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diff --git a/3889.txt b/3889.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d0ce4e3 --- /dev/null +++ b/3889.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3022 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Memoirs of Marie Antoinette, Queen Of +France, Volume 6, 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 6 + Being the Historic Memoirs of Madam Campan, First Lady in Waiting + to the Queen + + +Author: Madame Campan + +Release Date: December 4, 2004 [EBook #3889] + +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 6 + + +CHAPTER V. + + +In the beginning of the spring of 1791, the King, tired of remaining at +the Tuileries, wished to return to St. Cloud. His whole household had +already gone, and his dinner was prepared there. He got into his carriage +at one; the guard mutinied, shut the gates, and declared they would not +let him pass. This event certainly proceeded from some suspicion of a +plan to escape. Two persons who drew near the King's carriage were very +ill treated. My father-in-law was violently laid hold of by the guards, +who took his sword from him. The King and his family were obliged to +alight and return to their apartments. + +They did not much regret this outrage in their hearts; they saw in it a +justification, even in the eyes of the people, of their intention to leave +Paris. + +So early as the month of March in the same year, the Queen began to busy +herself in preparing for her departure. I spent that month with her, and +executed a great number of secret orders which she gave me respecting the +intended event. It was with uneasiness that I saw her occupied with cares +which seemed to me useless, and even dangerous, and I remarked to her that +the Queen of France would find linen and gowns everywhere. My observations +were made in vain; she determined to have a complete wardrobe with her at +Brussels, as well for her children as herself. I went out alone and almost +disguised to purchase the articles necessary and have them made up. + +I ordered six chemises at the shop of one seamstress, six at that of +another, gowns, combing cloths, etc. My sister had a complete set of +clothes made for Madame, by the measure of her eldest daughter, and I +ordered clothes for the Dauphin from those of my son. I filled a trunk +with these things, and addressed them, by the Queen's orders, to one of +her women, my aunt, Madame Cardon,--a widow living at Arras, by virtue of +an unlimited leave of absence,--in order that she might be ready to start +for Brussels, or any other place, as soon as she should be directed to do +so. This lady had landed property in Austrian Flanders, and could at any +time quit Arras unobserved. + +The Queen was to take only her first woman in attendance with her from +Paris. She apprised me that if I should not be on duty at the moment of +departure, she would make arrangements for my joining her. She determined +also to take her travelling dressing-case. She consulted me on her idea +of sending it off, under pretence of making a present of it to the +Archduchess Christina, Gouvernante of the Netherlands. I ventured to +oppose this plan strongly, and observed that, amidst so many people who +watched her slightest actions, there would be found a sufficient number +sharp-sighted enough to discover that it was only a pretext for sending +away the property in question before her own departure; she persisted in +her intention, and all I could arrange was that the dressing-case should +not be removed from her apartment, and that M. de charge d'afaires from +the Court of Vienna during the absence of the Comte de Mercy, should come +and ask her, at her toilet, before all her people, to order one exactly +like her own for Madame the Gouvernante of the Netherlands. The Queen, +therefore, commanded me before the charge d'affaires to order the article +in question. This occasioned only an expense of five hundred louis, and +appeared calculated to lull suspicion completely. + +About the middle of May, 1791, a month after the Queen had ordered me to +bespeak the dressing-case, she asked me whether it would soon be finished. +I sent for the ivory-turner who had it in hand. He could not complete it +for six weeks. I informed the Queen of this, and she told me she should +not be able to wait for it, as she was to set out in the course of June. +She added that, as she had ordered her sister's dressing-case in the +presence of all her attendants, she had taken a sufficient precaution, +especially by saying that her sister was out of patience at not receiving +it, and that therefore her own must be emptied and cleaned, and taken to +the charge d'affaires, who would send it off. I executed this order +without any, appearance of mystery. I desired the wardrobe woman to take +out of the dressing-case all that it contained, because that intended for +the Archduchess could not be finished for some time; and to take great +care to leave no remains of the perfumes which might not suit that +Princess. + +The woman in question executed her commission punctually; but, on the +evening of that very day, the 15th of May, 1791, she informed M. Bailly, +the Mayor of Paris, that preparations were making at the Queen's residence +for a departure; and that the dressing-case was already sent off, under +pretence of its being presented to the Archduchess Christina. + +[After the return from Varennes M. Bailly put this woman's deposition into +the Queen's hands.--MADAME CAMPAN.] + +It was necessary, likewise, to send off all the diamonds belonging to the +Queen. Her Majesty shut herself up with me in a closet in the entresol, +looking into the garden of the Tuileries, and we packed all the diamonds, +rubies, and pearls she possessed in a small chest. The cases containing +these ornaments, being altogether of considerable bulk, had been +deposited, ever since the 6th of October, 1789, with the valet de chambre +who had the care of the Queen's jewels. That faithful servant, himself +detecting the use that was to be made of the valuables, destroyed all the +boxes, which were, as usual, covered with red morocco, marked with the +cipher and arms of France. It would have been impossible for him to hide +them from the eyes of the popular inquisitors during the domiciliary +visits in January, 1793, and the discovery might have formed a ground of +accusation against the Queen. + +I had but a few articles to place in the box when the Queen was compelled +to desist from packing it, being obliged to go down to cards, which began +at seven precisely. She therefore desired me to leave all the diamonds +upon the sofa, persuaded that, as she took the key of her closet herself, +and there was a sentinel under the window, no danger was to be apprehended +for that night, and she reckoned upon returning very early next day to +finish the work. + +The same woman who had given information of the sending away of the +dressing-case was also deputed by the Queen to take care of her more +private rooms. No other servant was permitted to enter them; she renewed +the flowers, swept the carpets, etc. The Queen received back the key, +when the woman had finished putting them in order, from her own hands; +but, desirous of doing her duty well, and sometimes having the key in her +possession for a few minutes only, she had probably on that account +ordered one without the Queen's knowledge. It is impossible not to +believe this, since the despatch of the diamonds was the subject of a +second accusation which the Queen heard of after the return from Varennes. +She made a formal declaration that her Majesty, with the assistance of +Madame Campan, had packed up all her jewelry some time before the +departure; that she was certain of it, as she had found the diamonds, and +the cotton which served to wrap them, scattered upon the sofa in the +Queen's closet in the 'entresol'; and most assuredly she could only have +seen these preparations in the interval between seven in the evening and +seven in the morning. The Queen having met me next day at the time +appointed, the box was handed over to Leonard, her Majesty's +hairdresser,--[This unfortunate man, after having emigrated for some time, +returned to France, and perished upon the scaffold.--NOTE BY EDITOR]--who +left the country with the Duc de Choiseul. The box remained a long time +at Brussels, and at length got into the hands of Madame la Duchesse +d'Angouleme, being delivered to her by the Emperor on her arrival at +Vienna. + +In order not to leave out any of the Queen's diamonds, I requested the +first tirewoman to give me the body of the full dress, and all the +assortment which served for the stomacher of the full dress on days of +state, articles which always remained at the wardrobe. + +The superintendent and the dame d'honneur being absent, the first +tirewoman required me to sign a receipt, the terms of which she dictated, +and which acquitted her of all responsibility for these diamonds. She had +the prudence to burn this document on the 10th of August, 1792.--[The date +of the sack of the Tuileries and slaughter of the Swiss Guard]--The Queen +having determined, upon the arrest at Varennes, not to have her diamonds +brought back to France, was often anxious about them during the year which +elapsed between that period and the 10th of August, and dreaded above all +things that such a secret should be discovered. + +In consequence of a decree of the Assembly, which deprived the King of the +custody of the Crown diamonds, the Queen had at this time already given up +those which she generally used. + +She preferred the twelve brilliants called Hazarins, from the name of the +Cardinal who had enriched the treasury with them, a few rose-cut diamonds, +and the Sanci. She determined to deliver, with her own hands, the box +containing them to the commissioner nominated by the National Assembly to +place them with the Crown diamonds. After giving them to him, she offered +him a row of pearls of great beauty, saying to him that it had been +brought into France by Anne of Austria; that it was invaluable, on account +of its rarity; that, having been appropriated by that Princess to the use +of the Queens and Dauphinesses, Louis XV. had placed it in her hands on +her arrival in France; but that she considered it national property. +"That is an open question, Madame," said the commissary. "Monsieur," +replied the Queen, "it is one for me to decide, and is now settled." + +My father-in-law, who was dying of the grief he felt for the misfortunes +of his master and mistress, strongly interested and occupied the thoughts +of the Queen. He had been saved from the fury of the populace in the +courtyard of the Tuileries. + +On the day on which the King was compelled by an insurrection to give up a +journey to St. Cloud, her Majesty looked upon this trusty servant as +inevitably lost, if, on going away, she should leave him in the apartment +he occupied in the Tuileries. Prompted by her apprehensions, she ordered +M. Vicq-d'Azyr, her physician, to recommend him the waters of Mont d'Or in +Auvergne, and to persuade him to set off at the latter end of May. At the +moment of my going away the Queen assured me that the grand project would +be executed between the 15th and the 20th of June; that as it was not my +month to be on duty, Madame Thibaut would take the journey; but that she +had many directions to give me before I went. She then desired me to +write to my aunt, Madame Cardon, who was by that time in possession of the +clothes which I had ordered, that as soon as she should receive a letter +from M. Augur, the date of which should be accompanied with a B, an L, or +an M, she was to proceed with her property to Brussels, Luxembourg, or +Montmedy. She desired me to explain the meaning of these three letters +clearly to my sister, and to leave them with her in writing, in order that +at the moment of my going away she might be able to take my place in +writing to Arras. + +The Queen had a more delicate commission for me; it was to select from +among my acquaintance a prudent person of obscure rank, wholly devoted to +the interests of the Court, who would be willing to receive a portfolio +which she was to give up only to me, or some one furnished with a note +from the Queen. She added that she would not travel with this portfolio, +and that it was of the utmost importance that my opinion of the fidelity +of the person to whom it was to be entrusted should be well founded. I +proposed to her Madame Vallayer Coster, a painter of the Academy, and an +amiable and worthy artist, whom I had known from my infancy. She lived in +the galleries of the Louvre. The choice seemed a good one. The Queen +remembered that she had made her marriage possible by giving her a place +in the financial offices, and added that gratitude ought sometimes to be +reckoned on. She then pointed out to me the valet belonging to her +toilet, whom I was to take with me, to show him the residence of Madame +Coster, so that he might not mistake it when he should take the portfolio +to her. The day before her departure the Queen particularly recommended +me to proceed to Lyons and the frontiers as soon as she should have +started. She advised me to take with me a confidential person, fit to +remain with M. Campan when I should leave him, and assured me that she +would give orders to M. ------ to set off as soon as she should be known +to be at the frontiers in order to protect me in going out. She +condescended to add that, having a long journey to make in foreign +countries, she determined to give me three hundred louis. + +I bathed the Queen's hands with tears at the moment of this sorrowful +separation; and, having money at my disposal, I declined accepting her +gold. I did not dread the road I had to travel in order to rejoin her; +all my apprehension was that by treachery or miscalculation a scheme, the +safety of which was not sufficiently clear to me, should fail. I could +answer for all those who belonged to the service immediately about the +Queen's person, and I was right; but her wardrobe woman gave me +well-founded reason for alarm. I mentioned to the Queen many +revolutionary remarks which this woman had made to me a few days before. +Her office was directly under the control of the first femme de chambre, +yet she had refused to obey the directions I gave her, talking insolently +to me about "hierarchy overturned, equality among men," of course more +especially among persons holding offices at Court; and this jargon, at +that time in the mouths of all the partisans of the Revolution, was +terminated by an observation which frightened me. "You know many +important secrets, madame," said this woman to me, "and I have guessed +quite as many. I am not a fool; I see all that is going forward here in +consequence of the bad advice given to the King and Queen; I could +frustrate it all if I chose." This argument, in which I had been promptly +silenced, left me pale and trembling. Unfortunately, as I began my +narrative to the Queen with particulars of this woman's refusal to obey +me,--and sovereigns are all their lives importuned with complaints upon +the rights of places,--she believed that my own dissatisfaction had much +to do with the step I was taking; and she did not sufficiently fear the +woman. Her office, although a very inferior one, brought her in nearly +fifteen thousand francs a year. Still young, tolerably handsome, with +comfortable apartments in the entresols of the Tuileries, she saw a great +deal of company, and in the evening had assemblies, consisting of deputies +of the revolutionary party. M. de Gouvion, major-general of the National +Guard, passed almost every day with her; and it is to be presumed that she +had long worked for the party in opposition to the Court. The Queen asked +her for the key of a door which led to the principal vestibule of the +Tuileries, telling her she wished to have a similar one, that she might +not be under the necessity of going out through the pavilion of Flora. M. +de Gouvion and M. de La Fayette would, of course, be apprised of this +circumstance, and well-informed persons have assured me that on the very +night of the Queen's departure this wretched woman had a spy with her, who +saw the royal family set off. + +As soon as I had executed all the Queen's orders, on the 30th of May, +1791, I set out for Auvergne, and was settled in the gloomy narrow valley +of Mont d'Or, when, about four in the afternoon of the 25th of June, I +heard the beat of a drum to call the inhabitants of the hamlet together. +When it had ceased I heard a hairdresser from Bresse proclaim in the +provincial dialect of Auvergne: "The King and Queen were taking flight in +order to ruin France, but I come to tell you that they are stopped, and +are well guarded by a hundred thousand men under arms." I still ventured +to hope that he was repeating only a false report, but he went on: "The +Queen," with her well-known haughtiness, lifted up the veil which covered +her face, and said to the citizens who were upbraiding the King, "Well, +since you recognise your sovereign, respect him." Upon hearing these +expressions, which the Jacobin club of Clermont could not have invented, I +exclaimed, "The news is true!" + +I immediately learnt that, a courier being come from Paris to Clermont, +the 'procureur' of the commune had sent off messengers to the chief places +of the canton; these again sent couriers to the districts, and the +districts in like manner informed the villages and hamlets which they +contained. It was through this ramification, arising from the +establishment of clubs, that the afflicting intelligence of the misfortune +of my sovereigns reached me in the wildest part of France, and in the +midst of the snows by which we were environed. + +On the 28th I received a note written in a hand which I recognised as that +of M. Diet,--[This officer was slain in the Queen's chamber on the 10th of +August]--usher of the Queen's chamber, but dictated by her Majesty. It +contained these words: "I am this moment arrived; I have just got into my +bath; I and my family exist, that is all. I have suffered much. Do not +return to Paris until I desire you. Take good care of my poor Campan, +soothe his sorrow. Look for happier times." This note was for greater +safety addressed to my father-in-law's valet-de-chambre. What were my +feelings on perceiving that after the most distressing crisis we were +among the first objects of the kindness of that unfortunate Princess! + +M. Campan having been unable to benefit by the waters of Mont d'Or, and +the first popular effervescence having subsided, I thought I might return +to Clermont. The committee of surveillance, or that of general safety, +had resolved to arrest me there; but the Abbe Louis, formerly a +parliamentary counsellor, and then a member of the Constituent Assembly, +was kind enough to affirm that I was in Auvergne solely for the purpose of +attending my father-in-law, who was extremely ill. The precautions +relative to my absence from Paris were limited to placing us under the +surveillance of the 'procureur' of the commune, who was at the same time +president of the Jacobin club; but he was also a physician of repute, and +without having any doubt that he had received secret orders relative to +me, I thought it would favour the chances of our safety if I selected him +to attend my patient. I paid him according to the rate given to the best +Paris physicians, and I requested him to visit us every morning and every +evening. I took the precaution to subscribe to no other newspaper than +the Moniteur. Doctor Monestier (for that was the physician's name) +frequently took upon himself to read it to us. Whenever he thought proper +to speak of the King and Queen in the insulting and brutal terms at that +time unfortunately adopted throughout France, I used to stop him and say, +coolly, "Monsieur, you are here in company with the servants of Louis XVI. +and Marie Antoinette. Whatever may be the wrongs with which the nation +believes it has to reproach them, our principles forbid our losing sight +of the respect due to them from us." Notwithstanding that he was an +inveterate patriot, he felt the force of this remark, and even procured +the revocation of a second order for our arrest, becoming responsible for +us to the committee of the Assembly, and to the Jacobin society. + +The two chief women about the Dauphin, who had accompanied the Queen to +Varennes, Diet, her usher, and Camot, her garcon de toilette,--the women +on account of the journey, and the men in consequence of the denunciation +of the woman belonging to the wardrobe,--were sent to the prisons of the +Abbaye. After my departure the garcon de toilette whom I had taken to +Madame Vallayer