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diff --git a/old/cm50b10.txt b/old/cm50b10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0ee44a9 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/cm50b10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2381 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Memoirs of Marie Antoinette, v4 +#4 in our series by Madam Campan +#50 in our series Historic Court Memoirs + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. 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We have seen +the King of Sweden and Joseph II. at Versailles. The Grand Duke of +Russia (afterwards Paul I.), son of Catherine II., and the Princess of +Wurtemberg, his wife, likewise resolved to visit France. They travelled +under the titles of the Comte and Comtesse du Nord. They were presented +on the 20th of May, 1782. The Queen received them with grace and +dignity. On the day of their arrival at Versailles they dined in private +with the King and Queen. + +The plain, unassuming appearance of Paul I. pleased Louis XVI. He spoke +to him with more confidence and cheerfulness than he had spoken to Joseph +II. The Comtesse du Nord was not at first so successful with the Queen. +This lady was of a fine height, very fat for her age, with all the German +stiffness, well informed, and perhaps displaying her acquirements with +rather too much confidence. When the Comte and Comtesse du Nord were +presented the Queen was exceedingly nervous. She withdrew into her +closet before she went into the room where she was to dine with the +illustrious travellers, and asked for a glass of water, confessing "she +had just experienced how much more difficult it was to play the part of a +queen in the presence of other sovereigns, or of princes born to become +so, than before courtiers." She soon recovered from her confusion, and +reappeared with ease and confidence. The dinner was tolerably cheerful, +and the conversation very animated. + +Brilliant entertainments were given at Court in honour of the King of +Sweden and the Comte du Nord. They were received in private by the King +and Queen, but they were treated with much more ceremony than the +Emperor, and their Majesties always appeared to me to be very, cautious +before these personages. However, the King one day asked the Russian +Grand Duke if it were true that he could not rely on the fidelity of any +one of those who accompanied him. The Prince answered him without +hesitation, and before a considerable number of persons, that he should +be very sorry to have with him even a poodle that was much attached to +him, because his mother would take care to have it thrown into the Seine, +with a stone round its neck, before he should leave Paris. This reply, +which I myself heard, horrified me, whether it depicted the disposition +of Catherine, or only expressed the Prince's prejudice against her. + +The Queen gave the Grand Duke a supper at Trianon, and had the gardens +illuminated as they had been for the Emperor. The Cardinal de Rohan very +indiscreetly ventured to introduce himself there without the Queen's +knowledge. Having been treated with the utmost coolness ever since his +return from Vienna, he had not dared to ask her himself for permission to +see the illumination; but he persuaded the porter of Trianon to admit him +as soon as the Queen should have set off for Versailles, and his Eminence +engaged to remain in the porter's lodge until all the carriages should +have left the chateau. He did not keep his word, and while the porter +was busy in the discharge of his duty, the Cardinal, who wore his red +stockings and had merely thrown on a greatcoat, went down into the +garden, and, with an air of mystery, drew up in two different places to +see the royal family and suite pass by. + +Her Majesty was highly offended at this piece of boldness, and next day +ordered the porter to be discharged. There was a general feeling of +disgust at the Cardinal's conduct, and of commiseration towards the +porter for the loss of his place. Affected at the misfortune of the +father of a family, I obtained his forgiveness; and since that time I +have often regretted the feeling which induced me to interfere. The +notoriety of the discharge of the porter of Trianon, and the odium that +circumstance would have fixed upon the Cardinal, would have made the +Queen's dislike to him still more publicly known, and would probably have +prevented the scandalous and notorious intrigue of the necklace. + +The Queen, who was much prejudiced against the King of Sweden, received +him very coldly. + + [Gustavus III., King of Sweden, travelled in France under the title + of Comte d'Haga. Upon his accession to the throne, he managed the + revolution which prostrated the authority of the Senate with equal + skill, coolness, and courage. He was assassinated in 1792, at a + masked ball, by Auckarstrum.--NOTE BY THE EDITOR.] + +All that was said of the private character of that sovereign, his +connection with the Comte de Vergennes, from the time of the Revolution +of Sweden, in 1772, the character of his favourite Armfeldt, and the +prejudices of the monarch himself against the Swedes who were well +received at the Court of Versailles, formed the grounds of this dislike. +He came one day uninvited and unexpected, and requested to dine with the +Queen. The Queen received him in the little closet, and desired me to +send for her clerk of the kitchen, that she might be informed whether +there was a proper dinner to set before Comte d'Haga, and add to it if +necessary. The King of Sweden assured her that there would be enough for +him; and I could not help smiling when I thought of the length of the +menu of the dinner of the King and Queen, not half of which would have +made its appearance had they dined in private. The Queen looked +significantly at me, and I withdrew. In the evening she asked me why I +had seemed so astonished when she ordered me to add to her dinner, saying +that I ought instantly to have seen that she was giving the King of +Sweden a lesson for his presumption. I owned to her that the scene had +appeared to me so much in the bourgeois style, that I involuntarily +thought of the cutlets on the gridiron, and the omelette, which in +families in humble circumstances serve to piece out short commons. She +was highly diverted with my answer, and repeated it to the King, who also +laughed heartily at it. + +The peace with England satisfied all classes of society interested in the +national honour. The departure of the English commissary from Dunkirk, +who had been fixed at that place ever since the shameful peace of 1763 as +inspector of our navy, occasioned an ecstasy of joy. + + [By the Treaty of Utrecht (1713) it was stipulated that the + fortifications and port of Dunkirk should be destroyed. By the + Treaty of Paris (1763) a commissary was to reside at Dunkirk to see + that no attempt was made to break this treaty. This stipulation was + revoked by the Peace of Versailles, in 1783.--see DYER'S "Modern + Europe," 1st edition, vol. i., pp. 205-438 and 539.] + +The Government communicated to the Englishman the order for his departure +before the treaty was made public. But for that precaution the populace +would have probably committed some excess or other, in order to make the +agent of English power feel the effects of the resentment which had +constantly increased during his stay at that port. Those engaged in +trade were the only persons dissatisfied with the treaty of 1783. That +article which provided for, the free admission of English goods +annihilated at one blow the trade of Rouen and the other manufacturing +towns throughout the kingdom. The English swarmed into Paris. A +considerable number of them were presented at Court. The Queen paid them +marked attention; doubtless she wished them to distinguish between the +esteem she felt for their noble nation and the political views of the +Government in the support it had afforded to the Americans. Discontent +was, however, manifested at Court in consequence of the favour bestowed +by the Queen on the English noblemen; these attentions were called +infatuations. This was illiberal; and the Queen justly complained of +such absurd jealousy. + +The journey to Fontainebleau and the winter at Paris and at Court were +extremely brilliant. The spring brought back those amusements which the +Queen began to prefer to the splendour of fetes. The most perfect +harmony subsisted between the King and Queen; I never saw but one cloud +between them. It was soon dispelled, and the cause of it is perfectly +unknown to me. + +My father-in-law, whose penetration and experience I respected greatly, +recommended me, when he saw me placed in the service of a young queen, to +shun all kinds of confidence. "It procures," said he, "but a very +fleeting, and at the same time dangerous sort of favour; serve with zeal +to the best of your judgment, but never do more than obey. Instead of +setting your wits to work to discover why an order or a commission which +may appear of consequence is given to you, use them to prevent the +possibility of your knowing anything of the matter." I had occasion to +act on this wise advice. One morning at Trianon I went into the Queen's +chamber; there were letters lying upon the bed, and she was weeping +bitterly. Her tears and sobs were occasionally interrupted by +exclamations of "Ah! that I were dead!--wretches! monsters! What have I +done to them?" I offered her orange-flower water and ether. "Leave me," +said she, "if you love me; it would be better to kill me at once." At +this moment she threw her arm over my shoulder and began weeping afresh. +I saw that some weighty trouble oppressed her heart, and that she wanted +a confidant. I suggested sending for the Duchesse de Polignac; this she +strongly opposed. I renewed my arguments, and her opposition grew +weaker. I disengaged myself from her arms, and ran to the antechamber, +where I knew that an outrider always waited, ready to mount and start at +a moment's warning for Versailles. I ordered him to go full speed, and +tell the Duchesse de Polignac that the Queen was very uneasy, and desired +to see her instantly. The Duchess always had a carriage ready. In less +than ten minutes she was at the Queen's door. I was the only person +there, having been forbidden to send for the other women. Madame de +Polignac came in; the Queen held out her arms to her, the Duchess rushed +towards her. I heard her sobs renewed and withdrew. + +A quarter of an hour afterwards the Queen, who had become calmer, rang to +be dressed. I sent her woman in; she put on her gown and retired to her +boudoir with the Duchess. Very soon afterwards the Comte d'Artois +arrived from Compiegne, where he had been with the King. He eagerly +inquired where the Queen was; remained half an hour with her and the +Duchess; and on coming out told me the Queen asked for me. I found her +seated on the couch by the side of her friend; her features had resumed +their usual cheerful and gracious appearance. She held out her hand to +me, and said to the Duchess, "I know I have made her so uncomfortable +this morning that I must set her poor heart at ease." She then added, +"You must have seen, on some fine summer's day, a black cloud suddenly +appear and threaten to pour down upon the country and lay it waste. The +lightest wind drives it away, and the blue sky and serene weather are +restored. This is just the image of what has happened to me this +morning." She afterwards told me that the King would return from +Compiegne after hunting there, and sup with her; that I must send for her +purveyor, to select with him from his bills of fare all such dishes as +the King liked best; that she would have no others served up in the +evening at her table; and that this was a mark of attention that she +wished the King to notice. The Duchesse de Polignac also took me by the +hand, and told me how happy she was that she had been with the Queen at a +moment when she stood in need of a friend. I never knew what could have +created in the Queen so lively and so transient an alarm; but I guessed +from the particular care she took respecting the King that attempts had +been made to irritate him against her; that the malice of her enemies had +been promptly discovered and counteracted by the King's penetration and +attachment; and that the Comte d'Artois had hastened to bring her +intelligence of it. + +It was, I think, in the summer of 1787, during one of the Trianon +excursions, that the Queen of Naples--[Caroline, sister of Marie +Antoinette.]--sent the Chevalier de Bressac to her Majesty on a secret +mission relative to a projected marriage between the Hereditary Prince, +her son, and Madame, the King's daughter; in the absence of the lady of +honour he addressed himself to me. Although he said a great deal to me +about the close confidence with which the Queen of Naples honoured him, +and about his letter of credit, I thought he had the air of an +adventurer.--[He afterwards spent several years shut up in the Chateau de +l'Oeuf.]