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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/3888.txt b/3888.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3c5630f --- /dev/null +++ b/3888.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2225 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Memoirs of Marie Antoinette, Queen Of +France, Volume 5, by Madame Campan + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Memoirs of Marie Antoinette, Queen Of France, Volume 5 + Being the Historic Memoirs of Madam Campan, First Lady in Waiting + to the Queen + + +Author: Madame Campan + +Release Date: December 4, 2004 [EBook #3888] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARIE ANTOINETTE *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +MEMOIRS OF THE COURT OF MARIE ANTOINETTE, + +QUEEN OF FRANCE + +Being the Historic Memoirs of Madam Campan, + +First Lady in Waiting to the Queen + + + +Volume 5 + + + + +BOOK 2. + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +The ever-memorable oath of the States General, taken at the Tennis Court +of Versailles, was followed by the royal sitting of the 23d of June. In +this seance the King declared that the Orders must vote separately, and +threatened, if further obstacles were met with, to himself act for the +good of the people. The Queen looked on M. Necker's not accompanying the +King as treachery or criminal cowardice: she said that he had converted a +remedy into poison; that being in full popularity, his audacity, in openly +disavowing the step taken by his sovereign, had emboldened the factious, +and led away the whole Assembly; and that he was the more culpable +inasmuch as he had the evening before given her his word to accompany the +King. In vain did M. Necker endeavour to excuse himself by saying that +his advice had not been followed. + +Soon afterwards the insurrections of the 11th, 12th, and 14th of +July--[The Bastille was taken on the 14th July, 1789.]--opened the +disastrous drama with which France was threatened. The massacre of M. de +Flesselles and M. de Launay drew bitter tears from the Queen, and the idea +that the King had lost such devoted subjects wounded her to the heart. + +The character of the movement was no longer merely that of a popular +insurrection; cries of "Vive la Nation! Vive le Roi! Vive la Liberte!" +threw the strongest light upon the views of the reformers. Still the +people spoke of the King with affection, and appeared to think him +favourable to the national desire for the reform of what were called +abuses; but they imagined that he was restrained by the opinions and +influence of the Comte d'Artois and the Queen; and those two august +personages were therefore objects of hatred to the malcontents. The +dangers incurred by the Comte d'Artois determined the King's first step +with the States General. He attended their meeting on the morning of the +15th of July with his brothers, without pomp or escort; he spoke standing +and uncovered, and pronounced these memorable words: "I trust myself to +you; I only wish to be at one with my nation, and, counting on the +affection and fidelity of my subjects, I have given orders to the troops +to remove from Paris and Versailles." The King returned on foot from the +chamber of the States General to his palace; the deputies crowded after +him, and formed his escort, and that of the Princes who accompanied him. +The rage of the populace was pointed against the Comte d'Artois, whose +unfavourable opinion of the double representation was an odious crime in +their eyes. They repeatedly cried out, "The King for ever, in spite of +you and your opinions, Monseigneur!" One woman had the impudence to come +up to the King and ask him whether what he had been doing was done +sincerely, and whether he would not be forced to retract it. + +The courtyards of the Chateau were thronged with an immense concourse of +people; they demanded that the King and Queen, with their children, should +make their appearance in the balcony. The Queen gave me the key of the +inner doors, which led to the Dauphin's apartments, and desired me to go +to the Duchesse de Polignac to tell her that she wanted her son, and had +directed me to bring him myself into her room, where she waited to show +him to the people. The Duchess said this order indicated that she was not +to accompany the Prince. I did not answer; she squeezed my hand, saying, +"Ah! Madame Campan, what a blow I receive!" She embraced the child and me +with tears. She knew how much I loved and valued the goodness and the +noble simplicity of her disposition. I endeavoured to reassure her by +saying that I should bring back the Prince to her; but she persisted, and +said she understood the order, and knew what it meant. She then retired to +her private room, holding her handkerchief to her eyes. One of the +under-governesses asked me whether she might go with the Dauphin; I told +her the Queen had given no order to the contrary, and we hastened to her +Majesty, who was waiting to lead the Prince to the balcony. + +Having executed this sad commission, I went down into the courtyard, where +I mingled with the crowd. I heard a thousand vociferations; it was easy +to see, by the difference between the language and the dress of some +persons among the mob, that they were in disguise. A woman, whose face +was covered with a black lace veil, seized me by the arm with some +violence, and said, calling me by my name, "I know you very well; tell +your Queen not to meddle with government any longer; let her leave her +husband and our good States General to effect the happiness of the +people." At the same moment a man, dressed much in the style of a +marketman, with his hat pulled down over his eyes, seized me by the other +arm, and said, "Yes, yes; tell her over and over again that it will not be +with these States as with the others, which produced no good to the +people; that the nation is too enlightened in 1789 not to make something +more of them; and that there will not now be seen a deputy of the 'Tiers +Etat' making a speech with one knee on the ground; tell her this, do you +hear?" I was struck with dread; the Queen then appeared in the balcony. +"Ah!" said the woman in the veil, "the Duchess is not with her."--"No," +replied the man, "but she is still at Versailles; she is working +underground, molelike; but we shall know how to dig her out." The +detestable pair moved away from me, and I reentered the palace, scarcely +able to support myself. I thought it my duty to relate the dialogue of +these two strangers to the Queen; she made me repeat the particulars to +the King. + +About four in the afternoon I went across the terrace to Madame Victoire's +apartments; three men had stopped under the windows of the throne-chamber. +"Here is that throne," said one of them aloud, "the vestiges of which will +soon be sought for." He added a thousand invectives against their +Majesties. I went in to the Princess, who was at work alone in her +closet, behind a canvass blind, which prevented her from being seen by +those without. The three men were still walking upon the terrace; I +showed them to her, and told her what they had said. She rose to take a +nearer view of them, and informed me that one of them was named +Saint-Huruge; that he was sold to the Duc d'Orleans, and was furious +against the Government, because he had been confined once under a 'lettre +de cachet' as a bad character. + +The King was not ignorant of these popular threats; he also knew the days +on which money was scattered about Paris, and once or twice the Queen +prevented my going there, saying there would certainly be a riot the next +day, because she knew that a quantity of crown pieces had been distributed +in the faubourgs. + +[I have seen a six-franc crown piece, which certainly served to pay some +wretch on the night of the 12th of July; the words "Midnight, 12th July, +three pistols," were rather deeply engraven on it. They were, no doubt, a +password for the first insurrection. --MADAME COMPAN] + +On the evening of the 14th of July the King came to the Queen's +apartments, where I was with her Majesty alone; he conversed with her +respecting the scandalous report disseminated by the factious, that he had +had the Chamber of the National Assembly undermined, in order to blow it +up; but he added that it became him to treat such absurd assertions with +contempt, as usual; I ventured to tell him that I had the evening before +supped with M. Begouen, one of the deputies, who said that there were very +respectable persons who thought that this horrible contrivance had been +proposed without the King's knowledge. "Then," said his Majesty, "as the +idea of such an atrocity was not revolting to so worthy a man as M. +Begouen, I will order the chamber to be examined early to-morrow morning." +In fact, it will be seen by the King's, speech to the National Assembly, +on the 15th of July, that the suspicions excited obtained his attention. +"I know," said he in the speech in question, "that unworthy insinuations +have been made; I know there are those who have dared to assert that your +persons are not safe; can it be necessary to give you assurances upon the +subject of reports so culpable, denied beforehand by my known character?" + +The proceedings of the 15th of July produced no mitigation of the +disturbances. Successive deputations of poissardes came to request the +King to visit Paris, where his presence alone would put an end to the +insurrection. + +On the 16th a committee was held in the King's apartments, at which a most +important question was discussed: whether his Majesty should quit +Versailles and set off with the troops whom he had recently ordered to +withdraw, or go to Paris to tranquillise the minds of the people. The +Queen was for the departure. On the evening of the 16th she made me take +all her jewels out of their cases, to collect them in one small box, which +she might carry off in her own carriage. With my assistance she burnt a +large quantity of papers; for Versailles was then threatened with an early +visit of armed men from Paris. + +The Queen, on the morning of the 16th, before attending another committee +at the King's, having got her jewels ready, and looked over all her +papers, gave me one folded up but not sealed, and desired me not to read +it until she should give me an order to do so from the King's room, and +that then I was to execute its contents; but she returned herself about +ten in the morning; the affair was decided; the army was to go away +without the King; all those who were in imminent danger were to go at the +same time. "The King will go to the Hotel de Ville to-morrow," said the +Queen to me; "he did not choose this course for himself; there were long +debates on the question; at last the King put an end to them by rising and +saying, 'Well, gentlemen, we must decide; am I to go or to stay? I am +ready to do either.' The majority were for the King staying; time will +show whether the right choice has been made." I returned the Queen the +paper she had given me, which was now useless; she read it to me; it +contained her orders for the departure; I was to go with her, as well on +account of my office about her person as to serve as a teacher to Madame. +The Queen tore the paper, and said, with tears in her eyes, "When I wrote +this I thought it would be useful, but fate has ordered otherwise, to the +misfortune of us all, as I much fear." + +After the departure of the troops the new administration received thanks; +M. Necker was recalled. The artillery soldiers were undoubtedly +corrupted. "Wherefore all these guns?" exclaimed the crowds of women who +filled the streets. "Will you kill your mothers, your wives, your +children?"--"Don't be afraid," answered the soldiers; "these guns shall +rather be levelled against the tyrant's palace than against you!" + +The Comte d'Artois, the Prince de Conde, and their children set off at the +same time with the troops. The Duc and Duchesse de Polignac, their +daughter, the Duchesse de Guiche, the Comtesse Diane de Polignac, sister +of the Duke, and the Abbe de Baliviere, also emigrated on the same night. +Nothing could be more affecting than the parting of the Queen and her +friend; extreme misfortune had banished from their minds the recollection +of differences to which political opinions alone had given rise. The +Queen several times wished to go and embrace her once more after their +sorrowful adieu, but she was too closely watched. She desired M. Campan +to be present at the departure of the Duchess, and gave him a purse of +five hundred Louis, desiring him to insist upon her allowing the Queen to +lend her that sum to defray her expenses on the road. The Queen added +that she knew her situation; that she had often calculated her income, and +the expenses occasioned by her place at Court; that both husband and wife +having no other fortune than their official salaries, could not possibly +have saved anything, however differently people might think at Paris. + +M. Campan remained till midnight with the Duchess to see her enter her +carriage. She was disguised as a femme de chambre, and got up in front of +the Berlin; she requested M. Campan to remember her frequently to the +Queen, and then quitted for ever that palace, that favour, and that +influence which had raised her up such cruel enemies. On their arrival at +Sens the travellers found the people in a state of insurrection; they +asked all those who came from Paris whether the Polignacs were still with +the Queen. A group of inquisitive persons put that question to the Abbe +de Baliviere, who answered them in the firmest tone, and with the most +cavalier air, that they were far enough from Versailles, and that we had +got rid of all such bad people. At the following stage the postilion got +on the doorstep and said to the Duchess, "Madame, there are some good +people left in the world: I recognised you all at Sens." They gave the +worthy fellow a handful of gold. + +On the breaking out of these disturbances an old man above seventy years +of age gave the Queen an extraordinary proof of attachment and fidelity. +M. Peraque, a rich inhabitant of the colonies, father of M. d'Oudenarde, +was coming from Brussels to Paris; while changing horses he was met by a +young man who was leaving France, and who recommended him if he carried +any letters from foreign countries to burn them immediately, especially if +he had any for the Queen. M. Peraque had one from the Archduchess, the +Gouvernante of the Low Countries, for her Majesty. He thanked the +stranger, and carefully concealed his packet; but as he approached Paris +the insurrection appeared to him so general and so violent, that he +thought no means could be relied on for securing this letter from seizure. +He took upon him to unseal it, and learned it by heart, which was a +wonderful effort for a man at his time of life, as it contained four pages +of writing. On his arrival at Paris he wrote it down, and then presented +it to the Queen, telling her that the heart of an old and faithful subject +had given him courage to form and execute such a resolution. The Queen +received M. Peraque in her closet, and expressed her gratitude in an +affecting manner most honourable to the worthy old man. Her Majesty +thought the young stranger who had apprised him of the state of Paris was +Prince George of Hesse-Darmstadt, who was very devoted to her, and who +left Paris at that time. + +The Marquise de Tourzel replaced the Duchess de Polignac. She was +selected by the Queen as being the mother of a family and a woman of +irreproachable conduct, who had superintended the education of her own +daughters with the greatest success. + +The King went to Paris on the 17th of July, accompanied by the Marechal de +Beauvau, the Duc de Villeroi, and the Duc de Villequier; he also took the +Comte d'Estaing, and the Marquis de Nesle, who were then very popular, in +his carriage. Twelve Body Guards, and the town guard of Versailles, +escorted him to the Pont du Jour, near Sevres, where the Parisian guard +was waiting for him. His departure caused equal grief and alarm to his +friends, notwithstanding the calmness he exhibited. The Queen restrained +her tears, and shut herself up in her private rooms with her family. She +sent for several persons belonging to her Court; their doors were locked. +Terror had driven them away. The silence of death reigned throughout the +palace; they hardly dared hope that the King would return? The Queen had +a robe prepared for her, and sent orders to her stables to have all her +equipages ready. She wrote an address of a few lines for the Assembly, +determining to go there with her family, the officers of her palace, and +her servants, if the King should be detained prisoner at Paris. She got +this address by heart; it began with these words: "Gentlemen, I come to +place in your hands the wife and family of your sovereign; do not suffer +those who have been united in heaven to be put asunder on earth." While +she was repeating this address she was often interrupted by tears, and +sorrowfully exclaimed: "They will not let him return!" + +It was past four when the King, who had left Versailles at ten in the +morning, entered the Hotel de Ville. At length, at six in the evening, M. +de Lastours, the King's first page, arrived; he was not half an hour in +coming from the Barriere de la Conference to Versailles. Everybody knows +that the moment of calm in Paris was that in which the unfortunate +sovereign received the tricoloured cockade from M. Bailly, and placed it +in his hat. A shout of "Vive le Roi!" arose on all sides; it had not been +once uttered before. The King breathed again, and with tears in his eyes +exclaimed that his heart stood in need of such greetings from the people. +One of his equerries (M. de Cubieres) told him the people loved him, and +that he could never have doubted it. The King replied in accents of +profound sensibility: + +"Cubieres, the French loved Henri IV., and what king ever better deserved +to be beloved?" + +[Louis XVI. cherished the memory of Henri IV.: at that moment he thought +of his deplorable end; but he long before regarded him as a model. +Soulavie says on the subject: "A tablet with the inscription 'Resurrexit' +placed upon the pedestal of Henri IV.'s statue on the accession of Louis +XVI. flattered him exceedingly. 'What a fine compliment,' said he, 'if it +were true! Tacitus himself never wrote anything so concise or so happy.' +Louis XVI. wished to take the reign of that Prince for a model. In the +following year the party that raised a commotion among the people on +account of the dearness of corn removed the tablet inscribed Resurrexit +from the statue of Henri IV., and placed it under that of Louis XV., whose +memory was then detested, as he was believed to have traded on the +scarcity of food. Louis XVI., who was informed of it, withdrew into his +private apartments, where he was found in a fever shedding tears; and +during the whole of that day he could not be prevailed upon either to +dine, walk out, or sup. From this circumstance we may judge what he +endured at the commencement of the Revolution, when he was accused of not +loving the French people."--NOTE BY THE EDITOR.] + +His return to Versailles filled his family with inexpressible joy; in the +arms of the Queen, his sister, and his children, he congratulated himself +that no accident had happened; and he repeated several times, "Happily no +blood has been shed, and I swear that never shall a drop of French blood +be shed by my order,"--a determination full of humanity, but too openly +avowed in such factious times! + +The King's last measure raised a hope in many that general tranquillity +would soon enable the Assembly to resume its, labours, and promptly bring +its session to a close. The Queen never flattered herself so far; M. +Bailly's speech to the King had equally wounded her pride and hurt her +feelings. "Henri IV. conquered his people, and here are the people +conquering their King." The word "conquest" offended her; she never +forgave M. Bailly for this fine academical phrase. + +Five days after the King's visit to Paris, the departure of the troops, +and the removal of the Princes and some of the nobility whose influence +seemed to alarm the people, a horrible deed committed by hired assassins +proved that the King had descended the steps of his throne without having +effected a reconciliation with his people. + +M. Foulon, adjoint to the administration while M. de Broglie was +commanding the army assembled at Versailles, had concealed himself at +Viry. He was there recognised, and the peasants seized him, and dragged +him to the Hotel de Ville. The cry for death was heard; the electors, the +members of committee, and M. de La Fayette, at that time the idol of +Paris, in vain endeavoured to save the unfortunate man. After tormenting +him in a manner which makes humanity shudder, his body was dragged about +the streets, and to the Palais Royal, and his heart was carried by women +in the midst of a bunch of white carnations! M. Berthier, M. Foulon's +son-in-law, intendant of Paris, was seized at Compiegne, at the same time +that his father-in-law was seized at Viry, and treated with still more +relentless cruelty. + +The Queen was always persuaded that this horrible deed was occasioned by +some indiscretion; and she informed me that M. Foulon had drawn up two +memorials for the direction of the King's conduct at the time of his being +called to Court on the removal of M. Necker; and that these memorials +contained two schemes of totally different nature for extricating the King +from the dreadful situation in which he was placed. In the first of these +projects M. Foulon expressed himself without reserve respecting the +criminal views of the Duc d'Orleans; said that he ought to be put under +arrest, and that no time should be lost in commencing a prosecution +against him, while the criminal tribunals were still in existence; he +likewise pointed out such deputies as should be apprehended, and advised +the King not to separate himself from his army until order was restored. + +His other plan was that the King should make himself master of the +revolution before its complete explosion; he advised his Majesty to go to +the Assembly, and there, in person, to demand the cahiers, + +[Cahiers, the memorials or lists of complaints, grievances, and +requirements of the electors drawn up by the primary assemblies and sent +with the deputies.] + +and to make the greatest sacrifices to satisfy the legitimate wishes of +the people, and not to give the factious time to enlist them in aid of +their criminal designs. Madame Adelaide had M. Foulon's two memorials +read to her in the presence of four or five persons. One of them, Comte +Louis de Narbonne, was very intimate with Madame de Stael, and that +intimacy gave the Queen reason to believe that the opposite party had +gained information of M. Foulon's schemes. + +It is known that young Barnave, during an aberration of mind, since +expiated by sincere repentance, and even by death, uttered these atrocious +words: "Is then the blood now, flowing so pure?" when M. Berthier's son +came to the Assembly to implore the eloquence of M. de Lally to entreat +that body to save his father's life. I have since been informed that a +son of M. Foulon, having returned to France after these first ebullitions +of the Revolution, saw Barnave, and gave him one of those memorials in +which M. Foulon advised Louis XVI. to prevent the revolutionary explosion +by voluntarily granting all that the Assembly required before the 14th of +July. "Read this memorial," said he; "I have brought it to increase your +remorse: it is the only revenge I wish to inflict on you." Barnave burst +into tears, and said to him all that the profoundest grief could dictate. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +After the 14th of July, by a manoeuvre for which the most skilful factions +of any age might have envied the Assembly, the whole population of France +was armed and organised into a National Guard. A report was spread +throughout France on the same day, and almost at the same hour, that four +thousand brigands were marching towards such towns or villages as it was +wished to induce to take arms. Never was any plan better laid; terror +spread at the same moment all over the kingdom. In 1791 a peasant showed +me a steep rock in the mountains of the Mont d'Or on which his wife +concealed herself on the day when the four thousand brigands were to +attack their village, and told me they had been obliged to make use of +ropes to let her down from the height which fear alone had enabled her to +climb. + +Versailles was certainly the place where the national military uniform +appeared most offensive. All the King's valets, even of the lowest class, +were metamorphosed into lieutenants or captains; almost all the musicians +of the chapel ventured one day to make their appearance at the King's mass +in a military costume; and an Italian soprano adopted the uniform of a +grenadier captain. The King was very much offended at this conduct, and +forbade his servants to appear in his presence in so unsuitable a dress. + +The departure of the Duchesse de Polignac naturally left the Abbe de +Vermond exposed to all the dangers of favouritism. He was already talked +of as an adviser dangerous to the nation. The Queen was alarmed at it, +and recommended him to remove to Valenciennes, where Count Esterhazy was +in command. He was obliged to leave that place in a few days and set off +for Vienna, where he remained. + +On the night of the 17th of July the Queen, being unable to sleep, made me +watch by her until three in the morning. I was extremely surprised to +hear her say that it would be a very long time before the Abbe de Vermond +would make his appearance at Court again, even if the existing ferment +should subside, because he would not readily be forgiven for his +attachment to the Archbishop of Sens; and that she had lost in him a very +devoted servant. Then she suddenly remarked to me, that although he was +not much prejudiced against me I could not have much regard for him, +because he could not bear my father-in-law to hold the place of secretary +of the closet. She went on to say that I must have studied the Abbe's +character, and, as I had sometimes drawn her portraits of living +characters, in imitation of those which were fashionable in the time of +Louis XIV., she desired me to sketch that of the Abbe, without any +reserve. My astonishment was extreme; the Queen spoke of the man who, the +day before, had been in the greatest intimacy with her with the utmost +coolness, and as a person whom, perhaps, she might never see again! I +remained petrified; the Queen persisted, and told me that he had been the +enemy of my family for more than twelve years, without having been able to +injure it in her opinion; so that I had no occasion to dread his return, +however severely I might depict him. I promptly summarised my ideas about +the favourite; but I only remember that the portrait was drawn with +sincerity, except that everything which could denote antipathy was kept +out of it. I shall make but one extract from it: I said that he had been +born talkative and indiscreet, and had assumed a character of singularity +and abruptness in order to conceal those two failings. The Queen +interrupted me by saying, "Ah! how true that is!" I have since discovered +that, notwithstanding the high favour which the Abbe de Vermond enjoyed, +the Queen took precautions to guard herself against an ascendency the +consequences of which she could not calculate. + +On the death of my father-in-law his executors placed in my hands a box +containing a few jewels deposited by the Queen with M. Campan on the +departure from Versailles of the 6th of October, and two sealed packets, +each inscribed, "Campan will take care of these papers for me." I took +the two packets to her Majesty, who kept the jewels and the larger packet, +and, returning me the smaller, said, "Take care of that for me as your +father-in-law did." + +After the fatal 10th of August, 1792,--[The day of the attack on the +Tuileries, slaughter of the Swiss guard, and suspension of the King from +his functions.]