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diff --git a/35633-h/35633-h.htm b/35633-h/35633-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9a40205 --- /dev/null +++ b/35633-h/35633-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,20042 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN"> + <head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> +<title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Sword Of Honor, by Eugene Sue. +</title> +<style type="text/css"> + p {margin-top:.75em;text-align:justify;margin-bottom:.75em;text-indent:2%;} + +.c {text-align:center;text-indent:0%;} + +.cb {text-align:center;text-indent:0%;font-weight:bold;} + +.nind {text-indent:0%;} + +.r {text-align:right;margin-right:5%;} + + h1,h2,h3 {margin-top:15%;text-align:center;clear:both;font-family:courier new, serif;} + + hr {width:90%;margin:2em auto 2em auto;clear:both;color:black;} + + hr.full {width:100%;margin:5% auto 5% auto;border:4px double gray;} + + table {margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;border:none;text-align:left;} + + body{margin-left:2%;margin-right:2%;background:#fdfdfd;color:black;font-family:serif;font-size:medium;} + +a:link {background-color:#ffffff;color:blue;text-decoration:none;} + + link {background-color:#ffffff;color:blue;text-decoration:none;} + +a:visited {background-color:#ffffff;color:purple;text-decoration:none;} + +a:hover {background-color:#ffffff;color:#FF0000;text-decoration:underline;} + +.smcap {font-variant:small-caps;font-size:95%;} + +.blockquot {margin:4% 4% 4% 4%;font-size:90%;} + +.footnotes {border:dotted 3px gray;margin-top:15%;clear:both;} + +.footnote {width:95%;margin:auto 3% 1% auto;font-size:0.9em;position:relative;} + +.label {position:relative;left:-.5em;top:0;text-align:left;font-size:.8em;} + +.fnanchor {vertical-align:30%;font-size:.8em;} + +.boxseries {border: none;padding:2%;width:75%;margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto;margin-top:15%;} + +.boxdouble {border: double 6px black;padding:2%;margin:4% 6% 4% 6%;} + +.box {border: solid 3px black;padding:2%;max-width:60%;margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto;margin-top:15%;max-height:800px;} + +.box2 {border: solid 3px black;padding:2%;} + +.full {text-align:center;text-indent:0%;font-size:150%;font-weight:bold;} + +.figcenter {margin:auto;text-align:center;} +</style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's The Sword of Honor, volumes 1 & 2, by Eugène Sue + +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 Sword of Honor, volumes 1 & 2 + or The Foundation of the French Republic, A Tale of The + French Revolution + +Author: Eugène Sue + +Translator: Daniel De Leon + +Release Date: March 19, 2011 [EBook #35633] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SWORD OF HONOR, VOLUMES 1 & 2 *** + + + + +Produced by Chuck Greif, Michigan Libraries and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<table summary="note" border="0" cellpadding="10" +style="background-color: #F5ECDB;font-family:serif; +font-weight:normal;"> + <tr> + <td align="center">The two volumes have +been included in one etext.<br /> +(Note of Transcriber)</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p> +<br /> +</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 361px;"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="361" height="550" alt="image of the book's cover" title="" /> +</div> + +<h1>THE SWORD OF HONOR</h1> + +<div class="boxseries"> +<div class="boxdouble"> +<p class="full">THE FULL SERIES OF</p> + +<p class="cb"><img src="images/ill_mysteries.png" +alt="The Mysteries of the People" +width="300" +height="28" +title="The Mysteries of the People" +/> +</p> + +<p class="cb">OR</p> + +<p class="cb">History of a Proletarian Family<br />Across the Ages</p> + +<p class="cb">B y E U G E N E S U E</p> +</div> + +<p class="cb"><i>Consisting of the Following Works:</i></p> + +<p class="nind"><b>THE GOLD SICKLE; or, <i>Hena the Virgin of the Isle of Sen</i>.<br /> +THE BRASS BELL; or, <i>The Chariot of Death</i>.<br /> +THE IRON COLLAR; or, <i>Faustine and Syomara</i>.<br /> +THE SILVER CROSS; or, <i>The Carpenter of Nazareth</i>.<br /> +THE CASQUE'S LARK; or, <i>Victoria, the Mother of the Camps</i>.<br /> +THE PONIARID'S HILT; or, <i>Karadeucq and Ronan</i>.<br /> +THE BRANDING NEEDLE; or, The <i>Monastery of Charolles</i>.<br /> +THE ABBATIAL CROSIER; or, <i>Bonaik and Septimine</i>.<br /> +THE CARLOVINGIAN COINS; or, <i>The Daughters of Charlemagne</i>.<br /> +THE IRON ARROW-HEAD; or, <i>The Buckler Maiden</i>.<br /> +THE INFANT'S SKULL; or, <i>The End of the World</i>.<br /> +THE PILGRIM'S SHELL; or, <i>Fergan the Quarryman</i>.<br /> +THE IRON PINCERS; or, <i>Mylio and Karvel</i>.<br /> +THE IRON TREVET; or Jocelyn the Champion.<br /> +THE EXECUTIONER'S KNIFE; or, Joan of Arc.<br /> +THE POCKET BIBLE; or, <i>Christian the Printer</i>.<br /> +THE BLACKSMITH'S HAMMER; or, <i>The Peasant Code</i>.<br /> +THE SWORD OF HONOR; or, <i>The Foundation of the French Republic</i>.<br /> +THE GALLEY SLAVE'S RING; or, <i>The Family Lebrenn</i>.</b></p> + +<div class="boxdouble"> +<p class="cb"><small>Published Uniform With This Volume By</small><br /> +THE NEW YORK LABOR NEWS CO.<br /> +<small>28 CITY HALL PLACE NEW YORK CITY</small></p></div> +</div> + +<div class="box"> +<div class="box2"> +<h1> +T<small>HE</small><br /> +S<small>WORD OF</small> H<small>ONOR</small><br /> +<small><small>: : : : OR : : : :<br /> +The Foundation of the French Republic</small></small></h1> + +<table summary="name" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" +style="border-bottom:6px double black; +letter-spacing:8px;font-size:125%;"> +<tr><td> + + + </td></tr> +</table> + +<p> +<br /> +</p> + +<p class="cb"><b>A Tale of The French Revolution</b></p> + +<table summary="name" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" +style="border-top:4px double black; +border-bottom:6px double black;"> +<tr><td><b> B y E U G E N E S U E </b></td></tr> +</table> + +<p class="cb">In Two Volumes</p> + +<table summary="name" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" +style="border-bottom:6px double black; +letter-spacing:8px;font-size:125%;"> +<tr><td> + + + </td></tr> +</table> + +<p class="c"><b><small>TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL FRENCH BY</small></b></p> + +<p class="c"><b>DANIEL DE LEON</b></p> + +<p class="c"><b><small>NEW YORK LABOR NEWS COMPANY, 1910</small></b></p> +</div> +</div> + +<p> +<br /> +</p> + +<p class="c"><small><small>Copyright, 1910, by the<br /> +NEW YORK LABOR NEWS CO.</small></small></p> + +<h3><a name="TRANSLATORS_PREFACE" id="TRANSLATORS_PREFACE"></a>TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.</h3> + +<p>Most persons know the French Revolution as a tremendous outburst in +human affairs. Many know it as one of the race's great steps forward. +That, however, it was the revolution which carried into power the then +rising bourgeois, now capitalist, class; that this class, while +appealing for and using the help of the working class, secretly hated +and feared the demands of the latter, and blocked them at every +opportunity; that finally the bourgeoisie, having obtained as +revolutionists, by the aid of the workers, their end of the revolution, +became as violently reactionary as had been the nobility they fought, +and ruthlessly shot and guillotined to pieces the then definite +proletarian movement for full political equality and collective +ownership of the tools of production—that is an insight into the French +Revolutionary period hitherto vouchsafed to few. To that insight Eugene +Sue's genius has, with the present thrilling novel, made straight the +way for all.</p> + +<p>This, <i>The Sword of Honor; or, The Foundation of the French Republic</i>, +is the eighteenth and culminating unit in Sue's great historic-fiction +series, <i>The Mysteries of the People; or, History of a Proletarian +Family Across the Ages</i>. Following close upon the previous volume, <i>The +Blacksmith's Hammer; or, The Peasant Code</i>, in which the popular storm +was seen gathering head under the atrocities of the gilded age of the +Grand Monarch, the present story portrays that storm breaking in all +the accumulated vigor of its centuries of postponement, and sweeping +away the empty lay figures of an outgrown feudalism. True, one barrier +to human liberty was thrown down only to disclose another. To the empire +of birth and privilege was to succeed the empire of the shekel; to the +rule of do-nothing kings, the rule of do-nothing plutocracy. But it is +in the act of drilling itself for the overthrow of that final parasite +class—for the final conquering, in other words, of freedom for the +race—that Sue portrays the proletariat in the next and closing work of +the series, <i>The Galley Slave's Ring; or, The Family of Lebrenn</i>. Though +he minimizes none of the difficulties, his message for the future is of +hope only.</p> + +<p>Nothing is more unanimous among historians of the period than +expressions of commiseration for the condition of the French people +before the Revolution. Yet nothing, on the other hand, is more unanimous +either than the condemnation showered upon this people the moment it +seizes the reins and enters upon the task of putting down its age-long +tyrannizers. Into this absurd breach of consistency Sue's genius saved +him from falling. In his pages Marat, Danton and Robespierre walk to +their doom with head erect, clean from the smut slung at them by their +bourgeois enemies, for whom <i>they were going too far</i>. Friends of the +People once, so they remained to the end; and in that mantle Sue has +preserved their memory for all time. For him who would rail at their +summary deeds Sue has far from spread a bed of roses. The memory of the +royalist massacres in the Vendee and of the triumphant bourgeois +massacres during the White Terror, rescued by his pen from the oblivion +in which they were sought to be buried, have thrown the Revolutionary +Terror into its proper perspective. It is a bagatelle beside the acts +committed by its denouncers.</p> + +<p>Sue's clear presentation of the maxim, "To the peasant the land, to the +workman the tool"; his unflinching delineation of the debauchery of +court and ecclesiastical circles of the time; his revelation of the role +of the political machine under the guise of religion sending out its +arms as willing regicides or <i>agents provocateurs</i> by turn; and his +clear depiction of the cowardly, grasping, double-dealing and +fraud-perpetrating character of the bourgeois, all of which is presented +in the easy reading of a story, make this thrilling work of fiction an +unsurpassable epitome of the period in which its action elapses.</p> + +<p>Finally, it is the distinctive test of good literature upon any topic, +that it does not sate, but incites to further thought and study. Not the +least of the values of <i>The Sword of Honor; or, The Foundation of the +French Republic</i>, is that it performs this reverent duty matchlessly for +the momentous period of which it treats.</p> + +<p class="r">S<small>OLON</small> D<small>E</small> L<small>EON</small>.</p> + +<p>New York, April, 1910.</p> + +<h3><a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a>INDEX<br /> +(to both volumes)</h3> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="" +style="font-family:courier new, serif;font-weight:bold;"> + +<tr><td colspan="3" align="center">PART I. FALL OF THE BASTILLE.</td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="3"><small>CHAPTER</small></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_I-1-a">I</a>.</td><td>THE HOUSE IN ST. FRANCOIS STREET</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-1-pg_007">7</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_II-1-a">II</a>.</td><td>REVOLUTIONARY EFFERVESCENCE</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-1-pg_022">22</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_III-1-a">III</a>.</td><td>THE VOYANTS</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-1-pg_033">33</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV-1-a">IV</a>.</td><td>LITTLE RODIN</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-1-pg_046">46</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_V-1-a">V</a>.</td><td>COUNT AND JESUIT</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-1-pg_054">54</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI-1-a">VI</a>.</td><td>ROYALISTS AT BANQUET</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-1-pg_068">68</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII-1-a">VII</a>.</td><td>NEWS FROM THE BARRICADES</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-1-pg_083">83</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII-1-a">VIII</a>.</td><td>IN THE HALL OF THE PORTRAITS</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-1-pg_101">101</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX-1-a">IX</a>.</td><td>FILIAL CONFIDENCES</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-1-pg_105">105</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_X-1-a">X</a>.</td><td>DEPUTY DESMARAIS</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-1-pg_111">111</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI-1-a">XI</a>.</td><td>LIONS AND JACKALS</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-1-pg_122">122</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII-1-a">XII</a>.</td><td>REUNITED FROM THE BASTILLE</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-1-pg_132">132</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII-1-a">XIII</a>.</td><td>THE LEBRENN FAMILY</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-1-pg_138">138</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV-1-a">XIV</a>.</td><td>THE BOURGEOIS UNMASKED</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-1-pg_150">150</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV-1-a">XV</a>.</td><td>THE MYSTERIES OF THE PEOPLE</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-1-pg_167">167</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="3" align="center">PART II. THE BOURGEOIS REVOLUTION.</td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="3"><small>CHAPTER</small></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_I-1-b">I</a>.</td><td>THE NATION INSULTED—AND AVENGED </td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-1-pg_179">179</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_II-1-b">II</a>.</td><td>MIRABEAU</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-1-pg_189">189</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_III-1-b">III</a>.</td><td>AT THE JACOBIN CLUB</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-1-pg_195">195</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV-1-b">IV</a>.</td><td>THE KING ARRESTED</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-1-pg_211">211</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_V-1-b">V</a>.</td><td>THE DAY OF THE FIELD OF MARS</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-1-pg_217">217</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI-1-b">VI</a>.</td><td>WAR AND COUNTER-WAR</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-1-pg_229">229</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII-1-b">VII</a>.</td><td>TRIUMPHANT INSURRECTION</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-1-pg_242">242</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII-1-b">VIII</a>.</td><td>REPRISALS</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-1-pg_258">258</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX-1-b">IX</a>.</td><td>"TO THE FRONT!"</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-1-pg_274">274</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_X-1-b">X</a>.</td><td>ROYALTY ABOLISHED</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-1-pg_287">287</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI-1-b">XI</a>.</td><td>BOURGEOIS TURNED SANS-CULOTTE</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-1-pg_293">293</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII-1-b">XII</a>.</td><td>HOWLING WITH THE WOLVES</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-1-pg_303">303</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII-1-b">XIII</a>.</td><td>THE HOWL RINGS FALSE</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-1-pg_311">311</a></td></tr> +</table> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="" +style="font-family:courier new, serif;font-weight:bold;"> +<tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="3" align="center">PART II—THE BOURGEOIS REVOLUTION.<br /> +(Continued) (volume 2)</td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="3"><small>CHAPTER</small></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV-1-b">XIV</a>.</td><td>JESUIT CAMPAIGNING</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_001">1</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV-1-b">XV</a>.</td><td>THE KING ON TRIAL</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_023">23</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI-1-b">XVI</a>.</td><td>LEBRENN AND NEROWEG</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_033">33</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII-1-b">XVII</a>.</td><td>PLANS FOR THE FUTURE</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_045">45</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII-1-b">XVIII</a>.</td><td>THE KING SENTENCED</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_061">61</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX-1-b">XIX</a>.</td><td>EXECUTION</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_066">66</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XX-1-b">XX</a>.</td><td>MARRIAGE OF JOHN LEBRENN</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_069">69</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI-1-b">XXI</a>.</td><td>A LOVE FROM THE GRAVE</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_076">76</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII-1-b">XXII</a>.</td><td>MASTER AND FOREMAN</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_084">84</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII-1-b">XXIII</a>.</td><td>TO THE WORKMAN THE TOOL</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_095">95</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV-1-b">XXIV</a>.</td><td>LOST AGAIN</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_101">101</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV-1-b">XXV</a>.</td><td>ROYALIST BARBARITIES</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_111">111</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI-1-b">XXVI</a>.</td><td>A REVOLUTIONARY OUTPOST</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_122">122</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII-1-b">XXVII</a>.</td><td>THE HEROINE IN ARMS</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_137">137</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII-1-b">XXVIII</a>.</td><td>SERVING AND MIS-SERVING</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_150">150</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX-1-b">XXIX</a>.</td><td>BATTLE OF THE LINES OF WEISSENBURG </td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_159">159</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXX-1-b">XXX</a>.</td><td>DEATH OF VICTORIA</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_175">175</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXI-1-b">XXXI</a>.</td><td>ONRUSH OF THE REVOLUTION</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_178">178</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXII-1-b">XXXII</a>.</td><td>AD MAJOREM DEI GLORIAM!</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_188">188</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIII-1-b">XXXIII</a>.</td><td>ARREST OF ROBESPIERRE</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_196">196</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIV-1-b">XXXIV</a>.</td><td>THE NINTH THERMIDOR.</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_205">205</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXV-1-b">XXXV</a>.</td><td>DEATH OF ROBESPIERRE.</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_213">213</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="3" align="center">PART III—NAPOLEON.</td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="3"><small>CHAPTER</small></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_I-1-c">I</a>.</td><td>THE WHITE TERROR</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_221">221</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_II-1-c">II</a>.</td><td>COLONEL OLIVER</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_227">227</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_III-1-c">III</a>.</td><td>CROSS PURPOSES</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_240">240</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV-1-c">IV</a>.</td><td>LAYING THE TRAIN</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_245">245</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_V-1-c">V</a>.</td><td>THE EIGHTEENTH BRUMAIRE</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_252">252</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI-1-c">VI</a>.</td><td>IN THE ORANGERY AT ST. CLOUD</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_258">258</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII-1-c">VII</a>.</td><td>GLORY; AND ELBA</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_268">268</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII-1-c">VIII</a>.</td><td>RETURN OF NAPOLEON</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_277">277</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX-1-c">IX</a>.</td><td>WATERLOO</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_288">288</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_X-1-c">X</a>.</td><td>DEPOSITION</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_295">295</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="3" align="center">EPILOGUE.</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_I-1-d">I</a>.</td><td>"TO THE BARRICADES!"—1830</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_303">303</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_II-1-d">II</a>.</td><td>ORLEANS ON THE THRONE</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_317">317</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td> </td><td>CONCLUSION</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_328">328</a></td></tr> +</table> + +<p><a name="vol-1-pg_001" id="vol-1-pg_001"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="INTRODUCTION" id="INTRODUCTION"></a>INTRODUCTION.</h3> + +<p>I, John Lebrenn, the son of Ronan, whose father was Alain, the last son +of Salaun Lebrenn the mariner, now take up the thread of our family +history, by writing the following narrative.</p> + +<p>Thanks to God, Oh, sons of Joel! my eyes have seen the beautiful day +predicted to our ancestor Scanvoch the soldier by Victoria the Great, +now more than fifteen centuries ago, and awaited from age to age by our +family. I have witnessed the solemn judgment, the expiatory punishment +of Louis Capet, called Louis XVI, the last of that line of Kings of +Frankish origin. Rejoice, ye shades of my ancestors—ye martyrs of the +Church, of the Nobility, and of Royalty! Rejoice, ye obscure soldiers +who fought in the bloody conflicts that you engaged in from age to age, +in resolute insurrections of the oppressed against the oppressors of +centuries—of the sons of the conquered Gauls against the conqueror +Franks! Rejoice! Old Gaul has recovered her ancient republican freedom! +She has broken the abhorred yoke of the Kings, and the infamous yoke of +the Church of Rome.</p> + +<p>I am writing this narrative in the year II of the French Republic, one +and indivisible.</p> + +<p>My great-grandfather, Salaun Lebrenn, died at Amsterdam<a name="vol-1-pg_002" id="vol-1-pg_002"></a> in his +ninety-first year, on December 20, 1715. His son Alain, born in 1685, +was then thirty years of age. He worked in Amsterdam as a printer, one +of the most lucrative trades, in that the large number of books, then +being written against the Church and royalty, could be published only at +Geneva, or in Holland, free countries in which the right of intellectual +free research was recognized and protected. My ancestor Alain sold in +1715 the modest patrimony which he inherited from his father Salaun, +left Holland, and settled down in France at the beginning of the Regency +under Louis XV, the successor of Louis XIV. The freedom then enjoyed was +great compared with conditions at the period of Louis XIV. Being +exceptionally skilled at his trade, my grandfather secured the position +of foreman in the printing house of one of the descendants of the famous +Estienne, in whose establishment our ancestor Christian was long +employed. Alain married the niece of his employer. Of that marriage was +born, in 1727, my father Ronan. He followed my grandfather's trade. The +latter died in 1751. My father had two children—my sister Victoria, +born in 1760, and myself, John Lebrenn, born in 1766.</p> + +<p>My grandfather's life was spent in peace and obscurity. But great +misfortunes fell upon our family. As you will read in the course of the +following history, Oh, sons of Joel! it was not vouchsafed to my father +to witness, as I did, the brilliant victory that crowned fifteen +centuries of incessant, painful and bloody endeavor, thanks to which our +ancestors—successively slaves, serfs and vassals—conquered,<a name="vol-1-pg_003" id="vol-1-pg_003"></a> at the +price of their lives and of innumerable rebellions, step by step, one by +one, the franchises that the French Republic has now confirmed and +consecrated in the face of the whole world, by proclaiming, in the name +of the Rights of Man, the downfall of Kings and the sovereignty of the +People.</p> + +<p><a name="vol-1-pg_004" id="vol-1-pg_004"></a></p> + +<p><a name="vol-1-pg_005" id="vol-1-pg_005"></a></p> + +<h2><a name="PART_I" id="PART_I"></a>PART I.<br /><br /> +FALL OF THE BASTILLE.</h2> + +<p><a name="vol-1-pg_006" id="vol-1-pg_006"></a></p> + +<p><a name="vol-1-pg_007" id="vol-1-pg_007"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_I-1-a" id="CHAPTER_I-1-a"></a>CHAPTER I.<br /><br /> +THE HOUSE IN ST. FRANCOIS STREET.</h3> + +<p>One night toward the middle of April, 1789, when the moon with its +radiance clearly lighted the scene, a man, wrapped in a great-coat, and +with his hat pulled far over his countenance, might have been seen +carefully surveying the neighborhood of a building located in one of the +most deserted streets of Paris, St. Francois Street, in the Swamp. A +lofty wall, its black stones weathered with years of exposure, ran +nearly the whole length of the thoroughfare, and served as facing to a +terrace surmounted with trees that had laughed to scorn the storms of a +century. Through their heavy foliage one caught glimpses of the stone +front, the peaked roof, and the high brick chimneys of a mansion in the +style of Louis XIV. A wall, pierced by several grated openings, formed a +deep, semi-circular approach, leading up to a coach gate of massive oak, +studded with enormous spikes of iron. To judge from the thick layers of +dust and cobwebs which covered the gate, many had been the days since it +was opened. A little bastard gate, closed with a wicket, and no less +massively built than the principal entrance, gave on its other side onto +a narrow and vaulted passage. To the left of this passage stood the door +of a lodge the windows of which overlooked a spacious garden,<a name="vol-1-pg_008" id="vol-1-pg_008"></a> laid out +in the fashion of the previous century, and ornamented with vases and +statues of stone, stained and broken by time. In the center of the +garden rose another dwelling whose doors had been walled up, and whose +windows were sealed with plates of lead, soldered into iron frames set +in the masonry.</p> + +<p>One more little building, snuggled up against the entry-gate and +evidently intended for the porter, was occupied only by a Jew and his +wife. The couple this evening were chatting in a lower room whose +half-open door communicated with the vaulted passage running to the +street.</p> + +<p>David Samuel was in the neighborhood of thirty, his wife Bathsheba, +twenty-five. The lineage of Israel was strongly stamped on their +features. Bathsheba, seated before a little table lighted by a copper +lamp, was preparing to write at her husband's dictation. The latter, +sunk in an arm-chair, his forehead in his hands, was in grave mood, and +said to his wife after a silence of several minutes:</p> + +<p>"The more I think over the present state of affairs, the more am I +convinced that it is the part of prudence and necessity for us to +prepare against unfortunate eventualities. In spite of our precautions +within and without, what goes on here may one day be uncovered by the +creatures of the Lieutenant of Police. We would then both be imprisoned, +my dear Bathsheba! Then, if I should die in prison—"</p> + +<p>"Ah, my friend, what gloomy forebodings! Think not of such sad chances."</p> + +<p>"Everything must be reckoned with. So, then, in case<a name="vol-1-pg_009" id="vol-1-pg_009"></a> I die, our cousin +Levi, on whom I count as on myself—you know him—"</p> + +<p>"Your confidence is well placed."</p> + +<p>"I am sure of it. I wish to charge him, in that case, to take my place +in the sacred mission which my grandfather and father have handed down +to me. That is why I wish to hold ready, in advance, the memorandum +which will place our relative in possession of the knowledge he will +need in order to replace me. Come then, write as I dictate."</p> + +<p>At the moment that Samuel uttered these last words, he heard a knocking +in a peculiar manner at the little bastard gate. First there were three +blows, then two, separated from the others by a pause; and then two +again; total, seven, the cabalistic number.</p> + +<p>Samuel manifested no surprise at the signal. He left the room, traversed +the passage, drew close to the wicket, and asked in an undertone:</p> + +<p>"Who knocks?"</p> + +<p>"<i>A blind one.</i>"</p> + +<p>"What does he seek?"</p> + +<p>"<i>The light.</i>"</p> + +<p>"What time is it?"</p> + +<p>"<i>The hour of darkness, my brother!</i>"</p> + +<p>Immediately upon the last response, Samuel swung back the gate. Two +persons wrapped in cloaks hurried through the passage and disappeared in +the garden. The Jew secured again the gate, and returned to his wife, +who, no more surprised than he by the mysterious entrance of the two +newcomers, said:</p> + +<p>"Dictate, my friend; I shall write."<a name="vol-1-pg_010" id="vol-1-pg_010"></a></p> + +<p>"In the year 1660," began Samuel, "Monsieur Marius Rennepont, a rich +Protestant shipowner and captain, lay in Lisbon. He had carried from +France, on his ship, Monsieur the Duke of San Borromeo, one of +Portugal's greatest lords. The very day of his arrival in Lisbon, +Monsieur Rennepont saw from his hotel on the Plaza Mayor, the +preparations for an auto-da-fé. On inquiry he learned that the next day +a Jew named Samuel was to be burnt in the cause of religion. Monsieur +Rennepont, being a humane and generous-minded man, and, moreover, having +sympathy for the fate of heretics as his own Protestant co-religionists +were beginning in France to be persecuted in spite of the Edict of +Nantes, resolved to snatch this Jew from the torture, and counted on the +support and protection of the Duke of San Borromeo.</p> + +<p>"The latter, more than once during the passage, had made tender of his +services to the captain. Chance so willed it that he was the elder +brother of the Inquisitor of Lisbon. Monsieur Rennepont's hopes were +realized. The Duke of San Borromeo by his credit obtained from the +tribunal of the Inquisition a commutation of the Jew's sentence from +capital punishment to one of perpetual banishment. Monsieur Rennepont, +having saved his protegé, made inquiries as to his character, and +received the best accounts thereof. He proposed that the Jew accompany +him to France, an offer which the latter accepted with gratitude. Later +on Monsieur Rennepont entrusted him with the money matters of his trade; +and Samuel devoted himself body and soul to his benefactor.</p> + +<p>"That Hebrew, my grandfather, was soon able to prove his gratitude to +Monsieur Marius Rennepont. The Protestant<a name="vol-1-pg_011" id="vol-1-pg_011"></a> persecutions increased in +fury. Those who refused to be converted were exposed to violence and +exactions of every sort. Monsieur Rennepont had a son whom he loved +passionately. In order to ensure to this son the enjoyment of his goods +by sheltering them from confiscation, he abjured the Protestant faith. +Dearly he paid for that moment of weakness. The Jesuit Society, for some +hidden reason which my grandfather never could fathom, pursued from age +to age with their secret surveillance and hatred a certain Lebrenn +family, with which one of Monsieur Rennepont's ancestors had been +connected by marriage in the middle of the Sixteenth Century.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> For +reasons to be revealed later, that branch of the Renneponts had broken +off its relations with the Lebrenns; it was even ignorant of whether its +former allies had left any descendants.</p> + +<p>"The Society of Jesus, enveloping in its covert network of espionage all +who, either closely or distantly, were connected with the Lebrenn +family, learned through its agents that Monsieur Marius Rennepont, in +spite of his apparent conversion to Catholicism, was in the habit of +attending, along with several of his co-religionists, a certain +Protestant church. Denounced by the Jesuits, Monsieur Rennepont incurred +the terrible penalties visited upon the fallen from faith—the galleys +for life, and the confiscation of his property. At the same time his +only son fell a victim to a duel without witnesses. Some time +thereafter, the father conceived the hazardous idea of escaping, at his +age, from the rigors of the galleys. He fled to a house several hours +distant from Paris, called my grandfather Samuel to his side, and +entrusted to him his wishes and<a name="vol-1-pg_012" id="vol-1-pg_012"></a> his last testament. The goods +confiscated from him, had, by a royal order, been turned over to his +betrayers, the Jesuits, who thus profited by his fortune. But Monsieur +Rennepont, having long intended to leave to his son, should the latter +survive him, a certain patrimony had laid away in a secret place fifty +thousand crowns in gold. That sum he confided to my grandsire, charging +him to re-purchase this estate where we now are, then estimated at +between seven and eight thousand crowns. Samuel was instructed to carry +out certain orders with regard to the main dwelling of the estate, and +to live, with his descendants, in the lodge which we occupy.</p> + +<p>"The sum thus remaining in my grandfather's hands, amounting to some +forty thousand crowns, he was to put out at interest as securely as +possible; the sums accruing from this interest were to be capitalized +and added to the principal for the space of about a century and a half, +that is to say, till the year 1832. Samuel was authorized to draw every +year two thousand livres from the profit of these investments, and to +pass on this duty, and the salary attached to it, to his own son, or in +case of the latter's death, to some relative, or co-religionist, known +to him for probity.</p> + +<p>"Such is the solidarity which binds us Hebrews together, and which +constitutes our strength, that my grandsire, even had he no son, would +have found some faithful repository for his trust. But God willed that +it should be my father Isaac himself who was to acquit himself of this +debt of gratitude towards the protector of our ancestor, and that I, in +turn, should fulfil the same duty.</p> + +<p>"The object of Monsieur Marius Rennepont in thus bequeathing to us the +duty of investing the interests on the<a name="vol-1-pg_013" id="vol-1-pg_013"></a> sum which he confided to our +ancestor, was to leave to the third or fourth generation of his heirs an +enormous fortune, the employment of which will only be disclosed upon +the opening of his will, which his representatives will perform in +forty-three years, on the 13th of February, 1832, in this house, the +door of which is to remain sealed and the windows fastened until that +date."</p> + +<p>At this point of his dictation Samuel was interrupted by a new series of +raps, in the pre-arranged fashion, at the little gate. He disappeared +for a moment, and almost as soon returned, saying to his wife:</p> + +<p>"We shall have to postpone our writing—we can take it up later. You may +withdraw now about your household affairs. Prince Franz of Gerolstein +has just arrived with a new comrade whom he wishes to entertain here in +this chamber, before his initiation."</p> + +<p>"We shall continue the dictation again, then, my friend," responded +Bathsheba, rising. And she added, with a deep sigh, "O, may you never +regret having affiliated yourself with the 'Seeing Ones,' or 'Voyants,' +as they call themselves."</p> + +<p>"No, my beloved wife, never shall I regret my affiliation with the +Voyants. The ideas of which they have made themselves the propagandists +must infallibly bring about the reign of fraternity and the emancipation +of the human race. Then we, contemned Jews, shall enter into the +communion of the great human family. In affiliating myself with the +Voyants of Paris, in offering them the subterranean chambers which I +place at their disposal for their meetings, I serve our own personal +cause and also the cause of the disinherited, the downtrodden ones of +the world. I<a name="vol-1-pg_014" id="vol-1-pg_014"></a> am fulfilling thereby a sacred duty. Whatever may hap, I +shall not regret having put my shoulder to the work of emancipation."</p> + +<p>"Oh, will that sacred cause, to which you have given yourself, soul and +body, ever triumph? What dangers must be run, and for an uncertain end!"</p> + +<p>"Everything proclaims the early victory of our cause! Be of good cheer!"</p> + +<p>"Illusion, Samuel; the illusion of a generous heart. I fear you are but +cruelly deceived."</p> + +<p>"It is no illusion, Bathsheba! Must it not be truth, which has so +irresistible an attraction? Why else should the offspring of a prince be +a Voyant?"</p> + +<p>"You mean Prince Franz of Gerolstein?"</p> + +<p>"He was initiated in Germany, the very cradle of our secret society. He +has become one of our most ardent converts. Blessings on the day when it +was given me to make acquaintance with the noble young man. Never did +the cause of humanity have a more eloquent apostle, a more great-hearted +defender. And still withal the society of which he is a member has +declared an implacable war upon all privilege of birth or riches, upon +all authority, royal or religious. 'Neither Kings nor priests!'—that is +our motto. The Prince holds these ideas of equality, of +emancipation—he, of a sovereign race! he, one destined to rule! Are not +these thrilling signs? The doctrines of the enfranchisement of the +working class are spread by the sovereign princes. The Emperor of +Austria, Joseph II, brother of Marie Antoinette, the Queen of France, +without owning allegiance to the Voyants, without completely accepting +their principles, nevertheless travels Europe incognito<a name="vol-1-pg_015" id="vol-1-pg_015"></a> as a +philosopher, nowhere permitting that they pay him the honors due to +royal blood, visiting the bourgeois, the lower ranks, mingling with all +classes of society, observing for himself the trend of their spirit, +sympathizing with their new ideas, submitting himself, perhaps without +his own knowledge, to the influence of that regenerating breeze which is +sweeping over the old world. The reign of justice and equality is close +at hand!"</p> + +<p>"In truth—these signs are thrilling," mused Bathsheba pensively.</p> + +<p>"Yes, dear wife, the end of persecution and iniquity draws nigh. In a +few years, one will find difficulty in persuading himself that there was +a time when we Israelites were under the ban of the world; when there +was a price upon us; when we were tortured, hanged, burned, all because +we were Jews; and when the Protestants, like us, were sent to the +galleys or to death, solely because they were Lutherans or Calvinists. +Ah, no fear, the descendants of Monsieur Marius Rennepont will be able +to enjoy in security the huge fortune which they are to inherit, whether +they are Catholics or Protestants—my hope is firm."</p> + +<p>Bathsheba reflected a moment and answered:</p> + +<p>"My friend, I do not understand you. Monsieur Marius Rennepont left at +his death but fifty thousand crowns in gold as his whole heritage. Out +of this your ancestor paid the price of this mansion. How, then, will +his heirs inherit the colossal fortune of which you speak!"<a name="vol-1-pg_016" id="vol-1-pg_016"></a></p> + +<p>"In this way, Bathsheba. My grandfather, after the death of Monsieur +Rennepont, by means of certain financial operations, succeeded, after +some little time, in recouping the eight thousand crowns paid for the +estate. In 1683 he had completely restored the fifty thousand crowns. He +took the cash; invested it, together with the interest and emoluments, +and fifteen years later, in 1696, the sum had already grown to three +hundred thousand livres, which, doubled by investment in 1710, made six +hundred thousand. Finally, in 1719, when my grandfather died, the sum +had reached nearly a million. The doubling of the capital took place in +ten, twelve, or fourteen years, depending on the rate of interest, it +being in different years seven, six, or five per cent.</p> + +<p>"The million which my grandfather Samuel left at his death," continued +Samuel, "had, by 1724, become 1,200,000; 1742, two years after my birth, +nearly 5,000,000; in 1766, it was 9,600,000 livres; in 1780, 19,600,000 +livres; and at this moment the bequest of Marius Rennepont has attained +the magnitude of 34,300,000 livres, 8 sous, 11 deniers. That is not all. +Just think of what it will be forty years from now, progressing at the +same rate: In 1794 it will climb to nearly 38,000,000; in 1808, to +76,000,000; in 1822, to 150,000,000; and in 1832, the time set for the +opening of the will of Monsieur Marius Rennepont and for the partition +of his fortune among his descendants, the fortune will have capped the +enormous figure of 220,000,000 livres!"</p> + +<p>"It is certainly prodigious," rejoined Bathsheba. "Even<a name="vol-1-pg_017" id="vol-1-pg_017"></a> with your +explanation, my surprise makes me dizzy. But that dizziness," she added, +with great emotion, "shall not keep me from feeling a noble pride in the +fact that it was your grandsire, your sire, and you yourself, who have +been till now the worthy repositories of such a treasure. Oh, Samuel, +you indeed acquit the debt of gratitude contracted by your grandfather +toward Monsieur Marius Rennepont."</p> + +<p>"We but perform a sacred duty confided to our integrity and our +prudence," returned the Jew. "My grandparent, my parent and I have ever +been careful not to endanger the smallest part of this sum in risky +ventures. Thanks to the financial relations of our co-religionists with +all the banks of Europe, we have been able to confine ourselves +rigorously to investments of the highest security. Should God give to us +a son, my dear wife, he will have, I hope, the prudence and the probity +of his fathers. If the joy of having a son is denied us, or if some +unforeseen development should prevent me from carrying on this mission +of honor, our cousin Levi, whose uprightness I well know, will take my +place. Or better still, perhaps the Lord will grant me a green old age, +thus enabling me in 1832, with ninety winters on my back, to return in +person to the heirs of the house of Rennepont the sacred trust which +their ancestor so long ago confided to mine. That will be a day too good +to hope for, if I can be present at the opening of Monsieur Rennepont's +testament. But God alone knows the future!"</p> + +<p>After a pause, Samuel continued:</p> + +<p>"To bring his heirs together at the distant time set for the opening of +his will, Monsieur Rennepont, a short time<a name="vol-1-pg_018" id="vol-1-pg_018"></a> before his death, hit upon +an ingenious plan. He transmitted to each of his descendants a medal +which bore on one side the legend:</p> + +<p class="c">V<small>ICTIM OF S. J.</small><br /> +P<small>RAY FOR ME</small><br /> +1682.</p> + +<p>And on the reverse, the words:</p> + +<p class="c">A<small>T</small> P<small>ARIS</small>, S<small>AINT</small> F<small>RANCOIS</small> S<small>TREET, NO</small>. 3<br /> +I<small>N A CENTURY AND A HALF YOU WILL BE</small><br /> +F<small>EBRUARY THE</small> 13<small>TH</small>, 1832.</p> + +<p>"It is by means of these medals, handed down from generation to +generation, that the Rennepont heirs will one day be reunited here, in +this, the house of their ancestor."</p> + +<p>"My friend," asked Bathsheba, "in the note you were dictating to me for +our friend Levi, you made mention of a Lebrenn family, related to +Monsieur Rennepont, which, in spite of its relationship, will probably +not partake in the division of the fortune. Whence and why this +exclusion?"</p> + +<p>"I learned from my father that the grandfather of Monsieur Rennepont, +after his abjuration, conceived the greatest aversion for his relatives +of the Lebrenn branch, severed all connection with them, and even +concealed the fact of their existence from his son, out of dread to +submit him some day to the influence of that family, the implacable +enemy, as it was, of the Church."</p> + +<p>"And did the father of Monsieur Marius Rennepont remain true to the +Roman faith?"<a name="vol-1-pg_019" id="vol-1-pg_019"></a></p> + +<p>"He did, my beloved Bathsheba; but his son, Monsieur Marius himself, +reaching the age of reason shortly after his father's death, embraced +Protestantism, which still later he feigned to renounce, in order to +protect his fortune for his son—a regrettable act of weakness."</p> + +<p>"How, then, was the existence of this Lebrenn branch discovered? It all +grows more and more mysterious to me, and whets my curiosity."</p> + +<p>"Shortly before his death, by suicide, Monsieur Marius Rennepont was +looking over some family papers running back to the Sixteenth Century, +to the period of the religious wars. There he found to a certainty proof +of the connection between the Renneponts and the Lebrenns. But whether +the latter had left any descendants he was unable to determine."</p> + +<p>"Does that mean, Samuel, that should there be living survivors of the +Lebrenn family at the time the Rennepont fortune is partitioned, they +will have no share in it?"</p> + +<p>"The formal wish of the testator," replied Samuel, "is that only those +who in 1832 present themselves here armed with their hereditary +medallion shall be admitted to benefice in the inheritance. I shall +abide by the instructions which have been handed down to me. According +to what my father said, who had his information direct from his father, +the confidant of Monsieur Rennepont himself, that clause was dictated by +motives which will be revealed in the will."</p> + +<p>"Everything in this affair is strange and singular. Probably no one even +knows where to find the present descendants of Monsieur Rennepont."</p> + +<p>"As to me, Bathsheba, I have not the slightest clue.<a name="vol-1-pg_020" id="vol-1-pg_020"></a> Still—my father +did tell me that twice in his life, Rennepont heirs presented themselves +here with their hereditary medals bearing the address of this house, +drawn hither by curiosity or vague pecuniary expectations—curiosity and +expectations which met only with disappointment."</p> + +<p>"What said your father to them?"</p> + +<p>"Just what I should say in like case: 'I have nothing to communicate to +you. This house belongs to me; it was left me by my father. I know not +for what purpose or with what plan in view your ancestor designated this +building to his heirs as their rendezvous a century and a half from +date.'"</p> + +<p>"That is, in fact, the answer commanded by prudence, Samuel. The world +must remain in ignorance of the great value of the bequest you are +charged with."</p> + +<p>"Reasons of the utmost gravity impose upon us an absolute secrecy on the +subject. In the first place, according to what my father had from my +grandfather, the Society of Jesus, always so well served by its +innumerable host of spies, succeeded in finding out that Monsieur +Rennepont had saved an important sum from the confiscation which proved +so profitable to the reverend fathers; for the informers and the +executioners parted the spoils."</p> + +<p>"Samuel! If these priests, so powerful, so masterful, and with so many +avenues of underground working should ever suspect the truth! I tremble +at the mere thought."</p> + +<p>"Take heart, my good wife. The danger would be great, but I should know +how to escape it. It was even more necessary in my grandfather's and +especially in my father's case that they kept in profound secrecy the +treasures they possessed; for the governments of Louis XIV, the Regent,<a name="vol-1-pg_021" id="vol-1-pg_021"></a> +and Louis XV, always in want, always at their wits' end for cash, were +none too scrupulous in the means they chose to replenish their coffers. +We Jews have always been a little beyond the pale of common rights, so +that my grandfather or my father, once suspected of being the possessors +of a sum amounting to several millions, would have been haled off on +<i>lettres de cachet</i>, thrown into the cell of some State prison, and kept +there till they had bought off their liberty, or, perhaps, their very +lives at the price of the treasure which they were suspected of +guarding."</p> + +<p>"Ah, Samuel, I shudder to think that in those days every wickedness was +possible. They might even have put your father to the torture."</p> + +<p>"Thanks be to God, all that is out of the question to-day. And still, +anticipating ill chances and exactions, we have always stowed our +treasure in safe places and safe hands. Should the mansion be ransacked +from cellar to eaves, the wealth of which we are the keepers would +escape the search—"</p> + +<p>Pricking his ear, Samuel checked his speech and listened intently a +moment in the direction of the street gate. Then he said aloud to +himself:</p> + +<p>"Who is knocking there? It is not one of our men."</p> + +<p>"The hour is unearthly," answered Bathsheba, uneasily. "It is past +midnight. This lonely street has long since been deserted. May it not be +our lookout come to warn us of the approach of some peril?"</p> + +<p>"No, our lookout would have given the established signal," answered the +Jew. "I'll go see what it may be."</p> + +<p>And taking the lamp, he passed out of the chamber.<a name="vol-1-pg_022" id="vol-1-pg_022"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_II-1-a" id="CHAPTER_II-1-a"></a>CHAPTER II.<br /><br /> +REVOLUTIONARY EFFERVESCENCE.</h3> + +<p>Lamp in hand, Samuel approached the wicket gate. The light he carried +revealed to him standing outside a lackey in a livery of orange and +green, trimmed with silver lace. The fellow, swaying unsteadily on his +feet, and with the air of one half-seas over with drink, knocked again, +violently.</p> + +<p>"Ho, friend!" cried Samuel. "Don't knock so hard! Perhaps you mistake +the house."</p> + +<p>"I—I knock how I please," returned the lackey in a thick voice. "Open +the door—right off. I want to come in—gallows-bird!"</p> + +<p>"Whom do you wish?"</p> + +<p>"You do not want to open; dog of Jewry! Swine! My master will beat you +to death with his stick. He said to me: 'Carry—this letter to Samuel +the Jew—and above all—rascal—do not tarry at the inn!' So I want to +get in to your dog-kennel, you devil of a Jew!"</p> + +<p>"May I ask your master's name?"</p> + +<p>"My master is Monseigneur the Count of Plouernel, colonel in the Guards. +You know him well. You have before now lent him money—triple +Arab!—according to<a name="vol-1-pg_023" id="vol-1-pg_023"></a> what my lord's steward says—and at good interest, +too."</p> + +<p>"Have you your master's letter?"</p> + +<p>"Yes—pig! And so, open. If not—I'll break in the gate."</p> + +<p>"Then pass me the letter through the wicket, and hurry about it. Else I +shall go in and leave you as you are."</p> + +<p>"Mule! Isn't he stubborn, that animal!" grumbled the lackey as he shoved +the letter through the grating. "I must have an answer, good and quick, +I was told," he added.</p> + +<p>"When I have read the letter," replied Samuel.</p> + +<p>"To make me wait outside the door—like a dog!" muttered the tipsy +servingman. "Me, the first lackey of my lord!"</p> + +<p>Samuel, without paying the least attention to the impertinences of the +lackey, read the letter of the Count of Plouernel by the light of his +lamp, and then answered:</p> + +<p>"Say to your master that I shall visit him to-morrow morning at his +rooms. Your errand is done. You may leave."</p> + +<p>"You won't give me a written answer?"</p> + +<p>"No, the reply I have just given you will suffice."</p> + +<p>Leaving the valet outside to fume his wrath away, Samuel refastened the +wicket and returned to the room where he had left his wife. Bathsheba +said to him, with some uneasiness:</p> + +<p>"My friend, did I not hear a threatening voice?"</p> + +<p>"It was a drunken lackey who brought me a letter from the Count of +Plouernel."</p> + +<p>"Another demand for a loan, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>"Exactly. He has ordered me to undertake to secure<a name="vol-1-pg_024" id="vol-1-pg_024"></a> for him the sum of +100,000 livres. He did not call on me direct for the loan, because he +thought me too poor to be able to furnish it."</p> + +<p>"Will you lend him the money, my friend?"</p> + +<p>"Surely, on excellent securities of thirty deniers to one. The Count is +good for it, and it will please me to squeeze him, along with other +great seigneurs, to the profit of the strong-box of the Voyants."</p> + +<p>Hardly had Samuel uttered these words when Prince Franz of Gerolstein, +accompanied by one single companion, entered the room. Samuel and his +wife silently passed upstairs to the floor above, leaving the two alone.</p> + +<p>Franz of Gerolstein, then at the age of twenty-five, tall of stature and +at once graceful and robust, presented an appearance both noble and +impressive. In his face could be read frankness, resolution, and +generosity. He was simply dressed. His companion, who was evidently a +woman disguised in male habiliments, seemed as young as he, though she +was really thirty. In spite of their rare beauty, her features bore the +stamp of virility. Her figure was tall and lithe; a brownish down marked +strongly her upper lip; everything harmonized with her masculine +garments. Yet the beauty of this woman was of a sinister character. The +marble-like pallor of her brow, the flashes of her black eyes, the +contraction of her pupils, the bitterness of the smile, frequently +cruel, which curled on her lips—all seemed to bear witness to the +ravages of passion or to some incurable chagrin. She seemed either a +superb courtesan, or a repentant Magdalen.</p> + +<p>Neither Franz nor his companion broke the silence of<a name="vol-1-pg_025" id="vol-1-pg_025"></a> the lower room for +an instant. The Prince spoke first, in a voice grave and almost solemn:</p> + +<p>"Victoria, it is now three months since my visit to the Prison of the +Repentant Women. Your beauty, marked with a depth of sadness, seized +possession of me at once. I learned why you had been condemned to +confinement. Those reasons, once learned, moved me deeply. From that +time dates the interest with which you have inspired me. By the +intervention of a powerful friend, I am fortunate enough to have secured +your release."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I owe you my liberty," responded she whom he called Victoria, in a +virile voice. "And moreover, you have given me, in my misfortune, many +proofs of affection."</p> + +<p>"But the interest I have shown you has other springs than in your +misfortune—although that has much augmented it."</p> + +<p>"What may they be, Franz? Speak—I am listening."</p> + +<p>The Prince paused in silence for a second, and then asked:</p> + +<p>"Know you who I am?"</p> + +<p>"Have you not told me that you were a student in one of the universities +of Germany, your native land?"</p> + +<p>"I deceived you as to my station, Victoria. I am no student."</p> + +<p>"You deceived me! You whom I thought so true?"</p> + +<p>"You will soon learn for what cause I hid from you the truth. But first +I would make you aware of the nature of the sentiments you inspire in +me. I can no longer hold back the confession. Hear me, then, +Victoria—"<a name="vol-1-pg_026" id="vol-1-pg_026"></a></p> + +<p>The young woman shuddered, stopped the Prince, and said in tones of +bitterness:</p> + +<p>"Unless I greatly mistake, I foresee the end of this speech, Franz. So +before you proceed, and in the hope of sparing you a refusal which would +be an insult to you, I must declare that I have not changed since I met +you. I must repeat what I said to you in our first interview: My heart +is dead to love—one single passion rules me, and that is, vengeance. I +have hid from you nothing of the past."</p> + +<p>"Aye, I know that you have suffered. Victoria, if your heart is dead, +mine is no longer mine. I left behind in Germany a young girl, an angel +of candor, of virtue, of beauty. She is poor and obscure of birth, but I +have sworn before God to make her my wife. I shall remain true to my +love and to my oath."</p> + +<p>"Oh, thanks, Franz, thanks for your confidence. It has lifted from me a +fearsome apprehension," said Victoria, with a sigh of joy. "I love you +with the tenderness of a sister, or rather, of a friend. For I am no +longer a woman, and it would have been cruelty on my part to inspire in +you a sentiment I could not share. But what, then, is the nature of your +feeling towards me?"</p> + +<p>"I feel for you the tender compassion due to the sorrows of your +childhood and early youth—a profound esteem for the qualities which in +you have survived, have overcome, all the causes of your +degradation;—and finally, Victoria, I am united to you by an +indissoluble bond which reaches into the most distant past—that of +kinship."</p> + +<p>Victoria gazed at the Prince in a sort of stupor as he proceeded: "We +are of one blood, Victoria. We are relatives.<a name="vol-1-pg_027" id="vol-1-pg_027"></a> One cradle, one origin, +embraced our two families. Have you ever read the records your fathers +have handed down from age to age, for now over sixteen centuries?"</p> + +<p>"I learned of those writings during the two years I spent with my mother +and brother, subsequent to the event I have related to you. The reading +of our annals, added to all the ferments of hate, already planted in my +soul, and to the disappearance of my father, now dead or languishing in +some pit of the Bastille, all created and matured in me that craving for +vengeance, or rather for reprisals, which now possesses me. I long to +serve that vengeance, at the cost of my life, if need be. That is why I +have consented to this initiation, the hour of which is now approached. +Vengeance will be but justice, and I wish it to be implacable."</p> + +<p>"The hour is indeed arrived, Victoria, and also the moment to reveal to +you what we are to each other. You have in your plebeian annals a +princely name, that of Charles of Gerolstein. That prince was a +descendant of Gaëlo the Pirate, who in the Tenth Century accompanied old +Rolf, chief of the Northman pirates, to the siege of Paris.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> One of +the descendants of Gaëlo, taking his departure from Norway, went, some +time in the Tenth Century, to establish himself with one of the +independent tribes of Germany. His courage, his military prowess, caused +his election as chief of the tribe. His son, equal to his father for +wisdom and bravery, succeeded him to the command. The chieftainship from +that time forward became hereditary in the family. Later, the tribe of +Gerolstein became one of the foremost in the German confederation. Thus<a name="vol-1-pg_028" id="vol-1-pg_028"></a> +did the descendants of Gaëlo found the sovereign house of Gerolstein, +to-day represented by my father, who now holds sway in his German +principality. Our relationship is beyond doubt, Victoria, and the bonds +thereof were again strengthened in the Sixteenth Century, when, in the +religious wars, the ancestors of us both fought together under Admiral +Coligny."</p> + +<p>"So, Franz, you are of the race of sovereigns," Victoria made answer. +Then she continued: "It is now three months since you rescued me from +prison. Shame, grief, self-contempt have deterred me from returning to +my mother and brother. I am penniless. I wished to earn my living as a +sempstress, a trade in which my mother instructed me during my stay with +her. That would be the wisest thing to do. Why have you opposed my +desires?"</p> + +<p>"Because I thought you could serve the cause of humanity more fruitfully +than by occupying yourself with the needle."</p> + +<p>"You told me that I was to go through a novitiate of several months, +during which time I might demand no assistance in my work. I accepted of +you the money necessary for my modest needs. You were to me both brother +and teacher. I saw you every day for hours. Little by little my eyes +were opened to the light. Radiant horizons dazzled my vision. You filled +me with your generous aspirations. You fired me with that fever of +devotion and resignation, that thirst for sacrifices, from which spring +saints and martyrs. You followed with interest my progress in the new +path that you opened out to me. Day by day I wished that my initiation +might end. I wished to take my part in action, in your projects. But now +that<a name="vol-1-pg_029" id="vol-1-pg_029"></a> you have revealed your birth, your station, I begin to doubt you. +Is the object of your society really that which you have taught me it +was, the recovery of the rights ravaged from the disinherited classes?"</p> + +<p>"The least doubt on your part on that score, Victoria, would be a cruel +blow to me. We have taken arms for justice and right."</p> + +<p>"Pardon me, Franz. Then the <i>level</i>, that inflexible emblem—the social +level—"</p> + +<p>"Is our emblem. Equality of rights for man and woman!"</p> + +<p>"It is your emblem, my lord? Yours, the son of a sovereign?"</p> + +<p>"The aim of my life is the triumph of liberty, the birth of the +Republic! Hear me, Victoria. You have borne the hardships, the +sufferings, the shame of a prison. Which, you or a person unknown to +prison horrors, knows them better? Which would hate them more?"</p> + +<p>"I read your thought. Despotism itself has taught you its horror."</p> + +<p>"And you will no longer wonder at me—of a sovereign race, but yet as +lowly of origin as you, as both our families originated in the same +place—when I take the level as my emblem?"</p> + +<p>"I shall wonder no more, Franz; but to my wonder succeeds a glow of +admiration." With her eyes full of tears, and bowing her knee before the +Prince of Gerolstein, Victoria kissed his hand, saying, "May you be +blessed and glorified for your generous sentiments."</p> + +<p>"Rise, Victoria," answered the Prince with emotion. "My conduct does not +merit your admiration. It is but a puny<a name="vol-1-pg_030" id="vol-1-pg_030"></a> sacrifice for us to make of our +privileges, compared with the grandeur of our cause." Then after a +pause, he resumed in mild and grave tones: "But now reflect on this +solemn moment of your initiation. There is still time for you to retract +your allegiance to us."</p> + +<p>"Franz, after three months of proof, I shall not weaken at the last +moment. I am ready for the ceremony."</p> + +<p>"Think of the terrible vows you are about to take."</p> + +<p>"Be they what they may, I shall not be found wanting in faith, courage, +or devotion."</p> + +<p>"I wished to reveal to you our family connection in order that you could +accept from me without embarrassment, as should be between relatives, +your means of livelihood for the future, should you not care to carry +out your plan. Your liberty of action shall remain complete and +absolute."</p> + +<p>"I shall always accept from you, Franz, a service without blushing. But +more than ever before, am I resolved to pledge myself to your cause, to +the cause of the expropriated—if you think me worthy to serve it."</p> + +<p>"I shall not speak to you of the perils confronting us. You are above +all, valiant. But it is necessary to reconcile you to a complete +renunciation of self. You will be an instrument; not a blind one, but at +once intelligent and passive. The Voyants are obliged to employ, for the +deliverance, regeneration and happiness of mankind, some of the very +means which the Society of Jesus uses to enslave and brutalize it. The +sword, according as it is used, may be the dagger of the assassin or the +glaive of the citizen wielded in defense of his country. It was the +glaive with which Brutus opposed the Roman aristocracy, and smote +Caesar."<a name="vol-1-pg_031" id="vol-1-pg_031"></a></p> + +<p>"I know the end toward which I shall be guided, the triumph of right and +of justice. I shall obey."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you will also have to renounce your hopes of vengeance and +reprisals. Will you be equal to that?"</p> + +<p>The young woman shook and her features darkened under the stress of the +internal struggle which these words caused her. Finally she broke out in +an altered voice:</p> + +<p>"What, Franz! Shall centuries of oppression not have their day of +retribution? Shall the crimes of ages go unpunished? Shall the shades of +our martyred fathers not be appeased by vengeance? Shall the example of +inexorable justice not be given to the world, in the name of eternal +good? What! They would deny us one day, one single day of legitimate +reprisals after fifteen centuries of crime? Must the victims be +constrained to pardon their executioners?"</p> + +<p>"Victoria, those who seek the birth of the reign of fraternity on earth +hold blood in abhorrence. They hope to accomplish the freedom, the +regeneration of mankind by mercy and pardon, and by educating the +working class."</p> + +<p>"Then I renounce my vengeance!" said the young woman. "But if the +eternal enemies of humanity oppose themselves, by trickery or by +violence, to the emancipation of the oppressed; if on their part, the +conflict is engaged without either mercy or pity, shall the victims have +to kneel, and offer their throats to the knife?"</p> + +<p>"In that case, Victoria, may the blood fall on the heads of those who +first shed it. Accursed be those who respond by treachery or violence to +our words of love, of concord, of justice and of reparation! Then will +be fulfilled once more, perhaps for the last time, that law of human +progress,<a name="vol-1-pg_032" id="vol-1-pg_032"></a> which, so many times across the ages, has encrimsoned the +conquest of the most equitable reforms. Insurrection will have to impose +upon the oppressors concessions the voluntary granting of which would +have saved the world from all these woes. Accursed be those who shall +then attempt to oppose force to the demands of the times. Then, +Victoria, there shall be war, war tremendous, pitiless! It will be the +unchaining of popular passions. No bridle can hold them. The justice of +God will pass over a terror-stricken world. Then, in the midst of that +tempest which shall overturn thrones and altars—then, Victoria, you +shall appear, terrible as the Goddess of Vengeance, striking with her +broad sword the old world, condemned in the name of the good of the +peoples."</p> + +<p>"Oh, my life, my whole life for one hour of such vengeance!" cried the +young woman, palpitating in wild exaltation. "Aye, let my life be a +hundred times more miserable, more abject, more horrible than that which +a King put upon me—I shall live it twice over in order to assist in the +hour of this vengeance. A day, an hour of reprisals, for my life of +misery!"</p> + +<p>"Come then, Victoria, you shall be ours as we shall be yours, in life, +in death, in triumph, in vengeance!"</p> + +<p>So speaking, the Prince of Gerolstein led Victoria Lebrenn out of +Samuel's chamber, across the garden, and into a deserted and +half-subterranean green-house.<a name="vol-1-pg_033" id="vol-1-pg_033"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_III-1-a" id="CHAPTER_III-1-a"></a>CHAPTER III.<br /><br /> +THE VOYANTS.</h3> + +<p>The half-underground hot-house into which Franz of Gerolstein conducted +his new convert was dimly lighted by a lamp placed at the foot of a +stairway leading still further beneath the earth. On the first step of +this staircase Franz found a package from which he produced two loose +robes and two masks. Addressing his companion, he said:</p> + +<p>"Put this robe on over your garments, and hide your countenance behind +this mask."</p> + +<p>They descended the stairs, and arrived in a corridor, lighted by the +hanging lamp whose rays had guided them from above. At the extremity of +the passage stood a man cloaked in red and with a black mask over his +visage. He held a naked sword in his hand, and advanced two steps to +meet the newcomers.</p> + +<p>"Who are you?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"We are of the <i>disinherited</i>," replied Franz. "For father we had +<i>enslavement</i>, for mother <i>ignorance</i>; our condition is <i>misery</i>. We are +of the poor, the oppressed, the damned here below."</p> + +<p>"What do you wish, my brother?"</p> + +<p>"<i>Liberty</i>, <i>knowledge</i>, <i>happiness</i>."</p> + +<p>"Knock at that door," commanded the masked figure in red, stepping aside +to make way for Franz and his companion.<a name="vol-1-pg_034" id="vol-1-pg_034"></a> "Knock and it shall be opened +unto you; seek, and ye shall find."</p> + +<p>The door opened, and as soon closed behind the two initiates. For a +moment they were blinded by the brilliance which flooded the +subterraneous chamber to which they had now penetrated. It was lighted +by seventy candelabra, each bearing seven candles—again the mystic +number. The walls were covered with red drapery; at the further end a +raised platform formed a dais with closed curtains; on the front of the +dais was the picture of a carpenter's level. Several steps from the +platform, on a draped table, were thrown in confusion a royal crown, a +scepter, a pontifical tiara, a bishop's crosier, several collars of +chivalric orders, and a few ducal or princely coronets; besides these +there lay in the heap some pouches, half open, and full of gold and +silver pieces.</p> + +<p>Directly behind the table on which thus lay cluttered the emblems of +religion, royalty, aristocracy and wealth, stood seven masked men, +garbed in long robes, silent and erect, their arms crossed on their +chests, seven specters, seven fantastic apparitions. The one whose duty +it was to officiate at the reception of initiates stood in the center. +Three Voyants were ranged to his right, three to his left. He addressed +Victoria, who keenly felt the impression produced on her by the strange +spectacle:</p> + +<p>"Woman, your age?"</p> + +<p>"Fifteen centuries, and more. I was born the first day of the +enslavement and misery of my brothers."</p> + +<p>"What would you?"</p> + +<p>"The end of oppression. I wish to beat down thrones and altars, +privileges of birth and of fortune, all the hoary<a name="vol-1-pg_035" id="vol-1-pg_035"></a> monuments of +ignorance, of slavery, and of iniquity, all the monopolies, all the +privileges which flourish upon the people."</p> + +<p>"What will happen when the level shall have passed over the old world, +and when the exploiters of the people shall have disappeared?"</p> + +<p>"The darkness of ages shall be superseded by the revivifying warmth and +the fruitful light of the sun; harvests of abundance will cover with +their sheaves the soil tilled by a fecund revolution."</p> + +<p>"Is your severance from the old world complete?"</p> + +<p>"I have broken with the old world, and rallied to the new."</p> + +<p>"Behold this pontifical tiara, this kingly crown; gaze on these symbols +of nobility, these sacks of gold and silver. You may demand of kings, of +priests, of nobles, of the rich, the enjoyments of life, all by devoting +yourself body and soul to these idols and to tyranny."</p> + +<p>"It is my wish to overthrow those idols. I vow an implacable hatred to +the enemies of the people."</p> + +<p>"From this hour," responded the cloaked president, apparently satisfied +with the interrogatory, "you shall be ours as we will be yours. Our +device so has it—<i>All for each; each for all.</i> By this device, +co-operation will replace in the future the selfishness of the masters +of the old world. Who caused all the evils of which selfishness has been +the source? He who first dug a ditch about a piece of common land and +said 'This is mine.' The usurpation was consecrated by men simple-minded +enough to respect these arbitrary boundaries; the spoliation of several +by one gradually became a right; the deed became the law, the exception<a name="vol-1-pg_036" id="vol-1-pg_036"></a> +the rule. The tyranny growing out of this principle, initiated by +violence and perpetuated by custom, became rooted in the peoples' mind, +till at length they came to own an infant mewling in the cradle for +their King, and to kiss the boot of the Pope. What consequences have not +come out of these aberrations! Peoples have throttled each other. The +earth has its damned ones, more to be pitied than those with whom +superstition peoples hell. The damned on earth call themselves vassals, +serfs, proletarians, artisans, laborers! It is of these damned ones that +we seek the redemption. Think you the overturning of thrones and altars +will suffice for the deliverance of these victims? No, alas, no. To the +tyranny of King and Church will succeed an exploitation still more +tyrannical, that of the tribe of Business. Then the dispenser of work +and of wages will exert an empire absolute over his wage-earning +workingmen. On the ruins of the thrones and altars will soon grow up the +oligarchy of merchants and bourgeois.</p> + +<p>"That oligarchy must also in its end be overthrown," continued the +initiator. "That is our final aim.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> Our design is to unite by the bond +of a common faith, thousands of initiates in every country of +Europe—first in Germany, then in France, in England, and elsewhere; to +bring them gradually, by initiation, into the knowledge of the object of +our association; to have them swear obedience to its chiefs, visible and +invisible, and chosen from all ranks of society, from the highest to the +lowest; to recruit our partisans and co-workers in the very councils of +the Kings themselves, in the heart of the palace of the Popes. Our<a name="vol-1-pg_037" id="vol-1-pg_037"></a> +enemies will find themselves, without their knowing it, perpetually +under our eyes; their plots will be revealed to us; their own creatures, +to all appearances the most devoted to them, will obey our orders, and +undermine the foundations of their social edifice. Then in the hour of +redemption the old world shall crumble and go down under its debris of +priests, nobles, and Kings.</p> + +<p>"Woman," continued the master of ceremonies, outstretching his hand +toward Victoria, "you now know our purposes. Here are our sinews of +action. An annual assessment levied on all our brothers, who number +themselves by millions, makes us masters of a mighty treasure. That is +the source of the wealth in which revel those of our number whose duty +it is to mix with the mighty ones of the day, sharing in their +dalliances and dissipations—foxes to deceive, wolves to devour our +enemies. Victoria Lebrenn, it is for you, thanks to your remarkable +gifts of nature, to become one of our most active auxiliaries. But to +serve well our cause, it will be necessary that you abdicate your own +will, and that you stand ready, at any hour of the day or night, to +follow our orders."</p> + +<p>"Command; I obey."</p> + +<p>"I must first acquaint our brothers with the particulars of your life, +as you have set them down in your own hand, and confided them to your +converter."</p> + +<p>Picking up a roll of manuscript, the presiding officer proceeded to read +the story of Victoria Lebrenn, as follows:</p> + +<p>"In the year 1772, being then eleven years and a half old, I was one day +crossing the garden of the Tuileries, carrying dinner to my father, a +workman in a printing shop<a name="vol-1-pg_038" id="vol-1-pg_038"></a> in Bac Street. I paused a moment to watch +some little children at play. A woman well dressed and with decent +features drew close to me, examined me attentively, and made me some +compliments on my good looks. Then noting the porringer with my father's +dinner, and learning from me that I was on my way to him, she proposed +that I go with her in her carriage. Delighted to have a carriage-ride +for the first time in my life, I readily agreed. Near the Draw Bridge a +coach was waiting, into which I got with my conductress. She offered me +some lozenges from a box, which I accepted. The lozenges contained some +species of narcotic, for in a few minutes I had fallen into a deep +sleep.</p> + +<p>"When I awoke, it was night. I was lying in a great bed with damask +curtains. The ceiling of my chamber was of gold, and the room itself was +richly furnished. Beside my pillow was seated the woman by whose agency +I had been taken to the place. I asked her where I was. I wept at the +anxiety of my parents; she calmed me, promising that they should soon be +with me. She added that I was in the house of a person of great quality, +who was interested in my youth, wished me much good, and would enrich my +family. I knew I was not dreaming, but thought myself the heroine of a +fairy tale. Two women entered. They made me rise, and put me in a +perfumed bath. Then they dressed my hair, one of them winding a string +of pearls through it. They dressed me in silk and lace, and served me +with supper on plates of vermilion and gold. I experienced a sort of +vertigo; I obeyed mechanically. Still, I kept asking for my father and +mother. The woman of the carriage assured me that they would soon<a name="vol-1-pg_039" id="vol-1-pg_039"></a> +arrive, and be overjoyed to see me so beautiful. A hard-visaged man +entered the chamber. I heard the old woman call him Monsieur Lebel, and +speak to him with great respect. The man scrutinized me carefully. +'Little one,' he said to me, 'you must go to bed now.' Then he went out.</p> + +<p>"Doubtless, in the course of the repast, they had served me with several +glasses of heady wine, for I felt my reason clouding. I allowed myself +to be put to bed, though not without again inquiring for my parents. +They promised to take me back to them the next day. The woman and her +two companions bade me good night, snuffed the candles in the +candelabrum, and left me for light a single alabaster lamp, which threw +a pale illumination over the spacious room. I was about to succumb less +to sleep than to the leaden lethargy into which I had been plunged, when +a start of fright restored to me, for a few moments, all my senses. My +bed was set in an alcove. Two of the gilded panels which formed the +alcove slid back in their grooves, and I beheld an old man in a dressing +gown. I uttered a cry of astonishment—it was the King, Louis XV. I had +seen him but a short time before at a public ceremony in Paris. I was +stupefied into immobility. Close behind the King, in the secret +passageway leading into the alcove, stood a beautiful young woman +half-clad in a night robe, and holding a candle-stick. She laughed +aloud, and said to the King, pushing him by the shoulder—'Go on, +France, it is the loving hour!'</p> + +<p>"That woman, I afterwards learned, was Countess Du Barry. I fainted with +fear. I was the victim of an odious assault. Five days afterward, +another poor child, aged like me, hardly twelve, the daughter of a +miller of Trianon,<a name="vol-1-pg_040" id="vol-1-pg_040"></a> was delivered after the same manner to the lust of +Louis XV, and gave him the small-pox of which he died. Two days before +his death, the woman of whom I have spoken, one of the royal +procuresses, made me leave by night the little apartment in the palace +of Versailles, and get with her into a carriage, assuring me she was +about to restore me to my father, whom I continually called for, in +tears. I still was not fully aware of my dishonor. Instead of returning +me to my home, the procuress left me in an isolated dwelling not far +from Versailles. High walls surrounded the garden; the only entry was by +a gate which was kept under careful guard. Flight was impossible.</p> + +<p>"In that house I found several young girls, of whom the youngest was +barely my age, and the oldest, twenty. The place was the habitual haunt +of great lords, prelates, and financiers. They came to sup with +us—suppers that ended in shameful orgies. My companions, the immature +victims, like myself, of kingly debauchery, gradually made known to me +the extent of my disgrace. At first I was overcome by shame; then +familiarity with vice, the contagion of example, the influence of the +corrupt atmosphere in which I dwelt, stifled my better sentiments and my +early training. I would never have dared at this time to return to my +family. I reached my sixteenth year without having left that house of +ill fame. By that time reflection and chagrin had matured my reason; +then there began to grow up beside the sense of my degradation, the +implacable hatred of the King and of those who, after him, had plunged +me still deeper into the mire of infamy. I assisted daily in the orgies +of the seigneurs of the Court, of the Church and of the Bourse. They +never supposed<a name="vol-1-pg_041" id="vol-1-pg_041"></a> creatures of our sort capable of attaching any +importance to what they said in our presence; they expressed without +hesitation their disdain and aversion for the people. Just about that +time, several disturbances brought on by the dearness of provisions had +been quelled at the musket's mouth; our guests regretted that the acts +of repression had not been still more pitiless, saying, 'These flames +can never be quenched save by rivers of blood.'</p> + +<p>"Thus there was created in me, a daughter of the people, a blind thirst +for vengeance. Louis XV was dead, but I followed with my hatred both +royalty and nobility, clergy and financiers. Our relations with the men +of this class taught me to see in them our merciless enemies. Still my +material comfort and my early degradation engendered in me a cowardly +inertia. I felt neither the courage nor the desire to flee the domicile +where I was held. I was seized with mortal terror at the bare thought of +encountering my father, my mother, my young brother; of soiling our +hearth with my presence. And, finally, knowing that their life was poor +and laborious, it seemed impossible to me to summon the will to work and +to share their privations. Ease and luxury were enervating, were +depraving me. Thus passed several years. I reached the age of twenty. +The woman who kept the place died, and my companions and I were turned +adrift. I was without resources and unable to earn my daily bread, my +apprenticeship as a sempstress having been cut short by my kidnapping. +The fear of misery, my determination not to continue in that abject +life, the uncertainty of the future, and lastly my attachment to my +family, overcame my shame and gave me the courage to return home. My +parents believed me dead;<a name="vol-1-pg_042" id="vol-1-pg_042"></a> my appearance overwhelmed them with joy and +rendered them merciful. I confessed to them my past. They both covered +me with tears and caresses, and withheld every reproach. My father gave +me to read the plebeian legends of our family. Then my poor father, +exasperated by the deed that marred my childhood, printed and +distributed to the public with his own hand an account which he wrote +and entitled <i>A Night of Louis XV</i>. A few days after the publication of +this article, my father failed to come home at night. Since then we have +had no trace of him. Doubtless he now is dead, or languishes in the cell +of some State prison.</p> + +<p>"For a year I remained with my mother and brother. I forced myself to +live down my past. I took up again my sempstress's apprenticeship, and +soon ceased to be a care to my mother. While my body had been stained, +my heart remained pure. I had never felt the pangs of love. I now +conceived a violent affection for a young sergeant in the French Guards +named Maurice, the son of one of our neighbors. The young fellow did not +know through what a slough my youth had been dragged, and thought me +entirely worthy of him; so much did I dread his scorn that I had not the +heart to disabuse him. He asked my hand of my mother. I begged her to +hide from him my past shame; moved by my tears she consented to silence. +We were affianced, Maurice and I. I had attained the summit of my +prayers. I felt a secret remorse in deceiving the man who loyally +offered me his hand, but I consoled myself with the thought of +fulfilling scrupulously my marriage vows and making my husband as happy +as possible. Cruelly was my dissimulation punished. One day, while<a name="vol-1-pg_043" id="vol-1-pg_043"></a> +walking between my mother and my betrothed, we met one of my old +companions in misery. She knew me and addressed me in terms of a +terrible meaning. Terrified at the expression of Maurice's face at this +revelation, my heart broke—I collapsed. When I came to myself my mother +stood at my side in tears. Commanded by my beloved to tell him all, for +he still could not believe in my past indignity, my mother dared no +longer hide the truth. Maurice was stricken dumb with grief, for he +loved me with all his heart. He returned to the barracks in +bewilderment, and chancing to come into the presence of his colonel, the +Count of Plouernel, did not think to salute him. The Count, angered at +this want of respect, knocked off Maurice's hat with a blow of his cane. +He, half crazed with despair, raised his hand against his colonel. The +crime was punishable by death under the scourge. The next day the young +sergeant expired under that inhuman torture. The death of the man I +loved threw me into a sort of frenzy. Often before, as the record of our +family tells, had our fathers, as serfs or vassals, found themselves in +arms face to face with the race of Plouernel. This memory redoubled my +hatred for the colonel. Disgusted with life by the death of my only +love, I resolved to avenge on the Count of Plouernel the decease of +Maurice. I repaired to the quarters of the Guards at the hour when I +knew I could find the colonel in his rooms. My hope was dashed. My +paleness and agitation aroused the suspicions of the two under-officers +to whom I addressed myself. They demanded the reason of my desire to see +their chief. The brusqueness of my replies, my sinister and wild +appearance strengthened their mistrust. They fell upon me, searched me, +and found in<a name="vol-1-pg_044" id="vol-1-pg_044"></a> my pocket—a dagger. Then I told them why I came. They +arrested me; they haled me to the Repentant Women. I was subjected in +that prison to the most barbarous treatment. One day a stranger visited +the place. He questioned me. My answers impressed him. A few days later +I was set at liberty, thanks to the efforts of this stranger, Franz, who +came in person to fetch me from the Repentant Women."</p> + +<p> +<br /> +</p> + +<p>The chief initiator concluded the reading of the melancholy recital, and +replaced the pages of manuscript on the table before him. "The account +of our sister is authenticated throughout," he said.</p> + +<p>"To this story of my sad life," declared Victoria, "there is nothing to +add. Only to-day did I learn the name of the generous stranger to whom I +owe my release from prison; and again I declare myself ready to pledge +my devotion and service to the cause of humanity. Let the war upon the +oppressors be implacable!"</p> + +<p>"From the most obscure to the most illustrious, all devotion is equal in +the eyes of our great cause, and in the eyes of its most noble martyr, +the immortal crucified master of Nazareth," added the initiator, drawing +aside the curtains of the dais and disclosing a Christ on a crucifix, +surmounted with the level of equality. Then he continued, speaking to +Victoria, "Woman, in the name of the poor carpenter of Nazareth, the +friend of the sorrowing and the disinherited, the enemy of the priests +and the rulers of his day—woman, do you swear faith, love, and +obedience to our cause?"</p> + +<p>"I swear!" answered Victoria in a ringing voice, raising<a name="vol-1-pg_045" id="vol-1-pg_045"></a> her hands +toward the crucifix. "I swear faith and obedience to our cause!"</p> + +<p>"You are now ours as we are yours," replied the officiant, dropping the +curtains. "From to-morrow on you will receive our instructions from our +brother Franz. To work! The opening of the States General shall be the +signal for the enfranchisement of the people. The thrones shall +disappear beneath the scourge of the revolution!"<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p> + +<p>At that moment the watch posted in the corridor of the Voyant temple of +liberty struck thrice precipitately on the door, giving the alarm. The +lights which had cast their radiance over the meeting went out as if by +magic, and a profound darkness took possession of the underground +chamber.</p> + +<p>From the obscurity was heard the voice of Anacharsis Clootz, the masked +officiant, saying to the other Voyants who had been present at the +initiation of Victoria Lebrenn:</p> + +<p>"Baboeuf, go with Buonarotti, Danton and Condorcet by the right exit. I +shall take the left, together with Franz, Loustalot, and our neophyte."<a name="vol-1-pg_046" id="vol-1-pg_046"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IV-1-a" id="CHAPTER_IV-1-a"></a>CHAPTER IV.<br /><br /> +LITTLE RODIN.</h3> + +<p>While Anacharsis Clootz, the rich Dutch banker, later to be known as the +"Orator of the Human Race," was thus presiding at the initiation of +Victoria Lebrenn into the sect of the Voyants, Samuel, left alone with +his wife by the departure of Franz of Gerolstein and his companion, had +been just preparing to continue his dictation to Bathsheba, when he +heard the street-outlook rapping discreetly at the gate. Samuel, +hastening at the call, found the watcher holding by the hand a young boy +who cried bitterly.</p> + +<p>"The poor little fellow has lost his way," said the lookout, passing the +boy in to Samuel. "I found him sitting down there by the buttress of the +gate, sobbing. You would better keep him with you for the night, and +to-morrow, in the daylight, he can be taken back to his folks—if you +can find out from him where he lives."</p> + +<p>Touched by the child's grief, Samuel took him into the lower room and +both he and Bathsheba bent all their energies toward quieting him. The +boy seemed to be about nine or ten years old. He was poorly clad, and of +a wan and ailing appearance. His face presented none of the smiling +prettiness usual with children of his age. His peaked features, his +sickly and cadaverous pallor, his thin, pale lips, his sly and shifty, +yet keen and observing <a name="vol-1-pg_047" id="vol-1-pg_047"></a>glance—revealing a precocious cleverness—in +fine, something low, mean and crafty in the look of the boy would, no +doubt, have inspired aversion rather than sympathy in the breasts of the +couple were it not for the cruel desertion of which he seemed the +victim. Hardly had he entered the room when he dropped to his knees, +crossed himself, and clasping his hands exclaimed through his tears:</p> + +<p>"Blessed be You, Lord God, for having pitied Your little servant and led +him to this good sir and this good lady. Save them a place in Your +paradise!"</p> + +<p>Dragging himself on his knees toward the Jew and his wife, the urchin +kissed their hands effusively and with far too great a flood of +gratitude for sincerity. Bathsheba took him on her knees, and said to +him as she wiped his tear-stained face, "Don't cry, poor little one. +We'll take care of you to-night, and to-morrow we'll take you home. But +where do you live, and what is your name?"</p> + +<p>"My name is Claude Rodin," answered the child; and he added, with a +monstrous sigh, "The good God has been merciful to my parents, and took +them to His holy paradise."</p> + +<p>"Poor dear creature," answered Samuel, "you are, then, an orphan?"</p> + +<p>"Alas, yes, good sir! My dear dead father used to be holy water +dispenser at the Church of St. Medard. My dear dead mother used to rent +out chairs in the same parish. They are now both with the angels; they +are walking with the blessed saints."</p> + +<p>"And where do you live, my poor child?"</p> + +<p>"With Monsieur the Abbot Morlet, my good lady; a holy man of God, and my +kind god-father."<a name="vol-1-pg_048" id="vol-1-pg_048"></a></p> + +<p>"But how did it happen, my child, that you went astray at this late hour +of the night?" asked Samuel. "You must have left home all alone?"</p> + +<p>"Just after benediction," answered little Rodin, crossing himself +devoutly, "Monsieur the Abbot, my good god-father, took me to walk with +him in the Place Royale. There were a lot of people gathered around some +mountebanks. I sinned!" cried the boy, beating his chest in contrition, +"the Lord God punished me. It is my fault—my fault—my very great +fault! Will God ever forgive me my sin?"</p> + +<p>"But what great sin did you commit?" questioned Bathsheba.</p> + +<p>"Mountebanks are heretics, fallen, and destined for hell," answered +little Rodin, pressing his lips together with a wicked air, and striking +his breast again. "I sinned, hideously sinned, in watching the games of +those reprobates. The Lord God punished me by separating me from my good +god-father. The swaying of the crowd carried him away from me. No use to +look for him! No use to call him! It was impossible to find him. It was +my very great fault!"</p> + +<p>"And how did you get here from the Place Royale? The two points are far +apart."</p> + +<p>"Having said my prayers, both mental and oral, several times, in order +to call to my aid the divine pity," replied Rodin emphatically and with +an air of beatitude, "I started out to find my way home, away down at +the end of the Roule suburb, near the Folie-Beaujon."</p> + +<p>"Poor child," interrupted Bathsheba. "More than a<a name="vol-1-pg_049" id="vol-1-pg_049"></a> league to travel! How +I pity the dear child. Go on with your story," she said to him.</p> + +<p>"It is a long way, true enough," added Samuel, "but all he had to do was +to follow the boulevards. How did you come to lose the road?"</p> + +<p>"A worthy gentleman, of whom I inquired the way, told me I would reach +home quicker by taking another street. I walked all evening, but all I +did was to get lost. The wrath of the Lord pursued me!" After sighing +and beating his breast again, little Rodin continued: "Then, at last, +passing your house, I felt so tired, so tired, that I fell on your +door-step from weariness, and prayed the good God to come to my help. He +deigned to hear the prayer of His little servant, and so you came to +pity me, my good sir and lady. May God receive you in heaven!"</p> + +<p>"You shall spend the night here, dear child, and to-morrow we will take +you back to your god-father—so don't weep any more."</p> + +<p>"Alas, good sir, the holy man will be so anxious! He will think me +lost!"</p> + +<p>"It is impossible now to calm his anxiety. But are you hungry or +thirsty? Will you have something to eat or drink?"</p> + +<p>"No, good mistress; only I'm terribly sleepy, and wish I could lie +down."</p> + +<p>"I can well believe it," said Bathsheba, addressing her spouse; "after +such fatigue and worry, the little fellow must be worn out. It is only +natural that he should be dying to go to sleep."</p> + +<p>"But where shall we put him? We are in a tight fix. We have but one +bed."<a name="vol-1-pg_050" id="vol-1-pg_050"></a></p> + +<p>"Oh, good sir," eagerly broke in little Rodin, "don't put yourself out +for me. I shall sleep very well right there, if you will let me;" and +the boy indicated a re-enforced and brass-bound chest which his keen eye +had spied, and which formed a seat at the further end of the room. "That +will do me, very well."</p> + +<p>"I never thought of the chest," remarked Samuel. "The boy is right. At +his age one sleeps anywhere. With plenty of warm covering he will pass +the night there almost as comfortably as in his own bed. It all comes +out for the best."</p> + +<p>"I'll go fetch a cushion and a cloak, and fix him up as well as +possible," added Bathsheba, leaving the room.</p> + +<p>The boy sat down and huddled himself together as if unable to resist the +lassitude and sleep which weighed upon him. His head sank upon his +chest, and his eyes closed. But immediately peeping under his lids he +saw on the table close beside him pens, ink, and several sheets of +freshly written paper. It was Samuel's unfinished letter to Levi.</p> + +<p>"I surely was inspired in asking to sleep here," murmured the boy, +aside; "let me recall without forgetting anything the orders of my good +god-father," he thought, as the Jew's wife returned with the makeshift +bedding she had gone in search of.</p> + +<p>"Here, dear boy," she said, "I'll put you to bed and tuck you in well +from the cold."</p> + +<p>Simulating a heavy sleep, the urchin did not stir.</p> + +<p>"Poor creature—asleep already," said Bathsheba. "I'll have to carry +him." Lifting little Rodin in her arms she placed him on the chest, +while Samuel arranged the cushion<a name="vol-1-pg_051" id="vol-1-pg_051"></a> under his head and covered him up +with the cloak. These cares completed, Samuel and his wife turned again +to the completion of the note to their cousin Levi; but his thoughts +having been disarranged by the frequent interruptions, Samuel asked his +wife to re-read the letter from the beginning, after which he finished +it, while the young boy was seemingly sound asleep.</p> + +<p>Bathsheba had just taken down the last of her husband's dictation when +suddenly another rap resounded at the gate.</p> + +<p>"Samuel," cried the Jewess, pale and trembling, "that time the watcher +gave the alarm signal."</p> + +<p>Samuel went to the gate, opened the wicket and asked the lookout:</p> + +<p>"What is up?"</p> + +<p>"For nearly quarter of an hour I have remarked two men, closely wrapped +in their cloaks, who came in from St. Gervais Street, and halted at the +corner of the garden wall. They examined the house minutely. Immediately +I fell on one of the stone benches in the dark passageway and pretended +to be asleep. Two or three times they passed by without noticing me; +they kept walking up and down, now examining the exterior of the +building, now conversing in low tones. Finally they saw me, and said +aloud—'There is a wine-bibber sleeping himself sober.' They walked once +more to some distance; then returning towards me, I heard them utter +these words: 'And now, let us report to the sergeant.' They quickened +their steps and vanished around the corner of St. Francois Street. Now +you are warned, Master Samuel."<a name="vol-1-pg_052" id="vol-1-pg_052"></a></p> + +<p>"When you first observed them, was anyone within?" asked Samuel. "Are +you sure of that, lookout?"</p> + +<p>"No one—except the child I brought to you, and whom you took in +yourself."</p> + +<p>"These two men must be attached to the police, since they intended to go +straight to the sergeant; could their suspicions as to what went on here +have been awakened by their observations to-night?"</p> + +<p>"There was no one in the street while our brothers were arriving. I am +sure of it; I kept good and sure guard."</p> + +<p>"The suspicions of these fellows must, then, date from further back than +this evening. But, in that case, at the first suspicion of one of his +agents, the Lieutenant of Police would have had the house turned +topsy-turvy by his searchers. There is something inexplicable in the +conduct of these men. However, if they guessed that you were not really +asleep, but could hear, I believe they would have enjoyed giving you a +false scare. But then, to what purpose? No matter, forewarned is +forearmed. Maintain your watch, and the instant you get sight or sound +of the police sergeant, notify me with the usual signal."</p> + +<p>Samuel thereupon ran to the green-house and gave the alarm, which, +repeated by the Voyant on guard at the door of the temple, was the +signal for the dispersal of the meeting. Then the Jew returned to the +room where his wife awaited him.</p> + +<p>"Well, my friend," asked Bathsheba hurriedly in an undertone, and unable +to control her anxiety, "what is going on?"</p> + +<p>"The danger is not imminent. Nevertheless, I have just warned our +brothers to leave the temple by the two<a name="vol-1-pg_053" id="vol-1-pg_053"></a> secret issues. The flag-stone +which masks the descent under the hot-house will be replaced, for the +police spies were watching the house. They will cause it to be searched, +they must be able to discover nothing, and our friends must have time to +escape. Reassure yourself, my dear wife; we run not the slightest +danger."</p> + +<p>"Lower, my friend, lower, lest you wake the child," cautioned Bathsheba, +indicating little Rodin, who seemed to be still sound asleep, although +his eyelids were imperceptibly winking. "Oh, may the alarms of this +night be vain, and may all danger escape you!"</p> + +<p>"Dear wife, let us trust to Providence. It inspired me to write that +letter to our cousin Levi, and now, whatever may come, I am prepared. +The sacred mission bequeathed to us by my grandfather will be fulfilled, +and I shall have saved the heritage of Monsieur Marius Rennepont."</p> + +<p>"First—a movable flag conceals the descent under the green-house. +Second—this renegade of a Jew is going to safeguard the fortune of a +certain Marius Rennepont," recited little Rodin to himself, not having +lost a word of the conversation between Samuel and his wife. "Oh, now, I +mustn't forget that name, nor the two secret exits of the <i>temple</i>, nor +the movable flag-stone of the green-house—nor a lot of other things!"</p> + +<p>The alarm given by the lookout proved premature, for neither the +sergeant of police nor his men appeared on the scene that night to +ransack the house in St. Francois Street.<a name="vol-1-pg_054" id="vol-1-pg_054"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_V-1-a" id="CHAPTER_V-1-a"></a>CHAPTER V.<br /><br /> +COUNT AND JESUIT.</h3> + +<p>More than four months had elapsed since the night on which Victoria +Lebrenn was received into the society of the Illuminati, and on which +little Rodin, with froward slyness, had penetrated the secrets of the +Jew Samuel, the guardian of the Rennepont fortune. In short, it was the +night of July 13, 1789.</p> + +<p>The Plouernel mansion, in the suburb of St. Germain, had been built, in +the beginning of the Seventeenth Century, by the order of Raoul of +Plouernel, peer and Marshal of France, and ambassador to Spain. This +seigneur, residing habitually at Versailles or at Paris, left to his +stewards and bailiffs the administration of his domains in Auvergne, +Beauvoisis, and Brittany. He never visited his country seat of +Plouernel, devastated at the time of the Breton uprising.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> Marshal +Plouernel had had transported to his establishment in Paris all his +family portraits, the oldest of which represented Neroweg, the leude of +Clovis and count of the country of Auvergne. These portraits now adorned +one of the halls of the Plouernel mansion; among them was one draped in +black crepe, in token of mourning. The effigy hidden beneath the veil of +black was<a name="vol-1-pg_055" id="vol-1-pg_055"></a> that of Colonel Plouernel, traitor, according to the +traditions of the monarchy, to his faith and to his King.