--He had, indeed, private letters for the Queen, and his +mission was not feigned; he talked to me very rashly even before his +admission, and entreated me to do all that lay in my power to dispose the +Queen's mind in favour of his sovereign's wishes; I declined, assuring +him that it did not become me to meddle with State affairs. +He endeavoured, but in vain, to prove to me that the union contemplated +by the Queen of Naples ought not to be looked upon in that light. + +I procured M. de Bressac the audience he desired, but without suffering +myself even to seem acquainted with the object of his mission. The Queen +told me what it was; she thought him a person ill-chosen for the +occasion; and yet she thought that the Queen, her sister, had done wisely +in not sending a man worthy to be avowed,--it being impossible that what +she solicited should take place. I had an opportunity on this occasion, +as indeed on many others, of judging to what extent the Queen valued and +loved France and the dignity of our Court. She then told me that Madame, +in marrying her cousin, the Duc d'Angouleme, would not lose her rank as +daughter of the Queen; and that her situation would be far preferable to +that of queen of any other country; and that there was nothing in Europe +to be compared to the Court of France; and that it would be necessary, +in order to avoid exposing a French Princess to feelings of deep regret, +in case she should be married to a foreign prince, to take her from the +palace of Versailles at seven years of age, and send her immediately to +the Court in which she was to dwell; and that at twelve would be too +late; for recollections and comparisons would ruin the happiness of all +the rest of her life. The Queen looked upon the destiny of her sisters +as far beneath her own; and frequently mentioned the mortifications +inflicted by the Court of Spain upon her sister, the Queen of Naples, and +the necessity she was under of imploring the mediation of the King of +France. + +She showed me several letters that she had received from the Queen of +Naples relative to her differences with the Court of Madrid respecting +the Minister Acton. She thought him useful to her people, inasmuch as he +was a man of considerable information and great activity. In these +letters she minutely acquainted her Majesty with the nature of the +affronts she had received, and represented Mr. Acton to her as a man whom +malevolence itself could not suppose capable of interesting her otherwise +than by his services. She had had to suffer the impertinences of a +Spaniard named Las Casas, who had been sent to her by the King, her +father-in-law, to persuade her to dismiss Mr. Acton from the business of +the State, and from her intimacy. She complained bitterly to the Queen, +her sister, of the insulting proceedings of this charge d'affaires, whom +she told, in order to convince him of the nature of the feelings which +attached her to Mr. Acton, that she would have portraits and busts of him +executed by the most eminent artists of Italy, and that she would then +send them to the King of Spain, to prove that nothing but the desire to +retain a man of superior capacity had induced her to bestow on him the +favour he enjoyed. This Las Casas dared to answer her that it would be +useless trouble; that the ugliness of a man did not always render him +displeasing; and that the King of Spain had too much experience not to +know that there was no accounting for the caprices of a woman. + +This audacious reply filled the Queen of Naples with indignation, and her +emotion caused her to miscarry on the same day. In consequence of the +mediation of Louis XVI. the Queen of Naples obtained complete +satisfaction, and Mr. Acton continued Prime Minister. + +Among the characteristics which denoted the goodness of the Queen, her +respect for personal liberty should have a place. I have seen her put up +with the most troublesome importunities from people whose minds were +deranged rather than have them arrested. Her patient kindness was put to +a very disagreeable trial by an ex-councillor of the Bordeaux Parliament, +named Castelnaux; this man declared himself the lover of the Queen, and +was generally known by that appellation. For ten successive years did he +follow the Court in all its excursions. Pale and wan, as people who are +out of their senses usually are, his sinister appearance occasioned the +most uncomfortable sensations. During the two hours that the Queen's +public card parties lasted, he would remain opposite her Majesty. He +placed himself in the same manner before her at chapel, and never failed +to be at the King's dinner or the dinner in public. At the theatre he +invariably seated himself as near the Queen's box as possible. He always +set off for Fontainebleau or St. Cloud the day before the Court, and when +her Majesty arrived at her various residences, the first person she met +on getting out of her carriage was this melancholy madman, who never +spoke to any one. When the Queen stayed at Petit Trianon the passion of +this unhappy man became still more annoying. He would hastily swallow a +morsel at some eating-house, and spend all the rest of the day, even when +it rained, in going round and round the garden, always walking at the +edge of the moat. The Queen frequently met him when she was either alone +or with her children; and yet she would not suffer any violence to be +used to relieve her from this intolerable annoyance. Having one day +given M. de Seze permission to enter Trianon, she sent to desire he would +come to me, and directed me to inform that celebrated advocate of M. de +Castelnaux's derangement, and then to send for him that M. de Seze might +have some conversation with him. He talked to him nearly an hour, and +made considerable impression upon his mind; and at last M. de Castelnaux +requested me to inform the Queen positively that, since his presence was +disagreeable to her, he would retire to his province. The Queen was very +much rejoiced, and desired me to express her full satisfaction to M. de +Seze. Half an hour after M. de Seze was gone the unhappy madman was +announced. He came to tell me that he withdrew his promise, that he had +not sufficient command of himself to give up seeing the Queen as often as +possible. This new determination: was a disagreeable message to take to +her Majesty but how was I affected at hearing her say, "Well, let him +annoy me! but do not let him be deprived of the blessing of freedom." + + [On the arrest of the King and Queen at Varennes, this unfortunate + Castelnaux attempted to starve himself to death. The people in + whose house he lived, becoming uneasy at his absence, had the door + of his room forced open, when he was found stretched senseless on + the floor. I do not know what became of him after the 10th of + August.--MADAME CAMPAN.] + +The direct influence of the Queen on affairs during the earlier years +of the reign was shown only in her exertions to obtain from the King a +revision of the decrees in two celebrated causes. It was contrary to her +principles to interfere in matters of justice, and never did she avail +herself of her influence to bias the tribunals. The Duchesse de Praslin, +through a criminal caprice, carried her enmity to her husband so far as +to disinherit her children in favour of the family of M. de Guemenee. +The Duchesse de Choiseul, who, was warmly interested in this affair, one +day entreated the Queen, in my presence, at least to condescend to ask +the first president when the cause would be called on; the Queen replied +that she could not even do that, for it would manifest an interest which +it was her duty not to show. + +If the King had not inspired the Queen with a lively feeling of love, +it is quite certain that she yielded him respect and affection for the +goodness of his disposition and the equity of which he gave so many +proofs throughout his reign. One evening she returned very late; she +came out of the King's closet, and said to M. de Misery and myself, +drying her eyes, which were filled with tears, "You see me weeping, but +do not be uneasy at it: these are the sweetest tears that a wife can +shed; they are caused by the impression which the justice and goodness of +the King have made upon me; he has just complied with my request for a +revision of the proceedings against Messieurs de Bellegarde and de +Monthieu, victims of the Duc d'Aiguillon's hatred to the Duc de Choiseul. +He has been equally just to the Duc de Guines in his affair with Tort. +It is a happy thing for a queen to be able to admire and esteem him who +has admitted her to a participation of his throne; and as to you, +I congratulate you upon your having to live under the sceptre of so +virtuous a sovereign." + +The Queen laid before the King all the memorials of the Duc de Guines, +who, during his embassy to England, was involved in difficulties by a +secretary, who speculated in the public funds in London on his own +account, but in such a manner as to throw a suspicion of it on the +ambassador. Messieurs de Vergennes and Turgot, bearing but little good- +will to the Duc de Guines, who was the friend of the Duc de Choiseul, +were not disposed to render the ambassador any service. The Queen +succeeded in fixing the King's particular attention on this affair, and +the innocence of the Duc de Guines triumphed through the equity of Louis +XVI. + +An incessant underhand war was carried on between the friends and +partisans of M. de Choiseul, who were called the Austrians, and those who +sided with Messieurs d'Aiguillon, de Maurepas, and de Vergennes, who, for +the same reason, kept up the intrigues carried on at Court and in Paris +against the Queen. Marie Antoinette, on her part, supported those who +had suffered in this political quarrel, and it was this feeling which led +her to ask for a revision of the proceedings against Messieurs de +Bellegarde and de Monthieu. The first, a colonel and inspector of +artillery, and the second, proprietor of a foundry at St. Etienne, were, +under the Ministry of the Duc d'Aiguillon, condemned to imprisonment for +twenty years and a day for having withdrawn from the arsenals of France, +by order of the Duc de Choiseul, a vast number of muskets, as being of +no value except as old iron, while in point of fact the greater part of +those muskets were immediately embarked and sold to the Americans. It +appears that the Duc de Choiseul imparted to the Queen, as grounds of +defence for the accused, the political views which led him to authorise +that reduction and sale in the manner in which it had been executed. It +rendered the case of Messieurs de Bellegarde and de Monthieu more +unfavourable that the artillery officer who made the reduction in the +capacity of inspector was, through a clandestine marriage, brother-in-law +of the owner of the foundry, the purchaser of the rejected arms. The +innocence of the two prisoners was, nevertheless, made apparent; and they +came to Versailles with their wives and children to throw themselves at +the feet of their benefactress. This affecting scene took place in the +grand gallery, at the entrance to the Queen's apartment. She wished to +restrain the women from kneeling, saying that they had only had justice +done them; and that she ought to be congratulated upon the most +substantial happiness attendant upon her station, that of laying just +appeals before the King. + +On every occasion, when the Queen had to speak in public, she used the +most appropriate and elegant language, notwithstanding the difficulty a +foreigner might be expected to experience. She answered all addresses +herself, a custom which she learned at the Court of Maria Theresa. The +Princesses of the House of Bourbon had long ceased to take the trouble of +speaking in such cases. Madame Addlaide blamed the Queen for not doing +as they did, assuring her that it was quite sufficient to mutter a few +words that might sound like an answer, while the addressers, occupied +with what they had themselves been saying, would always take it for +granted that a proper answer had been returned. The Queen saw that +idleness alone dictated such a proceeding, and that as the practice even +of muttering a few words showed the necessity of answering in some way, +it must be more proper to reply simply but clearly, and in the best style +possible. Sometimes indeed, when apprised of the subject of the address, +she would write down her answer in the morning, not to learn it by heart, +but in order to settle the ideas or sentiments she wished to introduce. + +The influence of the Comtesse de Polignac increased daily; and her +friends availed themselves of it to effect changes in the Ministry. +The dismissal of M. de Montbarrey, a man without talents or character, +was generally approved of. It was rightly attributed to the Queen. He +had been placed in administration by M. de Maurepas, and maintained by +his aged wife; both, of course, became more inveterate than ever against +the Queen and the Polignac circle. + +The appointment of M. de Segur to the place of Minister of War, and of +M. de Castries to that of Minister of Marine, were wholly the work of +that circle. The Queen dreaded making ministers; her favourite often +wept when the men of her circle compelled her to interfere. Men blame +women for meddling in business, and yet in courts it is continually the +men themselves who make use of the influence of the women in matters with +which the latter ought to have nothing to do. + +When M. de Segur was presented to the Queen on his new appointment, she +said to me, "You have just seen a minister of my making. I am very glad, +so far as regards the King's service, that he is appointed, for I think +the selection a very good one; but I almost regret the part I have taken +in it. I take a responsibility upon myself. I was fortunate in being +free from any; and in order to relieve myself from this as much as +possible I have just promised M. de Segur, and that upon my word of +honour, not to back any petition, nor to hinder any of his operations by +solicitations on behalf of my proteges." + +During the first administration of M. Necker, whose ambition had not then +drawn him into schemes repugnant to his better judgment, and whose views +appeared to the Queen to be very judicious, she indulged in hopes of the +restoration of the finances. Knowing that M. de Maurepas wished to drive +M. Necker to resign, she urged him to have patience until the death of an +old man whom the King kept about him from a fondness for his first +choice, and out of respect for his advanced age. She even went so far as +to tell him that M. de Maurepas was always ill, and that his end could +not be very distant. M. Necker would not wait for that event. The +Queen's prediction was fulfilled. M. de Maurepas ended his days +immediately after a journey to Fontainebleau in 1781. + +M. Necker had retired. He had been exasperated by a piece of treachery +in the old minister, for which he could not forgive him. I knew +something of this intrigue at the time; it has since been fully explained +to me by Madame la Marechale de Beauvau. M. Necker saw that his credit +at Court was declining, and fearing lest that circumstance should injure +his financial operations, he requested the King to grant him some favour +which might show the public that he had not lost the confidence of his +sovereign. He concluded his letter by pointing out five requests--such +an office, or such a mark of distinction, or such a badge of honour, and +so on, and handed it to M. de Maurepas. The or's were changed into +and's; and the King was displeased at M. Necker's ambition, and the +assurance with which he displayed it. Madame la Marechale de Beauvau +assured me that the Marechal de Castries saw the minute of M. Necker's +letter, and that he likewise saw the altered copy. + +The interest which the Queen took in M. Necker died away during his +retirement, and at last changed into strong prejudice against him. He +wrote too much about the measures he would have pursued, and the benefits +that would have resulted to the State from them. The ministers who +succeeded him thought their operations embarrassed by the care that M. +Necker and his partisans incessantly took to occupy the public with his +plans; his friends were too ardent. The Queen discerned a party spirit +in these combinations, and sided wholly with his enemies. + +After those inefficient comptrollers-general, Messieurs Joly de Fleury +and d'Ormesson, it became necessary to resort to a man of more +acknowledged talent, and the Queen's friends, at that time combining with +the Comte d'Artois and with M. de Vergennes, got M. de Calonne appointed. +The Queen was highly displeased, and her close intimacy with the Duchesse +de Polignac began to suffer for this. + +Her Majesty, continuing to converse with me upon the difficulties she +had met with in private life, told me that ambitious men without merit +sometimes found means to gain their ends by dint of importunity, and that +she had to blame herself for having procured M. d'Adhemar's appointment +to the London embassy, merely because he teased her into it at the +Duchess's house. She added, however, that it was at a time of perfect +peace with the English; that the Ministry knew the inefficiency of +M. d'Adhemar as well as she did, and that he could do neither harm nor +good. + +Often in conversations of unreserved frankness the Queen owned that she +had purchased rather dearly a piece of experience which would make her +carefully watch over the conduct of her daughters-in-law, and that she +would be particularly scrupulous about the qualifications of the ladies +who might attend them; that no consideration of rank or favour should +bias her in so important a choice. She attributed several of her +youthful mistakes to a lady of great levity, whom she found in her palace +on her arrival in France. She also determined to forbid the Princesses +coming under her control the practice of singing with professors, and +said, candidly, and with as much severity as her slanderers could have +done, "I ought to have heard Garat sing, and never to have sung duets +with him." + +The indiscreet zeal of Monsieur Augeard contributed to the public belief +that the Queen disposed of all the offices of finance. He had, without +any authority for doing so, required the committee of fermiers-general to +inform him of all vacancies, assuring them that they would be meeting the +wishes of the Queen. The members complied, but not without murmuring. +When the Queen became aware of what her secretary had done, she highly +disapproved of it, caused her resentment to be made known to the fermiers +-general, and abstained from asking for appointments,--making only one +request of the kind, as a marriage portion for one of her attendants, a +young woman of good family. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +The Queen did not sufficiently conceal the dissatisfaction she felt at +having been unable to prevent the appointment of M. de Calonne; she even +one day went so far as to say at the Duchess's, in the midst of the +partisans and protectors of that minister, that the finances of France +passed alternately from the hands of an honest man without talent into +those of a skilful knave. M. de Calonne was thus far from acting in +concert with the Queen all the time that he continued in office; and, +while dull verses were circulated about Paris describing the Queen and +her favourite dipping at pleasure into the coffers of the comptroller- +general, the Queen was avoiding all communication with him. + +During the long and severe winter of 1783-84 the King gave three millions +of livres for the relief of the indigent. M. de Calonne, who felt the +necessity of making advances to the Queen, caught at this opportunity of +showing her respect and devotion. He offered to place in her hands one +million of the three, to be distributed in her name and under her +direction. His proposal was rejected; the Queen answered that the +charity ought to be wholly distributed in the King's name, and that she +would this year debar herself of even the slightest enjoyments, in order +to contribute all her savings to the relief of the unfortunate. + +The moment M. de Calonne left the closet the Queen sent for me: +"Congratulate me, my dear," said she; "I have just escaped a snare, +or at least a matter which eventually might have caused me much regret." +She related the conversation which had taken place word for word to me, +adding, "That man will complete the ruin of the national finances. It is +said that I placed him in his situation. The people are made to believe +that I am extravagant; yet I have refused to suffer a sum of money from +the royal treasury, although destined for the most laudable purpose, even +to pass through my hands." + +The Queen, making monthly retrenchments from the expenditure of her privy +purse, and not having spent the gifts customary at the period of her +confinement, was in possession of from five to six hundred thousand +francs, her own savings. She made use of from two to three hundred +thousand francs of this, which her first women sent to M. Lenoir, to the +cures of Paris and Versailles, and to the Soeurs Hospitalieres, and so +distributed them among families in need. + +Desirous to implant in the breast of her daughter not only a desire to +succour the unfortunate, but those qualities necessary for the due +discharge of that duty, the Queen incessantly talked to her, though she +was yet very young, about the sufferings of the poor during a season so +inclement. The Princess already had a sum of from eight to ten thousand +francs for charitable purposes, and the Queen made her distribute part of +it herself. + +Wishing to give her children yet another lesson of beneficence, +she desired me on New Year's eve to get from Paris, as in other years, +all the fashionable playthings, and have them spread out in her closet. +Then taking her children by the hand, she showed them all the dolls and +mechanical toys which were ranged there, and told them that she had +intended to give them some handsome New Year's gifts, but that the cold +made the poor so wretched that all her money was spent in blankets and +clothes to protect them from the rigour of the season, and in supplying +them with bread; so that this year they would only have the pleasure of +looking at the new playthings. When she returned with her children into +her sitting-room, she said there was still an unavoidable expense to be +incurred; that assuredly many mothers would at that season think as she +did,--that the toyman must lose by it; and therefore she gave him fifty +Louis to repay him for the cost of his journey, and console him for +having sold nothing. + +The purchase of St. Cloud, a matter very simple in itself, had, on +account of the prevailing spirit, unfavourable consequences to the Queen. + +The palace of Versailles, pulled to pieces in the interior by a variety +of new arrangements, and mutilated in point of uniformity by the removal +of the ambassadors' staircase, and of the peristyle of columns placed at +the end of the marble court, was equally in want of substantial and +ornamental repair. The King therefore desired M. Micque to lay before +him several plans for the repairs of the palace. He consulted me on +certain arrangements analogous to some of those adopted in the Queen's +establishment, and in my presence asked M. Micque how much money would be +wanted for the execution of the whole work, and how many years he would +be in completing it. I forget how many millions were mentioned: M. +Micque replied that six years would be sufficient time if the Treasury +made the necessary periodical advances without any delay. "And how many +years shall you require," said the King, "if the advances are not +punctually made?"--"Ten, Sire," replied the architect. "We must then +reckon upon ten years," said his Majesty, "and put off this great +undertaking until the year 1790; it will occupy the rest of the century." + +The King afterwards talked of the depreciation of property which took +place at Versailles whilst the Regent removed the Court of Louis XV. to +the Tuileries, and said that he must consider how to prevent that +inconvenience; it was the desire to do this that promoted the purchase of +St. Cloud. The Queen first thought of it one day when she was riding out +with the Duchesse de Polignac and the Comtesse Diane; she mentioned it to +the King, who was much pleased with the thought,--the purchase confirming +him in the intention, which he had entertained for ten years, of quitting +Versailles. + +The King determined that the ministers, public officers, pages, and a +considerable part of his stabling should remain at Versailles. Messieurs +de Breteuil and de Calonne were instructed to treat with the Duc +d'Orleans for the purchase of St. Cloud; at first they hoped to be able +to conclude the business by a mere exchange. The value of the Chateau de +Choisy, de la Muette, and a forest was equivalent to the sum demanded by +the House of Orleans; and in the exchange which the Queen expected she +only saw a saving to be made instead of an increase of expense. By this +arrangement the government of Choisy, in the hands of the Duc de Coigny, +and that of La Muette, in the hands of the Marechal de Soubise, would be +suppressed. At the same time the two concierges, and all the servants +employed in these two royal houses, would be reduced; but while the +treaty was going forward Messieurs de Breteuil and de Calonne gave up the +point of exchange, and some millions in cash were substituted for Choisy +and La Muette. + +The Queen advised the King to give her St. Cloud, as a means of avoiding +the establishment of a governor; her plan being to have merely a +concierge there, by which means the governor's expenses would be saved. +The King agreed, and St. Cloud was purchased for the Queen. She provided +the same liveries for the porters at the gates and servants at the +chateau as for those at Trianon. The concierge at the latter place had +put up some regulations for the household, headed, "By order of the +Queen." The same thing was done at St. Cloud. The Queen's livery at the +door of a palace where it was expected none but that of the King would be +seen, and the words "By order of the Queen" at the head of the printed +papers pasted near the iron gates, caused a great sensation, and produced +a very unfortunate effect, not only among the common people, but also. +among persons of a superior class. They saw in it an attack upon the +customs of monarchy, and customs are nearly equal to laws. The Queen +heard of this, but she thought that her dignity would be compromised if +she made any change in the form of these regulations, though they might +have been altogether superseded without inconvenience. "My name is not +out of place," said she, "in gardens belonging to myself; I may give +orders there without infringing on the rights of the State." This was +her only answer to the representations which a few faithful servants +ventured to make on the subject. The discontent of the Parisians on this +occasion probably induced M. d'Espremenil, upon the first troubles about +the Parliament, to say that it was impolitic and immoral to see palaces +belonging to a Queen of France. + + [The Queen never forgot this affront of M. d'Espremenil's; she said + that as it was offered at a time when social order had not yet been + disturbed, she had felt the severest mortification at it. Shortly + before the downfall of the throne M. Espremenil, having openly + espoused the King's side, was insulted in the gardens of the + Tuileries by the Jacobins, and so ill-treated that he was carried + home very ill. Somebody recommended the Queen, on account of the + royalist principles he then professed, to send and inquire for him. + She replied that she was truly grieved at what had happened to M. + d'Espremenil, but that mere policy should never induce her to show + any particular solicitude about the man who had been the first to + make so insulting an attack upon her character.--MADAME CAMPAN] + +The Queen was very much dissatisfied with the manner in which M. de +Calonne had managed this matter. The Abbe de Vermond, the most active +and persevering of that minister's enemies, saw with delight that the +expedients of those from whom alone new resources might be expected were +gradually becoming exhausted, because the period when the Archbishop of +Toulouse would be placed over the finances was thereby hastened. + +The royal navy had resumed an imposing attitude during the war for the +independence of America; glorious peace with England had compensated for +the former attacks of our enemies upon the fame of France; and the throne +was surrounded by numerous heirs. The sole ground of uneasiness was in +the finances, but that uneasiness related only to the manner in which +they were administered. In a word, France felt confident in its own +strength and resources, when two events, which seem scarcely worthy of a +place in history, but which have, nevertheless, an important one in that +of the French Revolution, introduced a spirit of ridicule and contempt, +not only against the highest ranks, but even against the most august +personages. I allude to a comedy and a great swindling transaction. + +Beaumarchais had long possessed a reputation in certain circles in Paris +for his wit and musical talents, and at the theatres for dramas more or +less indifferent, when his "Barbier de Seville" procured him a higher +position among dramatic writers. His "Memoirs" against M. Goesman had +amused Paris by the ridicule they threw upon a Parliament which was +disliked; and his admission to an intimacy with M. de Maurepas procured +him a degree of influence over important affairs. He then became +ambitious of influencing public opinion by a kind of drama, in which +established manners and customs should be held up to popular derision and +the ridicule of the new philosophers. After several years of prosperity +the minds of the French had become more generally critical; and when +Beaumarchais had finished his monstrous but diverting "Mariage de +Figaro," all people of any consequence were eager for the gratification +of hearing it read, the censors having decided that it should not be +performed. These readings of "Figaro" grew so numerous that people were +daily heard to say, "I have been (or I am going to be) at the reading of +Beaumarchais's play." The desire to see it performed became universal; +an expression that he had the art to use compelled, as it were, the +approbation of the nobility, or of persons in power, who aimed at ranking +among the magnanimous; he made his "Figaro" say that "none but little +minds dreaded little books." The Baron de Breteuil, and all the men of +Madame de Polignac's circle, entered the lists as the warmest protectors +of the comedy. Solicitations to the King became so pressing that his +Majesty determined to judge for himself of a work which so much engrossed +public attention, and desired me to ask M. Le Noir, lieutenant of police, +for the manuscript of the "Mariage de Figaro." One morning I received a +note from the Queen ordering me to be with her at three o'clock, and not +to come without having dined, for she should detain me some time. When I +got to the Queen's inner closet I found her alone with the King; a chair +and a small table were ready placed opposite to them, and upon the +table lay an enormous manuscript in several books. The King said to me, +"There is Beaumarchais's comedy; you must read it to us. You will find +several parts troublesome on account of the erasures and references. I +have already run it over, but I wish the Queen to be acquainted with the +work. You will not mention this reading to any one." + +I began. The King frequently interrupted me by praise or censure, which +was always just. He frequently exclaimed, "That's in bad taste; this man +continually brings the Italian concetti on the stage." At that soliloquy +of Figaro in which he attacks various points of government, and +especially at the tirade against State prisons, the King rose up and +said, indignantly: + +"That's detestable; that shall never be played; the Bastille must be +destroyed before the license to act this play can be any other than an +act of the most dangerous inconsistency. This man scoffs at everything +that should be respected in a government." + +"It will not be played, then?" said the Queen. + +"No, certainly," replied Louis XVI.; "you may rely upon that." + +Still it was constantly reported that "Figaro" was about to be performed; +there were even wagers laid upon the subject; I never should have laid +any myself, fancying that I was better informed as to the probability +than anybody else; if I had, however, I should have been completely +deceived. The protectors of Beaumarchais, feeling certain that they +would succeed in their scheme of making his work public in spite of the +King's prohibition, distributed the parts in the "Mariage de Figaro" +among the actors of the Theatre Francais. Beaumarchais had made them +enter into the spirit of his characters, and they determined to enjoy at +least one performance of this so-called chef d'oeuvre. The first +gentlemen of the chamber agreed that M. de la Ferte should lend the +theatre of the Hotel des Menus Plaisirs, at Paris, which was used for +rehearsals of the opera; tickets were distributed to a vast number of +leaders of society, and the day for the performance was fixed. The King +heard of all this only on the very morning, and signed a 'lettre de +cachet,'--[A 'lettre de cachet' was any written order proceeding from the +King. The term was not confined merely to orders for arrest.]