--when my house was about to be surrounded, I determined to +burn the most interesting papers of which I was the depositary; I thought +it my duty, however, to open this packet, which it might perhaps be +necessary for me to preserve at all hazards. I saw that it contained a +letter from the Abbe de Vermond to the Queen. I have already related that +in the earlier days of Madame de Polignac's favour he determined to remove +from Versailles, and that the Queen recalled him by means of the Comte de +Mercy. This letter contained nothing but certain conditions for his +return; it was the most whimsical of treaties; I confess I greatly +regretted being under the necessity of destroying it. He reproached the +Queen for her infatuation for the Comtesse Jules, her family, and society; +and told her several truths about the possible consequences of a +friendship which ranked that lady among the favourites of the Queens of +France, a title always disliked by the nation. He complained that his +advice was neglected, and then came to the conditions of his return to +Versailles; after strong assurances that he would never, in all his life, +aim at the higher church dignities, he said that he delighted in an +unbounded confidence; and that he asked but two things of her Majesty as +essential: the first was, not to give him her orders through any third +person, and to write to him herself; he complained much that he had had no +letter in her own hand since he had left Vienna; then he demanded of her +an income of eighty thousand livres, in ecclesiastical benefices; and +concluded by saying that, if she condescended to assure him herself that +she would set about procuring him what he wished, her letter would be +sufficient in itself to show him that her Majesty had accepted the two +conditions he ventured to make respecting his return. No doubt the letter +was written; at least it is very certain that the benefices were granted, +and that his absence from Versailles lasted only a single week. + +In the course of July, 1789, the regiment of French guards, which had been +in a state of insurrection from the latter end of June, abandoned its +colours. One single company of grenadiers remained faithful, to its post +at Versailles. M. le Baron de Leval was the captain of this company. He +came every evening to request me to give the Queen an account of the +disposition of his soldiers; but M. de La Fayette having sent them a note, +they all deserted during the night and joined their comrades, who were +enrolled in the Paris guard; so that Louis XVI. on rising saw no guard +whatever at the various posts entrusted to them. + +The decrees of the 4th of August, by which all privileges were abolished, +are well known. + +["It was during the night of the 4th of August," says Rivarol, "that the +demagogues of the nobility, wearied with a protracted discussion upon the +rights of man, and burning to signalise their zeal, rose all at once, and +with loud exclamations called for the last sighs of the feudal system. +This demand electrified the Assembly. All heads were frenzied. The +younger sons of good families, having nothing, were delighted to sacrifice +their too fortunate elders upon the altar of the country; a few country +cures felt no less pleasure in renouncing the benefices of others; but +what posterity will hardly believe is that the same enthusiasm infected +the whole nobility; zeal walked hand in hand with malevolence; they made +sacrifice upon sacrifice. And as in Japan the point of honour lies in a +man's killing himself in the presence of the person who has offended him, +so did the deputies of the nobility vie in striking at themselves and +their constituents. The people who were present at this noble contest +increased the intoxication of their new allies by their shouts; and the +deputies of the commons, seeing that this memorable night would only +afford them profit without honour, consoled their self-love by wondering +at what Nobility, grafted upon the Third Estate, could do. They named +that night the 'night of dupes'; the nobles called it the 'night of +sacrifices'."--NOTE BY THE EDITOR.] + +The King sanctioned all that tended to the diminution of his own personal +gratifications, but refused his consent to the other decrees of that +tumultuous night; this refusal was one of the chief causes of the ferments +of the month of October. + +In the early part of September meetings were held at the Palais Royal, and +propositions made to go to Versailles; it was said to be necessary to +separate the King from his evil counsellors, and keep him, as well as the +Dauphin, at the Louvre. The proclamations by the officers of the commune +for the restoration of tranquillity were ineffectual; but M. de La Fayette +succeeded this time in dispersing the populace. The Assembly declared +itself permanent; and during the whole of September, in which no doubt the +preparations were made for the great insurrections of the following month, +the Court was not disturbed. + +The King had the Flanders regiment removed to Versailles; unfortunately +the idea of the officers of that regiment fraternising with the Body +Guards was conceived, and the latter invited the former to a dinner, which +was given in the great theatre of Versailles, and not in the Salon of +Hercules, as some chroniclers say. Boxes were appropriated to various +persons who wished to be present at this entertainment. The Queen told me +she had been advised to make her appearance on the occasion, but that +under existing circumstances she thought such a step might do more harm +than good; and that, moreover, neither she nor the King ought directly to +have anything to do with such a festival. She ordered me to go, and +desired me to observe everything closely, in order to give a faithful +account of the whole affair. + +The tables were set out upon the stage; at them were placed one of the +Body Guard and an officer of the Flanders regiment alternately. There was +a numerous orchestra in the room, and the boxes were filled with +spectators. The air, "O Richard, O mon Roi!" was played, and shouts of +"Vive de Roi!" shook the roof for several minutes. I had with me one of +my nieces, and a young person brought up with Madame by her Majesty. They +were crying "Vive le Roi!" with all their might when a deputy of the Third +Estate, who was in the next box to mine, and whom I had never seen, called +to them, and reproached them for their exclamations; it hurt him, he said, +to see young and handsome Frenchwomen brought up in such servile habits, +screaming so outrageously for the life of one man, and with true +fanaticism exalting him in their hearts above even their dearest +relations; he told them what contempt worthy American women would feel on +seeing Frenchwomen thus corrupted from their earliest infancy. My niece +replied with tolerable spirit, and I requested the deputy to put an end to +the subject, which could by no means afford him any satisfaction, inasmuch +as the young persons who were with me lived, as well as myself, for the +sole purpose of serving and loving the King. While I was speaking what +was my astonishment at seeing the King, the Queen, and the Dauphin enter +the chamber! It was M. de Luxembourg who had effected this change in the +Queen's determination. + +The enthusiasm became general; the moment their Majesties arrived the +orchestra repeated the air I have just mentioned, and afterwards played a +song in the "Deserter," "Can we grieve those whom we love?" which also +made a powerful impression upon those present: on all sides were heard +praises of their Majesties, exclamations of affection, expressions of +regret for what they had suffered, clapping of hands, and shouts of "Vive +le Roi! Vive la Reine! Vive le Dauphin!" It has been said that white +cockades were worn on this occasion; that was not the case; the fact is, +that a few young men belonging to the National Guard of Versailles, who +were invited to the entertainment, turned the white lining of their +national cockades outwards. All the military men quitted the hall, and +reconducted the King and his family to their apartments. There was +intoxication in these ebullitions of joy: a thousand extravagances were +committed by the military, and many of them danced under the King's +windows; a soldier belonging to the Flanders regiment climbed up to the +balcony of the King's chamber in order to shout "Vive le Roi!" nearer his +Majesty; this very soldier, as I have been told by several officers of the +corps, was one of the first and most dangerous of their insurgents in the +riots of the 5th and 6th of October. On the same evening another soldier +of that regiment killed himself with a sword. One of my relations, +chaplain to the Queen, who supped with me, saw him stretched out in a +corner of the Place d'Armes; he went to him to give him spiritual +assistance, and received his confession and his last sighs. He destroyed +himself out of regret at having suffered himself to be corrupted by the +enemies of his King, and said that, since he had seen him and the Queen +and the Dauphin, remorse had turned his brain. + +I returned home, delighted with all that I had seen. + +I found a great many people there. M. de Beaumetz, deputy for Arras, +listened to my description with a chilling air, and, when I had finished, +told me that all that had passed was terrific; that he knew the +disposition of the Assembly, and that the greatest misfortunes would +follow the drama of that night; and he begged my leave to withdraw that he +might take time for deliberate reflection whether he should on the very +next day emigrate, or pass over to the left side of the Assembly. He +adopted the latter course, and never appeared again among my associates. + +On the 2d of October the military entertainment was followed up by a +breakfast given at the hotel of the Body Guards. It is said that a +discussion took place whether they should not march against the Assembly; +but I am utterly ignorant of what passed at that breakfast. From that +moment Paris was constantly in commotion; there were continual mobs, and +the most virulent proposals were heard in all public places; the +conversation was invariably about proceeding to Versailles. The King and +Queen did not seem apprehensive of such a measure, and took no precaution +against it; even when the army had actually left Paris, on the evening of +the 5th of October, the King was shooting at Meudon, and the Queen was +alone in her gardens at Trianon, which she then beheld for the last time +in her life. She was sitting in her grotto absorbed in painful +reflection, when she received a note from the Comte de Saint-Priest, +entreating her to return to Versailles. M. de Cubieres at the same time +went off to request the King to leave his sport and return to the palace; +the King did so on horseback, and very leisurely. A few minutes +afterwards he was informed that a numerous body of women, which preceded +the Parisian army, was at Chaville, at the entrance of the avenue from +Paris. + +The scarcity of bread and the entertainment of the Body Guards were the +pretexts for the insurrection of the 5th and 6th of October, 1789; but it +is clear to demonstration that this new movement of the people was a part +of the original plan of the factious, insomuch as, ever since the +beginning of September, a report had been industriously circulated that +the King intended to withdraw, with his family and ministers, to some +stronghold; and at all the popular assemblies there had been always a +great deal said about going to Versailles to seize the King. + +At first only women showed themselves; the latticed doors of the Chateau +were closed, and the Body Guard and Flanders regiment were drawn up in the +Place d'Armes. As the details of that dreadful day are given with +precision in several works, I will only observe that general consternation +and disorder reigned throughout the interior of the palace. + +I was not in attendance on the Queen at this time. M. Campan remained +with her till two in the morning. As he was leaving her she +condescendingly, and with infinite kindness, desired him to make me easy +as to the dangers of the moment, and to repeat to me M. de La Fayette's +own words, which he had just used on soliciting the royal family to retire +to bed, undertaking to answer for his army. + +The Queen was far from relying upon M. de La Fayette's loyalty; but she +has often told me that she believed on that day, that La Fayette, having +affirmed to the King, in the presence of a crowd of witnesses, that he +would answer for the army of Paris, would not risk his honour as a +commander, and was sure of being able to redeem his pledge. She also +thought the Parisian army was devoted to him, and that all he said about +his being forced to march upon Versailles was mere pretence. + +On the first intimation of the march of the Parisians, the Comte de +Saint-Priest prepared Rambouillet for the reception of the King, his +family, and suite, and the carriages were even drawn out; but a few cries +of "Vive le Roi!" when the women reported his Majesty's favourable +answer, occasioned the intention of going away to be given up, and orders +were given to the troops to withdraw. + +[Compare this account with the particulars given in the "Memoirs" of +Ferribres, Weber, Bailly, and Saint-Priest, from the latter of which the +following sentence is taken: + +"M. d'Estaing knew not what to do with the Body Guards beyond bringing +them into the courtyard of the ministers, and shutting the grilles. +Thence they proceeded to the terrace of the Chateau, then to Trianon, and +lastly to Rambouillet. + +"I could not refrain from expressing to M. d'Estaing, when he came to the +King, my astonishment at not seeing him make any military disposition. +'Monsieur,' replied he, 'I await the orders of the King' (who did not open +his mouth). 'When the King gives no orders,' pursued I, 'a general should +decide for himself in a soldierly manner.' This observation remained +unanswered."] + +The Body Guards were, however, assailed with stones and musketry while +they were passing from the Place d'Armes to, their hotel. Alarm revived; +again it was thought necessary that the royal family should go away; some +carriages still remained ready for travelling; they were called for; they +were stopped by a wretched player belonging to the theatre of the town, +seconded by the mob: the opportunity for flight had been lost. + +The insurrection was directed against the Queen in particular; I shudder +even now at the recollection of the poissardes, or rather furies, who wore +white aprons, which they screamed out were intended to receive the bowels +of Marie Antoinette, and that they would make cockades of them, mixing the +most obscene expressions with these horrible threats. + +The Queen went to bed at two in the morning, and even slept, tired out +with the events of so distressing a day. She had ordered her two women to +bed, imagining there was nothing to dread, at least for that night; but +the unfortunate Princess was indebted for her life to that feeling of +attachment which prevented their obeying her. My sister, who was one of +the ladies in question, informed me next day of all that I am about to +relate. + +On leaving the Queen's bedchamber, these ladies called their femmes de +chambre, and all four remained sitting together against her Majesty's +bedroom door. About half-past four in the morning they heard horrible +yells and discharges of firearms; one ran to the Queen to awaken her and +get her out of bed; my sister flew to the place from which the tumult +seemed to proceed; she opened the door of the antechamber which leads to +the great guard-room, and beheld one of the Body Guard holding his musket +across the door, and attacked by a mob, who were striking at him; his face +was covered with blood; he turned round and exclaimed: "Save the Queen, +madame; they are come to assassinate her!" She hastily shut the door upon +the unfortunate victim of duty, fastened it with the great bolt, and took +the same precaution on leaving the next room. On reaching the Queen's +chamber she cried out to her, "Get up, Madame! Don't stay to dress +yourself; fly to the King's apartment!" The terrified Queen threw herself +out of bed; they put a petticoat upon her without tying it, and the two +ladies conducted her towards the oile-de-boeuf. A door, which led from +the Queen's dressing-room to that apartment, had never before been +fastened but on her side. What a dreadful moment! It was found to be +secured on the other side. They knocked repeatedly with all their +strength; a servant of one of the King's valets de chambre came and opened +it; the Queen entered the King's chamber, but he was not there. Alarmed +for the Queen's life, he had gone down the staircases and through the +corridors under the oeil-de-boeuf, by means of which he was accustomed to +go to the Queen's apartments without being under the necessity of crossing +that room. He entered her Majesty's room and found no one there but some +Body Guards, who had taken refuge in it. The King, unwilling to expose +their lives, told them to wait a few minutes, and afterwards sent to +desire them to go to the oeil-de-boeuf. Madame de Tourzel, at that time +governess of the children of France, had just taken Madame and the Dauphin +to the King's apartments. The Queen saw her children again. The reader +must imagine this scene of tenderness and despair. + +It is not true that the assassins penetrated to the Queen's chamber and +pierced the bed with their swords. The fugitive Body Guards were the only +persons who entered it; and if the crowd had reached so far they would all +have been massacred. Besides, when the rebels had forced the doors of the +antechamber, the footmen and officers on duty, knowing that the Queen was +no longer in her apartments, told them so with that air of truth which +always carries conviction. The ferocious horde instantly rushed towards +the oeil-de-boeuf, hoping, no doubt, to intercept her on her way. + +Many have asserted that they recognised the Duc d'Orleans in a greatcoat +and slouched hat, at half-past four in the morning, at the top of the +marble staircase, pointing out with his hand the guard-room, which led to +the Queen's apartments. This fact was deposed to at the Chatelet by +several individuals in the course of the inquiry instituted respecting the +transactions of the 5th and 6th of October. + +[The National Assembly was sitting when information of the march of the +Parisians was given to it by one of the deputies who came from Paris. A +certain number of the members were no strangers, to this movement. It +appears that Mirabeau wished to avail himself of it to raise the Duc +d'Orleans to the throne. Mounier, who presided over the National +Assembly, rejected the idea with horror. "My good man," said Mirabeau to +him, "what difference will it make to you to have Louis XVII. for your +King instead of Louis XVI.?" (The Duc d'Orleans was baptised Louis.)] + +The prudence and honourable feeling of several officers of the Parisian +guards, and the judicious conduct of M. de Vaudreuil, lieutenant-general +of marine, and of M. de Chevanne, one of the King's Guards, brought about +an understanding between the grenadiers of the National Guard of Paris and +the King's Guard. The doors of the oeil-de-boeuf were closed, and the +antechamber which precedes that room was filled with grenadiers who wanted +to get in to massacre the Guards. M. de Chevanne offered himself to them +as a victim if they wished for one, and demanded what they would have. A +report had been spread through their ranks that the Body Guards set them +at defiance, and that they all wore black cockades. M. de Chevanne showed +them that he wore, as did the corps, the cockade of their uniform; and +promised that the Guards should exchange it for that of the nation. This +was done; they even went so far as to exchange their grenadiers' caps for +the hats of the Body Guards; those who were on guard took off their +shoulder-belts; embraces and transports of fraternisation instantly +succeeded to the savage eagerness to murder the band which had shown so +much fidelity to its sovereign. The cry was now "Vivent le Roi, la +Nation, et les Gardes-du-corps!" + +The army occupied the Place d'Armes, all the courtyards of the Chateau, +and the entrance to the avenue. They called for the Queen to appear in +the balcony: she came forward with Madame and the Dauphin. There was a +cry of "No children!" Was this with a view to deprive her of the interest +she inspired, accompanied as she was by her young family, or did the +leaders of the democrats hope that some madman would venture to aim a +mortal blow at her person? The unfortunate Princess certainly was +impressed with the latter idea, for she sent away her children, and with +her hands and eyes raised towards heaven, advanced upon the balcony like a +self-devoted victim. + +A few voices shouted "To Paris!" The exclamation soon became general. +Before the King agreed to this removal he wished to consult the National +Assembly, and caused that body to be invited to sit at the Chateau. +Mirabeau opposed this measure. While these discussions were going forward +it became more and more difficult to restrain the immense disorderly +multitude. The King, without consulting any one, now said to the people: +"You wish, my children, that I should follow you to Paris: I consent, but +on condition that I shall not be separated from my wife and family." The +King added that he required safety also for his Guards; he was answered by +shouts of "Vivo le Roi! Vivent les Gardes-du-corps!" The Guards, with +their hats in the air, turned so as to exhibit the. cockade, shouted "Vive +le Roi! Vive la Nation!" shortly afterwards a general discharge of all +the muskets took place, in token of joy. The King and Queen set off from +Versailles at one o'clock. The Dauphin, Madame, the King's daughter, +Monsieur, Madame,--[Madame, here, the wife of Monsieur le Comte de +Provence.]--Madame Elisabeth, and Madame de Tourzel, were in the carriage; +the Princesse de Chimay and the ladies of the bedchamber for the week, the +King's suite and servants, followed in Court carriages; a hundred deputies +in carriages, and the bulk of the Parisian army, closed the procession. + +The poissardes went before and around the carriage of their Majesties, +Crying, "We shall no longer want bread! We have the baker, the baker's +wife, and the baker's boy with us!" In the midst of this troop of +cannibals the heads of two murdered Body Guards were carried on poles. The +monsters, who made trophies of them, conceived the horrid idea of forcing +a wigmaker of Sevres to dress them up and powder their bloody locks. The +unfortunate man who was forced to perform this dreadful work died in +consequence of the shock it gave him. + +[The King did not leave Versailles till one o'clock. The Queen, the +Dauphin, Madame Royale, Monsieur, Madame Elisabeth, and Madame de Tourzel +were in his Majesty's carriage. The hundred deputies in their carriages +came next. A detachment of brigands, bearing the heads of the two Body +Guards in triumph, formed the advance guard, and set out two hours +earlier. These cannibals stopped a moment at Sevres, and carried their +cruelty to the length of forcing an unfortunate hairdresser to dress the +gory heads; the bulk of the Parisian army followed them closely. The +King's carriage was preceded by the 'poissardes', who had arrived the day +before from Paris, and a rabble of prostitutes, the vile refuse of their +sex, still drunk with fury and wine. Several of them rode astride upon +cannons, boasting, in the most horrible songs, of the crimes they had +committed themselves, or seen others commit. Those who were nearest the +King's carriage sang ballads, the allusions in which by means of their +vulgar gestures they applied to the Queen. Wagons, full of corn and +flour,--which had been brought into Versailles, formed a train escorted by +grenadiers, and surrounded by women and bullies, some armed with pikes, +and some carrying long branches of poplar. At some distance this part of +the procession had a most singular effect: it looked like a moving forest, +amidst which shone pike-heads and gun-barrels. In the paroxysms of their +brutal joy the women stopped passengers, and, pointing to the King's +carriage, howled in their ears: "Cheer up, friends; we shall no longer be +in want of bread! We bring you the baker, the baker's wife, and the +baker's little boy!" Behind his Majesty's carriage were several of his +faithful Guards, some on foot, and some on horseback, most of them +uncovered, all unarmed, and worn out with hunger and fatigue; the +dragoons, the Flanders regiment, the hundred Swiss, and the National +Guards preceded, accompanied, or followed the file of carriages. I +witnessed this heartrending spectacle; I saw the ominous procession. In +the midst of all the tumult, clamour, and singing, interrupted by frequent +discharges of musketry, which the hand of a monster or a bungler might so +easily render fatal, I saw the Queen preserving most courageous +tranquillity of soul, and an air of nobleness and inexpressible dignity, +and my eyes were suffused with tears of admiration and grief.--"Memoirs of +Bertrand de Molleville."] + +The progress of the procession was so slow that it was near six in the +evening when this august family, made prisoners by their own people, +arrived at the Hotel de Ville. Bailly received them there; they were +placed upon a throne, just when that of their ancestors had been +overthrown. The King spoke in a firm yet gracious manner; he said that he +always came with pleasure and confidence among the inhabitants of his good +city of Paris. M. Bailly repeated this observation to the representatives +of the commune, who came to address the King; but he forgot the word +confidence. The Queen instantly and loudly reminded him of the omission. +The King and Queen, their children, and Madame Elisabeth, retired to the +Tuileries. Nothing was ready for their reception there. All the +living-rooms had been long given up to persons belonging to the Court; +they hastily quitted them on that day, leaving their furniture, which was +purchased by the Court. The Comtesse de la Marck, sister to the Marechaux +de Noailles and de Mouchy, had occupied the apartments now appropriated to +the Queen. Monsieur and Madame retired to the Luxembourg. + +The Queen had sent for me on the morning of the 6th of October, to leave +me and my father-in-law in charge of her most valuable property. She took +away only her casket of diamonds. Comte Gouvernet de la Tour-du-Pin, to +whom the military government of Versailles was entrusted 'pro tempore', +came and gave orders to the National Guard, which had taken possession of +the apartments, to allow us to remove everything that we should deem +necessary for the Queen's accommodation. + +I saw her Majesty alone in her private apartments a moment before her +departure for Paris; she could hardly speak; tears bedewed her face, to +which all the blood in her body seemed to have rushed; she condescended to +embrace me, gave her hand to M. Campan to kiss, and said to us, "Come +immediately and settle at Paris; I will lodge you at the Tuileries; come, +and do not leave me henceforward; faithful servants at moments like these +become useful friends; we are lost, dragged away, perhaps to death; when +kings become prisoners they are very near it." + +I had frequent opportunities during the course of our misfortunes of +observing that the people never entirely give their allegiance to factious +leaders, but easily escape their control when some cause reminds them of +their duty. As soon as the most violent Jacobins had an opportunity of +seeing the Queen near at hand, of speaking to her, and of hearing her +voice, they became her most zealous partisans; and even when she was in +the prison of the Temple several of those who had contributed to place her +there perished for having attempted to get her out again. + +On the morning of the 7th of October the same women who the day before +surrounded the carriage of the august prisoners, riding on cannons and +uttering the most abusive language, assembled under the Queen's windows, +upon the terrace of the Chateau, and desired to see her. Her Majesty +appeared. There are always among mobs of this description orators, that +is to say, beings who have more assurance than the rest; a woman of this +description told the Queen that she must now remove far from her all such +courtiers as ruin kings, and that she must love the inhabitants of her +good city. The Queen answered that she had loved them at Versailles, and +would likewise love them at Paris. "Yes, yes," said another; "but on the +14th of July you wanted to besiege the city and have it bombarded; and on +the 6th of October you wanted to fly to the frontiers." The Queen +replied, affably, that they had been told so, and had believed it; that +there lay the cause of the unhappiness of the people and of the best of +kings. A third addressed a few words to her in German: the Queen told her +she did not understand it; that she had become so entirely French as even +to have forgotten her mother tongue. This declaration was answered with +"Bravo!" and clapping of hands; they then desired her to make a compact +with them. "Ah," said she, "how can I make a compact with you, since you +have no faith in that which my duty points out to me, and which I ought +for my own happiness to respect?" They asked her for the ribbons and +flowers out of her hat; her Majesty herself unfastened them and gave them; +they were divided among the party, which for above half an hour cried out, +without ceasing, "Marie Antoinette for ever! Our good Queen for ever!" + +Two days after the King's arrival at Paris, the city and the National +Guard sent to request the Queen to appear at the theatre, and prove by her +presence and the King's that it was with pleasure they resided in their +capital. I introduced the deputation which came to make this request. +Her Majesty replied that she should have infinite pleasure in acceding to +the invitation of the city of Paris; but that time must be allowed her to +soften the recollection of the distressing events which had just occurred, +and from which she had suffered too much. She added, that having come +into Paris preceded by the heads of the faithful Guards who had perished +before the door of their sovereign, she could not think that such an entry +into the capital ought to be followed by rejoicings; but that the +happiness she had always felt in appearing in the midst of the inhabitants +of Paris was not effaced from her memory, and that she should enjoy it +again as soon as she found herself able to do so. + +Their Majesties found some consolation in their private life: from +Madame's--[Madame, here, the Princesse Marie Therese, daughter of Marie +Antoinette.]