</p> + +<p>The first lackey of the Count of Plouernel, named Lorrain, the same who +some months previously had carried the missive to Samuel the Jew, was +showing into the Hall of the Portraits Abbot Morlet, of the Society of +Jesus, a holy man of God and god-father to little Rodin, who, in fact, +resembled him so closely as to be taken with reason for his son rather +than his god-son. The Abbot was about forty years of age, clad in black, +of middle height, weazened and nervous, with a fleshless, almost bald +forehead over which fell a few straggling hairs of tawny yellow. His +physiognomy, evil, insidious or beaming in turn, was above all +remarkable for its caustic smile and its half-veiled glance, resembling +that of a serpent. The Abbot was agitated, uneasy; he said to the lackey +who introduced him:</p> + +<p>"Announce me to your master without delay."</p> + +<p>"Monsieur Abbot," respectfully answered Lorrain, "my lord will not keep +you waiting an instant. His valets are just completing his toilet."</p> + +<p>"His toilet!" exploded the Abbot. "To be thinking of such trifles—he +must be out of his head!"</p> + +<p>Then pausing a moment and recalling the air of preparation and the +brilliant lighting of the parlors he had passed through on the ground +floor, he added:</p> + +<p>"The Count seems to be expecting a large company?"</p> + +<p>"My lord is giving a grand supper."</p> + +<p>"How is it that the agitation prevailing in Paris since day before +yesterday and up to this very night does not compel the Count to be at +the head of his regiment of the Guards?"<a name="vol-1-pg_056" id="vol-1-pg_056"></a></p> + +<p>"Monsieur the Abbot is unaware that my lord journeyed this morning to +Versailles to hand in his resignation, and to surrender the command of +his regiment."</p> + +<p>"To surrender the command of his regiment!" echoed the Jesuit, +stupefied, and as if he could not believe what he heard. "What—"</p> + +<p>At that moment Lorrain left the hall, walking backward as his master +entered.</p> + +<p>Count Gaston of Plouernel had reached at this time his thirtieth year. +The facial traits of his Germanic ancestry were reproduced in him. The +whole effect of his person was one of audacity, haughtiness and +arrogance. He presented the accepted type of the great seigneur of his +time, and wore with grace his costume of plain blue cloth of Tours, +spangled with silver and embroidered in gold. His taffeta vest was half +lost to view under the billows of Alençon point lace which formed his +shirt frill and rivalled for costly workmanship the flowing ruffles of +his cuffs. His red-heeled shoes were fastened with diamond buckles. +Diamonds also glittered in the hilt of his small-sword, which he wore +ostentatiously slung under one of the tails of his coat.</p> + +<p>At the sight of Abbot Morlet the Count seemed greatly surprised. He +cordially extended to him his hand, however, saying:</p> + +<p>"Well! good day, holy Father. What good wind blows you to us? I thought +you at this time still a hundred leagues from Paris!"</p> + +<p>"I just got in, and after attending to some indispensable duties, +hurried over to you, to communicate to you, my dear Count—to you, one +of the leaders of the court party—important information I had picked up +during my trip<a name="vol-1-pg_057" id="vol-1-pg_057"></a> through several of our provinces. Judge of my surprise! +When I arrived here, I learned from your first lackey—that you had this +very day given up the command of your regiment. That's the way of it. +The monarchy, the nobility, the clergy, are attacked as they never have +been through the worst days of our history. And it is at such an hour +that you, one of the greatest lords of France, you, a man of spirit and +of courage, sheath your sword—at this hour when the battle is engaged +with the Third Estate! Ah, Count, if you did not belong to the house of +Plouernel, I would say that you were a coward and a traitor. But, as you +are neither coward nor traitor, I shall make bold to say that you are a +madman."</p> + +<p>"On the contrary, my dear Abbot, never have I acted more wisely. Never +have I more studiously served our cause, or proven better my signal +devotion, not to the King—his weakness revolts me—but to the Queen, to +royalty!"</p> + +<p>"So, you have judged it wise and politic to abandon the command of your +regiment in our present circumstances? Is it for me, only to-day +arrived, to have to inform you that Paris is laboring under the greatest +excitement, and perhaps on the verge of a formidable insurrection? +Didn't I see them, on the other side of the Seine, beginning to throw up +their barricades? Didn't I meet on every street corner groups of +malcontents, harangued by caballers of the Third Estate?"</p> + +<p>"That is all true, Abbot. We are drawing near the moment of a decisive +crisis. The fever of revolution has lasted since day before yesterday, +since Saturday, the 11th of July. The first act took place in the Palais +Royal,<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> when<a name="vol-1-pg_058" id="vol-1-pg_058"></a> the recall of Necker became known to the public. A young +man named Camille Desmoulins stirred up the gullible clowns in the +gardens by crying out that the King was centering his troops on Paris, +with the purpose of dissolving the National Assembly, arresting the +leaders, and massacring the people of Paris. The most resolute of his +hearers cried <i>To arms! To the barricades!</i> and suited the action to the +word. Bezenval, the military commander of Paris, informed of the tumult, +ordered the dragoons of the Marquis of Crussol to horse. The dragoons +sabered the rabble. But that only angered the populace, and the +agitation spread to the suburbs. A soldier of my command told the people +that several French Guards had been sent to the Abbey Prison; for you +must know, good Father, that insubordination had crept into my regiment. +I had sent the mutineers in irons to the Abbey to await the time to +administer to them the scourging they deserved, when the populace hurled +themselves against the prison, put to rout the sentries, and liberated +the mutinous Guards. The latter received as great an ovation as if they +had had the honor of being Monsieur Necker, or Monsieur Mirabeau!"</p> + +<p>"This detestable spirit of rebellion is only too like that which infests +many of our provinces. But these saturnalia were, I hope, put down with +the greatest severity?"</p> + +<p>"Not a whit, my dear Father. A King who pretends to the title of 'Father +of the people' does not punish them—or very little. What was the +result? The mildness of the reproof redoubled the rabble's audacity. The +success of the expedition against the Abbey whetted their appetite, and +they turned their attention to the prison of La Force,<a name="vol-1-pg_059" id="vol-1-pg_059"></a> where they +delivered all the debtors. The insurrection growing more and more +serious, the Prince of Lambesc at length received orders from Marshal +Broglie, the new Minister of War, to mount his regiment, the Royal +Germans, and charge upon this impious populace, then excitedly huddled +in the garden of the Tuileries. At the same time I was ordered to bring +up my regiment, to support, if necessary, the cavalry of Lambesc."</p> + +<p>"The French Guards commanded by a colonel like you, Count, should easily +mow down these rebels. And yet you abandon your command. Your conduct is +an enigma."</p> + +<p>"On the contrary, nothing is more clear. Do you know the difference +between a German and a Frenchman?"</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"Picture to yourself a tribune of the cross-roads, an insolent droll +named Gonchon,<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> who never spoke of himself but in the third person, +come to harangue the German soldiers in the name of the brotherhood of +man. The German soldier, understanding nothing of that demagogic trash, +draws at the command of his colonel, and sabers both Gonchon and the +mob! That is what the dragoons of Lambesc did; that is what the cavalry +of Berchiny would have done gladly, and the cavalry of Esterhazy and of +Roëmer, or the regiments of Desbach, of Salis, or the Royal Swiss."</p> + +<p>"Good! That is the medicine for this canaille."</p> + +<p>"But hardly had Lambesc and his horse sabered the rabble in the garden +of the Tuileries, when that very mob poured back into Louis XV Place, +where I had stationed myself at the head of my regiment in battle array. +I gave<a name="vol-1-pg_060" id="vol-1-pg_060"></a> the order to fire on the ructious rabble. Murmurs broke out +among the soldiers in the ranks; some made answer, <i>We will not fire on +the people!</i> I ordered the mutinous men to be seized and shot on the +spot. The murmurs grew louder. I repeated the order. Bang! Several +soldiers struck me in the face! Whole companies broke ranks, waving the +butts of their muskets in the air."</p> + +<p>"Everything is lost if we cannot count on the army!" cried the Abbot in +dismay.</p> + +<p>"You have said it, Abbot—unless the court party is resolved to serve +royalty to the exclusion of the King. In the face of the stand taken by +my men, there was nothing to do but march them back to their quarters. +This morning I repaired to Versailles, and on gaining an audience with +the King I pleaded with his Majesty to authorize me to call a +court-martial to judge and condemn to death within the hour about a +hundred soldiers and under-officers of my regiment, the ringleaders of +the revolt. After long consideration, his Majesty answered with a sour +air that 'if it was a matter of shooting a half dozen or so +insubordinates, he saw no great obstacle in the way, but that he would +not listen at all to any mass slaughters.' Thereupon the King crabbedly +turned his back on me, shrugged his shoulders, and took himself off to +his private apartments. That is why, my good Father, I have renounced my +command in the French Guards. But reassure yourself," he added, in +response to the dumbfounded look the Abbot wore. "I shall remain neither +passive nor idle. I hope to serve our cause more actively, and, without +contradiction, more usefully, now, than if I still were at the head of +my regiment."<a name="vol-1-pg_061" id="vol-1-pg_061"></a></p> + +<p>"That assurance overwhelms me with joy, dear Count," cried the Abbot +"What are your plans?"</p> + +<p>"First, I give to-night a supper, a convivial repast in which I bring +together the influential heads of the court party, for the purpose of +deciding on our final measures—presided over by the most remarkable and +adorable woman I have ever met."</p> + +<p>The Jesuit gazed at Monsieur Plouernel in amaze, and answered: "Are you +speaking seriously? Are you really dreaming of having a political +meeting of such importance presided over by—a woman?"</p> + +<p>"Your astonishment will cease, my dear Abbot, when you make the +acquaintance of Madam the Marchioness Aldini, a Venetian by birth, the +widow of Marquis Aldini, a great Florentine lord who left his wife an +immense fortune. The Marchioness has resided in Paris for now nearly a +month."</p> + +<p>"You know the lady for only a month, and you dare initiate her into the +secrets of our party!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Abbot, the Marchioness is more of our party than we ourselves! A +patrician and a Catholic, she nurses an invincible horror for the +populace and for revolutions. We shall never have a more ardent +auxiliary than she. And then, she is +beautiful—seductive—irresistible!"</p> + +<p>"And where did you meet this beautiful personage?"</p> + +<p>"One day last month I received a note stamped with outraged pride. The +writer, Marchioness Aldini, addressed to me, as colonel of the Guards, a +complaint against the insolence of several of my soldiers, who had +beaten her lackeys. Struck with the lofty tone of the missive, I called +on the Marchioness, who was occupying the establishment<a name="vol-1-pg_062" id="vol-1-pg_062"></a> of the Countess +of St. Megrin, now in England, and maintained there a house on the +grandest scale. One of the Marchioness's private valets introduced me to +her in her parlor. Ah, Abbot! at the sight of her I stood spellbound, +enchanted! The extreme beauty of the foreign dame, the fire of her +glance, the expression of her face, the perfection of her stature, the +complete admirableness of her person—all threw me into transports of +admiration." Abbot Morlet puckered his brow dubiously, and the colonel +continued: "In short, the Marchioness realized, she surpassed, an ideal +a hundred times dreamt of by me, wearied as I am of the flirtatious +beauties of the city and the court. What a difference, or rather what a +distance, separates them from the Marchioness! Pride of patrician blood, +resoluteness of character, ardor, impetuosity of passion, all were +legible in her countenance of a masculine paleness, in her look of +flame. Something imperious in her posture, something virile in the +accents of her tongue, gave to this extraordinary woman—none other like +her!—an irresistible charm;—for, before she had spoken a word, I felt +myself captured, enchained, bewitched."</p> + +<p>"And the fascination grew and grew, if that is possible," put in the +Jesuit sardonically, "when this beautiful lady opened her mouth? The +siren took you by the eyes and by the ears. She greeted you, I presume, +in the most charming and gallant manner?"</p> + +<p>"Not a bit of it! On the contrary, she greeted me with an air of +arrogance and irritation. She taxed me severely for the insolence of my +soldiers."</p> + +<p>"But the tigress finished by turning sweet?"<a name="vol-1-pg_063" id="vol-1-pg_063"></a></p> + +<p>"Yes, after the greatest protestations on my part, and my assurance that +I would chastise the guilty soldiers."</p> + +<p>"The anger of the Marchioness being calmed, the interview, no doubt, +took a most tender turn?"</p> + +<p>"We spoke of the affairs of the day."</p> + +<p>"Strange, out of all whooping! A colonel of thirty, a man of the court, +besides, to speak decorously of the events of the day—with a beautiful +lady—and he so lusty elsewhere!"</p> + +<p>"So it was, nevertheless, reverend Father. I never even thought, at that +first interview, of venturing upon the slightest word of gallantry, so +struck was I with the spirit of the Marchioness. Blue death! I was pale +with rage at hearing the Marchioness's bitter sarcasms. I should have +been glad—may God blast me!—to put myself at the head of my regiment +and shoot down all the bourgeois in the States General."</p> + +<p>"This retrospective zeal flows from an excellent sentiment; and I know +not how sufficiently to applaud the beautiful Venetian for having +aroused that sentiment in you. Strongly do I approve the belle's +sarcasms, her scorn for the ranters of the Third Estate, and the +populace which supports them. Still, methinks it is very surprising that +a stranger should interest herself so warmly in our affairs," added the +Jesuit thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>Without a pause, the priest continued: "Tell me, Count—Have you dealt +out the punishment to the insolent soldiers who beat the lackeys of +Madam the Marchioness?"</p> + +<p>"It was impossible to discover them."</p> + +<p>"And she hasn't asked you for an account of their punishment? Strange! +Do you know what I think, Count?<a name="vol-1-pg_064" id="vol-1-pg_064"></a> The outrage was an imaginary one. It +was the Marchioness's pretext to secure a first interview with you."</p> + +<p>"Come, Abbot, you are insane! For what reason should she have sought to +inveigle me into an interview?"</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you, Count, for I foresee the end of this adventure. You +returned often to visit the Marchioness? You became enamored of her? And +soon the beautiful Venetian, answering your passion, granted you the +boon of love for thanks—after having wheedled out of you all our +party's closest secrets."</p> + +<p>"You are mistaken, holy Father. On the faith of a gentleman, the +Marchioness loves me as passionately as I love her; but she has placed +certain conditions on her favors."</p> + +<p>"And what may the conditions be with which she has hedged about her +bounty?"</p> + +<p>"A struggle to the death against the revolution; the exaltation of +royalty, of the privileges of the nobility and the Church; the +extermination of our enemies. Only on these conditions, Abbot, shall my +love receive its sweetest recompense."</p> + +<p>"Count," cried the Jesuit after a moment's silence, "you are only twenty +years old! What am I saying? You are barely sixteen—you are still at +the age of innocence and childlike credulity. You have been blindfolded, +duped, made game of, tossed in a blanket, like the most artless of young +fellows! Oh, the women! And you think yourself a Lovelace, a +lady-killer, my poor Count! And you presume to play a role in the +politics of the court!"</p> + +<p>"Monsieur Abbot Morlet, familiarity has its limits—do not oblige me to +recall the fact to you any more forcibly!" exclaimed Monsieur Plouernel, +flaring into a rage. Then,<a name="vol-1-pg_065" id="vol-1-pg_065"></a> calming himself with an effort, he +continued, sarcastically: "It suits you ill indeed, my reverend sir, to +twit me on the empire exercised over me by women. Has no woman ever +reigned over you? Could not the record of the vestry tell of a fertile +gossip, the hirer-out of chairs at the Church of St. Medard, and widow +of Goodman Rodin, the dispenser of holy water in the same parish? Your +mistress is the mother of that little Rodin whom you brought here one +day last year!"</p> + +<p>Unmoved by the raillery of Monsieur Plouernel, the Jesuit replied:</p> + +<p>"Your sarcasm is in the last degree pleasant, and moreover, well to the +point, in that it furnishes me the occasion, Count, to give you an +excellent lesson. You need the bit, the bridle, and also the whip, my +fine gentleman."</p> + +<p>"I am listening, reverend sir."</p> + +<p>"Your love for fine ladies of irresistible beauty is capable of leading +you into the most mournful follies; while I, by reason of my love for my +gossip Rodin, shall be, I hope, able to prevent, and what is more, to +repair your insanities."</p> + +<p>"This is getting curious, Abbot. Continue."</p> + +<p>"About four months ago, about the beginning of April, at a late hour of +the night, a child, overcome with fatigue, fell on the doorstep of a +house in St. Francois Street, in the Swamp."</p> + +<p>"St. Francois Street, in the Swamp! A rascal of a Jew, a skin-flint of a +usurer, lives there. You know him, Abbot? He does business with the +clergy too?"</p> + +<p>"It was at the door of that very house that the child sank down with +weariness, crying and shivering. The Jew,<a name="vol-1-pg_066" id="vol-1-pg_066"></a> out of the pity of his heart, +took in the little fellow, who, he supposed, had lost his way. Then, +succumbing to fatigue and drowsiness, the lad fell asleep on a bench in +the room in which the Jew and his wife were conversing."</p> + +<p>"Bless my heart, holy Father! Your voice is trembling, your nose is +growing red, your look is softening, and your eye grows moist! That +infant gifted with so precocious an intelligence, that prodigy, surely +can be no other than little Rodin, your god-son! Honor to you, Abbot, +and to your gossip! You have performed a prodigy, like the Virgin Mary +with the Holy Ghost!"</p> + +<p>"Throughout, the little fellow lost not a word of the conversation +between the Jew and his wife; and thanks to a false alarm, adroitly +given without by one of our brothers and myself, my god-son, in the +course of his feigned sleep, surprised two secrets of inestimable import +for the welfare of religion and the nobility. You shall judge—"</p> + +<p>"You are deceiving yourself, Abbot, in trying to make me believe that +from the chatter of a miserable Jew and his wife, a chatter surprised by +an urchin, secrets of such importance can be won."</p> + +<p>"Count—what do you think of a fortune of nearly 220 millions of francs? +Isn't it a magnificent sum? If these 220 millions should pass into the +possession of a party religious, able, tireless, blessed with cleverness +and boldness, would they not become a lever of immense power? Again, +suppose there were a mysterious sect, the object of which was the +annihilation of the Catholic Church, the overthrow of thrones, the +abolition of the privileges of birth and of fortune; suppose that sect +extended its ramifications throughout all Europe, that it counted in its +ranks<a name="vol-1-pg_067" id="vol-1-pg_067"></a> classes the most diversified in society, from the lowest to the +highest, and that some of them were even of kingly rank; suppose that +association had at its disposal a considerable treasure; suppose its +masters, men and women, to be capable of assuming, at need, any mask, +any role; that, thanks to their specious masquerade, they introduced +themselves among the royalists, and fathomed the secrets of our +party;—then, Count, what would you think of the discovery of that sect? +Would it not be of the primest importance? What say you?"</p> + +<p>"Surely; but only if the pretended sect existed. Come, holy Father, it +is with surprise and regret that I see a man of your good sense fall +into the net of these absurd fables about the Voyants of France, the +Illuminati of Germany, and other fish-yarns, veritable Mother Goose +tales!"</p> + +<p>"If I prove to you the existence of this society—if I show you the +place where their leaders meet, will you admit that the revealer of the +secret has rendered a signal service to the throne and the altar? Well, +Count, compare now the results of your mad-cap passion for the beautiful +foreign Marchioness, with the consequences of what you term my love for +my gossip Rodin. According to you, my god-son is one of the visible and +carnal outcomes of that love; if so I owe to the wily youngster +first—the discovery of a treasure which should some day reach more than +200 millions, on the trail of which our Society of Jesus has been for +over a century; and, second—the unearthing of a den of Voyants."<a name="vol-1-pg_068" id="vol-1-pg_068"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VI-1-a" id="CHAPTER_VI-1-a"></a>CHAPTER VI.<br /><br /> +ROYALISTS AT BANQUET.</h3> + +<p>The answer which the Count of Plouernel was about to make to his friend +the Jesuit was interrupted by the arrival of several of his convivial +friends of the court party—dukes, marquises, canons, and archbishops. +Among them was the Viscount of Mirabeau, nicknamed, by reason of his +portly front and the quantity of liquor he could contain, "Barrel +Mirabeau." He was an infantry colonel, and younger brother to the famous +orator of the Third Estate. He seemed to be in great heat, and cried in +a loud voice to Monsieur Plouernel:</p> + +<p>"Good evening, my dear Count. Devil take this infamous town of Paris and +its Parisians! Long live Versailles, the true capital of France."</p> + +<p>"Whence all this anger, Viscount?"</p> + +<p>"Anger! Allow me to inform you that just now this vile populace, which +to-night overflows in all the streets, had the impudence to stop my +carriage on the Louis XV Bridge. By God's death, I shall punish these +people!"</p> + +<p>"What did you say to the insolent creatures?"</p> + +<p>"I was treating this fraction of the 'sovereign people' like the abject +rabble that they are, when my lackey, trembling like a hare, and hoping +to secure our release, conceived the infernal idea of calling out to the +beggars 'Make<a name="vol-1-pg_069" id="vol-1-pg_069"></a> way, there, if you please, for the carriage of Monsieur +Mirabeau!' Immediately the tempest turned to a zephyr, and the stupid +people made way for me, to cries of 'Long live Mirabeau!'"</p> + +<p>"They must have taken you for your brother!"</p> + +<p>"Death and fury! It is but too true! I shall never forgive my brother +that insult!"</p> + +<p>"Calm yourself, Viscount; but yet a few days and that filthy populace +will be clouted back into the mire where it belongs."</p> + +<p>"Her Excellency, Marchioness Aldini," loudly announced one of +Plouernel's valets at that moment, swinging back both sides of the great +door of the parlor, into which he introduced—Victoria Lebrenn under her +borrowed name and title.</p> + +<p>The friends of Monsieur Plouernel thus beheld Marchioness Aldini for the +first time. All were struck with astonishment at her beauty, heightened +as it was by the splendor of her toilet. For Victoria now wore a +trailing robe of poppy-colored cloth of Tours, trimmed with black lace. +The cut of her corsage left bare her arms, shoulders and the rise of her +breast, which seemed sculptured in the purest marble. Her black hair was +not buried, as was the custom of the time, under a layer of white +powder, but, glowing with the luster of ebony, and rolled in thick and +numerous ringlets around her head, majestically crowned her brow. A +triple string of Venetian sequins served both as diadem and collar. +Nothing can give an adequate idea of the effect of this original mode, +at once elegant and severe, which was still more remarkable in that it +differed completely from the pomponned attires of the period, and<a name="vol-1-pg_070" id="vol-1-pg_070"></a> +harmonized marvellously with Victoria's own cast of beauty.</p> + +<p>Plouernel's friends, seized with admiration, were for a moment +speechless. Every look was fastened on the foreign dame;—even Abbot +Morlet experienced the fascination, and said to himself as he gazed at +her:</p> + +<p>"I can understand how the Count is mad over her. The danger is greater +than I suspected. She is a very siren."</p> + +<p>Of all Plouernel's assembled friends, the Abbot was the only one to +penetrate the true nature of Victoria's beauty. Her pallor, her flashing +black eyes, her bitter and sardonic smile, gave to her face an +indefinable somberness, which was in accord with the severity of her +costume of red, black and gold.</p> + +<p>Soon the voice of Monsieur Plouernel's chief butler was heard, +announcing that supper was served. The Count offered his arm to +Victoria, to lead her into the capacious dining room. Walls of white +plaster were relieved by gilded moldings which framed large panels +frescoed with birds, fruits and flowers. A splendid silver service was +laid out on the table, along with a brilliantly colored set of Sevres +china. On the burnished surface of the silver glittered the glow of +rose-colored candles, held in candelabra of vermilion. The banqueters +took their seats about the table. The Count, who had escorted Victoria +to a place beside himself, opened the feast.</p> + +<p>"Permit me, my friends," he said, "to follow a custom recently +introduced from England into France, and to propose a first toast to +Madam the Marchioness Aldini, who has deigned to accept my invitation to +supper." The Count rose, glass in hand—"To Madam the Marchioness +Aldini!"</p> + +<p><a name="vol-1-pg_071" id="vol-1-pg_071"></a>The whole company, following the Count's example, rose in their places; +holding their glasses in their out-stretched hands, they repeated:</p> + +<p>"To Madam the Marchioness Aldini!"</p> + +<p>Draining their glasses, they resumed their seats.</p> + +<p>Victoria in her turn rose. After a moment's pause she replied:</p> + +<p>"In response to the courtesy of Monsieur the Count of Plouernel, and of +yourselves, my lords prelates, and gentlemen, I propose with my heart +and with my lips a toast to the Church, to the monarchy, and to the +nobility,—and to the extermination of revolutionists, of whatever +rank."</p> + +<p>With these words Victoria moistened her lips in the wine which filled +her glass, while Plouernel's friends, transported by the words of the +young woman, repeated in ecstasy, to the music of their clinking +glasses—</p> + +<p>"To the Church! To the King! To the nobility! To the extermination of +the revolutionists!"</p> + +<p>The roisterers sat down; even Abbot Morlet muttered to himself, "Ah, if +the Marchioness is sincere, what an ally we should have in her! What a +magic effect the energy of her words produced on these foppish +gentlemen, and on these brainless and imprudent prelates, imbeciles who +don't even know how to cloak their vices under their sacred robes!"</p> + +<p>Victoria, who had been cautiously watching the Jesuit, replied to his +thought in her own mind: "That priest with the cadaverous mask keeps his +snaky looks ever fastened on me. He alone, of all this company, seems to +mistrust me. We must redouble our care and boldness—the game is on."</p> + +<p>Meanwhile a Cardinal was puzzling over something, and thinking to +himself: "Where did I meet that beautiful<a name="vol-1-pg_072" id="vol-1-pg_072"></a> Marchioness, or at least a +girl who much resembled her? Ah! I remember! It was in the little house +where the Dubois woman kept her nymphs, in the King's 'Doe Park,' as he +called it, near Versailles. Come, come, that must be an +illusion—although, that Italian lord, Aldini, not knowing the +antecedents of the old inmate of the Dubois house, might well have left +her his name, his title, and all. But let us look into things a bit +before we pass a rash judgment."</p> + +<p>The Viscount of Mirabeau was the first to speak aloud. "Madam the +Marchioness," he said, "has pledged us a toast to the death of the +revolutionists of all ranks and conditions. I understand how a +bourgeois, or a peasant, can be a revolutionary; but I can not admit +that princes, nobles, or clericals would train with that breed."</p> + +<p>"All revolutionists are fit for the noose," retorted a Duke. "But the +opinions of the groundlings may be explained by their desire to shake +off the yoke. The people is at the end of its patience; it is kicking +the traces; it rebels."</p> + +<p>"You speak words of gold, my dear Duke," answered young Mirabeau. "We +shall hang them all, and we shall show ourselves without pity for those +pretended revolutionists, Orleans, Talleyrand, Lafayette, and my +unworthy brother Mirabeau, who has brought dishonor upon our house."</p> + +<p>"No, no pity for traitors, to whatever class they belong—nobles, +clergy, or bourgeoisie," cried the Count of Plouernel.</p> + +<p>"On the day of reckoning," echoed the Cardinal, "these felons shall all +be hanged, high and low alike."</p> + +<p>"They shall all be hanged at the same height—on their<a name="vol-1-pg_073" id="vol-1-pg_073"></a> own principle of +equality!" added a young Marquis, laughing.</p> + +<p>Victoria cut short his laugh. "By the blood of Christ," she cried, "is +there not in France a revolutionist a hundred times more damnable than +the gentlemen, the bishops, and even than the princes of the blood who +league themselves with the revolution—I would say, the most guilty?"</p> + +<p>Surprise fell upon the company. Finally the Count of Plouernel stammered +out: "What! Who is that revolutionist—more highly situated, according +to you, than gentlemen or bishops—or even princes of the blood?"</p> + +<p>"The King, Louis XVI!"</p> + +<p>Again silence and stupefaction fell upon the thunder-struck banqueters. +Some exchanged frightened glances. Others, deep in thought, sought for +the key to the enigma. The rest stared at Victoria with anxious +curiosity. Abbot Morlet alone said to himself: "Aha! I catch the woman's +trend."</p> + +<p>"How, Marchioness," fumbled Plouernel, "according to you—the +King—would be—a revolutionist—and so cut out for the gibbet?"</p> + +<p>"What was your motive, Count, for giving up your commission as colonel +in the French Guards?" returned Victoria, unmoved.</p> + +<p>"As I wrote you, Marchioness, I surrendered the command of my regiment +because the King refused to authorize the severity which alone, to me, +seems capable of re-establishing discipline among my soldiers and +preventing them from becoming the allies of the revolution."</p> + +<p>"And yet you are astonished when I pronounce the name<a name="vol-1-pg_074" id="vol-1-pg_074"></a> of the accomplice +of the revolutionists! I denounce the King, Louis XVI."</p> + +<p>"You are a woman of genius, madam," acclaimed the Viscount of Mirabeau +warmly. "You justly signalize one of the causes of the revolution. Honor +to you, madam."</p> + +<p>"I have no right to these praises, Viscount. I am a woman whom God has +dowered with some little good sense, that is all. I am a patrician and a +Catholic."</p> + +<p>"Nevertheless, Madam Marchioness," interposed the Duke who had spoken +before, "it seems to me hazardous to pretend that the King, our Sire, is +a revolutionist. In truth, it is pursuing the metaphor to its extreme +limits. I should hesitate to follow you upon that ground."</p> + +<p>Here the Marquis broke in again with his irrepressible laugh, saying: +"On one side the revolutionary King—on the other the 'sovereign +people.' What a comicality! What a mess!"</p> + +<p>Victoria continued: "King Louis XVI is the first, the most damnable of +revolutionists. Neither grace nor pity for the guilty! What I say, I +maintain; I shall prove it. I shall essay to rouse in you all +remorse—for you represent here the nobility, the clergy, and the world +of money, and you are nearly as responsible as the King. I shall soon +make it clear to you."</p> + +<p>"By the life of God, Marchioness, I am of your opinion," echoed the +Viscount of Mirabeau. "Six months ago the nobility should have saddled +its horses, and, whether the King consented or no, ridden against the +revolution and put every peasant to the saber."</p> + +<p>"Six months ago the curates should have stirred themselves, roused their +parishes to the sound of the tocsin, and<a name="vol-1-pg_075" id="vol-1-pg_075"></a> put arms into their hands. +They also will have to enter the fight," quoth Abbot Morlet, speaking +aloud for the first time since the beginning of the banquet.</p> + +<p>"We understand each other, Monsieur Abbot," answered Victoria; and then +to Mirabeau: "We judge the situation alike, Monsieur Viscount—the +moment calls for a general and armed uprising."</p> + +<p>"But we who are less keen-sighted," objected the Duke, "we confess the +weakness of our prevision; we reject your conclusions."</p> + +<p>"We are the three ninnies—the Duke, the Cardinal and I," put in the +Marquis, cracking another joke.</p> + +<p>"Decidedly," observed the Cardinal aside to himself. "I was the dupe of +an accidental resemblance. This patrician Marchioness has nothing in +common with the lovely nymph of the Dubois woman's lupanar."</p> + +<p>Victoria began her proof: "Is not Louis XVI the worst of the +revolutionists? Judge! On May 5th of this year, 1789, did he not convene +the States General, instead of summoning to Versailles 25,000 men whom +he had under his hand, led by resolute heads? At that time the +revolution, hardly hatched, could have been stamped into oblivion. I am +willing to excuse him for that mistake, but here is one more serious: +The States General convened the 5th of May. The majority of the nobility +and the clergy attempted to hold their deliberations by Order, and +refused to mingle with the bourgeois for the examination of credentials. +The Third Estate insisted, and upon a new refusal of the nobles and +clergy, left the hall. At length the deputies of the communes had the +insolence to declare themselves, on the 17th of June, the National +Assembly, in<a name="vol-1-pg_076" id="vol-1-pg_076"></a> the name of the pretended sovereignty of the people. They +arrogated to themselves the right to vote the taxes, and declared that +if the royal authority should order them to dissolve, they would not be +responsible for the outcome. Did not the King tolerate all these +audacities?"</p> + +<p>"'Tis true," acquiesced the Viscount of Mirabeau. "It all passed before +our eyes, at Versailles."</p> + +<p>"That is the second crime I impute to the King," Victoria continued. +"Louis XVI could still have crushed out in its cradle this rising +rebellion, scattered by force this handful of malcontents—"</p> + +<p>"That has been tried, madam, by us of the court party," interposed the +Duke. "We induced his Majesty to allow the seats of the Assembly to be +occupied by troops. On the morning of the 19th of June these so-called +Representatives of the people found the corridors of their chamber +occupied by two companies of grenadiers, with loaded muskets."</p> + +<p>"Yes," put in the Marquis bitterly, "the King had the cleverness on that +occasion to commit what was, from the point of view of the +revolutionists, an assault upon the National Assembly, by allowing their +meeting place to be invaded by the troops; and at the same time to +perpetrate a new assault against royalty by not preventing the rebels +from reuniting in the Tennis Court at Versailles; mistakes, mistakes, +ever more mistakes."</p> + +<p>"All this is conclusive evidence," chimed in Barrel Mirabeau. "This +unfortunate King seems to be infatuated with folly."</p> + +<p>"Either brace up foolish Kings or suppress them—else<a name="vol-1-pg_077" id="vol-1-pg_077"></a> look out for the +safety of the monarchy, Monsieur Viscount," replied Victoria.</p> + +<p>"Thanks to God," went on a cavalry officer at the other end of the +table, "thanks to God the King's brother, Monseigneur the Count of +Provence, rose to the emergency. At this vexatious juncture the prince +took an energetic step. Without even asking the King, he hired the +Tennis Court for a whole month!"</p> + +<p>Victoria broke out into a peal of grim and mocking laughter. "There is a +party leader," she said, "of great bravery and great wisdom! One need go +into no ecstasies over his courage!"</p> + +<p>"Madam the Marchioness is right," chimed in the Viscount of Mirabeau +again. "This measure had no other effect upon the rebels than to cause +them, the next day, to instal themselves in the Church of St. Louis."</p> + +<p>"And then the clergy, or at least a part of the clergy, committed +another imbecility—they rallied to the Third Estate. The shaven-heads +have their share of responsibility in all this," said the Count of +Plouernel.</p> + +<p>"The high clergy protested, against this treason, the blame of which +should be thrown on the curates of the country districts," declared the +Cardinal in self-defense.</p> + +<p>"Monsieur the Cardinal is in error!" it was the harsh voice of Abbot +Morlet that broke in. "That fraction of the clergy which went over to +the Third Estate displayed great political sense. The low clergy did +just what they should have done."</p> + +<p>"Peace, Abbot, peace there!" cried the Cardinal in accents of sovereign +scorn. "You are talking nonsense, my dear sir!"<a name="vol-1-pg_078" id="vol-1-pg_078"></a></p> + +<p>"I maintain what I stated—'tis but little I care for the approbation of +Monsieur the Cardinal," snapped Morlet.</p> + +<p>"What's that you say, Abbot?" flashed back the Cardinal in great +irritation. "Measure your words!"</p> + +<p>"I wish to talk with reasonable men," returned Morlet, impassibly. "This +is addressed to you, gentlemen. The royal power having tolerated the +existence of this Assembly of malcontents, the clergy, both high and +low, should have seized upon the fact, and turned it to its own +advantage. By the simple means of choosing its best men, and joining +them to the Third Estate, it would then have been able at need to stand +in with revolutionary motions, in order to drive the dissatisfied +element to the last extremes in the paroxysms of their rage."</p> + +<p>"Monsieur the Abbot is a profound politician; he is in the right of the +matter," assented Victoria.</p> + +<p>"At the risk of contradicting you, Madam the Marchioness," objected the +Cardinal passionately, "I must declare that the Abbot has only once more +exhibited the evil spirit of the Society of Jesus, which has always been +a veritable pest to the Church. Our holy mother were well rid of that +abominable, execrable society!"</p> + +<p>"So the priest is a Jesuit!" thought Victoria to herself, a light +dawning upon her.</p> + +<p>"The true pest of the Church," retorted Abbot Morlet, "has always been +clad in the purple—cardinals and prelates, nearly all sots, imbeciles +and peacocks!"</p> + +<p>"The impudence of this priestlet, this scoundrel, this hypocrite!" the +Cardinal cried in a fury. "Out of here with the insolent fellow!"</p> + +<p>"By the blood of Christ," interjected Victoria quickly,<a name="vol-1-pg_079" id="vol-1-pg_079"></a> addressing the +two churchmen, "is this the hour for discord and recrimination? Do you +forget, your Eminence, and you, Monsieur Abbot, that at this moment the +safety of the Church depends upon the unity of her defenders?"</p> + +<p>All the company, with the sole exceptions of the Cardinal and the Abbot, +took up the word: "'Tis true—'tis evident! Let us not forget. Let us +remain united for the conflict!"</p> + +<p>When the tumult had subsided, Victoria took up again her interrupted +discourse: "In casting a rapid glance over the past, I did not intend to +arouse suspicion among you or raise dissension. In pointing out the +faults committed, I wished only to forewarn you against similar errors, +and to show you how to escape new mistakes. Please, then, to give me +your attention a few minutes longer: The session in the Tennis Court was +a brutal challenge hurled in the teeth of royalty. The Queen, who is a +woman of valor, understood it; she pressed the King to take energetic +measures, and pledged him to have the National Assembly dissolved by +force. Louis XVI submitted to the influence of the Queen; on the 28th of +June he went into the heart of the Assembly, surrounded by his guards, +and through his chancellor ordered the deputies to disperse, abolished +their decrees, and annulled their deliberations. He acted the part of a +sovereign."</p> + +<p>"His Majesty indeed displayed great courage that day, and many of the +deputies of the nobility and the clergy applauded the act of dissolution +and immediately left the chamber," declared the Duke.</p> + +<p>"The King," assented Victoria sardonically, "his faithful nobles and his +faithful clergy left the hall. But they<a name="vol-1-pg_080" id="vol-1-pg_080"></a> left the rebels behind them. +Then Abbot Sieyès sprang to the tribunal and cried 'Continue in session, +Representatives of the people! We are to-day what we were yesterday!'"</p> + +<p>"But the King did not falter, thank God!" continued the Duke. "His +Majesty commanded the Marquis of Brezé to convey to the malcontents his +orders to disperse."</p> + +<p>"Shame and misfortune!" exclaimed the Viscount of Mirabeau. "It was my +own brother who then answered Brezé, 'Go and say to your master who sent +you, that we are here by the will of the people, and that we shall never +quit this hall save by force of bayonets!'"</p> + +<p>"Very well, Monsieur Viscount! Your brother pointed out to the royal +power its means of safety—<i>force of bayonets</i>," answered Victoria. "By +the blood of Christ, what did Louis XVI do to restore the rebels to +their senses? Absolutely nothing. Then the latter, encouraged by their +immunity from punishment, declared, in their next session, the +inviolability of the National Assembly."</p> + +<p>"Alas, it was upon the motion of my abominable brother that that +declaration was carried! God's blood, I think I could have turned +fratricide at the moment," declared Barrel Mirabeau.</p> + +<p>"Your house was not the only one to tremble at such felony," Victoria +replied. "Did not nearly all the deputies of the nobility, even the most +hostile to the revolution, rally around the Third Estate, dragging with +them all the clericals?"</p> + +<p>"Should the members of the nobility, then, Madam Marchioness," objected +the Duke, "because the monarchy showed weakness, have abandoned it +without attempting<a name="vol-1-pg_081" id="vol-1-pg_081"></a> to defend it from within the Assembly? No, certainly +not."</p> + +<p>"Sir Duke," replied Victoria, "the members of the nobility and of the +clergy who remained faithful to the throne were in the minority. What +could they do for the monarchy? Nothing. Their presence among the ranks +of the rebels served only to excuse the slips of the King, for then he +could respond with a show of reason, 'I can not dissolve an Assembly +which contains so great a number of my servants.'"</p> + +<p>"Such was, in fact, the response made by his Majesty to the Queen when +she secured the recall of Necker and the appointment of a new minister +chosen by Monsieur Broglie. Nevertheless, with the assistance of the +Marshal, the monarchy will still prove able to overcome the revolution. +At least, that is my opinion," vouchsafed the Count of Plouernel.</p> + +<p>"May God so will it," rejoined Victoria again. "But up till now the new +minister has done nothing but make mistakes—"</p> + +<p>Victoria was interrupted by the entrance of one of the lackeys, whom +Plouernel had dismissed from the banquet hall in order that his guests +might discuss political affairs confidentially and in safety, who said:</p> + +<p>"The steward, my lord, asks to see you immediately."</p> + +<p>"Let him enter," said the Count; and as the lackey went to fetch him, +the host explained to his guests: "I charged my steward to send out +several of my men in disguise, in order to learn through them what was +going on in the several quarters of Paris."</p> + +<p>"It is indeed very useful, in these days of effervescence,"<a name="vol-1-pg_082" id="vol-1-pg_082"></a> nodded +Victoria, "to keep closely informed on the state of affairs."</p> + +<p>The steward entered, bowed humbly to the company, and took up his post +close by the door, like a servant awaiting orders.</p> + +<p>"Well, Master Robert, what news?" demanded the Count. The company turned +around in their chairs and fixed their attention upon the new arrival.<a name="vol-1-pg_083" id="vol-1-pg_083"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VII-1-a" id="CHAPTER_VII-1-a"></a>CHAPTER VII.<br /><br /> +NEWS FROM THE BARRICADES.</h3> + +<p>Pursuant to the Count's order, the steward, bowing again, proceeded with +his account of what he had learned.</p> + +<p>"The news, alas, is very bad, my lord," he began. "One of our men has +just arrived from the suburb of St. Antoine. The streets are blocked +with barricades; they are forging pikes in the iron-mongers' and +blacksmiths' shops; the houses are all illuminated. People are carrying +up to the roofs of their dwellings beams and paving stones, to hurl down +upon the troops of his Majesty Louis XVI, whom may God protect! Women +and children are pouring musket balls and making cartridges. They have +pillaged the armorers' shops in the district. In short, the whole of +that impious plebs is swarming in the streets, screeching like the +damned, especially against her Majesty our good Queen, his Royal +Highness the Count of Artois, and their Holinesses our lords the Princes +of Conti and Condé."</p> + +<p>"And what are the pretexts for these insolent cries and rebellious +preparations?" asked the Count.</p> + +<p>"My lord, it is the word among this blasphemous people that the court is +plotting evil against the deputies of the Third Estate, and that his +Majesty our Sire—may God protect him—is preparing to march on Paris at +the head of<a name="vol-1-pg_084" id="vol-1-pg_084"></a> fifty thousand troops, to deliver the suburbs to the +flames, blood, sack and pillage, and the girls and women to infamy!"</p> + +<p>"The rabblement is at least aware of the punishment it deserves—and +will receive!" cried the younger Mirabeau.</p> + +<p>"What is the feeling in the other quarters," queried the Count of +Plouernel. "Are they also, perchance, boiling over?"</p> + +<p>"In the neighborhood of the St. Honoré Gate the mob has invaded the +Garde-Meuble, or King's Storage-House, and seized the old arms they +found collected there. It is a pity, my lord; you can see tattered +brigands, in their bare feet, yet casqued and cuirassed, and with lances +in their fists. Such magnificent arms in such hands! What a +desecration!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, the gallant cavaliers—armed cap-a-pie for the tourney!" cried the +Marquis, affecting laughter.</p> + +<p>"Those among this awful horde who have bonnets on," continued the +steward, "have fastened in them cockades of green cloth or paper, as a +sign of hope. My lord, it is like a frenzy. Out in the open street the +scoundrels hug without knowing each other, and with tears in their eyes, +cry, like henhawks 'To arms, citizens! Down with tyranny! Long live +liberty! Long live the nation!'"</p> + +<p>"But the other suburbs," pursued the Count. "Are they also wrought up +like this cursed suburb of St. Antoine?"</p> + +<p>"Aye, my lord—unless it be the suburb of St. Marcel, which is almost +deserted. The evil creatures of that district, to the number of twenty +thousand, flocked to the City Hall during the day to demand arms. The +Provost of the merchants, Monsieur Flesselles, sent them to the +Lazarist<a name="vol-1-pg_085" id="vol-1-pg_085"></a> monks. When the great band of beggars arrived at the holy +convent, the good and religious men made answer to them that Monsieur +Flesselles was making game of them, for never had a grain of powder or a +firearm found its way into the Convent of St. Lazare. Then these bandits +from St. Marcel broke out into threats of death against Monsieur +Flesselles, and being presently joined by another mob of rascals from +the suburb of St. Victor, they went off all together to the Hospital of +the Invalids in search of weapons."</p> + +<p>"And were received, no doubt, with the gun-fire of the brave veterans +sheltered there?" said the Count.</p> + +<p>"Alas, no! my lord. The pensioners made not the slightest resistance, +and the scoundrelly people fell into possession of more than thirty +thousand guns and several cannon."</p> + +<p>"The veterans!" gasped the Viscount of Mirabeau. "They, old soldiers, to +give up their arms! Do we then face defection and treason on every side! +Very well! we shall hang and shoot the invalids, men and officers, to +the last one."</p> + +<p>"Oh, the idea!" shouted the Marquis, with another burst of forced +laughter, "So now our bare-feet have thirty thousand guns—and some +cannon—which they don't know how to use!"</p> + +<p>"You have nothing else to tell us?" said Plouernel to the steward.</p> + +<p>"No, my lord."</p> + +<p>"Then send our men out again for information. The instant they return, +come to me with what they have learned."<a name="vol-1-pg_086" id="vol-1-pg_086"></a></p> + +<p>The steward bowed for the third time and withdrew. Upon the faces of the +convivial friends blank consternation reigned at the news he had +brought. They gazed at one another speechless.</p> + +<p>"Do you know, gentlemen," at last spoke up the Cardinal, "that all this +is getting frightful? The very marrow in my bones is chilled."</p> + +<p>"It is my opinion," the Duke answered, "that France will soon be no +longer habitable. We shall have to flee abroad."</p> + +<p>"Come, come, my dear Duke," said the Count of Plouernel, "a few +regiments of infantry, supported by a piece of artillery or two, will +suffice to exterminate these upstarts. The French nobility will whip +them down. We shall unsheath our swords."</p> + +<p>"I think the rabble will whip better troops than those, once they have +got the smell of gunpowder," said Abbot Morlet.</p> + +<p>"You are talking nonsense, Abbot," replied Mirabeau. "It is impossible +that bare-footed ragamuffins, poorly armed, and without discipline, +should be victorious over seasoned troops. If it ever came to that pass, +I should snap my sword."</p> + +<p>For the first time since the arrival of the momentous news, Victoria +spoke: "A traitorous King would prevent you from breaking it; he would +order you to return it to its scabbard."</p> + +<p>"It is for us to have the courage to sacrifice the King to the safety of +the monarchy. We shall have all the brave ones—" Mirabeau began.<a name="vol-1-pg_087" id="vol-1-pg_087"></a></p> + +<p>"By heaven!" interrupted the Duke, "this is serious, and requires +thought. Sacrifice the King!"</p> + +<p>"What shall we do with the King?" questioned the Cardinal.</p> + +<p>"In other times," replied Victoria, "they shut up do-nothing Kings in, +the depths of a cloister. Force Louis XVI to abdicate. The Dauphin is an +infant, you will constitute a council of regents, composed of men of +inflexibility. The shameless plebeians have too much blood; it will rise +to their heads and give them a false energy. Bleed them, bleed them +white, by repression and defeat. You have cannons and muskets; bombard +them—blow them back into the depths they sprung from!"</p> + +<p>"Ah, Marchioness," answered Plouernel, "you are the terrible archangel +who with her flaming sword will defend the monarchy and nobility. You +are right. Safety lies in the abdication of the King and the formation +of an inflexible council of regents. The monarch must be eliminated."</p> + +<p>"Your most dangerous enemy, Count of Plouernel," replied she, "is the +Third Estate! Has this bourgeoisie not told you, through Sieyès's organ, +that up till now it has been nothing, it <i>which ought to be everything</i>! +There is the enemy. The people, its intoxication once passed, will fall +back into its misery and abject submissiveness. Having cried its cry in +the public place, hunger will again seize it by the throat. 'The people, +always ridden by want, has never the time to carry out the revolutions +which it essays.' It is against the bourgeoisie that war to the knife +must be carried on."</p> + +<p>"For one proof out of a thousand of the truth of that statement," +assented the Count, "is not Desmarais the<a name="vol-1-pg_088" id="vol-1-pg_088"></a> lawyer one of the firiest +tribunes in the National Assembly?"</p> + +<p>"My dear Count," said the cavalry officer to Plouernel, "did you not +once treat a fellow of that name to a good cudgeling?"</p> + +<p>"This Desmarais is himself the hero of that episode you refer to—the +very same whippersnapper," answered the Count.</p> + +<p>Aside Victoria said to herself: "And my brother John is the sweetheart +of Mademoiselle Desmarais. A singular coincidence!"</p> + +<p>"How did you come to give him his cudgel sauce, Count?" inquired the +Cardinal.</p> + +<p>"My counsel were arguing before the court a case involving an estate +left to my brother, Abbot Plouernel, at present in Rome. Desmarais, +forgetting the respect due to a man of my station, had the insolence to +speak of me in terms hardly reverent. Informed of the fact by my +attorneys, I had Desmarais seized by three of my servants one night as +he was leaving his lodgings. They administered to him a sound drubbing +with green sticks, after which my first lackey said to him: 'Sir, the +thrashing which we have just had the honor of presenting to you, is from +Monseigneur Plouernel, our master. Let the lesson be a profitable one.'"</p> + +<p>"That," said the Viscount of Mirabeau, "was as good as the exquisite +bastinado given to Arouet 'Voltaire' by the orders of the Prince of +Rohan. That's the way to treat the bourgeoisie."</p> + +<p>"Voltaire perhaps owes his fame to that little chastisement," suggested +the Duke.<a name="vol-1-pg_089" id="vol-1-pg_089"></a></p> + +<p>Coming back to the subject which was on everyone's mind, Abbot Morlet +was the next to speak. "Madam the Marchioness has just uttered a great +truth," said he. "The Church, the nobility and royalty have no more +terrible enemy than the bourgeoisie. In a state, three elements are +necessary for a good organization—a God, a King, and a people. In order +to carry on production and nourish the representatives of God and the +King, the bourgeoisie should be suppressed."</p> + +<p>"You are stingy in your allotments, Abbot," put in the Duke. "Would you, +then, suppress the nobility?"</p> + +<p>"Who says <i>King</i> says <i>nobility</i>, and who says God says clergy," replied +the Abbot. "In other words, if we wish to enjoy our privileges in peace, +we must either extirpate or annul the bourgeoisie. Now, if we know how +to use the people skilfully, they will come to our aid in this task of +extirpation, for the plebeian hates a bourgeois more than he does a +noble."</p> + +<p>"Still, we see the populace gone mad over the deputies of the Third +Estate. Several of them have already grown to the bulk of idols," said +the Count.</p> + +<p>"The bourgeoisie is, and will for still a long time remain, as hostile +toward the people as it is toward the nobles. The people know this, and +that is what renders them hostile to the bourgeoisie," Victoria +declared.</p> + +<p>"It is marvellous how the thoughts of Madam the Marchioness accord with +mine," exclaimed Abbot Morlet. "This antagonism which she has just +mentioned will some day, perhaps, be our salvation; for I have no faith +in the party<a name="vol-1-pg_090" id="vol-1-pg_090"></a> of the court, composed in part, as it is, of young +mad-caps."</p> + +<p>"By heaven, Abbot," the whole company cried with one voice, "but you are +impertinent!"</p> + +<p>The Abbot shrugged his shoulders and continued impassively. "The +revolution will plunge on in its course. First the royalty and the +nobility will fall beneath the blows of the tribunes of the Third +Estate. Then will fall the Church—but only to rerise more powerful than +before, to rear again the scaffolds and relight the pyres of the +Inquisition."</p> + +<p>"You are talking nonsense, Abbot," again put in Barrel Mirabeau. "Your +prophecies partake of desperation."</p> + +<p>"Nobility and royalty will disappear in the tempest," pursued the Abbot, +"but it remains with us to make that disappearance one of the phases of +a rebirth that will establish theocracy more powerful than ever. The +instant will be decisive, momentous. It may one day come about that the +bourgeoisie will merge its cause with that of the populace; that it will +establish education free, unified, common, and uncontrolled by the +Church; that it will abolish private property, making common to each and +all the tools of production. Should the bourgeoisie decide thus to +emancipate the proletariat, Throne and Altar are done for forever. It is +for us, then, to nurse the antagonism already existent between the two, +to envenom their mutual mistrust and reproaches. We must inflame the +fear of the bourgeoisie for the populace; we must kindle the mistrust of +the laborers toward the bourgeois; we must prick the people on to +excess; above all we must invoke to pillage and massacre that furious +beast which is not the<a name="vol-1-pg_091" id="vol-1-pg_091"></a> people, but which in times of revolution is +confounded with it—it is the <i>red specter</i> which we must make use of to +terrify the bourgeoisie and drive it to sunder its cause from that of +the people. That is how we can countermine the revolution, and force the +sovereigns of Europe to unite, to invade France, and to exterminate our +enemies. Let us mingle, in disguise, with the people; let us provoke and +irritate their appetite for blood. Let us and our agents strike the +first blows—pillage—burn—mow off heads—those of our friends, too, +for we must above all avert suspicion; make the blood pour, to rouse the +beast and put it in appetite for sack and massacre!"</p> + +<p>Even Barrel Mirabeau was taken aback at this diatribe. "God's death, Sir +Abbot," he cried with horror, "do you take us for gallows-tenders?"</p> + +<p>"To make of us mowers of heads!" cried the Count of Plouernel. "'Tis +insanity!"</p> + +<p>"What exquisite fastidiousness!" retorted Morlet.</p> + +<p>"You must have clean lost your senses, Abbot," returned Plouernel. "To +dare to propose such a role to us—to make hyenas out of us!"</p> + +<p>"We sons of the Church," answered the Abbot, "shall then assume the role +ourselves, if it is so repugnant to you, gentlemen of the nobility.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> +You fear to soil your lace cuffs and silk stockings with mire and blood; +we of the clergy, less dainty, and arrayed in coarser garb, are free +from any such false delicacy. We shall roll up our cuffs to the elbow,<a name="vol-1-pg_092" id="vol-1-pg_092"></a> +and perform our duty. We shall save you, then, my worthy gentlemen, with +or without your aid; that will be an account to be settled afterwards +between us."</p> + +<p>"The priest has been vomited forth from hell," thought Victoria, to +herself. "He is a demon incarnate."</p> + +<p>"We shall know how to save the monarchy, Sir Abbot," replied the Count +of Plouernel to his friend Morlet, "even without the need of you folks +of the Church; have no worry on that score. You forget that it was our +sword which established the monarchy in Gaul and revived the Catholic +Church, fourteen centuries ago, without the aid of the cassocks of that +time."</p> + +<p>"Fine words—but empty," answered the Abbot. "If you are indeed so +determined to draw the sword, Monsieur Count, will you then please tell +me why, this very day, you resigned into the hands of the King the +command of your regiment? Your boast comes at a poor season."</p> + +<p>"You well know why, Monsieur Abbot," the Count retorted. "My regiment +grew uncontrollable. The evil, however, dates far back. The first +symptoms of insubordination in the French Guards showed themselves two +years ago. A sergeant named Maurice"—Victoria shuddered—"had the +insolence to pass me without saluting; and after I took off his cap with +a stroke of my cane, he had the audacity to raise his hand against his +colonel. I handed the mutineer over to the scourges till he dropped +dead. That is how I avenge my honor."</p> + +<p>As Monsieur Plouernel thus told the story of Sergeant Maurice, Victoria +was unable to control herself. Her features contracted, and she fixed on +Plouernel a look of menace. Then a sudden flush overspread her +features.<a name="vol-1-pg_093" id="vol-1-pg_093"></a> None of this was lost upon the Abbot. "What is this mystery?" +he pondered. "The Marchioness casts an implacable look at the Count, +then she blushes—she who till now has been as pale as marble. What can +there have been between this Italian Marchioness and this sergeant in +the French Guards, now two years dead?"</p> + +<p>At that moment the steward again entered the banquet hall and approached +the Count of Plouernel.</p> + +<p>"What news, Robert?" asked the latter.</p> + +<p>"Terrible, my lord!"</p> + +<p>"My Robert is not an optimist," explained Plouernel to the company. "In +what does this terrible news consist?"</p> + +<p>"The barriers of the Throne and St. Marcel are on fire. Everywhere the +tocsin is clanging. The people of the districts are gathering in the +churches."</p> + +<p>"Behold the sway of our holy religion over the populace—they pray +before the altars," cried the Cardinal briskly.</p> + +<p>"Alas, my lord, it is not to pray, at all, that the rebels are swarming +into the churches, but to listen to haranguers, and among others a +comedian by the name of Collot D'Herbois, who preaches insurrection. +They trample the sacred vessels under foot, spit on the host, and tear +down the priestly ornaments."</p> + +<p>"Profanation! Sacrilege!" exclaimed the Cardinal, suddenly modifying his +ideas on the sway of his faith over the people.</p> + +<p>"One of our men," continued the steward, "saw them putting up bills +which the rabble read by the light of their torches. One of the placards +read: 'For sale, because of death, the business of Grand Master of +Ceremonies. Inquire of the widow Brezé.'"<a name="vol-1-pg_094" id="vol-1-pg_094"></a></p> + +<p>"Ah, poor Baked one," sang out the Marquis, making a hideous pun on the +unfortunate officer's name, "you are cooked! All they have to do now is +to eat you!"</p> + +<p>"On other placards were written in large letters, 'Names of the Traitors +to the Nation: Louis Capet—Marie +Antoinette—Provence—Artois—Conti—Bourbon—Polignac—Breteuil—Foulon'—and +others."</p> + +<p>"That is intended to point out these names to the fury of the populace!" +gasped the Viscount of Mirabeau.</p> + +<p>"The rumor runs through Paris that to-morrow the people will rise in +arms and march on Versailles."</p> + +<p>"So much the better," exclaimed the Viscount. "They will be cut to +pieces, this rabble. Cannoniers—to your pieces—fire!"</p> + +<p>"Go on, tell us what you know," said Plouernel to his steward Robert. +"Is that all?"</p> + +<p>"Alas no, my lord. This miserable populace in arms surrounds and +threatens the City Hall. The old Board of Aldermen is dissolved, and is +replaced by a new revolutionary committee, which has taken the power +into its own hands."</p> + +<p>"Are the names of this committee known?" asked the Count.</p> + +<p>"Yes, my lord. From the City Hall windows they threw to the rioting +people lists with the names. Here is one which our emissary got hold +of:—'President of the permanent committee, Monsieur Flesselles, +ex-Provost of the merchants'—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, well," laughed the Duke, "if the other members<a name="vol-1-pg_095" id="vol-1-pg_095"></a> of the committee +are revolutionists of that stamp, we can sleep in peace. Flesselles is +in our employ."</p> + +<p>"Finish reading your paper," ordered the Count.</p> + +<p>"'The said committee, in session assembled, decrees: Article I—A city +militia shall immediately be organized in each district, composed of +licensed business men. Article II—The cockade of this militia shall be +blue and red, the city colors.'"</p> + +<p>"Is that all? Finish reporting," said Plouernel, seeing the steward +pause.</p> + +<p>"One of our spies, on entering the neighborhood of the Palais Royal, +heard threats hurled against his Majesty Louis XVI, and especially +against her Majesty, the Queen. Everyone looks for terrible events +to-morrow, my lord."</p> + +<p>Seeing he had nothing more to report, Plouernel allowed the steward to +depart, first ordering him to come back with any fresher information.</p> + +<p>"Now gentlemen," Victoria began when the steward had withdrawn from the +room, "the gravity of the situation takes foremost place. There is no +longer room for deliberation—there must be action. Time is pressing. +Count, has the court foreseen that the agitation in Paris would drive +the malcontents to open revolt? Is it prepared to combat the uprising?"</p> + +<p>"Everything has been anticipated, madam," answered Plouernel. "Measures +are on foot to repulse the rebels. This very morning I received word as +to the plans of the court."</p> + +<p>"Why then do you allow us to wander into objectless suppositions and +discussions?" asked the Cardinal.</p> + +<p>"I was commanded to exercise the utmost discretion in<a name="vol-1-pg_096" id="vol-1-pg_096"></a> the matter of the +court's projects. But in view of the information which my steward has +just brought in on the popular frenzy in Paris, and on the assaults +which the discontented element is meditating, I hold it my duty to +inform you of the plans laid down."</p> + +<p>Drawing a note from his pocket, the Count continued, reading:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Monsieur the Marshal Broglie is appointed commander-in-chief. He +said this morning to the Queen: 'Madam, with the fifty thousand men +at my command I pledge myself to bring to their senses both the +luminaries of the National Assembly and the mob of imbeciles which +hearkens to them. The gun and the cannon will drive back under +earth these insolent tribunes, and absolute power will again assume +the place which the spirit of republicanism now disputes with it.'</p> + +<p>"Monsieur the Marshal Broglie is invested with full military +powers. Bezenval is placed in command of Paris, De Launay holds the +Bastille and threatens with his artillery the suburb of St. +Antoine; the garrison of that fortress has for several days been +secretly increased, and ammunition worked in. The Bastille is the +key to Paris, inasmuch as it commands the respect of the most +dangerous suburbs, and can annihilate them with its guns.</p> + +<p>"The last regiments recalled from the provinces by the Marshal will +arrive to-night on the outskirts of Versailles and will powerfully +re-enforce the Swiss and the foreign regiments. An imposing array +of artillery and a large troop of cavalry will complete this corps +of the army. Thus united, the troops will move, day after +to-morrow, July the 15th, to the invasion of the National Assembly, +which will have been allowed to convene. The Assembly will be +surrounded by the German regiments, and the ring-leaders of the +Third Estate forthwith arrested."</p></div> + +<p>In a lowered and confidential tone the Count continued:<a name="vol-1-pg_097" id="vol-1-pg_097"></a></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The most dangerous of the rebels will be shot at once. A goodly +number of them will be thrown into the deepest dungeons of the +different State prisons of the kingdom. Finally, the small fry of +the Third Estate will be exiled to at least a hundred leagues from +Paris. A royal warrant will dissolve the National Assembly and +annul its enactments. After which Monsieur Broglie, at the head of +his army, will march on Paris, take military possession of it, +establish courts-martial which will at once judge and put to death +all the chiefs of the sedition, banish the less culpable, and +confiscate their goods to the benefit of the royal fisc. Should it +resist, Paris will be besieged and treated like a conquered +city—three days and three nights of pillage will be granted to the +troops. After which, the royal authority will be re-established in +full glory."</p></div> + +<p>"There, gentlemen, that is the plan of campaign of the court."</p> + +<p>Loud acclamations from the company—excepting only the Abbot—greeted +the reading of the communication by Monsieur Plouernel.</p> + +<p>"This plan seems to me to be at all points excellently expeditious and +practical," said Victoria. "It has every chance of success. Still, has +the court foreseen the event of Paris, protected by barricades and +defended by determined men, resisting with the force of despair? Has the +court foreseen the event of Monsieur Broglie being defeated in his +conflict with the people?"</p> + +<p>"Madam, that case also is provided for," answered Plouernel. "The King +and the royal family, protected by a powerful force, will leave +Versailles and retire to a fortified place on the frontier. The Emperor +of Austria, the Kings of Prussia and Sweden, and the majority of the +princes of the Germanic Confederation, will be prepared<a name="vol-1-pg_098" id="vol-1-pg_098"></a> to assist the +royal power. Their armies will cross the frontier, and his Majesty, at +the head of the arms of the coalition, will return to force an entry +into his capital, which will be subjected to terrible chastisement."</p> + +<p>"One and all, we are prepared to shed our blood for the success of this +plan," cried the Viscount of Mirabeau, swelling with enthusiasm. "To +battle!"</p> + +<p>"Has this plan the approval of the King?" asked Victoria. "Can one count +on his resolution?"</p> + +<p>"The Queen but awaits the hour of putting it into practice to inform his +Majesty of it," answered the Count. "Nevertheless, the King has already +consented to the assembling of a corps of the army at Versailles. That +is a first step gained."</p> + +<p>"But if the King should refuse to follow the plan? What course do you +then expect to take?" persisted Victoria.</p> + +<p>"It will go through without the consent of Louis XVI. If necessary, we +shall proceed to depose him. Then Monseigneur the Count of Provence will +be declared Lieutenant-General of the kingdom, and the Queen, Regent, +with a council of unbending royalists. Then we shall see courts-martial +and firing squads in permanence! Volleys unceasing!"</p> + +<p>"It is done for royalty if the court dare put its plan, into execution," +muttered Victoria to herself. "To-morrow the Bastille will be taken." +Then, rising, her face glowing with animation, and holding her glass +aloft, she called, in her brilliant voice:</p> + +<p>"To the death of the Revolution! To the re-establishment of Royalty! To +the triumph of the Church! To the Queen!"<a name="vol-1-pg_099" id="vol-1-pg_099"></a></p> + +<p>And catching her fire, the whole company, with one voice, cried:</p> + +<p>"Death to the Revolution!"</p> + +<p>"Meet me to-morrow morning at Versailles, gentlemen, in battle," cried +Plouernel.</p> + +<p>And all except the Abbot shouted back the reply:</p> + +<p>"In battle! We shall all be at Versailles to deal the people its +death-blow!"</p> + +<p>The sarcastic coolness of the priest sat the Count ill. "Are you +stricken dumb, Abbot," he inquired, "or do you lack confidence in our +plan?"</p> + +<p>"No, I have not the slightest confidence in your plans," answered the +prelate calmly. "Your party is marching from blusterings to retreats, +and on to its final overthrow, which will be that of the monarchy. But +we shall be there, we the 'shaven-heads,' the 'priestlets,' as you dub +us; the 'creatures of the Church,' 'hypocrites and Pharisees,' to repair +your blunders, you block-heads, you lily-livers! We of the frock and +cassock contemn you!"</p> + +<p>This deliverance of the Abbot was followed by a storm of indignant cries +from the assembled guests. Threats and menaces rose high.</p> + +<p>"By heaven!" shouted Barrel Mirabeau, "if you were not a man of the +cloth, Abbot, you would pay dear for your insults!"</p> + +<p>"Let him rave," said the Cardinal, shrugging his shoulders, "let him +rave, this hypocrite of the vestry-room, this rat of the Church, this +Jesuit!"</p> + +<p>"Mademoiselle Guimard awaits his Eminence in her carriage!" called out a +lackey, stepping into the room.</p> + +<p>"The devil! The devil!" muttered his Eminence the<a name="vol-1-pg_100" id="vol-1-pg_100"></a> Cardinal as he rose +to go. "I clean forgot my Guimard in the midst of my political cares. +Well, I must go to face the anger of my tigress!"</p> + +<p>The banquet broke up. The guests left the table, and gathered in little +groups before parting, still carrying on the discussion of the evening. +Only Abbot Morlet stood apart, and as he let his sardonic glance travel +from group to group, he muttered to himself grimly:</p> + +<p>"Simpleton courtiers! Imbecile cavaliers! Stupid prelates! Go to your +Oeil-de-Boeuf! Go to Versailles—go! To-morrow the dregs of the populace +will have felled their first head. The appetite for killing comes by +killing. As to that foreign Marchioness, of whom it is well to have +one's doubts, if it becomes advisable to get rid of her, her handsome +head with its black hair will look well on the end of a pike some of +these days. So let's be off. I must prepare that bully of a Lehiron, the +old usher of the parish of St. Medard, to call together to-night his +band of rascals, ready for anything. And then to get ready my disguise +and that of my god-son, little Rodin!"<a name="vol-1-pg_101" id="vol-1-pg_101"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VIII-1-a" id="CHAPTER_VIII-1-a"></a>CHAPTER VIII.<br /><br /> +IN THE HALL OF THE PORTRAITS.</h3> + +<p>Half an hour later none of that brilliant company remained in the home +of the Count of Plouernel save the Count himself, and Victoria Lebrenn. +The two were in the Hall of the Portraits, in contemplation of which the +beautiful Marchioness seemed lost. Struck with her long silence, and +seeing her gaze riveted upon the pictures, the Count approached her, +saying in a surprised and passionate voice:</p> + +<p>"Do you know, Madam Marchioness, that I shall end by becoming jealous of +my ancestors? For several minutes they alone have been happy enough to +draw your attention."</p> + +<p>"True, Count. I was reflecting on the glory of your race. Proud was I, +for your sake, of your illustrious origin."</p> + +<p>"Ah, Victoria, such words! But allow me to tell you, my radiant +Marchioness, how I love you. Every day I feel my mad passion grow. By my +honor as a gentleman, you could have led me on to treason as easily as +you have confirmed me in the path of loyalty which I now tread. You have +so mastered me that to possess your love I would have betrayed my King, +and forever stained my escutcheon."<a name="vol-1-pg_102" id="vol-1-pg_102"></a> Then, casting himself on his knees +before the Marchioness, the Count continued in a trembling voice, "Is +that not yet sufficient, Victoria?"</p> + +<p>At the moment that the Count of Plouernel had seized and was covering +with kisses the hand of Victoria, a loud knock was heard at the door of +the salon.</p> + +<p>"Rise, Count," said Victoria, quickly. "It is one of your men."</p> + +<p>Robert the steward entered precipitately, bearing in one hand a tray on +which lay a despatch. He said to his master:</p> + +<p>"A courier from Versailles brought this despatch for my lord. The +courier reached the house only with the greatest difficulty. To escape +arrest by the people in the streets he was forced to leave his horse +some distance from the barrier, and to throw off his royal livery."</p> + +<p>"You may go," replied Monsieur Plouernel, as he took the message.</p> + +<p>He tore open the envelope and made haste to read the contents of the +missive, while Victoria followed him with curiosity burning in her eyes, +and said in her most winning voice as she drew close to him, "News of +importance, no doubt, my dear Gaston? You seem much moved by it."</p> + +<p>"Read, Marchioness, for I have no secrets from you," answered Plouernel, +handing the despatch to Victoria. "Judge of the extreme urgency of my +information!"</p> + +<p>The young woman eagerly grasped the letter, cast her eyes over it, and +then said, with a silvery laugh: "But it is in cipher. Give me the key. +I cannot read it—without your help."<a name="vol-1-pg_103" id="vol-1-pg_103"></a></p> + +<p>"True—pardon my distraction," replied the Count, and he read as +follows, translating the cipher as he went:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"To-day's events in Paris, and the news from the country, are of +such nature that our measures must be pushed forward to execution. +Repair to Versailles at once. Let not one of our friends be +missing. It will probably be done to-morrow.</p> + +<p>"Versailles, seven o'clock in the evening."</p></div> + +<p>"And it is now past midnight!" exclaimed Victoria, "You should have +received the message at least two or three hours ago. Whence the delay? +Must it be laid to negligence, or treachery? Both suppositions are +possible."</p> + +<p>"You forget, Marchioness, that the messenger was compelled to use great +precautions to enter Paris, and that his precautions in themselves, were +quite capable of causing the delay. So that it is neither false play nor +carelessness—no one is guilty."</p> + +<p>"So it may be. But there is not a moment to lose. You must be off to +Versailles at once. Order your carriage immediately. Let your +coach-wheels scorch the pavement."</p> + +<p>"It would be imprudent to take a carriage into the streets to-night. I +shall go on horseback accompanied by one of my men; I shall go towards +Great Rock and Queen's Court, till I pick up the road that runs from +Courbevoie to Versailles. Then, like the wind for Versailles."</p> + +<p>Monsieur Plouernel grasped the young woman's hand and added in a voice +of emotion—"God save the throne!"</p> + +<p>Victoria turned towards the door, paused a moment on<a name="vol-1-pg_104" id="vol-1-pg_104"></a> the sill to make a +final gesture of farewell, and left the room, musing to herself:</p> + +<p>"<i>In order to strike terror to the court, to make their plant miscarry, +the people must take the Bastille to-morrow! No hesitation—it must be +done!</i>"<a name="vol-1-pg_105" id="vol-1-pg_105"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IX-1-a" id="CHAPTER_IX-1-a"></a>CHAPTER IX.<br /><br /> +FILIAL CONFIDENCES.</h3> + +<p>The home of Monsieur Desmarais, attorney at the court of Paris, deputy +of the Third Estate to the National Assembly, the same who had been +beaten by the orders of the Count of Plouernel, was situated near the +St. Honoré Gate. There he occupied a beautiful dwelling of recent +construction and decorated with taste. The day after the banquet +participated in at the Plouernel mansion by the heads of the court +party, Madam Desmarais and her daughter Charlotte, a charming girl of +seventeen, were engaged in a sad interchange of thoughts.</p> + +<p>"Ah, my child," said Madam Desmarais, "how troubled I feel at what is +going on in Paris!" As her child did not answer, the mother stopped and +looked at her. The girl was plunged in deep revery.</p> + +<p>For a moment longer the girl maintained her silence. Then, her face +suffused and her eyes filled with tears, she fell upon her mother's +neck, buried her face in the maternal breast, and murmured in a +smothered voice:</p> + +<p>"Mother, dear, for the first time in my life I have lacked confidence in +you. Pardon your child!"</p> + +<p>Surprised and disturbed, Madam Desmarais pressed her<a name="vol-1-pg_106" id="vol-1-pg_106"></a> daughter to her +bosom, dried her tears, urged her to calm herself, and said, embracing +her tenderly: "You, to lack confidence in me, Charlotte? You have a +secret from me? Am I not, then, your <i>bestest</i> friend?"</p> + +<p>"Alas, I fear I had almost forgotten it. Be indulgent toward your +daughter!"</p> + +<p>"My heaven! What anguish you are putting me to! I can not believe my +ears. You—to have committed a fault?"</p> + +<p>"I doubted your heart and your justice. I formed a bad judgment of my +father and you, who have surrounded me with tenderness since my birth."</p> + +<p>"Finish your confidence, painful as it may be. Put an end to my +uncertainty," pleaded the mother.</p> + +<p>Charlotte drew back a moment; then she proceeded in broken accents:</p> + +<p>"About six months ago, we came to live on the second story of this +house, then still unfinished. Father was much taken with one of the +workmen—"</p> + +<p>"You speak of John Lebrenn, the foreman of our ironsmith, Master +Gervais?"</p> + +<p>"Struck with the excellent education of Monsieur John Lebrenn, father +offered him the freedom of our library, and made him promise to come and +visit us on his holidays. Father therefore considered Monsieur John +Lebrenn worthy of admission to our friendship. That is how I must +interpret father's actions."</p> + +<p>"Your father evinced, perhaps, too much good will towards the young +fellow, and my brother has taken my husband to task for authorizing too +intimate relations<a name="vol-1-pg_107" id="vol-1-pg_107"></a> between us and a simple workman. Each should keep +his place."</p> + +<p>"Uncle Hubert," answered Charlotte, "always showed himself hostile +towards Monsieur Lebrenn, and even jealous of him."</p> + +<p>"Your uncle Hubert is a banker of wealth, and could have entertained for +the protegé of my husband neither jealousy nor animosity."</p> + +<p>"Nevertheless, father's 'protegé' has been able to be of value to him, +for I have often heard father say to Monsieur John that it was to him +and his efforts that he owed his election as deputy for Paris."</p> + +<p>"It is a matter of common kindness for my husband to thank this young +workman for some services he was able to perform in the interest of his +election."</p> + +<p>"Allow me, dear mother, to tell you that father does not look at things +as you do; for last Sunday he invited Monsieur John to dinner with us, +calling him <i>my friend</i>. Father repeated to him several times that, +thanks to the progress of the revolution, privileges of birth would be +soon wiped out, and that equality and fraternity would reign among men."</p> + +<p>"Well, Charlotte! And suppose equality were to reign among men—what +conclusion do you draw from that?"</p> + +<p>"Monsieur John Lebrenn being the equal of my father, bonds of friendship +could exist between them."</p> + +<p>"I shall admit, for the moment, that an ironsmith's apprentice might +think himself the equal of an attorney at the bar of Paris. What do you +conclude therefrom?"</p> + +<p>"I hoped you would have understood," stammered the young girl in +confusion, and more embarrassed than ever<a name="vol-1-pg_108" id="vol-1-pg_108"></a> at seeing her mother so far +from suspecting the nature of the confidence she was about to make.</p> + +<p>Suddenly a dull and heavy roar, prolonged and repeated from echo to +echo, shook and rattled the windows of the room.</p> + +<p>"What noise is that!" cried Madam Desmarais with a start, and raising +her head.</p> + +<p>Crash upon crash, more distinct than the first, rattled again the +windows and even the doors of the dwelling. At that instant in rushed +one of Madam Desmarais's maids, screaming out with affright:</p> + +<p>"Madam, Oh, madam! It is the cannon! It is the roar of artillery!"</p> + +<p>"Great God!" exclaimed Madam Desmarais, turning pale. "And my husband! +To what dangers will he be exposed!"</p> + +<p>"Do not worry, dear mother. Father is at Versailles," spoke out +Charlotte, now the comforter.</p> + +<p>"They are attacking Paris. The counter-attack will lead on to +Versailles. There will be uprisings, insurrections, massacres!"</p> + +<p>"The suburbs are attacking the Bastille," answered Gertrude, the maid, +all of a tremble. "At daybreak our neighbor, Monsieur Lebrenn the +ironsmith, armed with sword and gun, placed himself at the head of a +troop, and marched upon the fortress."</p> + +<p>"Alas, he rushes into the arms of death—I shall never see him more!" +cried Charlotte, starting to her feet. And overcome with emotion and +fear, she paled, her eyes closed, and she fainted in the arms of her +mother and the servant, who bent over her plying their simple +restorative cares.<a name="vol-1-pg_109" id="vol-1-pg_109"></a></p> + +<p>For a long time the detonation of the artillery and the rattle of +musketry continued unabated. At length the firing slackened, became +desultory, and finally ceased altogether. The tumult gave way to a +profound silence. Charlotte regained consciousness. Her face hidden in +her hands, she was now seated beside her mother, who regarded her +daughter with a severe and saddened look. The older woman seemed to +hesitate to speak to the girl; finally she addressed her in a voice that +was hard and dry:</p> + +<p>"Thank heaven, Charlotte, you have recovered from your faint. Let us +continue our interview, that was so unfortunately interrupted. Meseems +it is of extreme importance for us all. I can guess its conclusion."</p> + +<p>The hard lines in the face of Madam Desmarais and the iciness in her +tone took the young girl aback; but overcoming the passing emotion, she +raised her head, revealing her countenance wet with tears, and answered:</p> + +<p>"I have never practised dissimulation towards you. So, just now, I could +not conceal the fears which assailed me for John Lebrenn—for I love him +passionately. I have pledged him my faith, I have received his in +return. We have sworn our troth, one to the other. There, my dear +mother, that is the confidence, I wished to make to you."</p> + +<p>"Oh, woe is us! The predictions of my brother are realized. How right he +was to reproach my husband for his relations with that workingman! +Unworthy daughter!" continued Madam Desmarais addressing Charlotte, "How +could you so far forget your duties as to think of uniting your lot with +that of a miserable artisan? Shame and ignominy! Dishonor to your +family—"</p> + +<p>"Mother," replied Charlotte, raising her head proudly,<a name="vol-1-pg_110" id="vol-1-pg_110"></a> "my love is as +noble and pure as the man who calls it forth."</p> + +<p>Gertrude, the serving maid, here again broke precipitately into the +room, joyfully crying as she crossed the threshold:</p> + +<p>"Madam, good news! Your husband has just entered the courtyard."</p> + +<p>"My husband in Paris!" exclaimed Madam Desmarais. "What can have taken +place at Versailles? Perhaps the Assembly is dissolved! Perhaps he is +proscribed, a fugitive! My God, have pity on us!"</p> + +<p>She rushed to the door to meet her husband, but checked herself long +enough to say to Charlotte:</p> + +<p>"Swear to me to forget at once this shameful love. On that condition I +consent to withhold from your father all knowledge of the wretched +affair."</p> + +<p>"My father shall know all!" replied Charlotte resolutely, as Monsieur +Desmarais entered the room.<a name="vol-1-pg_111" id="vol-1-pg_111"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_X-1-a" id="CHAPTER_X-1-a"></a>CHAPTER X.<br /><br /> +DEPUTY DESMARAIS.</h3> + +<p>The deputy of the Third Estate was a man in the prime of life; his +intellectual face betrayed more of diplomacy than of frankness. The +disorder of his apparel and the perspiration that covered his brow +bespoke the precipitancy of his return. His pallor, the contortion of +his features, the fear portrayed upon them, disclosed the anxiety of his +mind. But his whole expression relaxed at sight of Charlotte and her +mother. He pressed them several times in turn to his bosom, and cried +joyously:</p> + +<p>"Dear wife—dear daughter—embrace me again! I never before thought what +a consolation in these cursed times the sweet joys of the domestic +hearth would prove."</p> + +<p>And again embracing his wife and daughter, the advocate added, +"Blessings on you both for your presence. You have made me forget for a +moment the atrocities committed by a cannibal people!"</p> + +<p>As Monsieur Desmarais uttered these last words, a storm of triumphal +outcries, first distant, then gradually drawing nearer, smote upon his +ear: "Victory! The Bastille is taken by the people! Down with the court! +Down with the traitors! Down with the King! Death to the King! Long live +the Nation!"<a name="vol-1-pg_112" id="vol-1-pg_112"></a></p> + +<p>Then as gradually the cries moved away and died out in the distance.</p> + +<p>"The Bastille is taken—but how much blood had to be shed in the heroic +attack!" thought Charlotte, endeavoring to curb her apprehensions for +John Lebrenn. Then, carrying her handkerchief to her lips to smother a +sob, she added to herself, "He is dead, perhaps. O, God, have pity on my +grief."</p> + +<p>"What mean these cries, my friend?" asked Madam Desmarais of her +husband. "Is it possible that the Bastille has fallen into the hands of +the people? Can the working classes have overcome the army? In what sort +of times do we live?"</p> + +<p>"The Bastille is taken! Cursed day—the people are on top!"</p> + +<p>Charlotte heard with astonishment the execrations of her father on the +victory just won by the people. But before she was able to explain to +herself this revulsion in her father's beliefs, Gertrude re-entered the +room, calling out through the open door—</p> + +<p>"Good news again! Mother Lebrenn, our neighbor, has sent one of her +apprentices to inform you that she has just received a note from +Monsieur John, saying that he received a slight gunshot wound in the +shoulder during the battle—and announcing that the people is everywhere +victorious!"</p> + +<p>"John Lebrenn!" exclaimed Monsieur Desmarais, enraged. "He took part in +that insurrection! Send answer to Mother Lebrenn that I take no interest +in parties to massacre!" Then recollecting himself, he added, "No—say +to the apprentice that you have delivered the message."<a name="vol-1-pg_113" id="vol-1-pg_113"></a></p> + +<p>"Not a word of interest, and John wounded," thought Charlotte. "Ah, at +least, thanks to You, my God, John's wound is slight. I need not tremble +for his life."</p> + +<p>"If the revolution one of these days miscarries, it will be the fools of +the stamp of this Lebrenn who will be to blame," continued Desmarais +bitterly. "They will not comprehend that the ideal government is a +bourgeois, constitutional monarchy, amenable to the courts, disarmed, +and subordinated to an assembly of representatives of the Third Estate. +These miserable workingmen dishonor the revolution by assassination."</p> + +<p>"Father," responded Charlotte firmly, her forehead flushed with a +generous resolve, "Monsieur John Lebrenn can not be called an assassin."</p> + +<p>"I, too, believed in the honesty of that workman whom I showered with +favors, in spite of the warnings of your uncle Hubert," replied +Desmarais. "But when John Lebrenn takes part in this insurrection, I +withdraw my esteem. I look upon him as a brigand!"</p> + +<p>"John Lebrenn a brigand!" exclaimed Charlotte, unable to restrain her +indignation. "Is it you, father, who thus insult a man whom you but now +called your friend! What a contradiction in your language!"</p> + +<p>"My dear husband," interposed Madam Desmarais, interrupting her daughter +to retard an explanation of which she dreaded the issue: "You have not +yet told us what compelled your departure from Versailles, and why you +are in Paris instead of in session with the National Assembly."</p> + +<p>"Last evening and night the most sinister rumors were in circulation +about Versailles. According to some, the court party had secured from +the King the dissolution of<a name="vol-1-pg_114" id="vol-1-pg_114"></a> the Assembly. The members of the Left were +to be arrested as seditious characters, and imprisoned or banished from +the kingdom."</p> + +<p>"Great heaven—that is where you sit, my friend! To what danger have you +not been exposed!"</p> + +<p>"They would not have taken me from my curule chair alive," responded the +attorney grandly. "But the court party, frightened by the peals of the +cannon at the Bastille, the roar of which carried to Versailles, drew +back before the fearsome consequences of such an attempt."</p> + +<p>"I breathe again," exclaimed Madam Desmarais with a sigh of relief. "You +are neither a fugitive nor proscribed. God be praised!"</p> + +<p>"Still, other reports agitated Versailles and the Assembly on the score +of the uneasiness in Paris. During the night they saw, from the +housetops, the gleam of burning barriers. In the morning a courier +despatched by Baron Bezenval, commandant of Paris, brought news to the +government that the people of the suburb of St. Antoine, assisted by +those from the other suburbs, were besieging the Bastille. This sort of +aggression was considered by the majority of the representatives an +enterprise as blameworthy as it was senseless. No one could conjecture +that a mob of people, in rags, almost without arms, could take a +fortress defended by a garrison and a battery of artillery. The attempt +was in the highest degree extravagant."</p> + +<p>"The victory of the people was truly heroic," answered Madam Desmarais. +"It really savors of the miraculous."</p> + +<p>"Alas, a few more miracles of that stamp and the royal power is +overthrown, and we fall into anarchy," moodily replied the advocate. +"The people, drunk with its triumph,<a name="vol-1-pg_115" id="vol-1-pg_115"></a> will not content itself with wise +reforms. Having overthrown the royalty, the nobility, and the clergy, it +will turn on the bourgeoisie, and we, its allies during the combat, +shall become its victims after the victory. It will push to the end the +logic of its principles."</p> + +<p>"Good heavens, my friend, you express to-day the same opinions you till +lately fought in my brother!"</p> + +<p>"Your brother Hubert is a violent man who knows nothing of politics," +answered the attorney, much embarrassed by his wife's observation; and +he added, "This morning the National Assembly, wishing to ascertain the +truth as to the conflicting rumors of events in Paris, commissioned +several of its members, myself among the number, to learn by actual +witness the march of affairs, and, if possible, to check the shedding of +blood. In spite of our haste to the city, when we arrived the people +were already masters of the Bastille and had already disgraced their +victory by slaughtering the Marquis De Launay, governor of the fortress, +and several officers. These murders were then followed by ghoulish +scenes, which I beheld with my own eyes. But everything in its time. My +colleagues and I went to the City Hall. We succeeded, with much effort, +in working our way through the swarms of people in arms. We saw the +unhappy Flesselles, President of the Committee of Notables, livid, +whelmed with blows and insults, his clothing torn to ribbons, dragged +into the square and massacred: after the noble, the bourgeois! Among the +assassins I remarked a brawny giant, with the face of a gallows-bird, +and a little short man whose visage half vanished under a shock of red +beard, evidently false, who dragged at his side a young boy of eight or +nine years. At one instant<a name="vol-1-pg_116" id="vol-1-pg_116"></a> I thought that the unhappy Fleselles might +be saved, but the declamations of the red-bearded man and the giant +raised to a paroxysm the fury of a band of savages whom they seemed to +direct, and I knew then that the Provost of the merchants was lost. The +fellow with the red beard drew up to him and cracked his head at one +blow, with the butt of his pistol. The savage band hurled itself upon +the unfortunate man as he fell to earth, and riddled him with wounds. +The giant put the climax to the horrible deed: he cut off the head and +impaled it on the end of a pike. Then the whole band of scoundrels, the +little boy along with the rest, began to dance around the hideous +trophy, singing and shouting."</p> + +<p>"My blood freezes in my veins, my friend, when I think of the danger you +ran in the midst of that frantic populace," said Madam Desmarais. "Those +madmen are worse than cannibals—and Paris seems to be in their power."</p> + +<p>"That is what I saw; but unfortunately that is not the only crime there +is to deplore. Other murders followed this first one. The blood thus +shed threw the populace into a species of frenzy. Finally I was able to +escape, to get out of the crowd, and I hastened to you, dear wife, and +to our daughter. These are the crimes that the takers of the Bastille +either perpetrated, or are accomplices in. By giving the signal for +insurrection, they have thrown the people into all the dangers of a +revolt. That is why John Lebrenn is no better in my eyes than a common +bandit."</p> + +<p>"You are unjust, father, toward him whom you called your friend," +ventured Charlotte, in a voice firm with resolution. "On reflection you +will return to sentiments that are more just to Monsieur Lebrenn."<a name="vol-1-pg_117" id="vol-1-pg_117"></a></p> + +<p>Struck with astonishment at his daughter's words and tone, the advocate +questioned his wife with a look, as if to seek the cause of this strange +appeal on the part of Charlotte for Monsieur John.</p> + +<p>"It is I, father, who can give you the explanation you seek of my +mother. I shall not falter in doing so," said Charlotte; and after a +momentary pause she continued:</p> + +<p>"I shall not recall to you how many times you have uttered yourself in +terms of friendship and esteem for Monsieur Lebrenn. The good opinion +you held of him was merited, and I dare vouch that he will continue to +show himself worthy of it. I shall not recall to you the proofs of +devotion Monsieur Lebrenn has given you, notably at the time of your +election. It is not willingly that I bring back to your memory the +incident of the outrage of which you were the victim at the instigation +of Monsieur the Count of Plouernel, and which you communicated to +Monsieur Lebrenn in confidence one evening about two months ago. It +costs me much to reopen in your heart that rankling wound. But do you +remember the generous choler with which Monsieur Lebrenn was seized at +your revelation? 'I am but a mechanic, and without doubt this great lord +will consider me unworthy to raise a sword against him,' said Monsieur +John to you, 'but I swear to God, I shall punish the wretch with these +stout arms that heaven has bestowed upon me.' Already he was bounding +towards the door to be off to avenge your insult, when you and my mother +stopped him with great difficulty, plying your supplications to make him +promise not to attack your enemy. And then, clasping him in your arms, +you said to him, your voice quivering with emotion, and your eyes filled +with<a name="vol-1-pg_118" id="vol-1-pg_118"></a> tears, 'Ah, my friend, you shall be my son; for no otherwise than +as a son did you feel the insult I received. This mark of attachment, +joined to all the other proofs of your affection, renders you so dear to +my heart that from this moment I shall look upon you as one of the +members of our family. You have won all our hearts—'"</p> + +<p>"And what has all this to do with the excesses which Monsieur Lebrenn +has been one of the instigators of, and with the assassinations which I +have witnessed? Come, speak clearly, explain yourself. I understand +nothing of all this pathos."</p> + +<p>"By what right, father, do you render Monsieur Lebrenn responsible for a +murder to which he was an entire stranger?"</p> + +<p>"But whence this great interest, my daughter, in taking the part of +Monsieur Lebrenn against your father?"</p> + +<p>"In spite of my ignorance of politics, dear father, I know that in +attacking the Bastille the people wished to destroy the house of durance +where shuddered so many innocent victims. And perhaps Monsieur Lebrenn, +in joining himself with the insurgents, hoped to find his father in one +of the dungeons of the fortress."</p> + +<p>"And if by chance he should discover him!" exclaimed advocate Desmarais, +more and more surprised and irritated at his daughter's persistence in +defending Lebrenn. "Does that chance absolve him from the excesses for +which the taking of the Bastille was the signal? Ought not the +responsibility for these acts fall upon those who took part in the +attack, among others on Monsieur Lebrenn, who, it seems, is one of the +leaders of the insurrection?"</p> + +<p>"Does the memory of services rendered, father, weigh<a name="vol-1-pg_119" id="vol-1-pg_119"></a> so heavily upon +you that you seek to evade all recollection of them, under the pretext +of a responsibility which you endeavor to load on a generous man for the +crimes committed by others?"</p> + +<p>"Do you know, Charlotte," answered the advocate severely, after a few +moments' reflection, "that your persistence in defending that man would +justly give me strange suspicions regarding your conduct?"</p> + +<p>"My friend," interrupted Madam Desmarais, "do not attach any importance +to a few words which have escaped our daughter in a moment of +excitement."</p> + +<p>"You are mistaken, dear mother. I am perfectly calm. But I can not +submit to hearing a man of heart and honor calumniated without +protesting against what I regard as a great wrong to him. Why should I +not say to father what I have just said to you, mother—that for two +months my faith has been pledged to Monsieur John Lebrenn, that I have +sworn to him to have no other husband than he? And I shall add, before +you, my father, and you, my mother, that I shall be true to my promise."</p> + +<p>"Great God!" cried the advocate, stunned with amazement, "that miserable +workman has dared to raise his eyes to my daughter! He has stolen my +child from me! Death and damnation, I shall have vengeance!"</p> + +<p>"You are in error, father; your daughter has not been stolen away," +proudly returned Charlotte. "That <i>miserable</i> workingman in whose +presence you have so many times argued against the privileges of birth, +against the artificial distinctions which separate the classes in +society—that <i>miserable</i> workingman whom you treated as a friend, an +equal, when you judged his support necessary<a name="vol-1-pg_120" id="vol-1-pg_120"></a> to your ambition—that +<i>miserable</i> workingman placed his faith in the sincerity of your +professions, father, he saw in me his equal—and his love has been as +pure, as respectful as it has been deep—and devoted—and my heart—is +given to him—"</p> + +<p>"You are a brazen hussy!" yelled the lawyer, pale with rage. "Leave my +presence! You disgrace my name!"</p> + +<p>"On the contrary, father, I hope I do honor to your name, in putting +into practise those principles of equality and fraternity whose generous +promoter you have made yourself."