--which +prohibited the performance. When the messenger who brought the order +arrived, he found a part of the theatre already filled with spectators, +and the streets leading to the Hotel des Menus Plaisirs filled with +carriages; the piece was not performed. This prohibition of the King's +was looked upon as an attack on public liberty. + +The disappointment produced such discontent that the words oppression and +tyranny were uttered with no less passion and bitterness at that time +than during the days which immediately preceded the downfall of the +throne. Beaumarchais was so far put off his guard by rage as to exclaim, +"Well, gentlemen, he won't suffer it to be played here; but I swear it +shall be played,--perhaps in the very choir of Notre-Dame!" There was +something prophetic in these words. It was generally insinuated shortly +afterwards that Beaumarchais had determined to suppress all those parts +of his work which could be obnoxious to the Government; and on pretence +of judging of the sacrifices made by the author, M. de Vaudreuil obtained +permission to have this far-famed "Mariage de Figaro" performed at his +country house. M. Campan was asked there; he had frequently heard the +work read, and did not now find the alterations that had been announced; +this he observed to several persons belonging to the Court, who +maintained that the author had made all the sacrifices required. M. +Campan was so astonished at these persistent assertions of an obvious +falsehood that he replied by a quotation from Beaumarchais himself, and +assuming the tone of Basilio in the "Barbier de Seville," he said, +"Faith, gentlemen, I don't know who is deceived here; everybody is in the +secret." They then came to the point, and begged him to tell the Queen +positively that all which had been pronounced reprehensible in M. de +Beaumarchais's play had been cut out. My father-in-law contented himself +with replying that his situation at Court would not allow of his giving +an opinion unless the Queen should first speak of the piece to him. +The Queen said nothing to him about the matter. Shortly, afterwards +permission to perform this play was at length obtained. The Queen +thought the people of Paris would be finely tricked when they saw merely +an ill-conceived piece, devoid of interest, as it must appear when +deprived of its Satire. + + ["The King," says Grimm, "made sure that the public would judge + unfavourably of the work." He said to the Marquis de Montesquiou, + who was going to see the first representation, 'Well, what do you + augur of its success?'--'Sire, I hope the piece will fail.'--'And so + do I,' replied the King. + + "There is something still more ridiculous than my piece," said + Beaumarchais himself; "that is, its success." Mademoiselle Arnould + foresaw it the first day, and exclaimed, "It is a production that + will fail fifty nights successively." There was as crowded an + audience on the seventy-second night as on the first. The following + is extracted from Grimm's 'Correspondence.' + + "Answer of M. de Beaumarchais to -----, who requested the use of his + private box for some ladies desirous of seeing 'Figaro' without + being themselves seen. + + "I have no respect for women who indulge themselves in seeing any + play which they think indecorous, provided they can do so in secret. + I lend myself to no such acts. I have given my piece to the public, + to amuse, and not to instruct, not to give any compounding prudes + the pleasure of going to admire it in a private box, and balancing + their account with conscience by censuring it in company. To + indulge in the pleasure of vice and assume the credit of virtue is + the hypocrisy of the age. My piece is not of a doubtful nature; it + must be patronised in good earnest, or avoided altogether; + therefore, with all respect to you, I shall keep my box." This + letter was circulated all over Paris for a week.] + +Under the persuasion that there was not a passage left capable of +malicious or dangerous application, Monsieur attended the first +performance in a public box. The mad enthusiasm of the public in favour +of the piece and Monsieur's just displeasure are well known. The author +was sent to prison soon afterwards, though his work was extolled to the +skies, and though the Court durst not suspend its performance. + +The Queen testified her displeasure against all who had assisted the +author of the "Mariage de Figaro" to deceive the King into giving his +consent that it should be represented. Her reproaches were more +particularly directed against M. de Vaudreuil for having had it performed +at his house. The violent and domineering disposition of her favourite's +friend at last became disagreeable to her. + +One evening, on the Queen's return from the Duchess's, she desired her +'valet de chambre' to bring her billiard cue into her closet, and ordered +me to open the box that contained it. I took out the cue, broken in two. +It was of ivory, and formed of one single elephant's tooth; the butt was +of gold and very tastefully wrought. "There," said she, "that is the way +M. de Vaudreuil has treated a thing I valued highly. I had laid it upon +the couch while I was talking to the Duchess in the salon; he had the +assurance to make use of it, and in a fit of passion about a blocked +ball, he struck the cue so violently against the table that he broke it +in two. The noise brought me back into the billiard-room; I did not say +a word to him, but my looks showed him how angry I was. He is the more +provoked at the accident, as he aspires to the post of Governor to the +Dauphin. I never thought of him for the place. It is quite enough to +have consulted my heart only in the choice of a governess; and I will not +suffer that of a Governor to the Dauphin to be at all affected by the +influence of my friends. I should be responsible for it to the nation. +The poor man does not know that my determination is taken; for I have +never expressed it to the Duchess. Therefore, judge of the sort of an +evening he must have passed!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +Shortly after the public mind had been thrown into agitation by the +performance of the "Mariage de Figaro," an obscure plot, contrived by +swindlers, and matured in a corrupted society, attacked the Queen's +character in a vital point and assailed the majesty of the throne. + +I am about to speak of the notorious affair of the necklace purchased, as +it was said, for the Queen by Cardinal de Rohan. I will narrate all that +has come to my knowledge relating to this business; the most minute +particulars will prove how little reason the Queen had to apprehend the +blow by which she was threatened, and which must be attributed to a +fatality that human prudence could not have foreseen, but from which, to +say the truth, she might have extricated herself with more skill. + +I have already said that in 1774 the Queen purchased jewels of Boehmer to +the value of three hundred and sixty thousand franca, that she paid for +them herself out of her own private funds, and that it required several +years to enable her to complete the payment. The King afterwards +presented her with a set of rubies and diamonds of a fine water, and +subsequently with a pair of bracelets worth two hundred thousand francs. +The Queen, after having her diamonds reset in new patterns, told Boehmer +that she found her jewel case rich enough, and was not desirous of making +any addition to it. + + [Except on those days when the assemblies at Court were particularly + attended, such as the 1st of January and the 2d of February, devoted + to the procession of the Order of the Holy Ghost, and on the + festivals of Easter, Whitsuntide, and Christmas, the Queen no longer + wore any dresses but muslin or white Florentine taffety. Her head- + dress was merely a hat; the plainest were preferred; and her + diamonds never quitted their caskets but for the dresses of + ceremony, confined to the days I have mentioned. Before the Queen + was five and twenty she began to apprehend that she might be induced + to make too frequent use of flowers and of ornaments, which at that + time were exclusively reserved for youth. Madame Bertin having + brought a wreath for the head and neck, composed of roses, the Queen + feared that the brightness of the flowers might be disadvantageous + to her complexion. She was unquestionably too severe upon herself, + her beauty having as yet experienced no alteration; it is easy to + conceive the concert of praise and compliment that replied to the + doubt she had expressed. The Queen, approaching me, said, "I charge + you, from this day, to give me notice when flowers shall cease to + become me."--"I shall do no such thing," I replied, immediately; + "I have not read 'Gil Bias' without profiting in some degree from + it, and I find your Majesty's order too much like that given him by + the Archbishop of Granada, to warn him of the moment when he should + begin to fall off in the composition of his homilies."--"Go," said + the Queen; "You are less sincere than Gil Blas; and I world have + been more amenable than the Archbishop."--MADAME CAMPAN.] + +Still, this jeweller busied himself for some years in forming a +collection of the finest diamonds circulating in the trade, in order to +compose a necklace of several rows, which he hoped to induce her Majesty +to purchase; he brought it to M. Campan, requesting him to mention it to +the Queen, that she might ask to see it, and thus be induced to wish to +possess it. This M. Campan refused to do, telling him that he should be +stepping out of the line of his duty were he to propose to the Queen an +expense of sixteen hundred thousand francs, and that he believed neither +the lady of honour nor the tirewoman would take upon herself to execute +such a commission. Boehmer persuaded the King's first gentleman for the +year to show this superb necklace to his Majesty, who admired it so much +that he himself wished to see the Queen adorned with it, and sent the +case to her; but she assured him she should much regret incurring so +great an expense for such an article, that she had already very beautiful +diamonds, that jewels of that description were now worn at Court not more +than four or five times a year, that the necklace must be returned, and +that the money would be much better employed in building a man-of-war. + + [Messieurs Boehmer and Bassange, jewellers to the Crown, were + proprietors of a superb diamond necklace, which had, as it was said, + been intended for the Comtesse du Barry. Being under the necessity + of selling it, they offered it, during the last war, to the king and + Queen; but their Majesties made the following prudent answer: "We + stand more in need of ships than of jewels."--"Secret Correspondence + of the Court of Louis XVI."] + +Boehmer, in sad tribulation at finding his expectations delusive, +endeavoured for some time, it is said, to dispose of his necklace among +the various Courts of Europe. + +A year after his fruitless attempts, Boehmer again caused his diamond +necklace to be offered to the King, proposing that it should be paid for +partly by instalments, and partly in life annuities; this proposal was +represented as highly advantageous, and the King, in my presence, +mentioned the matter once more to the Queen. I remember the Queen told +him that, if the bargain really was not bad, he might make it, and keep +the necklace until the marriage of one of his children; but that, for her +part, she would never wear it, being unwilling that the world should have +to reproach her with having coveted so expensive an article. The King +replied that their children were too young to justify such an expense, +which would be greatly increased by the number of years the diamonds +would remain useless, and that he would finally decline the offer. +Boehmer complained to everybody of his misfortune, and all reasonable +people blamed him for having collected diamonds to so considerable an +amount without any positive order for them. This man had purchased the +office of jeweller to the Crown, which gave him some rights of entry at +Court. After several months spent in ineffectual attempts to carry his +point, and in idle complaints, he obtained an audience of the Queen, who +had with her the young Princess, her daughter; her Majesty did not know +for what purpose Boehmer sought this audience, and had not the slightest +idea that it was to speak to her again about an article twice refused by +herself and the King. + +Boehmer threw himself upon his knees, clasped his hands, burst into +tears, and exclaimed, "Madame, I am ruined and disgraced if you do not +purchase my necklace. I cannot outlive so many misfortunes. When I go +hence I shall throw myself into the river." + +"Rise, Boehmer," said the Queen, in a tone sufficiently severe to recall +him to himself; "I do not like these rhapsodies; honest men have no +occasion to fall on their knees to make their requests. If you were to +destroy yourself I should regret you as a madman in whom I had taken an +interest, but I should not be in