Coster's was sent there with the portfolio she had agreed +to receive. This commission could not escape the detestable spy upon the +Queen. She gave information that a portfolio had been carried out on the +evening of the departure, adding that the King had placed it upon the +Queen's easy-chair, that the garcon de toilette wrapped it up in a napkin +and took it under his arm, and that she did not know where he had carried +it. The man, who was remarkable for his fidelity, underwent three +examinations without making the slightest disclosure. M. Diet, a man of +good family, a servant on whom the Queen placed particular reliance, +likewise experienced the severest treatment. At length, after a lapse of +three weeks, the Queen succeeded in obtaining the release of her servants. + +The Queen, about the 15th of August, had me informed by letter that I +might come back to Paris without being under any apprehension of arrest +there, and that she greatly desired my return. I brought my father-in-law +back in a dying state, and on the day preceding that of the acceptation of +the constitutional act, I informed the Queen that he was no more. "The +loss of Lassonne and Campan," said she, as she applied her handkerchief to +her streaming eyes, "has taught me how valuable such subjects are to their +masters. I shall never find their equals." + +I resumed my functions about the Queen on the 1st of September, 1791. She +was unable then to converse with me on all the lamentable events which had +occurred since the time of my leaving her, having on guard near her an +officer whom she dreaded more than all the others. She merely told me +that I should have some secret services to perform for her, and that she +would not create uneasiness by long conversations with me, my return being +a subject of suspicion. But next day the Queen, well knowing the +discretion of the officer who was to be on guard that night, had my bed +placed very near hers, and having obtained the favour of having the door +shut, when I was in bed she began the narrative of the journey, and the +unfortunate arrest at Varennes. I asked her permission to put on my gown, +and kneeling by her bedside I remained until three o'clock in the morning, +listening with the liveliest and most sorrowful interest to the account I +am about to repeat, and of which I have seen various details, of tolerable +exactness, in papers of the time. + +The King entrusted Count Fersen with all the preparations for departure. +The carriage was ordered by him; the passport, in the name of Madame de +Korf, was procured through his connection with that lady, who was a +foreigner. And lastly, he himself drove the royal family, as their +coachman, as far as Bondy, where the travellers got into their berlin. +Madame Brunier and Madame Neuville, the first women of Madame and the +Dauphin, there joined the principal carriage. They were in a cabriolet. +Monsieur and Madame set out from the Luxembourg and took another road. +They as well as the King were recognised by the master of the last post in +France, but this man, devoting himself to the fortunes of the Prince, left +the French territory, and drove them himself as postilion. Madame +Thibaut, the Queen's first woman, reached Brussels without the slightest +difficulty. Madame Cardon, from Arras, met with no hindrance; and +Leonard, the Queen's hairdresser, passed through Varennes a few hours +before the royal family. Fate had reserved all its obstacles for the +unfortunate monarch. + +Nothing worthy of notice occurred in the beginning of the journey. The +travellers were detained a short time, about twelve leagues from Paris, by +some repairs which the carriage required. The King chose to walk up one +of the hills, and these two circumstances caused a delay of three hours, +precisely at the time when it was intended that the berlin should have +been met, just before reaching Varennes, by the detachment commanded by M. +de Goguelat. This detachment was punctually stationed upon the spot fixed +on, with orders to wait there for the arrival of certain treasure, which +it was to escort; but the peasantry of the neighbourhood, alarmed at the +sight of this body of troops, came armed with staves, and asked several +questions, which manifested their anxiety. M. de Goguelat, fearful of +causing a riot, and not finding the carriage arrive as he expected, +divided his men into two companies, and unfortunately made them leave the +highway in order to return to Varennes by two cross roads. The King looked +out of the carriage at Ste. Menehould, and asked several questions +concerning the road. Drouet, the post-master, struck by the resemblance +of Louis to the impression of his head upon the assignats, drew near the +carriage, felt convinced that he recognised the Queen also, and that the +remainder of the travellers consisted of the royal family and their suite, +mounted his horse, reached Varennes by cross roads before the royal +fugitives, and gave the alarm.--[Varennes lies between Verdun and +Montmedy, and not far from the French frontier.] + +The Queen began to feel all the agonies of terror; they were augmented by +the voice of a person unknown, who, passing close to the carriage in full +gallop, cried out, bending towards the window without slackening his +speed, "You are recognised!" They arrived with beating hearts at the +gates of Varennes without meeting one of the horsemen by whom they were to +have been escorted into the place. They were ignorant where to find their +relays, and some minutes were lost in waiting, to no purpose. The +cabriolet had preceded them, and the two ladies in attendance found the +bridge already blocked up with old carts and lumber. The town guards were +all under arms. The King at last entered Varennes. M. de Goguelat had +arrived there with his detachment. He came up to the King and asked him +if he chose to effect a passage by force! What an unlucky question to put +to Louis XVI., who from the very beginning of the Revolution had shown in +every crisis the fear he entertained of giving the least order which might +cause an effusion of blood! "Would it be a brisk action?" said the King. +"It is impossible that it should be otherwise, Sire," replied the +aide-decamp. Louis XVI. was unwilling to expose his family. They +therefore went to the house of a grocer, Mayor of Varennes. The King +began to speak, and gave a summary of his intentions in departing, +analogous to the declaration he had made at Paris. He spoke with warmth +and affability, and endeavoured to demonstrate to the people around him +that he had only put himself, by the step he had taken, into a fit +situation to treat with the Assembly, and to sanction with freedom the +constitution which he would maintain, though many of its articles were +incompatible with the dignity of the throne, and the force by which it was +necessary that the sovereign should be surrounded. Nothing could be more +affecting, added the Queen, than this moment, in which the King felt bound +to communicate to the very humblest class of his subjects his principles, +his wishes for the happiness of his people, and the motives which had +determined him to depart. + +Whilst the King was speaking to this mayor, whose name was Sauce, the +Queen, seated at the farther end of the shop, among parcels of soap and +candles, endeavoured to make Madame Sauce understand that if she would +prevail upon her husband to make use of his municipal authority to cover +the flight of the King and his family, she would have the glory of having +contributed to restore tranquillity to France. This woman was moved; she +could not, without streaming eyes, see herself thus solicited by her +Queen; but she could not be got to say anything more than, "Bon Dieu, +Madame, it would be the destruction of M. Sauce; I love my King, but I +love my husband too, you must know, and he would be answerable, you see." +Whilst this strange scene was passing in the shop, the people, hearing +that the King was arrested, kept pouring in from all parts. M. de +Goguelat, making a last effort, demanded of the dragoons whether they +would protect the departure of the King; they replied only by murmurs, +dropping the points of their swords. Some person unknown fired a pistol +at M. de Goguelat; he was slightly wounded by the ball. M. Romeuf, +aide-de-camp to M. de La Fayette, arrived at that moment. He had been +chosen, after the 6th of October, 1789, by the commander of the Parisian +guard to be in constant attendance about the Queen. She reproached him +bitterly with the object of his mission. "If you wish to make your name +remarkable, monsieur," said the Queen to him, "you have chosen strange and +odious means, which will produce the most fatal consequences." This +officer wished to hasten their departure. The Queen, still cherishing the +hope of seeing M. de Bouille arrive with a sufficient force to extricate +the King from his critical situation, prolonged her stay at Varennes by +every means in her power. + +The Dauphin's first woman pretended to be taken ill with a violent colic, +and threw herself upon a bed, in the hope of aiding the designs of her +superiors; she went and implored for assistance. The Queen understood her +perfectly well, and refused to leave one who had devoted herself to follow +them in such a state of suffering. But no delay in departing was allowed. +The three Body Guards (Valory, Du Moustier, and Malden) were gagged and +fastened upon the seat of the carriage. A horde of National Guards, +animated with fury and the barbarous joy with which their fatal triumph +inspired them, surrounded the carriage of the royal family. + +The three commissioners sent by the Assembly to meet the King, MM. de +Latour-Maubourg, Barnave, and Potion, joined them in the environs of +Epernay. The two last mentioned got into the King's carriage. The Queen +astonished me by the favourable opinion she had formed of Barnave. When I +quitted Paris a great many persons spoke of him only with horror. She told +me he was much altered, that he was full of talent and noble feeling. "A +feeling of pride which I cannot much blame in a young man belonging to the +Tiers Etat," she said, "made him applaud everything which smoothed the +road to rank and fame for that class in which he was born. And if we get +the power in our own hands again, Barnave's pardon is already written on +our hearts." The Queen added, that she had not the same feeling towards +those nobles who had joined the revolutionary party, who had always +received marks of favour, often to the injury of those beneath them in +rank, and who, born to be the safeguard of the monarchy, could never be +pardoned for having deserted it. She then told me that Barnave's conduct +upon the road was perfectly correct, while Potion's republican rudeness +was disgusting; that the latter ate and drank in the King's berlin in a +slovenly manner, throwing the bones of the fowls out through the window at +the risk of sending them even into the King's face; lifting up his glass, +when Madame Elisabeth poured him out wine, to show her that there was +enough, without saying a word; that this offensive behaviour must have +been intentional, because the man was not without education; and that +Barnave was hurt at it. On being pressed by the Queen to take something, +"Madame," replied Barnave, "on so solemn an occasion the deputies of the +National Assembly ought to occupy your Majesties solely about their +mission, and by no means about their wants." In short, his respectful +delicacy, his considerate attentions, and all that he said, gained the +esteem not only of the Queen, but of Madame Elisabeth also. + +The King began to talk to Petion about the situation of France, and the +motives of his conduct, which were founded upon the necessity of giving to +the executive power a strength necessary for its action, for the good even +of the constitutional act, since France could not be a republic. "Not yet, +'tis true," replied Petion, "because the French are not ripe enough for +that." This audacious and cruel answer silenced the King, who said no +more until his arrival at Paris. Potion held the little Dauphin upon his +knees, and amused himself with curling the beautiful light hair of the +interesting child round his fingers; and, as he spoke with much +gesticulation, he pulled his locks hard enough to make the Dauphin cry +out. "Give me my son," said the Queen to him; "he is accustomed to +tenderness and delicacy, which render him little fit for such +familiarity." + +The Chevalier de Dampierre was killed near the King's carriage upon +leaving Varennes. A poor village cure, some leagues from the place where +the crime was committed, was imprudent enough to draw near to speak to the +King; the cannibals who surrounded the carriage rushed upon him. "Tigers," +exclaimed Barnave, "have you ceased to be Frenchmen? Nation of brave men, +are you become a set of assassins?" These words alone saved the cure, who +was already upon the ground, from certain death. Barnave, as he spoke to +them, threw himself almost out of the coach window, and Madame Elisabeth, +affected by this noble burst of feeling, held him by the skirt of his +coat. The Queen, while speaking of this event, said that on the most +momentous occasions whimsical contrasts always struck her, and that even +at such a moment the pious Elisabeth holding Barnave by the flap of his +coat was a ludicrous sight. + +The deputy was astonished in another way. Madame Elisabeth's comments +upon the state of France, her mild and persuasive eloquence, and the, ease +and simplicity with which she talked to him, yet without sacrificing her +dignity in the slightest degree, appeared to him unique, and his heart, +which was doubtless inclined to right principles though he had followed +the wrong path, was overcome by admiration. The conduct of the two +deputies convinced the Queen of the total separation between the +republican and constitutional parties. At the inns where she alighted she +had some private conversation with Barnave. The latter said a great deal +about the errors committed by the royalists during the Revolution, adding +that he had found the interest of the Court so feebly and so badly +defended that he had been frequently tempted to go and offer it, in +himself, an aspiring champion, who knew the spirit of the age and nation. +The Queen asked him what was the weapon he would have recommended her to +use. + +"Popularity, Madame." + +"And how could I use that," replied her Majesty, "of which I have been +deprived?" + +"Ah! Madame, it was much more easy for you to regain it, than for me to +acquire it." + +The Queen mainly attributed the arrest at Varennes to M. de Goguelat; she +said he calculated the time that would be spent in the journey +erroneously. He performed that from Montmedy to Paris before taking the +King's last orders, alone in a post-chaise, and he founded all his +calculations upon the time he spent thus. The trial has been made since, +and it was found that a light carriage without any courier was nearly +three hours less in running the distance than a heavy carriage preceded by +a courier. + +The Queen also blamed him for having quitted the high-road at +Pont-de-Sommevelle, where the carriage was to meet the forty hussars +commanded by him. She thought that he ought to have dispersed the very +small number of people at Varennes, and not have asked the hussars whether +they were for the King or the nation; that, particularly, he ought to have +avoided taking the King's orders, as he was previously aware of the reply +M. d'Inisdal had received when it was proposed to carry off the King. + +After all that the Queen had said to me respecting the mistakes made by M. +de Goguelat, I thought him of course disgraced. What was my surprise +when, having been set at liberty after the amnesty which followed the +acceptance of the constitution, he presented himself to the Queen, and was +received with the greatest kindness! She said he had done what he could, +and that his zeal ought to form an excuse for all the rest. + +[Full details of the preparations for the flight to Varennes will be found +in "Le Comte de Fersen et La Cour de France," Paris, Didot et Cie, 1878 (a +review of which was given in the Quarterly Review for July, 1880), and in +the "Memoirs of the Marquis de Bouille", London, Cadell and Davis, 1797; +Count Fersen being the person who planned the actual escape, and De +Bouille being in command of the army which was to receive the King. The +plan was excellent, and would certainly have succeeded, if it had not been +for the royal family themselves. Marie Antoinette, it will have been seen +by Madame Campan's account, nearly wrecked the plan from inability to do +without a large dressing or travelling case. The King did a more fatal +thing. De Bouille had pointed out the necessity for having in the King's +carriage an officer knowing the route, and able to show himself to give +all directions, and a proper person had been provided. The King, however, +objected, as "he could not have the Marquis d'Agoult in the same carriage +with himself; the governess of the royal children, who was to accompany +them, having refused to abandon her privilege of constantly remaining with +her charge." See "De Bouille," pp. 307 and 334. Thus, when Louis was +recognised at the window of the carriage by Drouet, he was lost by the +very danger that had been foreseen, and this wretched piece of etiquette +led to his death.] + +When the royal family was brought back from Varennes to the Tuileries, the +Queen's attendants found the greatest difficulty in making their way to +her apartments; everything had been arranged so that the wardrobe woman, +who had acted as spy, should have the service; and she was to be assisted +in it only by her sister and her sister's daughter. + +M. de Gouvion, M. de La Fayette's aide-de-camp, had this woman's portrait +placed at the foot of the staircase which led to the Queen's apartments, +in order that the sentinel should not permit any other women to make their +way in. As soon as the Queen was informed of this contemptible +precaution, she told the King of it, who sent to ascertain the fact. His +Majesty then called for M. de La Fayette, claimed freedom in his +household, and particularly in that of the Queen, and ordered him to send +a woman in, whom no one but himself could confide out of the palace. M. de +La Fayette was obliged to comply. + +On the day when the return of the royal family was expected, there were no +carriages in motion in the streets of Paris. Five or six of the Queen's +women, after being refused admittance at all the other gates, went with +one of my sisters to that of the Feuillans, insisting that the sentinel +should admit them. The poissardes attacked them for their boldness in +resisting the order excluding them. One of them seized my sister by the +arm, calling her the slave of the Austrian. "Hear me," said my sister to +her, "I have been attached to the Queen ever since I was fifteen years of +age; she gave me my marriage portion; I served her when she was powerful +and happy. She is now unfortunate. Ought I to abandon her?"