</p> + +<p>At that moment the noise of many voices was heard under the windows of +the Desmarais apartment, crying enthusiastically: "Long live Citizen +Desmarais! Long live the friend of the people! Long live our +representative!" These eloquent testimonies of the popular affection for +Monsieur Desmarais offered so strange a contradiction to the reproaches +which he had just addressed to Charlotte, that under the impression of +the contrast the lawyer, his wife and his daughter fell silent.</p> + +<p>"Do you hear them, father?" Charlotte at last ventured. "These brave +people believe, the same as I, in the sincerity of your principles of +equality. They acclaim you as the friend of the people."</p> + +<p>At the same instant Gertrude ran into the room breathless with +excitement, exclaiming: "A troop of the vanquishers of the Bastille, +with Monsieur John Lebrenn at their head, has halted before the house. +They want monsieur to appear on the balcony and address them."</p> + +<p>"Death of my life! This is too much," snarled the advocate, at the +moment that new cries resounded from without:<a name="vol-1-pg_121" id="vol-1-pg_121"></a></p> + +<p>"Long live Citizen Desmarais. Long live the friend of the people! Come +out! Come out! Long live the Nation! Down with the King! Death to the +aristocrats!"</p> + +<p>"My friend, you can not hesitate. You will run the greatest danger by +not appearing and saying a few good words to these maniacs. In bad +fortune we must show a good heart," said Madam Desmarais, alarmed; then +addressing Gertrude: "Quick, quick, open the window to the balcony."<a name="vol-1-pg_122" id="vol-1-pg_122"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XI-1-a" id="CHAPTER_XI-1-a"></a>CHAPTER XI.<br /><br /> +LIONS AND JACKALS.</h3> + +<p>Gertrude hastened to execute her mistress's order, and revealed to the +deputy's family St. Honoré Street, packed, as far as the eye could +reach, with a dense crowd. The windows of the houses bordering on it +were filled by their inhabitants, drawn thither by the commotion. The +column of the vanquishers of the Bastille was stationed in front and to +both sides of the Desmarais domicile; it was composed for the most part +of men of the people, clad in their working clothes. Some carried guns, +pikes, or swords; several among them were armed with the implements of +their trade. All, bourgeois, mechanics, soldiers, acclaimed the victory +of the people with the cry, a thousand times repeated:</p> + +<p>"Long live the Nation!"</p> + +<p>In the center of the column glowered two pieces of light artillery +captured in the courtyard of the redoubtable prison. On the caisson of +one of these cannon, erect, majestically leaning on a pike-staff from +which floated the tricolor, stood a woman of massive stature, a red +kerchief half concealing the heavy tresses which fell down upon her +shoulders. Her dark robe disclosed her robust arms. She held her pike in +one hand—in the other a shattered chain.<a name="vol-1-pg_123" id="vol-1-pg_123"></a> Woman of the people as she +was, she seemed the genius of Liberty incarnate.</p> + +<p>To the rear of the cannon rested a cart trimmed with green branches and +surrounded by men who bore at the end of long poles or of pikes chains, +garrottes, gags, iron boots, iron corsets, pincers, and other strange +and horrible instruments of torture gathered up in the subterranean +chambers of the Bastille. In the car were three of the prisoners +delivered by the people. One of these was the Provost of Beaumont, +imprisoned fifteen years before for having denounced the famine +agreement. Another, who seemed to have lost his reason in the sufferings +of a long and drear captivity, was the Count of Solange, imprisoned by +<i>lettre de cachet</i> during the reign of Louis XV. The last of the three +prisoners was broken, bent to the ground, tottering. He lifted to heaven +his colorless eyes—alas, the unfortunate man had become blind in his +dungeon. It was the father of John Lebrenn. Poor victim of tyranny! He +feebly supported himself by the arm of his son, wounded though the +latter was.</p> + +<p>Such was the picture that met the gaze of advocate Desmarais as he +stepped out upon the balcony of his dwelling, his wife and daughter on +either side of him. Charlotte's first glances went in search of, and as +soon found, John Lebrenn. With a woman's intuition she divined that the +aged figure beside him, snatched from the cells of the Bastille was +indeed his father.</p> + +<p>The appearance of advocate Desmarais and his family was greeted with a +new outburst of acclaim:</p> + +<p>"Long live the friend of the people!"</p> + +<p>In stepping forth upon the balcony, Desmarais had<a name="vol-1-pg_124" id="vol-1-pg_124"></a> yielded merely to +policy. He made a virtue of necessity. Condescending, gracious, +complaisant, he began by greeting with smile, look, and gesture the +populace assembled beneath his windows. Then he bowed, and placed his +hand on his heart as if to express by that pantomime the emotion, the +gratitude, which he experienced at the demonstration of which he was the +object.</p> + +<p>Silence was re-established among the crowd. John Lebrenn, still standing +in the cart beside his father, addressed the attorney in a voice clear +and sonorous:</p> + +<p>"Citizen Desmarais, defender of the rights of the people, thanks to you, +our representative in the National Assembly! Your acts, your speeches, +have responded to all that we expected of you. Honor to the friend of +the people!"</p> + +<p>The advocate signified that he wished to reply. The tumult was hushed, +and the deputy of the Third Estate delivered himself as follows:</p> + +<p>"Citizens! my friends, my brothers! I can not find words in which to +express the admiration your victory inspires me with. Thanks to your +generous efforts, the most formidable rampart of despotism is +overthrown! Be assured, citizens, that your representatives know the +significance of the taking of the Bastille. The Assembly has declared +that the ministers and the councillors of his Majesty, whatever their +rank in the state, are responsible for the present evils and those which +may follow. Responsibility shall be demanded of the ministers and all +functionaries!"</p> + +<p>"Bravo! Long live Desmarais! Long live the Assembly!<a name="vol-1-pg_125" id="vol-1-pg_125"></a> Long live the +Nation! Death to the King! Death to the Queen! Down with the +aristocrats!"</p> + +<p>"Nothing could be more pleasing to me, citizens," continued Desmarais, +"than the choice you have made of Citizen Lebrenn as the spokesman of +the sentiments that animate you. Honor to this young and valiant +artisan, the son of one of the victims rescued from the Bastille!"</p> + +<p>This allocution, pronounced by advocate Desmarais with every appearance +of great tenderness, moved the people. Tears dimmed the eyes of all. The +father of John Lebrenn seized his son in his arms, and Charlotte, unable +to restrain her tears, murmured as she cast a look of gratitude toward +heaven, "Thanks to you, my God! My father is his true old noble self +again. He sees the injustice of his opposition to John!"</p> + +<p>When the emotion produced by his last words had somewhat subsided, +advocate Desmarais resumed: "Adieu till we meet again, citizens, my +friends—my brothers! I return to Versailles. The Assembly has +despatched three of my colleagues and myself to learn at first hand how +it fares with the good people of Paris. When our report is called for, +we shall be ready. Long live the Nation!"</p> + +<p>With a final farewell gesture to the throng, Desmarais quitted the +balcony and re-entered his apartment. In a few moments the column took +up its interrupted march, and disappeared. Almost immediately there +disgorged itself tumultuously into St. Honoré Street a band of men of an +aspect strangely contrasting with that of the populace just addressed by +Monsieur Desmarais. Some were dressed in rags, others wore a garb less +sordid, but nearly all bore on their faces the stamp of vice and crime. +The<a name="vol-1-pg_126" id="vol-1-pg_126"></a> band was composed of men without occupation; do-nothing workmen; +debauched laborers; petty business men ruined by misconduct, become +pickpockets, sharpers, infesters of houses of ill fame and other evil +resorts; robbers and convicts, assassins—a hideous crowd, capable of +every crime; an execrable crowd, whom our eternal enemies keep in fee +and easily egg on to these saturnalia, for which the people is but too +often held culpable; wretches in the hire of the priests, the nobles and +the police.</p> + +<p>At the head of these bandits marched a man with the face of a brigand, +of gigantic stature and herculean frame, and conspicuously well clad. +Once a "cadet," then a gaming-house proprietor, then usher of the Church +of St. Medard, Lehiron, for such was the name of the leader of the band, +had been expelled from his last employment for the theft of the +poor-box. Around his waist a sash of red wool held two horse-pistols and +a cutlass that had parted company with its sheath. His coat and the +cuffs of his shirt rolled back to the elbow, he gesticulated wildly with +his bare hands, which were clotted with blood. At the end of a pike he +still bore the head of Monsieur Flesselles, and from time to time, while +brandishing the hideous trophy, he would cry out in a stentorian voice:</p> + +<p>"Long live the Nation! To the lamp-post with the aristocrats! Death to +all the nobles!"</p> + +<p>"Death to the enemies of the people! The aristocrats to the lamp-post!" +repeated all the bandits, brandishing their pikes, their sabers, or +their guns blackened with powder.</p> + +<p>"To the lamp-post with the aristocrats!" also cried the shrill and +piercing voice of an urchin who gave his hand<a name="vol-1-pg_127" id="vol-1-pg_127"></a> to a miserably clad +character, the man of the false beard of whom Desmarais had spoken. It +was the Jesuit Morlet, and the boy his god-son, little Rodin. At the +moment that the band hove in sight of the lawyer's dwelling, the Jesuit +drew close to Lehiron, and spoke a few words to him in a low voice. The +latter stopped, signed to his followers for silence and cried at the top +of his leathern lungs:</p> + +<p>"Death to the bourgeois! Death to the traitors! To the lamp-post with +Desmarais!"</p> + +<p>Then the band resumed its way; and Abbot Morlet, posted at the head of +the troop, made haste to bring it up to the last straggling files of the +vanquishers of the Bastille. Then, upon the carriage of the cannon +whence she dominated the throng, he beheld the woman with the red +handkerchief and the dark robe. In spite of the change which her costume +imparted to her features, the Jesuit was stupefied to +recognize—Marchioness Aldini!</p> + +<p>Barely had he recovered from his surprise when the Marchioness descended +from the piece of artillery. As hastily, the Jesuit quitted his +companions in order to trace her, and, if possible, clear up the +suspicions which in his mind surrounded this one-time Marchioness, now +heroine of the people. Little Rodin followed his dear god-father, and +the two, elbowing their way through the people of the quarter, who were +seized with surprise and affright at the murderous cries uttered by the +sinister band which approached, inquired, as they went, for the +beautiful dark woman coiffed in a red handkerchief who had just leaped +down from the cannon—having, so the Abbot pretended, a message for her. +Finally a woman haberdasher, drawn to<a name="vol-1-pg_128" id="vol-1-pg_128"></a> the threshold of her booth, +replied to Abbot Morlet's interrogations:</p> + +<p>"Yes, the beautiful young woman you seek has entered house No. 17, along +with our neighbor John Lebrenn. That is all I can tell you."</p> + +<p>"Then the Lebrenn family lives in this street, my dear woman?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly. Mother Lebrenn and her family occupy two rooms on the fourth +floor of No. 17."</p> + +<p>"Thank you for your information, my dear woman," replied the Jesuit, +with difficulty concealing the joy that the unexpected discovery caused +him. "Many thanks!"</p> + +<p>"And so," continued the Abbot, "I recover the traces of that family whom +we have lost from sight for over a century. What a lucky chance! Two +woodcocks in one springe—Marchioness Aldini and the family of Lebrenn. +An enemy spotted, is one-half throttled. Let us train our batteries to +suit."</p> + +<p>"Dear god-father," put in little Rodin at that moment, with a determined +air, "I am not afraid to look at heads mowed off."</p> + +<p>"My child," replied the Jesuit with fatherly pride and happiness, "it is +not enough to have no fear; one must actually feel his heart grow +lightened when he sees the enemies of our holy mother, the Church of +Rome, put to death."</p> + +<p>"Dear god-father, was Monsieur Flesselles, then, an enemy of our holy +mother, the Church?"</p> + +<p>"My child, the death of Monsieur Flesselles, innocent or guilty, was +useful to the good cause."</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, Lehiron's band, just then passing under the<a name="vol-1-pg_129" id="vol-1-pg_129"></a> windows of +Desmarais's home, continued to shriek, "Death to the enemies of the +people! Death to the bourgeois! To the lamp-post with Desmarais!"</p> + +<p>The cries had not yet reached the ears of the attorney, who had no +sooner withdrawn from the balcony than his daughter, throwing herself +into his arms, said to him in a voice broken with sobs of joy:</p> + +<p>"Thanks, Oh, thanks, father, for what you have just said!"</p> + +<p>"What are you thanking me for now?"</p> + +<p>"For the noble utterances you have just addressed to Monsieur John +Lebrenn," replied Charlotte delighted, not noticing the brusque +transformation which came over the face of the advocate at her words.</p> + +<p>"How! You have the presumption to abuse the necessity I found myself +reduced to, in speaking a few words of good will to that laborer in +order to save my house from pillage, and perhaps to protect my own life +and that of my wife and daughter—you presume to abuse that necessity to +oblige me to give my consent to your union with an ironsmith's +apprentice? You are an unworthy daughter!"</p> + +<p>"Then—your cordial words, your touching protestations, were but lies!" +murmured the young girl, crushed by her father's rough speech. "It was +all comedy and imposture!"</p> + +<p>"Charlotte," continued Desmarais in a tone of harsh resolve, "cut short +this passion which is a disgrace to all of us! I swear you shall never +see that man again. To-morrow you leave Paris. It is my will."</p> + +<p>"Father, my father—I implore you—revoke that sentence—"<a name="vol-1-pg_130" id="vol-1-pg_130"></a></p> + +<p>"My dear friend," pursued Desmarais, addressing his wife and not heeding +his daughter, "I shall delay for twenty-four hours my return to +Versailles. Hasten all your preparations for the trip. We shall leave +to-morrow morning. I shall take you along, as well as our daughter."</p> + +<p>"Pity, father! Do not drive me to despair—"</p> + +<p>"You know my will. Nothing can bend it."</p> + +<p>"Cursed be this day," cried the young girl with indignation; "cursed be +this day when you force me to forget the respect I owe a father. Helas! +it is you, you yourself, father, who just now, this very hour, protested +your love for the people, your disdain for the privileges of birth and +wealth. And now you declare before me that your protestations were +false, that you despise the people, fear them, hate them. The imposture +and the lie drive me to rebel."</p> + +<p>"Hold your tongue, unworthy minx! Do you not see the window is open, and +that your imprudent words can be heard without? Have you resolved to get +us all killed?" cried Desmarais, running to the window to close it.</p> + +<p>It was just the minute that Lehiron's band was passing the house. At the +instant that the lawyer took hold of the casement fastening to draw shut +the window, over the rail of the balcony, at the height of his own +countenance, there appeared the livid head of Flesselles, impaled on its +pike. A cry of fear broke from Desmarais, and he recoiled from the sill, +clapping his hands before his eyes to shut out the grisly spectacle. The +band halted before the attorney's door. Anew the cries burst loose +without:</p> + +<p>"Long live the Nation!"</p> + +<p>"Death to the enemies of the people!"<a name="vol-1-pg_131" id="vol-1-pg_131"></a></p> + +<p>"To the lamp-post with the aristocrats!—to the lamp-post with +Desmarais!"</p> + +<p>The clamors seemed to come so pat upon the words of Charlotte, that +Madam Desmarais, stricken with affright, threw herself on her knees in +an attitude of prayer, clasped her hands, and stammered out an appeal to +God.</p> + +<p>"To the lamp-post with Desmarais! Death to the traitor!" shrieked +Lehiron's band once more, and passed on its way. The cries of "Death!" +faded away in the distance as Lehiron's troop followed in the wake of +the conquerors of the Bastille. It was the pack of jackals following the +lions.</p> + +<p>Desmarais gradually recovered from the state of rigid fright in which he +was plunged, and cried out to Charlotte in a voice trembling with +repressed rage:</p> + +<p>"Unnatural daughter! Parricide! Did you hear the cries of death hurled +at your father by those cannibals of Paris, who carry in triumph the +head of Flesselles? These men, who perhaps quite soon will have made +your father undergo the same torture, are the friends, the brothers of +John Lebrenn. Your lover is, like them, an assassin. Horror upon all +this revolted plebs!"<a name="vol-1-pg_132" id="vol-1-pg_132"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XII-1-a" id="CHAPTER_XII-1-a"></a>CHAPTER XII.<br /><br /> +REUNITED FROM THE BASTILLE.</h3> + +<p>While advocate Desmarais was whelming his daughter with reproaches on +the score of her love for John Lebrenn, the latter was at his mother's +knee in their modest lodgings on the fourth floor of the old house in +St. Honoré Street. In the larger of the two rooms composing the family's +apartments, were to be seen two beds. One had never been occupied for +years, since the day Ronan Lebrenn disappeared without a soul knowing +what had become of him. The room also contained a sort of little +bookshelf garnished with books printed with his own hand, a portable +workbench at which John in the evenings finished up pieces belonging to +his ironsmith's trade, tools, some little furniture, and a buffet of +walnut-wood in which reposed the relics and legends of the family.</p> + +<p>Madam, or Mother, Lebrenn, as she was called in the neighborhood, was +nearly sixty years of age. Domestic griefs, rather than years, had +enfeebled and ruined her health. Her venerable countenance was of an +extreme pallor, and sadly sunken. The poor woman held in her hands the +head of her son, kneeling before her. The aged mother stroked it several +times, saying in a voice thrilled with emotion:</p> + +<p>"Dear boy, you have come back to me at last. I can now<a name="vol-1-pg_133" id="vol-1-pg_133"></a> reassure myself +on the state of your wound. Helas! how great was my anguish during all +the time of that frightful combat. The little note you sent me after the +taking of the Bastille indeed calmed a little my terrors for you, but +without stilling them completely. I feared lest, out of tenderness, you +sought to deceive me as to the gravity of your hurt. Now I am coming to +myself from my fears, and yet I still must hold you in my arms. Dear and +only child whom God has left to a poor widow—how sweet it is for a +mother to embrace her son!"</p> + +<p>"Come, good mother, I see your spirit is still troubled by the pangs of +this morning. But are you quite sure you are a widow? Am I truly your +only child?"</p> + +<p>"Helas! have not your father and sister both disappeared? Are they not +lost forever to your poor mother?"</p> + +<p>"But why should they not return to us some day?"</p> + +<p>"Dear boy, if they lived, your father and sister whom you love so much, +would we not have heard some news of them, even if it were impossible +for them to come to us?"</p> + +<p>"You are right, good mother. But you presume that it would have been +possible for them to have sent us some intelligence of their fate. May +we not suppose, though, that father was thrown into some state prison, +and that he was deprived of all communication with the outside? So sad a +supposition has nothing strange in it."</p> + +<p>"In that case, my child, the prison would have proven your father's +tomb, so frail was his health. We could not dare to hope that he would +be able to surmount the rigors of his captivity."</p> + +<p>"But it might also be, good mother, that the hope of<a name="vol-1-pg_134" id="vol-1-pg_134"></a> seeing us some day +may have helped him to endure his sufferings."</p> + +<p>"Do not essay, dear boy, to raise in my heart hopes, which, deceived too +soon, will but plunge me back again into despair. My dear husband is +indeed lost to me, helas! As to your sister, we may well believe we +shall never see her more. She also is lost to us. Without doubt she has +sought in death a refuge from her anguish, since the fatal revelation of +her earlier life to her fiance, Sergeant Maurice."</p> + +<p>"Nothing has come to light so far to confirm your apprehensions on the +subject of these afflictions—dear, good mother—"</p> + +<p>"If my poor girl is not dead—what can have been her lot? I shudder even +to think of it—misery, or dishonor!"</p> + +<p>"I do not wish, good mother, to hold out to you hopes, which, when +deceived, will revive your sorrow and seriously compromise your health, +perhaps your life. But I believe I can without danger accustom you to +the idea that my sister still lives, and has not ceased to be worthy of +your affection; and also that father, after having languished long years +in a prison pit, may still recover his liberty, and that we may see +him.—That is a hope in my heart which I would cause you to share. +Follow well my reasoning—"</p> + +<p>"'Twould be too much happiness for me—I cannot believe it. And if I +could believe it, I ask myself whether I have the strength to bear so +much joy. Rapture can kill, as well as grief, my dear son."</p> + +<p>"And so, dear mother, if such events are to be told, I shall have +recourse to roundabout methods to make you<a name="vol-1-pg_135" id="vol-1-pg_135"></a> acquainted with such +unhoped-for news. If it were about father—for example—I would say, +that the victorious people penetrated into the Bastille to deliver the +persons thrown into the dungeons, and that, among them, we found one who +resembled father; that we seized the prison registrars and made them +search in their registers for the records of a prisoner who was very +dear to me, as it might have chanced that my father was among the +number; that, in one of these registers, I read the date, 'April 22, +1783,' and right after it, 'No. 1297—incarcerated—upper tier—cell No. +18.'"</p> + +<p>"April 22, 1783," repeated Madam Lebrenn pensively. "That is the day +after your father disappeared."</p> + +<p>"I would tell you that beside the date there was no name given for the +prisoner, it being the usage to replace the name with a number. I would +add, that, struck by the singular coincidence between the date and the +time of father's disappearance, I went down to visit cell No. 18, as was +indicated in the register—"</p> + +<p>"And then?" exclaimed Madam Lebrenn feverishly, and with growing +anxiety.</p> + +<p>"The cell was empty. But they told me that the prisoner who occupied it +was an old man grown blind, alas, during his confinement. I asked where +they had taken the unfortunate man, and dashed off to seek him. Isn't +this all interesting, mother?"</p> + +<p>"Why do you break off your story? For I feel that your supposings are +but preparations for some revelation that you are about to make. You +look away from me—John, my boy, my dear boy!" cried Madam Lebrenn, +reaching towards her son and making him turn his face up to her<a name="vol-1-pg_136" id="vol-1-pg_136"></a>—"You +weep! No more doubt of it—Lord God! the old man—was—he was—"</p> + +<p>She could not finish. The word died on her lips, and she nearly swooned +away. John, still kneeling before her, sustained her in his arms, +saying: "Courage, good mother. Hear the end of my tale."</p> + +<p>"Courage, say you? But you are deceiving me, then? It was not then—your +father?"</p> + +<p>"It was he! 'Twas indeed he whom I held in my arms. He lived—you shall +see him soon. But, poor dear mother, have courage. We are not yet at the +end of our trials."</p> + +<p>"Since your father lives, courage is easy to me! Let them bring him to +us quick!"</p> + +<p>"Alas, you forget that in his dungeon father lost his sight. Besides, +the weight of his irons, the humidity of his cell, have palsied, have +paralyzed his limbs. He can hardly drag himself along."</p> + +<p>"But he lives! Ah, well! His infirmities will render him more dear to +us," cried Madam Lebrenn in lofty exaltation, and suddenly rising. "Let +us go to meet him."</p> + +<p>"One moment, good mother. They are bringing him to us. But I have still +to prepare you for another piece of good fortune. You know the proverb, +good mother, 'Good fortune never comes singly.' But, first, I want to +acquaint you with the person who broke open father's cell, who freed him +from his irons, and who bestowed upon him the simple cares that he long +needed."</p> + +<p>"Tell me, dear son, who was your father's liberator?"</p> + +<p>"His liberator was a woman—an intrepid, heroic woman, who during the +assault of the Bastille braved the fire of musketry and cannon and led +the attackers, red flag in<a name="vol-1-pg_137" id="vol-1-pg_137"></a> hand. Under a perfect hail of bullets she +let down the drawbridge across one of the moats of the fortress, and was +the first to run to the dungeons to free the prisoners. It was she who +rescued father from his living grave."</p> + +<p>"Blessed be that woman! I shall cherish her as a daughter!"</p> + +<p>"That heroic woman, who is truly worthy of your love—is Victoria! Is +that enough happiness for us? Father and sister, both have come home to +your caresses. They are there, close to us, at our neighbor Jerome's, +and await but the pre-arranged signal to come in."</p> + +<p>And John Lebrenn, joining the action to the words, struck three blows on +the wall.</p> + +<p>The door flew open, and on the sill appeared father Lebrenn, leaning on +one side on the arm of Victoria, on the other on that of neighbor +Jerome. Madam Lebrenn, intoxicated with joy, flung herself into the arms +of her husband and daughter.<a name="vol-1-pg_138" id="vol-1-pg_138"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XIII-1-a" id="CHAPTER_XIII-1-a"></a>CHAPTER XIII.<br /><br /> +THE LEBRENN FAMILY.</h3> + +<p>Thus reunited, the Lebrenn family gave themselves up to those sweetest +of reminiscences, the recollections of sorrows now no more. The father +recounted to his wife and children the tortures of his long captivity. +Victoria retold the events in which she had been an actor since she had +left them, not neglecting her affiliation with the sect of the Voyants, +or "Seeing Ones." Due tribute having been paid by the family to the +civil cares of the day, the conversation turned upon their private +interests.</p> + +<p>John informed his father of his love for Charlotte Desmarais, and of the +hope he cherished of soon uniting his destiny with hers. After listening +attentively to his son, the old man said, in a voice marked with +sadness:</p> + +<p>"Alas, my dear John, I augur no good of your love. Advocate Desmarais is +rich; he belongs to the bourgeoisie, and the bourgeoisie, like the +nobility, has its arrogance, its haughtiness. I much doubt whether he +will give his consent to the marriage."</p> + +<p>"That would have been true before, good father," replied John. "But +ideas have changed of late years; great progress has been made during +your sad imprisonment. People and bourgeoisie are now but one party, +united by<a name="vol-1-pg_139" id="vol-1-pg_139"></a> the same interests, by the same hopes, and both resolved on +ending the privileges of our enemies, royalty, the Church, and the +nobility. The bourgeoisie has learned that in the struggle it has joined +with the monarchy, it has but one support, the people. If it is the +head, we are the arms. The Third Estate possesses the shining lights, +the wealth; but we, of the seed of the people, we have the numbers, the +force, the courage. And then, to accomplish the revolution, our +co-operation is absolutely necessary to the bourgeoisie. They must count +on the workingmen, the proletariat. We have the power and the right."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps, my son. Yet, social prejudices are not effaced in a day. And +for a long time to come, I fear, the bourgeois will see between himself +and the artisan the same distance which separates him, the bourgeois, +from the nobility."</p> + +<p>"Nevertheless, my friend," interposed Madam Lebrenn, "Monsieur Desmarais +has always received our son on a footing of equality, calling him +friend, and inviting him to pass his evenings with him. He has heaped +upon our son many marks of his gratitude."</p> + +<p>"Marks of gratitude, Marianne? For what?" asked the blind man. "What +service has our son done Monsieur Desmarais? Or is his friendship +disinterested?"</p> + +<p>"I did my best to insure his election to the States General," replied +the young artisan.</p> + +<p>"So," said the old man, thoughtfully, "advocate Desmarais owes his +election to your efforts, to your exertions?"</p> + +<p>"He owes it to his merit, to his value. I only suggested Monsieur +Desmarais to those of our fellow citizens who had confidence in me, and +all acclaimed him."<a name="vol-1-pg_140" id="vol-1-pg_140"></a></p> + +<p>"In short, you powerfully aided in his election. I am no longer +astonished that he treats you as a friend, an equal. But it is a far +cry, my son, from words to acts. I doubt the sincerity of this lawyer's +affection."</p> + +<p>"That doubt would never enter your thoughts, good father, if you knew +the excellent man. If you had heard him inveigh, as I have, against the +distinctions of birth and fortune—"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps he had in mind only the privileges of the nobility," observed +Victoria, who until then had remained grave and silent. "The prejudices +of the Third Estate are tenacious."</p> + +<p>"I should add, dearest sister, that he idolizes his daughter so, that to +see her happy, he would sacrifice all the prejudices of his class—even +if he were still under their influence, which I can not believe. I am +well assured of that."</p> + +<p>"And his daughter is an angel," added Madam Lebrenn. "I have seen and +can appreciate her."</p> + +<p>"The excellence of our son's choice is not doubted," replied the old +man, half convinced. "And, after all, it may be that Monsieur Desmarais +does belong to that portion of the bourgeoisie which sees in the +proletariat, disinherited for so many centuries, a brother to be guided +and helped along the path of emancipation. If such is the case, my son, +your marriage with Mademoiselle Desmarais may be consummated, and become +the joy of my old age."</p> + +<p>"Brother," asked Victoria, "has Mademoiselle Desmarais informed her +family of this projected union?"</p> + +<p>"At our last meeting, she assured me that she would soon broach the +subject to her mother, and inform her<a name="vol-1-pg_141" id="vol-1-pg_141"></a> that she had pledged me her +faith, as I have mine to her. But I can not yet tell you whether the +confidence has been made."</p> + +<p>"Does Mademoiselle Desmarais seem to have any doubts as to the consent +of her relatives?"</p> + +<p>"Among those relatives there is an uncle, Hubert, a rich banker, who +without doubt will oppose the project. This moneyed bourgeois entertains +for the working class the most supreme contempt. But the violence of his +opinions has brought about a rupture between him and Monsieur Desmarais. +As to the latter and his wife, Mademoiselle Charlotte has no doubt of +their consent, by reason of the affection and esteem they have always +evinced for me."</p> + +<p>"Brother," continued Victoria after a moment's reflection, "I counsel +you, make your demand for the hand of Mademoiselle Charlotte this very +day. I base my advice on urgent grounds. If Monsieur Desmarais really +sees in you a friend, an equal, if his devotion to the people and the +revolution is sincere, the glory you have won at the taking of the +Bastille can not but plead in your favor; his consent will be given +immediately. On the contrary, if his protestations of love for the +people have been but a mask of hypocrisy, it is better to know at once +how to regard him; in that case, he will repulse you, or will evade +giving you a direct answer. It is not merely a question of your love, +brother, but of our cause—of a grave responsibility that weighs upon +you. Your friends placed their faith in you when you asked their votes +for Monsieur Desmarais; you owe it to them, now that the occasion +presents itself, to make a decisive test, and assure yourself whether +the convictions expressed by Monsieur Desmarais are sincere.<a name="vol-1-pg_142" id="vol-1-pg_142"></a> If he +refuses you the hand of his daughter, it shows that he is with us from +the lips only, not from the heart. In that case, it will be proven that +advocate Desmarais is a hypocrite and a traitor! Would not then your +duty, your honor, brother, demand that you unmask the double-dealer?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing more just than what Victoria has said," declared the old man. +"You should, my son, go this very day and lay your suit before Monsieur +Desmarais."</p> + +<p>John thought for an instant, and answered: "You are right, father. My +line of conduct is mapped out for me. I go at once to Monsieur +Desmarais's, and formally present my request for the hand of Charlotte."</p> + +<p>"Brother," interposed Victoria, suppressing a sigh, "have you informed +Monsieur Desmarais fully on our father's disappearance? He should know +all that relates to that mournful event."</p> + +<p>"Monsieur Desmarais knows that immediately upon the publication of a +hand-bill by father, he disappeared, and that we believed him dead or +shut up in some state prison. He even knows the contents of the pamphlet +which father wrote, and often has he shed tears in my presence when +speaking of the disgrace of which you were a victim at the hands of +Louis XV."</p> + +<p>A bitter smile contracted Victoria's lips, and she replied, "My father +hid the truth in what he wrote, in order to stigmatize the first crime, +and he threw a veil over the consequences of my dishonor. Have you +raised the veil which covered my life? Did you speak of the series of +assaults of which I was the victim?"</p> + +<p>"Sister," answered John Lebrenn, "out of respect for<a name="vol-1-pg_143" id="vol-1-pg_143"></a> our family, I did +not inform Monsieur Desmarais of the consequences of that first royal +dishonor. I merely told him that you had been snatched from us, the same +as my father, and that we knew not what had become of you. My +confidences did not extend beyond that."</p> + +<p>"Your reserve was wise and prudent, dear brother. Continue to guard my +secret from Monsieur Desmarais and his daughter. For them, as for all +who know you, I must remain as dead."</p> + +<p>"Let it be as you desire, sister. But the dissimulation weighs on my +heart like an act of cowardice."</p> + +<p>"The dissimulation is necessary to-day, brother, but it will not last +forever. When you shall have a deeper knowledge of the character of your +wife; after some years of marriage and motherhood shall have ripened her +judgment, then, and only then, you may make to her a complete confidence +of my past. Until then, I must remain dead to her, as to all—except you +three and one other of our relatives, the Prince of Gerolstein, my +initiator into the Voyants. Dead I shall be to the world, but living to +you and to Franz of Gerolstein."</p> + +<p>"This Franz of Gerolstein," asked Victoria's father, "is he not one of +the princes of that sovereign house of Germany founded of old by the +descendants of our ancestor Gaëlo the Pirate?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, father; the heir to a reigning prince was to-day one of the most +fearless attackers of the Bastille."</p> + +<p>At this moment a knock was heard at the door.</p> + +<p>"Enter," cried John, and to the astonished eyes of the Lebrenn family +appeared Franz of Gerolstein. In the<a name="vol-1-pg_144" id="vol-1-pg_144"></a> Prince, whom Victoria had just +named, John recognized one of his fellow-combatants of the day.</p> + +<p>"Franz, here is my brother, of whom I have often spoken to you," said +Victoria, taking John's hand and pressing it into that of the Prince. +"You are relatives—now be friends. You are both worthy, one of the +other. Both march in the same path."</p> + +<p>"My dear John—for so it is that friends and relatives of the same age +should greet," answered Franz with cordial familiarity, affectionately +closing in his own hand that of the young artisan, "I know through your +sister all the good that can be thought of you. That will tell you how +glad I am to meet you."</p> + +<p>"I also, my dear Franz, am happy to find in you a relative and a +friend," John made answer, no less affectionately than the Prince. +"Chance has made you of the sovereign race, yet you fight for the +freedom of the people."</p> + +<p>"My dear John, I am, like you, a son of Joel, the brenn of the tribe of +Karnak. More than once, across the ages, the republican ardor of the old +Gallic blood has roused itself in my plebeian race—although, by an +uncouth stroke of destiny, it has been muffled under a sovereignship and +a grand-ducal crown."</p> + +<p>"Aye, we are indeed of the same blood—your words, your acts prove it," +said the blind father. "Your hand—let me also press your hand, my brave +young man."</p> + +<p>Franz stepped toward Monsieur Lebrenn. "I am deeply sensible of these +marks of fatherly good-will," he said. "They console me for the rigors +of my own father, who has banished me from his presence and forbade me +from his states."<a name="vol-1-pg_145" id="vol-1-pg_145"></a></p> + +<p>"What can have been the cause of such severity!" rejoined the old man in +surprise. "What is your crime?"</p> + +<p>"My crime?" replied Franz, with a slight smile. "My crime consists in +attaching scant weight to our sovereignty. I tried more than once to +bring my father to more just, more modest appreciation of our origin. +'Did not our family,' I said to him, 'come into its power through the +audacity of an adventurer? May the earth lie light on our ancestor +Gaëlo! But he was the companion and pupil of old Rolf, a frightful +bandit, who, each spring, came to ravage the banks of the Loire and the +Seine.' My father's answer was that all the crowned heads of the world, +big or little, were sprung from no less savage a beginning. To which I +retorted that there would come the day when the people, enlightened as +to the origin of their pretended masters, would tire of being the +exploitable property, the forced laborers, the chattels of a few royal +families whose founders were fit for the galleys or the gibbet; and that +I feared for kings, princes, emperors and Popes lest, by some terrible +reversal of things here below, the people, driven to the limit of +endurance, should treat them as their august founders deserved, and the +most of them to this very day deserve to be treated."</p> + +<p>"In good sooth," said John Lebrenn, laughing, "that language was surely +severe for a Prince to hold—and to monarchs!"</p> + +<p>"So, my dear John, my father grew furious at my language. In fine, I +concluded by urging him to set a great example to the other princes of +the Germanic Confederation, by laying aside his grand-duchy. 'Lay +aside,' I said to him, 'a power stained with crime in its very origin, +and<a name="vol-1-pg_146" id="vol-1-pg_146"></a> lead the people of your states and the other German principalities +to unite in a republic like the cantons of the Swiss, or the provinces +of the Netherlands. The Poles, the Hungarians, the Moldavians, the +Wallachians, enslaved by Prussia, by Russia and by Austria, but trained +to republicanism by their old elective customs, will soon be attracted +by the example and the cry of liberty! Then the three last powerful +despotisms of Europe—Prussia, Austria, and Russia—will find themselves +hemmed in, threatened by free peoples, and we shall soon have an end of +these last lairs of royalty!'"</p> + +<p>"That was preparing for the future!" the old man exclaimed. "The United +States of Europe! The Universal Republic!"</p> + +<p>"But my father preferred to hang to his throne," continued Franz. "Then +convinced of the futility of my appeals, and holding the duty of a +citizen in precedence over that of a son, I passed from word to action. +With all my power and by every means at my disposal I propagated in +Germany, its cradle, the society of the Illuminati; my father banished +me."</p> + +<p>"Your account of yourself, Monsieur Gerolstein, deepens still more the +esteem in which I needs must hold you," nodded the old man.</p> + +<p>"These words of regard are doubly precious, Monsieur Lebrenn. They shall +add their bonds to those of the relationship already existent between +us. It is in the name of those very bonds that I am about to reveal to +you one of the motives of my visit—a cordial offer of my services. It +is a blood-relation, it is a friend who speaks, Monsieur Lebrenn; do not +then, I beg of you, yield to a susceptibility in itself honorable, but +perhaps exaggerated. You were a<a name="vol-1-pg_147" id="vol-1-pg_147"></a> printer. For long your labor provided +for the wants of your family. But now you have lost your sight in +prison; you are feeble. Madam Lebrenn is old. What are to be your +resources against the material needs of existence?"</p> + +<p>"My health, thanks to God, is not so weakened that I can no longer +work," replied Madam Lebrenn brightly. "The presence of my husband will +double my strength."</p> + +<p>"And I, mother," added John, "am I not here by you? Reassure yourself, +Franz, my father and mother shall want for nothing. We are, +nevertheless, deeply sensible of your offer. We thank you, but we +decline, firmly."</p> + +<p>"John, allow me to interrupt you," began the Prince. "I know from your +sister what an industrious and skilful workman you are. But, please you, +let us look at the situation together. Have you been able to go to your +shop for the last four days? Considering the great events close at hand, +of which the taking of the Bastille is but the precursor and sign, can +you count on the full disposition of your time? The struggle once +engaged between the nation and the royal power, will it not continue +impetuous, implacable? Is it at a season when the liberty of the people +trembles in the balance that you ought to abandon the field of battle? +And still your family must live, and it can only live by your daily +labor."</p> + +<p>"Often have I said," exclaimed Victoria, "that the people has never had +the time to complete the revolutions it began! or else, if they were +accomplished promptly, decisively and overwhelmingly, the time has +always been lacking to defend the conquest, to maintain it, consolidate +it, and fructify it. The people's enemies, on the other hand, gentlemen +of leisure, free from care, kings, priests, nobles<a name="vol-1-pg_148" id="vol-1-pg_148"></a> or tax-farmers, have +awaited, under cover, the certain hour to ravish from the people the +benefits of its short-lived conquest."</p> + +<p>"Alas, it is but too true," assented her father. "The time has always +been lacking—the time and the money."</p> + +<p>"Such is the fatal verity!" continued Gerolstein. "Would that verity +could convince the people that if they can, which is rarely the case, +make some little savings from their meager pay, it is not at the tavern +they should spend them. For those savings of the worker should, when the +day arrives, insure to him a portion of the necessary leisure to +emancipate himself. And if he has been able to put aside nothing, he is +in error to yield to an exaggerated scruple of delicacy and repulse the +aid fraternally offered to him by his friends in order that he may be +assured one of the means to clinch his victory."</p> + +<p>"A singular occurrence which I witnessed this morning," responded the +young artisan, "strikingly reinforces your argument. One of my friends, +a journeyman carpenter, and several others of our comrades, were +gathered at break of day in the neighborhood of the Bastille, awaiting +the signal for the attack. A man simply clad, and with an open +countenance, accosted them: 'Brothers,' said he, 'you go to-day to fight +for your liberty. It is your duty. But to-day you will not go to your +shops, and will earn nothing. If you have families, how will they live +to-morrow? If you are bachelors, what will you live on yourselves? Allow +then, one of your unknown friends to come to your aid as a brother. It +is not an alms that I offer; I only assure you your leisure for this +great day, by delivering you from your cares for the morrow.'"<a name="vol-1-pg_149" id="vol-1-pg_149"></a></p> + +<p>"That 'unknown friend' was the banker Anacharsis Clootz, the treasurer +of the Voyants, and rich enough in his own name to aid our brothers for +a long time to come," explained Franz in an undertone to Victoria, +without interrupting John, who continued:</p> + +<p>"My comrades accepted the offer so delicately made, without much +hesitation."</p> + +<p>"Now, Monsieur Lebrenn, can you still shrink from accepting, as John +does, my tenders of service?"</p> + +<p>"No, Monsieur Gerolstein, neither I nor my son will hesitate any further +in accepting your generous offer, should there arise any necessity of +falling back upon it," replied the father of the house.</p> + +<p>"John," said Victoria, suddenly, "it is growing late. Go at once to +Monsieur Desmarais, who is liable at any moment to leave for Versailles. +Your plan must not be altered."</p> + +<p>"True," answered the young man with a shudder. "The project is now +doubly important. I must to it without delay."</p> + +<p>"My friends, you know advocate Desmarais, deputy of the Third Estate in +the States General?" asked Franz of Gerolstein. "He is reputed a good +citizen and a friend of the revolution."</p> + +<p>"We all believe that Monsieur Desmarais is not one of those suspicious +and craven bourgeois who tremble at the revolution," John answered, as +he made toward the door. Then he returned—"Till we meet again, Franz, I +hope; meseems we are already old friends."</p> + +<p>"Franz will await here the result of your visit, brother," said +Victoria.<a name="vol-1-pg_150" id="vol-1-pg_150"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XIV-1-a" id="CHAPTER_XIV-1-a"></a>CHAPTER XIV.<br /><br /> +THE BOURGEOIS UNMASKED.</h3> + +<p>Monsieur Desmarais, still affected by the cries uttered by Lehiron's mob +and unable to account for the apparently sudden revulsion of the +sentiments entertained for him by the people, was earnestly conversing +with his wife and her brother, Monsieur Hubert. The latter he had +summoned to his side to consult on the weighty resolves he felt forced +to take, both on the score of his daughter, and on the line of policy +which he should adopt to ride the gathering political storm.</p> + +<p>Monsieur Hubert, Desmarais's brother-in-law and a rich banker of Paris, +was a very honest man, in the accepted sense of honesty in the +commercial jargon; that is to say, he scrupulously fulfilled his +engagements, and never loaned his money at higher rates than the law +allowed. At heart he was dry; his spirit was jealous and sinister. A man +of inflexible opinions, he nursed an equal aversion for the clergy, the +nobility, and the proletariat. He regarded the Third Estate as called to +reign under the nominal authority of a constitutional head, an emperor +or king, whom he called a "pig in clover," in imitation of the English; +the intervention of the people in public affairs he considered the +height of absurdity. Monsieur Hubert lived in<a name="vol-1-pg_151" id="vol-1-pg_151"></a> the St. Thomas of the +Louvre quarter, a quarter hostile to the revolution, where he had +recently been promoted to the grade of commander of the battalion. This +battalion, called the "Daughters of St. Thomas of the Louvre," was +almost entirely composed of royalists. The banker was about fifty years +of age; of slight build, one could see in his physiognomy, in his +glance, that in him nervous force supplied the place of physical energy. +At this moment he was plunged in a deep silence. His sister and Monsieur +Desmarais seemed to hang with an uneasy curiosity on the result of the +financier's reflections. The latter at length seemed to have reached the +end of his cogitation, for he raised his head and said sardonically:</p> + +<p>"In the light of your confidences, dear brother-in-law, I can only +remind you that four months ago I told you you were wrong to let +yourself be dragged into what you called the 'cause of the people.' My +sincerity caused a sort of break between us, but at your first call, you +see me back again. My previsions have been fulfilled. To-day the +populace has been unchained, and I see you all struck with fright at the +cries of death that have rung in your ears."</p> + +<p>"My dear Hubert," replied Desmarais, restraining his impatience, but +interrupting the financier, "please, do not let us concern ourselves +with politics now. We begged you to come to our aid with your advice; +you put to one side our disagreement; we thank you. So please you then, +help us to recall to her senses our unworthy daughter, who is madly +smitten with an ironsmith's apprentice, our neighbor, whom you have +several times met in our house."</p> + +<p>"Very well then, my dear Desmarais; let us put aside politics for the +moment. Nevertheless, since we are concerned<a name="vol-1-pg_152" id="vol-1-pg_152"></a> with the unworthy love of +my niece for that artisan, I must, indeed, recall to your mind that I +have often reproached you for your intimacy with the young fellow. +To-day, a grave peril menaces you. Your regrets are tardy."</p> + +<p>"My dear Hubert, we waste precious time in vain recriminations of the +past. Unfortunately, what is done, is done. Let us speak, I pray you, of +the present. My wife and I, in order to cut short this attachment of +Charlotte for John Lebrenn, have decided to take our daughter with us to +Versailles. What do you think of that resolution?"</p> + +<p>"That it will not accomplish the object you seek. Versailles is too near +to Paris. If your man is as persevering as enamored—not of Charlotte, +but of her fortune, for, do not mistake, the fellow is after nothing but +her dower—he will find a way to meet her. My advice would be to send +Mademoiselle Charlotte, instantly, a hundred leagues from Paris, to +throw this lover off the track. Send her, say, to Lyons, to our cousin +Dusommier; my sister will accompany her and remain beside her until this +puppy-love is forgotten. A month or two will do for that."</p> + +<p>"Your advice, brother, seems wise. But I fear that Charlotte will not +consent to the trip."</p> + +<p>"Heavens, sister! Is paternal authority an empty word! A flightabout of +seventeen years to dare disobey the orders of her parents? That is not +probable, surely. Have some strength."</p> + +<p>"But it is well to be prepared for everything. Let us suppose this +case—she refuses to obey—"</p> + +<p>"In that case, brother-in-law, willy-nilly, bundle Mademoiselle +Charlotte into the stage for Lyons—then, whip up, coachman!"<a name="vol-1-pg_153" id="vol-1-pg_153"></a></p> + +<p>Just then Gertrude the servant entered and said: "Monsieur John Lebrenn +desires to speak with monsieur on a very pressing matter. He is in the +vestibule."</p> + +<p>"What! The wretch still has the audacity to present himself here!" cried +Hubert, purple with rage.</p> + +<p>"He does not know that my daughter has revealed their engagement; and +besides—a while ago—" stammered Desmarais, turning red with confusion, +"I had to give him a cordial greeting."</p> + +<p>"Yes, brother," said Madam Desmarais, coming to the aid of her husband, +"a while ago, a column returning from the Bastille, commanded by John +Lebrenn, halted before our house, shouting 'Long live Citizen Desmarais! +Long live the friend of the people!'"</p> + +<p>"And so, I had to bow to necessity," acknowledged the lawyer. "I was +forced to harangue the insurgents."</p> + +<p>"Wonderful, brother-in-law, wonderful!" retorted Hubert, with a burst of +cutting laughter. "The lesson and the punishment are complete!"</p> + +<p>"My friend—if you receive this young man, be calm, I conjure you," said +Madam Desmarais uneasily to the lawyer. "Refuse him politely."</p> + +<p>"Death of my life! my poor sister, have you not a drop of blood in your +veins?"</p> + +<p>"Brother, I beg of you, do not speak so loud. John Lebrenn is even now, +perhaps, in the dining room."</p> + +<p>"Ah, heaven, if he is there—so much the better! And since no one here +dares speak outright to one of the famous conquerors of the Bastille, I +take it upon myself," cried Hubert still louder, his eyes glaring with +anger, and starting for the door of the room.<a name="vol-1-pg_154" id="vol-1-pg_154"></a></p> + +<p>But Madam Desmarais, alarmed and suppliant, seized the financier by the +arm, exclaiming in a trembling voice, "Brother, I beg you! Oh, God, have +pity on us!"</p> + +<p>Hubert yielded to the prayers of his sister and stopped just as +Desmarais, emerging from his revery, said to his wife with a sigh of +relief, "Dear friend, I have hit upon quite a plausible way, in case +Monsieur Lebrenn has the impudence to ask for our daughter's hand, to +reject his demand without giving him anything to be offended at. I shall +refuse him without irritating him."</p> + +<p>"Another cowardice that you are meditating," cried Hubert, exasperated. +"Let me receive your workingman!"</p> + +<p>"I thank you, brother-in-law, for your offer. Please leave me alone. I +shall know how to guard my dignity." Then, addressing Gertrude.</p> + +<p>"Show Monsieur Lebrenn in."</p> + +<p>"We shall leave you, my friend," said Madam Lebrenn to her husband. +"Come, brother, let us find Charlotte. I count on your influence to +dissuade her from this match, and to bring her back to herself."</p> + +<p>Hubert took the arm of his sister, and left the room; but not without +saying to himself as he did so, "By heaven, I shall not lose the +opportunity of speaking my mind to that workingman, if only for the +honor of the family. I shall have my chance to talk."</p> + +<p>As the wife and brother-in-law of lawyer Desmarais disappeared through +one of the side-doors of the room, John Lebrenn was shown in by Gertrude +through the principal entrance. Desmarais, at the sight of John, +controlled and hid his anger under a mask of cordial hospitality.<a name="vol-1-pg_155" id="vol-1-pg_155"></a> He +took two steps to meet the young man, and clasped him affectionately by +the hand:</p> + +<p>"With what pleasure do I see you again, my dear friend! Your hurt, I +hope, is not serious? We were quite alarmed about you."</p> + +<p>"Thanks to God, my wound is slight; and I am truly touched by the +interest you show in me."</p> + +<p>"Nothing surprising, my dear John. Do you not know that I am your +friend?"</p> + +<p>"It is just to throw myself upon your friendship that I have come to see +you."</p> + +<p>"Well, well! And what is it?"</p> + +<p>"It is my duty at this solemn moment to answer you without +circumlocution, monsieur," said John Lebrenn in a voice filled with +emotion. "I love your daughter. She has returned my love, and I am come +to ask of you her hand."</p> + +<p>"What do I hear!" exclaimed advocate Desmarais, feigning extreme +surprise.</p> + +<p>"Mademoiselle Charlotte, I am certain, will approve the request that I +now prefer to you, and which accords with the sentiments she has shown +me."</p> + +<p>"So, my dear John," continued the attorney with a paternal air that +seemed to augur the best for the young workman, "my daughter and +you—you love, and you have sworn to belong to each other? So stands the +situation?"</p> + +<p>"Six months ago, Monsieur Desmarais, we pledged ourselves to each +other."</p> + +<p>"After all, there is nothing in this love that should surprise me," +continued Desmarais, as if talking to himself. "Charlotte has a hundred +times heard me appreciate, as<a name="vol-1-pg_156" id="vol-1-pg_156"></a> they deserve to be, the character, the +intelligence, the excellent conduct of our dear John. She knows that I +recognize no social distinction between man and man, except only that of +worth. All are equal in my eyes, whatever the accidents of their birth +or fortune. Nothing more natural—I should rather say, nothing more +inevitable—than this love of my daughter for my young and worthy +friend."</p> + +<p>"Ah, monsieur," cried the young mechanic, his eyes filling with tears +and his voice shaken with inexpressible gratitude, "you consent, then, +to our union?"</p> + +<p>"Well!" replied Monsieur Desmarais, continuing to affect imperturbable +good-fellowship, "if the marriage pleases my daughter, it shall be +according to her desire. I would not go against her wishes."</p> + +<p>"Oh, please, monsieur, ask mademoiselle at once!"</p> + +<p>"It is needless, my dear John, perfectly needless; for, between +ourselves, a thousand circumstances until now insignificant now flock to +my memory. There is no necessity for my questioning my daughter +Charlotte to know that she loves you as much as you love her, my young +friend. I am already convinced of it!"</p> + +<p>"Hold, monsieur—pardon me, I can hardly believe what I hear. Words fail +me to express my joy, my gratitude, my surprise!"</p> + +<p>"And what, my dear John, have you to be surprised at?"</p> + +<p>"At seeing this marriage meet with not a single objection on your part, +monsieur. I am astonished, in the midst of my joy. The language so +touching, so flattering, in which you frame your consent, doubles its +value to me."</p> + +<p>"Good heaven! And nothing is more simple than my<a name="vol-1-pg_157" id="vol-1-pg_157"></a> conduct. Neither I nor +my wife—I answer to you for her consent—can raise any objection to +your marriage. Is it the question of fortune? I am rich, you are +poor—what does that matter? Is the value of men measured by the franc +mark? Is not, in short, your family as honorable, in other words, as +virtuous as mine, my dear John? Are not both our families equally +without reproach and without stain? Are not—"</p> + +<p>And Desmarais stopped as if smitten with a sudden and terrible +recollection. His features darkened, and expressed a crushing sorrow. He +hid his face in his hands and murmured:</p> + +<p>"Great God! What a frightful memory! Ah, unhappy young man! Unhappy +father that I am!"</p> + +<p>Apparently overcome, Desmarais threw himself into an arm-chair, still +holding his hands before his eyes as if to conceal his emotion. Stunned +and alarmed, John Lebrenn gazed at the lawyer with inexpressible +anguish. A secret presentiment flashed through his mind, and he said to +Charlotte's father as he drew closer to him, "Monsieur, explain the +cause of the sudden emotion under which I see you suffering."</p> + +<p>"Leave me, my poor friend, leave me! I am annihilated, crushed!"</p> + +<p>John Lebrenn, more and more uneasy, contemplated Charlotte's father in +silent anguish, and failed to notice that one of the side doors of the +room was half-opened by Monsieur Hubert, who warily put his head through +the crack, muttering to himself, "While my sister and her daughter are +in their apartment, let me see what is going on here, where my +intervention may come in handy."<a name="vol-1-pg_158" id="vol-1-pg_158"></a></p> + +<p>After a long silence which John feared to break, advocate Desmarais +rose. He pretended to wipe away a tear, then, stretching out his arms to +John, he said in a smothered voice:</p> + +<p>"My friend, we are very unfortunate."</p> + +<p>The young artisan, already much moved by the anxieties the scene had +aroused, responded to Desmarais's appeal. He threw himself into the +latter's arms, saying solicitously:</p> + +<p>"Monsieur, what ails you? I know not the cause of the chagrin, which, +all so sudden, seems to have struck you; but, whatever it be, I shall +fight it with all my spirit."</p> + +<p>"Your tender compassion, my friend, gives me consolation and comfort," +said Desmarais in a broken voice, pressing John several times to his +heart; and seeming to make a violent effort to master himself, he +resumed in firmer tones, "Come, my friend, courage. We shall need it, +you and I, to touch upon so sad a matter."</p> + +<p>"Monsieur, I know not what you are about to say, and yet I tremble."</p> + +<p>"Ah, at least, my dear John, our friendship will still be left to us. It +will remain our refuge in our common sorrow."</p> + +<p>"But to what purpose?"</p> + +<p>Perceiving out of the corner of his eye the nonplussed countenance of +John Lebrenn, who stood pale and speechless, advocate Desmarais heaved +another lamentable sigh, pulled out his handkerchief and again buried +his face in his hands.</p> + +<p>"What the devil is my brother-in-law getting at?" exclaimed Hubert to +himself, cautiously introducing his head<a name="vol-1-pg_159" id="vol-1-pg_159"></a> again through the half-open +door, and observing the young artisan. The latter, dejected, his head +bowed, his gaze fixed, was in a sort of daze, and searched in vain in +his troubled brain for the true significance of Desmarais's +lamentations. Finally, desirous at any price to escape from the +labyrinth of anxiety that tortured his soul and filled his heart with +anguish, he said falteringly to the lawyer:</p> + +<p>"Monsieur, it is impossible for me to picture the apprehension with +which I am tortured. I adjure you, in the name of the friendship you +have up to this moment shown me, to explain yourself clearly. What is +this cause for our common sorrow? You have just appealed to my courage; +I have courage. But, I pray you, let me at least know the blow with +which I, with which we, are threatened!"</p> + +<p>"You are right, my dear John. Excuse my weakness. Let us face the truth +like men of heart, howsoever hard it may be." Desmarais took the hands +of the young artisan in his own and contemplated him with an expression +of fatherly tenderness. "You would have rendered certain the happiness +of my only child, of that I am sure. But this marriage is impossible!"</p> + +<p>Seeing the young artisan, at these words, grow mortally pale, and +stagger, the lawyer supported him, and continued in his mock-paternal +voice: "John, I counted on you to help us bear the blow that was to fall +on us. Now you weaken—"</p> + +<p>Young Lebrenn pulled himself together, summoned back his spirits, and in +a voice which he strove hard to render firm, said: "Now I am calmer. Be +pleased to inform me how these projects of marriage, first hailed by you +with such kindness, are now suddenly become impossible?"<a name="vol-1-pg_160" id="vol-1-pg_160"></a></p> + +<p>"Helas!—because of all the joy—which your proposal heaped upon me, I +forgot, as you did—a sad circumstance. And then, all of a sudden the +memory—came back to me. Your family—is it, like mine, stainless? Alas, +no! Your father wrote—printed—published a pamphlet in which he +recorded that his daughter—your sister—had been the mistress of King +Louis XV. You know my susceptibility where honor is concerned! My +daughter may never enter the family which bears that indelible blot."</p> + +<p>"Ah, by my faith! The trick is great!" muttered Hubert, the financier, +stepping out of the neighboring room and slowly entering the parlor +without at first being perceived by either John Lebrenn or Desmarais.</p> + +<p>Hearing only the words of the father of his beloved one, John at first +reeled with dismay. But his good sense quickly coming to his aid, and +remembering the doubts of his father and Victoria as to Desmarais's +consent to his daughter's union with an ironsmith's apprentice, he +detected the refusal hypocritically veiled under the excuse employed by +the advocate. Cruel was the young man's disillusionment. It dashed at +once his dearest hopes, and his confidence, until then implicit, in the +sincerity of the principles professed by the deputy of the Third Estate. +The double shock was so severe that John, refusing, like all generous +characters, to believe evil, began to cast about for excuses for the +advocate's conduct. The following thought sprang up in his head: Perhaps +Desmarais had learned of the consequences of the debauchery of Louis XV; +perhaps he knew that Victoria had been held in the lupanar in King +Louis's "Doe Park," and had later been imprisoned in the Repentant +Women. If he knew all this, John thought,<a name="vol-1-pg_161" id="vol-1-pg_161"></a> Desmarais could not help, as +Victoria had told him, but refuse, upon a very pardonable scruple, to +grant him his daughter.</p> + +<p>Preserving, then, his hope, not indeed of overcoming the objections of +Charlotte's father, but of being saved from having to regard him as a +double-dealer and a traitor, John controlled his emotions, raised his +head, and turned his eyes square upon Desmarais. Only then did he +perceive the presence of banker Hubert, the sight of whom always +inspired him with the profoundest antipathy. Surprised and pained, above +all, at the presence of this personage at so delicate a juncture, John +remarked that the financier conversed in a low and sardonic voice with +his brother-in-law.</p> + +<p>"Monsieur," said John to Desmarais, "you will recognize, I hope, that +our interview is of such a nature that it can not continue except +between you and me?"</p> + +<p>"From which it seems that Citizen John Lebrenn politely shows me the +door!" retorted Hubert, with a mocking leer.</p> + +<p>"Sir," impatiently answered the young mechanic, "I desire to remain +alone with Monsieur Desmarais, to discuss family matters."</p> + +<p>"I would beg to remark to—Citizen John Lebrenn, that my brother-in-law +has no secrets from me, in what touches the honor of our family. I +shall, therefore, assist at this conference."</p> + +<p>Desmarais, at first highly opposed to the unforeseen presence of the +banker, soon resigned himself gracefully to the intrusion, hoping to +find in it a pretext for hastening to an end an interview which was +becoming quite embarrassing<a name="vol-1-pg_162" id="vol-1-pg_162"></a> to him. Accordingly, he made haste to say +very affectionately to the young artisan:</p> + +<p>"My dear friend, I have acquainted you with the cause which bars a +marriage that would otherwise have been the embodiment of my views. Let +us never again refer to a subject justly so painful to us both."</p> + +<p>"Pardon me, monsieur," returned the young workman firmly; "but before +taking my leave of you, I have just one more question to ask, and which +you will please to answer."</p> + +<p>"Speak, my dear John, what is it?"</p> + +<p>"You refuse me the hand of Mademoiselle Charlotte because my sister was +the mistress of Louis XV?"</p> + +<p>"Alack, yes. Your father himself, without naming, it is true, his +daughter, stigmatized, denounced to the public indignation that horrible +fact. He told how your unfortunate sister, having been kidnapped at the +age of eleven and a half, left the Doe Park only to disappear forever. +Since that sad day, no one has ever heard of the poor creature, who +embarked in all probability for America, there to await the end of her +unhappy life. That is my opinion."</p> + +<p>"So, monsieur, you share our belief on the subject of my sister's +disappearance? The victim has been sacrificed?"</p> + +<p>"Eh, surely! But whence your insistence on the subject, my dear John?"</p> + +<p>The voice, the features of the lawyer proved his sincerity. He was +manifestly ignorant of Victoria's prolonged sojourn in the royal +pleasure-house at Versailles, and her subsequent imprisonment in the +Repentant Women—fatal circumstances, which in John's mind, might have +explained Desmarais's refusal. The last illusion that John<a name="vol-1-pg_163" id="vol-1-pg_163"></a> Lebrenn +still hugged to heart now vanished. But containing his indignation, he +addressed the advocate: "And so, monsieur, my marriage with Mademoiselle +Charlotte is impossible, solely because my sister, snatched from the +bosom of her family by a procuress at the age of eleven, was violated by +Louis XV?"</p> + +<p>"Is not that good and sufficient cause?"</p> + +<p>"And is not Citizen Lebrenn satisfied?" put in Hubert, who for several +minutes had been with difficulty bottling up his rage. "The dismissal is +given in good form, by heaven! You have nothing to do but retire."</p> + +<p>"Please, my dear John, attach no importance to the temper of my +brother-in-law," interposed advocate Desmarais, extending his hand to +the young man. "Excuse, I beseech you, his thrusts; I should be very +sorry to have you depart from my house under a false impression."</p> + +<p>"Citizen Desmarais, I long trusted in your friendship," replied John, +without taking the hand that the lawyer held out to him. "I am not the +dupe of the vain pretext with which you color your refusal. It is not +the brother of the unhappy child dishonored by Louis XV that you +repulse; it is the artisan, the ironsmith."</p> + +<p>"Ah, my dear John, I protest, in the name of our common principles, +against such a supposition. You are in error!"</p> + +<p>"Blue death! brother-in-law, have the courage of your opinion!" shouted +Hubert, unable to contain himself. "Dare to tell the truth! Such +hypocrisy and cowardice revolt me."</p> + +<p>"Once more, brother-in-law, mix in your own affairs!"<a name="vol-1-pg_164" id="vol-1-pg_164"></a> cried the +advocate, exasperated. "I know what I am saying! I find intolerable your +pretension to dictate my answers to me."</p> + +<p>John Lebrenn turned to the financier, as if to address his words through +him to the lawyer. "You, Citizen Hubert, are sincere in your aversion, +in your disdain for us. You are an enemy of the working class, but an +open one. We can esteem you while we join battle with you. You are a man +of courage, in spite of your prejudices. Alas, the people and the +bourgeoisie, united and pursuing the same object, would be invincible +and would change the face of this old world. But the bourgeois mistrust +the workers and turn against them, when they should sustain them, guide +them, direct them in the uprisings whose object is the reconquest of +their common rights. The people have so far borne witness by their +conduct to their affection, their trust in the bourgeoisie. They have +had, they will have faith in it to the end. But sad and irreparable will +be the evil for you and for us, if one day the bourgeoisie, having +utilized the people to overcome the nobility, should seek to reign in +the shadow of a fictitious royalty; to substitute its own privileges for +those we will have helped it to overthrow; to perjure itself by merely +changing the style of our yoke; and refuse to satisfy our legitimate +demands. That day, we shall fight the bastard royalty of the shekel, the +bourgeois oligarchy, even as we now fight the royalty of divine right +and the aristocracy!"</p> + +<p>"And hunger will defeat you, vile mechanics! For the moment always comes +when you must resume the yoke of forced labor!"</p> + +<p>Hardly had Hubert hurled this threat of savage exultation<a name="vol-1-pg_165" id="vol-1-pg_165"></a> at John +Lebrenn, when the door flew open, and Charlotte, her eyes red and filled +with tears, rushed in, followed by her mother.</p> + +<p>The change in Charlotte's features, her grief-stricken appearance, +gripped John Lebrenn's heart as if in a vise. Lawyer Desmarais and his +brother-in-law seemed as much irritated as astonished at the presence of +the young girl. She, after a momentary struggle, spoke straight to +Desmarais in a firm and even voice:</p> + +<p>"I have just learned from mother that Monsieur John Lebrenn came to ask +of you my hand, and that your intention was to answer the request with a +refusal—"</p> + +<p>"Yes, niece," interjected Hubert, "your father has just now refused your +hand to Monsieur Lebrenn. We all oppose the union, which would be a +disgrace to our family."</p> + +<p>"Father, have you so made up your mind?"</p> + +<p>"Daughter, reasons which it is useless to inform you of, oppose, indeed, +this marriage. I can not give my consent to it."</p> + +<p>"Do these reasons attaint, in any way, the honor, probity, or conduct of +Monsieur John Lebrenn?" asked the young girl unfalteringly.</p> + +<p>"Monsieur Lebrenn is an upright man; but the lawyer Desmarais can not +give, will not give, his daughter in marriage to an ironsmith's +apprentice. It is out of all reason."</p> + +<p>"So, then, father, you refuse for no other reason than prejudice against +the inequality of condition between Monsieur Lebrenn and me?"</p> + +<p>"No other reason; but that suffices to make this union impossible."</p> + +<p><a name="vol-1-pg_166" id="vol-1-pg_166"></a>"Monsieur John Lebrenn," then said Charlotte, advancing toward the +young artisan and tendering him her hand with a gesture full of grace +and dignity, "in the presence of God, who sees me and hears me,—you +have my pledge! I shall wed none other but you. I shall be your +wife,—or die a maid."</p> + +<p>"Adieu, Charlotte, thou love of my life. I, too, shall be till death +true to my promise. Let us have faith in the future to break down all +barriers."</p> + +<p>The betrothed exchanged a tender hand-clasp, and Charlotte, followed by +her mother, left the room; while John Lebrenn, bowing to Monsieur +Desmarais and his brother-in-law, withdrew without a word.<a name="vol-1-pg_167" id="vol-1-pg_167"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XV-1-a" id="CHAPTER_XV-1-a"></a>CHAPTER XV.<br /><br /> +THE MYSTERIES OF THE PEOPLE.</h3> + +<p>While the Lebrenn family patiently awaited the outcome of John's visit +to advocate Desmarais, the blind old father, restored once more to his +humble hearth, was eager, if not to see—that faculty had long been +snatched from him—at least to touch again his beloved family relics, +carefully locked, along with their accompanying legends, in the walnut +cabinet. The Prince of Gerolstein was smitten with lively emotion as +Victoria deposited on the table, together with the parchments, or the +papers yellowed with age, those objects so precious to the family by +reason of the memories interwoven with them.</p> + +<p>"Oh! Franz," said Victoria to the Prince with emotion, after having +contemplated at length the sacred relics transmitted in her family from +generation to generation for eighteen hundred years and more, "what +touching souvenirs! What woes, what miseries, what iniquities, what acts +of oppression, what tortures, are recalled to our memory by these +inanimate objects, witnesses of the age-long martyrdom of our plebeian +family. Malediction on our oppressors—Kings, men of the Church, men of +the sword!"</p> + +<p>"Alas, our sad history is that of all enslaved people, oppressed from +age to age since the Frankish conquest," replied Franz of Gerolstein. +"If one should dare to doubt<a name="vol-1-pg_168" id="vol-1-pg_168"></a> the right of this decisive and holy +Revolution which the taking of the Bastille this day ushers into being, +would not that right be proven by these legends inscribed in the tears +and blood of our fathers? What a heritage past generations hand down to +the present!"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps the moment has come to act on the view expressed by our +ancestor Christian the printer," observed Monsieur Lebrenn. "He was of +the opinion that sooner or later it would be of value to publish our +legends, as a work of historic instruction for our brothers of the +people, kept till now in the densest ignorance concerning their own true +history."</p> + +<p>"Nothing, in truth, could be more opportune. Aye, these tales, published +now under the title of the <span class="smcap">Mysteries of the People</span>, would have a +powerful influence on the spirit of the masses."</p> + +<p>"The Society of Jesus is in our days still as active as of old," added +Victoria, thinking of her encounter with Abbot Morlet the previous +evening. "Facile in all disguises, the adepts of that body will without +doubt, as in the days of the League, take on the popular mask, in order +to drive the people to excesses and smother their cause under the +results of their own misguided exasperation. The recommendation of +Loyola, relative to our legends, has most certainly been preserved in +the archives of the Society, where the name of our family and those of +so many others are inscribed on their Index. We must expect, sooner or +later, some attempt on the part of these Jesuits to seize our records."</p> + +<p>"Good father," assented Franz, "I share Victoria's uneasiness. Here is +what I would suggest: I know a retreat<a name="vol-1-pg_169" id="vol-1-pg_169"></a> almost inaccessible to the +Jesuits. Let us thither transport the manuscripts; there they will be in +perfect safety. An energetic, intelligent, and discreet editor, for whom +I will vouch as for myself, shall to-morrow morning begin the copying of +the legends; and soon we shall be on the way to publish our Mysteries of +the People."</p> + +<p>Further discussion of Franz's plan was interrupted by the return of John +Lebrenn. As soon as he entered the room, Victoria divined, by the +expression he wore, the ill success of his mission.</p> + +<p>"Alas! Monsieur Desmarais has refused you the hand of his daughter?"</p> + +<p>"It is true," replied John. "Charlotte made a solemn declaration, before +her assembled family, that she would never have another husband but me. +That is the sole favorable result of my errand."</p> + +<p>"Son, listen, what noise is that!" suddenly exclaimed Madam Lebrenn, +turning her head toward the stairway. "There seems to be a gathering in +our yard."</p> + +<p>With a crash the chamber door was flung open, and their neighbor Jerome, +who lodged on the same story, entered, pale, fearsome, and crying in a +voice of alarm:</p> + +<p>"You are lost—they're coming up—there they are—they want to kill +you!"</p> + +<p>Then arose from the staircase the noise of tumultuous steps, mingled +with cries of,</p> + +<p>"Long live the Nation!"</p> + +<p>"Death to the traitors!"</p> + +<p>"To the lamp-post with the aristocrats!"</p> + +<p>"Death to the nobles and those who support them!"</p> + +<p>John Lebrenn, after sharing for a moment the surprise<a name="vol-1-pg_170" id="vol-1-pg_170"></a> of his family, +cried out as he ran towards the door, "What do these men want?"</p> + +<p>"It is a band of mad-men," answered Jerome, gasping. "They pretend that +there is a noblewoman here—some Marchioness or other whom they want to +hang to the lamp-post. Flee! Do not attempt resistance!"</p> + +<p>At Jerome's words a light dawned upon Victoria. The Jesuit at Neroweg's +banquet had recognized her in the column of the victors of the Bastille! +It was he who had pointed her out to the swords of the assassins as a +Marchioness!</p> + +<p>"As to me," quoth the Prince of Gerolstein, drawing two double-barrelled +pistols from his pockets, "I shall singe the heads of four of these +brigands!"</p> + +<p>"Franz, let us see, first of all, to the defense of mother and father," +cried Victoria; and drawing from its sheath the hunting knife which the +Prince carried at his side, she gripped the weapon with a virile hand, +and prepared to protect the aged man and his wife, who instinctively +retreated into a corner of the room.</p> + +<p>All this occurred with the rapidity of thought. John, who, in spite of +the prayers and efforts of neighbor Jerome, had stepped out upon the +landing to see what manner of men were invading the house and mounting +the stairway, was immediately hurled back across the sill by Lehiron. A +dozen scoundrels armed with pikes and sabers were ranged on the landing +and the topmost stairs. Seizing his musket and clapping on the bayonet, +John then drew near to Franz and Victoria in order to cover with his +body his mother and father, who, mute and terrified, trembled<a name="vol-1-pg_171" id="vol-1-pg_171"></a> at every +limb. Thus ranged, the two men and Victoria prepared to meet their +assailants.</p> + +<p>Lehiron, who strode alone into the chamber, was taken aback by the +resolute attitude of the three. Franz, with his double-barrelled +pistols, covered the intruders; Victoria, fearless, her eyes flashing, +held aloft her hunting-knife; and John Lebrenn stood ready to plunge his +bayonet into the bandits' breasts. Suddenly little Rodin appeared. He +slipped through Lehiron's followers, entered the room, approached the +giant, made him a sign to stoop over, and then, stretching on tiptoes, +whispered in his ear:</p> + +<p>"Don't forget the papers!"</p> + +<p>"Hush, vermin, I know what's to be done here," retorted the Hercules; +and taking two steps toward John, whom he threatened with his cutlass, +he roared:</p> + +<p>"Citizen Lebrenn, you play the people false! You are hiding here an +aristocrat, Marchioness Aldini—there she stands—" and Lehiron +designated Victoria with his weapon. "She is one of the harpies of the +Austrian party. She sat last night at the board of a royalist +council-feast. You are conspiring with her against the Nation. You will +deliver the jade to us, and also all the papers in your house, which are +claimed by justice. Quick! Or your lives shall pay the penalty."</p> + +<p>"To the lamp-post with the noblewoman! Live the Nation! Death to the +traitors!" cried Lehiron's band of jackals, and brandishing their pikes +and swords they poured into the room. But the giant, held in awe by the +pistols trained upon him and not anxious to have recourse to force +except in the last extremity, waved back his brigands with a gesture and +addressed himself again to John:<a name="vol-1-pg_172" id="vol-1-pg_172"></a></p> + +<p>"Deliver up the noblewoman and the papers, and your life will be spared. +But be quick about it."</p> + +<p>"Helas! My God! Have pity on us!" murmured Madam Lebrenn, overcome with +terror and throwing her arms about her blind old husband.</p> + +<p>"Out of here, you scoundrels!" was the answer of John Lebrenn. Lehiron +waved his hand to his gang of bandits and cried:</p> + +<p>"Forward! To the lamp-post with the traitors!"</p> + +<p>As the valiant leader of the cut-throats gave the command, he himself +leaped to one side and ducked his head to escape the pistol-fire of +Franz of Gerolstein. But the latter no less quickly changed the aim of +his weapon, and pulled the trigger. The giant flew back almost his full +length, flung out his arms, dropped his cutlass, tumbled to his knees, +and rolled over, face down, on the floor, almost mortally wounded.</p> + +<p>All of a sudden, above the tumult was heard a cry of pain from Madam +Lebrenn:</p> + +<p>"Oh, the wicked child! He is biting me!"</p> + +<p>John turned, and while his two companions fell upon their adversaries, +ran to his mother and found her in a desperate struggle with little +Rodin. The latter, faithful to the tuition of his dear god-father, and +hoping to profit by the turmoil, was about to make off with the bundle +of manuscripts. Madam Lebrenn seized hold of him to take them away, and +the little rat had bitten her savagely on the hand. To snatch from the +Jesuit's god-son the treasured legends, seize him by the slack of his +pantaloons, and send him rolling ten paces away, was the work of an +instant for young Lebrenn. The terrible child, wriggling<a name="vol-1-pg_173" id="vol-1-pg_173"></a> and sliding +like a snake between the legs of John's companions, gained the stairway +and escaped with his discomfited accomplices.</p> + +<p>The attempted arrest of Victoria and theft of the legends added fuel to +the fears of the family on the machinations of the Jesuits. That very +day the Prince deposited in safe keeping the records and relics of the +family of Lebrenn.</p> + +<p> +<br /> +</p> + +<p>Two days after our interview, Charlotte Desmarais wrote to me, John +Lebrenn, a letter that was touching, and in all points worthy of her. +She informed me of her departure for Lyons, whither her mother was to +accompany her.</p> + +<p>From the month of July, 1789, up till December, 1792, nothing of +importance occurred in our family save the death of our beloved parents. +My father died on the 11th of August, 1789; my mother, ill for years, +survived him but briefly; she expired in our arms on October 29th of the +same year.</p> + +<p>Monsieur Desmarais continues to hold his seat at the extreme Left of the +National Assembly, near Robespierre. He defended Marat from the +tribunal, and makes one of the republican group headed by Brissot, +Camille Desmoulins, Condorcet and Bonneville. Formerly a member of the +Jacobin club, Desmarais later transferred his allegiance to the +Cordeliers. He seemed to fear losing his popularity, which he regards as +the safeguard of his property and perhaps of his life. Monsieur Hubert, +differently from his brother-in-law, has the courage of his convictions; +he declares frankly for the Moderates. The financier still commands the +battalion of the Daughters of St. Thomas, one<a name="vol-1-pg_174" id="vol-1-pg_174"></a> of the most hostile to +the Revolution. Franz of Gerolstein was suddenly called to the side of +his father, who had been stricken gravely ill. Our relics and legends +are still in the place of security where he deposited them.</p> + +<p>My sister Victoria shares my dwelling and lives on the proceeds of her +sempstress's trade. We have promised Franz to fall back on his aid in +case of necessity. I notice with disquietude the character of Victoria +growing somber apace; at times her revolutionary fervor becomes wild in +its exaltation. In vain I attempt to calm her, in vain I appeal to her +heart, to her good sense, in order to convince her that, apart from +cases of insurrection or legitimate defense, we must strike our enemies +only with the sword of the law, unorganized popular justice being always +blind in its execution.</p> + +<p>"And when the sword of the law, confided to the hands of our enemies, +rusts in its sheath? When treason enwraps the great criminals from +justice, and insures them impunity, what shall the sovereign people do +then?" Victoria asks me.</p> + +<p>To which I reply: "The sovereign people, the source and dispenser of all +power, by election, should depose its faithless officers at the +expiration of their term, and, if they be traitors, send them before +their natural judges. That is the rational course to pursue."</p> + +<p>"No," my sister makes answer. "All these formalities are too slow. On +certain occasions the people should exterminate its enemies in the name +of public safety."</p> + +<p>Alas, it was in the name of public safety that men, the most pure and +heroic of the Revolution, were one day to smite each other down, to the +profit of our eternal enemies.<a name="vol-1-pg_175" id="vol-1-pg_175"></a></p> + +<p>Victoria did not soon again see the Count of Plouernel. Seized, in spite +of his braggadocio, with panic and alarm at the taking of the Bastille, +he was among the first to emigrate at the heels of the Count of Artois +and the Princes of Conti and Condé. We did not set eyes on him again +till 1793.</p> + +<p>Lehiron survived his wound. Doubtless at the instigation of Abbot +Morlet, he later made a similar descent, I know not for what purpose, +upon an old and isolated house in St. Francois Street, in the Swamp, +occupied by an aged Jew and his wife. The Voyants had for a long time +held their meetings in this building. Lehiron's attempt upon it was +without result, according to what the Jew later told my sister, without, +however, going at all into the causes that led to it.</p> + +<p>The interval between the months of July, 1789, and December, 1792, a +period so uneventful in our private life, was nevertheless fertile in +great occurrences in the life of the Nation, occurrences the importance +of which was immense. I have preserved these to our family legends by +means of extracts from a journal kept by me, in which, of an evening, I +would inscribe the striking events observed by Victoria and myself +during the day. To these notes I have often added salient passages from +the Revolutionary journals of the time—a heroic epoch which will leave +its mark on the annals of the people!</p> + +<p><a name="vol-1-pg_176" id="vol-1-pg_176"></a></p> + +<p><a name="vol-1-pg_177" id="vol-1-pg_177"></a></p> + +<h2>PART II.<br /><br /> +THE BOURGEOIS REVOLUTION.</h2> + +<p><a name="vol-1-pg_178" id="vol-1-pg_178"></a></p> + +<p><a name="vol-1-pg_179" id="vol-1-pg_179"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_I-1-b" id="CHAPTER_I-1-b"></a>CHAPTER I.<br /><br /> +THE NATION INSULTED—AND AVENGED.</h3> + +<p>The taking of the Bastille on July 14, 1789, dealt a mortal blow to the +power of the monarchy, the same as its influence and that of the +nobility and the clergy were wiped out when, upon the closing of the +Tennis Court at Versailles, and braving the orders of dissolution +pronounced by Louis XVI, the deputies of the Third Estate constituted +themselves a sovereign, constituent, and inviolable assembly. The +results of that immortal day of the Fourteenth of July were in the +highest degree advantageous to the cause of the people. The King was +forced to return to Paris to render homage to the popular victory, and +threw off the white cockade for the new national tricolor, blue, white, +and red.</p> + +<p>The fall of the Bastille re-echoed throughout France. Everywhere the +people and the bourgeoisie of the towns rose against the representatives +of the royal power, and replaced them with municipal governors elected +by the citizens.</p> + +<p>This general insurrection against royalty, and against the privileges of +nobility and clergy, threw into affright the Right side of the National +Assembly, where sat the most violent antagonists of the Revolution.<a name="vol-1-pg_180" id="vol-1-pg_180"></a></p> + +<p>The Center of the Assembly, called by turns the Plain and the Swamp, had +no settled convictions whatsoever. The Left was almost entirely composed +of the deputies of the Third Estate, among whom, famous for their +eloquence, were Sieyès, Duport, and Barnave. On this side also were some +few scattering representatives of the nobility, such as the Duke of +Orleans, the Marquis of Lafayette, the Lameths, and, most illustrious of +all, the elder Mirabeau, a magnificent orator, but corrupt in his +private life. At the extreme Left sat a deputy, then obscure and next to +unknown, but destined soon to become the incarnation of the French +Revolution. 'Twas Maximilien Robespierre, attorney at the bar of Arras.</p> + +<p>In one single night, the night of the 4th of August, 1789, the old +feudal edifice crumbled before the determined attitude of the nation. O, +sons of Joel, let us glorify the memory of our obscure ancestors, who +prepared the triumph of the Revolution.</p> + +<p>The imperishable work of the National Assembly was the Declaration of +the Rights of Man. This monumental document embraced territorial and +administrative unity; social, civil, political and religious equality; +and above all, the formal recognition of the sovereignty of the people +as the source of all power and of all functions, which it delegated to +its representatives by election. Nevertheless we must admit that the +Constitution of 1789-1791 lacked much that it should have contained, and +contained much which it would have been better without. Such, for +instance, were its several breaches of the sovereignty of the people, +like the distinction drawn between "active" and "passive" citizens, the +two-degree election, and the requirement<a name="vol-1-pg_181" id="vol-1-pg_181"></a> of a certain amount of direct +taxation to qualify one for election as a representative. The Convention +later corrected these injustices; but it must be noted that the +Constitution of 1789-91 made no provision for the rights of women. Our +Gallic fathers admitted women into their city councils, even when the +deliberations turned on matters of war. Equality of civil and political +rights for men and women should have figured at the very head of the +Constitution. The question of marriage should there have been taken up +and established as a matter of free unions, ruled by mutual tastes and +agreements. Property should also have been reorganized, and declared +collective in the state, the department, the district, or the commune, +according to its nature, and no individual should have possessed more +than a temporary title to the instrument of labor or the plot of ground +which he needed for his support, and which should have been assigned to +him gratuitously by the commune. The abolition of inheritance would have +logically followed, and the suppression of interest on capital. A system +of free, compulsory, and nonsectarian education should have been +proclaimed, and also the right to assistance during youth, old age, +illness or unemployment.</p> + +<p>However that may be, and in spite of the regrettable omissions in the +Constitution, honor to the labors of the legislators of '79. The clergy, +the nobility, the monarchy, smitten in their prestige, in their +property, in their privileges, and in their temporal authority, received +their death blow. The National Assembly inaugurated the era of +enfranchisement. It could, with good right, date its work the Year I of +Liberty. But we must not forget that it<a name="vol-1-pg_182" id="vol-1-pg_182"></a> was the revolutionary attitude +of the populace of Paris at the attack on the Bastille, that ushered in +our freedom.</p> + +<p>But a fact often before made manifest, almost one century after another, +was now once more to come into play. The royal power, forced to grant +concessions, sought only how best to elude or annul them, employing to +this end, each in its turn, perfidy, perjury, and violence!</p> + +<p>Soon the hostility of the court showed itself in the open. Louis XVI +refused to sanction the Declaration of the Rights of Man, the +corner-stone and basis of the Constitution, and opposed his veto to the +law attaching for sale the goods of the clergy. Thereupon, projects +fatal to liberty began to rear their heads with unheard-of insolence. On +October 1, 1789, the foreign troops were summoned to Versailles. The +Body Guard bespoke to a banquet the newly arrived officers, together +with those of the Montmorency Dragoons, the Swiss regiments, the +Hundred-Swiss, the mounted Police, and the Mayor's Guard. Several +monarchical captains, picked out from among the National Guard of +Versailles, were also invited. The officers of the army, instead of +wearing the national tricolored cockade, affectatiously displayed +enormous cockades of white. The Court was tendering to the Army a +sumptuous banquet, the expenses of which were paid by the King. The +tables were spread in the Opera Hall of the palace, which was +brilliantly lighted. The bands of the Flanders regiment and the Body +Guard played during the repast royalist or topical airs, such as "Long +Live Henry IV," or "O Richard, O My King, the World Is All Forsaking +Thee." The wine, liberally distributed, rose to all heads. They drained +their bumpers to the health of the royal family; one captain<a name="vol-1-pg_183" id="vol-1-pg_183"></a> of the +National Guard proposed the health of the Nation; he was drowned with +hoots.</p> + +<p>Soon the officers called in their soldiers, who were massed in all the +alcoves. Then the King entered the hall in a hunting habit, accompanied +by the Queen, who held the Dauphin by the hand. At the sight of Louis +XVI, the officers were transported with enthusiasm. The German +regimental band struck up the "March of the Uhlans," a foreign war song. +The drunkenness rose to frenzy. Insults and bloody threats were hurled +against the Revolution, against the Assembly. The cavalry trumpets +sounded the charge. The officers whipped out their sabers to cries of +"Long live the King!" The tricolored cockade was trampled under foot. +Then these rebels, dragging after them their soldiers, as drunk as +themselves, poured out into the courtyard of the palace, crying savage +imprecations against the Representatives of the people. The National +Assembly, intimidated, defenseless, surrounded by these saturnalia of +military force and placing little reliance in the National Guard of +Versailles, hardly dared show its fears. Unpardonable weakness!</p> + +<p>But the people of Paris were watching in their clubs. The press sounded +the alarm.</p> + +<p>"That Saturday night," wrote Camille Desmoulins in his journal, +<i>Revolutions of France and Brabant</i>, "Paris rises. It is a woman, who, +seeing that her husband is not listened to in his district meeting, is +first to run to Foy's Cafe, at the Palais Royal, and denounce the +royalist orgy. Marat flies to Versailles, returns like the lightning, +and cries to us, 'O ye dead,—awake!' Danton, on his part, thunders in +the club of the Cordeliers; and the next day this patriotic<a name="vol-1-pg_184" id="vol-1-pg_184"></a> district +posts its manifesto demanding a march on Versailles. Everywhere the +people arm; they seek out the white cockades and the black ones, the +latter the Catholic rallying sign, and—just reprisals—trample them +under foot. Everywhere the people gather, discussing the imminence of +the danger. They hold councils in the gardens of the Palais Royal, in +the St. Antoine suburb, at the ends of the bridges, on the quays. They +say the hardihood of the nobility is growing visibly, that the boat +laden with flour, which arrives morning and night from Corbeil, has not +come at all for two days. Is the court, then, going to take Paris by +famine? They say that despite the orders of the Assembly, the local +councils are still functioning; that that of Toulouse is burning +patriotic leaflets; that the council of Rouen has ordered the seizure of +citizens acquitted by the Assembly; that the one of Paris has recorded +itself, and is obstinately determined to make use of its Gothic formulas +'Louis, by the grace of God, King' and 'Such is our good pleasure.' And +finally they say that conclaves are being held in the aristocrats' +mansions, and that they are secretly enrolling gangs of ruffians for the +court."</p> + +<p>Loustalot, a fearless young man, a generous and noble character, and one +of the most brilliant spirits of his time, wrote in his journal, <i>The +Revolutions of Paris</i> (No. XIII):</p> + +<p>"There must be a <i>second burst of revolution</i>, we have maintained for +several days. Everything is ready for it. The soul of the aristocratic +party has not yet left the court! A crowd of Knights of St. Louis, of +old officers, of gentlemen, and of employes already included in the +reforms or desiring to be, have signed agreements to enlist in the Body +Guards or other troops. This roll includes<a name="vol-1-pg_185" id="vol-1-pg_185"></a> already more than thirty +thousand names. The project of the court is to carry the King to Metz, +there to await foreign aid, in order to undertake a civil war and +exterminate the Revolution!"</p> + +<p>And finally Marat, in <i>The Friend of the People</i>, of the 4th of October, +1789, gave the following advice, with that promptitude of decision, that +deep sagacity, and that admirable and practical good sense which were +his characteristics:</p> + +<p>"The orgy has taken place! The alarm is general. There is not an instant +to lose. All good citizens should assemble in arms, and send strong +detachments to take possession of the powder at Essonne; let each +district supply itself with cannon from the City Hall. The National +Guard is not so senseless as not to join with us, and to take care of +its officers if they give orders hostile to the people. Finally, the +peril is so imminent that we are done for if the people does not +establish a tribunal and arm it with public powers!"</p> + +<p>Admonished, enlightened, aroused by these ardent appeals to its +revolutionary spirit, Paris was soon assembled in insurrection. But, +strange and touching at once as it was, the signal for this new +revolution was given by the women. Flour and grain, by reason of the +court's complot, began to run low. A young girl of the market quarter +entered the barracks of the St. Eustace body guard, seized a drum, and +marched through the streets beating the charge, and crying "Bread! +Bread!" A great throng of women fell in behind her, and together they +invaded the City Hall, where the monarchical directorate was in session. +These virile Gallic women demanded arms and powder,<a name="vol-1-pg_186" id="vol-1-pg_186"></a> exclaiming, "If the +men are too cowardly to go with us to Versailles, we shall go alone, and +demand bread of the King and avenge the insult to the national cockade!" +Stanislas Maillard, an usher and a Bastille-hero, addressed the +courageous women. They hailed him as their chief, and marched on +Versailles.</p> + +<p>Close upon their heels a deputation of grenadiers of the National Guard +presented itself at the City Hall, and addressing Lafayette, their +General, held to him the following language:</p> + +<p>"General, we are commissioned by six companies of grenadiers. We do not +yet wish to believe you a traitor, but we believe the government has +betrayed us. That must end! The people want bread, and cry for it. We +shall not turn our bayonets against women. The source of the evil is at +Versailles—let us go after the King and fetch him to Paris. +Chastisement is demanded for the Body Guards and the Flanders regiment, +who, at the royal orgy, trampled on the national cockade. If the King is +too weak to bear the crown, let him be deposed."</p> + +<p>In the face of the exasperation of the people, Lafayette decided to take +horse, and himself gave the signal for departure. The National Guard +took the road for Versailles, preceded by an advance guard of about ten +thousand women. My sister Victoria joined the Amazons. From her I have +the following account of their expedition:</p> + +<p>Along the way, they recruited their ranks steadily from among their own +sex. The Old Iron Quay was thronged with women recruiting agents and the +troops they had marshalled. The robust kitchen maid, the trim modiste, +and the humble sempstress, all swelled the phalanx of warriors.<a name="vol-1-pg_187" id="vol-1-pg_187"></a> The old +devotee, who was on her way to mass, found herself carried off for the +first time in her life, and protested vehemently against the abduction! +The women elected a president and a council board. All who were +"borrowed" from their husbands or parents were first presented before +the president and her aides-de-camp, who pledged themselves to watch +over the morals and honor of all who joined the troop. And the promise +was religiously kept; not the slightest disorder marred the journey.</p> + +<p>The vanguard of women arrived at Versailles. Usher Maillard counseled +his companions to send a committee of twelve to the National Assembly, +to request that several Representatives of the people be added to their +number to accompany them before the King. The Assembly granted their +request, and commissioned several of its members to conduct to the +palace the delegates of the women of Paris. The deputation was brought +before Louis XVI. He greeted the women with apparent good will, and +promised them to watch over the provisioning of Paris.</p> + +<p>But during this very talk of the King with the delegation of women, a +plot was being hatched out for Louis's flight. The plot was discovered +in time, and the palace placed under the surveillance of the National +Guard. During the night, the multitude of men and women from Paris, +augmented by Lafayette's army, sought shelter in the churches, or +bivouacked on the palace grounds. At early dawn, several citizens, +seeing a trooper at one of the windows, addressed some insults to him. +The latter loaded his gun, took deliberate aim at a citizen, and killed +him. The pretorians of Louis XVI opened the fight. The Parisian women +and the National Guards, yielding to their<a name="vol-1-pg_188" id="vol-1-pg_188"></a> legitimate indignation, +invaded the palace. Blood was shed. The victorious people demanded and +secured the return of the King and the royal family to Paris.