any way responsible for that misfortune. +Not only have I never ordered the article which causes your present +despair, but whenever you have talked to me about fine collections of +jewels I have told you that I should not add four diamonds to those which +I already possessed. I told you myself that I declined taking the +necklace; the King wished to give it to me, but I refused him also; never +mention it to me again. Divide it and try to sell it piecemeal, and do +not drown yourself. I am very angry with you for acting this scene of +despair in my presence and before this child. Let me never see you +behave thus again. Go." Baehmer withdrew, overwhelmed with confusion, +and nothing further was then heard of him. + +When Madame Sophie was born the Queen told me M. de Saint-James, a rich +financier, had apprised her that Boehmer was still intent upon the sale +of his necklace, and that she ought, for her own satisfaction, to +endeavour to learn what the man had done with it; she desired me the +first time I should meet him to speak to him about it, as if from the +interest I took in his welfare. I spoke to him about his necklace, and +he told me he had been very fortunate, having sold it at Constantinople +for the favourite sultana. I communicated this answer to the Queen, who +was delighted with it, but could not comprehend how the Sultan came to +purchase his diamonds in Paris. + +The Queen long avoided seeing Boehmer, being fearful of his rash +character; and her valet de chambre, who had the care of her jewels, made +the necessary repairs to her ornaments unassisted. On the baptism of the +Duc d'Angouleme, in 1785, the King gave him a diamond epaulet and +buckles, and directed Baehmer to deliver them to the Queen. Boehmer +presented them on her return from mass, and at the same time gave into +her hands a letter in the form of a petition. In this paper he told the +Queen that he was happy to see her "in possession of the finest diamonds +known in Europe," and entreated her not to forget him. The Queen read +Boehmer's address to her aloud, and saw nothing in it but a proof of +mental aberration; she lighted the paper at a wax taper standing near +her, as she had some letters to seal, saying, "It is not worth keeping." +She afterwards much regretted the loss of this enigmatical memorial. +After having burnt the paper, her Majesty said to me, "That man is born +to be my torment; he has always some mad scheme in his head; remember, +the first time you see him, to tell him that I do not like diamonds now, +and that I will buy no more so long as I live; that if I had any money to +spare I would rather add to my property at St. Cloud by the purchase of +the land surrounding it; now, mind you enter into all these particulars +and impress them well upon him." I asked her whether she wished me to +send for him; she replied in the negative, adding that it would be +sufficient to avail myself of the first opportunity afforded by meeting +him; and that the slightest advance towards such a man would be +misplaced. + +On the 1st of August I left Versailles for my country house at Crespy; on +the 3d came Boehmer, extremely uneasy at not having received any answer +from the Queen, to ask me whether I had any commission from her to him; I +replied that she had entrusted me with none; that she had no commands for +him, and I faithfully repeated all she had desired me to say to him. + +"But," said Boehmer, "the answer to the letter I presented to her,--to +whom must I apply for that?" + +"To nobody," answered I; "her Majesty burnt your memorial without even +comprehending its meaning." + +"Ah! madame," exclaimed he, "that is impossible; the Queen knows that she +has money to pay me!" + +"Money, M. Boehmer? Your last accounts against the Queen were discharged +long ago." + +"Madame, you are not in the secret. A man who is ruined for want of +payment of fifteen hundred thousand francs cannot be said to be +satisfied." + +"Have you lost your senses?" said I. "For what can the Queen owe you so +extravagant a sum?" + +"For my necklace, madame," replied Boehmer, coolly. + +"What!" I exclaimed, "that necklace again, which you have teased the +Queen about so many years! Did you not tell me you had sold it at +Constantinople?" + +"The Queen desired me to give that answer to all who should speak to me +on the subject," said the wretched dupe. He then told me that the Queen +wished to have the necklace, and had had it purchased for her by +Monseigneur, the Cardinal de Rohan. + +"You are deceived," I exclaimed; "the Queen has not once spoken to the +Cardinal since his return from Vienna; there is not a man at her Court +less favourably looked upon." + +"You are deceived yourself, madame," said Boehmer; "she sees him so much +in private that it was to his Eminence she gave thirty thousand francs, +which were paid me as an instalment; she took them, in his presence, out +of the little secretaire of Sevres porcelain next the fireplace in her +boudoir." + +"And the Cardinal told you all this?" + +"Yes, madame, himself." + +"What a detestable plot!" cried I. + +"Indeed, to say the truth, madame, I begin to be much alarmed, for his +Eminence assured me that the Queen would wear the necklace on Whit- +Sunday, but I did not see it upon her, and it was that which induced me +to write to her Majesty." + +He then asked me what he ought to do. I advised him to go on to +Versailles, instead of returning to Paris, whence he had just arrived; +to obtain an immediate audience from the Baron de Breteuil, who, as head +of the King's household, was the minister of the department to which +Boehmer belonged, and to be circumspect; and I added that he appeared to +me extremely culpable,--not as a diamond merchant, but because being a +sworn officer it was unpardonable of him to have acted without the direct +orders of the King, the Queen, or the Minister. He answered, that he had +not acted without direct orders; that he had in his possession all the +notes signed by the Queen, and that he had even been obliged to show them +to several bankers in order to induce them to extend the time for his +payments. I urged his departure for Versailles, and he assured me he +would go there immediately. Instead of following my advice, he went to +the Cardinal, and it was of this visit of Boehmer's that his Eminence +made a memorandum, found in a drawer overlooked by the Abbe Georgel when +he burnt, by order of the Cardinal, all the papers which the latter had +at Paris. The memorandum was thus worded: "On this day, 3d August, +Boehmer went to Madame Campan's country house, and she told him that the +Queen had never had his necklace, and that he had been deceived." + +When Boehmer was gone, I wanted to follow him, and go to the Queen; my +father-in-law prevented me, and ordered me to leave the minister to +elucidate such an important affair, observing that it was an infernal +plot; that I had given Boehmer the best advice, and had nothing more to +do with the business. Boehmer never said one word to me about the woman +De Lamotte, and her name was mentioned for the first time by the Cardinal +in his answers to the interrogatories put to him before the King. After +seeing the Cardinal, Boehmer went to Trianon, and sent a message to the +Queen, purporting that I had advised him to come and speak to her. His +very words were repeated to her Majesty, who said, "He is mad; I have +nothing to say to him, and will not see him." Two or three days +afterwards the Queen sent for me to Petit Trianon, to rehearse with me +the part of Rosina, which she was to perform in the "Barbier de Seville." +I was alone with her, sitting upon her couch; no mention was made of +anything but the part. After we had spent an hour in the rehearsal, her +Majesty asked me why I had sent Boehmer to her; saying he had been in my +name to speak to her, and that she would not see him. It was in this +manner I learnt that he had not followed my advice in the slightest +degree. The change of my countenance, when I heard the man's name, was +very perceptible; the Queen perceived it, and questioned me. I entreated +her to see him, and assured her it was of the utmost importance for her +peace of mind; that there was a plot going on, of which she was not +aware; and that it was a serious one, since engagements signed by herself +were shown about to people who had lent Boehmer money. Her surprise and +vexation were great. She desired me to remain at Trianon, and sent off a +courier to Paris, ordering Boehmer to come to her upon some pretext which +has escaped my recollection. He came next morning; in fact it was the +day on which the play was performed, and that was the last amusement the +Queen allowed herself at that retreat. + +The Queen made him enter her closet, and asked him by what fatality it +was that she was still doomed to hear of his foolish pretence of selling +her an article which she had steadily refused for several years. He +replied that he was compelled, being unable to pacify his creditors any +longer. "What are your creditors to me?" said her Majesty. Boehmer +then regularly related to her all that he had been made to believe had +passed between the Queen and himself through the intervention of the +Cardinal. She was equally incensed and surprised at each thing she +heard. In vain did she speak; the jeweller, equally importunate and +dangerous, repeated incessantly, "Madame, there is no longer time for +feigning; condescend to confess that you have my necklace, and let some +assistance be given to me, or my bankruptcy will soon bring the whole to +light." + +It is easy to imagine how the Queen must have suffered. On Boehmer's +going away, I found her in an alarming condition; the idea that any one +could have believed that such a man as the Cardinal possessed her full +confidence; that she should have employed him to deal with a tradesman +without the King's knowledge, for a thing which she had refused to accept +from the King himself, drove her to desperation. She sent first for the +Abbe de Vermond, and then for the Baron de Breteuil. Their hatred and +contempt for the Cardinal made them too easily forget that the lowest +faults do not prevent the higher orders of the empire from being defended +by those to whom they have the honour to belong; that a Rohan, a Prince +of the Church, however culpable he might be, would be sure to have a +considerable party which would naturally be joined by all the +discontented persons of the Court, and all the frondeurs of Paris. +They too easily believed that he would be stripped of all the advantages +of his rank and order, and given up to the disgrace due to his irregular +conduct; they deceived themselves. + +I saw the Queen after the departure of the Baron and the Abbe; her +agitation made me shudder. "Fraud must be unmasked," said she; "when the +Roman purple and the title of Prince cover a mere money-seeker, a cheat +who dares to compromise the wife of his sovereign, France and all Europe +should know it." It is evident that from that moment the fatal plan was +decided on. The Queen perceived my alarm; I did not conceal it from her. +I knew too well that she had many enemies not to be apprehensive on +seeing her attract the attention of the whole world to an intrigue that +they would try to complicate still more. I entreated her to seek the +most prudent and moderate advice. She silenced me by desiring me to make +myself easy, and to rest satisfied that no imprudence would be committed. + +On the following Sunday, the 15th of August, being the Assumption, at +twelve o'clock, at the very moment when the Cardinal, dressed in his +pontifical garments, was about to proceed to the chapel, he was sent for +into the King's closet, where the Queen then was. + +The King said to him, "You have purchased diamonds of Boehmer?" + +"Yes, Sire." + +"What have you done with them?" + +"I thought they had been delivered to the Queen." + +"Who commissioned you?" + +"A lady, called the Comtesse de Lamotte-Valois, who handed me a letter +from the Queen; and I thought I was gratifying her Majesty by taking this +business on myself." + +The Queen here interrupted him and said, "How, monsieur, could you +believe that I should select you, to whom I have not spoken for eight +years, to negotiate anything for me, and especially through the mediation +of a woman whom I do not even know?" + +"I see plainly," said the Cardinal, "that I have been duped. I will pay +for the necklace; my desire to please your Majesty blinded me; I +suspected no trick in the affair, and I am sorry for it." + +He then took out of his pocket-book a letter from the Queen to Madame de +Lamotte, giving him this commission. The King took it, and, holding it +towards the Cardinal, said: + +"This is neither written nor signed by the Queen. How could a Prince of +the House of Rohan, and a Grand Almoner of France, ever think that the +Queen would sign Marie Antoinette de France? Everybody knows that queens +sign only by their baptismal names. But, monsieur," pursued the King, +handing him a copy of his letter to Baehmer, "have you ever written such +a letter as this?" + +Having glanced over it, the Cardinal said, "I do not remember having +written it." + +"But what if the original, signed by yourself, were shown to you?" + +"If the letter be signed by myself it is genuine." + +He was extremely confused, and repeated several times, "I have been +deceived, Sire; I will pay for the necklace. I ask pardon of your +Majesties." + +"Then explain to me," resumed the King, "the whole of this enigma. I do +not wish to find you guilty; I had rather you would justify yourself. +Account for all the manoeuvres with Baehmer, these assurances and these +letters." + +The Cardinal then, turning pale, and leaning against the table, said, +"Sire, I am too much confused to answer your Majesty in a way--" + +"Compose yourself, Cardinal, and go into my cabinet; you will there find +paper, pens, and ink,--write what you have to say to me." + +The Cardinal went into the King's cabinet, and returned a quarter of an +hour afterwards with a document as confused as his verbal answers had +been. The King then said, "Withdraw, monsieur." The Cardinal left the +King's chamber, with the Baron de Breteuil, who gave him in custody to a +lieutenant of the Body Guard, with orders to take him to his apartment. +M. d'Agoult, aide-major of the Body Guard, afterwards took him into +custody, and conducted him to his hotel, and thence to the Bastille. But +while the Cardinal had with him only the young lieutenant of the Body +Guard, who was much embarrassed at having such an order to execute, his +Eminence met his heyduc at the door of the Salon of Hercules; he spoke to +him in German and then asked the lieutenant if he could lend him a +pencil; the officer gave him that which he carried about him, and the +Cardinal wrote to the Abbe Georgel, his grand vicar and friend, instantly +to burn all Madame de Lamotte's correspondence, and all his other +letters. + + [The Abbe Georgel thus relates the circumstance: The Cardinal, at + that trying moment, gave an astonishing proof of his presence of + mind; notwithstanding the escort which surrounded him, favoured by + the attendant crowd, he stopped, and stooping down with his face + towards the wall, as if to fasten his buckle, snatched out his + pencil and hastily wrote a few words upon a scrap of paper placed + under his hand in his square red cap. He rose again and proceeded. + on entering his house, his people formed a lane; he slipped this + paper, unperceived, into the hand of a confidential valet de + chambre, who waited for him at the door of his apartment." This + story is scarcely credible; it is not at the moment of a prisoner's + arrest, when an inquisitive crowd surrounds and watches him, that he + can stop and write secret messages. However, the valet de chambre + posts off to Paris. He arrives at the palace of the Cardinal + between twelve and one o'clock; and his horse falls dead in the + stable. "I was in my apartment," said the Abbe Georgel, "the valet + de chambre entered wildly, with a deadly paleness on his + countenance, and exclaimed, 'All is lost; the Prince is arrested.' + He instantly fell, fainting, and dropped the note of which he was + the bearer." The portfolio containing the papers which might + compromise the Cardinal was immediately placed beyond the reach of + all search. Madame de Lamotte also was foolishly allowed sufficient + time after she heard of the arrest of the Cardinal to burn all the + letters she had received from him. Assisted by Beugnot, she + completed this at three the same morning that she was: arrested at + four.