--gentle manners and filial affection, from the +accomplishments and vivacity of the little Dauphin, and the attention and +tenderness of the pious Princess Elisabeth, they still derived moments of +happiness. The young Prince daily gave proofs of sensibility and +penetration; he was not yet beyond female care, but a private tutor, the +Abbe Davout, gave him all the instruction suitable to his age; his memory +was highly cultivated, and he recited verses with much grace and feeling. + +[On the 19th of October, that is to say, thirteen days after he had taken +up his abode at Paris, the King went, on foot and almost alone, to review +some detachments of the National Guard. After the review Louis XVI. met +with a child sweeping the street, who asked him for money. The child +called the King "M. le Chevalier." His Majesty gave him six francs. The +little sweeper, surprised at receiving so large a sum, cried out, "Oh! I +have no change; you will give me money another time." A person who +accompanied the monarch said to the child, "Keep it all, my friend; the +gentleman is not chevalier, he is the eldest of the family."--NOTE BY THE +EDITOR.] + +The day after the arrival of the Court at Paris, terrified at hearing some +noise in the gardens of the Tuileries, the young prince threw himself into +the arms of the Queen, crying out, "Grand-Dieu, mamma! will it be +yesterday over again?" A few days after this affecting exclamation, he +went up to the King, and looked at him with a pensive air. The King asked +him what he wanted; he answered, that he had something very serious to say +to him. The King having prevailed on him to explain himself, the young +Prince asked why his people, who formerly loved him so well, were all at +once angry with him; and what he had done to irritate them so much. His +father took him upon his knees, and spoke to him nearly as follows: "I +wished, child, to render the people still happier than they were; I wanted +money to pay the expenses occasioned by wars. I asked my people for +money, as my predecessors have always done; magistrates, composing the +Parliament, opposed it, and said that my people alone had a right to +consent to it. I assembled the principal inhabitants of every town, +whether distinguished by birth, fortune, or talents, at Versailles; that +is what is called the States General. When they were assembled they +required concessions of me which I could not make, either with due respect +for myself or with justice to you, who will be my successor; wicked men +inducing the people to rise have occasioned the excesses of the last few +days; the people must not be blamed for them." + +The Queen made the young Prince clearly comprehend that he ought to treat +the commanders of battalions, the officers of the National Guard, and all +the Parisians who were about him, with affability; the child took great +pains to please all those people, and when he had had an opportunity of +replying obligingly to the mayor or members of the commune he came and +whispered in his mother's ear, "Was that right?" + +He requested M. Bailly to show him the shield of Scipio, which is in the +royal library; and M. Bailly asking him which he preferred, Scipio or +Hannibal, the young Prince replied, without hesitation, that he preferred +him who had defended his own country. He gave frequent proofs of ready +wit. One day, while the Queen was hearing Madame repeat her exercises in +ancient history, the young Princess could not at the moment recollect the +name of the Queen of Carthage; the Dauphin was vexed at his sister's want +of memory, and though he never spoke to her in the second person singular, +he bethought himself of the expedient of saying to her, "But 'dis donc' +the name of the Queen, to mamma; 'dis donc' what her name was." + +Shortly after the arrival of the King and his family at Paris the Duchesse +de Luynes came, in pursuance of the advice of a committee of the +Constitutional Assembly, to propose to the Queen a temporary retirement +from France, in order to leave the constitution to perfect itself, so that +the patriots should not accuse her of influencing the King to oppose it. +The Duchess knew how far the schemes of the conspirers extended, and her +attachment to the Queen was the principal cause of the advice she gave +her. The Queen perfectly comprehended the Duchesse de Luynes's motive; +but replied that she would never leave either the King or her son; that if +she thought herself alone obnoxious to public hatred she would instantly +offer her life as a sacrifice;--but that it was the throne which was aimed +at, and that, in abandoning the King, she should be merely committing an +act of cowardice, since she saw no other advantage in it than that of +saving her own life. + +One evening, in the month of November, 1790, I returned home rather late; +I there found the Prince de Poix; he told me he came to request me to +assist him in regaining his peace of mind; that at the commencement of the +sittings of the National Assembly he had suffered himself to be seduced +into the hope of a better order of things; that he blushed for his error, +and that he abhorred plans which had already produced such fatal results; +that he broke with the reformers for the rest of his life; that he had +given in his resignation as a deputy of the National Assembly; and, +finally, that he was anxious that the Queen should not sleep in ignorance +of his sentiments. I undertook his commission, and acquitted myself of it +in the best way I could; but I was totally unsuccessful. The Prince de +Poix remained at Court; he there suffered many mortifications, never +ceasing to serve the King in the most dangerous commissions with that zeal +for which his house has always been distinguished. + +When the King, the Queen, and the children were suitably established at +the Tuileries, as well as Madame Elisabeth and the Princesse de Lamballe, +the Queen resumed her usual habits; she employed her mornings in +superintending the education of Madame, who received all her lessons in +her presence, and she herself began to work large pieces of tapestry. Her +mind was too much occupied with passing events and surrounding dangers to +admit her of applying herself to reading; the needle was the only +employment which could divert her. + +[There was long preserved at Paris, in the house of Mademoiselle +Dubuquois, a tapestry-worker, a carpet worked by the Queen and Madame +Elisabeth for the large room of her Majesty's ground-floor apartments at +the Tuileries. The Empress Josephine saw and admired this carpet, and +desired it might be taken care of, in the hope of one day sending it to +Madame--MADAME CAMPAN.] + +She received the Court twice a week before going to mass, and on those +days dined in public with the King; she spent the rest of the time with +her family and children; she had no concert, and did not go to the play +until 1791, after the acceptation of the constitution. The Princesse de +Lamballe, however, had some evening parties in her apartments at the +Tuileries, which were tolerably brilliant in consequence of the great +number of persons who attended them. The Queen was present at a few of +these assemblies; but being soon convinced that her present situation +forbade her appearing much in public, she remained at home, and conversed +as she sat at work. The sole topic of her discourse was, as may well be +supposed, the Revolution. She sought to discover the real opinions of the +Parisians respecting her, and how she could have so completely lost the +affections of the people, and even of many persons in the higher ranks. +She well knew that she ought to impute the whole to the spirit of party, +to the hatred of the Duc d'Orleans, and the folly of the French, who +desired to have a total change in the constitution; but she was not the +less desirous of ascertaining the private feelings of all the people in +power. + +From the very commencement of the Revolution General Luckner indulged in +violent sallies against her. Her Majesty, knowing that I was acquainted +with a lady who had been long connected with the General, desired me to +discover through that channel what was the private motive on which +Luckner's hatred against her was founded. On being questioned upon this +point, he answered that Marechal de Segur had assured him he had proposed +him for the command of a camp of observation, but that the Queen had made +a bar against his name; and that this 'par', as he called it, in his +German accent, he could not forget. + +The Queen ordered me to repeat this reply to the King myself, and said to +him: "See, Sire, whether I was not right in telling you that your +ministers, in order to give themselves full scope in the distribution of +favours, persuaded the French that I interfered in everything; there was +not a single license given out in the country for the sale of salt or +tobacco but the people believed it was given to one of my favourites." + +"That is very, true," replied the King; "but I find it very difficult to +believe that Marechal de Segur ever said any such thing to Luckner; he +knew too well that you never interfered in the distribution of favours. + +"That Luckner is a good-for-nothing fellow, and Segur is a brave and +honourable man who never uttered such a falsehood; however, you are right; +and because you provided for a few dependents, you are most unjustly +reported to have disposed of all offices, civil and military." + +All the nobility who had not left Paris made a point of presenting +themselves assiduously to the King, and there was a considerable influx to +the Tuileries. Marks of attachment were exhibited even in external +symbols; the women wore enormous bouquets of lilies in their bosoms and +upon their heads, and sometimes even bunches of white ribbon. At the play +there were often disputes between the pit and the boxes about removing +these ornaments, which the people thought dangerous emblems. National +cockades were sold in every corner of Paris; the sentinels stopped all who +did not wear them; the young men piqued themselves upon breaking through +this regulation, which was in some degree sanctioned by the acquiescence +of Louis XVI. Frays took place, which were to be regretted, because they +excited a spirit of lawlessness. The King adopted conciliatory measures +with the Assembly in order to promote tranquillity; the revolutionists +were but little disposed to think him sincere; unfortunately the royalists +encouraged this incredulity by incessantly repeating that the King was not +free, and that all that he did was completely null, and in no way bound +him for the time to come. Such was the heat and violence of party spirit +that persons the most sincerely attached to the King were not even +permitted to use the language of reason, and recommend greater reserve in +conversation. People would talk and argue at table without considering +that all the servants belonged to the hostile army; and it may truly be +said there was as much imprudence and levity in the party assailed as +there was cunning, boldness, and perseverance in that which made the +attack. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +In February, 1790, another matter gave the Court much uneasiness; a +zealous individual of the name of Favras had conceived the scheme of +carrying off the King, and affecting a counter-revolution. Monsieur, +probably out of mere benevolence, gave him some money, and thence arose a +report that he thereby wished to favour the execution of the enterprise. +The step taken by Monsieur in going to the Hotel de Ville to explain +himself on this matter was unknown to the Queen; it is more than probable +that the King was acquainted with it. When judgment was pronounced upon +M. de Favras the Queen did not conceal from me her fears about the +confessions of the unfortunate man in his last moments. + +I sent a confidential person to the Hotel de Ville; she came to inform the +Queen that the condemned had demanded to be taken from Notre-Dame to the +Hotel de Ville to make a final declaration, and give some particulars +verifying it. These particulars compromised nobody; Favras corrected his +last will after writing it, and went to the scaffold with heroic courage +and coolness. The judge who read his condemnation to him told him that +his life was a sacrifice which he owed to public tranquillity. It was +asserted at the time that Favras was given up as a victim in order to +satisfy the people and save the Baron de Besenval, who was a prisoner in +the Abbaye. + +[Thomas Mahy, Marquis de Favras, was accused in the month of December, +1789, of having conspired against the Revolution. Having been arrested by +order of the committee of inquiry of the National Assembly, he was +transferred to the Chatelet, where he defended himself with much coolness +and presence of mind, repelling the accusations brought against him by +Morel, Turcati, and Marquis, with considerable force. These witnesses +declared he had imparted his plan to them; it was to be carried into +execution by 12,000 Swiss and 12,000 Germans, who were to be assembled at +Montargis, thence to march upon Paris, carry off the King, and assassinate +Bailly, La Fayette, and Necker. The greater number of these charges he +denied, and declared that the rest related only to the levy of a troop +intended to favour the revolution preparing in Brabant. The judge having +refused to disclose who had denounced him, he complained to the Assembly, +which passed to the order of the day. His death was obviously inevitable. +During the whole time of the proceedings the populace never ceased +threatening the judges and shouting, "A la lanterne!" It was even +necessary to keep numerous troops and artillery constantly ready to act in +the courtyard of the Chatelet. The judges, who had just acquitted M. de +Besenval in an affair nearly similar, doubtless dreaded the effects of +this fury. When they refused to hear Favras's witnesses in exculpation, +he compared them to the tribunal of the Inquisition. The principal charge +against him was founded on a letter from M. de Foucault, asking him, +"where are your troops? in which direction will they enter Paris? I +should like to be employed among them." Favras was condemned to make the +'amende honorable' in front of the Cathedral, and to be hanged at the +Place de Greve. He heard this sentence with wonderful calmness, and said +to his judges, "I pity you much if the testimony of two men is sufficient +to induce you to condemn." The judge having said to him, "I have no other +consolation to hold out to you than that which religion affords," he +replied, nobly, "My greatest consolation is that which I derive from my +innocence."--"Biographic Universelle"] + +On the morning of the Sunday following this execution M. de la Villeurnoy +came to my house to tell me that he was going that day to the public +dinner of the King and Queen to present Madame de Favras and her son, both +of them in mourning for the brave Frenchman who fell a sacrifice for his +King; and that all the royalists expected to see the Queen load the +unfortunate family with favours. I did all that lay in my power to +prevent this proceeding. I foresaw the effect it would have upon the +Queen's feeling heart, and the painful constraint she would experience, +having the horrible Santerre, the commandant of a battalion of the +Parisian guard, behind her chair during dinner-time. I could not make M. +de la Villeurnoy comprehend my argument; the Queen was gone to mass, +surrounded by her whole Court, and I had not even means of apprising her +of his intention. + +When dinner was over I heard a knocking at the door of my apartment, which +opened into the corridor next that of the Queen; it was herself. She asked +me whether there was anybody with me; I was alone; she threw herself into +an armchair, and told me she came to weep with me over the foolish conduct +of the ultras of the King's party. "We must fall," said she, "attacked as +we are by men who possess every talent and shrink from no crime, while we +are defended only by those who are no doubt very estimable, but have no +adequate idea of our situation. They have exposed me to the animosity of +both parties by presenting the widow and son of Favras to me. Were I free +to act as I wish, I should take the child of the man who has just +sacrificed himself for us and place him at table between the King and +myself; but surrounded by the assassins who have destroyed his father, I +did not dare even to cast my eyes upon him. The royalists will blame me +for not having appeared interested in this poor child; the revolutionists +will be enraged at the idea that his presentation should have been thought +agreeable to me." However, the Queen added that she knew Madame de Favras +was in want, and that she desired me to send her next day, through a +person who could be relied on, a few rouleaus of fifty Louis, and to +direct that she should be assured her Majesty would always watch over the +fortunes of herself and her son. + +In the month of March following I had an opportunity of ascertaining the +King's sentiments respecting the schemes which were continually proposed +to him for making his escape. One night about ten o'clock Comte +d'Inisdal, who was deputed by the nobility, came to request that I would +see him in private, as he had an important matter to communicate to me. He +told me that on that very night the King was to be carried off; that the +section of the National Guard, that day commanded by M. d'Aumont, was +gained over, and that sets of horses, furnished by some good royalists, +were placed in relays at suitable distances; that he had just left a +number of the nobility assembled for the execution of this scheme, and +that he had been sent to me that I might, through the medium of the Queen, +obtain the King's positive consent to it before midnight; that the King +was aware of their plan, but that his Majesty never would speak decidedly, +and that it was necessary he should consent to the undertaking. I greatly +displeased Comte d'Inisdal by expressing my astonishment that the nobility +at the moment of the execution of so important a project should send to +me, the Queen's first woman, to obtain a consent which ought to have been +the basis of any well-concerted scheme. I told him, also, that it would +be impossible for me to go at that time to the Queen's apartments without +exciting the attention of the people in the antechambers; that the King +was at cards with the Queen and his family, and that I never broke in upon +their privacy unless I was called for. I added, however, that M. Campan +could enter without being called; and if the Count chose to give him his +confidence he might rely upon him. + +My father-in-law, to whom Comte d'Inisdal repeated what he had said to me, +took the commission upon himself, and went to the Queen's apartments. The +King was playing at whist with the Queen, Monsieur, and Madame; Madame +Elisabeth was kneeling on a stool near the table. M. Campan informed the +Queen of what had been communicated to me; nobody uttered a word. The +Queen broke silence and said to the King, "Do you hear, Sire, what Campan +says to us?"--"Yes, I hear," said the King, and continued his game. +Monsieur, who was in the habit of introducing passages from plays into his +conversation, said to my father-in-law, "M. Campan, that pretty little +couplet again, if you please;" and pressed the King to reply. At length +the Queen said, "But something must be said to Campan." The King then +spoke to my father-in-law in these words: "Tell M. d'Inisdal that I cannot +consent to be carried off!" The Queen enjoined M. Campan to take care +and, report this answer faithfully. "You understand," added she, "the +King cannot consent to be carried off." + +Comte d'Inisdal was very much dissatisfied with the King's answer, and +went out, saying, "I understand; he wishes to throw all the blame, +beforehand, upon those who are to devote themselves for him." + +He went away, and I thought the enterprise would be abandoned. However, +the Queen remained alone with me till midnight, preparing her cases of +valuables, and ordered me not to go to bed. She imagined the King's +answer would be understood as a tacit consent, and merely a refusal to +participate in the design. I do not know what passed in the King's +apartments during the night; but I occasionally looked out at the windows: +I saw the garden clear; I heard no noise in the palace, and day at length +confirmed my opinion that the project had been given up. "We must, +however, fly," said the Queen to me, shortly afterwards; "who knows how +far the factious may go? The danger increases every day." + +[The disturbances of the 13th of April, 1790, occasioned by the warmth of +the discussions upon Dom Gerle's imprudent motion in the National +Assembly, having afforded room for apprehension that the enemies of the +country would endeavour to carry off the King from the capital, M. de La +Fayette promised to keep watch, and told Louis XVI. that if he saw any +alarming movement among the disaffected he would give him notice of it by +the discharge of a cannon from Henri IV.'s battery on the Pont Neuf. On +the same night a few casual discharges of musketry were heard from the +terrace of the Tuileries. The King, deceived by the noise, flew to the +Queen's apartments; he did not find her; he ran to the Dauphin's room, +where he found the Queen holding her son in her arms. "Madame;" said the +King to her, "I have been seeking you; and you have made me uneasy." The +Queen, showing her son, said to him, "I was at my post."--"Anecdotes of +the Reign of Louis XVI."] + +This Princess received advice and memorials from all quarters. Rivarol +addressed several to her, which I read to her. They were full of +ingenious observations; but the Queen did not find that they, contained +anything of essential service under the circumstances in which the royal +family was placed. Comte du Moustier also sent memorials and plans of +conduct. I remember that in one of his writings he said to the King, +"Read 'Telemachus' again, Sire; in that book which delighted your Majesty +in infancy you will find the first seeds of those principles which, +erroneously followed up by men of ardent imaginations, are bringing on the +explosion we expect every moment." I read so many of these memorials that +I could hardly give a faithful account of them, and I am determined to +note in this work no other events than such as I witnessed; no other words +than such as (notwithstanding the lapse of time) still in some measure +vibrate in my ears. + +Comte de Segur, on his return from Russia, was employed some time by the +Queen, and had a certain degree of influence over her; but that did not +last long. Comte Augustus de la Marck likewise endeavoured to negotiate +for the King's advantage with the leaders of the factious. M. de +Fontanges, Archbishop of Toulouse, possessed also the Queen's confidence; +but none of the endeavours which were made on the spot produced any, +beneficial result. The Empress Catherine II. also conveyed her opinion +upon the situation of Louis XVI. to the Queen, and her Majesty made me +read a few lines in the Empress's own handwriting, which concluded with +these words: + +"Kings ought to proceed in their career undisturbed by the cries of the +people, even as the moon pursues her course unimpeded by the baying of +dogs." This maxim of the despotic sovereign of Russia was very +inapplicable to the situation of a captive king. + +Meanwhile the revolutionary party followed up its audacious enterprise in +a determined manner, without meeting any opposition. The advice from +without, as well from Coblentz as from Vienna, made various impressions +upon the members of the royal family, and those cabinets were not in +accordance with each other. I often had reason to infer from what the +Queen said to me that she thought the King, by leaving all the honour of +restoring order to the Coblentz party,--[The Princes and the chief of the +emigrant nobility assembled at Coblentz, and the name was used to +designate the reactionary party.]