--"She is +right," cried the poissardes; "she ought not to abandon her mistress; let +us make an entry for them." They instantly surrounded the sentinel, +forced the passage, and introduced the Queen's women, accompanying them to +the terrace of the Feuillans. One of these furies, whom the slightest +impulse would have driven to tear my sister to pieces, taking her under +her protection, gave her advice by which she might reach the palace in +safety. "But of all things, my dear friend," said she to her, "pull off +that green ribbon sash; it is the color of that D'Artois, whom we will +never forgive." + +The measures adopted for guarding the King were rigorous with respect to +the entrance into the palace, and insulting as to his private apartments. +The commandants of battalion, stationed in the salon called the grand +cabinet, and which led to the Queen's bedchamber, were ordered to keep the +door of it always open, in order that they might have their eyes upon the +royal family. The King shut this door one day; the officer of the guard +opened it, and told him such were his orders, and that he would always +open it; so that his Majesty in shutting it gave himself useless trouble. +It remained open even during the night, when the Queen was in bed; and the +officer placed himself in an armchair between the two doors, with his head +turned towards her Majesty. They only obtained permission to have the +inner door shut when the Queen was rising. The Queen had the bed of her +first femme de chambre placed very near her own; this bed, which ran on +casters, and was furnished with curtains, hid her from the officer's +sight. + +Madame de Jarjaye, my companion, who continued her functions during the +whole period of my absence, told me that one night the commandant of +battalion, who slept between the two doors, seeing that she was sleeping +soundly, and that the Queen was awake, quitted his post and went close to +her Majesty, to advise her as to the line of conduct she should pursue. +Although she had the kindness to desire him to speak lower in order that +he might not disturb Madame de Jarjaye's rest, the latter awoke, and +nearly died with fright at seeing a man in the uniform of the Parisian +guard so near the Queen's bed. Her Majesty comforted her, and told her +not to rise; that the person she saw was a good Frenchman, who was +deceived respecting the intentions and situation of his sovereign and +herself, but whose conversation showed sincere attachment to the King. + +There was a sentinel in the corridor which runs behind the apartments in +question, where there is a staircase, which was at that time an inner one, +and enabled the King and Queen to communicate freely. This post, which +was very onerous, because it was to be kept four and twenty hours, was +often claimed by Saint Prig, an actor belonging to the Theatre Francais. +He took it upon himself sometimes to contrive brief interviews between the +King and Queen in this corridor. He left them at a distance, and gave +them warning if he heard the slightest noise. M. Collot, commandant of +battalion of the National Guard, who was charged with the military duty of +the Queen's household, in like manner softened down, so far as he could +with prudence, all, the revolting orders he received; for instance, one to +follow the Queen to the very door of her wardrobe was never executed. An +officer of the Parisian guard dared to speak insolently of the Queen in +her own apartment. M. Collot wished to make a complaint to M. de La +Fayette against him, and have him dismissed. The Queen opposed it, and +condescended to say a few words of explanation and kindness to the man; he +instantly became one of her most devoted partisans. + +The first time I saw her Majesty after the unfortunate catastrophe of the +Varennes journey, I found her getting out of bed; her features were not +very much altered; but after the first kind words she uttered to me she +took off her cap and desired me to observe the effect which grief had +produced upon her hair. It had become, in one single night, as white as +that of a woman of seventy. Her Majesty showed me a ring she had just had +mounted for the Princesse de Lamballe; it contained a lock of her whitened +hair, with the inscription, "Blanched by sorrow." At the period of the +acceptance of the constitution the Princess wished to return to France. +The Queen, who had no expectation that tranquillity would be restored, +opposed this; but the attachment of Madame de Lamballe to the royal family +impelled her to come and seek death. + +When I returned to Paris most of the harsh precautions were abandoned; the +doors were not kept open; greater respect was paid to the sovereign; it +was known that the constitution soon to be completed would be accepted, +and a better order of things was hoped for. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +On my arrival at Paris on the 25th of August I found the state of feeling +there much more temperate than I had dared to hope. The conversation +generally ran upon the acceptance of the constitution, and the fetes which +would be given in consequence. The struggle between the Jacobins and the +constitutionals on the 17th of July, 1791, nevertheless had thrown the +Queen into great terror for some moments; and the firing of the cannon +from the Champ de Mars upon a party which called for a trial of the King, +and the leaders of which were in the very bosom of the Assembly, left the +most gloomy impressions upon her mind. + +The constitutionals, the Queen's connection with whom was not slackened by +the intervention of the three members already mentioned, had faithfully +served the royal family during their detention. + +"We still hold the wire by which this popular mass is moved," said Barnave +to M. de J----- one day, at the same time showing him a large volume, in +which the names of all those who were influenced with the power of gold +alone were registered. It was at that time proposed to hire a +considerable number of persons in order to secure loud acclamations when +the King and his family should make their appearance at the play upon the +acceptance of the constitution. That day, which afforded a glimmering +hope of tranquillity, was the 14th of September; the fetes were brilliant; +but already fresh anxieties forbade the royal family to encourage much +hope. + +The Legislative Assembly, which had just succeeded the Constituent +Assembly (October, 1791), founded its conduct upon the wildest republican +principles; created from the midst of popular assemblies, it was wholly +inspired by the spirit which animated them. The constitution, as I have +said, was presented to the King on the 3d of September, 1791. The +ministers, with the exception of M. de Montmorin, insisted upon the +necessity of accepting the constitutional act in its entirety. The Prince +de Kaunitz--[Minister of Austria]--was of the same opinion. Malouet wished +the King to express himself candidly respecting any errors or dangers that +he might observe in the constitution. But Duport and Barnave, alarmed at +the spirit prevailing in the Jacobin Club, + +[The extreme revolutionary party, so called from the club, originally +"Breton," then "Amis de la Constitution," sitting at the convent of the +Dominicans (called in France Jacobins) of the Rue Saint Honore.] + +and even in the Assembly, where Robespierre had already denounced them as +traitors to the country, and dreading still greater evils, added their +opinions to those of the majority of the ministers and M. de Kaunitz; +those who really desired that the constitution should be maintained +advised that it should not be accepted thus literally. The King seemed +inclined to this advice; and this is one of the strongest proofs of his +sincerity. + +Alexandre Lameth, Duport, and Barnave, still relying on the resources of +their party, hoped to have credit for directing the King through the +influence they believed they had acquired over the mind of the Queen. They +also consulted people of acknowledged talent, but belonging to no council +nor to any assembly. Among these was M. Dubucq, formerly intendant of the +marine and of the colonies. He answered laconically in one phrase: +"Prevent disorder from organising itself." + +The letter written by the King to the Assembly, claiming to accept the +constitution in the very place where it had been created, and where he +announced he would be on the 14th September at mid-day, was received with +transport, and the reading was repeatedly interrupted by plaudits. The +sitting terminated amidst the greatest enthusiasm, and M. de La Fayette +obtained the release of all those who were detained on account of the +King's journey [to Varennes], the abandonment of all proceedings relative +to the events of the Revolution, and the discontinuance of the use of +passports and of temporary restraints upon free travelling, as well in the +interior as without. The whole was conceded by acclamation. Sixty +members were deputed to go to the King and express to him fully the +satisfaction his Majesty's letter had given. The Keeper of the Seals +quitted the chamber, in the midst of applause, to precede the deputation +to the King. + +The King answered the speech addressed to him, and concluded by saying to +the Assembly that a decree of that morning, which had abolished the order +of the Holy Ghost, had left him and his son alone permission to be +decorated with it; but that an order having no value in his eyes, save for +the power of conferring it, he would not use it. + +The Queen, her son, and Madame, were at the door of the chamber into which +the deputation was admitted. The King said to the deputies, "You see +there my wife and children, who participate in my sentiments;" and the +Queen herself confirmed the King's assurance. These apparent marks of +confidence were very inconsistent with the agitated state of her mind. +"These people want no sovereigns," said she. "We shall fall before their +treacherous though well-planned tactics; they are demolishing the monarchy +stone by stone." + +Next day the particulars of the reception of the deputies by the King were +reported to the Assembly, and excited warm approbation. But the President +having put the question whether the Assembly ought not to remain seated +while the King took the oath "Certainly," was repeated by many voices; +"and the King, standing, uncovered." M. Malouet observed that there was +no occasion on which the nation, assembled in the presence of the King, +did not acknowledge him as its head; that the omission to treat the head +of the State with the respect due to him would be an offence to the +nation, as well as to the monarch. He moved that the King should take the +oath standing, and that the Assembly should also stand while he was doing +so. M. Malouet's observations would have carried the decree, but a deputy +from Brittany exclaimed, with a shrill voice, that he had an amendment to +propose which would render all unanimous. "Let us decree," said he, "that +M. Malouet, and whoever else shall so please, may have leave to receive +the King upon their knees; but let us stick to the decree." + +The King repaired to the chamber at mid-day. His speech was followed by +plaudits which lasted several minutes. After the signing of the +constitutional act all sat down. The President rose to deliver his +speech; but after he had begun, perceiving that the King did not rise to +hear him, he sat down again. His speech made a powerful impression; the +sentence with which it concluded excited fresh acclamations, cries of +"Bravo!" and "Vive le Roi!"--"Sire," said he, "how important in our eyes, +and how dear to our hearts--how sublime a feature in our history--must be +the epoch of that regeneration which gives citizens to France, and a +country to Frenchmen,--to you, as a king, a new title of greatness and +glory, and, as a man, a source of new enjoyment." The whole Assembly +accompanied the King on his return, amidst the people's cries of +happiness, military music, and salvoes of artillery. + +At length I hoped to see a return of that tranquillity which had so long +vanished from the countenances of my august master and mistress. Their +suite left them in the salon; the Queen hastily saluted the ladies, and +returned much affected; the King followed her, and, throwing himself into +an armchair, put his handkerchief to his eyes. "Ah! Madame," cried he, +his voice choked by tears, "why were you present at this sitting? to +witness--" these words were interrupted by sobs. The Queen threw herself +upon her knees before him, and pressed him in her arms. I remained with +them, not from any blamable curiosity, but from a stupefaction which +rendered me incapable of determining what I ought to do. The Queen said +to me, "Oh! go, go!" with an accent which expressed, "Do not remain to see +the dejection and despair of your sovereign!" I withdrew, struck with the +contrast between the shouts of joy without the palace and the profound +grief which oppressed the sovereigns within. Half an hour afterwards the +Queen sent for me. She desired to see M. de Goguelat, to announce to him +his departure on that very night for Vienna. The renewed attacks upon the +dignity of the throne which had been made during the sitting; the spirit +of an Assembly worse than the former; the monarch put upon a level with +the President, without any deference to the throne,--all this proclaimed +but too loudly that the sovereignty itself was aimed at. The Queen no +longer saw any ground for hope from the Provinces. The King wrote to the +Emperor; she told me that she would herself, at midnight, bring the letter +which M. de Goguelat was to bear to the Emperor, to my room. + +During all the remainder of the day the Chateau and the Tuileries were +crowded; the illuminations were magnificent. The King and Queen were +requested to take an airing in their carriage in the Champs-Elysees, +escorted by the aides-decamp, and leaders of the Parisian army, the +Constitutional Guard not being at the time organised. Many shouts of +"Vive le Roi!" were heard; but as often as they ceased, one of the mob, +who never quitted the door of the King's carriage for a single instant, +exclaimed with a stentorian voice, "No, don't believe them! Vive la +Nation!" This ill-omened cry struck terror into the Queen. + +A few days afterwards M. de Montmorin sent to say he wanted to speak to +me; that he would come to me, if he were not apprehensive his doing so +would attract observation; and that he thought it would appear less +conspicuous if he should see me in the Queen's great closet at a time +which he specified, and when nobody would be there. I went. After having +made some polite observations upon the services I had already performed, +and those I might yet perform, for my master and mistress, he spoke to me +of the King's imminent danger, of the plots which were hatching, and of +the lamentable composition of the Legislative Assembly; and he +particularly dwelt upon the necessity of appearing, by prudent remarks, +determined as much as possible to abide by the act the King had just +recognised. I told him that could not be done without committing +ourselves in the eyes of the royalist party, with which moderation was a +crime; that it was painful to hear ourselves taxed with being +constitutionalists, at the same time that it was our opinion that the only +constitution which was consistent with the King's honour, and the +happiness and tranquillity of his people, was the absolute power of the +sovereign; that this was my creed, and it would pain me to give any room +for suspicion that I was wavering in it. + +"Could you ever believe," said he, "that I should desire any other order +of things? Have you any doubt of my attachment to the King's person, and +the maintenance of his rights?" + +"I know it, Count," replied I; "but you are not ignorant that you lie +under the imputation of having adopted revolutionary ideas." + +"Well, madame, have resolution enough to dissemble and to conceal your +real sentiments; dissimulation was never more necessary. Endeavours are +being made to paralyse the evil intentions of the factious as much as +possible; but we must not be counteracted here by certain dangerous +expressions which are circulated in Paris as coming from the King and +Queen." + +I told him that I had been already struck with apprehension of the evil +which might be done by the intemperate observations of persons who had no +power to act; and that I had felt ill consequences from having repeatedly +enjoined silence on those in the Queen's service. + +"I know that," said the Count; "the Queen informed me of it, and that +determined me to come and request you to increase and keep alive, as much +as you can, that spirit of discretion which is so necessary." + +While the household of the King and Queen were a prey to all these fears, +the festivities in celebration of the acceptance of the constitution +proceeded. Their Majesties went to the Opera; the audience consisted +entirely of persons who sided with the King, and on that day the happiness +of seeing him for a short time surrounded by faithful subjects might be +enjoyed. The acclamations were then sincere. + +"La Coquette Corrigee" had been selected for representation at the Theatre +Francais solely because it was the piece in which Mademoiselle Contat +shone most. Yet the notions propagated by the Queen's enemies coinciding +in my mind with the name of the play, I thought the choice very +ill-judged. I was at a loss, however, how to tell her Majesty so; but +sincere attachment gives courage. I explained myself; she was obliged to +me, and desired that another play might be performed. They accordingly +selected "La Gouvernante," almost equally unfortunate in title. + +The Queen, Madame the King's daughter, and Madame Elisabeth were all well +received on this occasion. It is true that the opinions and feelings of +the spectators in the boxes could not be otherwise than favourable, and +great pains had been taken, previously to these two performances, to fill +the pit with proper persons. But, on the other hand, the Jacobins took +the same precautions on their side at the Theatre Italien, and the tumult +was excessive there. The play was Gretry's "Les Evenements Imprevus." +Unfortunately, Madame Dugazon thought proper to bow to the Queen as she +sang the words, "Ah, how I love my mistress!" in a duet. Above twenty +voices immediately exclaimed from the pit, "No mistress! no master! +liberty!" A few replied from the boxes and slips, "Vive le Roi! vive la +Reine!" Those in the pit answered, "No master! no Queen!" The quarrel +increased; the pit formed into parties; they began fighting, and the +Jacobins were beaten; tufts of their black hair flew about the +theatre.--[At this time none but the Jacobins had discontinued the use of +hairpowder.--MADAME CAMPAN.]--A military guard arrived. The Faubourg St. +Antoine, hearing of what was going on at the Theatre Italien, flocked +together, and began to talk of marching towards the scene of action. The +Queen preserved the calmest demeanour; the commandants of the guard +surrounded and encouraged her; they conducted themselves promptly and +discreetly. No accident happened. The Queen was highly applauded as she +quitted the theatre; it was the last time she was ever in one! + +While couriers were bearing confidential letters from the King to the +Princes, his brothers, and to the foreign sovereigns, the Assembly invited +him to write to the Princes in order to induce them to return to France. +The King desired the Abbe de Montesquiou to write the letter he was to +send; this letter, which was admirably composed in a simple and affecting +style, suited to the character of Louis XVI., and filled with very +powerful arguments in favour of the advantages to be derived from adopting +the principles of the constitution, was confided to me by the King, who +desired me to make him a copy of it. + +At this period M. M-----, one of the intendants of Monsieur's household, +obtained a passport from the Assembly to join that Prince on business +relative to his domestic concerns. The Queen selected him to be the +bearer of this letter. She determined to give it to him herself, and to +inform him of its object. I was astonished at her choice of this courier. +The Queen assured me he was exactly the man for her purpose, that she +relied even upon his indiscretion, and that it was merely necessary that +the letter from the King to his brothers should be known to exist. The +Princes were doubtless informed beforehand on the subject by the private +correspondence. Monsieur nevertheless manifested some degree of surprise, +and the messenger returned more grieved than pleased at this mark of +confidence, which nearly cost him his life during the Reign of Terror. + +Among the causes of uneasiness to the Queen there was one which was but +too well founded, the thoughtlessness of the French whom she sent to +foreign Courts. She used to say that they had no sooner passed the +frontiers than they disclosed the most secret matters relative to the +King's private sentiments, and that the leaders of the Revolution were +informed of them through their agents, many of whom were Frenchmen who +passed themselves off as emigrants in the cause of their King. + +After the acceptance of the constitution, the formation of the King's +household, as well military as civil, formed a subject of attention. The +Duc de Brissac had the command of the Constitutional Guard, which was +composed of officers and men selected from the regiments, and of several +officers drawn from the National Guard of Paris. The King was satisfied +with the feelings and conduct of this band, which, as is well known, +existed but a very short time. + +The new constitution abolished what were called honours, and the +prerogatives belonging to them. The Duchesse de Duras resigned her place +of lady of the bedchamber, not choosing to lose her right to the tabouret +at Court. This step hurt the Queen, who saw herself forsaken through the +loss of a petty privilege at a time when her own rights and even life were +so hotly attacked. Many ladies of rank left the Court for the same +reason. However, the King and Queen did not dare to form the civil part +of their household, lest by giving the new names of the posts they should +acknowledge the abolition of the old ones, and also lest they should admit +into the highest positions persons not calculated to fill them well. Some +time was spent in discussing the question, whether the household should be +formed without chevaliers and without ladies of honour. The Queen's +constitutional advisers were of opinion that the Assembly, having decreed +a civil list adequate to uphold the splendour of the throne, would be +dissatisfied at seeing the King adopting only a military household, and +not forming his civil household upon the new constitutional plan. "How is +it, Madame," wrote Barnave to the Queen, "that you will persist in giving +these people even the smallest doubt as to your sentiments? When they +decree you a civil and a military household, you, like young Achilles +among the daughters of Lycomedes, eagerly seize the sword and scorn the +mere ornaments." The Queen persisted in her determination to have no +civil household. "If," said she, "this constitutional household be +formed, not a single person of rank will remain with us, and upon a change +of affairs we should be obliged to discharge the persons received into +their place." + +"Perhaps," added she, "perhaps I might find one day that I had saved the +nobility, if I now had resolution enough to afflict them for a time; I +have it not. When any measure which injures them is wrested from us they +sulk with me; nobody comes to my card party; the King goes unattended to +bed. No allowance is made for political necessity; we are punished for +our very misfortunes." + +The Queen wrote almost all day, and spent part of the night in reading: +her courage supported her physical strength; her disposition was not at +all soured by misfortunes, and she was never seen in an ill-humour for a +moment. She was, however, held up to the people as a woman absolutely +furious and mad whenever the rights of the Crown were in any way attacked. + +I was with her one day at one of her windows. We saw a man plainly +dressed, like an ecclesiastic, surrounded by an immense crowd. The Queen +imagined it was some abbe whom they were about to throw into the basin of +the Tuileries; she hastily opened her window and sent a valet de chambre +to know what was going forward in the garden. It was Abbe Gregoire, whom +the men and women of the tribunes were bringing back in triumph, on +account of a motion he had just made in the National Assembly against the +royal authority. On the following day the democratic journalists +described the Queen as witnessing this triumph, and showing, by expressive +gestures at her window, how highly she was exasperated by the honours +conferred upon the patriot. + +The correspondence between the Queen and the foreign powers was carried on +in cipher. That to which she gave the preference can never be detected; +but the greatest patience is requisite for its use. Each correspondent +must have a copy of the same edition of some work. She selected "Paul and +Virginia." The page and line in which the letters required, and +occasionally a monosyllable, are to be found are pointed out in ciphers +agreed upon. I assisted her in finding the letters, and frequently I made +an exact copy for her of all that she had ciphered, without knowing a +single word of its meaning. + +There were always several secret committees in Paris occupied in +collecting information for the King respecting the measures of the +factions, and in influencing some of the committees of the Assembly. M. +Bertrand de Molleville was in close correspondence with the Queen. The +King employed M. Talon and others; much money was expended through the +latter channel for the secret measures. The Queen had no confidence in +them. M. de Laporte, minister of the civil list and of the household, +also attempted to give a bias to public opinion by means of hireling +publications; but these papers influenced none but the royalist party, +which did not need influencing. M. de Laporte had a private police which +gave him some useful information. + +I determined to sacrifice myself to my duty, but by no means to any +intrigue, and I thought that, circumstanced as I was, I ought to confine +myself to obeying the Queen's orders. I frequently sent off couriers to +foreign countries, and they were never discovered, so many precautions did +I take. I am indebted for the preservation of my own existence to the +care I took never to admit any deputy to my abode, and to refuse all +interviews which even people of the highest importance often requested of +me; but this line of conduct exposed me to every species of ill-will, and +on the same day I saw myself denounced by Prud'homme, in his 'Gazette +Revolutionnaire', as capable of making an aristocrat of the mother of the +Gracchi, if a person so dangerous as myself could have got into her +household; and by Gauthier's Gazette Royaliste, as a monarchist, a +constitutionalist, more dangerous to the Queen's interests than a Jacobin. + +At this period an event with which I had nothing to do placed me in a +still more critical situation. My brother, M. Genet, began his diplomatic +career successfully. At eighteen he was attached to the embassy to +Vienna; at twenty he was appointed chief secretary of Legation in England, +on occasion of the peace of 1783. A memorial which he presented to M. de +Vergennes upon the dangers of the treaty of commerce then entered into +with England gave offence to M. de Calonne, a patron of that treaty, and +particularly to M. Gerard de Rayneval, chief clerk for foreign affairs. +So long as M. de Vergennes lived, having upon my father's death declared +himself the protector of my brother, he supported him against the enemies +his views had created. But on his death M. de Montmorin, being much in +need of the long experience in business which he found in M. de Rayneval, +was guided solely by the latter. The office of which my brother was the +head was suppressed. He then went to St. Petersburg, strongly recommended +to the Comte de Segur, minister from France to that Court, who appointed +him secretary of Legation. Some time afterwards the Comte de Segur left +him at St. Petersburg, charged with the affairs of France. After his +return from Russia, M. Genet was appointed ambassador to the United States +by the party called Girondists, the deputies who headed it being from the +department of the Gironde. He was recalled by the Robespierre party, +which overthrew the former faction, on the 31st of May, 1793, and +condemned to appear before the Convention. Vice-President Clinton, at +that time Governor of New York, offered him an asylum in his house and the +hand of his daughter, and M. Genet established himself prosperously in +America. + +When my brother quitted Versailles he was much hurt at being deprived of a +considerable income for having penned a memorial which his zeal alone had +dictated, and the importance of which was afterwards but too well +understood. I perceived from his correspondence that he inclined to some +of the new notions. He told me it was right he should no longer conceal +from me that he sided with the constitutional party; that the King had in +fact commanded it, having himself accepted the constitution; that he would +proceed firmly in that course, because in this case disingenuousness would +be fatal, and that he took that side of the question because he had had it +proved to him that the foreign powers would not serve the King's cause +without advancing pretensions prompted by long-standing interests, which +always would influence their councils; that he saw no salvation for the +King and Queen but from within France, and that he would serve the +constitutional King as he served him before the Revolution. And lastly, +he requested me to impart to the Queen the real sentiments of one of his +Majesty's agents at a foreign Court. I immediately went to the Queen and +gave her my brother's letter; she read it attentively, and said, "This is +the letter of a young man led astray by discontent and ambition; I know +you do not think as he does; do not fear that you will lose the confidence +of the King and myself." I offered to discontinue all correspondence with +my brother; she opposed that, saying it would be dangerous. I then +entreated she would permit me in future to show her my own and my +brother's letters, to which she consented. I wrote warmly to my brother +against the course he had adopted. I sent my letters by sure channels; he +answered me by the post, and no longer touched upon anything but family +affairs. Once only he informed me that if I should write to him +respecting the affairs of the day he would give me no answer. "Serve your +august mistress with the unbounded devotion which is due from you," said +he, "and let us each do our duty. I will only observe to you that at +Paris the fogs of the Seine often prevent people from seeing that immense +capital, even from the Pavilion of Flora, and I see it more clearly from +St. Petersburg." The Queen said, as she read this letter, "Perhaps he +speaks but too truly; who can decide upon so disastrous a position as ours +has become?" The day on which I gave the Queen my brother's first letter +to read she had several audiences to give to ladies and other persons +belonging to the Court, who came on purpose to inform her that my brother +was an avowed constitutionalist and revolutionist. The Queen replied, "I +know it; Madame Campan has told me so." Persons jealous of my situation +having subjected me to mortifications, and these unpleasant circumstances +recurring daily, I requested the Queen's permission to withdraw from +Court. She exclaimed against the very idea, represented it to me as +extremely dangerous for my own reputation, and had the kindness to add +that, for my sake as well as for her own, she never would consent to it. +After this conversation I retired to my apartment. A few minutes later a +footman brought me this note from the Queen: "I have never ceased to give +you and yours proofs of my attachment; I wish to tell you in writing that +I have full faith in your honour and fidelity, as well as in your other +good qualities; and that I ever rely on the zeal and address you exert to +serve me." + +[I had just received this letter from the Queen when M. de la Chapelle, +commissary-general of the King's household, and head of the offices of M. +de Laporte, minister of the civil list, came to see me. The palace having +been already sacked by the brigands on the 20th of June, 1792, he proposed +that I should entrust the paper to him, that he might place it in a safer +situation than the apartments of the Queen. When he returned into his +offices he placed the letter she had condescended to write to me behind a +large picture in his closet; but on the loth of August M. de la Chapelle +was thrown into the prisons of the Abbaye, and the committee of public +safety established themselves in his offices, whence they issued all their +decrees of death. There it was that a villainous servant belonging to M. +de Laporte went to declare that in the minister's apartments, under a +board in the floor, a number of papers would be found. They were brought +forth, and M. de Laporte was sent to the scaffold, where he suffered for +having betrayed the State by serving his master and sovereign. M. de la +Chapelle was saved, as if by a miracle, from the massacres of the 2d of +September. The committee of public safety having removed to the King's +apartments at the Tuileries, M. de la Chapelle had permission to return to +his closet to take away some property belonging to him. Turning round the +picture, behind which he had hidden the Queen's letter, he found it in the +place into which he had slipped it, and, delighted to see that I was safe +from the ill consequences the discovery of this paper might have brought +upon me, he burnt it instantly. In times of danger a mere nothing may +save life or destroy it.--MADAME CAMPAN] + +At the moment that I was going to express my gratitude to the Queen I +heard a tapping at the door of my room, which opened upon the Queen's +inner corridor. I opened it; it was the King. I was confused; he +perceived it, and said to me, kindly: "I alarm you, Madame Campan; I come, +however, to comfort you; the Queen has told me how much she is hurt at the +injustice of several persons towards you. But how is it that you complain +of injustice and calumny when you see that we are victims of them? In +some of your companions it is jealousy; in the people belonging to the +Court it is anxiety. Our situation is so disastrous, and we have met with +so much ingratitude and treachery, that the apprehensions of those who +love us are excusable! I could quiet them by telling them all the secret +services you perform for us daily; but I will not do it. Out of good-will +to you they would repeat all I should say, and you would be lost with the +Assembly. It is much better, both for you and for us, that you should be +thought a constitutionalist. It has been mentioned to me a hundred times +already; I have never contradicted it; but I come to give you my word that +if we are fortunate enough to see an end of all this, I will, at the +Queen's residence, and in the presence of my brothers, relate the +important services you have rendered us, and I will recompense you and +your son for them." I threw myself at the King's feet and kissed his +hand. He raised me up, saying, "Come, come, do not grieve; the Queen, who +loves you, confides in you as I do." + +Down to the day of the acceptance it was impossible to introduce Barnave +into the interior of the palace; but when the Queen was free from the +inner guard she said she would see him. The very great precautions which +it was necessary for the deputy to take in order to conceal his connection +with the King and Queen compelled them to spend two hours waiting for him +in one of the corridors of the Tuileries, and all in vain. The first day +that he was to be admitted, a man whom Barnave knew to be dangerous having +met him in the courtyard of the palace, he determined to cross it without +stopping, and walked in the gardens in order to lull suspicion. I was +desired to wait for Barnave at a little door belonging to the entresols of +the palace, with my hand upon the open lock. I was in that position for +an hour. The King came to me frequently, and always to speak to me of the +uneasiness which a servant belonging to the Chateau, who was a patriot, +gave him. He came again to ask me whether I had heard the door called de +Decret opened. I assured him nobody had been in the corridor, and he +became easy. He was dreadfully apprehensive that his connection with +Barnave would be discovered. "It would," said the King, "be a ground for +grave accusations, and the unfortunate man would be lost." I then +ventured to remind his Majesty that as Barnave was not the only one in the +secret of the business which brought him in contact with their Majesties, +one of his colleagues might be induced to speak of the association with +which they were honoured, and that in letting them know by my presence +that I also was informed of it, a risk was incurred of removing from those +gentlemen part of the responsibility of the secret. Upon this observation +the King quitted me hastily and returned a moment afterwards with the +Queen. "Give me your place," said she; "I will wait for him in my turn. +You have convinced the King. We must not increase in their eyes the +number of persons informed of their communications with us." + +The police of M. de Laporte, intendant of the civil list, apprised him, as +early as the latter end of 1791, that a man belonging to the King's +offices who had set up as a pastrycook at the Palais Royal was about to +resume the duties of his situation, which had devolved upon him again on +the death of one who held it for life; that he was so furious a Jacobin +that he had dared to say it would be a good thing for France if the King's +days were shortened. His duty was confined to making the pastry; he was +closely watched by the head officers of the kitchen, who were devoted to +his Majesty; but it is so easy to introduce a subtle poison into made +dishes that it was determined the King and Queen should eat only plain +roast meat in future; that their bread should be brought to them by M. +Thierry de Ville-d'Avray, intendant of the smaller apartments, and that he +should likewise take upon himself to supply the wine. The King was fond +of pastry; I was directed to order some, as if for myself, sometimes of +one pastry-cook, and sometimes of another. The pounded sugar, too, was +kept in my room. The King, the Queen, and Madame Elisabeth ate together, +and nobody remained to wait on them. Each had a dumb waiter and a little +bell to call the servants when they were wanted. M. Thierry used himself +to bring me their Majesties' bread and wine, and I locked them up in a +private cupboard in the King's closet on the ground floor. As soon as the +King sat down to table I took in the pastry and bread. All was hidden +under the table lest it might be necessary to have the servants in. The +King thought it dangerous as well as distressing to show any apprehension +of attempts against his person, or any mistrust of his officers of the +kitchen. As he never drank a whole bottle of wine at his meals (the +Princesses drank nothing but water), he filled up that out of which he had +drunk about half from the bottle served up by the officers of his butlery. +I took it away after dinner. Although he never ate any other pastry than +that which I brought, he took care in the same manner that it should seem +that he had eaten of that served at table. The lady who succeeded me found +this duty all regulated, and she executed it in the same manner; the +public never was in possession of these particulars, nor of the +apprehensions which gave rise to them. At the end of three or four months +the police of M. de Laporte gave notice that nothing more was to be +dreaded from that sort of plot against the King's life; that the plan was +entirely changed; and that all the blows now to be struck would be +directed as much against the throne as against the person of the +sovereign. + +There are others besides myself who know that at this time one of the +things about which the Queen most desired to be satisfied was the opinion +of the famous Pitt. She would sometimes say to me, "I never pronounce the +name of Pitt without feeling a chill like that of death." (I repeat here +her very expressions.) "That man is the mortal enemy of France; and he +takes a dreadful revenge for the impolitic support given by the Cabinet of +Versailles to the American insurgents. He wishes by our destruction to +guarantee the maritime power of his country forever against the efforts +made by the King to improve his marine power and their happy results +during the last war. He knows that it is not only the King's policy but +his private inclination to be solicitous about his fleets, and that the +most active step he has taken during his whole reign was to visit the port +of Cherbourg. Pitt had served the cause of the French Revolution from the +first disturbances; he will perhaps serve it until its annihilation. I +will endeavour to learn to what point he intends to lead us, and I am +sending M.----- to London for that purpose. He has been intimately +connected with Pitt, and they have often had political conversations +respecting the French Government. I will get him to make him speak out, +at least so far as such a man can speak out." Some time afterwards the +Queen told me that her secret envoy was returned from London, and that all +he had been able to wring from Pitt, whom he found alarmingly reserved, +was that he would not suffer the French monarchy to perish; that to suffer +the revolutionary spirit to erect an organised republic in France would be +a great error, affecting the tranquillity of Europe. "Whenever," said +she, "Pitt expressed himself upon the necessity of supporting monarchy in +France, he maintained the most profound silence upon what concerns the +monarch. The result of these conversations is anything but encouraging; +but, even as to that monarchy which he wishes to save, will he have means +and strength to save it if he suffers us to fall?" + +The death of the Emperor Leopold took place on the 1st of March, 1792. +When the news of this event reached the Tuileries, the Queen was gone out. +Upon her return I put the letter containing it into her hands. She +exclaimed that the Emperor had been poisoned; that she had remarked and +preserved a newspaper, in which, in an article upon the sitting of the +Jacobins, at the time when the Emperor Leopold declared for the coalition, +it was said, speaking of him, that a pie-crust would settle that matter. +At this period Barnave obtained the Queen's consent that he should read +all the letters she should write. He was fearful of private +correspondences that might hamper the plan marked out for her; he +mistrusted her Majesty's sincerity on this point; and the diversity of +counsels, and the necessity of yielding, on the one hand, to some of the +views of the constitutionalists, and on the other, to those of the French +Princes, and even of foreign Courts, were unfortunately the circumstances +which most rapidly impelled the Court towards its ruin. + +However, the emigrants showed great apprehensions of the consequences +which might follow in the interior from a connection with the +constitutionalists, whom they described as a party existing only in idea, +and totally without means of repairing their errors. The Jacobins were +preferred to them, because, said they, there would be no treaty to be made +with any one at the moment of extricating the King and his family from the +abyss in which they were plunged. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +In the beginning of the year 1792, a worthy priest requested a private +interview with me. He had learned the existence of a new libel by Madame +de Lamotte. He told me that the people who came from London to get it +printed in Paris only desired gain, and that they were ready to deliver +the manuscript to him for a thousand louis, if he could find any friend of +the Queen disposed to make that sacrifice for her peace; that he had +thought of me, and if her Majesty would give him the twenty-four thousand +francs, he would hand the manuscript to me. + +I communicated this proposal to the Queen, who rejected it, and desired me +to answer that at the time when she had power to punish the hawkers of +these libels she deemed them so atrocious and incredible that she despised +them too much to stop them; that if she were imprudent and weak enough to +buy a single one of them, the Jacobins might possibly discover the +circumstance through their espionage; that were this libel brought up, it +would be printed nevertheless, and would be much more dangerous when they +apprised the public of the means she had used to suppress it. + +Baron d'Aubier, gentleman-in-ordinary to the King, and my particular +friend, had a good memory and a clear way of communicating the substance +of the debates and decrees of the National Assembly. I went daily to the +Queen's apartments to repeat all this to the King, who used to say, on +seeing me, "Ah! here's the Postillon par Calais,"--a newspaper of the +time. + +M. d'Aubier one day said to me: "The Assembly has been much occupied with +an information laid by the workmen of the Sevres manufactory. They +brought to the President's office a bundle of pamphlets which they said +were the life of Marie Antoinette. The director of the manufactory was +ordered up to the bar, and declared he had received orders to burn the +printed sheets in question in the furnaces used for baking his china." + +While I was relating this business to the Queen the King coloured and held +his head down over his plate. The Queen said to him, "Do you know +anything about this, Sire?" The King made no answer. Madame Elisabeth +requested him to explain what it meant. Louis was still silent. I +withdrew hastily. A few minutes afterwards the Queen came to my room and +informed me that the King, out of regard for her, had purchased the whole +edition struck off from the manuscript which I had mentioned to her, and +that M. de Laporte had not been able to devise any more secret way of +destroying the work than that of having it burnt at Sevres, among two +hundred workmen, one hundred and eighty of whom must, in all probability, +be Jacobins! She told me she had concealed her vexation from the King; +that he was in consternation, and that she could say nothing, since his +good intentions and his affection for her had been the cause of the +mistake. + +[M. de Laporte had by order of the King bought up the whole edition of the +"Memoirs" of the notorious Madame de Lamotte against the Queen. Instead +of destroying them immediately, he shut them up in one of the closets in +his house, The alarming and rapid growth of the rebellion, the arrogance +of the crowd of brigands, who in great measure composed the populace of +Paris, and the fresh excesses daily resulting from it, rendered the +intendant of the civil list apprehensive that some mob might break into +his house, carry off these "Memoirs," and spread them among the public. +In order to prevent this he gave orders to have the "Memoirs" burnt with +every necessary precaution; and the clerk who received the order entrusted +the execution of it to a man named Riston, a dangerous Intriguer, formerly +an advocate of Nancy, who had a twelve-month before escaped the gallows by +favour of the new principles and the patriotism of the new tribunals, +although convicted of forging the great seal, and fabricating decrees of +the council. This Riston, finding himself entrusted with a commission +which concerned her Majesty, and the mystery attending which bespoke +something of importance, was less anxious to execute it faithfully than to +make a parade of this mark of confidence. On the 30th of May, at ten in +the morning, he had the sheets carried to the porcelain manufactory at +Sevres, in a cart which he himself accompanied, and made a large fire of +them before all the workmen, who were expressly forbidden to approach it. +All these precautions, and the suspicions to which they gave rise, under +such critical circumstances, gave so much publicity to this affair that it +was denounced to the Assembly that very night. Brissot, and the whole +Jacobin party, with equal effrontery and vehemence, insisted that the +papers thus secretly burnt could be no other than the registers and +documents of the correspondence of the Austrian committee. M. de Laporte +was ordered to the bar, and there gave the most precise account of the +circumstances. Riston was also called up, and confirmed M. de Laporte's +deposition. But these explanations, however satisfactory, did not calm +the violent ferment raised in the Assembly by this affair.--"Memoirs of +Bertrand de Molleville."] + +Some time afterwards the Assembly received a denunciation against M. de +Montmorin. The ex-minister was accused of having neglected forty +despatches from M. Genet, the charge d'affaires from France in Russia, not +having even unsealed them, because M. Genet acted on constitutional +principles. M. de Montmorin appeared at the bar to answer this +accusation. Whatever distress I might feel in obeying the order I had +received from the King to go and give him an account of the sitting, I +thought I ought not to fail in doing so. But instead of giving my brother +his family name, I merely said "your Majesty's charge d'affaires at St. +Petersburg." + +The King did me the favour to say that he noticed a reserve in my account, +of which he approved. The Queen condescended to add a few obliging +remarks to those of the King. However, my office of journalist gave me in +this instance so much pain that I took an opportunity, when the King was +expressing his satisfaction to me at the manner in which I gave him this +daily account, to tell him that its merits belonged wholly to M. d'Aubier; +and I ventured to request the King to suffer that excellent man to give +him an account of the sittings himself. I assured the King that if he +would permit it, that gentleman might proceed to the Queen's apartments +through mine unseen; the King consented to the arrangement. Thenceforward +M. d'Aubier gave the King repeated proofs of zeal and attachment. + +The Cure of St. Eustache ceased to be the Queen's confessor when he took +the constitutional oath. I do not remember the name of the ecclesiastic +who succeeded him; I only know that he was conducted into her apartments +with the greatest mystery. Their Majesties did not perform their Easter +devotions in public, because they could neither declare for the +constitutional clergy, nor act so as to show that they were against them. + +The Queen did perform her Easter devotions in 1792; but she went to the +chapel attended only by myself. She desired me beforehand to request one +of my relations, who was her chaplain, to celebrate a mass for her at five +o'clock in the morning. It was still dark; she gave me her arm, and I +lighted her with a taper. I left her alone at the chapel door. She did +not return to her room until the dawn of day. + +Dangers increased daily. The Assembly were strengthened in the eyes of +the people by the hostilities of the foreign armies and the army of the +Princes. The communication with the latter party became more active; the +Queen wrote almost every day. M. de Goguelat possessed her confidence for +all correspondence with the foreign parties, and I was obliged to have him +in my apartments; the Queen asked for him very frequently, and at times +which she could not previously appoint. + +All parties were exerting themselves either to ruin or to save the King. +One day I found the Queen extremely agitated; she told me she no longer +knew where she was; that the leaders of the Jacobins offered themselves to +her through the medium of Dumouriez; or that Dumouriez, abandoning the +Jacobins, had come and offered himself to her; that she had granted him an +audience; that when alone with her, he had thrown himself at her feet, and +told her that he had drawn the 'bonnet rouge' over his head to the very +ears; but that he neither was nor could be a Jacobin; that the Revolution +had been suffered to extend even to that rabble of destroyers who, +thinking of nothing but pillage, were ripe for anything, and might furnish +the Assembly with a formidable army, ready to undermine the remains of a +throne already but too much shaken. Whilst speaking with the utmost +ardour he seized the Queen's hand and kissed it with transport, +exclaiming, "Suffer yourself to be saved!" The Queen told me that the +protestations of a traitor were not to be relied on; that the whole of his +conduct was so well known that undoubtedly the wisest course was not to +trust to it; + +[The sincerity of General Dumouriez cannot be doubted in this instance. +The second volume of his Memoirs shows how unjust the mistrust and +reproaches of the Queen were. By rejecting his services, Marie Antoinette +deprived herself of her only remaining support. He who saved France in +the defiles of Argonne would perhaps have saved France before the 20th of +June, had he obtained the full confidence of Louis XVI. and the +Queen.--NOTE BY THE EDITOR.] + +that, moreover, the Princes particularly recommended that no confidence +should be placed in any proposition emanating from within the kingdom; +that the force without became imposing; and that it was better to rely +upon their success, and upon the protection due from Heaven to a sovereign +so virtuous as Louis XVI. and to so just a cause. + +The constitutionalists, on their part, saw that there had been nothing +more than a pretence of listening to them. Barnave's last advice was as +to the means of continuing, a few weeks longer, the Constitutional Guard, +which had been denounced to the Assembly, and was to be disbanded. The +denunciation against the Constitutional Guard affected only its staff, and +the Duc de Brissac. Barnave wrote to the Queen that the staff of the +guard was already attacked; that the Assembly was about to pass a decree +to reduce it; and he entreated her to prevail on the King, the very +instant the decree should appear, to form the staff afresh of persons +whose names he sent her. Barnave said that all who were set down in it +passed for decided Jacobins, but were not so in fact; that they, as well +as himself, were in despair at seeing the monarchical government attacked; +that they had learnt to dissemble their sentiments, and that it would be +at least a fortnight before the Assembly could know them well, and +certainly before it could succeed in making them unpopular; that it would +be necessary to take advantage of that short space of time to get away +from Paris, immediately after their nomination. The Queen was of opinion +that she ought not to yield to this advice. The Duc de Brissac was sent +to Orleans, and the guard was disbanded. + +Barnave, seeing that the Queen did not follow his counsel in anything, and +convinced that she placed all her reliance on assistance from abroad, +determined to quit Paris. He obtained a last audience. "Your +misfortunes, Madame," said he, "and those which I anticipate for France, +determined me to sacrifice myself to serve you. I see, however, that my +advice does not agree with the views of your Majesties. I augur but +little advantage from the plan you are induced to pursue,--you are too +remote from your succours; you will be lost before they reach you. Most +ardently do I wish I may be mistaken in so lamentable a prediction; but I +am sure to pay with my head for the interest your misfortunes have raised +in me, and the services I have sought to render you. I request, for my +sole reward, the honour of kissing your hand." The Queen, her eyes +suffused with tears, granted him that favour, and remained impressed with +a favourable idea of his sentiments. Madame Elisabeth participated in +this opinion, and the two Princesses frequently spoke of Barnave. The +Queen also received M. Duport several times, but with less mystery. Her +connection with the constitutional deputies transpired. Alexandre de +Lameth was the only one of the three who survived the vengeance of the +Jacobins. + +[Barnave was arrested at Grenoble. He remained in prison in that town +fifteen months, and his friends began to hope that he would be forgotten, +when an order arrived that he should be removed to Paris. At first he was +imprisoned in the Abbaye, but transferred to the Conciergerie, and almost +immediately taken before the revolutionary tribunal. He appeared there +with wonderful firmness, summed up the services he had rendered to the +cause of liberty with his usual eloquence, and made such an impression +upon the numerous auditors that, although accustomed to behold only +conspirators worthy of death in all those who appeared before the +tribunal, they themselves considered his acquittal certain. The decree of +death was read amidst the deepest silence; but Barnave'a firmness was +immovable. When he left the court, he cast upon the judges, the jurors, +and the public looks expressive of contempt and indignation. He was led +to his fate with the respected Duport du Tertre, one of the last ministers +of Louis XVI. when he had ascended the scaffold, Barnave stamped, raised +his eyes to heaven, and said: "This, then, is the reward of all that I +have done for liberty!" He fell on the 29th of October, 1793, in the +thirty-second year of his age; his bust was placed in the Grenoble Museum. +The Consular Government placed his statue next to that of Vergniaud, on +the great staircase of the palace of the Senate.--"Biographie de +Bruxelles."] + +The National Guard, which succeeded the King's Guard, having occupied the +gates of the Tuileries, all who came to see the Queen were insulted with +impunity. Menacing cries were uttered aloud even in the Tuileries; they +called for the destruction of the throne, and the murder of the sovereign; +the grossest insults were offered by the very lowest of the mob. + +About this time the King fell into a despondent state, which amounted +almost to physical helplessness. He passed ten successive days without +uttering a single word, even in the bosom of his family; except, indeed, +when playing at backgammon after dinner with Madame Elisabeth. The Queen +roused him from this state, so fatal at a critical period, by throwing +herself at his feet, urging every alarming idea, and employing every +affectionate expression. She represented also what he owed to his family; +and told him that if they were doomed to fall they ought to fall +honourably, and not wait to be smothered upon the floor of their +apartment. + +About the 15th of June, 1792, the King refused his sanction to the two +decrees ordaining the deportation of priests and the formation of a camp +of twenty thousand men under the walls of Paris. He himself wished to +sanction them, and said that the general insurrection only waited for a +pretence to burst forth. The Queen insisted upon the veto, and reproached +herself bitterly when this last act of the constitutional authority had +occasioned the day of the 20th of June. + +A few days previously about twenty thousand men had gone to the Commune to +announce that, on the 20th, they would plant the tree of liberty at the +door of the National Assembly, and present a petition to the King +respecting the veto which he had placed upon the decree for the +deportation of the priests. This dreadful army crossed the garden of the +Tuileries, and marched under the Queen's windows; it consisted of people +who called themselves the citizens of the Faubourgs St. Antoine and St. +Marceau. Clothed in filthy rags, they bore a most terrifying appearance, +and even infected the air. People asked each other where such an army +could come from; nothing so disgusting had ever before appeared in Paris. + +On the 20th of June this mob thronged about the Tuileries in still greater +numbers, armed with pikes, hatchets, and murderous instruments of all +kinds, decorated with ribbons of the national colours, Shouting, "The +nation for ever! Down with the veto!" The King was without guards. Some +of these desperadoes rushed up to his apartment; the door was about to be +forced in, when the King commanded that it should be opened. Messieurs de +Bougainville, d'Hervilly, de Parois, d'Aubier, Acloque, Gentil, and other +courageous men who were in the apartment of M. de Septeuil, the King's +first valet de chambre, instantly ran to his Majesty's apartment. M. de +Bougainville, seeing the torrent furiously advancing, cried out, "Put the +King in the recess of the window, and place benches before him." Six +royalist grenadiers of the battalion of the Filles Saint Thomas made their +way by an inner staircase, and ranged themselves before the benches. The +order given by M. de Bougainville saved the King from the blades of the +assassins, among whom was a Pole named Lazousky, who was to strike the +first blow. The King's brave defenders said, "Sire, fear nothing." The +King's reply is well known: "Put your hand upon my heart, and you will +perceive whether I am afraid." M. Vanot, commandant of battalion, warded +off a blow aimed by a wretch against the King; a grenadier of the Filles +Saint Thomas parried a sword-thrust made in the same direction. Madame +Elisabeth ran to her brother's apartments; when she reached the door she +heard loud threats of death against the Queen: they called for the head of +the Austrian. "Ah! let them think I am the Queen," she said to those +around her, "that she may have time to escape." + +The Queen could not join the King; she was in the council chamber, where +she had been placed behind the great table to protect her, as much as +possible, against the approach of the barbarians. Preserving a noble and +becoming demeanour in this dreadful situation, she held the Dauphin before +her, seated upon the table. Madame was at her side; the Princesse de +Lamballe, the Princesse de Tarente, Madame de la Roche-Aymon, Madame de +Tourzel, and Madame de Mackau surrounded her. She had fixed a tricoloured +cockade, which one of the National Guard had given her, upon her head. +The poor little Dauphin was, like the King, shrouded in an enormous red +cap. The horde passed in files before the table; + +[One of the circumstances of the 20th of June which most vexed the King's +friends being that of his wearing the bonnet rouge nearly three hours, I +ventured to ask him for some explanation of a fact so strikingly in +contrast with the extraordinary intrepidity shown by his Majesty during +that horrible day. This was his answer: "The cries of 'The nation for +ever!' violently increasing around me, and seeming to be addressed to me, +I replied that the nation had not a warmer friend than myself. Upon this +an ill-looking man, making his way through the crowd, came up to me and +said, rather roughly, 'Well, if you speak the truth, prove it by putting +on this red cap.' 'I consent,' replied I. One or two of them immediately +came forward and placed the cap upon my hair, for it was too small for my +head. I was convinced, I knew not why, that his intention was merely to +place the cap upon my head for a moment, and then to take it off again; +and I was so completely taken up with what was passing before me that I +did not feel whether the cap did or did not remain upon my hair. I was so +little aware of it that when I returned to my room I knew only from being +told so that it was still there. I was very much surprised to find it +upon my head, and was the more vexed at it because I might have taken it +off immediately without the smallest difficulty. But I am satisfied that +if I had hesitated to consent to its being placed upon my head the drunken +fellow who offered it to me would have thrust his pike into my +stomach."