mine to make.'^ That was his reply. Now let us hear M. Ennnery, member for the bailiwick of Metz. In an interview that he had one day with M. de Bouille, the latter spoke as follows : ' I am neither an aristocrat nor a democrat ; I am a Royalist pure and simple. I conform to your detestable Constitution, because my Sovereign has accepted it, but if he ever refuses to continue his allegiance, I would instantly withdraw mine too.' ' You are frank," replied M. Emmery ; ' had I been born a noble, I would think and act like you ; but a man like myself, destined never to be aught but a lawyer, must naturally desire a revolution,'^ 1 ' It ma}' be said that the success of the Revolution is duo to the order of barristers.' — Baillv, ' Memoires,' i. 53. ' It is well known,' says Marmontel (' Mt'-moires,' tome ii., p. 21-3), ' what interest the body of barristers had to change reform into revolution, the Monarchy into a Republic. What it wished to set up was a perpetual aristocracy.' ^ ' Mrmoires ' of j\I. de Montlosier, tome i. 2 ' Mi'moires ' of the Marquis de Bouille, tome i., p. 202. THE JOURNALISTS IN THE CONVENTION 33 And yet, in times of Revolution, the journalists arc even more dangerous than the lawyers. The mob has no courtiers more servile, no flatterers more hateful than they, and of all the journalists who every morning instil anger, envy and hatred into the hearts of the people, I see only one, the miserable Hebert, who has no seat in the Convention. Many of them have even been returned for several departments. Carra, the editor of the Annales Patriotiques^ was elected in six : Saone-et-Loire, Loir-et-Cher, TEure, FOrne, la Charente and la Somme. Condorcet, the editor of the Chronique du Mois, in five : TAisne, la Sarthe, le Loiret, TEure and la Gironde.^ Thomas Paine, one of Condorcefs literary colleagues, in four : TAisne, TOise, le Puy-de-D6me, and le Pas-de-Calais. Brissot, editor of the Pair tote Fra7i^ais, in three : le Loiret, TEure, and TEure-et-Loir. Robespierre, editor of the Defenseiir cle la Constitution, was elected in Paris and in the Pas-de-Calais ; Gorsas, editor of the Courrier des Departements, in the Orne and in Seine-et-Oise ; Mercier, editor of the Annales Patriotiqties, in Seine-et-Oise and Loir-et-Cher ; Anacharsis Cloots, who is not content with being the Orator of Mankind, and who writes almost everywhere, was elected in the Oise and in Saone-et-Loire ; Barere, editor of the Point du Jour, also had the honour of a double election : in the Hautes-Pyrenees and in Scine-et-Oise, Paris sent, with Robespierre, Marat, the editor of the Ami du Peuple ; Camille Desmoulins, editor of the Revolutions de France et de Brabant ; Robert, editor of the Mercure National -^ Fabre 1 According to Mortimer-Ternaux, tome iv., p. 57, Condorcet was elected for only four departments — I'Aisne, I'Eure, la Sarthe, and la Loire. But in this he makes a triple error. Condorcet was returned for five departments, not for four. He was returned for le Loiret, and not for la Loire; in 1792 no such department as la Loire existed. This is not the only error made by Mortimer-Ternaux in his list of multiple returns to the Convention. He mentions Sieyes as having been elected only for the Orne and the Sarthe, whilst that member enjoyed a triple return for the Orne, Sarthe, and la Gironde. He omits Mercier, returned for Seine-et-Oise and Loir-et-Cher, and Albitte, returned for I'Eure and the Seine-Inferieure. (For the elections to the Convention, see the ' Proclamation de la Republique,' by G. Bord.) 2 ' Memoires de Mme. Roland,' p. 327. 3 34 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS crEdantine, editor of the Revolutions de Pans -^ Collot-d'Herbois and Dussaulx, editors of the Chron'iqne dii Mo'is.- The department of Seine -et-Oise elected, besides Mercier, Gorsas, and Barere, Guy-Kersaint, editor of the Chroniqiie du Mo'is, TaHien, editor of the Ami des Citoycns^ and Audouin, founder of the Journal Universel. Dulaure, editor of the Thcrmomeire du Jour, Avas returned for the Puy-de-D6me; Lequinio, editor of the Journal des Laboureurs, for the Morbihan; Lanthenas, editor of the Chron'ique du Mo'is and of the Patr'iote Frant^ais, for the Rhone- et -Loire ; Rabaut Saint-^tienne, editor of the Mon'iteur and of the Fcu'dJe VUIageoise, for the Aube ; GaiTan de Coulon, editor of the Chronique du Mo'is, and Louvet, editor of the Sentinelle, for the Loiret ; Charles Villette, editor of the Chronique de Paris, for the Oise ; and the Abbe Fauchet, editor of the Bouche-de-Fer, for Calvados. Is that all ? No ; Ave have still Boileau,^ Bancal des Issarts,* and Robert Lindet, of whom Caniille Desmoulins once said, as he reviewed his colleagues : ' Each of us has his share. . . . There is Brissot the diplomat, Robert Lindet the democrat, Noel the academician.*' There are about thirty of them altogether, and I nmst certainly have omitted more than one — the Abbe Gregoire, for instance, who in May, 1791, took charge of Gorsas' paper while the latter was ill.^ To enumerate the services rendered to their country by all these journalists would certainly be an interesting task, but one which would occupy a good many volumes. I will simply say a few words concerning Carra, the editor of the Annates Patr'iotiques, and a member of the Brissot party. Speaking at 1 Peltier, 'Dernier Tableau de Paris,' tome i., p. 197. 2 The Chronique du Mois (November, ITiJl, to July, 1793) appeared under the auspices of fourteen editors — Condorcet, Mercier, Guy-Ker- saint, J. P. Brissot, Garran de Coulon, Dussaulx, Lanthenas, Collot d'Herbois, Auger, Oswald, Broiissonnet, Biderraann, Bonneville, and Claviere. The first eight were returned to the Convention. 3 Deputy for I'Yonne. He wrote in the Feuille Villageoise. * Deputy for the Puy-de-Durae and one of the editors of the Chronique flu Mois. In 1H3.3 were published the ' Lettres Autographes de Mme. Roland adressees a Bancal des Issarts.' " See Journal de la Cour et de la Ville^ May 2.>, 1791. THE JOURNALISTS IN THE CONVENTION 35 the Jacobin Club on January 4 of the present year, he put forward the follow ing idea, ah-eady mooted by liini in his paper : ' That if Louis XVI. should a second time run away to join the refugees, or if his ]Ministers were suspected of treason in the pro- posed war, it would be necessary to place ax English Pkikce upon the Constitutional throne of France/^ There is another fact, not a Avhit less startling than the last, standing to the credit of the editor of the Annales Patriot'ujues ; he was sentenced to two years'' imprisonment by the tribunal of Macon for robbery with violence. On February 21 the Spcctateur d MocUrateiir'^ published an article by Chas^ entitled, ' Carra accused, arrested, and imprisoned for Robbery and Violence upon Dame Reboul, Widow of Sieur Tisserand, of the town of Macon,"' A full account of the matter appeared in Cerisier^s Gazette Universelle.^ AVhat a fine profession that of a Patriot is ! Here is a man Avho wished to bring his country under the sceptre of a foreign Prince — a man who has been branded by justice. Six depart- ments contend for the honour of sending him to sit among the representatives of the nation ! And first among these depart- ments figures the one in which he Avas condemned as a thief! 1 See Andre Chenier's article on the ' Parti Jacobin,' which appeared in the sixty-sixth supplement of the Journal de Paris, on May 11, 1792. 2 No. 83, pp. 334-336. Amongst the contributors to the Spectateur was M. de Fontanes, who defended with both talent and moderation the cause of the Monarchy and of true liberty, his conduct even gaining him the honour of being insulted by Camille Desmoulins. ^ Chas, born at Nimes about 1750, took part in editing several Royalist journals from 1789 to 1792. He is the author of a drama in three acts, entitled the ' Death of Robespierre,' which he published after the 18th of Brumaire, and which is preceded by a poem on ' Anarchy,' sent to the Academic Fran^aise some time before the Tenth of August. ' In this play,' he says, ' I wrote a tirade against those who abandon their country ; but since I persuaded the President d'Ormesson to remain in France, I have erased it with tears of blood.' Chas died in Paris about 1830, completely forgotten, although since 1784 he had never allowed a year to pass without publishing a book, or at least a pamphlet. * Gazette Universelle, or JSfeiospaper of Every Country and Every Day (December 1, 1789, to the Tenth of August, 1792), 5 vols., in 8vo. Carra tried to defend himself in the Annalea Patriotlques, but, obliged to acknowledge the fact of having undergone two years' imprisonment, he confined himself to protestations of his innocence. See ' CEuvres de Francois de Pange,' edited by L. Becq de Fouquieres, p. 203. CHAPTER V. IIOYALIST REPUBLICANS. Satunlaij, September 29, 1792. We have a Republic — I grant it — but have we any Rejjublicans; not Republicans got up for the occasion, but Republicans from conviction ; not Republicans of yesterday, but Republicans of long standing ? The IVIonarchy was abolished on the motion of Collot- d'Herbois, seconded by Gregoire, and in what terms is well known. It is not so very long since Collot-d'Herbois was a Royalist, and a very ardent one. He wrote a play entitled ' Retour de Nostradamus'^ in honour of Monsieui', the King''s brother, and hailed the birth of the Dauphin ^ by some very commonplace verses which he himself declaimed in the theatre at Rouen. In February, 1791, he again alluded to our good Louis XVI. in a comedy called the ' Port-feuilles."' The following words conclude and form the moral of the piece : ' My son is on duty at the Tuileries. . . . We must go and join him. We cannot finish our day in a better manner. We shall see our good King, emlirace our friends, and assure our own happiness by making our dear relatives hapjjy,"'^ 1 III a pam])lilet issued by Brissot on October 24, 1792, bearing the title 'A Word to all the Republicans of France upon the Jacobin Club of Paris,' we read : ' I was loudly anathematizing both Kings and Monarchy whilst these fervent Republicans of yesterday were still grovelling before ])rince8, whom they called " bright sons of glory." See the plays written and performed by Collot-d'Herbois, such as the " Retour de Nostradamus en Provence," in honour of the ci-devant Monsieur.' ^ This was the eldest son of Louis XVI., born October 22, 1781, died June 1, 17S!). ^ ' Les Portc-feuilles,'a comedy in two acts and in prose, by J. M. Collot- d'Herbois, performed at the Thcritre de Monsieur, Rue Fcydeau, February lu, 17'J1. ROYALIST REPUBLICANS 37 At the sitting of the National Assembly of August 28, 1789, M. Mounier, in the name of the Connnittee of Constitution, read the draft of a decree containing the following articles : Article L — The Government of France h- a Monarchical Government. Article 5. — The croion is indivisible, ami descends from branch to branch, from male to male, by order of primogeni- ture. Article 6. — The person of the King' is inviolable and sacred. Upon this draft the Abbe Gregoire was the first to speak. Was he about to protest against these principles ? No ; he supported, and even amplified, them. ' He points out that nothing has been said concerning the minority of a King, but that it is undoubtedly the wish of the Assembly to determine the duration of such minority."'^ A few weeks before that, on July 14, whilst the walls of the Bastille were falling, the Abbe had given utter- ance to the following words, so full of deep Monarchical senti- ment : ' When France awakens — when after two centuries the family is once more united under the eyes of a beloved King, when a Prince issue of our Kings takes his place amongst us . . . then reason proclaims its empire. It shines forth on all sides ; it will consecrate the resj)ective rights of a nation that worships its Monarch, and of a Monarch who finds his best support in the love of his people. ... It is true, alas ! that our King is surrounded and deceived by his enemies and ours, and ^\'hoever deceives the King, says Massillon, is as guilty as if he wished to dethrone him. It is our duty, gentlemen, to rise in his defence, and to help him restore the temple of our country.'- As the President of the National Convention, M. Petion proclaimed the abolition of the Monarchy — M. Petion, whose Royalist sentiments the Moniteur has many a time laid before the world. In the report of the sitting of August 27, 1789, I read, for instance, that ' jVI. Petion is opposed to the hasty discussion of the articles relating to the Monarchy. He says that amongst these articles there are some — such as the preser- 1 ' Archives Parlementaires,' from 1787 to 18G0, edited by Mavidal- Laurent, aud Clavel, tome viii., p. 504. ^ Ibid., tome viii., p. 232. 38 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS vat.ion of the Monarchy and the male succession to the throne — evidently essential to the peace of the French nation ; but that there are other articles which appear to him to be less evidently essential, and he asks that the examination of these be referred to the Committees.''^ The Secretaries of the Convention — IVOI. Camus, Rabaut Saint-Etienne, Lasource, \'ergniaud, Condorcet, and Brissot — are, like the President, Republicans of recent date. During- the same sitting of August 27, 1789, in which M. Petion proclaimed the evident utility of the preservation of the ^Monarchy, ]M. Camus moved that they should imme- diately proceed to the discussion of those self-same articles, con- cerning which, in his opinion, no difficulties could arise.- ]M. Rabaut Saint-Etienne is the author of a motion in five clauses, submitted to the National Assembly at its sitting of August 12, 1789, under the title of ' Principles of all Constitu- tion.' In Ai-tide 4 we find. The lierson of the King is inviolable and sacred? In the Legislative Assembly iNI. Lasource was one of the most advanced members of the Brissot faction. On April 18, 1792, the King ^\rote to inform the President that his son* being now seven years old, he had appointed ]M. de Fleurieu his governor. M. Lasource spoke on the (question. It was a fine opportunity for a Rejjublican to make a profession of anti-Monarchical fj\ith, but he seemeil to have no desire to take up that stand. On the contrary, he fully admitted the principle of hereditary Monarchy, and merely asked that the heir-})rcsumptive to the throne should receive an education in keeping with the \\ ishes of the Assembly and those of the French people.'"' * " The law and the King " will henceforth be the rallying cry of all good citi/ens/ These were the words of M. Vergniaud, in a circular drawn up by him and sent by the Society of PViends of the Constitution in Bordeaux to all nmnicipalities in the department of the Giiondc, on May 17, 1790. 'Let us thank * ' Archives Parlementaire?,' tome viii., p. 232. ^ Jhkl. 3 Ihvl., ]). Ift7. ^ Louis Charles of France and of Bourbon, the second son of Louis XVI., was born at Versailles on Easter Sunday, March 27, 1785. '^ Monittur of 1702, No. 110, ROYALIST REPUBLICANS 39 Heaven,"' he wrote, ' for having given us a chief who has recog- nised these great truths. . . . Let us bless Louis XVI. for having recognised that the power of Kings emanates from the will of the people. . . . Let us bless him for having recognised that his grandest title is that of Citizen-King.''^ Was the Marquis of Condorcet a Republican when he wrote in his preface to ' L'Homme aux Quarante Ecus ' : ' Those who were the first to say that the right of property in its fullest extent — that of making a perfectly free use of one's industry and possessions — was a more natural and much more important right for ninety-nine men out of a hundred than that of forming a ten-millionth part of the legislative power ; those who added that the preservation of security and of personal liberty has less connection with the freedom of the Constitution than is generally believed .... all those who have uttered these truths have been of use to Society in teaching it that happiness is closer at hand than is thought, and that it is not by overturning the world, but by enlightening it, that we may hope to find happi- ness and freedom ' ? Was he a Republican when, in his edition of Voltaire''s ' Dictionnaire Philosophique,'' he added the follow- ing significant note to the article ' Patrie "■ : ' Political existence is of three kinds only — monarchy, aristocracy, and anarchy ' .'' Was he a Republican when he accepted from the King the post of Treasurer, with a salary of 20,000 francs ? Was he a Republican when he allowed himself to be enrolled a member of the Society of 1789, with Bailly, Beaumetz, Chapelier, Demeunier, Dupont de Nemours, Girardin, Jaucourt, Pastoret, Ramond, Rulhiere, and Andre Chenier, and when he contributed to the journal of that society ?- J. P. Brissot makes a great boast of the purity and long- standing of his Republicanism, but his claims in this respect, though oft repeated, will scarcely bear a momenfs examination. In an address on the means of' modrf'y'mg the rigour of' the pencd 1 ' Le Barreau de Bordeaux,' by Henri Chauvot, p. 118. 2 Ttules of the Society of 1789, and List of Members.' Paris, 1790. The number of members is 4.10. The journal of the society appeared eveiy Saturday; the first number is dated June 5, 1790 ; the last, September 15 of the same year. There ax-e eight articles by Condorcet ; the other contributors were Grouvelle, Kersaint, Andre Chenier, Francois de Pange, Dupont de Nemours, etc. 40 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS lazes, which was awarded a prize by the Academie of Chalons-sur- Mame, in 1780, he praises the beneficence of Louis XVI., who was then his august monarch ; he asks that ' the hand of educa- tion should indehbly engrave u})on our hearts these words dictated by Nature : Man, love thine equals. Subject, cherish thy Sovereign.'' He desires no mercy for those who commit the abominable crime of attacking the Monarchy. But here his own words become too interesting to be omitted. ' L'irst in this category of crimes,'' wrote Brissot, ' must be placed those which either tend directly to the subversion of the existing form of government in France, or which attack the sacred person of our Kings ; in the first degree they are called crimes of high treason, in the second of sedition, rebellion, etc. Our history gives a number of instances, even in the most remote times, of trials for these abominable crimes. . . . High treason is undoubtedly the most unpardonable of such offences. There is no ^ther of which the consequences are more fatal to a State ; and if the true measure of punishment is the harm which an offence does to Society, no torture should be spared these delinquents. To them alone, and especially to regicides, no. mercy must be shown ; for them alone cruelty is permitted, and even commanded by humanity. Can zee regret that the executioner s art exhausted its resources on such creatures as Chdtcl, Kavailhu; and Damien, monsters sent Jrom hell to 2)lunge our nation into grief? My pen refuses to calculate the punishment due to such crimes. I should be afraid of failing in my duty either to Society or to Nature. I shudder to find in history the name of a crime of which the thought alone horrifies me, and which will undoubtedly never appear again. Oh, my country, may your annals hence- forth be free from the stain of such outrages ! Yet if some madman should . . . Fear not ; I raise my voice only in the defence of humanity ! Let that monster be mercilessly torn from his fellows and delivered uj) to the most terrible forms of human justice, so that the story of his sufferings may live to deter such wretches as might be temj)ted to imitate him. If there is one country on earth whore the life of the people and the excellence of the Government make these awful ciinK's least to be feared, that coimtry is undoubtedly the haj)i)y one in which we dwell. ROYALIST REPUBLICANS 41 Renowned for the gentleness of its disposition, the French nation is still better known for the unchangeable love it bears its Kings, and for the equanimity with Avhich it wears the slender chains of a temperate monarchy.'' Let us now turn to Brissofs ' Theory of Criminal Law,' and see how the Rej)ublican there speaks of the King : " When Heaven bestows a blessing upon earth in the form of such a Prince, it seems as if he were the sun coming to disperse the black clouds that lie upon the horizon. The impure ministers of secret debauch disappear before his imposing glance ; the wit ceases his innnoral ([uips and cranks ; the outraged wife resmnes her rights ; the husband no longer shirks his responsibilities ; and innocence and candour reappear in that Court from which the empoisoned air of licentiousness had banished them. This picture is not mere fancy. I have the original before me, and in my heart. All my readers will say : It is he ! But were he to read these lines, he would be the last to see the likeness — genius does good without knowing it.'^ ' What matters it,' says Brissot, ' what I may have done or written before 1789 T Ah ! my good sir, that matters a good deal. But be it so ; we shall not go back beyond that date. In 1790 Brissot is still a member of the Society of 1789 ;^ he was therefore still a Royalist. On July 10, 1791 — after the flight to Varennes — he states in a speech at the Jacobin Club that there are only two solutions possible : either Louis XVI. reign- ing under the supervision of an elected Council, or Louis XVI. reigning with the aid of his Council of Ministers, as in the past. ' The latter combination,'' he went on to say, ' is what the pure Royalists ask for ; the Patriots accept the former. That, gentlemen, is the M'hole of the mystery ; that is the key to this ridiculous accusation of Republicanism."^ If, therefore, he was not a pure Royalist, he Avas at least still a Royalist in 1791. But in 1792 ? On July 25 of that year — less than two months before the abolition of the Monarchy — Brissot delivered a great speech, in which he attempted to pulverize the Republicans. 1 ' Th^orie des Lois Criminelles,' bv Brissot de Warville, tome i., p. 58. 2 ' List of Members of the Society of 1789.' Paris, 1790. 2 Camille Desmoulins, Revolutions de France^ tome vii., p. 30. 42 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS '.If there exist,' he cried, ' men who are plotting to build up a Republic on the ruins of the Constitution, the sword of justice must fall upon them as it fell upon the partisans of the two Chambers, and upon the counter-revolutionaries of Coblentz.'^ I might stop here. If the members who were chiefly instiii- mental in abolishing the Monarchy — if the President and the Secretaries, who were elected to their office almost unanimously, are not thorough and well grounded in their convictions, is it not plain that their colleagues must be, like them, mere casual Republicans ? But let us continue our researches in this field, for they seem to me deficient neither in interest nor in instruc- tion. 1 Monlieur, July 27, 1792. The motion for Brissot's speech to be printed was carried by a large majority. CHAPTER VI. ROYALIST REPUBLICANS {concludecl). Simdaij, September 30, 1792. SiNX'E neither Brissot, nor Vergniaud, nor Condorcet are aught but mushroom Republicans, we may safely conclude that the rest of the members of the Brissot party are no better. Let us take five of the most ardent workers of the party — Gensonne, Dufriche - Valaze, Bishop Fauchet, Barbaroux the Marseillais, and Gorsas the journalist. On November 20, 1790, the town of Bordeaux proceeded to the installation of the first district tribunal. In, his capacity of Procureur de la Commune, Gensonne had to administer the oath to the new Judges. In the speech he made on that occasion, I find this passage : ' What marks of gratitude, gentlemen, do we not owe that virtuous Monarch who, loyally supporting the representatives of the nation, attaches his happiness and glory to the success of their labours ; who, recognising the rights of the nation, deserves to be called the restorer of French liberty l'^ In 1784 M. Dufriche- Valaze published a treatise on the penal laws, and dedicated it in huml)le and respectful terms to Monsieur, brother of the King. Bishop Fauchet bore but a very short time ago the title of Predicateur du Roi. This is how the Revolutions de Paris spoke of the sermon which he preached in the metropolitan church of Paris on November 1, 1791 : 'What was our astonish- ment to hear the member for Calvados preach in Paris as they still preach in Rome, preach in 1791 as they preached in 1400 ! Bishop Fauchet does not style himself Predicateur du Roi for nothing.'' 1 'Le Barreau de Bordeaux,' by Henri Chauvot, p. 179. 44 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS A\Tien Barbaroux came to Paris from ^Marseilles in June, 1788, it was not to upset the throne, but to solicit a post, or at least a room in the School of Mines ; and as, to attain his object, he required the assistance of ]M. de Lambert, Comptroller of Finances, and of Baron de Breteuil, Minister of the Royal Household, he neglected no opportunities of gaining their pro- tection.^ With what zeal did he then extol their virtues ! How enthusiastically did he speak of the Court, and of ]M. de Breteuil's nephew in particular, who received him at all hours, and who allowed him to write every day : ' ^Monsieur, I am the friend of the nephew of the ]Minister !' Gorsas, Avho now makes such a show of his Republicanism, writing on January 7, 1791, says : ' ^ly respect for the virtues of om- august Sovereign is well known. Those who read my Coiin-'ier, which has now reached its twentieth volume, know that I have never spoken Avith aught but veneration of that cherished Monarch.'^ And on March 18 he wrote ; ' The King's recovery has brought joy to the hearts of all true patriots. Yesterday every house was illuminated, and on Sunday a Te Deum will be sung in the episcopal and metropolitan church to celebrate this happy convalescence. In the evening there will again be illuminations.''^ A few days before the Tenth of August — that is, about two months ago — he inveighed most strongly against the Republic. In an ai-ticle of July 25 he said : ' We have already long since given our opinion on a Re})ul)lican France, and after a few arguments that seemed to us well grounded, we quoted the fable of the Frogs. We recall these facts to prove how far we are from defending Republicanism.'' ^ ' Mc'moires inedits de Petion ' and ' ^lemoires de Buzot et de Barbaroux,' edit. Dauban, ISHC, pp. 2S(; and 2!)(). 'Lettres inc'dites de Barbaroux ' : ' I may flatter naysclf that I have gained the Minister's favour, and this favour takes deeper root every day. Notwithstanding this, matters cannot be hastened, and you have a false idea of the Court if you think that it is sufficient to have protection in order to get what one wants. To begin with, suitors must possess real merit, and it is only after having proved this that one can gain the Minister's favour. ... If the Minister's nephew receives me whenever I like to call, if he pays visits expressly to procure me some useful connections, if he permits me to write to him every day without any ceremony, can I doubt that I have managed to please him?' — Letter of August 10, 17HH. 2 Le Cuurrier de Paris, tome xx., p. 10.5. '' Ibid., tome xxii., p. 284. ROYALIST REPUBLICANS 45 We must evidently give up the idea of finding a true lie- publican in the Brissot party ; perhaps we shall come across one on the benches of the Mountain. Let us commence with Robespierre — ab Jove pindpmm. An ardent Royalist in 1789, on the eve of the States-General, he addressed Louis XVI. in the following terms : ' Oh ! what a glorious day, sire, will that be when these principles which are engraved on your Majesty's heart, and proclaimed by those august lips, shall receive the inviolable sanction of the first nation of Europe ! To lead men to happiness by paths of virtue — to make fast anew the innnortal chain that should bind man to God and to his fellows by destroying those oppressive and tyrannical things that engender fear, distrust, pride, selfish- ness, hatred, greed and all other vices — such, sire, is the glorious undertaking to which you have been called !' On the day of the King's flight to Varennes (June 20, 1791), several politicians met at Petion's house, and one of them happened to mention the word ' Republic f ' Republic ! Re- public !' exclaims Robespierre, with a grin ; ' Avhafs a Re- public?'^ In the Address of Maximilkn Robespierre to the French, published in the following month of August, I note this passage : ' As for the Sovereign, I by no means share the fear with which the title of King inspires nearly all free nations. Provided that the people be put into his place, and that free scojie be given to that patriotism ^hich the nature of our revolution has pro- duced, I would fear neither a JVIonarchy, nor even the hereditary transmission of Monarchical functions.' And further : ' Our enemies had already been careful to spread about that we were the leaders of a pretended Republican party, though it was well known that we had never opposed either the existence, or even the hereditary transmission, of the Monarchy.' A Royalist in 1791, Robespierre was still one in 1792. At the beginning of that year a political club in the Jura addressed a letter to the Society of Friends of the Constitution in Paris asking for the establishment of a Republic. Dulaure, now member for the Puy-de-D6mc, was deputed to reply to this 1 ' Memoires ' of Mme. Roland, p. 255. 46 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS communication. The draft he submitted was not sufficiently Royahst to please Robespierre and the other members of the committee who were under his influence, and Dulaure — who himself tells the story — was obliged to retouch his o^\'n letter three times in order to monarcluze his reply .^ On May 17, 1792, the first number of Robespien-e's paper. The Defender of the Constitution, made its appearance. The first article, entitled 'An Explanation of my Principles,' contains this declaration : ' It is the Constitution that I wish to defend — the Constitution as it exists. From the moment when the Acte Constitutionnel was concluded and approved by o-eneral consent, I have alwavs confined myself to a demand for its faithful execution." In another number Robespierre said : ' The Legislative Assembly has no right to meddle with the Constitution -which it has sworn to maintain ; any change would now only alarm the friends of Liberty.' ' I prefer," he wrote fvnther, 'a popular representative Assembly with free and respected citizens under n King\ to an enslaved people under the rod of an aristocratic senate and of a dictator. I like Cromwell no better than Charles I., and I can no more bear the yoke of the Decemvirs than that of the Tarquins."^ Thus, on the very eve of the Tenth of August, Robespierre defended the Constitution of 1791, as it existed, that Constitution which ran: ' The Government is Monarehicid. The Croicn is indivisible, and descends by hereditary right, and in order of primogeniture, to males of the reigning dynasty. The jjerson of' the King is inviolable and sacred.^ After Robespierre, Danton ; after the Jacobin, the ' Gray Friar." On February 4, 1790, after Louis XYI. had appeared 1 ' Observations a mes Commettants,' J. A. Dulaure. - The Defenseur de la Constitution appeared every Thursday, and con- sisted of from forty-eight to sixty-four pages. The twelfth and last number, which appeared a few days after the Tenth of August, concluded with the following announcement : ' The present state of affairs and the approaching opening of the Convention render the title of our publica- tion somewhat unsuitable. . . . AVe shall henceforth continue the paper under a name more in keeping with the conjuncture in which we are,' The new publication appeared from the end of September, 17t)2, until March 15, 1703, under the title of Letters from Maximilien Robespieire to Ms Cotintiiucuts. 3 Constitution of 1791, clause iii., article !■ ; chapter ii., articles 1 and 2. ROYALIST REPUBLICANS 47 in the National Assembly and sworn allegiance to the Con- stitution, a member of the Commune of Paris proposed to send a deputation to the King offering him the homage of the city. Danton, who then sat in the General Assembly of the Connnune, gave his vote in favour of this royal demonstration. He like- wise supported another motion, proposing that all the members of the Comnmne should renew their oath of allegiance to the nation, to the laws, and to the King, and should swear to maintain with all their might the Constitution as settled by the National Assembly, and accepted by the Monarch. Thinking that this even was not sufficient, he proposed that the \vhole of the public in the galleries, men and women, should also be allowed to take this oath — a proposal, says the Jloniteur,^ that was received with loud applause. In January of the present year, on the day of his installation as deputy for the Procureur de la Commune, he delivered a speech in which we find the following energetic profession of Monarchical faith : ' I have been appointed to guard the Constitution, and to see that the laws sworn to by the nation are carried out. I Avill keep my oath, fulfil my duties, and maintain the Constitution with all my might. . . . My predecessor"^ has told you that the King, by calling him to the Ministry, has given a fresh proof of his attachment to the Constitution ; the people, by electing me to this j'ost, have shown an attachment to that Constitution at least as great as the King's, and have therefore well seconded the royal wishes. May it be that I and my predecessor have spoken two eternal truths ! . . . A constitutional Monarchy may possibly endure longer than a despotic one has done. ... I repeat that, whatever may have been my indi- vidual opinion at the time of the revision of the Constitution, I Avould, now that this Constitution has been solemnly adopted, demand the death of the first man who raised a saci'ilegious hand against it, were he my brothei', my friend, my own son ! Such are my sentiments. '^ General Lafayette, Avhose conduct, in more than one matter, has been open to severe criticism, but whose honesty is above suspicion, declares that Danton, in his presence, admitted 1 Moniteur, No. 37 of 1790. 2 Cahier de Gerville, appointed Minister of the Interior November 28, 1791. 3 'Revolutions de Paris,' No. 134., p. 229 ; and No. 138, p. 415. 48 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS having received money from the Court, and that, in trying to defend himself, he used the words : ' General, I am more Royalist than you/^ Danton's two secretaries in the Ministry of Justice, Fabre d'Eglantine and Camille Desmoulins, are, like their chief, Republicans of recent date. In his first piece, ' Les Gens de Lettres, ou le Poete de Province a Paris,"" performed at the Theatre Italien'^ on September 21, 1787, Fabre had written only four good verses, and those verses are Royalist in tone. It is not much more than a year since there was performed at the same theatre a comedy from his pen entitled ' Le Convalescent de Qualite,"' in which he preaches respect and love towards the King.^ 1 The following is the exact text of the important note left on this subject by General Lafayette, and inserted in the third volume of his ' Memoires,' p. 85 : ' Danton sold himself on condition that he should receive 100,000 francs as a compensation for the suppression of his post as avocat au conseil instead of the 10,000 francs originally fixed. The King's present was therefore 00,000 francs. Lafayette had met Danton at M. de Montmorin's on the very evening the bargain was concluded. , . . Danton was ready to sell himself to all parties. At the time when he was proposing incendiary motions at the Jacobins, he was their spy at Court, where, however, he gave regular accounts of what was going on at the club. Later he received a good deal of money. On the Friday before the Tenth of August he was given 50,000 crowns. The Court, thinking him safe, regarded the preparations for that day with equanimity, and Mme. Elisabeth said : ' We have no fear — we may rely on Danton.' Lafayette knew of the first payment, but not of the others. Danton himself spoke of it before him at the Hotel de Ville, and, seeking to justify himself, said : ' General, I am more Royalist than you.'" See also ' Memoires de Lafayette,' tome iii., p. 37G. Concerning Danton's venality, see the testimony of Bertrand de Moleville, ' Momoires,' tome i., p. 354, and ' Histoire de la Revolution de France,' tome x., p. 24-i) ; Mirabeau, letter of March 1!), 17!J1, in his ' Correspondance avec le Comte de la Marck,' tome iii., p. 82 ; Brissot, 'Memoires,' tome iv., p. I!J3 ; Garat, 'Memoires,' tome xviii., and p. ill of the 'Histoire Parlementaire ' ; Roederer, 'CEuvres inc'dites,' tome iii. Louis Blanc has thoroughly gone into (tome x., ]). WU) this question of Danton's venality, and he has no hesitation in answering it with a bold affirmative. '^ In 1787 the Theatre Italien occupied the Salle Favart. Built on the site of the Choiseul mansion, this salle was opened ou Aj)ril 28, 1783, for the performance of comedies and operettas. Notwithstanding its name, the pieces and the actors were French. 3 The Feuille du Jour for January 30, 171)1, says: 'On Friday (January 28), the " Convalescent de Qualite " was performed for the first time at the Thratrc Italien. , . . The audience encored the verses referring to the King, and the enthusiasm showed how dear the Sovereign is to his ])eople.' The ' Revolutions dc Paris,' No. 82, criticised the piece in the ROYALIST REPUBLICANS 49 Camille Desmoulins boasts of having been a Republican ever since he left college. But on July 18, 1789, he wrote in La France Lihre : ' Louis XVI. set off again amid the roar of cannon and of the 30,000 voices that called down the blessings of Heaven upon his sacred head. The King triumphs, and the nation triumphs, the happiness of the people being the victory of a good King.' Two years later, in July, 1791, he declared that the imputation of Republican ideas to him and his friends was a ridiculous and a wicked calumny.^ Let us go higher, and ascend to the very summit of the Mountain. Here sits Saint-Just, a new-comer, who has taken his place by the side of Robespierre ; here sits Sergent, one of the members of the famous Vigilance Committee ; and here sits Marat. In 1786 M. Florelle de Saint- Just solicited the honour of being admitted into the guards of the Comte d'Artois whilst awaiting permission to enter the King's body-guard. If his petition was not granted, it was because he was arrested by his mother's request, and detained for six months for having carried away from home at night some family plate and jewellery, which he sold to a receiver.- following terms : ' In the scene between the Marquis and the Doctor there are some fine sentiments expressed in fine verse, but there are also some passages which the Royalist Club itself would not disavow. . . . These passages were most applauded, and the sycophantry of the old regime which the poet has been weak enough to put into his work had to be repeated. The eulogy upon the King alone occupies almost as much space as the whole history of the Revolution. The author has not stopped there ; he has falsified the facts in order to leave no shadows upon the highly-coloured portrait of the Monarch.' 1 Revolutions de France et de Brabant, tome vii., p. 301. In May, 1793, Camille Desmoulins wrote in his ' Histoire des Brissotins ' : 'On July 12, 1789, there were perhaps no more than ten Republicans in Paris.' And he added in a note : ' Those few Republicans were for the most part young men, who, having fed on Cicero in college, were mad after liberty.' 2 See the complete set of papers relating to this affair, found in the 'Archives Nationales' and in the 'Archives de la Prefecture de Police,' by MM. Campardon and Vatel, and published by the latter in his work on 'Charlotte Corday et les Girondins,' tome i., p. 141, etc. In the ' Examination of Saint- Just,' on October G, 1786, we find ; ' Asked what he intended to do, after having spent the said money, he answered that he expected to be admitted into the guards of the Comte d'Artois until he was tall enough to enter the King's body-guard.' 4 50 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS Sergent, the man of June 20, of the Tenth of August, and of September 2, was a copper-plate engTaver at the beginning of the Revolution, and he has more than once helped to illustrate Royalist sentiments. 'WTien he was appointed a municipal officer in February, 1792, the Revolutions de Paris could not help asking : ' Have Ave not decorated with a sash ]VI. Sergent, an artist M'ho not so very long ago published an engraving representing Loris XII., Hkxiu IV., and Louis XVI., with the following sum in a triangle below the three busts, " XII. and IV, make XVI. ,'' which is as much as to say that Louis XVI. alone is as good as Louis XII. and Henri IV. put together, "\^'^hen the Prince Royal is taught arithmetic, it will be by this ingenious plate that he will learn how to add up. Tender the old regime the artist would have been reA\arded a\ ith the black cord, but we trust that he has other claims to the tricolour sash.'^ Marat — tu qiiogue, Brute — was no Republican before the Revolution, Avhen he dedicated his translation of ^^ewton''s ' Optics ' to the King, when he published his writings in honour of Monsieiu-, Comte de Provence,^ and A\'hen he pompously wrote his title of Medecin des Gardes du Corps de Monseigneur le Comte d'Artois^ upon his ' Recherches sur la Lumiere " and his ' Recherches sur rElectricite."' Has he become one since the Revolution .'' By no means. On p. 17 of his ' Plan of Constitu- tion,'' ]iublished in 1790, I read : ' In a gi-eat State the form of government must be Monarchical ; it is the only one befitting France. The extent of the kingdom, its position and the multiplicity of its relations, necessitate this, and policy would 1 Revolutions de Paris, No. 130, February 18, 1792. '^ Prudhomrae, ' Histoire des Rovolutions,' tome i., p. 296. 3 In ' Charlotte Corday et les Girondins,' Vatel publishes Marat's com- mission, which runs as follows : 'To-day, June 2i, 1777, Monseigneur the Comte d'Artois being at Versailles, and having received a report upon the good character, talents, and experience in the art of medicine of Sieur Jean Paul Marat, doctor of medicine of several faculties in England, Monseigneur, desiring to grant him a mark of his favour, bestows upon him the post of physician in his guards, and desires that the said Sieur Marat shall enjoy the honours, prerogatives, and advantages accruing therefrom, and style himself accordingly in all public and private acts.' (Secretariat de Mgr. le Comte d'Artois. Provisions et Brevets, piece 213. ' Archives Nationales,' serie O, 19.5.5, 19.>().) Marat continued to receive the salary attaching to this post (2,000 francs) until April 23, 1780. ROYALIST REPUBLICANS 51 have to yield to so many powerful reasons even if the disposition of the people ])erniitted a change of regime.'' And on p. 43 : ' The King can only be approached through his Ministers ; his person is sacred.'' He is not less explicit in the Ami du Peuplc. On February 17, 1791, he wrote: 'I do not know whether the counter-Revo- lutionaries will force us to change the form of government, l)iit I am convinced that a very limited Monarchy is that which suits us best to-day. . . . As for Louis XVI., I believe he has only the faults of his education. . . . Taking him altogether, just as he is, he is the King we want. We ought to thank Heaven for him, and pray for his long life, taking every care to keep him amongst us I'^ On April 20, 1791, he reproaches Condorcet ' with impudently calumniating the Jacobin Club, and with perfidiously accusing- it of wishing to destroy the Monarchy.'^ On June 13 following, he attacks those who violate the oath they took at the time of the Federation, since ' to defend the Constitution is the same as to be faithful to the nation, the law, and the King.'^ Finally, in July last, he sends Barbaroux a pamphlet to be circulated amonsst the Marseillais as soon as thev arrive. This was nothino- less than an invitation to them to fall upon the Legislative body. According to Marat, it was necessary to protect the Royal Family even at the cost of exterminating an Assembly in which anti- Revolutionary sentiments were evidently predominant.* But let us not be discouraged ; we will not leave the benches of the Mountain yet. Not far from Marat sits Marie Joseph Chenier, bearing no traces of embarrassment at finding himself in such strange company. Does Chenier remember that in the dedicatory epistle of his ' Charles IX.' he wrote : ' Oh, Louis XVI. ! King of justice and of mercy ! you are indeed fitted to be the leader of the French "■ .? On the same benches as Chenier and Marat, a little below Robespierre, I see several of their colleagues in the Constituent 1 VAmi du Peuple, No. 374. ^ /j/f/.^ Nq. 434. 3 /^j^.^ Nq. 488. * Barbaroux, ' Memoires,' p. 61. See also a remarkable study of Marat by Granier de Cassagnac in his ' Histoire des Causes de la Revolution,' tome iii., pp. 415-441. 52 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS Assembly — Anthoiiie (of j\Ietz), Aadier, \'oullaiid, and Merlin (ofDouai). In September, 1789, Anthoine wrote to the editor of the Journal dc Pans : ' You accuse the National Assembly of having neither love for the person of the King, nor the most elementary notions of politics. The three propositions were : The inviolahUUij of the King's pe)so)i, the indivisibility of the throne, and the hereditarij transmission of the crown. These three propositions were carried tmanimoushj , and by acclamation. . . . That, sir, is the exact truth, and it is the more necessary to point it out since your incorrect report might lend credit to the calumnies already too widely spread by the enemies of the nation. They have dared to say in the Assembly that the safety of the King's person was in danger, and that attempts were being made to deprive the Dauphin of the succession to the throne. Let France know at once that the majority of the Assembly is as ready to maintain the rights of the throne as those of the nation's liberty.'^ AMiilst speaking in the Constituent Assembly on July 16, 1T91, Vadier made the following declaration: 'I detest the Republican system, and I Mould willingly lay down my life to efface the decrees that have been passed.^- Voulland, in 1791, was the secretary of the Feuillants, an essentially Royalist club !^ Merlin used to sign all his articles in the Repertoii-e de Juris- jn-iidence : ' Merlin, Secretary to the King, House and Crown of France.'' On September 28, 1789, he gave 1,000 francs as a patriotic contribution, to be deducted from his salary as Secretary to the King, at the same time announcing his intention of giving more, as soon as he was reinstated in his office.^ He evidently expected to remain a Royal Secretary. On July 3, 1791, he Avrote to the Journal dcs Homines Lihres : 'Heaven preserve me from ado})ting your ideas concerning the INlonarchy. If I wished to plunge France into a frightful civil way and give her up to her most cruel enemies, I would take uj) the same line as you. A people so numerous and so unequal in riches as the French cannot be turned into a Republic. I challenge 1 Rdvohdiom de Paris, No. 11. - Moniteur of 1791, No. 198. 