--See "Memoirs of Comte de Beugnot," vol i., p. 74.] + +This commission was executed before M. de Crosne, lieutenant of police, +had received an order from the Baron de Breteuil to put seals upon the +Cardinal's papers. The destruction of all his Eminence's correspondence, +and particularly that with Madame de Lamotte, threw an impenetrable cloud +over the whole affair. + +From that moment all proofs of this intrigue disappeared. Madame de +Lamotte was apprehended at Bar-sur-Aube; her husband had already gone to +England. From the beginning of this fatal affair all the proceedings of +the Court appear to have been prompted by imprudence and want of +foresight; the obscurity resulting left free scope for the fables of +which the voluminous memorials written on one side and the other +consisted. The Queen so little imagined what could have given rise to +the intrigue, of which she was about to become the victim, that, at the +moment when the King was interrogating the Cardinal, a terrific idea +entered her mind. With that rapidity of thought caused by personal +interest and extreme agitation, she fancied that, if a design to ruin her +in the eyes of the King and the French people were the concealed motive +of this intrigue, the Cardinal would, perhaps, affirm that she had the +necklace; that he had been honoured with her confidence for this +purchase, made without the King's knowledge; and point out some secret +place in her apartment, where he might have got some villain to hide it. +Want of money and the meanest swindling were the sole motives for this +criminal affair. The necklace had already been taken to pieces and sold, +partly in London, partly in Holland, and the rest in Paris. + +The moment the Cardinal's arrest was known a universal clamour arose. +Every memorial that appeared during the trial increased the outcry. +On this occasion the clergy took that course which a little wisdom and +the least knowledge of the spirit of such a body ought to have foreseen. +The Rohans and the House of Conde, as well as the clergy, made their +complaints heard everywhere. The King consented to having a legal +judgment, and early in September he addressed letters-patent to the +Parliament, in which he said that he was "filled with the most just +indignation on seeing the means which, by the confession of his Eminence +the Cardinal, had been employed in order to inculpate his most dear +spouse and companion." + +Fatal moment! in which the Queen found herself, in consequence of this +highly impolitic step, on trial with a subject, who ought to have been +dealt with by the power of the King alone. The Princes and Princesses of +the House of Conde, and of the Houses of Rohan, Soubise, and Guemenee, +put on mourning, and were seen ranged in the way of the members of the +Grand Chamber to salute them as they proceeded to the palace, on the days +of the Cardinal's trial; and Princes of the blood openly canvassed +against the Queen of France. + +The Pope wished to claim, on behalf of the Cardinal de Rohan, the right +belonging to his ecclesiastical rank, and demanded that he should be +judged at Rome. The Cardinal de Bernis, ambassador from France to his +Holiness, formerly Minister for Foreign Affairs, blending the wisdom of +an old diplomatist with the principles of a Prince of the Church, wished +that this scandalous affair should be hushed up. The King's aunts, who +were on very intimate terms with the ambassador, adopted his opinion, and +the conduct of the King and Queen was equally and loudly censured in the +apartments of Versailles and in the hotels and coffee-houses of Paris. + +Madame, the King's sister-in-law, had been the sole protectress of De +Lamotte, and had confined her patronage to granting her a pension of +twelve to fifteen hundred francs. Her brother was in the navy, but the +Marquis de Chabert, to whom he had been recommended, could never train a +good officer. The Queen in vain endeavoured to call to mind the features +of this person, of whom she had often heard as an intriguing woman, who +came frequently on Sundays to the gallery of Versailles. At the time +when all France was engrossed by the persecution against the Cardinal, +the portrait of the Comtesse de Lamotte Valois was publicly sold. Her +Majesty desired me one day, when I was going to Paris, to buy her the +engraving, which was said to be a tolerable likeness, that she might +ascertain whether she could recognise in it any person whom she might +have seen in the gallery. + + [The public, with the exception of the lowest class, were admitted + into the gallery and larger apartments of Versailles, as they were + into the park.--MADAME CAMPAN.] + +The woman De Lamotte's father was a peasant at Auteuil, though he called +himself Valois. Madame de Boulainvilliers once saw from her terrace two +pretty little peasant girls, each labouring under a heavy bundle of +sticks. The priest of the village, who was walking with her, told her +that the children possessed some curious papers, and that he had no doubt +they were descendants of a Valois, an illegitimate son of one of the +princes of that name. + +The family of Valois had long ceased to appear in the world. Hereditary +vices had gradually plunged them into the deepest misery. I have heard +that the last Valois then known occupied the estate called Gros Bois; +that as he seldom came to Court, Louis XIII. asked him what he was about +that he remained so constantly in the country; and that this M. de Valois +merely answered, "Sire, I only do there what I ought." It was shortly +afterwards discovered that he was coining. + +Neither the Queen herself nor any one near her ever had the slightest +connection with the woman De Lamotte; and during her prosecution she +could point out but one of the Queen's servants, named Desclos, a valet +of the Queen's bedchamber, to whom she pre tended she had delivered +Boehmer's necklace. This Desclos was a very honest man; upon being +confronted with the woman De Lamotte, it was proved that she had never +seen him but once, which was at the house of the wife of a surgeon- +accoucheur at Versailles, the only person she visited at Court; and that +she had not given him the necklace. Madame de Lamotte married a private +in Monsieur's body-guard; she lodged at Versailles at the Belle Image, a +very inferior furnished house; and it is inconceivable how so obscure a +person could succeed in making herself believed to be a friend of the +Queen, who, though so extremely affable, seldom granted audiences, and +only to titled persons. + +The trial of the Cardinal is too generally known to require me to repeat +its details here. The point most embarrassing to him was the interview +he had in February, 1785, with M. de Saint-James, to whom he confided the +particulars of the Queen's pretended commission, and showed the contract +approved and signed Marie Antoinette de France. The memorandum found in +a drawer of the Cardinal's bureau, in which he had himself written what +Baehmer told him after having seen me at my country house, was likewise +an unfortunate document for his Eminence. + +I offered to the King to go and declare that Baehmer had told me that the +Cardinal assured him he had received from the Queen's own hand the thirty +thousand francs given on account upon the bargain being concluded, and +that his Eminence had seen her Majesty take that sum in bills from the +porcelain secretaire in her boudoir. The King declined my offer, and +said to me, "Were you alone when Boehmer told you this?" I answered that +I was alone with him in my garden. "Well," resumed he, "the man would +deny the fact; he is now sure of being paid his sixteen hundred thousand +francs, which the Cardinal's family will find it necessary to make good +to him; we can no longer rely upon his sincerity; it would look as if you +were sent by the Queen, and that would not be proper." + + [The guilty woman no sooner knew that all was about to be discovered + than she sent for the jewellers, and told them the Cardinal had + perceived that the agreement, which he believed to have been signed + by the Queen, was a false and forged document. "However," added + she, "the Cardinal possesses a considerable fortune, and he can very + well pay you." These words reveal the whole secret. The Countess + had taken the necklace to herself, and flattered herself that M. de + Rohan, seeing himself deceived and cruelly imposed upon, would + determine to pay and make the beat terms he could, rather than + suffer a matter of this nature to become public.-"Secret + Correspondence of the Court of Louis XVI."] + +The procureur general's information was severe on the Cardinal. The +Houses of Conde and Rohan and the majority of the nobility saw in this +affair only an attack on the Prince's rank, the clergy only a blow aimed +at the privileges of a cardinal. The clergy demanded that the +unfortunate business of the Prince Cardinal de Rohan should be submitted +to ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and the Archbishop of Narbonne, then +President of the Convocation, made representations upon the subject to +the King; the bishops wrote to his Majesty to remind him that a private +ecclesiastic implicated in the affair then pending would have a right to +claim his constitutional judges, and that this right was refused to a +cardinal, his superior in the hierarchical order. In short, the clergy +and the greater part of the nobility were at that time outrageous against +authority, and chiefly against the Queen. + +The procureur-general's conclusions, and those of a part of the heads of +the magistracy, were as severe towards the Cardinal as the information +had been; yet he was fully acquitted by a majority of three voices; the +woman De Lamotte was condemned to be whipped, branded, and imprisoned; +and her husband, for contumacy, was condemned to the galleys for life. + + [The following extract is from the "Memoirs" of the Abbe Georgel: + "The sittings were long and multiplied; it was necessary to read the + whole proceedings; more than fifty judges sat; a master of requests; + a friend of the Prince, wrote down all that was said there, and sent + it to his advisers, who found means to inform the Cardinal of it, + and to add the plan of conduct he ought to pursue." D'Epremesnil, + and other young counsellors, showed upon that occasion but too much + audacity in braving the Court, too much eagerness in seizing an + opportunity of attacking it. They were the first to shake that + authority which their functions made it a duty in them to respect.- + NOTE BY THE EDITOR.] + +M. Pierre de Laurencel, the procureur general's substitute, sent the +Queen a list of the names of the members of the Grand Chamber, with the +means made use of by the friends of the Cardinal to gain their votes +during the trial. I had this list to keep among the papers which the +Queen deposited in the house of M. Campan, my father-in-law, and which, +at his death, she ordered me to preserve. I burnt this statement, but I +remember ladies performed a part not very creditable to their principles; +it was by them, in consideration of large sums which they received, that +some of the oldest and most respected members were won over. I did not +see a single name amongst the whole Parliament that was gained directly. + +The belief confirmed by time is, that the Cardinal was completely duped +by the woman De Lamotte and Cagliostro. The King may have been in error +in thinking him an accomplice in this miserable and criminal scheme, but +I have faithfully repeated his Majesty's judgment about it. + +However, the generally received opinion that the Baron de Breteuil's +hatred for the Cardinal was the cause of the scandal and the unfortunate +result of this affair contributed to the disgrace of the former still +more than his refusal to give his granddaughter in marriage to the son of +the Duc de Polignac. The Abbe de Vermond threw the whole blame of the +imprudence and impolicy of the affair of the Cardinal de Rohan upon the +minister, and ceased to be the friend and supporter of the Baron de +Breteuil with the Queen. + +In the early part of the year 1786, the Cardinal, as has been said, +was fully acquitted, and came out of the Bastille, while Madame de +Lamotte was condemned to be whipped, branded, and imprisoned. The Court, +persisting in the erroneous views which had hitherto guided its measures, +conceived that the Cardinal and the woman De Lamotte were equally +culpable and unequally punished, and sought to restore the balance of +justice by exiling the Cardinal to La Chaise-Dieu, and suffering Madame +de Lamotte to escape a few days after she entered l'Hopital. This new +error confirmed the Parisians in the idea that the wretch De Lamotte, who +had never been able to make her way so far as to the room appropriated to +the Queen's women, had really interested the Queen herself. + + [Further particulars will be found in the "Memoirs of the Comte de + Beugnot" (London: Hurst & Blackett, 1871), as he knew Madame de + Lamotte from the days of her early childhood (when the three + children, the Baron de Valois, who died captain of a frigate, and + the two Mademoiselles de Saint-Remi, the last descendants of the + Baron de Saint-Remi, a natural son of Henri II., were almost + starving) to the time of her temporary prosperity. In fact, he was + with her when she burnt the correspondence of the Cardinal, in the + interval the Court foolishly allowed between his arrest and her + capture, and De Beugnot believed he had met at her house, at the + moment of their return from their successful trick, the whole party + engaged in deluding the Cardinal. It is worth noting that he was + then struck by the face of Mademoiselle d'Oliva, who had just + personated the Queen in presenting a rose to the Cardinal. It may + also be cited as a pleasing quality of Madame de Lamotte that she, + "in her ordinary conversation, used the words stupid and honest as + synonymous."