--"Memoirs of Bertrand de Molleville."] + +the sort of standards which they carried were symbols of the most +atrocious barbarity. There was one representing a gibbet, to which a +dirty doll was suspended; the words "Marie Antoinette a la lanterne" were +written beneath it. Another was a board, to which a bullock's heart was +fastened, with "Heart of Louis XVI." written round it. And a third showed +the horn of an ox, with an obscene inscription. + +One of the most furious Jacobin women who marched with these wretches +stopped to give vent to a thousand imprecations against the Queen. Her +Majesty asked whether she had ever seen her. She replied that she had +not. Whether she had done her any, personal wrong? Her answer was the +same; but she added: + +"It is you who have caused the misery of the nation." + +"You have been told so," answered the Queen; "you are deceived. As the +wife of the King of France, and mother of the Dauphin, I am a +French-woman; I shall never see my own country again, I can be happy or +unhappy only in France; I was happy when you loved me." + +The fury began to weep, asked her pardon, and said, "It was because I did +not know you; I see that you are good." + +Santerre, the monarch of the faubourgs, made his subjects file off as +quickly as he could; and it was thought at the time that he was ignorant +of the object of this insurrection, which was the murder of the royal +family. However, it was eight o'clock in the evening before the palace +was completely cleared. Twelve deputies, impelled by attachment to the +King's person, ranged themselves near him at the commencement of the +insurrection; but the deputation from the Assembly did not reach the +Tuileries until six in the evening; all the doors of the apartments were +broken. The Queen pointed out to the deputies the state of the King's +palace, and the disgraceful manner in which his asylum had been violated +under the very eyes of the Assembly; she saw that Merlin de Thionville was +so much affected as to shed tears while she spoke. + +"You weep, M. Merlin," said she to him, "at seeing the King and his family +so cruelly treated by a people whom he always wished to make happy." + +"True, Madame," replied Merlin; "I weep for the misfortunes of a beautiful +and feeling woman, the mother of a family; but do not mistake, not one of +my tears falls for either King or Queen; I hate kings and queens,--it is +my religion." + +The Queen could not appreciate this madness, and saw all that was to be +apprehended by persons who evinced it. + +All hope was gone, and nothing was thought of but succour from abroad. The +Queen appealed to her family and the King's brothers; her letters probably +became more pressing, and expressed apprehensions upon the tardiness of +relief. Her Majesty read me one to herself from the Archduchess +Christina, Gouvernante of the Low Countries: she reproached the Queen for +some of her expressions, and told her that those out of France were at +least as much alarmed as herself at the King's situation and her own; but +that the manner of attempting to assist her might either save her or +endanger her safety; and that the members of the coalition were bound to +act prudently, entrusted as they were with interests so dear to them. + +The 14th of July, 1792, fixed by the constitution as the anniversary of +the independence of the nation drew near. The King and Queen were +compelled to make their appearance on the occasion; aware that the plot of +the 20th of June had their assassination for its object, they had no doubt +but that their death was determined on for the day of this national +festival. The Queen was recommended, in order to give the King's friends +time to defend him if the attack should be made, to guard him against the +first stroke of a dagger by making him wear a breastplate. I was directed +to get one made in my apartments: it was composed of fifteen folds of +Italian taffety, and formed into an under-waistcoat and a wide belt. This +breastplate was tried; it resisted all thrusts of the dagger, and several +balls were turned aside by it. When it was completed the difficulty was +to let the King try it on without running the risk of being surprised. I +wore the immense heavy waistcoat as an under-petticoat for three days +without being able to find a favourable moment. At length the King found +an opportunity one morning to pull off his coat in the Queen's chamber and +try on the breastplate. + +The Queen was in bed; the King pulled me gently by the gown, and drew me +as far as he could from the Queen's bed, and said to me, in a very low +tone of voice: "It is to satisfy her that I submit to this inconvenience: +they will not assassinate me; their scheme is changed; they will put me to +death another way." The Queen heard the King whispering to me, and when +he was gone out she asked me what he had said. I hesitated to answer; she +insisted that I should, saying that nothing must be concealed from her, +and that she was resigned upon every point. + +When she was informed of the King's remark she told me she had guessed it, +that he had long since observed to her that all which was going forward in +France was an imitation of the revolution in England in the time of +Charles I., and that he was incessantly reading the history of that +unfortunate monarch in order that he might act better than Charles had +done at a similar crisis. "I begin to be fearful of the King's being +brought to trial," continued the Queen; "as to me, I am a foreigner; they +will assassinate me. What will become of my poor children?" + +These sad ejaculations were followed by a torrent of tears. I wished to +give her an antispasmodic; she refused it, saying that only happy women +could feel nervous; that the cruel situation to which she was reduced +rendered these remedies useless. In fact, the Queen, who during her +happier days was frequently attacked by hysterical disorders, enjoyed more +uniform health when all the faculties of her soul were called forth to +support her physical strength. + +I had prepared a corset for her, for the same purpose as the King's +under-waistcoat, without her knowledge; but she would not make use of it; +all my entreaties, all my tears, were in vain. "If the factions +assassinate me," she replied, "it will be a fortunate event for me; they +will deliver me from a most painful existence." A few days after the King +had tried on his breastplate I met him on a back staircase. I drew back +to let him pass. He stopped and took my hand; I wished to kiss his; he +would not suffer it, but drew me towards him by the hand, and kissed both +my cheeks without saying a single word. + +The fear of another attack upon the Tuileries occasioned scrupulous search +among the King's papers + +I burnt almost all those belonging to the Queen. She put her family +letters, a great deal of correspondence which she thought it necessary to +preserve for the history of the era of the Revolution, and particularly +Barnave's letters and her answers, of which she had copies, into a +portfolio, which she entrusted to M. de J----. That gentleman was unable +to save this deposit, and it was burnt. The Queen left a few papers in +her secretaire. Among them were instructions to Madame de Tourzel, +respecting the dispositions of her children and the characters and +abilities of the sub-governesses under that lady's orders. This paper, +which the Queen drew up at the time of Madame de Tourzel's appointment, +with several letters from Maria Theresa, filled with the best advice and +instructions, was printed after the 10th of August by order of the +Assembly in the collection of papers found in the secretaires of the King +and Queen. + +Her Majesty had still, without reckoning the income of the month, one +hundred and forty thousand francs in gold. She was desirous of depositing +the whole of it with me; but I advised her to retain fifteen hundred +louis, as a sum of rather considerable amount might be suddenly necessary +for her. The King had an immense quantity of papers, and unfortunately +conceived the idea of privately making, with the assistance of a locksmith +who had worked with him above ten years, a place of concealment in an +inner corridor of his apartments. The place of concealment, but for the +man's information, would have been long undiscovered? The wall in which +it was made was painted to imitate large stones, and the opening was +entirely concealed among the brown grooves which formed the shaded part of +these painted stones. But even before this locksmith had denounced what +was afterwards called the iron closet to the Assembly, the Queen was aware +that he had talked of it to some of his friends; and that this man, in +whom the King from long habit placed too much confidence, was a Jacobin. +She warned the King of it, and prevailed on him to fill a very large +portfolio with all the papers he was most interested in preserving, and +entrust it to me. She entreated him in my presence to leave nothing in +this closet; and the King, in order to quiet her, told her that he had +left nothing there. I would have taken the portfolio and carried it to my +apartment, but it was too heavy for me to lift. The King said he would +carry it himself; I went before to open the doors for him. When he placed +the portfolio in my inner closet he merely said, "The Queen will tell you +what it contains." Upon my return to the Queen I put the question to her, +deeming, from what the King had said, that it was necessary I should know. +"They are," the Queen answered me, "such documents as would be most +dangerous to the King should they go so far as to proceed to a trial +against him. But what he wishes me to tell you is, that the portfolio +contains a 'proces-verbal' of a cabinet council, in which the King gave +his opinion against the war. He had it signed by all the ministers, and, +in case of a trial, he trusts that this document will be very useful to +him." I asked the Queen to whom she thought I ought to commit the +portfolio. "To whom you please," answered she; "you alone are answerable +for it. Do not quit the palace even during your vacation months: there +may be circumstances under which it would be very desirable that we should +be able to have it instantly." + +At this period M. de La Fayette, who had probably given up the idea of +establishing a republic in France similar to that of the United States, +and was desirous to support the first constitution which he had sworn to +defend, quitted his army and came to the Assembly for the purpose of +supporting by his presence and by an energetic speech a petition signed by +twenty thousand citizens against the late violation of the residence of +the King and his family. The General found the constitutional party +powerless, and saw that he himself had lost his popularity. The Assembly +disapproved of the step he had taken; the King, for whom it, was taken, +showed no satisfaction at it, and he saw himself compelled to return to +his army as quickly as he could. He thought he could rely on the National +Guard; but on the day of his arrival those officers who were in the King's +interest inquired of his Majesty whether they were to forward the views of +Gendral de La Fayette by joining him in such measures as he should pursue +during his stay at Paris. The King enjoined them not to do so. From this +answer M. de La Fayette perceived that he was abandoned by the remainder +of his party in the Paris guard. + +On his arrival a plan was presented to the Queen, in which it was proposed +by a junction between La Fayette's army and the King's party to rescue the +royal family and convey them to Rouen. I did not learn the particulars of +this plan; the Queen only said to me upon the subject that M. de La +Fayette was offered to them as a resource; but that it would be better for +them to perish than to owe their safety to the man who had done them the +most mischief, or to place themselves under the necessity of treating with +him. + +I passed the whole month of July without going to bed; I was fearful of +some attack by night. There was one plot against the Queen's life which +has never been made known. I was alone by her bedside at one o'clock in +the morning; we heard somebody walking softly down the corridor, which +passes along the whole line of her apartments, and which was then locked +at each end. I went out to fetch the valet de chambre; he entered the +corridor, and the Queen and myself soon heard the noise of two men +fighting. The unfortunate Princess held me locked in her arms, and said +to me, "What a situation! insults by day and assassins by night!" The +valet de chambre cried out to her from the corridor, "Madame, it is a +wretch that I know; I have him!"--"Let him go," said the Queen; "open the +door to him; he came to murder me; the Jacobins would carry him about in +triumph to-morrow." The man was a servant of the King's toilet, who had +taken the key of the corridor out of his Majesty's pocket after he was in +bed, no doubt with the intention of committing the crime suspected. The +valet de chambre, who was a very strong man, held him by the wrists, and +thrust him out at the door. The wretch did not speak a word. The valet +de chambre said, in answer to the Queen, who spoke to him gratefully of +the danger to which he had exposed himself, that he feared nothing, and +that he had always a pair of excellent pistols about him for no other +purpose than to defend her Majesty. The next day M. de Septeuil had all +the locks of the King's inner apartments changed. I did the same by those +of the Queen. + +We were every moment told that the Faubourg St. Antoine was preparing to +march against the palace. At four o'clock one morning towards the latter +end of July a person came to give me information to that effect. I +instantly sent off two men, on whom I could rely, with orders to proceed +to the usual places for assembling, and to come back speedily and give me +an account of the state of the city. We knew that at least an hour must +elapse before the populace or the faubourgs assembled on the site of the +Bastille could reach the Tuileries. It seemed to me sufficient for the +Queen's safety that all about her should be awakened. I went softly into +her room; she was asleep; I did not awaken her. I found General de +W----in the great closet; he told me the meeting was, for this once, +dispersing. The General had endeavoured to please the populace by the +same means as M. de La Fayette had employed. He saluted the lowest +poissarde, and lowered his hat down to his very stirrup. But the populace, +who had been flattered for three years, required far different homage to +its power, and the poor man was unnoticed. The King had been awakened, +and so had Madame Elisabeth, who had gone to him. The Queen, yielding to +the weight of her griefs, slept till nine o'clock on that day, which was +very unusual with her. The King had already been to know whether she was +awake; I told him what I had done, and the care I had taken not to disturb +her. He thanked me, and said, "I was awake, and so was the whole palace; +she ran no risk. I am very glad to see her take a little rest. Alas! her +griefs double mine!" What was my chagrin when, upon awaking and learning +what had passed, the Queen burst into tears from regret at not having been +called, and began to upbraid me, on whose friendship she ought to have +been able to rely, for having served her so ill under such circumstances! +In vain did I reiterate that it had been only a false alarm, and that she +required to have her strength recruited. "It is not diminished," said she; +"misfortune gives us additional strength. Elisabeth was with the King, +and I was asleep,--I who am determined to perish by his side! I am his +wife; I will not suffer him to incur the smallest risk without my sharing +it." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +During July the correspondence of M. Bertrand de Molleville with the King +and Queen was most active. M. de Marsilly, formerly a lieutenant of the +Cent-Suisses of the Guard, was the bearer of the letters. + +[I received by night only the King's answer, written with his own hand, in +the margin of my letter. I always sent him back with the day's letter +that to which he had replied the day before, so that my letters and his +answers, of which I contented myself with taking notes only, never +remained with me twenty-four hours. I proposed this arrangement to his +Majesty to remove all uneasiness from his mind; my letters were generally +delivered to the King or the Queen by M. de Marsilly, captain of the +King's Guard, whose attachment and fidelity were known to their Majesties. +I also sometimes employed M. Bernard de Marigny, who had left Brest for +the purpose of sharing with his Majesty's faithful servants the dangers +which threatened the King.--"Memoirs of Bertrand de Molleville," vol. +ii., p. 12.] + +He came to me the first time with a note from the Queen directed to M. +Bertrand himself. In this note the Queen said: "Address yourself with +full confidence to Madame Campan; the conduct of her brother in Russia has +not at all influenced her sentiments; she is wholly devoted to us; and if, +hereafter, you should have anything to say to us verbally, you may rely +entirely upon her devotion and discretion." + +The mobs which gathered almost nightly in the faubourgs alarmed the +Queen's friends; they entreated her not to sleep in her room on the ground +floor of the Tuileries. She removed to the first floor, to a room which +was between the King's apartments and those of the Dauphin. Being awake +always from daybreak, she ordered that neither the shutters nor the +window-blinds should be closed, that her long sleepless nights might be +the less weary. About the middle of one of these nights, when the moon +was shining into her bedchamber, she gazed at it, and told me that in a +month she should not see that moon unless freed from her chains, and +beholding the King at liberty. She then imparted to me all that was +concurring to deliver them; but said that the opinions of their intimate +advisers were alarmingly at variance; that some vouched for complete +success, while others pointed out insurmountable dangers. She added that +she possessed the itinerary of the march of the Princes and the King of +Prussia: that on such a day they would be at Verdun, on another day at +such a place, that Lille was about to be besieged, but that M. de J-----, +whose prudence and intelligence the King, as well as herself, highly +valued, alarmed them much respecting the success of that siege, and made +them apprehensive that, even were the commandant devoted to them, the +civil authority, which by the constitution gave great power to the mayors +of towns, would overrule the military commandant. She was also very +uneasy as to what would take place at Paris during the interval, and spoke +to me of the King's want of energy, but always in terms expressive of her +veneration for his virtues and her attachment to himself.