</p> + +<p>Such were the results of the days of the 5th and 6th of October, 1789.<a name="vol-1-pg_189" id="vol-1-pg_189"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_II-1-b" id="CHAPTER_II-1-b"></a>CHAPTER II.<br /><br /> +MIRABEAU.</h3> + +<p>At the end of that same year of 1789, the National Assembly decreed the +abolition of tithes, without redemption, and the immediate sale of the +properties of the clergy. The value of these properties amounted to more +than four thousand million francs. At the beginning of the year 1790, +the Assembly decreed itself the Convention. In that memorable session, +Mirabeau took the floor, concluding a magnificent speech with this +peroration:</p> + +<p>"They ask since when the Deputies of the people have become a National +Convention? I reply, The day when, finding the entrance to their seats +blocked with soldiers, they adjourned to the Tennis Court, where they +swore to die rather than abandon the rights of the people! That day our +powers changed their nature, and those that we have exercised have been +legitimatized, sanctified, by the adherence of the people! I would +recall to you the words of that grand man of antiquity, who disregarded +the formal laws to save his country. Summoned before a factious tribunal +to answer, Whether he had observed the laws, he said, 'I swear that I +have saved the country!'" And turning toward the deputies, Mirabeau +concluded, "I swear that you have saved France!"<a name="vol-1-pg_190" id="vol-1-pg_190"></a></p> + +<p>The entire Assembly rose to its feet with enthusiasm, and vowed that it +would disband only after the completion of its work.</p> + +<p>In spite of this energetic attitude of the Assembly, the court continued +its intrigues against the Revolution. Louis XVI planned a new flight, +for the purpose of seeking aid from the foreign rulers. It was at this +moment that the great scandal occasioned by the discovery of the Red +Book electrified the city.</p> + +<p>Deputy Camus had found among the papers whose surrender had been +demanded by the Committee on Finance, a certain ledger bound in red +morocco, containing the account of the secret expenses of Louis XV and +Louis XVI. In the items on this ledger figured princes, grand seigneurs, +and all the royal coterie. The Count of Artois, brother to the King, was +recorded as having, under the ministry of Calonne, put his fingers on +14,050,050 livres, merely for "extra expenses." Monsieur the Count of +Provence, another brother of the King, had gone through, for his part, +13,880,000 livres. Among the courtiers, the Polignac family was down for +700,000 livres pension: a Marquis of Autichamp for four several +pensions: the first for services of his late father; the second, for the +same object; the third, same reason; and the fourth—for the same cause. +A German prince was also the beneficiary of four pensions: first, for +his services as a colonel; the second, the same; the third, the same; +and the fourth, as a <i>non-colonel</i>. A certain Desgalois of La Tour was +drawing 22,720 livres as the total of his four pensions: the first, as +first president and intendant; the second as intendant and first +president; the third for the same considerations as above, etc., etc..<a name="vol-1-pg_191" id="vol-1-pg_191"></a></p> + +<p>"At last we have it, the Red Book," wrote Camille Desmoulins with his +brilliant imagery and pitiless incisiveness. "The Committee on Finance +has broken all the seven seals which locked its fatal pages. Here is +fulfilled the terrible threat of the prophet, here it is accomplished +before the last judgment: <i>Revelabo pudentia tua</i>—I shall uncover your +shame!"</p> + +<p>All the while inflaming the inhabitants in whatever provinces it could, +the clergy but awaited the opportune instant to blow into a blaze the +carefully sown sparks of civil war. The court and Louis XVI thought +themselves at the moment of triumph in having gained Mirabeau over to +their cause by the power of gold—Mirabeau, the mettlesome tribune, the +mighty orator, who had so far served the cause of liberty. Alas, it was +but too true. Consumed with a thirst for luxury and pleasures, that +great spirit had sold himself to the court for a million down and a +pension of a hundred thousand livres monthly.</p> + +<p>But death did not permit him to enjoy the fruits of his treason. On the +2nd of April, 1791, he died. Some hours before his death he heard the +boom of cannon, and said, in his gigantic self-conceit, "Do they already +sound the knell of Achilles?" His last words, in which his treason +stands revealed, were: "I am in mourning for the monarchy; its remains +will be the prey of the malcontents."</p> + +<p>The people, trusting and credulous, and ignorant as yet of the +renegading of their tribune, learned of his death with profound +consternation. I traveled over Paris that day. Everywhere the mourning +was deep. One would have thought a public calamity had fallen upon +France; people accosted one another with the words, impressed with<a name="vol-1-pg_192" id="vol-1-pg_192"></a> +mournful despair: "Mirabeau is dead!" Tears flowed from all eyes. The +weeping multitude religiously followed the ashes of the great orator, +which were deposited in the Pantheon. Nevertheless two voices, two +prophetic voices, rose alone above this concert of civic commiseration, +protesting against the pious homage rendered to the memory of a traitor.</p> + +<p>"As for me," wrote Camille Desmoulins in his journal, "when they raised +the mortuary cloth that covered the body of Mirabeau, and I saw the man +I had idolized, I vow I felt not a tear—I looked at him with an eye as +dry as Cicero's regarding the body of Caesar pierced with twenty-three +dagger-thrusts. It was the remains of a traitor."</p> + +<p>And Marat, guided by a sort of intuition, wrote in <i>The Friend of the +People</i> the day after Mirabeau's funeral: "Give thanks to the gods, +people! Your most redoubtable enemy is no more! He died the victim of +his many treasons, by the farsighted barbarism of his accomplices.<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> +The life of Mirabeau was stained with crimes. May a veil forever hide +that hideous picture. Mirabeau in the Pantheon! What man of integrity +would desire to repose beside him? The ashes of Rousseau, of +Montesquieu, would shudder to find themselves in company with the +traitor! Ah, if ever liberty is established in France, if ever some +legislator, according to what I may have done for the country, should +attempt to decree me the honors of the Pantheon, I here vigorously +protest against the black affront! Rather would I never die! Curses on +the name of Mirabeau."</p> + +<p>Strange prophecy! Mirabeau's secret papers, discovered<a name="vol-1-pg_193" id="vol-1-pg_193"></a> on August 10, +1792, in the King's secret Iron Cupboard in the Tuileries, laid bare +irrefutable proofs of his treason, and the National Convention on +November 27 of the following year, issued the following memorable +order:<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The National Convention, considering that there is no greatness in +man without honor, decrees that the body of Honoré Gabriel Riquetti +Mirabeau be withdrawn from the Pantheon. The body of Marat shall be +transferred thither."</p></div> + +<p>Ah, sons of Joel! Never forget those sacred words, <i>There is no +greatness in man without honor</i>. For none was ever more exalted in +genius than Mirabeau! And nevertheless, the National Assembly, +responsive to a sentiment of justice and impartiality that reflects +honor on it, expelled from the Pantheon the body of the man of genius, +of the grand orator, of the fiery tribune who sold himself to the court, +and replaced it by that of Marat, the humble journalist, the man of +probity and disinterestedness, the friend of the people, the +incorruptible citizen.</p> + +<p>The death of Mirabeau disconcerted the court of Louis XVI, and shattered +its hope of dominating, disarming, and vanquishing the Revolution by +means of the National Assembly; the court then resolved to execute a +project it had long been revolving, and had already vainly attempted at +Versailles, on the days of the 5th and 6th of October. That project was:</p> + +<p>"The King shall fly to some fortified place on the frontiers. There, +surrounded by devoted troops under the command<a name="vol-1-pg_194" id="vol-1-pg_194"></a> of a royalist general +(the Marquis of Bouillé), Louis XVI shall protest solemnly to all Europe +against the usurpatory acts of the National Assembly, shall strongly +invoke against the French Revolution the spirit of solidarity which +ought to bind all sovereigns, and stamp out the revolt under the heel of +the foreign armies."</p> + +<p>This criminal project Louis XVI was on the point of carrying out. But +Marat, always watchful, always prophetic, had, several days before the +flight of the King, denounced the fact in these terms in <i>The Friend of +the People</i> (June 16, 1791):</p> + +<p>"They are working might and main to get the King into the Netherlands, +on the pretext that his cause is that of all the Kings of Europe! You +will be brainless enough not to prevent the flight of the royal family. +Parisians—senseless people of Paris! I am tired of repeating it to you: +Hold fast the King and the Dauphin within our walls; watch them with +care; shut up the Queen, her brother-in-law, and her family. The loss of +one day may prove fatal to the nation and dig the graves of three +million Frenchmen."</p> + +<p>Here I, John Lebrenn, begin the extracts from my journal.<a name="vol-1-pg_195" id="vol-1-pg_195"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_III-1-b" id="CHAPTER_III-1-b"></a>CHAPTER III.<br /><br /> +AT THE JACOBIN CLUB.</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">June 21, 1791.</span>—The expected has happened. To-day, early in the morning, +the rumor of the flight of Louis XVI and his family spread over Paris.</p> + +<p>Victoria and I went out to observe what impression the desertion of the +King and Queen would make upon the people. An innumerable multitude +covered the garden of the Palais Royal, the place before the City Hall, +and the grounds of the Tuileries and the National Assembly. At ten +o'clock in the morning the municipal officers fired three cannon as an +alarm. The tocsin sounded, the drums of the National Guard rang out the +"assembly." The confusion was indescribable.</p> + +<p>In the course of our travels we met Monsieur Hubert. It was the first +time I had come face to face with him since the day I asked his niece in +marriage. In full uniform, the banker was repairing to his Section, +where his royalist district battalion, the Daughters of St. Thomas, was +assembling. He approached me and cried brusquely:</p> + +<p>"Well? The King has gone. But we don't want the Republic, and shall +defend the Constitution to the death."</p> + +<p>"What Constitution do you pretend to defend?" replied Victoria. "The +Constitution recognizes a hereditary King,<a name="vol-1-pg_196" id="vol-1-pg_196"></a> the King absconds. +Circumstances themselves demand the Republic."</p> + +<p>Hubert was dumb for a moment. Then he said, "Citizeness! The Assembly +will name Lafayette provisionally Protector of the kingdom. For the +rest, the Assembly has sent commissioners after the King, and we hope +that they will succeed in reaching him before he gains the frontier. The +question will be simplified."</p> + +<p>At that moment a flux of the crowd tore Victoria and me away, and +carried us on towards the palace of the Tuileries. The sentinels at the +foot of the great stairway allowed everyone up into the apartments. The +thronging visitors were, like ourselves, all under the influence of a +mocking curiosity, remembering, as they did, that the monarch who +inhabited these sumptuous apartments complained of the insufficiency of +his 40,000,000 francs on the civil list, and pretended that he could not +procure the necessaries of life. Leaving the palace again, we followed +the boulevards back to the St. Antoine suburb. Everywhere were +manifested aversion for royalty, contempt for the person of Louis XVI, +and hatred for the Austrian, Marie Antoinette.</p> + +<p>Several organs of the patriotic press lent their encouragement to the +republican tendencies in the air, either by openly demanding the +Republic, or by insisting that Louis had forfeited his title. Marat, in +<i>The Friend of the People</i>, voiced in these words the indignation of the +people against the King, the court, and the ministers:</p> + +<p>"Citizens, Louis XVI has this night taken flight.... This King, +perjured, faithless, without shame, without remorse, has gone to join +the foreign Kings, his accomplices. The thirst for absolute power which +devours his soul will<a name="vol-1-pg_197" id="vol-1-pg_197"></a> soon turn him into a ferocious assassin. He will +return to steep himself in the blood of <i>his subjects</i>, who refuse to +submit to his tyrannical yoke.... And, as he waits, he laughs at the +dullness of the Parisians, who took him at his word.... Citizens, you +are lost, if you give ear to the National Assembly, which will not cease +to cajole you, to lull you to sleep, until the enemy has arrived under +our walls! Despatch this instant couriers to the Departments. Call the +federated Bretons to your aid! Make yourselves masters of the arsenal. +Disarm the mounted constables, the guards at the gates, the patrols of +the fortifications, the hired troops—all counter-revolutionists! +Citizens, name within the hour a pitiless dictator, who, with the same +blow, will sever the heads of the ministers, of their subalterns, of +Lafayette, of all the scoundrels of his staff, of all the +counter-revolutionists, of all the traitors in the National Assembly."</p> + +<p>In his <i>Revolutions of France</i>, Camille Desmoulins, with his brilliant +mockery, characterized the situation thus:</p> + +<p>"The King has fired point blank on the Nation; the shot has hung fire. +Now it is the Nation's turn to shoot. Doubtless it will disdain to +measure itself against a disarmed man, even if he be a King! And I would +be the first to fire in the air—but the aggressor must beg of me his +life."</p> + +<p>Placards, inscriptions of all nature, posted on the walls of Paris, +powerfully stirred the opinions of the people. Towards the close of the +day, the journal called <i>The Mouth of Iron</i> published in a supplement a +proclamation addressed to the French by Louis XVI, which had been seized +at the domicile of Laporte, one of the onhangers at court, who<a name="vol-1-pg_198" id="vol-1-pg_198"></a> had been +commissioned to print it and flood Paris with it.</p> + +<p>"The King," so declared the manifesto, "has for a long time hoped to see +order and happiness restored by the Assembly; he renounces that hope. +The safety of persons and of property is compromised. Anarchy is +everywhere. The King, considering himself a prisoner during his forced +stay in Paris, protests against all the acts of the Assembly, and +against the Constitution, which outrages the Church, and degrades +royalty, subordinating it to the Assembly, reducing it to an +insufficient civil list, etc., etc. In the face of such motives, in the +disability under which I labor of stopping the evil, I had to seek my +own safety. Frenchmen, you whom I call the inhabitants of my good city +of Paris, beware of these insurgents! Return to your King! He will be +always your friend, when our holy religion is respected, when the +government is stable, and when liberty is established on unshakable +foundations!</p> + +<p> +"<i>Signed</i>, <span class="smcap">Louis</span>."<br /> +</p> + +<p>Hard by the site of the Bastille, on a pile of the ruins of the +fortress, a young citizen, who by the elegance of his dress and the +careful powdering of his hair seemed to be of the upper bourgeoisie, +made the following motion:</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen, in the present state of affairs, it would be very +unfortunate for our disgraceful and perfidious King to be brought back +to us! What can we do with him? This fugitive will come like Thersite, +shedding those fat tears of which Homer speaks. So, then, if they commit +the enormous mistake of bringing Louis XVI back to us, I propose this +motion: That the Executive be exposed three days to public ridicule. +That he be conducted by stages to the frontier, and that there the +commissioners of<a name="vol-1-pg_199" id="vol-1-pg_199"></a> the Republic who shall have so far escorted him shall +solemnly present to this last of the Kings—their boots in his rear, and +send him to the devil."</p> + +<p>This novel motion was received on the part of all who heard it with +shouts of laughter and applause. "Yes, yes! Let them plant their boots +in the royal rear!" they echoed.</p> + +<p>Such, in short, was the spirit of Paris on the 21st of June, 1791. The +bulk of the bourgeoisie, thunder-struck at the absconding of its King, +was resolved, in case the commissioners despatched by the Assembly were +unable to overtake Louis XVI and bring him back, to shelter itself +behind the protectorate offered to Lafayette, if they should fail to +induce the Duke of Orleans to accept the constitutional royalty. The +people on the contrary, were rejoiced to be rid of the King, and looked +forward to a Republic.</p> + +<p>That evening we attended the Jacobin Club, where a great audience was +packed.</p> + +<p>O, sons of Joel! I know not how to depict for you the emotions of +patriotism, mingled with respect, with which we, the contemporaries of +the great days of the Revolution, entered this ancient hall of the +Convent of the Jacobins in St. Honoré Street, an immense hall, with +walls of stone blackened and crumbled with age, lighted only by a few +tapers placed on a heavy table, behind which sat the president and +secretaries of the club.</p> + +<p>The Jacobin Club was the revolutionary church most frequented by the +people. In that plebeian forum were debated the great questions that +agitated Paris, France, Europe! It was from that hearth glowing with +patriotism that radiated the civic virtues which from one end of the +country to the other fired all hearts. The Club of the<a name="vol-1-pg_200" id="vol-1-pg_200"></a> Jacobins was the +political school of the proletariat; it was there that the workingmen +took direct hold of public affairs; it was in the midst of its +tempestuous debates that the opinion of the people cleared itself and +took form, whence it often went to weigh, with no negligible force, upon +the deliberations of the National Assembly. It was from the heights of +the ringing tribunal of the Jacobins that the vigilant citizens watched +and heralded the manoeuvres of our enemies, and kept their eyes on the +public functionaries; it was from this popular tribunal that issued the +cries of mistrust or alarm. It was, in brief, from this tribunal that +the patriots, at the approach of grave perils, reawoke the slumbering, +misled or wearied public opinion, infused into it new activity, and +rekindled in it the fever of revolution—a sublime mission!</p> + +<p>Alas, by an unexplainable error of judgment, or of political tact, the +Jacobins on the 21st of June, the day of the flight of Louis XVI, did +not respond to the prayers of the people. The Jacobins did not profit by +the circumstance, as favorable as unexpected, of the desertion of the +King, to demand of the National Assembly, in the name of the +Constitution, that the title of Louis XVI be declared forfeit. In this +meeting, otherwise so moving, the conduct of the Jacobins was +indecisive, equivocal, and blameworthy; for, in a revolution, not to +profit by every favorable event is an unpardonable fault. A single error +brings defeat.</p> + +<p>When, about eight in the evening, Victoria and I entered the hall of the +Jacobins, the chamber and the galleries were packed with spectators +drawn thither by the importance of the debates which the events of the +day were expected to call forth. Men, women, young girls, waited<a name="vol-1-pg_201" id="vol-1-pg_201"></a> with +feverish impatience for the meeting to be thrown open. One of the +striking features of our revolution was the passionate interest taken by +women in the affairs of the community; already, sons of Joel, you have +seen them, these valiant Gallic women, taking as virile a part in action +as in discussion, like their mothers of Gaul in the centuries agone.</p> + +<p>The members of the bureau of the club took their places, and the tumult +hushed. Citizen Prieur, of La Marne, presided; at his sides were the +secretaries, Goncourt, Chéry, Jr., Lampidor, and Danjou. The president +rang his bell, and announced the reading of an address sent to all the +societies in the departments, which were in correspondence with the +central club. Thus was explained the marvelous unanimity between the +parent society of the Jacobins and the affiliated societies in the +provinces. A profound silence now reigned in the chamber, while Citizen +Danjou read the address:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Brothers and friends:</p> + +<p>"The King, led astray by criminal suggestions, has separated +himself from the National Assembly. Far from being downcast over +this development, our courage and that of our fellow citizens is +risen to the emergency. Not a shadow of trouble, not a disordered +movement, has accompanied the impression made upon us by this fact.</p> + +<p>"A calm and determined firmness leaves us the disposition of all +our forces; consecrated to the defense of a great cause, they will +be victorious!</p> + +<p>"All divisions are forgotten, all patriots are united. The National +Assembly—that is our guide; the Constitution—that is our rallying +cry."</p></div> + +<p>It would be difficult to express the surprise, the disfavor, I had +almost said the sorrow, which were produced in the audience by the +reading of this opiate-laden manifesto, accepted by the majority of the +members of the club.</p> + +<p>But unexpectedly Camille Desmoulins appeared on the scene. He strode +toward the tribunal and demanded of the president the floor for a +communication he had to make to the Jacobins. Though still a young man, +Desmoulins was an influential member of the Club of the Cordeliers. His +physiognomy was expressive, ironical, and finely cut. He leaped to the +platform, and in his incisive voice, while sober in gesture and bearing, +he let loose his biting sarcasm:</p> + +<p>"Citizens, while the National Assembly decrees—and decrees and decrees +and never lets up decreeing—as much good as bad, and more bad than +good—the people is acting admirably as police; and, showing itself no +less a friend of provisional rule than the Assembly, it has decreed that +all pillagers shall be provisionally—hanged to the lamp-post. Crossing +Voltaire Quay just now, I saw Lafayette preparing to review the +batallions of the blue-bonnets, drawn up on the quay. Convinced of the +need of uniting on one leader, I yielded to an attraction which drew me +over to the famous white horse. 'Monsieur Lafayette,' I called to him, +'I have indeed said some evil of you during the year, and thought no +less. Now is the time to convict me of false testimony in safeguarding +public affairs!' 'I have always known you for a good citizen,' gallantly +replied the General, holding out his hand to me; 'the common danger has +united all parties. There is no longer in the Assembly but one single +spirit!'—'One single spirit!<a name="vol-1-pg_203" id="vol-1-pg_203"></a> That is very few for so numerous and +illustrious an assembly,' quoth I to the General. 'But why does this +single soul of the Assembly affect to speak in its decrees of the +<i>carrying off</i> of the King, when the Executive writes to the Assembly +that no one is carrying him off at all, that he is going himself? I can +pardon the lie of a servant who lies in the fear of losing his place if +he tells the truth,' continued I, 'but the Assembly is not, to my +knowledge, the servant of the Executive, whether present or in flight. +The Assembly has three million pikes and bayonets at its service. +Whence, then, comes the baseness, or the treason, which dictated to it +such a vile falsehood!' '<i>The carrying off of the King!</i> The Assembly +will correct that mistake in wording,' the General answered me. And he +added several times, 'The conduct of the King is indeed infamous.'"</p> + +<p>Camille Desmoulins stopped. He had seen Robespierre enter the hall, and +prepared to descend from the tribunal, saying with cordial deference:</p> + +<p>"Here is my friend and master. I yield him the floor."</p> + +<p>Had it not been for the certainty of hearing Robespierre, the audience +would undoubtedly have insisted on the completion of the lively oration +just begun. But Robespierre was one of the most esteemed orators of the +Jacobin Club, a high appreciation which he merited by his great talent, +his tireless energy, the loftiness of his character, his integrity, the +austerity of his morals, and his devotion to the revolutionary cause. +Unhappily, that medal had a reverse: Robespierre carried his mistrust of +men to an extreme; he showed himself always cold, harsh, and suspicious, +to the point of committing acts of injustice towards citizens as<a name="vol-1-pg_204" id="vol-1-pg_204"></a> +devoted as himself to the public cause, but who had the pretension to +serve it by means different from his.</p> + +<p>The deep silence in the hall was re-established. The scattering +conversation ceased. Robespierre was on the platform. His features, +ordinarily impassible as a mask of marble, were now marked with a bitter +irony, and he uttered his words in a voice that was at once curt, +sonorous and metallic:</p> + +<p>"It is not to me, citizens, that the flight of the first functionary of +the State comes as a disastrous event. This day could be the finest day +of the Revolution. It can still become so! The recovery of the forty +millions which the entertainment of this royal individual costs would be +the least of its blessings. But for that, citizens, other measures must +be taken than those adopted by the National Assembly. And I seized the +moment when the session was suspended to come here to speak to you of +these measures, which there they do not allow me to propose. In +deserting now his post, the King has chosen the very moment when the +priests are trying to raise up against the Constitution all the idiots +and blind-men who have survived the light of philosophy in the whole +eighty-three departments of France; the moment when the Emperor of +Austria and the King of Sweden are at Brussells to receive this perjured +and deserting King. That does not alarm me a bit. Oh, no! Let Europe +league herself against us—the Revolution will conquer Europe!</p> + +<p>"No, I fear not the coalition of Kings," continued Robespierre, in a +tone of proud disdain. "But do you know, fellow citizens, what frightens +me? It is to hear our enemies hold the same language as we, it is to +hear them exclaim<a name="vol-1-pg_205" id="vol-1-pg_205"></a> like us, that we must rally to the defense of the +Constitution. Louis XVI does not count alone on the assistance of +foreign forces to re-enter his kingdom in triumph; he counts as well on +the support of a party within, which to-day wears the mask of +patriotism; of that party the National Assembly is the accomplice."</p> + +<p>This new affirmation, so clear, so precise, of the culpable conduct of +the Assembly excited afresh the murmurs of the Jacobins and the applause +of the people. Every ear was strained to catch, with anxious impatience, +the measures which Robespierre was about to announce as necessary to +make this the most splendid day of the Revolution.</p> + +<p>"What I have just said to you is the exact truth," proceeded Robespierre +solemnly. "But could I make the National Assembly listen to the truth? +No! I was not heard. Ah, I know, this denunciation is dangerous for me. +What does that matter—it is useful for the public good. This +denunciation will sharpen for me a thousand poniards! I shall become an +object of hatred to my colleagues of the Assembly, who are nearly all +counter-revolutionists—some through ignorance, others through fear, +some through private reasons, others through blind confidence, others +through corruption. I devote myself to hate—to death. I know it!" added +Robespierre, with stoical tranquility.</p> + +<p>"Ah! when, still unknown, I sat in the Assembly, I had already made the +sacrifice of my life to truth, to the country. But to-day, when I owe so +much to the recognition, to the love of my friends, I accept death as a +blessing. It will prevent me from witnessing inevitable evils."</p> + +<p>Then, overcoming his passing emotion and returning to<a name="vol-1-pg_206" id="vol-1-pg_206"></a> his natural +inflexibility of bearing, he added in a voice short and firm:</p> + +<p>"I have just held trial over the Assembly; now let it hold trial over +me!"</p> + +<p>The conclusion of this discourse produced an extraordinary effect upon +the audience, and when Robespierre left the platform, the Jacobins rose +with one spontaneous motion. Camille Desmoulins ran to the orator, and, +his face moist with tears, said to Robespierre as he clasped him in a +fraternal embrace:</p> + +<p>"We shall die with you!"</p> + +<p>One of the striking characteristics of Robespierre's policy was never to +venture a motion when its success was problematical. Hence the apparent +contradiction between the beginning and the end of the address he had +just delivered. He had evidently intended to advise prompt and decisive +measures against the royal power and against the Assembly; but, feeling +the ground, and becoming assured that the measures he had to propose +would meet with opposition among the Jacobins, Robespierre considered it +wiser, more politic, to temporize, and to confine himself to casting +suspicion upon the National Assembly.</p> + +<p>Almost as soon as Robespierre left the tribunal, there were seen to +enter the hall first Danton, a man of energy and action, and then +Lafayette.</p> + +<p>The presence of these two men, personifying respectively action and +reaction, revolution and counter-revolution, drew forth from the meeting +an obstreperous manifestation, part acclamation, part hisses. The +exteriors of these two men offered a contrast in keeping with that of +their opinions.<a name="vol-1-pg_207" id="vol-1-pg_207"></a></p> + +<p>The young Marquis of Lafayette, tall of stature, slim, urbane, presented +the accepted type of the grand seigneur. He wore with grace his uniform +of commander-in-chief of the National Guard. Booted and spurred, his +sword at his side, his hat under his arm, he entered that darksome hall +where on every face he could read the sentiments of hostility which he +called forth; and yet he advanced with the same aristocratic ease with +which he would have presented himself in the Oeil-de-Boeuf, or court +circle, at Versailles. His intrepid front bespoke the man insensible to +danger; his piercing yet ever indecisive and fugitive glance, revealed a +habit of conduct stamped with capability and cunning, yet always veering +with his ambitions, and as changeable and diverse as the events which +gave them birth; finally, his smile, which was almost invariably +affable, courteous and insinuating, seemed to be ever courting +popularity.</p> + +<p>Danton, though also young and of athletic build, was careless of dress. +The ill-restrained mettle of his carriage, his flashing eye, his +countenance at once sensual and bold, idealistic and tender; his robust, +sanguine and exuberant make-up, all bore testimony to the most +contradictory qualities within him,—vices and virtues; energy and +weakness; appalling cruelty and inexpressible, deep-seated tenderness; +pettiness and heroism.</p> + +<p>The presence of Danton in the hall of the Jacobins reawoke, re-excited +the people. "There is Danton! There is Danton!" were the words which ran +through the assembly with a thrill of curiosity, sympathy and +confidence.</p> + +<p>Danton mounted the tribunal, and in his thundering voice cried out:<a name="vol-1-pg_208" id="vol-1-pg_208"></a></p> + +<p>"Citizens, on the result of this session hangs perhaps the safety of the +country! The first functionary of the State has disappeared! Here, in +this meeting, are assembled the men charged with the regeneration of +France—some powerful in their genius, others in their influence! France +will be saved if all internal dissension is hushed. That has not yet +been done. Experience reveals to us the extent of our woes. I ought to +speak, I shall speak, as if I were engraving history for posterity!</p> + +<p>"And first," pursued Danton, indicating Lafayette with a gesture of +contempt, "and first I interpellate Monsieur Lafayette, here present. I +ask him what he has come to do here—he, at the Jacobins? He the signer +of so many projected laws directed against liberty! He who demanded the +dissolution of the Jacobin Club, composed almost entirely, according to +him, of men without law, subsidized to perpetuate anarchy! He, who +triumphantly led the inhabitants of the suburb of St. Antoine to the +destruction of the dungeon of Vincennes, that last den of tyranny, and +who, the same evening, accorded protection to the assassins who were +armed with poniards to assist the King in his flight! Let us not deceive +ourselves! That flight is the result of a conspiracy in which the public +officials were confederates. And you, Lafayette, who answered with your +head for the person of Louis XVI, have you paid your debt?"</p> + +<p>In spite of this vehement apostrophe, which drew the applause of the +people, Lafayette maintained his imperturbable coolness. He smiled, and +indicated with a nod of his head that he wished to reply to the speaker.</p> + +<p>"Citizens," continued Danton, "in order to save France,<a name="vol-1-pg_209" id="vol-1-pg_209"></a> the people must +take great satisfaction, and establish radical reforms. The people is +tired of being braved by its enemies. It is anxious to send them back to +oblivion. It is not a matter of altering the principle of the +irrevocability of the Representatives of the people, but of expelling +from the National Assembly and delivering to justice those of the +deputies who call down civil war upon France by the audacity of an +infamous rebellion. But if the voice of the defenders of the people is +smothered, if our guilty officers put the country in danger, I shall +appeal from them to posterity. It is for it to judge between them and +me!"—</p> + +<p>And Danton left the tribunal.</p> + +<p>Great was the consternation of the populace, thus a second time deceived +in its hopes; for the legitimate accusations hurled by the orator at +Lafayette, and the vague proposition to drive the traitors from the +Assembly, led to no positive measure, indicated no means of providing +for the safety of the nation.</p> + +<p>Lafayette stepped upon the platform just vacated by Danton. He +comfortably established himself there. Then, bowing with a grand air to +the assembly, he laid down his hat, and said in a calm voice and with +accents of perfect courtesy:</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen, one of messieurs my predecessors did me the honor to ask why +I had come to the Jacobins. I come to them because it is to them that +all citizens should come in these times of crises and alarms. More than +ever, gentlemen, must we now fight for liberty. I said among the first: +'A people that wishes to become free, holds its destiny in its own +hands.' I was never more sure of liberty than after<a name="vol-1-pg_210" id="vol-1-pg_210"></a> enjoying the +spectacle presented to us by the capital during this day."</p> + +<p>After a second obeisance to the audience, no less courteous than the +first, the Marquis of Lafayette descended from the tribunal and quickly +gained the door of the hall.<a name="vol-1-pg_211" id="vol-1-pg_211"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IV-1-b" id="CHAPTER_IV-1-b"></a>CHAPTER IV.<br /><br /> +THE KING ARRESTED.</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">June</span> 26, 1791.—Last night Victoria and I were present at the return of +Louis XVI to Paris. The King was arrested at Varennes, on the night of +the 22nd of June. Citizen Drouet, an old dragoon and now +master-of-the-post at St. Menehould, recognized Louis XVI under his +disguise of valet-de-chambre while the coaches of the fugitive King were +changing horses in his hostlery. The Queen, armed with a false passport, +was traveling under the name of the Baroness of Korff and suite. Citizen +Drouet did not dare arrest the fugitives at St. Menehould, the carriages +being escorted by one of the detachments of dragoons and hussars which +the Marquis of Bouillé, commander-in-chief at Metz, and accomplice in +the flight of the King, had stationed along the road from Paris to the +frontier. But after the departure of the royal coach Drouet took horse +with one of his postillions, and following a short cut, arrived at +Varennes ahead of the mysterious travelers. It was midnight. He at once +gave the alarm and announced the speedy arrival of Louis XVI. The +National Guard assembled under arms, and proceeded to arrest the King +immediately upon his entering the town. Louis and his family were +conveyed back to Paris by Barnave and Petion,<a name="vol-1-pg_212" id="vol-1-pg_212"></a> the committee-men whom +the Assembly had despatched on that errand.</p> + +<p>During the days that elapsed between the King's flight and his forced +return to Paris, diverse shades of opinion made themselves manifest in +the capital. Brissot, in his journal, <i>The French Patriot</i>, summed up in +clear and concise terms the consequences of the events which for five +days had been agitating the city.</p> + +<p>"What is to be done in the present circumstances?" said he. "Six plans +are proposed: To abolish royalty and substitute for it a Republican +government. To let the question of the King and royalty go before the +nation for judgment. To judge the King by a national court. To demand +his abdication. To remove Louis Capet and name a Regent—and, finally, +to leave the King on the throne, and give him an elective cabinet. The +first proposition is comprehensive: An end of Kings; let us be +Republicans."</p> + +<p>The sentiment for a Republic was growing greatly, as also was the public +indignation against Louis XVI, and against the constitutionalist +majority of the Assembly. Several causes worked toward these results, +chief among them being the manifesto of the Marquis of Bouillé, the +monarchist commander, addressed to the people, and winding up with the +threat:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>I know my forces. Soon your chastisement will serve as a memorable +example to posterity! That is how a man must speak to you in whom +you at first inspired pity. Accuse no one of conspiracy against +your infernal Constitution. The King did not give the orders that +have been given: I alone have ordered everything. Against me, then, +whet your daggers and prepare your poisons. You shall answer for +the days of the King to all the<a name="vol-1-pg_213" id="vol-1-pg_213"></a> Kings of the world. Touch a hair +of his head, and there will not remain one stone upon another in +Paris. I know the roads. I shall conduct the foreign armies. +Farewell, messieurs; I end without comment. You know my sentiments.</p> + +<p class="r">M<small>ARQUIS OF</small> B<small>OUILLÉ</small>.</p></div> + +<p>These insults, these menaces, addressed to the Revolution, to France in +the name of all the Kings of the world by a royalist confidant and +accomplice of Louis XVI, by a general who, "knowing the roads, would +lead the foreign armies upon Paris, of which he would not leave one +stone upon another," unveiled, with brutal frankness, the plan of the +federated sovereigns. Nevertheless, such was the blindness of the +National Assembly that instead of declaring the deposition of Louis XVI +and bringing him before their bar, they contented themselves with +decreeing: "That a guard be given to the King to be responsible for his +person, and that the accomplices of his flight be examined by the +committee-men of the Assembly, who will also hear the statements of +Louis XVI and the Queen."</p> + +<p>We went, Victoria and I, to the Elysian Fields, about six in the evening +of the 25th of June, to be present at the entry of Louis into his good +city of Paris.</p> + +<p>A vast concourse of people covered the Elysian Fields and Louis XV +Place. After great effort we succeeded in drawing near to the double +cordon formed by the National Guard to allow a free passage to the royal +cortege. A murmur beginning in the distance and drawing nearer and +nearer announced the arrival of the King. General Lafayette passed by at +a gallop, escorted by a brilliant staff of blue-bonnets, on his way to +meet the carriages.</p> + +<p>The brave Santerre, so highly esteemed by the inhabitants<a name="vol-1-pg_214" id="vol-1-pg_214"></a> of the St. +Antoine suburb, also passed by on horseback to join the royal escort. He +was accompanied by two patriots, Fournier the American, and the Marquis +of St. Huruque, one of those aristocrats who embraced the revolutionary +cause. Santerre advanced at the head of his battalion, recruited among +the districts of St. Antoine. Nearly every citizen in that corps, too +needy to purchase a uniform, was dressed in his workman's habiliments. +The greater part of them bore pike-staffs in lieu of guns. The aspect of +these men—their half-bared breasts, their honest, energetic and bluff +faces, their resolute attitude, their every-day working clothes, and +their proletarian woolen caps—offered a striking contrast to that of +the "Bearskins," as were called, from their head-gear, the grenadiers of +the National Guard from the districts in the center of Paris, nearly all +constitutional monarchists.</p> + +<p>Soon, repeated nearer and nearer, were heard the words: "Here comes the +King! Here comes Capet! Here are Monsieur and Madam Veto!" All eyes were +turned toward the royal equipages. As they drove by, a storm began to +gather, the lightning flickered and the thunder growled; the heavens +grew dark and lent a doleful illumination to the spectacle of which we +were the witnesses. A battalion of the National Guard, preceded by +Lafayette's staff-officers, led the way; then came the two royal +coaches. Ah, this was no longer the time of monarchic splendors, paid +for out of the sweat of an enslaved people! This was no longer the time +of gilded coaches, surrounded by pages and lackeys, and fleetly drawn by +eight horses richly caparisoned, preceded by outriders in dashing +liveries, escorted by equerries, guards, and gentlemen loaded with gold +and silver<a name="vol-1-pg_215" id="vol-1-pg_215"></a> broideries, and flashing like a dazzling whirlwind along the +avenues of the royal parks!</p> + +<p>The first of the two carriages in which the royal family and its suite +were riding under escort, was an enormous yellow berlin, which had +served Louis in his flight. Covered with dust and mire, it was dragged +by six post-horses harnessed on with ropes, and mounted by postillions +whose hats bore long tricolored ribbons and cockades.</p> + +<p>The carriage went by at a walk, giving all a good view of the royal +family. Louis XVI was dressed in a maroon suit with a straight +collar—his disguise as valet-de-chambre to the pretended Baroness of +Korff. He occupied a seat at the right, in the bottom of the berlin, at +the side of which General Lafayette strutted on horseback. The bloated +face of Louis XVI, imprinted with the spineless inertia of his +character, expressed neither fear, nor anger, nor surprise. With his +elbow he nudged the Queen, who was seated beside him, and pointed out to +her with his finger one of the placards, which bore in large letters the +words: "Silence, and remain covered, citizens. The King is to pass +before his judges."</p> + +<p>In the front part of the carriage we saw the King's sister, Madam +Elizabeth, her face sad and sweet. She seemed greatly afraid, and held +her eyes cast down. Close beside her was Petion, one of the +commissioners of the Assembly, grave and severe. The other commissioner, +Barnave, one of the chiefs of the Girondin party, a fine-looking young +man, attached at times a furtive but passionate gaze upon Marie +Antoinette, with whom, according to report, he was already seriously +smitten. Between his knees he held the Dauphin, Marie Antoinette's son, +a pretty child with golden<a name="vol-1-pg_216" id="vol-1-pg_216"></a> curly hair, who laughed and smiled with +boyish carefreeness.</p> + +<p>The second coach contained the personages of the court who had +participated in the King's escape. Next came a little open carriage +trimmed with green twigs from which floated the tricolored flag. In this +vehicle, standing erect, in an attitude of triumph, rode Drouet the +post-keeper and his postillion William, both of whom had helped bring +about the arrest of the King at Varennes.</p> + +<p>The procession was closed by the St. Antoine battalion, commanded by +Santerre. As it came in sight the people cried with one voice, "Long +live the law! Long live the Nation!" Then the storm broke over Paris, +and amidst such exclamations, mingled with the crashing of thunder, +Louis XVI entered as a prisoner the palace of his fathers.</p> + +<p>Such was the blindness of the Assembly in its bourgeois egotism, in its +mistrust of the people, in its absurd hatred of republican government, +that it still thought to impose upon France the authority of this King, +disgraced, despised even by his own partisans, and convicted of perjury, +treason, and conspiracy with the foreigner.<a name="vol-1-pg_217" id="vol-1-pg_217"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_V-1-b" id="CHAPTER_V-1-b"></a>CHAPTER V.<br /><br /> +THE DAY OF THE FIELD OF MARS.</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">July</span> 17, 1791 (Midnight).—I have just returned to our lodging, my +spirits still in the grip of horror and affright. I have been at the +massacre of the Field of Mars. Curses upon Lafayette!</p> + +<p>The recital of this mournful event, which must be charged to the +bourgeoisie, will be of service to the sons of Joel.</p> + +<p>From early morning, the weather was magnificent. Not a cloud flecked the +azure of the sky. A great mass of people, myself among them, directed +their steps toward the Field of Mars, men, women and children in holiday +apparel. Every face breathed joy, and on all countenances shone +satisfaction. At least as many women as citizens were in the throng. +They, also, felt a legitimate pride in being able to prove their +devotion to civic duty by affixing their names to a petition destined +for the National Assembly.</p> + +<p>About half after eight in the morning, as I reached Great Rock, near one +of the gates of the esplanade of the Field of Mars, I heard shouts, and +almost immediately the crowd before me turned and fell away on either +side, as if a prey to some unspeakable horror. Then I saw approaching<a name="vol-1-pg_218" id="vol-1-pg_218"></a> +the giant Lehiron, marching at the head of a band of his +brigands—Lehiron, whom I had thought killed by Franz of Gerolstein, but +who, recovered from his wound, reappeared before my eyes. On the end of +a pike the villain carried a freshly severed head; one of his disciples +carried a second head likewise transfixed on a pike-staff, and shouted: +"Death to the aristocrats! To the lamp-post with the enemies of the +people!" Several vixens, drunk and in tatters, had joined the assassins +and echoed their cries of death. In the group I recognized, through +their feminine masquerade, Abbot Morlet and his god-son, little Rodin.</p> + +<p>The band of murderers with their frightful trophies passed before me +like a horrid vision.</p> + +<p>At last, about two o'clock in the afternoon, a deputation of Jacobins +arrived. The spokesman informed the eager and attentive crowd that an +address proposed the evening before had been withdrawn by the club, as +it might be construed as a rebellion against the Assembly. The people +were for an instant rendered dumb by disappointment. A number of voices +cried out:</p> + +<p>"Then draw us up another petition. We will sign it!"</p> + +<p>The Jacobin spokesman and four chosen from among his fellow delegates, +Citizens Peyre, Vachart, Robert, and Demoy, drew up on the instant an +address, which Citizen Demoy read, as follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="c">"O<small>N THE</small> A<small>LTAR OF THE</small> C<small>OUNTRY</small>,<br /> +"F<small>IELD OF </small>M<small>ARS</small>, J<small>ULY</small> 17 <small>OF THE YEAR III OF LIBERTY.</small></p> + +<p>"Representatives of the Nation:</p> + +<p>"You are approaching the end of your labors. A great crime has been +committed. Louis XVI flees, unworthily abandons his<a name="vol-1-pg_219" id="vol-1-pg_219"></a> post. The +citizens arrest him at Varennes. He is brought back to Paris. The +people of the capital immediately demand that the fate of the +guilty one be left undecided until an expression of opinion be +obtained from the eighty-three departments of France. A multitude +of addresses demanded of you that you pass judgment on Louis XVI. +You, gentlemen, have prejudged him innocent and inviolable!</p> + +<p>"Legislators, such was not the opinion of the people. Justice must +be done.</p> + +<p>"Everything compels us to demand of you, in the name of all France, +that you reconsider your decision, that you hold that the offense +of Louis XVI is proven; that the King, by the very fact of his +flight, has abdicated.</p> + +<p>"Receive, then, his abdication.</p> + +<p>"Legislators, convoke a new constituent power, which will proceed +in a truly national manner to deal with this guilty King, and above +all to the organization of a new executive power.</p> + +<p class="r">"Signed: <br /> +"P<small>EYRE</small>,<br /> +"V<small>ACHART</small>,<br /> +"R<small>OBERT</small>,<br /> +"D<small>EMOY</small>."</p></div> + +<p>The reading of the petition, concise, measured in terms, but marked with +energy, was received with unanimous applause. Its summary tenor, +repeated from mouth to mouth down the whole length of the Field of Mars, +received the assent of everyone. Then began an admirable scene. The +petitioners, men, women and children, forming in long files, in perfect +order, to the left of the staging, stopped one by one at the foot of the +Altar of the Country, placing their signatures upon the thick book, +whose many pages were bound together with lacings, and then descended on +the other side of the stage; and all without confusion,<a name="vol-1-pg_220" id="vol-1-pg_220"></a> without outcry, +as if each were deeply conscious of the importance of the civic act.</p> + +<p>Toward three o'clock I saw three municipal officers, girt in their +sashes, mount the stage. They were Leroux, Hardy, and Renaud. The +Jacobin delegation having given them notice of the petition, one of the +three, after reading it to his colleagues, addressed the multitude as +follows:</p> + +<p>"Citizens, your petition is perfectly legal. We are charmed at the sight +presented to us. Everything here is being carried on in admirable order. +Some have told us there was a riot on the Field of Mars; we are now +convinced that the report is baseless. Far from interfering with the +signing of your petition, we shall aid you with the public powers if +anyone attempts to trouble you in the exercise of your rights."</p> + +<p>The words of the committee of the Commune of Paris were applauded by the +crowd. The committee left, and the people continued to pour towards the +Altar of the Country to sign the lists.</p> + +<p>The day drew to its close. The sun disappeared behind the hill of +Meudon. The hour of eight sounded from the clock of the Military School. +A part of the vast throng which surrounded me, setting out to regain +their homes, turned their steps toward that entrance to the Field of +Mars which gives upon Great Rock. Each one rejoiced that he had assisted +at the great demonstration.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, from the neighborhood of the Great Rock gate, towards which we +were proceeding, we heard the sound of a large corps of drums, beaten at +the double-quick; then, in the pauses of the march, the heavy rumbling +of several pieces of artillery; almost at the same instant,<a name="vol-1-pg_221" id="vol-1-pg_221"></a> but further +off, in the direction of the gate near the Military School, sounded the +trumpet calls of cavalry; and finally, more distant still, the snarl of +other drums from the quarter of the bridge leading across the Seine from +the end of the field. The vast parade-ground, surrounded by walls whose +perpendicular sides overhung great moats, was thus being invaded by an +armed force advancing at once toward the three outlets through which the +people intended to return to Paris. The immense deploy of troops, +infantry, cavalry and artillery, converging in unison upon the Field of +Mars, filled with an inoffensive multitude at the point of leaving it, +caused great and general surprise, but at first aroused neither fear nor +suspicion. The groups around me, yielding to innocent curiosity and to +the love of sight-seeing native in the Parisian, quickened their steps +"to see the soldiers go by," all the while asking themselves what could +be the object of this massing of military forces. The advance guard of +the column which entered by the Great Rock gate, was composed of the +battalion of the National Guard called, from their district, the +Daughters of St. Thomas. Then followed General Lafayette, surrounded by +his brilliant staff, and finally Bailly, the Mayor of Paris, accompanied +by several municipal officers. One of these carried a staff around which +was furled a piece of red cloth, hardly visible, for I had not noticed +it except for the exclamation of an old man in front of me:</p> + +<p>"Meseems they hoist the red flag! I believe that is not done except in +the presence of public danger, in case of insurrection, or when martial +law has been proclaimed from the City Hall!"<a name="vol-1-pg_222" id="vol-1-pg_222"></a></p> + +<p>"In that case," anxiously queried the spectators, "can they have +proclaimed martial law in the interior of Paris?" "Is there, then, +trouble, or a tumult of the people, or an insurrection in the city? What +about?"</p> + +<p>While these words were being anxiously exchanged around me, the +apparition of the almost invisible bit of red bunting, the expression of +sinister glee I had just remarked on the faces of several inebriated +National Guardsmen who, marching past the crowd, tapped their guns, +crying "We shall send a few pills into the Jacobins;"—all these +circumstances connected themselves in my mind and forced upon me all too +clear a premonition of what was about to occur. The batteries of +artillery had commenced to disgorge through the Great Rock gate when the +bourgeois guard which was in line halted, and, deploying before its +banner, advanced, with leveled guns and quickened pace, upon the +multitude, which recoiled before it. At the same instant the cavalry +entered at a rapid trot by the gate near the Military School, while the +other column poured in by the bridge over the Seine. By this +simultaneous manoeuvre the forty thousand persons or thereabouts who +still remained in the Field of Mars, surrounded by embankments and +walls, saw themselves hemmed in on every side by the troops who occupied +the gates.</p> + +<p>Vain would be any attempt on my part to give an idea of the stupor, then +the fright, and soon the panic, which seized the helpless multitude. +Great God, what a picture! What heartrending cries! What shrieks of +children, of women, mingling with the imprecations of men whose energy +became paralyzed, either by the physical impossibility of doing anything +in the crush, or by their preoccupation<a name="vol-1-pg_223" id="vol-1-pg_223"></a> to safeguard a wife, a mother, +a daughter, or children of tender age, exposed to smothering, or to +being trampled under foot!</p> + +<p>Suddenly I saw appear, on top of one of the embankments, Lehiron and +about a score of his cut-throat band, accompanied by some tattered, +bare-headed urchins who cried:</p> + +<p>"Down with the National Guard! Down with the blue-bonnets! Down with +Lafayette!"</p> + +<p>While his followers rained a hail of rocks at the city guard, Lehiron +drew a pistol from his pocket, and, without even taking aim, discharged +his weapon in the direction of the General's staff, shouting:</p> + +<p>"Death to Lafayette!"</p> + +<p>At the same moment, without unfurling the red flag, without Mayor Bailly +having issued a single order, a company of the city guard opened fire, +but shot in the air in the direction of the bank occupied by Lehiron and +his pack. This first fusillade, although harmless, nevertheless threw +the populace into inexpressible terror. Almost immediately, we were +pierced by volleys from the whole platoon, this time deadly. I saw the +face of the fine old man who had stood in front of me blanch under the +blood which poured from his riddled forehead. A young woman who held her +four or five-year-old son above her head lest he be smothered in the +press, felt her child grow rigid and heavy; he had been shot through the +body. Piercing cries or suppressed moans uttered on all sides of me told +that other shots also had taken effect. The fusillade continued. A +frenzy of flight, of everyone for himself, fell upon the huddled mass; +the people elbowed and trod upon one another.<a name="vol-1-pg_224" id="vol-1-pg_224"></a> In the midst of this +frightful pell-mell, I lost my balance and fell over the body of the old +man, which had until then been supported erect by the crowding of my +neighbors. The aged body saved my life; it prevented me from being +crushed under the feet of the throng. Nevertheless, I received several +deep wounds on the head. I felt the blood flow copiously from them. My +senses swam, and I completely lost consciousness.</p> + +<p> +<br /> +</p> + +<p>When I came to myself, the clock of the Military School was striking +ten. The moon, from the midst of a cloudless and star-strewn sky, +lighted up the Field of Mars. The coolness of the night revived me. My +first thought was for my sister—what anguish must have been hers! I +saw, here and there, the wandering lights of several lanterns, by aid of +which men and women had come to seek out among the dead and dying those +whom they had left behind them.</p> + +<p>Soon, some distance from me, I perceived a woman, tall and slender, in a +white robe. This woman bore no lantern; she came and went hurriedly; +halting and bending over, she contemplated the victims, she seemed to +interrogate their features. My heart bounded; I divined that it was +Victoria.</p> + +<p>"Sister!" I cried, weakly.</p> + +<p>I was not deceived. Learning by the popular rumor of the massacre which +had taken place, Victoria had run to the Field of Mars to find me. Her +tender cares summoned back my strength. She stanched the blood from my +wounds, dressed them, and, supporting me on her arm, assisted me to the +gate opening on Great Rock. We passed by the scaffolding on which had +been erected the Altar of<a name="vol-1-pg_225" id="vol-1-pg_225"></a> the Country. The steps were buried under +corpses.</p> + +<p>Arrived home with Victoria, I wished, after an hour's rest, to inscribe +in my journal this very night the record of this fatal day of the 17th +of July, 1791.</p> + +<p>I have added to my record the following fragment of an article from the +paper of Camille Desmoulins, explaining the causes of the massacre of +the Field of Mars. Desmoulins's account, save in one point noted by me, +is scrupulously exact. I copy it literally:</p> + +<p>"Camille Desmoulins, sending to Lafayette his resignation as journalist:</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align="left">"'Tis wrong we were, the thing is far too clear,</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">And our good guns have settled this affair.</td></tr> +</table> + +<p>"Lafayette, liberator of two worlds! Flower of janissary chieftains! +Phoenix of constable-majors! Don Quixote of the Capets and the two +chambers! Constellation of the White Horse! I improve the first moment +that I touch a land of liberty to send you the resignation as journalist +and as national censor which you have for so long been demanding of me. +I place it also at the feet of Monsieur Bailly and his red flag. I feel +that my voice is too feeble to raise itself above that of thirty +thousand cowards and also of your satellites, above the din of your four +hundred drums and your hundreds of cannon....</p> + +<p>"You and your accomplices in the City Hall and the Assembly feared the +expression of the views of the people of Paris, which will soon become +those of all France. You feared to hear your sentence pronounced by the +nation in<a name="vol-1-pg_226" id="vol-1-pg_226"></a> person, seated on its bed of justice, in the Field of Mars. +'What shall we do?' you asked yourselves.</p> + +<p>"'Eh, call to our aid martial law!' Against peaceful and unarmed +petitioners, who were quietly practising their right of assemblage!</p> + +<p>"Or, that is what the Constitutionals imagined, to the end of gratifying +us a second time with martial law; and, instead of hanging one man (as +the baker Francis), they massacred two."</p> + +<p>At this point Camille Desmoulins recounts the arrest of two individuals +found during the morning hiding under the Altar of the Country, and +continues:</p> + +<p>"The cowards, the back-sliding bandits, counterfeiting the appearance of +exaggerated patriots, threw themselves upon the two unfortunates, tore +them to pieces, cut off their heads, and went to promenade them about +Paris.</p> + +<p>"Thus sought they to prepare the citizens, by the horror of the +spectacle, to support the declaration of martial law. Immediately the +news spread in the city, with the rapidity of lightning—'Two heads have +been struck off in the Field of Mars.' Then, 'Out upon the petitioners, +the Jacobins and the Cordeliers!' Thus were the municipal officers +bewitched."</p> + +<p>Here Desmoulins forgets or passes over in silence the honorable conduct +of a minority of the council of the Commune of Paris. The three +councilmen, learning on their return from the Field of Mars of the +proclamation of martial law, were astounded, and affirmed and testified +on their honor that the most admirable order reigned on the concourse, +that they had looked into the address to the Representatives of the +people; that it was perfectly in place<a name="vol-1-pg_227" id="vol-1-pg_227"></a> and legitimate; that they had +assured the petitioners that, far from troubling them in the exercise of +their duty, the municipal authority would protect them with all care. In +fine, the three officers, deeply moved and indignant, exclaimed with +tears in their eyes that it would disgrace them, ruin them, to march +against petitioners to whom they had pledged and guaranteed complete +security. But in spite of the generous words of the three officers, +Lafayette excited his pretorians; they cried, goes on Camille +Desmoulins:</p> + +<p>"'There is the red flag already flung out. The most difficult thing is +done. Now, if all the clubs, all the fraternal societies would meet at +the Field of Mars to sign the petition for the abdication of Louis XVI, +what a bowl of nectar that Jacobin blood would be to our palates!'</p> + +<p>"And so the pretorians pushed their measures. They assembled ten +thousand troops: infantry, cavalry, artillery. The night, the time set +for marching, having come, Lafayette's three aides-de-camp spread +themselves in the public places, declaring that their General had been +assassinated by a Jacobin. But properly to judge of the fury of these +idolaters, these blue-bonnets of the Nero of two worlds, one should have +seen them in one moment pour furiously from their pens, or, rather, from +their dens. They loaded with ball in plain view of the people; on all +sides the drums beat the assembly; the twenty-seven battalions most +heavily composed of aristocrats received the order to march upon the +Field of Mars. They inflamed themselves to the massacre. As they loaded +their muskets they were heard to say: <i>We shall send some pills into the +Jacobins</i>. The cavalry flourished their sabers. It was half after eight +in<a name="vol-1-pg_228" id="vol-1-pg_228"></a> the evening when the red flag was unrolled as the signal for the +massacre of inoffensive petitioners. The battalions arrived at the Field +of Mars, not by one sole entrance, in order that the citizens might +disperse, but by all the three issues at once, that the petitioners +might be enclosed from all sides. And here is the final perfidy, that +which caps the climax of the horrors of the day. These volleys—all +delivered without orders—were fired upon petitioners, who seeing death +advancing from all sides, and unable to flee, received them as they +embraced the Altar of the Country, which in an instant was heaped with +the corpses of the slain."</p> + +<p>Such was the melancholy day of the Field of Mars. And yet the will of +the petitioners—the forfeiture of Louis XVI's right to the crown and +consequently the establishment of the Republic—was so sane, so logical, +so inevitable by the march of events and the force of affairs, that the +following year saw Louis suspended from the throne upon accusation of +high treason, and saw the National Convention proclaim the Republic. But +alas! how many victims!<a name="vol-1-pg_229" id="vol-1-pg_229"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VI-1-b" id="CHAPTER_VI-1-b"></a>CHAPTER VI.<br /><br /> +WAR AND COUNTER-WAR.</h3> + +<p>After the massacre of the Field of Mars, the reaction thought itself +all-powerful, and entered pitilessly upon its career of repression. The +presses of the patriot journals were destroyed, their writers forced to +flee or go into hiding. The clubs, under the weight of intimidation, +remained almost silent.</p> + +<p>Re-established in full power, Louis XVI immediately renewed his +intrigues, within France with the enemies of the Revolution, the +nobility and priesthood, and without, with the Emigrant nobles, and +foreign sovereigns.</p> + +<p>The Constituent Assembly, having finished its labors, submitted the +Constitution to the royal sanction, and declared itself dissolved on +September 29, 1791. Although covertly resolved to tear the Constitution +to shreds, the King solemnly swore to uphold it. The Constituent +Assembly gave place to the Legislative Assembly. According to its own +enactment, none of the old members could be re-elected. Robespierre and +the other minority leaders no longer held their seats, therefore, among +the Representatives of the people; but the principles which inspired the +minority in the Constituent, became, through the majority of the +Legislative Assembly, the expressed general opinion<a name="vol-1-pg_230" id="vol-1-pg_230"></a> of France. The +spirit of the Revolution was resuscitated by the elections. The Right of +the new Assembly was not composed, as that of the Constituent, of grand +seigneurs, cardinals, bishops, bourgeois aristocrats, men of the court +or the sword, defenders of the old régime; the Right of the Legislative +Assembly was occupied by the Constitutional party, represented outside +the Assembly by the Club of the Feuillants. The heads of this party, +Lafayette, Mathieu, Dumas, Ramond, Vaublanc, Beugnot, and others, sought +the continuance in power of Louis XVI and the Constitution. The leaders +of the Left were, to a great extent, from the department of the Gironde, +whence the name of Girondins, applied to Vergniaud, Guadet, Gensonné, +Ducos and their companions. Their leanings were either purely +republican, or were on the way to become so. Finally Bazire, Chabot and +Merlin sat at the extreme Left; but this faction, as well as that of the +Girondins, was devoted to the Revolution, and determined to defend it by +all means. The Center of the Assembly, undecided and watery, voted as +the spirit moved them, sometimes with the Left, sometimes with the +Right. In short, the majority of the body, no longer able to doubt the +treason of Louis XVI or his secret understanding with the foreign +coalition, was undisguisedly hostile to royalty. It even decided, at its +first session, to suppress, in the reports of the representatives of the +sovereign people and its executive committee, those ridiculous +appellations of <i>Sire</i> and <i>Majesty</i>, the superannuated relics of +monarchical fetichism.</p> + +<p>Louis XVI, on his part, believing himself sure of the assistance of the +foreign sovereigns, and counting, within, on the activity of the clergy +and the complicity of the generals<a name="vol-1-pg_231" id="vol-1-pg_231"></a> and officers of the National Guard, +obstinately defied the Assembly. The King chose his ministry from the +Feuillant Club, notoriously counter-revolutionary. In vain did the +Assembly render its decrees against the priests, who were fanning the +fires of civil war; against the aristocrats, who were flocking to join +the body of Emigrants gathered in arms on the frontier. Louis XVI +opposed his veto to the execution of these decrees. Soon there came to +light the odious plot of the foreign war, organized between the King, +the ministers, the court party, and the despots of Europe. The Emigrants +made open preparations on the frontiers for an armed invasion under the +protection of the German princes bordering on France, and were to serve +as advance guard to the troops of the coalition. These threatening +preparations aroused the Representatives. Isnard mounted the tribunal +and exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"Representatives of the people, let us rise to the height of our office. +Let us speak to the King, to his ministers, to Europe, with the firmness +that befits us. Let us say to the King: You reign but by the people and +for the people. The people alone is sovereign! Let us say to the +ministers: Choose between public gratitude and the vengeance of the +laws. Let us say to Europe: France draws her sword; the scabbard she +will fling away. Then she will wage to the death the war of the peoples +against the Kings, and soon the people will embrace before the spectacle +of their dethroned tyrants; the earth will be consoled, the heavens +satisfied!"</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Louis cloaked himself in a well-feigned submission to the +orders of the Assembly. He promised to hold off the German princes +firmly and with dignity.<a name="vol-1-pg_232" id="vol-1-pg_232"></a> 'Twas the promise of a King! Under the pretext +of possible eventualities of war, he chose as Minister of War the Count +of Narbonne, a young courtier crammed with ambition and audacity. The +latter organized three army corps, placing the first under the command +of the Marquis of Lafayette, and giving the other two to the Marquis of +Rochambeau and Marshal Lukner, two enemies of the Revolution.</p> + +<p>Robespierre, Danton, and Billaud-Varenne were farsighted enough to +detect the conspiracy hidden beneath these ostensible preparations for +war. In the memorable meeting of the Jacobins, of the 12th of December, +1791, several orators of the republican party gave utterance to their +sentiments.</p> + +<p>"Far be it from me to raise my voice against the cruel necessity of an +inevitable war," declared Billaud-Varenne. "No! For when in 1789 people +were congratulating themselves, saying that never had a revolution cost +so little blood, I always answered: A people which breaks the yoke of +tyranny can never seal its liberty irrevocably save by tracing the +decree which consecrates it with the points of their bayonets! These +must be plunged at least into the breasts of our enemies! Only by +combating them can we be freed of them forever!"</p> + +<p>"If it were a question of deciding whether, actually, we were to have +war, I would answer, Yes," declared Danton in turn. "Yes, the clarions +of war resound; yes, the exterminating angel of liberty will smite the +satellites of despotism. But when are we to have the war? Is it not +after having well judged our situation, after having weighed everything, +after having deeply scrutinized the<a name="vol-1-pg_233" id="vol-1-pg_233"></a> intentions of the King who is going +to propose war to us? Let us be on our guard against the Executive."</p> + +<p>Thus did Billaud-Varenne denounce at the Jacobins the plan of the +counter-revolution, of which war was the mask. Thus did Danton, while +sharing the same suspicion, nevertheless incline toward war, asking only +that before the declaration of hostilities, the Assembly should scan +closely the intentions of Louis XVI. Brissot took the floor and spoke +for war, but a revolutionary war.</p> + +<p>Robespierre finally arose to the tribunal:</p> + +<p>"It seems to me that those who desire to provoke war have only adopted +that opinion through insufficient scrutiny of the nature of the war we +are about to embark upon, and of the circumstances with which we find +ourselves surrounded. What sort of a war is it proposed that we declare? +Is it a war of one nation against other nations? Is it a war of one king +against other kings? Is it a war of revolution by a free people against +the tyrants who override other peoples? No! What they propose to us, +citizens, is the war of all the enemies of the French Revolution against +the Revolution itself! This I shall prove by examining what has occurred +up to this day, from the administration of the Duke of Broglie who in +1789 proposed to annihilate the National Assembly, up to that of the +last successors of this minister....</p> + +<p>"Behold what tissues of prevarication and perfidy, of violence and of +ruse! Behold the subsidized sedition! Behold the conduct of the court +and of the ministry! And is it to that ministry, is it to those agents +of the executive power, that you would entrust the conduct of the war? +Is<a name="vol-1-pg_234" id="vol-1-pg_234"></a> it thus you would abandon the safety of the country to those who +wish to destroy you?</p> + +<p>"The thing which you have most cause to fear, is war. War is the +greatest scourge which can, in our present circumstances, menace +liberty! For it is in no wise a war kindled by the enmity of peoples. It +is a war concerted by the enemies of our Revolution. What are their +probable designs? What use would they make of these military forces, +this augmentation of power which they ask of you under the pretext of +war? They seek, in strengthening the powers of the crown, to force us to +a deal! If we refuse, these royalists will then attempt to fasten it +upon us by the force of the arms which you will have put into their +hands.</p> + +<p>"What, there are rebels to punish? The Representatives of the people +aimed at them with a decree, and the King opposed his veto to the +decree! Instead of allowing the punishment, imposed by the Assembly upon +the Emigrants, to take its course, the King proposes a declaration of +war, a sham war, whose only aim is to place a formidable military force +at the disposal of the enemies of the Revolution, or to open to them our +frontiers, thanks to the treason of the aristocratic generals still at +the head of our armies! There you have the secret workings of this +cabinet intrigue! There is the heart of this complot in which we shall +be lost if we allow ourselves to be taken by the snare so craftily +colored with patriotism and martial ardor, sentiments so strong in the +French spirit."</p> + +<p>The sagacity of Robespierre thus tore the veil off the double project of +Louis and the Austrian Committee, that perennial hotbed of conspiracy. +The soul of this Committee<a name="vol-1-pg_235" id="vol-1-pg_235"></a> was the Queen, and its numerous emissaries +maintained relations with the Emigrant nobles and the foreign Kings; but +Louis XVI and his court, by the sublimation of duplicity, carried +treason within treason. They deceived even their accomplices.</p> + +<p>Louis XVI wanted war because he reckoned on a victory by the allied +Kings, and upon their early entry into Paris. Lafayette and his party +never mingled in this machination against the country; hence, in order +to obtain their support for the declaration of hostilities, Louis had to +feign to conspire with them for the triumph of the constitutional +kingdom and monarchic institutions.</p> + +<p>The Girondins, scenting peril and treachery, sought to conjure away the +dangers of the situation by imposing on Louis XVI three ministers whom +they thought worthy of their confidence: General Dumouriez was charged +with Foreign Affairs; Servan with the Department of War; and Roland with +the ministry of the Interior. Dumouriez was a man of war, resourceful, +bold and fiery, cunning and subtle of policy, but already grown old in +underground intrigue and occult diplomacy; ambitious, cynical, +intemperate of habit, covetous to the point of exaction, unreasonable in +pride, without virtues, without principles, capable of serving valiantly +the Republic and the Revolution, or of shamefully betraying both, +according to the exigencies of his interest or ambition. Servan, an +officer of genius, was a soldier of integrity, industry and modesty. He +was capable and upright, and devoted to the Revolution. Roland was one +of the purest and most beautiful characters of the time—simple, +stoical, austere, disinterested, of scrupulous honesty, and with a +firmness of will equal to the<a name="vol-1-pg_236" id="vol-1-pg_236"></a> rigidity of his republican convictions, +which were shared by his young and charming wife, the soul of the +Girondin party, where she reigned as much by the loftiness of her spirit +as by her qualities of heart and the attraction of her person.</p> + +<p>On April 19, 1792, the Assembly declared war on Austria. Some days after +the opening of the campaign the army corps under Count Theobald of +Dillon, was, at the first engagement, stampeded before the armies of the +coalition. The royalist officers gave the cry "Each for himself!" and +provoked a panic among the troops. The army fled in full rout. The enemy +crossed our frontiers and the heart of France fell under the menace of +the foreign cohorts.</p> + +<p>The Girondins recognized the trap into which their patriotism had led +them, and spurred by the realization took three active revolutionary +measures. They pronounced a sentence of exile upon the fractious +priests, the promoters of civil war, who refused to stand by the +Constitution; they had the Assembly decree the dissolution of the paid +guard of Louis XVI; and they ordered the establishment of a camp of +twenty thousand men around Paris, to form a reserve army and to cover +the threatened capital. But Louis entered upon an open war with the +Assembly, maintained his veto in the matter of the refractory priests, +and refused to sanction the organization of the camp at Paris. Roland +and Servan, the two patriot ministers, were unseated the 13th of June, +and Louis formed a new cabinet, choosing its members from among the +enemies of the people.</p> + +<p>Still in the dark as to the designs of Louis XVI, and believing that the +moment for a coup-d'-etat had arrived,<a name="vol-1-pg_237" id="vol-1-pg_237"></a> Lafayette wrote from his camp a +threatening letter to the Assembly, under date of June 16. The Assembly +summoned Lafayette before its bar. He refused to appear. His trial was +carried on without him, and he was acquitted by an immense majority. The +clubs were thrown into a ferment. Danton at the Cordeliers, Robespierre +at the Jacobins, organized for the 20th of June a peaceful demonstration +to celebrate the anniversary of the oath of the Tennis Court, and to +give Louis XVI a solemn warning. A huge multitude, swelled by women and +children, gathered and marched down from the suburbs. The men were in +arms; each district dragged its cannon with it. The delegates of the +demonstration appeared at the bar of the Assembly. The spokesman +delivered himself of his message:</p> + +<p>"Legislators, the people comes this day to make you share its fears and +its disquietudes. This day recalls to us the memorable date of the +twentieth of June, 1789, at the Tennis Court, when the Representatives +of the nation met and vowed before heaven not to abandon our cause, to +die in its defense. The people is up and alive to what is occurring; it +is ready to take decisive measures to avenge its outraged majesty. These +rigorous measures are justified by Article II of the Declaration of the +Rights of Man, Resistance to Oppression."</p> + +<p>While part of the manifestants stationed themselves in the vicinity of +the meeting hall of the Assembly, a large body of them planted a tree, +symbolic of Liberty, in the garden of the Tuileries. The invasion of the +palace gardens was accomplished with perfect order. Louis stood upon a +chair in the recess of a window, surrounded by a detachment of National +Guards.<a name="vol-1-pg_238" id="vol-1-pg_238"></a></p> + +<p>One citizen, bearing a red cap on the end of a pole, passing in turn +before the King, stopped for an instant and cried "Long live the +Nation!" Then Louis XVI, leaning over and making a sign to the citizen +to approach his pole nearer, voluntarily took the red cap and placed it +on his head. A burst of fervid applause, from everyone who witnessed it, +greeted the King's act.</p> + +<p>It was a day of suffocating heat; and Louis, seeing a National Guardsman +with a water-gourd, indicated by signs that he wished to drink. The +guard with alacrity offered his gourd to the King, who slowly quaffed +its contents.</p> + +<p>But the demonstration of the 20th of June changed in nothing the +disposition of the court. Louis XVI continued his shady machinations, +and, on the 25th of July, the Duke of Brunswick, generalissimo of the +armies of the coalition, issued, in the name of the King of Prussia, the +Emperor of Austria, and the Germanic Confederation, a manifesto against +France.</p> + +<p>The plans of the court were that the Duke of Brunswick, at the head of +the Prussians, should cross the Rhine at Coblenz, ascend the left bank +of the Moselle, attack that point, and march upon Paris by way of +Longwy, Verdun and Chalons. The Prince of Hohenlohe, commanding the +troops of the duchy of Hesse and a body of Emigrants, was to march on +Thionville and Metz. General Clairfayt, at the head of the troops of the +Emperor of Austria and another corps of Emigrants, was to cross the +Meuse and make his way to Paris by Rheims and Soissons. Other bodies of +the hostile army, placed on the northern frontier and along the Rhine, +were to attack the French troops and assist the<a name="vol-1-pg_239" id="vol-1-pg_239"></a> convergent march of the +coalition upon the capital, which they were to seize.</p> + +<p>The publication of the manifesto of the tyrants, so far from crushing +the energy of the Revolution, exalted it to the pitch of heroism. The +journal <i>The Revolutions of Paris</i> renders in glowing terms its account +of the spirit in Paris and the departments:</p> + +<p>"The National Assembly has at last pronounced the terrible formula, the +signal of peril, the appeal to the courage of the people: <i>The nation is +in danger!</i> The danger is, in fact, immense. The Directorate of the +department of Paris is the most potent instrument the court has served +itself with to beat down liberty. The majority of the other Directorates +of departments, all the administrators, all the tribunals of justice, +all the constituted authorities, are also either openly or covertly the +accomplices of Louis XVI, of Marie Antoinette the Austrian, and of the +courts of Berlin and Vienna. Louis XVI affords striking protection to +all the fanatics, the artificers of civil war. This enemy, disguised +under the name of the Constitutional King of France, does more harm of +himself than all the other despots of Europe ever could. France is +fallen into a state of convulsion, which will precipitate her into +either slavery or anarchy. The country is in danger; the people is in +insurrection! Frenchmen, you have at last become free!</p> + +<p>"France has but two dangerous enemies: Lafayette and Louis XVI; and if +the latter were stricken down, Lafayette would no longer exist.</p> + +<p>"Then let Louis XVI be driven forever from the throne, and the nation is +saved! People, to arms!"</p> + +<p>Indeed, an insurrection alone could save public affairs.<a name="vol-1-pg_240" id="vol-1-pg_240"></a> On August 4 +Danton said at the Cordeliers: "The people must be appealed to, they +must be shown that the Assembly can not save them. There is no safety +save in a general rebellion."</p> + +<p>"There is but one question to solve," said Robespierre on the 9th of the +same month, at the Jacobins; "That question is the deposition of Louis +XVI."</p> + +<p>From the beginning of the month of August, the ferment in Paris was on +the increase. Every patriot instinctively felt the approach of grave +public danger, and vied with his comrades in the effort to overcome it.</p> + +<p>The Sections of Paris met nightly to deliberate on public matters. The +Section of the Blind Asylum, or "Quinze-Vingts," in the suburb of St. +Antoine which was the most influential of all, took the initiative in +the measures for insurrection, with this manifesto:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="c"><small>MINUTES OF THE SECTION OF THE BLIND ASYLUM, AUGUST, 9, 1792.</small></p> + +<p>The Section received the commissioners of the following Sections: +Fish-Wife, Good-News, Carpet-Shop, Montreuil, Gravillieurs, +Beaubourg, Red-Cross, Culvert, Lombards, Ill-Counsel, Popincourt, +the Arsenal, the Tuileries, etc., etc. All have adopted the +decisions of the Section of the Blind Asylum, recognizing that they +were armed solely for the safety of public affairs and the +regeneration of France.</p> + +<p>An address was read from the federates of the eighty-two +departments, asking the Sections of Paris to assemble in arms.</p> + +<p>On the motion of its members, the Section decided that each of the +Sections of Paris shall name three committee-men, the same to meet +at the City Hall of Paris, replace the present Municipal Council, +and consider the means necessary for the public weal.</p> + +<p>The Sections shall receive no orders other than those coming from a +majority of their committee-men, forming the <i>Commune of Paris</i>.<a name="vol-1-pg_241" id="vol-1-pg_241"></a></p> + +<p>The committee-men named to represent at the Commune the Section of +the Blind Asylum are Huguenin, Rossignol, and Balin.</p></div> + +<p>Each Section formulated the powers given by it to its committee-men in +the new council of the Commune of Paris. Thus, the formula of the Blind +Asylum Section read: "The Section gives to its committee-men unlimited +power to do everything to save the country." Prominent among the +committee-men elected by the Sections to the new council were +Robespierre, Billaud-Varenne, Fabre D'Eglantine, Chaumette, and +Fouquier-Tinville.</p> + +<p>The first act of the members of this revolutionary Commune was to march +to the City Hall on the night of the 9th of August, and in the name of +the sovereign people, whose representatives they were, to depose the old +Municipal Council from its functions, with the following decree:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The Assembly of the Committee-men of the Sections, assembled with +full power to save the common weal, considering that the first +measure of safety is to seize all the powers that have been +delegated to the Commune of Paris, and to remove from the staff of +the National Guard the evil influence that it has upon the public +liberty, decree:</p> + +<p>1.º The staff is suspended from its functions.</p> + +<p>2.º The Municipal Council is suspended. Citizen Petion, Mayor, and +Citizen Roederer, attorney for the Commune, shall continue their +duties.</p></div> + +<p>These measures taken in the name of the majority of the citizens of +Paris, according to the powers conferred upon it, the new Commune of +Paris organized and established itself in permanence in the City Hall, +ready to conduct itself in line with the Revolution; while the people +loaded their muskets and cannon and prepared to march on the palace of +the Tuileries.<a name="vol-1-pg_242" id="vol-1-pg_242"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VII-1-b" id="CHAPTER_VII-1-b"></a>CHAPTER VII.<br /><br /> +TRIUMPHANT INSURRECTION.</h3> + +<p>Called to my place in the battalion of my Section, the Section of the +Pikes, I found myself on guard at the National Assembly on this night of +the 9th of August. About half after eleven, just as I finished my watch, +I heard the assembly beat, and the bells ringing. Soon there arrived in +haste, some alone, some in groups, a large number of the popular +Representatives. Awakened by the tocsin and the drum, they were +repairing to their meeting place, laboring under the presentiment of +some untoward event. Otherwise the greatest quiet reigned about the +quarter of the Tuileries. Being now off duty, I hastened to one of the +public galleries of the Assembly, which, despite the lateness of the +hour, were not long in filling with an eager, restless crowd, composed, +for the most part, of women, young girls, and old men. The male +constituency which usually attended the sessions was this time occupied +elsewhere; that is to say, they had scattered to the ends of Paris where +they were preparing the revolt. All the working men were under arms.</p> + +<p>In the center of the semicircle formed by the great hall of the Riding +Academy, in which the Assembly was sitting, rose the rostrum, with the +arm-chair of the president.<a name="vol-1-pg_243" id="vol-1-pg_243"></a> Behind the chair opened a sort of recess, +enclosed by a grating. It was the place assigned to the short-hand +writers, or <i>logotachygraphes</i> as they were called, persons skilled in +the art of writing with the speed of speech, who were charged with +transcribing the discourses of the speakers.</p> + +<p>It was the common word in the galleries that all the Sections of Paris +were assembling in arms in their respective quarters, and that their +committee-men had gone to the City Hall to exercise the powers of the +Commune of Paris. It was also said that the federates of Marseilles, +gathered at the Cordeliers, had sent a patrol into the neighborhood of +the Tuileries, and arrested, near the Carousel, a counter-patrol of +royalists, among whom were the journalist Suleau, Abbot Bourgon, and an +ex-bodyguard named Beau-Viguier. Further it was declared that two +thousand former nobles had been called together at the Tuileries, as +well as a large number of veteran officers or body-guardsmen, to defend +the palace. Some said that the Swiss regiments, re-enforced by those +from the barracks of Courbevoie, were at the palace, supported by a +formidable battery of artillery, and that Mandat, commander of the +National Guard, had announced that he would crush the insurrection. The +approaches to the palace were guarded by gendarmes afoot and on horse. +Everything pointed to a desperate resistance should a struggle be +engaged between the people and the defenders of the Tuileries.</p> + +<p>About two o'clock in the morning the Representatives, to the number of +about two hundred, decided to convene the session. The tocsin, +accompanied by the distant din of the drums beating the assembly or the +forward march, was still to be heard. In the absence of the president +of<a name="vol-1-pg_244" id="vol-1-pg_244"></a> the Assembly, Citizen Pastoret took the chair, and the secretaries +assumed their places at the table.</p> + +<p>Hardly had the session been opened when the delegates of the Lombards +Section appeared. The leader of the deputation, wearing a red cap and +carrying his gun, strode forward and cried:</p> + +<p>"Citizen Representatives, the court is betraying the people! The +Lombards Section has joined the insurrection, and at break of day will +do its duty in the attack on the Tuileries. We go to meet our brothers."</p> + +<p>"The people should respect the law and the Constitution," was the answer +of Pastoret.</p> + +<p>At these words of Citizen Pastoret, loud murmurs arose from the extreme +Left. Pastoret yielded the chair to Morlot, the president, who had come +in; and at the same time there appeared at the bar of the Assembly three +officers of the old Municipal Council.</p> + +<p>"You have the floor," said the president to them.</p> + +<p>Pale and quavering one of the officers spoke: "The alarm bell sounds in +Paris! The ferment is at its height! Everywhere the Sections are +gathering in arms. Several of our colleagues, sent to the City Hall to +learn how matters stood, have been arrested. The insurgents are +preparing to march at daybreak upon the Tuileries."</p> + +<p>"An act of high justice!" cried one of the members of the Left. "Within +the Tuileries' walls resides the bitterest enemy of the public good! He +must be annihilated by the sovereign people!"</p> + +<p>The words were greeted with enthusiastic applause from the galleries; in +the midst of which a hussar hurriedly approached the chair and delivered +a letter to the<a name="vol-1-pg_245" id="vol-1-pg_245"></a> president. The latter read it, and touched his bell as +a signal for silence. When the cries of the gallery had partially +subsided, he said:</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen, I am advised by the police officials that every minute +messengers come from the Sections asking for Monsieur Petion at the City +Hall, assuring them that the rumor has spread that he went to-night to +the palace, and that he runs great danger of death; it is feared the +royalists may assassinate him."</p> + +<p>At these words the uneasiness and agitation of the galleries was +extreme. The patriotism, the courage of Petion, his boundless devotion +to the Revolution, had made him dear to the people.</p> + +<p>At this moment Petion himself entered the hall and advanced to the bar. +Thus reassured on the score of the dangers run at the Tuileries by the +Mayor of Paris, the galleries broke into loud acclamations.</p> + +<p>"Monsieur Petion," the president said, "the Assembly has been keenly +anxious for your safety. It would be pleased to receive your account of +the dangers to which it is said you were exposed."</p> + +<p>Petion answered, calm and grave: "Occupied solely with public affairs, I +quickly forget what affects my own person. It is true that to-night, on +my arrival at the palace, I was quite illy greeted. Swords leaped from +their scabbards, and I heard threats uttered against me. These did not +disconcert me—"</p> + +<p>The first rays of the sun were beginning to dim the lamps which lighted +the hall; nearly all the Representatives of the people were assembled in +their accustomed<a name="vol-1-pg_246" id="vol-1-pg_246"></a> places. The Right seemed thrown into consternation by +Petion's calmness.</p> + +<p>Of a sudden a deputy came tumbling into the hall, rushed to his seat on +the Right, and, his features distorted, his clothes in disorder, he +cried in a voice trembling with emotion:</p> + +<p>"The Tuileries will be attacked! The Sections, in arms, hold all the +approaches to the palace! Whole companies of the National Guard, notably +the cannoniers, are fraternizing with the Sections. The cannon are +trained upon the palace. The troops who defend it are decided on a +desperate struggle. Blood will flow, the lives of the King and his +family are in danger!"</p> + +<p>The Assembly maintained a solemn silence. One deputy on the Right arose, +and with a trembling voice said: "I ask that a committee be appointed +this instant to go and invite the King and his family to come and place +themselves in the heart of the Assembly, to be under our protection."</p> + +<p>"There is no necessity for your motion," answered the president; "the +Constitution leaves the King the power of placing himself in the heart +of the Assembly whenever he finds it convenient."</p> + +<p>A justice of the peace, in a condition of extreme agitation, presented +himself at the bar. "Monsieur President," he exclaimed, "a quarter of an +hour ago I was in the courtyard of the Tuileries. I witnessed grave +things, which may enlighten the Assembly on the situation at the palace, +at this moment when a terrible struggle is about to break out, which may +mark the foundering of the monarchy."</p> + +<p>"Speak, sir," replied the president.<a name="vol-1-pg_247" id="vol-1-pg_247"></a></p> + +<p>"This morning at six o'clock, the King descended into the courtyard of +the Tuileries to review the troops. The Queen accompanied him; behind +them went a group of gentlemen in civilian dress, armed some with +swords, some with hunting-knives, others with carbines, or +blunderbusses. This unaccustomed escort first of all produced a very bad +impression upon the National Guard; then, as firm and decisive as was +the Queen's countenance, that of the King was undecided, embarrassed, I +would even say sour. He seemed to be still half asleep. Some cries, +nevertheless, of 'Long live the King!' were heard from some of the +companies, but the battalions from Red-Cross and all the cannoniers +cried 'Long live the Nation!' I even heard some cries of 'Down with +Veto!' 'Down with the traitor!' The King turned pale, made a gesture of +wrath, and returned brusquely into the palace. The Queen, left in the +courtyard, approached the staffs of the battalions of Ill-Counsel and +Arcis which had just arrived, and said to them, indicating the group of +gentlemen who attended her, 'These gentlemen are our best friends. They +follow us at the moment of danger. They will show the National Guard how +one dies for his King—'"</p> + +<p>The justice was interrupted, his voice was drowned in the great tumult +which arose outside, in the courtyard of the Riding Academy. Nearer and +nearer drew the clamors. Many of the deputies rose to their feet; some +climbed down precipitately from their benches, crying in affright, "The +people are invading the Assembly!" "Keep your places!" called out +several of their colleagues to those who had quitted their seats, "Let +us know how to die, if die we must, at our posts." The agitation waxed +its greatest in the<a name="vol-1-pg_248" id="vol-1-pg_248"></a> hall and the galleries. In vain the president rang +his bell, begging his colleagues to return to their benches and be +seated. His exhortations falling unheeded, he rose and put on his hat, +as a sign that the session was closed. The cries without came closer and +closer. Several ushers burst in. One of them, leaping up the steps to +the chair, spoke a few words to the president. The latter clasped his +hands with a gesture of extreme surprise. Then he uncovered again, and +began again to ring his bell vigorously, while the other ushers, going +from group to group, or mounting on the benches, spread among the +Representatives the news which seemed to produce so extraordinary a +sensation. Little by little calm was established. The president was able +to make himself heard, and said in a voice of emotion:</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen, the King and his family have left the palace. They throw +themselves upon the National Assembly!"</p> + +<p>Another member of the old Municipal Council presented himself at the +bar, saying:</p> + +<p>"Monsieur President, the King asks leave to come to you accompanied by +his guard, which will watch over him, and over the National Assembly."</p> + +<p>At this proposition a part of the Center, the Left, the extreme Left and +the galleries, all gave vent to their indignation. On all sides people +cried "No! No! The Assembly is under the safekeeping of the people! No +bayonets here! Down with the pretorians! Long live the Nation! Down with +the King!"</p> + +<p>Ringing his bell the president called out loudly: "I propose the +following resolution: The National Assembly, considering that it needs +no other guard than the love of the people, charges its committee-men to +watch over the<a name="vol-1-pg_249" id="vol-1-pg_249"></a> tranquility within its precincts, and proceeds to the +order of business."</p> + +<p>A thunder of applause overwhelmed the closing words of this motion, +which was adopted with an immense majority. The municipal officer took +his leave to report to the King the decision of the National Assembly, +when almost immediately another usher rushed in, crying:</p> + +<p>"The King and Queen ask to be introduced to the care of the Assembly."</p> + +<p>So, indeed, it was. The King was garbed in a suit of violet silk, which +disclosed his blue sash worn crosswise; he wore a hat of the National +Guard, for which he had exchanged his bonnet with the white plume. His +puffy features, empurpled with heat and emotion, and dripping +perspiration, expressed a mixture of fear and crafty irritation. His +obesity made his gait heavy and ungainly. Behind him advanced Marie +Antoinette, giving her arm to Count Dubouchage, Minister of Marine, and +leading the Dauphin by the hand. Trembling and terrified, the child +pressed close to his mother, who, pale and haughty, and more enraged +than frightened, trod with a firm step, casting about her looks of +disdain. She preceded the King's sister, Madam Elizabeth, who leaned on +the arm of Bigot of St. Croix, Minister of Foreign Affairs. The lady +sustained herself with difficulty, and hid her face, bathed with tears, +in her handkerchief. Then in order followed the Marchioness of Tourzel, +the governess of the King's children, on the arm of Major Hervilly, one +of the King's officers; and finally, behind her, the beautiful Princess +Lamballe, the intimate friend of the Queen, accompanied by another +seigneur of the court.<a name="vol-1-pg_250" id="vol-1-pg_250"></a></p> + +<p>Profound was the silence that fell over the Assembly. Louis, who so far +had alone kept his hat on, now removed his National Guardsman's +head-gear and said in a snappish voice that revealed at once fear and +surly anger:</p> + +<p>"I have come here to escape a great crime. I think I am safe among you, +gentlemen?"</p> + +<p>"You may count, Sire, on the firmness of the National Assembly. Its +members have sworn to die in the defense of the rights of the people and +the authorities recognized by the Constitution."</p> + +<p>Representative Bazire rose to speak: "I propose that Louis XVI and his +family be invited to occupy the logotachygraphes' room, which is within +the Assembly, but without the precincts of its deliberations."</p> + +<p>The proposal was adopted. The royal family and its suite left the hall +in order to reach the reporters' booth, the entry to which was in one of +the corridors. Soon the King and his followers reappeared in the room +assigned to them, which was separated from the chamber of the Assembly +by an iron grating, Louis XVI being placed at the right, the Queen at +the left, the Dauphin between them; and behind these three the other +persons of the royal suite. No sooner had the King seated himself than +he received from the hands of Major Hervilly some bread, a plate holding +a fowl, a knife and a fork. Placing the plate on his knees, Louis +commenced to dissect the pullet and devour it with avidity, obedient to +the mandates of that formidable appetite peculiar to the house of +Bourbon.</p> + +<p>Outside, in the deputies' chamber, Roederer, the legal attorney of the +Commune, had appeared at the bar, and, at the invitation of the +president, was speaking:<a name="vol-1-pg_251" id="vol-1-pg_251"></a></p> + +<p>"I am come, gentlemen, to inform you of what is going on in Paris. I was +with the King this morning, up till the time when Carousel Place and the +surrounding streets were invaded by the Sections in arms and dragging +their cannon. Seeing a large number of the National Guard fraternizing +with the people, I counselled the King and the royal family to abandon +the palace and place themselves under the protection of the National +Assembly. The people know that the King is here. The attack on the +Tuileries being now objectless, it is to be hoped that it will not be +entered upon, and that there will be no shedding of blood to be +deplored."