--See "Beugnot," vol. i., p. 60.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +The Abbe de Vermond could not repress his exultation when he succeeded in +getting the Archbishop of Sens appointed head of the council of finance. +I have more than once heard him say that seventeen years of patience were +not too long a term for success in a Court; that he spent all that time +in gaining the end he had in view; but that at length the Archbishop was +where he ought to be for the good of the State. The Abbe, from this +time, in the Queen's private circle no longer concealed his credit and +influence; nothing could equal the confidence with which he displayed the +extent of his pretensions. He requested the Queen to order that the +apartments appropriated to him should be enlarged, telling her that, +being obliged to give audiences to bishops, cardinals, and ministers, he +required a residence suitable to his present circumstances. The Queen +continued to treat him as she did before the Archbishop's arrival at +Court; but the household showed him increased consideration: the word +"Monsieur" preceded that of Abbe; and from that moment not only the +livery servants, but also the people of the antechambers rose when +Monsieur l'Abbe was passing, though there never was, to my knowledge, +any order given to that effect. + +The Queen was obliged, on account of the King's disposition and the very +limited confidence he placed in the Archbishop of Sens, to take a part in +public affairs. While M. de Maurepas lived she kept out of that danger, +as may be seen by the censure which the Baron de Besenval passes on her +in his memoirs for not availing herself of the conciliation he had +promoted between the Queen and that minister, who counteracted the +ascendency which the Queen and her intimate friends might otherwise have +gained over the King's mind. + +The Queen has often assured me that she never interfered respecting the +interests of Austria but once; and that was only to claim the execution +of the treaty of alliance at the time when Joseph II. was at war with +Prussia and Turkey; that, she then demanded that an army of twenty-four +thousand men should be sent to him instead of fifteen millions, an +alternative which had been left to option in the treaty, in case the +Emperor should have a just war to maintain; that she could not obtain her +object, and M. de Vergennes, in an interview which she had with him upon +the subject, put an end to her importunities by observing that he was +answering the mother of the Dauphin and not the sister of the Emperor. +The fifteen millions were sent. There was no want of money at Vienna, +and the value of a French army was fully appreciated. + +"But how," said the Queen, "could they be so wicked as to send off those +fifteen millions from the general post-office, diligently publishing, +even to the street porters, that they were loading carriages with money +that I was sending to my brother!--whereas it is certain that the money +would equally have been sent if I had belonged to another house; and, +besides, it was sent contrary to my inclination." + + [This was not the first time the Queen had become unpopular in + consequence of financial support afforded by France to her brother. + The Emperor Joseph II, made, in November, 1783, and in May, 1784, + startling claims on the republic of the United Provinces; he + demanded the opening of the Scheldt, the cession of Maeatricht with + its dependencies, of the country beyond the Meuse, the county of + Vroenhoven, and a sum of seventy millions of florins. The first gun + was fired by the Emperor on the Scheldt 6th November, 1784. Peace + was concluded 8th November, 1785, through the mediation of France. + The singular part was the indemnification granted to the Emperor: + this was a sum of ten millions of Dutch florins; the articles 15, + 16, and 17 of the treaty stipulated the quotas of it. Holland paid + five millions and a half, and France, under the direction of M. de + Vergennes, four millions and a half of florins, that is to say, nine + millions and forty-five thousand francs, according to M. Soulavie. + M. de augur, in his "Policy of Cabinets" (vol. iii.), says relative + to this affair: + + "M. de Vergennes has been much blamed for having terminated, by a + sacrifice of seven millions, the contest that existed between the + United Provinces and the Emperor. In that age of philosophy men + were still very uncivilised; in that age of commerce they made very + erroneous calculations; and those who accused the Queen of sending + the gold of France to her brother would have been better pleased if, + to support a republic devoid of energy, the blood of two hundred + thousand men, and three or four hundred millions of francs, had been + sacrificed, and at the same time the risk run of losing the + advantage of peace dictated to England." MADAME CAMPAN.] + +When the Comte de Moustier set out on his mission to the United States, +after having had his public audience of leave he came and asked me to +procure him a private one. I could not succeed even with the strongest +solicitations; the Queen desired me to wish him a good voyage, but added +that none but ministers could have anything to say to him in private, +since he was going to a country where the names of King and Queen must be +detested. + +Marie Antoinette had then no direct influence over State affairs until +after the deaths of M. de Maurepas and M. de Vergennes, and the +retirement of M. de Calonne. She frequently regretted her new situation, +and looked upon it as a misfortune which she could not avoid. One day, +while I was assisting her to tie up a number of memorials and reports, +which some of the ministers had handed to her to be given to the King, +"Ah!" said she, sighing, "there is an end of all happiness for me, since +they have made an intriguer of me." I exclaimed at the word. + +"Yes," resumed, the Queen, "that is the right term; every woman who +meddles with affairs above her understanding or out of her line of duty +is an intriguer and nothing else; you will remember, however, that it is +not my own fault, and that it is with regret I give myself such a title; +Queens of France are happy only so long as they meddle with nothing, and +merely preserve influence sufficient to advance their friends and reward +a few zealous servants. Do you know what happened to me lately? One day +since I began to attend private committees at the King's, while crossing +the oiel-de-boeuf, I heard one of the musicians of the chapel say so loud +that I lost not a single word, 'A Queen who does her duty will remain in +her apartment to knit.' I said within myself, 'Poor wretch, thou art +right; but thou knowest not my situation; I yield to necessity and my +evil destiny.'" + +This situation was the more painful to the Queen inasmuch as Louis XVI. +had long accustomed himself to say nothing to her respecting State +affairs; and when, towards the close of his reign, she was obliged to +interfere in the most important matters, the same habit in the King +frequently kept from her particulars which it was necessary she should +have known. Obtaining, therefore, only insufficient information, and +guided by persons more ambitious than skilful, the Queen could not be +useful in important affairs; yet, at the same time, her ostensible +interference drew upon her, from all parties and all classes of society, +an unpopularity the rapid progress of which alarmed all those who were +sincerely attached to her. + +Carried away by the eloquence of the Archbishop of Sens, and encouraged +in the confidence she placed in that minister by the incessant eulogies +of the Abbe de Vermond on his abilities, the Queen unfortunately followed +up her first mistake of bringing him into office in 1787 by supporting +him at the time of his disgrace, which was obtained by the despair of a +whole nation. She thought it was due to her dignity to give him some +marked proof of her regard at the moment of his departure; misled by her +feelings, she sent him her portrait enriched with jewelry, and a brevet +for the situation of lady of the palace for Madame de Canisy, his niece, +observing that it was necessary to indemnify a minister sacrificed to the +intrigues of the Court and a factious spirit of the nation; that +otherwise none would be found willing to devote themselves to the +interests of the sovereign. + +On the day of the Archbishop's departure the public joy was universal, +both at Court and at Paris there were bonfires; the attorneys' clerks +burnt the Archbishop in effigy, and on the evening of his disgrace more +than a hundred couriers were sent out from Versailles to spread the happy +tidings among the country seats. I have seen the Queen shed bitter tears +at the recollection of the errors she committed at this period, when +subsequently, a short time before her death, the Archbishop had the +audacity to say, in a speech which was printed, that the sole object of +one part of his operations, during his administration, was the salutary +crisis which the Revolution had produced. + +The benevolence and generosity shown by the King and Queen during the +severe winter of 1788, when the Seine was frozen over and the cold was +more intense than it had been for eighty years, procured them some +fleeting popularity. The gratitude of the Parisians for the succour +their Majesties poured forth was lively if not lasting. The snow was so +abundant that since that period there has never been seen such a +prodigious quantity in France. In different parts of Paris pyramids and +obelisks of snow were erected with inscriptions expressive of the +gratitude of the people. The pyramid in the Rue d'Angiviller was +supported on a base six feet high by twelve broad; it rose to the height +of fifteen feet, and was terminated by a globe. Four blocks of stone, +placed at the angles, corresponded with the obelisk, and gave it an +elegant appearance. Several inscriptions, in honour of the King and +Queen, were affixed to it. I went to see this singular monument, and +recollect the following inscription + + "TO MARIE ANTOINETTE." + + "Lovely and good, to tender pity true, + Queen of a virtuous King, this trophy view; + Cold ice and snow sustain its fragile form, + But ev'ry grateful heart to thee is warm. + Oh, may this tribute in your hearts excite, + Illustrious pair, more pure and real delight, + Whilst thus your virtues are sincerely prais'd, + Than pompous domes by servile flatt'ry rais'd." + +The theatres generally rang with praises of the beneficence of the +sovereigns: "La Partie de Chasse de Henri IV." was represented for the +benefit of the poor. The receipts were very considerable. + +When the fruitless measure of the Assembly of the Notables, and the +rebellious spirit in the parliaments, + + [The Assembly of the Notables, as may be seen in "Weber's + Memoirs," vol. i., overthrew the plans and caused the downfall + of M. de Calonne. A prince of the blood presided over each of the + meetings of that assembly. Monsieur, afterwards Louis XVIII., + presided over the first meeting. + + "Monsieur," says a contemporary, "gained great reputation at the + Assembly of the Notables in 1787. He did not miss attending his + meeting a single day, and he displayed truly patriotic virtues. + His care in discussing the weighty matters of administration, in + throwing light upon them, and in defending the interests and the + cause of the people, was such as even to inspire the King with some + degree of jealousy. Monsieur openly said that a respectful + resistance to the orders of the monarch was not blamable, and that + authority might be met by argument, and forced to receive + information without any offence whatever."--NOTE BY THE EDITOR.] + +had created the necessity for States General, it was long discussed in +council whether they should be assembled at Versailles or at forty or +sixty leagues from the capital; the Queen was for the latter course, and +insisted to the King that they ought to be far away from the immense +population of Paris. She feared that the people would influence the +deliberations of the deputies; several memorials were presented to the +King upon that question; but M. Necker prevailed, and Versailles was the +place fixed upon. + +The day on which the King announced that he gave his consent to the +convocation of the States General, the Queen left the public dinner, +and placed herself in the recess of the first window of her bedchamber, +with her face towards the garden. Her chief butler followed her, to +present her coffee, which she usually took standing, as she was about to +leave the table. She beckoned to me to come close to her. The King was +engaged in conversation with some one in his room. When the attendant +had served her he retired; and she addressed me, with the cup still in +her hand: "Great Heavens! what fatal news goes forth this day! The King +assents to the convocation of the States General." Then she added, +raising her eyes to heaven, "I dread it; this important event is a first +fatal signal of discord in France." She cast her eyes down, they were +filled with tears. She could not take the remainder of her coffee, but +handed me the cup, and went to join the King. In the evening, when she +was alone with me, she spoke only of this momentous decision. "It is the +Parliament," said she, "that has compelled the King to have recourse to a +measure long considered fatal to the repose of the kingdom. These +gentlemen wish to restrain the power of the King; but they give a great +shock to the authority of which they make so bad a use, and they will +bring on their own destruction." + +The double representation granted to the Tiers Etat was now the chief +topic of conversation. The Queen favoured this plan, to which the King +had agreed; she thought the hope of obtaining ecclesiastical favours +would secure the clergy of the second order, and that M. Necker was sure +to have the same degree of influence over the lawyers, and other people +of that class comprised in the Tiers Dat. The Comte d'Artois, holding +the contrary opinion, presented a memorial in the names of himself and +several princes of the blood to the King against the double +representation. The Queen was displeased with him for this; her +confidential advisers infused into her apprehensions that the Prince was +made the tool of a party; but his conduct