--"The King," +said she, "is not a coward; he possesses abundance of passive courage, but +he is overwhelmed by an awkward shyness, a mistrust of himself, which +proceeds from his education as much as from his disposition. He is afraid +to command, and, above all things, dreads speaking to assembled numbers. +He lived like a child, and always ill at ease under the eyes of Louis XV., +until the age of twenty-one. This constraint confirmed his timidity. + +"Circumstanced as we are, a few well-delivered words addressed to the +Parisians, who are devoted to him, would multiply the strength of our +party a hundredfold: he will not utter them. What can we expect from +those addresses to the people which he has been advised to post up? +Nothing but fresh outrages. As for myself, I could do anything, and would +appear on horseback if necessary. But if I were really to begin to act, +that would be furnishing arms to the King's enemies; the cry against the +Austrian, and against the sway of a woman, would become general in France; +and, moreover, by showing myself, I should render the King a mere nothing. +A queen who is not regent ought, under these circumstances, to remain +passive and prepare to die." + +The garden of the Tuileries was full of maddened men, who insulted all who +seemed to side with the Court. "The Life of Marie Antoinette" was cried +under the Queen's windows, infamous plates were annexed to the book, the +hawkers showed them to the passersby. On all sides were heard the +jubilant outcries of a people in a state of delirium almost as frightful +as the explosion of their rage. The Queen and her children were unable to +breathe the open air any longer. It was determined that the garden of the +Tuileries should be closed: as soon as this step was taken the Assembly +decreed that the whole length of the Terrace des Feuillans belonged to it, +and fixed the boundary between what was called the national ground and the +Coblentz ground by a tricoloured ribbon stretched from one end of the +terrace to the other. All good citizens were ordered, by notices affixed +to it, not to go down into the garden, under pain of being treated in the +same manner as Foulon and Berthier. A young man who did not observe this +written order went down into the garden; furious outcries, threats of la +lanterne, and the crowd of people which collected upon the terrace warned +him of his imprudence, and the danger which he ran. He immediately pulled +off his shoes, took out his handkerchief, and wiped the dust from their +soles. The people cried out, "Bravo! the good citizen for ever!" He was +carried off in triumph. The shutting up of the Tuileries did not enable +the Queen and her children to walk in the garden. The people on the +terrace sent forth dreadful shouts, and she was twice compelled to return +to her apartments. + +In the early part of August many zealous persons offered the King money; +he refused considerable sums, being unwilling to injure the fortunes of +individuals. M. de la Ferte, intendant of the 'menus plaisirs', brought +me a thousand louis, requesting me to lay them at the feet of the Queen. +He thought she could not have too much money at so perilous a time, and +that every good Frenchman should hasten to place all his ready money in +her hands. She refused this sum, and others of much greater amount which +were offered to her. + +[M. Auguie, my brother-in-law, receiver-general of the finances, offered +her, through his wife, a portfolio containing one hundred thousand crowns +in paper money. On this occasion the Queen said the most affecting things +to my sister, expressive of her happiness at having contributed to the +fortunes of such faithful subjects as herself and her husband, but +declined her offer.--MADAME CAMPAN.] + +However, a few days afterwards, she told me she would accept M. de la +Ferte's twenty-four thousand francs, because they would make up a sum +which the King had to expend. She therefore directed, me to go and +receive those twenty-four thousand francs, to add them to the one hundred +thousand francs she had placed in my hands, and to change the whole into +assignats to increase their amount. Her orders were executed, and the +assignats were delivered to the King. The Queen informed me that Madame +Elisabeth had found a well-meaning man who had engaged to gain over Petion +by the bribe of a large sum of money, and that deputy would, by a +preconcerted signal, inform the King of the success of the project. His +Majesty soon had an opportunity of seeing Petion, and on the Queen asking +him before me if he was satisfied with him, the King replied, "Neither +more nor less satisfied than usual; he did not make the concerted signal, +and I believe I have been cheated." The Queen then condescended to +explain the whole of the enigma to me. "Petion," said she, "was, while +talking to the King, to have kept his finger fixed upon his right eye for +at least two seconds."--"He did not even put his hand up to his chin," +said the King; "after all, it is but so much money stolen: the thief will +not boast of it, and the affair will remain a secret. Let us talk of +something else." He turned to me and said, "Your father was an intimate +friend of Mandat, who now commands the National Guard; describe him to me; +what ought I to expect from him?" I answered that he was one of his +Majesty's most faithful subjects, but that with a great deal of loyalty he +possessed very little sense, and that he was involved in the +constitutional vortex. "I understand," said the King; "he is a man who +would defend my palace and my person, because that is enjoined by the +constitution which he has sworn to support, but who would fight against +the party in favour of sovereign authority; it is well to know this with +certainty." + +On the next day the Princesse de Lamballe sent for me very early in the +morning. I found her on a sofa facing a window that looked upon the Pont +Royal. She then occupied that apartment of the Pavilion of Flora which +was on a level with that of the Queen. She desired me to sit down by her. +Her Highness had a writing-desk upon her knees. "You have had many +enemies," said she; "attempts have been made to deprive you of the Queen's +favour; they have been far from successful. Do you know that even I +myself, not being so well acquainted with you as the Queen, was rendered +suspicious of you; and that upon the arrival of the Court at the Tuileries +I gave you a companion to be a spy upon you; and that I had another +belonging to the police placed at your door! I was assured that you +received five or six of the most virulent deputies of the Tiers Etat; but +it was that wardrobe woman whose rooms were above you. + +"In short," said the Princess, "persons of integrity have nothing to fear +from the evil-disposed when they belong to so upright a prince as the +King. As to the Queen, she knows you, and has loved you ever since she +came into France. You shall judge of the King's opinion of you: it was +yesterday evening decided in the family circle that, at a time when the +Tuileries is likely to be attacked, it was necessary to have the most +faithful account of the opinions and conduct of all the individuals +composing the Queen's service. The King takes the same precaution on his +part respecting all who are about him. He said there was with him a +person of great integrity, to whom he would commit this inquiry; and that, +with regard to the Queen's household, you must be spoken to, that he had +long studied your character, and that he esteemed your veracity." + +The Princess had a list of the names of all who belonged to the Queen's +chamber on her desk. She asked me for information respecting each +individual. I was fortunate in having none but the most favourable +information to give. I had to speak of my avowed enemy in the Queen's +chamber; of her who most wished that I should be responsible for my +brother's political opinions. The Princess, as the head of the chamber, +could not be ignorant of this circumstance; but as the person in question, +who idolised the King and Queen, would not have hesitated to sacrifice her +life in order to save theirs, and as possibly her attachment to them, +united to considerable narrowness of intellect and a limited education, +contributed to her jealousy of me, I spoke of her in the highest terms. + +The Princess wrote as I dictated, and occasionally looked at me with +astonishment. When I had done I entreated her to write in the margin that +the lady alluded to was my declared enemy. She embraced me, saying, "Ah! +do not write it! we should not record an unhappy circumstance which ought +to be forgotten." We came to a man of genius who was much attached to the +Queen, and I described him as a man born solely to contradict, showing +himself an aristocrat with democrats, and a democrat among aristocrats; +but still a man of probity, and well disposed to his sovereign. The +Princess said she knew many persons of that disposition, and that she was +delighted I had nothing to say against this man, because she herself had +placed him about the Queen. + +The whole of her Majesty's chamber, which consisted entirely of persons of +fidelity, gave throughout all the dreadful convulsions of the Revolution +proofs of the greatest prudence and self-devotion. The same cannot be +said of the antechambers. With the exception of three or four, all the +servants of that class were outrageous Jacobins; and I saw on those +occasions the necessity of composing the private household of princes of +persons completely separated from the class of the people. + +The situation of the royal family was so unbearable during the months +which immediately preceded the 10th of August that the Queen longed for +the crisis, whatever might be its issue. She frequently said that a long +confinement in a tower by the seaside would seem to her less intolerable +than those feuds in which the weakness of her party daily threatened an +inevitable catastrophe. + +[A few days before the 10th of August the squabbles between the royalists +and the Jacobins, and between the Jacobins and the constitutionalists, +increased in warmth; among the latter those men who defended the +principles they professed with the greatest talent, courage, and constancy +were at the same time the most exposed to danger. Montjoie says: "The +question of dethronement was discussed with a degree of frenzy in the +Assembly. Such of the deputies as voted against it were abused, ill +treated, and surrounded by assassins. They had a battle to fight at every +step they took; and at length they did not dare to sleep in their own +houses. Of this number were Regnault de Beaucaron, Froudiere, Girardin, +and Vaublanc. Girardin complained of having been struck in one of the +lobbies of the Assembly. A voice cried out to him, 'Say where were you +struck.' 'Where?' replied Girardin, 'what a question! Behind. Do +assassins ever strike otherwise?"] + +Not only were their Majesties prevented from breathing the open air, but +they were also insulted at the very foot of the altar. The Sunday before +the last day of the monarchy, while the royal family went through the +gallery to the chapel, half the soldiers of the National Guard exclaimed, +"Long live the King!" and the other half, "No; no King! Down with the +veto!" and on that day at vespers the choristers preconcerted to use loud +and threatening emphasis when chanting the words, "Deposuit potentes de +sede," in the "Magnificat." Incensed at such an irreverent proceeding, +the royalists in their turn thrice exclaimed, "Et reginam," after the +"Domine salvum fac regem." The tumult during the whole time of divine +service was excessive. + +At length the terrible night of the 10th of August, 1792, arrived. On the +preceding evening Potion went to the Assembly and informed it that +preparations were making for an insurrection on the following day; that +the tocsin would sound at midnight; and that he feared he had not +sufficient means for resisting the attack which was about to take place. +Upon this information the Assembly passed to the order of the day. Petion, +however, gave an order for repelling force by force. + +[Petion was the Mayor of Paris, and Mandat on this day was commandant of +the National Guard. Mandat was assassinated that night.--"Thiers," vol. +i., p. 260.] + +M. Mandat was armed with this order; and, finding his fidelity to the +King's person supported by what he considered the law of the State, he +conducted himself in all his operations with the greatest energy. On the +evening of the 9th I was present at the King's supper. While his Majesty +was giving me various orders we heard a great noise at the door of the +apartment. I went to see what was the cause of it, and found the two +sentinels fighting. One said, speaking of the King, that he was hearty in +the cause of the constitution, and would defend it at the peril of his +life; the other maintained that he was an encumbrance to the only +constitution suitable to a free people. They were almost ready to cut one +another's throats. I returned with a countenance which betrayed my +emotion. The King desired to know what was going forward at his door; I +could not conceal it from him. The Queen said she was not at all +surprised at it, and that more than half the guard belonged to the Jacobin +party. + +The tocsin sounded at midnight. The Swiss were drawn up like walls; and +in the midst of their soldierlike silence, which formed a striking +contrast with the perpetual din of the town guard, the King informed M. de +J-----, an officer of the staff, of the plan of defence laid down by +General Viomenil. M. de J----- said to me, after this private conference, +"Put your jewels and money into your pockets; our dangers are unavoidable; +the means of defence are nil; safety might be obtained by some degree of +energy in the King, but that is the only virtue in which he is deficient." + +An hour after midnight the Queen and Madame Elisabeth said they would lie +down on a sofa in a room in the entresols, the windows of which commanded +the courtyard of the Tuileries. + +The Queen told me the King had just refused to put on his quilted +under-waistcoat; that he had consented to wear it on the 14th of July +because he was merely going to a ceremony where the blade of an assassin +was to be apprehended, but that on a day on which his party might fight +against the revolutionists he thought there was something cowardly in +preserving his life by such means. + +During this time Madame Elisabeth disengaged herself from some of her +clothing which encumbered her in order to lie down on the sofa: she took a +cornelian pin out of her cape, and before she laid it down on the table +she showed it to me, and desired me to read a motto engraved upon it round +a stalk of lilies. The words were, "Oblivion of injuries; pardon for +offences."--"I much fear," added that virtuous Princess, "this maxim has +but little influence among our enemies; but it ought not to be less dear +to us on that account." + +[The exalted piety of Madame Elisabeth gave to all she said and did a +noble character, descriptive of that of her soul. On the day on which +this worthy descendant of Saint Louis was sacrificed, the executioner, in +tying her hands behind her, raised up one of the ends of her handkerchief. +Madame Elisabeth, with calmness, and in a voice which seemed not to belong +to earth, said to him, "In the name of modesty, cover my bosom." I +learned this from Madame de Serilly, who was condemned the same day as the +Princess, but who obtained a respite at the moment of the execution, +Madame de Montmorin, her relation, declaring that her cousin was +enceinte.-MADAME CAMPAN.] + +The Queen desired me to sit down by her; the two Princesses could not +sleep; they were conversing mournfully upon their situation when a musket +was discharged in the courtyard. They both quitted the sofa, saying, +"There is the first shot, unfortunately it will not be the last; let us go +up to the King." The Queen desired me to follow her; several of her women +went with me. + +At four o'clock the Queen came out of the King's chamber and told us she +had no longer any hope; that M. Mandat, who had gone to the Hotel de Ville +to receive further orders, had just been assassinated, and that the people +were at that time carrying his head about the streets. Day came. The +King, the Queen, Madame Elisabeth, Madame, and the Dauphin went down to +pass through the ranks of the sections of the National Guard; the cry of +"Vive le Roi!" was heard from a few places. I was at a window on the +garden side; I saw some of the gunners quit their posts, go up to the +King, and thrust their fists in his face, insulting him by the most brutal +language. Messieurs de Salvert and de Bridges drove them off in a +spirited manner. The King was as pale as a corpse. The royal family came +in again. The Queen told me that all was lost; that the King had shown no +energy; and that this sort of review had done more harm than good. + +I was in the billiard-room with my companions; we placed ourselves upon +some high benches. I then saw M. d'Hervilly with a drawn sword in his +hand, ordering the usher to open the door to the French noblesse. Two +hundred persons entered the room nearest to that in which the family were; +others drew up in two lines in the preceding rooms. I saw a few people +belonging to the Court, many others whose features were unknown to me, and +a few who figured technically without right among what was called the +noblesse, but whose self-devotion ennobled them at once. They were all so +badly armed that even in that situation the indomitable French liveliness +indulged in jests. M. de Saint-Souplet, one of the King's equerries, and +a page, carried on their shoulders instead of muskets the tongs belonging +to the King's antechamber, which they had broken and divided between them. +Another page, who had a pocket-pistol in his hand, stuck the end of it +against the back of the person who stood before him, and who begged he +would be good enough to rest it elsewhere. A sword and a pair of pistols +were the only arms of those who had had the precaution to provide +themselves with arms at all. Meanwhile, the numerous bands from the +faubourgs, armed with pikes and cutlasses, filled the Carrousel and the +streets adjacent to the Tuileries. The sanguinary Marseillais were at +their head, with cannon pointed against the Chateau. In this emergency +the King's Council sent M. Dejoly, the Minister of Justice, to the +Assembly to request they would send the King a deputation which might +serve as a safeguard to the executive power. His ruin was resolved on; +they passed to the order of the day. At eight o'clock the department +repaired to the Chateau. The procureur-syndic, seeing that the guard +within was ready to join the assailants, went into the King's closet and +requested to speak to him in private. The King received him in his +chamber; the Queen was with him. There M. Roederer told him that the +King, all his family, and the people about them would inevitably perish +unless his Majesty immediately determined to go to the National Assembly. +The Queen at first opposed this advice, but the procureur-syndic told her +that she rendered herself responsible for the deaths of the King, her +children, and all who were in the palace. She no longer objected. The +King then consented to go to the Assembly. As he set out, he said to the +minister and persons who surrounded him, "Come, gentlemen, there is +nothing more to be done here." + +["The King hesitated, the Queen manifested the highest dissatisfaction. +'What!' said she,' are we alone; is there nobody who can act?'--'Yes, +Madame, alone; action is useless--resistance is impossible.' One of the +members of the department, M. Gerdrot, insisted on the prompt execution of +the proposed measure. 'Silence, monsieur,' said the Queen to him; +'silence; you are the only person who ought to be silent here; when the +mischief is done, those who did it should not pretend to wish to remedy +it.' . . . + +"The King remained mute; nobody spoke. It was reserved for me to give the +last piece of advice. I had the firmness to say, 'Let us go, and not +deliberate; honour commands it, the good of the State requires it. Let us +go to the National Assembly; this step ought to have been taken long ago: +'Let us go,' said the King, raising his right hand; 'let us start; let us +give this last mark of self-devotion, since it is necessary.' The Queen +was persuaded. Her first anxiety was for the King, the second for her +son; the King had none. 'M. Roederer--gentlemen,' said the Queen, 'you +answer for the person of the King; you answer for that of my +son.'--'Madame,' replied M. Roederer, 'we pledge ourselves to die at your +side; that is all we can engage for.'"