3 Camille Desmoulins, ' Notes sur le Rapport de Saiut-Just.' * Moniteur for 1789, No. G3, ROYALIST REPUBLICANS 53 you to give me an instance of any groat Republic that existed for any appreciable time and without continual storms. We have a Constitution ; let us keep it/^ Shall I continue this edifying journey round the Riding- School ? Shall I ask Lepeleticr de Saint-Fargeau, Salle, La Revelliere-Lepeaux, Barere and the Abbe Sieyes, all of whom sat in the Constituent Assembly, for their certificate of Re- publicanism ? Elected by the nobility of Paris to represent them in the States -General, Lepeletier de Saint-Fargeau was at first an ardent defender of the Monarchy. On August 24, 1789 — the day of Saint Louis — he proposed that the following address should be sent to the King : ' Sire, the Sovereign whose revered name your Majesty bears, and whose virtues religion celebrates to-day, was, like yom-self, the friend of his people. ' Like you, Sire, he desired the liberty of the French. He protected it by laws which adorn our annals, but he could do nothing to revive it. ' That glory, reserved for your Majesty, will give you an immortal right to the gratitude and tender veneration of the French. ' Thus will for ever be united the names of two Kings who, with centuries between them, vie in performing the most signal acts of justice in favour of their people. ' Sire, the National Assembly has suspended its labours for a fcAv moments in order to fulfil a duty that it holds dear, and one which is not beyond the scope of its mission, since, in assuring its King of the love and fidelity of the French, it is promoting the best interests of the nation and gratifying its most ardent desire.' M. Salle, member for the Meurthe, whose role in the Con- stituent Assembly was not an inglorious one, made the following- declaration on August 31, 1791 : ' The hereditary succession to the throne is, in my opinion, the wisest law we have. And,' he added, ' nothing shall ever shake me in this opinion. "■- On the preceding July 15, in the course of the grand debate that folloAved the return from "N^arennes, he had stoutly defended the principle of the King's inviolability, and in his speech on 1 ' Mf'moires' of General Lafayette, tome iii., p. 383. 2 ' Opinion de M. Salle, Depute, sur les Conventions Nationales,' published in Paris, August 31, 1791. 54 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS that occasion there occurs this passage : ' Some speak of turning out the Monarchy and of putting in its place an Executive Council elected bv the eighty-three departments. ... I declare that I would rather lay down my life than allow the supreme power, in any form whatever, to be placed in the hands of more than one.'^ Foremost among those who applauded this language must have been M. de la Revelliere-Lepeaux. AVas he not one of the Constituent deputies most assiduous in their attendance at the Club des Feuillants?2 Did he not, on May 18, 1791, make the following anti- Republican profession of faith in the National Assembly ? ' In a country of such extent, the bonds of govern- ment should be more tightened than at Glaris or at Appenzell, other^\•ise the State would be given up to the horrors of anarchy, and so fall into the hands of a few tricksters. I, who have most decidedly no liking for Courts, am therefore ready to declare that the day when France shall cease to have a Kin"' she will exchanoe her liberty and her peace for the terrible desjjotism of eternal factions.'^ Barere made himself famous by his eulogies of Louis XII., of Cardinal d'Amboise and of Seguier, all imbued with the purest ^Monarchical sentiments.* His paper, the Point du Joui\^ testifies that he had not yet lost these sentiments when he took his seat on the benches of the Constituent Assembly. As a 1 Speech of M. Salle, member for the Meurthe, upon the events of June yi, 17i)l, delivered in the Assembly on July lo, printed by order of the National Assembly, and sent to the department?. 2 Beaulieu, ' Essais Historiques,' tome iii., p. 48. " Mnniteur oi May 20, 1701. ^ ' Klogc" de Montesquieu, do J. J. Rousseau, de Louis XII., de d'Amboisc et de Siguier,' by Barrre de Vieuzac, 17 Si). In the ' Eloge de Louis XII.,' p. 32, I find : ' That day clearly proved the truth of the great axiom, that a (jaail Kinrj ix the inKir/c of the D'lvhiity on earl/i' ; and oti p. 4-.5 : ' Such was this Monarch who occupies a place in our annals between Charles V. and Henri lY. Such was the Priuce whose wise laws have been praised by Councils, Senates, and National Assemblies, aud "who^e memory will be blessed in all ages. We cannot dwell without emotion upon this epoch of our history, when the nation was so happy. We cannot utter the name of Fatiii.u of his People without a holy veneration : good Kings inspire a kind of idolatry.' ^' Le Point (hi Jour was exclusively devoted to a report of the proceed- ings of the National Assembly. The first number appeared on June 1!), 17Hi) ; the last on October 2, I7i)l. ROYALIST REPUBLICANS 55 proof of this I will quote the following lines written by him after the sitting of July 15, 1789 : 'The whole Assembly rushed out after his Majesty,^ and, without having had time to concert any plan of action, every member was seized with the same idea of escorting him from the Assembly to the palace. The Sovereign was so touched by this mark of affection that he decided to perform the journey on foot. The head of the nation, surrounded by the three orders of its i-epre- sentatives — united by a common love for their common chief — passed through the midst of an immense multitude, which, by its vociferous shouts of joy, by its oft-repeated expressions of love, and by its eagerness to catch a glimpse of its idol, seemed to have gone mad with delight. . . . This spectacle was followed by another equally beautiful and no less touching — that of the Queen standing on the balcony of the palace and holding in her arms the Dauphin, whom she repeatedly kissed and presented to the people. . . . The King, not forgetting amidst these popular rejoicings that they were blessings from heaven, hastened to the chapel to render thanks to God for having permitted him to retain the love of his people in spite of terror and calamity. He received a fresh proof of affection in the shouts of joy that greeted him on entering the chapel, and which, even in the house of God, seemed but a fitting tribute to one who had proved himself a touching image of the Divinity — a comforter of woe. '2 In the following month of September, when Louis XVI. sacrificed his gold and silver plate and sent it to the Mint, Barere's Royalist fervom- again burst forth. 'The King," he wrote, ' in his contempt for all useless pomp, has sent all his plate and all the Queen's jewellery to the Mint. Louis XIV. certainly did the same thing, but it was to defray the expenses of a ruinous war ; Louis XVI. employs these means to secure the basis of that liberty which is to regenerate the nations of Europe."'^ The Assembly having begged the King to forego the making of this sacrifice, Louis XVI. replied : ' I am deeply touched by the feelings that animate the Assembly, but I persist in my resolve, rendered necessary by the scarcity of money. Neither the Queen nor myself attach any importance to this 1 On July 15 the King had gone to the Assembly without any guards, and accompanied only by his two brothers. 2 Le Point du Jour. See also No. 196. ^ Ibid., tome ii., 74. 56 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS sacrifice."' Barere, in his paper, made the following comment upon this reply : ' ^\^hen justice and probity occupy the throne, all the other virtues accompany them/^ Two years later, on ]\Iay 26, 1791, Barere, in submitting his report concerning the palaces that should be dedicated to the King's use, concluded with these words : ' Such are the generous gifts that a gi'eat people bestows upon virtue l""^ Finally, this same Barere was a member of the Societe de 1789, and President of the Club des Feuillants.^ To-day the former editor of the Point du Jour (the Daivn) is uncertain from which side the sun will rise, and meanwhile sits midway between the Robespierre and the Brissot parties. His colleague, the Abbe Sieves, Avho, like him, was a member of the Societe de 1789,* keeps him company. Ah ! if the Abbe only had as much courage as talent, what a fine essay he could write on the following subject : ' What is the Republic .^' But he will be very careful not to do so, and were it in his power, there is no doubt that he would efface from the Moniteiir of 1791 that famous letter signed ' Emmanuel Sieves," in which he savs : ' A rumour is being circulated that I am taking advantage of our position to go over to Republicanism. It is said that I am trying to convert people to that system. Up to the present I have never been charged with the pliancy of my pi-inciples^ nor with too easily changing my opinions. Men of good foith, and it is to such alone that I appeal, have only tln-ee means of judging another's sentiments — by his deeds, words, and writings. I submit to my countrymen these three kinds of proofs. They are not hidden ; they date from before the Revolution, and I am sure that I have never belied myself . . . ^ Le Point du Jour, tome ii., p. 74. 2 L'Ami flu Boi, May 28, 1791. 3 'Rules of the Societe de 1781) aud List of Members'; CamiUe Desmoulins, ' Notes sur le Rapport de Saint-Just.' Barere, ia his • Memoirep,' written a long time after these events, makes no secret of the fact that he was in no way a Republican : ' On June 21, 17!)1, it was my opini(m, as it still is after the divers phases of the Revoluti(»u, that a Republic is no more fitted for the French than the English Government is for the Turks, and I took sides with the majority in the National AMsembly, who wished and expected to gain nothing more from the march of events than a Monarchical or Constitutional Monarchy.' — Tome i., p. .321. ' Ten members of the Convention belonged to the Societe de 1789. They were Barere, Brissot, Chenier, Cnllot dlierbois Coudorcet, David, Kersaint, Sieves, Treilhard, and Villette. ROYALIST REPUBLICANS 57 It is fi'om no weak force of habit, nor from any superstitious senti- ment of Royalism, that I prefer the Monarchy. I prefer it because it has been proved to me that a citizen cnjoi/s more Hherti/ iti/der a Monarchy than under a Republic. Any other motives would be childish. The best fonn of government is, in my opinion, that under which, not one, and not only a few, but all peaceably enjoy the greatest possible liberty. If I pei'ceive this quality in the Monarchical State, it is clear that I must desire it above every other. That is the whole secret of my principles, and my full confession of faith. I shall soon, per- haps, have time to go further into this question. ... I hope to prove, not that the Monarchy is preferable in these or those circum- stances, but that under all circumstances it gives the subject more free- dom than a Republic.'^ Once more I ask where I shall find a Republican among all these men who so loudly proclaim their Republicanism 't In the Mountain, on the Right and on the Left, in the parties led by Robespierre and by Brissot, amid the ex-Constituents and the old members of the Legislative — whichever way I turn, I see only so-called Republicans, who but yesterday were Royalists. ' Do not waste your time in looking any longer,"* said my friend Mercier to me this morning; he is the author of the ' Tableau de Paris,' and now a deputy for Seine-et-Oise. ' Near me, for instance, sit some of the most fiery members of the Legislative Assembly — Lequinio, Couthon, Robert Lindet, Herault Sechelles and Lacroix (from Eure-et-Loir). In July, 1790, Lequinio wrote in his " Ecole des Laboureurs " : " AVe have a good King who would like to see us all happy, and who fully deserves our love and gratitude. . . . Our good King, greatly troubled, himself came down to the National Assembly. You can imagine with what joy and love our good King was received.'" He never calls the King anything but " our good Louis Seize." Couthon, in 1790, was the first presiding Judge of the district court of Clermont-Ferrantl. Having to administer the oath to the recently-ap})ointed Royal Commissaries, he made an excellent Monarchical speech. Before 1789, Robert Lindet held the commission of Procureur du Roi at Bernay. When he was elected Mayor of that town in 1790, his address to the 1 Moniteur of July 6, 1791. See also a very long 'Note Explicative' on July 16, in which Sieyes develops the ideas contained in his letter of the 6th. 58 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS King was couched in terms of the deepest devotion. " ^Ve have,"" he said, " sworn unalterable attachment to your sacred person, and have staked our destinies and those of the Empire upon the inviolability of our oath. In oui' love for you, the names of King, father and country are synonymous. We shall bring up our children in these sentiments of love and respect which are not only commanded us by law, but inspired by Nature and gratitude."'''^ ' Herault Sechelles is the cousin of the Duchesse de Polignac. Received at Court, he was presumably not too much of a llepublican when he was appointed Avocat-General by the King, and received from the hands of the Queen a sash that she had embroidered herself. In 1791 Lacroix was one of the forty-two judges of the Court of Appeal. After the flight of Louis XVI. to Varennes, Gensonne, one of the members of the Com-t, proposed to leave out from the oath the words containing an engagement of fidelity to the King. Lacroix strenuously opposed this proposal, which he characterized as factious and Republican. The motion was negatived, and on the next occa- sion when the oath, in its usual formula, was administered to a new Judge, Gensonne put in no appearance. Hereupon Lacroix, in the ardour of his Royalist zeal, had his colleague fined for his absence.''^ ' Have you read,' I then asked Mercier, ' the speech in which Citizen Charles, another deputy for Eure-et-Loir, thanked his constituents for having sent him to the Convention ? The man who used such language must undoubtedly be, and always have been, a good Republican. Besides, you know that no sooner had he arrived in Paris than he took his seat on the very summit of the jNIountain."' ' xVre you then unaware,"* rt^oined iVIercier, ' that Citizen Charles, after having entered the Church, made a name in 1785 by a work entitled " Timante ; or, A Faithful Portrait of most of the AN'^riters of the Eighteenth Century," which led M. de Conzie, Archbishop of Tours, to appoint him 1 ' Notices Historiques sur la Rovolution dans le D^partement de I'Eure,' by L. Boivin-Champoaux, p. 1(!(). 2 Gensonne's ' Memoire iiu'dit,' written during his detention in the Conciergerie, and publibhed by M. Chauvot in the ' Barreau de Bordeaux de 1775 a 1815.' ROYALIST REPUBLICANS^ 59 Canon of his cathedral ; that, after the Revohition, he, together with his brother, estabHshed a paper called the Correspondant, full of Monarchical principles, and that he was also upon the staff of the Ami du Ro'i ? I verily believe," said Mercier, on taking leave of me, ' that, of all the members of the Convention, I am the only one who was a Republican before '89.' On reaching home, I turned to one of the works of my friend Mercier, and there I found the most judicious and conclusive arguments — in favour of the Republic ? No ; in favour of the Monarchy. ' The throne being legal, its authority is well based and respected. The base of the throne strengthens that of the State ; ambition may tear away a few shreds of authority, but never the whole of it. A Monarchical throne has, moreover, a lasting majesty of its own. Look at Republics, which have a constant need of dictators. ' The best form of government is that of a free Monarchy, in which the Sovereign unites in his person both the legislative and executive powers, and, while aided in the work of administration by intermediary bodies, is debarred from making any changes in the fundamental laws. ' The power of the Sovereign, tempered by good laws, is best fitted to effect the happiness of a nation ; this is because, in a Monarchy, the person who governs can easily unite his wishes, and bring his will into play with direct force. '^ To sum up, this Convention, in which everyone now makes such a show of Republicanism, contains seventy-seven members who formed part of the Constituent Assembly, and all of whom, Robespierre included, loudly acclaimed in September, 1789, the fundamental laws of the Monarchy — the invioluhiUtij o/' the Khiffs person, the indivmhUHy of the throne, and the heredMary transmission of the Croicn} It contains 192 members who formed part of the Legislative Assembly, and all of whom, 1 'L'An 2440,' by S. Mercier, tome ii., pp. 52 and .30. 2 ' Archives Parlementaires,' tome viii., p. (JiS : Sitting of September 15, 1789 : ' One of the Secretaries read the text of the three articles which have been passed by acclamation. It runs as follows : " The National Assembly has unanimously recognised as the basis of the French Monarchy that the person of the King is inviolable and sacred ; that the throne is indivisible ; that the Crown descends by hereditary right and ia order of primogeniture to males of the reigning dynasty, to the perpetual and absolute exclusion of females and their descendants." ' 60 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS Brissot included, swore, in July last, that they held the Republic in ahhorrence} As for the new members, I should hardly think that any of them pretend to be ahead of ]Vfarat, Danton and Caniille Desmoulins, and we have seen the quality of the Republicanism of these three Grey Fritus. Surely no provincial deputy would dare call himself a Republican of longer standing than the Jacobins of Paris, who were still Royalists in 1791 and 1792. On January 25, 1791, a deputy having uttered the word Repuhlicans at the club in the Rue Saint-Honore, shouts of We are no Republicans ! came from all parts of the hall, and the speaker was obliged to \\ithdraw the expression. In the month of June last, Billaud-\ arenne A\'as nearly expelled from the club for having dared to c[uestion the necessity for a Monarchy.'- And the nation itself is still less Republican than its repre- sentatives. I require no other proof than the demonstration that took place in the Legislative Assembly less than two months before the Tenth of August, on the reading of Lafayette"'s letter, written from the camp at Maubeuge on June 16, 1792. Siding most strongly with the Monarchy against the factionists, the General asked the Assembly to support the following principles : ' That the royal power remain intact, since it is guaranteed by the Constitution ; that it be independent, since that independence is one of the factors of our liberty ; that the King be revered, since he is invested \vith the majesty of the nation.' Seventy-five departments spontaneously declared their adhesion to the principles contained in Lafayette's letter. The truth is that, though we have a Republic, we have no true Republicans — Rejjublicans from conviction and principle ; how, then, can we look forward to tlie continuance of a Rc})ublic in a country possessing neither Republican men nor Republican traditions 'jf It is madness to expect that a form of govern- ' These are the very words of Bishop Lamourette's resolution, passed by acclamation, amid indescribable enthusiasm, at the sitting of July 6, 17i)2 {Moniteitr of July H, No. 2!i()). Vergniaud styled the vote of July (J the Decree against the Tlepublic (Notes prepared by Vergniaud for his defence, and edited by Vatel ; ' Vergniaud,' tome ii., p. 2!)7). 2 ' In 17!)1 the Jacobins were still Royalists.' — MiciiKLKT, ' Histoire de la Revolution,' tome ii., p. Hi). 'In June, 1792, the Jacobin Club is still quite Royalist.' — Quinet, ' La Rt'volution/ tome i., p. 342. ROYALIST REPUBLICANS 6l nient opposed to all established ideas and customs will l)e able to give us order, peace, justice and liberty ! October 1, 1792. EiweTia ! I have at length discovered, on the lienches of the Convention, two real Republicans, Thomas Paine and Ana- charsis Cloots — an English Quaker and a Prussian Baron — both naturalized a few moments, or, to be absolutely correct, twenty- seven days before they endowed France with a Republic !^ The preceding pages clearly show that the Republic, at the moment of its establislnnent, had no roots at all in France. To the facts and pi'oofs already adduced, and which are all anterior to September 21, 1792, let us add the significant avowals that escaped some of the principal Revolutionaries after that date. Brissot, in his manifesto ' A Tous les Republicains de France,' says that in 1791 there were only three liepi/hlicaiis, Buzot, Petion, and himself! This estimate is still rather high, since Brissot and Petion, as we have shown above, were Royalists in 1791. As for Buzot, he declares in his ' Memoires ' that France is not Republican. After having stated that, ' According to many well - informed men, the government that suited France best was that established by the Constituent Assembly ' — that is, a Constitutional Monarchy ; after having spoken of the men who, ' possessed of an intimate knowledge of the nature and principles of government, were persuaded that a Republic was unsuited to the genius of the French people,' he adds : ' We cannot disguise the fact that the majority of the French were sighing for the Monarchy and the Constitution of 1791- It was in Paris that the discontent was most general, and least afraid of showing itself. There were only a few men with noble souls and high ideals who really dreamt of firmly establishing such an institution as a Republic in a country naturally frivolous and inconstant. The rest, with the exception of a herd of wretches having neither brains nor means, who belched forth insults against Royalty, as they will in six months do against the Republic — the rest desii'cd nothing but the Constitution of 1791^ 1 It was at the sitting of August 26, 1702, that the Legislative Assembly, on the motion of Guadet, conferred the title of French citizens upon Thomas Paine, Anacharsis Cloots, and sixteen other foreigners. Imprisoned on January 1, 1794, Thomas Paine did not recover his liberty until after the 9th of Thermidor. His death, on June 8, 1809, resulted from his passion for drink. Arrested on the same day as Thomas Paine, Anacharsis Cloots was guillotined on March 24, 1794. 62 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS and spoke of real Republicans as one speaks of very honest fools. Can we believe that the events of June 2, 1793, and the misery, persecution, and outrages which they occasioned, have caused the majority of Frenchmen to change their ojiinion ? No ; but in the towns people pretend to be mnx-cidottcs, because they are guillotined if they are not ; in the countiy, too, people comply with the most un- just demands, out of fear of the guillotine. The guillotine is the almighty argument — it is the grand motor of the French Govern- ment. . . . But if we examine things more closely, if we enter the homes of the people and sound their hearts, if they dare to un- bosom themselves to us, we shall hear of hatred against that govern- ment which fear imposes upon them ; we shall see how all their hopes and wishes tend towards the Constitution of 1791-' — 'Aux Amis de la Verite,' by F. N. L. Buzot, pp. 32-34. Gensonne (Ckroniqiie de Paris, Februar}', 1793) admits that in July, 1792, the majority of the nation was in favour of retaining the Constitu- tion of 1791 J and consequently the Monarchy. Petion (' Discours de Jerome Petion sur 1' Accusation Intentee contre Maximilien Robespierre,' November, 1792) declares that at the time of the rising of the Tenth of August, ' there were not five men in France who wanted a Republic' Durand de Maillane, another member of the Convention, states, in his ' Memoires,' that before the Tenth of August the Girondins were by no means Republicans. He says (p. 4.-5) : ' It is clear from all these proofs that until the Tenth of August, or, rather, until the forced resolutions that prepared it, the Petion party never dreamt of a Republic. The Girondins themselves, who were so strongly opposed to General Lafayette and his partisans, were grieved to find themselves under the j^ainful necessity of abjuring the Monarchy.' Garat, who was a Minister of the Republic from October .", 1792, to August 15, 1793, is no less emphatic in his ' Memoires Historiques sur la Vie de M. Suard,' tome ii., p. 331 : ' It has been said that the deputies of the Gironde came from Bordeaux expressly to transform the Monarchy into a Republic. The writer of these " Memoires " knows for a positive fact that five or six days before the night of the Tenth of August the two most powerful men in that party had but a faint suspicion of the existence of a few Republican ideas in the Legislature, and that this siisj)icion, which then came to them for the first time, made them tremble with indignation and anger, like honest men who are being dragged into a crime against their will.' Governor Morris, Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States in France from 1792 to 1794, a most judicious and well-informed observer, wrote from Paris to his friend Thomas Jefferson on October 23, ] 792 : ' The majority of the Convention defends itself from the reproach of ROYALIST REPUBLICANS 63 Republicanism ; it maintains that the party called Brissotins had no desire of overturning the Monarchy^ but simply wished to share the loaves and fishes with their friends ; that the affair of the Tenth of August took place not only without the support, but in spite of the efforts of the deputies.' — ' Memorial de Gouverneur Moi*ris/ tome ii., p. 215. An unpublished letter of Lafayette's (in possession of M. Gus- tave Bord), written by him to young Dietrich on September 21, 1800, contains the following passage : ' As for the Girondists, we now know that they did not then desire the Republic, but only change of Ministers, and that even after the Tenth of August they pro- posed to put the young Prince on the throne with a Regent.' In a work published in January, 179^^ J- L. Soulavie was able to say without fear of contradiction : ' Three thousand workmen effected the Revolution of the Tenth of August, 1792, in spite of a whole kingdom of Royalists, in spite of the majority of the Parisians, and in spite of the majority of the National Assembly, which had been unwilling to vote for the removal of either a perfidious King or of the General who abetted him." — ' Memoires du Marechal Due de Richelieu,' tome ix., p. 384. Let us close these quotations with another passage from the same Avriter, whose good faith is above suspicion, he having been appointed in 1793 resident Minister of the French Republic in Geneva : ' The party called Feuillants wished to govern France constitutionally under Louis Wl. The Girondists desired a Regency during the minority of the King's son, in order to control and baffle the Queen, whose schemes of a counter-Revolution imperilled not only the political existence, but the very lives of the Girondists. Neither Robespierre nor Marat had anj' ideas of a Republic. Danton, Marat, and the ' Grey Friars ' were attached in September, 1792, to D'Orleans. At the meetings of the central committee, formed before the Tenth of August for the purpose of expediting the King's overthrow, the motion brought forward by Xavier Audouin for establishing a Republic in place of the Monarchy was rejected by all present, and even by Collot-d'Her- bois. . . . This committee and a meeting of the deputies of Paris also decided that the petition demanding the King's abdication should be in accordance with Constitutional forms. In the interval between the Tenth of August and September 22, Petion continually opposed all ideas and suggestions referring to a Republic. The Legislative Body had recently uttered anathemas, and the Jacobins had constantly risen up against the scheme of a Republic. . . . On the very day of the declaration of the Republic, three-quarters of an hour after the close of the sitting of the Convention, Condorcet and a few Girondists met in the dining-room of the Valois Club, in the Palais Royal. All seemed in a state of consternation, and 64 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS hardly dared look each other in the face. Condorcet, breaking the silence, said to the company : " It has always been my real opinion that the French Republic would be a grand thing." ' — ' Memoires Historiques et Pohtiques du Regne de Louis XVI. / by J. L. Soulavie, tome vi., p. 449, etc. From all this evidence, it may safely be concluded that France was still Royalist in 1792, and that the very men who proclaimed their Republican opinions so loudly were at heart no Republicans. We have thought it useful to prove this for two reasons. Firstly, because this fact has generally been neglected or distorted by the historians of the Revolution ; secondly, because it explains most of the events that are to follow, and because there is no need to seek elsewhere the origin and cause of the persecution, outrages, and crimes into which the Republic of September 22 was led. CHAPTER VII. THE TUILERIES. Mo7iday, October 1, 1792. On the 8th of last month the Section of the Sans-Culottes^ sent a deputation to the Conseil-General de la Commune to draw attention to the advantages the nation would reap from the sale of the old convent des Feuillants. The spokesman expressed his surprise at seeing the representatives of the sovereign people crowded together in a small riding -school whilst Kings had always dwelt in palaces, and he proposed to present a petition to the National Assembly inviting it to choose in the Tuileries proper accommodation for holding its sittings. The petition was immediately presented to the Assembly in the name of the Conseil-General by M. Petion, the Mayor, who asked the Legislature to decide that the Convention should sit ' in the old salle of the Theatre-Fran^ais, in the Palace of the Tuileries,"* The matter was referred to the Special Commission of Twenty-one and to the Committee of Public Instruction. So great was the favour with which our deputies received the idea of locating the Legislative Body in the palace, which but yesterday was the abode of Royalty, that in less than a week plans, reports, and resolutions were all passed, and as early as September 14 M. Roland, the Minister of the Interior, was authorized to put them into execution with as little delay as possible. The work was entrusted to M. Vignon, the architect, who promised that it should be completed before December 1. 1 This section, which from 1790 to the Tenth of August, 1792, was called the Section du Jardin-des-Plantes, met in the church of Saint- Nicolas-du-Chardonnet. 5 66 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS I was very anxious to visit the Tuileries once more before the palace was overturned and used for entirely different purposes, and it may not be out of place to give a description of it here as it still is, and as it was on the day when the grandson of Louis XIV. and the daughter of Maria Theresa left it for the Temple Tower. 1 was accompanied by Francois Nepveu, one of M. Vignon''s pupils. We entered the gardens by the Pont-Tournant,^ or swing- bridge, and immediately came upon the charred ruins of the barracks formerly inhabited by the Swiss Guard. The disgust- ing evidences of the shameful orgy with which the heroes of the Tenth of August had celebrated their victory had been removed. For more than a fortnight the remains of the broken bottles lay strewn about the gardens in such immense quantities^ that it almost seemed as if the paths had been intentionally paved with pounded glass. We enter the principal avenue, and recall to mind the ten'ible scenes enacted here. After having left the palace by the King''s orders, the Swiss Guards made for this avenue, and, upon reach- ing it, divided themselves into two colunms. The first kept under cover of the trees, and made its way towards the Riding- School, whilst the second proceeded towards the Pont-Tournant. This column, though exposed to the bullets that came whistling from behind the trees, succeeded in reaching the Place Louis XV., but only to find it occupied by some battalions of National Guards, who received the unhappy Swiss ^ith a heavy volley. Attacked on both sides, the column, which had till then re- mained unshaken, was dispersed, some of the brave men who formed it rushing across the Pont-Tournant to the foot of Louis XV.'s statue, where they nearly all met their death. Those who remained in the gardens made off in all directions, but not a single one escaj)ed. They were massacred under the trees, in the ornamental waters, on the terraces, in the Dauphin"'s garden, in the Orangerie, and at the foot of the marble statues. ^ The Pont-Tournant crossed the moat which then separated the Tuileries from the Place Louis XV. 2 Mercier, ' Le Nouveau Paris,' ch. cxlviii. THE TUILERIES 67 A coninion grave dug near one of the chestnut-trees received their bodies.^ Such are the reminiscences awakened by the sight of trees slashed with sword and bayonet, statues bearing the marks of bullets, basins whose waters are still tinted with the blood of the victims. We reach the terrace, and before us, through the railings of the palace, we can see in the Place du Carrousel the guillotine erected upon the pedestal formerly adorned by the statue of Louis XV.^ From the guillotine my eyes wander to the word ' Republic,* which shines in letters of gold upon the front of the Tuileries, and where it is undoubtedly in its proper place. Is it not, indeed, the one idea naturally suggested by these mutilated statues, these blood-stained walls, and these blackened stones ? Lapides clumabunt ! From the dome of the palace floats a tricolour flag bearing the words : ' The Mayor of' Paris zoos nearly murdered here on the night hetzoeen the 9th and lOth." With downcast eyes we pass this lying standard, and enter the palace by the Pavilion du Milieu. The grand staircase, the stone balustrade of which is orna- mented with allegorical and armorial devices, mostly smashed with pikes and axes, leads to the Salle des Cent-Suisses, and thence to the suite of apartments forming the south wing. The Salle des Cent-Suisses is a very lofty hall situated over the vestibule, and w^as used by the Convention for its first sitting on September 20. On leaving it, we enter the Salle des Gardes. This is an immense apartment sometimes called Galerie de Diane, on account of the paintings by Nicolas Loir with which it is adorned. It was in this room that 200 noblemen, who had hurried to the Tuileries at the first rumour of danger on the morning of the Tenth of August, saluted the assembled Royal Family with a cry of devotion. They wore no uniforms, and 1 This is the tree known as the marronnier of March 20, and which might more appropriately be called the marronnier of the Tenth of August. 2 The following is an order of the Commune of Paris, dated August 23, 1792: 'The Conseil-General decrees that the guillotine shall remain standing in the Place de la Reunion (formerly Place du Carrousel) until further orders, the cutlass to be removed by the headsman after every execution.' 68 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS can'ied their weapons concealed beneath their coats. ' Long live the King of our fathers I' cried the young men. ' Long Hve our children's King I' replied the old. And both young and old lift up on high the Dauphin, for whom they are about to die ; it is the last farewell of the old French nobility to that dynasty which has created France. But the Galerie de Diane is con- nected with the memory of a still more touching scene. In June, 1791, after the King's return from Varennes, the most rigorous precautions were taken by Lafayette to prevent a second escape. The celebration of Mass in the chapel was forbidden, on the ground that the latter was too far from the royal apartments, and a simple wooden altar, adorned with a few vases of flowers, and surmounted by an ebony crucifix, was set up in a corner of the gallery. Here Mass was celebrated every Sunday by the Abbe d'Avaux, the Dau}:)hin"'s tutor. After the Salle des Gardes comes the King's ante-room, or Salle de TCEil-de-Boeuf (the Bull's-eye). Over the fireplace there used to be a fine painting by Mignard, representing Louis XIV. on horseback being crowned by Minerva ; but Mignard's masterpiece was torn to shreds by the heroes of the Tenth of August. In this room Louis XVI. witnessed the march past of the Revolution on June 20. For four hours he unflinchingly bore with astonishing serenity and courage the insults of an infuriated mob armed with pikes, scythes, pitch- forks, saws, bludgeons, guns, and pistols, and displaying the most hideous trophies and threatening devices. Some bore a guillotine with the inscription: ''For the Tyrant''; others a gibbet from which hung the effigy of a woman with these words: '■For Antoinette'' ; others, again, bore huge strips of bleeding flesh, labelled: ''From the Arlstoerat.s,^ but all marched past shouting, ' Dozen xoith Veto ! To hell with Veto P and yelling out the most atrocious insults and threats of death.^ The King had with him only a few friends, three of his Ministers, MM. de Beaulieu, de Lajard, and Terrier de Montciel, Marshal de Mouchy, one or two Knights of Saint Louis, and five or six National Guards. He was seated on a high bench in the recess ' ' Memoires ' of Ferrieres, tome iii., p. 109 ; ' M^moires ' of Mme. Campan, p. 331 ; 'Essais Historiques,' by Beaulieu, tome iii., p. 361). THE TUILERIES 69 of one of the windows that looked out upon the princi]ml court- yard. Mme. Elisabeth, who could not be prevailed upon to leave her brother, was in the next recess, and was mistaken by the rioters for the Queen, for the ' Austrian woman."' ' Do not deceive them,' she said to the friends who were standing round her.^ A bayonet almost touched her breast ; she turned it aside with her hand, saying in a sweet voice : ' Take care, sir ; you might hurt someone, and I am sure you would be sorry to do that.' The Salle de TCEil-de-Boeuf leads to the larger of the King's rooms called the State Bedroom. ^ This, again, communicates with the Grand Cabinet, or Council Chamber, so called because it was here that the Council of Regency met during the minority of Louis XV. On June 20, when the mob broke into the palace, the Queen came hastening from the Dauphin's room to share her husband's danger, but Avas stopped in the State Bed- room by M. d'Aubier, one of her most faithful servants. ' Let me pass !' she cries ; ' my place is with the King. I will join him, and perish, if necessary, in defending him.' M. de Rougeville,^ a Knight of Saint Louis and officer in the National Guards, joins M. d'Aubier in his efforts, and in the meantime 1 ' Memoires ' of Mrae. Campan, p. 330. - Louis Blanc (vi. 3S1) is wrong in giving the State Bedroom as the scene of the last-mentioned episoJe. See the^jroccs-yej'Z^ctZ drawn up by the Juge de Paix of the Section of the Tuileries concerning the events of June 20. 3 The Tenth of August found the Chevalier de Rougeville once more at his post of honour and devotion in the Tuileries. Thrown into prison, he escaped on the eve of the September massacres. Again arrested, he managed to baffle the vigilance of his gaolers on June 1, 1793. In September he succeeded in getting into the Conciergerie, in the hope of saving the Queen, and of handing her a carnation containing a note. (For this attempt, and its consequences, see ' Marie Antoinette a la Conciergerie,' by Emile Carpardon.) In 1705 he vras arrested a third time, and kept a prisoner in the Temple for two years. During the Empire he was for a long time under jjolice supervision at Rheims. When the Allies entered France, he publicly declared hijjself for the Bourbons. Brought before a council of wir in 1814, he was condemned to death. The Chevalier de Rougeville was born at Arras in 1760. The son of a farmer of taxes, who had left him a considerable fortune, he had sei ved with the flower of the French nobility under Lafayette in the American War of Independence, by the side of that heroic Comte de Fersen who was also to become one of the most faithful defenders of Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette. 70 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS other courtiers come to their aid. Marie Antoinette is sur- rounded, and is at length made to understand that it would be impossible to get through the serried ranks of the assailants ; that, if not murdered, she would be suffocated before reaching the King; that her efforts would be fatal to him whom she wished to save, since he would naturally break through the mob to reach her.^ She thereupon allows herself to be led back into the Dauphin's room, takes the boy in her arms, and, supported by Mme. Royale, traverses the corridor that leads from the Dauphin's room to that of the King. Attended by Mmes. de Tourzel, de Tarente, de la Roche-Aymon, and de Maille, and sun'ounded by a band of brave grenadiers, she stations herself in the recess of a window in the Council Chamber, Avith a large table before her. After having marched past the King and crossed the State Bedroom, where they indulge in a thousand ribald jests, the mob passes before the Queen. A young Moman stops and pours forth a volley of curses. ' Have I done you any harm .^' asks Marie Antoinette. ' No,"* replies the girl ; ' but you are ruining the nation.'' ' You have been deceived,"" says the Queen. ' I am the wife of the King of France and the mother of the Dauphin. I am a Frenchwoman now, and shall never see my native home again. Henceforth I shall be happy or unhappy only in France, and I was so hajjpv when vou loved me !' The girl begins to weep : ' Ah, madame, forgive me ! I did not know you ; I see that you are good.'- The King's private apartments, consisting of a bedroom and a study, Mere situated to the right of the State Bedroom and the Council Chamber, and looked out upon the gardens.^ 1 ' Exact and Detailed Narrative of what passed at the Palace of the Tuileries on Wednesday, June 20, 17!)2.' Paris, 1792. 2 'Memoires' of Mme. Campan, p. ;i31. ^ In the King's bedroom, and at the side of his bed, was a door open- ing on to a wainscoted passage, three feet wide, that led to the Daujihin's room. It was in this jjassage that Louis XVI., having decided to leave Paris in March, 171)1, had a small hiding-place made for the papers he did not want to take with him. This ])lace of concealment, afterwards known as the iron cupboard, was a plain, rough hole, about two feet deep and fifteen inches wide, dug in the ^vall about four feet from the floor. The hole was covered with an iron door about a foot and a half square, and concealed by a panel of the wainscoting (' Biographic Universclle,' article 'Gamain,' by Eckard). The iron cupboartl was not discovered until November 20, 1702. THE TUILERIES 71 The Dauphin occupied the ground-floor under the King's rooms, the apartments of Mme. Royale being on the floor above. On breaking into the Dauphin's study, the rioters seem to have been somewhat quieted at the sight of a child's books, maps, and writing materials. Behind the Council Chamber is another state room and the billiard-room — the latter contiguous to the Pavilion de Flore. The King's private apartments were also connected with that pavilion by a wide gallery, called the Galerie des Carraches, or des Ambassadeurs.^ Under this gallery were the Queen's grands appartements^ consisting of six rooms, almost on a level with the terrace. The Queen's petits appartements were over the Galerie des Carraches. Marie Antoinette's rooms were the only ones that the insurgents of June 20 did not enter. It was not so on the Tenth of August. After the King had left the Tuileries to proceed to the Assembly, the Ladies-in- waiting entered the Queen's apartments on the ground-floor, and, hearing the sound of shots, drew the blinds and lit all the candles. The insurgents, on breaking open the door, were dazzled by the myriads of lights reflected in the mirrors of the salon, and drew back in astonishment. The more courageous of the ladies took advantage of this respite to parley with the foremost of the invaders, and obtained permission to leave the palace in safety. The Pavilion de Flore, situated on the quay, opposite the Pont-Royal, was inhabited by Mme. Elisabeth. It was there that the Dauphin had spent the night between October 6 and 7, 1789, when Louis XVI. was brought back from Versailles to Paris. The room on the ground-floor which looks out upon the Cour des Princes had at first been set apart for the King's sister, but it was found to be too exposed to the gaze of the curious. It was under the windows of this room that an innnense 1 It was in this gallery that Louis XIV. used to receive the Ambassadors, hence its name. The other name was given it, not because it contained paintings by the Carraches, but because Colbert had filled it with reproductions of the principal subjects in the Farnese Gallery, painted by Annibal and Augustin Carrache (' Curiosites de Paris, 1771,' tome i., p. 118). 72 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS crowd gathered on the morning of October 7, 1789, shouting : ' Long live tJie King' ! Long live the Queen f and demanding the appearance of the Royal Family. The Queen appeared first. She was wearing a large hat that shaded part of her face, and being requested to remove it, she did so. For several days the mob filled the Cour des Princes, aud became so importunate that some of the market-women jumped into Mme. Elisabeth's room. The Princess thereupon begged the King to have her lodged elsew^here, and was given the firstfloor of the pavilion, the Dauphin being removed to one of the rooms in the King's own suite.^ A handsome staircase, called the Escalier des Princes, leads from the courtyard of that name to the Pavilion de Flore. Another branch of the same staircase leads to an iron gate giving access to the gardens, and called the Queen's Gate. We had visited every part of the palace inhabited by the Royal Family, and at every step we had found horribfe traces left by the rioters in their bloody passage through the magni- ficent apartments. JMirrors smashed and tapestries torn down ; chimney-pieces dismantled and walls laid bare; furniture, clocks, works of art, all thrown pell-mell out of window on that Tenth of August. The walls and floors are all stained with gore, the victims' blood having even reached the priceless paintings that adorn most of the rooms. From the Pavilion de Flore we went down into the Cour des Princes, the first of the four courts that enclose the palace on the side of the Carrousel. The second court, the Cour Royale, is opposite the central pavilion. It was there that the two guns belonging to the battalion on duty at the palace were stationed after October 6, 1789. The third court, called Cour des Suisses, or Cour des Ecuries, contained the barracks in which the Swiss Guards were lodged. The fourth court, called the Cour de Marsan, from the name of the pavilion in its northern corner, lies between the palace and the Rrionne mansion. Some small buiklings, j)rinci))a]ly built of wood, shut off the rest of the palace from tlie Place du Carrousek These were burnt on the Tenth of August, and the conflagration very nearly spread to the PaviHon Marsan and the Pavilion de Flore. ^ • Memoires ' of Mme. de Tourzel, tome i., p. 27. THE TUILERIES 73 The Commune, though charged hy the Legislative Body with the care of extinguishing the fire, made no effort to do so. The President of the Assembly was himself obliged to intervene, and to give orders which were exceedingly difficult to execute, since Santerre's men persisted in firing on the firemen. The ruins were cleared away, and a wooden hoarding now separates the Tuileries from the Place du Carrousel. Above the door of this temporary partition is the following inscription : ' The Monarchy was abolished on the Tenth of August ; it ivill never rise again.'' The fa^-ade of the Tuileries has suffered a good deal more on this side than on that of the gardens. The Patriots have taken care to have the words ' Tenth of August ' inscribed over every mark left on the stone by the cannon-balls directed against the palace. Entering the buildings once more by the central pavilion, we rapidly traversed the second half of the palace, extending from the grand staircase to the Pavilion Marsan, and consisting of the chapel, the theatre, and the suite occupied by the King's aunts. The door of the chapel opens out upon the first landing of the grand staircase. On Sunday, August 5, whilst vesjiers were being read before the King and Queen, the choristers chanted the following verse of the Magnificat^ in loud and threatening tones: '' Deposuit potentes de sede, et exaltavit humiles.'' The Royalists replied by the chant of, ' Domine salvinn fac Regein^ adding three times ' et Reginam t'^ Five days after the choristers were satisfied. The King was deposed, and in the chapel the bodies of seven Swiss soldiers were ranged upon the altar. The pavement was streaming with blood, and strips of flesh and men's brains were trodden under foot."^ Behind the chapel is the theatre. This was generally called the Salle des Machines, on account of the ballets Avhich were performed here before Louis XIV. and his Court ; after the burning of the Opera-house in 1763, the actors took refuge in this salle^ and from 1770 to 1783 it accommodated the 1 Rdvolutlons de Paris, No. 101 ; ' Memoires ' of Mme. Campan, p. 345 ; Castil-Blaze, ' Academie Imperiale de Musique,' tome ii., p. 7. 