</p> + +<p>Hardly had Roederer pronounced the words when the detonation of an +artillery discharge shook the windowpanes of the chamber. The fight at +the Tuileries was on! The first discharge was answered by a rapid fire +of musketry, broken every now and again by the thunder of a new +cannonade. Stupor seized the Assembly and the galleries. It was a fresh +royalist act of treason.</p> + +<p>The almost incessant boom of artillery and rattle of musketry bore +evidence to the warmth of the engagement. It is impossible to picture +the anxiety, the heaving agitation of the chamber and the people in the +hall. Among the latter, exasperation reached the last pitch. They broke +into threats, into curses against Veto, against the Austrian woman. +"Down with the King!" "Down with the Queen!" rang the cry.</p> + +<p>Of a sudden the cannonade burst into still wilder fury. The +reverberations of the artillery fire were so violent that several +windows in the hall were shivered to bits. But soon the volleys +slackened; they became less and less lively and<a name="vol-1-pg_252" id="vol-1-pg_252"></a> frequent; then one +heard only gunshots, rare, desultory, far between; and then one +heard—nothing.</p> + +<p>Victory, evidently, not a suspension of hostilities, had terminated the +battle. Clearly, also, the victory had been a decisive one. But who were +the conquerors, the inhabitants of the Sections, or the Swiss regiments? +Terrible alternative! Under the spell of this incertitude the tumult, at +its height some minutes before, fell of itself. A poignant load weighed +upon every heart, choked every voice, paralyzed every movement; a +mournful silence held sway over the house. If the insurrection were +victorious, it was done for Louis XVI and the monarchy! Marie Antoinette +by her attitude and facial expression revealed her belief—she was +confident the royal troops had won the day.</p> + +<p>The uncertainty was not long in being dispelled. A deputation of members +of the new Commune of Paris presented itself at the bar of the Assembly. +It was attended by citizens bearing a banner with the device "<span class="smcap">Liberty, +Equality, Fraternity</span>."</p> + +<p>The head of the deputation spoke:</p> + +<p>"Citizens, we are the victors! After prodigies of heroism, the people +have taken the Tuileries! Long live the Nation!"</p> + +<p>The majority of the Representatives rose in their seats, and all +repeated with enthusiasm:</p> + +<p>"Long live the Nation!"</p> + +<p>The joy, the patriotic exaltation of the galleries bordered on delirium. +The session previously so agitated was now resumed amid relative calm. +All doubt as to the triumph of the people being laid, the deputies went +back to their places; the president tapped his bell, and said:<a name="vol-1-pg_253" id="vol-1-pg_253"></a></p> + +<p>"I beg the members of the Assembly, as well as the public in the +galleries, to refrain from further interruption. The graver the +circumstances, all the more should we preserve calmness and dignity in +our deliberations. The delegate of the Commune has the floor."</p> + +<p>"Citizen legislators," resumed the latter, "in the name of the +victorious people, we have come to demand of you the deposition of Louis +Capet." All eyes were turned towards the booth where Louis XVI sat with +his face in his hands. "To-morrow we shall bring to the Assembly the +records of this memorable day of the tenth of August, 1792. This record +should be sent to the forty-four thousand municipalities of France, that +it may arouse their national pride!" (Applause.) "We announce to you +that Petion, Manuel and Danton are still our colleagues in the Commune. +We have named Citizen Santerre commander of the armed force of Paris."</p> + +<p>Seeing the delegate was through, President Morlot announced to the +Assembly: "During the invasion of the Tuileries by the people, a box of +jewels was found in the Queen's apartment. A citizen, wounded in the +attack, has just thrown it on the table."</p> + +<p>This lofty act, so free from all thought of pillage or petty personal +gain, stirred the admiration of the Assembly, and prepared the way for +others of similar stamp. "I propose," said Bazire, rising, "that the +Assembly decree that the Swiss citizens and all other foreigners +residing in Paris are placed in the safekeeping of the law and in the +hospitality of the French people!"</p> + +<p>The motion was carried unanimously, amidst the echoing applause of the +galleries.<a name="vol-1-pg_254" id="vol-1-pg_254"></a></p> + +<p>Several of the combatants from the Tuileries, covered with dust, now +appeared at the bar. One of these, in the uniform of the National Guard, +his forehead bound in a bloody bandage, held in one hand his gun, and +with the other dragged after him a Swiss soldier, pale and overcome with +terror. The unhappy fellow's red uniform was in ribbons; he seemed ready +to swoon. The wounded citizen, leaning on his weapon, drew close to the +bar and said with emotion:</p> + +<p>"Legislators, we come to express to you our indignation! Long has a +perfidious court trifled with the French people. To-day it has drawn our +blood. We penetrated the palace only over the corpses of our massacred +brothers. We have taken prisoner several Swiss soldiers, wretched +instruments of tyranny! Some of them have thrown down their arms. As to +us, we shall use toward them only the arms of generosity; we shall treat +them as brothers."</p> + +<p>At ten o'clock that evening, when the illumination of the lamps had long +replaced the light of day, the National Assembly, having been in +continuous session since the night of August 9, took a recess of an +hour.</p> + +<p>At eleven o'clock, when the Assembly reconvened, the reporters' lodge +was still occupied by the royal family. Louis XVI was crushed. His +flaccid lips, his fixed and sunken eyes, announced his complete mental +prostration. Marie Antoinette, on the contrary, seemed to have preserved +all the energy of her character. Her eyes were red and dry; but her +glance, when she occasionally allowed it to travel about, bore still its +look of hateful disdain and defiance.</p> + +<p>The Dauphin slept on the knees of Madam Elizabeth,<a name="vol-1-pg_255" id="vol-1-pg_255"></a> who bent her pale +brow toward the child. Dames Tourzel and Lamballe were silent and dazed.</p> + +<p>Almost as soon as the session was reopened, a citizen presented himself +at the bar:</p> + +<p>"Legislators, the Swiss soldiers arrested during the day have been +placed, according to the orders of the Assembly, in the building of the +Feuillants. They have been, like us, the victims of royalist treason; we +must save them."</p> + +<p>From the gallery Mailhe called out: "I have just come from addressing +the people. They are disposed to listen to the language of justice and +humanity. I ask that the Swiss be admitted within these precincts, and +that they be kept here till all danger to them has passed, and till they +can be taken to a place of safety."</p> + +<p>The large space reserved behind the bar for visiting deputations was +suddenly filled with patriots, who brought with them Swiss soldiers, +pale and trembling, and several of them wounded. What touching and +admirable episodes took place in this pell-mell of gratitude and +generosity, which embraced the combatants on both sides! Vanquished and +vanquishers fraternized! The Assembly as one man rose spontaneously at +the spectacle, and gave utterance to its enthusiasm by cheers.</p> + +<p>When the first transports of emotion were past and silence had again +settled down upon the Assembly, one of the patriots who brought in the +Swiss advanced towards the bar, saying:</p> + +<p>"Citizen President, one of these brave soldiers, who speaks French, asks +the floor, in the name of his comrades, to explain their conduct."<a name="vol-1-pg_256" id="vol-1-pg_256"></a></p> + +<p>A young Swiss sergeant stepped forward and addressed the vast audience +as follows:</p> + +<p>"Had the King and the royal family remained at the palace, we would have +allowed ourselves to be killed to the last man in their defense. That +was our duty as soldiers. But having learned of the departure of the +King, we refused to fire on the people, in spite of the orders, in spite +of the threats, even, of our officers. They alone are responsible for +the blood that has flowed. It was one of them, and one of the gentlemen +of the palace who were the first to fire from the steps of the grand +staircase at the moment that we fraternized with the people from the +Sections. The latter cried out 'Treason!' fired back in return, and the +fight was on. Victory rested with the people."</p> + +<p>A new announcement was now made by the president. "They have just +brought in," he said, "eleven cases of silver plate rescued from the +flames at the Tuileries by the brave citizens who hastened to check the +fire. They have also brought several bundles of papers discovered in an +iron cupboard, a secret cupboard fashioned in the wall of the King's +apartment." (Profound sensation.) "These papers, no doubt of the highest +importance, shall be turned over to the proper committees."</p> + +<p>When the president announced the discovery of the papers in the Iron +Cupboard, Louis XVI seemed unmanned by the shock. His face grew ashen; +his first look was shot at the Queen; even she, in spite of her iron +will, shuddered and became paler than her royal spouse. What secrets +that cupboard contained!</p> + +<p>And now was to come the climax of that moving drama, whose precipitate +progress, whose impassioned and unexpected<a name="vol-1-pg_257" id="vol-1-pg_257"></a> catastrophe surpassed +anything the imagination could invent or dream of. Time seemed to march +with a dizzying haste during that session of two nights and a day—the +night of the 9th of August and the day and night of the 10th.</p> + +<p>The second night was near its close. A committee in extraordinary had +gone to entreat of the Commune of Paris, on that day of August 10, +whether the palace of the Luxembourg could not be appropriated as a +residence for the King and his family. At the time it was adopted, this +measure was in full accord with the hesitant disposition of the majority +of the Assembly, who wished only to decree the suspension of the King's +powers. But the attitude of the people, victorious and fully armed, +happily made its weight felt within the Assembly. The choice of Danton +as Minister of Justice testified to the sudden change of mind on the +part of the majority of the popular Representatives. They admitted the +necessity for the deposition of the royal person. Louis XVI was held +prisoner, under accusation of high treason.</p> + +<p>But what part of Paris could serve as his prison?<a name="vol-1-pg_258" id="vol-1-pg_258"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VIII-1-b" id="CHAPTER_VIII-1-b"></a>CHAPTER VIII.<br /><br /> +REPRISALS.</h3> + +<p>Sublime was the picture thus presented by the 10th of August, 1792, a +picture in which the heroism of the combatants blended with their +disinterestedness, and with their generosity to their enemies.</p> + +<p>Alas, why was it fated that, so shortly after, the wretched days of the +2nd and 3rd of September should present so sad a contrast! Inexorable +was the law of reprisal!</p> + +<p>Pitiless became the anger of the people when it saw its trust violated, +its hopes blasted; when it saw its generosity towards its enemies only +confirm their high-handedness, and encourage them to new transgressions. +Such were the experiences that brought about the occurrences of the 2nd +and 3rd of September, known as the Prison Massacres—a pitiless popular +retribution.</p> + +<p>Petion, Mayor of the Commune of Paris, speaking at the bar of the +Assembly, once said:</p> + +<p>"The people demands justice on its enemies; legislators, it looks to +you!"</p> + +<p>In those words of Petion's is contained almost entirely the secret of +the days of September. The expectations of the people were deceived. The +courts proved themselves unworthy of their trust by absolving proven +criminals. Then<a name="vol-1-pg_259" id="vol-1-pg_259"></a> the people, as highly angered as it had before shown +itself magnanimous, took justice into its own hands.</p> + +<p>The circumstances which produced the formidable explosion were many. +After the victory of the 10th of August—a victory the consequences of +which were the deposition of Louis XVI, his imprisonment in the Temple, +and the convocation of a National Convention to proclaim the Republic +and institute proceedings against the former King—Paris calmly awaited +the accomplishment of these great events. Everyone confidently expected +the conviction of the accomplices of Louis XVI by the national High +Court at Orleans. The High Court acquitted the prisoners, despite their +guilt, and among them the Count of Montmorin, the old Minister of +Foreign Affairs, who had aided the flight of Louis. The High Court also +acquitted the Prince of Poix, a high counter-revolutionist, and Bakman, +a colonel of the Swiss, who was one of the instigators of the resistance +by the soldiers, and hence, a part author of the carnage at the +Tuileries.</p> + +<p>The prisons, meanwhile, were filled with suspects, declared royalists, +and refractory priests, taken red-handed in the incitation of civil +war—all guilty on the first count. It was also learned that in the +interior of the prisons themselves existed establishments for turning +out false notes, which were put in circulation through channels of +communication between the prisoners and their friends outside. The +collusion between the imprisoned nobles and priests on the one hand, and +the counterfeiters, their companions in captivity, on the other, was +indisputable.</p> + +<p>Emboldened by the acquittal of the conspirators, the counter-revolution +reared its head again in Paris and in<a name="vol-1-pg_260" id="vol-1-pg_260"></a> the provinces. Each day brought +from without news more and more alarming. Part of the west and south, +lied to by the nobility, goaded to fanaticism by the clergy, was on the +verge of rebellion. Rumors were rife that the Assembly had sent the +King's trial minutes to a Convention, not daring itself to pass upon the +fate of Louis XVI; that the allied army would be upon Paris before the +20th of September, the date set for the opening of the new Assembly. +These predictions were, in fact, on the point of fulfilment. On +September 1st, Paris learned that the Prussian army had crossed the +frontier; Longwy was taken; the enemy had invested Verdun; the fortified +place, left designedly by Louis XVI almost without defense, was unable +to resist; from this city the allied army could in three days arrive in +Paris!</p> + +<p>Judge of the excitement among the people of Paris!</p> + +<p>The royalists only awaited the favorable moment to unchain their +vengeance on the capital. All these causes combined could do no less +than let loose a whirlwind. And that is what happened on the terrible +days of September 2nd and 3rd. The following are extracts from my +journal, which I wrote almost hour by hour, as these sad events unrolled +themselves.</p> + +<p> +<br /> +</p> + +<p>September 2, about eleven in the morning, I heard the sound of a signal +gun, to which were quickly added the rapid clanging of the tocsin and +the roll of drums. The news of the taking of Longwy by the Prussians had +spread through Paris the previous night, and had thrown the people into +consternation.</p> + +<p>I left my ironsmithy and hastily donned my uniform<a name="vol-1-pg_261" id="vol-1-pg_261"></a> of the National +Guard, in order to assemble with my Section of the Pikes. I was about to +go to Victoria's room, where I supposed she was, as usual, busy sewing, +when I saw her come in from out-of-doors.</p> + +<p>"I was about to go in and tell you that I was bound for my Section," I +said to her. "What is forward in Paris?"</p> + +<p>"The great day of reprisals has dawned at last," replied my sister +shrilly; "O, age-long martyrs of the Kings, the nobles, and the clergy! +O, shades of our fathers, of our mothers! Daughters and sons of Joel, +rejoice. The hour of vengeance has sounded! Ah, for centuries your +sweat, your tears, your blood have flowed! Martyrs of the Kings, priests +and nobles, the tyrant issue of a conquering race, at last upon your +torturers has descended the day of expiation, the day of retribution!"</p> + +<p>"Sister," I cried, shuddering for very fear, "what mean you?"</p> + +<p>But Victoria, the victim of a sort of ecstatic hallucination, continued +without seeming to hear me: "Does not the blood of slaves, of serfs, of +vassals, despoiled, exploited, tortured, immolated by thousands, by +seigniory and nobility since the Frankish conquest, cry 'Vengeance!'? +Does not the blood of the Arians, massacred by thousands by Clovis's +hordes at the word of the priests of Rome, cry 'Vengeance!'? Does not +the blood of the Vaudois, of the Albigensians, massacred by thousands by +Simon of Montfort's bandits, at the voice of the priests of Rome, cry +'Vengeance!'? Does not the blood of the Reformers, massacred by +thousands by the Valois and the Guises, cry 'Vengeance!'? And the +Protestants hanged, broken on the wheel, drawn and quartered by the +soldiers of Louis XIV,<a name="vol-1-pg_262" id="vol-1-pg_262"></a> the Grand Monarch? Just God! if all that blood +had flowed in a single day, the land of the Gauls would have become one +crimson sea! If they should heap together the bones of our fathers, our +mothers, the victims of royalty, nobility and clergy, the charnel-pile +would graze the heavens!"</p> + +<p>Victoria's savage eloquence, the light in her glowing eyes, her darksome +beauty, which at the moment gave her the aspect of the goddess of +Vengeance, wove over me a sort of fascination. The frightful enumeration +of the victims of the Kings, the nobles, and the Romish Church, the +memory of the martyrs whom we wept in our own family for so many +centuries, the general exasperation, which in that moment I shared, +against the murderous plots of our eternal enemies, carried away my +reason, and while the spell lasted, I, too, believed in the justice of +reprisal, and answered:</p> + +<p>"You speak true, sister, you speak true. Too long has the vengeance of +heaven spared these scoundrels. Let now the sword of the people fall +upon them!"</p> + +<p>"Aye, brother, justice shall not be less terrible for having been +delayed! Retribution will recall to life none of the dead we mourn; but +our enemies, annihilated or struck with terror, will hesitate to create +new victims! In avenging the past, we safeguard the future. The instinct +of the people can be trusted—its history is ours! It does not know the +details of its age-long martyrdom, but it feels itself the +representative of martyrs; it is conscious of being the living legend of +the miseries and tortures of generations past. It is in their name that +it will judge and execute."<a name="vol-1-pg_263" id="vol-1-pg_263"></a></p> + +<p>Before I could reply, one of my companions in arms, a workman like +myself, the son of our neighbor Jerome, and like myself belonging to the +Section of the Pikes, called to me, without: "John, hear you not the +drum? They have just posted placards in the street that the nation is in +danger. Longwy is taken! The Prussians are marching upon Paris. They are +sounding the assembly everywhere—come, come, let us to our place in the +fray."</p> + +<p>Fearing I should be lacking in duty should I further delay joining my +Section, I bade my sister farewell and left our dwelling. My comrade and +I directed our steps towards Vendome Place, the Section's +assembly-ground.</p> + +<p>It were useless to attempt to portray the thousand aspects presented by +the multitude that packed the street corners and the crossings; for it +was in these places that were posted by preference the placards issued +by the patriot press or the clubs, as well as the decrees, issued almost +hourly by the National Assembly, or by the Commune of Paris, elected by +the insurgent Sections on the night of the 9th of August.</p> + +<p>How could one hope to describe the aspects, so diverse, presented by +those surging masses, or convey an idea of the tumultuous sentiments of +the population?—now dumbfounded and seemingly crushed by the approach +of grave public danger; now shrieking maledictions and cries of death +against the royalists and the foreign despots; and again, carried away +by a burst of patriotism, shouting: "To the frontiers!" All Paris +oscillated in turn between terror, hatred and blind vengeance.</p> + +<p>A reading of the placards and decrees alone can explain the +downheartedness, the fury, and the recurring<a name="vol-1-pg_264" id="vol-1-pg_264"></a> ferocious appetites of the +delirious crowd. The following placard is from the <i>Courier of the +Departments</i>, published by the Girondin Gorsas:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="c">P<small>LAN OF THE ALLIES AGAINST PARIS</small>.</p> + +<p>More than two hundred Royalist chiefs, scattered about in the +different centers of France, have their rendezvous.—They hold the +signatures of numerous persons who are ready to join the armies of +the allied Kings when they shall have cleared the frontier.—The +combined armies will march on the fortified towns as if to lay +siege to them; but will take only such as will open their +gates.—The Duke of Brunswick will combine with his army those +corps of the French forces which are scattered along the frontier, +while the King of Prussia will advance at the head of his troops, +swelled by the counter-revolutionists of the interior.—They will +march first upon Paris.—They will reduce the city by starvation. +No consideration, not even the danger of the royal family, will +change the following dispositions:—The inhabitants, of Paris will +be led into the open country. They will be sorted out. <span class="smcap">The +revolutionists will be put to death.</span>—As to the others they will be +disposed of later.—Perhaps they will follow the system of the +Emperor of Austria, not to spare any but the women and children. In +case of unequal forces, they will set the cities on fire; for, +according to the expression of the allied Kings, <small>DESERTS ARE +PREFERABLE TO PLACES INHABITED BY A REVOLTED PEOPLE.</small></p> + +<p>To arms, citizens! The enemy is at our gates!</p></div> + +<p>Another poster stuck on the walls of the city read:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="c">T<small>O</small> A<small>RMS</small>, C<small>ITIZENS</small>!!!</p> + +<p class="nind"> +Citizens:</p> + +<p>The enemy will soon be under the walls of Paris!</p> + +<p>Longwy is taken!</p> + +<p>Verdun can hold out but a few days. Its defenders appeal to the +people.<a name="vol-1-pg_265" id="vol-1-pg_265"></a></p> + +<p>The citizens who defend the citadel have sworn to die sooner than +surrender it. They make for you a rampart with their bodies. It is +your duty to succor them.</p> + +<p>Citizens!</p> + +<p>This very day, immediately, let all friends of liberty gather under +its flag!</p> + +<p>Let us assemble in the Field of Mars, and let an army of sixty +thousand men be formed without delay.</p> + +<p>Citizens!</p> + +<p>Let us march on the enemy, either to fall under their blows or to +exterminate them under ours!</p> + +<p>The Commune of Paris decrees:</p> + +<p><small>ARTICLE</small> 1. The Sections shall give to the State the men ready to +set out.</p> + +<p><small>ARTICLE</small> 2. The Military Committee shall sit in permanence, to +receive enrolments.</p> + +<p><small>ARTICLE</small> 3. The alarm gun shall be fired, the tocsin shall ring, +night and day.</p> + +<p class="c">C<small>ITIZENS, THE </small>N<small>ATION IS IN DANGER!</small><br /> +T<small>O ARMS</small>!</p></div> + +<p>"Save Paris! save France! Else, woe is us!" repeated the imploring +voices of women, whose cries and moans mingled with the clamor of the +alarm bell.</p> + +<p>At that moment there advanced, through the crowd which made way for him, +a municipal officer bearing a banner, and followed by several drummers +beating the charge. They preceded a troop of volunteers of all ages and +conditions, singing the Marseillaise, that sacred hymn of the +Revolution. At the end of each stanza they waved their pikes, their +guns, their sabers, their caps, their hats, crying:</p> + +<p>"To arms, brothers! To the Field of Mars! And to-night, off for the +frontier!"</p> + +<p>The majority of the citizens, who, after reading the decree<a name="vol-1-pg_266" id="vol-1-pg_266"></a> of the +Commune, also cried "To arms!" fell in line with the volunteers. Among +them I beheld a man in the prime of life, his face radiant with civic +ardor, embrace his wife and little daughters who accompanied him, and, +his eyes filled with tears, exclaim—"Adieu! I go to defend you!"</p> + +<p>I was still thrilling under the impression produced by this patriotic +act, when I heard someone read, in a loud voice, this fragment of a +placard, posted, they said, by order of the ministry:</p> + +<p>"—Citizens of Paris, you have traitors in your midst. Ah, but for them, +the strife would soon be over!"</p> + +<p>"Who are the traitors?" the word went 'round. "Who are they, if not the +royalists, hidden in the two hundred dens mentioned by Gorsas—if not +the priests and the monks?"</p> + +<p>"And our fathers, our husbands, our sons, our brothers, are enrolling in +mass to run to the frontiers!" cried a woman, in terror. "Who will +defend us against the fury of the enemies within?"</p> + +<p>"The royalists will let slip upon Paris the counterfeiters and the +brigands shut up with them in the prisons!"</p> + +<p>"Mercy of God! While we are at the front, these wretches will pillage +our shops, assault our daughters, slaughter our wives. No, no, it shall +never be!"</p> + +<p>"Can we go away and leave behind us our women, our children, the old +men, exposed to the rage of our enemies? What shall we do?"</p> + +<p>"The <i>Friend of the People</i> tells us what to do!" cried a voice in the +crowd. "Long live Marat. To the lamp-post with the aristocrats! Here is +what it says:</p> + +<p>"'<i>The Friend of the People</i> to the Parisians:<a name="vol-1-pg_267" id="vol-1-pg_267"></a></p> + +<p>"'Folly! Folly! It is useless to proceed with law against the +counter-revolutionaries!</p> + +<p>"'People, march in arms to the Abbey!</p> + +<p>"'Drag out the traitors, the Swiss officers, and their accomplices, the +priests, the Jesuits, the monks—let them feel the edge of the sword!</p> + +<p>"'People, strike your enemies with terror; otherwise you are lost!'"</p> + +<p>"We approve the advice!" shouted several voices in response. "Legal +justice absolves the guilty. Let us replace the judges, and strike the +culprits. To the Abbey!—to the Abbey!"</p> + +<p>Frightened at the turn things were taking, and dreading the consequences +of the assent given to Marat's appeal, I attempted to fend off the +massacre of the prisoners. Raising my voice above the tumult, I +addressed myself to the speaker:</p> + +<p>"Citizen, it is true there are great criminals in the Abbey; but all the +prisoners are not guilty in the same degree. Are there not some +imprisoned merely as suspects? Are you sure that among them there are +none innocent? And, with such doubt on your mind, would you kill all? +No, citizen, such a crime would defile the Revolution!"</p> + +<p>My intervention seemed for a moment to have recalled the throng to less +barbarous sentiments. But just at that instant there arrived a panting +workman, who jumped on a curbstone, exclaiming:</p> + +<p>"Citizens—I come from the Assembly—I bring you serious news!"</p> + +<p>"Silence!—Let us listen!"</p> + +<p>"When the committee-men of the commune read their<a name="vol-1-pg_268" id="vol-1-pg_268"></a> decrees to the +Assembly, Vergniaud cried out: 'I thank Paris for its courage and +energy; now one may say the country is saved!' He called Longwy, which +had surrendered to the Prussians, a city of cowards. Hearing the refrain +of the Marseillaise he said 'There is enough singing of Liberty—we must +defend it. It is no longer Kings of bronze that must be torn down—it is +the despots of Europe! Down with the Kings!' And he, Vergniaud, closed +his address to the Assembly with these words: 'I demand that the +Assembly, at this moment more a military body than a legislative, send +at once, and every day hereafter, twelve delegates to the entrenched +camp in the Field of Mars, not with empty discourses to exhort the +citizens to work, but to ply the pick-ax with their own hands. The time +is past for orating. We must dig the graves of our enemies. Our enemies +are both in front of and behind us, citizens; in front of us the +Prussians, behind us the royalists, the priests, their lay communicants, +and the brigands in the prisons!'"</p> + +<p>And the workman proceeded with his report of the occurrences in the +Assembly:</p> + +<p>"When Vergniaud left the platform, Roland, the Minister of the Interior, +asked the floor to inform the Assembly of some very important matters. +'The Vendée,' he said, 'spurred on by the dissident clergy, has risen in +several places, and patriots have been massacred. One portion of the +south, under the instigation of the priests and the former nobles, is +the breeding-ground of a vast conspiracy, with the Count of Saillant at +its head. He has declared himself "the lieutenant-general of the army of +the Princes."'"<a name="vol-1-pg_269" id="vol-1-pg_269"></a></p> + +<p>Before the crowd had recovered from the stupefaction into which it was +thrown by these words the speaker continued:</p> + +<p>"After Roland, Lebrun, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, announced that +twenty thousand Russians were advancing on us through Poland and +Germany, at the same time that a Russian fleet, proceeding from the +Black Sea, was to pass through the Dardanelles and land at Marseilles. +At this Danton became sublime! 'Everything stirs, drives on, burns, to a +combat,' he exclaimed. 'Verdun is not yet in the hands of the enemy. The +garrison has sworn to slay those who mention surrender. Part of the +people is rushing to the frontiers; another part is digging +entrenchments; another army will defend the city at the point of their +pikes. Citizen Representatives,' continued Danton, 'we ask of you to +concur with us in directing this heroic movement of the people. +Whosoever refuses to serve in person or to give up his arms, let him be +punished with death. All who are not with us are against us.' At these +last words pronounced by Danton, the Assembly rose with enthusiasm—" +added the orator on the curb. "'That bell which now clangs is not a +signal of alarm!' Danton cried. 'No! It is the signal for the charge +against the enemies of the country. To whip them we must dare, and dare, +and dare again—and France is saved!'"</p> + +<p>An electric thrill ran over the tossing multitude as these words of +Danton's were told it—heroic words accompanied by the tintinnabulations +of the tocsin, the prolonged echoes of the five-minute alarm gun, the +distant roll of the drums, and the strains of the Marseillaise, chanted +in chorus by the column of volunteers. The massive energy of Danton<a name="vol-1-pg_270" id="vol-1-pg_270"></a> +seemed to seize upon every spirit; it roused to its highest pitch their +sacred love of country, and reawakened the ardor of vengeance. In that +supreme moment, the prison massacres were considered by the population, +bourgeois and artisans alike, as a measure of public safety, a Spartan +measure which many of the citizens deplored, but which they regarded as +a fatal necessity, as a question of life and death for their families, +for France, for the Revolution.</p> + +<p>Bill-posters were now attaching to the walls the new decrees rendered by +the Commune of Paris, which had now declared itself a permanent body. +The first of these was conceived as follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="c"><small>THE COMMUNE OF PARIS DECIDES AND DECREES</small>:</p> + +<p><small>ARTICLE</small> 1. All horses fit for service are required at once to be +turned over to the citizens who depart for the front.</p> + +<p><small>ARTICLE</small> 2. All citizens shall hold themselves in readiness to march +at the first call.</p> + +<p><small>ARTICLE</small> 3. Those, who by reason of age or infirmity are unable to +join the march, shall deposit their arms with their Sections, to +equip those more fortunate citizens ready to go to the front.</p> + +<p><small>ARTICLE</small> 4. The ramparts shall be closed.</p> + +<p>Paris, September 2, 1792,</p> + +<p class="r">C<small>OULOMBEAU</small>.</p></div> + +<p>The last paragraph, ordering the closing of the ramparts, caused a +shudder not unmingled with savage joy to shoot through the crowd. +Through all minds flashed the thought: "The Commune orders the ramparts +to be closed in order to prevent our enemies within from escaping. The +work of justice will be the easier!"</p> + +<p>Another decree which was posted, read:<a name="vol-1-pg_271" id="vol-1-pg_271"></a></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="c">T<small>HE</small> C<small>OMMUNE OF</small> P<small>ARIS</small></p> + +<p>Decrees:</p> + +<p>1.º Enlistment shall go on in the Sections, in the theaters, in the +churches and in the public places.</p> + +<p>2.º Foreign citizens shall enrol at the City Hall.</p> + +<p>3.º The Department of Paris shall furnish at once sixty thousand +men.</p> + +<p>4.º The armorers, iron-workers and blacksmiths shall report to the +Military Committee how fast they can turn out guns, pikes, swords, +etc.</p> + +<p>5.º All leaden coffins shall be melted up for bullets. The retired +soldiers will take charge of this work.</p> + +<p>Paris, September 2, 1792,</p> + +<p class="r">C<small>OULOMBEAU</small>.</p></div> + +<p>On this terrible day, everything converged to throw the population into +a somber vertigo. There was not an event which did not drive fatally +onward to the massacres in the prisons.</p> + +<p>"Long live the Nation! Death to the traitors!" rose the cry.</p> + +<p>The delegates of the Luxembourg Section declared to the Commune that +they had adopted and recorded in their minutes the resolution "That it +was urgent to purge the prisons before marching to the front." Three +committee-men were sent to notify the Commune of this decision. The +Sections of the Julian Hot-Baths, the Blind Asylum, and Ill-Counsel took +the same action. The crowd about me echoed the cry:</p> + +<p>"To the prisons! To the prisons!"</p> + +<p>"Exterminate the rogues!"</p> + +<p>"Purge the prisons!"</p> + +<p>"Down with the black caps!"</p> + +<p>"Death to the aristocrats!"</p> + +<p><a name="vol-1-pg_272" id="vol-1-pg_272"></a></p> + +<p>I sank into a stupor of despair. There was room for doubt no longer; +public opinion was pronouncing itself for the mass extermination of the +prisoners. The Sections were despatching their delegates to the Commune +to notify it of the urgency of the move. The Commune, through Tallien's +organ, approved the massacre; finally, Danton also approved it, Danton, +the Minister of Justice, elected by the Assembly. How could I stem such +a tide? Still I tried, not without the knowledge that I thereby risked +my life; for in moments of popular impulse and enthusiasm, to pronounce +oneself in opposition to the general opinion is to court being taken for +a traitor. Nevertheless, I leaped upon a bench hard by, and cried in a +voice vibrating with all the anguish of my heart:</p> + +<p>"Citizens, in the name of the country, in the name of the Revolution, +hear me!"</p> + +<p>My paleness, my tears, my supplicating accents impressed the crowd; +silence was given me, and I continued:</p> + +<p>"Citizens, suppose that we all, patriots here present, were incarcerated +by our triumphant enemies. Our enemies rush into our prison, surprise us +without defense, without means of escape, and massacre us all! Would +that not be a cowardly, a horrible deed? Would you commit a like +atrocity?"</p> + +<p>Outcries, hisses and curses drowned my voice.</p> + +<p>"He is a wheedler!"</p> + +<p>"A traitor!"</p> + +<p>"A royalist in disguise!"</p> + +<p>"Death to the traitors!"</p> + +<p>I believed my last hour was come. Thrown down from my bench, I was +surrounded, seized, mauled back and forth<a name="vol-1-pg_273" id="vol-1-pg_273"></a> by the crowd in its fury. My +uniform was torn to shreds. A sword was already raised over my head when +some patriots, interposing between my adversaries and me, tore me from +the hands that grasped me, protected me with their own bodies, and +pushed me under the arch of a carriage-gate, which they slammed upon me. +I fell battered and almost fainting; and soon I heard the throng +disperse, crying:</p> + +<p>"Long live the Nation!"</p> + +<p>"To the prisons, to the prisons!"</p> + +<p>"Death to the royalists!"</p> + +<p>So, indeed, it occurred. The massacre was carried out.<a name="vol-1-pg_274" id="vol-1-pg_274"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IX-1-b" id="CHAPTER_IX-1-b"></a>CHAPTER IX.<br /><br /> +"TO THE FRONT!"</h3> + +<p>The porter of the house in which I had thus compulsorily found asylum, a +house neighboring on my own, gave me, together with his wife, his +solicitous care. Both knew me by sight as a child of the quarter. I +recovered little by little from my commotion. The porter offered me a +jacket to replace the ruined tunic of my uniform. Never shall I forget +the words the worthy people uttered as I bade them good-bye, thanking +them for their attentions.</p> + +<p>"What the devil, my dear neighbor! Between you and me, you were on the +wrong side, this time!" said the brave fellow, who from his door-sill +had taken in the whole scene. "Eh! Without a doubt, you were in the +wrong, although you did it out of your good heart! My God! I also have a +good heart, and, such as you see me, I couldn't cut the head off a +chicken. Nevertheless, I say to myself: Those who, at this moment, have +the courage to purge the prisons, are saving the country and our +Revolution, by preventing our enemies from letting loose a civil war +upon France, and joining themselves to the out-landers to combat us. +Alas, it is indeed hard to be driven to it, but 'Necessity knows no +law.' It is either kill or be killed. In such a case, each for his own +skin!"<a name="vol-1-pg_275" id="vol-1-pg_275"></a></p> + +<p>"Goodness me, yes!" put in the portress, a debonair matron, taking up +her knitting again. "And then, whose fault is it? The nobles and the +priests haven't stopped for three years conspiring with Veto and the +Austrian woman. They loose the Prussians and Huns upon our poor country. +God! Listen, you, neighbor—we are getting tired, and it is high time +that, one way or another, this all be put an end to."</p> + +<p>"My wife is right. And then, do you see, neighbor, when the Sections, +and even the Commune and Monsieur Danton, everyone, in fact, says it is +necessary to purge the prisons, one must believe that so many persons +would not agree on one and the same course, were it not at bottom just, +or at least necessary."</p> + +<p>I have cited these good people's words because they are a faithful +expression of the general sentiment on the subject of the massacres.</p> + +<p>On leaving the house where I had found a refuge, I set out, not for my +Section, to join my comrades of the Guard as I had at first intended; +but, acting on the subsequent call of the Commune to all the armorer, +blacksmith and iron-worker artisans, who were to take in hand the +manufacture in haste of the greatest possible number of arms, I turned +my steps toward the National Assembly, where the Military Committee sat +in permanent session. I hoped that the number of workmen in these trades +who reported would be over-sufficient for the turning out of the arms; +in that case I was resolved to leave the next day for the army. Two +motives impelled me to that resolution. First, my duty to my country; +second the profound chagrin into which the aberration of my sister +Victoria had thrown me.<a name="vol-1-pg_276" id="vol-1-pg_276"></a> At that very moment, doubtless, she +was—frightful thought—assisting at the massacre in the prisons, calm +and terrible as the goddess of Retribution. Moreover, I had received, +two days earlier, a letter from Charlotte Desmarais. She was living +still at Lyons, with her mother; she assured me of her affection, of her +unshakable constancy, and added that, in view of the perils with which +the allied arms threatened the country, my duty as a citizen was marked +out for me; she would support with firmness the new trials that would +await her should I go to the front. Unhappily, I could not enrol. The +number of mechanics skilled in iron working would hardly suffice for +getting out the arms; by a decree of the Assembly, rendered on September +4, it was forbidden to them to leave Paris.</p> + +<p>Behold the spectacle that I was to witness on my way to the Assembly—a +spectacle moving in its very simplicity:</p> + +<p>In the middle of Vendome Place was raised a tent, supported at each +corner by a pike surmounted with a red bonnet. Under this tent, +municipal officers, girt with the tricolor scarf, were receiving the +enlistments of citizens. Two drums, piled one on the other, served as +table. On the upper drum lay an ink-well, a pen, and the register in +which were inscribed the names of the volunteers. Each of these received +a fraternal embrace from one of the councilmen, and departed amid the +cheers of "Long live the Nation!" uttered by the crowd which filled the +place. Day without equal in history! Strange day! in which love of +country, heroism, civic devotion, and the exaltation of the holiest +virtues of the family, were intermingled with the thirst for vengeance +and extermination. I heard uttered here and there about me, here with +savage satisfaction,<a name="vol-1-pg_277" id="vol-1-pg_277"></a> there with the accent of indifference or the +resignation born of painful necessity: "They are going to execute the +conspirators and purge the prisons." "Death to the priests and nobles!"</p> + +<p>Into the tent of the municipal officers I saw a distinguished-looking +old man enter. His five sons accompanied him. The youngest seemed about +eighteen; the eldest, aged perhaps forty, held by the hand his own son, +hardly out of his boyhood. These seven persons, completely armed and +equipped out of their own purse, carried on their backs their soldiers' +knapsacks. The old man acted as spokesman, and addressed one of the +officers:</p> + +<p>"Citizen, I am named Matthew Bernard, master tanner, No. 71 St. Victor +Street, where I live with my five sons and my grandson. We come, they +and I, to enlist; we leave for the frontier."</p> + +<p>The wife of the brave citizen, his daughter, a young girl of seventeen, +and his son's wife, awaited them outside. On the countenances of the +three women was legible neither fear nor regret; the tears that shone in +their eyes were tears of enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>"Farewell, wife! Farewell, daughter and daughter-in-law! We depart +assured of your safety. The prisons are purged," said the old man in a +voice calm and strong. "We have none now to fight but the Prussians on +the frontier. Adieu till we meet again. Long live the Nation! Long live +the Republic! Death to the priests and the aristocrats!"</p> + +<p>In the midst of the procession of recruits, I heard the snapping of a +whip, and these words, shouted out in deep and joyous tones:<a name="vol-1-pg_278" id="vol-1-pg_278"></a></p> + +<p>"Make way, citizens, make way, please! Oh, hey! Alright, Double-grey! +Alright, Reddy!" And soon I saw drawing near, through the crowd which +fell back to give him passage, a man in the hey-day of his strength, +with an open and martial countenance, clad in a great-coat and an +oilskin hat. He rode a grey horse, and led by the bridle a bay, both +harnessed for the carriage. Across the crupper of one of the animals +were slung a saddle-bag of oats and a bale of grass tied with a cord; +the other horse carried a valise. The great-coat of the rider was +drawn-tight at the waist by the belt of a cavalry saber that hung beside +him. I remarked with surprise that the white leather of his sword-tassel +was red, as if wet with blood.</p> + +<p>"Citizen officers," called the rider without descending from the horse +he rode, and which he reined in on the threshold of the tent, "Write as +a voluntary recruit James Duchemin, stage driver by occupation and +formerly an artilleryman; I have sold my coach to pay my expenses on the +way. I am off to the frontier with my horses Double-grey and Reddy, of +whom I make an offering to the country, asking only the favor not to be +separated from them and to be enrolled with them in a regiment of field +artillery. You'll see them do famously in the harness when they're +hitched up to a four-pounder. So, then, citizen officers, write us down, +my horses and me. I have just lent a hand to the patriots who are +working down there, at the Abbey," added the stage driver, carrying his +hand to the blood-reddened saber. "The business is done. The prisons are +purged;—now, to the front!"</p> + +<p>The day was nearly over when I arrived at the Assembly to put myself at +the disposal of the Military Committee.<a name="vol-1-pg_279" id="vol-1-pg_279"></a> While awaiting my turn for +enrolment, I wandered into the Assembly galleries. I was anxious to know +whether the massacre in the prisons was known to the popular +Representatives. I then learned that the Assembly, informed as to the +occurrences at the Abbey, at La Force, and at the Chatelet, had sent to +these places, with instructions to oppose the carnage, a commission +composed of Citizens Bazire, Dussaulx, Francis of Neufchateau, Isnard +and Lequino.</p> + +<p>Soon several of the commissioners entered the chamber, accompanied by +Tallien, a member of the Commune, who took the floor and said:</p> + +<p>"Citizens, the commissioners of the Assembly are powerless to turn aside +the vengeance of the people, a vengeance in some sort just, for, we must +say it, these blows have fallen upon the issuers of false notes, whom +the law condemns to death. What excited the vengeance of the people was +that they found in the prisons none but recognized criminals!"</p> + +<p>I left the Assembly chamber and returned to take my place in the line +and pass before the Committee. The Committee was presided over, that +day, by Carnot the elder, an officer of genius, and one of the greatest +captains of the time. I had myself inscribed as an iron-worker, and +received the order to appear next morning at daybreak, at the +green-house of the Louvre, where they were setting up the forges and +work-benches for the fashioning of the munitions of war.</p> + +<p>While awaiting Victoria, at our lodging, I busied myself with recording +in my journal the various events of the day. One in the morning sounded; +my sister had not returned.<a name="vol-1-pg_280" id="vol-1-pg_280"></a> Up till now, I had felt no anxiety for her; +only those who would attempt to disarm the popular anger, only those, on +that day, ran any danger; and Victoria partook of the general sentiment +of Paris on the subject of a mass extermination. But suddenly there +flashed back to my mind Jesuit Morlet and his tool Lehiron. I knew the +hatred entertained by the reverend Father for my sister. These thoughts +threw me into deep anxiety. The Jesuit Morlet and Lehiron were capable +of any crime; and on this unlucky day, when blood flowed in torrents, +nothing would have been easier than for the wretches to make away with +Victoria. Faithful to his hope of seeing the Revolution besmirch itself +or lose itself in excesses, Abbot Morlet would not fail to be on hand to +urge on the carnage of the prisoners; he could easily, under a new +disguise, repair to the prisons with Lehiron and his cut-throats, and, +on encountering my sister, point her out to their weapons.</p> + +<p>The gloomiest of apprehensions were raised in me by these reflections. +My alarm increased from minute to minute. There was, alas, no way to +still it. My anguish had almost reached the breaking point when I heard +hurried steps on the stair-landing. I ran to the door. It flew open. +Victoria uttered a cry of joy, threw herself into my arms, pressed me +convulsively to her breast, and broke into tears. Then, between her +sobs, she murmured in a voice choked with joy:</p> + +<p>"Brother, my poor brother, I find you again! God be praised!"</p> + +<p>As her emotion subsided, Victoria acquainted me in the following words +with the source of her alarm:</p> + +<p>"Just now, on my way here, I met, ten steps from the<a name="vol-1-pg_281" id="vol-1-pg_281"></a> house, our +neighbor Dubreuil. On seeing me he stopped, looked at me an instant with +an expression of surprise and grief, and said, 'Are you coming to see +John?' 'Surely,' answered I. 'Alas, poor John harangued the crowd this +morning at this very place; he spoke against the massacre in the +prisons; they took him for a traitor, and the crowd, in its temper—' +and our neighbor buried his face in his hands and did not finish. I +understood everything. Yielding to the goodness of your heart, desiring +to oppose popular justice in its course, you had paid for the attempt +with your life!—such was my first thought. For an instant I stood +motionless with stupor, my soul in a whirl. I felt I should go mad. Then +I ran to our door. 'Brother, brother!' I cried. 'Whence your alarm, +mademoiselle?' the porter asked me; 'Monsieur John is upstairs since ten +o'clock.' My heart bounded with joy;—but I was not completely reassured +till I saw you."</p> + +<p>I recounted to my sister the cause of our neighbor's mistake in thinking +I had lost my life in the attempt to intervene in favor of the +prisoners. And I followed by confiding to Victoria the fears which her +own prolonged absence had caused me.</p> + +<p>"True," Victoria answered, "the Jesuit did appear once at the Abbey +Prison with Lehiron and some of his brigands. But they soon saw that +that was not the place for them, for at the Abbey there was no +pillaging, there was no assassination. We judged and condemned the +guilty; we freed the innocent."</p> + +<p>"Alas, and in the name of what law did you condemn the ones, and acquit +the others?"<a name="vol-1-pg_282" id="vol-1-pg_282"></a></p> + +<p>"In the name of Eternal Justice, which smites the wicked and spares the +good."</p> + +<p>I heard Victoria in a sort of daze. "And even if," exclaimed I, "a +semblance of justice did preside over the carnage, by what right did +these men constitute themselves the accusers, judges and executioners of +the prisoners?"</p> + +<p>"Brother, by what right did the jurors who assisted at the sessions of +the revolutionary tribunal instituted on August the 17th of this year, +declare the accused innocent or guilty?"</p> + +<p>"They exercised a right conferred on them by the law."</p> + +<p>"Then the law confers in certain cases, and on citizens elected by the +people, the right to judge or to absolve?"</p> + +<p>"In certain cases, yes; and the present case is not of their number."</p> + +<p>"John, those are the subtleties of a lawyer. Listen to what passed +before my eyes: The people elected by acclamation and installed in the +prison a revolutionary tribunal of eleven jurors. The prisoners were +brought before them. Then—I saw everything, I heard everything, and I +swear before God, aye, on my soul and conscience, that all those who +were sentenced deserved the death. My mind is clear, my thoughts calm. +Hear what I have to tell you, then you shall pronounce between those who +glorify the events of September and those who condemn them:</p> + +<p>"Three carriages bearing priests accused of having fomented civil war, +were driving towards the Abbey. As the vehicles approached the prison, +one of the priests, who was braving the crowd with the violence of his +discourse, was cursed by it. In a passion he raised his cane and struck +one of those who insulted him over the head. The crowd,<a name="vol-1-pg_283" id="vol-1-pg_283"></a> exasperated, +followed the vehicles into the Abbey and massacred all the priests in +them."</p> + +<p>Victoria gasped for breath and continued:</p> + +<p>"It was at this moment that I entered the prison. Almost at the same +time as I, Manuel, the attorney-at-law for the Commune, arrived. The +people called on the guards to deliver the prisoners to them. Manuel +asked to be heard. He began by reading a decision of the Commune, which +declared:</p> + +<p>"'In the name of the people, citizens, you are enjoined to pass judgment +on all the prisoners in the Abbey Prison without distinction; with the +exception of Abbot Lenfant, whom you shall bestow in a safe place.</p> + +<p>"'At the City Hall, September 2, 1792.</p> + +<p>"'Signed, Panis, Sergent, administrators.'</p> + +<p>"Having read the decree, Manuel continued:</p> + +<p>"'Citizens, your resentment is just. Wage, if you will, war without let +upon the enemies of the public weal! Fight them to the death; they must +perish. But you love justice, and you would shudder at the thought of +imbruing your hands with innocent blood. Cease, then, from throwing +yourselves like tigers upon men, your brothers.'"</p> + +<p>Victoria, after accentuating this fact, went on:</p> + +<p>"A court elected by those present and presided over by Maillard, +convened in the registrar's office; one enters the place by a grating +communicating with the interior of the prison, and leaves it by a door +opening on the prison courtyard. It was in the latter place that the +justiciaries awaited the condemned, to execute them. Maillard laid +before him the prison register; this gave the charge against each +inmate, and the cause of his arrest. A warder, as each<a name="vol-1-pg_284" id="vol-1-pg_284"></a> prisoner's name +was called, went to fetch him. He was led before the tribunal, which +proceeded in this wise:</p> + +<p>"For instance, they brought in a Knight of St. Louis, an ex-captain of +the King's Huntsmen. The accused, formerly the seigneur of several +parishes, enjoyed still a large fortune. His name was Journiac of St. +Meard. Here he comes before the tribunal. He gives his name and surname. +'Are you a royalist?' asks Maillard. And as, at that question, St. Meard +seemed troubled, Maillard adds: 'Answer truthfully and without fear. We +are here to judge not opinions but their consequences.' The Chevalier of +St. Meard, a firm and loyal man, replies: 'I am a royalist, I mourn the +old regime. I believe that France is essentially monarchist. I have +never concealed my regrets. I have a naturally satirical spirit, and I +have published in several miscellanies, adhering to my opinion, several +mocking verses against the Revolution. Those are the principal facts +charged against me. As to the rest, I have here papers which will, +happily, make clear to you my innocence.' And St. Meard drew from a +portfolio several sheets. They were carefully examined. Some witnesses, +brought there by the merest chance, were heard for and against the +accused. His defense, worked out in much detail, occupied over half an +hour, and ended with these words: 'I mourn the old regime; but I have +never conspired against the new. I did not flee the country; I regard as +a crime the appeal to foreign arms. I hope I have proved to you, +citizens, my innocence, and I believe that you will set me at liberty, +to which I am much inclined both by principle and by nature.' The jurors +conferred in a low voice, and in a few seconds Maillard rose, removed +his hat, and said aloud, 'Prisoner<a name="vol-1-pg_285" id="vol-1-pg_285"></a> at the bar, you are free.' Then, +addressing three patriots armed with pikes and bloody swords, Maillard +added, 'Watch over the safety of this citizen; conduct him to his +home.'—"</p> + +<p>"Ah," I broke in, experiencing a mingled sensation of compassion and +horror, "the heart of man is an abyss—an abyss—one's reason is lost in +trying to fathom it!"</p> + +<p>"That is how things were conducted at the Abbey," proceeded Victoria. +"After examination and free defense I saw set at liberty Bertrand La +Molleville, brother of the minister; Maton La Varenne, a lawyer; Abbot +Solomon Duveyrier; and the Count of Afry, a colonel in the Swiss +regiments, after he had proven an alibi from Paris during the events of +the 10th of August."</p> + +<p>And Victoria completed the account of the things she witnessed while the +prisoners were being judged:</p> + +<p>"I told you, brother, how they acquitted the innocent; now I shall show +you how they performed sentence on the guilty. Let me take the case of +Montmorin, the double traitor absolved by the Orleans High Court. That +scandalous acquittal was one of the causes of to-day's events. The +people, tired and irritated at seeing the criminals pass scatheless +under the sword of the law, has done justice to itself, by striking +them! Montmorin, brought before the court, showed himself haughty and +arrogant; a contemptuous smile contracted his lips. 'You are Citizen +Montmorin? The crimes of which you are accused are notorious. What have +you to say in your defense?' Maillard asked the former minister. 'I +refuse to reply; I do not recognize your right to sit upon me,' retorted +Montmorin. In vain Maillard urged him to speak; the prisoner maintained<a name="vol-1-pg_286" id="vol-1-pg_286"></a> +an obstinate silence. 'Take the accused to La Force,' ordered Maillard, +after with a look consulting the jurors, all of whom gave, by an +affirmative nod of the head, their approval of the sentence of the Count +of Montmorin."</p> + +<p>"But Maillard had just ordered the prisoner to be taken to La Force?"</p> + +<p>"A conventional phrase, to spare the condemned up to the last moment the +agonies of death. 'Take the accused to La Force,' or 'Release the +accused,' were the formulas for the supreme penalty. They opened before +them the door that gave on the courtyard; the door closed on them, and +the justiciaries performed their office."</p> + +<p>"Strange contradiction—pity and ferocity!"</p> + +<p>"Misled by the words pronounced by Maillard, Montmorin quoth in a +supercilious voice, 'I do not go on foot; let them call a coach.' 'It +awaits you at the door,' responded Maillard. Montmorin was pushed into +the courtyard, where they ended him. Bakman, the Swiss regimental +colonel, also acquitted by the High Court of Orleans, underwent the same +fate as Montmorin; also Protot and Valvins, both counterfeiters; Abbot +Bardy, a monster who had cut his own brother to pieces, and—but we can +content ourselves with these examples."</p> + +<p>Victoria sank into somber silence; I pressed her hand compassionately, +and passed to my own room to seek in repose forgetfulness from this +wretched day.<a name="vol-1-pg_287" id="vol-1-pg_287"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_X-1-b" id="CHAPTER_X-1-b"></a>CHAPTER X.<br /><br /> +ROYALTY ABOLISHED.</h3> + +<p>Tallien, in his account of the times, traces the events leading up to +these September days; he marks among the causes of the public +indignation the scandalous acquittals of the Orleans High Court, and the +approach of the foreign armies, after the capture of Longwy and Verdun. +Then he proceeds:</p> + +<p>"At the same time, a criminal exposed in the public place had the +temerity to cry on the scaffold, 'Long live the King! Long live the +Queen! Long live Lafayette! Long live the Prussians! To the devil with +the Nation!' These utterances provoked the anger of the people, and the +wretch would have perished on the instant had not the attorney of the +Commune shielded him with his own body, and had him taken back to prison +to be turned over to the judges. In the course of his examination he +declared that for several days money had been scattered profusely in the +prisons, and that, at the first opportunity, the brigands there held in +durance were to be armed in the service of the counter-revolutionists!</p> + +<p>"Moreover, no one is ignorant that it was in the prisons that the false +notes put in circulation were forged; and, in fact, during the +expedition of the 2nd of September,<a name="vol-1-pg_288" id="vol-1-pg_288"></a> there were found in the prisons +plates, paper, and all the necessary apparatus for issuing the notes. +These articles are in existence now, and are deposited in the archives +of the courts....</p> + +<p>"Soon thousands of citizens were assembled under the banners of liberty, +ready to march. But before their departure, a simple and natural +reflection occurred to them:</p> + +<p>"'At the very moment that we march against the enemy,' they said, 'when +we go to shed our blood in defense of the country, we do not wish to +leave our fathers, our wives, our children, our old folks, exposed to +the onslaughts of the reprobates shut up in the prisons. Before setting +out against the foreign enemies, we must first wipe out those in our +midst.'</p> + +<p>"Such was the language of these citizens, when two refractory priests +whom they were taking to the Abbey Prison, hearing some seditious cries, +offered insults to the Revolution. The rage of the people was at white +heat....</p> + +<p>"The Swiss, the assassins of the people on the 10th of August, +imprisoned to the number of some three hundred, were set free and +incorporated in the national battalions....</p> + +<p>"Such were the circumstances which preceded and provoked the events of +September, events unquestionably terrible, and which, in time of peace +would demand legal vengeance, but which, in a period of agitation, it is +better to draw the veil over, leaving to the historian the task of +appreciating this period of the Revolution, which, however, had many +more uses than one thinks."</p> + +<p>To wind up the portrayal of this redoubtable evolution, I take this +extract from a speech of Robespierre's:<a name="vol-1-pg_289" id="vol-1-pg_289"></a></p> + +<p>"They have spoken to you often of the events of September 2. That is the +subject at which I am impatient to arrive. I shall treat it in an +absolutely disinterested manner....</p> + +<p>"The general council of the Commune, far from exciting the events of +September, did its levellest to prevent them. In order to form a just +idea of these occurrences, one must seek for truth not alone in +calumnious orations in which they are distorted, but in the history of +the Revolution. If you have the idea that the mental impulse given by +the insurrection of August 10 had not entirely subsided by the beginning +of September, you are mistaken. There is not a single likeness between +the two periods....</p> + +<p>"The greatest conspirators of August 10 were withdrawn from the wrath of +the victorious people, who had consented to place them in the hands of a +new tribunal. Nevertheless, after judging three or four minor criminals, +the tribunal rested. Montmorin was acquitted, the Prince of Poix and +other conspirators of like importance were fraudulently set free. Vast +impositions of this character were coming to light, new proofs of the +conspiracy of the court were developing daily. Nearly all the patriots +wounded at the Tuileries died in the arms of their brother Parisians. +Indignation was smouldering in all hearts. A new cause burst it into +flame. Many citizens had believed that the 10th of August would break +the thread of the royalist conspiracies, they considered the war closed. +Suddenly the news of the taking of Longwy hurtled through Paris; Verdun +had been given up, Brunswick with his army was headed for Paris. No +fortified place interposed between us and our enemies. Our army, +divided, almost ruined by<a name="vol-1-pg_290" id="vol-1-pg_290"></a> the treasons of Lafayette, was lacking in +everything. Arms had to be found, camp equipments, provisions, men. The +Executive Council dissimulated neither its fears nor embarrassment. +Danton appeared before the Assembly, graphically pictured to it its +perils and resources, and besought it to take vigorous measures. He went +to the City Hall, rang the alarm bell, fired the guns, and declared the +country in danger. In an instant forty thousand men, armed and equipped, +were on the march to Chalons. In the midst of this universal enthusiasm +the approach of the out-land armies reawakened in every breast +sentiments of indignation and vengeance against the traitors who had +beckoned in the enemy. Before leaving their wives and children, the +citizens, the vanquishers of the Tuileries, desired the punishment of +the conspirators, which had been promised them. They ran to the prisons. +Could the magistrates halt the people! for it was a movement of the +people; not, as some have ridiculously supposed, a fragmentary sedition +of a few rascals paid to assassinate their fellows. The Commune, they +say, should have proclaimed martial law. Martial law against the people, +with the enemy drawing nigh! Martial law after the 10th of August! +Martial law in favor of the accomplices of a tyranny dethroned by the +people! What could the magistrates do against the determined will of an +indignant population, which opposed to the magistrates' talk the memory +of its own heroism on August 10, its present devotion in rushing to the +front, and the long-drawn-out immunity from punishment enjoyed by the +traitors?...</p> + +<p>"They protest that innocent persons perished in these executions; they +have been pleased to exaggerate the number<a name="vol-1-pg_291" id="vol-1-pg_291"></a> of these. Even one, no +doubt, is too many, citizens! Mourn that cruel mistake, as we have for +long mourned it! Mourn even the guilty ones reserved for the law's +retribution, who fell under the sword of popular justice!"</p> + +<p>The volunteers, who in those September days enrolled in multitudes, were +sent first to the intermediary camps, where they received the rudiments +of military training. Thence they were sent to the army. Their courage +saved France and inaugurated the victories of the Republic.</p> + +<p>Thanks, O, God! To-day I have seen the triumph which crowns fifteen +centuries of struggle maintained by our oppressed fathers against their +oppressors; by slaves, serfs, and vassals against Kings, nobles and +clergy; by the descendants of the conquered Gauls against the +descendants of the Frankish conquerors.</p> + +<p>Gaul was a slave—I see her sovereign! Her casqued and mitred tyrants +are cut off.</p> + +<p>The new National Convention assembled at the palace of the Tuileries, +and went into session on Friday, September 21, 1792, at quarter past +twelve.</p> + +<p>Petion presided; the secretaries were Condorcet, Rabaud St. Etienne, +Vergniaud, Camus, and Lassource.</p> + +<p>Couthon took the floor, and exhorted his colleagues: "Citizens, our +mission is sublime! The people has reposed its confidence in us—let us +approve ourselves worthy of it!"</p> + +<p>"There is one act which you can not put off till to-morrow, without +betraying the will of the nation," declared Collot D'Herbois. "That is +the abolition of royalty."</p> + +<p>"Certes," assented Abbot Gregory, "no one intends to preserve the race +of Kings in France. We know that all dynasties are but broods of +vampires; we must reassure the<a name="vol-1-pg_292" id="vol-1-pg_292"></a> friends of liberty; we must destroy this +talisman, whose magic power is still capable of stupefying so many. I +ask, then, that by a solemn law, you consecrate the abolition of +royalty."</p> + +<p>The whole Assembly rose with a spontaneous movement, and with cheers +acclaimed the motion of Gregory, who continued:</p> + +<p>"Kings are to the moral order what monsters are to the physical. Courts +are the smithy of crimes and the fastness of tyrants. The history of +Kings is the martyrdom of nations. We are all penetrated with this +truth—why further discuss it? I ask that my motion be put to a vote, +after it shall have been drafted with a preamble comportable to the +solemnity of the decision."</p> + +<p>"The preamble of your motion, citizen, is the history of the crimes of +Louis XVI," said Ducot.</p> + +<p>The president rose and read:</p> + +<p>"T<small>HE</small> N<small>ATIONAL</small> A<small>SSEMBLY DECREES</small>:</p> + +<p>"R<small>OYALTY IS ABOLISHED IN</small> F<small>RANCE</small>."</p> + +<p>Shouts of joy, cries of "Long live the Nation! Long live the Republic!" +rang from every throat, members of the Convention and spectators in the +galleries alike. The tumultuous rejoicing lasted for several minutes.</p> + +<p>The session adjourned.</p> + +<p>The members of the Convention passed out to cries of:</p> + +<p>"Long live the Nation!"</p> + +<p>"Long live the Republic!"</p> + +<p>"Down with Kings and nobles!"<a name="vol-1-pg_293" id="vol-1-pg_293"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XI-1-b" id="CHAPTER_XI-1-b"></a>CHAPTER XI.<br /><br /> +BOURGEOIS TURNED SANS-CULOTTE.</h3> + +<p>It was the evening of December 10, 1792. Monsieur Desmarais sat talking +with his wife in the parlor of their dwelling. The attorney, elected to +the Convention in September, no longer was content to affect patriotism +in his acts and words; his very appearance now breathed a sans-culottism +of the deepest dye. Thus he, once so precise about his person, shaved +but once a week; his hair, now powderless, was clipped close like a +Roundhead's; he wore a carmagnole jacket, hob-nailed shoes, wide +pantaloons, a distinctive sign of the sans-culottes, and a red-checkered +handkerchief rolled around his neck, after the style of Marat. In one of +the corners of the parlor, now without mirrors or curtains and almost +stripped of furniture, reposed a large square deal box, whose cover bore +the words in large penciled characters: "Breakable. Handle with care." +The chest seemed to be built with more care and solidity than is usual +with packing-cases. Its cover, instead of being merely nailed, was +fastened with hinges; a strong lock held it shut. Madam Desmarais, +arrived from Lyons a brief half hour before, had not yet removed her +traveling garments. Her face breathed anxiety. Her husband's features +were pale and glowering; he seemed worked up, agitated. His wife +continued the conversation:<a name="vol-1-pg_294" id="vol-1-pg_294"></a></p> + +<p>"You understand, my friend, that, frightened at the rumors which were +rife in Lyons on the subject of the triumph of a royalist +conspiracy—that Paris was given up to fire and blood, the Convention +dissolved, its members exposed to the greatest dangers—"</p> + +<p>"It is incomprehensible to me what object anyone could have in +propagating such sinister rumors," replied Desmarais. "We are on the +tracks of a royalist plot, built, for a pretext, upon the trial of this +unfortunate King; but the plot can not but miscarry. Paris seems seized +with vertigo since August 10!"</p> + +<p>"However that may be, my friend, frightened by these rumors, I set out +for Paris. Besides, it costs me too much to live far from you in these +terrible times. The reasons for our separation were the hope of allaying +the passion of our daughter for that young Lebrenn, and your lively +desire to shield me from the spectacle of the insurrections, the popular +passions which were about to sweep over Paris. But our principal aim has +not been attained. Charlotte persists in her determination to remain +unmarried or to wed that ironsmith. She writes to him and receives his +letters. So, then, whether she be at Paris or at Lyons, she will be +neither nearer nor further from the scene of her love-affair. And +finally, by the very fact that you are exposed to dangers of all sorts, +my place is beside you, my friend. I have, then, resolved to leave you +no longer. I also am much alarmed on my brother's score. Here it is more +than a month that I haven't heard from him. Can you tell me what has +become of him?"</p> + +<p>"I know that he was denounced as a suspect; he probably has remained in +Paris, where he is in hiding, and conspiring<a name="vol-1-pg_295" id="vol-1-pg_295"></a> in favor of the monarchy. +I do not in the least doubt it."</p> + +<p>"What do you tell me! My brother denounced! My God! In these times such +an accusation is a thing of terror—it may lead to the scaffold!"</p> + +<p>"No doubt. But why doesn't he consent to resign himself, as I have, to +howl with the wolves, and roar with the tigers?"</p> + +<p>"Poor Hubert," replied Madam Desmarais in tears. "In the midst of the +mortal dangers which he runs, he thinks of my birthday; he sends me a +token of his brotherly affection." And the attorney's wife, casting her +eyes towards the box in the corner, added, "Dear, good brother! How +sensible I am of this new proof of his affection!"</p> + +<p>"If he truly loved you, he would not risk causing you the greatest +chagrin, and compromising me into the bargain!"</p> + +<p>"My friend, I can not listen to reproaches against my brother, when he +is exposed to such grave perils—"</p> + +<p>"And whose fault is it, if not his own, due to his own violent and +obstinate character? He abhors, says he, the excesses of the Revolution! +Alas, I also execrate them—yet I feign to applaud them. That will at +least do to insure our repose and steer clear of the guillotine. Thus, +to-morrow, the members of the Convention will hale before the bar the +unfortunate Louis XVI, he will be examined in due form, they will give +him his trial, and he will be condemned to death. And well, I shall vote +for death."</p> + +<p>"O, my God!" murmured Madam Desmarais in cold fear. "My husband a +regicide!"</p> + +<p>"But how can I escape the fatal necessity?"<a name="vol-1-pg_296" id="vol-1-pg_296"></a></p> + +<p>"Let the fatality fall, then!" answered Madam Desmarais mournfully, her +voice broken with sobs.</p> + +<p>"Let us go on," said advocate Desmarais after a long silence, during +which his agitation slowly got the better of itself, "let us go on. Our +daughter is then still infatuated with this Lebrenn?"</p> + +<p>"She loves Lebrenn as much as, if not more than, before. He informed her +in one of his last letters that he had been promoted to certain duties +in the Commune of Paris, and she glories in his advancement."</p> + +<p>"In truth, the workingman has been elected a municipal officer. They +even proposed to him, such is his influence in the quarter and in the +Jacobin Club, to run as candidate for the Convention, but he declined +the offer. For the rest, his position with the Jacobins has put him in +touch with several leading spirits of the Revolution—Tallien, +Robespierre, Legendre, Billaud-Varenne, Danton, and other rabid +democrats."</p> + +<p>"Have you renewed your relations with the young man since the day you +refused him our daughter's hand?"</p> + +<p>"No; we have met several times at the Jacobins, but I have avoided +speaking with him. He has imitated my reserve. For the rest, I must do +him this justice—he has always expressed himself in favorable terms +concerning me, true to his promise, that, however little reliance he +placed in my uprightness and the sincerity of my convictions, he would +hold his opinion secret until my acts themselves denounced me. Well, my +acts and speeches have been, and will be, in conformity with the +necessities of my position. But, too much of this Lebrenn;—I have told +you that your unlooked-for return surprised me, but that it chimed in<a name="vol-1-pg_297" id="vol-1-pg_297"></a> +with my recent projects. I have in view for our daughter a marriage to +which I attach great importance, for I would become, by the alliance, +the father-in-law of a man destined to count among the most influential +personages of the Revolution. This future son-in-law is very young, and +remarkably good looking; he belongs to the upper bourgeois, even +bordering on the nobility. He is, in fine, the intimate friend, the +pupil, the devoted supporter, the right arm of Robespierre. This young +man, who has already made his mark in the Assembly in two speeches of +immense influence,—is Monsieur St. Just."</p> + +<p>"Alas, my friend, in Lyons I heard tell of this young man. His name +excites the same execration as that of Robespierre and Marat among the +royalists, and even among the moderate republicans of the complexion of +the Girondins. Have you considered that?"</p> + +<p>"It is precisely because of the aversion which he inspires in the +royalists, the Girondins, and the moderates, that I have fixed my eyes +upon St. Just. One of our common friends, Billaud-Varenne, is to make, +this very day, overtures to my young colleague on the subject of this +marriage, which will be so much to my advantage."</p> + +<p>"My friend, all that you say causes me a surprise and bewilderment that +puts my mind in a whirl. You own to experiencing great regret at +entering on the path of the Revolution; and, by a strange contradiction, +you speak of marrying your daughter to one of the men whom honest folks +hold most in horror."</p> + +<p>"No contradiction there, at all. Facts are facts. I am unhappy enough to +have for brother-in-law a mad-cap counter-revolutionist. Hubert is a +denounced man, and at<a name="vol-1-pg_298" id="vol-1-pg_298"></a> this very hour, no doubt, is intriguing against +the Revolution. All this may compromise me most perilously. Marat has +his eye on me. Now, if Marat penetrates my innermost thoughts, I am in +great danger. The influence of St. Just, once my son-in-law, would save +my head."</p> + +<p>Gertrude the serving-maid interrupted her master by entering the room +with an air at once of mystery and affright, and saying to him in a +startled voice:</p> + +<p>"Monsieur, madam's brother is here."</p> + +<p>"Hubert here!" cried Desmarais with a start. "I don't want to see him! +Tell him I'm out!"</p> + +<p>"Alas, sir, your brother-in-law said to me that he was pursued by the +police, and that they were hard on his tracks."</p> + +<p>"Great God!" murmured Madam Desmarais faintly. "My brother!"</p> + +<p>"Let him get out of here!" cried the attorney, pale with terror. "Let +him get out this instant!"</p> + +<p>"You repulse my brother, when he is in danger of his life, perhaps!" +exclaimed Madam Desmarais indignantly. And running to Gertrude she +demanded, "Where is my brother?"</p> + +<p>"In the dining room, taking off his cloak—" But interrupting herself +she exclaimed, "Here is Monsieur Hubert, now!"</p> + +<p>In fact, it was none other than Hubert himself who appeared in the +parlor door. He was laboring under strong emotion; he received his +sister in his arms and embraced her effusively.</p> + +<p>Advocate Desmarais, a prey to the keenest anxiety, was as yet uncertain +as to how his troublesome brother-in-law<a name="vol-1-pg_299" id="vol-1-pg_299"></a> was to be received. In a +whisper he interrogated Gertrude:</p> + +<p>"Do you think the porter recognized Monsieur Hubert?"</p> + +<p>"With his slouch hat pulled over his eyes, blue glasses on, and his chin +hidden in the collar of his great-coat, Monsieur Hubert was +unrecognizable."</p> + +<p>The attorney pondered a few seconds, and continued his conversation with +Gertrude: "You have a key to the little garden gate? Go open it, and +leave it ajar. In ten minutes run to the janitor with a great air of +alarm and tell him that the person who just asked for me was a robber, +that you just surprised him with his hand in the drawer of the +dining-room buffet; that he took flight as soon as discovered, that he +ran down stairs in a hurry, and that he probably made good his escape by +scaling the garden wall. You understand all I've told you? Execute my +orders precisely, and not a word on my brother-in-law's presence."</p> + +<p>"It shall all be done as you wish."</p> + +<p>"Not a word of all this to Jeanette or Germain. Let no one into the +parlor for any reason whatsoever, and do not come in yourself until I +ring for you." Then Desmarais added, as one who had a brilliant idea, +"For greater safety, I'll bolt the door, Go!"</p> + +<p>Gertrude went out, and Desmarais cautiously bolted the door of the +parlor.</p> + +<p>"To see you again brother, perhaps at the moment of losing you forever!" +sobbed Madam Desmarais addressing Hubert; "the thought is misery to me."</p> + +<p>"Reassure yourself, sister. I know how to baffle the pursuits of which I +am the object. I have thrown off the<a name="vol-1-pg_300" id="vol-1-pg_300"></a> scent the spies who dogged my +steps. And certes, they will never come to seek me in the house of a +member of the Convention. I ask asylum of your husband till midnight +only. At that hour I shall quit his house."</p> + +<p>"Ah, I swear, that do I, that you will have quit it in ten minutes!" +retorted the attorney, going over slowly to his wife's side, at the same +moment that Hubert, perceiving the wooden packing-case, said to his +sister:</p> + +<p>"Ah, there is my box!"</p> + +<p>"Poor brother," began Madam Desmarais, interrupting the financier. "In +the midst of your anxieties, you still remembered my birthday. How can I +tell you how touched I am at this proof of your affection!"</p> + +<p>"I deserve no thanks, my dear sister. The case is not intended for you; +it contains some precious objects which I wish to save from the +domiciliary visits they make upon suspects."</p> + +<p>"Compromising papers, no doubt!" gasped Desmarais, aside. "Such an +object to drop upon me!"</p> + +<p>"I thought these things would be safer here than anywhere else, that is +why I sent them in the case," continued Hubert; "but for reasons useless +to tell you, your servant and the porter must transport it at once to a +house at an address I shall give you."</p> + +<p>"I shall go at once to tell our men," said Madam Desmarais, moving +toward the door. But the lawyer stopped her with his hand, and said +coldly:</p> + +<p>"Madam, you shall not go out!"</p> + +<p>"Pardon, my dear brother-in-law, my not yet having pressed your hand, +you whose hospitality I shall share for a few hours," spoke up Hubert, +stepping to meet the lawyer;<a name="vol-1-pg_301" id="vol-1-pg_301"></a> "but it was so long since I saw my sister, +that my first movement was to run to her, and—"</p> + +<p>"Citizen Hubert," broke in the attorney, pale and trembling between rage +and fear, "the house of a Mountainist of the Convention shall not serve +as the refuge of traitors."</p> + +<p>"Good God!" Madam Desmarais murmured, clasping her hands in fright.</p> + +<p>"What, brother-in-law, I ask you for shelter for a few hours, you, my +relative, you, erstwhile my friend, and you dare drive me from your +door?"</p> + +<p>"Citizen Hubert, the enemies of the Republic are my enemies; I shall +treat them as political enemies when they fall into my hands. Out you +go!"</p> + +<p>"Such greetings from you!" stammered Hubert, dazed.</p> + +<p>"Brother," cried Madam Desmarais, "do not believe what my husband says! +He is incapable of committing such an act of infamy. It was only a few +moments ago that he was cursing the excesses of the Revolution."</p> + +<p>"Wretch!" shrieked Desmarais, seizing his wife by the wrist. "Will you +hold your peace!" Then, turning to his brother-in-law, "Citizen Hubert, +if you do not leave this building on the instant, I shall send for the +patrol of the Section, and have you arrested."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" cried Hubert with indignation. "I come to ask a relative for a few +hours' refuge, and the coward, for fear of being compromised, wishes to +send me to the scaffold!"</p> + +<p>As Hubert pronounced these last words, Gertrude rapped at the door and +called in a quaking voice:</p> + +<p>"Open, open! The commissioner of the Section, in his scarf of office, is +here with the mounted police. He is coming upstairs."<a name="vol-1-pg_302" id="vol-1-pg_302"></a></p> + +<p>Hubert drew from his coat pockets a brace of double-barreled pistols, +cocked them, and said in a low voice:</p> + +<p>"I shall sell my life dear; but, by the thousand gods! my first bullet +will be for you, my coward and traitor brother-in-law!"</p> + +<p>Advocate Desmarais leaped to the door and drew back the bolt. His wife, +struck with a sudden inspiration, and displaying, in the terror which +seized her, an unwonted strength, dragged her brother into her +bed-chamber, which opened on the parlor, slammed the door after her, and +shot the bolt into its socket.<a name="vol-1-pg_303" id="vol-1-pg_303"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XII-1-b" id="CHAPTER_XII-1-b"></a>CHAPTER XII.<br /><br /> +HOWLING WITH THE WOLVES.</h3> + +<p>While Hubert was thus perforce following his sister to safety, Desmarais +did not notice his brother-in-law's disappearance; for the lawyer, at +the moment, was leaving the parlor to meet the commissioner. Contrary to +his expectations, he did not find the officer in the ante-room, and was +compelled to go as far as the stair-landing, where he encountered him +and accompanied him back to the parlor.</p> + +<p>The commissioner was a man of cold and rigid physiognomy; in his suite +were some gendarmes of the Republic, and several police agents. Bowing +to the commissioner, the advocate said:</p> + +<p>"Citizen, if I had a son a traitor to the nation, I would myself give +him up to the public powers. I would follow the example of Brutus the +Roman." Then stopping short and casting about him looks of stupefaction, +he added: "But where has my brother-in-law gone to?"</p> + +<p>"That is for me to ask you, Citizen Representative of the people," +rejoined the commissioner. "This disappearance is strange!"</p> + +<p>"I commence to see! My wife has let out her brother by her bed-chamber; +the rear staircase descends to the court, and from the court the rascal +will gain the garden!"<a name="vol-1-pg_304" id="vol-1-pg_304"></a></p> + +<p>The advocate flung himself against the bedroom door, and beating upon it +with both fists, cried breathlessly, "God be praised, the traitor will +not escape us!"</p> + +<p>"Go tell our people to redouble their watchfulness," the commissioner +ordered two of his men, who went out quickly. Just then the sleeping +room door fell beneath the blows of the lawyer. The chamber was empty.</p> + +<p>Suddenly one of the two agents burst in out of breath, crying, "Treason! +Our man has escaped! Just now two women, one of whom was enveloped in a +long furred pelisse, wearing a hat with a heavy veil, appeared at the +carriage gate, where two gendarmes were posted. One of the women said: +'I am Madam Desmarais; I am going out with my daughter.'"</p> + +<p>"A lie! for my daughter is here and could not have left her room!"</p> + +<p>"Pursue the fugitives," said the commissioner to some of the men around +him; then, turning back toward Desmarais, he continued, in a tone of +suspicion: "Citizen Representative, this escape seems to me cleverly +planned; but there is still something else to your charge," indicating +the deal chest. "In the name of the law, I summon you to tell me the +contents of that case."</p> + +<p>Remembering that Hubert had told his sister he had used the pretext of a +birthday present to her to remove some precious articles from +domiciliary visitation, the attorney was staggered by the question. But +driven by the logic of his hypocrisy further and further along the path +in which he thought lay his safety, the miserable man recovered himself +with an effort, and said firmly to the commissioner: "Citizen, before +replying to your question about the chest,<a name="vol-1-pg_305" id="vol-1-pg_305"></a> I ask the arrest of my wife, +as an accomplice in the escape of a conspirator."</p> + +<p>"I have no warrant for the arrest of Citizeness Desmarais. I shall refer +the matter to the attorney for the Commune."</p> + +<p>"As to the chest, the object of your interrogation, I answer that it +belongs not to me. It was sent here by my brother-in-law several days +ago. It should contain, according to what has been told us, a birthday +present for my wife; but I hasten to add that I have every ground for +believing that Citizen Hubert, taking advantage of my confidence, has +sought to conceal from investigation certain compromising papers, by +sending them to me in that box. I learned of this circumstance only by +certain words let fall by my brother-in-law just now, when I threatened +to cause his arrest. I have nothing else to add."</p> + +<p>"Lift the cover off the box," ordered the commissioner.</p> + +<p>Several gendarmes thrust their bayonets between the cover of the chest +and the lock, which yielded to their pressure. The case flew open. +Advocate Desmarais threw an unquiet look into its interior, which was +filled to the brim with daggers, pistols, and boxes of cartridges. Among +these were several packages of proclamations issued by the royalist +insurrectionary committee.</p> + +<p>Despite his profound dissimulation and the extraordinary command he +exercised over himself, Desmarais could not conceal the fright into +which he was thrown by the exposure of the contents of the chest. But +curbing his anxiety by a powerful effort, he feigned indifference, and +tossed back into the box a copy of the proclamation, which he had +hastily read.<a name="vol-1-pg_306" id="vol-1-pg_306"></a></p> + +<p>The commissioner seated himself by a table, drew out an inkhorn, and +began to write.</p> + +<p>All at once Madam Desmarais appeared at the door of the parlor, pale, +fainting, hardly able to keep her feet. Nevertheless in her face could +be read the joy she felt over her brother's escape, and as she entered +she said, raising her eyes to heaven:</p> + +<p>"Blessed be Thou, my God! He is saved!"</p> + +<p>At the sight of his wife Desmarais leaped with rage, ran to her, seized +her roughly by the arm and cried in a voice that betrayed the extent of +his terror:</p> + +<p>"Citizeness Desmarais, you are guilty of a crime against the nation. I +call for your imprisonment."</p> + +<p>Madam Desmarais looked at her husband in amazement, unable, at first, to +grasp the import of his words. Just at this moment Charlotte, informed +by Gertrude of what was taking place, entered the room. She was in time +to hear the last words of the advocate; she ran to Madam Desmarais, +clasped her in her arms, and exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"Great heaven! Imprison mother! Is it you, father, who thus threaten +her!"</p> + +<p>"Leave the room," retorted the lawyer, accompanying the words with an +imperious gesture. "Leave the room, my girl. Your presence is not +needed."</p> + +<p>"I, leave the room, when you threaten mother? Never! Where she remains, +I remain."</p> + +<p>"My child, be reassured," replied Madam Desmarais in an undertone, +giving her daughter a look of intelligence which included the +commissioner. "Your father is not speaking seriously. Everything will +come out to our satisfaction."<a name="vol-1-pg_307" id="vol-1-pg_307"></a></p> + +<p>These words, which might have been heard by the commissioner, still +further exasperated the lawyer, who, under the double goad of his +hypocrisy and trepidation, cried: "Citizeness Desmarais, in making +yourself the confederate in the escape of a criminal, you have exposed +yourself to carrying your head to the scaffold!"</p> + +<p>At these words Charlotte uttered a piercing cry, and fell upon the neck +of her mother, whom she still held in a tight embrace. But the latter, +firmly persuaded that her husband was playing a role to conjure away the +dangers which surrounded him, again said to her daughter, in order to +calm her anguish:</p> + +<p>"But, poor child, know that your father is forced to talk this way in +the presence of a commissioner of police."</p> + +<p>Overwhelmed by so many emotions, Madam Desmarais forgot this time to +lower her voice sufficiently as she spoke to her daughter. Her words +fell with distinctness on the ears of her husband, standing near the +commissioner of the Section, who was still occupied in writing his +report. False and cowardly men, when in the grip of fear, are capable of +any act of brutality to protect their own lives. So it now was with +Desmarais; for, leaden pale with fright, he said to himself:</p> + +<p>"I am lost! The commissioner heard my wife's words." Then, addressing +the magistrate: "Citizen, I have called upon you for the arrest of +Citizeness Desmarais, my wife."</p> + +<p>"And I have already told you, citizen," rejoined the commissioner, "that +I have no warrant for her arrest."</p> + +<p>"My dear girl," whispered Madam Desmarais to her daughter, "your father +insists on my arrest, knowing that he will not obtain it; be at ease."<a name="vol-1-pg_308" id="vol-1-pg_308"></a></p> + +<p>"Since, then, you refuse to arrest my wife, citizen commissioner, I call +upon you to leave here two of your men to keep watch on Citizeness +Desmarais until her case is settled."</p> + +<p>"I consent to leave two agents at your disposal for the surveillance of +Citizeness Desmarais, since you insist upon it," agreed the magistrate. +Then, rising and passing the pen to the advocate, he continued: "Please +sign the record of this seizure of arms, ammunition, and proclamations +which has just taken place in your dwelling."</p> + +<p>"I wish to read the record carefully before I sign it, citizen +commissioner; we may not agree on the wording of the document."</p> + +<p>"I shall wait while you read it," the magistrate replied. And while the +attorney made himself acquainted with the contents of the record, the +commissioner approached Madam Desmarais, and said with a good-natured +and meaning smile: "You are not frightened, citizeness, at the rigor of +your husband?"</p> + +<p>"Sir," replied Madam Desmarais hesitantly, not knowing whether to +distrust the officer or not, "my husband's conduct does in truth seem to +me a little strange."</p> + +<p>"Eh! by heaven! that's very simple. Alas, in these unhappy times, honest +men are often obliged to wear certain masks."</p> + +<p>"It was thanks to your generous intervention that my brother owes his +safety."</p> + +<p>"Have a care, madam, that my men do not hear you; they are not all +<i>sure</i>. But I have a last word of advice to give you: Try to warn +monsieur, your brother, to leave Paris as soon as possible, and by the +St. Victor barrier."<a name="vol-1-pg_309" id="vol-1-pg_309"></a></p> + +<p>"Ah, monsieur, what goodness!"</p> + +<p>"I know that Monsieur Desmarais affects of necessity opinions far +removed from his heart. Have no fear, then, madam; I caught his meaning +when he asked for your arrest. So I am going to give you two jailers, +the best men in the world. Adieu, madam, keep the secret for me, and +count on my devotion;" and the magistrate added, half aloud: "One must +howl with the wolves."</p> + +<p>As the commissioner moved away, Madam Desmarais said to her daughter +joyfully, "What an excellent man! Thanks to him my brother will perhaps +be able to leave Paris to-night without danger. What gratitude we all +owe him!"</p> + +<p>"By the St. Victor barrier, mother; doubtless, that barrier is less +closely watched than the others. But how can we convey to uncle this +precious information? There is the difficulty."</p> + +<p>"He gave me the number of a place, the home of one of his friends, where +I might address a letter. I shall go write it at once, and Gertrude +shall carry it."</p> + +<p>These various undertone conversations, and especially the conversation +of his wife with the commissioner, put Desmarais on the griddle. But, +obliged to pay all his attention to the police record, he could do no +more than throw, from time to time, a hurried glance upon the speakers. +He finally concluded the reading of the report, and having no fault to +find with its contents, he signed it, saying once more, as he handed it +back to the commissioner:</p> + +<p>"I would remind you, citizen, that I request the arrest of Citizeness +Desmarais, and in the meanwhile, I insist that two of your agents remain +here at my disposition."<a name="vol-1-pg_310" id="vol-1-pg_310"></a></p> + +<p>"I have just issued orders to that effect. I leave you two men who will +know how to perform their duty in every respect. Adieu, citizen; I shall +not forget your request, nor the <i>good example</i> you present to the +patriots in asking the arrest of Citizeness Desmarais. This very day +Citizen Marat shall be enlightened by me on your patriotism."</p> + +<p>With these words, which bore a double significance, the commissioner +bowed low to Madam Desmarais and her daughter, marched out with his men, +who carried with them the chest of arms, and said to two of the agents +who accompanied him:</p> + +<p>"You are to remain outside the parlor at the orders of Citizen +Desmarais;" and added in a lower tone: "Keep watch around the house; +follow the young woman who will go out."<a name="vol-1-pg_311" id="vol-1-pg_311"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XIII-1-b" id="CHAPTER_XIII-1-b"></a>CHAPTER XIII.<br /><br /> +THE HOWL RINGS FALSE.</h3> + +<p>At the same instant Madam Desmarais was saying to herself:</p> + +<p>"Let me hasten to write to my brother that he may even to-night quit +Paris, by the St. Victor barrier." And, rushing to her husband as the +double doors of the parlor swung to, she exclaimed joyfully:</p> + +<p>"Ah, my friend, what a fine fellow that commissioner is! He does like +you—he <i>roars with the tigers and howls with the wolves</i>!"</p> + +<p>"What!" exploded the lawyer, taken aback. "Do you mean to say—?"</p> + +<p>"I mean this worthy man understood that in demanding my arrest, poor +friend, you were only playing a role. Not so, Charlotte?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes! For he said to mother, 'In these times of revolution, honest +men are obliged to wear a mask.'"</p> + +<p>"And I made answer," continued Madam Desmarais, "that, in fact, you were +obliged to <i>howl with the wolves</i>, as you have so often repeated to me +to-day."</p> + +<p>"Wretched woman!" screamed the lawyer, as he sprang at his wife, his +fist raised in a paroxysm of rage.</p> + +<p>"Father, recollect yourself, for pity!"</p> + +<p>A moment later Desmarais's fury gave way to prostration.<a name="vol-1-pg_312" id="vol-1-pg_312"></a> His features +were overspread with an ashen pallor, he reeled, and had barely time to +throw himself into an arm-chair, mumbling as if his senses had forsaken +him—"I am lost!—The guillotine!"</p> + +<p>Madam Desmarais and her daughter flew to the advocate's side, raised his +inert head, and made him breathe their salts. Hardly had he come to +himself when Gertrude entered and announced:</p> + +<p>"Monsieur Billaud-Varenne asks to speak with monsieur, on a very urgent +matter."</p> + +<p>The announcement of the visit of his colleague seemed to reanimate the +lawyer. A glow of hope shone in his almost deathly countenance. He rose +abruptly, saying:</p> + +<p>"Billaud must have seen St. Just. If he accepts my proposition, I am +saved!" Then, in a curt, hard voice he addressed his wife: "Retire to +your apartment, madam; I have to talk business, grave political +business, with Citizen Billaud-Varenne."</p> + +<p>Followed by her daughter, Madam Desmarais went out, and her husband +ordered Gertrude to show Citizen Billaud-Varenne into the parlor. As the +maid left, the two police agents placed on watch were seated near the +parlor door.</p> + +<p>"Come now, let's compose ourselves," muttered the advocate, mopping the +perspiration which beaded his brow. "Billaud-Varenne is another sort of +monster, and perhaps more dangerous than Marat. What answer will he +bring me? If St. Just consents to be my son-in-law, I have nothing more +to fear! If not—ah! What a hell!"</p> + +<p>Billaud-Varenne entered. The Representative of the people was not a +monster, as the advocate had christened<a name="vol-1-pg_313" id="vol-1-pg_313"></a> him; but a man of inflexible +convictions and rigid probity, besides being the possessor of some +fortune. He did not touch, any more than Lepelletier St. Fargeau, +Herault of Sechelles, and other wealthy citizens, the compensation +allowed to a Representative. Gifted with natural eloquence, always +sanguine, there was no patriot more devoted to the Revolution than +Billaud-Varenne. He wore a short-haired black wig, and a maroon suit +with steel buttons; like Robespierre, St. Just, Camille Desmoulins and +other Jacobins, he carried dignity even into the care of his person and +his clothes.</p> + +<p>"Eh, well, colleague," quoth Billaud-Varenne on entering, "what am I to +surmise by this visit of the Section commissioner, whom I just met +leaving your rooms?"</p> + +<p>"Confess that it is a spicy incident to find, in the house one of us +Mountainists a deposit of royalist poniards!"</p> + +<p>"That is very easily explained: You receive a case from the depot, you +don't know what is in it—nothing simpler."</p> + +<p>"Do you think, my dear colleague, that it seemed so simple to the +commissioner?"</p> + +<p>"He could know nothing to the contrary. But, between ourselves, you +exhibited extreme rigor towards your wife."</p> + +<p>"You know that also—?"</p> + +<p>"I know that you applied for her arrest, and that you demanded two +watchmen, whom I found out there, in the ante-room. The precaution seems +to me excessive."</p> + +<p>"You disapprove of this measure, you, Billaud-Varenne, you, man of +iron?"</p> + +<p>"I disapprove of your whole procedure. My dear colleague, there are +painful duties to which one resigns himself; but there are useless +harshnesses which one does not<a name="vol-1-pg_314" id="vol-1-pg_314"></a> call down upon his dear ones. That is my +way of looking at it." Without noticing, or without seeming to notice, +the uneasiness which his last words produced in Desmarais, +Billaud-Varenne proceeded:</p> + +<p>"But, let us speak of the object of my visit. I am just from the +Jacobins, where I saw St. Just. He was highly sensible of the honor of +the advances I made him on your part, on the subject of his marrying +your daughter; but he refused to contract any union whatsoever."</p> + +<p>"He refuses!" gasped Desmarais, pale with consternation. "Is not the +refusal perhaps revokable?"</p> + +<p>"St. Just never turns back on a determination once taken."</p> + +<p>"But, at least, I may know the cause of his declination? Answer my +question, my dear colleague."</p> + +<p>"St. Just would have been happy to enter your family, he told me, if +Mademoiselle Desmarais had looked favorably upon his court; but he +thinks that under the grave circumstances in which we now find +ourselves, a man of politics should remain free from all bonds, even +those of the family, in order to consecrate himself wholly to public +affairs. He wishes to hold himself ready for all sacrifices, even that +of his life."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps St. Just deems my daughter has not been brought up in +principles of civic duty sufficiently pure. Had he regarded me as a +better patriot, his answer would have no doubt been different?"</p> + +<p>"Of a truth, my dear colleague, you are a singular fellow. In the +Constituent Assembly, you voted with the extreme Left; at the Jacobins, +I have heard you propose and support the most revolutionary motions; you +vote with us<a name="vol-1-pg_315" id="vol-1-pg_315"></a> of the Mountain; and yet you seem to fear lest we suspect +the sincerity of your convictions!"</p> + +<p>"And why, then, should I fear that anyone doubted my sincerity?"</p> + +<p>"My faith, you must answer that question yourself!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, then the answer is easy, my dear Billaud: The Revolution is, and +should be, a jealous, distrustful, exacting mistress to those devoted to +her; and I continually fear not having done enough, and being accused of +lukewarmness." Then, anxious to escape from a subject that embarrassed +him, and to hide the cruel disappointment occasioned by St. Just's +refusal, Desmarais added, "What is new to-night at the Jacobins?"</p> + +<p>"A speech of hardly a quarter of an hour in length, but which created an +incalculable impression upon its hearers."</p> + +<p>"On what subject?"</p> + +<p>"Louis XVI's penalty."</p> + +<p>"And the speaker was—?"</p> + +<p>"A young man whom I am proud to number among my friends, for his modesty +equals his patriotism and merit. He is a simple iron-worker. We wished +to nominate him for the Convention; he refused our offer, but consented +to accept municipal office."</p> + +<p>"John Lebrenn!"</p> + +<p>"Precisely. He was the orator in question."</p> + +<p>"He is my pupil, my dear pupil!" returned Desmarais. "It is I who put +him through his revolutionary education."