--would, on the return of the emigrants, +be put under a kind of guardianship which would increase his own +misfortunes. She frequently said to me, "If the emigrants succeed, they +will rule the roast for a long time; it will be impossible to refuse them +anything; to owe the crown to them would be contracting too great an +obligation." It always appeared to me that she wished her own family to +counterbalance the claims of the emigrants by disinterested services. She +was fearful of M. de Calonne, and with good reason. She had proof that +this minister was her bitterest enemy, and that he made use of the most +criminal means in order to blacken her reputation. I can testify that I +have seen in the hands of the Queen a manuscript copy of the infamous +memoirs of the woman De Lamotte, which had been brought to her from +London, and in which all those passages where a total ignorance of the +customs of Courts had occasioned that wretched woman to make blunders +which would have been too palpable were corrected in M. de Calonne's own +handwriting. + +The two King's Guards who were wounded at her Majesty's door on the 6th of +October were M. du Repaire and M. de Miomandre de Sainte-Marie; on the +dreadful night of the 6th of October the latter took the post of the +former the moment he became incapable of maintaining it. + +A considerable number of the Body Guards, who were wounded on the 6th of +October, betook themselves to the infirmary at Versailles. The brigands +wanted to make their way into the infirmary in order to massacre them. M. +Viosin, head surgeon of that infirmary, ran to the entrance hall, invited +the assailants to refresh themselves, ordered wine to be brought, and +found means to direct the Sister Superior to remove the Guards into a ward +appropriated to the poor, and dress them in the caps and greatcoats +furnished by the institution. The good sisters executed this order so +promptly that the Guards were removed, dressed as paupers, and their beds +made, while the assassins were drinking. They searched all the wards, and +fancied they saw no persons there but the sick poor; thus the Guards were +saved. + +M. de Miomandre was at Paris, living on terms of friendship with another +of the Guards, who, on the same day, received a gunshot wound from the +brigands in another part of the Chateau. These two officers, who were +attended and cured together at the infirmary of Versailles, were almost +constant companions; they were recognised at the Palais Royal, and +insulted. The Queen thought it necessary for them to quit Paris. She +desired me to write to M. de Miomandre de Sainte-Marie, and tell him to +come to me at eight o'clock in the evening; and then to communicate to him +her wish to hear of his being in safety; and ordered me, when he had made +up his mind to go, to tell him in her name that gold could not repay such +a service as he had rendered; that she hoped some day to be in +sufficiently happy circumstances to recompense him as she ought; but that +for the present her offer of money was only that of a sister to a brother +situated as he then was, and that she requested he would take whatever +might be necessary to discharge his debts at Paris and defray the expenses +of his journey. She told me also to desire he would bring his. friend +Bertrand with him, and to make him the same offer. + +The two Guards came at the appointed hour, and accepted, I think, each one +or two hundred louis. A moment afterwards the Queen opened my door; she +was accompanied by the King and Madame Elisabeth; the King stood with his +back against the fireplace; the Queen sat down upon a sofa and Madame +Elisabeth sat near her; I placed myself behind the Queen, and the two +Guards stood facing the King. The Queen told them that the King wished to +see before they went away two of the brave men who had afforded him the +strongest proofs of courage and attachment. Miomandre said all that the +Queen's affecting observations were calculated to inspire. Madame +Elisabeth spoke of the King's gratitude; the Queen resumed the subject of +their speedy departure, urging the necessity of it; the King was silent; +but his emotion was evident, and his eyes were suffused with tears. The +Queen rose, the King went out, and Madame Elisabeth followed him; the +Queen stopped and said to me, in the recess of a window, "I am sorry I +brought the King here! I am sure Elisabeth thinks with me; if the King +had but given utterance to a fourth part of what he thinks of those brave +men they would have been in ecstacies; but he cannot overcome his +diffidence." + +The Emperor Joseph died about this time. The Queen's grief was not +excessive; that brother of whom she had been so proud, and whom she had +loved so tenderly, had probably suffered greatly in her opinion; she +reproached him sometimes, though with moderation, for having adopted +several of the principles of the new philosophy, and perhaps she knew that +he looked upon our troubles with the eye of the sovereign of Germany +rather than that of the brother of the Queen of France. + +The Emperor on one occasion sent the Queen an engraving which represented +unfrocked nuns and monks. The first were trying on fashionable dresses, +the latter were having their hair arranged; the picture was always left in +the closet, and never hung up. The Queen told me to have it taken away; +for she was hurt to see how much influence the philosophers had over her +brother's mind and actions. + +Mirabeau had not lost the hope of becoming the last resource of the +oppressed Court; and at this time some communications passed between the +Queen and him. The question was about an office to be conferred upon him. +This transpired, and it must have been about this period that the Assembly +decreed that no deputy could hold an office as a minister of the King +until the expiration of two years after the cessation of his legislative +functions. I know that the Queen was much hurt at this decision, and +considered that the Court had lost a promising opening. + +The palace of the Tuileries was a very disagreeable residence during the +summer, which made the Queen wish to go to St. Cloud. The removal was +decided on without any opposition; the National Guard of Paris followed +the Court thither. At this period new opportunities of escape were +presented; nothing would have been more easy than to execute them. The +King had obtained leave (!) to go out without guards, and to be +accompanied only by an aide-de-camp of M. de La Fayette. The Queen also +had one on duty with her, and so had the Dauphin. The King and Queen +often went out at four in the afternoon, and did not return until eight or +nine. + +I will relate one of the plans of emigration which the Queen communicated +to me, the success of which seemed infallible. The royal family were to +meet in a wood four leagues from St. Cloud; some persons who could be +fully relied on were to accompany the King, who was always followed by his +equerries and pages; the Queen was to join him with her daughter and +Madame Elisabeth. These Princesses, as well as the Queen, had equerries +and pages, of whose fidelity no doubt could be entertained. The Dauphin +likewise was to be at the place of rendezvous with Madame de Tourzel; a +large berlin and a chaise for the attendants were sufficient for the whole +family; the aides-de-camp were to have been gained over or mastered. The +King was to leave a letter for the President of the National Assembly on +his bureau at St. Cloud. The people in the service of the King and Queen +would have waited until nine in the evening without anxiety, because the +family sometimes did not return until that hour. The letter could not be +forwarded to Paris until ten o'clock at the earliest. The Assembly would +not then be sitting; the President must have been sought for at his own +house or elsewhere; it would have been midnight before the Assembly could +have been summoned and couriers sent off to have the royal family stopped; +but the latter would have been six or seven hours in advance, as they +would have started at six leagues' distance from Paris; and at this period +travelling was not yet impeded in France. + +The Queen approved of this plan; but I did not venture to interrogate her, +and I even thought if it were put in execution she would leave me in +ignorance of it. One evening in the month of June the people of the +Chateau, finding the King did not return by nine o'clock, were walking +about the courtyards in a state of great anxiety. I thought the family, +was gone, and I could scarcely breathe amidst the confusion of my good +wishes, when I heard the sound of the carriages. I confessed to the Queen +that I thought she had set off; she told me she must wait until Mesdames +the King's aunts had quitted France, and afterwards see whether the plan +agreed with those formed abroad. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +There was a meeting at Paris for the first federation on the 14th of July, +1790, the anniversary of the taking of the Bastille. What an astonishing +assemblage of four hundred thousand men, of whom there were not perhaps +two hundred who did not believe that the King found happiness and glory in +the order of things then being established. The love which was borne him +by all, with the exception of those who meditated his ruin, still reigned +in the hearts of the French in the departments; but if I may judge from +those whom I had an opportunity of seeing, it was totally impossible to +enlighten them; they were as much attached to the King as to the +constitution, and to the constitution as to the King; and it was +impossible to separate the one from the other in their hearts and minds. + +The Court returned to St. Cloud after the federation. A wretch, named +Rotondo, made his way into the palace with the intention of assassinating +the Queen. It is known that he penetrated to the inner gardens: the rain +prevented her Majesty from going out that day. M. de La Fayette, who was +aware of this plot, gave all the sentinels the strictest orders, and a +description of the monster was distributed throughout the palace by order +of the General. I do not know how he was saved from punishment. The +police belonging to the King discovered that there was likewise a scheme +on foot for poisoning the Queen. She spoke to me, as well as to her head +physician, M. Vicq-d'Azyr, about it, without the slightest emotion, but +both he and I consulted what precautions it would be proper to take. He +relied much upon the Queen's temperance; yet he recommended me always to +have a bottle of oil of sweet almonds within reach, and to renew it +occasionally, that oil and milk being, as is known, the most certain +antidotes to the divellication of corrosive poisons. + +The Queen had a habit which rendered M. Vicq-d'Azyr particularly uneasy: +there was always some pounded sugar upon the table in her Majesty's +bedchamber; and she frequently, without calling anybody, put spoonfuls of +it into a glass of water when she wished to drink. It was agreed that I +should get a considerable quantity of sugar powdered; that I should always +have some papers of it in my bag, and that three or four times a day, when +alone in the Queen's room, I should substitute it for that in her +sugar-basin. We knew that the Queen would have prevented all such +precautions, but we were not aware of her reason. One day she caught me +alone making this exchange, and told me, she supposed it was agreed on +between myself and M. Vicq-d'Azyr, but that I gave myself very unnecessary +trouble. "Remember," added she, "that not a grain of poison will be put +in use against me. The Brinvilliers do not belong to this century: this +age possesses calumny, which is a much more convenient instrument of +death; and it is by that I shall perish." + +Even while melancholy presentiments afflicted this unfortunate Princess, +manifestations of attachment to her person, and to the King's cause, would +frequently raise agreeable illusions in her mind, or present to her the +affecting spectacle of tears shed for her sorrows. I was one day, during +this same visit to St. Cloud, witness of a very touching scene, which we +took great care to keep secret. It was four in the afternoon; the guard +was not set; there was scarcely anybody at St. Cloud that day, and I was +reading to the Queen, who was at work in a room the balcony of which hung +over the courtyard. The windows were closed, yet we heard a sort of +inarticulate murmur from a great number of voices. The Queen desired me +to go and see what it was; I raised the muslin curtain, and perceived more +than fifty persons beneath the balcony: this group consisted of women, +young and old, perfectly well dressed in the country costume, old +chevaliers of St. Louis, young knights of Malta, and a few ecclesiastics. +I told the Queen it was probably an assemblage of persons residing in the +neighbourhood who wished to see her. She rose, opened the window, and +appeared in the balcony; immediately all these worthy people said to her, +in an undertone: "Courage, Madame; good Frenchmen suffer for you, and with +you; they pray for you. Heaven will hear their prayers; we love you, we +respect you, we will continue to venerate our virtuous King." The Queen +burst into tears, and held her handkerchief to her eyes. "Poor Queen! she +weeps!" said the women and young girls; but the dread of exposing her +Majesty, and even the persons who showed so much affection for her, to +observation, prompted me to take her hand, and prevail upon her to retire +into her room; and, raising my eyes, I gave the excellent people to +understand that my conduct was dictated by prudence. They comprehended +me, for I heard, "That lady is right;" and afterwards, "Farewell, Madame!" +from several of them; and all this in accents of feeling so true and so +mournful, that I am affected at the recollection of them even after a +lapse of twenty years. + +A few days afterwards the insurrection of Nancy took place. + +[The insurrection of the troops at Nancy broke out in August 1790, and was +put down by Marechal de Bouille on the last day of that month. See +"Bouille," p. 195.] + +Only the ostensible cause is known; there was another, of which I might +have been in full possession, if the great confusion I was in upon the +subject had not deprived me of the power of paying attention to it. I +will endeavour to make myself understood. In the early part of September +the Queen, as she was going to bed, desired me to let all her people go, +and to remain with her myself; when we were alone she said to me, "The +King will come here at midnight. You know that he has always shown you +marks of distinction; he now proves his confidence in you by selecting you +to write down the whole affair of Nancy from his dictation. He must have +several copies of it." At midnight the King came to the Queen's +apartments, and said to me, smiling, "You did not expect to become my +secretary, and that, too, during the night." I followed the King into the +council chamber. I found there sheets of paper, an inkstand, and pens all +ready prepared. He sat down by my side and dictated to me the report of +the Marquis de Bouille, which he himself copied at the same time. My hand +trembled; I wrote with difficulty; my reflections scarcely left me +sufficient power of attention to listen to the King. The large table, the +velvet cloth, seats which ought to have been filled by none but the King's +chief councillors; what that chamber had been, and what it was at that +moment, when the King was employing a woman in an office which had so +little affinity with her ordinary functions; the misfortunes which had +brought him to the necessity of doing so,--all these ideas made such an +impression upon me that when I had returned to the Queen's apartments I +could not sleep for the remainder of the night, nor could I remember what +I had written. + +The more I saw that I had the happiness to be of some use to my employers, +the more scrupulously careful was I to live entirely with my family; and I +never indulged in any conversation which could betray the intimacy to +which I was admitted; but nothing at Court remains long concealed, and I +soon saw I had many enemies. The means of injuring others in the minds of +sovereigns are but too easily obtained, and they had become still more so, +since the mere suspicion of communication with partisans of the Revolution +was sufficient to forfeit the esteem and confidence of the King and Queen; +happily, my conduct protected me, with them, against calumny. I had left +St. Cloud two days, when I received at Paris a note from the Queen, +containing these words: + +"Come to St. Cloud immediately; I have something concerning you to +communicate." I set off without loss of time. Her Majesty told me she +had a sacrifice to request of me; I answered that it was made. She said +it went so far as the renunciation of a friend's society; that such a +renunciation was always painful, but that it must be particularly so to +me; that, for her own part, it might have been very useful that a deputy, +a man of talent, should be constantly received at my house; but at this +moment she thought only of my welfare. The Queen then informed me that +the ladies of the bedchamber had, the preceding evening, assured her that +M. de Beaumetz, deputy from the nobility of Artois, who had taken his seat +on the left of the Assembly, spent his whole time at my house. Perceiving +on what false grounds the attempt to injure, me was based, I replied +respectfully, but at the same time smiling, that it was impossible for me +to make the sacrifice exacted by her Majesty; that M. de Beaumetz, a man +of great judgment, had not determined to cross over to the left of the +Assembly with the intention of afterwards making himself unpopular by +spending his time with the Queen's first woman; and that, ever since the +1st of October, 1789, I had seen him nowhere but at the play, or in the +public walks, and even then without his ever coming to speak to me; that +this line of conduct had appeared to me perfectly consistent: for whether +he was desirous to please the popular party, or to be sought after by the +Court, he could not act in any other way towards me. The Queen closed +this explanation by saying, "Oh! it is clear, as clear as the day! this +opportunity for trying to do you an injury is very ill chosen; but be +cautious in your slightest actions; you perceive that the confidence +placed in you by the King and myself raises you up powerful enemies." + +The private communications which were still kept up between the Court and +Mirabeau at length procured him an interview with the Queen, in the +gardens of St. Cloud. He left Paris on horseback, on pretence of going +into the country, to M. de Clavieres, one of his friends; but he stopped +at one of the gates of the gardens of St. Cloud, and was led to a spot +situated in the highest part of the private garden, where the Queen was +waiting for him. She told me she accosted him by saying, "With a common +enemy, with a man who had sworn to destroy monarchy without appreciating +its utility among a great people, I should at this moment be guilty of a +most ill-advised step; but in speaking to a Mirabeau," etc. The poor +Queen was delighted at having discovered this method of exalting him above +all others of his principles; and in imparting the particulars of this +interview to me she said, "Do you know that those words, 'a Mirabeau,' +appeared to flatter him exceedingly." On leaving the Queen he said to her +with warmth, "Madame, the monarchy is saved!" It must have been soon +afterwards that Mirabeau received considerable sums of money. He showed +it too plainly by the increase of his expenditure. Already did some of his +remarks upon the necessity of arresting the progress of the democrats +circulate in society. Being once invited to meet a person at dinner who +was very much attached to the Queen, he learned that that person withdrew +on hearing that he was one of the guests; the party who invited him told +him this with some degree of satisfaction; but all were very much +astonished when they heard Mirabeau eulogise the absent guest, and declare +that in his place he would have done the same; but, he added, they had +only to invite that person again in a few months, and he would then dine +with the restorer of the monarchy. Mirabeau forgot that it was more easy +to do harm than good, and thought himself the political Atlas of the whole +world. + +Outrages and mockery were incessantly mingled with the audacious +proceedings of the revolutionists. It was customary to give serenades +under the King's windows on New Year's Day. The band of the National +Guard repaired thither on that festival in 1791; in allusion to the +liquidation of the debts of the State, decreed by the Assembly, they +played solely, and repeatedly, that air from the comic opera of the +"Debts," the burden of which is, "But our creditors are paid, and that +makes us easy." + +On the same day some "conquerors of the Bastille," grenadiers of the +Parisian guard, preceded by military music, came to present to the young +Dauphin, as a New Year's gift, a box of dominoes, made of some of the +stone and marble of which that state prison was built. The Queen gave me +this inauspicious curiosity, desiring me to preserve it, as it would be a +curious illustration of the history of the Revolution. Upon the lid were +engraved some bad verses, the purport of which was as follows: "Stones +from those walls, which enclosed the innocent victims of arbitrary power, +have been converted into a toy, to be presented to you, Monseigneur, as a +mark of the people's love; and to teach you their power." + +The Queen said that M. de La Fayette's thirst for popularity induced him +to lend himself, without discrimination, to all popular follies. Her +distrust of the General increased daily, and grew so powerful that when, +towards the end of the Revolution, he seemed willing to support the +tottering throne, she could never bring herself to incur so great an +obligation to him. + +M. de J-----, a colonel attached to the staff of the army, was fortunate +enough to render several services to the Queen, and acquitted himself with +discretion and dignity of various important missions. + +[During the Queen's detention in the Temple he introduced himself Into +that prison in the dress of a lamplighter, and there discharged his duty +unrecognised.--MADAME CAMPAN.] + +Their Majesties had the highest confidence in him, although it frequently +happened that his prudence, when inconsiderate projects were under +discussion, brought upon him the charge of adopting the principles of the +constitutionals. Being sent to Turin, he had some difficulty in +dissuading the Princes from a scheme they had formed at that period of +reentering France, with a very weak army, by way of Lyons; and when, in a +council which lasted till three o'clock in the morning, he showed his +instructions, and demonstrated that the measure would endanger the King, +the Comte d'Artois alone declared against the plan, which emanated from +the Prince de Conde. + +Among the persons employed in subordinate situations, whom the critical +circumstances of the times involved in affairs of importance, was M. de +Goguelat, a geographical engineer at Versailles, and an excellent +draughtsman. He made plans of St. Cloud and Trianon for the Queen; she +was very much pleased with them, and had the engineer admitted into the +staff of the army. At the commencement of the Revolution he was sent to +Count Esterhazy, at Valenciennes, in the capacity of aide-de-camp. The +latter rank was given him solely to get him away from Versailles, where +his rashness endangered the Queen during the earlier months of the +Assembly of the States General. Making a parade of his devotion to the +King's interests, he went repeatedly to the tribunes of the Assembly, and +there openly railed at all the motions of the deputies, and then returned +to the Queen's antechamber, where he repeated all that he had just heard, +or had had the imprudence to say. Unfortunately, at the same time that +the Queen sent away M. de Goguelat, she still believed that, in a +dangerous predicament, requiring great self-devotion, the man might be +employed advantageously. In 1791 he was commissioned to act in concert +with the Marquis de Bouille in furtherance of the King's intended escape. + +[See the "Memoirs" of M. de Bouille, those of the Duc de Choiseul, and the +account of the journey to Varennes, by M. de Fontanges, in "Weber's +Memoirs."--NOTE BY THE EDITOR.] + +Projectors in great numbers endeavoured to introduce themselves not only +to the Queen, but to Madame Elisabeth, who had communications with many +individuals who took upon themselves to make plans for the conduct of the +Court. The Baron de Gilliers and M. de Vanoise were of this description; +they went to the Baronne de Mackau's, where the Princess spent almost all +her evenings. The Queen did not like these meetings, where Madame +Elisabeth might adopt views in opposition to the King's intentions or her +own. + +The Queen gave frequent audiences to M. de La Fayette. One day, when he +was in her inner closet, his aides-de-camp, who waited for him, were +walking up and down the great room where the persons in attendance +remained. Some imprudent young women were thoughtless enough to say, with +the intention of being overheard by those officers, that it was very +alarming to see the Queen alone with a rebel and a brigand. I was annoyed +at their indiscretion, and imposed silence on them. One of them persisted +in the appellation "brigand." I told her that M. de La Fayette well +deserved the name of rebel, but that the title of leader of a party was +given by history to every man commanding forty thousand men, a capital, +and forty leagues of country; that kings had frequently treated with such +leaders, and if it was convenient to the Queen to do the same, it remained +for us only to be silent and respect her actions. On the morrow the +Queen, with a serious air; but with the greatest kindness, asked what I +had said respecting M. de La Fayette on the preceding day; adding that she +had been assured I had enjoined her women silence, because they did not +like him, and that I had taken his part. I repeated what had passed to +the Queen, word for word. She condescended to tell me that I had done +perfectly right. + +Whenever any false reports respecting me were conveyed to her she was kind +enough to inform me of them; and they had no effect on the confidence with +which she continued to honour me, and which I am happy to think I have +justified even at the risk of my life. + +Mesdames, the King's aunts, set out from Bellevue in the beginning of the +year 1791. Alexandre Berthier, afterwards Prince de Neufchatel, then a +colonel on the staff of the army, and commandant of the National Guard of +Versailles, facilitated the departure of Mesdames. The Jacobins of that +town procured his dismissal, and he ran the greatest risk, on account of +having rendered this service to these Princesses. + +I went to take leave of Madame Victoire. I little thought that I was then +seeing her for the last time. She received me alone in her closet, and +assured + +[General Berthier justified the monarch's confidence by a firm and prudent +line of conduct which entitled him to the highest military honours, and to +the esteem of the great warrior whose fortune, dangers, and glory he +afterwards shared. This officer, full of honour, and gifted with the +highest courage, was shut into the courtyard of Bellevue by his own troop, +and ran great risk of being murdered. It was not until the 14th of March +that he succeeded in executing his instructions ("Memoirs of Mesdames," by +Montigny, vol. i.)] + +me that she hoped, as well as wished, soon to return to France; that the +French would be much to be pitied if the excesses of the Revolution should +arrive at such a pitch as to force her to prolong her absence. I knew from +the Queen that the departure of Mesdames was deemed necessary, in order to +leave the King free to act when he should be compelled to go away with his +family. It being impossible that the constitution of the clergy should be +otherwise than in direct opposition to the religious principles of +Mesdames, they thought their journey to Rome would be attributed to piety +alone. It was, however, difficult to deceive an Assembly which weighed +the slightest actions of the royal family, and from that moment they were +more than ever alive to what was passing at the Tuileries. + +Mesdames were desirous of taking Madame Elisabeth to Rome. The free +exercise of religion, the happiness of taking refuge with the head of the +Church, and the prospect of living in safety with her aunts, whom she +tenderly loved, were sacrificed by that virtuous Princess to her +attachment to the King. + +The oath required of priests by the civil constitution of the clergy +introduced into France a division which added to the dangers by which the +King was already surrounded. + +[The priests were required to swear to the civil constitution of the +clergy of 1790, by which all the former bishoprics and parishes were +remodelled, and the priests and bishops elected by the people. Most +refused, and under the name of 'pretres insermentes' (as opposed to the +few who took the oath, 'pretres assermentes') were bitterly persecuted. A +simple promise to obey the constitution of the State was substituted by +Napoleon as soon as he came to power.] + +Mirabeau spent a whole night with the cure of St. Eustache, confessor of +the King and Queen, to persuade him to take the oath required by that +constitution. Their Majesties chose another confessor, who remained +unknown. + +A few months afterwards (2d April, 1791), the too celebrated Mirabeau, the +mercenary democrat and venal royalist, terminated his career. The Queen +regretted him, and was astonished at her own regret; but she had hoped +that he who had possessed adroitness and weight enough to throw everything +into confusion would have been able by the same means to repair the +mischief he had caused. Much has been said respecting the cause of +Mirabeau's death. M. Cabanis, his friend and physician, denied that he +was poisoned. M. Vicq-d'Azyr assured the Queen that the 'proces-verbal' +drawn up on the state of the intestines would apply just as well to a case +of death produced by violent remedies as to one produced by poison. He +said, also, that the report had been faithful; but that it was prudent to +conclude it by a declaration of natural death, since, in the critical +state in which France then was, if a suspicion of foul play were admitted, +a person innocent of any such crime might be sacrificed to public +vengeance. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Advised the King not to separate himself from his army +Grand-Dieu, mamma! will it be yesterday over again? +Mirabeau forgot that it was more easy to do harm than good +Never shall a drop of French blood be shed by my order +Saw no other advantage in it than that of saving her own life +That air of truth which always carries conviction +When kings become prisoners they are very near death +Whispered in his mother's ear, "Was that right?" + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Memoirs of Marie Antoinette, Queen +Of France, Volume 5, by Madame Campan + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARIE ANTOINETTE *** + +***** This file should be named 3888.txt or 3888.