2 ' Montgaillard,' tome iii., p. 152. 74 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS Comediens Fran^ais. "\^^lilst the latter were at the Tuileries, the spectators entered the theatre by the Cour des Suisses. It was there that Lekain appeared as Vendome, Tancred and Orosmane for the last time, and that Mdlle. Clairon, also for the last time, played the part of Medea. Voltaire was crowned there on March 30, 1778. The theatre has three tiers of boxes, and is capable of holding several thousand spectators. The Convention will hold its sittings there as soon as the works undertaken by M. Vignon are completed. ^ATiile we were there, IVIercier, the deputy, also came to visit the Salle des Machines. As usual, he was rather strangely dressed in a shabby gray coat, a long vest studded with tarnished spangles and coloured beads, frills of a week's wear, and an eyeglass.^ He went out Avith us, and we walked about in the gardens for some time whilst he told us about the Tenth of August. ' I was here," he said, ' and will tell you what I saw. Heads came flying out of the windows, and bleeding coi'pses were thrown from the topmost galleries. In the kitchens everyone, from the head-cooks to the scullery-aids, had been killed. A poor devil of a scullion was stuffed into a boiler and left to stew there over the blazing fire. More than one im- provised furnace, too, had been prepared by the conflagTation in the courts. The bodies of the Swiss Guards were roasted over them, and women stood there calmly gazing upon the smoking entrails of the victims. The heat was overwhelming, and there was not the slio-htest breeze to disturb the clouds of flies that swarmed around this field of carnage, settling upon the gaping wounds of the dead and dying men. In the vestibule, at the foot of the grand staircase, men and women were dancing in streams of blood and wine, while on the terrace a miserable wretch was playing the fiddle amidst a heap of bodies still warm.2 Were you present at the sitting of the Assembly .'' No ? But you read the account in the Momtcur. You were moved, no doubt, by the story of those honest insurgents who appeared at the bar laden with the valuables found in the Tuileries — of that brave fellow carrying a box of the Queen's jewels, of those sans-culottcs depositing in the Convention a ^ Charles Nodier, ' Souvenirs de la R(3Volution et de I'Empire.' 2 Mercier, ' Le Nouveau Paris,' ch. xxxiv. THE TUILERIES 75 chest full of plate. You no doubt adiriired those half-clothed citizens bringing in, unopened, bags full of gold and silver coin, the plate from the chapel and the royal table, a hat filled with louis, bank-notes, and the rest.^ You read all that, did you not? Well, this is what / saw. Whilst the leaders of the insurrection were having the large silver candlesticks of the chapel, the silver plate, and a bag containing a hundred louis, carried in great pomp to the Assembly, their men were forcing the cabinets of the King and Queen, of Mme. Elisabeth, of Mme. de Lamballe, and of the Court ladies, carrying off' bank- notes, gold and silver, watches, jewellery, diamonds and other precious stones. They took dresses, linen, plate, wines, candles, books — anything, in fact, they could lay their hands on. Nothing worth having escaped the practised eye or the industry of these honest people — they even tore the gold braid from the royal liveries and stuffed it into their pockets, smashing the most costly china vases for the sake of the gold or silver fastenings,'^ ' Then it is not true,' inquired Nepveu, ' that, according to the Revolutions de Paris, the slightest theft was punished as soon as it was perceived ? Prudhomme even said in his journal, if I remember rightly, that a thief had lost his life in the palace, being killed by those who caught him in the act.'^ ' Yes,' replied Mercier, ' that is one of the ghastly jokes of that memorable day : thieves, with their pockets full of gold, hung up other thieves to the balustrade of the grand staircase.'* We had now reached the Pont-Tournant. Before leaving the gardens, we turned once more to take a last look at the Tuileries. It was a beautiful day, and the autunni sun cast its golden veil over the gardens and the palace ; its rays, promoters of life and joy, lovingly caressed the walls mutilated by smoke and shot, and, playing through the branches of the half-stripped trees, lit up with harmless flames the great windows of the facj-ade ; whilst on the other side of the palace, in the Place du Carrousel, we could see, bathed in the same light, the beams of the guillotine. ^ Revolutions de Penis, No. 161 ; ^the Journal Logoriraplnque, supple- ment to tome xxvi.; 2'Mercier, loc. cit. 2 Jfcvohitions de Paris, No. IGl. * Mercier, he. cit. CHAPTER VIII. THE OFFERIXG TO LIBERTY. JVediiesdaij, October 3, 1792. A PIECE of great good news has brought a momentary truce to our teiTor and anguish : the Duke of Brunswick has given up the idea of marching on Paris, and the Austro-Pi-ussian Army is on its way back to the frontier. From the Convention, where the IMinister of War read a letter from Dumouriez, dated from Sainte-Menehould on October 1, and announcing the retreat of the enemy, the news spread with hghtning speed through every quarter of Paris. This morning the Patriotic newspapers attempt to get u]) a reaction against the enthusiasm it excited. Knowing weW enough that their Republic has not the slightest stability, that it has no more hold upon French soil than an airy tent, they fear the victories of our Generals even more than those of our enemies. They understand, too, that their factitioiLS Government, having neither past nor futm-e, will fall, like the walls of Jericho, at the first trumpet-blast of a fortunate soldier. They therefore lose no opportunity of throwing discredit upon the Generals who have saved the country, turning the exploits of Dinnouriez and Beurnonville to ridicule, and exercising their wit at the expense of the Achilles and Ajax of France.^ In a few days' time these wretched sheets, which deserve the epithet ' ' Brave Beurnonville, who has been christened the Ajax of France. . . .' — Letter from Dumouriez, dated October 1, 1702. Hereupon the Rf.volu- t'lon-t de Paris, No. 1G9, wrote : ' Let us take care that Dumouriez does not call Beurnonville the Ajax of France only to get himself called our Achilles. The lying chronicler of the time says that without Achilles Troy would not have been taken. But here we have the legislator Carra already making an Agamemnon of him, and a Diomedes of General Duval. No doubt Carra will be the Homer who will sing their exploits.' THE OFFERING TO LIBERTY 77 of Austrian more than the unfortunate Marie Antoinette, will no doubt have got over the common-sense of the people, but in the meantime the Parisians are simple enough to rejoice at the success of our armies. Yesterday evening the joy was imiversal. On all sides, both in private and in public, the good people of Paris gave themselves up entirely and unreservedly to the glad feelings that filled their hearts, and I, for my joai-t, shall never forget the demonstrations that I witnessed at the Opera-house. Since the beginning of the Revolution, the former Academic Royale de Musique had performed no piece to do honour to the new order of things. In vain did our other theatres set it an example, which for a long time the opera seemed little disposed to follow. At length the management was moved to try its hand at political pieces, and everyone must admit that its first attempt was a master-stroke. The bills for yesterday evening announced ' Corisandre,'^ and ' The Offering to Liberty, a Religious Scene based upon the Song of the Marseillais.' The success of ' Corisandre,'' which was never very great, has long been exhausted. In the Religious Scene, which was to be performed for the first time, the public did not seem to expect anything very extraordinary, for the theatre, although well attended, was far from being full." The three acts of ' Corisandre ' were listened to coolly enough, but as soon as the ciu'tain again rose the feelings of the audience underwent a sudden change, and everyone present, struck by the grandeur of the scene, and excited by the news just received from the Army of the North, was seized with an enthusiasm that went on increasing until the end. Liberty, represented by Mdlle. Maillard, was standing on the top of a rock that occupied the middle of the stage, and at the foot of which a crowd of mounted and unmounted wamors, 1 ' Corisandre,' an opera in three acts, words by Linieres and Lebailly, music by Langle, was performed for the first time on March 8, 1791. Langle, born at Monaco in 174.1, was a teacher of music in Pari.«, whither he had come in 1768. His wife was the sister of M. Sue, the well-known physician, father of Eugene Sue, the novelist. 2 The receipts at the first performance amounted to 4.,223 francs ; at the second they rose to 5,200 francs. 78 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS accompanied by women and children, came flocking together at the sound of the trumpet. The variety and brilliancy of the costumes, the power of the orchestra, the spectacle of these masses blended in artistic and harmonious disorder, the wan'iors on their well-trained chargers, and the creatui'e of radiant beauty enthroned in the midst of this busy and striking scene — all these were calculated to blind the eye and exalt the imagination. The effect was irresistible and tremendous. The warriors prepare themselves for battle, or rather for victory, which the women and children already celebrate by their songs : ' AUons, oifants de la potrie, Le jour de gloire est arrive !' The glorious ' Hymne des Marseillais " is commenced and continued to the end, for the ' Offering to Liberty '' is nothing more than that hymn put into action. As the song proceeds, the most picturesque groups are formed, corresponding to the sentiments expressed in the lines, the arrangement reflecting the gi-eatest credit upon the talent of P. Gardel, the author of the ballets of ' Telemaque ' and ' Psyche." The most charming dancers of the opera, led by Mme. Gardel, rightly called the Venus de Medicis of dancing, temper with their grace the violence of the celebrated refrain : ' Aux armes, cUoi/ens- ! Formez vos bai ail Ions ! Marchez ! . . . Qu'un sang impur abreuve nos sillons !' But now comes the last verse — ' Amour sacre de la patrte f It is sung slowly and softly, like a prayer, by the women alone, the contrast between these religious accents and the warlike shouts of the preceding lines being very striking. At the words ' Liberie, liberie cherie,' all the actors kneel before the figure of Liberty on the rock. Even the horses, ranged in battle-order to the right and left, bend their heads and slowly kneel, whilst their riders salute with their arms and standards. A long silence ensues after this verse, suddenly broken, not by the expected refrain, but by the blast of trumpets calling THE OFFERING TO LIBERTY 79 the defenders of the country to battle. The tocsin is heard, the drums beat the gentrulc^ and the cannon thunders in the distance ; the horses rear and champ their bits, eager for the fray ; the actors rise and brandish their arms, whilst an innnense throng bearing axes, pikes, and torches invades the stage. Then all in unison attack the grand refrain : ' A u.r urmes, dtoyens P Never have I witnessed a scene of greater dramatic intensity. I have heard the song of the Marseillais yelled out by the most abandoned wretches on earth on the Tenth of August and September 2. Its verses, stained with blood, are hence- forth hateful to all honest men. But I must confess that last night I could not refrain from admiring the wonderful effect with which the composer Gossec has reproduced it. Of this song he has made a grand, an almost sublime, poem, and it is to be hoped that those Patriotic journalists who but yesterday accused poor Gossec of professing political principles less trust- worthy than his musical talents will deign to approve his ' Offer- ing,' and will no longer reproach him with having belonged to the Royalist club of the Sainte-Chapelle, and with having signed the petition against the acts of June 20. Of all the political pieces performed during the Revolution, the ' Offering of Liberty ' is perhaps the most remarkable, and that which had the greatest effect upon the public. No mention is, how- ever, made of it either in Jauffret's ' Theatre Revolutionnaii-e ' or in Theodore Muret's ' Histoire par le Theatre.' Henri Welschinger (' Le Theatre de la Revolution,' p. 298) gives it only four Hnes, and wrongly gives October 20, 1 7.92, as the date of its first performance. It has been said above that the last verse of the ' Marseillaise ' is that which begins : ' Amour sacre de la patrie.' That was true on October 2, 1 792 ; but twelve days later, on October 14, the fete of Liberty was celebrated. In the Garde Nationale of Paris were two battalions of childi-en. One of these battalions took part in the fete, and in its honour was added the verse with which the hymn now ends : ' Notis entrerons dans la carriere, Quand nos aines ny seront plus.' CHAPTER IX. OATHS OF ALLEGIAXCE, Tlmrsdaij, October 4, 1 792. It is just a year ago to-day since the followino- scene was enacted in the hall now occupied by the Convention. M. Pastoret is in the Presidential chair, and the Secretaries are MM. Cerutti, Francois de Neufchateau, Garran de Coulon, Con- dorcet, and Guyton-Morveau. The business is the taking of the oath of allegiance to the Constitution. M. Michon- Duniarais, deputy for Rhone-et-Loire, moves that the original Acte Constitutionnel itself, now deposited in the Archives, shall be brought to the Assembly and placed on the tribune, and that every member, as he takes the oath, shall lay his hand upon the sacred document. This motion is received Avith applause and passed. It is also decided that a deputation, composed of the twelve oldest members of the Legislature, shall go in solemn procession to the Archives, Avhere the Acte Constitutionnel shall be delivered to them. The twelve Commissioners, for once proud of their age, assemble in the centre of the hall, and march out with M. Ducastel, the Vice-President, at their head. What reception is to be accorded them when they return, holding in their hands the Book of the Law ? Rouyer, member for tlie Ilerault, suggests that the whole Assembly shall rise as the deputation enters. Another member moves that the oath which they are about to take shall be written in large letters above the President's chair, so that every speaker shall con- stantly be reminded of the duties he has undertaken. Lecoz, a Constitutional Bishop, desires that the taking of the oath shall be announced to the poo])le by the firing of cannon. Jean OATHS OF ALLEGIANCE 81 Debry, member for the Aisue, moves that, since the Assembly has decided that its oldest members should bring in the Acta Constitutionnel, the youngest members should be allowed to receive it. At length there is no more speaking, and for some minutes the deepest silence reigns in the hall. The whole Assembly, and even the galleries, seem plunged in a kind of religious reverie, as at the approach of a Divine manifestation. Suddenly an usher at the door cries : ' Gentlemen, I beg to announce the Acte Constitutionnel.'' All the members as well as the spectators immediately rise. Preceded by ushers, and escorted by a detach- ment of National Guards, the Vice-President and the twelve elders advance in procession ; in their midst Camus, the Archi- vist, devoutly pressing to his breast the thrice sacred document. To see him, one would think he was Moses descending from Sinai with the tablets of the law, the shining glory that is said to have covered the face of the great legislator being well re- placed by the beetroot colour of the Archivist's features.^ On reaching the foot of the tribune, one of the elders, in a voice broken with age and emotion, cries : ' Countrymen ! fellow-citizens ! behold the pledge of peace prepared by the Legis- lature ! Upon this token of the people's will we are about to swear to live as free men or to die, to defend the Constitution at the price of . . .' The last words of the old orator are drowned by the cheers that welcome the appearance of M. Camus and the Acte Constitutionnel in the tribune. The law relating to the organization of the Legislative Body simply stipulating that each member shall ascend the tribune and say, ' / sweai' it,'' the Assembly declares this to be insuffi- cient, and directs that all the words of the oath shall be repeated by each member. A deputy pointing out that no deliberation can take place whilst the King is present, it is decided that this shall also be the case whilst the Acte Constitutionnel is in the Assembly. Another deputy moves that all the armed men shall withdraw. ' The Acte Constitutionnel,' he adds, ' is in no danger 1 ' Mirabeau used to jestingly call the rigid Camus the Red Flag, in allusion to the red flag of the martial law. His face was highly inflamed, and his nose was the colour of blood.'— Etienne Dumont, ' Souvenirs sur Mirabeau,' oh. xv. 6 82 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS in the Assembly ; it has no need of defenders here." The National Guards and gendarmes withdraw, and the ceremony begins. The President leaves his chair, and is the iirst to ascend the tribune. Laying his hand upon the new Gospel, which is still in the keeping of M. Camus, he utters the following formula : ' / Sccear to maintain icith all my might the Constitution of the kingdom as deei-eed hy the Constituent National Assembly in the years 1789, 1790, and 1791, to propose or to consent to nothing in the course of' legislature xchich might impair it, and to be in all things true to the Nation, the Law, and tlie King.'' Each deputy, as his name is called by one of the Secretaries, then ascends the tribune, and, placing his right hand on the Acte Constitutionnel, pronounces the same formula in full. The ceremony lasted two hours, and during the A\hole of that time the Archivist, with head erect, one hand on his breast and the other on the precious docuinent, did not for a single moment abandon the sacred charge entrusted to him. He at length left the tribune, and again took his place in the midst of the Commissioners, who, in solemn procession, escorted the Acte Constitutionnel back to the Archives. On their return to the Assembly one of them made the following speech : ' You will no doubt be glad to hear that the Commissioners have discharged the duty with which they were entrusted, and that the precious document has been put away with such precautions as preclude all danger. But, gentlemen, that is not exactly what I rose to say, for these precautions, after what has taken place, appear superfluous. After the oath that we have taken, the Acte Constitutionnel has found a place not only in the hearts of those present, but in the hearts of all Frenchmen.'^ In attending the sitting of the Convention to-day, October 4, 1 For the whole of this scene, very imperfectly reported by the Moniteur, see the Ayni dn Roi, October (!, 17!)1 ; the Be'rolutioni^ de Paria, No. 117 ; the ' Histoire de la Revolution de France,' by Two Friends of Liberty, tome vi., p. 337 ; the 'Essais Ilistoriques,' by licaulieu, tome iii., p. 42 ; the Journal des Ddhats et dcs D^crcts, first National Legislative Assembly, No. 4 ; Journal Lvyograj/Iiujne, first Legislature, by M. le Hodey, tome i., pp. 3.5, etc. ; ' Memoires ' of Hua, a member of the Legislative Assembly, p. 75, OATHS OF ALLEGIANCE 83 1791, how could I help being reminded of that scene which took place just a year ago ? In this Assembly which has just abolished the Monarchy, and which keeps the King a prisoner in the Temple, I recognised those same deputies who but a year ago swore so solemnly to be true to the King and to the Monarchical power. In the places of honour I saw Condorcet, Brissot, Vergniaud, and Lasource, men who had taken an oath before God and their fellow-citizens ' to maintain with all their might the Constitution of the kingdom, to propose or to consent to nothing in the course of legislature which might impair it, and to be in all things true to the Nation, the LaAV, and the King/ And beside them, filling also an official post, I saw the hero of October 4, 1791, the austere guardian of the Constitution, Camus himself — the Archivist Camus ! CHAPTER X. A f£;TE at MADAME TALMa's. Thursday, October 18, 1792. General Dumouriez has been in Paris since the 11th. On the 12th he appeared at the bar of the Convention, and showed himself at the Opera. Escorted by Citizen Santerre, he pro- ceeded to the Section of the Lombards on the 13th. On the 14th, which was Sunday, he was present at a meeting of the Jacobin Club, Danton being in the chair.^ Truly a strange man this Dumouriez, one who both patronizes and frightens the Jacobins, who has something of an adventurer and of a genius in him, and whom everyone both admires and mistrusts ; a man whose abilities have done more for France than an army, and who could justly boast, amid the plaudits of the Convention and the galleries, that his soldiers, more fortunate than the Spartans at Thermopylae, had stopped the Prussians in the passes of the Argonne forest. I had not yet seen him when, on Tuesday last, Tassin, the banker,^ invited me to accompany him to 3i Jcte to be given at Madame Talma's in honour of the General. I gladly accepted the invitation. At ten o'clock I was at Tassin's house in the Rue Vivienne, where I found Roucher,^ who is a frequent visitor at Mme. 1 Journal cJes Ddbats . . . de la Sociiti des Jacobins, No. 2G3. 2 Louis Daniel Tassin, a banker, a member for the Third Estate of the city of Paris in the States-General, and an officer of the battalion of the Filles-Siiint-Thomas, of which his brother, Tassin de I'Estang, was Com- mandant en Preraiei'. Both brothers, who were cons]>icuous by their bravery on the Tenth of August, were brought before the Revolutionary Tribunal and guillotined on the same day, May 2, 17!)k ^ Roucher, the poet, the friend of Andr(' Chenier, and his companion to the scaffold. A F^TE AT MADAiME TALMA'S 85 Talraa''s. "Wlien we reached the Rue Chantereine,^ the fHc was at its best, and quite dazzled me by its brilliancy, for it was such a long time since I had seen anything of the kind. Here were men and women not only decked out in gala costume, but their faces actually wreathed in smiles of joy and welcome ! Tassin and Roucher presented me to the hostess, who was probably the only woman in her salon who wore no diamonds, the exquisite simplicity of her dress admirably harmonizing with the grace and delicacy of her charms.^ AVe next made our way towards the group surrounding the General. He is of slight build, but his countenance, with its sparkling black eyes, is very striking.^ There is nothing to equal his warmth, his military ardour, his smart and witty speech. I have rarely come across a more seductive talker. He would be perfectly irresistible, were there not something sardonic in his smile, and something in his glance bordering upon impudence and repelling those whom his wit attracts. Whether he made the same impression upon others I do not know, but in any case he was the lion of the evening — I was almost about to say the King, forgetting, alas ! that this title now recalls anything but ideas of triumph and happiness. Around him was a crowd of all the most eminent men in politics, art or literature now in Paris. The leaders of the Brissot party were there to a man. I recognised Brissot, Vergniaud, Fonfrede, Gorsas, Ducos, Kersaint and Louvet.^ ]VIen of letters, dramatists and poets — all had eagerly accepted Mme. Talma^s invitation. 1 Xow the Rue de la Victoire. Built by Le Doux for the Marquis de Condorcet, the mansion in the Rue Chantereine had been bought by Julie Carreau, of the Opera, who became Talma's first wife in 1791. It was occupied by Bonaparte on his return from the expedition to Egypt, and it was from this house that the conqueror of the Pyramids rode with his staff to strike the blow of the 18th of Brumaire. The building was pulled down a few years ago. Mme. Talma was also the owner of the house in which Mirabeau died, in the Chaussee-d'Antin (' Mt'moires de Mirabeau,' tome vii., p. 350). - Concerning Julie Talma and the part she played in the Revolution, see Peltier, Amhigu, May 8, 1805 ; Arnault, ' Souvenirs d'un Sexagt'naire,' tome ii., p. 132, etc. ; Louise Fusil, 'Souvenirs d'une Actrice,' tome 1., ch. XX. ; Bouilly, ' Mes Recapitulations ' ; Tissot, ' Souvenirs Historiques sur la Vie et la Mort de Talma.' 3 'Memoires sur Dumouriez,' by Ledieu ; Michaud, BiograpUe Universelle. * Vergniaud's examination on the 26th of the first month of the year II. of the Republic (' Vergniaud,' by Ch. Vatel, tome ii., p. 242). 86 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS La Harpe A\as exchanging epigTanis with Chamfort. Ducis was talking with young Legouve, the author of ' La Mort d'Abel ' ; as Roucher was acquainted with them both, we were enabled to take part in their conversation, Ducis, who is a very tall man, robust, and slightly rustic in appearance, formed a striking con- trast to Legouve, who is pale, delicate and slim. In seeing them side by side, one was reminded of La Fontaine's fable of ' The Oak and the Reed."^ They were speaking of the apj^roaching production of Ducis' new tragedy of ' Othello/- Talma is to undertake the role of Othello, and Mdlle. Desgarcins is to be the Desdemona, ' You shall see my fifth act,' said Ducis, in his blunt, unaffected way. ' It may be bad, but I shall be surprised if Talma and Mdlle. Desgarcins do not make it go excellently. The face of Talma in his fury, his wild gait and his gestures of utter abandonment, are all strictly true to nature. And Mdlle. Desgarcins ! "\Miat a wealth of intelligence and sensibility f ^ ' You will have a deal of trouble,' said Legouve laughingly, ' to make me love your hero. You know that I always take the women's part, and it is no use talking to me of a man who takes advantaae of the slumbers of the woman he loves to smother her with a pillow.' ' I know, my young friend, that the ladies have in } ou an ardent and sincere defender, and far be it from me to reproach you with it. ^^^ith regard to that A\retched pillow, I can set yoiu- mind at rest, for I have not introduced it. To be more in accordance with the traditions of our stage, I have made Othello stab Desdemona.' Joseph Chenier, who was leaning against the wall talking to Dugazon, the actor, saluted me rather coldly, and aj)peared sur- prised to see me at Talma's. ' You know,' said Roucher, ' that Chenier is the most welcome guest here. To him Talma owes the ^two parts that have made his reputation, and Mme. Talma in her gi-atitude has given her tM in sons the names of Charles IX. and Henri \'III.'* Tassin then led mc into tlic ))rincipal gallery, brilliantly lighted and adorned witli (Jjillic lulniels, Gicek daggers, Indian ' Bouilly, 'Mrs Rc'capituJations.' ^ The first iifcifoTmaiice of 'Othello' took place on November 20, 1792, at the Tht'Atre de la Republique, Ei;o de Richelieu. 3 kivolutions de Paris, No. 177. ■* Bouilly, 'Mes RtcapitulatioDS.' A FETE AT MADAME TALMA'S 87 arrows and Turkisli yatagans. Here the learned Millin was carrying on a discussion with Langles, the Orientalist. Leaving these erudite adversaries to continue their bloodless battle, we made our way through salons filled with the perfume of the choicest flowers, and re-echoing with the merry prattle of the most charming women. There were two of the latter who at- tracted universal attention — Mdlle. Candeille, pale and languish- ing as a Creole, and by the side of the majestic Mme. Vestris stood Mdlle. Desgarcins, with her sweet beauty and winning grace. The hum of conversation and the silvery ripples of laughter ceased as if by magic when Mdlle. Candeille sat down to the piano. ^ For some moments her light but sure touch sped swiftly over the ivory keys ; then her voice rang out, and whilst she sang I experienced a strange sensation. I seemed to be escaping from a horrible nightmare. The innumerable crimes and horrors that we had witnessed for the past three years — October 6, June 20, the Tenth of August, and September 2 — Danton, Robespierre and Marat — all seemed to vanish like the visions of night at the approach of morning. I breathed again. Paris — my dear old Paris — had not ceased to be a city of honest men, the abode of light-hearted merriment and joy. . . . A confused noise at first, gi'owing gradually louder and louder, and an oft -repeated name — Marat! — recalled me to reality. Marat ! It was indeed he. He wore a carmagnole, or short jacket, and around his neck was negligently wound a dirty handkerchief. His head was enveloped in a piece of red cotton from the folds of which escaped a few locks of greasy hair.^ He was accompanied by two members of the Convention — Bentabole and Maribon-Montaut, both friends of his.^ With an impudent smile on his face he walks straight up to Dinnouriez, who greets him coolly and disdainfully with these words : ' Ah ! Are you the man they call Marat P"""* ' General,"* replies Marat, ' we have come, in the name of the Society of Friends of Equality and Liberty, to ask you for an account of the measures taken against 1 'Souvenirs d'une Actrice,' by Louise Fusil, tome i., ch. xx. « Ihid. ^ Le Courrier des Departements, November 7, 1792. Bentabole was member for the Bas-Rhin, Maribon-Montaut for Gers. * ' Memoires ' of General Dumouriez, liv. iv., ch. i. 88 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS the battalions of Mauconseil and the Republic/^ ' I have placed all the papers in the hands of the Minister of War/ ' I have been to the Ministry, and have not been able to get hold of a single document." ' I have laid my report before the Convention, and I must refer you to that/ ' Oh ! you shall not get out of it in this M'ay ; the Vigilance Committee has no documents on the matter, and simply demands that the battalions shall be pro- tected/ ' I am sure that I have sent the documents/ ' Then tell me where they are/ ' I think that I deserve to be believed/ ' If you deserved entire confidence, we should not have done what we are now doing. There is something behind all this. Who can be persuaded that 1,200 men gave themselves up to excesses of this kind without any motives ? It is said that the murdered men were French refugees."' ' AVell ! what if they were refugees .''"' ' Refugees are traitors to their country, and the measures you took against the battalions were of unpardonable violence."' ' You are too sharp, M. iVIarat, for me to enter into a discussion with you."'^ ' Ah ! you little expected to see me here this evening, ^ ' On October 3, 1792, four Prussian soldiers arrived at Ville-sur- Retourne (department of the Ardennes), and, laying down their arms, asked to be received into the French Army. Taken to Rethtl, three of tbem were placed in the 10th Dragoons ; the fourth, being a surgeon, was left to await the orders of General Chazot. Two liattalions of Parisian volunteers, known as those of Mauconseil and the Republic, were then stationed at Rethel. The Patriot Palloy, who was in command of that of the Republic, had the four Prussian deserters seized during the night, and in addition to ill-treating them, said : " I have promised to send the heads of four refugees to Paris. I shall send yours, jireserved in leaden boxes filled with spirits." In the morning Chazot gave orders for marching upon the enemy, uho had made his appearance two miles from the town. The Parisian volunteers refused to march, dragged the four deserters from their quarters, and, after having murdered them, danced the carmagnole around their bodies. On hearing of this murder, Dumouriez ordered all arms, cannon, equipment, and standards to be taken from the Repul)lican battalion, in order to compel it to give up the murderers. The rest of the battalion was to be dismissed, and ordered to report itself at its proper section in Paris. The Mauconseil battalion, being less guilty, was to remain until further orders in somewhat close quarters outside Mezieres. Such were the measures of which Marat demanded an account from Dumouriez. On December IH, 171)2, the Convention, ujjon the motion of Marat, decreed that the sixty volunteers arrested by order of the Com- mander-in-Chief should be set at liberty, and that the two battalions should be reincorjiorated in the ranks of the army.' — Mokti.mick-Tek- NAUX, ' Hi'^toire de la Terreur,' tome iv., p. 50.*?, note upon the four deserters murdered at Rethel. ^ Marat's account at the Jacobin Club on October 17 ; Journal des JDdbats . . . de la SocUte de Jacobinn, No. 285. A FETE AT MADAME TALMA'S 89 in a house of this kind and in the midst of this troop of countcr- Revolutionaries, aristocrats and concubines.'^ At this Tahna stepped forward. ' C^itizen ]VIarat,"' he cried, ' by what right do you come here to insult our wives and sisters .?"" ' Am I, then," added Uumouriez, ' not to be allowed to rest from the fatigues of war in the midst of my friends without hearing them outraged by indecent epithets ?' With these \\ords the General turned his back upon Marat and walked away to another room. M. de Rohan-Chabot and M. Moreton, his Aides-de-camp, and several other officers, together with Gorsas, Talma and many of the guests, surrounded the Friend of the People, who beat a retreat whilst uttering the most fearfid threats.^ Everyone was in a state of consternation. Gorsas, indeed, tried to make merry over it, but his wit fell flat and found no echo, ' Ah !' he cried, ' what a fine scene it was ! Can anything funnier be imagined than the appearance of this figure out of the Apocalypse, flanked by two jades leaner than the steed of the visionary of Patmos ?^^ Dugazon was a little happier with his joke. Taking a censer filled with perfume, he purified all the places through which Marat had passed.* Tliis pleasantry brought back to the assembly a little of its former gaiety, and things resumed their course. Mdlle. Candeille was persuaded to take her seat at the piano once more, and after she had sung some of Garafs romances, Lefevre played us some airs on the flute.^ The next day the newspaper boys were shouting in the streets : ' Discovery of a great plot by Marat, the Friend of the People ! Great meeting of aristocrats and counter - Revolutionaries at Talma^s r^ This scene, I admit, made a deep impression upon me. I cannot help thinking that Vergniaud's Republic will share the same fate as Talma's evening party. Now that they have over- thrown the Monarchy, Vergniaud and his friends dream of ^ Louise Fusil, ' Souvenirs,' tome i., ch. xx. - Ibid. ^ Conrrier (hs Departempnta, October 17, 1792. * Le Courrier de I'^galite, No. 78. ^ Louise Fusil, ' Souvenirs,' tome i.. ch. xx. ^ Ibid, 90 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS turning Paris into a modern Athens, where eloquence and art shall be held in honour, ^here God shall have no altars, but A\'here Beauty shall have her shrines and her worshippers. Let them beware ! An uninvited guest may break into their Republic, like j\Iarat broke into the scdotis in the Rue C'hantereine. And it is probable that then the disturber will go further, and throw out of window those bourgeois who think themselves Republicans, but who are in his eyes only aristoci'ats and counter-Revolutionaries ! Dumouriez, in his ' Memoires ' (liv. iv., eh. i.), speaks of the pre- ceding scene without mentioning where it took place. Barriere and Berville, in their edition of the ' Memoires ' published in 1823, gave Mdlle. Candeille's salon as the scene of the interview between Marat and the General. This indication has led astray Thiers, Lamartine, and Michelet. ' Marat,' says Thiers (tome iii., p. 66), ' proceeds to the different theatres, and at last hears that Dumouriez is at a fete given by the aiiistes at Mdlle. Candeille's house. In spite of the dirty state he is in, Marat has no hesitation in presenting himself there.' And Thiers refers his readers to Marat's version of the affair, which he reproduces in his Appendix (note iii., p. 381) under this heading, ' An Account of the Visit paid by Marat to Dumouriez at Mdlle. Candeille's house, taken from the Journal de la Ilepithlique Franqa'ise, and written by Marat himself in the number of October 17, 1792.' Had Thiers only taken the trouble to read that extract, he would have found the following statement in the very first line : ' We learnt that Dumouriez was to sup at Talma's house, in the Rue Chantereine. The line of carriages and the brilliant illuminations indicated the temple in which the son of Thalia was entertaining a child of Mars.' * Marat and his two colleagues,' says Lamartine, in his ' Histoire des (iirondins' (liv. xxxi.), 'fell upon Dumouriez in the midst of a triumj)hHl least that Mme. Simons-Caudeille, the friend of Vergniaud and the Girondins, was giving in honour of the victor of Valmy.' Lamartine, at least, is not so negligent as to put under his readers' eyes the article in which Marat himself speaks of Talma's house. It is true that to the mistake of his predecessor he adds another, though a slight one. In 1792 Mdlle. Candeille was not yet Mme. Simons. It was not till 1798, six years later, that she maiTied M. Simons, the liead of a large carriage manufactory in Brussels. Michelet has devoted several pages to the fete given to Dumouriez, A FETE AT MADAME TALMA'S 91 and he has written of it with his usual inaccuracy. In tome iv. of his ' Histoire de la Revolution,' p. 392, he says : ' Vergniaud did not share the aversion of the Girondists for Danton. The woman he loved, the good and beautiful Mdlle. Candeille, made an heroic attempt to cement the two parties. It was on the occasion of a/r/e given in honour of Dumouriez, at which both Danton and Vergniaud were present. . . . The big, broad figure with the yellow face entered escorted by two long Jacobins, both taller than he by a head. Marat also had intended to produce a big effect.' Danton was not present at the fete given to Dumouriez. The extremely circumstantial account given by Louise Fusil, and that of Marat himself, leave no'^ doubt on this point. The heroic attempt made by the good mid beautiful Mdlle. Candeille to bring Danton and Vergniaud together therefore only existed in Michelet's imagina- tion. As to the love of Vergniaud for Mdlle. Candeille, to which Michelet again refers in tome v., p. 44, and in which he is sup- ported by Lamartine (liv. xviii.) and Louis Blanc (tome vii., p. 271), it matters very little to histoiy whether his statement be correct or not. But it would, perhaps, be as well, in view of new editions, to state that in 1817 the Biographie des Homines Vivants, edited by Michaud, having drawn attention to this rumour, Julie Candeille, then Mme. Simons, successfully refuted it in a pamphlet entitled ' Reply of Mme. Simons-Candeille to an Article in the Biographic of June 17, 1817.' On p. 4 she says: 'I can scarcely call M. Verg- niaud's features to mind, and I have never spoken to him.' This direct affirmation, published at a time when a great many of Vergniaud's contemporaries were still living, was not contested. Michaud apologized for the allusion, and in another article that ap- peared a few years later in the Biographie Universelle (tome Ix.) there is no mention of the pretended amours of the Girondist orator and the good and beautiful Mdlle. Candeille. CHAPTER XI. THE ROYAL FAJIILY IX THE TEMPLE. Saturday, October 20, 1792. The Girondists are oivino- themselves airs and makinoj fine speeches in the Assembly. Because they have not only the best posts, but also the best speakers, because Guadet sits in the Presidential chair,^ and Vergniaud delivers Ciceronian orations, the poor men think themselves the masters of the Revolution. They do not see that they possess only the outward show of power, and that it is in reality the Comnuine that governs — that Commune in which sit the organizers of the September massacres. Nothing has been done during the past two months but what has been desired or ordained by that body. Yesterday it imposed its wishes upon the Legislative Assembly ; to-day it dictates laws to the National Convention, and the Convention bows in submission. In fact, every event that has taken place since the Tenth of August, and particularly those relating to the captivity of the Royal Family, show clearly enough that the influence of the Commune is at work in all directions. On the "^renth of August it Avas the Commune that sent a deputation to the Legislative Assembly to demand the arrest of Louis XVI. A few moments later the Assembly, on the motion of Vergniaud, })assed a decree suspending the King from his duties as head of the executive j)ower, and ordered fitting accommodation to be provided for him and his family at the Luxembourg. The Luxembourg is a ])alace, and the Commune therefore sets its face against the proposal. The Legislative Assembly rescinds * Guadet was elected President on October 19. THE ROYAL FAMILY IN THE TEMPLE 93 its former order, and fixes upon the Chancellerie in the Place Vendonie. Fresh refusal on the })art of the Commune, which proposes the Temple Tower. The Legislature gives way once more, and on August 13, at five in the afternoon, the Royal Family is removed from the Tuileries to the Temple. The Legislative Assembly was not only content to slavishly obey the orders of the Commune in this matter, but allowed the men who form that body to subject the captives to the most infamous treatment and the most brutal outrages. Upon this point the Convention has cared as little for its own dignity and the honour of the nation as its predecessor. ' It was the duty of the Convention to have an exact account of what went on in the Temple, and to impose upon the custodians of Louis XVL a sense of decency, and the respect due to misfortune.' These are the words of Prudhomme himself, in No. 170 of his Revolu- tions de Paris, and he admits that this duty the Convention either would not or could not discharge. The Conseil General de la Connnune has entrusted the munici])al officers on duty at the Temple with full powers.^ These men, who are allowed to treat those who were the King and Queen of Fi'ance in any way they choose, are creatures steeped in crime ; their names are Simon, Jacques Bernard, and Hebert. But not a single protest against their doings is raised in the Assembly. The members from Bordeaux, generally so eloquent, are dumb ; even Vergniaud is silent in the face of Pere Duchesne ! They held their peace, these men, during the massacres of September, while the Abbaye, the Force, and the Carmes were turned into human shambles. Again they hold their peace while a murder, not less horrible and cowardly, is being slowly perpetrated in the Temple prison ! I must again quote from Prudhomme. Already on the morrow of the Tenth of August, he asked that a scaffold should be erected for Louis Nero. A few days ago he wrote : ' Louis XVL, behold your life ! See how execrable it is ! Here is 1 The Conseil-General de la Commune was composed of the 144 members of the municipality, elected by the 48 sections. The municipal officers, 48 in number, were elected by the sections from the members of the Conseil-General ; they formed the Conseil Municipal of Paris, whilst still remaining members of the Conseil-General. 94 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS the terrible list of the crimes committed by you since 1789. Seeing this, can anyone desire to prolong your wicked days ? No ! . . . Countrymen, if you wish to be free, have no pity for the tyrant who oppresses you/^ The number of the Revolutions which appeared this morning begins with a long article headed ' The Trial of Louis XVI.,"' the opening words of which are as follows : ' In our last article we conclusively proved that the ci-devant Louis XVI. deserved to die ; we also proved by the history and example of all nations that he ought to be tried and executed ; to-day we are about to prove that M'hat was formerly the Constitution has neither the right nor the power to stop us in our course. The crimes of Louis XVI. are admitted ; it is only traitors like himself who can entertain doubts about them, and these crimes demand to be avenged. . . . The whole Republic is full of them, and it is time that the arm of the law, too long held back, should at last strike a blow, and let the traitor expiate his guilt before the eyes of the world.' Now, it is from this paper, which has been so conspicuous in demanding the head of Louis XVI., that I shall take the picture of Louis XVI. in prison. It is that very paper which will show us the ^Monarch calm and serene, full of dignity and courage — the most unfortunate of men, and yet greater than his mis- fortunes. In this morning's number, at the end of the article on the King's trial, we read : ' How does Louis XVI. pass his time in prison .'' He either sleeps or reads his breviary. The events that go on around him, and of which he is fully cognizant (for, unknown to his wife, he reads the evening papers regularly), do not have the slightest effect ujjon his impassive soul. . . . One would think him the most stoical philosopher, were it not Avell known that he has grown into a most stupid — that is to say, a most devout man. . . . ' Louis XVI. has a room to himself in the Tower ;- he had two or ^ Rdvolutions de Parish, No. 1 (\\). ^ The Tower, situated in the enclosure of the Temple, was a square keep more than a hundred and fifty feet high, and flanked by four turrets. Adjoining it was a smaller building, oblong in shape, and also surmounted by two turrets; this was called the Small Toicer, and did not communicate with the keep, generally called the Big Toioer, or simply the THE ROYAL FAMILY IN THE TEMPLE 95 three thousand books brought there a short time since, and allowed no one but himself to arrange them. It appears that the only thing which troubles the ci-devant King in his imprisonment is a feeling of boredom. He occupies the second floor, with Clery, his valet. . . . Medicis-Antoinette sees her husband three times a day, and for an hour each time. In the morning the municipal officer on duty comes to tell her that breakfast is ready ; dinner is served at two, and supper at eight. The Queen and all the family join the King at these meals, and leave immediately they are over, no whispering nor talking by signs l)eing permitted. The blinds are arranged in such a way that the prisoners can only see the sky, and communica- tion with anyone below is impossible. Louis Capet scarcely ever goes down into the garden ; he keeps his room, and very seldom talks to the municipal officer who has charge of him. ' Medicis-Antoinette's health does not appear to have suffered much, but her hair is turning prematurely gi'ay. . , . ' The warders, who wear red caps, are not embarrassed by the presence of Royalty, and make as much noise as they can in opening and closing the doors, which are provided with strong bolts. In order to reach the room occupied by Louis XVI., there are three doors to be opened, one of which is of iron. The Austrian Medicis seems to make very light of all this ; the King's sister adopts the same course, whilst the children appear not to notice it. ' Big Elisabeth has not yet assumed that modest bearing befitting misfortune. Having neither an almoner nor chaplain, she, like her brother, is most assiduous in reading her breviary. A short time ago she bought a small parcel of books for about fifteen or twenty corsets,^ nearly all of them being on devotional subjects. One would like to see in her a little more of that Christian humility of which she must find so many examples in the course of her pious reading. Her niece copies her in every particular. . . . But these faults do not authorize the sentinels on duty in the Tower to behave as Tower. It was in the Small Tower that Louis XVI. and his family were first incarcerated — the Queen, Mme. Boyale, and the Dauphin on the second floor ; the King and Mme. Elisabeth on the third. On September 29, 1792, the Cunseil-G6neral ordered that 'Louis and Antoinette should be separated ; that each prisoner should have a separate cell ; that Citizen Hebert shoukl be added to the five Commissioners already appointed.' The same evening Louis XVI. was taken to the Big Toiver, whilst Mme. Elisabeth, Marie Antoinette and her children were not removed thither until October 26. At the date of the present chapter — October 20 — the Revolutions de Paris was therefore correct in saying that ' Louis XVI. had a room to himself in the {Big) Tower.' ^ The corset was a note for five francs (Peltier, 'Histoire de la Revolution du 10 Aoftt,' tome i., p. 133). 