was approved of by Madame de +Polignac's circle, which the Queen thenceforward only frequented to avoid +the appearance of a change in her habits. She almost always returned +unhappy; she was treated with the profound respect due to a queen, but +the devotion of friendship had vanished, to make way for the coldness of +etiquette, which wounded her deeply. The alienation between her and the +Comte Artois was also very painful to her, for she had loved him almost +as tenderly as if he had been her own brother. + +The opening of the States General took place on the 4th of May, 1789. +The Queen on that occasion appeared for the last time in her life in +regal magnificence. During the procession some low women, seeing the +Queen pass, cried out "Vive le Duc d' Orleans!" in so threatening a +manner that she nearly fainted. She was obliged to be supported, and +those about her were afraid it would be necessary to stop the procession. +The Queen, however, recovered herself, and much regretted that she had +not been able to command more presence of mind. + +The rapidly increasing distrust of the King and Queen shown by the +populace was greatly attributable to incessant corruption by English +gold, and the projects, either of revenge or of ambition, of the Duc +d'Orleans. Let it not be thought that this accusation is founded on what +has been so often repeated by the heads of the French Government since +the Revolution. Twice between the 14th of July and the 6th of October, +1789, the day on which the Court was dragged to Paris, the Queen +prevented me from making little excursions thither of business or +pleasure, saying to me, "Do not go on such a day to Paris; the English +have been scattering gold, we shall have some disturbance." The repeated +visits of the Duc d'Orleans to England had excited the Anglomania to such +a pitch that Paris was no longer distinguishable from London. The +French, formerly imitated by the whole of Europe, became on a sudden a +nation of imitators, without considering the evils that arts and +manufactures must suffer in consequence of the change. Since the treaty +of commerce made with England at the peace of 1783, not merely equipages, +but everything, even to ribands and common earthenware, were of English +make. If this predominance of English fashions had been confined to +filling our drawing-rooms with young men in English frock-coats, instead +of the French dress, good taste and commerce might alone have suffered; +but the principles of English government had taken possession of these +young heads. Constitution, Upper House, Lower House, national guarantee, +balance of power, Magna Charta, Law of Habeas Corpus,--all these words +were incessantly repeated, and seldom understood; but they were of +fundamental importance to a party which was then forming. + +The first sitting of the States took place on the following day. The +King delivered his speech with firmness and dignity; the Queen told me +that he had taken great pains about it, and had repeated it frequently. +His Majesty gave public marks of attachment and respect for the Queen, +who was applauded; but it was easy to see that this applause was in fact +rendered to the King alone. + +It was evident, during the first sittings, that Mirabeau would be very +dangerous to the Government. It affirmed that at this period he +communicated to the King, and still more fully to the Queen, part of his +schemes for abandoning them. He brandished the weapons afforded him by +his eloquence and audacity, in order to make terms with the party he +meant to attack. This man played the game of revolution to make his own +fortune. The Queen told me that he asked for an embassy, and, if my +memory does not deceive me, it was that of Constantinople. He was +refused with well-deserved contempt, though policy would doubtless have +concealed it, could the future have been foreseen. + +The enthusiasm prevailing at the opening of this assembly, and the +debates between the Tiers Etat, the nobility, and even the clergy, daily +increased the alarm of their Majesties, and all who were attached to the +cause of monarchy. The Queen went to bed late, or rather she began to be +unable to rest. One evening, about the end of May, she was sitting in +her room, relating several remarkable occurrences of the day; four wax +candles were placed upon her toilet-table; the first went out of itself; +I relighted it; shortly afterwards the second, and then the third went +out also; upon which the Queen, squeezing my hand in terror, said to me: +"Misfortune makes us superstitious; if the fourth taper should go out +like the rest, nothing can prevent my looking upon it as a sinister +omen." The fourth taper went out. It was remarked to the Queen that the +four tapers had probably been run in the same mould, and that a defect in +the wick had naturally occurred at the same point in each, since the +candles had all gone out in the order in which they had been lighted. + +The deputies of the Tiers Etat arrived at Versailles full of the +strongest prejudices against the Court. They believed that the King +indulged in the pleasures of the table to a shameful excess; and that the +Queen was draining the treasury of the State in order to satisfy the most +unbridled luxury. They almost all determined to see Petit Trianon. The +extreme plainness of the retreat in question not answering the ideas they +had formed, some of them insisted upon seeing the very smallest closets, +saying that the richly furnished apartments were concealed from them. +They particularised one which, according to them, was ornamented with +diamonds, and with wreathed columns studded with sapphires and rubies. +The Queen could not get these foolish ideas out of her mind, and spoke to +the King on the subject. From the description given of this room by the +deputies to the keepers of Trianon, the King concluded that they were +looking for the scene enriched with paste ornaments, made in the reign of +Louis XV. for the theatre of Fontainebleau. + +The King supposed that his Body Guards, on their return to the country, +after their quarterly duty at Court, related what they had seen, and that +their exaggerated accounts, being repeated, became at last totally +perverted. This idea of the King, after the search for the diamond +chamber, suggested to the Queen that the report of the King's propensity +for drinking also sprang from the guards who accompanied his carriage +when he hunted at Rambouillet. The King, who disliked sleeping out of +his usual bed, was accustomed to leave that hunting-seat after supper; +he generally slept soundly in his carriage, and awoke only on his arrival +at the courtyard of his palace; he used to get down from his carriage in +the midst of his Body Guards, staggering, as a man half awake will do, +which was mistaken for intoxication. + +The majority of the deputies who came imbued with prejudices produced by +error or malevolence, went to lodge with the most humble private +individuals of Versailles, whose inconsiderate conversation contributed +not a little to nourish such mistakes. Everything, in short, tended to +render the deputies subservient to the schemes of the leaders of the +rebellion. + +Shortly after the opening of the States General the first Dauphin died. +That young Prince suffered from the rickets, which in a few months curved +his spine, and rendered his legs so weak that he could not walk without +being supported like a feeble old man. + + [Louis, Dauphin of France, who died at Versailles on the 4th of + June, 1789, gave promise of intellectual precocity. The following + particulars, which convey some idea of his disposition, and of the + assiduous attention bestowed upon him by the Duchesse de Polignac, + will be found in a work of that time: "At two years old the Dauphin + was very pretty; he articulated well, and answered questions put to + him intelligently. While he was at the Chateau de La Muette + everybody was at liberty to see him. The Dauphin was dressed + plainly, like a sailor; there was nothing to distinguish him from + other children in external appearance but the cross of Saint Louis, + the blue ribbon, and the Order of the Fleece, decorations that are + the distinctive signs of his rank. The Duchesse Jules de Polignac, + his governess, scarcely ever left him for a single instant: she gave + up all the Court excursions and amusements in order to devote her + whole attention to him. The Prince always manifested a great regard + for M. de Bourset, his valet de chambre. During the illness of + which he died, he one day asked for a pair of scissors; that + gentleman reminded him that they were forbidden. The child insisted + mildly, and they were obliged to yield to him. Having got the + scissors, he cut off a lock of his hair, which he wrapped in a sheet + of paper: 'There, monsieur,' said he to his valet de chambre,' there + is the only present I can make you, having nothing at my command; + but when I am dead you will present this pledge to my papa and + mamma; and while they remember me, I hope they will not forget + you.'"--NOTE BY THE EDITOR.] + +How many maternal tears did his condition draw from the Queen, already +overwhelmed with apprehensions respecting the state of the kingdom! Her +grief was enhanced by petty intrigues, which, when frequently renewed, +became intolerable. An open quarrel between the families and friends of +the Duc Harcourt, the Dauphin's governor, and those of the Duchesse de +Polignac, his governess, added greatly to the Queen's affliction. The +young Prince showed a strong dislike to the Duchesse de Polignac, who +attributed it either to the Duc or the Duchesse d'Harcourt, and came to +make her complaints respecting it to the Queen. The Dauphin twice sent +her out of his room, saying to her, with that maturity of manner which +long illness always gives to children: "Go out, Duchess; you are so fond +of using perfumes, and they always make me ill;" and yet she never used +any. The Queen perceived, also, that his prejudices against her friend +extended to herself; her son would no longer speak in her presence. She +knew that he had become fond of sweetmeats, and offered him some +marshmallow and jujube lozenges. The under-governors and the first valet +de chambre requested her not to give the Dauphin anything, as he was to +receive no food of any kind without the consent of the faculty. +I forbear to describe the wound this prohibition inflicted upon the +Queen; she felt it the more deeply because she was aware it was unjustly +believed she gave a decided preference to the Duc de Normandie, whose +ruddy health and amiability did, in truth, form a striking contrast to +the languid look and melancholy disposition of his elder brother. She +even suspected that a plot had for some time existed to deprive her of +the affection of a child whom she loved as a good and tender mother +ought. Previous to the audience granted by the King on the 10th August, +1788, to the envoy of the Sultan Tippoo Saib, she had begged the Duc +d'Harcourt to divert the Dauphin, whose deformity was already apparent, +from his, intention to be present at that ceremony, being unwilling to +expose him to the gaze of the crowd of inquisitive Parisians who would be +in the gallery. Notwithstanding this injunction, the Dauphin was +suffered to write to his mother, requesting her permission to be present +at the audience. The Queen was obliged to refuse him, and warmly +reproached the governor, who merely answered that he could not oppose the +wishes of a sick child. A year before the death of the Dauphin the Queen +lost the Princesse Sophie; this was, as the Queen said, the first of a +series of misfortunes. + + +NOTE: As Madame Campan has stated in the foregoing pages that the money +to foment sedition was furnished from English sources, the decree of the +Convention of August, 1793, maybe quoted as illustrative of the entente +cordiale alleged to exist between the insurrectionary Government and its +friends across the Channel! The endeavours made by the English +Government to save the unfortunate King are well known. The motives +prompting the conduct of the Duc d'Orleans are equally well known. + +Art. i. The National Convention denounces the British Government to +Europe and the English nation. + +Art. ii. Every Frenchman that shall place his money in the English +funds shall be declared a traitor to his country. + +Art. iii. Every Frenchman who has money in the English funds or those +of any other Power with whom France is at war shall be obliged to declare +the same. + +Art. iv. All foreigners, subjects of the Powers now at war with France, +particularly the English, shall be arrested, and seals put upon their +papers. + +Art. v. The barriers of Paris shall be instantly shut. + +Art. vi. All good citizens shall be required in the name of the country +to search for the foreigners concerned in any plot denounced. + +Art. vii. Three millions shall be at the disposal of the Minister at +War to facilitate the march of the garrison of Mentz to La Vendee. + +Art. viii. The Minister at War shall send to the army on the coast of +Rochelle all the combustible materials necessary to set fire to the +forests and underwood of La Vendee. + +Art. ix. The women, the children, and old men shall be conducted to the +interior parts of the country. + +Art. x. The property of the rebels shall be confiscated for the benefit +of the Republic. + +Art. xi. A camp shall be formed without delay between Paris and the +Northern army. + +Art. xii. All the family of the Capets shall be banished from the +French territory, those excepted who are under the sword of the law, and +the offspring of Louis Capet, who shall both remain in the Temple. + +Art. xiii. Marie Antoinette shall be delivered over to the +Revolutionary Tribunal, and shall be immediately conducted to the prison +of the Conciergerie. Louise Elisabeth shall remain in the Temple till +after the judgment of Marie Antoinette. + +Art. xiv. All the tombs of the Kings which are at St. Denis and in the +departments shall be destroyed on August the 10th. + +Art. xv. The present decree shall be despatched by extraordinary +couriers to all the departments. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Customs are nearly equal to laws +Displaying her acquirements with rather too much confidence +I do not like these rhapsodies +Indulge in the pleasure of vice and assume the credit of virtue +No accounting for the caprices of a woman +None but little minds dreaded little books +Shun all kinds of confidence +The author (Beaumarchais) was sent to prison soon afterwards +Those muskets were immediately embarked and sold to the Americans +Young Prince suffered from the rickets + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of The Memoirs of Marie Antoinette, v4 +by Madame Campan + diff --git a/old/cm50b10.zip b/old/cm50b10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..384ce79 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/cm50b10.zip |