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/8/3888/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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In +this seance the King declared that the Orders must vote separately, and +threatened, if further obstacles were met with, to himself act for the +good of the people. The Queen looked on M. Necker's not accompanying the +King as treachery or criminal cowardice: she said that he had converted a +remedy into poison; that being in full popularity, his audacity, in +openly disavowing the step taken by his sovereign, had emboldened the +factious, and led away the whole Assembly; and that he was the more +culpable inasmuch as he had the evening before given her his word to +accompany the King. In vain did M. Necker endeavour to excuse himself by +saying that his advice had not been followed. + +Soon afterwards the insurrections of the 11th, 12th, and 14th of July-- +[The Bastille was taken on the 14th July, 1789.]--opened the disastrous +drama with which France was threatened. The massacre of M. de Flesselles +and M. de Launay drew bitter tears from the Queen, and the idea that the +King had lost such devoted subjects wounded her to the heart. + +The character of the movement was no longer merely that of a popular +insurrection; cries of "Vive la Nation! Vive le Roi! Vive la Liberte!" +threw the strongest light upon the views of the reformers. Still the +people spoke of the King with affection, and appeared to think him +favourable to the national desire for the reform of what were called +abuses; but they imagined that he was restrained by the opinions and +influence of the Comte d'Artois and the Queen; and those two august +personages were therefore objects of hatred to the malcontents. The +dangers incurred by the Comte d'Artois determined the King's first step +with the States General. He attended their meeting on the morning of the +15th of July with his brothers, without pomp or escort; he spoke standing +and uncovered, and pronounced these memorable words: "I trust myself to +you; I only wish to be at one with my nation, and, counting on the +affection and fidelity of my subjects, I have given orders to the troops +to remove from Paris and Versailles." The King returned on foot from the +chamber of the States General to his palace; the deputies crowded after +him, and formed his escort, and that of the Princes who accompanied him. +The rage of the populace was pointed against the Comte d'Artois, whose +unfavourable opinion of the double representation was an odious crime in +their eyes. They repeatedly cried out, "The King for ever, in spite of +you and your opinions, Monseigneur!" One woman had the impudence to come +up to the King and ask him whether what he had been doing was done +sincerely, and whether he would not be forced to retract it. + +The courtyards of the Chateau were thronged with an immense concourse of +people; they demanded that the King and Queen, with their children, +should make their appearance in the balcony. The Queen gave me the key +of the inner doors, which led to the Dauphin's apartments, and desired me +to go to the Duchesse de Polignac to tell her that she wanted her son, +and had directed me to bring him myself into her room, where she waited +to show him to the people. The Duchess said this order indicated that +she was not to accompany the Prince. I did not answer; she squeezed my +hand, saying, "Ah! Madame Campan, what a blow I receive!" She embraced +the child and me with tears. She knew how much I loved and valued the +goodness and the noble simplicity of her disposition. I endeavoured to +reassure her by saying that I should bring back the Prince to her; but +she persisted, and said she understood the order, and knew what it meant. +She then retired to her private room, holding her handkerchief to her +eyes. One of the under-governesses asked me whether she might go with +the Dauphin; I told her the Queen had given no order to the contrary, and +we hastened to her Majesty, who was waiting to lead the Prince to the +balcony. + +Having executed this sad commission, I went down into the courtyard, +where I mingled with the crowd. I heard a thousand vociferations; it was +easy to see, by the difference between the language and the dress of some +persons among the mob, that they were in disguise. A woman, whose face +was covered with a black lace veil, seized me by the arm with some +violence, and said, calling me by my name, "I know you very well; tell +your Queen not to meddle with government any longer; let her leave her +husband and our good States General to effect the happiness of the +people." At the same moment a man, dressed much in the style of a +marketman, with his hat pulled down over his eyes, seized me by the other +arm, and said, "Yes, yes; tell her over and over again that it will not +be with these States as with the others, which produced no good to the +people; that the nation is too enlightened in 1789 not to make something +more of them; and that there will not now be seen a deputy of the 'Tiers +Etat' making a speech with one knee on the ground; tell her this, do you +hear? "I was struck with dread; the Queen then appeared in the balcony. +"Ah!" said the woman in the veil, "the Duchess is not with her."--"No," +replied the man, "but she is still at Versailles; she is working +underground, molelike; but we shall know how to dig her out." The +detestable pair moved away from me, and I reentered the palace, scarcely +able to support myself. I thought it my duty to relate the dialogue of +these two strangers to the Queen; she made me repeat the particulars to +the King. + +About four in the afternoon I went across the terrace to Madame +Victoire's apartments; three men had stopped under the windows of the +throne-chamber. "Here is that throne," said one of them aloud, "the +vestiges of which will soon be sought for." He added a thousand +invectives against their Majesties. I went in to the Princess, who was +at work alone in her closet, behind a canvass blind, which prevented her +from being seen by those without. The three men were still walking upon +the terrace; I showed them to her, and told her what they had said. She +rose to take a nearer view of them, and informed me that one of them was +named Saint-Huruge; that he was sold to the Duc d'Orleans, and was +furious against the Government, because he had been confined once under a +'lettre de cachet' as a bad character. + +The King was not ignorant of these popular threats; he also knew the days +on which money was scattered about Paris, and once or twice the Queen +prevented my going there, saying there would certainly be a riot the next +day, because she knew that a quantity of crown pieces had been +distributed in the faubourgs. + + [I have seen a six-franc crown piece, which certainly served to pay + some wretch on the night of the 12th of July; the words "Midnight, + 12th July, three pistols," were rather deeply engraven on it. They + were, no doubt, a password for the first insurrection. + --MADAME COMPAN] + +On the evening of the 14th of July the King came to the Queen's +apartments, where I was with her Majesty alone; he conversed with her +respecting the scandalous report disseminated by the factious, that he +had had the Chamber of the National Assembly undermined, in order to blow +it up; but he added that it became him to treat such absurd assertions +with contempt, as usual; I ventured to tell him that I had the evening +before supped with M. Begouen, one of the deputies, who said that there +were very respectable persons who thought that this horrible contrivance +had been proposed without the King's knowledge. "Then," said his +Majesty, "as the idea of such an atrocity was not revolting to so worthy +a man as M. Begouen, I will order the chamber to be examined early to- +morrow morning." In fact, it will be seen by the King's, speech to the +National Assembly, on the 15th of July, that the suspicions excited +obtained his attention. "I know," said he in the speech in question, +"that unworthy insinuations have been made; I know there are those who +have dared to assert that your persons are not safe; can it be necessary +to give you assurances upon the subject of reports so culpable, denied +beforehand by my known character?" + +The proceedings of the 15th of July produced no mitigation of the +disturbances. Successive deputations of poissardes came to request the +King to visit Paris, where his presence alone would put an end to the +insurrection. + +On the 16th a committee was held in the King's apartments, at which a +most important question was discussed: whether his Majesty should quit +Versailles and set off with the troops whom he had recently ordered to +withdraw, or go to Paris to tranquillise the minds of the people. The +Queen was for the departure. On the evening of the 16th she made me take +all her jewels out of their cases, to collect them in one small box, +which she might carry off in her own carriage. With my assistance she +burnt a large quantity of papers; for Versailles was then threatened with +an early visit of armed men from Paris. + +The Queen, on the morning of the 16th, before attending another committee +at the King's, having got her jewels ready, and looked over all her +papers, gave me one folded up but not sealed, and desired me not to read +it until she should give me an order to do so from the King's room, and +that then I was to execute its contents; but she returned herself about +ten in the morning; the affair was decided; the army was to go away +without the King; all those who were in imminent danger were to go at the +same time. "The King will go to the Hotel de Ville to-morrow," said the +Queen to me; "he did not choose this course for himself; there were long +debates on the question; at last the King put an end to them by rising +and saying, 'Well, gentlemen, we must decide; am I to go or to stay? I +am ready to do either.' The majority were for the King staying; time +will show whether the right choice has been made." I returned the Queen +the paper she had given me, which was now useless; she read it to me; it +contained her orders for the departure; I was to go with her, as well on +account of my office about her person as to serve as a teacher to Madame. +The Queen tore the paper, and said, with tears in her eyes, "When I wrote +this I thought it would be useful, but fate has ordered otherwise, to the +misfortune of us all, as I much fear." + +After the departure of the troops the new administration received thanks; +M. Necker was recalled. The artillery soldiers were undoubtedly +corrupted. "Wherefore all these guns?" exclaimed the crowds of women +who filled the streets. "Will you kill your mothers, your wives, your +children?"--"Don't be afraid," answered the soldiers; "these guns shall +rather be levelled against the tyrant's palace than against you!" + +The Comte d'Artois, the Prince de Conde, and their children set off at +the same time with the troops. The Duc and Duchesse de Polignac, their +daughter, the Duchesse de Guiche, the Comtesse Diane de Polignac, sister +of the Duke, and the Abbe de Baliviere, also emigrated on the same night. +Nothing could be more affecting than the parting of the Queen and her +friend; extreme misfortune had banished from their minds the recollection +of differences to which political opinions alone had given rise. The +Queen several times wished to go and embrace her once more after their +sorrowful adieu, but she was too closely watched. She desired M. Campan +to be present at the departure of the Duchess, and gave him a purse of +five hundred Louis, desiring him to insist upon her allowing the Queen to +lend her that sum to defray her expenses on the road. The Queen added +that she knew her situation; that she had often calculated her income, +and the expenses occasioned by her place at Court; that both husband and +wife having no other fortune than their official salaries, could not +possibly have saved anything, however differently people might think at +Paris. + +M. Campan remained till midnight with the Duchess to see her enter her +carriage. She was disguised as a femme de chambre, and got up in front +of the Berlin; she requested M. Campan to remember her frequently to the +Queen, and then quitted for ever that palace, that favour, and that +influence which had raised her up such cruel enemies. On their arrival +at Sens the travellers found the people in a state of insurrection; they +asked all those who came from Paris whether the Polignacs were still with +the Queen. A group of inquisitive persons put that question to the Abbe +de Baliviere, who answered them in the firmest tone, and with the most +cavalier air, that they were far enough from Versailles, and that we had +got rid of all such bad people. At the following stage the postilion got +on the doorstep and said to the Duchess, "Madame, there are some good +people left in the world: I recognised you all at Sens." They gave the +worthy fellow a handful of gold. + +On the breaking out of these disturbances an old man above seventy years +of age gave the Queen an extraordinary proof of attachment and fidelity. +M. Peraque, a rich inhabitant of the colonies, father of M. d'Oudenarde, +was coming from Brussels to Paris; while changing horses he was met by a +young man who was leaving France, and who recommended him if he carried +any letters from foreign countries to burn them immediately, especially +if he had any for the Queen. M. Peraque had one from the Archduchess, +the Gouvernante of the Low Countries, for her Majesty. He thanked the +stranger, and carefully concealed his packet; but as he approached Paris +the insurrection appeared to him so general and so violent, that he +thought no means could be relied on for securing this letter from +seizure. He took upon him to unseal it, and learned it by heart, which +was a wonderful effort for a man at his time of life, as it contained +four pages of writing. On his arrival at Paris he wrote it down, and +then presented it to the Queen, telling her that the heart of an old and +faithful subject had given him courage to form and execute such a +resolution. The Queen received M. Peraque in her closet, and expressed +her gratitude in an affecting manner most honourable to the worthy old +man. Her Majesty thought the young stranger who had apprised him of the +state of Paris was Prince George of Hesse-Darmstadt, who was very devoted +to her, and who left Paris at that time. + +The Marquise de Tourzel replaced the Duchess de Polignac. She was +selected by the Queen as being the mother of a family and a woman of +irreproachable conduct, who had superintended the education of her own +daughters with the greatest success. + +The King went to Paris on the 17th of July, accompanied by the Marechal +de Beauvau, the Duc de Villeroi, and the Duc de Villequier; he also took +the Comte d'Estaing, and the Marquis de Nesle, who were then very +popular, in his carriage. Twelve Body Guards, and the town guard of +Versailles, escorted him to the Pont du Jour, near Sevres, where the +Parisian guard was waiting for him. His departure caused equal grief and +alarm to his friends, notwithstanding the calmness he exhibited. The +Queen restrained her tears, and shut herself up in her private rooms with +her family. She sent for several persons belonging to her Court; their +doors were locked. Terror had driven them away. The silence of death +reigned throughout the palace; they hardly dared hope that the King would +return? The Queen had a robe prepared for her, and sent orders to her +stables to have all her equipages ready. She wrote an address of a few +lines for the Assembly, determining to go there with her family, the +officers of her palace, and her servants, if the King should be detained +prisoner at Paris. She got this address by heart; it began with these +words: "Gentlemen, I come to place in your hands the wife and family of +your sovereign; do not suffer those who have been united in heaven to be +put asunder on earth." While she was repeating this address she was +often interrupted by tears, and sorrowfully exclaimed: "They will not let +him return!" + +It was past four when the King, who had left Versailles at ten in the +morning, entered the Hotel de Ville. At length, at six in the evening, +M. de Lastours, the King's first page, arrived; he was not half an hour +in coming from the Barriere de la Conference to Versailles. Everybody +knows that the moment of calm in Paris was that in which the unfortunate +sovereign received the tricoloured cockade from M. Bailly, and placed it +in his hat. A shout of "Vive le Roi!" arose on all sides; it had not +been once uttered before. The King breathed again, and with tears in his +eyes exclaimed that his heart stood in need of such greetings from the +people. One of his equerries (M. de Cubieres) told him the people loved +him, and that he could never have doubted it. The King replied in +accents of profound sensibility: + +"Cubieres, the French loved Henri IV., and what king ever better deserved +to be beloved?" + + [Louis XVI. cherished the memory of Henri IV.: at that moment he + thought of his deplorable end; but he long before regarded him as a + model. Soulavie says on the subject: "A tablet with the inscription + 'Resurrexit' placed upon the pedestal of Henri IV.'s statue on the + accession of Louis XVI. flattered him exceedingly. 'What a fine + compliment,' said he, 'if it were true! Tacitus himself never wrote + anything so concise or so happy.' Louis XVI. wished to take the + reign of that Prince for a model. In the following year the party + that raised a commotion among the people on account of the dearness + of corn removed the tablet inscribed Resurrexit from the statue of + Henri IV., and placed it under that of Louis XV., whose memory was + then detested, as he was believed to have traded on the scarcity of + food. Louis XVI., who was informed of it, withdrew into his private + apartments, where he was found in a fever shedding tears; and during + the whole of that day he could not be prevailed upon either to dine, + walk out, or sup. From this circumstance we may judge what he + endured at the commencement of the Revolution, when he was accused + of not loving the French people."--NOTE BY THE EDITOR.] + +His return to Versailles filled his family with inexpressible joy; in the +arms of the Queen, his sister, and his children, he congratulated himself +that no accident had happened; and he repeated several times, "Happily no +blood has been shed, and I swear that never shall a drop of French blood +be shed by my order,"--a determination full of humanity, but too openly +avowed in such factious times! + +The King's last measure raised a hope in many that general tranquillity +would soon enable the Assembly to resume its, labours, and promptly bring +its session to a close. The Queen never flattered herself so far; +M. Bailly's speech to the King had equally wounded her pride and hurt her +feelings. "Henri IV. conquered his people, and here are the people +conquering their King." The word "conquest" offended her; she never +forgave M. Bailly for this fine academical phrase. + +Five days after the King's visit to Paris, the departure of the troops, +and the removal of the Princes and some of the nobility whose influence +seemed to alarm the people, a horrible deed committed by hired assassins +proved that the King had descended the steps of his throne without having +effected a reconciliation with his people. + +M. Foulon, adjoint to the administration while M. de Broglie was +commanding the army assembled at Versailles, had concealed himself at +Viry. He was there recognised, and the peasants seized him, and dragged +him to the Hotel de Ville. The cry for death was heard; the electors, +the members of committee, and M. de La Fayette, at that time the idol of +Paris, in vain endeavoured to save the unfortunate man. After tormenting +him in a manner which makes humanity shudder, his body was dragged about +the streets, and to the Palais Royal, and his heart was carried by women +in the midst of a bunch of white carnations! M. Berthier, M. Foulon's +son-in-law, intendant of Paris, was seized at Compiegne, at the same time +that his father-in-law was seized at Viry, and treated with still more +relentless cruelty. + +The Queen was always persuaded that this horrible deed was occasioned by +some indiscretion; and she informed me that M. Foulon had drawn up two +memorials for the direction of the King's conduct at the time of his +being called to Court on the removal of M. Necker; and that these +memorials contained two schemes of totally different nature for +extricating the King from the dreadful situation in which he was placed. +In the first of these projects M. Foulon expressed himself without +reserve respecting the criminal views of the Duc d'Orleans; said that +he ought to be put under arrest, and that no time should be lost in +commencing a prosecution against him, while the criminal tribunals were +still in existence; he likewise pointed out such deputies as should be +apprehended, and advised the King not to separate himself from his army +until order was restored. + +His other plan was that the King should make himself master of the +revolution before its complete explosion; he advised his Majesty to go to +the Assembly, and there, in person, to demand the cahiers, + + [Cahiers, the memorials or lists of complaints, grievances, and + requirements of the electors drawn up by the primary assemblies and + sent with the deputies.] + +and to make the greatest sacrifices to satisfy the legitimate wishes of +the people, and not to give the factious time to enlist them in aid of +their criminal designs. Madame Adelaide had M. Foulon's two memorials +read to her in the presence of four or five persons. One of them, Comte +Louis de Narbonne, was very intimate with Madame de Stael, and that +intimacy gave the Queen reason to believe that the opposite party had +gained information of M. Foulon's schemes. + +It is known that young Barnave, during an aberration of mind, since +expiated by sincere repentance, and even by death, uttered these +atrocious words: "Is then the blood now, flowing so pure?" when M. +Berthier's son came to the Assembly to implore the eloquence of M. de +Lally to entreat that body to save his father's life. I have since been +informed that a son of M. Foulon, having returned to France after these +first ebullitions of the Revolution, saw Barnave, and gave him one of +those memorials in which M. Foulon advised Louis XVI. to prevent the +revolutionary explosion by voluntarily granting all that the Assembly +required before the 14th of July. "Read this memorial," said he; "I have +brought it to increase your remorse: it is the only revenge I wish to +inflict on you." Barnave burst into tears, and said to him all that the +profoundest grief could dictate. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +After the 14th of July, by a manoeuvre for which the most skilful +factions of any age might have envied the Assembly, the whole population +of France was armed and organised into a National Guard. A report was +spread throughout France on the same day, and almost at the same hour, +that four thousand brigands were marching towards such towns or villages +as it was wished to induce to take arms. Never was any plan better laid; +terror spread at the same moment all over the kingdom. In 1791 a peasant +showed me a steep rock in the mountains of the Mont d'Or on which his +wife concealed herself on the day when the four thousand brigands were to +attack their village, and told me they had been obliged to make use of +ropes to let her down from the height which fear alone had enabled her to +climb. + +Versailles was certainly the place where the national military uniform +appeared most offensive. All the King's valets, even of the lowest +class, were metamorphosed into lieutenants or captains; almost all the +musicians of the chapel ventured one day to make their appearance at the +King's mass in a military costume; and an Italian soprano adopted the +uniform of a grenadier captain. The King was very much offended at this +conduct, and forbade his servants to appear in his presence in so +unsuitable a dress. + +The departure of the Duchesse de Polignac naturally left the Abbe de +Vermond exposed to all the dangers of favouritism. He was already talked +of as an adviser dangerous to the nation. The Queen was alarmed at it, +and recommended him to remove to Valenciennes, where Count Esterhazy was +in command. He was obliged to leave that place in a few days and set off +for Vienna, where he remained. + +On the night of the 17th of July the Queen, being unable to sleep, made +me watch by her until three in the morning. I was extremely surprised to +hear her say that it would be a very long time before the Abbe de Vermond +would make his appearance at Court again, even if the existing ferment +should subside, because he would not readily be forgiven for his +attachment to the Archbishop of Sens; and that she had lost in him a very +devoted servant. Then she suddenly remarked to me, that although he was +not much prejudiced against me I could not have much regard for him, +because he could not bear my father-in-law to hold the place of secretary +of the closet. She went on to say that I must have studied the Abbe's +character, and, as I had sometimes drawn her portraits of living +characters, in imitation of those which were fashionable in the time of +Louis XIV., she desired me to sketch that of the Abbe, without any +reserve. My astonishment was extreme; the Queen spoke of the man who, +the day before, had been in the greatest intimacy with her with the +utmost coolness, and as a person whom, perhaps, she might never see +again! I remained petrified; the Queen persisted, and told me that he +had been the enemy of my family for more than twelve years, without +having been able to injure it in her opinion; so that I had no occasion +to dread his return, however severely I might depict him. I promptly +summarised my ideas about the favourite; but I only remember that the +portrait was drawn with sincerity, except that everything which could +denote antipathy was kept out of it. I shall make but one extract from +it: I said that he had been born talkative and indiscreet, and had +assumed a character of singularity and abruptness in order to conceal +those two failings. The Queen interrupted me by saying, "Ah! how true +that is!" I have since discovered that, notwithstanding the high favour +which the Abbe de Vermond enjoyed, the Queen took precautions to guard +herself against an ascendency the consequences of which she could not +calculate. + +On the death of my father-in-law his executors placed in my hands a box +containing a few jewels deposited by the Queen with M. Campan on the +departure from Versailles of the 6th of October, and two sealed packets, +each inscribed, "Campan will take care of these papers for me." I took +the two packets to her Majesty, who kept the jewels and the larger +packet, and, returning me the smaller, said, "Take care of that for me as +your father-in-law did." + +After the fatal 10th of August, 1792,--[The day of the attack on the +Tuileries, slaughter of the Swiss guard, and suspension of the King from +his functions.]