96 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS though they were iu their guard-house. They sing at the top of their voices night and day, and dance the carmagnole with such zest that very little of their horse-play is lost upon the captive family.'^ ^Vhat can be added to such a description ? In spite of the big- talk and the insulting epithets, the truth will out, compelling this implacable enemy to admit the greatness of these truly roval and Christian souls. The history of the captivity of the Royal Family in the Temple is admirably given in De Beauchesne's book, ' Louis XVI. : his Life, Agony, and Death ' ; but the publication hi extevso of the * Register of the Deliberations of the Commissionei's of the Commune on Duty in the Temple ' and the ' Minutes of the Commune ' relating to the royal prisoners is still much to be desired. There Louis ^W. appears more noble and dignified than in the narratives even of Clery. Never did greater virtues force a more striking testimony of admiration from more merciless foes. So great was the effect pro- duced by the reports of the Temple Commissioners that Hebert, on December 28, 1792, moved in the Commune that 'the Commis- sioners on duty in the Temple should be instructed to keep out of their reports any detail that might lead to the commiseration of the prisoners,' a motion which was immediately adopted. What certain Revolutionary writers, Michelet amongst othei's, call the Temple legend is based not only upon the narratives of Clery and Hue, but also upon the reports of these Commissioners, some of whom were the leaders of the Commune. What, then, must be thought of these statements of Michelet.'' — 'Who are the narrators of what passed in the Temple .'' There is not one Jacobin, not one of the Mountain nor of the Commune, amongst them. The only witnesses responsible for the details of the King's stay in the Temple are his valets, Hue and Clery' (tome v., p. 145). And Michelet boldly adds : ' We have also the preteiuled memoirs of Madame d' Aiigouleme, written in the Temple Tower, where she could not have written, having had neither ink nor j)aper. Those who came to liberate her were moved to see that she had been reduced to pencilling on the walls.' The pretended memoirs of the Duchesse d'Angoulcme (to whom, we think, Michelet might well have given her real title, were it only in memory of the days when he was professor of histoiy to Mademoiselle, the daughter of the Due de Berry) arc a narrative of admirable simplicity and of indisputable and undisputed authenticity — for here ^ involutions de Paris, No. 171. THE ROYAL FAMILY IN THE TEMPLE 97 the pure and simple denial of Michelet is of no account. They were published for the first time, under the Restoration, by the Imprimerie Roy ale ; another edition was brought out by M. Barri^re in his collection of ' Memoires sur la Revolution,' whilst the Duchesse d'Angouleme was still alive, and by Alfred Nettement, in his ' Vie de Marie-Therese de France.' They therefore appeared with the full consent of the Princess, and she would certainly not have lent herself to a fraud of this kind, to a lie that would have cast a reflection upon her royal parents. Louis Blanc, who can have no reasons for concealing his true opinion, does not harbour the slightest doubt about the authenticity of these memoirs, and frequently quotes from them. Sainte-Beuve, who was never known to sin from excess of Royalism, and whose sharp scent was not to be taken in by apocryphal documents, writes, in tome v. of his ' Causeries de Lundi ' : ' The Duchesse d'Angouleme has told the story of her captivity and of the events that took place in the Temple from the time when she entered it until the day of her brothei''s death, and she has done so in simple, unaffected language, well befitting a sensitive soul that relates in all sincerity those real and unutterable sorrows that are beyond description. She keeps herself in the background as much as possible, and stops at the death of her brother, the last of the four victims sacrificed.' With regard to the statement that Mme. Royale possessed neither ink nor paper, and was reduced to the necessity of scribbling on the walls of her prison, this, again, is some of Michelet's misleading information. There is no doubt that for a long time the daughter of Louis XVI. could only scribble on the walls of her room. Rovere, the Conven- tionalist, tells us that after the departure of Mme. Royale he found the following words pencilled on the walls by the orphan in the Temple : Oli, my Father, look down on me from heaven ! And again : Oh, my God, pardon those ivho hilled vuj parents ! After the death of Louis XVII. (June 9, 1795), the press agitated loudly in favour of Mme. Royale. The city of Orleans sent a deputation to the Convention to demand her liberation, and, in view of the general feeling of the public, it was decided to lessen the rigour of the Princess's captivity. On June 20, 1795, the Committee of General Security ordered a female companion to be given her, and Mme. Bocquet de Chanterenne was chosen for this post. On August 2 the royal prisoner was further allowed to have books, paper, pencils, pens and ink. Thenceforth she spent her mornings in writing, and her afternoons in reading, embroidering, or drawing. In September Mme. and Mdlle. de Tourzel and Baroness de Mackau, formerly assistant-governess to the Children of France, obtained permission to visit her twice a week ; they arrived at the Temple about mid-day, VOL. I. T 98 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS and left at about seven or eight at night. It is therefore clear that after August 2, 1 795, the daughter of Louis XVI. was able to write in the Temple Tower, and was not obliged to scribble on the walls ; by affirming the contrarj'^, Michelet — mirahile clictu ! — has slandered the RepubUc ! Since writing the above note, the publication we so much desired has been undertaken by the Societe d'Histoire Contemporaine, and bears the following title, ' Captivite et Derniers Moments de Louis XVI. Being original narratives and official documents collected and edited by the Mar- quis de Beaucourt.' The Marquis Costa de Beauregard has also published the ' Memoirs written by Marie-Therese-Charlotte of France, upon the Captivity of the Royal Family from the Tenth of August, 1792, until the Death of her Brother, on June 9, 1795/ according to the original manu- script in the possession of the Duchesse de Madrid. CHAPTER XII. A RELIC. Sunday, October 21, 1792. The walls are everywhere covered with abominable and infamous posters, and all day long filthy papers and pamphlets are being- sold in the streets. Pamphlets, papers, and posters all preach murder, and hold assassins up to admii'ation, whilst hurling insults and threats at all that is honourable or worthy of respect. It seems, indeed, as if hell had been let loose in Paris. But Paris always has been a city of contrasts ; virtue rubs shoulders with crime, and if crime is nowhere more abject, virtue is nowhere more heroic. By the side of the prison to which the informers drag their victims, there is the door which opens to afford refuge to the outlaw. In a small street that re-echoes with the shouts of the hawkers of Pere Duchesne there is a humble dwelling in which an old priest, upon whose head a price has been set, is reciting Mass before a few poor women. We have returned to the days of Nero and Diocletian ; pei'se- cuted believers take refuge in the Catacombs, and the old cry of ' Death to Christians P is heard in the Paris of Marat and Danton as it was once heard in Rome under the Caesars, whilst here as there the fuiy of the executioners is equalled only by the sublime heroism of the martyrs. Already people seize upon the objects that belonged to murdered priests of the Carmes and Saint-Firmin, and regard them as relics. One of these is in my possession ; it is a small piece of paper, printed on both sides, and reads as follows : A prayer to the Most Holy Virgin, which the pious are asked to recite every day for the King. Divine Mother of my Saviour, who in the Temple of Jerusalem didst offer to God the Father Jesus Christ, His Son and thine, I now 100 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS oiFer thee our well-beloved King Louis XVI. He is the heir of Cloves, of Saint Clotilde, and of Charlemagne ; the son of the pious Blanche de Castile, of Saint Louis, of Louis XIII., of the virtuous Marie de Pologne, and of Prince Louis the Dauphin. Will these names, so dear to our religion, not be to thee what the names of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were to the God of Israel ? Consider, Most Pure of Mothers, Maid of Mercy, that this good Prince has never stained his soul with any of the vices that thou hast most detested ; that he has been neither a bloodthirsty man nor the tyrant of his people. Almighty Virgin, channel of all blessings and virtues, it is through thee that his soul is pure, that he loves justice and righteousness, and that his good heart has ever refused to permit the shedding of a single drop of blood to save his own life. Queen of Heaven and of the Catholic Church, Queen of our Kings and of France, protect this beloved Ruler. Receive him as thou didst receive at the foot of the Cross the chaste and well- beloved disciple of meekness and charity, and prove to him that thou art his Mother. Oh, Mary, if thou art for him, who will be against him ? Reign thou over his person, his heart, and his actions. Prolong his days, and make them happy. Augment unceasingly his Christian and his royal virtues. Sanctify his trials and his sacrifices, and grant him a crown more radiant and lasting than the most resplendent of earthly diadems. Mother of God, thou who knowest the innermost recesses of the heart, and the sincerity of my wishes, intercede Avith Jesus for the son of Saint Louis and for his people. Has He ever refused thee aught ?^ This prayer is stained with blood in three places. It was found in the breviary of the Abbe Gros, massacred at Saint- Firniin on September 3.^ 1 This prayer is to be found in the Revolulinns de Parif^, No. 165. 2 The Abbe .Joseph Marie Gros had been one of the representatives of the clergy of the ci ty of Paris in the States-General. Deprived of his cure for having refused to take the oath, he went to Hve in the Rue de la Vieille- Estrapade, and was arrested there on August 17, 1702. Imprisoned in the seminary of Saint-Firmin, in the Rue Saint- Victor, he was massacred there with seventy-five other priests, his head being carried in triumph through the streets. He left a will, bequeathing all his property to the poor of his parish. Foremost amongst his assassins were Gossiaume, a Boapmaker, who had more than once been assisted by him, and Dumouticr, a locksmith, who, on September .'}, killed fourteen priests with his own hand. ('Les Martyrs de la Foi,' by the Abbe Guillon, tome iii., p. 237.) CHAPTER XIII. THE NINE KEFUGEES. Wednesday, October 24^, 1792. On the motion of M. Guadet, one of the principal members of the Gironde, the Convention on October 9 determined the mode of procedure to be adopted with regard to refugees who are taken armed. It was decided that, as soon as it had been proved to a court-martial composed of five persons that the prisoners before them were French refugees, taken armed, they were to be immediately shot. On Friday, the 19th, thirteen of these unfortunate men were brought to Paris. They had scarcely arrived, when they were taken before the Conseil-General of the Commune to give their names, and then marched from the Hotel de Ville to the Conciergerie between two files of soldiers, and amidst the cries of an infuriated mob clamouring for their instant death. On the morrow, immediately the sitting of the Convention was opened, Jean Debry, member for the department of the Aisne, moved that five Commissioners should at once be ap- pointed from the Paris division, commanded by General Berruyer, to decide the fate of the thirteen prisoners. M. Monestier moved an amendment, providing that in the court-martial there should be at least one non-commissioned officer and one private. TTie motion, so amended, was then adopted. Meanwhile, crowds had been gathering in the courts of the Palais de Justice, and agitators were inciting the people to hasten the execution of the prisoners, amongst whom there was said to be the Prince de Lambesc. The Commune having pub- lished the motion passed by the Convention, the ferment was a trifle stilled. 102 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS On Sunday, the 21st, the Minister of War informed the Convention that the five Commissioners appointed were General Berrujer, and an officer named Desplanche ; Claude Sableau, a gunner ; Antoine and Marly, gendarmes. This Commission sat with open doors in the Palais de Justice on JVIonday, the 22nd. The prisoners were brought in, all still wearing the uniform in which they had been arrested. Neither the Prince de Lambesc nor any person of note was amongst them. With the exception of a former Councillor in the Parliament of Bordeaux, forty-five years old, and one of the King's body-guards, they were all very young men, whose ages ranged from nineteen to twenty-nine. The first to be examined replied that his name was Dammartin Fontenoy, that he Avas twenty-five years old, and a natiAC of Metz. A^Tien the Revolution broke out, he had already been living in Germany for two years. ' Did you not hear that there had been a Revolution in France ?' asked the President. ' I thought there had been four,' replied the accused, in a somewhat weak voice. ' Speak louder," said General Berruyer ; ' you are here before the Republic,yor the people of Paris form the xvhole of the Republic P The Connnissioners then retired to the Council Chamber, and, returning in a few moments, each of them successively declared that the prisoner deserved death. General Berruyer hereupon pronounced the sentence, which the condemned man heard without betraying the slightest emotion. The second prisoner, M. Dumesnil, a native of Nancy, formerly a captain in Esterhazy's regiment of hussars, depose 2 Q NAMES OP THE SECTIONS. U . <: to so a ■A PLACE OF MEETING. 1. Tuileries 1,700 17 Church of the Feuillants. 2. Champs-Elysees 900 9 Chapel of Saint-Nicolas. 3. Le RoLile 1,300 13 Church of the Capucins Saint-Honore. 4. Palais Royal 2,400 24 Church of Saint-Roch. 5. Place Yendome 1,200 12 Church of the Capucines. 6. The Bibliotheque 1,500 15 Church of theFilles-Saint- Thomas. 7. Mirabeau^ 900 9 Former barracks of the Gardes Fran^aises, at the corner of the Boule- vard and the Chaussee d'Antin. ~ 8. The Louvre 2,000 20 Church of Saint-Germain- I'Auxerrois, n. The Oratoire 1,900 19 Church of the Oratoire. 10. The Corn-market 1,900 19 Church of Saint-Honore. 11. ThePost-Office 1,800 18 Church of Saiut-Eustache. 12. Place Louis XIV, 1,400 14 Church of the Petits- Peres. 13. Fontaine-Montmorency 1,100 11 Church of Saint-Joseph. 14.. Bonne-Nouvelle 1,(J00 16 Church of Bonne-Nou- velle. 15. Ponceau 2,300 23 Church of the Trinity, Rue Bourg I'Abbc. 16. Mauconseil 1,700 17 Church of Saint-Jacques- I'Hopital. 17. Marche-des-Iunocents ],100 11 Church of Sainte-Oppor- tune. 18. Lombards 2,500 25 Church of Saint-Jacquea- la-Boucherie. 19. Arcis 1,800 18 Church of Saiut-Jean-en- Greve. 20. Faubourg-Montmartre 700 7 Church of Saint Joseph. 21. Poissonicre HOO 8 Cliurch of Saint-Lazare. ^ This section was called by the name of La Grange-Batelicre from 1790 until August 2, 1792, when it took the name of Mirabeau. At the sitting of December 11, 1792, 'one of the Secretaries (of the Convention) read a resolution passed by the former Section Mirabeau, which, no longer wishing to bear the name of a man who betrayed his countrj', and desirous of giving the citizens of the eighty-fourth department a proof of its attachment, has changed its name to that of J/oni Blanc' THE FORTY-EIGHT SECTIONS OF PARIS 111 List of the Forty-eight Sections on the Tenth of August, 1792 {continued). NAMES OF THE SECTIONS. > C N a, go ►J H H K "^ W owe )i ca H g H « fc, a o p PLACE OF MEETING. 22. Bendy 1,400 14 Church of the Reoollets. 23. Temple 1,700 17 Church of the Peres- Nazareth. 24. Popincourt 1,300 13 Church of Trainel. 25. Rue de Montreuil 1,500 15 Church of Sainte- Mar- guerite. 2fi. Quinze-Yingts ... 2,000 20 Church of the Enfants- Trouves. 27. Gravilliers 3,300 33 Church of Saint-Martin- des-Champs. 28. Faubourg-Saint- Denis 1,300 13 Church of Saint-Laurent. 29. Rue Beaubonrg 2,300 23 Church of Saint-Mery. 30. Enfants Rouges 1,800 18 Church of the Enfants Rouges. 31. Roi-de-Sicele 1,800 18 Church of the Petit Saint- Antoine. 32. H6tel-de-Ville 1,700 17 Church of Saint-Gervais. 33. Place Royale 1,900 19 Church of the Minimes. 34. Arsenal ... 1,400 14 Church of Saiut-Louis- la-Culture. 35. Ile-Saint-Louis 1,100 11 Church of Saint-Louis- en-l'Ile. 36. Notre-Dame 1,700 17 Hall of the old Chapter- house. 37. Henri IV 900 9 Church of the Sainte- Chapelle-Basse. 38. Invalides 1,100 11 Church of the Invalides. 39. Fontaine-de-Grenelle... 2,100 21 Church of the Jacobins- Saint-Dominiqiie. 40. Quatre-Nations 3,900 39 Church of Saint-Germain- des-Pres. 41. Theatre-Frangais 2,600 26 Church of Saint-Andre- des-Arts. 42. Croix Rouge 1,600 16 Church of the Prt^montres. 43. Luxembourg 2,100 21 Church of the Barefooted Carmelites. 44. Thermes-de-Julien ... 2,000 20 Church of the Maturing.' 45. Sainte-Genevieve 2,800 28 Church of the College of Navarre. Church of the Val-de- 4G. Observatoire ... 1,700 17 Grace. 47. Jardin des Plantes ... 2,200 22 Church of Saint-Nicolas- du-Chardonnet. 48. Gobelins Total 1,200 12 Church of Saint-Marcel. 82,900 829 112 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS Many of these sections have changed their names since the Tenth of August. The following is a full list : Old Names. New Names. 3. Section du Roule. Section de la Republique. 4. 1) du Palais Royal. )) de la Butte-des-Moulins. 5. )) de la Place Yendome. 55 des Piques. 6. jj de la Bibliotheque. 5) de Quatre-Vingt-Douze. 9. j> de rOratoire. >J des Gardes Fran^aises. 11. )} des Postes. 55 du Contrat Social. 12. )) de la Place Louis XIY. 5) du Mail. 13. J) de la Fontaine-Mont- » de Moliere-et-Lafontaine 15. 5) morency. du Ponceau. 55 des Amis de la Patrie. IG. Mauconseil. 55 Bonconseil. 17. » du Marche - des - Inno- cents. 55 des Halles. 28. >> du Faubourg- Saint - Denis. 5) du Faubourg-du-Nord. 29. )j de la Rue Beaubourg. 55 de la Reunion. 30. 9) des Infants Rouges. du Marais. 31. 99 du Roi-de-Sicele. 55 des Droits de IHomme. 32. JJ de l'H6tel-de-Ville. 55 de la Maison-Commune. 33. )) de la Place Royale. 55 de la Place-des-Federes. 35. )j de rile-Saint-Louis. 55 de la Fraternite. 36. )) de Notre-Dame. 55 de la Cite. 37. J) de Henri IV. 55 du Pont-Neuf. 41. )j du Theatre-Fran9ai.«. 55 de Marseille. 44. )) des Thermes-de-Julien. 55 de Beaurepaire. 45. )9 de Sainte-Genevieve. 55 du Pantheon-Fran9ais. 47. }) du Jardin des Plantes. 55 des Sans-Culottes. 48. )) des Gobelins. 55 du Finistere. Another change, more important than these changes of name, was made in the constitution of the sections on August 11. On that day the Legislative Assembly abolished the distinction made by the Constituent between active and non-active citizens, de- ciding that admission to the meetings of the sections was to be granted to ' every Frenchman over twenty - one years of age, living on his income or on the product of his labour, and not being a servant."' This decree tloubled the number of voters in the sections of Paris, and brought it up to about 192,000.^ The demagogic I Before the decree of August 11, 1792, the number of voters in the department of Paris was 9(!,7(H). There was an elector of the second degree for every loo active citizens, and a list of these electors is to be found in tho 'Almanach Royal' for 1792. It comprises 829 electors for the forty-eight sections of Paris, and 138 for the sixteen rural cantons THE FORTY-EIGHT SECTIONS OF PARIS 113 element, already so poAverful in the sections, when these con- tained only active citizens, has now complete sway. Peaceable citizens infected with moderation, men who formed part of the old National Guard, subscribers to the petition of the Twenty Thousand or that of the Eight Thousand — all stand aloof and leave the course free to plotters and Revolutionaries, to the blood-stained men of September. There are few sections which have not in their ranks, and even at their head, men who are reproaches to humanity, and whom Paris — the Paris of the Revolution — acclaims and recognises as its leaders. The Section Bonne-Nouvelle has le pere Duchesne and Citizen Hebert; the Section of the Quinze-Vingts has Huguenin, Rossignol and Santerre ■} the Mauconseil section has Lulier ;2 the Montreuil section has Jean Claude Bernard, formerly vicar of the church of Sainte-Marguerite, and now a member of the Conseil General of the Commune -^ the Section of the of the department — 9G7 in all. In his 'Histoire des Girondins et des Massacres de Septembre' (tome i., p. 289), Graaier de Cassagnac has com- mitted a serious error : ' In November, 1791,' he says, * the new Mayor of Paris was elected. La Fayette's friends put him forward as a candidate, and on November 17, the day of the election, he came to Paris incognito ; but his defeat was overwhelming, as he only obtained 3,000 votes. Petion, the successful candidate, obtained only 9,000, for, in spite of the exhortations of the political clubs and of the press, the people of Paris were so little anxious to exercise the electoral rights that had been granted them, that out of 200,000 voters, only 12,000 went to the poll.' The voters of the sixteen rural cantons had no voice in the election of the Mayor of Paris, and the voters of the forty-eight sections were, as has been shown, not more than 82,900 in number — there is an enormous difference between this and 200 000 ! Mistakes seldom go alone, and in the lines quoted above we find one or two others. The most important is that Petion did not obtain 9,000 votes, but only 6,708. There were only 10,032 votes recorded altogether, and not 12,000, the numbers being dis- tributed as follows : Petion, 6,708 ; La Fayette, 3,123: Dandre, 77. The others went to Robespierre, Freteau, Camus, and others. 1 Hugiieuin was the leader of the rioters on June 20, and President of the Insurrectional Commune of the Tenth of August. Rossignol, one of the victors of the Bastile, presided over the massacres in the Force on September 2 and 3. 2 Public Prosecutor to the Tribunal of August 17. Arraigned together with Danton, he was acquitted ; but the Revolutionary Tribunal ordered him to be detained until the declaration of peace. He was imprisoned in Sainte-Pelagie, where he committed suicide on May 5, 1794'. Historians spell his name ' Lhuillier,' but I have before me a large number of auto- graphs signed by him ' Lulier.' ^ One of the two Commissioners charged to take Louis XVI. to the scaffold. He was guillotined, with Robespierre, on the 10th of Thermidor, year II. VOL. I. 8 114. THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS Fontaine - de - Grenelle has Xavier Audouin, formerly vicar of Saint-Thomas-d'Aquin, founder of the Journal Universel, and a member of the Convention ; the Section of Gravilliers has Leonard Bourdon ; the Section of the Bibliotheque has CoUot- d'Herbois ; and the Section des Piques has RobespieiTe. But the most illustrious of all, that before which all other sections pale, is the Section of the Theatre-Franc^^ais, which has lately adopted the name of Marseilles in order to honour the memory of those Marseillais who took up their abode near the place of its meetings. The Section of jVIarseilles, which has alone sent thirteen deputies to the National Convention,^ has Danton, Chaumette, Camille Desmoulins, Freron, Fabre d'Eglan- tine, Billaud-Varenne ; Vincent and Ronsin ; the printers Brune and jVIomoro ; Duplain, the bookseller, and Sergent, the engraver, subscribers to the addi'ess sent on September 3 to all the munici- palities, inviting them to imitate Paris and massacre all suspects ; Fom*nier, called the American, who presided over the massacre of the prisoners in Orleans, and above all — Immanis pecoris custos, immanior ipse — Marat, the Friend of the People ! 1 Danton, Manuel, Billaud-Yarenne, Camille Desmoulins, Marat, Sergent, Robert, Freron, Fabre d'Eglantine, Boucher Saint-Saveur, members for Paris ; Dulaure, member for the Puy-de-D6me ; Pons de Yerdun, member for the Meuse, and Garran de Coulon, member for the Loiret, all dwelt in the section of the Thtjatre-Fran^ais. Out of these thirteen deputies, eleven were electors, and this fact led the Procureur de la Commune ' to authorize the section of the Theatre-Fran9ais to appoint eleven electors in the place of those who had been sent to the Conven- tion.' — ' Inventaire de Autographes et des Documents Historiques com- posant la Collection de Benjamin Fillon.' Series 3 and 1, No. 532. CHAPTER XV. THE SECTION OF THE PANTHEON. Monday, October 9.9, 1792. One day last week the two Trudaines, Francois de Pange, Tassin and I were dining at the house of our friend Roucher, in the Rue des Noyers. Thanks to our host, the conversation had for a long time been entirely confined to literary topics — a rare thing in these times. De Pange,^ who with his delicate wit, excellent taste, and sound judgment, is not only an authority in the world of letters and of science, but is himself an astronomer and musician, a journalist, mathematician and even poet — De Pange, happy to forget for a moment the troubles that sit so heavy upon us all, was good enough to treat us to an ingenious and witty parallel between the Abbe Delille and Andre Chenier. He quoted several passages from a splendid play by Andre — 'rAveugle' — in which the life of the ancients is drawn with truly Homeric breadth and inspiration. He then took a few examples from Delille's translation of the ' Georgics," and with remarkable clearness showed us the faults and the weak spots in the worthy Abbe's work. Here Roucher interrupted him. ' There is no one,' he said, ' who admires Chenier's talent more than I do, and like De Pange, I am convinced that when the public is better acquainted with his works, it will give him a place amongst the first poets of France. But at the same time we must be just to the Abbe Delille, and not lightly pass over that grace and harmony, that indescribable charm of manner, which, even in its French garb, has succeeded in pleasing im- * See the remarkable notice upon him with which Becq de Fouquieres has prefaced the edition of his prose works. 116 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS partial classical critics/^ And here the author of the ' Mois "* dwelt iij^on the talent of the translator of the ' Georgics ' with a Avarmth that was quite contagious, crowning his praises of the poet Avith a eulogy of the professor and the man. ' I am his neighbom',' he added, ' and it used to be a real treat for me to hear his lectures at the College Royal. ^ I would invite you to come and hear them were it not, alas ! that this pleasure, like so many others, is a thing of the past. Delille is no longer pro- fessor of poetry ; the Revolution has given him a rest. His chair has been taken by Citizen Paris, formerly a member of the Oratoire, who has Avritten some odes on air-balloons, elec- tricity and Rousseau, and Avho is, besides, a municipal officer. In the morning he lectures at the College that once Avas Royal, and in the evening; he harangues our section in the church of the College de Navarre.''^ The Abbe Delille had brought us to Citizen Pilris ; Citizen Paris precipitated us into politics. The Pantheon section is one of the most Revolutionary in the capital. This is the section Avhich on October 20 resolved to elect a mayor, in dis- regard of the laAv, by open and audible voting, and declared that if its president and secretary Avere summoned to the bar of the National Convention, the Avhole of the section avo ild ac- company them in arms.* Charles Trudaine having expressed a Avish to be present at a meeting of this section, we w^ent in a body at about eight ©""clock. The College de Navari'e,^ in the chapel of Avhich the meetings are held, is situated in the Rue de la Montague Sainte-Genevieve, in close proximity to the Rue des Noyers. The statues of Philip the Fair and Jeanne de NaA-ari'e, his Avife, Avho founded the college in 130i, adorn the gateway ; the head of Philip the Fair has been broken, and his queen has lost both her hands. The chapel, which is at the l)ottom of the first court-vard, Avas quite full 1 ' Consolations de ma Captivite, ou CorreRi)ondance de Roiicher.' 2 The College Royal is now the Collrge de France. Delille was pro- fesFor of poetry, and had rooms in the college itself, in the Place de Cambrai. 2 ' M ('moires de rAbb(5 Morellet,' ch. xxiii. * 'Tableaux de la RdvolutionFran9aise,' by Adolphe Schmidt, tome i., p. 09. 6 Closed in I rOO. THE SECTION OF THE PANTHEON 117 when we arrived, and the meeting seemed a very uproarious one. Citizen Hu was in the rostrum. Citizen Hu, a wholesale grocer of the Rue de la Tounielle and a Justice of the Peace for the Pantheon section, is a rather im- portant personage, who took a leading part in the Se})tember massacres. On the third of that month he appeared, in the name of the Vigilance Committee, before the general assembly of the Sans-Culottes section. Having presented his credentials, he explained that he was charged with the arrest of some traitors, and that he had come to obtain the assistance of the guard stationed at Saint-Firmin to help him in fulfilling his mission. He added that he could confide his secret orders to the President only, promising to communicate them to the assembly as soon as their execution had connnenced. After a conference with the President, twelve National Guards were added to the force already under him. The doors of the assembly were then closed, so that no one should leave the hall until Citizen Hu s mission had been completed.^ That mission was simply the massacre of the priests imprisoned in the seminary of Saint-Firmin. One can easily understand that after such public services, the Justice of the Peace- has great influence over the members of his section, and that his proposals are received with marked favour. He concluded his speech by moving that all citizens should be obliged to appear before the captains of their section and declare in writing whether they accepted the Republic or not. Those who answered in the negative, or those who did not come at all, would be treated as traitors to their country. These proposals were adopted.^ Citizen Pjiris then succeeded Citizen Hu in the tribune. He 1 ' Registre des Deliberations de FAssemblee Geaerale de la Section des Sans-Culottes ' ; ' Proces-verbal ' of September 2 and 3, 1792. 2 It is a monstrous fact, and such as can only be found in the history of the Revolution, that the help given in the butchery of the seventy-nine victims was the chief reason for conferring upon Hii the dignity of a Justice of the Peace. And this is by no means an exceptional case. On September 2, Citizen Joachim Ceyrat, President of the Luxembourg section, proposed ' to purge the prisons by putting all the prisoners to death' (Mortimer-Ternaux, ' Histoire de la Terreur,' tome iii., pp. 218 and 479). The motion was carried, and some time afterwards Joachim Ceyrat was appointed Justice of the Peace for the same section. 3 Schmidt, op. cit. 118 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS is a cold-blooded man, though not without some natural wit. The theme of his discourse was the duty of obeying the law, except in such cases where the law ran counter to public opinion. He tried to show that all the events of the past four years have strikingly proved the necessity of acting in accordance with this theory, and that every one of the great days of the Revolution, from July 14 to the Tenth of August, was based upon the principle that the will of the people is above the law. The arguments that he brought forward were continually interrupted by cheers and cries of ' Vive la Bcjmbliqiie P and on resuming his seat, the walls of the old chapel rang with thunders of applause.^ When silence was again restored, a third orator, Citizen Gobert, undertook the difficult task of speaking after Citizen Paris. ' Citizens,"' he cried, ' you are the sovereign people. The Constitution trespassed upon the rights of the people, and has therefore been swept away ; the laws that it passed have no longer any weight. There must be no other laws than those sanctioned by the people. The people have not yet sanctioned the decrees of the National Assembly, and the sections have therefore the right to do as they please, and to vote openly at all elections in defiance of any interference.'^ This terrible logician goes even farther than Citizen Paris. According to l*aris, there are some laws which should be obeyed, provided they do not run counter to public opinion. According to Gobert, there are no laws at all. Citizen Hu, the Justice of the Peace ; Citizen Garnier, his clerk ; and Citizen Oudeau, his usher, all seemed mightily pleased with these utterances, Roucher also pointed out to us the other leaders of the section — Belliot, Fosseyeux, Lalande, Tence, Laserre and Croutelle, all men of straw, living from hand to mouth, whose airs of importance would seem ridiculous did we not remember that they and their like are masters of the forty- ' Schmidt, op. cit. Citizen Puris remained a member of the Com- mune until the 0th of Thcrmidor, year II. Proscribed by the Conven- tion as an accomplice of Robespierre, he was sent to execution by the Revolutionary Tribunal on the 11th of Thermidor. 2 Schmidt, p. 100. THE SECTION OF THE PANTHEON 119 eight sections of Paris, and that these sections rule the National Convention and France. I left the hall in despair, meditating upon the fact that it was in the College de Navarre that Bossuet had studied philosophy and theology, and delivered his first discourse before the victor of Rocroi.^ In that same chapel in which Citizens Fosseyeux and Croutelle now preach hatred of the rich and contempt of the law, Bossuet preached many a sermon upon devotion to the Virgin Mary. On June 27, 1663, he pronounced a funeral oration over Nicolas Cornet, Grand-Master of Navarre, one of the most eminent men of his century, who was buried, according to his express wish, in the most obscure corner of the chapel, near the door. On reaching home I washed to purge my mind of the immoral speeches I had heard, and taking down a volume of the ' Oraisons Funebres,"" I read the following pages, which contain so true and forcible a description of present events that they are perhaps some of the most remarkable that ever came from Bossuefs pen : ' O people born in the bosom of the Church, see whither these reformers would lead you with their theories. Though the first efforts of these turbulent spirits are but a feeble flutter, there is something more dangerous and violent at the bottom of their hearts — a concealed disgust of all authority, and a longing to go on creating endless reforms. . . . When any power is desirous of arrogating the rights and authority of the Church, nothing can restrain its violence, and Heaven, to punish such sacrilege in a people, abandons it to its mad intemperance, the fury born of its senseless disputes and self- constituted religion becoming the most dangerous of its diseases. We must therefore not be astonished to see such nations lose all respect for the majesty of the law, nor to find them breaking out into factious and stubborn rebellion. Religion is weakened by re- form, and loses some of that power which alone is capable of con- trolling nations. There is in every people a spirit of restlessness that shows itself as soon as this salutary check is removed, and when once they are allowed to become masters of their religion they can have no respect for aught else. Hence we have ideas, hitherto 1 The College de Navarre also numbers amongst its students Chancelier Gerson and Cardinal Richelieu. In the year XIII. the Ecole Polytech- nique was transferred here.— ' Les Anciennes Maisons de Paris sous Napoleon III..' by Lefeuve, tome v., p. 71. 120 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS unknown, which aim at the abolition of the Monarchy and the im- position of equality upon men — a seditious chimera, born of treason and sacrilege, and one which proves that thoughts must naturally revert to crime and rebellion when once the authority of religion is overthrown. But why seek for proofs of a fact that is made so manifest ^in the Scriptures themselves ? The Lord Himself threatens to forsake and to abandon to civil war those nations which alter the religion He has established. Listen to His words as spoken by the mouth of Zachariahj His prophet : " Anima eorum variavit in me ; el dixl : Noil pascam vos : quod moritur, moriatur ; et quod succiditur, siiccidatur ; et reliqui devorent unusqiiisque caniem proximi sui." '^ real and truly fulfilled prophecy ! 1 Bossuet, ' Oraison Funebre de la Reine de la Grande-Bretagne,' delivered November IG, 1669. CHAPTER XVI. NAMING THE STREETS OF PARIS. Wednesday, October 31, 1792. It is the aim of the Ilevohition to metamorphose not only all things, but even their names. To establish a llepiiblic in a country which has existed for fourteen centuries with a Monarchy and by a Monarchy, a clean sweep must be made of the past, and every trace of it removed. France must become a nation without ancestors, a people without a history ; a pitiless hand must be laid upon the statues of our heroes, and upon anything that might conjure up old recollections. And that is why our streets, our squares and our gardens, are losing those names which were old acquaintances, old friends to the citizens of Paris — popular names, in the best sense of the word, names now tabooed by the pretended friends of the people. The city of Sainte-Genevieve and of Saint Louis, of Philippe- Augusta and of Louis XIV., nmst be turned into a ncAv city, dating from July 14 and the Tenth of August — an impious attempt, mortifying, I am sure, to all who love their old Paris ; a foolish attempt, too, for though they may pull down a statue or a church, they cannot efface history, nor tear from the soil and the heart of the nation the deeds and the memory of its great men. It may be interesting to take note of a few of these changes of names, for I do not think that they will last very long. The Place du Carrousel is called Place de la Reunion ; the Place Vendome, Place des Piques ; the Place des Victoires, Place de la Victoire-Nationale ; the Place Dauphine, Place de Thionville ; the Place Henri IV., the Pare d'Artillerie ; the 122 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS Place de Sorbonne, Place de Beaurepaire ; the Place de Greve, Place de la Maison Commune ; the Place Royale, Place des Federes. The Hotel de Ville is now called the Maison Commune, and the Palace of the Tuileries the Palais National. The Palais Royal, which in June, 1791, after the flight to Varennes, had already changed its name to Palais d'Orleans, has now become the Palais d'Egalite (a scarcely compatible compound). Even the fountain in the Passage de Valois has been rechristened with the name of Egalite. The Quai d'Orleans, which extends from the Pont de la Tournelle to the lower end of the Ile-Saint-Louis, is now the Quai de TEgalite ; the Rue de Conde, the Rue de Bourbon-Villeneuve, and the Passage de la Reine de Hongrie, all being dubbed with the same name. The members of the Commune do not appear to hold liberty in such honour as equality. The former has had to content itself with lending its name to the Rue des Fosses Monsieur le Prince, to the Quai des Balcons, and to the Rue Honore Chevalier. The Rue Saint-Louis-en-rile has become the Rue de la Fratemite ; the Rue Saint-Louis-en-la-Cite, the Rue Revolutionnaire. The latter name has also been given to the old Rue Princesse, leading from the Rue du Four Saint-Germain to the Rue Guisarde, which has itself become Rue des Sans-Culottes. The Rue de Bourbon has made way for the Rue de Lille, the Rue de Bourbon le Chateau for the Rue de la Chaumiere, the Rue du Petit Bourbon for the Rue du Petit Museum. The Palais Bourbon, the Place Louis XV, and the Rue Royale, have respectively become the Palais, the Place, and the Rue de la Revolution. On Se})tember 21 the name of the Rue Sainte-Anne, in which the revolutionizing philosopher Helvetius was born, was changed to Rue Helvetius by virtue of an order of the Conseil General de la Comnume. Whilst the other saints ai'e awaiting the fate of Saint Anne, the Can-efour de la Croix Rouge has become the Carrefour du Bonnet Rouge, the too religious appellation of the Rue de TObservance hoing altered to that of the Rue de Marseille,^ ^ ' The section of the Th(''jltre-Fran9ais has just changed its name to that of Marseilles, in honour of the brave Marseillais who live in the immediate neighbourhood.' — Patriate Fraiujais of August li, 1792. NAMING THE STREETS OF PARIS 123 On October 18 M. Manuel proposed that the Rue de Sorbonne should cease to bear a name recalling a vain and crafty body, hostile to philosophy and humanity. The proposal was adopted, not, however, without some protests, and the Rue de Sorbonne became the Rue Catinat. Prudhomme, in his Revolutions de Parisy is of opinion that the new appellations should serve as a contrast or corrective to the old ones. He therefore proposes to give the name of Rue de la Verite to that Rue de Sorbonne ' which led to those schools where falsehood was so long taught with truly priestly brazenness."* Another proposal of Manuel's was to call eighty-three of the principal streets by the names of the departments. This motion was also favourably received. The Mirabeau section did not wait for the orders of the Conseil General de la Commune, but placed the following resolution on the minutes of its proceedings of October 6 : ' Acting in conformity with a motion passed on September 30, the Assembly has unanimously agreed that the names of certain streets shall be changed as follows : Old Names. Grange-Bateliere et Neuve-Grange- Bateliere. Pinon. le Pelletier. d'Artois, de Provence. Taitbout. le Cul-de-sac Taitbout. Duhoussay. Chantereine. Saint - George et Neuve - Saint- George. Chauchat. Saint-Lazare. des Trois-Freres. de la Rochefoucauld. de Laval-Montmorency. Nouette. Rojale. des Martyrs. New Names. Scevola. des Gracques. Manlius. Cerutti. Franklin. Brutus. ITmpasse Brutus. de I'Egalite. de la Liberte. Guillaume Tell. des Phoceens. des Beiges. Caton. Fabius. Decius. Socrate. de la Republique. Regulus. I am not displeased with these names on the Avhole. I will even admit that some of them are quite to my taste, especially that which it is intended to give to the Cul-de-sac Taitbout, 124 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS and which might be appHed to the whole of the Republic. As a tnatter of fact, is not the Republic, indeed, an impasse Brutus P^ I also wish to point out that all these names are either Greek, Roman, American, or Swiss, not a single one being French. Is not this apparently trivial fact in reality of great significance ? Would it not serve to show — if proofs, indeed, were required to support so evident a truth — that the Republic is a foreign importation, the artificial fabric of a few rhetoricians, and of many evildoers ; that it is in keeping with nothing in our past, and that, in a Avord, it is not French ? Of all these names the least foreign to France is that of Cerutti, who was born in Turin, but Avho died in Paris in the street which is to bear his name. This ex- Jesuit, who has the honour of a place between Manlius and Cato, was the editor of the Feuille Villag-eoise, the author of a good many patriotic pamphlets, and a wTiter of bad verse. Like Loustallot, the editor of the Revolutions de Paris, whose name has been given to the Rue des Fosses Saint-Victor, Cerutti, too, will have his memory kept green. But before long Loustallot, Cerutti, and even Mirabeau, whose name now adorns the corner of the Rue de la Chaussee d'Antin, may share the same fate as La Fayette. He, too, had given his name to the former Rue de Calonne. But alas ! the Rue La Fayette has already made way for the Rue du Contrat Social. After our streets, our towns will have their turn. The citizens of Bar le Due have already changed the name of their town to Bar sur TOrnin. On October 25 M. Lehardy, member for the Morbihan, proposed in the Convention that the town of Port Louis should thenceforth be called Port de TJ^^galite. It was decided that the Connnittec of Legislation be charged with the duty of changing the names of all places that smacked of the okl 7'effi7ne.^ Now, Messieurs du Comite, to A^ork ! Efface with one stroke of the pen fourteen centuries of our history. ^ //wrasse = blind alley. '^ Monileur of October 27, 17'J2. CHAPTER XVII. BRISSOTIXS AND llOIiESPIERRISTS. Saturday, November 3, 1792. Under my windows the newsboys are crying out The Charge against Maximilien Robespierre ! This is', the phiHppic pro- nounced by Louvet at the sitting of October 29 against the Vigilance Committee of the Commune, against Marat, against the deputies of Paris, and against Robespierre in particular. Between the Robespierre and the Brissot parties the struggle waxes keener than ever. It is carried on everywhere and in every way, both on the floor of the Convention and in the rooms of the Jacobin Club, in the newspapers, in the streets, and even on the walls, Avhere the t^^'o parties engage in a combat of posting. Many honest people who take no heed of what may happen to-morrow, nor care to remember the events of yesterday, are grateful to the Brissotins for coping with the Maratists, and for heaping curses upon Robespierre and his satellites. They do not pause to consider that if the Brissotins are now doing- all they can to stop the course of the Revolution, it is because they are in power; that if they are attempting to upset the Commune, it is to prevent the Commune from upsetting them ; that if they attack Robespierre, it is because Robespierre has sworn to destroy them. Such people have the simplicity to think the party composed of honest men, friends of law and order, and even willing to compromise itself to save the innocent. They forget that Brissot and his friends have trodden under foot the Constitution they swore to maintain ; that they have incited insurrection as often as it served their 126 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS purpose ; that they had no mercy upon Louis XVI. and his defenders, and that their ambition has never shrunk from any cowardice or crime. I must admit that personally I cannot so easily forget the events of yesterday, nor so many hateful deeds for which France will lono; have to suffer — deeds which neither dramatic harangues nor speeches containing more rhetoric than courage can ever efface. If the Girondists desire to be looked upon as honest citizens, let them commence by asking forgiveness of God and men. Until they do that, it is our duty to remember.^ 1 Concerning the tactics of the Girondists in the Legislative Assembly on the Tenth of August and during the massacres of September, see our ' Legende des Girondins,' ch. ii., iii., and iv. CHAPTER XVIII. PARIS DURING THE FIRST DAYS OF NOVEMBER, 1792. Monday, November 5, 1792. Since the opening of the Convention, and since the day on which we became a Republic, the pubHc agitation and dis- turbance has continually increased ; disorder and terror reign supreme. Walk through the streets, stop in the public squares, read th news-sheets and the placards that adorn the walls, attend the sectional assemblies, enter the clubs of the Cordeliers and the Jacobins, penetrate even into the National Convention — on aL sides you will find shouts of death, rumours of rebellion, threats of murder. On October 29 Roland, the Minister of the Interior, laid before the Convention a report on the state of Paris. ' The principles of rebellion and bloodshed ' — so runs this official document — ' are openly professed and applauded in every assembly ; murmurs are even heard against the Convention itself. I can no longer doubt that partisans of the old r(;gime and enemies of the people, hiding their madness or their villainy under a mask of patriotism, have conceived a plan of a complete revolt, hoping to rise once more to power by the aid of bloodshed, atrocities, and gold."