--MONTJOIE, "History of Marie +Antoinette."] + +The Queen said to me as she left the King's chamber, "Wait in my +apartments; I will come to you, or I will send for you to go I know not +whither." She took with her only the Princesse de Lamballe and Madame de +Tourzel. The Princesse de Tarente and Madame de la Roche-Aymon were +inconsolable at being left at the Tuileries; they, and all who belonged to +the chamber, went down into the Queen's apartments. + +We saw the royal family pass between two lines formed by the Swiss +grenadiers and those of the battalions of the Petits-Peres and the Filles +Saint Thomas. They were so pressed upon by the crowd that during that +short passage the Queen was robbed of her watch and purse. A man of great +height and horrible appearance, one of such as were to be seen at the head +of all the insurrections, drew near the Dauphin, whom the Queen was +leading by the hand, and took him up in his arms. The Queen uttered a +scream of terror, and was ready to faint. The man said to her, "Don't be +frightened, I will do him no harm;" and he gave him back to her at the +entrance of the chamber. + +I leave to history all the details of that too memorable day, confining +myself to recalling a few of the frightful scenes acted in the interior of +the Tuileries after the King had quitted the palace. + +The assailants did not know that the King and his family had betaken +themselves to the Assembly; and those who defended the palace from the +aide of the courts were equally ignorant of it. It is supposed that if +they had been aware of the fact the siege would never have taken place. + +[In reading of the events of the 10th of August, 1792, the reader must +remember that there was hardly any armed force to resist the mob. The +regiments that had shown signs of being loyal to the King had been removed +from Paris by the Assembly. The Swiss had been deprived of their own +artillery, and the Court had sent one of their battalions into Normandy at +a time when there was an idea of taking refuge there. The National Guard +were either disloyal or disheartened, and the gunners, especially of that +force at the Tuileries, sympathised with the mob. Thus the King had about +800 or 900 Swiss and little more than one battalion of the National Guard. +Mandat, one of the six heads of the legions of the National Guard, to +whose turn the command fell on that day, was true to his duty, but was +sent for to the Hotel de Ville and assassinated. Still the small force, +even after the departure of the King, would have probably beaten off the +mob had not the King given the fatal order to the Swiss to cease firing. +(See Thiers's "Revolution Francaise," vol. i., chap. xi.) Bonaparte's +opinion of the mob may be judged by his remarks on the 20th June, 1792, +when, disgusted at seeing the King appear with the red cap on his head, he +exclaimed, "Che coglione! Why have they let in all that rabble? Why +don't they sweep off 400 or 500 of them with the cannon? The rest would +then set off." ("Bourrienne," vol. i., p.13, Bentley, London, 1836.) +Bonaparte carried out his own plan against a far stronger force of +assailants on the Jour des Sections, 4th October, 1795.] + +The Marseillais began by driving from their posts several Swiss, who +yielded without resistance; a few of the assailants fired upon them; some +of the Swiss officers, seeing their men fall, and perhaps thinking the +King was still at the Tuileries, gave the word to a whole battalion to +fire. The aggressors were thrown into disorder, and the Carrousel was +cleared in a moment; but they soon returned, spurred on by rage and +revenge. The Swiss were but eight hundred strong; they fell back into the +interior of the Chateau; some of the doors were battered in by the guns, +others broken through with hatchets; the populace rushed from all quarters +into the interior of the palace; almost all the Swiss were massacred; the +nobles, flying through the gallery which leads to the Louvre, were either +stabbed or shot, and the bodies thrown out of the windows. + +M. Pallas and M. de Marchais, ushers of the King's chamber, were killed in +defending the door of the council chamber; many others of the King's +servants fell victims to their fidelity. I mention these two persons in +particular because, with their hats pulled over their brows and their +swords in their hands, they exclaimed, as they defended themselves with +unavailing courage, "We will not survive!--this is our post; our duty is +to die at it." M. Diet behaved in the same manner at the door of the +Queen's bedchamber; he experienced the same fate. The Princesse de +Tarente had fortunately opened the door of the apartments; otherwise, the +dreadful band seeing several women collected in the Queen's salon would +have fancied she was among us, and would have immediately massacred us had +we resisted them. We were, indeed, all about to perish, when a man with a +long beard came up, exclaiming, in the name of Potion, "Spare the women; +don't dishonour the nation!" A particular circumstance placed me in +greater danger than the others. In my confusion I imagined, a moment +before the assailants entered the Queen's apartments, that my sister was +not among the group of women collected there; and I went up into an +'entresol', where I supposed she had taken refuge, to induce her to come +down, fancying it safer that we should not be separated. I did not find +her in the room in question; I saw there only our two femmes de chambre +and one of the Queen's two heyducs, a man of great height and military +aspect. I saw that he was pale, and sitting on a bed. I cried out to +him, "Fly! the footmen and our people are already safe."--"I cannot," said +the man to me; "I am dying of fear." As he spoke I heard a number of men +rushing hastily up the staircase; they threw themselves upon him, and I +saw him assassinated. + +I ran towards the staircase, followed by our women. The murderers left +the heyduc to come to me. The women threw themselves at their feet, and +held their sabres. The narrowness of the staircase impeded the assassins; +but I had already felt a horrid hand thrust into my back to seize me by my +clothes, when some one called out from the bottom of the staircase, "What +are you doing above there? We don't kill women." I was on my knees; my +executioner quitted his hold of me, and said, "Get up, you jade; the +nation pardons you." + +The brutality of these words did not prevent my suddenly experiencing an +indescribable feeling which partook almost equally of the love of life and +the idea that I was going to see my son, and all that was dear to me, +again. A moment before I had thought less of death than of the pain which +the steel, suspended over my head, would occasion me. Death is seldom +seen so close without striking his blow. I heard every syllable uttered +by the assassins, just as if I had been calm. + +Five or six men seized me and my companions, and, having made us get up on +benches placed before the windows, ordered us to call out, "The nation for +ever!" + +I passed over several corpses; I recognised that of the old Vicomte de +Broves, to whom the Queen had sent me at the beginning of the night to +desire him and another old man in her name to go home. These brave men +desired I would tell her Majesty that they had but too strictly obeyed the +King's orders in all circumstances under which they ought to have exposed +their own lives in order to preserve his; and that for this once they +would not obey, though they would cherish the recollection of the Queen's +goodness. + +Near the grille, on the side next the bridge, the men who conducted me +asked whither I wished to go. Upon my inquiring, in my turn, whether they +were at liberty to take me wherever I might wish to go, one of them, a +Marseillais, asked me, giving me at the same time a push with the butt end +of his musket, whether I still doubted the power of the people? I +answered "No," and I mentioned the number of my brother-in-law's house. I +saw my sister ascending the steps of the parapet of the bridge, surrounded +by members of the National Guard. I called to her, and she turned round. +"Would you have her go with you?" said my guardian to me. I told him I did +wish it. They called the people who were leading my sister to prison; she +joined me. + +Madame de la Roche-Aymon and her daughter, Mademoiselle Pauline de +Tourzel, Madame de Ginestoux, lady to the Princesse de Lamballe, the other +women of the Queen, and the old Comte d'Affry, were led off together to +the Abbaye. + +Our progress from the Tuileries to my sister's house was most distressing. +We saw several Swiss pursued and killed, and musket-shots were crossing +each other in all directions. We passed under the walls of the Louvre; +they were firing from the parapet into the windows of the gallery, to hit +the knights of the dagger; for thus did the populace designate those +faithful subjects who had assembled at the Tuileries to defend the King. + +The brigands broke some vessels of water in the Queen's first antechamber; +the mixture of blood and water stained the skirts of our white gowns. The +poissardes screamed after us in the streets that we were attached to the +Austrian. Our protectors then showed some consideration for us, and made +us go up a gateway to pull off our gowns; but our petticoats being too +short, and making us look like persons in disguise, other poissardes began +to bawl out that we were young Swiss dressed up like women. We then saw a +tribe of female cannibals enter the street, carrying the head of poor +Mandat. Our guards made us hastily enter a little public-house, called +for wine, and desired us to drink with them. They assured the landlady +that we were their sisters, and good patriots. Happily the Marseillais +had quitted us to return to the Tuileries. One of the men who remained +with us said to me in a low voice: "I am a gauze-worker in the faubourg. +I was forced to march; I am not for all this; I have not killed anybody, +and have rescued you. You ran a great risk when we met the mad women who +are carrying Mandat's head. These horrible women said yesterday at +midnight, upon the site of the Bastille, that they must have their revenge +for the 6th of October, at Versailles, and that they had sworn to kill the +Queen and all the women attached to her; the danger of the action saved +you all." + +As I crossed the Carrousel, I saw my house in flames; but as soon as the +first moment of affright was over, I thought no more of my personal +misfortunes. My ideas turned solely upon the dreadful situation of the +Queen. + +On reaching my sister's we found all our family in despair, believing they +should never see us again. I could not remain in her house; some of the +mob, collected round the door, exclaimed that Marie Antoinette's +confidante was in the house, and that they must have her head. I +disguised myself, and was concealed in the house of M. Morel, secretary +for the lotteries. On the morrow I was inquired for there, in the name of +the Queen. A deputy, whose sentiments were known to her, took upon +himself to find me out. + +I borrowed clothes, and went with my sister to the Feuillans--[A former +monastery near the Tuileries, so called from the Bernardines, one of the +Cistercian orders; later a revolutionary club.]--We got there at the same +time with M. Thierry de Ville d'Avray, the King's first valet de chambre. +We were taken into an office, where we wrote down our names and places of +abode, and we received tickets for admission into the rooms belonging to +Camus, the keeper of the Archives, where the King was with his family. + +As we entered the first room, a person who was there said to me, "Ah! you +are a brave woman; but where is that Thierry, + +[M. Thierry, who never ceased to give his sovereign proofs of unalterable +attachment, was one of the victims of the 2d of September.--MADAME +CAMPAN.] + +that man loaded with his master's bounties?"--"He is here," said I; "he is +following me. I perceive that even scenes of death do not banish jealousy +from among you." + +Having belonged to the Court from my earliest youth, I was known to many +persons whom I did not know. As I traversed a corridor above the +cloisters which led to the cells inhabited by the unfortunate Louis XVI. +and his family, several of the grenadiers called me by name. One of them +said to me, "Well, the poor King is lost! The Comte d'Artois would have +managed it better."--"Not at all," said another. + +The royal family occupied a small suite of apartments consisting of four +cells, formerly belonging to the ancient monastery of the Feuillans. In +the first were the men who had accompanied the King: the Prince de Poix, +the Baron d'Aubier, M. de Saint-Pardou, equerry to Madame Elisabeth, MM. +de Goguelat, de Chamilly, and de Hue. In the second we found the King; he +was having his hair dressed; he took two locks of it, and gave one to my +sister and one to me. We offered to kiss his hand; he opposed it, and +embraced us without saying anything. In the third was the Queen, in bed, +and in indescribable affliction. We found her accompanied only by a stout +woman, who appeared tolerably civil; she was the keeper of the apartments. +She waited upon the Queen, who as yet had none of her own people about +her. Her Majesty stretched out her arms to us, saying, "Come, unfortunate +women; come, and see one still more unhappy than yourselves, since she has +been the cause of all your misfortunes. We are ruined," continued she; +"we have arrived at that point to which they have been leading us for +three years, through all possible outrages; we shall fall in this dreadful +revolution, and many others will perish after us. All have contributed to +our downfall; the reformers have urged it like mad people, and others +through ambition, for the wildest Jacobin seeks wealth and office, and the +mob is eager for plunder. There is not one real patriot among all this +infamous horde. The emigrant party have their intrigues and schemes; +foreigners seek to profit by the dissensions of France; every one has a +share in our misfortunes." + +The Dauphin came in with Madame and the Marquise de Tourzel. On seeing +them the Queen said to me, "Poor children! how heartrending it is, +instead of handing down to them so fine an inheritance, to say it ends +with us!" She afterwards conversed with me about the Tuileries and the +persons who had fallen; she condescended also to mention the burning of my +house. I looked upon that loss as a mischance which ought not to dwell +upon her mind, and I told her so. She spoke of the Princesse de Tarente, +whom she greatly loved and valued, of Madame de la Roche-Aymon and her +daughter, of the other persons whom she had left at the palace, and of the +Duchesse de Luynes, who was to have passed the night at the Tuileries. +Respecting her she said, "Hers was one of the first heads turned by the +rage for that mischievous philosophy; but her heart brought her back, and +I again found a friend in her." + +[During the Reign of Terror I withdrew to the Chateau de Coubertin, near +that of Dampierre. The Duchesse de Luynes frequently came to ask me to +tell her what the Queen had said about her at the Feuillans. She would +say as she went away, "I have often need to request you to repeat those +words of the Queen."--MADAME CAMPAN.] + +I asked the Queen what the ambassadors from foreign powers had done under +existing circumstances. She told me that they could do nothing; and that +the wife of the English ambassador had just given her a proof of the +personal interest she took in her welfare by sending her linen for her +son. + +I informed her that, in the pillaging of my house, all my accounts with +her had been thrown into the Carrousel, and that every sheet of my month's +expenditure was signed by her, sometimes leaving four or five inches of +blank paper above her signature, a circumstance which rendered me very +uneasy, from an apprehension that an improper use might be made of those +signatures. She desired me to demand admission to the committee of +general safety, and to make this declaration there. I repaired thither +instantly and found a deputy, with whose name I have never become +acquainted. After hearing me he said that he would not receive my +deposition; that Marie Antoinette was now nothing more than any other +Frenchwoman; and that if any of those detached papers bearing her +signature should be misapplied, she would have, at a future period, a +right to lodge a complaint, and to support her declaration by the facts +which I had just related. The Queen then regretted having sent me, and +feared that she had, by her very caution, pointed out a method of +fabricating forgeries which might be dangerous to her; then again she +exclaimed, "My apprehensions are as absurd as the step I made you take. +They need nothing more for our ruin; all has been told." + +She gave us details of what had taken place subsequently to the King's +arrival at the Assembly. They are all well known, and I have no occasion +to record them; I will merely mention that she told us, though with much +delicacy, that she was not a little hurt at the King's conduct since he +had quitted the Tuileries; that his habit of laying no restraint upon his +great appetite had prompted him to eat as if he had been at his palace; +that those who did not know him as she did, did not feel the piety and the +magnanimity of his resignation, all which produced so bad an effect that +deputies who were devoted to him had warned him of it; but no change could +be effected. + +I still see in imagination, and shall always see, that narrow cell at the +Feuillans, hung with green paper, that wretched couch whence the +dethroned, Queen stretched out her arms to us, saying that our +misfortunes, of which she was the cause, increased her own. There, for +the last time, I saw the tears, I heard the sobs of her whom high birth, +natural endowments, and, above all, goodness of heart, had seemed to +destine to adorn any throne, and be the happiness of any people! It is +impossible for those who lived with Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette not to +be fully convinced, while doing full justice to the King's virtues, that +if the Queen had been from the moment of her arrival in France the object +of the care and affection of a prince of decision and authority, she would +have only added to the glory of his reign. + +What affecting things I have heard the Queen say in the affliction caused +her by the belief of part of the Court and the whole of the people that +she did not love France! How did that opinion shock those who knew her +heart and her sentiments! Twice did I see her on the point of going from +her apartments in the Tuileries into the gardens, to address the immense +throng constantly assembled there to insult her. "Yes," exclaimed she, as +she paced her chamber with hurried steps, "I will say to them Frenchmen, +they have had the cruelty to persuade you that I do not love France!--I! +the mother of a Dauphin who will reign over this noble country!--I! whom +Providence has seated upon the most powerful throne of Europe! Of all the +daughters of Maria Theresa am I not that one whom fortune has most highly +favoured? And ought I not to feel all these advantages? What should I +find at Vienna? Nothing but sepulchres! What should I lose in France? +Everything which can confer glory!" + +I protest I only repeat her own words; the soundness of her judgment soon +pointed out to her the dangers of such a proceeding. "I should descend +from the throne," said she, "merely, perhaps, to excite a momentary +sympathy, which the factious would soon render more injurious than +beneficial to me." + +Yes, not only did Marie Antoinette love France, but few women took greater +pride in the courage of Frenchmen. I could adduce a multitude of proofs +of this; I will relate two traits which demonstrate the noblest +enthusiasm: The Queen was telling me that, at the coronation of the +Emperor Francis II., that Prince, bespeaking the admiration of a French +general officer, who was then an emigrant, for the fine appearance of his +troops, said to him, "There are the men to beat your sans culottes!" "That +remains to be seen, Sire," instantly replied the officer. The Queen +added, "I don't know the name of that brave Frenchman, but I will learn +it; the King ought to be in possession of it." As she was reading the +public papers a few days before the 10th of August, she observed that +mention was made of the courage of a young man who died in defending the +flag he carried, and shouting, "Vive la Nation!"--"Ah! the fine lad!" said +the Queen; "what a happiness it would have been for us if such men had +never left off crying, 'Vive de Roi!'" + +In all that I have hitherto said of this most unfortunate of women and of +queens, those who did not live with her, those who knew her but partially, +and especially the majority of foreigners, prejudiced by infamous libels, +may imagine I have thought it my duty to sacrifice truth on the altar of +gratitude. Fortunately I can invoke unexceptionable witnesses; they will +declare whether what I assert that I have seen and heard appears to them +either untrue or improbable. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +A man born solely to contradict +Alas! her griefs double mine! +He is afraid to command +His ruin was resolved on; they passed to the order of the day +King (gave) the fatal order to the Swiss to cease firing +La Fayette to rescue the royal family and convey them to Rouen +Prevent disorder from organising itself +The emigrant party have their intrigues and schemes +There is not one real patriot among all this infamous horde +Those who did it should not pretend to wish to remedy it + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Memoirs of Marie Antoinette, Queen +Of France, Volume 6, by Madame Campan + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARIE ANTOINETTE *** + +***** This file should be named 3889.txt or 3889.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/8/3889/ + +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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