--when my house was about to be surrounded, I determined +to burn the most interesting papers of which I was the depositary; I +thought it my duty, however, to open this packet, which it might perhaps +be necessary for me to preserve at all hazards. +I saw that it contained a letter from the Abbe de Vermond to the Queen. +I have already related that in the earlier days of Madame de Polignac's +favour he determined to remove from Versailles, and that the Queen +recalled him by means of the Comte de Mercy. This letter contained +nothing but certain conditions for his return; it was the most whimsical +of treaties; I confess I greatly regretted being under the necessity of +destroying it. He reproached the Queen for her infatuation for the +Comtesse Jules, her family, and society; and told her several truths +about the possible consequences of a friendship which ranked that lady +among the favourites of the Queens of France, a title always disliked by +the nation. He complained that his advice was neglected, and then came +to the conditions of his return to Versailles; after strong assurances +that he would never, in all his life, aim at the higher church dignities, +he said that he delighted in an unbounded confidence; and that he asked +but two things of her Majesty as essential: the first was, not to give +him her orders through any third person, and to write to him herself; he +complained much that he had had no letter in her own hand since he had +left Vienna; then he demanded of her an income of eighty thousand livres, +in ecclesiastical benefices; and concluded by saying that, if she +condescended to assure him herself that she would set about procuring him +what he wished, her letter would be sufficient in itself to show him that +her Majesty had accepted the two conditions he ventured to make +respecting his return. No doubt the letter was written; at least it is +very certain that the benefices were granted, and that his absence from +Versailles lasted only a single week. + +In the course of July, 1789, the regiment of French guards, which had +been in a state of insurrection from the latter end of June, abandoned +its colours. One single company of grenadiers remained faithful, to its +post at Versailles. M. le Baron de Leval was the captain of this +company. He came every evening to request me to give the Queen an +account of the disposition of his soldiers; but M. de La Fayette having +sent them a note, they all deserted during the night and joined their +comrades, who were enrolled in the Paris guard; so that Louis XVI. on +rising saw no guard whatever at the various posts entrusted to them. + +The decrees of the 4th of August, by which all privileges were abolished, +are well known. + + ["It was during the night of the 4th of August," says Rivarol, "that + the demagogues of the nobility, wearied with a protracted discussion + upon the rights of man, and burning to signalise their zeal, rose + all at once, and with loud exclamations called for the last sighs of + the feudal system. This demand electrified the Assembly. All heads + were frenzied. The younger sons of good families, having nothing, + were delighted to sacrifice their too fortunate elders upon the + altar of the country; a few country cures felt no less pleasure in + renouncing the benefices of others; but what posterity will hardly + believe is that the same enthusiasm infected the whole nobility; + zeal walked hand in hand with malevolence; they made sacrifice upon + sacrifice. And as in Japan the point of honour lies in a man's + killing himself in the presence of the person who has offended him, + so did the deputies of the nobility vie in striking at themselves + and their constituents. The people who were present at this noble + contest increased the intoxication of their new allies by their + shouts; and the deputies of the commons, seeing that this memorable + night would only afford them profit without honour, consoled their + self-love by wondering at what Nobility, grafted upon the Third + Estate, could do. They named that night the 'night of dupes'; the + nobles called it the 'night of sacrifices'."--NOTE BY THE EDITOR.] + +The King sanctioned all that tended to the diminution of his own personal +gratifications, but refused his consent to the other decrees of that +tumultuous night; this refusal was one of the chief causes of the +ferments of the month of October. + +In the early part of September meetings were held at the Palais Royal, +and propositions made to go to Versailles; it was said to be necessary to +separate the King from his evil counsellors, and keep him, as well as the +Dauphin, at the Louvre. The proclamations by the officers of the commune +for the restoration of tranquillity were ineffectual; but M. de La +Fayette succeeded this time in dispersing the populace. The Assembly +declared itself permanent; and during the whole of September, in which no +doubt the preparations were made for the great insurrections of the +following month, the Court was not disturbed. + +The King had the Flanders regiment removed to Versailles; unfortunately +the idea of the officers of that regiment fraternising with the Body +Guards was conceived, and the latter invited the former to a dinner, +which was given in the great theatre of Versailles, and not in the Salon +of Hercules, as some chroniclers say. Boxes were appropriated to various +persons who wished to be present at this entertainment. The Queen told +me she had been advised to make her appearance on the occasion, but that +under existing circumstances she thought such a step might do more harm +than good; and that, moreover, neither she nor the King ought directly to +have anything to do with such a festival. She ordered me to go, and +desired me to observe everything closely, in order to give a faithful +account of the whole affair. + +The tables were set out upon the stage; at them were placed one of the +Body Guard and an officer of the Flanders regiment alternately. There +was a numerous orchestra in the room, and the boxes were filled with +spectators. The air, "O Richard, O mon Roi!" was played, and shouts of +"Vive de Roi!" shook the roof for several minutes. I had with me one of +my nieces, and a young person brought up with Madame by her Majesty. +They were crying "Vive le Roi!" with all their might when a deputy of the +Third Estate, who was in the next box to mine, and whom I had never seen, +called to them, and reproached them for their exclamations; it hurt him, +he said, to see young and handsome Frenchwomen brought up in such servile +habits, screaming so outrageously for the life of one man, and with true +fanaticism exalting him in their hearts above even their dearest +relations; he told them what contempt worthy American women would feel on +seeing Frenchwomen thus corrupted from their earliest infancy. My niece +replied with tolerable spirit, and I requested the deputy to put an end +to the subject, which could by no means afford him any satisfaction, +inasmuch as the young persons who were with me lived, as well as myself, +for the sole purpose of serving and loving the King. While I was +speaking what was my astonishment at seeing the King, the Queen, and the +Dauphin enter the chamber! It was M. de Luxembourg who had effected this +change in the Queen's determination. + +The enthusiasm became general; the moment their Majesties arrived the +orchestra repeated the air I have just mentioned, and afterwards played a +song in the "Deserter," "Can we grieve those whom we love?" which also +made a powerful impression upon those present: on all sides were heard +praises of their Majesties, exclamations of affection, expressions of +regret for what they had suffered, clapping of hands, and shouts of "Vive +le Roi! Vive la Reine! Vive le Dauphin!" It has been said that white +cockades were worn on this occasion; that was not the case; the fact is, +that a few young men belonging to the National Guard of Versailles, who +were invited to the entertainment, turned the white lining of their +national cockades outwards. All the military men quitted the hall, +and reconducted the King and his family to their apartments. There was +intoxication in these ebullitions of joy: a thousand extravagances were +committed by the military, and many of them danced under the King's +windows; a soldier belonging to the Flanders regiment climbed up to the +balcony of the King's chamber in order to shout "Vive le Roi!" nearer +his Majesty; this very soldier, as I have been told by several officers +of the corps, was one of the first and most dangerous of their insurgents +in the riots of the 5th and 6th of October. On the same evening another +soldier of that regiment killed himself with a sword. One of my +relations, chaplain to the Queen, who supped with me, saw him stretched +out in a corner of the Place d'Armes; he went to him to give him +spiritual assistance, and received his confession and his last sighs. +He destroyed himself out of regret at having suffered himself to be +corrupted by the enemies of his King, and said that, since he had seen +him and the Queen and the Dauphin, remorse had turned his brain. + +I returned home, delighted with all that I had seen. + +I found a great many people there. M. de Beaumetz, deputy for Arras, +listened to my description with a chilling air, and, when I had finished, +told me that all that had passed was terrific; that he knew the +disposition of the Assembly, and that the greatest misfortunes would +follow the drama of that night; and he begged my leave to withdraw that +he might take time for deliberate reflection whether he should on the +very next day emigrate, or pass over to the left side of the Assembly. +He adopted the latter course, and never appeared again among my +associates. + +On the 2d of October the military entertainment was followed up by a +breakfast given at the hotel of the Body Guards. It is said that a +discussion took place whether they should not march against the Assembly; +but I am utterly ignorant of what passed at that breakfast. From that +moment Paris was constantly in commotion; there were continual mobs, +and the most virulent proposals were heard in all public places; the +conversation was invariably about proceeding to Versailles. The King and +Queen did not seem apprehensive of such a measure, and took no precaution +against it; even when the army had actually left Paris, on the evening of +the 5th of October, the King was shooting at Meudon, and the Queen was +alone in her gardens at Trianon, which she then beheld for the last time +in her life. She was sitting in her grotto absorbed in painful +reflection, when she received a note from the Comte de Saint-Priest, +entreating her to return to Versailles. M. de Cubieres at the same time +went off to request the King to leave his sport and return to the palace; +the King did so on horseback, and very leisurely. A few minutes +afterwards he was informed that a numerous body of women, which preceded +the Parisian army, was at Chaville, at the entrance of the avenue from +Paris. + +The scarcity of bread and the entertainment of the Body Guards were the +pretexts for the insurrection of the 5th and 6th of October, 1789; but it +is clear to demonstration that this new movement of the people was a part +of the original plan of the factious, insomuch as, ever since the +beginning of September, a report had been industriously circulated that +the King intended to withdraw, with his family and ministers, to some +stronghold; and at all the popular assemblies there had been always a +great deal said about going to Versailles to seize the King. + +At first only women showed themselves; the latticed doors of the Chateau +were closed, and the Body Guard and Flanders regiment were drawn up in +the Place d'Armes. As the details of that dreadful day are given with +precision in several works, I will only observe that general +consternation and disorder reigned throughout the interior of the palace. + +I was not in attendance on the Queen at this time. M. Campan remained +with her till two in the morning. As he was leaving her she +condescendingly, and with infinite kindness, desired him to make me easy +as to the dangers of the moment, and to repeat to me M. de La Fayette's +own words, which he had just used on soliciting the royal family to +retire to bed, undertaking to answer for his army. + +The Queen was far from relying upon M. de La Fayette's loyalty; but she +has often told me that she believed on that day, that La Fayette, having +affirmed to the King, in the presence of a crowd of witnesses, that he +would answer for the army of Paris, would not risk his honour as a +commander, and was sure of being able to redeem his pledge. She also +thought the Parisian army was devoted to him, and that all he said about +his being forced to march upon Versailles was mere pretence. + +On the first intimation of the march of the Parisians, the Comte de +Saint-Priest prepared Rambouillet for the reception of the King, his +family, and suite, and the carriages were even drawn out; but a few cries +of "Vive le Roi!" when the women reported his Majesty's favourable +answer, occasioned the intention of going away to be given up, and orders +were given to the troops to withdraw. + + [Compare this account with the particulars given in the "Memoirs" of + Ferribres, Weber, Bailly, and Saint-Priest, from the latter of which + the following sentence is taken: + + "M. d'Estaing knew not what to do with the Body Guards beyond + bringing them into the courtyard of the ministers, and shutting the + grilles. Thence they proceeded to the terrace of the Chateau, then + to Trianon, and lastly to Rambouillet. + + "I could not refrain from expressing to M. d'Estaing, when he came + to the King, my astonishment at not seeing him make any military + disposition. 'Monsieur,' replied he, 'I await the orders of the + King' (who did not open his mouth). 'When the King gives no + orders,' pursued I, 'a general should decide for himself in a + soldierly manner.' This observation remained unanswered."] + +The Body Guards were, however, assailed with stones and musketry while +they were passing from the Place d'Armes to, their hotel. Alarm revived; +again it was thought necessary that the royal family should go away; some +carriages still remained ready for travelling; they were called for; they +were stopped by a wretched player belonging to the theatre of the town, +seconded by the mob: the opportunity for flight had been lost. + +The insurrection was directed against the Queen in particular; I shudder +even now at the recollection of the poissardes, or rather furies, who +wore white aprons, which they screamed out were intended to receive the +bowels of Marie Antoinette, and that they would make cockades of them, +mixing the most obscene expressions with these horrible threats. + +The Queen went to bed at two in the morning, and even slept, tired out +with the events of so distressing a day. She had ordered her two women +to bed, imagining there was nothing to dread, at least for that night; +but the unfortunate Princess was indebted for her life to that feeling of +attachment which prevented their obeying her. My sister, who was one of +the ladies in question, informed me next day of all that I am about to +relate. + +On leaving the Queen's bedchamber, these ladies called their femmes de +chambre, and all four remained sitting together against her Majesty's +bedroom door. About half-past four in the morning they heard horrible +yells and discharges of firearms; one ran to the Queen to awaken her and +get her out of bed; my sister flew to the place from which the tumult +seemed to proceed; she opened the door of the antechamber which leads to +the great guard-room, and beheld one of the Body Guard holding his musket +across the door, and attacked by a mob, who were striking at him; his +face was covered with blood; he turned round and exclaimed: "Save the +Queen, madame; they are come to assassinate her!" She hastily shut the +door upon the unfortunate victim of duty, fastened it with the great +bolt, and took the same precaution on leaving the next room. On reaching +the Queen's chamber she cried out to her, "Get up, Madame! Don't stay to +dress yourself; fly to the King's apartment!" The terrified Queen threw +herself out of bed; they put a petticoat upon her without tying it, and +the two ladies conducted her towards the oile-de-boeuf. A door, which +led from the Queen's dressing-room to that apartment, had never before +been fastened but on her side. What a dreadful moment! It was found to +be secured on the other side. They knocked repeatedly with all their +strength; a servant of one of the King's valets de chambre came and +opened it; the Queen entered the King's chamber, but he was not there. +Alarmed for the Queen's life, he had gone down the staircases and through +the corridors under the oeil-de-boeuf, by means of which he was +accustomed to go to the Queen's apartments without being under the +necessity of crossing that room. He entered her Majesty's room and found +no one there but some Body Guards, who had taken refuge in it. The King, +unwilling to expose their lives, told them to wait a few minutes, and +afterwards sent to desire them to go to the oeil-de-boeuf. Madame de +Tourzel, at that time governess of the children of France, had just taken +Madame and the Dauphin to the King's apartments. The Queen saw her +children again. The reader must imagine this scene of tenderness and +despair. + +It is not true that the assassins penetrated to the Queen's chamber and +pierced the bed with their swords. The fugitive Body Guards were the +only persons who entered it; and if the crowd had reached so far they +would all have been massacred. Besides, when the rebels had forced the +doors of the antechamber, the footmen and officers on duty, knowing that +the Queen was no longer in her apartments, told them so with that air of +truth which always carries conviction. The ferocious horde instantly +rushed towards the oeil-de-boeuf, hoping, no doubt, to intercept her on +her way. + +Many have asserted that they recognised the Duc d'Orleans in a greatcoat +and slouched hat, at half-past four in the morning, at the top of the +marble staircase, pointing out with his hand the guard-room, which led to +the Queen's apartments. This fact was deposed to at the Chatelet by +several individuals in the course of the inquiry instituted respecting +the transactions of the 5th and 6th of October. + + [The National Assembly was sitting when information of the march of + the Parisians was given to it by one of the deputies who came from + Paris. A certain number of the members were no strangers, to this + movement. It appears that Mirabeau wished to avail himself of it to + raise the Duc d'Orleans to the throne. Mounier, who presided over + the National Assembly, rejected the idea with horror. "My good + man," said Mirabeau to him, "what difference will it make to you to + have Louis XVII. for your King instead of Louis XVI.?" (The Duc + d'Orleans was baptised Louis.)] + +The prudence and honourable feeling of several officers of the Parisian +guards, and the judicious conduct of M. de Vaudreuil, lieutenant-general +of marine, and of M. de Chevanne, one of the King's Guards, brought about +an understanding between the grenadiers of the National Guard of Paris +and the King's Guard. The doors of the oeil-de-boeuf were closed, and +the antechamber which precedes that room was filled with grenadiers who +wanted to get in to massacre the Guards. M. de Chevanne offered himself +to them as a victim if they wished for one, and demanded what they would +have. A report had been spread through their ranks that the Body Guards +set them at defiance, and that they all wore black cockades. M. de +Chevanne showed them that he wore, as did the corps, the cockade of their +uniform; and promised that the Guards should exchange it for that of the +nation. This was done; they even went so far as to exchange their +grenadiers' caps for the hats of the Body Guards; those who were on guard +took off their shoulder-belts; embraces and transports of fraternisation +instantly succeeded to the savage eagerness to murder the band which had +shown so much fidelity to its sovereign. The cry was now "Vivent le Roi, +la Nation, et les Gardes-du-corps!" + +The army occupied the Place d'Armes, all the courtyards of the Chateau, +and the entrance to the avenue. They called for the Queen to appear in +the balcony: she came forward with Madame and the Dauphin. There was a +cry of "No children!" Was this with a view to deprive her of the +interest she inspired, accompanied as she was by her young family, or did +the leaders of the democrats hope that some madman would venture to aim a +mortal blow at her person? The unfortunate Princess certainly was +impressed with the latter idea, for she sent away her children, and with +her hands and eyes raised towards heaven, advanced upon the balcony like +a self-devoted victim. + +A few voices shouted "To Paris!" The exclamation soon became general. +Before the King agreed to this removal he wished to consult the National +Assembly, and caused that body to be invited to sit at the Chateau. +Mirabeau opposed this measure. While these discussions were going +forward it became more and more difficult to restrain the immense +disorderly multitude. The King, without consulting any one, now said to +the people: "You wish, my children, that I should follow you to Paris: I +consent, but on condition that I shall not be separated from my wife and +family." The King added that he required safety also for his Guards; he +was answered by shouts of "Vivo le Roi! Vivent les Gardes-du-corps!" +The Guards, with their hats in the air, turned so as to exhibit the. +cockade, shouted "Vive le Roi! Vive la Nation!" shortly afterwards a +general discharge of all the muskets took place, in token of joy. The +King and Queen set off from Versailles at one o'clock. The Dauphin, +Madame, the King's daughter, Monsieur, Madame,--[Madame, here, the wife +of Monsieur le Comte de Provence.]-- Madame Elisabeth, and Madame de +Tourzel, were in the carriage; the Princesse de Chimay and the ladies of +the bedchamber for the week, the King's suite and servants, followed in +Court carriages; a hundred deputies in carriages, and the bulk of the +Parisian army, closed the procession. + +The poissardes went before and around the carriage of their Majesties, +Crying, "We shall no longer want bread! We have the baker, the baker's +wife, and the baker's boy with us!" In the midst of this troop of +cannibals the heads of two murdered Body Guards were carried on poles. +The monsters, who made trophies of them, conceived the horrid idea of +forcing a wigmaker of Sevres to dress them up and powder their bloody +locks. The unfortunate man who was forced to perform this dreadful work +died in consequence of the shock it gave him. + + [The King did not leave Versailles till one o'clock. The Queen, the + Dauphin, Madame Royale, Monsieur, Madame Elisabeth, and Madame de + Tourzel were in his Majesty's carriage. The hundred deputies in + their carriages came next. A detachment of brigands, bearing the + heads of the two Body Guards in triumph, formed the advance guard, + and set out two hours earlier. These cannibals stopped a moment at + Sevres, and carried their cruelty to the length of forcing an + unfortunate hairdresser to dress the gory heads; the bulk of the + Parisian army followed them closely. The King's carriage was + preceded by the 'poissardes', who had arrived the day before from + Paris, and a rabble of prostitutes, the vile refuse of their sex, + still drunk with fury and wine. Several of them rode astride upon + cannons, boasting, in the most horrible songs, of the crimes they + had committed themselves, or seen others commit. Those who were + nearest the King's carriage sang ballads, the allusions in which by + means of their vulgar gestures they applied to the Queen. Wagons, + full of corn and flour,--which had been brought into Versailles, + formed a train escorted by grenadiers, and surrounded by women and + bullies, some armed with pikes, and some carrying long branches of + poplar. At some distance this part of the procession had a most + singular effect: it looked like a moving forest, amidst which shone + pike-heads and gun-barrels. In the paroxysms of their brutal joy + the women stopped passengers, and, pointing to the King's carriage, + howled in their ears: "Cheer up, friends; we shall no longer be in + want of bread! We bring you the baker, the baker's wife, and the + baker's little boy!" Behind his Majesty's carriage were several of + his faithful Guards, some on foot, and some on horseback, most of + them uncovered, all unarmed, and worn out with hunger and fatigue; + the dragoons, the Flanders regiment, the hundred Swiss, and the + National Guards preceded, accompanied, or followed the file of + carriages. I witnessed this heartrending spectacle; I saw the + ominous procession. In the midst of all the tumult, clamour, and + singing, interrupted by frequent discharges of musketry, which the + hand of a monster or a bungler might so easily render fatal, I saw + the Queen preserving most courageous tranquillity of soul, and an + air of nobleness and inexpressible dignity, and my eyes were + suffused with tears of admiration and grief.--"Memoirs of Bertrand + de Molleville."] + +The progress of the procession was so slow that it was near six in the +evening when this august family, made prisoners by their own people, +arrived at the Hotel de Ville. Bailly received them there; they +were placed upon a throne, just when that of their ancestors had been +overthrown. The King spoke in a firm yet gracious manner; he said that +he always came with pleasure and confidence among the inhabitants of his +good city of Paris. M. Bailly repeated this observation to the +representatives of the commune, who came to address the King; but he +forgot the word confidence. The Queen instantly and loudly reminded him +of the omission. The King and Queen, their children, and Madame +Elisabeth, retired to the Tuileries. Nothing was ready for their +reception there. All the living-rooms had been long given up to persons +belonging to the Court; they hastily quitted them on that day, leaving +their furniture, which was purchased by the Court. The Comtesse de la +Marck, sister to the Marechaux de Noailles and de Mouchy, had occupied +the apartments now appropriated to the Queen. Monsieur and Madame +retired to the Luxembourg. + +The Queen had sent for me on the morning of the 6th of October, to leave +me and my father-in-law in charge of her most valuable property. She +took away only her casket of diamonds. Comte Gouvernet de la Tour-du- +Pin, to whom the military government of Versailles was entrusted 'pro +tempore', came and gave orders to the National Guard, which had taken +possession of the apartments, to allow us to remove everything that we +should deem necessary for the Queen's accommodation. + +I saw her Majesty alone in her private apartments a moment before her +departure for Paris; she could hardly speak; tears bedewed her face, to +which all the blood in her body seemed to have rushed; she condescended +to embrace me, gave her hand to M. Campan to kiss, and said to us, "Come +immediately and settle at Paris; I will lodge you at the Tuileries; come, +and do not leave me henceforward; faithful servants at moments like these +become useful friends; we are lost, dragged away, perhaps to death; when +kings become prisoners they are very near it." + +I had frequent opportunities during the course of our misfortunes of +observing that the people never entirely give their allegiance to +factious leaders, but easily escape their control when some cause reminds +them of their duty. As soon as the most violent Jacobins had an +opportunity of seeing the Queen near at hand, of speaking to her, and of +hearing her voice, they became her most zealous partisans; and even when +she was in the prison of the Temple several of those who had contributed +to place her there perished for having attempted to get her out again. + +On the morning of the 7th of October the same women who the day before +surrounded the carriage of the august prisoners, riding on cannons and +uttering the most abusive language, assembled under the Queen's windows, +upon the terrace of the Chateau, and desired to see her. Her Majesty +appeared. There are always among mobs of this description orators, that +is to say, beings who have more assurance than the rest; a woman of this +description told the Queen that she must now remove far from her all such +courtiers as ruin kings, and that she must love the inhabitants of her +good city. The Queen answered that she had loved them at Versailles, and +would likewise love them at Paris. "Yes, yes," said another; "but on the +14th of July you wanted to besiege the city and have it bombarded; and on +the 6th of October you wanted to fly to the frontiers." The Queen +replied, affably, that they had been told so, and had believed it; that +there lay the cause of the unhappiness of the people and of the best of +kings. A third addressed a few words to her in German: the Queen told +her she did not understand it; that she had become so entirely French as +even to have forgotten her mother tongue. This declaration was answered +with "Bravo!" and clapping of hands; they then desired her to make a +compact with them. "Ah," said she, "how can I make a compact with you, +since you have no faith in that which my duty points out to me, and which +I ought for my own happiness to respect?" They asked her for the ribbons +and flowers out of her hat; her Majesty herself unfastened them and gave +them; they were divided among the party, which for above half an hour +cried out, without ceasing, "Marie Antoinette for ever! Our good Queen +for ever!" + +Two days after the King's arrival at Paris, the city and the National +Guard sent to request the Queen to appear at the theatre, and prove by +her presence and the King's that it was with pleasure they resided in +their capital. I introduced the deputation which came to make this +request. Her Majesty replied that she should have infinite pleasure in +acceding to the invitation of the city of Paris; but that time must be +allowed her to soften the recollection of the distressing events which +had just occurred, and from which she had suffered too much. She added, +that having come into Paris preceded by the heads of the faithful Guards +who had perished before the door of their sovereign, she could not think +that such an entry into the capital ought to be followed by rejoicings; +but that the happiness she had always felt in appearing in the midst of +the inhabitants of Paris was not effaced from her memory, and that she +should enjoy it again as soon as she found herself able to do so. + +Their Majesties found some consolation in their private life: from +Madame's--[Madame, here, the Princesse Marie Therese, daughter of Marie +Antoinette.]