*^ The worthy Roland is well aware that the villains he denounces are anything but partisans of the old regime, and rank, on the contrary, amidst the staunchest defenders of the Republic. But to recognise and to proclaim this fact, to 1 ' Report of the Minister of the Interior on the Condition of Paris,' read to the Convention on October 29, 1792. — ' Histoire Parlementaire,' tome XX., p. 103, etc. 128 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS boldly attack those patriots ^\-ho would sweep °away him and his friends, more energy and honesty v^ere required than may reasonably be looked for in the poor man v.ho praised the zeal and patriotism displayed by Fournier the American, the author of the ' ]Massacre of the Prisoners of Orleans.^^ On November 3, a fev,- days after his report to the Convention, Roland wrote the following letter to the Conseil General de la Commune : ' Penis, November 3, Year I. ' I cannot refrain, citizens, from praising your zeal and exhort- ing you to exercise the greatest vigilance. On all sides I hear rumours of plots, and plans of nmrder and outrage, but I am willing to believe that bv your care all mischief will be prevented, and that the people of Paris, whose peace and safety are in your keeping, will maintain in the eyes of France and the nations that reputation for bravery and prudence which has at all times distinguished them/- This certificate of bravery and prudence awarded to the Parisians exactly two months after the massacre of September is, to say the least, peculiar. But let that pass. AVhat is still more remarkable is the Ministers confession that he hears on all sides rumours of plots, and plans of murder and outrage. Meanwhile, the prisons emptied on September 2 are being dailv refilled with fresh suspects. The aiTcsts made by order of the Vigilance Committee of the Commune between October 10 and November 1 amounted to 1,032. The total number of prisoners at the beginning of the month Avas 1,375. We learn under what conditions these arrests were made from Roland's report read at the sitting on October 29. The ]\Iinister there draws attention to ' the arbitrary acts which have caused the prisons to fill so soon after the terrible executions that had emptied them '; and he adds : ' I have famished the National Assembly with proofs of these arbitrary acts by laying upon their table between five and six hundred warrants, some of which are signed by one subordinate official only ; the majority 1 Letter from Roland, Minister of the Interior, to the President of the National Convention, dated October G, 1702. 2 Moniteur of November 5, 1702. PARIS DURING FIRST DAYS OF NOVEMBER, 1792 isy bear the signatures of two or three members of the Vigilance Committee, whilst many give either no reasons at all for the arrest, or simply allege suspicions of treason.'^ On the day before these words were read out, delegates from the criminal courts of Paris had visited the Convention, and M. Target, President of one of the courts, and spokesman for the deputation, expressed himself in the following terms, after having briefly stated the chief points of the criminal law : ' Citizens, such is the law, and these are the facts : the prisons were emptied seven weeks ago by a bloody catastrophe, and they are already refilled. The motives for the arrest of so many citizens are unknown ; the prison registers have been badly kept, and no comjijlaint has been made to the courts by the police officers. The Commune therefore reduces the courts to inactivity, and hence it comes that the citizens of a Republic are more oppressed than they were under a despot.'^ Prisons overflowing with victims, rebellion in the public streets, anarchy everywhere, commerce suspended, work stopped, work- shops deserted, misery and starvation in every home — such is the Paris which the Revolution has given us. Hear the avowal of the most ardent Republicans — Robespierre declaring in the Jacobin Club on October 29 that 100,000 Frenchmen are on the eve of starvation ;^ IMarat Avriting in his paper : ' The trade of Paris is absolutely ruined, and more than 100,000 of its inhabitants who were in comfortable circumstances before the fall of the Bastille are now in penury.'* Starvation stares us in the face, but though the people of Paris are without bread, they shall have their shows. The trial of Louis XVI. begins to-morrow. 1 Momteur, No. 302. 2 /^/^/^ -^^^ 303, 3 Letters from Maximilien Robespierre, member of the National Con- vention, to his constituents. * 'Journal de la Republique Franeaise,' by Marat, VAmi da Peujjle^ No. lo, Tuesday, October 9, 1792. VOL. I. CHAPTER XIX. THE WITNESSES FOR LOUIS XVI. Thursday, November 8, 1792. The trial of Louis XVI. has commenced. M. Diifriche-Valaze, member for the department of the Orne, and one of the principal members of the Brissot party, rose in the Convention on Tuesday, and, on behalf of the Special Commission of Twenty-four,^ read his "Report on the Crimes of the Late King, Proofs of which were found in the Papers seized by the Vigilance Committee of the Commune of Paris." The report concluded with a demand that Louis XVI. be condemned to death as a punishment for his manifest crimes. This fact will ever remain one of the most shameful monuments of popular passion and one of the basest deeds ever perpetrated bv revolutionary fury. In the name of the Commission of Twenty-four, in the name of the Girondist party, and amidst the applause of Robes- pien-e's followers, Dufriche-Valaze exclaimed : ' Of what was this monster not capable .? You shall see him at bay before the whole of humanity ! I will charge him with having bought up all the provisions of this city ?'^ ^ The Special Commission of Twenty-four had been appointed on October 1, 1702, to examine the papers seized by the Vigilance Committee of the Commune of Paris, and especially, as far as concerned Louis XVI., the papers found with Laporte and Septeuil, the one Intendaut, and the other Treasurer of the Civil List. It was composed of Bailleul, Bailly, Barbaroux, Bernier, Birotteau, Boutroiic, Cavaignac, Daubermesnil, Delahaye, Delbrel, Derozey, Drouet, Dufriche-Valaz(5, Froger, Laurenceot, Laurent, Lehardy, Lejeune, Lesage, Pelletier, Petit-Jean, Phillippeaux, Poulain-Grandpre, and Vernier. ^ In the trial of Louis XVI., the Girondist Dufriche-Valazo was not behindhand in keeping this promise. During the King's examination, on December 11, he was charged with the duty of reading the documents THE WITNESSES FOR LOUIS XVI. 131 History will despise these mean and lying accusations, and posterity, basing its judgment of Louis XVI. on facts, will say : ' Never was there a Sovereign animated with more generous inten- tions or more liberal ideas ; never was there a man more sincere in his desire to do good, or more eager to carry out that desire.' ' Seated on the throne to which it has pleased God to raise us, we trust that in His mercy He may guide our youth and lead us to the means by which our people may be made happy, for that is our only desire. . . . We must do our best to relieve our people as far as possible of the weight of taxation. . . . There is expenditure personal to ourselves, and some relating to our Court ; in both these matters we can more promptly follow the impulse of our own heart, and we are already attempting to bring these sums within reason- able limits. Such sacrifices will not be felt by us as long as they are made in the interests of our subjects ; their happiness will be our glory, and the benefits they reap will be the sweetest reward for all our care and labour.'^ Such were the words, and such was the programme, with which Louis XVI. inaugurated his reign ; his acts have ever been in harmony with this language, worthy the utterance of a King, a Frenchman, and a Christian. His first act of authority was a deed of kindness. At the beginning of each reign it is usual for the King to receive a fine of coiifirmation for the offices and privileges previously granted, whilst also levying an accession tax upon municipalities and individuals. On May 30, 1774, Louis issued an edict granting remission of all taxes due to him by reason of his accession to the throne. seized, and acquitted himself of his task with an air of contempt and inhumanity that disgusted even the most furious demagogues. (See Revolutions de Paris, No. 179 ; the Courrier cles Departements, Decem- ber 14, 1792 ; Barere's ' Memoires.') On January 2G, 1793, five days after the execution of Louis XVI., Dufriche-Valaze wrote to his constituents a letter from which I take this passage : ' My friends, since October 1 last, the day on which I was appointed a member of the Commission of Twenty-four, all my time has been given to the examination and verification of the documents that proved the guilt of Louis Capet. . . . I arranged these myself, and made them prove as much as possible against the culprit we had to try. I was the first to denounce him, and all the strength that Heaven gave me I put forth in these matters.' — ' Archives Nationales,' A. F. II., 45 (Committee of Public Safety). 1 Preamble of the Edict of May 30, 1774. Louis XVI. mounted the throne on May 10, 1774, being then twenty years of age. 132 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS Nor was this all. All soldiers whose pensions were in arrear were paid in full out of the King''s privy purse.^ Resolved to retain only as much pomp as was absolutely necessary to the dignity of the throne and the nation, he did not hesitate to reduce his military household in conformity with his ideas of order and economy. An Edict of December 15, 1775, disbanded the sixth brigade in each company of his body- guard, and abolished a number of unnecessary posts. Three additional Orders of the same date disbanded the regiment of IVIounted Grenadiers, and the two regiments of IMusketeers of the Guard, and reduced in number the two regiments of Gendarmes and of Light Cavalry of the Guard. Greater still were the reforms made by Louis XVI. in the Royal Household. On December 22, 1776, he liquidated all debts, and decided that in future the estimates for the follow- ing year should be laid before him in December. On the same day he made an order concerning pensions and other money grants. ' The King,' so ran this Order, ' upon a close examination of the Royal Treasury, has been pained to find it much exhausted by excessive liberality, and has felt the necessity of obviating this state of things in future. . . . Whilst taking into consideration the justice of every demand, he has determined to limit the gi-ants made, and to bring these expenses within reasonable bounds. . . . He desires to dispel the mystery that often covers the extent of a demand by giving publicity to all grants, and thus discouraging unjustifiable solicitations. All persons who shall in futm-e demand money grants will, at the same time, have to make a return of what- ever emoluments they may already enjoy.'' By his Edict of July, 1779, the King abolished the offices of sixteen different Treasurers of departments, and created in their stead a single office of Paymaster-General for the expenses of the whole Royal Household. From January to August he abolished no less than 420 offices connected with his Household. The amount paid to the Court musicians before 1782 was 500,000 francs per year. Ry the Edict of May, 1782, this was 1 Seguier's speech before the King on November 12, 1774 (Isambert, tome i., p. 82). THE WITNESSES FOR LOUIS XVI. 133 reduced to 257,400 francs. An Order of August 9, 1787, effected fresh economy in the Household expenses, and promised that every effort would be made to cut these down as much as })ossible. Article 8 of the same Order showed that every department of the Queen's Household had been considerably reduced : so many unnecessary posts had been abolished that, notwithstanding the payment of substantial sums in commuta- tion of salaries, there resulted a net benefit to the Treasury of more than 900,000 francs. These reductions did not fail to give rise to much discontent at Court. But this Louis XVI. was brave enough to defy, animated as he was by the desire to diminish taxation and to relieve the people. Havino- from the moment when he first ascended the throne given special attention to the food-supply of the kingdom, Louis soon established absolute freedom of trade in corn throughout the land. Such was the object of the Order in Council of September 13, and of the Letters Patent of November 2, 1774. Another Order in Council of April 24, 1775, promised bounties upon the importation of corn from abroad, and forbade any inter- ference with the transit of corn from one province to another. But there was another question which Louis XVI. thought of even greater importance than that of food-supply. He proposed to abolish for ever servitude, both real and personal, and to enfranchise both individuals and property. He carried out his idea without allowing himself to be deterred by the opposition he met with, and, what was perhaps more difficult still, without violatino- ancient rio-hts. The statute-labour for the construction and maintenance of the highwavs gave rise to numerous complaints. Tlie Edict of February 17, 1776, ordered its abolition, and prescribed in its stead a contribution payable by all owners of real property. Equitable as this measure was, it nevertheless called forth very serious resistance, especially on the parts of the Parliaments,^ 1 The Parlements were bodies charged with the administration of justice under the old regime. They held sittings in the principal towns of the kingdom, and, in addition to their judicial duties, assumed political powers of immense importance. 134 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS and Louis XVI. was obliged to summon a Diet on March 12, 1776, for the express purpose of registering the said Edict. The resistance continuing, the King was forced ' to provisionally re-establish the ancient custom observed for the maintenance of the highways."'^ But Louis, convinced of the justice of this reform, was not discouraged. On November 6, 1786, he made his Council issue an Order for the temporary commutation of the statute-labour by payment of money. On June 27, 1787, he again returned to the subject, statute-labour being this time definitely abolished throughout the kingdom and replaced by money payments. Remains of servitudes still existed in some of the provinces by virtue of the law of mortmain, while certain vassals were attached to the soil by the name of serfs. The latter were in- capable of making any testamentary disposal of their property, and, except in certain cases, could not even leave their children the results of their labour, neither were they free to dispose of their persons or to leave the manor, under pain of losing all right to the property which they held. Although these last traces of servitude existed only in a very few places, Louis XVI. was fully alive to their injustice, and the Edict of August, 1779, shows how sincere a partisan he was of real liberty and equality : ' We should have liked to abolish without distinction these vestiges of a rigorous feudalism, but our finances will not allow us to buy up the rights of the lords of the manors. Though restrained by the regard we shall always have for the laws of j)roperty, which we con- sider the safest foundation of peace and order, we have seen with satisfaction that, whilst respecting these principles, we could still effect some of the good we had in view by abolishing servitude not only on all lands held by us, but also on all domains held from us and our predecessors. We have therefore invited all such holders as considered themselves wronged by this condition to give up the holdings they at present occu{)y, and to claim from us the sums paid by them or their ancestors. 'We desire, moreover, that in cases where land is accjuired by, or returns to, the Crown, all serfs sliall have their liberty the instant we enter upon possession of a new domain or manor ; and to ' Proclamation of August 11, 1776. THE WITNESSES FOR LOUIS XVI. 135 encourage as far as lies in our power all holders of fiefs to follow our example, and considering these enfranchisements less as an alienation than as a return to what is naturally right, we have exempted this sort of act from the formalities and the taxes to which the old severity of the feudal law had subjected them. ' Though the principles that we entertain hinder us from abolish- ing the right of servitude in its entirety, it is our opinion that in the exercise of this right there was an excess which we could not allow to go on any longer ; this excessive right even the tribunals have hesitated to countenance, and the principles of social justice can no longer tolerate its existence. It will therefore delight us to see that our example, and that love of humanity peculiar to the French nation, will bring to pass in our reign the abolition of the rights of mortmain and servitude ; this will give us the satisfaction of witnessing the complete enfranchisement of our subjects, who, in whatever rank it has pleased Providence to place them, are the objects of our care, and have equal rights to our protection and love.' By the suppression of statute-labour Louis XVI. had freed the hands of the agriculturists ; similar attempts were made by him to restore commerce and industry to their natural liberty. The Edict of February, 1776, decreed the suppression of guilds and companies in arts, trades, and commerce. Its first article ran as follows : ' It shall be free to all })ersons, of any quality or rank, even to aliens, to embrace and to exercise in the whole of our kingdom, and especially in our good city of Paris, whatever branch or branches of art, trade, or commerce they prefer ; to which end we hereby abolish and suppress all bodies and companies of merchants and artisans, as well as every kind of guild, and abrogate all privileges, statutes, and charters given to such bodies. , . .' Like the Edict for the suppression of statute-labour, the decree for the abolition of guilds met with so much resistance on the part of the Parliaments that it was necessary to hold a fresh Diet on March 12, 1776, and in the month of August a second Edict modifying the first was issued with the following preamble : ' Persevering in our efforts to desti'oy the abuses which existed prior to the issue of our Edict of February last in the companies and guilds of arts and trades, we have thought it necessary, whilst again creating one company of merchants and a few guilds of arts 136 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS and tradeSj to give entire freedom to certain branches of trade which should not be subject to any restrictions whatever, to unite all professions that are at all similar, and to lay down such rules for the government of the said companies and guilds as shall provide for the maintenance of discipline and the exercise of authority between master and man without entrenching upon any of the advantages arising from the free exercise of such art, trade, or commerce. . . . The professions, which will be open to all persons to exercise, will continue to be a resource for the poorest of our subjects. The dues payable upon entry into the said companies and guilds, verj' much reduced, and proportionate to the class and utility of the commerce or industry, will no longer form an obstacle to admission. Girls and women will no longer be excluded. Several trades may be can-ied on together where possible. . . . Whilst thus suppressing what experience has shown to be bad, whilst laying down new regulations for a more wise and equitable administration, whilst abolishing, by a legitimate exercise of our authority, practices which had given birth to infinite abuses and excesses, we shall preserve in these ancient institutions all those advantages tending to good order and public tranquillity.' There is a liberty more precious than that of commerce and industry — liberty of conscience. In January, 1784, Louis decided that the Jews should be liberated from the poll-tax and other taxes to which they were subjected. The Edict of November, 1787, concerning non-Catholics, Protestants, Jews, etc., authorized them to have their births, marriages, and deaths properly registered, so that, like all other French subjects, they might enjoy full civil rights. By his reply to the remonstrances addressed to him by a Parliament on January 18, 1788, Louis showed the importance which he attached to this law and to its immediate execution : ' I give orders to my Attorney-General to lay this Edict before the Parliament on Tuesday ; I desire that it shall be registered innnediately. You ' — turning to the first President — ' will report this to me on Wednesday.' ITie carrying out of reforms in the administration of the law was a duty that Louis XVI. discharged in a maimer befitting an heir of Saint Louis. During the first days of his reign an Order in Council, dated August 18, 1775, forbade the interception of letters even for the purposes of justice : THE WITNESSES FOR LOUIS XVI. 137 ' His Majesty, taking into consideration that these letters have been obtained (for the Superior Council of the Island of Saint Domingo) only by intercepting them on the vessel to which they had been entrusted, and that such odious means leave no other course open but that of maintaining silence and sending the in- tercepted letters to the person to whom they belong — His Majesty, taking further into considei-ation that intercepted letters can never become matter for deliberation, that every principle of right rele- gates private correspondence to that circle of sacred things into which neither tribunals nor individuals have the right to pry, and that the Superior Council had therefore no right to take note of the information laid before it, orders, in the interests of public })eace and for the security of citizens and trade, the prosecution of the authors and accomplices of the said interception. . . .* On December 12, 1775, a royal Order abolished the death sentence against deserters, and laid down new penalties pro- portionate to the motives and circumstances of desertion. In spite of the Parliaments and the opinion of a large number of lawyers, Louis abolished the cross-examination of prisoners by proclamation, dated August 24, 1780 : ' The ancient codes liad always imposed this cross-examination upon those charged with a crime punishable by death when circumstantial evidence was strong against the accused, but no absolute proofs of his guilt existed. . . . We think it our duty to abrogate this custom."' On May 8, 1788, the King held a Diet to register four Edicts introducing still further reforms into the administration of justice.^ Moved by the sad lot of the prisoners, and by the state of the prisons in some of the principal towns of the kingdom, Louis XVI., in the early years of his reign, had paid for many improvements out of his own pocket. A royal proclamation of August 30, 1780, decreed the establishment of new prisons for debtors. ' Filled with a desire to relieve the unfortunate ' — so runs the preamble — ' and to hold out a helping hand to those who o^ve their misfortunes to their folly, we have long- been pained by the state of the prisons in most of the towns in 1 ' De rAtnelioration de la Loi Criminelle,' by M. Bonneville de Mar- sangy, tome i., p. 513. 138 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS our kingdom, and in spite of the war we have contributed out of our OAVTi pocket towards their reconstruction. . . . We shall not lose sight of them when peace furnishes us with fresh means, but having received more precise information of the sad state of the prisons in our capital, we have thought it impossible to defer the question of their reform. . . ."' Appreciable reforms were indeed introduced, and the author of a curious little book entitled ' Paris en Miniature,'' published in Amsterdam in 1784, wrote : ' The kindness of Louis XVI. makes the prisons almost pleasant. We find them spacious, clean, and healthy ."" If Louis was so taken up with the lot of the prisoners, how much more did the fate of the sick poor move him ! If the state of the prisons interested him, how could that of the hospitals fail to do so in a much greater degree ! At the time of his accession the hospitals of Lyons, Mar- seilles, Bordeaux, Brest, and many other to\vns, were admirably organized.^ Such was not the case in the capital. Louis, wishing to have an exact idea of the abuses that required reform, went disguised to the Hotel-Dieu, and paid particular attention to what he saw there. In many instances he found four patients in one bed, and he left the building resolved to remedy some of the evils he had witnessed.^ In 1772 a large portion of the Hotel-Dieu had been destroyed by fire.^ Louis XVI. desired to replace it by four large hospitals, built on more spacious and salubrious sites, and he issued an appeal for subscrij)tions towards this good work. The idea failed in consequence of the opposition of the hospital authorities, who hastened to reconstruct the ruined buildings on the same site. Louis, however, obtained for each patient the j:)rivilege of a separate bed, and even this concession was mainly due to his generosity. But this was not enough for the King ; the question of the hospitals was always in his mind, and fresh plans and estimates were drawn up by his own hand. In 1786 a com- mission, formed of members of the Academie des Sciences, was charged with the examination of a new scheme. The report of this commission concludes with the following refiume : 1 ' Lea Rc'formes sous Louis XVI.,' by Ernest Sc'michon, p. 125. ^ ' Louis XV. et ses Vertus,' by I'Abbc Proyart, tome i., pp. 89, 90. ■^ ' Essai Historique sur I'Hotel-Dieu,' by Roudonneau de la Motte. THE WITNESSES FOR LOUIS XVI. 139 ' The Hotel-Dieu, as at present situated, is too small to accom- modate the number of patients which Paris, with its vast popula- tion, sends. . . . The new hospital, planned by M. Poyet, has great advantages over the present one ; but we believe that the building would be too large, and have the disadvantage of bringing too many patients to the same spot. We propose to split up this vast plan, and to build four hospitals, each to hold 1,200 patients, the buildings to be constructed in long parallel galleries. In case there should be a desire to economize the expenses, we are of opinion that the hospitals of Saint Louis and Sainte Anne might be utilized for two of the new institutions, and that the two othei-s would be well placed, one on the site of the Celestins and the other near the Ecole Militaire. ' We must bring to the notice of the Academy the interesting information, which we have from M. de Breteuil himself,^ that, though the King has not yet decided u})on anything in this matter, he has long weighed in his heart the interests of the sick poor. He is convinced that a large hospital is a great calamity, and in his sovereign kindness he has conceived the idea of substituting for it several smaller ones. If the poor are once made to know this, they will not forget it. When lying in separate beds in these hospitals, they will remember that they owe it as much to the kindness of the man as to the genei'osity of the Monarch.' This report was signed by Lasonne, D'Aubenton, Tenon, Bailly, Lavoisier, La Place, Coulomb, and Darcet, as well as by the Marquis de Condorcet, now a member of the Convention, and one of the judges of Louis XVI. On June 22, 1787, the Council finally decided to build four new hospitals in Paris — Saint Louis, Sainte Anne, Sainte Perine at Chaillot, and one at La Roquette. The solicitude of the King did not stop here. Having been informed that every year more than two thousand infants were brought from all parts of the country to the Foundling Hospital in Paris, that they were brought by public carriers, who were a long time on the way, and had other business to attend to, so that nearly nine-tenths of these children died before the age of three, Louis XVI. remedied this state of things on January 10, 1779. All carriers, messengers, and other persons, were for- bidden, under a penalty of 1,000 francs, to take charge of ^ Minister of the King's Household. 140 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS new-born or deserted infants, except for the purpose of handing thiem over to nurses, or taking them to the nearest foundling hospital. The King declared that in case this measure should increase the expenses of any provincial hospital to such an extent as to bring them in excess of the revenue, he would make good the amount out of his own pocket until means had been found for supplying the deficit permanently. The Abbe de PEpee, in establishing the admirable institution Avhich he set up for the instruction of the deaf and dumb, had a most devoted fellow-worker in Louis XVI., who made him many grants of property (certain portions of the monasteries of Paris), and who also found the necessary funds for the mainten- ance of indigent deaf-mutes. A list of the measures due to the Kino:''s kindness of heart and pity for sufferers would be interminable. He was one of the first to take a share in the work of helping the poor in their own homes ; by Letters Patent of December 9, 1777, he also set up in Paris the pawn-broking establishment known as the Mont- de-Piete, under the direction of the administrators of hospitals. He himself determined how the bread for the troops was to be made, and took care that the orders given for the well-being of the soldiers were properly carried out.^ Parmentier, in his efforts to promulgate the cultivation of the potato in France, Avas hedged in by prejudices which seemed insurmountable, until the King came to his aid, and ordered potatoes to be served upon the royal table, so that they might the sooner reach the tables of the poor. When the discovery and introduction of vaccination met with almost universal opposi- tion, Louis X\T. did not hesitate to have himself inoculated, together with his brothers and Madame la Comtesse d'Artois, thinking this j)ublic example one he owed the safety of his subjects.2 But all these acts, and others too numerous to mention, which had gained him the glorious title of Louis the Good, arc pcrhaj)s * 'Administration Militaire,' vol. 3,690, piece 54.. Letter from the Comte de Saint-Germain, Minister of War, to the Comte de Broglie, Lieutenant-General, at Metz. ^ 'Louis XVI., Marie Antoinette et Mme. Elisabeth,' by F. Feuillet de Conches, tome i., j). 11. THE WITNESSES FOR LOUIS XVI. 141 less meritorious than those by which he himself laid aside a part of his authority in order to ensure, as he believed, the happiness of his people. On July 12, 1778, he established a Provincial Assembly in the department of Berry. The Provincial Assembly of the Haute Guyenne was next organized, according to an Order in Council dated July 11, 1779. By virtue of an order of June 1, 1787, Provincial Assemblies met in the following twenty-one chief towns : Bourges, Montau- ban, Chalons, Amiens, Soissons, Paris, Orleans, Tours, Maine, Riom, Moulins, Nevers, Valenciennes, Rouen, Aienc^on, Caen, Nancy, Metz, Strasbourg, Perpignan, and Auch. In Bordeaux, La Rochelle, Besan^on and Grenoble, Provixicial Assemblies, although convoked by the King, were not held on account of the opposition of the local Parliaments. In six provinces, the old assemblies called Estates were again convoked, as in the past, at Montpellier, Dijon, Rennes, Lille, Pau and Aix. Invitations to the Provincial Assemblies were issued to the Clergy, the Nobility, and the members of the Third Estate, the latter numbering as many votes as the two other orders put together. These assemblies were invested with con- siderable powers.^ They were charged with the collection and partition of the taxes, both for the Treasury and for roads, 1 See ' Les Assemblccs Provinciales sous Louis XVI.,' by M. Leonce de Lavergne. The author of this book, a liberal-minded man, and in no way suspected of weakness for the old regime, does not hesitate to say that ' what Louis XVI. has done ought to have been sufficient to ensure him universal gratitude,' and that ' his reign was the best epoch in our history.' ' I am sure,' he writes, ' that no one is more passionately attached than I am to the ideas of justice, equality, and liberty, which they say the French Revolution has inaugurated ; but it seems to me fully proved that France made more progress in the application of these ideas during the fifteen years between the accession of Louis XVI. and August, 1789, than during the twenty-five years from 1789 to 1815. . . . France has never enjoyed greater liberty than in 1788 and 1789 ; instead of developing political freedom, the Revolution has only choked it. Equality has gained a little more in appearance, but not in reality. Let us remember that three-quarters of a century have passed since 1789, and let us measure in our thoughts the progress that would have been made during that period if the impulse animating the better classes had been allowed to pursue its course uninterruptedly. The greatest evil of the Revolution was not so much the wholesale bloodshed as the sowing of such elements of hatred and revenge as still hinder a reconciliation in the common interest. No one has gained by the Revolution, but everyone has lost.' 142 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS public works, indemnities, aids, repairs to churches, and all other expenses. ' We will,"" said the King, ' that the said expenditure, be it common to the said provinces, or be it peculiar to certain districts and communes, be, according to its nature, passed, approved, and administered by the said Provincial Assemblies, or by the Commissions subordinate to them."' M. Lamoignon de Malesherbes, the Keeper of the Seals, in a speech which he delivered upon the law relating to Provincial Assemblies, de- clared that they were to impose all taxes without exception, and to distribute the amount collected. Is there any necessity to recall the fact that Louis XVI. did not stop at the creation of Provincial Assemblies, important as that step was ; that on August 8, 1788, he decided to convoke the States-General, and that on June 23, 1789, a royal procla- mation was read to the deputies of the three Estates, of which the following are the principal clauses ? ' No new tax shall be imposed, nor any old one prolonged beyond the term fixed by law, without the consent of the representatives of the nation ; no loan shall be raised without the consent of the States-General ; the estimates of revenue and expenditure shall be published annually ; tallies shall be abolished, and the tax replaced by another based upon equitable principles, without distinction of birth, rank, or position ; the right of francfief shall be abolished as soon as income and expenditure are equally balanced ; statute- labour shall be completely abolished, and for ever ; the abolition of the right of mortmain, for which the King has set an example, will be extended to the whole of France ; when the promises made by the Clergy and Nobility to renounce their pecuniary privileges shall have been confirmed in their assemblies, it is the intention of the King to sanction these reforms, so that in the payment of taxes there may exist no privilege or distinction whatever ; the States- General will deliberate upon the scheme proposed by the King to place the officers of Customs upon the frontiers in order that both home and foreign produce may circulate with perfect freedom within the limits of the kingdom ; the unhappy results of the tax on salt will be carefully examined, and in any case means will have to be proposed to alter the method of its collection ; a regular con- scription will be substituted for the present manner of drawing for the militia ; the King, desirous of assuring the personal liberty of all citizens in a sound and durable manner, invites the States- General to lay before him a scheme for abolishing the orders known THE WITNESSES FOR LOUIS XVI. 143 as lettres de cachet, without endangering the public safety. The States-General will report to the King upon the most expedient means of reconciling the liberty of the Press with the respect due to religion, morals, and the honour of the State. In the different provinces of the kingdom thei-e will be established Provincial Estates composed as follows : Two-tenths of members of the Clergy, three- tenths of members of the Nobility, and five-tenths of members of the Third Estate.' After the reading of this proclamation Louis XVI. added with perfect justice : ' Up to the present it is I who have done everything for the happiness of my people, and it is, perhaps, seldom that the sole ambition of a Sovereign is to get his sub- jects to agree to accept his favours."*^ We are far from having enumerated all the favours of Louis XVI., or from having mentioned all his reforms. There is one, however, that cannot be passed over, and that should not be forgotten, either by the writers who are now judging Louis XVI. in the newspapers, or by those who are about to try him in the Convention. It was the King who proclaimed the principle of ownership in letters, and who formally recognised that the right of authors to their works should be perpetual. It was upon his initiative, and owing to his persistence, that the following Order in Council of August 30, 1777, was passed ; ' Every author who shall in his name obtain the privilege of a work shall have the sole right of selling it, and shall enjoy such privilege for himself and his heirs in perpetuity."'- Such is the man, such is the Prince, whom an infuinated mob to-day calls Louis tJie Tyrant, and whom the most despotic assembly that ever existed is preparing to arraign at its bar ! Let him come ! Let him be di'agged from the Temple Tower to the Riding-School by General Santerre, escorted by the pike- bearers of i\\eJ'auhourgs, insulted by the mob, and deafened by the refrain of the Marseillaise. By the side of this procession there is another which will 1 'Archives Parlementaires de 1787 t\ 18G0,' by J. Mavidal, Laurent, and Clavel, tome viii., p. 140. ^ See in the 'Portraits Intimes du Dix-huitieme Siecle,' by Edmond and Jules de Goncourt, a letter from Louis XVL, dated September 6, 1775. 144 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS escort Louis XVI. before his judges, and will strew palms and wreaths before the accused. The abolition of statute-labour and of mortmain ; the extinction of servitude throughout the royal domains ; the bestowal of civil rights upon Protestants and Jews ; the suppression of the cross-examination of prisoners ; the reform of our criminal procedure ; the amelioration of prisons and hospitals ; the institution of Provincial Assemblies ; the convocation of the States-General ; the improvement of our navy, and the reconquest of our colonies ; so much mercy, so many sacrifices, and that halo of martyrdom with which, accord- ing to Bossuet, misfortune adorns virtue — such are the witnesses who will support Louis XVI. at the bar of the Convention, such is the escort that will accompany him to the scaffold, if mount it he must, and such is the testimony that will plead for him with posterity ! CHAPTER XX. M. ROLAXD DE LA PLATIERE. Thursday, November 22, 1792. At its sitting on the 7th of this month, the Convention received the report laid before it in the name of the Committee of Legislation by M. Mailhe, member for the Haute-Garonne, and which embodied the following recommendations : 1. Louis XVI. is to be arraigned. 2. He must be tried by the National Convention. 3. Three Commissioners chosen by the Assembly will be charged Avith the collection of all docu- ments, information, and proofs relating to the crimes imputed to Louis XVI. 4. The Commissioners will draw up the indict- ment. 5. If this indictment be agreed to, it will be printed and communicated to Louis XVI, and to such defenders as he may appoint. 6. The originals of the documents, should Louis XVI. demand to see them, will be taken to the Temple, and brought back to the Archives Nationales by twelve Commissioners of the Assembly, who shall not give them up, nor allow them to go out of their sight. 7. The National Convention shall fix the day upon which Louis XVI. is to appear at its bar. 8. Louis XVI. shall present his defence either in person or by counsel, verbally or in writing. 9. The National Convention shall give its verdict by an open vote.^ The discussion, which was opened on the 13th, continued until the 15th, and no vote has yet been taken. Whilst this great debate holds France and the whole of Eiu'ope in suspense, the Minister of the Interior and his wife, Citoyenne Roland, are suffi- ciently light-hearted to busy themselves with — titles of nobility. 1 'Histoire Parlementaire,' tome xx., p. 297. VOL. I. 10 146 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS The following is a circular which Mme. Roland has just addressed in her husband"'s nanie^ to the administrators of the departments : * Paris, November 20, 1792. 'The most absurd of all distinctions, that which pretended that some men are born above others, no longer exists, but its ridiculous traces are still found in certain places. In many pro- vincial libraries there exist genealogical and other similar works calculated to perpetuate pride of birth and the remembrance of the old slavery of reason. The decree which prescribed the burning of all titles of nobility did not actually mention genealogical and heraldic books, but there can be no doubt that in the reign of equality the Republican administrations must extend the proscrip- tion of the law to all such objects. I therefore charge you to have them collected in all the national libraries, and to give the neces- sary orders for them to be destroyed in the same way as titles of nobility. ' The Minister of the Interior, ' Roland.'^ Citizen Roland did not always profess such severe contempt for distinctions of nobility. His eldest brother, a Canon of the collegiate church of Villefranche,^ possessed a small field called la Platiere, situated two miles from the town. The future Minister of the Republic hit upon the idea of adding to his name that of his brother's field, and in 1784 he applied for letters of nobility, while Mme. Roland came to Paris expressly to support her husband's request.* It is a pity that she was not 1 In her ' Mumoires,' p. 357, Mme. Roland says : ' Whenever a circular, a letter of instructions, or an important public document had to be written, I took up my pen, which I had more time than my husband to wield, and delighted in drawing up those compositions, which gave me more pleasure than if I had really been known to be their author.' ■^ ' Tableaux de la Revolution Fran^aise,' by Adolphe Schmidt, tome i., p. 102. 3 Dominique Roland, Canon of the collegiate church of Villefranche, Beaujolais, was guillotined at Lyons on December 22, 171)3, aged seventy- one years (' Les Martyrs de la Foi pendant la RtWolution Franfaise,' tome iv., p. .507). The author, who had known the two brothers, testifies that the one was as good a priest as the other was irreligious. * 'Roland has been reproached with having applied for letters of nobility. . . . That was in the commencement of 1781., and I know of no man who at that time and in his position would have thought it imjirudent to do the same. I came to Paris.' — Mmk. Roland, * Me moires,' p. 200. M. ROLAND DE LA PLATIERE 147 successful, for in that case the merit of the circular would have been much greater. But who knows ? M. and Mme. Roland, had they been ennobled, might perhaps have placed at the service of the Royalist cause that truly extraordinary ardour which they have displayed in the cause of the Revolution. How many fierce partisans of equality are there to-day who, before 1789, wrapped themselves up in names and titles of nobility to which they had no right, and shamelessly kept up, like the worthy Roland, the most absurd of all distinctions ! Danton, the son of Jacques 'Da.nton, prociireur of the bailiwick of Arcis-sur-Aube, and of Jeanne-Madeleine Camut,^ signed himself d'' Anton. Upon the minutes of the General Assembly of the Grey Friars section we read under date of January 19, 1790: 'The Assembly having proceeded to the election of the said guardians of Liberty, its choice fell upon MM. d' Anton, Saintin, Chestel, and Lablee. '(Signed) Par^, President, Fabre d'Eglantine, Vice-President, d' Anton, Secretary.*^ Though Robespierre's father and grandfather both signed their name in one word, the member for Arras illegally adorned himself with the particle. On the minutes of the celebrated meeting in the Tennis Court he signed de Robespierre, with a considerable space between the name and the particle.^ In the month of June, 1790, Camille Desmoulins having attributed to him a rather smart 7not concerning the Dauphin, he hastened to protest against the want of reserve with which he was charged, and signs his letter de Robespierre.^ ^ See in the Critique Frangaise of March 15, 1861, a biographical frag- ment on Danton by M. de Saint- Albin. ' * Charlotte de Corday et les Girondins,' by Ch. Vatel, tome ii., p. 245 ; ' Inventaire des Autographea composant la Collection de M. Benjamin Fillon,' series iii. and iv., p. 57. 3 Ch. Vatel, loc. cit. * Letter of June 7, 1790. ' CEnvres de C. Desmoulins,' tome ii., p. 72. C. Hamel, in his 'Histoire de Robespierre,' tome i., p. 10, proves that certain biographers are wrong in assigning a noble origin to the family of his hero. ' Robespierre was not,' he says, ' like Mirabeau, a deserter from the nobility. His father and his grandfather signed " Derobespierre," as may be seen in the entry of his birth.' 148 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS Petion had followed the example of his friend Robespierre, whose alter ego he then was. He called himself Petion de ViUeneuve, and in this name he signed the minutes of the pro- ceedings in the Tennis Court, without having any right to a title of nobility. Brissot, the son of an inn-keeper of Chartres, impudently called himself Monsieur de Warville, or even the Chevalier de Warville. He always signed Brissot de Warville.^ A long list could be made of the other members of the Con- vention, Girondists or Montagnards, who jirotested against privileges and nobility whilst trying to pass themselves off as nobles — Louvet de Couvray, Collot-d'Herbois, Barere, who had added to his name the title of Baron de Vieuzac,^ Fabre d'Eglantine, and Thuriot de la Roziere. Let but the Monarchy be restored, and we shall see these austere democrats, who are now burning the titles of nobility, snatch them from the ashes and worship what they once destroyed.