</p> + +<p>"This young man, ardent, generous, yet tender and delicate as he is by +nature, has but one rule of conduct—eternal justice and morality. He is +a lofty soul. Marat and<a name="vol-1-pg_316" id="vol-1-pg_316"></a> Robespierre both congratulated him upon his +speech, which concluded with these words:</p> + +<p>"'Louis XVI was born kind, humane, and graced with parts, and behold +what corrupting, subversive, detestable influences lurk in the very +essence of kingship. It has turned this man, so happily made up, into a +traitor, a perjurer, a murderer, a parricide who has unchained against +his mother country the arms of foreigners and emigrants. Ah, citizens, +in judging, in condemning this guilty one of high rank, it is less the +man than the King and still less the King than royalty itself that you +smite. The ax that will strike off the head of Louis XVI will decapitate +the monarchy, that dynasty of a foreign race imposed on Gaul for so many +centuries by violence and conquest.'"</p> + +<p>"That's superb!" exclaimed the lawyer. "That's fine! Lo, the fruit of my +lessons!"</p> + +<p>"Your pupil closed by ably contrasting with the days of September the +judicial condemnation of Louis Capet: 'Before August 10 the crimes of +Louis XVI were notorious; they merited death,' quoth Lebrenn. 'Suppose +the people in its fury had taken summary justice on the guilty one. +Suppose he had been stricken down during the insurrection. Compare that +death, almost furtive, half veiled by the murk of battle, with the +august spectacle which the Convention is now about to offer to the +world, before God and man! A people calm in its sovereignty, judging and +condemning, in the name of the law, the criminal who was its King. To +the dagger of Brutus we shall oppose the sword of Justice! The tyrant +shall be smitten in the name of all, in the public place. He shall pass +from the throne<a name="vol-1-pg_317" id="vol-1-pg_317"></a> to the scaffold. May in like manner the heads of all +tyrants fall!'"</p> + +<p>"That is immense!" again exclaimed Desmarais. "I am proud of my pupil."</p> + +<p>"And what enhances your pupil's worth, my dear colleague, is that his +modesty is equal to his patriotism. Robespierre, mounting the tribunal +after Lebrenn, commended his discourse with the words: 'This young man +has just spoken to us in the language of the philosopher, the historian, +the statesman. He is a simple workman, who toils ten hours a day at his +rough trade of iron-worker to supply his wants.' These words of +Robespierre's signalized the ovation received by Lebrenn at the +Jacobins. And now I take my leave of you, my dear Desmarais, reiterating +my regret at having failed in the mission you entrusted me with to St. +Just. Moreover, he will probably tell you himself to-morrow at the +Convention how sensible he was of your tenders, and for what reasons he +feels constrained to decline them."</p> + +<p>"I should have been happy to have for son-in-law a man as eminent in +talent as for patriotism. I have firmly made up my mind not to give my +daughter to anyone but a republican of our stripe, dear colleague."</p> + +<p>"But now I think of it," interjected Billaud-Varenne, stopping and +coming back a few steps, "you desire for son-in-law a republican eminent +alike for his love of country and his talent? Is that your desire?"</p> + +<p>"It is my most ardent wish!"</p> + +<p>"Well, then, my dear Desmarais, you have that son-in-law under your +hand—your pupil, Citizen John Lebrenn! The young man has lived close +beside you, you must be acquainted<a name="vol-1-pg_318" id="vol-1-pg_318"></a> with his manners and his private +character. Mademoiselle Desmarais, reared by you in austere principles, +ought, allowing for her personal inclinations, which should always be +respected, to welcome such an aspirant to her hand. John Lebrenn is +young, and of attractive appearance. So that, if such a marriage were +pleasing to your daughter, would it not be an act calculated to draw +toward you everyone's affection, for having begun the merging of the +classes? Everybody would applaud the marriage of the daughter of the +rich bourgeois, of the advocate of renown, with the simple artisan. What +think you of the idea, my dear colleague?"</p> + +<p>"You shall soon know," replied advocate Desmarais after a moment's +reflection, during which he vainly racked his brains for an avenue of +escape from the meshes of his own duplicity, now closed in upon him. +Then he ran to the table, seated himself, seized paper and pen, and +dashed off a few lines, while he said silently to himself:</p> + +<p>"The danger admits of no hesitation. The sacrifice is consummated. After +Billaud-Varenne's utterances on the 'merging of the classes,' I can no +longer hang back. He is interested in Lebrenn; he will inform the boy of +the proposal he just made to me; he will learn that John and my daughter +have loved each other for four years and more. It will then be clear to +Billaud-Varenne that my only reason for opposition to the union is my +repugnance to giving my daughter to a workingman. I shudder for the +consequences! Such a revelation, coming on the heels of Hubert's escape +and the discovery of the depot of royalist arms and proclamations in my +house, is capable of leading me straight to the guillotine!"<a name="vol-1-pg_319" id="vol-1-pg_319"></a></p> + +<p>While indulging in these reflections, Desmarais indicted the following +letter to John Lebrenn:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>My dear John:</p> + +<p>I await you at once, at my home. My daughter is yours, on one only +condition, which I expect from your loyalty in which I have +absolute confidence.</p> + +<p>That condition is:</p> + +<p><i>Never to mention to anyone, and particularly not to +Billaud-Varenne, that you loved my daughter four years ago.</i></p> + +<p>I await you.</p> + +<p class="c">Fraternal greetings,</p> + +<p class="r">D<small>ESMARAIS</small>.</p></div> + +<p>The letter written, Desmarais rang. Gertrude appeared and the lawyer +said to her:</p> + +<p>"Carry this letter immediately to Citizen John Lebrenn, and wait for an +answer."</p> + +<p>"Yes, monsieur," answered the maid, and went on her errand.</p> + +<p>"My dear colleague, excuse me for an instant, and I shall see whether my +wife and daughter can receive us."</p> + +<p>Thus left alone, Billaud-Varenne gave himself up to reflection. "There +is a rat here somewhere," he mused. "Why does Desmarais wish to present +me to his wife and daughter? Truly there are strange shifts in this +man's conduct. He continually forces upon me a vague mistrust, and yet +his vote, his speech, and his deed have always been in accord with the +most advanced revolutionary principles. Whence comes this constant fear, +which everything awakens in him, of being taken for a traitor? Just now +he seemed shocked and startled at the idea which came to me to propose +Lebrenn as his son-in-law. Does the bourgeois <i>sans-culotte</i><a name="vol-1-pg_320" id="vol-1-pg_320"></a> want to be +a bourgeois <i>gentleman</i>? Does the rich lawyer fear he will debase +himself in giving his daughter to a workman? And finally, what an absurd +affectation of stoicism for him to call for the arrest of his wife +because she yielded to the respectable sentiment of sisterly tenderness! +Has he not constituted himself her jailer? Do these exaggerations mask +treason or only extreme cowardice? Is Desmarais a traitor or +lily-livered? or traitor and coward combined? After all, what matters +it? He is an instrument, he is popular, eloquent, subtle, well-listened +to in the Assembly. But, in times of reaction, traitors and cowards who +by their exaggerations on one side have attained a certain popularity, +become no less exaggerated the other way, and, in the desire to save +their heads or 'give pledges,' send in preference their old friends to +the scaffold. Desmarais may someday, if my distrust be well grounded, +blossom forth into one of these furious reactionists. Lest that be the +case, the proof of treason once at hand the evil must be cut out at the +root." Punctuating his last words with a gesture of terrible +significance, Billaud-Varenne added: "At any rate, let us await facts +before forming a final judgment. Marat's penetration never fails, and he +has his eye on our dear colleague."</p> + +<p>Billaud-Varenne's soliloquy was cut short by the return of Desmarais, +flanked by his wife and daughter. The latter seemed sweetly moved by the +confidence her father had just made her, touching his determination in +the matter of her marriage with John Lebrenn. Madam Desmarais, on the +contrary, was under the influence of mournful thoughts, by reason of the +events in which she found her<a name="vol-1-pg_321" id="vol-1-pg_321"></a> brother involved, the fate of whom caused +her no slight anxiety; she was at much pains to restrain her tears.</p> + +<p>The member of the Assembly, bowing with kind and respectful courtesy to +the wife of his colleague, spoke first:</p> + +<p>"I regret, madam, that it is at a moment so sad to you that I have the +honor of being presented; but I hope, indeed I am certain, that my dear +colleague will not prolong much more your captivity, but will deliver +you from your guardians."</p> + +<p>"Citizen Billaud-Varenne, it shall be as you desire. I shall send away +the agents charged with keeping guard over Citizeness Desmarais. Jailers +in our hall go ill with a day of betrothal."</p> + +<p>"What say you, citizen," ejaculated Billaud-Varenne. "A day of +betrothal?"</p> + +<p>"The letter I wrote just this instant, was destined to my pupil Lebrenn. +I announced to him, very simply, that I offered him the hand of my +daughter."</p> + +<p>"Your procedure is indeed worthy of praise."</p> + +<p>"And now, my daughter," continued Desmarais solemnly, "answer me +truthfully. Before your departure from Paris for Lyons, you often saw +here our young neighbor Lebrenn. What is your opinion of the young +citizen?"</p> + +<p>"I think that there is no soul more lofty, no character more generous, +no heart better than his. He is a young man of worth."</p> + +<p>"You consent to wed him?"</p> + +<p>"I consent with all the greater willingness, father, because, unknown to +you and mother, I have for a long time loved Monsieur John Lebrenn, the +valiant iron-worker. I even believe that my affection is returned."</p> + +<p>"The young girl is charming in her grace and candor,"<a name="vol-1-pg_322" id="vol-1-pg_322"></a> thought +Billaud-Varenne. "What a strange falling out! These two young people +love each other in secret! In very truth, it is a romance, an idyll!"</p> + +<p>"What, my daughter, you love our young friend, and he loves you!" cried +the lawyer, putting on an air of great surprise. "And you hid your love +from me? How comes it that you and our friend John made a mystery of the +love you felt for each other?"</p> + +<p>The return of Gertrude interrupted the colloquy.</p> + +<p>"Well! What answer did our young neighbor make to my letter?"</p> + +<p>"Citizen John Lebrenn is absent. The porter told me that on leaving the +club of the Jacobins, he came to change his clothes, putting on his +uniform of municipal officer, in order to go to the Temple Prison, where +he is to mount guard to-night over Louis Capet. I brought the letter +back. Here it is."</p> + +<p>"Ah, I regret this mischance, dear colleague," said the lawyer; +"especially now that I am aware of the love of these two children for +each other. I would have been overjoyed to have you witness the +happiness for which you are in part responsible."</p> + +<p>"I share your regrets, dear colleague," replied Billaud-Varenne; then, +smiling, after a moment's thought: "It remains with you to grant me a +compensation for which I shall be very grateful. Entrust to me this +letter, which I will have delivered, this very evening at the Temple, to +our young friend."</p> + +<p>"Ah, sir, how good you are," said Charlotte quickly, blushing with +emotion. "Thank you for your gracious offer."<a name="vol-1-pg_323" id="vol-1-pg_323"></a></p> + +<p>"Here is the letter, dear colleague. As much as my daughter, I thank you +for your cordial interest," added the lawyer, handing over the missive; +while he said to himself: "Billaud-Varenne is incapable of opening a +letter confided to him and addressed to John Lebrenn. He will not see +him to-night; I need, then, fear no indiscretion on the boy's part, and +it is for me now to inform John, as soon as possible, of my projects and +the conditions I impose upon him for his marriage."</p> + +<p>"Adieu, madam, adieu, mademoiselle," Billaud-Varenne was saying to the +two women, as he bowed to each; "I shall carry with me at least the +certainty that this evening, begun under such sad auspices, will end in +domestic joy."</p> + +<p>Madam Desmarais, overwhelmed with apprehensions of her brother's fate, +could only reply sadly as she returned the bow, "I thank you, monsieur, +for your good wishes."</p> + +<p>"Till to-morrow, dear colleague," said the lawyer, going with +Billaud-Varenne as far as the door of the parlor; and then he added in +an undertone, "If, as I have no doubt, John Lebrenn marries my daughter, +would it not be timely to mention the marriage in the journal of our +friend Marat?"</p> + +<p>"I promise you, colleague, to speak of it to Marat; he will consider the +matter," responded Billaud-Varenne with a touch of irony; and he +muttered to himself: "Affectation again. This bidding for popularity +once more arouses my suspicions."</p> + +<p>"Citizens," said the lawyer to the two agents of the Section +commissioner posted outside the door, "you may withdraw. Fraternal +greetings." And addressing Billaud-Varenne, he repeated: "Till +to-morrow, dear colleague."<a name="vol-1-pg_324" id="vol-1-pg_324"></a></p> + +<p>"Till to-morrow!" returned the latter. "I shall go at once to the +Temple, and within the hour, John Lebrenn shall have your letter." After +which the member of the National Convention once more added, to himself:</p> + +<p>"Positively, I think Marat must keep his eye on Desmarais; he seems to +me a hypocrite who will well bear watching."</p> + +<p class="c">END OF VOLUME I.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h1>THE SWORD OF HONOR</h1> + +<div class="boxseries"> +<div class="boxdouble"> +<p class="full">THE FULL SERIES OF</p> + +<p class="c"><img src="images/ill_mysteries.png" +alt="The Mysteries of the People" +width="300" +height="28" +title="The Mysteries of the People" +/> +</p> + +<p class="c">OR</p> + +<p class="c">History of a Proletarian Family<br />Across the Ages</p> + +<p class="c">B y E U G E N E S U E</p> +</div> + +<p class="c"><i>Consisting of the Following Works:</i></p> + +<p class="nind"><b>THE GOLD SICKLE; or, <i>Hena the Virgin of the Isle of Sen</i>.<br /> +THE BRASS BELL; or, <i>The Chariot of Death</i>.<br /> +THE IRON COLLAR; or, <i>Faustine and Syomara</i>.<br /> +THE SILVER CROSS; or, <i>The Carpenter of Nazareth</i>.<br /> +THE CASQUE'S LARK; or, <i>Victoria, the Mother of the Camps</i>.<br /> +THE PONIARID'S HILT; or, <i>Karadeucq and Ronan</i>.<br /> +THE BRANDING NEEDLE; or, The <i>Monastery of Charolles</i>.<br /> +THE ABBATIAL CROSIER; or, <i>Bonaik and Septimine</i>.<br /> +THE CARLOVINGIAN COINS; or, <i>The Daughters of Charlemagne</i>.<br /> +THE IRON ARROW-HEAD; or, <i>The Buckler Maiden</i>.<br /> +THE INFANT'S SKULL; or, <i>The End of the World</i>.<br /> +THE PILGRIM'S SHELL; or, <i>Fergan the Quarryman</i>.<br /> +THE IRON PINCERS; or, <i>Mylio and Karvel</i>.<br /> +THE IRON TREVET; or Jocelyn the Champion.<br /> +THE EXECUTIONER'S KNIFE; or, Joan of Arc.<br /> +THE POCKET BIBLE; or, <i>Christian the Printer</i>.<br /> +THE BLACKSMITH'S HAMMER; or, <i>The Peasant Code</i>.<br /> +THE SWORD OF HONOR; or, <i>The Foundation of the French Republic</i>.<br /> +THE GALLEY SLAVE'S RING; or, <i>The Family Lebrenn</i>.</b></p> + +<div class="boxdouble"> +<p class="c"><small>Published Uniform With This Volume By</small><br /> +THE NEW YORK LABOR NEWS CO.<br /> +<small>28 CITY HALL PLACE NEW YORK CITY</small></p></div> +</div> + +<div class="box"> +<div class="box2"> +<h1> +T<small>HE</small><br /> +S<small>WORD OF</small> H<small>ONOR</small><br /> +<small><small>: : : : OR : : : :<br /> +The Foundation of the French Republic</small></small></h1> + +<table summary="name" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" +style="border-bottom:6px double black; +letter-spacing:8px;font-size:125%;"> +<tr><td> + + + </td></tr> +</table> + +<p> +<br /> +</p> + +<p class="c"><b>A Tale of The French Revolution</b></p> + +<table summary="name" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" +style="border-top:4px double black; +border-bottom:6px double black;"> +<tr><td><b> B y E U G E N E S U E </b></td></tr> +</table> + +<p class="c">Volume II</p> + +<table summary="name" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" +style="border-bottom:6px double black; +letter-spacing:8px;font-size:125%;"> +<tr><td> + + + </td></tr> +</table> + +<p class="c"><b><small>TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL FRENCH BY</small></b></p> + +<p class="c"><b>DANIEL DE LEON</b></p> + +<p class="c"><b><small>NEW YORK LABOR NEWS COMPANY, 1910</small></b></p> +</div> +</div> + +<p> +<br /> +</p> + +<p class="c"><small><small>Copyright, 1911, by the<br /> +NEW YORK LABOR NEWS CO.</small></small></p> + +<h3>INDEX (volume 2)</h3> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="" +style="font-family:courier new, serif;font-weight:bold;"> + +<tr><td colspan="3" align="center">PART II—THE BOURGEOIS REVOLUTION. (Continued)</td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="3"><small>CHAPTER</small></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV-1-b">XIV</a>.</td><td>JESUIT CAMPAIGNING</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_001">1</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV-1-b">XV</a>.</td><td>THE KING ON TRIAL</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_023">23</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI-1-b">XVI</a>.</td><td>LEBRENN AND NEROWEG</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_033">33</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII-1-b">XVII</a>.</td><td>PLANS FOR THE FUTURE</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_045">45</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII-1-b">XVIII</a>.</td><td>THE KING SENTENCED</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_061">61</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX-1-b">XIX</a>.</td><td>EXECUTION</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_066">66</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XX-1-b">XX</a>.</td><td>MARRIAGE OF JOHN LEBRENN</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_069">69</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI-1-b">XXI</a>.</td><td>A LOVE FROM THE GRAVE</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_076">76</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII-1-b">XXII</a>.</td><td>MASTER AND FOREMAN</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_084">84</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII-1-b">XXIII</a>.</td><td>TO THE WORKMAN THE TOOL</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_095">95</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV-1-b">XXIV</a>.</td><td>LOST AGAIN</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_101">101</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV-1-b">XXV</a>.</td><td>ROYALIST BARBARITIES</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_111">111</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI-1-b">XXVI</a>.</td><td>A REVOLUTIONARY OUTPOST</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_122">122</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII-1-b">XXVII</a>.</td><td>THE HEROINE IN ARMS</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_137">137</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII-1-b">XXVIII</a>.</td><td>SERVING AND MIS-SERVING</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_150">150</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX-1-b">XXIX</a>.</td><td>BATTLE OF THE LINES OF WEISSENBURG</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_159">159</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXX-1-b">XXX</a>.</td><td>DEATH OF VICTORIA</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_175">175</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXI-1-b">XXXI</a>.</td><td>ONRUSH OF THE REVOLUTION</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_178">178</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXII-1-b">XXXII</a>.</td><td>AD MAJOREM DEI GLORIAM!</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_188">188</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIII-1-b">XXXIII</a>.</td><td>ARREST OF ROBESPIERRE</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_196">196</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIV-1-b">XXXIV</a>.</td><td>THE NINTH THERMIDOR.</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_205">205</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXV-1-b">XXXV</a>.</td><td>DEATH OF ROBESPIERRE.</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_213">213</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="3" align="center">PART III—NAPOLEON.</td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="3"><small>CHAPTER</small></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_I-1-c">I</a>.</td><td>THE WHITE TERROR</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_221">221</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_II-1-c">II</a>.</td><td>COLONEL OLIVER</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_227">227</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_III-1-c">III</a>.</td><td>CROSS PURPOSES</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_240">240</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV-1-c">IV</a>.</td><td>LAYING THE TRAIN</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_245">245</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_V-1-c">V</a>.</td><td>THE EIGHTEENTH BRUMAIRE</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_252">252</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI-1-c">VI</a>.</td><td>IN THE ORANGERY AT ST. CLOUD</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_258">258</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII-1-c">VII</a>.</td><td>GLORY; AND ELBA</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_268">268</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII-1-c">VIII</a>.</td><td>RETURN OF NAPOLEON</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_277">277</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX-1-c">IX</a>.</td><td>WATERLOO</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_288">288</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_X-1-c">X</a>.</td><td>DEPOSITION</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_295">295</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="3" align="center">EPILOGUE.</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_I-1-d">I</a>.</td><td>"TO THE BARRICADES!"—1830</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_303">303</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_II-1-d">II</a>.</td><td>ORLEANS ON THE THRONE</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_317">317</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td> </td><td>CONCLUSION</td><td align="right"><a href="#vol-2-pg_328">328</a></td></tr> +</table> + +<h2>PART II.<br /><br /> +THE BOURGEOIS REVOLUTION<br /> +<small>(Continued.)</small></h2> + +<p><a name="vol-2-pg_001" id="vol-2-pg_001"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XIV-1-b" id="CHAPTER_XIV-1-b"></a>CHAPTER XIV.<br /><br /> +JESUIT CAMPAIGNING.</h3> + +<p>While these events were taking place at the abode of advocate Desmarais, +a royalist cabal was in full swing in St. Roche Street, on the fourth +floor of an old house built at the rear of a courtyard. An ex-beadle of +the parish, devoted to Abbot Morlet, and generously feed from the +strong-box of the clerical and aristocratic party, received the +conspirators in his lodge, consisting of two mansard buildings huddled +together. A secret issue, contrived in the bottom of a pantry, +communicated from the rear-most of these two buildings with the garret +of the neighboring house, which was also kept by royalists. In a corner +of the garret opened a trap which gave access to a <i>cachette</i>, as they +were called in those times, a hiding-place large enough to hold four +beds, and sufficiently supplied with air and light through a section of +drain-pipe running up along the chimney which formed one of the sides of +the perfectly contrived refuge. In case of a sudden descent upon the +home of the ex-beadle, the latter, warned by the porter, who was in his +confidence, would give the alarm to the refugees sheltered with him; +these then decamped by the secret issue and gained the cachette, where +they were doubly secure; for even if the trap in the pantry were +discovered, one would suppose the<a name="vol-2-pg_002" id="vol-2-pg_002"></a> fugitives to have escaped by the +staircase of the neighboring house. There were in Paris a number of +these places, designed for refractory priests, ex-nobles, and suspects, +who conspired against the Republic.</p> + +<p>So on this night in question, the royalist cabal was met at the home of +the ex-beadle. The Count of Plouernel was there, and his younger +brother, the Bishop in partibus of Gallipoli; also the Marquis of St. +Esteve, that insufferable laugher, who four years before had attended +the supper given by the Count to Marchioness Aldini; and Abbot Morlet. +The members of the cabal were seated in camp chairs about a clay stove; +all were dressed like bourgeois, and wore their hair without powder. The +Marquis alone was frizzled like hoar-frost; he had on an elegant coat of +purple cloth with gold buttons, and purple trousers to match; his +stockings of white silk were half hidden by the legs of his +jockey-boots. Good humor and joviality were written all over his +countenance, as expansive as if that very moment he were not staking his +head. The Bishop of Gallipoli, the junior of the Count of Plouernel by +several years, was dressed as a layman; both he and the Marquis, for a +long time emigrated, had recently succeeded in crossing the frontier and +regaining Paris, where they lay in concealment, like a great many other +aristocrats returned from abroad. The face of Jesuit Morlet was still, +as always, calm and sardonic; he wore a carmagnole jacket and red +bonnet.</p> + +<p>Eleven o'clock sounded from the Church of St. Roche.</p> + +<p>"Eleven o'clock," quoth the Count of Plouernel. "We were to have been +all met at ten; and here we are only four at the rendezvous. There are +twenty members on the<a name="vol-2-pg_003" id="vol-2-pg_003"></a> committee. Such negligence is unpardonable! The +absentees are incurring grave responsibility."</p> + +<p>"Their negligence is all the more reprehensible seeing that we must act +to-morrow; it is to-morrow that the King is to be taken to that den of +knaves, known as the Convention," added his brother the Bishop.</p> + +<p>"Our friends must be kept away by some serious obstacle," continued +Plouernel. "Gentlemen can not be suspected of cowardice."</p> + +<p>The Marquis let loose a peal of laughter. "Gentlemen! And that +money-changer, that Monsieur Hubert! That blue head! At first I would +not be one of the party, when I learned I had to sit with that +bourgeois. But after all, he bears the name of the great St. Hubert, +patron of hunters! Hi! hi! And so, out of regard for his patron, I +admitted the clown!"</p> + +<p>"For God's sake, Marquis," broke in Plouernel, "put a bridle on your +hilarity. Let us talk sense. This Monsieur Hubert is a determined clown, +and very influential among the old grenadiers of the battalion of the +Daughters of St. Thomas."</p> + +<p>"Hi! hi! hi!" shrieked the Marquis, "a battalion of girls given the +title of St. Thomas, who had to touch in order to believe! Hi! hi! hi! +Bless me, Count, I could teach that battalion an evolution which would +amuse us. Load and empty! Hi! hi!"</p> + +<p>"No one else is coming; we are wasting precious time. Let us take +counsel," put in Jesuit Morlet, sourly. "The porter is to whistle in +case of alarm. At that signal, my god-son, on the watch on the second +floor, will come up to warn the beadle, and we shall have time to flee, +or to gain<a name="vol-2-pg_004" id="vol-2-pg_004"></a> the cachette through the pantry. Let us take account of the +state of affairs—"</p> + +<p>"This double-bottomed pantry reminds me," struck in the uproarious +Marquis, "of a certain gallant adventure of which I was once the hero. +I'll tell it to you—"</p> + +<p>"Devil take the bore! Give us a rest with your stories," quoth the +Count.</p> + +<p>"Marquis, why did you return to France? Answer categorically," said the +Bishop to him.</p> + +<p>"Idiot! To save my King! To snatch him out of the hands of the +Philistines!"</p> + +<p>"And is it thus that you pretend to save him, by interrupting our +deliberations with your buffoonery? With jests out of season?"</p> + +<p>"But you are not deliberating on a thing! You're sitting there like +three sea-storks! Hi! hi! hi! You're not going ahead with the business +any more than I am."</p> + +<p>"The giddy fellow is correct," said Morlet, for once taking the +Marquis's side. "We shall never finish if we do not introduce some order +into this. I shall take the chair, and open the meeting."</p> + +<p>"You—take the chair—my reverend sir? And by what right?" was the reply +of the Bishop of Gallipoli.</p> + +<p>"By the right which a man of sense has over fools like the Marquis; by +the right which my age gives me. For I am here much older than any of +you."</p> + +<p>"So be it; preside," said Plouernel.</p> + +<p>"If it is only a question of the precedence of age, I yield," said his +brother.</p> + +<p>"Oh, and I also! Hi! hi!" cried the Marquis, holding his sides.<a name="vol-2-pg_005" id="vol-2-pg_005"></a></p> + +<p>"By heaven, Marquis, we shall have to toss you out of the window!" +impatiently shouted the Count.</p> + +<p>"Shut your heads, one and all of you," commanded Abbot Morlet. "I shall +put the case to you in two words. To-morrow Louis XVI will be conducted +from the prison of the Temple to the bar of the Convention. The occasion +seems favorable for rescuing the King during the passage. Here is the +means proposed. Five or six hundred resolute men, armed under their +cloaks with pistols and poniards, will meet at different places +previously agreed on, and locate themselves in isolated groups along the +route to be taken by the King; they will mingle with the crowd, affect +the language of the sans-culottes, and propagate the rumor, designedly +launched several days ago, that the majority of the Convention is +resolved to spare the life of Capet, and that the people must take +justice into its own hands. Our agents will strive thus to inflame the +people; during the passage of the King they will cry, 'Death to the +tyrant!' At those words, the signal agreed upon, they shall resolutely +attack the escort with pistols and daggers. It is our hope that, favored +by the tumult, we may be able boldly to seize Louis XVI, and carry him +off to some safe retreat prepared in advance. Our men will then march to +the Convention and exterminate its members; this being successfully +accomplished, proclamations already in print will be placarded over +Paris calling all honest men to arms against the Republic. A part of the +old elite companies of the National Guard, all the royalists and +constitutionalists of Paris, the Emigrants who have been arriving for a +fortnight—all will respond to the call to arms, and conduct the King to +the Tuileries. Numerous emissaries will<a name="vol-2-pg_006" id="vol-2-pg_006"></a> be sent at once into the west +and south, and to Lyons, all of which places are ready to rise at the +voice of the nobles and priests in hiding there. Civil war will flare up +at once in several parts of the kingdom. The foreign armies, demoralized +by their defeat at Valmy, are now beating an offensive retreat to the +frontier; it is hoped that, through the civil war and the consequent +chaos, the allies will regain the advantage they had at the opening of +the campaign, advance on Paris by forced marches, and inflict terrible +chastisement upon it. This culmination, prepared with a long hand—the +only way to save the King—was about to occur just before the September +massacres. The massacres had their good and their bad side."</p> + +<p>"You dare to say there was a good side to that carnage? Your language is +odious!" interrupted the Bishop.</p> + +<p>"The massacres of September had a good side and a bad side," calmly +reiterated the Abbot. "Here is the bad: The most active chiefs in the +conspiracy, detained as suspects in the prisons, whence they were +carrying on their plots, were killed; the royalists of Paris and the +provinces, struck with terror, lay low and ceased their activity. It +took three months to knit together all the threads of the conspiracy +which had been snapped by the death of its leaders. The September +massacres had also the bad aspect for us that they were combined with an +outburst of patriotism. The volunteers, flocking in mass to the front, +changed entirely by their bedevilled fury the previous tactics of the +war. The Prussian infantry, the best in Europe, was overcome by the +mad-caps—there is danger lest it may long remain in the panic into +which it was thrown by the bayonet charge of the volunteers at the +battle of Valmy."<a name="vol-2-pg_007" id="vol-2-pg_007"></a></p> + +<p>"Blue death! my reverend sir, you would best hold your tongue in matters +of war, of which you know nothing!" the Count of Plouernel impatiently +declared. "I served in the Emigrant corps which stormed the position of +Croix-aux-Bois at the battle of Argonne; I was at the side of the Duke +of Brunswick in the affray at Valmy; and I say that if the Prussian +infantry was beaten down by these bare-feet, who precipitated themselves +upon us like savages, it is now recovered from the panic, and asks +nothing better than to avenge its disgrace. Yes, and let a war come, a +real war, a great war, and the allies will make a butchery of these +undisciplined hordes. The Prussians will feed fat their vengeance!"</p> + +<p>"And I in turn tell you, that in this matter you are completely off your +base," was the Abbot's unmoved rejoinder.</p> + +<p>"By heaven, my reverend sir!" flared back the Count, "measure your +terms!"</p> + +<p>And the giggling Marquis cried, "Plague on it, Abbot, all you need is a +switch to give us a flogging! Hi! hi! hi!"</p> + +<p>"And in your case in particular, Marquis, it would fall where it was +deserved. But to continue, I come now to the good, the excellent side of +the September massacres."</p> + +<p>Again the mere mention of such a possibility was more than the Bishop +could contain himself under. "It is impossible," he broke in, "to sit +still and hear it said in cold blood that that abominable carnage +produced any good results."</p> + +<p>"Monseigneur," was Morlet's reply, "it does not at all become you to +discredit events in which you did not participate. Disguised as a +charcoal burner, and with my god-son as a chimney-sweep, I saw these +massacres at close<a name="vol-2-pg_008" id="vol-2-pg_008"></a> range. Do you remember, Count, what I told you over +the supper-table, four years ago, the evening the Bastille was taken: +The ferocious beast must get the taste of blood to put it in the humor +of slaying? Well, so it was. And, to make the blood flow, I rolled back +my sleeves to the elbow, and set to work! So I say again, the massacres +of September held this much good for us, that they aroused general +horror throughout Europe and exasperated the foreign powers, even +including England, which was until then almost neutral, but is now +become the soul of the coalition. Even in Paris, this execrable hot-bed +of revolution, where, it must be admitted, the massacres were, in a +moment of vertigo, accepted by all classes of the people as a measure of +public safety, they now inspire unspeakable horror! The revolutionists +themselves are divided into two camps—the patriots of the 10th of +August, and the Septembrists—a precious germ of internal discord among +the wretches. All in all, there is good, much good for us, in the days +of September. The terror evoked by them will come to the assistance of +the present plot. Everything is prepared; the posts are assigned, the +depots of arms established, the proclamations printed. Lehiron, a knave +for any trick, if you grease his palm well, is in charge of the band of +make-believe sans-culottes which is to assail the King's escort. I can +answer for his intelligence and courage; he awaits his final orders next +door. Finally, this very evening, and in spite of the careful guard kept +about him, Louis XVI is to receive from his waiting-man Clery word of +the project, merely that the prince may not be frightened at the tumult, +and that he may follow with confidence those who give him the pass-word, +'God and the King! Pilnitz and<a name="vol-2-pg_009" id="vol-2-pg_009"></a> Brunswick.' That, then, is how matters +stand. A plot has been framed, it is on the eve of being carried out. +Now, I put this question: Is the time ripe for action?"</p> + +<p>Mute with astonishment, the Count, the Marquis and the Bishop stared +blankly at one another. The Count was the first to break the silence:</p> + +<p>"How is that! You give out the details, the agencies, the object of the +plot, the execution of which is fixed for to-morrow, and still you seem +to be in doubt as to whether action should be taken?"</p> + +<p>"I ask deliberation on these two plain propositions: First, would it not +be more opportune to await the day set for the execution of Louis +XVI—his condemnation is not a matter of doubt—and only then attempt +our stroke, in the hope that the horror of regicide will add to the +number of our partisans? And secondly,—it is I, on my own initiative, +on my own responsibility, who propose this grave question—would it not +be more expedient, in the manifest interest of the Church and the +monarchy—simply to allow Louis to be guillotined?"</p> + +<p>The Jesuit's proposal, as strange as it was unexpected, threw his +hearers into such amazement that they were struck dumb anew, and sat +with their mouths hanging open. Three taps at the door, given like a +preconcerted signal, were heard in the stillness.</p> + +<p>"It is my god-son," whispered the Jesuit; and in a louder tone, he +added: "Come in!"</p> + +<p>Little Rodin was togged out in a red jacket and bonnet the same as the +prelate. He saluted the company.</p> + +<p>"What news, my child? What have you to tell us?" inquired his +preceptor.<a name="vol-2-pg_010" id="vol-2-pg_010"></a></p> + +<p>"Gentle god-father, there is a man down below, with the porter, +disguised as a woman. He gave the pass-word, but the porter, not +recognizing him, replied that he knew not what he was after with his +jargon. Scenting a possible spy, the porter sent his wife up to me on +the second floor, to warn me of what had happened."</p> + +<p>"Doubtless it is one of our men, obliged to take refuge in disguise," +began the Count.</p> + +<p>"It is more serious than that," the Bishop dissented. "How are you to +make sure he is one of us?"</p> + +<p>"A man tricked out as a woman!" exclaimed the Marquis. "Is this carnival +time?"</p> + +<p>"You know all our people by sight?" asked Morlet of his god-son.</p> + +<p>"Yes, dear god-father. When I've seen a person once, I do not forget +him. The Lord God," and he crossed himself, "has blessed His little +servant with the gift of memory, which he has so much use for."</p> + +<p>"Go down to the porter's lodge," returned his dear god-father. "Examine +the personage in question. If you recognize him, tell the porter to let +him come up. If not, come back and let me know."</p> + +<p>"Yes, good god-father, your orders shall be followed to the dot!" +responded little Rodin, sliding out of the door, while the Bishop asked, +dubiously:</p> + +<p>"But may not that child make a mistake? Meseems the errand is poorly +entrusted."</p> + +<p>"My god-son is a prodigy of cleverness and penetration," returned the +Abbot.<a name="vol-2-pg_011" id="vol-2-pg_011"></a></p> + +<p>The interrupted topic of discussion was immediately resumed by the +Count.</p> + +<p>"I refuse to sit under a chairman," said he, "a priest, a subject of the +King, who has the sacrilegious audacity of bringing up for consideration +the abominable question, Is it, yes or no, expedient to allow Louis XVI +to be guillotined?"</p> + +<p>"Such abomination would seem incredible," chimed in the Bishop, "did one +not know that the Society of Jesus often preaches regicide."</p> + +<p>"The Society of Jesus has preached, has counseled regicide whenever it +became important to suppress Kings <i>ad majorem Dei gloriam</i>—to the +greater glory of God! The church is above monarchs," retorted the +representative of the Society.</p> + +<p>"A capital pleasantry!" put in the Marquis. "Here we are met to advise +on measures to save the King, and the priest proposes to us to let them +clip his head! The idea is brilliant!"</p> + +<p>At this moment little Rodin returned, and reported to the Jesuit:</p> + +<p>"Good god-father, in the person rigged out as a woman I have recognized +Monsieur Hubert."</p> + +<p>"Let him come in," ordered the recipient of the information.</p> + +<p>Still in Madam Desmarais's hat and fur cloak Hubert entered the room. At +the sight, the Marquis greeted him with a roar of laughter. Pale with +rage, Hubert threw at his feet his feminine head-gear, dashed off the +cloak which hid his vest and grey trousers, rushed at the Marquis, and, +shaking his fist under the latter's nose, cried:<a name="vol-2-pg_012" id="vol-2-pg_012"></a></p> + +<p>"You shall give me a reason for your insolence, you pigeon-house +tenant!"</p> + +<p>But the Count of Plouernel and his brother the Bishop interposed between +the two, and succeeded in calming the financier's irritation, explaining +to him that the Marquis was a hare-brain, and should not be taken +seriously. Apparently bent upon proving his reputation, the Marquis +cried out:</p> + +<p>"Pardon, dear sir, hi! hi! or, rather, dear madam! Ah, ah, ah! if you +knew what a winsome face you had! Pardon me, I am all upset over it—it +is too much for me. Ah, ah, ah! Oh, the idea! I shall die of bottled-up +laughter if you don't let me give vent to it!"</p> + +<p>Suiting action to word, the Marquis went off into another roar of +hysterics. Hubert's violent nature was about once more to get the better +of him, but once more was it appeased by the solicitations of the Count +and his brother. At last he cooled down sufficiently to make known to +the company the secret of his transfiguration, and how he owed his life +to his sister's devotion. During these confidences, the laughter of the +Marquis gradually died out.</p> + +<p>"Then, that part of St. Honoré Street where you have just missed arrest, +dear Monsieur Hubert," said the Count, "will to-night be watched by the +police, and I may, on leaving here, fall into their hands. For the +refuge where I have hidden myself since my return to Paris is situated +close to the St. Honoré Gate. The wife of a former whipper-in in the +King's Huntsmen is giving me asylum. From the window of my garret I can +see the house of this Desmarais, your brother-in-law; whom I now regret +not<a name="vol-2-pg_013" id="vol-2-pg_013"></a> having allowed to die under the cudgels when I had him flogged by +my lackeys."</p> + +<p>"You live near the St. Honoré Gate, you say, Count? What is the number +of the house, if you please?" asked the Abbot with a start.</p> + +<p>"Number 19; the entrance is distinguished by a small gate-way."</p> + +<p>"You could not have chosen your refuge worse! I am glad to be able to +warn you of your danger. At No. 17 of that same street live two members +of the Lebrenn family, John the iron-worker, and that beautiful woman +whom you knew under the name of Marchioness Aldini. Be on your guard, +for if these people came to know where you were hidden, they would not +let slip the opportunity to wreak on you the hate with which they have +pursued your family for so many centuries."</p> + +<p>"Now that that fool of a Marquis has become almost reasonable, let us +resume the course of our deliberation," replied the Count, thanking +Morlet for his information; and addressing Hubert: "When you came in, +the priest was having the presumption to propose for our consideration +the question whether it would not be wiser to postpone the projected +stroke until after the King was sentenced, instead of to-morrow, as we +purpose."</p> + +<p>"Any such delay would be all the sadder seeing that this very evening a +case of arms, containing also several copies of our proclamation, was +seized in my brother-in-law's house. The Committee of General Safety +thus has by this time the most flagrant proof of a conspiracy. So then, +I say, we must make haste. Yesterday and day before I saw several +officers and grenadiers of my old battalion, who are<a name="vol-2-pg_014" id="vol-2-pg_014"></a> very influential +in their quarter. They await but the signal to run to arms. The +bourgeoisie has a horror of the Republic."</p> + +<p>"Confess, Monsieur Hubert, that it would be better for the bourgeoisie +to resign itself to what it calls 'the privileges of the throne, the +immunities of the nobility and clergy,' than to submit to the tyranny of +the populace," rejoined Plouernel.</p> + +<p>"Monsieur Count, a few years ago you administered through the cudgels of +your lackeys a good dressing down to a man whom I have the unhappiness +to possess for brother-in-law. I, in his place, would have paid you +back, not by proxy, through hirelings, but in person. Now, great +seigneur that you are, what would you have done in that case?"</p> + +<p>"Eh! My God, my poor Monsieur Hubert! If I did not, in the first moment +of anger, run you through the body with my sword, I would have been +under the obligation of asking for a lettre de cachet and sending you to +the Bastille."</p> + +<p>"Because a man of your birth could not consent to fight a bourgeois?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly; for the tribunal composed of our seigneurs the Marshals of +France, to which the nobility refers its affairs of honor, would have +formally prohibited the duel; and we are bound by oath to respect the +decisions of Messieurs the Marshals. For the common herd we have nothing +but contempt."</p> + +<p>"It seems to me we are wandering singularly astray from the question at +stake," interposed the Bishop. "Let us come back to it."<a name="vol-2-pg_015" id="vol-2-pg_015"></a></p> + +<p>"Not at all, Monsieur Bishop," retorted Hubert. "We must first of all +know what we are conspiring for. If we are conspiring to overthrow the +Republic, we must know by what regime we shall replace it. Shall it be +by an absolute monarchy, as before, or by the constitutional monarchy of +1791? Well, gentlemen of the nobility, gentlemen of the clergy, what we +want, we bourgeois, we of the common herd, whom you despise, is the +constitutional monarchy. Take that for said."</p> + +<p>"So that the bourgeoisie may reign in fact, under the semblance of a +kingdom? We reject that sort of a government," sneered Plouernel.</p> + +<p>"Naturally."</p> + +<p>"Whence it follows that you wish to substitute the bourgeois oligarchy, +the privilege of the franc, for our aristocracy?"</p> + +<p>"Without a doubt. For we hold in equal aversion both the old regime, +that is, the rule of unbridled privilege, and the Republic."</p> + +<p>"Let us come back to the subject," snapped Jesuit Morlet. "The +bourgeoisie, the nobility, the clergy—all abominate the Republic. So +much is settled. Let us, then, first attend to the overthrow of the +Republic; later we may decide on its successor. Let us decide +immediately whether we shall or shall not delay the execution of our +plot of to-morrow—the first question; and the second, which, to tell +the truth, ought to take precedence over the other—whether it would not +be better after all, in the combined interests of the Church, the +monarchy, the nobility and the bourgeoisie, simply to let them, without +any more ado, send Louis to the guillotine!"<a name="vol-2-pg_016" id="vol-2-pg_016"></a></p> + +<p>The Jesuit's words were again received with imprecations by the Bishop +and Monsieur Plouernel, while the Marquis, finding the idea funnier and +funnier, burst into irrepressible laughter. Hubert, greatly surprised, +but curious to fathom the Abbot's purposes, insisted on knowing the +reasons on which he based his opinion. Accordingly, when silence was +restored, the Jesuit commenced:</p> + +<p>"I maintain, and I shall prove, that the sentencing and execution of +Louis XVI offer to us precious advantages. This sovereign—I leave it to +you, Count, and to you, Monsieur Hubert—is completely lost, both as an +absolute King, because he lacks energy, and as a constitutional King, +because he has twenty times striven to abolish the Constitution which he +pledged himself to support. So much is self-evident and incontestible. +Accordingly, the death of Louis XVI will deliver us from the unpleasant +outcome of an absolute King without vigor, if absolute royalty is to +prevail; and will spare us a constitutional King without fidelity to his +oath, if constitutional royalty wins out. That settles the first and +extremely interesting point. Second point, the execution of the King +will deal a mortal blow to the Republic. Louis XVI will become a martyr, +and the wrath of the foreign sovereigns will be aroused to the last +notch against a rising Republic which for first gage of battle throws at +their feet the head of a King, and summons their peoples to revolt. The +extermination of the Republic will thus become a question of life and +death for the monarchs of Europe; they will summon up a million +soldiers, and invest vast treasuries, coupled with the credit of +England. Can the outcome of such a struggle be doubted? France, without +a disciplined army; France, ruined,<a name="vol-2-pg_017" id="vol-2-pg_017"></a> reduced to a paper currency, torn +by factions, by the civil war which we priests will let loose in the +west and south—France will be unable to resist all Europe. But, in +order to exasperate the foreign rulers, to excite their hatred, their +fury, they must be made to behold the head of Louis XVI rolling at their +feet!"</p> + +<p>"Reverend sir, you frighten me with your doctrines!" was all the Count +of Plouernel could say. With a paternal air the Jesuit continued:</p> + +<p>"Big baby! I am through. One of two things: Either to-morrow's plot +works well, or it works ill. In the first case, Louis XVI is delivered; +the Convention is exterminated. A thousand resolute men can carry out +the stroke. But afterwards? You will have to fight the suburbs, the +Sections, the troops around Paris, which will run to the succor of the +capital."</p> + +<p>"We shall fight them!" was Hubert's exclamation.</p> + +<p>"We shall cut them to pieces! Neither mercy nor pity for the rebels!" +cried Plouernel.</p> + +<p>"We shall have the bandits from the prisons set fire to the suburbs at +all four corners! A general conflagration!" suggested the Bishop.</p> + +<p>"And these worthy tenants of the suburbs," giggled the Marquis, "seeing +their kennels ablaze, will think of nothing else but to fire in the air, +to check the flames. Hi! hi! hi! The idea is a jolly one!"</p> + +<p>Morlet the Jesuit again brought the conversation back into its channel. +"Monsieur Hubert," he said to the banker, "at what number do you +estimate the energetic bourgeois who will take part in the fight?"<a name="vol-2-pg_018" id="vol-2-pg_018"></a></p> + +<p>"Five or six thousand, old members of the National Guard. I can answer +for that number."</p> + +<p>"I am willing to concede you ten thousand. There are ten thousand men. +And you, Count, how many do you think there are of the returned +Emigrants, the old officers and soldiers of the constitutional guard of +Louis XVI, and finally of the ex-servitors of the King and the +Princes—coachmen, lackeys, whippers-in, stable-boys and other menials, +who form your minute-militia?"</p> + +<p>"I figure on four thousand—or less," replied the Count.</p> + +<p>"Let us say five thousand. Add them to Monsieur Hubert's ten thousand +National Guards, and we have a total of fifteen thousand men. Now, +although Paris has vomited to the frontiers since September fifty +thousand volunteers, how estimate you the number remaining of these +sans-culottes and Jacobins of the suburbs, the Sections and the +federations, and finally the regiments of infantry, cavalry and +artillery which are republican?"</p> + +<p>"There are fifteen thousand men, about, troops of all arms, not in +Paris, but within the constitutional limits, that is, within twelve +leagues of the capital," Hubert answered.</p> + +<p>"These troops could reach Paris in one day's march. There you have +fifteen thousand men in trained and equipped corps, cavalry, infantry, +and artillery, devoted to the Republic and the Convention; troops equal +in number to your fifteen thousand insurgents. We can number the Jacobin +population of the suburbs and the Sections, and the hordes of the +federations, at thirty thousand—scamps, armed with pikes or guns, and +provided with cannon as well! Now, suppose the King liberated, and the +members<a name="vol-2-pg_019" id="vol-2-pg_019"></a> of the Convention exterminated. You then find yourselves face +to face with a regular and irregular army of forty-five thousand +determined villains, while you number only fifteen thousand men, without +artillery, and extremely ill provided with supplies."</p> + +<p>"A brave man doesn't count his enemies—he attacks them!" exclaimed +Hubert.</p> + +<p>"We shall have for auxiliaries the foreign armies," interjected +Plouernel, "and the civil war in the west and south."</p> + +<p>"Let us not be carried away by fancies. We are considering a levy of +defenders which must be made to-morrow, in Paris; we are considering a +fight which will be over in one day, in the capital," returned Abbot +Morlet, coldly.</p> + +<p>"If we are beaten in Paris, we shall retreat to the revolted provinces! +We shall be new food to the civil war!" cried the Bishop.</p> + +<p>"The mitre weighs too much for your head, monseigneur," retorted the +Jesuit. "Retreat to the provinces, say you? But if the insurrection is +defeated, how are you going to slip through the hands of the victors in +the fray? All or nearly all of you will be massacred or guillotined."</p> + +<p>"Eh!" cried the Count, in a rage, "our friends the foreigners will +avenge us! They will burn Paris to the ground!"</p> + +<p>"And the King? He will have been, I suppose, delivered by a bold sortie. +But the insurrection worsted, he will be retaken and will not escape +death."</p> + +<p>"Well, we shall avenge him by a civil and a foreign war," was the lame +solution of the problem proposed by the Count.<a name="vol-2-pg_020" id="vol-2-pg_020"></a></p> + +<p>"Let us proceed," continued the Abbot. "Since, taking your own figures, +it is a hundred to one that, even if you succeed in snatching Louis from +his jailers for an instant, he will not fail to be retaken and have his +head shorn off, what will your insurrection have availed you? Let the +good populace, then, tranquilly trim the neck of this excellent prince. +His death will be the signal for civil war, for the foreign invasion, +and for the stamping out of the Republic. Do not uselessly endanger your +lives and those of your friends; they can, like you, render great +service at the proper moment. Accordingly, I sum up: the interests of +all—bourgeoisie, nobles and clergy—will best be served by letting +Louis XVI be guillotined with the briefest possible delay. I have +spoken."</p> + +<p>The inflexible logic of the prelate made a keen impression on his +auditors. He spoke sooth in regard to the certain defeat of the royalist +insurrection, and in relation to the redoubled fury into which the death +of Louis would throw the rulers of the surrounding monarchies. Nothing, +indeed, could be more formidable than their concerted efforts and +activity against the Republic—impoverished, torn by factions and almost +without trained troops as the latter would be. But the Jesuit suspected +not, was unable, despite his profound cunning, to conceive, what +prodigies love of country and the republican faith were soon to give +birth to.</p> + +<p>"By the Eternal! my reverend sir," at last cried the Count, "why, then, +have you approved of our projects, why have you put at our service +Lehiron and his band of frightful villains after his own pattern, to +help undertake the affair?"<a name="vol-2-pg_021" id="vol-2-pg_021"></a></p> + +<p>"Firstly, because I might have been mistaken in my conjectures—<i>Errare +humanum est</i>—to err is human. A man of sense is not obstinate in his +error. Secondly, and this is supreme to me, I have received from the +General of my Order, at Rome, these instructions: '<i>It is important to +our holy mother the Church that Louis XVI be crowned with the palm of +martyrdom</i>.' So that, having tested the danger and uselessness of an +uprising, I declare point-blank my determination not to take the least +part in it; I declare that I shall withhold from it whatever means of +action I can in any way control; in short, I shall oppose it in all +possible manner, licit and illicit. On the which account," concluded the +Jesuit, rising and bowing, "I shall now withdraw, so please you, my +humble reverence from your honorable company. I have nothing more to do +here."</p> + +<p>The Abbot moved impassively toward the door, only replying to the looks +of wonder on every face with the words, "I have said."</p> + +<p>But Hubert blocked his passage, and cried: "Miserable cassock, +hypocrite, cock-roach! Would you be also capable of denouncing us?"</p> + +<p>"I am capable of everything to the end of preventing an act reprobated +by the General of my Order. The General of the Jesuits has spoken; all +must obey him—even Kings, even the Pope. Silence and obedience are the +words!"</p> + +<p>So saying, and profiting by the stupor into which his audacity and +self-possession threw the other conspirators, the Jesuit left the room.<a name="vol-2-pg_022" id="vol-2-pg_022"></a></p> + +<p>"We are off, god-son," he said to little Rodin when he had descended to +the second floor. "Come, my child; other cares call me elsewhere."</p> + +<p>"Me also," responded the boy, blessing himself and rising. "I am ready +to follow you, good god-father. Command. To hear you is to obey."<a name="vol-2-pg_023" id="vol-2-pg_023"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XV-1-b" id="CHAPTER_XV-1-b"></a>CHAPTER XV.<br /><br /> +THE KING ON TRIAL.</h3> + +<p>As already recounted, John Lebrenn, in his capacity as municipal +officer, was charged on the night of December 10, 1793, with the task of +watching over Louis XVI, detained, with his family, at the Temple. +Occupying a room before the chamber of the ex-King, Lebrenn felt for the +prisoner a sort of compassion, as he reflected that this man, not +without his good inclinations, and endowed with certain undeniable +domestic virtues, had been pushed by his position as King to wrongful +acts which were about to bring down a terrible punishment upon his head.</p> + +<p>Louis submitted to his confinement with mingled carelessness and +resignation, rarely displaying either annoyance or anger at the rigorous +surveillance of which he was the object; he hoped that the penalty +pronounced against him by the Convention would not exceed imprisonment +until after the peace, and then banishment. For his wife, his sister, +and his son and daughter, he showed great solicitude; one proof of the +inherent sin of royalty, which could transform a good husband, a good +brother, and a good father—a man without malice in his private +life—into an execrable tyrant, capable of every transgression.</p> + +<p>The curtains which screened the glass door separating the ante-chamber +from that occupied by the fallen King<a name="vol-2-pg_024" id="vol-2-pg_024"></a> accidentally falling apart in the +middle, they revealed to John Lebrenn Louis XVI pacing up and down the +room, although his usual bed-time had long sounded. The King seemed to +be in a state of agitation which accorded ill with his apathetic nature. +On the morrow he was to appear at the bar of the Convention; and during +the day he had learned from Clery, his man-in-waiting, who, due to his +secret connection with the royalists, was informed of their moves, that +a plan was afoot to snatch him from his escort on the way from the +Temple to the Convention. Quite likely to turn his mind from these +thoughts, he opened the door leading into the room guarded by John +Lebrenn, in order to speak with him. The countenance of his watchman +seemed to inspire some confidence in the prisoner; perhaps he remarked +on the young man's features an expression of compassion, easy to +confound with the respectful interest of a subject for a prisoner King. +He stepped into the room of his guard. Not out of respect for the King, +but out of commiseration for the captive man, the soldier rose from the +camp cot on which he had been sitting. Louis addressed him affably, as +follows:</p> + +<p>"My friend, I am not disposed to sleep, to-night. If you will, let us +talk together, that my sleeplessness may be rendered less irksome."</p> + +<p>"Willingly, Sire," replied Lebrenn.</p> + +<p>This was the first time since his captivity that Louis XVI heard one of +his captors address him by that title 'Sire.' They called him habitually +'citizen,' or 'monsieur,' or 'Louis Capet.' Seeking to read the inner +thoughts of the man before him, Louis resumed, after a moment's +silence:<a name="vol-2-pg_025" id="vol-2-pg_025"></a></p> + +<p>"My friend, I do not think I am mistaken in believing that you pity my +lot? I have been calumniated, but the light will break some day, perhaps +soon: thank God, I still have friends. I know not what it is that tells +me you are one of those faithful and devoted subjects of whom I speak."</p> + +<p>"Sire, I am too loyal to leave you a single instant in error. I do not +accept the designation of 'subject,' Sire! I am a citizen of the French +Republic."</p> + +<p>"Enough, monsieur; I was mistaken," bitterly replied Louis. +"Nevertheless, I thank you for your frankness."</p> + +<p>"My words were dictated by my dignity, first of all; next, by my pity +for the misfortunes, not of the King, but of the man."</p> + +<p>"Sir," cried Louis XVI haughtily, "I require no one's pity; the +commiseration of heaven and my conscience are enough. Let us stop +there."</p> + +<p>"Sire, I did not seek the honor of this conversation; and, should it +continue, it is well that you be under no illusion as to my sentiments +towards royalty. The Revolution and the Republic have no more devoted +soldier than myself. Now, Sire, I am at your service."</p> + +<p>Louis XVI was not utterly lacking in sense; his first resentment past, +he admitted to himself that the conduct of this municipal officer was +all the more praiseworthy, inasmuch as while declaring himself a +revolutionist and a republican, he nevertheless treated a captive King +with respect.</p> + +<p>"I was rude just now, I am sorry for it," he said at length. "Hoping for +a moment to discover in you a faithful subject, I found myself face to +face with an enemy.<a name="vol-2-pg_026" id="vol-2-pg_026"></a> The disappointment was great. Still, let us talk a +little on this subject of your hatred for royalty. What harm have this +royalty, this nobility, this clergy, against which you rail, done to you +and your like?"</p> + +<p>"I could, Sire, reply to you in a few words, by facts and not by +railings. But I wish not to wound your preconceived ideas, and above all +to avoid giving you cause to make a sad comparison. This, Sire, is the +third time, in the course of fourteen centuries, that a descendant of my +family encounters one of the heirs of the monarchy of Clovis; and that +under circumstances—"</p> + +<p>"Doubtless the circumstances were intensely interesting. What were they? +You pique my curiosity."</p> + +<p>"Sire, the circumstances are sinister. It would be painful to me to give +you cause to draw the sad comparison between your present position and +that of the princes, your predecessors."</p> + +<p>"Tell me that part of your legends, Monsieur Lebrenn. My curiosity is +highly excited, and my confidence in a brighter future will not be +dimmed by your recital."</p> + +<p>"To obey you, Sire, I shall. It was in the year 738 that one of my +ancestors, named Amael, a soldier of fortune and companion to Charles +Martel, found himself in Anjou, at the Convent of St. Saturnine. My +ancestor was commissioned by Charles Martel to keep prisoner in the +convent a poor boy of nine, the only son of Thierry IV, the do-nothing +King, named Childeric. The child soon died, thus extinguishing, in the +last scion of the Merovingians, the stock of Clovis who had covered Gaul +with ruins.<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> Two centuries and a half later, in 987, at the palace +of<a name="vol-2-pg_027" id="vol-2-pg_027"></a> Compiegne, another of my ancestors, the son of a forester of the +royal domain, found himself alone in the chamber of Louis the Do-nothing +with that prince; he saw him of a sudden faint, become deadly pale, and +writhe in agony. He apostrophized the dying King thus: 'Louis, last year +Hugh the Capet, Count of Paris, had your father Lothaire poisoned by the +Queen his wife, a concubine of the Bishop of Laon. Louis, you are about +to die of poison which your wife, Queen Blanche, has just given you. She +has promised Hugh the Capet, her accomplice, to wed him during the +coming year.' And so it was; the last of the Carlovingians dead, Hugh +the Capet espoused his widow and had himself enthroned King of +France.<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> There, Sire, that is how royal dynasties are founded and +ended."</p> + +<p>"These are strange chances, Monsieur Lebrenn," replied Louis XVI. "One +of your ancestors charged to watch the last prince of the dynasty of +Clovis; another ancestor sees perish the last scion of the monarchy of +Charlemagne; and this night you are to watch over me, whom you probably +consider as the last King of the dynasty of Hugh Capet. You will soon +perceive your error."</p> + +<p>"Sire," returned John Lebrenn, "you insisted on knowing the occurrences +of which I just spoke, in connection with a question you put to me—"</p> + +<p>"Aye, Monsieur Lebrenn; and in spite of the strangeness of the +circumstances with which you have just made me acquainted, I repeat my +question. What harm have royalty, nobility and clergy ever done to you +and yours, that you should hate them so?"</p> + +<p>"To begin with, Sire, we know upon what crimes hang<a name="vol-2-pg_028" id="vol-2-pg_028"></a> the rise and fall +of dynasties; consequently we are unable to love and respect a royalty +imposed upon us by conquest. All monarchies have had a similar origin. +The Count of Boulainvilliers, in this very century, established and +demonstrated that the land of the Gauls belonged of fact and of right to +the King and the nobility, by the grace of God and the right of their +good swords: the Gauls were a vanquished race."</p> + +<p>For several seconds Louis did not speak. Then he began brusquely, +"Triumph in your hate, monsieur; you are here as the jailer of the +descendant of those Kings whom you and your fellows have abhorred for +ages."</p> + +<p>"The circumstance which has placed me near you, Sire, is of too high an +order of morality to evoke in me a sentiment so miserable as that of +sated hatred."</p> + +<p>"What, then, is the feeling which you do entertain, monsieur?"</p> + +<p>"A religious emotion, Sire; such as is bred in every honest heart by one +of these mysterious decrees of eternal justice which, sooner or later, +manifests itself in its divine grandeur and seizes the guilty ones, in +whatever rank they may be stationed."</p> + +<p>"So, monsieur, you make me a party to the evil my forefathers may have +perpetrated upon their subjects?"</p> + +<p>"Monarchs are rightfully regarded as parties to the crimes of their +ancestors, the same as they pretend to be masters of the people by +virtue of divine right and the conquests of those ancestors. All +inheritance carries with it its responsibilities as well as its +benefits. You surely would not dispute that, Sire?"</p> + +<p>"To-morrow rebellious subjects will arrogate to themselves<a name="vol-2-pg_029" id="vol-2-pg_029"></a> the right to +summon their King before them to trial," murmured Louis, without +noticing Lebrenn's question. "The will of heaven be done in all things; +it will punish the wicked, and protect the just."</p> + +<p>As Louis pronounced these words, the porter of the Temple entered the +room, saying, as he handed John the letter from advocate Desmarais, +"Citizen officer, here is a letter just brought for you by Citizen +Billaud-Varenne, who enjoined me to take it to you at once."</p> + +<p>"Good night, Monsieur Lebrenn," said the King; and turning to the +porter: "Send me my waiting-man Clery, to help me make my toilet. I wish +to retire."</p> + +<p>Louis XVI returned to his room, while John Lebrenn, greatly surprised to +recognize Desmarais's hand-writing on the envelope which Billaud-Varenne +had sent him, quickly tore it open, his heart, in spite of himself, +beating loud against his ribs.</p> + +<p>The missive read, Lebrenn for a moment thought he was dreaming. He +hesitated to pin any faith to such unlooked-for good fortune, the +realization of his dearest hopes. In vain did he seek to penetrate the +motive for the singular condition placed by the lawyer upon his +marriage. Examined in turn from the viewpoint of duty, of honor and of +delicacy, the condition seemed to him on the whole acceptable; he simply +bound himself for the future to a discretion from which he had not, in +the past, varied a hair's breadth.</p> + +<p>Why attempt to paint the ineffable felicity of John Lebrenn? The night +passed for him in a flood of joy.</p> + +<p>In the morning he was one of the municipal officers charged to conduct +Louis XVI to the bar of the Convention.<a name="vol-2-pg_030" id="vol-2-pg_030"></a> Towards nine o'clock Chambon, +Mayor of Paris, accompanied by a court clerk came to deliver to the King +the order to appear before the Convention.</p> + +<p>A two-horse coach awaited Louis at the door of the great tower, within +the precincts of the Temple. Generals Santerre and Witenkoff were +stationed on horseback beside the windows. Louis climbed into the +vehicle, and seated himself on the rear seat, beside the Mayor of Paris; +John Lebrenn and one of his colleagues in the Municipal Council occupied +the front. As soon as the carriage issued from the courtyard of the +Temple, the King realized, by the mass of military force with which his +route to the National Convention was hemmed in, that the Committee of +General Safety had been informed of the royalist intrigue, and had taken +steps to make impossible any sudden assault calculated to carry off the +prisoner.</p> + +<p>While Louis was on his way to the Convention, that sovereign assembly, +already two hours in session, was calmly and with dignity transacting +public affairs. The trial of the ex-Executive was, no doubt, of prime +importance, but to have changed its order of business, or to interrupt +it without cause before the appearance of the accused, would have given +the Convention almost the appearance of intimidation before the act +which it was about to consummate in the teeth of the allied Kings of +Europe. The countenances of the various factions presented singular +contrasts. The galleries were filled with patriots, who, in common with +the Mountain and the Jacobins, saw no safety for the Republic and the +Revolution save in the condemnation of Louis XVI to the penalty of +death.</p> + +<p>The dark and rainy sky of that December day sent its<a name="vol-2-pg_031" id="vol-2-pg_031"></a> lightning flashes +across the windows of the vast hall. The members of the Right and the +Swamp seemed weighed down by painful preoccupation; the Mountainists +alone were unmoved. One of the latter was speaking to certain articles +of a decree introducing some exceptions into the law on Emigrants, when +a low rumor running through the chamber heralded Louis's approach. The +Mountainist called for order and continued his discussion. The question +was put to a vote and carried. Only then did the president, rising in +his place, say to the Assembly:</p> + +<p>"I wish to inform the Assembly that Louis Capet is at the door. Citizen +Representatives, you are about to exercise the right of justice; the +Republic expects of you firm and deliberate action; Europe's eyes are +turned upon you; history will record your actions; posterity will judge +you. The dignity of your session should correspond to the majesty of the +French people; the latter is about, through your instrumentality, to +give a lesson to Kings and a fruitful example for the emancipation of +nations. Citizens in the galleries, forget not that justice presides +only over calm deliberations."</p> + +<p>Then, addressing the ushers:</p> + +<p>"Bring in the accused."</p> + +<p>Generals Santerre and Witenkoff advanced to the bar, leading the deposed +King between them by the arms; they were followed by Mayor Chambon, and +by John Lebrenn and his colleague. Several chairs were arranged near the +bar. Louis XVI removed his overcoat, placed it across the back of his +seat, took off his hat, and sat down, with his hat on his knees. His +large, bulging eyes wandered here and there over the benches of the +members with childish<a name="vol-2-pg_032" id="vol-2-pg_032"></a> curiosity. Then his face took on its usual +expression of apathy; his eyelids drooped, his loose lip fell down over +his fat and retreating triple chin; he settled himself as best he could +in his chair and seemed lost to his surroundings.</p> + +<p>The bustle caused in the chamber and galleries by Louis XVI's entry, +died out little by little, and Defermont, president of the Convention, +took up the examination of the accused on the facts charged against him.</p> + +<p> +<br /> +</p> + +<p>I have just attended the examination of Louis Capet. His answers, +hypocritical, evasive, or spun out of the whole cloth; his denials in +flat contradiction to verified facts; his obliviousness to all decency, +to all dignity, if not as a King, at least as a man, aroused in all +present, as they did in me, only pity for this prince who had neither +the courage to confess nor the nobility to repent his crimes, but who +resorted for his defense to the weapons of the vilest criminal, denial +and falsification.<a name="vol-2-pg_033" id="vol-2-pg_033"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XVI-1-b" id="CHAPTER_XVI-1-b"></a>CHAPTER XVI.<br /><br /> +LEBRENN AND NEROWEG.</h3> + +<p>Night had fallen. Half an hour after his return from the Temple, John +Lebrenn was awaiting in silence the result of his sister's consideration +of the letter written him by advocate Desmarais the previous evening, +and also one from Charlotte received during the day.</p> + +<p>Seated at her work table, which was lighted by a small lamp, Victoria +hung thoughtfully over the two letters.</p> + +<p>"Sister," at last said John, "are you more keen-sighted than I in +solving the reason for the condition set by Desmarais upon my marriage?"</p> + +<p>"Nay, I also am at a loss for an explanation," replied Victoria; "but I +suspect some cowardice in the mystery. You often see Billaud-Varenne, he +never told you, so far as I know, that he was in close connection with +Charlotte's father. And yet I read in Desmarais's letter that he begs +you to keep from Billaud-Varenne the secret of your love for his +daughter. Doubtless you could easily clear up the matter by seeing +Billaud-Varenne and asking him about his relations with Desmarais."</p> + +<p>"Would that not be failing in the discretion which Charlotte's father +imposes upon me an a condition for my marriage?"<a name="vol-2-pg_034" id="vol-2-pg_034"></a></p> + +<p>"Not at all. He asks you to keep from his colleague the secret of your +love for his daughter. Nothing more. On that subject, my dear brother, +you can still be as reserved in your talk with Billaud-Varenne as you +have been in the past."</p> + +<p>"That is so. I shall go and see him this very evening; I am certain to +find him at home. At any rate, does not the condition, placed by +Charlotte's father upon our marriage, seem to you, as it does to her and +me, acceptable on the score of honor?"</p> + +<p>"Surely, brother. And moreover, have you not always guarded with +delicacy this secret which Desmarais now asks you to keep? How will it +embarrass you to engage yourself upon your honor to continue holding it +a secret? In no wise. As to the motive for the condition, what matters +it? Go at once to Monsieur Desmarais's; Charlotte, poor child, is +counting the hours, the minutes till you come."</p> + +<p>"Ah, Victoria," cried John, his breast heaving and his eyes filled with +tears, "I can hardly believe my good fortune! To marry Charlotte! To +live with her and my beloved sister!"</p> + +<p>"Me! To live with you and your wife? It is impossible! Think of the +past."</p> + +<p>"Victoria, I might once have hesitated to reveal to Charlotte the +mystery of your life; it is no longer so, dearest sister. The conduct of +my betrothed has proved to me the firmness of her character; I am as +sure of her as of myself. She shall know all that has contributed to +your sad life, and her dearest wish will be like mine, I am certain—to +have you pass the rest of your days with us."<a name="vol-2-pg_035" id="vol-2-pg_035"></a></p> + +<p>"I admit that your sweetheart's spirit is sufficiently lofty to rise +above prejudice. But will it be the same with her family?"</p> + +<p>"I answer to that, dearest sister, that there is nothing else for you to +do but what I have just indicated. Have you not lived with our parents +and with me since the day the Bastille was taken, when you came home to +us? Have I not many a time spoken of you to Billaud-Varenne? If he is on +intimate terms with Citizen Desmarais, is it not likely that he has +spoken to him? In fine, for a last reason, the gravest of all, is it not +known in the neighborhood that we live together? Charlotte's father, our +neighbor, must be aware of the circumstance. Shall I resign myself to a +falsehood, and say that you are not my sister? What would Charlotte and +her father think then? What would that young and beautiful woman who +shared my lodgings then be in their eyes?"</p> + +<p>Victoria remained silent. She found, and, in fact, there was, no answer +to John's arguments. The latter, triumphing in his brotherly love, rose, +tenderly embraced his sister, and said:</p> + +<p>"You see you are convinced of the necessity of my confidence to +Charlotte. Now tell me, darling sister, which do you prefer, to live +alone or with us?"</p> + +<p>The young woman did not answer. Instead, her pale visage was bathed in +tears, always so rare in her. After a moment, she pressed her brother to +her heart, and murmured in a voice broken with sobs:</p> + +<p>"Ah, do not fear that the sight of your good fortune will make my +chagrin more bitter. On the contrary, perhaps I shall forget it in +seeing you happy."<a name="vol-2-pg_036" id="vol-2-pg_036"></a></p> + +<p>John tenderly embraced his sister, and set out for Billaud-Varenne's, +whom he wished to see before his interview with advocate Desmarais.</p> + +<p>Upon being left alone, Victoria pondered long the recent conversation +with her brother. Then, lending an ear mechanically to the whistling of +the winter's wind without, she bent over the little stove that warmed +their humble quarters, and resumed her sewing. Suddenly the young woman +uttered a cry of surprise, and jumped to her feet. One of the panes of +the dormer window which looked out upon the roof fell with a crash, and +as the fragments of glass jangled to the floor, a hand passing through +the opening left by the broken pane forcibly shoved the lower sash of +the window up in the casing. A great gust of wind filled the room, blew +out the lamp, and out of the darkness a muffled, suppliant voice called +to Victoria:</p> + +<p>"Have pity on me. I am an Emigrant; they are searching for me. I have a +hundred louis on me; they are yours if you save me!"</p> + +<p>At the same time that the words were pronounced, Victoria heard on the +floor the foot-fall of the fugitive, who had introduced himself by the +window.</p> + +<p>At the sound of the first words Victoria believed she recognized the +voice that came from out the shadows. The young woman was frozen with +astonishment.</p> + +<p>"O, Providence! O, Justice the Avenger," she exclaimed. "It is <i>he</i>!" +Then, transported with fierce joy, she ran in the darkness to the door, +which she double locked, put the key in her pocket, and made sure that +she had by her the double-barreled pistol she always kept ready and +loaded since she became aware of the intentions of the<a name="vol-2-pg_037" id="vol-2-pg_037"></a> Jesuit Morlet +and Lehiron. These precautions taken, Victoria groped about on the +bureau for a match, and held it to the stove-grate, while the fugitive, +surprised at the silence maintained by the occupant of the garret, +repeated again, believing it an irresistible argument to the mistress of +so poor a dwelling:</p> + +<p>"I am an Emigrant. You have a hundred louis to win by saving me. You +have no interest in turning me over to my pursuers."</p> + +<p>Victoria replied in a low voice, as she approached the lighted match to +a candle on the bureau, "Draw the curtain before the window, lest the +wind blow out my light."</p> + +<p>The Emigrant hastened to execute the order. Victoria lighted the candle. +Its light flooded the garret; and when the Count of Plouernel—for it +was that self-same gentleman—turned around once more, he stood +petrified at the sight of the woman he beheld before him. In spite of +the poverty of her costume, he recognized—Marchioness Aldini! Her black +eyes flashed; hatred contributed to her face so fearsome an expression +that Plouernel shuddered as he gasped to himself:</p> + +<p>"I am lost! Abbot Morlet told me that the Lebrenns dwelt near my refuge. +Let me flee!"</p> + +<p>He dashed to the door, expecting to open it and reach the stairway, but +found it locked. In vain he tried to beat it down.</p> + +<p>"Count," coldly said Victoria, in mocking accents, "know that this house +is occupied by good patriots. The noise you yourself are making will +give the alarm, and you will be arrested on the instant."</p> + +<p>"Infamous creature!" shouted Plouernel, wild with rage,<a name="vol-2-pg_038" id="vol-2-pg_038"></a> but ceasing to +shake the door. Then, rapidly approaching Victoria he unsheathed a +poniard which he carried concealed in his clothes; "You wish to deliver +me to the scaffold. But I shall avenge my death before it occurs! Your +life is in my hands."</p> + +<p>"Be that as it may," replied the young woman, as she leveled her pistol +at the Count's breast. The latter recoiled in terror. Still keeping +Plouernel covered, Victoria went up to one of the partitions, struck it +with her hand, and called out aloud:</p> + +<p>"Neighbor Jerome, are you there?"</p> + +<p>"Aye, citizeness," responded Jerome from the other side of the wall, "we +are here, my son and I, at your service. We have just come in, and are +getting supper."</p> + +<p>"My watch is stopped. Do you know what time it is, neighbor?"</p> + +<p>"Ten has just sounded from the ex-parish of the Assumption. It is late, +neighbor. We wish you a good night."</p> + +<p>Plouernel was fairly cornered. He could not think of escaping by the +window and the roof—one movement by Victoria would send him rolling to +the street below. To break down the door was no less perilous; the two +speakers in the garret, and soon all the inhabitants of the house, would +run to the young woman's call. And, finally, to attempt to kill her was +an expedient as fraught with danger as the other two. He would have to +brave two shots at close range and by a sure hand.</p> + +<p>Victoria sat down in such a manner as to place her worktable between +herself and the Count, and keeping the pistol still in her hand, said:</p> + +<p>"Count of Plouernel, you are the head of one of those<a name="vol-2-pg_039" id="vol-2-pg_039"></a> families which +have the honor of tracing their origin back to the early times of +conquest. The further you go back in the centuries the more crimes you +take to your account, and the more terrible should be the punishment +reserved to you. The representatives of these families will pay, like +you, Neroweg, Count of Plouernel, the debt of blood."</p> + +<p>Victoria was uttering these words in a voice of fierce exaltation when +her brother John, who had another key to the door, suddenly entered. His +sister's last words to Plouernel fell upon his ear. The Count, at the +unexpected apparition of the young artisan, fell back defiantly, and +involuntarily clapped his hand again to his dagger.</p> + +<p>"John, lock the door," cried Victoria quickly. "This man's name is +Neroweg, Count of Plouernel!"</p> + +<p>The Count put on a bold front, and said, in an attempt to brazen it out +with the young workman, who, he knew, shared the sentiments of his +sister with regard to the sons of Neroweg: "Go on, citizen, do your +business as purveyor of the scaffold."</p> + +<p>Unmoved by the insult, John cast a cold look in the Emigrant's direction +and said to his sister:</p> + +<p>"How comes the fellow here?"</p> + +<p>"He was evidently fleeing from the men sent to arrest him. He climbed to +the roof of the next house, and forced his way in by breaking the +window."</p> + +<p>"So," said John to the Count, "you are an Emigrant, and denounced? They +want you for judgment?"</p> + +<p>"The marauder has the impudence to question me!" answered the Count with +a burst of sardonic laughter. "A switch for the rascal!"</p> + +<p>"Count of Plouernel," returned John Lebrenn imperturbably,<a name="vol-2-pg_040" id="vol-2-pg_040"></a> "I am of a +different opinion from my sister on the nature of the punishment to be +meted out to you. The Revolution, in abolishing royalty, nobility and +clergy, has already chastised the crimes of the enemies of the people: +The evil your race has done to ours is expiated. Count of Plouernel, the +conquered have taken their revenge upon the conquerors, the nation has +re-entered upon her sovereignty. The Republic is proclaimed; justice is +done!"</p> + +<p>"Blood of God!" exclaimed Plouernel, "the beggar has the insolence to +grant me grace in the name of the people!"</p> + +<p>"Count of Plouernel, your judges and not I will grant you grace, if you +merit it," answered John, controlling himself under the goading flings +of the Emigrant. "If it were for me to say, you would remain in France +unmolested, like so many other ex-nobles. I would leave you in peace, I +swear it before God! in spite of all the wrong your family has heaped +upon mine. I would have pardoned you, Count of Plouernel, and I shall +tell you why I would have shown myself thus clement: A century or more +ago, one of my forefathers, Nominoë, said to Bertha of Plouernel, who +loved him with a love as passionate as his own, 'I experience I know not +what emotions at once sad and tender, in loving in you a descendant of +that race which, from infancy, I have been taught to execrate. You are +in my eyes, Bertha, an angel of pardon and concord. In you, I absolve +your ancestors; instead of making you party to their iniquities, I +transfer to them your virtues. You ransom the evil ones of your race, as +Christ, they say, ransomed the world by his divine grace.'</p> + +<p>"It is in memory of these words of my ancestor Nominoë," proceeded +Lebrenn, "that I would have pardoned<a name="vol-2-pg_041" id="vol-2-pg_041"></a> you, Count of Plouernel, in making +you share, not in the crimes of your stock, but in the virtues of that +young girl and in the qualities of another of your blood, a Protestant +and republican in his time, Colonel Plouernel, the friend of the great +Coligny and of my ancestor Odelin, the armorer of La Rochelle."</p> + +<p>"You lie," cried the Count of Plouernel, furiously. "Never did woman or +maid of the house of Plouernel dishonor herself with love for a vassal! +As to Colonel Plouernel, a turn-coat and a Protestant, he is the shame +of our family; as such, he may, indeed, have played the part of friend +to a base plebeian."</p> + +<p>"Accordingly, I would have pardoned, Count, the evil done by your family +to mine," John Lebrenn continued unperturbed. "But though I have the +right to show myself generous to my personal enemy, my duty as a citizen +forbids me to furnish asylum to an enemy of the nation and the Republic, +to a monarchist conspirator."</p> + +<p>"O, the hypocrite!" exclaimed the Count. "All the while pretending a +generosity which would be an insult to me, the clown wants to gratify +his hatred by sending me to the scaffold!"</p> + +<p>"I have told you that duty prevents my affording asylum to an enemy of +the Republic; but I am not an informer, I would not deliver up even my +personal enemy when he has sought shelter under my roof. Leave this +place. Go down the stairs softly, and you may gain the street. The gate +is not locked. If you were not under the shadow of a capital accusation, +I would chastise you as you deserve for your insults. So, out of here! +my ex-gentleman."<a name="vol-2-pg_042" id="vol-2-pg_042"></a></p> + +<p>"Ah, miserable vassal," replied Plouernel, pale with rage. "You dare to +threaten me!" And suddenly throwing himself upon Lebrenn, he dealt him a +blow that crimsoned the side of his face.</p> + +<p>"The fellow now belongs to me," grimly muttered John. He went to the +corner where his tools lay, and arming himself with a bar of iron which +he found there, tossed to the Count a sword which hung on the wall, +saying, as he did so:</p> + +<p>"Come, Count of Plouernel; take the weapon, and guard yourself!"</p> + +<p>"John," shrieked Victoria in terror, "your bar is no match for his +saber. You shall not expose your life so!"</p> + +<p>Plouernel drew the sword from its sheath and prepared to defend himself, +while Victoria, unable to intervene, shudderingly followed the duel.</p> + +<p>"Son of the Nerowegs," cried John, brandishing his bar of iron, "my +avenging arm is about to fall upon you."</p> + +<p>"I await it," coolly replied the Count, putting himself on his guard. +The robust iron-worker advanced upon his adversary, describing with his +weapon a figure-of-eight so lusty, so rapid, and to which the vigor of +his wrist lent such force that, encountering the sword at the moment +when the ex-colonel was about to lunge, the iron bar broke down the +latter's guard, and descended heavily upon his skull. Almost without +losing a drop of blood, and without a single cry, the Count dropped in +his tracks, and rolled upon the floor like an ox smitten with a sledge.</p> + +<p>With a bound Victoria flung herself on her brother's neck, wrapped him +in a convulsive embrace, and, suffocated with emotion, broke into tears, +unable to utter a<a name="vol-2-pg_043" id="vol-2-pg_043"></a> word. Partaking of his sister's emotion, John pressed +her tenderly to his breast; but their embrace ended in a start as they +heard a knock at their room door, and the voice of the porter calling: +"Citizen John, if you are abed, rise! They are looking for an Emigrant +in the house."</p> + +<p>The porter had barely uttered these words when John and his sister heard +a low moan from the Count of Plouernel. At the same moment the porter +called still more loudly, once more knocking at the door.</p> + +<p>"The wretch is not dead, and we can not give him up," said the workman +to his sister, looking at Plouernel.</p> + +<p>"Citizen John, awake!" it was the porter's voice as he redoubled his +knocks. "Here is the commissioner of the Section."</p> + +<p>"Who is knocking? Who's there?" answered the artisan, with a meaning +gesture to his sister, and saying to her, softly: "I'll feign to be +waking from a deep sleep. Help me carry the wounded man to your room; +for it would be an infamous deed to give up a suffering enemy. I shall +say that you are ill in bed, and they will not intrude upon you."</p> + +<p>"It is I, James," replied the porter. "You sleep a sound sleep, Citizen +John. This is the third time I have pounded at your door."</p> + +<p>"Ah, 'tis you, Father James. I slept so hard I did not hear you. What do +you wish?"</p> + +<p>"The commissioner of the Section and his agents are after an Emigrant. +They have already visited three floors; they will doubtless come up to +your chamber, as a matter of form. They know well enough that you would +never harbor an Emigrant in your place."<a name="vol-2-pg_044" id="vol-2-pg_044"></a></p> + +<p>"Alright, Father James. I'll slip on my trousers and open the door in an +instant."</p> + +<p>While speaking, John had hustled off his cravat, his vest, and his cloak +of municipal officership. He kept on only his pantaloons, and feigning +to be but half dressed in his haste to get out of bed, opened the door +at the moment that the commissioner of the Section, the same who the +evening before had carried on the search at Desmarais's, appeared on the +landing, followed by his agents and several gendarmes. The magistrate, a +friend of Marat's, knew Lebrenn, and greeted him cordially:</p> + +<p>"I regret, Citizen Lebrenn, that you have been awakened. You are one of +those in whose abodes there is no reason for searches and seizures."</p> + +<p>"No matter, citizen; come in, do your duty. I ask you only not to go +into my sister's room. She is ill."</p> + +<p>"I shall go neither into your sister's room nor yours, Citizen Lebrenn."</p> + +<p>"Who is it you seek?"</p> + +<p>"An ex-noble, the Count of Plouernel, formerly a colonel in the Guards. +He was installed in a house next to this, in the rooms of an old +huntsman of Louis Capet's; but warned, no doubt, of our approach, our +ex-noble took to his heels. I first thought he might have escaped by the +roofs; but after an inspection of them, I recognized that only a roofer, +and an intrepid one at that, would have dared to risk his life on such a +slope. To acquit my conscience I came, nevertheless, to inspect the +attic of this house. So, good night, Citizen Lebrenn."</p> + +<p>The magistrate shook the hand of the young man, who watched the +commissioner proceed towards the attic, and then re-entered his own +rooms and locked the door.<a name="vol-2-pg_045" id="vol-2-pg_045"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XVII-1-b" id="CHAPTER_XVII-1-b"></a>CHAPTER XVII.<br /><br /> +PLANS FOR THE FUTURE.</h3> + +<p>The day following these events in the lodgings of John Lebrenn, +Charlotte Desmarais was again talking with her mother in the parlor of +their apartment. The latter, pale and downcast, and her eyes red with +weeping, still trembled for the life of her brother, who, scenting the +snare in the commissioner's advice to leave Paris by the St. Victor +barrier, had remained snug in his refuge. The lawyer's wife was saying +to her daughter:</p> + +<p>"And so you are happy, very happy at your coming marriage, my child?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, mother!" echoed the young girl, covering Madam Desmarais's hand +with kisses, "nothing is now wanting to my happiness but to see you no +longer sad."</p> + +<p>"You know the reason for my sadness."</p> + +<p>"Has not, perhaps, my marriage, to which you consented only reluctantly, +added to the other causes of your sorrow?"</p> + +<p>"Since you ask me, my dear daughter, I will admit that the ideas, or +prejudices, if you will, in which I was brought up made me consider this +match with a workingman a misalliance. I opposed it with all my might, +up to the last moment. But—I confess it to you sincerely, my +child—last night when your father announced to Monsieur Lebrenn<a name="vol-2-pg_046" id="vol-2-pg_046"></a> that +he granted him your hand, the young man showed himself so grateful, he +expressed his joy in such eloquent terms, he evinced so much attention, +so much deference, he spoke so touchingly of his sister, in short he +showed himself so completely a man of heart and generosity, that my +repugnance vanished. Your marriage now satisfies me at all points."</p> + +<p>"What delight I feel, good mother, to hear you say so," responded +Charlotte clasping Madam Desmarais around the neck. "John will be to you +the tenderest of sons."</p> + +<p>"He will, I doubt not, but—" added Madam Desmarais sorrowfully, "I can +never share your happiness, dear child. I know the uprightness of your +spirit, the strength of your character; and I am going to make to you a +serious and painful avowal: Your father has wounded me to the heart, he +has lost my esteem and affection. It is impossible for me to live longer +with him. You witnessed his conduct toward me, you heard his repeated +denunciations."</p> + +<p>"Alas," replied Charlotte, forcing herself to make excuses for her +father, "it was only a shameful role he was driven to by necessity; be +assured of that, good mother."</p> + +<p>"No, it was not a role," answered the injured wife. "You must know the +whole truth. Last night, after Monsieur Lebrenn's departure, when we +were alone, your father said to me:</p> + +<p>"'Madam, take this once for all, you and your miserable brother; you +almost sent me to the guillotine to-day. God grant that the perils which +I dread be fended off in the future by this marriage of my daughter to +this—this Lebrenn.</p> + +<p>"'We live, madam,' continued your father, 'in terrible<a name="vol-2-pg_047" id="vol-2-pg_047"></a> times, and I am +in such a position that, should it some day come about that I must +either send others to the guillotine or face death myself, I would not +hesitate to send even you before the revolutionary tribunal. Let these +words always be present to your mind, madam, in regulating your conduct +henceforth.'</p> + +<p>"In these words your father wound up. Such, my child, was his language," +concluded Madam Desmarais, burying her tear-bedewed face in her +handkerchief.</p> + +<p>Charlotte answered not. She was torn with inward struggle against the +sad flood of ideas borne upon her by her father's hypocrisy. Brought up +in an atmosphere of filial affection and respect, the young girl +suffered at being compelled to lower her estimate of her paternal +parent. But this last conversation of the lawyer with his wife left no +more room for doubt as to his true character.</p> + +<p>Having somewhat calmed her tears, Madam Desmarais went on:</p> + +<p>"I have now, dear child, too much knowledge of your father's innermost +nature. His presence is hateful to me. It would be impossible for me to +live with him. Hence, my poor girl, we must part."</p> + +<p>"We part!" cried Charlotte, passionately embracing Madam Desmarais and +mingling her tears with her mother's: "And where will you go?"</p> + +<p>"I shall go back to Lyons, to my cousin's; I have resolved upon that, +since I can do nothing here, alas, to add either to your happiness or my +brother's safety."</p> + +<p>"Let us hope, mother, let us hope," said Charlotte through her tears, +after a pause. "Perhaps there is a way for us not to separate, good +mother, and also to save uncle.<a name="vol-2-pg_048" id="vol-2-pg_048"></a> Ah, mother, happiness, and above all +the desire to make others whom we love share our happiness, renders the +mind quick to invent. Last night, after father and you consented to my +marrying John, he and I were alone for a few minutes. Here is what he +told me: Before coming here, he had gone to Monsieur Billaud-Varenne, +and he learned from this gentleman that father had previously +commissioned him to offer my hand to Monsieur St. Just. Thus John +learned that father counted on finding in him a buffer against the +dangers which he fears, and that this was the motive that led him, in +default of Monsieur St. Just, to offer my hand to John. That does not +matter; but John also learned from Monsieur Billaud-Varenne that he had +said to father: 'Since you so greatly desire to marry your daughter to a +good republican, why not give her to John Lebrenn? He is, you say, your +pupil; he enjoys the esteem and friendship of the most eminent men of +the Revolution.'"</p> + +<p>"No doubt your father hoped, in marrying you to St. Just—"</p> + +<p>"To build himself a powerful bulwark against possible danger. But +Monsieur St. Just not having accepted the alliance, and Monsieur +Billaud-Varenne proposing John, father feared to seem to despise a +workingman should he refuse him my hand."</p> + +<p>"And what opinion did John Lebrenn express of your father?"</p> + +<p>"John said that father's conduct was lacking in straightforwardness, and +added, 'I have never failed in frankness toward you, Charlotte. If it +pleases you still to live with your father, I shall yield to your +desires, and I shall keep<a name="vol-2-pg_049" id="vol-2-pg_049"></a> ever hidden the slight esteem in which, +unhappily, I am forced to hold him. But if it is in your thoughts not to +dwell beneath the paternal roof after our marriage, I shall be more +pleased with that resolution, as it will permit me not to be separated +from my sister.' And in this connection, mother," added Charlotte with +touching emotion, "John gave me a proof of confidence as honorable in +him as in his sister. He recounted to me all that related to the +unfortunate girl, but all under the seal of secrecy. If Mademoiselle +Lebrenn has been the most unhappy creature in the world, because of +certain terrible events, no one is now more than she worthy of the +respect of all."</p> + +<p>"Gertrude was speaking to me yesterday about Mademoiselle Lebrenn, and +assured me that during the four years she has lived in our quarter, all +agree in praising her conduct. My husband used this as a pretext for +giving Monsieur Lebrenn to believe that if he formerly refused him your +hand on the ground that his sister had been Louis XV's mistress, that +obstacle no longer intervened, as by her virtuous conduct Mademoiselle +Lebrenn had redeemed the past. Would not such deceit, without, alas, the +other grievances I have against my husband, suffice to estrange us? Such +is our situation."</p> + +<p>"Mother," said Charlotte, interrupting Madam Desmarais, "I told you that +John, while consenting to live with me at father's house, would much +prefer for us to dwell by ourselves, with his sister. Ah, well, mother, +as I can not feel for father the sentiments which hallow the paternal +roof-tree, I have resolved to part from him after my marriage. And now, +mother mine, what reason can you give for a separation between us two?"<a name="vol-2-pg_050" id="vol-2-pg_050"></a></p> + +<p>"Dear child," answered Madam Desmarais, embracing her daughter in tears, +"you grant my wish before I utter it. Much as I longed for it, I did not +dare make the request of you for our living together; and even now I do +not know whether I ought to accept. To live with you would be my most +cherished desire; but Monsieur Lebrenn knows that I have constantly +opposed his marriage, and perhaps it would not please him to see me in +his home."</p> + +<p>"Here comes John, mother," cried her daughter as Gertrude led the young +man into the parlor. "He will take upon himself the task of reassuring +you."</p> + +<p>As soon as the maid had withdrawn, Charlotte said to her betrothed, who +bowed respectfully to Madam Desmarais:</p> + +<p>"My dear John, in case, after our marriage, it should not please me to +live in my father's house, would it be agreeable to you for mother to +come with us?"</p> + +<p>"I shall answer you, Charlotte, in all sincerity," responded the young +artisan. "I should be happy to have Madam Desmarais with us; all the +more, seeing that since what passed between her husband and her after +Monsieur Hubert's escape, it seems to me almost impossible that she +could resign herself to inhabit any longer the home of her marriage." +And he continued, to Madam Desmarais: "Believe me, madam; by my respect, +by my filial attachment, I shall strive to make you forget what you have +suffered; moreover, I promise to try to call a halt to the pursuit of +your brother."