--gentle manners and filial affection, from the +accomplishments and vivacity of the little Dauphin, and the attention and +tenderness of the pious Princess Elisabeth, they still derived moments of +happiness. The young Prince daily gave proofs of sensibility and +penetration; he was not yet beyond female care, but a private tutor, the +Abbe Davout, gave him all the instruction suitable to his age; his memory +was highly cultivated, and he recited verses with much grace and feeling. + + [On the 19th of October, that is to say, thirteen days after he had + taken up his abode at Paris, the King went, on foot and almost + alone, to review some detachments of the National Guard. After the + review Louis XVI. met with a child sweeping the street, who asked + him for money. The child called the King "M. le Chevalier." His + Majesty gave him six francs. The little sweeper, surprised at + receiving so large a sum, cried out, "Oh! I have no change; you will + give me money another time." A person who accompanied the monarch + said to the child, "Keep it all, my friend; the gentleman is not + chevalier, he is the eldest of the family."--NOTE BY THE EDITOR.] + +The day after the arrival of the Court at Paris, terrified at hearing +some noise in the gardens of the Tuileries, the young prince threw +himself into the arms of the Queen, crying out, "Grand-Dieu, mamma! will +it be yesterday over again?" A few days after this affecting +exclamation, he went up to the King, and looked at him with a pensive +air. The King asked him what he wanted; he answered, that he had +something very serious to say to him. The King having prevailed on him +to explain himself, the young Prince asked why his people, who formerly +loved him so well, were all at once angry with him; and what he had done +to irritate them so much. His father took him upon his knees, and spoke +to him nearly as follows: "I wished, child, to render the people still +happier than they were; I wanted money to pay the expenses occasioned by +wars. I asked my people for money, as my predecessors have always done; +magistrates, composing the Parliament, opposed it, and said that my +people alone had a right to consent to it. I assembled the principal +inhabitants of every town, whether distinguished by birth, fortune, or +talents, at Versailles; that is what is called the States General. When +they were assembled they required concessions of me which I could not +make, either with due respect for myself or with justice to you, who will +be my successor; wicked men inducing the people to rise have occasioned +the excesses of the last few days; the people must not be blamed for +them." + +The Queen made the young Prince clearly comprehend that he ought to treat +the commanders of battalions, the officers of the National Guard, and all +the Parisians who were about him, with affability; the child took great +pains to please all those people, and when he had had an opportunity of +replying obligingly to the mayor or members of the commune he came and +whispered in his mother's ear, "Was that right?" + +He requested M. Bailly to show him the shield of Scipio, which is in the +royal library; and M. Bailly asking him which he preferred, Scipio or +Hannibal, the young Prince replied, without hesitation, that he preferred +him who had defended his own country. He gave frequent proofs of ready +wit. One day, while the Queen was hearing Madame repeat her exercises in +ancient history, the young Princess could not at the moment recollect the +name of the Queen of Carthage; the Dauphin was vexed at his sister's want +of memory, and though he never spoke to her in the second person +singular, he bethought himself of the expedient of saying to her, "But +'dis donc' the name of the Queen, to mamma; 'dis donc' what her name +was." + +Shortly after the arrival of the King and his family at Paris the +Duchesse de Luynes came, in pursuance of the advice of a committee of the +Constitutional Assembly, to propose to the Queen a temporary retirement +from France, in order to leave the constitution to perfect itself, so +that the patriots should not accuse her of influencing the King to oppose +it. The Duchess knew how far the schemes of the conspirers extended, +and her attachment to the Queen was the principal cause of the advice she +gave her. The Queen perfectly comprehended the Duchesse de Luynes's +motive; but replied that she would never leave either the King or her +son; that if she thought herself alone obnoxious to public hatred she +would instantly offer her life as a sacrifice;--but that it was the +throne which was aimed at, and that, in abandoning the King, she should +be merely committing an act of cowardice, since she saw no other +advantage in it than that of saving her own life. + +One evening, in the month of November, 1790, I returned home rather late; +I there found the Prince de Poix; he told me he came to request me to +assist him in regaining his peace of mind; that at the commencement of +the sittings of the National Assembly he had suffered himself to be +seduced into the hope of a better order of things; that he blushed for +his error, and that he abhorred plans which had already produced such +fatal results; that he broke with the reformers for the rest of his life; +that he had given in his resignation as a deputy of the National +Assembly; and, finally, that he was anxious that the Queen should not +sleep in ignorance of his sentiments. I undertook his commission, and +acquitted myself of it in the best way I could; but I was totally +unsuccessful. The Prince de Poix remained at Court; he there suffered +many mortifications, never ceasing to serve the King in the most +dangerous commissions with that zeal for which his house has always been +distinguished. + +When the King, the Queen, and the children were suitably established at +the Tuileries, as well as Madame Elisabeth and the Princesse de Lamballe, +the Queen resumed her usual habits; she employed her mornings in +superintending the education of Madame, who received all her lessons in +her presence, and she herself began to work large pieces of tapestry. +Her mind was too much occupied with passing events and surrounding +dangers to admit her of applying herself to reading; the needle was the +only employment which could divert her. + + [There was long preserved at Paris, in the house of Mademoiselle + Dubuquois, a tapestry-worker, a carpet worked by the Queen and + Madame Elisabeth for the large room of her Majesty's ground-floor + apartments at the Tuileries. The Empress Josephine saw and admired + this carpet, and desired it might be taken care of, in the hope of + one day sending it to Madame--MADAME CAMPAN.] + +She received the Court twice a week before going to mass, and on those +days dined in public with the King; she spent the rest of the time with +her family and children; she had no concert, and did not go to the play +until 1791, after the acceptation of the constitution. The Princesse de +Lamballe, however, had some evening parties in her apartments at the +Tuileries, which were tolerably brilliant in consequence of the great +number of persons who attended them. The Queen was present at a few of +these assemblies; but being soon convinced that her present situation +forbade her appearing much in public, she remained at home, and conversed +as she sat at work. The sole topic of her discourse was, as may well be +supposed, the Revolution. She sought to discover the real opinions of +the Parisians respecting her, and how she could have so completely lost +the affections of the people, and even of many persons in the higher +ranks. She well knew that she ought to impute the whole to the spirit of +party, to the hatred of the Duc d'Orleans, and the folly of the French, +who desired to have a total change in the constitution; but she was not +the less desirous of ascertaining the private feelings of all the people +in power. + +From the very commencement of the Revolution General Luckner indulged in +violent sallies against her. Her Majesty, knowing that I was acquainted +with a lady who had been long connected with the General, desired me to +discover through that channel what was the private motive on which +Luckner's hatred against her was founded. On being questioned upon this +point, he answered that Marechal de Segur had assured him he had proposed +him for the command of a camp of observation, but that the Queen had made +a bar against his name; and that this 'par', as he called it, in his +German accent, he could not forget. + +The Queen ordered me to repeat this reply to the King myself, and said to +him: "See, Sire, whether I was not right in telling you that your +ministers, in order to give themselves full scope in the distribution of +favours, persuaded the French that I interfered in everything; there was +not a single license given out in the country for the sale of salt or +tobacco but the people believed it was given to one of my favourites." + +"That is very, true," replied the King; "but I find it very difficult to +believe that Marechal de Segur ever said any such thing to Luckner; he +knew too well that you never interfered in the distribution of favours. + +"That Luckner is a good-for-nothing fellow, and Segur is a brave and +honourable man who never uttered such a falsehood; however, you are +right; and because you provided for a few dependents, you are most +unjustly reported to have disposed of all offices, civil and military." + +All the nobility who had not left Paris made a point of presenting +themselves assiduously to the King, and there was a considerable influx +to the Tuileries. Marks of attachment were exhibited even in external +symbols; the women wore enormous bouquets of lilies in their bosoms and +upon their heads, and sometimes even bunches of white ribbon. At the +play there were often disputes between the pit and the boxes about +removing these ornaments, which the people thought dangerous emblems. +National cockades were sold in every corner of Paris; the sentinels +stopped all who did not wear them; the young men piqued themselves upon +breaking through this regulation, which was in some degree sanctioned by +the acquiescence of Louis XVI. Frays took place, which were to be +regretted, because they excited a spirit of lawlessness. The King +adopted conciliatory measures with the Assembly in order to promote +tranquillity; the revolutionists were but little disposed to think him +sincere; unfortunately the royalists encouraged this incredulity by +incessantly repeating that the King was not free, and that all that he +did was completely null, and in no way bound him for the time to come. +Such was the heat and violence of party spirit that persons the most +sincerely attached to the King were not even permitted to use the +language of reason, and recommend greater reserve in conversation. +People would talk and argue at table without considering that all the +servants belonged to the hostile army; and it may truly be said there was +as much imprudence and levity in the party assailed as there was cunning, +boldness, and perseverance in that which made the attack. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +In February, 1790, another matter gave the Court much uneasiness; a +zealous individual of the name of Favras had conceived the scheme of +carrying off the King, and affecting a counter-revolution. Monsieur, +probably out of mere benevolence, gave him some money, and thence arose a +report that he thereby wished to favour the execution of the enterprise. +The step taken by Monsieur in going to the Hotel de Ville to explain +himself on this matter was unknown to the Queen; it is more than probable +that the King was acquainted with it. When judgment was pronounced upon +M. de Favras the Queen did not conceal from me her fears about the +confessions of the unfortunate man in his last moments. + +I sent a confidential person to the Hotel de Ville; she came to inform +the Queen that the condemned had demanded to be taken from Notre-Dame to +the Hotel de Ville to make a final declaration, and give some particulars +verifying it. These particulars compromised nobody; Favras corrected his +last will after writing it, and went to the scaffold with heroic courage +and coolness. The judge who read his condemnation to him told him that +his life was a sacrifice which he owed to public tranquillity. It was +asserted at the time that Favras was given up as a victim in order to +satisfy the people and save the Baron de Besenval, who was a prisoner in +the Abbaye. + + [Thomas Mahy, Marquis de Favras, was accused in the month of + December, 1789, of having conspired against the Revolution. Having + been arrested by order of the committee of inquiry of the National + Assembly, he was transferred to the Chatelet, where he defended + himself with much coolness and presence of mind, repelling the + accusations brought against him by Morel, Turcati, and Marquis, with + considerable force. These witnesses declared he had imparted his + plan to them; it was to be carried into execution by 12,000 Swiss + and 12,000 Germans, who were to be assembled at Montargis, thence to + march upon Paris, carry off the King, and assassinate Bailly, La + Fayette, and Necker. The greater number of these charges he denied, + and declared that the rest related only to the levy of a troop + intended to favour the revolution preparing in Brabant. The judge + having refused to disclose who had denounced him, he complained to + the Assembly, which passed to the order of the day. His death was + obviously inevitable. During the whole time of the proceedings the + populace never ceased threatening the judges and shouting, "A la + lanterne!" It was even necessary to keep numerous troops and + artillery constantly ready to act in the courtyard of the Chatelet. + The judges, who had just acquitted M. de Besenval in an affair + nearly similar, doubtless dreaded the effects of this fury. When + they refused to hear Favras's witnesses in exculpation, he compared + them to the tribunal of the Inquisition. The principal charge + against him was founded on a letter from M. de Foucault, asking him, + "where are your troops? in which direction will they enter Paris? + I should like to be employed among them." Favras was condemned to + make the 'amende honorable' in front of the Cathedral, and to be + hanged at the Place de Greve. He heard this sentence with wonderful + calmness, and said to his judges, "I pity you much if the testimony + of two men is sufficient to induce you to condemn." The judge + having said to him, "I have no other consolation to hold out to you + than that which religion affords," he replied, nobly, "My greatest + consolation is that which I derive from my innocence."--"Biographic + Universelle"] + +On the morning of the Sunday following this execution M. de la Villeurnoy +came to my house to tell me that he was going that day to the public +dinner of the King and Queen to present Madame de Favras and her son, +both of them in mourning for the brave Frenchman who fell a sacrifice for +his King; and that all the royalists expected to see the Queen load the +unfortunate family with favours. I did all that lay in my power to +prevent this proceeding. I foresaw the effect it would have upon the +Queen's feeling heart, and the painful constraint she would experience, +having the horrible Santerre, the commandant of a battalion of the +Parisian guard, behind her chair during dinner-time. I could not make +M. de la Villeurnoy comprehend my argument; the Queen was gone to mass, +surrounded by her whole Court, and I had not even means of apprising her +of his intention. + +When dinner was over I heard a knocking at the door of my apartment, +which opened into the corridor next that of the Queen; it was herself. +She asked me whether there was anybody with me; I was alone; she threw +herself into an armchair, and told me she came to weep with me over the +foolish conduct of the ultras of the King's party. "We must fall," said +she, "attacked as we are by men who possess every talent and shrink from +no crime, while we are defended only by those who are no doubt very +estimable, but have no adequate idea of our situation. They have exposed +me to the animosity of both parties by presenting the widow and son of +Favras to me. Were I free to act as I wish, I should take the child of +the man who has just sacrificed himself for us and place him at table +between the King and myself; but surrounded by the assassins who have +destroyed his father, I did not dare even to cast my eyes upon him. The +royalists will blame me for not having appeared interested in this poor +child; the revolutionists will be enraged at the idea that his +presentation should have been thought agreeable to me." However, the +Queen added that she knew Madame de Favras was in want, and that she +desired me to send her next day, through a person who could be relied on, +a few rouleaus of fifty Louis, and to direct that she should be assured +her Majesty would always watch over the fortunes of herself and her son. + +In the month of March following I had an opportunity of ascertaining the +King's sentiments respecting the schemes which were continually proposed +to him for making his escape. One night about ten o'clock Comte +d'Inisdal, who was deputed by the nobility, came to request that I would +see him in private, as he had an important matter to communicate to me. +He told me that on that very night the King was to be carried off; that +the section of the National Guard, that day commanded by M. d'Aumont, +was gained over, and that sets of horses, furnished by some good +royalists, were placed in relays at suitable distances; that he had just +left a number of the nobility assembled for the execution of this scheme, +and that he had been sent to me that I might, through the medium of the +Queen, obtain the King's positive consent to it before midnight; that the +King was aware of their plan, but that his Majesty never would speak +decidedly, and that it was necessary he should consent to the +undertaking. I greatly displeased Comte d'Inisdal by expressing my +astonishment that the nobility at the moment of the execution of so +important a project should send to me, the Queen's first woman, to obtain +a consent which ought to have been the basis of any well-concerted +scheme. I told him, also, that it would be impossible for me to go at +that time to the Queen's apartments without exciting the attention of the +people in the antechambers; that the King was at cards with the Queen and +his family, and that I never broke in upon their privacy unless I was +called for. I added, however, that M. Campan could enter without being +called; and if the Count chose to give him his confidence he might rely +upon him. + +My father-in-law, to whom Comte d'Inisdal repeated what he had said to +me, took the commission upon himself, and went to the Queen's apartments. +The King was playing at whist with the Queen, Monsieur, and Madame; +Madame Elisabeth was kneeling on a stool near the table. M. Campan +informed the Queen of what had been communicated to me; nobody uttered a +word. The Queen broke silence and said to the King, "Do you hear, Sire, +what Campan says to us?"--"Yes, I hear," said the King, and continued his +game. Monsieur, who was in the habit of introducing passages from plays +into his conversation, said to my father-in-law, "M. Campan, that pretty +little couplet again, if you please;" and pressed the King to reply. At +length the Queen said, "But something must be said to Campan." The King +then spoke to my father-in-law in these words: "Tell M. d'Inisdal that I +cannot consent to be carried off!" The Queen enjoined M. Campan to take +care and, report this answer faithfully. "You understand," added she, +"the King cannot consent to be carried off." + +Comte d'Inisdal was very much dissatisfied with the King's answer, and +went out, saying, "I understand; he wishes to throw all the blame, +beforehand, upon those who are to devote themselves for him." + +He went away, and I thought the enterprise would be abandoned. However, +the Queen remained alone with me till midnight, preparing her cases of +valuables, and ordered me not to go to bed. She imagined the King's +answer would be understood as a tacit consent, and merely a refusal to +participate in the design. I do not know what passed in the King's +apartments during the night; but I occasionally looked out at the +windows: I saw the garden clear; I heard no noise in the palace, and day +at length confirmed my opinion that the project had been given up. "We +must, however, fly," said the Queen to me, shortly afterwards; "who knows +how far the factious may go? The danger increases every day." + + [The disturbances of the 13th of April, 1790, occasioned by the + warmth of the discussions upon Dom Gerle's imprudent motion in the + National Assembly, having afforded room for apprehension that the + enemies of the country would endeavour to carry off the King from + the capital, M. de La Fayette promised to keep watch, and told Louis + XVI. that if he saw any alarming movement among the disaffected he + would give him notice of it by the discharge of a cannon from Henri + IV.'s battery on the Pont Neuf. On the same night a few casual + discharges of musketry were heard from the terrace of the Tuileries. + The King, deceived by the noise, flew to the Queen's apartments; he + did not find her; he ran to the Dauphin's room, where he found the + Queen holding her son in her arms. "Madame;" said the King to her, + "I have been seeking you; and you have made me uneasy." The Queen, + showing her son, said to him, "I was at my post."--"Anecdotes of the + Reign of Louis XVI."] + +This Princess received advice and memorials from all quarters. Rivarol +addressed several to her, which I read to her. They were full of +ingenious observations; but the Queen did not find that they, contained +anything of essential service under the circumstances in which the royal +family was placed. Comte du Moustier also sent memorials and plans of +conduct. I remember that in one of his writings he said to the King, +"Read 'Telemachus' again, Sire; in that book which delighted your Majesty +in infancy you will find the first seeds of those principles which, +erroneously followed up by men of ardent imaginations, are bringing on +the explosion we expect every moment." I read so many of these memorials +that I could hardly give a faithful account of them, and I am determined +to note in this work no other events than such as I witnessed; no other +words than such as (notwithstanding the lapse of time) still in some +measure vibrate in my ears. + +Comte de Segur, on his return from Russia, was employed some time by the +Queen, and had a certain degree of influence over her; but that did not +last long. Comte Augustus de la Marck likewise endeavoured to negotiate +for the King's advantage with the leaders of the factious. M. de +Fontanges, Archbishop of Toulouse, possessed also the Queen's confidence; +but none of the endeavours which were made on the spot produced any, +beneficial result. The Empress Catherine II. also conveyed her opinion +upon the situation of Louis XVI. to the Queen, and her Majesty made me +read a few lines in the Empress's own handwriting, which concluded with +these words: + +"Kings ought to proceed in their career undisturbed by the cries of the +people, even as the moon pursues her course unimpeded by the baying of +dogs." This maxim of the despotic sovereign of Russia was very +inapplicable to the situation of a captive king. + +Meanwhile the revolutionary party followed up its audacious enterprise in +a determined manner, without meeting any opposition. The advice from +without, as well from Coblentz as from Vienna, made various impressions +upon the members of the royal family, and those cabinets were not in +accordance with each other. I often had reason to infer from what the +Queen said to me that she thought the King, by leaving all the honour of +restoring order to the Coblentz party,--[The Princes and the chief of the +emigrant nobility assembled at Coblentz, and the name was used to +designate the reactionary party.]