^ 1 ' It was considered the proper thing to have a territorial name with a handle ; he therefore took the name of Chevalier de Warville, and, to be more interesting, and enjoy more consideration in society, he did not hesitate to put a de after his family name.' — ' Vie Privee et Politique de Brissot.' In her ' Memoires,' Mme. de Genlis never called him anything but M. de Warville, because that was the name he gave himself in society. See also ' Memoires de Brissot,' ch. iii. Ouarville is a village about four miles from Chartres, where Brissot's father possessed some land. 2 ' Histoire de la Revolution,' by B. de Moleville, tome x., p. 459. ^ This was, indeed, the case under the Empire, when Xapoleon, wishing to create Dukes and Princes, Barons and Counts, took them from the crowd of Conventionalists. There were then Prince Cambaceres, Duke Fouche, Counts Sieyes, Gregoire, Treilhard, Garron de Coulon, Berlier, Dubois-Dubais, Chasset, Merlin, Cochon, Thibaudeau, Doulcet de Ponte- coulant, and Barons Alquier, Debry, Guyton-Morveau, Quinette, Jean- Bon- Saint- Andre, Isnard, etc. CHAPTER XXI. THE FfiTE OF SAINTE-GENEVIKVE. Monday, November 26, 1792. * To abolish the Monarchy in France, you must first suppress reHgion.'' These are the words of Mirabeau, and they are very true. France is the work of Kings and of Bishops ; it was born and has grown up under this double influence. The Monarchi- cal idea and the Christian idea have been so closely interwoven that it has become impossible to separate them. Such an attempt must be given up in the face of the certainty that France will not cease to be Royalist as long as it is Christian. Our statesmen, to do them justice, fully recognise this fact, and are acting accordingly ; but I doubt whether their efforts will be successful. On August 25 last the Conseil-General de la Connnune issued a decree ordering ' crucifixes, lecterns, and all objects made of fusible metal used in churches to be melted down for engines of war ; not more than two bells to be left in each parish, and all the silver in the sacristies and upon the altars to be sent to the Mint.' That was on the eve of the September massacres. Though Paris was terror-stricken, a portion of the population was not afraid to show its opposition to the measures decreed by the Conseil-General. Crowds formed around the churches to prevent them from being plundered. Manuel, the pocureur of the Commune, was obliged to issue the following proclama- tion : ' The highest form of relioion is obedience to the law. . . . The people's want has necessitated the confiscation of the supci-fluous bells — of those bells which disturbed the sleep of the poor in order to flatter the pride of the rich even in their 150 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS graves/ The phrase was a high-sounding one, but it produced no -effect, and it was necessary to resort to more decisive argu- ments. The Commune ordered General Santerre to employ force, if necessary, and authorized the sections to eject from the churches any persons inclined to oppose the removal of the bells.i A few days ago the Patriote Fran^ais published a letter from Charles Villette, a Girondist member of the Convention, who held up to the indignation of the brothers and friends the fidelity of the people to their old beliefs. * Brothers and friends/ wrote the ci-devmit Marquh; the present owner of Voltaire's heart, M'hich he devoutly keeps in a marble vase, ' let me hold up to your indignation the fools and rogues who have had a fine and freshly-painted crucifix, ten feet high, set up on the Pont de Sevres. . . . Let me denounce the fools and rogues who parade their god in the Rue Montmartre, and who with much gravity bless the soldiers of the body-guard. . . . Brothers and friends, do not tolerate this tomfoolery any longer.' ^^Tiat must Charles Villette have thought of the sight that Paris presented yesterday and to-day, of the scenes that took place but a couple of yards from Voltaire's monument in that city which witnessed the deeds of the Tenth of August and of the Second of September .'' The Jete of Genevieve, the patron saint of Paris, falls on November 26. The honest folk of whom the Conseil-General de la Commune is formed, as well as the enlightened philosophei-s who edit the public news-sheets, were probably unaware of this fact. In consequence of this happy ignorance, the Commune took no measures to prevent the celebration of the Jcte, nor did the journalists write any articles to insult the memory of the saint. It was the peo])Ie — the real people — who took upon themselves to remind Prance that Genevieve had saved the capital, that she had wrought miracles, and that they, the people, had faith in her and faith in the God who inspired her, as in later times He insjiired Jeanne dWrc when the country was in danger. ^ Minutes of the Proceedings of the Conseil-General de la Commune de Paris, August 20, 1 702. THE FETE OF SAINTE-GENEVIEVE 151 From six oVlock yesterday evening crowds of believers began to flock from all quarters of Paris and from the country to the church of Sainte-Genevieve-du-Mont, where the bones of the saint are deposited. Nearly every member of the huge congi-egation had brought an offering, and the throng was so great that more than a thousand persons were unable to obtain admission, and, in spite of the intensely cold weather, spent the night outside the church. At midnight a solemn Mass was celebrated ; the saintly relics were taken from the altar upon which they reposed, and during the whole of to-day thousands of people have knelt before the coffin of the saint in fervent prayer, touching it with handkerchiefs, shirts, and shrouds.^ On leaving the church I heard a sans-culotte addressing a crowd at the corner of the Rue des Sept-Voies, and shouting : ' It is our fault ; we ought to have thrown the bones into the river, and taken the coffin to the Mint ? Have no fear, brave sans-culotte ; that will be done one of these days — very soon, perhaps. But even when the coffin is in the Mint, and the bones are in the river, the fete of Sainte-Genevieve Avill still be celebrated in Paris as long as there shall be one Christian soul — as long as one poor 07ivrih-e, faithful to the memory of the humble shepherdess of Nanterre, shall kneel before the image of the saint fastened by two pins to her whitewashed attic wall. ^ Revolutions de Paris, tome xv., p. 85. CHAPTER XXII. 'castor AXD POLLUX,'' Strnday, December 2, 1792. ' Castor and Pollux '' is to be played at the Academic Nationale de Musique this evening. BeauHeu and Lacretelle^ have asked nie to go with them, but I have not the courage to do so. The last time that I saw Rameau's opera was on September 20, 1791. The King and Queen, the Prince Royal and Mme. Elisabeth, were present at that performance, all the details of which are engraved upon my memory. It would have been too painful to see this piece played again at the same theatre and by the same actors, but under such totally different circumstances. Here, at least, with none but my books about me, with no other witnesses but the portraits of those dear to me, I can in sweet sadness conjure up once more all the episodes of that never-to-be-forgotten night of September 20, 1791. On Monday, the 19th, there had been a special and free performance^ of ' Castor and Pollux ' given in honour of the establishment of the Constitution.^ On Tuesday, the 20th, 1 Charles Lacretelle, called the Younger, was born at Metz on Septem- ber 3, 1760, and died at Macon on March 2(5, 1H.55. A friend and collaborator of Beaulieu, he wrote during the Revolution in several Royalist papers, was outlawed on October .5, 179.5, arrested on Septem- ber 4., 1797, and imprisoned for two years. A Professor to the Faculty of Letters of Paris, and a member of the Acadumie, aa well as his brother, Pierre Louis Lacretelle, called the Elder, he left, beside a large number of historical works, of which the most remarkable is his ' Ilistoire de la Revolution Fran^aise ' (1821-1820), a very interesting volume of souvenirs, entitled ' Dix Anni'es d'Epreuves pendant la Revolution.' * As a rule, the Opera was only open on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sun- days, and in winter on Thursdays. This order was changed in 1817, when it was opened on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. '' The Constitution had been completed on September 3, 1791, and accepted by the King on the 13th. 'CASTOR AND POLLUX' 153 although the bills did not bear the words hy order as usual on such occasions, it was known that the King and the lloyal Family would be present at the performance that evening. When the King and Queen, the Prince Royal and Mme. Elisabeth, left the Tuileries at half-past iive, the streets and the boulevards were lined with an immense crowd eag-er to see them, and to rend the air with cries of ' Vive le Roi ! Vive la Reine f As the King entered the royal box, the whole audience rose and broke out into prolonged applause. Instead of the overture to ' Castor and Pollux,'' the orchestra struck up the air from ' Lucile ' : Where ore you better than in the bosom of yonrjhmily ?^ and the audience applauded once more. The piece commenced. Of all French operas, ' Castor and Pollux ' is the richest in scenery and costume, as well as in the variety and brilliancy of its ballets. The scenes of Hell, the Elysian Fiekls, and Olympia, with their funereal pomp and their games, succeed each other in harmonious blending without appearing out of place. The management, in placing this piece upon the stage after an interval of several years, had spared no expense in making the scenery worthy of the poefs work and the beauty of the music. Gentil-Bernard's lines, though not equalling those of Quinault, have earned for their author a high place among dramatic poets. Bernard has embodied in his work with rare ability all the effects and embellishments to which lyric drama lends itself ; he has, moreover, as M. de la Harpe justly points out, managed to give his piece a dramatic basis and an interest rarely seen on the lyric stage, and has thus been able to dispense with that atmosphere of eft'eminacy inseparable from opera. Love is not absent from ' Castor and Pollux,"* but it is subservient to the glorified friendship which permeates the whole piece and holds the interest of the audience. Rameau, who composed the music, was no less inspired than the author of the lines, and it is universally admitted that here he excelled himself. At the revival in question, the rendering of ' Castor and ^ ' Lucile,' a musical comedy in one act, words by Marmontel, music by Gretry, was performed for the first time in 17 09. 154 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS Pollux ' was fully worthy of the work. The role of Pollux was undertaken by Lays, whose voice is of wide compass and great power; the music could not have been sung better.^ Mme. Cheron played the part of Telaire. This actress is small and thin, but her full fresh voice and her intelligent acting make her hearers overlook these physical shortcomings. Serious ill- ness had for a long time kept Gardel from the stage, but he re-appeared in the ballet of ' Castor and Pollux ' to enjoy a greater success than ever.' In fact, on that evening all the actors seemed to have pledged themselves to do their very best, and never had an opera been performed with more warmth and animation. The enthusiasm of the actors soon spread to the audience, and round the theatre ran a kind of electric current that went from the boxes to the pit, and from the pit to the stage, kindling in all hearts and all eyes one flame and one feeling. As soon as the opening lines of the first scene celebrating the beauty of Telaire were recited, all spectators turned towards the royal box, and by their applause paid a compliment to the grace and beauty of the Queen. It was more especially the fourth act that gave rise to the most touching and significant demonstrations. Led by Mercury, Pollux wishes to make his way into Hell, but Monsters and Demons bar his way. In this scene the magnificence of the decorations, the beauty of the dances, and the charm of the music, all combined to excite astonishment and admiration. The Demons continue their dances to the refrain of ' Let «,9 break our chains.'' This line was vehemently applauded by the audience, amidst shouts of ' Vive le Roi t Had Louis XVI. not broken the chains of his ]K>ople ? Was he not the Bcstotrr of French liheriy ? The scene now changes, and shows us the Elysian Fields. The Happy Shades come to meet Castor, while giving utterance in song to the following wish : ' May you be as happy as ourselves !' ITie enthusiastic audience emphasized these words with their ' ' L'Espion des Coulisses,' p. (>, and ' Revue des Comediens,' by M , an old actor, and by tbe author of the ' Lorgnette des Spectacles,' tome ii,, p. lU. 'CASTOR AND POLLUX' 155 applause, when a Shade, advancing to the footlights, calls down fresh blessings upon the occupants of the royal box. In the following scene Pollux, still led by Mercury, at last finds his brother again, and, addressing him, says : ' The whole universe awaits thy return ; Reign on over thy faithful people.' At these words, admirably sung by Lays, the enthusiasm knew no bounds. All eyes and hands were directed towards the royal box, and the theatre re-echoed with an immense shout of ' Vive la Reine f An encore was demanded on all sides, and the actor Avas obliged to repeat the famous vei-ses. Enthusiasm now gave way to delirium. To the shouts of applause and the cries of the audience was added the noise made by the orchestra, Avho frantically showered blows upon their instruments in their excitement. Actors, musicians, and audience, with eyes fixed upon the King, turned the last lines, not only into an invitation, but an oath of fidelity, whilst these words escaped from the mouth of the Queen : ' TJie dear people ! Their only wish is to love us f^ The departure as well as the entry of the Royal Family was the signal for the most striking and unanimous display of the joy their presence had occasioned. The King and Queen returned to the Tuileries escorted by a throng every whit as enthusiastic as that through which they had passed a few hours before.^ Such was the night of September 20, 1791, the last that Louis XVI, and Marie Antoinette spent at the opera.* ^ Revolutions de Paris, No. 115. 2 Mercure de France, October 1, 1791. The title of this paper then ran : ' Mercure de France, dedicated to the King ; the literary portion edited by MM. Marmontel, De la Harpe, and Chamfort, all members of the Academic, and by MM. Ginguene, Framery, and Berquin.' M. Mallet du Pan had sole charge of the historical and political portion, 3 Welschinger's ' Theatre de la Revolution ' makes no mention of this performance of ' Castor and Pollux.' CHAPTER XXIII. THE GILLES AFFAIR. Thursday, December 13, 1792. From amongst the papers and pamphlets with Avhich my table is covered, Beaulieu had taken up Dufriche-Valaze's ' Report on the Crimes of the Ci-devant King," and was idly turning over the leaves of this odious and cowardly libel, in which rhetoric and misrepresentation find mutual support. ' I see,' he suddenly cried, 'that you have placed a note of interrogation opposite this passage,' and he read : ' The man Gilles, whom we have not been able to find, was charged with the organization of a body of sixty men, and during the months of May and June last he received for that body a sum of 72,000 francs, according to the two receipts we have found. What is the meaning of this mysterious band when we have our own soldiers } In this matter we invoke against Louis Capet that Constitution under the shadow of which he is always ready to shelter himself. That Constitution gives the Legislative Body (clause iii., chapter iii., article 1) the right to determine annually the number of men and vessels of which the army and navy shall be composed. The Legislature, however, was ignorant of the existence of these troops. They were paid for out of the Civil List, but their existence is a crime, and proves that hostile plans are being nurtured. It has now been proved that men were secretly enrolled to assist the ci-devant King, and though the written proofs refer to no more than sixty men, that is no reason for supposinir this number to have been the maximum. I argue as follows : The secret enlistment of sixty men only would have been a totally useless act, and not worth the trouble of incurring the rigorous penalty laid down by the Code. The existence of these sixty men is, therefore, a proof that there were a <,rood many more. The production of Gilles' receipts forms the first link in the chain.'^ . . . * ' Rapport de Duf riche-Valazi-,' pp. !ii3, etc. THE GILLES AFFAIR 157 ' You were no doubt inquisitive,"' said Beaulieu, ' to know something of this M. Gilles, the terrible organizer of mysterious bands destined to overthrow the Constitution ? And on Tuesday last^ you were more than ever puzzled when Barere said to the King : " In Paris you secretly formed for your own use troops which were to aid you in your plans for a counter- llevolution. D'Angremont and Gilles were two of your agents, paid out of the Civil List. The receipts given by Gilles for sums with which to raise a company of sixty men will be placed before you. What answer have you to this ?" The King replied : " I have no knowledge of the plans imputed to me.""^ ' I am in a position to furnish you with most reliable informa- tion concerning this matter, having been closely mixed up in it myself. ' M. Gilles is an active, intelligent, and devoted Royalist, and was one of the very small number of members of the Club des Feuillants not terrified by the insolence of the Jacobins. He considered it to be the duty of all honest men to make a stand against the enterprises of disloyal citizens, and to do their best to unmask their plots. In the beginning of 1792 the Minister de Lessart proposed to make him the editor of a Constitutional 1 On Tuesday, December 11, 1792, Louis XVI. had appeared before the Convention, then presided over by Barere. His examination lasted over five hours. The calm dignity and presence of mind with which he replied to all the questions put to him wrung cries of admiration from his most deadly foes, and even from Marat himself. The latter, writing in the Journal de la Repuhlique Franqaise of December 13, 1792, says: 'He, who had never heard any name but that of Majesty in his ears, heard himself addressed as Louis a hundred times without betraying the least ill-humour ; and when they kept him standing all the time, he, before whom no man had ever dared to sit, showed not the least impatience. Had he been innocent, how great this humility would have made him ap- pear in our eyes!' The Revolutwns de Paris (No. 179) spoke of the King's attitude during his examination as follows : ' The President of the Convention asked the ci-devant King most irrelevant questions, some of which take up entire pages. . . . Louis spoke with royal brevity {hrevitate iinperatoria), whilst the Conventionalists employed a style lacking both force and dignity.' Durand de Maillane, a member of the Conven- tion, describes the sitting of December 11 in the following terms: 'Louis XVI. was brought to our bar. . . . He replied to every charge made against him. Some of his answers moved me to tears, while the clearness and precision of his language called forth my admiration. The great calm he preserved could only be born of great piety and virtue.' * Minutes of the Proceedings of the National Convention on Decem- ber 11, 1792. 158 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS paper which the Government thought of starting. He accepted the offer, and the first number appeared on April 26. It was called the Postilion de la Guerre, and waged war unrelentingly upon the Jacobins, denouncing all their intrigues, and laying bare all their movements with such unfailing precision and promptness as no other paper could attain. This was because M. Gilles had at his disposal sixty men, paid out of the Civil List, who hunted up news in the different quarters of Paris, attended the meetings of the Jacobins and Grey Friars, and mixed with the crowds in the streets and in the cafes. Some- times they even had personal encounters with the enemies of the Constitution — Whence the name of Constitution given by them to the heavy sticks which they generally carried. Every morning they either sent or brought to M. Gilles reports of what they had seen and heard. These were immediately utilized by the sub-editors in writing their articles. I was myself on the staff of the paper at that time, and can certify that, far from being a band of conspirators, we had no other object than that of fight- ing the worst enemies of the Constitution — the Jacobins — of preaching respect of the law, of defending the King and the authorities that existed before the Tenth of August. This is to what the great conspiracy discovered by M. Dufriche-Valaze reduces itself — to a subsidy given by a Minister to a Constitu- tional paper, to agents charged with enlightening the public mind.^ ' M. Gilles left PVance after the Tenth of August. He is now in London. Mme. Gilles is in Paris, and by her request I have written an account of the matter, and have sent it to the deputies. Will there be found one amongst them with sufficient courage to ascend the tribune and to hold up to the contempt of honest men the gross ineptitude and miserable lies of this Valaze r^ 1 Beaulieu, ' Essais Historiques,' tome iii., p. ^14; tome iv., p. 217; Bertrand de Moleville, ' Mi'-moires Secrets,' tome iii., p. 70, etc. ' * Memoir to the Natioual Convention, by Citoyeune Lauchard, wife of Jean Baptiste Gilles, containing important information concerning one of the principal charges brought against Louis Capet.' CHAPTER XXIV. ' THE regicides/ Sunday , December l6, 1792. The Convention yesterday decreed that Louis XVI. should appear at the bar for the last time on W^ednesday, December 26. It also decided, on the motion of Laurent Lecointre, that the accused should be permitted to see his family. This motion had scarcely been passed before it gave rise to violent dissen- sions. After a long and stormy debate, the Assembly, partly rescinding its decision, authorized Louis to see his childi'en, but only on condition that the latter should not be allowed to com- municate with their mother or aunt until after judgment had been passed upon the King.^ I was present at the sitting. As my glance passed along the benches, I carefully studied the faces of the occupants. I was particularly struck by the excite- ment displayed by Vadier, one of my old acquaintances in the Constituent Assembly, who was now seated on the benches of the Mountain sun'ounded by a score of other shrieking fanatics. It was also by a curious chance that I noticed M. Chabroud in one of the galleries ; he, too, had been a member of the Constituent Assembly, and is now one of the Judges in the Court of Appeal. I had scarcely recognised him, when a strange reminiscence occurred to me. I recollected that the Sabhats-Jacohites had published about eighteen months ago a short play, the princij)al personages in which were MM. Petion, Danton, Ilobespierre, Vadier and Chabroud. The play was called ' The Regicides," and the scenes and some of the verses came back to me. In ^ Rather than deprive his children of their mother's care, Louis XVI. decided to forego the pleasure of embracing them. 160 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS vain did I try to drown my importunate memories ; it was im- possible to get rid of them. On returning home I took down the Sahbata-Jacohitcs^ and re-read ' The Regicides,** finding in it a strangely precise prediction of the crimes now being committed. ' The Regicides ** was written and published at the beginning of July, 1791. At that moment the fury of the Revolution- aries against Louis X\T. and the Royal Family was at its height. Camille Desmoulins, Freron, Prudhommc, Carra, and Gorsas, were vomiting forth the grossest insults and the most horrible threats against the King and Queen. The Orator of the People demanded that Marie Antoinette, like Fredegonde, should be dragged through the streets of Paris tied to the tail of a stallion.'^ The Revohdwns de Paris declared that she deserved the fate of Brunehaut, and that ' Antoinette already ranked among the number of notorious miscreants.''^ The club of the Cordeliers passed the following resolution : ' The free- born Frenchmen who form the Society of the Rights of Man make known to their fellow-citizens that this society contains as many tyrannicides as members, all of whom have individually •sworn to assassinate any tyrant who shall dare to attack our frontiers or our liberty in any way whatever."** Such acts and such publications throw sufficient light upon the plans of their authors. And yet how many people refused to see the abyss to which they were being led ! Marchant, a Royalist Avriter, thought it would be a good thing to enlighten them. This he attempted to do in ' The Regicides,'' by showing what would become of the King, the Queen, all honest folk, and even France itself, if ever the Jacobins came into })ower. The honest folk shrugged their shoulders, and charged him with drawing a picture of impossible calamities. And yet all that he predicted has been realized from beginning to end. Seldom 1 Tome ii., p. 257, etc. Les Sabbats-Jacobites, by Marchant, 1791 and 1792. The seventy-five numbers of this paper form three volumes. Marchant also edited Lcs Grand Sahbats, as a continuation of Les Sabbatic- Jacobites, and La Jacobineide, an heroi-comi-civiqne poem. Marchant was one of the most spiritual writers of the Royalist press. * The Orateiir du Ptniple, by Frc'ron the Younger, tome vii. 2 Revolutions de Paris, No. 102. * Ibid. 'THE REGICIDES' l6l has the future been read in a more astonishing fashion. The following quotations will serve as a fair sample of the whole. The scene is laid in one of the rooms of the Jacobin Club, where Petion, Robespierre, Vadier, Danton and Chabroud have met. Petion explains the object of their meeting in the following terms : ' Illustrious quellers of the power of Kings, Whose hands are shaping realms into republics,^ Where law can do so little — crime so much.' He demonstrates what the Jacobins have done, the progress they have made, and the results they have obtained : ' Sirs, you have heard what we've as yet accomplished ; Hear now what still remains for us to do.' Louis is a prisoner in his palace, but no one doubts that he will soon seek to reconquer his liberty. In that case, would not the plotters have an excellent pretext for robbing him of his sceptre and his crown .'' ' Danton. Louis is guilty and deserves to suffer ; But, that his death may have some show of justice, He needs must be arraigned by my Committee — There I will pass his sentence. You perchance May deem he'll try to quell and overawe me ; Fear not — I need not hear him to condemn him.'- Vadier^ claims the honour of trying the King, while Danton maintains that he has a better right to this than the member for Pamiers ; the discussion becomes heated, and develops into a quarrel. 1 At the sitting of the Convention of September 21, 1792, Petion being President, the Monarchy was abolished, and the kingdom changed into a Republic. 2 ' We will not try Louis XVI. ; we will kill him,' Danton's words in November, 1 792 (' Histoire Generale et Impartiale des Erreurs, des Fautes et des Crimes commis pendant la Revolution Fran9aise,' by Prudhomme, tome v., p. 120). 3 ' In July, 1791, I was the only one who had the courage to propose a National Convention for trying this runaway and perjured King. ... I even dared to demand, in the name of the outraged nation, the head of this crowned villain.' — ' Opinion du Citoyen Vadier concernant Louis XVI.,' November, 1792. At the King's trial Vadier voted for death, against the appeal to the people, and against the respite. VOL. I. 11 162 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS ' Petion. Nay, sirs, no temper. 'Tis not hard For me to satisfy you both in this.^ You can condemn the King — and you his consort.' Chabroud is averse to these extreme measures, and draws upon him.self the following taunt from Vadier : ' 'Tis well. Sir Whitewasher, I understand you.'^ You would be pleased, I fancy, to restore him, That you may make all Bourbon white again In hopes of gaining full and ample guerdon From Louis.' At last Robespierre speaks : ' All Frenchmen must be Kings — save Louis only ; Louis must suffer — innocent or guilty. Petion. What is your will, in brief.'' Robespierre. The King's destruction — •* Then, that his wife goes with him to his doom ; Next, that their children never shall be more* 1 Concerning the vile and odious, but considerable, part played by Petion in the trial of Louis XVI., see our ' Li'gende des Girondins,' oh. V. - Charles Chabroud, a member of the Third Estate of the Dauphine in the States-General, was one of the principal members of the Left. In his report concerning the events of October 5 and 6, 1789, he omitted all the facts relating to the Due d'Orloans, which gained him the sobriquet in the Royalist press of Chabroud, the Whitewasher. He had no seat in the National Convention, and was appointed to the Tribunal de Cassation, where he remained until 1797. Under the Empire he held a post in the t^arne tribunal, in the Conseil d'Etat, and in the Conseil des Prises. He was born at Vienne (Isere), and died on February 1, 1810. 5 ' There can be no trial ; Louis is not accused ; you are not his judges ; you are, and can only be, statesmen and representatives of the nation. You have not to pass sentence upon a man, but a measure of public safety. Louis was the King, and a Republic is now established. The ques- tion before you is decided by these simple words. Louis can therefore not be tried, being already condemned. . . . The trials held by nations are not like those of judicial courts — their sentences are hurled like thunderbolts ; they do not condemn Kings ; they plunge them back into space. This kind of justice is as good as that of tribunals.' — Robespierre's speech at the sitting of December li, 179^2. * ' Louis must die, in order that the country may live. As for his wife and all the persons involved in this afTair, you will send them to the tribunals. His pon must be kept in the Temple until peace and liberty are firmly established.' — Loc. cit. 'THE REGICIDES' 16"3 Than simple citizens — and our Constitution From Monarchy be changed to a Republic Where nothing shall be done — save through the people . . . At my command let the unmeaning statues Of those whom formerly we styled our kings^ Be dashed to earth and trailed along the streets ; Let those of Damiens, Ravaillac and Clement Replace the effigies of our Christian rulers,- And let those Frenchmen who have quitted France Pay with their goods my gallant huntsmen's guerdon.' Next, we will rid ourselves of priests — proclaim* No other paper money shall pass current^ Except our assignats — give all men license To write and think and act as pleases them. But if against us — let their doom be speedy.^ Grant the first posts in this our new-born State To Gorsas, Noel, Marat — let there be''^ 1 On August 11, 1792, the statues of Henry IV., Louis XIII., Louis XIV., and Louis XVI. were pulled down and dragged along the streets. 2 The prediction of the Sabbats- Jacobites was in this case surpassed, busts of the divine Marat having replaced the effigies of the Blessed Virgin. 3 The confiscation and sale of the property of the refugees was decreed by the Legislative Assembly on July 27, 1792. * According to the terms of the decree of August 26, 1792, all the clergy who had not taken the oath were ordered to leave France within fourteen days. If found after that time, they were to be transported to French Guiana. ^ The abuse of assignats was carried so far by the Government of the Republic that at one time the louis d'or was worth 18,000 francs, which would give 35 francs in assignats the value of a sou (Mercier, ' Le Nouveau Paris,' ch. cliv.). Marchant's prediction that Jio other paper money than assignats should jmss current was realized to the letter. In November, 1795, Dubois-Crance, a member of the Council of Five Hundred, was obliged to confess that the manufacture of assignats at the rate of 100,000,000 per day scarcely sufficed for half their needs, and that the Government had been on the brink of bankruptcy owing to the want of paper on which to print them (3Ioniteur, year IV., No. 162). " ' The liberty of the press must be absolute. There is only one exception — the Convention reserves the right of passing sentence of death against those who by word or writing shall attack the indivisibility of the Republic or provoke the re-establishment of the Monarchy.' — Robespierre's speech on April 19, 1793, Moniteur of 1793, No. 111. '' Noel, the editor of the Chronique cle Paris, was on the morrow of the Tenth of August appointed director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Gorsas was appointed printer to the Department of Justice, and took possession of the printing-presses of U Ami du Roi ; whilst Marat, by virtue of an order of the Municipal Vigilance Committee, made a raid upon the ci-devant Imprimerie Royale, and took four presses and an assortment of type. 164 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS A Club of Jacobins in every village,^ And let no charge of treason pass unheeded ;^ Then let the pick of that illustrious regiment, The Royal Sans-Culottes, enforce our Edicts^ At the sword's point on everybody. This Is what the happiness of All requires — This is the road, sirs, to Regeneration. Petion. Robespierre is right — in all he says, we catch The spirit of the Club of Jacobins.' The conspirators then indicate the means by which they may attain their ends — addresses from the departments and affiliated clubs demanding the dethi'onement and trial of the King ; motions from the Palais Royal ; caricatures of Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette ; incitements to revolt to be daily spread amongst the people by the democratic journalists, ' Feydel* and Desmoulins,^ Sonthonax*^ and Prudhomme ;'^ 1 In August, 1790, the Jacobin Club had 152 branches (Camille Desmoulins, Revolutions de France ei de Brabant, tome vi., p. 112). In April, 1791, the number of branches amounted to 2,000 (Dumouriez, ' Memoires,' tome ii., p. 104). At the end of 1792 there was not a village but had its Jacobin Club. 2 The Legislative Assembly and the National Convention issued a number of decrees inviting citizens to turn informers. See the decrees of August 11, 1792 ; August 26, 1792 ; February 14, 1793 ; May 3, 1793 ; July 3, 1793; November 13, 1793; December 11., 1793, etc. 2 On September 5, 1793, the National Convention, upon the report of Barere, resolved to establish a Revolutionary army, composed of 6,000 men and of 1,200 gunners, to be paid for out of the public funds, and intended to carry out, both in the provinces and in Paris, the programme that the Commune had dictated to the Convention in these words : Terror must he the order of the day. * Feydel, editor of the Observateur, a paper which had commenced to appear on August 1, 1789, with this motto, borrowed from Bailly : ' Publicity is the safeguard of the people.' ' Camille Desmoulins, editor of the Revolutions de France et de Brabant. The first number had ajjpearcd on November 2H, ]789. '^ Sonthonax, joint-editor of the Revolutions de Paris. ' The celebrated Louatallot, who was editor of the Revolutions de Paris for some time, fell ill ; Sonthonax took his place, but only in editing the philosophical articles.' — ' Memoirs or Reply of P. J. J. Bacon-Tacon to the Denuncia- tions of Sonthonax Senior, Merchant, of Oyonnax, of Sonthonax Junior, ex-Commissioner of the Directory of Saint Domingo, and Consorts.' Sonthonax, Vjorn at Oyonnax, in the department of the Ain, died in 1813. See Philibert Le Due's excellent work, ' Ilistoire de la Revolution dans I'Ain,' tome ii., p. 377, etc. ^ Joint-editor of the Revolutions de Paris. The first number appeared on July 17, 17H9. 'THE REGICIDES' l65 songs against the Royal Family to be each clay repeated in all the public squares : ' Insults now are ornaments of style ; But set in songs, their value is enhanced.' But all such means are incomplete. There is a more decisive one which Danton does not hesitate to recommend to his col- leagues : ' That it be more inured to war's alarms. And to the striking of great blows — This j)eople, taught and led by us. Must try its 'prentice hand at slaughter In the Abbaye.'^ Poor Marchant was treated as a visionary, and his piece was laughed at, but the scoffers little knew how near they were to the truth. The short play written in 1791 was indeed a vision of 1792 ! 1 The September massacres, of which Danton was one of the principal instigators, commenced with the prisoners in the Abbaye. Concerning Danton's share in the massacres, see Louis Blanc (tome vii., p. 120, etc.). ' Danton,' says Louis Blanc (p. 169), ' had led the Terror to such a pitch in Paris that he was ready, as will be seen, to spread it over the whole of France.' CHAPTER XXV. THE HOSTAGES OF LOUIS XVI. Tuesday, December 18, 1792. On December 16, M. Guelon-Marc, a respectable merchant of Troyes, sent the President of the Convention a letter, which was not read in the Assembly, and of which no mention has been made in the papers. Several copies have, however, been circulated amongst the public, and the following are a few of the principal passages that this document contains : ' Citizen President, whilst awaiting the issue of a decree which is to decide the fate of a beneficent Monarch, every Frenchman has the right to give free utterance to his opinions. Whoever con- tributes to the triumph of Louis is doing his country a service. . . . If his life is sacrificed, France, a prey to every evil influence, will soon offer a sad spectacle of ruin and desolation. . . . Has not too much blood been already shed around the tree of Liberty .-*... Had I more eloquence I would, in humble imitation of Malesherbes, Tronchet, and Deseze, sacrifice myself for the King. Empty wishes form too feeble a homage for a soul full of love and fidelity. Less powerful interests have induced a Roman to give up his life to his country's good ; Regulus lost no time in hastening to the death that awaited him in Carthage. History, which places criminals in the pillory of j^ublic opinion, immortalized him. Never did France have greater interests to safeguard than at the moment when the whole world awaits in mournful suspense the issue of deliberations, the preliminaries of which give unmistakable indications of murderous designs. If the King's life be spared, the Powers will entertain such conditions as can alone lead to peace ; but if Louis . . . we shall be slaves, since liberty and wisdom can only dwell where justice reigns. I therefore conjure the Convention in the name of that eternal equity which is superior to all past and future laws, to weigh the inevitable results of a decision that would punish an THE HOSTAGES OF LOUIS XVI. 1()7 innocent man in order to satisfy twenty of his accusers, who are both the witnesses and judges in this cause. Let the safety of the people, which the Convention looks upon as the supreme law, form the basis of a decree which will enable Louis and his august family to console themselves far from their native soil with the remembrance of the benefits they have bestowed. Do not steep a sensitive nation in ingratitude and bloodshed. If a decree of death was already passed at the electoral meetings ; if at your elections you pledged yourselves to pass this vote, accept a victim proud to lay down his life ; let the blood of one faithful subject alone be shed. I offer my life in place of that of the King. Let the friend of religion and of order, the guardian of the people, the self-denying King, the good husband and kind father, go free, so that 25,000,000 men may not be bereft of the happiness he assured them. Let the imaginary crime with which he is charged be atoned for by the death of a citizen whose last prayer will be : Glorij to God, JideUly to the King, prosperity to France, and peace to the world.' ^ Already, in August, 1791, M. Guelon-Marc had placed his name upon the list of the King's hostages ; but since that date such tei'rible events have followed so closely upon each other that we have forgotten not only the names, but even the generous acts, of so many faithful Royalists, who offered their liberty, and even their life, to save the King. The mention of M. Guelon's letter recalls the episode of the King's hostages, fuller reference to which may not be ina})propriate here. On the morrow of the flight to Varennes the King ANas a prisoner in the Tuileries. A petition drawn up by Laclos and Brissot demanded his abdication and the organization of a fresh executive power. It was at this moment that the idea of the King's hostages took shape. De Rozoi, the editor of the Gazette de Paris,^ submitted this idea to his readers in the following terms, on July 11, 1791 : 1 The complete text of the above letter will be found in ' Louis XVI. et ses Defenseurs,' tome i., p. 23, and in Michaud's ' Biographie Uaiver- Belle': Supplement, tome Ixvi. See also Albert Babeau, ' Histoire de Troyes pendant la Revolution,' tome ii., p. 20. Pierre Prosper Guelon-Marc was born at Troyes on September 5, 1752, and died in 1823. Imprisoned on December 2, 1793, and detained until December 7, 1794., he owed his escape from the scaffold to the fall of Robespierre. ■2 In all biographies, as well as in all histories, of the Revolution, the name of the editor of the Gazette de Paris is written Durosoy, Durozoy, or Du Rozoy. A poster preserved in the Archives de la Prefecture de 168 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS ' The whole of Europe is filled with indignation at this attempt to drag the good King Louis from his throne. The presentation of Brissot's petition is a monstrous proceeding that must be effaced in a manner worthy of that French honour of which we were once so proud. Whenever a King is prisoner, hostages are accepted in his place. This is what I propose to the National Assembly : ' I. That all true Royalists shall offer themselves as hostages. 'II. That the officers of any regiments now in Paris shall be accepted. ' III. The National Assembly may be assured that the King will not leave the country, since he was unwilling both on October 6, 1789, and on June 20, 1791, to allow a single one of his subjects to expose his life in his defence ; he would therefore scarcely deliver up to death two or three hundred hostages who would have become doubly dear to him by the most evident proofs of their great affection. ' IV. We shall ask to have a special establishment, such as the old Ecole Militaire, set aside for the incarceration of the hostages. . . . As soon as I have received 200 signatures I shall draw up a petition to the National Assembly ; no doubt some right-thinking deputy will consent to present it. I shall sign last, and if I am allowed to wi-ite in my prison, I will say to the band of faithful Royalists around me : Dictate, that my words may henceforth be yours, for in uniting you in this grand cause I have done the best day's work of my life.' On July 14, on the very day when the federates of the Revolution assembled in the Chanij) de Mars, the Gazette de Paris published the pledges of the first hostages. ' I, the undersigned,' wrote the Marquis d'Espagne, ' am very proud to surrender myself as a hostage for the liberty of my King. I have three sons ; they would be sorry to appear wanting in senti- ments so dear to every Frenchman. I sign on their behalf as well as on my own, happy to give my Sovereign this })roof of a devotion and fidelity which will last as long as life itself/ In this first list, after the Manpiis d'Espagne, come Guilbert de Montdejeu and De Thouzeliier, two of the body-guards of Monsieur^ the Chevalier (FAntibes, Baron de Pelissier-Viens, the Police bears his autograph signature De Rozoi (Granier de Cassagnac, ' Histoire des Girondins et des Massacres de Septembre,' tome ii., p. 17). The Gazette de Paris appeared from October 1, 1789, until the Tenth of August, 1792. THE HOSTAGES OF LOUIS XVI. l69 Chevalier le Corgne de Laiinay, Bernard de Tachainville, De Balzac, and the Abbe de Monteil. ' I am ambitious,"' said the latter, ' to be the chaplain of these lloyalists who are ready to sacrifice all for their God, their King, and the honour of their country."' Hostages offered themselves in crowds ; each number of the Gazette de Paris contained fresh names, and the text of the petition to the National Assembly appeared on July 30. 'The King/ it ran, 'has been subjected to most outrageous insults ; full reparation must therefore be made him. Love is always ready to pay the debts of hatred, and gratitude those of thanklessness. ' In whatever way you style the present condition of the King, the Monarch, even upon your own admission, is not free. A numerous guai-d watches over him day and night, whilst the captain of that guard is answerable with his life for the august^I had almost said prisoner, unacquainted as I am with any other French word expressing the same idea. No King of France has ever been in a similar position ; for some time now we have been speaking a new language, but it is still incapable of describing the fresh things we see. ' One, two, three hundred hostages offer themselves as a guar- antee for the King ; a thousand will come forward if necessary. It has been suggested that the King might leave the country, but of this there need be no fear. ' On October 5, 1789, Louis XVI. forbade his faithful henchmen to cut down the Hydra of crime ; I ask you to consider whether he would expose the lives of those who have given up their freedom for him. ' The Ecole Militaire would be well suited for our incarceration. ' The weaker sex have asked to be allowed to share the honour of our devotion. The Lycee Royal de Saint-Cyr or the Val-de- Grace have already been pointed out to me by some of the would- be hostages as a suitable retreat for women. ' It is necessary for the glory and peace of the State that the King be free — not in the manner in which he is now supposed to be so, but free in the eyes of the world. ' Whether the King agree to subscribe to the whole Constitution or not, he must be free if his refusal or consent is to be valid. ' Hasten, then, to give him his full liberty. As soon as you have decided to take this step, hostages will be found in plenty ; I have received their signatures, and you may be assured that they are all 170 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS honourable names. Mothers offer their children ; old men send their sons and grandsons. The weakness of our language is unable to express the strength and ardour of their wishes, but their devo- tion speaks for itself. Fix the number of hostages you require ; the more you ask, the more happiness will you create, and the sooner shall we be honourably acquitted before the tribunal of Europe.' This petition was about to be presented to the National Assembly, and the Gazette de Paris was about to publish a fresh list containing 150 names, when De Rozoi learnt that at Auxerre six young men had been imprisoned for having addressed the following letter to him : ' To serve God, the King, and the countiy honom*ably and faithfully, is the duty of every Frenchman. We are discharging that sacred duty to-day in asking you to add our names to the list of those Avho have become hostages for the King, and who guarantee his residence in the kingdom Avith their life.'^ De Rozoi suspended the publication of his lists, but from all parts came letters to say that the writers were not intimidated by the example made of the six inhabitants of Auxerre. Their imprisonment, on the contrary, only served to redouble the ardour of the people ; priests, soldiers, magistrates, merchants, and independent gentlemen, urged the editor of the Gazette de Paris not to abandon his undertaking. The approaching com- pletion of the Constitution would render the intervention of the hostages more opportune than ever. De Rozoi therefore decided to continue his plan, and published a list which filled no less than sixteen columns. On this roll of honour the most humble names stood side by side with the most illustrious in France. Here in the same column we find Comte de jVIiromenil, Brigadier-General, and M. Chometton, a poor inhabitant of Monistrol, who had served under Louis XV. as a private, and as a corporal under Louis XVI., and who ' offers himself as a hostage so that his twelve children ^ This letter was signed Bonneville ; Jeannin, Procureur au Parlement de Paris ; Baudelot fils, clove a I'EcoIe-Royale-Militaire d'Auxcrre ; Caverot fils, avocat ; Bourdeaux, avocat ; Boulage, avocat. M. Bonae- ville and his five associates were arrested on August 3, 1791. THE HOSTAGES OF LOUIS XVI. 17 1 may ever remember the lesson of their father"'s love for the best of Kings ;' Comte de Blacas d'Aulps and Paul Mechin, an agricultural labourer of Vass, near Chateau-du-Loir. ' I am poor,' writes the latter, ' but my heart is French, and bleeds for the King. If I am thought worthy of the honour, I will wear the prison chains, and if I have not enough money to pay for the journey, I will sell my buckles and my watch.' Here, again, are the descendants of brave Arnauld d'Espagne, who, at the battle of the Massoure, covered the Comte d'Artois with his own body ; of that Sigognes de Beauxoncles who, at the battle of Ivry, carried the ichite cornet of France ;^ of Neret, the Alderman, who with Langlois, another Alderman, and Lhuillier, the Provost of the merchants, opened the gates of Paris to Henry I\ . ;^ and here, too, are the descendants of Malherbe, M. Louis de Malherbe, M. de Malherbe Longvilliers, and his son, Henri de Malherbe. The names of M. Victor Philippe de Cordey and that of his son are accompanied by the following note : ' After having been tried four times by the Revolutionary tribunals on account of the devotion and courage with which he resisted the enterprises of the rebels, after having miraculously escaped death on three occasions, this faithful Royalist, the Seigneur de Cordey, Master of the Rivers and Forests of Argentan, congratulates himself on having saved his life in order that he may once more offer it to his King. His son fully shares his sentiments.' The name of many a father is accompanied in this list by those of his sons ; Comte de la Boulaye, a Lieutenant-Colonel and a Knight of Saint Louis, signs for himself and his ten children. I also note M. Royou, avocat, and his five sons ; M. le Comte d'Espagne and his three sons ; M. de Blessebois-Meslay and his three sons ; M. Bourbel- Montpin^on and his three sons ; M. Dubuisson Dombret and his two sons ; M. de la Marteliere and his two sons ; while the following twelve hostages sign the pledge for themselves and one son each — MM. de Banville, De Clinchamp, Devaux, De Polignac, Germain, Guyot, Leneuf de Sourdeval, De Marcenay De Rabaudy, Tridon de Rey, De Valmenier, and De Violaines. ^ Sully's ' Memoires.' 