</p> + +<p>"Great God!" cried Madam Desmarais in accents of gratitude, "can it be +possible!"<a name="vol-2-pg_051" id="vol-2-pg_051"></a></p> + +<p>"I have some hope, due to my political relations, of success in what +concerns your brother's safety."</p> + +<p>"Ah, John!" said Charlotte, "you have divined my thoughts, anticipated +my wishes; for just now, in trying to reassure mother on the score of +uncle's fate, I dreamt of asking your assistance."</p> + +<p>"And I, Monsieur Lebrenn, am doubly grateful for your generosity towards +my brother, especially since you are not unaware that, even as I, he was +ever obstinately opposed to your marriage with my daughter," added Madam +Desmarais, with tears of happiness standing in her eyes. "Ah, whatever +the result of your efforts, my gratitude towards you will be eternal, +Monsieur Lebrenn. But, alas! how can you save my brother?"</p> + +<p>"Write, madam, to Monsieur Hubert, that if he will promise, on his word +of honor, to abstain henceforth from all intrigue, and to live quietly +in Paris, I hope, due to my relations with the procurator of the Commune +and several members of the Committee of General Safety, to be able to +secure a suspension of the searches against him. I ask of him nothing +which a man of honor can not accede to; I ask nothing which looks toward +his dropping his opinions, nothing that engages him towards the +Republic, except that he respect the established laws."</p> + +<p>"Ah, uncle is saved, mother. This proposal is too straightforward for +him not to accept. Let your heart rejoice."</p> + +<p>"Ah, Monsieur Lebrenn, what generosity, what grandeur of heart! Will you +pardon me for having so long misprised you?"</p> + +<p>"John, for answer, embrace <i>our</i> mother," said Charlotte,<a name="vol-2-pg_052" id="vol-2-pg_052"></a> gently +pushing her betrothed toward Madam Desmarais. The latter held out her +arms to the young workman, who clasped her in a hearty hug.</p> + +<p>"Aye, aye, you will hereafter be for me the best of sons," replied she. +"I owe to you forgetfulness from my sorrows, perhaps the life of my +brother, and assuredly the happiness of my Charlotte."</p> + +<p>"And now let us talk of our plans," resumed the young girl. "It is +understood, mother, that when we are married, you are to live with us? +We need not go back to that."</p> + +<p>"That is my dearest wish."</p> + +<p>"Since we are speaking of plans, Charlotte," put in John, "I should +acquaint your mother and you of my intention to continue my trade of +ironsmith. My employer, Master Gervais, has long proposed to turn his +establishment over to me, for which I was to reimburse him by yearly +payments to be agreed on by us. I am not of an age to enter upon another +career from that I have so far lived by."</p> + +<p>"But, my dear John," began Madam Desmarais, "as you speak of continuing +your trade, I should tell you that my daughter has a dower—of +considerable importance."</p> + +<p>"That is something, I must declare to you, which I have never +considered," John made answer. "Charlotte's dowry belongs to her, she is +to use it as seems good to her. As to me, I am certain that neither you +nor she will disapprove of my resolution to live by my own labor, as +heretofore. The establishment, perfectly equipped, which I shall get +from Master Gervais for thirty thousand livres, should bring me, good +year or bad, five or six thousand livres steadily. The output of my +forge will permit us, then, to live in some comfort, and allow me to pay +off my master<a name="vol-2-pg_053" id="vol-2-pg_053"></a> in a few years, according to the arrangements that we +shall make."</p> + +<p>"But, my dear John, my daughter's dower is more than 120,000 livres in +good gold louis, snugly stowed underground in our cellar; not to speak +of my personal fortune."</p> + +<p>"Dear mother, permit me to interrupt you," returned John. "Your private +fortune is yours, and Charlotte's dowry is hers; she and you may dispose +of them as you will, and in acts of benevolence. I wish only to prove to +you that my labor will suffice for the maintenance of our household, +apart from your resources."</p> + +<p>"I have always given you credit for delicacy, my dear John," replied +Madam Desmarais.</p> + +<p>"For which I thank you, dear mother. You now know that I wish to +continue to live by my trade. For the rest, be easy," added the young +workingman, smiling. "Neither Charlotte nor you will be deafened by the +clang of my anvil. Master Gervais's shop is on Anjou Street, and a great +courtyard separates it from a pretty house in the midst of a garden. The +dwelling is at present occupied by Master Gervais, but as he purposes to +go to live in the country, he will rent it to me. We shall be, my dear +mother—you, Charlotte, my sister, and I—comfortably established in our +little nest, which smiles in the shade of the garden about it. These are +my plans, subject to your and Charlotte's approval; except, I repeat, my +firm resolve to continue to live by the work of my forge."</p> + +<p>"I, to begin with, am agreed to these projects of John's," said the +young girl gaily. "The house, surrounded by its garden, charms me before +I see it. But do not be afraid, Monsieur John, that I shall fear to +blacken my dress with<a name="vol-2-pg_054" id="vol-2-pg_054"></a> the smoke of your forge; I shall also prove to +you that I dread not being deafened with the thunder of your anvil. And +you, mother, what have you to say to our projects? Do they meet with +your approval?"</p> + +<p>"I say that our John is honor, probity and delicacy itself," replied +Madam Desmarais with welling emotion. "I say that I would live, if need +be, in a garret, rather than be parted from you, my children. I say that +now I am ashamed of the prejudices in which I have heretofore lived in +regard to the men of the people. John teaches me to value them as they +truly deserve."</p> + +<p>"Ah, dear mother," was John's answer, "I understand, I overlook the +prejudices of which you accuse yourself. What causes them, what even +often justifies them, is the faults of so many of the disinherited, +unhappy ones, who, sunk in misery, in ignorance, and abandonment, have +fallen prey to the fatal vices that are nearly always engendered by +these conditions. So, do you know what has been my motive in wishing to +succeed Master Gervais in his smithy, where a score or so of apprentices +are always employed? It is to form in our shop a sort of practical +school of industrious, upright, and efficient workmen, jealous of their +rights as citizens, but also imbued with a sense of their public duties. +I hope to render still more fervent, still more glowing, their love for +their country, and for the Republic. I wish, in associating them with my +labors, to make them associated with the benefits thereof. I hope, in +short, to watch with fatherly solicitude over my young apprentices. I +shall choose orphans wherever possible, to the end of giving them a +family, and bringing them up good republicans. I have not, have I, +Charlotte,<a name="vol-2-pg_055" id="vol-2-pg_055"></a> presumed too much upon you, in counting on your help for +these poor boys?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, count also on my co-operation, my dear John," exclaimed Madam +Desmarais, her eyes filling with tears. "I now understand the grandeur, +the usefulness, the holiness of the task which you impose upon yourself +for the benefit of your apprentices and workmen. You seek to educate +them; you charge yourself with the molding of their characters!"</p> + +<p>Gertrude, entering at that moment, said to the young workman:</p> + +<p>"Monsieur Desmarais knows that you are here, Monsieur Lebrenn. He asks +you to wait for him. He will be in directly."</p> + +<p>"Mother," said Charlotte sadly, "grievous as is the dissimulation, I +believe there is every necessity for us not to inform father as yet of +our resolve to live apart from him after my wedding."</p> + +<p>"I am not of your opinion, my dear Charlotte," objected John, whose +candidness would have suffered under the reticence. "At any rate, we +have time to consider the matter. But it is necessary to decide, before +Monsieur Desmarais comes in on how to convey to Monsieur Hubert the +proposal I made to you, dear mother."</p> + +<p>"Dear John," replied Madam Desmarais, "I have a secure means of +communication with him. But should my letter indeed be intercepted, and +your name be found in it, do you not fear to be compromised?"</p> + +<p>"Should they seize your letter, it will not injure me in the slightest. +The attempt I make is loyal. I accept proudly the responsibility +attached to it, the same as, this<a name="vol-2-pg_056" id="vol-2-pg_056"></a> very morning, I took upon myself the +responsibility, still more serious on the face of it, of giving an +Emigrant who had sought refuge with me the means, not of escaping +justice—my duty would not permit that—but of leaving our house. Thanks +to me, the ex-Count of Plouernel was able, without molestation, to gain +a safe retreat."</p> + +<p>"That great seigneur who once so shamefully outraged my husband?" cried +Madam Desmarais in surprise.</p> + +<p>"Monsieur Plouernel," Charlotte asked, "the descendant of that ancient +family of warrior Franks which has done so much injury to your plebeian +stock?"</p> + +<p>"Precisely. By a strange fatality, he picked a fight with me last night. +I thought I had killed him, but he was only stunned. This morning when +Monsieur Plouernel had sufficiently regained his senses and strength, I +conducted him to the threshold of our house. The porter, recognizing my +voice, opened the street door to the Emigrant. Now let the justice of +men be done; I can not denounce an enemy defeated and wounded."</p> + +<p>At this moment advocate Desmarais stepped into the parlor, cordially +tendering his hand to Lebrenn, and saying:</p> + +<p>"Good day, my dear friend, my worthy <i>pupil</i>." Then passing to the young +artisan a paper he held in his hand, the lawyer added: "Read that aloud, +my dear John."</p> + +<p>Charlotte's betrothed read as follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Citizen colleague:</p> + +<p>"I announce to you the marriage of my daughter, Charlotte +Desmarais, to Citizen John Lebrenn, the iron worker.</p> + +<p>"The vows of the two as husband and wife will be received<a name="vol-2-pg_057" id="vol-2-pg_057"></a> by the +municipal officer of the Section of the Pikes, on the day that the +head of Louis Capet the tyrant falls on the scaffold.</p> + +<p class="r">"Fraternal greetings,<br /> +"B<small>RUTUS</small> D<small>ESMARAIS</small>.</p> + +<p>"December 12, year One of the<br /> +Republic one and indivisible."</p></div> + +<p>"That is a copy of the circular letter I have just addressed to my +colleagues of the Convention, to invite them to your wedding with my +daughter. What do you say to the phrasing of my missive, and especially +to the time chosen for your wedding?"</p> + +<p>"My God!" thought Madam Desmarais with a shudder, "the fate of Louis XVI +aroused my husband's pity, and still he chooses the day of that prince's +execution to marry our daughter upon. What abominable hypocrisy!" And +Madam Desmarais left the parlor.</p> + +<p>"You ask me, Citizen Desmarais, what I think of your letter of +invitation, and of the time set for my union with Charlotte; I reply to +you, in all sincerity, that I extremely regret that you chose the day of +the execution of Louis XVI for our marriage."</p> + +<p>"And I, father, hold with John."</p> + +<p>"I suspect you, my daughter, of being a little royalist," replied the +lawyer in a bitter-sweet tone; "and as to you, my dear pupil, I did not +believe it necessary to remind you that the day a King's head falls into +the basket is a festive day, a day of joy for all good patriots."</p> + +<p>"Citizen Desmarais, did I sit in the Convention I would have voted for +the death of Louis XVI, as a perjurer and a conspirer against the +nation. But the day when the<a name="vol-2-pg_058" id="vol-2-pg_058"></a> glaive of the law strikes the last of the +Kings will not be a day of joy for the Republic."</p> + +<p>"And what will it be, then, O my pupil? A day of mourning, perhaps?"</p> + +<p>"For good patriots there will be neither joy nor mourning, Citizen +Desmarais. It will be a day of deep and sober thought. Louis XVI is not +a man, but a principle, representing the oldest monarchy in Europe. In +striking Louis XVI, it is royalty that is beheaded. It is not a head +that will fall to the scaffold, but a crown."</p> + +<p>"My faith, my dear pupil, you have indeed out-reasoned your master. The +death of the tyrant, in fact, causes patriots more than the delirium of +joy, it causes a religious meditation, as you have so aptly said. But +what is done is done. I sent off my circular this morning to all our +friends in the Mountain; I can not now change the date of your +marriage."</p> + +<p>"Father," said Charlotte gravely, "John and I have awaited for years the +day that would consummate our hopes; we would gladly consent to postpone +still further the day that is to unite us, in order not to coincide with +that of the death of the King, guilty though he be."</p> + +<p>"Enough on that subject, my daughter, time presses. You, my pupil, will +come to the notary's with me, if you please, to settle the terms of your +marriage contract. Thence we shall hie us to the Convention, where I +shall present you to my colleagues of the Mountain as my future +son-in-law."</p> + +<p>"I would say to you, Citizen Desmarais, that I do not intend to +interfere in the making of the contract; that shall be drawn up as it +pleases you."<a name="vol-2-pg_059" id="vol-2-pg_059"></a></p> + +<p>"But you must know, my dear pupil, what dowry I settle upon my +daughter!"</p> + +<p>"That is a financial question in which I am not in the slightest degree +interested."</p> + +<p>"Ah, my children," returned the lawyer, in sepulchral tones, "what +regret I feel at not being able to endow you as I would wish! But I have +ruined myself in patriotic gifts. Save for this house and some little +properties which amount to almost nothing, there remain to me in all +only 850 louis, which I share with you, my children. This dowry is very +small, my dear John, after that which you hoped to secure from your +father-in-law."</p> + +<p>"The thought of a dower never presented itself to me; be convinced of +that, Monsieur Desmarais."</p> + +<p>"I believe you, my dear pupil, expecting no less of your delicacy. But, +apart from the 425 louis which I leave to you, you shall be lodged here, +without expense to you; for we shall never part, my dear pupil. We shall +be but one single family, and we shall also find room for your sister, +who has so admirably lived down her past; for I no longer see in her the +mistress of Louis XV, but the worthy daughter of the proletaire. And so, +my dear John, it is indeed settled that neither you nor your wife shall +leave me; I count on it, absolutely; it is for our peace and mutual +happiness."</p> + +<p>Charlotte was as indifferent as John to the figure of her dowry; but +knowing through her mother that the settlement originally was to have +been 120,000 livres, buried in the cellar of the house, the young girl +was wounded by the secret calculations of her father, who, she thought +(nor was she mistaken), in dowering her so niggardly expected<a name="vol-2-pg_060" id="vol-2-pg_060"></a> to force +John Lebrenn to take up his residence with him.</p> + +<p>"I must thank you for your offer, Citizen Desmarais," answered John, +"but I desire but one thing in the world, the hand of Charlotte. That I +have obtained. All the rest is in my eyes but a bauble; it concerns me +little, and troubles me not at all."</p> + +<p>"Such delicacy does not surprise me, coming from you, my dear John. So +you accept the terms of contract, as to the dowry? It is agreed?"</p> + +<p>"Perfectly, and without objection."</p> + +<p>"In that case, let us at once set about drawing up the marriage +articles. The notary awaits us."</p> + +<p>"Adieu, Charlotte. I shall at once see the members of the Committee of +General Safety about your uncle," added John softly to his betrothed.</p> + +<p>"Ah, if I had ever hesitated to leave my father's house," replied the +young girl to her lover in like tones, "this last interview with him +would have removed my scruples."</p> + +<p>"Come, my pupil, let us go," said the lawyer, approaching the young +couple. "Adieu, my daughter; tell mother that our dear John will dine +here—the betrothal feast!"</p> + +<p>"Till we meet again, father," answered the young girl, with a look of +intelligence to John, who, accompanying his future father-in-law, left +the house.<a name="vol-2-pg_061" id="vol-2-pg_061"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII-1-b" id="CHAPTER_XVIII-1-b"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.<br /><br /> +THE KING SENTENCED.</h3> + +<p>If there had ever existed any doubt as to the crimes of high treason +charged against Louis XVI, the doubt vanished before the crushing proofs +furnished against him during his examination. Deseze, Tronchet and +Malesherbes, charged with the defense made their main plea on the royal +inviolability guaranteed by the Constitution of 1791.</p> + +<p>According to the defense of Louis XVI, and, indeed, according to the +text of the Constitution itself, the King, even though he violated the +Constitution, even though he betrayed the state, even though he led an +invasion upon France, and at the head of foreign troops put the country +to fire and sword, even then he incurred no penalty other than that of +deposition. Such was the brief of the King's lawyers.</p> + +<p>This theory, in which the absurd jostled the monstrous, was not judged +worthy of a refutation by the Convention. Capet's accusers placed the +question on a higher plane, by affirming and demonstrating the nullity +of the Constitutional pact of 1791. Such was the opinion held by +Robespierre, St. Just, Condorcet, Carnot, Danton, several Girondins, +and, in fact, the great majority of the house.<a name="vol-2-pg_062" id="vol-2-pg_062"></a></p> + +<p>In the name of justice, of right, and of reason, Louis XVI richly +merited the verdict of guilty.</p> + +<p>The sovereignty of the people being permanent, indivisible and +inalienable, the Constitution of 1791 was radically null and void, in +that it provided for the hereditary alienation of a portion of the +people's rights, in favor of the ex-royal family. The Conventionists of +1793 were no more in love with the Constitution of 1791 than the +Constituents of 1791 were with the monarchical, feudal and religious +institutions which had weighed like an incubus on France fourteen +centuries long.</p> + +<p>A nation has the power, but never the right, to alienate its +sovereignty, either in whole or in part, by delegating it to a +hereditary family. Such an alienation, imposed amid the violence of +conquest, borne out of habits of thought, or consented to in a moment of +public aberration, binds neither the present generation nor those to +come. Accordingly, the Constitution of 1791 being virtually null in +fact, Louis Capet could not invoke the protection of that Constitution, +which guaranteed the inviolability of the royal person, and limited his +punishment to deposition in a few specified cases. Louis XVI was, then, +legally brought to trial. By reconquering its full sovereignty on the +10th of August, the nation invested the Convention with the powers +necessary for judging the one-time King. His crimes were notorious and +flagrant; their penalty was written in the books of the law, equally for +all citizens; he must, then, undergo the penalty for his misdeeds.</p> + +<p>I, John Lebrenn, add here some further passages from<a name="vol-2-pg_063" id="vol-2-pg_063"></a> my diary, relating +to the trial, judgment and execution of Louis Capet.</p> + +<p> +<br /> +</p> + +<p>J<small>ANUARY</small> 15, 1793.—Having heard the defense submitted by Deseze, one of +the attorneys for Louis XVI, the Convention put to a vote this first +question:</p> + +<p>"Is Louis Capet guilty of conspiracy against liberty and the nation, and +of assault on the general safety of the State?"</p> + +<p>The Assembly contained seven hundred and forty-nine members.</p> + +<p>Six hundred and eighty-three replied:</p> + +<p>"Yes, the accused is guilty."</p> + +<p>The roll-call being completed, the president of the Assembly announced +the decision:</p> + +<p>"In the name of the French people, the National Convention declares +Louis Capet guilty of conspiracy against liberty and the nation, and of +assault on the general safety of the State."</p> + +<p>The second question was:</p> + +<p>"Shall the decision of the National Convention be submitted to +ratification by the people?"</p> + +<p>The members who voted for ratification by the people were two hundred +and eighty-one; those against ratification, four hundred and +twenty-three.</p> + +<p>The president announced the result of the vote:</p> + +<p>"The National Convention declares the judgment rendered on Louis Capet +shall not be sent for ratification to the people."</p> + +<p>J<small>ANUARY</small> 17, 1793.—To-day and yesterday the sessions of the Convention +were permanent, due to the gravity of<a name="vol-2-pg_064" id="vol-2-pg_064"></a> the situation. The debate turned +upon the third question:</p> + +<p>"What shall be the penalty imposed on Louis XVI?"</p> + +<p>I was present at the sessions wherein the elected Representatives of the +people decided the fate of the Frankish monarchy, imposed on Gaul for +fourteen centuries. It was not alone the man, the King, that the +Convention decapitated—it was the most ancient monarchy in Europe. It +was not only the head of Capet that the Republic wished defiantly to +cast at the feet of allied Europe; it was the crown of the last of the +Kings.</p> + +<p>It was eight in the evening. In response to their names as the roll was +called the members of the Convention mounted the tribunal one by one, +and in the midst of a solemn silence cast their vote.</p> + +<p>This evening, Thursday, at eight o'clock, while throughout the spacious +hall one might have heard a pin drop, Vergniaud announced the result:</p> + +<p>"The Assembly consists of seven hundred and forty-nine members; 15 are +absent on committees, 7 because of illness, 1 without cause, censured; +and 5 excused; number remaining, seven hundred and twenty-one.</p> + +<p>"Required for an absolute majority, three hundred and sixty-one.</p> + +<p>"Members voting for death unconditionally, three hundred and +eighty-seven.</p> + +<p>"Members voting for imprisonment, irons, or conditional death, three +hundred and thirty-four.</p> + +<p>"In the name of the people and the National Convention, I declare the +penalty of death pronounced against Louis Capet."</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">January 19, 1793.</span>—The question put by Mailhe, "Shall<a name="vol-2-pg_065" id="vol-2-pg_065"></a> there be any +postponement of Louis XVI's execution?" was discussed during the +sessions of the 17th and 18th. At the end of to-day's session, the +president put the question to a vote:</p> + +<p>"Shall the execution of Louis Capet be postponed, yes or no?"</p> + +<p>The vote resulted: for postponement, three hundred and ten; against, +three hundred and eighty. The postponement was lost. Pale, and with +grief impressed upon his features, Vergniaud again ascended the tribunal +and in a trembling voice announced:</p> + +<p>"The National Convention declares:</p> + +<p>"Article first.—Louis Capet, last King of France, is guilty of +conspiracy against the liberty of the nation and of assault upon the +general safety of the State.</p> + +<p>"Article second.—The National Convention declares that Louis Capet +shall suffer the penalty of death.</p> + +<p>"Article third.—Notice of the decree which condemns Louis Capet to +death shall he sent to the Executive Council.</p> + +<p>"The Executive Council is charged to notify Louis XVI of the decree +during the day, and to have him executed within twenty-four hours.</p> + +<p>"The mayors and municipal officers of Paris shall be enjoined to allow +Louis Capet liberty to communicate with his family, and to call upon a +minister of the denomination he may elect, to attend his last moments."</p> + +<p>At three in the morning of Sunday, January 20, the meeting adjourned; +and to cries of "Long live the Nation!" "Long live the Republic!" the +multitude poured out of the galleries.<a name="vol-2-pg_066" id="vol-2-pg_066"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XIX-1-b" id="CHAPTER_XIX-1-b"></a>CHAPTER XIX.<br /><br /> +EXECUTION.</h3> + +<p>Such were the memorable sessions of the National Assembly of the 15th, +17th, 19th and 20th of January, 1793.</p> + +<p>Glory to the men of energy, to the inexorable patriots!</p> + +<p> +<br /> +</p> + +<p>J<small>ANUARY</small> 21, 1793.—The execution of Louis Capet took place to-day, +Monday, the 21st of January, 1793!</p> + +<p>My sister and I were present at the death of Louis. A vast throng filled +the Place of the Revolution. The scaffold faced the avenue of the +Elysian Fields, a short distance from the spot occupied by the statue of +Louis XV.</p> + +<p>At ten minutes past ten in the morning, a dull rumor, drawing nearer and +nearer, announced the arrival of the condemned. My sister and I were not +far from the scaffold, behind a line of Municipal Guards. We beheld a +two-horse carriage draw up, accompanied by General Santerre and several +officers of his staff. Claude Bernard and James Roux, an ex-priest, the +municipal officers charged with guarding Capet, alighted first from the +carriage, where Louis remained for two minutes' space with his +confessor. Then, with firm tread, and supported by the executioners, he +ascended the steps of the platform. He was clad in grey trousers and a +soft white waistcoat; his purpled<a name="vol-2-pg_067" id="vol-2-pg_067"></a> face betrayed intense excitement. +Suddenly he stepped to the edge of the scaffold, and cried to the +people:</p> + +<p>"Frenchmen, I am innocent—"</p> + +<p>At Santerre's command the roll of drums drowned the rest of the speech. +Louis XVI cast a look of rage at the drummers, and cried to them angrily +to desist.</p> + +<p>The drumming continued. Louis Capet was turned over to Sampson, the +executioner-in-chief, and his aides. A few seconds later, the +sixty-sixth of these foreign Kings of Gaul had paid the penalty of his +crimes, had expiated the wrongs of the monarchy of which he was the last +incarnation.</p> + +<p>The King's head, held up to the people by the headsman, was greeted with +the shouts of the multitude.</p> + +<p>No. 155 of Marat's journal terminates its account of the execution of +Capet with the following reflections:</p> + +<p>"The head of the tyrant has just fallen under the sword of the law; that +same blow has overthrown the foundation of monarchy among us. I now +believe in the Republic.... Not a voice cried for grace during the +execution; a profound silence reigned about the scaffold. But when the +head of Capet was shown to the people, from all sides rose the cries, +'Long live the Nation! Long live the Republic!' The execution of Louis +XVI is one of those memorable events which mark epochs in the life of +nations. It will have an immense influence on the fate of the despots of +Europe and on those peoples who have as yet not broken their chains."</p> + +<p>Robespierre, in a letter to one of his constituents (second trimester, +page 3), penned the following appreciation of the consequences of the +great political occurrence:<a name="vol-2-pg_068" id="vol-2-pg_068"></a></p> + +<p>"Citizens, the tyrant is fallen under the sword of the law. This great +act of justice has struck consternation to the hearts of the +aristocracy, annihilated the superstition of royalty, and created the +Republic. It imparts a character of grandeur to the Convention, and +makes it worthy the confidence of France. The imposing and majestic +attitude of the people in this solemn hour will cause the tyrants of +earth more terror than even the death of their fellow. A profound +silence surrounded the scaffold up to the moment the head of Louis XVI +fell. That instant, the air shook with the unanimous shout of a hundred +thousand citizens, 'Long live the Republic!' It was not the barbarous +curiosity of men who came to feast their eyes on the death of a +fellow-being; it was the powerful interest of a people, impassioned for +liberty, and assuring itself of the fact that royalty had breathed its +last.... Formerly, when a King died at Versailles, the reign of his +successor was immediately ushered in to the tune of 'The King is dead, +long live the King!' as if to make the nation understand that despotism +was immortal. This time, a whole people, with a sublime instinct, +acclaimed: 'Long live the Republic,' to teach a universe that tyranny +had died with the tyrant."</p> + +<p>May the same lot be reserved for all the Kings.<a name="vol-2-pg_069" id="vol-2-pg_069"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XX-1-b" id="CHAPTER_XX-1-b"></a>CHAPTER XX.<br /><br /> +MARRIAGE OF JOHN LEBRENN.</h3> + +<p>Under date of January 26, 1793, the diary of John Lebrenn bears the +record, without comment:</p> + +<p>"To-day I espoused Charlotte Desmarais."</p> + +<p>Despite the circular addressed by advocate Desmarais to his colleagues +in the Convention, and in which he fixed as the date for his daughter's +wedding the day of the tyrant's death, Charlotte, without regard for her +father's very lively disappointment, and unmindful of his reiterated +importunities, would not consent to be married until the 26th of +January. With his habitual calculation, considering the union merely as +a precaution, the lawyer had chosen Robespierre and Marat as witnesses +to the ceremony; those selected by John Lebrenn were Billaud-Varenne and +Legendre. The municipal officer of the Section received the vows of the +young couple in his office on the evening after the Convention session +of January 26. John Lebrenn had several days previously obtained from +his old employer, Master Gervais, the deed of his smithy and the lease +of the house. The preparations, the modest embellishments of his future +home, were finished on the eve of his marriage.</p> + +<p>After returning from the offices of the Section, the young couple +received the pledges and felicitations of the witnesses,<a name="vol-2-pg_070" id="vol-2-pg_070"></a> and presently +were left alone with Madam Desmarais and her husband, who said to John:</p> + +<p>"My dear son-in-law, I leave you an instant to go to look up my +daughter's dowry and present it to you."</p> + +<p>When Desmarais left the room, his wife addressed her daughter and +new-found son:</p> + +<p>"My children, this is the decisive instant. I would rather die than live +any longer with my husband; but I tremble to think of the rage into +which our resolution will throw him. Do not forsake me."</p> + +<p>"Dear mother," responded Charlotte, "could you really think that of us? +Is not our life bound up with yours?"</p> + +<p>"Nevertheless, if he should oppose our separation? He would perhaps be +in the right, my children?"</p> + +<p>"Reassure yourself, dear mother," quoth John in his turn. "In the first +place, the separation will relieve Monsieur Desmarais of one fear, that +of being compromised by his relationship with Monsieur Hubert, your +brother; who, unfortunately, as you tell me, has refused to accept the +proposal made to him in my name."</p> + +<p>"Alas, yes; my brother replied that he appreciated your offer, but that +he considered it an act of cowardice to remain passive; he wished to +retain full freedom to combat the Republic."</p> + +<p>"Alas," echoed Charlotte, with a sigh, "I deplore uncle's blindness, but +I can not but pay homage to his strength of character."</p> + +<p>"True enough, my dear Charlotte, Monsieur Hubert is one of those +adversaries whom one admires while fighting. As I have several times +told your mother, I hoped that struck especially by the attitude of the +people of Paris on<a name="vol-2-pg_071" id="vol-2-pg_071"></a> the 21st your uncle, who is a man of sense, would +recognize how vain would now be any attempt against the Republic," +observed John. "In that case, dear mother, Monsieur Desmarais, +heretofore so terrified at the perils to which he believed himself +exposed by his kinship with Monsieur Hubert, will no doubt see in your +determination to leave him nothing but a pledge of his safety for the +future, and will hardly dream of holding you back. At least, that is the +way it appears to me."</p> + +<p>At that moment the attorney returned, holding in his hands a little +inlaid casket which he held out to the young artisan with a radiant air, +saying:</p> + +<p>"My dear son-in-law, I have found in my strong-box, besides the sum I +mentioned, a hundred louis, which I add to my daughter's dower."</p> + +<p>But seeing John Lebrenn repulse the proffered casket, the attorney added +in great surprise: "Come, take the little chest, my dear pupil. It +contains, in fine good louis, the dower I promised you, to which I have +just added two thousand four hundred livres. Moreover, it is understood +that in recompense for the slimness of the dower Charlotte, you, and +your sister will lodge and board with me, without, to put it plainly, +any expense to you. We shall live as one family."</p> + +<p>"Citizen Desmarais," replied John, "before accepting the dower which you +offer me and of which I have no need, it is our duty, my wife's and +mine, to inform you of our plans. First of all, I shall continue in my +station as an iron-worker."</p> + +<p>"That is admirable, my dear pupil," exclaimed the lawyer with hastily +assumed enthusiasm. "Far from blushing<a name="vol-2-pg_072" id="vol-2-pg_072"></a> at your condition, far from +seeing in the advantage afforded you by your marriage with my daughter +an opportunity to renounce honest toil and to live in indolence, you +choose to remain a workman. That is indeed admirable!"</p> + +<p>"Citizen Desmarais, I hasten to disabuse you of a misunderstanding that +exists between us. Upon mature consideration my wife and I have decided +to dwell in our own house, completely separated from you."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean!"</p> + +<p>"I mean, Citizen Desmarais, that my former employer has sold me his +establishment. Whence it follows that my labors and the care of my forge +will oblige me, as well as my wife, to live elsewhere than here with +you. I have, in consequence, hired the house previously occupied by my +old master, and this very night my wife and I shall take possession of +our new abode. The question has been considered and settled."</p> + +<p>"Aye, father," added Charlotte. "Such is, indeed, our firm resolution."</p> + +<p>At these words, pronounced by John Lebrenn and Charlotte in a voice that +admitted of no reply, advocate Desmarais turned livid with rage and +amazement. Forgetting now all his tricks of dissimulation, distracted +with fear, and exasperated by what he took as an indignity on the part +of his daughter and her husband, the lawyer cried to Charlotte, as he +shook with anger and fright:</p> + +<p>"Treason! Shameful treason! Heartless, unnatural daughter! This is the +gratitude with which you repay my bounties to you? You would have the +audacity to leave your father's house, would you! And you——" he added, +turning tempestuously upon John Lebrenn, "and you,<a name="vol-2-pg_073" id="vol-2-pg_073"></a> traitor, how dare +you thus abuse my confidence, my generosity?"</p> + +<p>"Not another word in that tone, Citizen Desmarais," interposed John. "Do +not oblige me to forget the respect I owe the father of my wife; do not +oblige me to tell you for what reasons your daughter—and her +mother—have resolved to fix their abode elsewhere than with you."</p> + +<p>"My wife! She also—would dare——" cried the lawyer, his rage +redoubling till it almost choked him.</p> + +<p>"Yes, monsieur, I also wish to leave you," replied Madam Desmarais. "You +have treated me most cruelly, because my unhappy brother, a proscript +and a fugitive, came to ask of you a few hours' shelter. You denounced +me to the commissioner of our Section, adjured him to hale me away as a +prisoner. You have even gone so far as to declare to me, 'If it were +necessary, madam, in order to save my life, to send you to the +scaffold—I would not hesitate an instant. Just now I must roar with the +tigers; but then I should become a tiger.'"</p> + +<p>"Hold your tongue!" shrieked the advocate, in a frenzy. "Do you wish to +get my head cut off, gabbling like that before this man who perhaps +awaits but the moment to settle me? Serpent that he is, whom I have +warmed in my bosom!"</p> + +<p>"Citizen Desmarais," replied Lebrenn, half in pity, half in disgust, "it +depends upon you alone to put an end to your alarms, to the terrors by +which you are assailed and of which those about you are the first +victims. Cease to display in exaggerated form opinions which are at +fisticuffs with your real belief. Renounce your public career.<a name="vol-2-pg_074" id="vol-2-pg_074"></a> The +weakness of your character, the uneasiness of your conscience, evoke +fantasms before your eyes."</p> + +<p>"It is a plot against my life!" continued Desmarais wildly. "They want +to draw upon my head the fury of the Jacobins, and have me packed off to +the scaffold. They want to be rid of me so that my dutiful daughter and +son-in-law may play ducks and drakes with my fortune! But the old fox +knows the trap! I shall stay at the Convention. My daughter and +son-in-law may take themselves off, if they so wish; but as for you, +Citizeness Desmarais, you shall not leave this house. The wife, +according to the law, is bound to reside at the home of her husband."</p> + +<p>"I will live with you no longer," resolutely replied Madam Desmarais. "A +hundred times rather die!"</p> + +<p>"Once would suffice, worthy wife! And it would be good riddance to a +most abominable burden."</p> + +<p>"Come, mother," said Charlotte, wroth at her father's brutal language. +"Come. You shall not remain here another instant."</p> + +<p>"Your mother shall stop where she is," cried the lawyer threateningly. +"As for you, my daughter—as for you, my son-in-law—I shall denounce +your execrable complot to my friends of the mad-men's party, to Hebert, +to James Roux the disfrocked priest, to Varlet. Get you hence—I drive +you from my house." Then seizing his wife by the arm, Desmarais added, +"But not you. You stay!"</p> + +<p>"You will please to allow my mother full control over her own actions, +Citizen Desmarais," said Lebrenn calmly, and mastering his indignation. +"Unhand her!"</p> + +<p>"Get out of here, scoundrel!" retorted the attorney, still holding his +wife by the wrist. "Get out of here, at once!"<a name="vol-2-pg_075" id="vol-2-pg_075"></a></p> + +<p>"For the last time, Citizen Desmarais," quoth John Lebrenn. "Allow Madam +Desmarais to follow her daughter, as is her desire. My patience is at an +end, and I can not much longer tolerate the brutality I see here."</p> + +<p>"Would you have the boldness to raise your hand against me, wretch!" +replied the advocate, foaming with rage, and roughly wrenching his +wife's arm. "Malediction on you both."</p> + +<p>"Aye, I shall succor your wife from your wretched treatment," John +answered; and seizing the lawyer's wrist with his iron hand as if in a +vise, he forced the attorney to release his almost fainting spouse. She, +on her part, made all haste to leave the now intolerable presence of her +husband, and, supported by Charlotte, disappeared into the next room.</p> + +<p>As John left the parlor to rejoin his bride and his second mother, +advocate Desmarais, hiding his face in his hands, sank into an +arm-chair, crying:</p> + +<p>"Abandoned by wife, abandoned by daughter! Henceforth I am condemned to +live alone!"<a name="vol-2-pg_076" id="vol-2-pg_076"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXI-1-b" id="CHAPTER_XXI-1-b"></a>CHAPTER XXI.<br /><br /> +A LOVE FROM THE GRAVE.</h3> + +<p>His marriage with Charlotte achieved, John Lebrenn, his sister, his wife +and Madam Desmarais took up their abode in the modest dwelling on Anjou +Street. Here also was Lebrenn's smithy, now for two months transformed +into an armorer's shop, for he had received an order for guns for the +volunteers, and, with his companions, set about the work with a will.</p> + +<p>On the evening of May the 30th, in the year of his marriage, Lebrenn was +looking over the newspapers while he rested from the heavy labors of the +day, when his wife, sad and engrossed, came to him, saying to herself:</p> + +<p>"No—painful though the confidence be, my last talk with the poor child, +and my tender attachment for Victoria, will not permit me to postpone +it—" Then, aloud to her husband, she began:</p> + +<p>"I have for long hesitated, my friend, over the communication I am about +to make to you. But the interest I feel in Victoria compels me to-day to +speak. Closer knowledge of your sister's character has shown me, my +friend, that you do not over-state when you say that, despite the +youthful degradation she perforce underwent, her heart has remained +pure. And yet I very wrongly harbored an<a name="vol-2-pg_077" id="vol-2-pg_077"></a> evil thought against her. Now +I have the proof of my mistake. I attributed to jealousy the change we +noticed coming over her. I thought to myself that Victoria, used to +concentrate upon you all her tenderness, to share your life, might feel +toward me that sort of sisterly jealousy which the best and bravest of +sisters feel in spite of themselves toward the wife of an idolized +brother. I blush for my error, my friend, but still it was pardonable. +Do you recall that shortly after our wedding we began to remark in your +sister a growing sadness and taciturnity? Did she not seem by turns +happy and saddened at our intimacy? Has she not appeared almost +continuously under the empire of some secret brooding?"</p> + +<p>"True; for long I have noticed in Victoria a sort of capricious +changefulness of spirit which contrasted strongly with her ordinary +equability. Thus, after having taken upon herself the task of evening +lessons for our three apprentice boys and little Oliver, the orphan lad +whom we took in, who, in spite of his eighteen years, knows no more than +the younger boys, my sister suddenly declared she was going to stop the +lessons and leave Paris; and without a word of explanation, at that."</p> + +<p>"You remember, John, how bitter were her farewells at leaving us?"</p> + +<p>"Happily, at the end of barely a week, Victoria returned, and—strange +contradiction—insisted upon resuming her functions as school mistress."</p> + +<p>"But her sadness, her sighs, the decline of her health proved only too +well the persistence of her secret anguish. I said to myself, 'The +courageous woman is fighting with all her might against her sisterly +jealousy. In vain she<a name="vol-2-pg_078" id="vol-2-pg_078"></a> tried to flee. Drawn again to us by her +tenderness for John, she prefers to live with us and suffer.' But no, my +friend, I was in error. I am now positive of it."</p> + +<p>"To what cause, then, do you attribute Victoria's deep dejection and +chagrin?"</p> + +<p>"I shall surprise you, my friend, in revealing the burden—it is love!"</p> + +<p>Mute with astonishment, John looked at his wife at first without +answering her. Then, sadly smiling, and shaking his head incredulously, +he said:</p> + +<p>"Charlotte, you mistake. Victoria has had but one love in her life. He +whom she loved to distraction is dead. She will be faithful to that +flame to the tomb."</p> + +<p>"You related to me the sad story of Victoria and Maurice, the young +sergeant in the French Guards, killed by his disgraceful punishment. +But, recall to mind that two or three days after our marriage, when you +presented Oliver and the three apprentices, whom she wished to teach to +read, to her, she suddenly shuddered, and cried as in great +bewilderment—'Good God! Is it a vision, or is it a specter? 'Tis he, +'tis Maurice I see again!'"</p> + +<p>"I remember the circumstance. And instantly coming to herself, Victoria +told us she had had a spell of dizziness; but said no more on the +subject."</p> + +<p>"So, noticing her embarrassment, her downheartedness, we did not insist +on knowing from her the real cause of so strange an incident; but a few +days after this first meeting with Oliver, a remarkable change began to +manifest itself in your sister's manner."</p> + +<p>"That is all true; but what do you conclude from it?"</p> + +<p>"I conclude, my friend, that it was in amazement at<a name="vol-2-pg_079" id="vol-2-pg_079"></a> something in +Oliver's appearance that your sister uttered the wandering words which +startled us. I now believe the words expressed the surprise, mingled +with affright, into which she was thrown by the striking resemblance +between Oliver and Sergeant Maurice. And finally, the resemblance is +explained by what I have discovered;—Oliver is Maurice's brother!"</p> + +<p>"Strange, strange indeed!" muttered John. "But tell me, how did you come +by the discovery?"</p> + +<p>"As you know, we had to bring Oliver into the house, so as to have him +close by us, as he is suffering from some languorous malady which +renders him unable, despite his courage and willingness, to work in the +shop. The unhappy boy, undermined by a slow fever, is in a deplorable +state of weakness."</p> + +<p>"The physician attributes it to his rapid growth. Oliver is, in fact, +hardly eighteen. He has grown fast lately; this would explain his +temporary lassitude."</p> + +<p>"The physician, it seems to me, is deceived there. I shall tell you why, +my friend. Just now, in coming from the shop, I crossed the garden. I +saw Oliver seated under the yoke-elm bower, apparently sunk in mournful +revery. His eye was fixed, his face bathed in tears. On seeing me he +furtively tried to wipe his eyes. His features revealed mental +suffering; it was easy to see that all was not physical in his malady. +'Oliver,' I said, seating myself close beside him, 'the cause of your +illness is not the one the doctor gives. You feel some great +disappointment, you hide it from us—that is wrong. My husband cares for +you like a father, why do you not confide your trouble to him?' He +seemed as much pained as surprised at my penetration;<a name="vol-2-pg_080" id="vol-2-pg_080"></a> the embarrassed +answers he gave were not sincere. He attributed his sorrow to the +loneliness he felt in being left an orphan, without any relatives."</p> + +<p>"Such a reply from Oliver surprises me. Has he not often shown by his +manner the most touching recognition of our kindnesses toward him? We +make him forget, he says, the unhappiness of his orphanhood; we surround +him with a family's attention."</p> + +<p>"No doubt he was hiding the truth from me, my friend. Then I spoke to +him of the family he mourned. He eagerly seized upon the topic, as if +glad of an avenue of escape from the new questions he feared I would put +to him. He gave me many details of his parents. I learned that his +furthest memories went back only ten or twelve years, when he was a boy +of six or seven. He remembered that his brother Maurice wore the uniform +of the French Guards, and came often to see their mother, a poor +lace-weaver."</p> + +<p>"There can no longer be any doubt!" cried Lebrenn, greatly amazed. "And +indeed, by dint of much turning about of my early memories, which are +greatly confused as I was then only a child, meseems that Sergeant +Maurice, whom I saw often at the house as my sister's betrothed, did, in +fact, resemble Oliver."</p> + +<p>"So, my friend, what is there astonishing in the fact that Victoria, +finding again, so to speak, Maurice in his younger brother, should yield +despite herself to the reawakening of a sentiment which always ruled her +so strongly? A strange sentiment, against which Victoria rebels, +although in vain, for a thousand reasons, among them the difference in +years between herself and Oliver. Victoria, although still young and in +the ripeness of her beauty, might be his<a name="vol-2-pg_081" id="vol-2-pg_081"></a> mother. The slow malady which +is gnawing at Oliver's heart has no other cause than a secret and mad +love for our sister Victoria."</p> + +<p>These last words of Charlotte's, recalling to him many circumstances +previously insignificant, forced conviction upon Lebrenn. He felt as one +crushed, under the weight of the revelation, and presaging its sad +consequences, cried, "Charlotte, Charlotte, what sorrows I foresee—if +your suspicions are well founded! And what is worse, I believe you speak +sooth."</p> + +<p>"My friend, my suspicions are but too well founded. They explain the +sadness of our poor sister; they explain her heart's anguish, the cause +of which has eluded us. Alas, her grief arises from the conflict between +her reason and this strange passion, so incomprehensible at first +glance. And still, one can see how her love for Maurice, lasting beyond +the grave, would predispose her toward a similar sentiment for his +brother, who reflects so perfect an image of the departed. On the other +hand, no more is it really strange that Oliver, drawn to your sister by +her many proofs of interest in him, by her beauty, by the loftiness of +her spirit and the nobility of her character, should end in becoming +seriously enamored of her. His love, which seeks to hide itself from all +eyes, and which hardly dares acknowledge itself, thinking it could never +be returned, will consume him, and perhaps carry him to the grave."</p> + +<p>John was silent for some moments. "The affair is so delicate," he said +at length, "that I would not venture upon taking it up with Victoria, +confident though I am of her attachment to me. We must, then, see to +Oliver, and seek to snatch him from his wild passion. I shall have to +hasten<a name="vol-2-pg_082" id="vol-2-pg_082"></a> into execution a project I had already formed for his future. +Everything about the boy seems to indicate military inclinations. A long +time before his illness I observed during the Section drills not only +his aptitude in the handling of arms, but with what insight he seemed to +anticipate, as it were, the manoeuvres, and with what precision he +executed them."</p> + +<p>"Indeed, you have often told me of it, my friend. There are in Oliver, +you say, the makings of an officer."</p> + +<p>"I wished to wait, before proposing to him to enrol, until his health +was completely restored. But, although his convalescence must, indeed, +be allowed time for, I think I shall now push forward his engagement in +whatever corps of the army is most to his liking. The distractions of +the trip to join his regiment, the change of scene, the soldier's life, +will, I doubt not, by awakening in Oliver his martial talents, exercise +a salutary influence over his health. He will feel his mind grow +gradually calmer in the measure that he finds himself further and +further removed from Victoria. And lastly, she, no longer having Oliver +daily before her, will succeed, I hope, in mastering this fatal love. +'Twould be a happy solution."</p> + +<p>The conversation of John and his wife was broken in upon by the entrance +of Madam Desmarais. The lady seemed quite uneasy, and said to her +son-in-law in alarm:</p> + +<p>"My God! What is going on in Paris to-night? They are beating the +assembly! The streets are all excitement and hubbub. I was hardly able +to get back home, for the crowds. Have we another <i>day</i> to fear?"</p> + +<p>"According to what you say, dear mother, there probably will be a <i>day</i> +to-morrow," replied John, smiling. "But<a name="vol-2-pg_083" id="vol-2-pg_083"></a> it will be as peaceful as it +will be imposing, and will, I hope, insure the safety of the Republic."</p> + +<p>"May God hear you, my dear John. I know what faith one can place in your +words. Nevertheless, I can not help but tremble when I think of your +being engaged in these struggles, which may at any time end in +massacre."</p> + +<p>Gertrude, the old servant of the family, who had followed Madam +Desmarais and her daughter to their new dwelling, just then entered and +said to John: "Monsieur, your foreman Castillon is in the entry. He +wishes me to tell you he would like to speak with you."</p> + +<p>"Go and tell him he may come in, my good Gertrude."</p> + +<p>"Charlotte and I will leave you," said Madam Desmarais. "If you go out, +John, come and see us before you leave."</p> + +<p>"Certainly, dear mother." Then addressing his wife, John added, +significantly, "If you see Victoria before I do, keep silence on the +subject of our talk."</p> + +<p>"Speaking of Victoria, my children, I must say that the change in her +health seems serious."</p> + +<p>"We share your fears, good mother. Without a doubt, Victoria is +suffering from some secret sorrow. But you know what reserve we must +proceed with if we wish to win our sister's confidence. Depend upon us, +mother, and until John or I have seen you, say nothing to Victoria which +could lead her to suppose that we have remarked the change which +afflicts us—alas, with all too much cause."</p> + +<p>"You may count upon my discretion," replied Madam Desmarais. She and her +daughter then left the room, and soon Castillon, foreman to John +Lebrenn, was engaged in conversation with his master.<a name="vol-2-pg_084" id="vol-2-pg_084"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXII-1-b" id="CHAPTER_XXII-1-b"></a>CHAPTER XXII.<br /><br /> +MASTER AND FOREMAN.</h3> + +<p>The foreman of John Lebrenn's iron works, a stalwart smith of about the +same age as his master, was splendidly typical of the republican +workingman of the time. Like most of the proletarians of his day, +Castillon had embraced revolutionary ideas more by instinct than by +reason. In common with his brother workmen, he desired equality before +the law, and common possession of the tools of production as a means of +escape from bourgeois exploitation. A high-minded patriot, conscious of +his rights and still more conscious of his civic duties; an honest man +in the fullest sense of the word, rigorous of conduct, and despite his +complete lack of education, endowed with a lively intelligence; an +excellent workman at his trade, Castillon often regretted not being able +to go to war. He was a true child of Paris, open, joyous and determined +of character, joining to solid qualities of heart a spirit full of go +and vivacity, and often of an original turn. Much attached to the young +artisan, who had worked more than ten years at the forge beside him, +John Lebrenn appreciated his foreman as he deserved, and exercised over +him a command founded on rectitude of principle, mature judgment, and a +degree of education only too rare among his brothers of the people.<a name="vol-2-pg_085" id="vol-2-pg_085"></a> +Master and foreman thee-and-thoued each other like old friends, less in +obedience to the general habit of the time than as the result of old +reciprocal affection, and long community of labor.</p> + +<p>"Ah, John, I would not have disturbed you," said Castillon, as he +entered the room. "You were in conversation with your wife and her +mother—perhaps I come at the wrong time?"</p> + +<p>"You are always welcome, my good Castillon. Be seated. What's afoot?"</p> + +<p>"Such as you see me, my friend, I come as an ambassador—but without +emoluments. I shall not break the treasury of the Republic."</p> + +<p>"The ambassador of our comrades, no doubt; and what is the text of your +embassy?"</p> + +<p>"This: For a fortnight we have none of us had the time to go to our +Section meetings, we had to finish the order of guns and muskets for the +nation; for that is sacred, it comes first before everything. To forge +arms for our brothers at the front! Ah! by my pipe, they will be proud +and happy, down there, to be able to slap the Prussians!"</p> + +<p>"Patience, Castillon, our day will come."</p> + +<p>"Patience let it be. But it is beggarly hard to be able only to assemble +and polish up for others these fine five-foot clarinets, on which one +would so love to play the <i>Ça Ira</i>, while we spat our lead at the +Prussians; and It will come, by my pipe, It will! But what would you? We +are like the poor workpeople of the silk factories of Lyons and Tours, +who see the holy bourgeois sporting the beautiful goods they themselves +have woven! So you see, we could not go to our Section meetings, since +we worked from six<a name="vol-2-pg_086" id="vol-2-pg_086"></a> in the morning till twelve at night, without +stopping. And in this labor for the country you set us the example, for +if you were before us in the shop, old fellow, you left it after us."</p> + +<p>"That was my duty; I demanded great efforts of you in the name of the +Republic, I should share your fatigues."</p> + +<p>"Hold, John. You are what we may call a man; a worthy man."</p> + +<p>"Come, we are too old friends to be bandying compliments."</p> + +<p>"Call it what you like, I repeat that you are a worthy man. Look—what +did you say to us when you bought the place of our old master, Goodman +Gervais? 'Here we are, a score of good fellows, working as one family +like good republicans. Let us take count: The shop brings in, or should +bring in, in income, so much. Good. From this income we must first take +out the sum I must annually pay to Master Gervais, and at the end of ten +years the establishment will belong to us. Up till then, we shall share +the proceeds proportionately to the hours of labor put in by each of us. +My wife, who keeps our books and manages the treasury, will have her +share of the proceeds, like us.' It was in this fashion that you spoke +to us, John. It was in your power, on becoming our employer, to exploit +us, as the bourgeois do. But you, you shared with us as brothers, as +good comrades. Ah, and now, to return to the purpose of my mission, for +I have traveled far from it, here is the business. It is, as you see, a +fortnight since we have been able to go either to our Sections or to the +Jacobins or the Cordeliers, to keep track of events. Then, to-night, +they beat the assembly. We knew vaguely, from one side<a name="vol-2-pg_087" id="vol-2-pg_087"></a> and another, +that something was simmering; but what it was that was simmering, and +what it was simmering for—that was the rub! We could have learned by +going to our Sections, but we were sworn, due to the urgency of our +task, never to leave the shop before midnight, when work was stopped. +Nevertheless, we were restless over what was taking place this evening +in Paris. We asked ourselves whether we ought not to drop work anyhow, +and go and lend a hand to our brothers, when they beat the assembly. So +that finally my comrades sent me to you, John, to ask whether we should +stick to the shop, or go to our Sections. Decide the question; we shall +follow your advice."</p> + +<p>"My advice is that we should work still more diligently to-night, for +to-morrow and perhaps day after to-morrow we may have to go out in the +street to hold a demonstration, a great demonstration."</p> + +<p>"Let's get busy!" exclaimed Castillon, his face shining with ardor. "We +have perhaps to exterminate a new intrigue of Pitt and Coburg, or a +little scheme of the ex-nobles and the skull-caps? By my pipe, that's +fine. And, <i>ça ira</i>; I have just finished a love of a musket; maybe I +can test it on the blacks or the whites, on the Jesuits, their laymen, +and the nobles! What an opportunity!"</p> + +<p>"You will not have that sad chance."</p> + +<p>"What, to mow down the enemies of the Republic, you call that a sad +chance? You, my old fellow?"</p> + +<p>"Civil war is always a sad thing, my friend. And it is death to the soul +when it must resign itself to take up arms against our brothers, against +the sons of our common mother, the nation."</p> + +<p>"Ah, but tell me, friend John, did not these brigands<a name="vol-2-pg_088" id="vol-2-pg_088"></a> pull sweet faces +and send the blue-bonnets to ambush and cannonade the patriots on the +14th of July, on the 5th and 6th of October, on the day of the Field of +Mars, on the 10th of August, and everywhere, and all the time? The +aristocrats are our enemies."</p> + +<p>"If our adversaries are strangers to the sentiment of brotherhood, must +we then imitate them, my friend? In civil war either chance is cause for +mourning—victory or defeat."</p> + +<p>"Come, John, we shall never agree on that. As to me, I know but one +motto—'To a good cat, a good rat,' or if you like it better, 'An eye +for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,' as they said of old. That's why, in +September, we did jolly well to purge the prisons, I'm thinking."</p> + +<p>"If you are set on recalling dates, my good comrade, speak of the great +days of July 14 and August 10. Let us combat abuse, and be indulgent +toward individuals. We are on the eve of a very grave crisis. To-morrow +the whole people will be in the public place in arms, not to fight—God +be thanked!—but to demonstrate in the name of its rights, in its +fullness and power and sovereign might. All must bow before the people."</p> + +<p>"Good! I know it, old friend. A manifestation is afoot like that of the +20th of June of last year, when we went to say to Capet, full in his +face, 'Here, my man, you are the hereditary guardian of the nation! It +has given you for your pains forty million pledges. Excuse yourself! you +betray the nation, in place of serving it. Attention to the command, my +man. If you do not walk straight, we shall sack you, if we don't do +worse!' Capet didn't walk straight;<a name="vol-2-pg_089" id="vol-2-pg_089"></a> on the contrary; accordingly, we +both sacked him and did worse besides, as was just; we shaved him."</p> + +<p>"To-morrow's manifestation should be as peaceable as that of the 20th of +June."</p> + +<p>"And for what purpose is the demonstration? It is good to know the +reasons for it."</p> + +<p>"I shall tell you, along with your comrades. Let us go down to the shop. +It is nine o'clock, and while we work we shall talk. I shall bring with +me certain papers which will be necessary to give you the full lay of +the land," added John, taking several written sheets in a portfolio from +the bureau. "Return to our comrades, I shall soon join you."</p> + +<p>"So be it, my old friend, we await you, big and little, journeymen and +apprentices. Speaking of apprentices, how is Oliver? We have not seen +him to-day. Poor boy, do you know he seems to be in a bad way? He is so +weak he can hardly drag himself along. And yet he does not lack courage! +He haunts the workshop like a lost soul, so great is his chagrin at +seeing us at work while he remains idle against his will. Day before +yesterday he tried to fit in a gunlock, a girl's work, but, bah! almost +at once his weakness seized him, and we had barely time to open our arms +to catch him and carry him out to the garden. He had fainted outright."</p> + +<p>"We shall talk again of the good boy. Perhaps I shall have to beg you to +do him a service."</p> + +<p>"You have but to speak. We all love Oliver in the shop, and I am like +the rest."</p> + +<p>"Thanks, Castillon. I knew I could count on you." And ringing the bell, +John added: "I have two words to say to<a name="vol-2-pg_090" id="vol-2-pg_090"></a> Gertrude before joining our +friends in the smithy; you shall not have long to await me."</p> + +<p>Castillon left, and Gertrude having come in in response to the bell, +John said to her:</p> + +<p>"Is my sister in her room?"</p> + +<p>"No, monsieur, she went out two hours ago, saying that perhaps she might +not be back for supper. Poor mademoiselle! You really ought, Monsieur +John, to consult Oliver's physician about her."</p> + +<p>"Do you know where the boy is?"</p> + +<p>"He went up to his room at sundown; he was very tired, he said, +complained of a fever, and shivered with the cold. He asked me to give +him some coals in a chafing dish to keep his medicine warm, which I did +immediately."</p> + +<p>"Go, Gertrude, please, and see how he is, and whether he wants for +anything," replied Lebrenn; and to himself he continued, "Ah, what +sorrows I foresee if, as Charlotte supposes and as I have every reason +to fear, Victoria loves Oliver, and he feels for her a mad passion, a +fatal love barren of hope. My sister's past, her betrothal to the poor +boy's brother, condemn her never to marry him. The difference of age +would not in itself constitute any obstacle, but my sister is of too +dignified and firm a mold not to resign herself to the cruel position in +which the memory of Maurice has placed her, even should the resignation +carry her to the grave." And thoughtfully John mused on: "The departure +of Oliver can alone prevent these woes; the matter must be hastened +through."</p> + +<p>At that moment Gertrude broke in, saying to John in a mysterious, almost +frightened air:</p> + +<p>"Ah! monsieur, something strange—"</p> + +<p>"What is it, Gertrude?"<a name="vol-2-pg_091" id="vol-2-pg_091"></a></p> + +<p>"On the way up to poor Oliver, I had to pass by Mademoiselle Victoria's +door, and I heard the sound of footsteps within."</p> + +<p>"My sister did not go out, then?"</p> + +<p>"Pardon me, monsieur; I saw mademoiselle leave the house, with my own +eyes, and she gave me the key of her room."</p> + +<p>"That is truly strange! Who then can be there?"</p> + +<p>"No one, monsieur, for your sister does not receive a soul. That is why +the sound of steps astonished me so!"</p> + +<p>"Explain yourself more clearly!"</p> + +<p>"I mean I heard, or thought I heard, someone walking in mademoiselle's +chamber. It could not be you, monsieur, because you are here. It could +be neither madam nor her mother, for I had just seen them on the first +floor as I went up to mademoiselle's; so I said to myself, 'Perhaps it +is some rogue who has broken in!' Then I rapped at the door and called, +'Mademoiselle, are you there?' No answer. I rapped again; no answer. I +said to myself, 'It surely must be some rascal or other!' I came down in +haste to get the key; risking whatever might come, I opened the door, +and, 'pon my faith——"</p> + +<p>"That is what you should have done first thing. The mystery would have +been solved at once. Whom did you find?"</p> + +<p>"No one—absolutely no one. Everything was in good order, as it always +is in mademoiselle's room. Her work table and her other little writing +table were in their accustomed place, near the dormer window that looks +on the garden, and as it was open I peeped out. I saw neither ladder nor +cord which could have served anyone either for<a name="vol-2-pg_092" id="vol-2-pg_092"></a> entry or escape. I +looked under the bed, I opened the door of the closet—no one! Then I +said to myself—"</p> + +<p>"Whence it follows, my good Gertrude, that you thought you heard +footsteps in my sister's room and that you were mistaken, that's all. +Now tell me, how did you find Oliver?"</p> + +<p>"When I knocked at his door, the young man was sound asleep, for he did +not hear me at first."</p> + +<p>"So much the better. If he sleeps deep it is a happy symptom. His fever +has gone."</p> + +<p>"I asked him through the door how he was, and whether he needed +anything. He told me he had lain down after taking his hot drink, and +that he had slept till I woke him; that he felt better, and that he +hoped to pass a good night. Thereupon he wished me good-even."</p> + +<p>"Poor boy—may his hope of rest be realized. Tell my wife, Gertrude, +that I am going out to the shop, and not to be worried at my absence. I +shall come in for supper at ten o'clock as usual."</p> + +<p>So saying, John passed out of the parlor and went to join his comrades +in the smithy.<a name="vol-2-pg_093" id="vol-2-pg_093"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII-1-b" id="CHAPTER_XXIII-1-b"></a>CHAPTER XXIII.<br /><br /> +TO THE WORKMAN THE TOOL.</h3> + +<p>The factory of implements of war, established by John Lebrenn in his +iron works, took the toil of twenty workmen. All—apprentices, old men, +young men—vied with one another in patriotic ardor in the +accomplishment of their task. They felt that this was no ordinary labor. +They were conscious of serving the Republic, and lavished their skill on +the arms destined for the patriots at the front. Accordingly, with what +eagerness did not these artisans forge, beat, or file the iron, lighted +here by a smoky lamp against the wall, there by the reverberating glow +of the furnace. The ringing cadence of the hammers on the anvils was +often accompanied by the popular songs of the period chanted in chorus +by the workmen's sturdy voices. Most oft it was the Marseillaise, the +Carmagnole, or the famous <i>Ça Ira</i>, whose brief and rapid rythm seemed +to beat the "Charge!"</p> + +<p>Songs and labors both stopped short at the entrance of John Lebrenn. +Castillon had notified the shop a few minutes before that 'friend John,' +as they cordially called him, was coming to post them on the events of +the coming day, and to supply the information of which they had for some +time been deprived.<a name="vol-2-pg_094" id="vol-2-pg_094"></a></p> + +<p>"Citizens," said Castillon when he saw Lebrenn, "I rise to a motion! In +order to lose as little time as possible, and in order to hear friend +John without halting the work, let us set aside for an hour our hammers +and files, and put in the time fitting or polishing our pieces. That +will make practically no noise, and in this way we shall not be idling, +and still can hear friend John in comfort."</p> + +<p>"The motion is carried!" cried the workmen. In a few moments the bustle, +consequent on the change of occupations, was over, and silence fell on +the shop. John Lebrenn took his accustomed place, and speaking to +several by name, thus addressed his companions:</p> + +<p>"Brothers, we are on the eve of a great day, as beautiful, as decisive, +as those of July 14 and August 10. This day will save, I hope, the +Revolution, the Republic, and France, now more seriously threatened than +ever. And moreover, it is also my firm hope that not a drop of blood +will be shed. The law and the national Representatives will be +respected, the people will know how to rise to the grandeur of its +mission and overcome its adversaries no longer by force of arms, but by +its moral influence. My language surprises you, men of action that you +are."</p> + +<p>"My faith, yes, friend John. But after all, if one can win without a +fight, that is so much gained. It makes for peace."</p> + +<p>"The victory will only be the purer for it. But, in order that you may +understand the significance of the events now on the threshold, we must +first take up those which have preceded. You know, my friends, and it is +one of the greatest misfortunes of the times, that the Convention chosen +by the people to proclaim the Republic and to arraign and<a name="vol-2-pg_095" id="vol-2-pg_095"></a> judge Louis +Capet has been, from the beginning of its existence, divided by party +rivalries. The party leaders, the Mountainists, the Moderates, or the +Girondins, are all more or less guilty of the same fault, I ought to say +the same crime; for, forgetting the public weal, or confounding it with +their own personalities, they have lost precious time reciprocally +accusing one another of treason. Thus Capet's trial was dragged out over +four months. The new Constitution is hardly drafted. National education +is as yet but a project. Finally, if they have accepted the compulsory +tax of a thousand million on the rich, and have established a maximum of +wealth, we still await the laws to complete the emancipation of the +proletariat by decreeing the right to the common possession of the +instruments of production, for all citizens, male and female."</p> + +<p>"We agree with you, friend John. The bourgeoisie has gotten its part of +the Revolution, namely, justice; but Jacques Bonhomme has still the half +of his to get. He has won political rights, universal suffrage, and the +Republic—that is good, it is something, but it is not all. One must eat +to live, and in order to eat one must have at his disposal either work +or the tool with which to produce the necessaries of life. To the +peasant the land, to the workman the tool. To each his part in the +common property."</p> + +<p>"Whose the fault, my friends, if our legitimate hopes have not been +fulfilled?"</p> + +<p>"By my pipe, friend John, the fault is in the delays of the Convention; +that is clear as day."</p> + +<p>"Whence it follows, that if we had chosen better Representatives we +would never have had to suffer the delays which now bear so harmfully +upon us. If the Convention<a name="vol-2-pg_096" id="vol-2-pg_096"></a> has not up to now completed the emancipation +of us proletarians, the fault lies with our lack of discernment in +choosing our Representatives. You follow my reasoning? Now let us come +to the conclusion."</p> + +<p>"In fact, that is true enough, friend John. But, after all, if we made a +bad choice, on whom can it be blamed?"</p> + +<p>"On our inexperience, my friends; an inexperience entirely natural, for +we are still <i>apprentices</i> in the exercise of our political rights. But +experience will teach us how to serve ourselves better with the +sovereign instrument over which we dispose; we shall obtain by the votes +of our Representatives everything that we can legitimately claim and +demand. Are we proletarians not, after all, the vast majority of the +country? Let us then know how to make a better choice for the Assembly +which will succeed the Convention, and our freedom will be complete. +Does that mean, however, that the Convention does not count within its +ranks some true friends of the people? That would be a slander on it; +but these, Robespierre, St. Just, Danton and the other Jacobins, are +unfortunately in the minority. The Girondins, who control the majority, +are incapable of dissipating the perils which now stare the Republic in +the face."</p> + +<p>"An idea, friend John! How if we invited the Girondins to take a little +visit down there to see how their friends Pitt and Coburg were getting +along? If they don't accept, we march in force upon the Convention, sort +the goats from the sheep, purge the flock of the goats, and then—. +Stern diseases need stern remedies!"</p> + +<p>"Then, my friend Castillon, the sovereignty of the people one and +indivisible would be violated in the person of<a name="vol-2-pg_097" id="vol-2-pg_097"></a> its Girondist +Representatives. For these, no less than the Mountainists, are sacred by +virtue of their popular election. Their inviolability covers them so +long as there exists against them no proof of overt treason. We shall +not step out of the just path. What must be done to save the Republic +without violence, without illegality, without an assault on the +sovereignty of the people, is to obtain from the Girondins, voluntarily, +an abandonment of their power to the Jacobins."</p> + +<p>"But how can that be done?"</p> + +<p>"By using our right of assemblage and petition, by making the Convention +hear the voice of the people, of Paris, and of all France. And, I call +God to witness, that voice will be heard! The most refractory of our +Representatives will be forced to obey."</p> + +<p>"Bravo! Tell us some more!"</p> + +<p>"Here, comrades, is what occurred yesterday, May 29. The Section of the +Cité, through the organ of its president Dobsen, issued an appeal to the +other forty-seven Sections of Paris, inviting them each to send two +delegates to the electoral club sitting at the Bishopric. These +delegates, clad by the Sections with full power for the common safety, +are to act in concert. The call of the Cité has been heeded, and to-day +these ninety-six commissioners of the Sections have named a superior +committee of nine. This committee has resolved as follows:</p> + +<p>"To-morrow, in order to establish the legality of the power with which +the Sections have invested it, the committee will repair to the City +Hall, declare its powers, and dismiss (but only for form's sake) the +Municipal Council, whose authority exists only at the will of the +Sections. This<a name="vol-2-pg_098" id="vol-2-pg_098"></a> done, the Municipal Council will be reinstated in its +functions, as it is composed of good patriots. The directorate of the +department, on its part, being with the Sections, will call upon the +officers of the Commune to assemble at the City Hall to-morrow and meet +with the Municipal Council to the end of consulting, if need be, on +matters of general security. Thus, to-morrow, at daybreak, all the +Sections will assemble, with their cannon; that is to say, all Paris +will be afoot, armed, not to fight, but to demonstrate, calm and +dignifiedly, garbed imposingly in its power and sovereignty."</p> + +<p>"I understand, friend John, that the ex-nobles still carry, even in +tranquil times, their rapiers at their sides. It is 'part of their +costume,' they say. Well, by my pipe, on these grand occasions, and +without meaning to fight, the people shall put on <i>its</i> Sunday best, and +march with pike-staves and cannon! That will be its ceremonial costume!"</p> + +<p>"You have said it, friend Castillon. The ex-gentleman is not complete +without his sword beside him—it is his symbol of oppression. The +patriot is not complete without the pike in his hand, his symbol of +resistance to oppression. To-morrow, then, when the Sections are +peacefully assembled, in their ceremonial costume, as you said, +Castillon, Citizen Rousselin, the spokesman of the deputation of the +forty-eight Sections of Paris, and L'Huillier, in the name of the +directorate of the department of Paris, will read at the bar of the +Convention the petitions borne by the delegates of the Sections."</p> + +<p>"Now, friend John, I understand the affair," returned Castillon. "We go +say to the Girondins: 'Look you, citizens, we are here, a hundred +thousand good patriots of<a name="vol-2-pg_099" id="vol-2-pg_099"></a> Paris; and down there, in the country, other +hundreds of thousands of good patriots, all convinced, like us, that you +have not enough hair on your eyebrows to save the Republic. That is +settled! We have the numbers, the force and the cannon for you, but +these numbers, this force, these cannon we do not want to use. Only we +say to you, in the name of the country: Citizen Girondins, when your +loins are not strong enough to bear the burden, leave it to others more +robust. Come, make yourselves scarce!'"</p> + +<p>"You speak words of gold, my good Castillon. Yes, in all probability, +such will be the consequences of to-morrow's program. The majority of +the Convention—a majority which is often vacillating and undecided, but +which has so far supported the Girondins—will, struck with this +imposing manifestation, this calm, dignified, legal attitude of the +people, and yielding to the pressure of public opinion, throw off the +Girondin influence which dominates it, and join forces with the +Jacobins, who will thus become masters of the situation. Then, my +friends, be sure of it, whatever the allied monarchs of Europe may do, +whatever the plots of the royalists and priests, the Republic, the +Revolution, France, will be saved without the sovereignty of the people +having been violated in the person of a single one of its +Representatives in the Commune or the Convention, even of those most +opposed to new ideas; and without the stigma of bloodshed."</p> + +<p>All at once John Lebrenn's wife dashed into the workshop. She was pale +and trembling, and called in tones of terror:</p> + +<p><a name="vol-2-pg_100" id="vol-2-pg_100"></a>"John, my friend, come at once! What a misfortune!"</p> + +<p>"Charlotte, you frighten me," cried Lebrenn, hastening to his wife's +side. "Heavens, what has happened?"</p> + +<p>"Come, come, in haste."</p> + +<p>"Citizeness Lebrenn, do you need us?" called Castillon, as much moved as +his comrades at the anxiety depicted on the young woman's face. +"Speak—here we are, at your service."</p> + +<p>"Thank you all, my friends, thank you. Alas! There is no remedy for the +grief which has smitten us," replied Charlotte. And taking the arm of +her husband, who grew every instant more uneasy, she dragged him out of +the shop and towards their dwelling.<a name="vol-2-pg_101" id="vol-2-pg_101"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV-1-b" id="CHAPTER_XXIV-1-b"></a>CHAPTER XXIV.<br /><br /> +LOST AGAIN.</h3> + +<p>While John Lebrenn was enlightening his companions on the probable +events of the coming day, Victoria, returning home close on half past +nine, had gone up to her room. Setting the lamp on the table, she took +off her street cloak and sat down, sad and weary. Her head fell between +her hands. Suddenly her glance rested on a sheet of paper, placed +conspicuously in the center of the table, and the young woman read, +almost mechanically, these lines, traced in Oliver's still inexpert +hand:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>In daring to write you this letter, I put to use the little that I +know, and which I owe to your generosity. You had pity on me, a +poor orphan, you had compassion upon my ignorance. Thanks to you I +can read, and form the letters. Thanks be to God, for at least I am +able to write you what I would never have dared to tell you, for +fear of incurring your anger or contempt. But at this hour what +have I to fear?</p> + +<p>What a change has come over me! A moment ago my hand trembled that +I could not write, at the mere thought of acknowledging that I love +you passionately. Now it seems to me that this acknowledgment will +cause you neither contempt nor anger, for it is a sincere one.</p> + +<p>You will not love me, you can never love me, because I am not +worthy of you, and for that I am too young—I am a child, as you so +often told me. I can not hope to win your affection.<a name="vol-2-pg_102" id="vol-2-pg_102"></a></p> + +<p>This evening, about eight, I saw you go out. I was glad of it. I +preferred to know that you were not here, and that I could thus in +your absence place this letter on your table, to be read by you on +your return.</p> + +<p>I double-locked myself in. I looked at the roof gutter. The passage +seemed practicable. To assure myself, I went as far as your window. +It was open. I saw your table, your work-basket, your books. Ah, +how I wept.</p> + +<p>On returning to my chamber I began writing you this letter. I went +at once to place it on your table, and then, thanks to some +charcoal I have procured, I shall—put an end—to my existence—</p></div> + +<p>"The poor child!" exclaimed Victoria, throwing the letter far from her; +and rising, pale with apprehension, she ran to Oliver's door, crying +aloud for help as she went. But in vain she beat on the panels and +sought to force an entrance. Gertrude, Madam Lebrenn and her mother +hastened up at Victoria's summons. The latter's presence of mind was +only increased by the impending danger; failing in all her attempts to +break down the door, she returned to her own room, adventured the narrow +gutter which had served Oliver for a pathway, and arrived thus before +the window of his garret chamber. There it was but the work of a minute +to break one of the little panes, snap back the catch, leap into the +room, and unfasten the locked door from within. Immediately, assisted by +Madam Desmarais, Charlotte and Gertrude, she hastened to take the first +steps for the resuscitation of the unfortunate boy stretched on the +couch. The apprentice no longer gave any signs of life. But soon the +pure air, rushing in by the now opened door and window, dispelled the +deadly fumes of the charcoal. Oliver's breast heaved; he drew a faint +breath. Victoria<a name="vol-2-pg_103" id="vol-2-pg_103"></a> and Madam Desmarais carried the almost suffocated lad +to the window. There he was propped up in a chair; his ashen features, +covered with icy sweat, slowly regained a slight color, and little by +little life returned to his bosom.</p> + +<p>Two hours later he had quite come to, and found himself in John +Lebrenn's parlor, alone with Victoria. One would have difficulty to +frame in his imagination a countenance of more rare perfection than that +of the youth, who possessed a physiognomy of charming candor. On her +part, the young woman was grave. Her eyes, reddened with tears, and the +feverish color which replaced the habitual pallor of her beautiful +features, both bore witness to the painful emotions under which she was +laboring. After a few seconds' hesitation, she thus addressed the youth +in a sweet and solemn voice:</p> + +<p>"Oliver, you are now, I believe, in condition to listen to me. I have +requested my brother and his family to leave us to ourselves a while. +Our interview will, I trust, exert a happy influence over your future, +and give you complete satisfaction."</p> + +<p>"I listen, Mademoiselle Victoria."</p> + +<p>"I have read your letter," resumed the young woman, drawing Oliver's +missive from her corsage. "Frightened at your resolve of suicide, and +thinking only of snatching you from death while there was yet time, I +was not at first able to finish it. But now I have just read it +through."</p> + +<p>"What do I hear!" exclaimed the youth, clasping his hands in a transport +of joy. "My letter caused you neither contempt nor anger?"</p> + +<p>"Why should it? You yielded to the promptings<a name="vol-2-pg_104" id="vol-2-pg_104"></a> of gratitude toward me, +and sympathy for my character. So, I am not irritated, but touched, by +your affection."</p> + +<p>"You are touched by my affection, Mademoiselle Victoria? My heaven, what +do you say!"</p> + +<p>"Now, my friend, answer me sincerely. The fear of seeing me insensible +to an avowal which timidity has for so long kept trembling on your lips, +drove you to think of suicide—am I right?"</p> + +<p>"Helas, yes, mademoiselle!"</p> + +<p>"Now speak true, Oliver. Was it as a mistress, or a wife, that you +dreamt of me?"</p> + +<p>"Good heavens! Do you think—?"</p> + +<p>"You thought of me as the future companion of your life? Ah, me, I +declare that I am unworthy to become your wife. Cruelly as this avowal +wounds my heart, Oliver, I must make it to you, in order that you retain +no illusion, and no hope. But I offer you in their place a devoted +attachment, the affection of a mother for her child. That is all I can +give you."</p> + +<p>Oliver, who so far had held his hands clasped over his face, now let +them drop upon his knees. He replied with not a single word, but fixing +upon Victoria a dark and foreboding look, rose with difficulty from his +seat, and with a step that still wavered, moved towards the door.</p> + +<p>The apprentice's silence and the expression on his face bore evidence to +so profound a despair that Victoria presaged some new misfortune. She +hastened to Oliver's side, took his hand, and asked:</p> + +<p>"Where are you going?"</p> + +<p>"To my room. I need rest."<a name="vol-2-pg_105" id="vol-2-pg_105"></a></p> + +<p>"You shall not stay alone in your room. Gertrude and I will watch over +you. We will remain there all night."</p> + +<p>"Good night, Mademoiselle Victoria," returned the apprentice, moving +anew towards the door. But Victoria, still holding him by the hand, +replied:</p> + +<p>"Oliver, I know what you are thinking of. You are not in your right +mind."</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon, Mademoiselle Victoria; I am fully in possession of +my senses; and if you have read my thoughts, you ought to realize that +no power in the world can balk my resolution."</p> + +<p>"You would have the cruelty to leave me under the weight of the horrible +thought that I—I who love you as a son—was the cause of your death?"</p> + +<p>"Your heart is compassionate, Mademoiselle Victoria, and your character +generous. I wish to leave this world because you do not wish, or are not +able, to love me."</p> + +<p>"Unhappy child, even were I not sufficiently old to be your mother, I +repeat to you with a blushing forehead, I am not worthy of being your +wife. You can not be my husband. Such a union would be the shame of your +life and the eternal remorse of mine."</p> + +<p>"In your eyes, perhaps, but not in mine, Mademoiselle Victoria. Whatever +a past of which I am ignorant may hold, a past in which I am in no way +concerned, you are now for me the one creature in the world most worthy +of respect and love. Life without you will be insupportable. I have +resolved to die—"</p> + +<p>"What a crazy thought! I do not love you with a lover's love. Why do you +persist thus in a struggle for the impossible, poor foolish lad?"<a name="vol-2-pg_106" id="vol-2-pg_106"></a></p> + +<p>"I have no thought of a struggle. I am resigned—and shall put myself +out of the way."</p> + +<p>These final words of Oliver's, pronounced without emphasis or +bitterness, could not but remove from Victoria's mind her last doubts as +to the unfortunate boy's resolution. She had been used long enough to +read to the bottom of his open and childlike soul, to recognize there a +blending of gentleness and strength of will. Hardly escaped from one +almost certain death, the apprentice was all the more determined to seek +in self-destruction the end of his torments. Victoria communed long with +herself, and after an extended silence, began again:</p> + +<p>"Oliver, you are resolved to die. I do not wish at any price to reawaken +your hopes by entering into any engagement with you whatsoever. I do not +wish to revive your illusions—they must be destroyed, and forever. But +in the name of the interest I have always borne you, in the name even of +your attachment for me, I ask of you only to promise me not to attempt +to destroy your life until to-morrow at midnight. At that hour, you will +meet me here again, or if not you will receive a letter from me. If the +interview I shall then have with you, or if the reading of my letter +does not change your sad designs, you may put them into execution, as +you please. Let your destiny then run its course."</p> + +<p>"To die twenty-four hours later, or twenty-four hours earlier, it +matters little. I promise not to go before the hour you have set," +replied the apprentice with such marked indifference that it was clear +the poor boy entertained no hope of his suicide's being obviated. Again +turning to the door, he added:<a name="vol-2-pg_107" id="vol-2-pg_107"></a></p> + +<p>"Mademoiselle Victoria, to-morrow, then, shall decide my fate."</p> + +<p>"Oliver, we have a full day to reflect on the grave matter which thus +links both our existences."</p> + +<p>Hardly had Oliver left the parlor when Victoria rose, and running to the +door of an ante-room where John Lebrenn and his wife were concealed, +said to them in a shaking voice:</p> + +<p>"You heard everything?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, the unfortunate boy," exclaimed John. "He is out of his mind. It is +certain to me that he will carry out his fatal threat."</p> + +<p>"Oh, heaven," added Madam Lebrenn, drying her eyes, "to think that +to-day we saved him from death, and that to-morrow—oh, it is horrible! +But what can one do in such an extremity? What can we make up our minds +on? What is your idea?"</p> + +<p>"We can and ought at least to put to profit the twenty-four hours and +over which you have succeeded in winning from him, dear sister," replied +Lebrenn. "I have before now not wished to intrude in this painful +affair. But Oliver has a great affection for me. I have some influence +over him; his heart is good, his spirit unblemished, his character open. +I can appeal to his good parts, I can endeavor to exalt his already so +ardent patriotism, which even his mad passion has not been able to cool. +I shall prove to Oliver that he would commit a crime against the +Republic, against his mother country, in sacrificing his life instead of +devoting it to her protection when she is menaced by foreign invasion."</p> + +<p>"Ah, brother, do you then believe that I have not thought<a name="vol-2-pg_108" id="vol-2-pg_108"></a> of +resurrecting that soul, now crushed and disheartened? Alas, my efforts +were unavailing. I know the child better than you, my friends. Listen to +me—this is the hour of a cruel confession, brother. You know what part +Maurice, the sergeant in the French Guards, the unfortunate victim of +Monsieur Plouernel, played in my life."</p> + +<p>"Aye, and I know further, or I believe I know, that Oliver is Maurice's +brother." Then, in answer to a gesture of surprise on Victoria's part, +"It is to Charlotte's penetration that I owe the discovery."</p> + +<p>"Oliver is, indeed, the brother of Maurice, and by one of those +inexplicable mysteries of nature, the physical resemblance between the +two is even perhaps less remarkable than their mental resemblance. My +knowledge of Maurice's nature has given me the key to Oliver's. Woe is +me!" cried Victoria in heartrending tones. "In seeing, in hearing the +one, I thought I saw and heard the other! The same voice, the same look! +How many times, entranced in memories, have I surprised myself moved, my +heart beating for this living phantom of the only man I ever loved in my +sad life!"</p> + +<p>"You love Oliver—or rather in him you continue to love Maurice. Unhappy +sister!"</p> + +<p>"Sister, dear," said Charlotte, warmly seizing the two hands of +Victoria, who stood mute and overcome, bowing her face which was +empurpled with shame and flooded with tears, "do you suppose that we +could breathe one word of censure against you? Your new agonies inspire +but the tenderest compassion. Ah, if our sisterly affection were capable +of any growth, it would increase before this touching proof of the +persistence of the single love of your life.<a name="vol-2-pg_109" id="vol-2-pg_109"></a> Do we not know, alas, that +for you to love Oliver is but for you to continue faithful to Maurice?"</p> + +<p>"And still this love, although as pure as the former one, would be +shameful, revolting," murmured Victoria.</p> + +<p>"Victoria," interposed John, unable to restrain his tears, "do not +abandon yourself to despair. Let us face the reality coolly, and +regulate our conduct accordingly."</p> + +<p>"Helas, the reality!" broke from Victoria. "This it is: No human power +can prevent the suicide of Oliver, if I do not promise to be his +wife—or his mistress. The only alternatives are my shame or his death."</p> + +<p>Victoria's words were followed by silence for several minutes.</p> + +<p>"Woe is us," at length resumed John, the first to speak. "Aye, fate has +shut us in an iron circle. And still, despite myself, some dim hope +supports me. Some inspiration will come to us."</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Charlotte, "I also hope, because our sister Victoria is a +noble creature; because Oliver is gifted with generous qualities. I +believe it will be possible to discover a solution honorable for all of +us."</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear wife," exclaimed John, "how your words do comfort me. Aye, +aye, every situation, desperate as it may seem, is capable of an +honorable solution. Beloved sister, raise that bowed forehead. Let us +have faith in the unison of noble hearts."</p> + +<p>Suddenly Victoria lifted her head, transfigured, radiant; and +passionately embracing her brother's wife, she cried:</p> + +<p>"You spoke sooth, Charlotte. We shall come out of this situation with +honor." Then, clasping John with redoubled ardor, she continued: "Ah, +brother, what a weight of<a name="vol-2-pg_110" id="vol-2-pg_110"></a> fear has been lifted from my heart! To-morrow +you shall know all. To-morrow that circle of iron shall be broken which +now hems us in. A happy path opens itself before me."</p> + +<p>The following morning, as John Lebrenn was leaving his house for the +shop, he was met in the courtyard by the servant Gertrude, who drew from +her pocket an addressed envelope.</p> + +<p>"Mademoiselle Victoria gave me this letter for you, Monsieur John."</p> + +<p>"My sister has gone out, then?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir. She left at daybreak with Oliver. He had a traveling-case on +his shoulder."</p> + +<p>"My sister has left us!" stammered John, in amazement. Then he hastily +broke the envelope he had just received from Gertrude, and read as +follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Adieu, brother! Embrace your wife tenderly for me.</p> + +<p>I have taken Oliver away. I may not at present let you into my +plans; but of one thing be assured, the solution is honorable for +all. I am and shall remain worthy of your esteem and affection. Do +not seek for the present to fathom what has become of me, and have +no uneasiness over my fate. You shall receive a letter from me +every week, until the day, close at hand, it may be, or perhaps far +away, when I can return to you, dear brother, dear sister, never to +leave you again.</p> + +<p>While awaiting that day so much to be desired, continue, both of +you, to love me—for never shall I have so much needed your +affection.</p> + +<p>V<small>ICTORIA.</small></p></div> + +<p><a name="vol-2-pg_111" id="vol-2-pg_111"></a>vol-2-pg_111</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXV-1-b" id="CHAPTER_XXV-1-b"></a>CHAPTER XXV.<br /><br /> +ROYALIST BARBARITIES.</h3> + +<p>The following extracts from my diary will help to trace the course of +the important political events occurring in Paris between the 31st of +May and the 1st of November, 1793.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">June 5, 1793.</span>—Rejoice in the day of the 31st of May, sons of Joel. It +means safety for the Republic, certain triumph for the Revolution. +Aroused as one body, the population of Paris, embracing more than a +hundred and twenty thousand citizens in arms, has succeeded in securing, +solely by the moral pressure of its patriotism, the suspension of the +Girondin Representatives. The greater part of these went into voluntary +exile. The people of Paris remained under arms for five whole days—from +May 31 to June 4.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">June 6, 1793.</span>—A singular chance placed in my hands to-day a note +written by Robespierre. I hastened to take a copy, as it was of the +greatest interest. It sums up in a few firm and concise lines the policy +which he purposes henceforth to impress upon the Jacobin party, which, +since the 31st of May, is master of power:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>There must be one will.</p> + +<p>It must be Republican.<a name="vol-2-pg_112" id="vol-2-pg_112"></a></p> + +<p>In order that it may be Republican, there must be Republican +ministers, Republican journals, Republican deputies, a Republican +government. The Republic can not establish itself save with honest +and Republican officials.</p> + +<p>The foreign war is a deadly scourge so long as the body politic is +suffering from the convulsions of revolution, and from divided +counsels. The present insurrection must be sustained until the +proper measures be taken to save the Republic. The people must +rally to the Convention, and the Convention must serve the will of +the people. The insurrection must extend further and further, on +the same plan; the sans-culottes must be paid and remain in the +cities. They must be furnished with arms, encouraged, and +enlightened.</p></div> + +<p>J<small>UNE</small> 7, 1793.—I received this day a letter from Victoria, in fulfilment +of her promise to write me each week. Not to mention the profound grief +her absence caused us, our uneasiness over her was extreme, in spite of +the assurances she gave us in her farewell letter. She now informed me +that Oliver's health was improving, and that his spirits were returning. +She did not despair of bringing him back to reason and the practice of +his civic duties. She was living, she told me, at some distance from the +capital; and she could not yet disclose to us the mainsprings of her +mysterious conduct, and the reticence of her correspondence.</p> + +<p>J<small>UNE</small> 10, 1793.—The majority of the Convention has just made recognition +of the value of the passive insurrection of May 31, by adopting the +appended resolution:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The National Convention declares that in the days of May 31 to June +4 the general revolutionary council of the Commune and the people +of Paris powerfully co-operated to save the liberty, the unity and +the indivisibility of the Republic.</p></div> + +<p>J<small>ULY</small> 12, 1793.—Upon a report from the committee rendered by St. Just, +the Girondin members of the Convention were on the 10th of July declared +traitors to the country, and outlawed. Several other adherents of that +party were sent before the revolutionary tribunal.</p> + +<p>J<small>ULY</small> 19, 1793.—Last Saturday, July 13, Marat was assassinated, between +seven and eight in the evening. His assailant was Marie Anne Charlotte +Corday D'Armans, the daughter of an ex-nobleman, whose usual abode was +Caen, one of those hot-beds of federal insurrection fomented by the +Girondins. Simulating the role of a victim who besought assistance and +protection from the Friend of the People, Charlotte Corday solicited an +interview with him. Worn out and unwell, Marat was taking a bath, but +yielding to compassion for the young girl who implored his aid, he +consented to receive her. Introduced into his presence, Charlotte Corday +struck him with a knife. He died almost instantly. I record this new +assassination as an abominable crime! The beauty, the youth, the +resolute character of Charlotte Corday in no wise lessen her guilt. It +is vain to compare her with Brutus. He struck down Caesar, the undoubted +tyrant of his country, whereas the patriotism of Marat, the Friend of +the People, had never been called into question. Taken to-day before the +revolutionary court presided over by Fouquier-Tinville, the accused +woman confessed her connection with the Girondin party, of which she +plainly was the instrument. She prided herself on having dealt Marat his +death blow, the condign punishment, she said, for his crimes. +Unanimously condemned by the jury to death, Charlotte Corday suffered on +the scaffold the penalty for homicide.<a name="vol-2-pg_114" id="vol-2-pg_114"></a></p> + +<p>The universal consternation of the patriots as they learned of the +murder of the Friend of the People was an additional proof of the +immense influence exercised by this extraordinary man over their heads +and hearts. All over Paris these verses were placarded:</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align="left">People, Marat is dead, the lover of the land;</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Your friend, your aid, the hope of all who would be free</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Is fallen 'neath the blow of an accursed band;</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Weep—but remember, avenged must he be!</td></tr> +</table> + +<p>This morning I received a letter from Victoria. She informs me that +Oliver's health is being restored, and that he soon will prove to me +that my affection for him was not misplaced. In a few lines in his own +hand at the end of Victoria's letter, Oliver himself repeated the same +pledges. What is her project? I know not. She has at least saved the +unhappy boy from suicide.</p> + +<p>J<small>ULY</small> 30, 1793.—The royalist and "federalist" insurrection of Lyons, +Marseilles, Toulon and Bordeaux against the Republic and the Convention +has assumed a more threatening aspect through the war that broke out in +the Vendee, and which is spreading amid scenes of ungovernable ferocity. +Read, sons of Joel, and shudder at the atrocious reprisals, the nameless +horrors, committed by the Vendeans under the leadership of their priests +and the ex-nobles. If the law of retaliation, that savage and barbarous +law, is ever applied to the Chouans and Vendeans by the avengers of the +patriots, let the responsibility fall upon the heads of these madmen +themselves.