--would, on the return of the emigrants, +be put under a kind of guardianship which would increase his own +misfortunes. She frequently said to me, "If the emigrants succeed, they +will rule the roast for a long time; it will be impossible to refuse them +anything; to owe the crown to them would be contracting too great an +obligation." It always appeared to me that she wished her own family to +counterbalance the claims of the emigrants by disinterested services. +She was fearful of M. de Calonne, and with good reason. She had proof +that this minister was her bitterest enemy, and that he made use of the +most criminal means in order to blacken her reputation. I can testify +that I have seen in the hands of the Queen a manuscript copy of the +infamous memoirs of the woman De Lamotte, which had been brought to her +from London, and in which all those passages where a total ignorance of +the customs of Courts had occasioned that wretched woman to make blunders +which would have been too palpable were corrected in M. de Calonne's own +handwriting. + +The two King's Guards who were wounded at her Majesty's door on the 6th +of October were M. du Repaire and M. de Miomandre de Sainte-Marie; on the +dreadful night of the 6th of October the latter took the post of the +former the moment he became incapable of maintaining it. + +A considerable number of the Body Guards, who were wounded on the 6th of +October, betook themselves to the infirmary at Versailles. The brigands +wanted to make their way into the infirmary in order to massacre them. +M. Viosin, head surgeon of that infirmary, ran to the entrance hall, +invited the assailants to refresh themselves, ordered wine to be brought, +and found means to direct the Sister Superior to remove the Guards into a +ward appropriated to the poor, and dress them in the caps and greatcoats +furnished by the institution. The good sisters executed this order so +promptly that the Guards were removed, dressed as paupers, and their beds +made, while the assassins were drinking. They searched all the wards, +and fancied they saw no persons there but the sick poor; thus the Guards +were saved. + +M. de Miomandre was at Paris, living on terms of friendship with another +of the Guards, who, on the same day, received a gunshot wound from the +brigands in another part of the Chateau. These two officers, who were +attended and cured together at the infirmary of Versailles, were almost +constant companions; they were recognised at the Palais Royal, and +insulted. The Queen thought it necessary for them to quit Paris. She +desired me to write to M. de Miomandre de Sainte-Marie, and tell him to +come to me at eight o'clock in the evening; and then to communicate to +him her wish to hear of his being in safety; and ordered me, when he had +made up his mind to go, to tell him in her name that gold could not repay +such a service as he had rendered; that she hoped some day to be in +sufficiently happy circumstances to recompense him as she ought; but that +for the present her offer of money was only that of a sister to a brother +situated as he then was, and that she requested he would take whatever +might be necessary to discharge his debts at Paris and defray the +expenses of his journey. She told me also to desire he would bring his. +friend Bertrand with him, and to make him the same offer. + +The two Guards came at the appointed hour, and accepted, I think, each +one or two hundred louis. A moment afterwards the Queen opened my door; +she was accompanied by the King and Madame Elisabeth; the King stood with +his back against the fireplace; the Queen sat down upon a sofa and Madame +Elisabeth sat near her; I placed myself behind the Queen, and the two +Guards stood facing the King. The Queen told them that the King wished +to see before they went away two of the brave men who had afforded him +the strongest proofs of courage and attachment. Miomandre said all that +the Queen's affecting observations were calculated to inspire. Madame +Elisabeth spoke of the King's gratitude; the Queen resumed the subject of +their speedy departure, urging the necessity of it; the King was silent; +but his emotion was evident, and his eyes were suffused with tears. The +Queen rose, the King went out, and Madame Elisabeth followed him; the +Queen stopped and said to me, in the recess of a window, "I am sorry I +brought the King here! I am sure Elisabeth thinks with me; if the King +had but given utterance to a fourth part of what he thinks of those brave +men they would have been in ecstacies; but he cannot overcome his +diffidence." + +The Emperor Joseph died about this time. The Queen's grief was not +excessive; that brother of whom she had been so proud, and whom she had +loved so tenderly, had probably suffered greatly in her opinion; she +reproached him sometimes, though with moderation, for having adopted +several of the principles of the new philosophy, and perhaps she knew +that he looked upon our troubles with the eye of the sovereign of Germany +rather than that of the brother of the Queen of France. + +The Emperor on one occasion sent the Queen an engraving which represented +unfrocked nuns and monks. The first were trying on fashionable dresses, +the latter were having their hair arranged; the picture was always left +in the closet, and never hung up. The Queen told me to have it taken +away; for she was hurt to see how much influence the philosophers had +over her brother's mind and actions. + +Mirabeau had not lost the hope of becoming the last resource of the +oppressed Court; and at this time some communications passed between the +Queen and him. The question was about an office to be conferred upon +him. This transpired, and it must have been about this period that the +Assembly decreed that no deputy could hold an office as a minister of the +King until the expiration of two years after the cessation of his +legislative functions. I know that the Queen was much hurt at this +decision, and considered that the Court had lost a promising opening. + +The palace of the Tuileries was a very disagreeable residence during the +summer, which made the Queen wish to go to St. Cloud. The removal was +decided on without any opposition; the National Guard of Paris followed +the Court thither. At this period new opportunities of escape were +presented; nothing would have been more easy than to execute them. The +King had obtained leave (!) to go out without guards, and to be +accompanied only by an aide-de-camp of M. de La Fayette. The Queen also +had one on duty with her, and so had the Dauphin. The King and Queen +often went out at four in the afternoon, and did not return until eight +or nine. + +I will relate one of the plans of emigration which the Queen communicated +to me, the success of which seemed infallible. The royal family were to +meet in a wood four leagues from St. Cloud; some persons who could be +fully relied on were to accompany the King, who was always followed by +his equerries and pages; the Queen was to join him with her daughter and +Madame Elisabeth. These Princesses, as well as the Queen, had equerries +and pages, of whose fidelity no doubt could be entertained. The Dauphin +likewise was to be at the place of rendezvous with Madame de Tourzel; +a large berlin and a chaise for the attendants were sufficient for the +whole family; the aides-de-camp were to have been gained over or +mastered. The King was to leave a letter for the President of the +National Assembly on his bureau at St. Cloud. The people in the service +of the King and Queen would have waited until nine in the evening without +anxiety, because the family sometimes did not return until that hour. +The letter could not be forwarded to Paris until ten o'clock at the +earliest. The Assembly would not then be sitting; the President must +have been sought for at his own house or elsewhere; it would have been +midnight before the Assembly could have been summoned and couriers sent +off to have the royal family stopped; but the latter would have been six +or seven hours in advance, as they would have started at six leagues' +distance from Paris; and at this period travelling was not yet impeded in +France. + +The Queen approved of this plan; but I did not venture to interrogate +her, and I even thought if it were put in execution she would leave me in +ignorance of it. One evening in the month of June the people of the +Chateau, finding the King did not return by nine o'clock, were walking +about the courtyards in a state of great anxiety. I thought the family, +was gone, and I could scarcely breathe amidst the confusion of my good +wishes, when I heard the sound of the carriages. I confessed to the +Queen that I thought she had set off; she told me she must wait until +Mesdames the King's aunts had quitted France, and afterwards see whether +the plan agreed with those formed abroad. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +There was a meeting at Paris for the first federation on the 14th of +July, 1790, the anniversary of the taking of the Bastille. What an +astonishing assemblage of four hundred thousand men, of whom there were +not perhaps two hundred who did not believe that the King found happiness +and glory in the order of things then being established. The love which +was borne him by all, with the exception of those who meditated his ruin, +still reigned in the hearts of the French in the departments; but if I +may judge from those whom I had an opportunity of seeing, it was totally +impossible to enlighten them; they were as much attached to the King as +to the constitution, and to the constitution as to the King; and it was +impossible to separate the one from the other in their hearts and minds. + +The Court returned to St. Cloud after the federation. A wretch, named +Rotondo, made his way into the palace with the intention of assassinating +the Queen. It is known that he penetrated to the inner gardens: the rain +prevented her Majesty from going out that day. M. de La Fayette, who was +aware of this plot, gave all the sentinels the strictest orders, and a +description of the monster was distributed throughout the palace by order +of the General. I do not know how he was saved from punishment. +The police belonging to the King discovered that there was likewise a +scheme on foot for poisoning the Queen. She spoke to me, as well as to +her head physician, M. Vicq-d'Azyr, about it, without the slightest +emotion, but both he and I consulted what precautions it would be proper +to take. He relied much upon the Queen's temperance; yet he recommended +me always to have a bottle of oil of sweet almonds within reach, and to +renew it occasionally, that oil and milk being, as is known, the most +certain antidotes to the divellication of corrosive poisons. + +The Queen had a habit which rendered M. Vicq-d'Azyr particularly uneasy: +there was always some pounded sugar upon the table in her Majesty's +bedchamber; and she frequently, without calling anybody, put spoonfuls of +it into a glass of water when she wished to drink. It was agreed that I +should get a considerable quantity of sugar powdered; that I should +always have some papers of it in my bag, and that three or four times a +day, when alone in the Queen's room, I should substitute it for that in +her sugar-basin. We knew that the Queen would have prevented all such +precautions, but we were not aware of her reason. One day she caught me +alone making this exchange, and told me, she supposed it was agreed on +between myself and M. Vicq-d'Azyr, but that I gave myself very +unnecessary trouble. "Remember," added she, "that not a grain of poison +will be put in use against me. The Brinvilliers do not belong to this +century: this age possesses calumny, which is a much more convenient +instrument of death; and it is by that I shall perish." + +Even while melancholy presentiments afflicted this unfortunate Princess, +manifestations of attachment to her person, and to the King's cause, +would frequently raise agreeable illusions in her mind, or present to her +the affecting spectacle of tears shed for her sorrows. I was one day, +during this same visit to St. Cloud, witness of a very touching scene, +which we took great care to keep secret. It was four in the afternoon; +the guard was not set; there was scarcely anybody at St. Cloud that day, +and I was reading to the Queen, who was at work in a room the balcony of +which hung over the courtyard. The windows were closed, yet we heard a +sort of inarticulate murmur from a great number of voices. The Queen +desired me to go and see what it was; I raised the muslin curtain, and +perceived more than fifty persons beneath the balcony: this group +consisted of women, young and old, perfectly well dressed in the country +costume, old chevaliers of St. Louis, young knights of Malta, and a few +ecclesiastics. I told the Queen it was probably an assemblage of persons +residing in the neighbourhood who wished to see her. She rose, opened +the window, and appeared in the balcony; immediately all these worthy +people said to her, in an undertone: "Courage, Madame; good Frenchmen +suffer for you, and with you; they pray for you. Heaven will hear their +prayers; we love you, we respect you, we will continue to venerate our +virtuous King." The Queen burst into tears, and held her handkerchief to +her eyes. "Poor Queen! she weeps!" said the women and young girls; but +the dread of exposing her Majesty, and even the persons who showed so +much affection for her, to observation, prompted me to take her hand, and +prevail upon her to retire into her room; and, raising my eyes, I gave +the excellent people to understand that my conduct was dictated by +prudence. They comprehended me, for I heard, "That lady is right;" and +afterwards, "Farewell, Madame!" from several of them; and all this in +accents of feeling so true and so mournful, that I am affected at the +recollection of them even after a lapse of twenty years. + +A few days afterwards the insurrection of Nancy took place. + + [The insurrection of the troops at Nancy broke out in August 1790, + and was put down by Marechal de Bouille on the last day of that + month. See "Bouille," p. 195.] + +Only the ostensible cause is known; there was another, of which I might +have been in full possession, if the great confusion I was in upon the +subject had not deprived me of the power of paying attention to it. I +will endeavour to make myself understood. In the early part of September +the Queen, as she was going to bed, desired me to let all her people go, +and to remain with her myself; when we were alone she said to me, "The +King will come here at midnight. You know that he has always shown you +marks of distinction; he now proves his confidence in you by selecting +you to write down the whole affair of Nancy from his dictation. He must +have several copies of it." At midnight the King came to the Queen's +apartments, and said to me, smiling, "You did not expect to become my +secretary, and that, too, during the night." I followed the King into +the council chamber. I found there sheets of paper, an inkstand, and +pens all ready prepared. He sat down by my side and dictated to me the +report of the Marquis de Bouille, which he himself copied at the same +time. My hand trembled; I wrote with difficulty; my reflections scarcely +left me sufficient power of attention to listen to the King. The large +table, the velvet cloth, seats which ought to have been filled by none +but the King's chief councillors; what that chamber had been, and what it +was at that moment, when the King was employing a woman in an office +which had so little affinity with her ordinary functions; the misfortunes +which had brought him to the necessity of doing so,--all these ideas made +such an impression upon me that when I had returned to the Queen's +apartments I could not sleep for the remainder of the night, nor could I +remember what I had written. + +The more I saw that I had the happiness to be of some use to my +employers, the more scrupulously careful was I to live entirely with my +family; and I never indulged in any conversation which could betray the +intimacy to which I was admitted; but nothing at Court remains long +concealed, and I soon saw I had many enemies. The means of injuring +others in the minds of sovereigns are but too easily obtained, and they +had become still more so, since the mere suspicion of communication with +partisans of the Revolution was sufficient to forfeit the esteem and +confidence of the King and Queen; happily, my conduct protected me, with +them, against calumny. I had left St. Cloud two days, when I received at +Paris a note from the Queen, containing these words: + +"Come to St. Cloud immediately; I have something concerning you to +communicate." I set off without loss of time. Her Majesty told me she +had a sacrifice to request of me; I answered that it was made. She said +it went so far as the renunciation of a friend's society; that such a +renunciation was always painful, but that it must be particularly so to +me; that, for her own part, it might have been very useful that a deputy, +a man of talent, should be constantly received at my house; but at this +moment she thought only of my welfare. The Queen then informed me that +the ladies of the bedchamber had, the preceding evening, assured her that +M. de Beaumetz, deputy from the nobility of Artois, who had taken his +seat on the left of the Assembly, spent his whole time at my house. +Perceiving on what false grounds the attempt to injure, me was based, +I replied respectfully, but at the same time smiling, that it was +impossible for me to make the sacrifice exacted by her Majesty; that M. +de Beaumetz, a man of great judgment, had not determined to cross over to +the left of the Assembly with the intention of afterwards making himself +unpopular by spending his time with the Queen's first woman; and that, +ever since the 1st of October, 1789, I had seen him nowhere but at the +play, or in the public walks, and even then without his ever coming to +speak to me; that this line of conduct had appeared to me perfectly +consistent: for whether he was desirous to please the popular party, or +to be sought after by the Court, he could not act in any other way +towards me. The Queen closed this explanation by saying, "Oh! it is +clear, as clear as the day! this opportunity for trying to do you an +injury is very ill chosen; but be cautious in your slightest actions; you +perceive that the confidence placed in you by the King and myself raises +you up powerful enemies." + +The private communications which were still kept up between the Court and +Mirabeau at length procured him an interview with the Queen, in the +gardens of St. Cloud. He left Paris on horseback, on pretence of going +into the country, to M. de Clavieres, one of his friends; but he stopped +at one of the gates of the gardens of St. Cloud, and was led to a spot +situated in the highest part of the private garden, where the Queen was +waiting for him. She told me she accosted him by saying, "With a common +enemy, with a man who had sworn to destroy monarchy without appreciating +its utility among a great people, I should at this moment be guilty of a +most ill-advised step; but in speaking to a Mirabeau," etc. The poor +Queen was delighted at having discovered this method of exalting him +above all others of his principles; and in imparting the particulars of +this interview to me she said, "Do you know that those words, +'a Mirabeau,' appeared to flatter him exceedingly." On leaving the Queen +he said to her with warmth, "Madame, the monarchy is saved!" It must +have been soon afterwards that Mirabeau received considerable sums of +money. He showed it too plainly by the increase of his expenditure. +Already did some of his remarks upon the necessity of arresting the +progress of the democrats circulate in society. Being once invited to +meet a person at dinner who was very much attached to the Queen, he +learned that that person withdrew on hearing that he was one of the +guests; the party who invited him told him this with some degree of +satisfaction; but all were very much astonished when they heard Mirabeau +eulogise the absent guest, and declare that in his place he would have +done the same; but, he added, they had only to invite that person again +in a few months, and he would then dine with the restorer of the +monarchy. Mirabeau forgot that it was more easy to do harm than good, +and thought himself the political Atlas of the whole world. + +Outrages and mockery were incessantly mingled with the audacious +proceedings of the revolutionists. It was customary to give serenades +under the King's windows on New Year's Day. The band of the National +Guard repaired thither on that festival in 1791; in allusion to the +liquidation of the debts of the State, decreed by the Assembly, they +played solely, and repeatedly, that air from the comic opera of the +"Debts," the burden of which is, "But our creditors are paid, and that +makes us easy." + +On the same day some "conquerors of the Bastille," grenadiers of the +Parisian guard, preceded by military music, came to present to the young +Dauphin, as a New Year's gift, a box of dominoes, made of some of the +stone and marble of which that state prison was built. The Queen gave me +this inauspicious curiosity, desiring me to preserve it, as it would be a +curious illustration of the history of the Revolution. Upon the lid were +engraved some bad verses, the purport of which was as follows: "Stones +from those walls, which enclosed the innocent victims of arbitrary power, +have been converted into a toy, to be presented to you, Monseigneur, as a +mark of the people's love; and to teach you their power." + +The Queen said that M. de La Fayette's thirst for popularity induced him +to lend himself, without discrimination, to all popular follies. Her +distrust of the General increased daily, and grew so powerful that when, +towards the end of the Revolution, he seemed willing to support the +tottering throne, she could never bring herself to incur so great an +obligation to him. + +M. de J-----, a colonel attached to the staff of the army, was fortunate +enough to render several services to the Queen, and acquitted himself +with discretion and dignity of various important missions. + + [During the Queen's detention in the Temple he introduced himself + Into that prison in the dress of a lamplighter, and there discharged + his duty unrecognised.--MADAME CAMPAN.] + +Their Majesties had the highest confidence in him, although it frequently +happened that his prudence, when inconsiderate projects were under +discussion, brought upon him the charge of adopting the principles of the +constitutionals. Being sent to Turin, he had some difficulty in +dissuading the Princes from a scheme they had formed at that period of +reentering France, with a very weak army, by way of Lyons; and when, in a +council which lasted till three o'clock in the morning, he showed his +instructions, and demonstrated that the measure would endanger the King, +the Comte d'Artois alone declared against the plan, which emanated from +the Prince de Conde. + +Among the persons employed in subordinate situations, whom the critical +circumstances of the times involved in affairs of importance, was M. de +Goguelat, a geographical engineer at Versailles, and an excellent +draughtsman. He made plans of St. Cloud and Trianon for the Queen; she +was very much pleased with them, and had the engineer admitted into the +staff of the army. At the commencement of the Revolution he was sent to +Count Esterhazy, at Valenciennes, in the capacity of aide-de-camp. The +latter rank was given him solely to get him away from Versailles, where +his rashness endangered the Queen during the earlier months of the +Assembly of the States General. Making a parade of his devotion to the +King's interests, he went repeatedly to the tribunes of the Assembly, and +there openly railed at all the motions of the deputies, and then returned +to the Queen's antechamber, where he repeated all that he had just heard, +or had had the imprudence to say. Unfortunately, at the same time that +the Queen sent away M. de Goguelat, she still believed that, in a +dangerous predicament, requiring great self-devotion, the man might be +employed advantageously. In 1791 he was commissioned to act in concert +with the Marquis de Bouille in furtherance of the King's intended escape. + + [See the "Memoirs" of M. de Bouille, those of the Duc de Choiseul, + and the account of the journey to Varennes, by M. de Fontanges, in + "Weber's Memoirs."--NOTE BY THE EDITOR.] + +Projectors in great numbers endeavoured to introduce themselves not only +to the Queen, but to Madame Elisabeth, who had communications with many +individuals who took upon themselves to make plans for the conduct of the +Court. The Baron de Gilliers and M. de Vanoise were of this description; +they went to the Baronne de Mackau's, where the Princess spent almost all +her evenings. The Queen did not like these meetings, where Madame +Elisabeth might adopt views in opposition to the King's intentions or her +own. + +The Queen gave frequent audiences to M. de La Fayette. One day, when he +was in her inner closet, his aides-de-camp, who waited for him, were +walking up and down the great room where the persons in attendance +remained. Some imprudent young women were thoughtless enough to say, +with the intention of being overheard by those officers, that it was very +alarming to see the Queen alone with a rebel and a brigand. I was +annoyed at their indiscretion, and imposed silence on them. One of them +persisted in the appellation "brigand." I told her that M. de La Fayette +well deserved the name of rebel, but that the title of leader of a party +was given by history to every man commanding forty thousand men, a +capital, and forty leagues of country; that kings had frequently treated +with such leaders, and if it was convenient to the Queen to do the same, +it remained for us only to be silent and respect her actions. On the +morrow the Queen, with a serious air; but with the greatest kindness, +asked what I had said respecting M. de La Fayette on the preceding day; +adding that she had been assured I had enjoined her women silence, +because they did not like him, and that I had taken his part. I repeated +what had passed to the Queen, word for word. She condescended to tell me +that I had done perfectly right. + +Whenever any false reports respecting me were conveyed to her she was +kind enough to inform me of them; and they had no effect on the +confidence with which she continued to honour me, and which I am happy to +think I have justified even at the risk of my life. + +Mesdames, the King's aunts, set out from Bellevue in the beginning of the +year 1791. Alexandre Berthier, afterwards Prince de Neufchatel, then a +colonel on the staff of the army, and commandant of the National Guard of +Versailles, facilitated the departure of Mesdames. The Jacobins of that +town procured his dismissal, and he ran the greatest risk, on account of +having rendered this service to these Princesses. + +I went to take leave of Madame Victoire. I little thought that I was +then seeing her for the last time. She received me alone in her closet, +and assured + + [General Berthier justified the monarch's confidence by a firm and + prudent line of conduct which entitled him to the highest military + honours, and to the esteem of the great warrior whose fortune, + dangers, and glory he afterwards shared. This officer, full of + honour, and gifted with the highest courage, was shut into the + courtyard of Bellevue by his own troop, and ran great risk of being + murdered. It was not until the 14th of March that he succeeded in + executing his instructions ("Memoirs of Mesdames," by Montigny, + vol. i.)] + +me that she hoped, as well as wished, soon to return to France; that the +French would be much to be pitied if the excesses of the Revolution +should arrive at such a pitch as to force her to prolong her absence. +I knew from the Queen that the departure of Mesdames was deemed +necessary, in order to leave the King free to act when he should be +compelled to go away with his family. It being impossible that the +constitution of the clergy should be otherwise than in direct opposition +to the religious principles of Mesdames, they thought their journey to +Rome would be attributed to piety alone. It was, however, difficult to +deceive an Assembly which weighed the slightest actions of the royal +family, and from that moment they were more than ever alive to what was +passing at the Tuileries. + +Mesdames were desirous of taking Madame Elisabeth to Rome. The free +exercise of religion, the happiness of taking refuge with the head of the +Church, and the prospect of living in safety with her aunts, whom she +tenderly loved, were sacrificed by that virtuous Princess to her +attachment to the King. + +The oath required of priests by the civil constitution of the clergy +introduced into France a division which added to the dangers by which the +King was already surrounded. + + [The priests were required to swear to the civil constitution of the + clergy of 1790, by which all the former bishoprics and parishes were + remodelled, and the priests and bishops elected by the people. Most + refused, and under the name of 'pretres insermentes' (as opposed to + the few who took the oath, 'pretres assermentes') were bitterly + persecuted. A simple promise to obey the constitution of the State + was substituted by Napoleon as soon as he came to power.] + +Mirabeau spent a whole night with the cure of St. Eustache, confessor of +the King and Queen, to persuade him to take the oath required by that +constitution. Their Majesties chose another confessor, who remained +unknown. + +A few months afterwards (2d April, 1791), the too celebrated Mirabeau, +the mercenary democrat and venal royalist, terminated his career. The +Queen regretted him, and was astonished at her own regret; but she had +hoped that he who had possessed adroitness and weight enough to throw +everything into confusion would have been able by the same means to +repair the mischief he had caused. Much has been said respecting the +cause of Mirabeau's death. M. Cabanis, his friend and physician, denied +that he was poisoned. M. Vicq-d'Azyr assured the Queen that the 'proces- +verbal' drawn up on the state of the intestines would apply just as well +to a case of death produced by violent remedies as to one produced by +poison. He said, also, that the report had been faithful; but that it +was prudent to conclude it by a declaration of natural death, since, in +the critical state in which France then was, if a suspicion of foul play +were admitted, a person innocent of any such crime might be sacrificed to +public vengeance. + + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Advised the King not to separate himself from his army +Grand-Dieu, mamma! will it be yesterday over again? +Mirabeau forgot that it was more easy to do harm than good +Never shall a drop of French blood be shed by my order +Saw no other advantage in it than that of saving her own life +That air of truth which always carries conviction +When kings become prisoners they are very near death +Whispered in his mother's ear, "Was that right?" + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of The Memoirs of Marie Antoinette, v5 +by Madame Campan + diff --git a/old/cm51b10.zip b/old/cm51b10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8bbb67c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/cm51b10.zip |