2 ' Histoire du Regne de Henri IV,,' by M. Auguste Poirsou, tome i., book iv., ch. ii. 172 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS Whole families share the same love and a common devotion. In "the columns of the Gazette de Paris I find the name of De Piedoue eleven times, that of Castillon six times, that of Baritault, De Flavigny, Le Harivel, De Saint-Project, De Serignac, De Tilly-Blaru, and Le Vaillant four times ; while Guilhand Ducluzeaux, Lhoste de Beaulieue, and Cautwel occur three times each, and Chappe, Duchesnoy, Helie Legras, Melle- mont, and Regnaud twice. ^ Upon the publication of this fresh list, De Rozoi wrote to the President of the National Assembly : ' M. le President, in the name of three or four hundred well- known and honourable citizens, I have the honour to ask you to lay the accompanying petition before the National Assembly. ' The Constitution Committee has been asked to determine under what conditions most compatible with independence and liberty the King will best be able to examine and accept the Constitutional Charter. In the petition which I ask you, M. le President, to lay before the Assembly, will be found a suggestion worthy of the national honour, and best calculated to reconcile all opinions.' The Chevalier d'Antibes undertook to present the petition, the list of hostages, and M. de Rozoi's letter to the President of the Assembly. No one was more worthy to discharge that honourable duty. On August 24, 1791, the day on which he proceeded to the National Assembly, he inserted in several newspapers a variation of BlondeFs Hues in ' Richard Coeur de Lion ':^ ' O Louis, O my King, With love thy life is compassed ! Fidelity to thee Is on our hearts engraved !' 1 It has occurred to me that the following names, taken from the list of hostages, and not mentioned in the text, might be of interest : D'Allon- ville, Du Barail, Ue Barruel-Beauvert, De Beaumont, De Belzunce, Du Coetlosquet, De la Laurencie, De Bouill(\ Boyer, De Coulaincourt, De Con- dorcet, D'Epn'mcsnil, D'Esgrigny, De Ferrieres, Garnier-Dufougeraise, De Montalerabcrt, Do Musset de Pathay, De Puisaye, and De Rode. - In 17!)2, the Chevalier d'Autibes published a pamphlet entitled ' J.farie Antoinette, Rcine de France, a la Nation.' In 1793 he had al:eady l;ecn arrested nine times. Having managed to escape, he reached tlia Vendre, and did not return to Paris until 1797. Under the Consulate he was arrested for the tenth time, and underwent a long imprisonment in the Temple. When he was liberated, in IHO.5, he was sent to Orleans under supervision, and was not allowed to return until the Restoration in iHli (' Biographie des Contemporains,' tome i. j. THE HOSTAGES OF LOUIS XVI. 173 It was impossible for him to reach the President, who on that day was M. Dupont (of Nemours). But M. IVIalouet, the most honest, independent, and prudent Royalist member of the Assembly, was good enough to undertake to place the packet upon the table, and to watch over its safety.^ On August 25, the day after the petition had been deposited in the Assembly, the Gazette de Pans published a list of names of ladies who offered themselves as hostages for the Queen. The list was headed by Mme. Felicite de Montlezun^ and Mme. de Paysac, Marquise de Fausse Lendry. I also note the name of the Marquise de Favras, the widow of the hero who laid down his life on February 19, 1790. Even young girls claimed the privilege of suffering and dying, if necessary, for the Queen and Royal Family. I will quote the name of one only — Mdlle, de la Rochejacquelein, a sister of a gentleman of Poitou who, after having served in the body-guard of the King, fought like a hero on the Tenth of August.^ Meanwhile time passed, and the ])etition was left unnoticed. In vain did De Rozoi, the Chevalier d'Antibes, and those of the hostages who were in Paris, ply the President and the members of the Constitution Connnittee with oft-repeated prayers and entreaties. ' Monsieur/ wrote De Rozoi to the President of the Committee at the beginning of September, ' I lay before you the entreaties of eight or nine hundred citizens, all of whom cry aloud for justice, and whose cause now attracts the attention of the whole of Europe. ' A decree has gone forth for the presentation of the Act of Con- stitution to the King, but the acceptance of an Act requires, as has been said, a free and independent examination. As long as the King is not in enjoyment of the most absolute liberty, liberty ^ Malouet's 'Memoires,' edited by his grandson, should rank among the most important documents concerning the history of the Revolution. 2 ' Twenty-two Montlezuns fought at the Battle of Fontenoy.' — Gazette de Paris, August 25, 1791. 3 Letter from Mdlle. de la Rochejacquelein to M. de Rozoi, editor of the Gazette de Paris, dated from the Chateau de la Durbeliere, August 26, 1791 : ' Too happy if, by giving up my liberty (and even my Hfe), I could contribute to restore it to the Royal Family, from whom it has been so shamefully taken, in spite of the loyalty of so many good Frenchmen. (Signed) Anne- Louise du Vergier de la Rochejac- quelein, aged seventeen,' — 'Archives Nationales,' C. ii., 160. 174 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS recognised as such by the whole of Europe, His Majesty's accept ance cannot be characterized as independent. ' Faithful subjects have offered to undergo imprisonment in the place of their King. History affords a score of instances in which liberty was granted to Sovereigns upon the guarantee of hostages whose devotion served as a ransom. ' We are ready ; we ask for our chains. ' We ask that some reply shall at least be made. The hostages who have taken this solemn pledge glory in the restriction of liberty they have already imposed upon themselves, for whatever duty might call them elsewhere they await your summons, feeling no longer free. ' Be good enough, therefore, to bring our petition to the notice of the Assembly to-day, or to-morrow at latest. . . . The hostages count every hour ; the next may bring about a neAV order of things destructive of our hopes. Can there be anything more sacred or more urgent than the prayer of children asking to bear the chains of the most revered and cherished of fathers } . . . If it is a virtue to ask, is it not a crime to refuse V In publishing this letter in the Gazette of September 13, De Rozoi added : ' Neither the Committee nor the President have thought fit to reply. Meanwhile we are bound by our pledge. The only thing that now remains to be done is for each of the hostages residing in Paris to go to the Constitution Committee and to demand a reply of some kind.' At the moment of the publication of this appeal, the President of the National Assembly received from the hands of the Keeper of the Seals a letter from the King, in which he said : ' I have carefully examined the Act of Constitution laid before me. I agree to it, and undertake its execution.'' The final scene of this episode of the hostages of Louis XVI. took place before the tribunal of August 17 at the Abbaye, at the Concierge rie, and at the Cannes, De Rozoi, arrested at Auteuil a fevv^ days after the Tenth of August, ajipeared on the 24th of the same month before the tribunal j)resided over by Citizen Osselin. The letters which he had received from the hostages became so many ])roofs of the existence of a great conspiracy, and the courageous editor was condemned to death. He heard his doom without betraying the least emotion, and before leaving the court — on August 25 THE HOSTAGES OF LOUIS XVI. 175 — he handed the President a letter containing only these words : ' It is fitting that a lloyalist, hke myself, should die on the day of Saint Louis/^ He was guillotined at half-past eight the same evening in the Place du Carrousel. Among the victims of the September massacres were many of the hostages. M. Marchand, Incumbent of Notre-Dame de Niort, was massacred at the Carmes,^ and the Chevalier de la Boiudine at the Conciergerie.^ Mme. de Fausse-Lendy, a prisoner at the Abbaye, only escaped being massacred by a miracle.* How many more will have to expiate with their liberty, and perhaps with their life, the crime of fidelity to the King and Royal Family ?^ 1 ' Bulletin da Tribunal Criminelle du 17 Ao6t,' No. 3. 2 ' Les Martyrs de la Foi pendant la Revolution Fran9aise,' by the Abbe Guillon, tome iv., p. 14. 3 ' Histoire des Girondins et des Massacres de Septembre,' by A. Gamier de Cassagnac, tome ii., p. 340. * See her curious book, entitled * Quelques-uns des Fruits Amers de la Revolution.' 5 In the list of victims of the Revolutionary tribunals are to be found some of the names inscribed on the list of the King's hostages, e.g., Boyer, the journalist of Nimes, and young Louis de Malherbe, twenty years old. In vain did his defenders dwell upon the fact that he was the great-grandson of the poet Malherbe (* Bulletin du Tribunal Revolutionnaire : 1" partie,' No. 74). He was condemned on July 20, 1793, the execution of Charlotte Corday having taken place on the 17th. The great-grandson of Malherbe mounted the scaffold three days after the great-grand-daughter of Corneille. CHAPITER XXVI. LOUIS XVI. AND THE CONSTITLTIOX. Thursdaij, December 20, 1792. The hostages of Louis X\'I. led me to mention the acceptance on September 13, 1791, of the Constitution by the King, and to recall the very words of his letter to the President of the National Assembly : ' I have carefully examined the Act of Constitution laid before me. I agree to it, and undertake its execution.' Has Louis XVI. kept that promise ? The newspapers, the clubs, and the members of both the Brissot and RobespieiTe parties, answer this question by an inuiiense shout : Louis has hetrayed the Constitution ! But where are the proofs in support of this accusation ? There is not a single one to be found, either in Gohier"'s report to the Legislative Assembly,^ in those of Dufriche-Valaze and Mailhe, or in the indictment drawn up by the Commission of Twenty-One. The truth is that from September 13, 1791, until the Tenth of August, 1792, Louis XVI. remained perfectly faithful to the Constitution, and I, for my part, know a good number of excellent citizens who reproach him with having been only too scrupulous. The Constitution of 1791 was calculated to bring France to anarchy and ruin, and this was fully foreseen by the Jacobins when they made such a show of the title of Friends of the Constitution ; this was also felt by Robes})ierre when he called his pajier the Di^hnlcr of the Constitution. All true * Report upon tlic papers found in the offices of the Civil List, laid before the Assembly on September 16, 1792, by Louis Jerome Gohier. LOUIS XVI. AND THE CONSTITUTION 177 friends of Liberty, on the contrary, thought the abolition of the Constitution and its re-establishment on a more Monarchical basis indispensable. So thought M. de la Fayette himself;^ and who — except the factionists — could have made a crime out of the fact that the King had no greater respect for the Act of Constitution than the author of the Declaration qf Rights? Unfortunately for himself and his country, Louis never violated the Constitution ; of this there are abundant proofs, a few of which I will adduce. Completed on September 3, 1791, the Constitution was pre- sented to the King on the same day by a deputation of sixty members. Malouet advised him not to accept it as it was ; the King, he thought, should point out to the Assembly and the nation the vices it contained, and the dangers to which its execution nmst necessarily give rise. Malouet sincerely desired the maintenance of the Constitution, and for that reason he wished to rid it of conditions that would make its execution impracticable and ruinous. Louis XVI. fully agreed with this far-thinking man, and, like him, wished a tiial of the Constitu- tion to be made in good faith, and under such conditions as might lead one to hope for success. If he decided, contrary to Malouefs advice and his own wishes, to accept the Act of Constitution in its entirety, it was because all his Ministers, with the exception of M. de Montmorin, as well as Barnave and Adrien Duport, were in favour of his doing so.^ As soon as the Legislative Body had reassembled, M. Bertrand de Moleville, Minister of Marine, begged the King to make known his intentions with regard to the Constitution, and his wishes with regard to the course his Ministers were to pursue. * That is but right,'' replied the King. ' I do not look upon this Constitution as a masterpiece ; I believe that it has very great faults, and if I had been free to make a few observations to the Assembly, it might have been very advantageously amended, but it is now too late. Having accepted it as it is, and sworn to have it observed, I must be true to my word, the more so ■ 1 Letter from M. de Lally-Tollendal to the King, dated July 9, 1792. 2 Mme. Campan, ' Memoires,' tome ii., p. 161 ; ' Memoires de Malouet,' tome ii., p. 106, etc. VOL. I. 12 178 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS since I believe that a faithful observance of the Constitution is the surest means of demonstrating; to the nation in what manner it requires amending. I have, and can have, no other intention but that ; I shall certainly not swerve from it, and trust that my Ministers will conform to my wishes/ M. Bertrand having asked whether the Queen's opinion in this matter coincided with the King's, Louis XVI. replied : ' Most decidedly ; but she shall tell you so herself.' The Minister then went down to the Queen's rooms. Marie Antoinette, after having thanked him with her usual kindness for the proof of devotion he had given the King by accepting office at such a critical moment, added : ' The King has acquainted you with his intentions respecting the Constitution. There surely can be no better way than that of keeping one's oath.' ' Certainly not, madame.' ' Well, you may be sure that we shall not change our mind. Come, M. Bertrand, courage ! If we are but patient and firm, I think that all may yet be well.'^ Shortly before leaving the Ministry of War, M. de Narbonne^ one day induced the King to inspect three battalions of the National Guard deeply devoted to His Majesty. Louis XVI. wa.s on foot, and wore a silk coat with black breeches and white silk stockings. At the end of the review, one of the Guards — it was, I believe, M. Chaudot, a notary of the Hue Platriere — stepped out from the ranks and exclaimed : ' Sire, the National Guard would feel greatly honoured by seeing your Majesty wear its uniform !' ' Sire,' added M. de Narbonne, ' be good enough to accede to this request. Wearing that uniform at the head of these three battalions of heroes, you will utterly rout the Jaco- bins.' After a moment's reflection the King replied : ' I must ask my Council •whether I am permitted by the Constitution to wear the uniform of a National Guard. ''^ In March, 1792, the Brissot party imposed its Ministers upon Louis X\'I. — Roland for the Interior, Servan for War, Claviere 1 Bertrand de Moleville, 'Hiatoire de la Revolution de France,' tome vi., p. 22. '^ M. de Narbonne was Minister of War from December G, 1791, until March 10, 1792. 3 * Memoires de M. de Vaublanc,' p. 171.. The notary Chaudot was guillotined on February 13, 1794. LOUIS XVI. AND THE CONSTITUTION 179 for Taxes. The latter, who came into office immensely prejudiced against the King, was not long in recognising that he had been greatly mistaken. He had the courage to publicly give Louis XVL credit for the purity of his intentions and the loyalty of his conduct. Etienne Dumont narrates an anecdote which is worth telling, concerning as it does Louis XVL, Claviere, Roland and his wife. Claviere and Roland were convinced that Louis XVL had loyally accepted the Constitution, and that he relied for its amendment much more upon its fair trial than upon force or violent measures. One evening when several members of the Brissot party were assembled in Mme. Roland's salon, Claviere related how the King had found him ignorant on a certain point in the Constitution, and had laughingly taken a book from his pocket with the words : ' You see, M. Claviere, that I am better acquainted with it than you are."* Brissot hereupon displayed some anger and doubted the tale, and when Claviere appealed to Roland, the latter dared neither confirm nor deny it. Mme. Roland was seated at her desk, pale and trembling and pretend- ing to write. Dumont crossed the room and asked her to interfere and calm the storm. ' Do you think I ought to P' she asked. At last she decided to leave her seat, and a few moments later, thanks to her tact, the conversation had changed its course.^ More than once Roland himself had given Louis XVI. his due — when his wife was not there. At one of the last meetings of the Jacobin Club, Francois Robert, a deputy for Paris, gave an account of a dinner at Petion's some time after Roland's entry upon office, at which the latter had spoken as follows : ' People do not know the King ; he means well, and those who charge him with harbouring guilty intentions calumniate him. He is much under-estimated ; he has great talent and knowledge, good judgment, and a wonderful memory. . . . As Minister of the Interior I see the King more often than my colleagues do, and visit him daily. He treats me as though I were one of his family, and always insists upon my sitting down.'''^ 1 Etienne Dumont, ' Souvenirs,' pp. 395, 405. 2 Meeting held at the Jacobin Club on December 17, 1792 ; Journal (hi Dtbats et de la Correspond ance des Jacobins, 322. Against Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette, Mme. Roland entertained a hatred that their blood itself could not assuage. Her testimony in this instance is therefore the 180 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS Roland was right in saying that the King meant well. In the beginning of August last, whilst the pretended friends of the Constitution were openly trying to upset it, and were arranging a plan to march upon the Tuileries and butcher the King, some of his most faithful servants, M. de Montmorin, M. Bertrand de Moleville, M. de Clermont-Tonnerre, M. de Lally-Tollendal and M. Malouet, agreed that the King must be got out of Paris at any cost. M. de Liancourt, who was in command of the troops at Rouen, and M. de la Fayette, had promised their support. All was ready. The King appeared to consent, and told M. de Montmorin to see M. de Sainte-Croix,^ who, with M. Terrier de Montciel,^ was also occupied with plans for saving the Royal Family. On the morrow M. de Lally-Tollendal and M. de Montmorin went to the palace to take their last in- structions ; Louis XVI. then told them that he would not go, and that he would rather brave any danger than commence a civil war.^ Five days later the Tenth of August was upon us. more valuable. In her ' Memoires,' p. 350, ehe says : ' Louis XVI. was on very good terms with his new Ministers. . . . He had a good memory, and was very active, never allowing a moment to pass unoccupied. He was well acquainted with the different treaties that France had made with foreign Powers ; he had a good knowledge of history, and was the best geographer in his kingdom. He not only remembered the names of all the persons he saw about him at Court, and the anecdotes relating to them, but had extended this art to all the more or less prominent per- sonages of the Revolution ; it was impossible to mention anyone to him about whom he had not some well-founded information. . . . When he had once chosen Patriots for Ministers, he took great pains to inspire them with confidence, and in this lie succeeded so well that for a period of three weeks I have seen Roland and Claviere so enchanted with the manners of the King as to flatter themselves that the Revolution was finished, and that we had entered ujion a new order of things. "Good God !" I would say to them, on seeing them set off for the Council in such good spirits, " you look as if you were going to make fools of your- selves." "I assure you," Claviere would reply, "that the King is perfectly well aware that it is to his interest to observe the laws just established ; his arguments prove that he is convinced of that truth." ' ^ L. C. Bigot de Saintc-Croix, Minister of Foreign Affairs from August 1 to August 10, an author of an excellent 'Ilistoire de la Con- spiration du 10 Aout, 1792.' 2 ]\Iinister of the Interior from June 18 to July 21, 1792. 3 Letter from Lally-Tollendal to the King of Prussia in favour of M. de la Fayette. See also the note ap])endcd to the letter sent by Marie Antoinette to her brother, the Emperor Leopold II., on September H, 1791. ' The King,' it says, ' has done all he can to avoid civil war, and he is still of opinion that such a war can do no good, and can only be destruc- LOUIS XVI. AND THE CONSTITUTION 181 Louis has therefore not betrayed the Constitution ; those wlio have violated it are the Jacobins and the members of the Brissot party. Brissot himself is never tired of boasting that he only swore fidelity to the Constitution, and pretended to defend it in order to deceive the lloyalists, while he loudly proclaims on behalf of himself and his friends that the overthrow of the Constitution had been their constant aim, as the Revolution of the Tenth of August had been their work.^ And it is such men as these who summon Louis XVI. to appear before them ! Were hypocrisy, falsehood and crime ever carried farther than this ? The Tartuffe of the Revolution has killed the Constitution, and now we see him dragging the King to the scaffold after having hung upon his breast a label with these words : Condemned to death for having Mlled the Con- stitutions M. Taine (' La Revolution," tome ii., p. 142) says : ' In accepting the Constitution Louis XVI. had an idea that by putting it into force he would lay bare its faults and bring about its reform. Meanwhile he scrupulously adhered to it, and kept his oath to the letter, both from interest and as a matter of conscience.** That the King remained faithful to the Constitution which his enemies violated daily is proved not only by the facts set forth tive of everything. . . . The King must save his people from civil war, even at the risk of his crown and his life' (Revue Retrospective, serie ii., tome ii., pp. 7, 8). The original letter and the note are extant in the Austrian Imperial Archives (' Louis XVL, Marie-Antoinette et Mme. Elisabeth : Lettres et Documents incdits,' publics par F. Feuillet de Conches, tome ii., p. 287, et suiv.). ^ Beaulien, ' Essais Historiques,' tome iv,, p. 187. - Camille Desmoulins, concerning whom M. Cuvillier Fleury (' Portraits Politiques et Revolutionnaires,' p. 319) has rightly said, ' Of the Revo- lutionary mob he is one of the worst among the bad,' proposed the following resolution : ' The National Convention declares that Louis Capet deserves to die. It decrees that the scaffold shall be erected in the Place du Carrousel, whither Louis shall be conducted, wearing on his breast a label with these words : Perjurer and traitor to the nution, and on his back another label, bearing the word King, in order to show the world that the degradation of nations cannot efface the crimes committed by Royalty, even after a lapse of fifteen centuries ; it also decrees that the tomb of the Kings at Saint-Denis shall henceforth be the burial-place of thieves, murderers, and traitors,' 182 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS in the foregoing chapter, but also by the correspondence dis- covered in the Archives, and first pubhshed in 1835 in the Revue Retrospective., serie ii., tome ii. Had Louis XVI. had any ulterior object in view in contradiction to his public declarations, he would no doubt have alluded to it in this ' Correspondance Secrete.' On the contrary, we find there how loyal and sincere his acquiescence in the Constitution really was. All further doubt is dispelled by a private letter written by the King on September 25, 1791, to his brothers, the Comtes de Provence and D"'Artois, and by the note appended to that letter. ' I am desirous,"* says the King, ' of acquainting you with the motives of my acceptance, in order that your behaviour may be in con- formity with mine. Your aifection for me and your prudence should make you renounce those dangerous ideas that I do not share. ... I have received the letter which you have sent me. I had seen it in print before receiving it, and it has had a wide circulation. You cannot think how deeply this matter has grieved me ; I was already sorry enough to see the Comte d'Artois take part in the conference of Pilnitz without my con- sent. I cannot bring myself to reproach you ; I will only say that while you are acting without me we shall be playing at cross-purposes. You tell me that public opinion has come round, and of this you pretend to be a better judge than I. I have already told you that the people endured all kinds of privations because they were always fed on the hope of having a Consti- tution. They have now had one for two days, and you pretend that they have already come round ! I have the courage to accept this Constitution in order to give the nation time to see what this pretty thing really is, and you want me to give up making the experiment. The factionists have prevented the nation from judging their work by continually talking of the obstacles that I place in the way of its execution ; instead of talking from them this last resource, ought I to serve their cause by laying myself open to the charge of having conniienced a civil war.? You flatter yourselves that you will deceive them by declaring that yoin- action is contrary to my wishes ; but how can you persuade them that this is so, since tin? proclamation of the Emperor and of the King of Prussia was made at your in- LOUIS XVI. AND THE CONSTITUTION 183 stance ? Will it not be thought that my brothers are only carrying out my orders ? You will therefore hold me up to the nation as accepting the Constitution with one hand and making- overtures to foreign Powers with the other. What honest man could countenance such conduct, and do you think you are serving me by robbing me of the esteem of honest men ? I hope that you will adopt wiser ideas ; you must remember that victory is useless unless you can go on governing, that it is impossible to govern a great kingdom in the face of a dominating faction.'' In December, 1791, Baron de Goguelat, who had shown great devotion to the Royal Family on the occasion of the flight to Varennes, was asked by Louis XVI. to deliver to the Counts of Provence and d'Artois a letter of a private nature undoubtedly containing the King's real thoughts. This letter, published in the ' Memoires de M. le Baron de Goguelat ' (tome iii., ' Des Memoires de tous' Paris, 1835), agrees in every respect with that which appeared in the Revue Retrospective. ' I wash my hands,' wi'ote the King, ' of any enterprise that may be formed against the Constitution which I have just accepted ; I shall oppose it with all my might from whatever quarter it may come, and I look upon the authors of all such plans as criminals. This, my brothers, is my unalterable opinion.' CHAPTER XXVII. DAXTOX AXJ) THK ' GREY FRIARS '' CLUR. Fiidai/, December 21, 1792. The members of the Convention are getting ready to try, or rather, according to Danton*'s expression, to kill, the King. Can it be that these men, not one of whom believed in a Republic before the Tenth of August,^ have since become convinced Republicans.? By no means. Those who talk loudest of their principles, those who make the greatest parade of then* ,'ians- cidottisme, cherish the hope of one day jilacing the Due d'Orleans upon a re-established throne. That such is the plan of the Cordeliers or ' Grey Friars,"* who form the most advanced and violent section of the Revolutionaries, cannot be doubted for a moment, since Camille Desmoulins, that eiif'ant terrible, has let the cat out of the bag. It was at the end of July. Prudhomme, the author of the Revohdions de Par-is, had been honoured by a visit from Danton, Camille, and Fabre d'^^glantine. ' We have come,'' said Danton, ' to consult you upon a matter of some imj)ortance : for although you are no longer in the swim, you are an old Patriot, and as you have often foreseen both events and their results, we wish to have your opinion upon a plan of insurrection.'' ' How can you consult a man,' replied Prudhonnne, ' who is, as you say, " no longer in the swim "" .? I do not understand you. I am perha])s more desirous of liberty than you yourselves, but in an equal measure and for all citizens. What more do you want to know V ' We wish to turn out the tyrant."' 1 See Chapters V. and VT. DANTON AND THE 'GREY FRIARS' CLUB 185 ' Which tyrant ?' 'The one in the Tuileries, This damned Revolution has done the Patriots no good."' 'That is to say, gentlemen, that you wish to make your fortunes in the name of Liberty and Equality. How do you expect to upset the Monarchy ?' ' By force.' ' What ! destroy the palace of the Tuileries ? Be careful, for the stones might fall on your heads. I advise you not to hurry yourselves. Since the King has become a prisoner in the palace, there is no Sovereign. The Government is a sham, and has no power. The King's weakness is leading him on to ruin. With the refugees up in arms, and the coalition of the German Princes, the fall of the Monarchy in France will be an accomplished fact before six months are over. Then it will be time for you to see what is to be done. Yovir plan is the work of a small section of the clubs of the Jacobins and Cordeliers. You are unacquainted with the views of the inhabitants of Paris and the provinces.' ' We have,' said Fabre d'Eglantine, ' the consent of a hundred Brissotin deputies, and of agents in all the political clubs in France.' Prudhomme, however, still persisted in his opinion. ' You wish,' he said, ' to turn out Louis XVI. Whom will you put in his place .^' ' The Due d'Orleans,' said Camille Desmoulins. ' We shall see about that later,' interposed Danton, desiring, no doubt, to repair Camille's imprudence. ' Revolutions are like battles — ^you cannot tell what will happen next. I will be answerable for the mob of the Faubourgs Saint-Antoine and Saint-Morceau ; they will be led by the Marseillais, who have not come to Paris for nothing.' ' I cannot help it,' said Prudhonune, ' but I am afraid. There may be a great many victims. . . .' ' We cannot consider these things in a Revolution !' cried Fabre d'Eglantine. ' In politics pity and honesty are crimes.'^ 1 Prudhomme, ' Histoire Generale et Impartiale des Erreurs, des Fautes et de Crimes commis pendant la Revolution Fian9aise (1796-1797),' tome iii., pp. 189-191. 186 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS In the famous sitting of September 21, Danton and his friends were careful not to take the initiative in the aboHtion of the Monarchy. Couthon, having proposed that the members should take an oath to hold in execration monarchy, dictatorship, triumvirate, or any kind of individual power, Danton rose, not to support this motion, but to move as an amendment a formal declaration to the effect that the Constitution should be accepted as a whole by the majority of the primary assemblies. A few moments later, when the Assembly unanimously adopted by acclamation the resolution moved by Collot-d'Herbois and Gregoire concerning the abolition of the Monarchy, it was Basire,^ one of Danton''s lieutenants, who pointed out that a decree of such importance could not be passed in a moment of enthusiasm, and that it ought to be fully discussed and con- sidered. ^ On December 4 Buzot demanded that the death penalty should be pronounced against anyone proposing or attempting to re-establish in France either the Monarchy or any other power restricting the sovereignty of the people. It was Basire again who rose to oppose this motion. *& oppose Phillippeaux,^ another friend, moved that the motion be set aside, and that Louis XVI. be tried forthwith.* ' The proposal made by Phillippeaux,' rejoined Basire, 'is the only one that can be adopted. Buzot's, on the contrary, would restrict the liberty of the people with regard to the sanction they are called upon to give to the Constitution." These words having been received with loud murmurs, Basire cried : ' Is it with tumultuous shouts and with waving of hats that you should pronounce a decree of death? Do you wish it to be alleged that your Republic is established by the force of a faction — that it is based upon a law of blood, and not upon the free will of the people?' In the midst of the agitation that reigned in the ' Claude Basire, deputy for the Cote-d'Or, was executed, together with Danton, Camille Desmoulins, and Fabre d'Eglantiue, on April 5, ITO-t. ^ Monitmr of 1 792, No. 266. ^ Pierre Phillippeaux, member for the Sarthe, included in the trial of the Dantonists, was condemned to death, and guillotined with them ou April 5. * Moniteur of 1792, No. 26G. DANTON AND THE 'GREY FRIARS' CLUB 187 Assembly, Rewbell wished to explain the motives for Buzot''s proposal. ' There is simply a desire,** he said, ' to frame a penal law which does not yet exist against attempts to re-establish the Monarchy.' * Well, in that case,"* replied Merlin de Thionville, who sits on the same benches as Basire and Phillippeaux, ' let these words be added to Buzot\s motion : unless it he in the primary assemblies.'' ' Order !"' ' To the Abbaye ? ' That is Royalism ? ' The secret is out !' were the cries that came from all sides. Under pretence of calming the storm, Guadet made light of the words that had escaped Merlin. ' Everyone here,"* he said, ' nmst be allowed to give free expression to his senti- ments, and the Convention ought not to be sorry to have heard an opinion which gives it the key of a plan, now formed, I think, some time, for replacing one despot by another — a despot under whose protection those who had helped him to his throne would be sure to enjoy immunity for their crimes, and permission to commit fresh ones.'^ Buzot was quite aware that this was the point towards which the attack should be directed, that this was a weak spot in his adversaries"* armour. He therefore retiu'ned to the charge on December 16, and demanded that when Louis XVI. had been sacrificed to the public security, the Avhole of his family should be exiled. He showed very clearly that if any exception was to be made, it must not be in favour of the Orleans branch, and expressed himself as follows : ' The very fact of this branch being more beloved makes it more dangerous to liberty. From the very beginning of the Revolution, D'Orleans has been the cynosure of all eyes ; his effigy, borne through the streets of Paris on the day of insurrection, gave the people a new idol. Soon he was accused of harbouring plans of usurpation, and though this may have been untrue, such plans appear at least to have existed, and were covered by his name. The blood of Kings is therefore a pretext, even when it is no longer a cause for trouble and agitation ; let it not be added to the many disturbing influences that surround the formation of a Republic. An immense fortune and great hopes ; close relations with the nobility of England ; the name of Bourbon in the ears of foreign Powers eager to give us a master in order to have themselves an 1 Moniteur of 1792, No. 341. 188 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS ally ; the name of Egalite in the ears of the French, a nation easy to move, and whose singular choice only makes its object the more conspicuous by its attempts to hide him ; children whose youthful and impetuous courage can easily be seduced by ambition, whose ambition may be cleverly excited by a close alliance with foreign Kings — all these are reasons too powerful to admit of Philippe's remaining in France without endangering liberty. . . . Ignorance has not been dispelled to such an extent but that it is still possible to use it as a weapon, and even were it simply a question of obviating slight disturbances and an unnecessary struggle, the public peace is too valuable for any measure to be neglected which may ensui'e it. The suspicion of Royalism is a contmual source of trouble, and we are tormented by it even to-day ; it is a cause of mutual fear and recrimination. By banishing the name and the blood of Kings, you will extinguish the hope of those who love them, and of such as would make use of them to divide you.'^ Everyone must acknowledge that in this matter Buzot was right, and that it was only those who had not given up the idea of re-establishing the Monarchy Avho could refuse to include Philippe d'Orleans and his sons in the measure which banished the Bourbons from France. This is, however, what the members of the Mountain did. ' If this decree passes,' cried Camille Desmoulins, ' France is lost V All the members who sit at the extremity of the right side^ protested most furiously against Buzofs motion ; both Bourdon and Calon were three times called to order, and the President was obliged to declare the sitting suspended. After a long and uproarious scene, the Assembly adjourned the question relating to Philippe-Egalite, and passed the following decree : ' All the members of the family of the Bourbons-Capets now in France, excepting those detained in the Temple, and whose fate the Convention will shortly decide, are ordered to leave the depart- ment of Paris in three days, and French territory, as well as terri- tory occupied by the Republican troops, in eight days.' The (juestion was discussed the same cvenijig at the Jacobin Club. ' Citizens,"' said Camille Desnioiiliiis, 'since the llevolu- ' Moniteur of 1792, No. 353. - As we have explained in Chapter II., the benches on the right of the hall were occuf)ied by the members of the Left, and the extremity of the right side by the members of the Mountain {Mercure Frangaise, Decem- ber 28, 1792). DANTON AND THE 'GREY FRIARS' CLUB 189 tion there has been no more stormy sitting of the Convention than that of to-day.' And in a speech of unusual length for him — for he is anything but an orator — he inveighed against Buzofs proposal : ' To demand the banishment of Egalite, who has contributed so greatly to the Revolution, to demand the banishment of such a sincere friend of liberty, is to ask for his assassination at Coblentz. . . . The Convention should not only be grateful, but just. Should it, however, be more severe for Philippe Egalite than it was towards the traitor Lafayette — should it give this Charles IX. and this Medicis a life of pleasure instead of their due punishment — I fear that it will bring everlasting ignominy upon itself.'^ Marat is also for leaving the Due d'Orleans alone. ' Egalite nuist stop !' he cried,^ and his words are received with applause by the Assembly and the galleries. Real, the old Public Prosecutor of the criminal tribunal of August 17, maintained that even the most extreme principles did not call for Egalite's exile.^ A citizen wearing the uniform of a Lieutenant-Colonel spoke in eulogistic and pompous terms of the virtue and patriotism of Philippe Egalite, and ended his speech with the following words : ' Egalite's party must show itself, and his friends — all his friends — must rally to his defence. That party exists, and will not desert the brave and virtuous defender of Liberty.'^ On the morrow several members of the Moiuitain who are also members of the Jacobin Club returned to the charge with strangely suspicious persistence and ardour. One of the two ^ 'Society of the Friends of Liberty and Equality: Speech of Camille Desmoulins, one of the deputies for Paris, upon the decree for banishing the family of Orleans, and upon the question of excluding Philippe Egalite, a representative of the people, from the National Assembly.' Printed by L. Potier, at Lille, 16 pp. 2 ' I have seen a poster signed by Marat, in which he demands 15,000 francs from the Due d'Orleans as a reward for what he has done for him.' — Beaulieu, ' Essais Historiques,' tome i., p. 445. See also the * Memorial ' by Governor Morris, tome i., p. 2G0. 3 Real, after the death of Danton, whose friend he was, was im- prisoned in the Luxembourg, and kept there until the 9th of Thermidor. * Meeting at the Jacobin Club, December 10, 1792 : Journal des Debuts et de la Correspondance de la Societe dcs Jacobins ; Courrier des Dejjarte- ments, number of December 20. 190 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS Goupilleaus^ — the one who sat in the Constituent Assembly — expressed himself as follows : ' I wish to make a few remarks upon what took place in the Legislature yesterday. You will remember that the minority in the Legislative Assembly once saved the country. It is now the duty of the minority in the Convention to again rescue the Common- wealth. . . . Neither the Constituent nor the Legislative Assembly ever had a more infernal set of officers than those whom we now have in the Convention. . . . Liberty will not perish ; however bad the Convention may be, it will never exterminate Liberty, for the people will manage to take care of themselves. Had the Patriots been at their posts yesterday, there would never have been brought forward a decree against EgriUte, which will send a thrill of in- dignation through the whole of France. Egalite has asked for permission to speak on the subject to-day. . . . We must rally more than ever round the Mountain, and die, if necessary, to save our liberty. . . . Let all true Patriots unite in the defence of l^galite.'^ Drouet, the man of Varennes, is also opposed to any inter- ference with the Due d'Orleans, that Prince and all his family being sacred to him. ' I raise my voice in protest,' he cried ; ' for though the liberty of the people were exiletl, it would 1 Jean Francois Goupilleau, called de Fontenay, member for the Vend{'e in the Constituent Assembly and the Convention, was born at Aprement-sur-Vie on July 25, 1753, and died at Montaigu on October 11, 1H23. He sat in the Convention amongst the Dantonists of the Moun- tain, near his cousin, Philippe Charles Aime Goupilleau, called de Montaigu, member for the Vendee in the Legislative Assembly and the Convention, who was born at Montaigu on November 19, 1749, and died at the same place on July 1, 1823. The lives of these two Conventionalists are strangely confused in the ' Table Alphabetique et Chronologique du Moniteur de 17H9 jusquVi I'an VIII. de la Repnblique,' all the acts and speeches of Goupilleau de Fontenay being attributed to Goupilleau de Montaigu, and vice-versa. This error was perpetuated in the ' Biographie Moderne' (180G), in the 'Vie Politique de tous les Deputes ;i la Convention Nationale,' by Robert (1814), in the 'Biographic des Ilommes Vivants' (1818), in the ' Biographie des Contemporains ' (1830), and in Michaud's 'Biographic Universelle' (183S). The '■Table du Muiuteur ' is, nevertheless, a great and carefully-written work, which the student of Revolutionary history should always have at hand. It was compiled by Alphonse de Beauchamp, the historian of the Vendean war ; Caubriere, one of the authors of the ' Biographie Moderne ' ; and Joseph Giraud, who, after having edited an ultra-radical sheet called the Jiepublicain, during the Revolution, was one of the first editors of the Omstitutionnel. ■^ Meeting at the Jacobin Club on December 17, 1792; Journal des Dibats et de Ddcrels de la Soci^l6 des Jacobins, December 19. DANTON AND THE 'GREY FRIARS' CLUB 191 find sanctuary here. . . . Shall the family of Egalite share the same fate as that of the . , . Where should it find a refuge ? Nowhere. It would therefore be a terrible injustice to condemn it to banishment !'^ The Conseil-General de la Connnune, in which the members of the ' Grey Friars "* predominate, has not confined itself to words, but passed the following resolution at its meeting of the 18th : ' The Conseil-General de la Commune having received petitions from a large number of sections, inviting it to demand from the National Convention the repeal of the law of the l6th instant ; * And considering that in all matters in which the rights of man are violated, or in which good citizens are threatened with unjust exile, all the citizens of the Commune should express their opinion and take energetic measures for the defence of liberty and equality, and for the safety of persons and property ; ' The Procureur de la Commune having spoken, ' The Conseil-General hereby convokes the forty-eight sections for to-morrow, the 19th, at eight o'clock in the morning, to consider the petition of the Section of the Gardes-Fran^aises demanding the repeal of the Decree of December 16.^' In reply to this proclamation the sections sent to the Conseil- General delegates charged with drafting an address to the Convention upon the lines laid down by the Section of the Gardes-Fran^-aises.^ Nearly all demanded the repeal of the Decree pure and simple ; some, however, limited themselves to a request for its suspension until the wishes of the people had been clearly expressed. The majority being in favom* of the former measure, it was adopted, and it was decided that the ^ Meeting at the Jacobin Club on December 17, 1792 : Journal des Dehats et de Decrets de la Societe des Jacobins, DecemJoer 19. 2 Mercure Franqaise, December 22, 1792. 3 Thie Section of the Gardes-Fran9aises had at its meeting of Decem- ber 18 passed the following resolution, which had immediately been com- municated to the municipal body and to the forty-seven other sections : ' When the time for action has come, fine speeches are superfluous. You have heard of the Decree banishing from France the whole family of the Bourbons. This Decree alarms every good citizen. It is impossible to describe to you feelings with which you are yourselves filled ; we will content ourselves with asking the municipality of Paris to appear before the National Convention to-morrow for the purpose of demanding the repeal of the Decree.' 192 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS address should immediately be taken to the Convention by the 144 members of the Conseil-General and the forty-eight Commissioners of sections. At one o'clock the procession, headed by the ^Nlayor,^ jiroceeded to the Convention ; it Avas, however, refused admission on the ground that this was not one of the days set aside for the presentation of petitions.^ Cooped up in the corridors,^ the petitioners broke out into the most insulting language against the Assembly ; their shouts and those of the crowd who accompanied them could be heard in the Convention itself, and the uproar was so great that the sitting had to be suspended for a few moments. Upon the return of the members of the Conseil-General and the delegates of the sections to the Hotel de Ville, Citizen Hebert was the first to speak. On the previous clay he had published in his paper : * The Great Axger of Pere Duchesne concerning tlie Decree xchkh sent PhUippe EgalHe and his xv'ife to Cohlentz ; his advice to the deputies rcho are not yet " Brissotts " to put their heads together and kick out all the jackanapes who howl to the same tune as the xoife of Coco Roland.''^ Citizen Hebert is a strange personage, as careful in his toilet as he is careless in his language. The old check-taker of the Theatre des Varietes bears very little resemblance to the squalid figure that adorns the front page of his newspaper, and under which is the device : / am the 7ral Pere Duchesne. He is almost a dandy — small, slim, and with rather a good-looking face.^ He speaks with facility and in very good style. * Citizens/ he said, ' the voice of the sovereign people has been drowned, your magistrates insulted, and the inalienable rights of man trodden under foot. The National Convention has refused to hear us. ... I Avill not dwell long upon the measures that you liave to adopt. Time presses ; carry your minds back to the Tenth ^ Nicolas Chambon de Mnntanx, formerly head - physician at the Salpctricre, was elected Mayor of Paiis on November 30, 17!)2, by 8,3.>8 votes against 'A,WHi given to Lulier — not Lhuillier, as wrongly given by Mortimer-Ternaux and the other liistoriana of the Revolution. 2 At its Hitting of November t, 1791, the Legislative Assembly had, on the proposal of Quatremere de Quincy, decided that Sundays only were to be devoted to the reading of jietitions. In this the Convention had followed the exara])le of the Legislative Assembly. 3 Jterolut'tom (h Paris, No. 180. * Pere Duchesne, No. 202. '' Charles Brunet, ' Le Pere Duchesne d'Hebert,' p. 38. DANTON AND THE 'GREY FRIARS' CLUB 193 of August. It is in the splendid deeds of that celebrated day that we shall recognise our duties ; our position is the same now as it then was ; our oppressors, it is true, are others, but their tyranny is no less insupportable. I demand that the sections be specially convoked ; that a report of the refusal we have just met with be drawn up, and immediately sent to them, as well as to each of the eighty- three depai-tments, in order that the whole Republic may know how our just demands are treated by those whom we have returned to power.' ^ This motion was received with much applause. A sectional commissioner went farther, asking that a list of all the members of the Convention who had betrayed the interests of the people should be added to the report which was to be sent to the departments. During the debate to which this motion gave rise the Mayor announced that the National Convention had sent an order summoning him to the bar. The whole assembly rose to follow him, and the procession started for the second time. Upon its return to the Hotel de Ville, the Mayor gave an account of the manner in which he had been received by the representatives of the people. The President and several mem- bers having asked him if it was true that he had invited the sections to assemble and give their opinion upon the Decree of the 16th, he had replied that the petition had not been provoked by any one section in particular, but that all the citizens of Paris had simultaneously assembled in their respective sections to vote against the Decree. The General Assembly applauded Chambon's speech ; several members reiterated the demand that the printed report suggested by Hebert should also include the petition of the sections, and the Mayor''s account of his recep- tion, whereupon the Conseil-General made the following order : ' The Conseil-General, wishing to give its constituents a proof of the zeal with which it executes all their orders, and wishing also to give all the citizens of Paris a proof of its Republican sentiments : 'Orders the report of the proceedings of December 19 to be printed, published, and sent to the forty-eight sections.' 1 Minutes of the meeting of the Conseil-General de la Commune of December 19, 1792. At that date Hebert was only a member of the Conseil-General, having been elected on the Tenth of August by the section Bonne-Nouvelle. He was not appointed second deputy for the Procureiir de la Commune until December 22, 1792. Citizen Real — the Comte Real of the Empire — was appointed first deputy on the same day. VOL. I. 13 194 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS Meanwhile the majority in the Convention, adding one more to the already long list of its cowardly acts, rescinded its vote and decided (on Petion's proposal) that ' the execution of the Decree of the 16th concerning the family of the Bourbons should be delayed, and that the consideration of the question should be adjourned until after the trial of the ci-devant King.'^ In the evening crowds gathered in many places ; groups of workmen paraded the streets shouting, ' Vive Eg^aUteT and swearing to shed their last drop of blood for D'Orleans.^ These disturbances were renewed yesterday, and assumed rather a serious character. General meetings were called in several sections in order to discuss the refusal of the Convention to hear the deputies who had presented themselves at the bar on the previous day. Several rumours of plots got afloat. Amongst other news calculated to excite the mob, a report was assidu- ously spread that five or six thousand sacks of corn had been burnt. In the streets a pamphlet entitled 'Adieux de la Citoyenne d'Orleans '' was being sold in large numbers.^ In the evening, in spite of the rain, large crowds continued to form, the Terrasse des Feuillants in particular being, until a very late hour, the scene of much uproar and of noisy demonstrations in honour of Philippe-Egalite, Beaulieu tells the following curious and significant anecdote, which has its proper place here. In the month of October, 1792, when Dumouriez was in Paris, after the Battle of Valmy, the ci-devant Due de Chartres, then General Egalite, was also in the capital. Danton met him somewhere, and reproved him in an amicable way for the free- dom of his language respecting the Sejitember massacres and their organizers. ' Young man,' he said, ' you speak of what you know nothing about. It was I who arranged the Second of September, and what I did I was obliged to do. I ftxirly terrified the mob of Paris, ready to shout, " Vivent Ics Prussiensr I exterminated or frightened the aristocrats. Mho would always have been the enemies of the Revolution, and who would always 1 Sitting of December 19, 1702, Monitcur, No. 3,57. 2 Mercure Franca/ f, December 21, 1792. 2 Coume?" ^/es Z^^^jar/emm^ December 21, 1792. DANTON AND THE 'GREY FRIARS' CLUB 195 have conspired against it. France owes nie thanks, and you, perhaps, more than any one else.' Upon the Due de Chartres expressing his surprise at these words, Danton continued : ' One never knows what may happen. This country is not Jitted for a Republic. Some day it will shout : " Vive le Roi !"' That may be your opportunity, and what I have done will have helped to pave your way and rid it of obstacles. Therefore, young man, serve the Republic well and faithfully ; behave wisely, and be careful what you say."'^ Beaulieu — and no one knows the secrets of the Revolution better than he — thinks this language in Danton's mouth of immense importance. He does not, however, believe that the Due d'Orleans ever seriously dreamt of ascending the throne, and thinks that cowardice alone, and not ambition, is the motive of his conduct. Beaulieu may be right. But though this question is, and perhaps always will be, shrouded in mystery, it is an undoubted fact that since 1789 the worst demagogues have looked upon the Duke as a willing instrument to further their plans ; and even to-day Danton, Marat, Camille Desmoulins, and a large number of the members of the Mountain, diffident concerning the duration of the Republic, are unwilling to let him go, and hold him in reserve until such time as they can seat him on the throne, place in his dishonoured hands a ridiculous sceptre, and satisfy under cover of his usurped rank and tarnished name their greed of power and of gold. 1 M. de Barante, ' Histoire de la Convention Nationale,' tome ii., p. 4 1.7 ; Lamartine, ' Histoire des Girondins ' ; N. Villiaume, ' Histoire de la Revolution Fran9aise,' tome ii., p. 217. CHAPTER XXVIII. THK IMIDXUiiri' ArASS. Tuesday, December 25, 1792. Thk celebration of the fete of Sainte-Genevieve has not been lost upon our municipality;^ profiting by that lesson, it distri- buted copies of the law forbidding nocturnal assemblies, and issued an Order for the closing of all churches on Christmas Eve. This Order was made by the Conseil-General de la Connnune, at its sitting of December 23, after a speech by Chaumetie, which deserves to be reported. General Santerre had just assured the Council that he had taken every ])rccaution for the maintenance of j)ublic order during Christmas night, when Chaumette asked for permission to speak. ' It is not,^ he saiti, ' at such a moment as this, when the c't-ilcvant King, that crowned monster, is still described as the LonPs Anointed, that priests should be allowed to })reside over midnight meetings. Besides, if on the day when the villain in the Temple is brought to the bar to appear before the Sovereign IVople,- the aristocrats should come and say, " AVe have a religion of which we wish to observe the ceremonies " — what could you answer if, on the previous day, you yourselves had allowed a midnight mass to be celebrated .? There is no doubt that the morality of Christ was a pure one ; Jesus loved neither the rich nor the money-lenders, and He told them that it would be easier for them to pass through the eye of a needle than to enter the kingdom of heaven. He hated priests and ])reached equality. " You are," He used to say to His tliscij)les, "all childi-en of oiu- Father/'' In fact, we may say 1 See Chapter XXI r. 2 Louis XVI. was to appear at the bar of the Convention on Wednes- day, Docembor 2(>. THE MIDNIGHT MASS 197 that Jesus was the leader of the sanfi-culottes of Judaea, and I am certain that as such He would have mercilessly prohibited a midnight mass, that remnant of Egyptian orgies.*' Dorat- Cubieres, a municipal officer — a wretch who, to get himself elected to the Conseil-General de la Connnune, declared, in a sectional meeting, ' that his mother had committed a crime in making him a noble, for his father was not one""^ — proposed an amendment suggesting that the midnight mass should be tolerated only on condition that whilst the sacred orgy was being held on one side of the church, the sections should hold a meeting on the other. The Conseil-General took the advice of its Procureur-Syndic, and issued a decree ordering all churches to be closed from five o''clock on Monday afternoon, the 24th, until six o'clock on Tuesday morning, the 25th.^ It was also decided that some municipal officers or members of the Council should visit the different parishes to see that the order was carried out. These measures were approved by a large number of sections, and in particular by those of the Rights of Man, of Gravilliers, and of the Pantheon, in which all the priests' shops were ordered to be closed.^ Protests Avere raised in a few sections only, notably in those of Mauconseil, the Maison Commune, the Louvre, and the Arsenal. That of the Louvre, in a petition drawn up by Marc Etienne Quatremere, requested the Commune to rescind its Decree;* that of the Arsenal openly proclaimed that the men of the Tenth of August wished to attend mass. 1 The Chevalier Michel de Cubieres, known as Dorat-Cubieres, waa bom at Roquemaure on September 27, 1752. Mme. Roland draws the following portrait of him in her ' Memoires ' : ' Cubieres, faithful to the double character of insolence and villainy, so plainly depicted upon his repulsive face, now preaches sans-cidottism as he once sung of the Graces, composes such verses upon Marat as he used to dedicate to Iris, and humbly prostrates himself, though in a cold, bloodless way, before the idol of the hour, be this Tantalus or Venus. What matters it so long as he crawls and earns his bread ? Yesterday it was by writing a sonnet, to-day it is by copying a report or by signing a police order.' This wretch, who wrote the ' Eloge de Marat,' and who called himself 'the poet of the Revolution,' died in Paris on August 23, 1820. '■^ The Courrier des Dipartements, December 26, 17D2. 3 Revolutions de Paris, No. 181. * Marc Etienne Quatremere, a cousin of Quatremere de Quincy, a member of the Right in the Legislative Assembly, and the most cele- 198 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS The gi'eater part of the people, however, heedless of what had been decided in the Commune and the majority of the sections, flocked to the churches last night in every quarter, but ])rincipally in the poorer ones. Where the churches were closed, the armed force was surrounded by immense crowds, the women, who were present in gi-eat numbers, taunting the men with their cowardice and inciting them to break open the doors. In more than one case the members of the Commune were hooted and roughly handled. Before the church of Saint-Severin, and in many other places, arrests were made. At Saint-Eustache mass was celebrated in great pomp before the dames de la Halle, who appeared nowise intimidated by the presence of the municipal officers. Citizen Bugniau, a master-mason, and a member of the Commune, got his face slightly damaged whilst attempting to execute the orders of the Conseil-General, and was obliged to retire from the field. ^ Midnight mass was also celebrated at Saint-Jacques-de-la-Boucherie, Saint-Merry, Saint-Gervais, Saint- Laurent, Saint- Victor, Saint-Medard, and Saint-Marcel. In the Convent des Anelaises the magistrates were also set at defiance. In more churches than one the priests were unwilling to contravene the municipal decree, and their less timorous parishioners were almost obliged to coerce them.^ At Saint -Laurent, at Saint -Meny and at Saint - Germain- TAuxerrois the bells rang out merrily — this time it was not the tocsin, nor a call to revolt, nor the prelude to insurrection and massacre ; it was a call to prayer, peace and the union of souls. The sacred sounds touched the purest and sweetest chords in our heart, awakening reminiscences of those beautiful Christmas brated art critic of his day, was one of those simple citizens of Paris who so courageously proved their fidelity to the Royalist cause during the Revolution. Having in 1703 attracted the attention of the authorities by his excessive liberality to the poor, he was on these proofs denounced as an aristocrat and a Royalist, and executed on January 21, 1794, the first anniversary of the King's death. 1 'Qiielques Souvenirs, on Notes Fideles sur mon Service au Temple, depuis le 8 Decembre, 171)2, jusqu'au 20 Mars, 1703,' by M. Lejntre. 2 Le Patriate Frampia, No. 1,233. In his paper Brissot is obliged to confess that in many parishes the priests were forced to perform the office by the masses of the people. After which he himself affirms that religion went for nothing in this rising, which he styles a Maratic- roligious riot. THE MIDNIGHT MASS 199 nights when with our parents we sat around the hearth, dressed in our best, waiting for the bells to summon us to the illumined church where the infant Jesus lay in His cradle lifting towards His smiling mother and the adoring crowd His little hands filled with forgiveness and peace. I attended mass at Saint-Eustache. Whilst returning home I met some Jacobins shouting, ' Death to the Calotins ! Death to Capet C And I remembered how it was formerly the custom at this same hour for good folks to go from door to door an- nouncing the glad tidings, ' Christ is horn f With the exception of Mortimer-Ternaux, Louis Blanc is the sole historian who has devoted a few lines to this curious episode of Christmas night, but brief as they are, they contain more than one error. ' At Saint-Germain/ he says (tome viii., p. SS), ' some women were on the point of lynching a passer-by whom they mistook for Manuel, because at the sitting of December 30 Manuel had proposed to abolish the fCde des Ruis.' It was, indeed, at the sitting of De- cember 30, 1792, that Manuel made this proposal; it is therefore inexplicable how the women of the pai'ish of Saint-Germain could have owed him a grudge for this on December 25 — that is, five days before his motion was proposed. Louis Blanc might, it is true, have committed this error intentionally in order to prove that on the eve of the King's appearance at the bar of the Convention, Paris was threatened with a Royalist movement which it was necessary to stifle by sending Louis to the scaffold. Do not the lines written a little higher by Louis Blanc point to a desire to make his readers believe in the reality of this imaginary plot.'' 'The friends of the throne and of the altar assembled that night in garrets to chant hymns and burn candles and incense in honour of the King, the Queen and the Dauphin.' In support of his affirmation, he refers his readers to the Revolutions de Paris, No. 181. In the Revolutions de Paris we read : ' There is not much harm in exhibiting dancing puppets, or in performing tricks in the public streets in broad daylight — the children and their nurses must be amused. But to assemble at night in obscure garrets to chant hymns and burn candles and incense in honour of Mary and her Son is a scandalous thing.' Of the King, the Queen a?id the Dauphin not a word is said. Louis Blanc is not sparing of references as foot-notes ; by these examples we may form an opinion of their value. CHAPTER XXIX. DECEMBER 26, 1792. Thttrsdai/, December 27, 1792. Louis XVI. appeared at the bai* of the Convention yesterday for the last time. On the 25th Manuel had suggested that the Inspecteui's de la Salle should take measures to prevent the citizens in the galleries from staying there all night, as had happened on the occasion of Louis'* first appearance at the bar. The Convention, however, passed no resolution on the subject, and the galleries were not evacuated during the night between the 25th and 26th.^ Never- theless I managed to get into the hall, thanks to an old ac- quaintance of mine, one Fran^-ois Poiret, an old servant of M. de Talleyrand and the Comtesse Diane de Polignac, and now one of the ten ushers of the National Convention.^ As early as seven in the morning many of the streets were paraded by patrols commanded by officers who forced all the citizens they came across to follow them, the corporals mean- while entering th* houses and private apartments, dragging citizens from their beds, and obliging them to fall in with the others.^ On the 25th the Section of the Quatre-Nations had issued the following decree : 'Captains of the armed forces are requested to send for such citizens as shall not apj)ear under arms at head -quarters at the stated hour to-morrow, exception to be made only in the cases of public servants and of commissioners of the section.'^ ^ Mercure Fran(}als, December 27, 1 792. 2 Guillotined March 2!), 171)4.. ^ Hevolutions de Paris, No. 181. ♦ Ibid. DECEMBER 26, 1792 201 In spite of these extreme measures, the double row of armed men which was to hne the boulevard and the streets from the Temple to the Cour des Feuillants was not yet formed when Louis left the Temple at half-past nine ; the troops had only then assembled at the different head-quarters with their standards and guns.^ As on December 11, Louis was seated in the Mayor''s carriage with Chambon, the Mayor, Chaumette, the Procureur, and Cou- lombeau, the Secretary of the Commune. The escort was formed of a detachment of cavalry from the Ecole Militaire. It rained heavily, and a high wind was blowing; the windows of the carriage, however, were left down, doubtless in order to satisfy the crowds who wished to see the prisoner. Though held up as a kind of show to his enemies, Louis preserved the most perfect calm during the whole of the journey, taking part with the utmost sangifroid in a conversation that turned upon literary topics, and especially upon a few Latin authors, such as Seneca, Livy and Tacitus.^ His serenity was not even disturbed by an incident that occurred on the boulevards. As the carriage and the cavalry that accompanied it were dashing along, the men stationed at one of the guard-houses thought that the ci-devant King was being carried off, and the gunners made a movement as if to turn their pieces upon the party .^ The journey from the Temple to the Riding-School occupied a quarter of an hour. Louis was led through the cloister and the corridor of the Feuillants into the Conference Hall, where he found his counsel, MM. de Malesherbes, Tronchet, and Deseze, ^ Revolutions de Paris, No. 181. 2 ' Reports laid before the Commune upon the King's Second Journey to the Convention.' ' Whilst the carriage was rolling along between two long lines of armed men,' says Louis Blanc (tome viii., p. 3), ' the ex-Monarch conversed familiarly on literary and historical topics, loilh one of his counsel seated beside himJ Neither Malesherbes nor Tronchet nor Deseze was in the carriage which took the King to the Convention ; he had beside him only enemies, which renders his sang-froid and his serenity still more extraordinary. Can Louis Blanc have wished to diminish the admiration which the ex-Monarch's behaviour at this juncture inspires by making Louis XVL converse with one of his counsel? It is difficult to believe in an involuntary error respecting a fact so formally con- tradicted in official documents, with which Louis Blanc was better acquainted than anyone, and to which he himself frequently refers. 3 Le Courrier des Dejmrtements, December 2[), 17S)2. 202 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS awaiting him, and with wlioni he conversed for about twenty- three minutes. Citizen Treilhard, a member of the Convention, })assing through the hall and hearing the King's defenders employ such words as 'Sire' and ' Majesty ' in speaking to their august client, stopped before them, and said, in a threatening tone, ' What makes you so bold as to utter names which the Conven- tion has proscribed ?' ' Contempt for you and contempt for life !' replied M. de Malesherbes.^ A few minutes later Louis appeared at the bar, accompanied by his three defenders, as well as by the Mayor and the com- mander of the National Guard. The Convention was presided over by M. Defermon, member for Ille-et-Vilaine, who during the whole of the sitting displayed most courageous moderation and noble dignity. M. Deseze read his speech, Avhich lasted nearly three hours. Louis was then taken back to the Conference Hall, whither he was followed by his defenders. Taking M, Deseze in his arms, he embraced him most affectionately ; then, turning to the persons around him, he said : ' He is wet through ; would it not be possible to get him a change of linen at once .'''' Balza, one of the ushers of the Convention, brought a shirt, which the King himself aired before the fire.- Mean while tremendous excitement reigned outside the halj. On the Terrasse des Feuillants the crowd continued to gather in spite of the heavy rain, whilst wretched hags shouted ' Death to Louis P till they were hoarse.^ The crowd in the Place Vendome was still greater. The National Guard was under arms, forming a double line on the right, opposite the Porte des Capucines, and a single line on the other side, where the guns were drawn up. Reliable emissaries mixed with the crowd, saying that if the Convention did not do its duty it would have to be taught it. As an Aide- 1 * Dernieres Annt'es de Louis XVI.,' by M. Hue, who had these details from Malesherbcs himself. It appears that under the Empire Citizen Treilhard, as Councillor and Minister of State, Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour, etc., became reconciled to the use of such words as ' Sire ' and ' Majesty.' 2 Ibid. •* Courrier des Departements, December 29, 1702. DECEMBER 26, 1792 203 de-camp rode across the square, the civic guard stop})ed him, and made energetic representations that the return journey from the Convention to the Temple should be performed at a walking- pace. The Aide-de-camp promised to transmit these wishes to Santerre.^ Meanwhile, the time was slipping away, and the crowd began to grow impatient. It was known that Louis had left the bar nearly an hour ago — why was he not taken back to the Temple ? The strangest rumours began to spread, for the delay was inexplicable. It was caused, as was afterwards known, through compliance with a decree passed by the Assembly, and by the terms of which the minutes of the defence were to be signed by Louis and his counsel. It was two o'clock when the King left the building ; he walked with a firm step and head erect.^ He re-entered the carriage with Chambon, Chaumette, and Coulombeau. This time the journey was performed at a walking pace, in conformity with the desire of the National Guard. During the long itinerary his calm, serene manner did not leave him for a single moment. To Coulombeau, who kept his hat on, he said with a smile : ' The last time you came you had forgotten your hat ; you have been more careful to-day.'^ The conversation having turned upon the hospitals of Paris, he entered into details of the expenses of these establishments, and of the different plans put forward with regard to them. In the course of his observations he expressed a wish that there might be one in each section.* Five o'clock was striking as Louis once more entered the Temple. In the evening his defenders came to see him. He said to M. de Malesherbes : ' You must certainly be convinced now that I was not mistaken from the first, and that my sentence was pronounced before I had been heard.'^ 1 Courrier des DSpartements^ loc. cit. 2 ' He walked with a firm step ... as if he were holding a review of his guards at the Palace of Versailles.' — Revolutions de Paris, No. 181.' 3 ' Report laid before the Commune,' by Coulombeau, on December 27, 1792. * Ibkl. ^ ' Anecdotes relatives a la Mort de Louis XVI.,' by M. de Vaines. The author has taken his narrative from the mouth of M. de Malesherbes, who was incarcerated in the same prison with him in \10i. 204 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS The strength of mind displa^^ed by Louis XVI. during the whole of that day is therefore proved not to have proceeded from a false idea of the fate that awaited him. Whence came this strength, if not from the clearness of his conscience and his deep piety ?'^ In the evening I went to the Palais Royal. Five or six smis- cidottes entered the Cafe du Caveau, and after uttering threats of death against all deputies who hesitated to strike the ; and from July 2J), 1789, to Septem- ber 4, 1 790. 12 From December 7, 1791, to March lo, 1792. THE KING'S DEFENDERS 217 Graves,^ we have a 'Declaration '^ and an ' Address to Citizens,''* in which they refute those accusations brought against the King referring to the period of their ministry. M. Bertrand de Mole- ville, formerly Minister of Marine, has written quite a number of pamphlets ; the last, ' Denunciation to the National Conven- tion of Prevarications committed in the Trial of Louis XVI.,' fully establishes the King's innocence and the baseness of his accusers. Many of those who would have been glad to defend the King before the Convention have written and published their speeches. Amongst these are Malouet, Lally - Tolendal,* Guillaume, Sourdat, and Huet de Guerville. Other brave-hearted men who published defences of Louis XVL are J. B. Dalmas, member for the Ardeche in the Legislative Assembly ; the Chevalier de Rougeville ; M. le Grand ; M. Myevre, of Lyons ; M. TAbbe Corbin, tutor to the first Dauphin ; M. Larocque, Queen's Chamberlain ; M. Riston ; M. Lacroix, Professor of Law at the Lycee ; M. Drappeau, formerly Professor of Elocution at the University of Valence ; M. Bro- chart de Saron, formerly President, and M. Gin, formerly Coun- cillor, of the Parlement of Paris ; M. Pichois ; M. Louis Mazon ; M. Barbier, of Nantes ; M. Pulcherante ; M. de Foulaines ; M. Flecheux ; M. Dugour ; M. d'Yvrande d'Herville ; M. FAbbe de Salignac ; M. Hubert-Parvillers, Judge of the Civil Tribunal of Saint-Quentin ; and MM. Failly, Lauraguais, and Mazo d'Entraigues. Some of these productions are of great length and importance. Such is, for instance, the ' Memoire Justificatif pour Louis XVI.,'' by A. J. Dugour, a work of no less than 250 pages. Longer still is the ' Defense Preliminaire de Louis XVI.,'' by M. de Foulaines, which was published, in seven parts, during the 1 From March 10 to May 8, 1702. 2 ' Declaration de M. Louis de Narbonne dans le Proces du Roi.' 3 From December 7, 1791, to March 10, 1792. * The ' Plaidoj^er du Comte de Lally-Tolendal pour Louis XVL' is full of deep feeling, and rises in parts to heights of eloquence. The author had taken for his epigraph these lines from Plutarch : ' Agistrate threw him- self upon his son's body, and, kissing it tenderly, said^ " O my son ! It is the excess of thy gentleness and goodness, it is thy great indulgence and mercy, which has ruined thee and undone us too." ' 218 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS month of December. The manuscript of each part was sub- mitted to M. de Malesherbes before being sent to the printer. The work contains the text of all the resolutions relating to Louis XVI. moved at the Jacobin Club by members of the Convention since the beginning of the trial, and which the Journal des Dehats of the club itself has given in a very incom- plete form. It was the Abbe Emery, formerly director of the seminary of Saint-Sulpice, who hit upon the idea of having these motions printed and published immediately after each sitting of the club, in order that the votes of the authors of such motions might be challenged in the Convention as those of persons prejudiced against the King. As for pamphlets published anonymously, I have more than a hundred on my table. Their pages, composed in haste and written with a feverish hand, have been printed by men who risk their liberty, and perhaps their life. Will they save that of the King ? Alas ! that is scarcely to be hoped. Some of the matter has found its way into the Temple, and has afforded the martyr King gi-eat consolation. He will thus have heard, even in the retirement of his cell, mingled with the revolutionary cries of hatred, cries of love and loyalty from honest Christian France ! CHAPTER XXXIII. LOUIS XVI. AXD THE WAR. Saturday, January 5, 1793. At the sitting of January 2, the Girondist Carra, editor of the Annates Patriotiqiies, attempted to reply to the speech delivered by Deseze for the defence. In this harangue, full of gross invective and gratuitous insults, the deputy for Saone-et-Loire was obliged to admit that proofs were wanting to establish the principal count in the charge, that of treason. ' How,' he cried, ' does the defender of Louis Capet explain his client's innocence with regard to the coalition of foreign despots? By the fictitious correspondence which Montmorin and Lessart took care to leave in the pigeon-holes of the Foreign Office, they having for a long time expected an invasion there, and prepared a plan for making the people believe that neither Louis nor his Ministers have taken part in that coalition ; but the true and secret correspondence has either been hidden in walls, burnt, or buried.'^ According, therefore, to Carra's own confession, all the docu- ments in the Foreign Office helped to establish the King's innocence. But for Carra and his colleagues these documents, although lying before them, have no existence, the only docu- ments they recognise being those which must have been hidden in walls, burnt, or buried. The iron cupboard has been dis- covered, the documents hidden in the walls of the Tuileries have been found, and not a single one contradicts the correspondence left behind by MM. de Montmorin and de Lessart. Besides, 1 Journal des Debats et des Decrets, No. 107. 220 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS are not the facts in this case more eloquent than all revealed or secret documents ? If Louis XVI. had had the intentions imputed to him, if he had wished to introduce foreign armies into France, he had simply to precipitate us into a Avar. War would have rendered inevitable such an alliance as, according to his accusers, was to his tastes and his interests ; he would then have had the double advantage of preserving his popularity whilst entering into relations with foreign Powers, and of introducing into France the armies which would have enabled him to re-establish his rights and his authority. Is this what he did ? War was declared, it is true, but by whom ? By the Legisla- tive Assembly — by those who in that Assembly fought most fiercely against the King's authority and rights. It was Isnard who already on November 29, 1791, cried: 'War is the only recourse left you,' and who, on January 5, 1792, flung the following incendiary words at the excited Assembly: ^War is at our gates — a war which is indispensable to the consummation of the Hevolution. The opportunity for embarking upon such a war is too valuable to be missed. A free France is about to enter into combat with an enslaved Europe. We must under- take this war.'^ It was Vergniaud who, on December 27, 1791, proposed an Address to the French^ in which he strongly advocated a war, declaring that it was the duty of France to propagate, sword in hand, the principles of the Revolution.^ It was Brissot who, at the sitting of December 29, delivered a speech that created a sensation throughout the whole of Europe, and in which these words occurred : ' Therefore war is necessary ; France must undertake it for its own honour. At the present moment war would be a national blessing, and the only calamity to be feared is that it may be averted.'^ It was Gensonne who, at the sitting of January 14, 1792, cried : ' Tell the King that war is necessary, that public opinion desires it, and that the safety of the Em])ire demands it.'* It was a Di})lomatic Conunittee, in which Brissot and his friends were predominant, that persuaded the iVssembly to pass a decree on ^ Moniteur for 1792, No. 0. » IhUl.^ January 11, 17.02. 3 Ibul. for 1791, No8. 304. and 365. ■» IhUL for 1792, No. 15. LOUIS XVI. AND THE WAR 221 January 25, 1792, which made war inevitable. In this decree it was said that if the Emperor of Germany had not given the nation full and complete sati.sfaction before March 1 next his silence or any evasive and dilatory reply would be looked upon as a declaration of war.^ It was Dumouriez who, appointed to the Ministry of Foreion Affairs by the Girondist party, pro- ceeded to the Jacobin Club on March 14, the day before he entered on his duties,^ and, waving a red cap, announced, amidst gi'eat applause, that war was not far off. Lastly, it was the Legislative Assembly that at its sitting of April 20, 1792, declared war against the Emperor of Germany. It was therefore — and nothing is clearer — the Assembly and the Brissot party who desired this war^ to which the King was so much opposed.* When he was compelled to submit to it, and when, before the deputies who had forced it upon him, he 1 Moniteur for 1792, No. 26. 2 General Dumouriez was Minister of Foreign Affairs from March 15 to June 13, 1792. 3 See Taine's 'Revolution,' tome ii., p. 129, etc. ; Masson's 'Departe- ment des Affaires Etrangeres pendant la Revolution,' ch. ii., iii., and iv. ; and our ' Legende des Girondius,' ch, viii. * Of this there is no possible doubt. See the ' Memoires du Marquis de Bouille,' ' written,' according to M. Barriere, ' with a soldier's simplicity and the veracity of an honest man.' On p. 309 he says : ' On Septem- ber 12, 1791, I had been sent for by the Emperor Leopold . . . and I then took the liberty of asking His Majesty whether he was informed of the real intentions of the King. He said he was ; he knew that that Monarch was averse to violent measures. ... I was certain that after the conference of Pilnitz the Emperor would not have agreed to this pacific and extremely reasonable plan unless he had consulted Louis XVI., who had always desired some arrangement and the employment of negotiations rather than more violent measures.' He further says, on the same page : ' The refugees were desirous of making an attack upon Strasburg, in which city they relied upon friends who would have opened the gates. The King, who was informed of the plan, commanded, and even begged, them not to carry it out, and not to commit any act of violence. To this effect he sent the Baron de Viomenil and the Chevalier de Coigny to the Princes, his brothers, to express to them his disapproval of the arming of the French nobilitj', to which the Emperor also strongly objected.' And, further, on p. 312 : ' The Emperor, after the acceptance of the Con- stitution by the King, had again received the Ambassador of France, whom he had previously forbidden to appear at his Court. He was even the first to admit into his ports vessels flying the national colours. The Courts of Madrid, St. Petersburg, and Stockholm were the only ones which at that moment withdrew their Ambassadors from Paris. All these details help to prove that the views of the Emperor Leopold were for peace, and that they were formed under the influence of Louis XVI.' 222 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS uttered these words, 'According to the terms of the Conven- tion it is my duty to formally propose a war against the King of Hungary and Bohemia,' his eyes filled with tears.^ It is a well-known fact that in a State Council held in the month of April last he expressed himself most strongly against any war.- He even demanded (what he had never done before at any Council meeting) that the separate and signed consent of each of his Ministers should be handed to him, so that he himself should be free of all responsibility before the nation and posterity.^ On this point, too, we have the admission of his bitterest foes, of Brissot himself, who on January 9, 1792, wrote in the Patriate Fram^a'is : ' " We do not want an offensive war,"" say some misled Patriots, " because the Court demands it." The Court did indeed demand it, or appeared to do so for a moment ; but it has really never desired it, and desires it to-day less than ever. Such is the sense of those cleverly-worded messages which have been sent to the National Assembly in order to prevent it from adopting a vigorous policy/ Before April 20, the date of the declaration of war, there was no pretext for the pretended treason of Louis XVI. ; let us see whether such pretext Mas found between April 20 and the Tenth of August. Mallet du Pan, the bravest and wisest of our journalists, having resolved at the end of April to give up the editorship of the Mercure de France and to leave the kingdom, Louis XVI., by Malouefs advice, took advantage of this to ask M. Mallet to go to Vienna, Berlin, and Coblentz in order to acquaint his brothers, as well as the Emperor and the King of Prussia, with his intentions and views respecting the war and its consequences. Mallet du l*an left Paris on May 21 with instructions drawn up by Malouet and coiTected by the King, and bearing a ' Memoi re "■ which, though written by himself, liud been revised by I^ouis XVI. and entirely a])proved by him.^ Although these 1 ' Momoires Tires des Papiers d'un Homme d'Etat,' tome i., p. 333. ^ ' Memoires de Mme. Campan,' tome ii., p. 222. 3 ' Lettre de Servan ii Mallet du Pan,' in tome ii. of the ' Memoires de Malouet,' second edition. Servan was Minister of War from May 10 to September 25, 17l>2. * 'Memoires de Malouet,' tome ii., p. 210, and 'Memoires et Corre- spondance du Mallet du Pan,' tome i., p. 208, etc. LOUIS XVI. AND THE WAR 223 documents were not seen by the friends of Mallet du Pan, they have it from a reliable source that the ideas and wishes he was about to lay before the Emperor Francis 1,^ and King Frederick William in the name of Louis XVI. were in full conformity with his own principles. No one had a greater honor of war, no one had made greater efforts to save France from such a curse at home or abroad.'^ No one, on the other hand, was more alive to the necessity of giving France a constitutional government; a partisan of mixed governments and of limited monarchies,^ he was one of those who had always said with Malouet : ' There can be no stability in any absolute govern- ment that succeeds the present Revolution."'^ The following is the substance of the instructions given to the King^s Envoy, particulars of which I received from the Abbe Morellet, to whom M. de Malesherbes has frequently spoken about them : 'To urge upon Monsieur, upon the Comte d'Artois, and the French refugees the desirability of not allowing the present war by any act of theirs to lose its character of a foreign war can'ied on between one Power and another ; to intimate to them that in any case the King would never allow them to enter France with the hostile armies, either as auxiliaries or at the head of separate forces.^ ' To obtain from the Courts of Vienna and Berlin a formal declaration that they had no intention of destroying the integrity of the kingdom, that they were ready to conclude a 1 The Emperor Leopold II., the brother of Marie Antoinette, had died on March 2, 1792. The eldest of his sixteen children succeeded him, by the title of Francis I., and reigned for forty-three years, from 1792 to 1835, 2 In the Mercure de France, December, 1791, No. 51, Mallet du Pan wrote : ' I separate myself from the band of those who invoke war at any price ; it is impossible for a true friend of the Monarchy to look for- ward to such war without apprehension.' And in the first number of January, 1792, we find : ' I have said, and I shall not cease to repeat what facts will soon repeat more energetically still, that the war will com- plete the dissolution of the Monarchy.' 3 See Sainte-Beuve's remarkable and judicious article on Mallet du Pan in his ' Causeries du Lundi,' tome iv. * ' Memoires et Correspondance de Mallet du Pan,' tome i., p. 282, ^ 'Memoires de Malouet,' tome ii., p. 210. 224 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS peace, but that they could only treat with the King, and that it was therefore necessary to restore him his full liberty .'^ 'V^^len Louis XVI. gave these instructions to IMallet du Pan in May last, he was certainly not inviting a foreign enemy into France. Those who had already called them here in the month of April were the King's enemies, the men who had involved us in a war — in spite of Louis X\'I., be it remembered — and who had done so with the idea — nay, the hope — that our troops mijrht be beaten. Was it not their leader, was it not Brissot, the Republican, who openly declared that when he had advocated war it was with the conviction that the foreign troops would invade our territory as conquerors, and that our defeat would be the signal for the fall of the Monarchy "i ' It was the abolition of the IVIonarchy that I had in view when declaring war,'' wrote Brissot on October 4 last in a letter ' To all the Republicans of France concerning the Jacobin Club in Paris.' ' Men of sense understood me when on December 30, 1791, allaying Robespierre's fears of treason, I said : " / have only one feai\ and that is that zee shall not he betrayed.'''' We want to be betrayed — our safety lies in that — for there is still a good deal of poison in the bosom of France, and strong explosions are required to remove it.' Brissot and his friends, to whom power did not seem too dearly bought even at the price of blood and national defeat, were at first admirably served. The opening of the campaign was marked by two serious reverses at Mons and at Tournay.- It was in the face of this situation, for which he was not re- sponsible, that Louis XVI., interposing between the hostile armies and his kingdom, asked the King of Prussia and the Emperor to distinguish between the nation and the factionists, and, whatever happened, to respect the integrity of our territory. Every good Frencliman must be grateful to him for liaving used the remnant of his inHuence for the good of his country. Poor France ! Her Patriots are men like Brissot and Carra — Brissot, who wished to ])lace the Duke of York u])on the French ' ' Memoires et Correspondance de Mallet du Pan,' tome i., p. 282, etc. ^ April 2H, 1792. LOUIS XVI. AND THE WAR 225 throne ;^ Carra, who both in his paper and at the Jaco})in Club proposed to place the crown of France upon the head of the Duke of Brunswick.2 The country's enemy is said to be Louis XVI. ! Louis XVI., whose heart has never beaten except for the happiness of his people and the glory of his country ! Is it not he who by great perseverance has raised our navy to its present state of efficiency and enabled it to carry the French flag victoriously through the seas of the world ? Was it not by his orders that important works were carried out in the ports of Agde, Port-Vendres, Bayonne, la Rochelle, Rochefort, Lorient and Brest, and that at Cherbourg were commenced those mag- nificent works thrown out as a defiance to England ?^ On the eve of the Revolution had he not placed France at the head of European nations, and was it not he who in 1787 put a stop to the war between Russia and Turkey ? Were not the following words uttered in the English House of Commons in January, 1787, by the illustrious Fox : ' From St. Petersburg to Lisbon the French Court rules all the Cabinets of Europe with the ex- ception of that of Vienna ' ? And was it not the clever as well as energetic policy of the King which had even some years before caused Lord Chatham to say, not in the House of Commons, but in the Privy Council : ' England will never enjoy the supremacy of the sea and of commerce as long as the Bourbon dynasty exists "■ ?'^ If the King's trial lasts for another fortnight, and if on January 20, 1793, Louis XVI. is still at the bar of the Con- vention, will he not be able to say to his judges : ' Ten years ago — on January 20, 1783 — I signed the preliminaries of peace ^ 'Memoires de Barere,' edited by Carnot and David d' Angers, tome ii., pp. 43-45. ^ Meeting of the Jacobin Club on January 4, 1792. See the explana- tions given by Carra himself in the Annales Patriotiqiies of January 9 ; see also Revolutions de Paris, No. 159. 3 In his correspondence with Washington, Governor Morris tells us that in 1792 the French Patriots offered England, as a price for her neutrality in the war between France and the Emperor, the cession of Tabago, the extension of the treaty of commerce, and the destruction of the works at Cherbourg. ' Thus,' adds the translator of Morris, 'it was Louis XVI., who had built the port of Cherbourg, who was accused of connivance with the foreign foe, whilst those who claimed the exclusive right to be called Patriots proposed to Eaglaud the destruction of that port.' * ' Esprit de M. Pitt,' by liuneau de BoisgermaiQ. VOL. I, 15 226 THE DIARY OF A CITIZEN OF PARIS with England at Versailles, forcing the natural enemy of France to recognise the independence of the United States, to return the captured colonies to Holland, and Minorca and Florida to Spain. I further compelled her to strike out from the Treaty of Utrecht the clause relating to Dunkirk, and to cede to France the island of Tabago, the river Senegal and its dependencies, Forts Saint Louis, Podoc, Galam, Arquin and Portandick on the coast of Africa, and in India the districts of Valanour and Bahour and the territories bordering upon Karikal *■ ? ' The Letter from Louis XVI. to his Brothers/ from which we have already had occasion to quote (see Chapter XXVI.), and the sincerity of which cannot be impugned, since it was intended to be kept secret, and was, as a matter of fact, not published until 1 835, leaves no doubt concerning the King's feelings with regard to the inter- vention of foreign arms. We submit the following passages : ' Force can only be employed by foreign arms, and only introduced under pretence of war. Can a King be allowed to carry war into his own States .'' Is not the remedy worse than the evil ? I know that there is an idea of raising immense forces in order to render re- sistance impossible, and thus prevent bloodshed ; but has the state of the kingdom and the vested interests of those who are now in power been taken into consideration .'' All the leaders, that is to say, those who are able to influence the people, will think they risk too much by surrender ; they will never believe that their crimes will be pardoned or forgotten, and the offer of an amnesty would scarcely reassure them. On the contrary, they will think themselves able to make better terms sword in hand than in a bloodless sur- render. They will press into their service the National Guards and other armed bodies, and gain their attachment by calling upon them to defend the cause of the people and to resist its enemies. They will even take the offensive by throwing themselves upon the aris- tocrats in order to make the parties more divided ; and when this example has first been given in Paris and by the Assembly, will it not be followed throu