</p> + +<p>The brigands of the Vendee themselves gave the signal and set the +example for murder and massacre. Machecoul<a name="vol-2-pg_115" id="vol-2-pg_115"></a> was the theater of scenes of +horror. Eight hundred patriots were hatcheted to pieces. Several were +buried alive. The women were forced to witness the torture of their +husbands; then, together with their children, they were spiked hand and +foot to the doors of their dwellings, where they expired under the blows +and stabs of the assassins. The parish curate, who had taken the oath to +the Constitution, was impaled on a spit, and marched through the streets +and public places of Machecoul with his genitals cut off. Finally, still +breathing, he was nailed to the liberty tree. A Vendean priest +celebrated the mass standing in blood and upon mutilated corpses. In the +swamps of Niort six hundred children of Nantes were rounded up, +massacred, and atrociously mutilated. At Chollet the brigands repeated +the frightful scenes of Machecoul. They put the patriots through the +most terrible tortures before depriving them of their lives. There, +also, they nailed the women and children alive to their house-doors, and +made their bosoms a target for their bayonets. They put to the torture +everywhere those patriots whom they found, or persons who would not bear +arms against the Republic. When they captured Saumur, all who bore the +reputation of patriot perished amid indescribable tortures. The women, +their children in their arms, were thrown from the windows, and the +tigers in the streets poniarded them. The agonies which they made our +brave defenders undergo were no less cruel; the least barbarous was to +slay them with ball or bayonet; but the most common was to hang them +feet uppermost from trees and kindle bonfires under their heads; or to +nail them alive to the trees; or to place cartridges in their mouths or +nostrils and explode them. It is impossible<a name="vol-2-pg_116" id="vol-2-pg_116"></a> to take a step in the +Vendee without opening new perspectives of torture to the eye. Here, at +the entrance of one village, are exposed to our view brave defenders of +the Republic hewed to pieces or spiked to the doors of their dwellings. +There, the fringe of trees at the edge of a wood displays to us the +disfigured forms of our brave brothers hanged from the branches, their +bodies half burned. Yonder, we discern their lifeless corpses bound, +nailed to trees, to pieces of timber, mutilated, riddled with wounds, +their faces burned and baked. Nor did the brigands confine themselves to +these inhuman tortures. They filled their country ovens with our +defenders, kindled the fires, and left them to expire slowly in this +atrocious agony. Recently these cannibals have invented a new manner of +torture; they cut off the noses, hands and feet of their prisoners, shut +them in their dark caves, and abandon them to perish of hunger.</p> + +<p>The distinguished patriot Chalier, at the head of a list of +eighty-three, was led to the scaffold at Lyons. The instrument worked +poorly. Chalier was twice mutilated. The cruelties of the royalists and +parishioners of Lyons will call down great calamities upon the city.</p> + +<p>A<small>UGUST</small> 2, 1793.—Often did my sister and I wonder at receiving no news +from Prince Franz of Gerolstein, our relative, and one of the most +ardent of the Illuminati. The secret of Franz's silence has just been +revealed to me. An officer of the garrison of Mayence, long a prisoner +in the duchy of Deux Ponts, adjoining the principality of Gerolstein, +informed me to-day that for four years, the length of time since Franz +left us, the latter was held in a state prison by order of his father, +the reigning prince. So did<a name="vol-2-pg_117" id="vol-2-pg_117"></a> Franz of Gerolstein expiate in harsh +captivity his sympathy with the new ideas.</p> + +<p>A<small>UGUST</small> 4, 1793.—The Convention passed yesterday a decree of marked +Socialist and revolutionary character:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The National Convention, in consideration of the evils which +monopolists inflict upon society by their murderous speculations in +the most pressing necessaries of life and upon the public misery, +decrees:</p> + +<p>Article 1.—Monopoly is a capital crime....</p> + +<p>Article 8.—Eight days from the publication and proclamation of the +present law, those who have not made the prescribed declarations +shall be held to be monopolists, and, as such, be punished with +death; their goods shall be confiscate, and also the merchandise +and food-stuffs seized in their possession.</p></div> + +<p>A<small>UGUST</small> 7, 1793.—The law against monopolies has had its effect upon the +produce and stock jobbers. All food-stuffs have fallen considerably in +price.</p> + +<p>With redoubled energy the Convention is turning its attention to the +dangers which threaten the Republic. News is brought that among the +Vendeans have been uncovered the widow of Louis Capet, a large number of +non-juring priests, and several imprisoned ex-nobles. The following +decrees are passed:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The National Assembly denounces, in the name of the outraged +humanity of all nations, and even of the English people, the +cowardly, perfidious and atrocious conduct of the British +government, which is instigating and paying for the employment of +assassination, poison, arson, and every imaginable crime, for the +triumph of tyranny and the annihilation of the rights of man.</p></div> + +<p>Marie Antoinette is taken before the tribunal extraordinary.<a name="vol-2-pg_118" id="vol-2-pg_118"></a> From there +she is at once transferred to the Conciergerie Prison:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>All the individuals of the Capet family are to be deported outside +of the territory of the Republic, with the exception of the two +children of Louis Capet and those members of the family who are +under the sword of the law. Elizabeth Capet may not be deported +until after the trial of Marie Antoinette.</p></div> + +<p>Also:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The tombs and mausoleums of the old Kings, erected in the Church of +St. Denis, in the temples, and in other places throughout the whole +extent of the Republic, shall be destroyed on the 10th of August +next, and their ashes thrown to the winds.</p></div> + +<p>A<small>UGUST</small> 8, 1793.—Up to date Victoria, true to her promise, has written +me regularly every week in her own name and that of Oliver. He, she +says, is treading with firm step the path of duty. My sister raises not +the veil of mystery in which she has enshrouded herself since she quit +our house. She announces that she is going to suspend her +correspondence, but that if anything untoward intervenes she will inform +me of it at once.</p> + +<p>A<small>UGUST</small> 23, 1793.—Allied Europe is increasing the masses of troops she +is hurling on our frontiers, here menaced, there already invaded. O +Fatherland! you appeal to the heroism of your children; your call shall +be heard. The Committee of Public Safety, among whose most influential +members are Robespierre, St. Just and Couthon, increases its vigilance. +The Convention passes decree upon decree, brief, pointed, courageous, +like the roll of the drum beating the charge:<a name="vol-2-pg_119" id="vol-2-pg_119"></a></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The National Convention, having heard the report of its Committee +of Public Safety, decrees:</p> + +<p>Article 1.—Until the moment when the foreign hordes and all the +enemies of the Republic shall have been driven out of the land, all +French people are under permanent requisition for the service of +the armies.</p> + +<p>The young men shall go to the front; the married men shall forge +arms and transfer supplies; the women shall make tents and +uniforms, and serve in the hospitals; the children shall pull lint, +and the old men shall betake themselves to the public places to +kindle the courage of the warriors, keep alive hatred for Kings, +and promote the unity of the Republic.</p></div> + +<p>The French people will soon present to the tyrants a united front. The +effect produced to-day by the latest decrees of the Convention was +immense, indescribable. Thanks to God! the consignment of arms I was +charged with making will be finished in a few days. I will be able to +rejoin the army. Castillon and I have enrolled in one of the battalions +of our Parisian volunteers.</p> + +<p>S<small>EPTEMBER</small> 18, 1793.—Since the commencement of this month, Terror is the +order of the day. Terror reigns; but to whom impute this fatal +necessity, if not to the enemies of the fatherland? The Republic struck +only after she had been outraged; she attacked not, she but defended. +She obeyed the supreme law of self-preservation, the common right of an +individual and a body social. The Terror is reducing our enemies within +to impotence.</p> + +<p>O<small>CTOBER</small> 17, 1793.—Yesterday the revolutionary tribunal sentenced Marie +Antoinette to death, in these words:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The court, in accord with the unanimous verdict of the jury, in +accordance with its right as public investigator and accuser, and +in conformity with the laws which it has cited, condemns<a name="vol-2-pg_120" id="vol-2-pg_120"></a> the said +Marie Antoinette, of Lorraine in Austria, widow of Louis Capet, to +the penalty of death. It declares, conformably to the law of the +10th of March last, that her goods, if any she have within the +confines of French territory, be confiscate to the benefit of the +nation. It orders that, at the request of the public ministry, the +present sentence be executed upon the Place of the Revolution, and +printed and posted throughout the Republic.</p></div> + +<p>Throughout her trial Marie Antoinette maintained an air of calmness and +assurance. She left the audience chamber after the pronouncement of +sentence without evincing the slightest emotion, or uttering a word to +judges or jurors. She mounted the scaffold at half past four in the +morning. Only a few spectators were present.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">October 18, 1793.</span>—The Convention has superseded the old calendar with a +new one, based on the observations of exact science. The new names for +the months are as poetic, harmonious, and above all as rational, as the +old ones were barbarous and senseless, borrowed, as they were in part +from the fetes and rulers of the Roman Empire, in part from a pagan +theocracy. The decree of the Convention is as follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Article 1.—The era of the French dates from the foundation of the +Republic, which took place the 22nd of September, 1792, of the +common era, on which day the sun arrived at the true autumnal +equinox, and entered the sign Libra at nine hours, eighteen +minutes, thirty seconds, Paris Observatory.</p> + +<p>Article 2.—The common year is abolished from civil usage.</p> + +<p>Article 3.—Each year commences at midnight of the day on which +falls the true autumnal equinox, for the Observatory of Paris....</p> + +<p>Article 7.—The year is divided into twelve equal months of thirty +days each. After the twelve months follow five days to<a name="vol-2-pg_121" id="vol-2-pg_121"></a> complete +the ordinary year. These five days belong to no month.</p> + +<p>Article 8.—Each month in divided into three equal parts of ten +days each, which are called decades.</p> + +<p>Article 9.—The names of the days of the decade are: Primidi, +Duodi, Tridi, Quartidi, Quintidi, Sextidi, Septidi, Octidi, Nonidi, +Decadi.</p> + +<p>The names of the months are,</p> + +<p class="c">For Autumn:</p> + +<p>Vendemiaire (the Vintage month, September 22 to October 21), +Brumaire (the Foggy month, October 22 to November 20), Frimaire +(the Frosty month, November 21 to December 20).</p> + +<p class="c">For Winter:</p> + +<p>Nivose (the Snowy month, December 21 to January 19), Pluviose (the +Rainy month, January 20 to February 18), Ventose (the Windy month, +February 19 to March 20).</p> + +<p class="c">For Spring:</p> + +<p>Germinal (the Budding month, March 21 to April 19), Floreal (the +Flowery month, April 20 to May 19), Prairial (the Pasture month, +May 20 to June 18).</p> + +<p class="c">For Summer:</p> + +<p>Messidor (the Harvest month, June 19 to July 18), Thermidor (the +Hot month, July 19 to August 17), Fructidor (the Fruit month, +August 18 to September 16).<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p></div> + +<p>12th B<small>RUMAIRE, YEAR</small> II (November 2, 1793).—The detail of arms is +completed, and Castillon and I leave day after to-morrow to join at +Lille the Seventh Battalion, Paris Volunteers.<a name="vol-2-pg_122" id="vol-2-pg_122"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXVI-1-b" id="CHAPTER_XXVI-1-b"></a>CHAPTER XXVI.<br /><br /> +A REVOLUTIONARY OUTPOST.</h3> + +<p>On the 5th Nivose of the year II (December 25, 1793), an advance post of +the main body of the Army of the Republic lay in military occupancy of +an isolated tavern some quarter of a league's distance from Ingelsheim, +a French burg about twelve leagues from Strasburg. Hoche and Pichegru, +the Generals of the detachments called "of the Rhine and Moselle," had +removed their headquarters to Ingelsheim, after several advantages +gained over Marshal Wurmser, the Duke of Brunswick and the Prince of +Condé. The republican troops were bivouacked about the city. The light +of their campfires struggled with difficulty through the mists of a +black winter's night. A line of scouts and pickets covered the position +of the post, which was composed of a company of the Seventh Battalion, +Paris Volunteers, among whom were John Lebrenn and his foreman +Castillon.</p> + +<p>The company was gathered in the large hall of the inn, and in the +kitchen, where blazed a great fire. The greater part of the men, worn +out with fatigue, sought repose on beds of fresh straw laid along the +walls, making shift to use their knapsacks as pillows. Others furbished +their arms, or blacked their cartridge-boxes; still others were mending +their dilapidated garments or exercising their<a name="vol-2-pg_123" id="vol-2-pg_123"></a> wits to cobble their +shoes into a semblance of serviceableness; for neither the stores of the +army nor draughts on nature sufficed to clothe and shoe all the citizens +called to the flag in the last levies, or to replenish their wardrobes +against the havocs of war. Few, indeed, of the volunteers, wore the +complete uniform decreed by the Convention and which was already covered +with the glory of so many victories. This consisted of a coat of deep +blue, with facings and trimmings of red, and large white lapels, which +left displayed the vest of white cloth, like the trousers; black knit +leggins, with leather buttons, reaching to the knee; a flat +three-cornered hat, surmounted with a plume of red horse-hair, falling +beside the cockade; and a knapsack of white calf or buffalo-skin. Only +the most recent recruits to the battalion were dressed correctly in +accord with the decree.</p> + +<p>The company was in command of a captain named Martin, a pupil of the +painter David, the Convention member. Martin had enrolled after the days +of September and at once left for the front. He had already advanced +through all the elective ranks. Twice wounded, full of bravery and dash, +and knowing how to win obedience in the moment of action, Captain Martin +showed himself always jovial, open, and engaging in his relations with +the volunteers. Although he had now followed war for fifteen months, +David's young pupil did not renounce his former profession. He only +awaited peace to lay down his sword, take up his brushes, and attempt to +open a new field in his art by depicting the battles of the Revolution, +and episodes of camp life. Seated at one corner of a table that was +lighted by an iron lamp, Captain Martin was even now amusing himself<a name="vol-2-pg_124" id="vol-2-pg_124"></a> +with sketching, in a little pocket sketch-book, the figure, at once +pitiable and grotesque, of the frightened innkeeper. Although a native +of Alsace, the latter spoke an unintelligible dialect, and understood no +French. Castillon, who was addressing him, indicated with a gesture a +young volunteer in spick-and-span new uniform, scrupulously combed and +shaven, and altogether looking, as they say, as if he had stepped out of +a band-box, and explained:</p> + +<p>"This citizen asks for twenty bottles of Moselle wine, to be paid for, +of course. Isn't what I'm saying to you clear enough—barbarian!"</p> + +<p>To which the innkeeper, multiplying his manifestations of distress, +replied in an agonizing jargon.</p> + +<p>"But, Gott's t'under, ve vant vine! Ve temant vine of you!" retorted +Castillon impatiently, assuming a German patois in the hope of making +himself understood.</p> + +<p>It was Captain Martin who cut the gordian knot and ended the already +too-long debate. Hastily outlining in his sketch-book a bottle and a +glass, he waved the drawing under mine host's eyes together with an +assignat<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> which he drew from his pocket. The Alsatian gave a sigh of +relief, motioned that he at last comprehended, and was about to scamper +off to his cellar when the captain held him back, and, to prevent any +further misunderstanding, drew the figure 20 underneath the picture of +the bottle. To this new intelligence the tavernkeeper responded with +uncouth contortions of delight, and a formidable "Yah!"</p> + +<p>"The animal!" exclaimed Castillon, shrugging his shoulders, "why +couldn't he answer like that right off!" And addressing himself to the +new recruit: "If our innkeeper<a name="vol-2-pg_125" id="vol-2-pg_125"></a> weren't such a booby, we would have been +able to drink your welcome to the battalion half an hour ago, Citizen +Duresnel."</p> + +<p>"True; but then we would have already drunk it, while now we have still +in store the pleasure of putting it down," replied Duresnel thickly, as +if he had a hot potato in his mouth, and dropping all his r's like one +who had never seen Paris.</p> + +<p>"Ho, ho! You come in time, comrade," replied a volunteer banteringly. +"We're going to have a fight to-morrow, you'll see what it is to go +under fire. We'll have a brush of it!"</p> + +<p>"That's what I came for," Duresnel made answer in his muffled voice; +"only—and you will laugh at me, citizens—I confess to you—never +having smelled gunpowder, I am afraid—"</p> + +<p>"Which? What?" cried the troop in chorus, greatly amused at the +babyishness of the young Parisian. "What are you afraid of? Come, +comrade, explain yourself."</p> + +<p>"Damn! citizens—I am afraid—of being afraid!"</p> + +<p>The answer provoked an explosion of hilarity. Without being in the least +put out of countenance, Duresnel added: "Yes, wo'd of honor, citizens; +never having been in action, and not knowing what effect it will have +upon me, I am afraid of being afraid. That's very simple."</p> + +<p>"Bravo, comrade," interjected Captain Martin, "it is not always those +who make a flourish of their swords in advance who prove the most heady. +Your modesty is a good omen; in consequence of which I wager that +to-morrow you will take your baptism of fire bravely, with a cry<a name="vol-2-pg_126" id="vol-2-pg_126"></a> of +Long live the Republic! Just have a little confidence in yourself."</p> + +<p>"You're a good fellow, captain; I shall do my best. For, wo'd of honor, +it would be disagreeable to me to know that I am a coward, after having +posted from Paris to join the battalion."</p> + +<p>"You came by post?" exclaimed Castillon. "You must have been in a hurry +to get here!"</p> + +<p>"Surely; I had already lost so much time. First I was at the quarters of +the battalion in the barracks of Picpus, where I learned a little of the +drill, after which I took a stage coach to reach Strasburg. Then, taking +advantage of the escort which accompanied Representatives St. Just and +Lebas to Ingelsheim, I rejoined the battalion, and here I am."</p> + +<p>"A beaker of Moselle will give you courage, comrade," said Captain +Martin, full of interest in the young man; and seeing at that moment the +host return with two baskets bursting with bottles: "Come, friends, let +us drink a welcome to Citizen Duresnel. Drink, comrades, to the +extermination of Kings, priests, Jesuits, and aristocrats."</p> + +<p>"Thanks, captain, I drink nothing but water;" and seeing on the +sideboard a water-jug, Duresnel poured himself out a glassful. Then +raising his bumper, he replied: "To the health of my brave companions of +the Seventh Battalion, Volunteers of Paris! To the extermination of all +monarchs! To the lamp-post with the aristocrats!—Captain," continued +Duresnel, "since you are my military superior, I have a favor to ask of +you."</p> + +<p>"Granted in advance, on one condition."</p> + +<p>"And what's that, if you please, captain?"<a name="vol-2-pg_127" id="vol-2-pg_127"></a></p> + +<p>"That you thee-and-thou us, myself and our comrades, as we thee-and-thou +you. It is a mark of political fraternity."</p> + +<p>"Very well, captain. Here, then, is the request I wish to make of you: I +am now a soldier of the Army of the Rhine and Moselle. It seems to me I +should take more pleasure of the business if I knew whereabouts we were +in the war. Otherwise I should be like a man starting to read a story in +the middle, and unable to understand a word, since he does not know the +beginning."</p> + +<p>"What you say is in point, comrade. I shall do the right thing by your +request at one of our next watches."</p> + +<p>At this moment the attention of the volunteers was drawn to a new +personage who entered the inn-hall. This individual wore the uniform of +a mounted cannonier, and the insignia of chief quartermaster. His dress, +like that of the volunteers, bore many a patch. His face was of a +strikingly martial cut, his long moustaches were covered with +hoar-frost. On entering the room he delivered the military salute, and +said briskly:</p> + +<p>"Good even, citizens. Have you room for a moment at fire and lamplight +for a mounted artilleryman of the Army of the Rhine?"</p> + +<p>"By heaven, yes!" replied Castillon, stepping away from the fireplace to +make room for the newcomer; then gazing at him curiously, he added: "But +tell me, comrade, this doesn't seem to be the first time we two have +met?"</p> + +<p>"Quite likely not," replied the cannonier, in turn searching Castillon's +features. "In fact, listen here, we met on<a name="vol-2-pg_128" id="vol-2-pg_128"></a> an occasion which is, by +heaven, difficult to forget—a meeting without its like!"</p> + +<p>"Last year, on the second of September—"</p> + +<p>"At the prison of La Force!"</p> + +<p>"When we purged it of the priests, the holy shaven-pates, and the +aristocrats."</p> + +<p>"Comrade, you are James Duchemin," cried Captain Martin, seizing him by +the hand. "I heard your name pronounced in the National Assembly along +with the other names of those who had given themselves to the +fatherland. I admire your devotion. You offered all you possessed—your +life and your two horses."</p> + +<p>"Ah, you were at the Assembly that day?"</p> + +<p>"Aye, I came from the Abbey."</p> + +<p>"Where you also did work?"</p> + +<p>"A fatal and terrible necessity. I believed so then and think so still. +Death to the aristocrats and priests! But how one does meet! Come, a +glass of wine, my old friend."</p> + +<p>"That is not to be refused, comrade. I am frozen numb," returned +Duchemin; and added, in a tone of bitter recrimination, "That brigand of +a Reddy!"</p> + +<p>"Of what 'Reddy' do you speak, friend?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, that is the name of one of the horses I gave to the country. We +were enrolled, my two beasts and I, in '92, in the Second Battalion, +Flying Artillery. But my other horse, my Double-grey, was missing from +roll call after the battle of Watignies, because of a little impediment +in the way of a four-pound cannon ball, which he received in the belly +while one of the servants of my darling Carmagnole was riding him."<a name="vol-2-pg_129" id="vol-2-pg_129"></a></p> + +<p>"What, you have a sweetheart whom you call Carmagnole? The idea is a +droll one!"</p> + +<p>"That is how I christened the four-pounder I had charge of in my +battery. Ah, citizens," added Duchemin, in reply to the volunteers' +mirth at his explanation, "if you only knew that beautiful little piece! +Such an amorous little mouth—to spit fire and cannon balls at the nose +of the Austro-Prussians and the other Ostrogoths."</p> + +<p>"Come, come, old chap, do you take us for marines?" said Castillon, +laughingly. "Do you want to give us the idea that pieces of artillery in +general—and Carmagnole in particular—have characters!"</p> + +<p>"Whether they have characters! Just ask your good cannoniers about that, +you'll hear their answer. There are slatterns of pieces on whom you can +never depend for a good shot. Whereas with Carmagnole—never a caprice. +You train her so many lines' elevation—she'll fire just so high; so +many lines' depression—she'll fire low. An angel of a spit-fire! A very +love!"</p> + +<p>"Comrades," chimed in Captain Martin gaily, "captivated by the +character, the virtues and the bravery of Citizeness Carmagnole, I +propose her health, and that of the brave artillerymen of the Army of +the Rhine."</p> + +<p>"To the health of Carmagnole! To the health of the artillerymen of the +Rhine!" chorused the volunteers, draining their glasses with Duchemin. +Touched by this proof of sympathy for his cannon and his brothers in +arms, the latter in turn raised his own glass and cried:</p> + +<p>"Thanks, comrades, thanks! I shall convey your good wishes to +Carmagnole, and I can tell you that in to-morrow's battle we shall be +neither slothful nor over-hot, but<a name="vol-2-pg_130" id="vol-2-pg_130"></a> just right. Meanwhile, I drink in +her name and mine: To the health of the brave men of the Army of the +Moselle. To the relief of Landau! Long live the Republic! To the +lamp-post with the aristocrats, the black-caps, and all the Jesuits!"</p> + +<p>"We shall raise the siege of Landau, or die!" enthusiastically acclaimed +the volunteers. "Long live the Republic!"</p> + +<p>"Well, indeed, wo'd of honor, I don't believe I am going to have any +fear at all to-morrow!" exclaimed Duresnel, electrified by the ardor of +his comrades. "Long live the Republic! Death to the aristocrats and down +with the skull caps!"</p> + +<p>"Citizen Duresnel," replied Captain Martin, smiling, "you will see that +it is not such a devil of an undertaking to go under fire the first +time, surrounded by gallant comrades."</p> + +<p>"Faith, captain, I begin to believe it," replied Duresnel, while +Castillon said, addressing Duchemin:</p> + +<p>"See there, old fellow, your love for Carmagnole has interfered with +your telling us your troubles with your horse, that brigand Reddy, +formerly so patriotic a fellow, as you told us, and whom you suspect of +having been bought over by a peck of oats given him by an agent of Pitt +and Coburg."</p> + +<p>"Well, comrades, to return to Reddy, yes, I say that dumb animal is a +patriot at heart. Judge for yourselves: Lately, at the affair of +Kaiserslautern, we were tearing along at a gallop with one wing of my +battery, to take up our position. I was helping along with the flat of +my saber two wretches of drivers who had charge of the team of six that +drew Carmagnole, and who looked out of<a name="vol-2-pg_131" id="vol-2-pg_131"></a> sorts at going into action. +Suddenly a squadron of Prussian Uhlans, until then hidden by a rise in +the ground, broke cover and charged upon us. We were supported by a +squad of the famous Third Hussars. We met at full tilt. But right in the +middle of the embroglio my brave Reddy seized the horse of a Uhlan by +the mane. Reddy did not let go his hold—he lost his footing in the +crush—he fell, and me with him. There I was, pinned under him; but +thanks to the intervention of the famous pair of the Third Hussars, I +was able to escape. This was the first time I saw those two inseparables +of the Army of the Rhine, Victor and Oliver, two heroic fellows!"</p> + +<p>"These two cavalrymen are called, you say, Oliver and Victor?" and +Castillon continued thoughtfully to himself. "A singular idea those two +names suggest. What if the gallant pair should be our apprentice and our +master's sister! Despite the strangeness of the disguise, it is said +there are in the army many patriotic women who enrolled to follow their +lovers to the war—"</p> + +<p>While Castillon was thus reflecting, the report of a firearm rang out +about a hundred paces from the inn. One of the pickets had fired. +Captain Martin at once spoke to an under-officer:</p> + +<p>"Sergeant, take four men and go see what is up out there. It must be +comrade Lebrenn who fired that shot."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps he got a bead on some spy within the lines," suggested +Duchemin, as the sergeant hastened out with his guard.</p> + +<p>The incident, however, passed almost unnoticed by Castillon, who, +preoccupied with his own thoughts concerning<a name="vol-2-pg_132" id="vol-2-pg_132"></a> the "pair" in the Third +Hussars approached Duchemin and asked:</p> + +<p>"Comrade, did you ever see the two brave cavalrymen you spoke of, +again?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, often. After Kaiserslautern our battery was attached to their +division."</p> + +<p>"How old would you say Oliver was?"</p> + +<p>"He is eighteen or so; black haired, with blue eyes. He is a fine +looking hussar; but in respect of beauty, his companion takes the shine +out of him."</p> + +<p>"Victor is also a pretty boy, then?"</p> + +<p>"He is too good looking for a man. What an air of authority! What an eye +of fire!"</p> + +<p>"No more doubt of it," murmured Castillon to himself. "It is Citizeness +Victoria and Oliver, who have joined the hussars!"</p> + +<p>At this moment the sergeant and his squad returned, minus one man who +had relieved John Lebrenn at his post. A man and a boy of ten or eleven, +dressed as Alsatian peasants, were marched in by the volunteers.</p> + +<p>The two seemed perfectly calm as they entered the inn-hall. They did not +even shudder when John Lebrenn announced:</p> + +<p>"Captain, I think we have laid our hands on a couple of spies."</p> + +<p>"And how did they fall into our picket lines, comrade Lebrenn?" asked +Captain Martin.</p> + +<p>"I had posted my sentries, captain. The mist was so thick I could not +see the lights of the inn from my position. The ground, hardened by the +frost, carried sounds clearly. All at once I heard at some distance the +steps of<a name="vol-2-pg_133" id="vol-2-pg_133"></a> men coming almost directly at me. I could distinguish also +that they wore wooden shoes. I could see nothing, but I cried: 'Halt! +Who goes there?' At the challenge the two individuals attempted to flee, +but they failed to perceive a patch of ice, on which their wooden shoes +slipped. The noise of their fall reached me distinctly. I fired my gun +to give the alarm, and plunged in their direction. I reached the pair +just as they regained their feet. I grabbed the man by his collar, the +boy by his frock. They tried at first to break away, but soon realizing +that I had a tough grip, they offered no further resistance. The man +addressed me in some unintelligible jargon. Then my comrades ran up, and +we bring you the catch."</p> + +<p>"You young brigand, you are swallowing a paper!" cried Captain Martin, +rushing, but too late, upon little Rodin; for he it was, unrecognized by +John Lebrenn as the latter had seen him but once before, and briefly, +the day of the taking of the Bastille, when the vicious youngster had +attempted to make away with the annals of the Lebrenn family. Needless +to say, the man accompanying him, and also unknown to the company of +volunteers, was his "sweet" god-father, his "gentle" god-father, his +"dear" god-father Abbot Morlet. The wretched youngster had just the +minute before quickly carried to his mouth one of his hands, which he +had up till then held hidden beneath his coat.</p> + +<p>"Search the knaves!" ordered Captain Martin. And quickly raising little +Rodin's blouse, he saw that the young one held his left hand tightly +shut. The captain pried it open, and some fragments of torn paper fell +to the floor. John Lebrenn and Castillon discovered nothing upon the +reverend Father Morlet. Carefully the captain pieced together<a name="vol-2-pg_134" id="vol-2-pg_134"></a> the +scraps of paper he had gotten from the Jesuit's god-son, but found +nothing but figures. After a moment's examination he cried:</p> + +<p>"No doubt of it! The man and his brat are emissaries of the enemy. The +letter of which they were the bearers is in cipher, except two names +which I find in the fragments—Condé, and then another of which some +letters seem to be missing;" and drawing nearer to the lamp, Captain +Martin added, "It is something like Plouar—Plouer—"</p> + +<p>"Plouernel! without a doubt!" exclaimed John Lebrenn. "This ex-Count of +Plouernel, former colonel in the French Guards, was aide-de-camp to the +Duke of Brunswick, and must now be serving in the Emigrant ranks of the +Prince of Condé."</p> + +<p>"Which is all the more probable since the corps of ex-nobles forms part +of Wurmser's army which is to attack us at daybreak," replied Captain +Martin, while John Lebrenn muttered to himself: "To-morrow, perhaps, I +shall find myself again face to face, arms in hand, with that descendant +of the Nerowegs whose life I saved last year."</p> + +<p>"Your account will not take long to settle, you old rascal," said +Captain Martin to the Jesuit, gathering together the pieces of the +despatch. "You will be conducted to headquarters and simply shot as a +spy, after an examination by way of preface, of course. All the forms +will be followed!"</p> + +<p>The Jesuit, unmoved, seemed not to hear the captain's words, and made +answer in a lingo invented by him for the occasion:</p> + +<p>"<i>Rama o schlick!</i>"<a name="vol-2-pg_135" id="vol-2-pg_135"></a></p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, <i>Rama o schlick</i>! It is clear as day. Yes, you will be +hanged!" replied Captain Martin imperturbably. Then he said to little +Rodin, who stood no less stolid than his good god-father: "You commence +your pretty trade quite young, you little scoundrel, you brigandette. +Your audacity, your presence of mind don't seem to fail you in the +least. No doubt they charged you with the despatch in the hope that even +if arrested you would not be suspected of carrying it. You are too young +to be shot, but we will first give your trousers a good dusting and then +send you to a house of correction."</p> + +<p>During this speech little Rodin showed himself the worthy pupil of his +god-father and master. He did not wink an eyelid, although he kept his +snaky optics fixed on the captain. Then, beating his chest with one hand +with an air of compunction, he carried the other to each ear in turn and +to his mouth, as a pantomimic indication that he was deaf and dumb.</p> + +<p>"So, poor lad, you are deaf and dumb?" said the captain. "In that case +you are free. Get out. May the devil take you."</p> + +<p>But little Rodin remained motionless, not seeming to have heard. +Instead, he made a new sign that he could neither hear nor speak, and +heaved a most lamentable sigh. The sigh, the motions and the face of the +boy were stamped with such an air of sincerity that Captain Martin and +the brave volunteers who witnessed the scene began to believe that the +Jesuit's god-son had indeed the use of neither faculty.</p> + +<p>The captain continued: "If this little beggar is, indeed, as he seems to +be, a deaf-mute, we shall send him to Abbot<a name="vol-2-pg_136" id="vol-2-pg_136"></a> Sicard. He will have a +splendid pupil!" Then, turning to the Jesuit: "But you, old rogue, who +are neither dumb nor deaf, you shall be recompensed as you deserve! +Come, off to headquarters!"</p> + +<p>"<i>Mira ta bi lou!</i>" replied the Jesuit, simulating the impatience of a +man tired of listening to gibberish.</p> + +<p>"I understand perfectly," the captain said. "Be easy, you shall be well +hanged." He thereupon turned to John Lebrenn, saying, "You, comrade, +will take the prisoners to headquarters, and transmit these shreds of +paper to the staff-officer to whom you give the account of your capture. +One or two volunteers will accompany you to keep watch on the two +rascals."</p> + +<p>"Do not weaken your post, Citizen Captain," said Duchemin. "On my way +back to my battery I shall accompany my comrade as far as the General's +quarters."</p> + +<p>Then John Lebrenn, noticing for the first time the cannonier whose +patriotism had so strongly touched him a year before, cried out: +"Citizen James Duchemin!"</p> + +<p>"Present, comrade! But how the deuce did you know me?"</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you on our way to the General's," replied John. And soon, +taking the Jesuit by the collar while Duchemin seized little Rodin +firmly by the hand, the volunteer and the artilleryman left the inn and +set out towards the burg of Ingelsheim.</p> + +<p>"The capture of the two spies prevented me from acquainting friend John +with what I have discovered as to Citizeness Victoria and our apprentice +Oliver," thought Castillon that night as he stretched himself out to +rest on his pallet of straw. "Well, the confidence will come a little +later!"<a name="vol-2-pg_137" id="vol-2-pg_137"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXVII-1-b" id="CHAPTER_XXVII-1-b"></a>CHAPTER XXVII.<br /><br /> +THE HEROINE IN ARMS.</h3> + +<p>The headquarters of General Hoche were established in the Commune Hall +of the burg of Ingelsheim; soldiers and under-officers of various corps +of the army, detailed as orderlies, awaited the commands of the General +in a sort of vestibule leading to the room in which Hoche himself, +together with his fellow-General Pichegru and their aides-de-camp, were +in conference with St. Just, Lebas, Randon and Lacost, the +Representatives of the people sent on special mission from the +Convention to the Armies of the Rhine and Moselle. Among the various +troopers seated about on the benches, and for the most part sleeping, +overcome by the fatigues of the day, were two, a cavalryman and a +quartermaster of the Third Hussars, who sat to one side of the folding +door in earnest conversation. The manly beauty of one of them, his light +brown complexion, the soft black down which shaded his upper lip, his +thick eyelashes, his height, the squareness of his shoulders, and the +fire and boldness of his glance, left no doubt but that it was Victoria, +the missing sister of John Lebrenn. Her companion, who could be none +other than the apprentice Oliver, seemed transfigured. His radiant +youthful features now shone with hope and martial ardor. His large +brilliant blue eyes seemed to mirror dazzling visions. One<a name="vol-2-pg_138" id="vol-2-pg_138"></a> would have +said it was Mars himself in the uniform of a hussar.</p> + +<p>"With what impatience I await the morrow," he was saying to Victoria. +"Here in my heart I feel that I shall either be killed or named +sub-lieutenant on the field of battle. Hoche, our General-in-chief, was +sub-lieutenant at twenty-two; I shall be an officer at eighteen! What a +future opens before me!"</p> + +<p>Dreaming of his martial career, the young soldier gazed long and +silently into the golden picture it held up before him. Victoria +observed him closely. An inscrutable smile overspread her lips, when +suddenly, recalled from his revery by the recollections of love, Oliver +blushed and added: "If I am made an officer, perhaps you will at last +think me worthy of you, Victoria! Oh! what happiness! To merit the +supreme gifts of your tenderness, or to die before your eyes!"</p> + +<p>"You yield yourself too readily to the intoxication of glory," said +Victoria, gravely reproaching him.</p> + +<p>"Is not the glory of arms the most sublime of all?"</p> + +<p>"Oliver, woe to those who, loving arms merely as arms, glory as glory, +give way to such enticements. Their reason becomes clouded, their spirit +becomes unsteeled, their patriotism falters. They grow ready to +sacrifice right, liberty, dignity for that glory whose brilliancy oft +conceals so much of mere low ambition, of abject servility, of shameful +appetites, and vain and childish selfishness. Military chiefs are nearly +all contemptible men, even under the republican regime."</p> + +<p>"Victoria, how severe you are!" replied Oliver, sorrowfully. "Have I +really merited this reproach?"<a name="vol-2-pg_139" id="vol-2-pg_139"></a></p> + +<p>"When St. Just and Lebas came here to hold council with the Generals +over to-morrow's battle, I noticed your hesitancy in giving, as +customary, the military salute."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I felt extreme repugnance toward saluting a commissioner of the +Convention to the armies, because these people are in no way military. +If some day I become a general, I shall never consent to submit my plans +of campaign to a Representative of the people. No authority should +precede that of a general in his army. That authority should be single, +absolute, obeyed without discussion; he should be responsible to none +for his acts. His soldiers should hear but one voice: his; know but one +power: his."</p> + +<p>"That is the language held by Dumouriez the eve of the day on which he +betrayed the Republic," answered Victoria bitterly. Just then John +Lebrenn and Duchemin entered, bringing in their prisoners.</p> + +<p>John did not see his sister sitting with Oliver beside the door. But the +young woman, doubly surprised by meeting at once both her brother and +the Jesuit Morlet, whom she immediately recognized through his rustic +disguise, made at first a move to rush after John. But fearing lest he, +unable to master his surprise, might compromise the secret of a +transformation which she desired to guard, she checked herself, and +whispered to Oliver, who was no less stupefied than she at the sight of +his former master: "My brother has gone with that country fellow and the +little boy into the room of the aides-de-camp. Go tell the cannonier +Duchemin to meet me in the courtyard." Tossing her sword under her left +arm with military ease, the young woman started for the door; and +designating by a glance the other soldiers, she added, "I do not wish my +first interview<a name="vol-2-pg_140" id="vol-2-pg_140"></a> with my brother to take place before our comrades; his +emotion would betray me."</p> + +<p>"I obey, Victoria," sadly replied Oliver. "My surprise at meeting your +brother in the army prevents me from asking you in what I deserve the +cruel words you have but just addressed to me."</p> + +<p>"My attachment for you, Oliver, compels me never to conceal the truth, +harsh as it may be. That is the only means of forestalling results of +which you perhaps have no premonition. We shall resume the conversation +later," she added, as she left the vestibule, the pavement of which rang +under her spurred boots.</p> + +<p>The courtyard in front of the Commune Hall was a spacious one. On either +side were ranged the horses of the couriers. The fog had lifted; the +stars shone overhead. In the clear air of the crisp, cold night, +Victoria soon beheld the artilleryman coming towards her. She advanced +to meet him, saying: "I desired to speak to you, citizen, for the +purpose of giving you some information upon that man and the young child +whom you and a volunteer have just brought in as prisoners."</p> + +<p>"They are two spies of Pitt and Coburg, who fell among our pickets and +were arrested, only an hour ago, by one of our sentries, a Parisian."</p> + +<p>"Is that Parisian named John Lebrenn?"</p> + +<p>"What, do you know him, my brave hussar!" asked Duchemin.</p> + +<p>"That I do. We are old friends. But here is my information: The man +under arrest is a French priest, a Jesuit, an enemy of the Republic."<a name="vol-2-pg_141" id="vol-2-pg_141"></a></p> + +<p>"A Jesuit! Ah, double brigand and black-cap! The gallows-bird!"</p> + +<p>"His name is Abbot Morlet. It it urgent that you go at once and inform +John Lebrenn of this circumstance; he no doubt will be a witness at the +reverend's examination, which may even now be under way. The spy should +be unmasked."</p> + +<p>"The examiner will give the black-cap's tongue to the dogs if he answers +in the gibberish he treated us to just now, in order to throw us off the +scent."</p> + +<p>"When he finds himself recognized, he will not be likely to persist in +that ruse. Go, then, comrade, acquaint John Lebrenn with the fact that +his prisoner is the Jesuit Morlet, whom he already knows by reputation. +Then say to him that a trooper of the Third Hussars wishes to speak with +him a moment, and awaits him here in the court."</p> + +<p>"'Tis well. The two commissions will be fulfilled, as you request."</p> + +<p>While awaiting her brother, Victoria paced thoughtfully up and down the +courtyard. "Dear brother," she thought, "he has kept his promise. He +would pay his debt of blood to the Republic, and here he is, a soldier. +I can now unveil to him my mystery, and the object of my conduct in +regard to Oliver."</p> + +<p>Informed by Duchemin that a hussar of the Third wished to see him, John +soon stepped out of the Commune Hall, and descrying a cavalryman of the +designated regiment at some paces from the door, walked towards him, +saying:</p> + +<p>"Is it you, comrade, who sent me word by an under-officer<a name="vol-2-pg_142" id="vol-2-pg_142"></a> of the +artillery that you had something to say to me?"</p> + +<p>"It is I," answered Victoria, taking two steps toward her brother. The +latter, at first taken aback by surprise at hearing a voice which he +believed he knew, now approached rapidly. Incapable of leaving him any +longer in suspense, Victoria threw herself on the volunteer's neck, +saying in a broken voice:</p> + +<p>"Brother! Dear and tender brother! Pardon me the pain I have caused +you!"</p> + +<p>"All is forgotten now," murmured John, weeping with joy, and straining +his sister to his breast. "At last I recover you, darling sister!"</p> + +<p>"And soon, I hope, we shall be separated no more. My task draws to its +close. And your worthy wife?"</p> + +<p>"I heard from her only day before yesterday. She is well, and sustains +my absence courageously. Ah, Charlotte is doubly dear to me now—for she +is about to be a mother."</p> + +<p>"How happy she must be!"</p> + +<p>"In the midst of all her happiness, she still thinks of you. There is +not one of her letters in which she does not mention you, and wonder at +the mystery which has enveloped you for so many months. Good heaven, to +find you here in the army, in uniform. I know not whether I am awake or +dreaming. I can hardly collect my thoughts." And then after a moment's +silence, John resumed: "Your pardon, sister. I am now calmer. I now +believe I can divine the cause which led you to emulate those many +heroines who are enlisted against the enemies of the Republic. +Oliver—doubtless—serves in the same regiment with you?<a name="vol-2-pg_143" id="vol-2-pg_143"></a> You were +anxious to continue directing him, watching over him?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, brother mine; and already, by his bravery and aptitude in war he +has scaled the lower rounds of the ladder. A brilliant future is +unrolled before him."</p> + +<p>"Sister—" began John with some hesitancy, "the result is beyond what we +hoped—but—"</p> + +<p>"At what price have I obtained it? is it not, John? I can read your +thoughts. I have no cause to blush for the means I have employed. The +day of his attempted suicide, Oliver pledged me, as you know, that he +would not make a second attempt within twenty-four hours. Before +daybreak I rapped at his door. He had not retired. His face was as +ominous as the evening before. 'Oliver,' I said to him, 'let us go at +once.' 'Where are we going?' 'You shall know. You have promised me to +renounce till night-fall your projects of suicide. It matters little to +you where you pass your last day, here or elsewhere. Come.' Oliver +followed me. We went to Sceaux, where I had once before spent some time, +hoping to find relief in solitude from my griefs. Perhaps you have +forgotten that when the chateau of Sceaux became national property, our +good old patriot porter in St. Honoré Street became, by your +recommendation to Cambon, one of the guardians of the domain. The fine +old man occupies with his wife the ground floor of a pavilion situated +near one of the gates of the estate. The second floor is vacant, and it +was there I dwelt during my former sojourn in the place. To this abode I +conducted Oliver. I presented him to the keeper and his wife as one of +our relatives who had been ordered to the country for his health; I was +to stay to take care of<a name="vol-2-pg_144" id="vol-2-pg_144"></a> him. The good people received us with joy. They +fitted up, from the relics in the furniture repository of the old +mansion, a room for Oliver, and took upon themselves the task of +preparing our meals. I had in the neighborhood of six hundred livres, +which I had saved. That sum would suffice for all our needs for quite a +while.</p> + +<p>"My arrangements with the keeper concluded," continued Victoria, "I led +Oliver out into the park. We had left Paris before dawn. By the time we +arrived at Sceaux, nature had donned all the fragrant beauty of new-born +day. The May morning sun cast his first radiant beams over those +enchanted vistas. We walked in silence over the velvety lawns, whose +richness was reflected in the little ponds that dotted them. Here were +vases and statues of marble niched in the green of the hedges; yonder +spouting fountains surrounded by immense rose-bushes then in full bloom. +Their scent filled the air. These details may seem childish, brother, +but they were all important."</p> + +<p>"I can well see it; you hoped to reattach the poor boy to life by +displaying to him, in that fine spring morning, nature in her most +smiling aspect."</p> + +<p>"Such indeed was my purpose. I observed Oliver closely. His looks, at +first lorn and somber, brightened little by little. He breathed in with +wide nostrils the morning ambrosia of the woods, the fields and the +flowers. He rapturously bent his ear to catch the chirping of the birds +nested in the foliage. His glance lost its heaviness, and again glowed +with youthful buoyancy. He took new hold of life while abandoning +himself to the sweet sensations awakened in him by the contemplation of +nature. I sought to stir the most sensitive and delicate chords of the +boy's<a name="vol-2-pg_145" id="vol-2-pg_145"></a> being. My friendliness tempered what had up till then been stern +and parental in my relations with him; I spoke to him now more as sister +than as mother.</p> + +<p>"'It would be paradise upon earth to live here,' he said.</p> + +<p>"'Then let us settle in the village, Oliver.'</p> + +<p>"'What! You consent to share this solitude with me?'</p> + +<p>"'Most assuredly. Indeed, it was even with that hope that I brought you +here.'</p> + +<p>"He beamed with happiness. But suddenly, his face clouding again, he +asked me sadly 'what I would be to him.' 'Your sister,' I told him. But +seeing him continue to lose the brightness he had just regained, I added +gaily:</p> + +<p>"'Yesterday, my friend, I would consent to be nothing more than mother +to you. To-day I am willing to rejuvenate myself sufficiently to become +your sister. Is not that great progress?'</p> + +<p>"'So,' he cried in a transport, 'you give me leave to hope?'</p> + +<p>"'I give you permission to hope for what I hope myself, Oliver: that one +day I may feel for you a sentiment more tender than that of fraternity. +But it depends upon you still more than on me.'</p> + +<p>"'What must I do?'</p> + +<p>"'Become a man, Oliver; a man of whom I can be proud.'</p> + +<p>"Oliver at first gave himself up with joy to this hope; but soon he +again asked, with a shade of suspicion in his voice, 'You will not make +me any promises—are you thinking, then, of forsaking me?'</p> + +<p>"'Not at all, Oliver; and moreover, here is what I propose. We shall +remain in this charming retreat until you<a name="vol-2-pg_146" id="vol-2-pg_146"></a> are completely recovered, +then we shall join the army, and enroll in the same regiment.' And in +answer to a gesture of stupefaction from Oliver, I added, 'Shall I, do +you imagine, be the first woman who shares the perils of our soldiers, +with her secret locked under her uniform? I wish to see you rise from +rank to rank. Then will come the day, perhaps soon, when some brilliant +deed will raise you to the height I dream of for you, and to our common +hope. Now, Oliver, choose between suicide and the glorious future I +present to you.'"</p> + +<p>"All is now explained, worthy and great-hearted sister," exclaimed John +Lebrenn.</p> + +<p>"I am now happy to note that my influence over Oliver diminishes daily. +His warlike ardor, the intoxication of his early successes, the activity +of camp life—all, according to my calculation, have combined to +overcome his passion. I foresaw that love would be fleeting in that +warlike soul, I sought above all to snatch him from suicide, from +failure. I wished by a vague hope to rekindle his dying courage, +initiate him into the career of arms, which his nature called him to, +and by watching over him like a mother and sharing his soldier's life, +to preserve him from the pitfalls that destroy so many young men. I +wished, in fine, to affirm him in the path of justice and virtue, to +develop his civic character, and to render still more fervent his love +for the fatherland and the Republic. Then, this self-imposed duty once +fulfilled, I reserve the means of casting Oliver upon the destiny which +the future seems to hold for him. Such was my project. In part it is +realized. The young man's passion for war is now his only amour. +Accordingly, I will soon be able to leave him."<a name="vol-2-pg_147" id="vol-2-pg_147"></a></p> + +<p>At this point in their conversation the brother and sister saw Jesuit +Morlet and little Rodin file out of the Commune Hall, escorted by +several soldiers. One of these carried a lantern. The artilleryman +Duchemin brought up the rear.</p> + +<p>"Hey, comrade!" called John Lebrenn to the quartermaster, as he +approached him, while Victoria remained behind, "I have something to ask +you."</p> + +<p>"Speak, citizen."</p> + +<p>"Do you know what they have decided about this doubly-dangerous spy, +this minion of the Society of Jesus?"</p> + +<p>"According to what I just heard, the black-cap will be shot to-morrow +morning. They are taking him to the quarters of the Grand Provost of the +army, who has charge of the execution; and as my battery is established +near the Provost's quarters, I am acting as conduct to the agent of Pitt +and Coburg."</p> + +<p>One of Hoche's aides-de-camp now stepped precipitately out of the +Commune Hall, hastened across the court, and ran in the direction of the +General's quarters. A company of grenadiers stationed there at once +caught up their arms and fell in line, drum at the right, officers at +the head, and soon the four Representatives of the people, St. Just and +Lebas, commissioners in extraordinary from the Convention to Strasburg, +and Lacoste and Randon, commissioners to the Army of the Rhine and +Moselle, descended the steps of the Commune Hall, preceded by several +officers furnished with lanterns, and followed by Generals Hoche and +Pichegru, and the superior officers of the divisions. The +Representatives of the people wore hats, one side of which, turned up, +was surmounted with a tricolor plume; their<a name="vol-2-pg_148" id="vol-2-pg_148"></a> uniform coats were blue, +with large unbroidered lapels, and crossed with a scarf in the national +colors; over their trousers, which were blue like their coats, they had +on heavy spurred boots, and cavalry sabers hung by their sides. St. Just +walked before the others. He was of almost the same age as Hoche, about +twenty-four. The two conversed in low tones, some steps ahead of the +other Generals and Representatives. The features and attitudes of Hoche +and St. Just, as revealed by the light of the lanterns, contrasted +sharply. The republican General, of robust stature and with a bluff +countenance, intelligent and resolute, which a glorious scar rendered +all the more martial, displayed an insistence almost supplicating, as he +addressed St. Just. The latter, of only medium height, with a high and +proud forehead, accorded to the pleadings of Hoche a silent attention. +His pale and firm-set features, set off by his long straight hair, gave +to the man an air of sculptured impassivity. His life, his feeling, +seemed concentrated in his burning glances.</p> + +<p>"Brother, do you remark Oliver's countenance?" said Victoria. "Pride +possesses it. He seems to regard as acts of servility the marks of +respect shown by the officers to the Representatives of the people."</p> + +<p>"Oliver's expression is indeed significant," replied John.</p> + +<p>"Halloa! Courier of the Third Hussars!" one of the under-officers cried +at that moment from the doorway, holding up a sealed packet. "To horse! +A despatch to carry to Sultz."</p> + +<p>"Present!" called back Victoria; then she continued in a voice filled +with emotion, as she held out her hand to John,<a name="vol-2-pg_149" id="vol-2-pg_149"></a></p> + +<p>"Adieu, brother, till to-morrow. Perchance the order of battle or the +fortunes of war will bring us near each other."</p> + +<p>"I hope—and fear it, sister," answered John, his eyes moist with tears, +lest this should be the last time he was to see Victoria. "You have +shown yourself valiant, devoted and generous in your conduct towards +Oliver. Till to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"Adieu, brother!" And Victoria hastened to receive the despatch, while +John returned to the bivouac of the Paris Volunteers.</p> + +<p>The despatch which Victoria carried to Sultz had been written by Hoche +that very evening, and addressed to Citizen Bouchotte, Minister of War. +It read:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="r">Ingelsheim, 6th Nivose, year II, 1 A. M.</p> + +<p>I hasten to inform you, Citizen Minister, that the Representatives +of the people have just placed me in command of the two armies of +the Rhine and Moselle, to march to the succor of Landau.</p> + +<p>No prayer or pleading on my part could change the resolution of the +Representatives of the people. Judge me. With nothing but courage, +how will I be able to carry such a burden? Nevertheless, I shall do +my best in the service of the Republic.</p> + +<p class="r">Greetings and brotherhood, <br /> +H<small>OCHE.</small><a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></p></div> + +<p>This letter of Hoche's, in which the great captain reveals the modesty +that in him equalled his military genius, illustrates also his anxieties +on the score of the responsibility which had just fallen upon +him—anxieties his noble and touching expression of which was unable to +shake the will of St. Just.<a name="vol-2-pg_150" id="vol-2-pg_150"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXVIII-1-b" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII-1-b"></a>CHAPTER XXVIII.<br /><br /> +SERVING AND MIS-SERVING.</h3> + +<p>Jesuit Morlet and his god-son, little Rodin, had been taken in due +course before the Provost, and the reverend fellow was now awaiting the +hour of his execution, which was set for sun-up. The cord which bound +his arms was fastened to a post of the cart-shed that served as shelter +for the Grand Provost's mounted police; at the foot of the post the +Jesuit lay huddled. Too case-hardened not to face death with a certain +degree of calm, he said to his god-son:</p> + +<p>"I have no chance of escaping death. I shall be shot at break of day. +Here ends my career."</p> + +<p>"You will soon be with the angels," dryly responded little Rodin, who +now seemed strangely to have recovered both speech and hearing.</p> + +<p>"Poor little one! My beloved son, you are, are you not, very sad at my +approaching death?"</p> + +<p>"You are an elect of the Lord, predestined to glory, and you will sit at +His right side through eternity. <i>Hosannah in excelsis!</i> On the +contrary, I rejoice in your martyrdom."</p> + +<p>"So young, and already devoid of affection!" muttered<a name="vol-2-pg_151" id="vol-2-pg_151"></a> the Jesuit to +himself. "Are you not grieved at the idea of being left behind and +forsaken by my death?"</p> + +<p>"The Lord God will watch over His servant, as He watches over the birds +of the air. He provides for all."</p> + +<p>"Listen, dear child; when God has called me to Him, go you to Rome, to +the General of the Order. God will perform the rest."</p> + +<p>"I shall go to Rome; your recommendations will be precisely followed, +dear god-father; I shall serve the holy cause of God."</p> + +<p>As little Rodin concluded these words, a courier came up and said to the +cavalryman on picket duty before the Jesuit and his god-son: "Comrade, +can you show me to the quarters of Citizen General Donadieu? I have a +message for him."</p> + +<p>"You haven't far to go. Pass through the shed, turn to the right, and +you will see another cavalry picket before the door of a house. There is +where General Donadieu is quartered," replied the sentry, while the +courier vanished in the direction indicated.</p> + +<p>"Good god-father, General Donadieu is attached to this army! Good news +for us!"</p> + +<p>"But, dear god-son, how will the presence of this general serve us any?"</p> + +<p>"Good god-father," replied young Rodin in a whisper, "if you wish it, +you need not go to-day to visit the angels of the Lord. Think and decide +whether you would rather go. I am here to obey you."</p> + +<p>With a nod the Jesuit approved the advice of his god-son, and beckoning +to the cavalryman, who approached them, he said: "Hey, sentry! Is it +indeed decided that I be shot at daybreak?"<a name="vol-2-pg_152" id="vol-2-pg_152"></a></p> + +<p>"In the shake of a lamb's tail. You won't have long to wait."</p> + +<p>"Well, well! Since it must be so, I have decided to make +revelations—very important ones."</p> + +<p>"I shall call the brigadier and he will take you before the Provost."</p> + +<p>"No, no. It is to a general that I wish to make my revelations. Let your +chiefs know without delay."</p> + +<p>"You hear that, brigadier!" commented the sentry to an under-officer who +had come up. "The old rascal calls for a general to make revelations +to!"</p> + +<p>"I'll go see the Provost about it," said the brigadier. The few moments +he was gone the Jesuit utilized to confer in whispers with his god-son. +The brigadier quickly returned, went up to the post to which the +reverend was tethered, and said to him:</p> + +<p>"Off to General Donadieu. But look out for yourself if your confidences +are a sham!" And seeing that little Rodin made ready to follow the +prisoner, the soldier added: "Has this brat also revelations to make? +Has he got anything to do with you?"</p> + +<p>"The child will attest, by his tender candor, the sincerity of my +communications, and will complete them in case of gaps in my memory."</p> + +<p>General Donadieu, commandant of a brigade of light cavalry in the Army +of the Rhine and Moselle, had just finished reading the order he had +received, when one of his aides-de-camp informed him that a spy, +condemned to be shot at sunrise, asked for an audience to give him +information of the utmost importance, but requested that<a name="vol-2-pg_153" id="vol-2-pg_153"></a> the interview +have no other witness than the child who would accompany him.</p> + +<p>"I do not accept the scoundrel's proposal," replied the General to his +aide-de-camp. "His condition is compromising. Send him in, and stay here +yourself."</p> + +<p>Accompanied by his god-son, the Jesuit appeared. Both were calm. The +General looked the spy over from head to foot, and said to him sharply:</p> + +<p>"You pretend to have important matters to disclose to me, which, you +say, concern the army? I shall listen to you. But be brief. Do not abuse +my patience."</p> + +<p>"When we are alone," replied the Jesuit, glancing at the aide-de-camp. +"Our interview must be in secret."</p> + +<p>"My aide is my second self. He may hear all. Speak, then. Speak at once, +or go to the devil!"</p> + +<p>"I shall speak, then, General, since you command it. The day after the +battle of Watignies a cavalry colonel in the republican army was taken +prisoner. He was marched to headquarters—"</p> + +<p>"Wait a moment!" cried General Donadieu, visibly troubled at these +opening words of the Jesuit's. "You hope to obtain a suspension of +sentence as the price of your revelations?"</p> + +<p>"More than that. I must be set at liberty."</p> + +<p>"I can grant you neither delay nor liberation without the authority of +the Representatives of the people. Captain, find Citizen St. Just at +once, and ask him whether I may suspend the execution of this man if his +revelations seem worthy of it."</p> + +<p>"At your orders, General," replied the aide, as he left the room.<a name="vol-2-pg_154" id="vol-2-pg_154"></a></p> + +<p>The General, at last overcoming the uneasiness which the Jesuit's first +words caused him, now resumed, haughtily:</p> + +<p>"As you were saying, the day after the battle of Watignies a cavalry +colonel—"</p> + +<p>"General Donadieu," came imperiously from the Jesuit, "your moments are +numbered. If, before your aide returns, you have not contrived a way to +set me at liberty, you are lost. Think it over. A prisoner at the battle +of Watignies, you were conducted by the Count of Plouernel before +Monseigneur the Prince of Condé, who received you most flatteringly. You +admitted to him that it was with regret that you served in an army so +lacking in military pride as to submit to the yoke of the +Representatives of the people. You added—still speaking, be it +remembered, to the Prince of Condé—these words, literally: +'Monseigneur, my dignity as an officer is so outraged by subjection to +the tyranny of these bourgeois pro-consuls, that, without the slightest +scruple of conscience, I would offer you my sword and serve on your +side.'"</p> + +<p>"Ah, indeed? So I said that to the Prince of Condé, did I? And perhaps +you have proofs of what you say?"</p> + +<p>"The proofs are inscribed in a certain register kept in the Prince's +staff headquarters. In that register are kept the names of all the +officers in the republican army on whom, in case of need, the royalist +party thinks it can call. The fact which concerns you was related to me +by the Count of Plouernel, former colonel in the French Guards, who was +present at your interview with Monseigneur the Prince of Condé; which +interview was continued by his Most Serene Highness in these words: 'My +dear colonel,<a name="vol-2-pg_155" id="vol-2-pg_155"></a> remain in the republican army. You will there be able to +serve the cause of our rightful King most efficaciously by spurring your +regiment to rebel at the proper moment in the name of military honor, +against these miserable bourgeois pro-consuls. Be sure, my dear colonel, +that the day the good cause triumphs you will be rewarded as you +deserve. Until then, keep snug behind your republican mask.' So," +continued the Jesuit, "you have so well worn your mask that after being +returned to the army in the exchange of prisoners, you were first +promoted to the rank of Brigadier General, then to Division General—"</p> + +<p>"Enough, stop," cut in Donadieu in a sardonic tone of complete +reassurance. "What now is your project? You intend to make your +disclosures to others besides me, if I do not at once enable you to +escape?"</p> + +<p>"Aye, General, that is my intention."</p> + +<p>"There is only one obstacle—"</p> + +<p>"And that is, General? Have the goodness to make it known to me. We will +find a way around it."</p> + +<p>"Eh!" replied Donadieu, moving towards the door, "It is that I shall +call the mounted patrolman who brought you hither, order him to shoot +you on the spot, and your secret dies with you. The solution is swift +and simple."</p> + +<p>"And St. Just, to whom you have just applied for permission to remit my +sentence? You have forgotten that detail."</p> + +<p>"I shall tell St. Just that your revelations were rubbish, and I let the +execution take its course. St. Just is not the man to reproach me for +hastening the death of a counter-revolutionist. So, then," continued +General Donadieu,<a name="vol-2-pg_156" id="vol-2-pg_156"></a> taking another step toward the door, "you will be +shot at once. Our conversation in over."</p> + +<p>"And me?" piped up little Rodin, who had so far kept himself motionless +and silent in a dark corner of the room. "And me? They won't shoot me, +I'm very sure. I am hardly eleven. So then, if you send my good +god-father to the angels, I shall tell everyone what I have just seen +and heard."</p> + +<p>"Whence it follows, General," chimed in the reverend, "that you have no +other safe course than to shut your eyes to our flight, and if you are +wise, accompany us, and carry the plan of to-morrow's battle to the +Austrian headquarters with you."</p> + +<p>"This low window opens on the ground," volunteered Rodin, examining the +casing. "We will be able to clear out through it, General, before your +aide-de-camp comes back. The rest—God will care for."</p> + +<p>"The light will help us to avoid your picket lines, among whom we fell +last night," added the prelate, in turn approaching the window, whence +he beheld the first grey streaks of dawn. Then to Donadieu, who stood +paralyzed with fear, he added: "Come, General, loose me of my bonds. I +must have this place far behind me when your aide returns."</p> + +<p>"What shall I do?" stammered the bewildered General. "My aide will +return with St. Just's orders. The prisoners' escape will be the end of +me—I shall be suspected of having assisted in it—and suspicion is +death!"</p> + +<p>"Good god-father," cried Rodin, who had been ferreting around the room +and had just opened a door leading into<a name="vol-2-pg_157" id="vol-2-pg_157"></a> a neighboring apartment, +"listen, the General does not wish to fly with us—he will let us +escape. He will say to his aide-de-camp that while he was in the next +room a minute or two, we profited by his momentary absence to cut the +cords on your wrists and to vanish by yonder window."</p> + +<p>"What presence of mind!" exclaimed the Jesuit; and, turning to the +General, "My god-son is right. There is nothing else left for you to do. +You will be accused of negligence; that is grave. But you will at least +have a chance of averting suspicion."</p> + +<p>"All the more, seeing that if the General had had the intention of +letting us escape he would not have sent his aide to St. Just for +orders," judicially added Rodin. "You have every chance not to be +molested because of our escape, General. But if you have my god-father +shot, I shall denounce you to St. Just."</p> + +<p>This reasoning commanded prompt action. General Donadieu chose of the +two evils the lesser. Hurriedly whipping off the prelate's bonds he +said: "Fly, quick. You will find a clump of trees a hundred paces off, +within our picket line. Hide there; and lie close till you hear the +cannon, which will announce to you the battle is on. Then you will have +nothing more to fear. Now go!" cried the General, flinging open the +window, "Go, quickly!"</p> + +<p>"I shall not prove an ingrate," promised the Jesuit as he passed towards +the opening the other had made for him. "When I see the Prince of Condé, +I shall report to him that he may always count on you."</p> + +<p>The prelate's god-son slipped like a serpent through the window, and was +gone. The Jesuit followed suit.<a name="vol-2-pg_158" id="vol-2-pg_158"></a></p> + +<p>"Ah, well," said General Donadieu to himself. "If St. Just suspects me, +over I go to the enemy. We soldiers know how to serve or mis-serve +according as our interests or safety demand. If I carry the plans of the +battle to the Austrians, I shall at least have saved my life and +general's commission. Devil take the Republic!"<a name="vol-2-pg_159" id="vol-2-pg_159"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXIX-1-b" id="CHAPTER_XXIX-1-b"></a>CHAPTER XXIX.<br /><br /> +BATTLE OF THE LINES OF WEISSENBURG.</h3> + +<p>Towards eight o'clock on the morning of the 6th Nivose, year II +(December 26, 1793), under cover of a thick fog, St. Just and Hoche +began their advance. The two leaders walked their horses side by side, +close behind a squad of cavalrymen detailed as scouts. A short distance +to the rear of the Representative of the people and the +Commander-in-chief followed a group of aides-de-camp and artillery +officers.</p> + +<p>Gradually, in the teeth of a stiff north wind, the fog began again to +lift. The gallop of an approaching horse was heard, and one of Hoche's +aides loomed out of the thinning haze, made straight for his +commander-in-chief, and said, as he reined in his mount:</p> + +<p>"Citizen General, our scouts just encountered a party of Uhlans. We +charged them and reached the enemy's advance guard near enough to make +out a considerable body of cavalry."</p> + +<p>The north wind continued to blow, clearing away the mists, and soon, +from the rising ground where they had taken their station, St. Just, +Hoche, and their staff were able to sweep with their eye the field of +the approaching battle. Before them, from northwest to southeast at the +extreme edge of the horizon, stretched the regular outline<a name="vol-2-pg_160" id="vol-2-pg_160"></a> of the +"Lines" or entrenchments of Weissenburg, parallel to the course of the +Lauter, a rapid river which served as moat to these fortified works. To +the right, the now leafless fastnesses of the forest of Bienvalt, which +also bordered on the Lauter over which the remnants of the fog still +hung, reached away till they lost themselves in the distance toward +Lauterburg, a town situated in one of the bends of the Rhine, now the +headquarters of the army of Condé.</p> + +<p>With his glass Hoche examined the position of the Austrian army, and +said to St. Just:</p> + +<p>"The Austrian general, as I foresaw, surprised by our march which has +taken from him the offensive, has changed his plan of battle by making +his infantry fall back half way upon the plateau of Geisberg. We must +haste to profit by the hesitation into which this discreet retreat will +have thrown the enemy." Then, addressing one of the artillery officers, +Hoche added: "Citizen, order General Ferino to push out with the cavalry +and flying artillery of his division. His cannoniers are to open fire +upon the enemy's squadrons, and when they weaken, he is to send in his +cavalry."</p> + +<p>The officer left at a gallop to convey the order to Ferino, who +commanded the advance guard. The republican army was drawn up in three +columns, the cavalry on the right, the infantry in the center, and the +artillery on the left, with the reserves, the supplies and the +ambulances in second line. Suddenly a distant booming, deep and +prolonged, resounded on the left, in the direction of Nothweiller, and +Hoche exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"The cannon! The cannon! Gonvion St. Cyr has followed<a name="vol-2-pg_161" id="vol-2-pg_161"></a> my orders! He is +pouring out of the valley of the Lauter and attacking Brunswick's +position. There are the Prussians engaged. They will hardly bring aid to +the Austrians now! If Desaix has carried out his movement as well, and +attacked Condé's body at Lauterburg, the Austrian army is thrown on its +own resources. The Lines of Weissenburg are ours, and we shall raise the +siege of Landau!"</p> + +<p>At that moment General Ferino, in response to Hoche's orders, advanced +at a rapid trot at the head of his cavalry and artillery. Beside the +General rode Lebas, the Representative of the people on mission to the +armies. Recognizing the importance of this first charge for the success +of the day, he desired to assist Hoche, and to march in the front rank.</p> + +<p>"On, my brave Ferino," called Hoche to the General as he swept by. +"First shatter the Austrian cavalry with your cannon, and then—a taste +of your saber for them!"</p> + +<p>"Count on me, General. I'll send the white-cloaks to drink in the +Lauter, whether they are thirsty or not," replied Ferino; and waving his +sword he turned towards his cohorts and gave the cry:</p> + +<p>"Forward, my children, forward! Long live the Republic!"</p> + +<p>"Long live the Republic!" shouted back the cavalrymen, flashing their +swords in the air as they thundered past Hoche. "Our comrades have +retaken Toulon—we shall free Landau!"</p> + +<p>"Soldiers," called Hoche, "show yourselves worthy of your past +victories. The Republic counts on the Army of the Rhine and Moselle! To +victory or death!"<a name="vol-2-pg_162" id="vol-2-pg_162"></a></p> + +<p>The battle was on. General Ferino's artillery mowed down the Austrian +cavalry, Wurmser's first line. Profiting by their disorder, gathering up +his squadrons and hurling them with himself at their head upon the +enemy, Ferino overthrew the forces which opposed him, and carried his +mounted sabers right into the infantry squares of the second line. Then +Hoche flung his attacking column upon Wurmser's center, while that +general's left wing fell under the fire of several batteries of flying +artillery. One of these batteries, consisting of six four-pounders, had +taken position on an eminence where lay a solitary farmhouse. From this +hillock it was possible to rake the Austrian's left flank from the rear. +A squadron of the Third Hussars and two companies of the Seventh +Battalion, Paris Volunteers, were detached to act as guard to this +artillery. The captain of the battery, on reconnoitering his position, +found that the farmhouse and its buildings occupied nearly the center of +a mound about three hundred paces in diameter. Toward the enemy the hill +presented a rapid rise of some thirty feet, while on the side of the +republican army it was nearly level with the plain occupied by the +reserves. A thicket of trees and live brush extended to the right and a +little to the rear of the battery's position. The inhabitants of the +place had fled with the opening of the engagement, carrying with them +their cattle and all their more valuable belongings. One by one the iron +spit-fires arrived to take their position in the battery, the first to +appear being Carmagnole, the sweetheart of quartermaster Duchemin. This +piece, by the almost grotesque cut of its furniture, presented a curious +example of the oddity of artillery carriages in those days.<a name="vol-2-pg_163" id="vol-2-pg_163"></a></p> + +<p>The team drew up with a half-turn, Duchemin and his eight assistants +leaped to the ground, and confided their horses to the two artillerymen +charged with their care. The pin which coupled the piece proper to the +caisson was removed, and there she stood in position on her two wheels, +some distance ahead of the caisson, in which the cartridges were kept. +The drivers hurried their horses under shelter of the farmhouse, some +fifty paces away. Soon the six spit-fires were in position. The +commanders of the squadron of hussars and the two companies of +volunteers also took what advantage they could of the lay of the land to +protect their men from the fire which an Austrian battery might at any +moment be expected to open upon the republican guns. One of the Paris +Volunteers' companies was masked in the brush of the little wood just +mentioned, in position to fire from under cover in case the enemy should +attempt to seize the battery. The other company entrenched itself behind +the stone wall which enclosed the courtyard of the farm, and behind the +buildings which already acted as cover to the artillery horses.</p> + +<p>By the chances of war there were thus reunited among the defenders of +the battery Oliver and Victoria, John Lebrenn and Castillon, and finally +the young Parisian recruit Duresnel, who also was a member of Captain +Martin's company.</p> + +<p>"Well, comrade," said Captain Martin to him, "how goes it? Your heart is +still whole? Keep up your courage, all will go well."</p> + +<p>"So far, captain, things are not going badly. But we must wait for the +end—or rather for the beginning, for we haven't begun to fight yet."<a name="vol-2-pg_164" id="vol-2-pg_164"></a></p> + +<p>"It seems it is going to be warm!" volunteered Castillon. "By my pipe, +what a cannonade! That must be comrade Duchemin making his Carmagnole +spit! Let me see if I can get a glimpse of him over the wall."</p> + +<p>Stretching himself on tiptoe, Castillon raised himself sufficiently to +cast his eye above the wall, upon the group of cannon, now half +enveloped in the smoke of their first volleys. Duchemin, kneeling on the +ground after conning the hostile battery through his pocket-glass, was +training his piece, already roughly aimed by a brigadier, while his +assistants on either side, armed with their ramrods, sponges and levers, +stood ready for action. One of them held the match, waiting for the +order to light the fuse. The other five pieces, ranged parallel to +Carmagnole, were likewise surrounded by their attendants and being +sighted by their under-officers. The captain of artillery and his +lieutenants, on horseback, superintended the manoeuvring. In the +distance the Austrian lines and the advancing columns of the French were +lost almost completely in the smoke and smother of the now general +cannonade. Nevertheless, the watchers on the hill soon perceived a large +mass of opposing infantry so cut up and thrown into disorder by the +relentless and accurate fire of the battery, that the Austrian general +was moving up four howitzers and four six-pounders, with the intention +of crippling the republican artillery. Seeing with his glass the first +howitzer advance to the left from the enemy's battery, Duchemin at once +carefully re-trained his Carmagnole, shook his fist in the howitzer's +direction, and growled under his heavy moustache, alluding to the short +and stocky build of those pieces:</p> + +<p>"Ah, it is you who would presume to silence my Carmagnole,<a name="vol-2-pg_165" id="vol-2-pg_165"></a> stump-nose! +I'll show you that you were never cast to clip my sweetheart's words!"</p> + +<p>Just then, in response to a sign from the captain, the trumpeter of the +battery sounded the signal to "Fire!"</p> + +<p>"Come, my cadet," cried Duchemin to the soldier with the burning match, +"the soup is ready—all we need is to serve it! Light her! light her! +Let her go!"</p> + +<p>The cannonier touched off the fuse with his match, and Carmagnole's +discharge rang out several seconds ahead of the general volley of the +battery. Gazing again through his field-glass to watch the effect of his +shell, Duchemin cried out: "There she is! The stump-nose is knocked off +one wheel, and two of her flunkies are keeled over. Long live the +Republic!"</p> + +<p>In fact, Carmagnole's ball had crushed one of the wheels of the howitzer +and knocked down two of the Austrian artillerists an instant before the +hostile battery had gotten in its first shot. But almost immediately the +enemy's guns were crowned with several little clouds of white smoke, +lighted up with streaks of flame. A prolonged roar reached the +Frenchmen, and Duchemin exclaimed, turning towards the stone wall where +the volunteer infantrymen were entrenched:</p> + +<p>"Citizens, look out for the shells!"</p> + +<p>Hardly had Duchemin sounded the warning when the rain of iron was upon +them; the balls screamed, the shells rebounded and burst. The commander +of the little republican battery was cut in two by a flying shell; horse +and rider went down mangled before the shot. Another shell burst between +two cannon, killing one of their crew and wounding two others so +severely that they fell and with<a name="vol-2-pg_166" id="vol-2-pg_166"></a> difficulty dragged themselves to the +ambulance sheltered behind the farmhouse.</p> + +<p>"Cannoniers! Load at will! Aim for the howitzers!" cried the first +lieutenant, assuming command. The trumpet repeated the order through its +metal throat. The artillerymen vied with one another in haste to charge +their pieces. Then cries of "Fire! Fire!" rang out from the farmhouse, +which suddenly became enveloped in thick black smoke. A shell exploding +in a hay loft had set the blaze.</p> + +<p>"In one way that little bonfire isn't bad," said Castillon, "for it is +deuced cold. But too much is too much, and now we're going to roast." +And catching sight of the volunteer Duresnel, pale, propping himself up +with his gun, his lips working as though he would talk, though no sound +proceeded from them, Castillon continued: "Well, neighbor, here we are, +'wo'd of honor;' but what the devil do you see back there to make your +eyes pop out so?" So saying, Castillon followed Duresnel's fixed and +frightened stare, and what he saw made him pull the young volunteer +toward him, with the words: "Come, comrade, do not look that way. You +haven't got the hang of the thing yet. That is the fortune of war."</p> + +<p>"My heaven," stammered Duresnel, as he followed Castillon's advice. "My +heaven, it is horrible! Poor victims!"</p> + +<p>A ball, rebounding on the inner face of the stone wall, had struck the +lines of volunteers sheltered there, killing and maiming all in its +path. The dead and wounded weltered in blood. Captain Martin, struck by +the spent ball near the end of its course, had been knocked down, but +only bruised on the shoulder. Soon recovering from the shock, he lent +his aid to the soldiers of his company, John Lebrenn<a name="vol-2-pg_167" id="vol-2-pg_167"></a> among them, to +help or carry the wounded to the surgeons' post in the rear. These at +once gave their care to the cannoniers and to some hussars of the Third, +among whom a shell had also wrought its havoc.</p> + +<p>Undaunted by these disasters, the republican artillery continued to work +marvels. At last the opposing commander, fearing lest his right wing be +annihilated, sent word to the regiment of the Gerolstein Cuirassiers to +storm the battery. Up to this time masked behind a hill, this regiment +of heavy reserve cavalry had taken no part in the conflict. They were +part of the contingent put by the principality of Gerolstein at the +service of the Germanic Confederation, and were commanded by the Grand +Duke himself. This prince was the father of Franz of Gerolstein, whom he +held immured in a state dungeon. In spite of his sixty-and-odd years, +the old Grand Duke preserved the freshness and buoyancy of youth; to his +natural bravery he now added the incentive of hatred for the Revolution. +The Count of Plouernel, having made good his second escape from Paris, +and now for some time married to the daughter of the Prince of Holtzern, +was second in command. The horsemen of this troop wore a cuirass and +helmet of steel, over a livery in the Grand Duke's colors—bright blue +with orange facings—with heavy boots, and white wool trousers. In +short, the regiment was one of the best equipped and finest in the +allied army. The rank and file, lusty fellows in the prime of life, +warlike, well drilled, well clad, well fed and well paid, pampered up, +in short, like a troop of the chosen, were typical 'soldiers of +monarchy.' Disciplined by their officers with the cane, after the German +fashion, they were the instrument of their<a name="vol-2-pg_168" id="vol-2-pg_168"></a> master's will, ready to +saber father, mother, brother or fellow-citizen, or to march upon the +enemy, with equal indifference, killing merely because some one said +"Kill!" or falling in the onslaught because some one said "Forward!" On +the right of the regiment rode the Grand Duke, a robust man, tall of +frame, and hard and proud of feature. His face was half concealed under +the visor of his helmet, which was surmounted with a rich plume of heron +feathers. The gentlemen and officers of his household rode somewhat +apart from him, while he himself held the following conversation with +the Count of Plouernel, who now bore the uniform of a colonel of +cuirassiers:</p> + +<p>"Count, I saw the Prince of Condé yesterday on his way through +Weissenburg to take up quarters at Lauterburg. 'The Republic,' he said +to me, 'is no longer betrayed by its generals. <i>Our goose is cooked!</i>' +The Prince's observation was sound; I look forward to a series of +reverses to our arms. In case I am killed in to-day's battle, do not +forget the promise you have given me. Go to my son Franz, in the prison +where he lies; tell him that my last thoughts were curses upon him. +Then," the Grand Duke added, with a sinister air, "see that justice +takes its course with him. My highest court has judged and condemned my +unworthy son; he is convicted of a revolutionary plot against the safety +of my states, and against my person. He has incurred the penalty of +death—the sentence is to be executed with the briefest possible delay. +My nephew Otto, whose cousin you married, is to inherit my grand-ducal +crown. All the bequests, minutely set forth in my testament, are to be +fully carried out."</p> + +<p>"Drive away these dark thoughts, monseigneur," replied<a name="vol-2-pg_169" id="vol-2-pg_169"></a> the Count. "You +will reign a long time yet, and decide all these matters for yourself."</p> + +<p>The word to advance was given, and the Gerolstein regiment, the Grand +Duke at its head, set out at a round trot. The ground shook under the +hoofs of its eight hundred horses; the rattle of its sabers, muskets and +breastplates made a formidable din. Two hundred rods away rose the +hillock on whose brow scowled the republican battery that now menaced +every foot of the plain the cuirassiers were advancing over. Unable to +outflank the battery, owing to its being protected to the right by the +little wood and to the left by the semi-demolished farm buildings, the +Grand Duke could see nothing for it but to charge right into the muzzles +of the cannon which he hoped to capture, little thinking that they were +supported by both infantry and cavalry so cunningly disposed that he was +prevented from detecting them.</p> + +<p>"The republican position is too strong, monseigneur, to be attacked in +front," said the Count of Plouernel, "and yet it would be difficult to +try to turn its flank."</p> + +<p>"I am resolved to take it in front," replied the Grand Duke. "I rely on +the courage of my cuirassiers. Here we are within short range of their +cannon, and those fellows do not fire."</p> + +<p>"They await our closer approach, that their discharge may be the more +deadly."</p> + +<p>"Then let us close up the distance, and start the action," exclaimed the +Grand Duke.</p> + +<p>The trumpets sounded the charge. Formed in a narrow column, to offer +less front to the republican fire, the troop trotted rapidly forward. +Then, at two hundred paces from<a name="vol-2-pg_170" id="vol-2-pg_170"></a> the hill, they spread out into two +lines, and, at the Grand Duke's command, spurred their steeds to a +gallop. In this order, and uttering loud huzzahs, they reached the foot +of the hill. Here their impetuous advance was checked by the steep rise +they had to surmount in order to reach the summit and the guns. They +discharged their muskets at the cannoniers of the battery, whose pieces, +pointed straight down the hill, and till this minute dumb, now spoke out +with a fearful volley of shot and shell. The Paris Volunteers, placed as +sharpshooters in the fringes of the woody thicket, rained upon their +assailants a storm of bullets which mingled with the fire of the other +company cloaked in the courtyard of the farmhouse. The rain of lead and +iron being especially trained on the steeds of the first advancing line, +these fell or stumbled, rolled over on their riders, and threw the +second line into such disorder that in spite of its momentum it was +forced to waver and flee. The Grand Duke ordered a retreat on the +gallop, in order to reform his ranks out of range.</p> + +<p>Repeated cries of "Long live the Republic!" greeted the retreat. The +German musketry-fire had gone over the heads of the French; only a few +were wounded. All hastened to reload their pieces. The volunteers threw +fresh cartridges into their guns, in order to receive the second charge +of the enemy. The cuirassiers, galled and goaded by the desire to +retrieve their first set-back, reformed while describing a wide circuit +on the plain. Then, led on by the example of the impetuous Grand Duke, +they came on again, not this time in wide front, but in still narrower +column. Again they reached the rise of the hill, bending low over their +horses' manes, and belaboring the animals with boot<a name="vol-2-pg_171" id="vol-2-pg_171"></a> and spur. They +received the new volley of artillery almost point blank, but still +almost immediately gained the top of the eminence, the Grand Duke in the +lead. They found themselves awaited by the two companies of volunteers, +formed in a hollow square about the cannon, whose attendants were +furiously reloading them. Of the three ranks which formed the square, +the first was on one knee; the others were erect, their bodies bent +forward, guns at position; ready to let fly at the command of Captain +Martin.</p> + +<p>Solemn silence reigned among the volunteers as they saw, some thirty +paces from them, the Grand Duke of Gerolstein gain the summit of their +hillock, flanked on one side by a colossus in casque and cuirass bearing +the regimental standard, and followed by several officers of his +military household.</p> + +<p>Castillon, who was in the second line, with John Lebrenn half kneeling +before him, and the new volunteer Duresnel behind, said to the former, +sotto voice:</p> + +<p>"Friend John, let us unite to bowl over that drum-major on horseback +with the flag. What say you? Let us fire together."</p> + +<p>"I am with you. Take the man—I shall aim for the horse."</p> + +<p>"Citizens, I also shall aim at the giant," said Duresnel, in his +reed-like voice; "if you will permit, I shall be of your party."</p> + +<p>At that moment Captain Martin saw behind the Grand Duke, their bodies +half over the brow of the hill, the first rank of cuirassiers. Only +then, the cavalry being exposed, did he give the order: "Citizens! +Attention! Pick each his man! Aim! Fire!"<a name="vol-2-pg_172" id="vol-2-pg_172"></a></p> + +<p>"Onward, cuirassiers! Saber this canaille!" shouted the Grand Duke, +urging his horse to a great leap in order to reach the serried square. +"Onward! Hurrah! Thrust, my braves, and on!"</p> + +<p>Attackers and defenders disappeared together in the heavy cloud of smoke +from cannon and musket. For long the lurid obscurity of battle hung over +the little hill; when the blue haze cleared away, the scene that +presented itself to the survivors was one of rejoicing for the Republic, +of rout and disaster for its enemies.</p> + +<p>The foremost cuirassiers, overwhelmed by the fire from the hollow +square, had nearly all either fallen, with their horses, or been +trampled down by the following ranks which succeeded in scaling the +hill. Still the Grand Duke of Gerolstein and several of his men had been +carried by the impetuosity of their charge into the interior of the +square, in spite of the forest of bayonets with which it bristled; but +they came to a stop when their coursers, exhausted by their last +assault, and pierced by the republican bayonets, sank under them. +Castillon had been sabered in the shoulder by the old Grand Duke; +Duresnel was stunned and bruised but not wounded. Both at once, after +their first disorder, beheld the Grand Duke within the square, pinned +under his riddled horse. The great orange belt which he wore marked him +as a military chieftain. Castillon and Duresnel precipitated themselves +upon him and took him prisoner. John Lebrenn, for his part, had aimed +accurately, and sent a ball into the chest of the color-bearer's mount. +The giant, proof against musket balls, thanks to the thickness of his +helmet, breastplate and heavy boots, leaped clear of his steed, and, his +saber in one hand, his standard<a name="vol-2-pg_173" id="vol-2-pg_173"></a> in the other, defended himself against +John, who rushed at him with fixed bayonet. The colossus whirled his +sword about him and wounded John in the knee; though wounded, the latter +rushed on—and captured the colors.</p> + +<p>Simultaneously with this, at a few paces' distance, another episode was +enacting. An under-officer of the Gerolstein Cuirassiers, seeing himself +surrounded, fell furiously upon quartermaster Duchemin and his men. +Duchemin, old wagoner that he was, entrenched himself behind one of +Carmagnole's wheels, which thus served to shield nearly half his body +from the saber and hoof-strokes which his adversary sought to rain upon +him. Thus barricaded, and further defending himself with a gun-swab, he +at last succeeded in landing so masterful a blow upon his antagonist's +helmet that the latter tumbled from his saddle half senseless. Meanwhile +Carmagnole's other servitors had reloaded her. At a signal the ranks +opened, and once more the artillery belched forth its iron hail upon the +last squadron of the Gerolstein regiment, a reserve squad which the +Count of Plouernel led again to the charge. Suddenly the remaining +cuirassiers, seized with panic, wheeled about and fled full tilt down +the steep incline. Their hurried departure was not due alone to the +lively and sustained fire of the republican battery. The squadron of the +Third Hussars, drawn up in battle array behind the burning farm +buildings, had so far taken no part in the fray. Its captain had been +killed and its lieutenant disabled by an exploding shell. But Oliver, +although the youngest of the under-officers, already possessed so great +a reputation for bravery that the soldiers, by common accord, voted him +the command of the regiment. "Ah, I was sure of it!" said<a name="vol-2-pg_174" id="vol-2-pg_174"></a> the dashing +young man, leaning over to Victoria, as they walked their horses +together alongside the first platoon; "I felt that I should either be +killed to-day or win my epaulets. I shall be named an officer on the +field of battle."</p> + +<p>The French squadron, now put to a gallop, fell upon the rear ranks of +the Gerolstein Cuirassiers just as their head was being thrown into +disorder and repulsed by the joint fire of the battery and the volunteer +infantrymen. Oliver charged the German horsemen furiously. The broil was +desperate. The Count of Plouernel, who strove in vain to rally the +fleers, suddenly found himself beset by a young hussar whose cap had +fallen off in the tumult of battle.</p> + +<p>Apparently careless of self the young cavalier rushed straight at the +traitor Count—slashed at his face—one eye he would never see out of +again. Infuriated by the wound, the Count made a lunge and drove his +saber into his adversary's breast. Then Neroweg urged his horse towards +the left wing of the Austrian army, and escaped the pursuit of the +republican hussars.</p> + +<p>The young horseman was Victoria.<a name="vol-2-pg_175" id="vol-2-pg_175"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXX-1-b" id="CHAPTER_XXX-1-b"></a>CHAPTER XXX.<br /><br /> +DEATH OF VICTORIA.</h3> + +<p>Night was come. Across the December fogs glared the watch-fires of the +republican army. The French troops rested on the field of battle, +establishing headquarters in the ruins of the chateau of Geisberg, half +demolished by cannon-balls. A large barn, one of the outbuildings of the +estate, was turned over to the hospital corps. There the wounded were +stretched upon litters of straw, receiving medical attendance by the +light of torches. Everywhere were heard the moans drawn by the pain of +an amputation, or the extraction of a ball. At one end of the barn, an +enclosure of planks set off the threshing floor from the rest of the +building. Mortally wounded by the Count of Plouernel, Victoria was at +length carried from the field hospital into this retreat, her sex having +been revealed while her wound was receiving its first dressing.</p> + +<p>A torch fastened into a post illuminated the scene. John Lebrenn, also +wounded, knelt beside his sister, who lay out-stretched upon her pallet, +half wrapped in a coverlet. His back to the wall, Oliver buried his face +in his hands and with difficulty checked his sobs, while Castillon, +whose manly face was streaming tears, stood a little apart, leaning +against one of the door posts.<a name="vol-2-pg_176" id="vol-2-pg_176"></a></p> + +<p>Victoria's pallor, and her broken breathing, announced that her sands of +life were run. Tightly clasped in both of his, her brother held her +hand; he felt that hand grow ever colder and colder.</p> + +<p>"Adieu, Oliver," said Victoria feebly, as she turned toward the young +fellow. "Love and serve the Republic as you would a mother. Bear in mind +that you are a citizen before you are a soldier. Remember above all that +those who see in war only a field opened to their ambition and their +pride are the worst enemies of the people." Then, addressing her +brother, Victoria continued: "Adieu, brother. Before the battle I had +the presentiment that I would die as did our ancestress Anna Bell—whose +sad life bears so many resemblances to mine." Then, struck by a sudden +idea, Victoria continued on a new train of thought: "The Grand Duke of +Gerolstein is taken prisoner, you told me, brother? St. Just should be +told of the services rendered to our cause by Franz of Gerolstein, and +the Grand Duke informed that he will be kept in durance until his son is +set free. Franz's liberation will mean one soldier the more for the +Revolution."</p> + +<p>"Your recommendations will be followed, sister dear," replied John +between his sobs; "and oh, dear sister, I weep at our separation. You +are going on a journey without return. I am young yet, and long years +will pass, perhaps, before I will again be able to behold you."</p> + +<p>"Those years will pass for you, brother, as a day—sweetened by the +tenderness of your wife, by the love of your children, by the fulfilment +of your civic duties."</p> + +<p>Then, just as a lamp before its dying flicker casts still some bright +beams, the young woman rose to a sitting<a name="vol-2-pg_177" id="vol-2-pg_177"></a> position. Her great black eyes +shone radiantly from within; her voice, erstwhile choked and gasping, +became sonorous and full; her beautiful features glowed with enthusiasm; +she exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"Ah, brother, I feel it—my spirit is shaking off my present body, in +order to inhabit a new envelope beyond. The future unrolls before me—</p> + +<p>"Hail to that beautiful day predicted by Victoria the Great! Hail! +Radiant is its dawn! I see shattered irons, crumbled Bastilles, thrones +and altars in dust, and crowning the ruins of the old world a scaffold, +the reckoning of Kings! Hail, holy scaffold, symbol of popular justice! +O, Republic! Radiant is your birthday! Glorious your sun rises over +Europe! Your star, full-orbed, O Republic, pours its torrents of light +upon a regenerate world! It buds—It flowers—It bursts into bloom—It +sheds in peace its treasures, its riches, its glories, its wonders, amid +the joy of its children, free and equal, freed forever from the double +yoke of Church and Misery—and united forever by the brotherly +solidarity of the confederated peoples—"</p> + +<p>The witnesses of the scene, carried away by Victoria's words, deceived +by the clearness of her glance and the superexcitation of which she was +capable in a supreme burst of energy, forgot that the young woman was +dying. Her eyes half-closed, her countenance ashy pale and bathed in an +icy sweat, Victoria fell back in her brother's arms; after a moment's +agony she passed out of this life to live again in those worlds whither +we shall all go.<a name="vol-2-pg_178" id="vol-2-pg_178"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXXI-1-b" id="CHAPTER_XXXI-1-b"></a>CHAPTER XXXI.<br /><br /> +ONRUSH OF THE REVOLUTION.</h3> + +<p>The army was to move at break of day. Before dawn John Lebrenn and +Castillon dug Victoria's grave on the heights of Geisberg. Thither she +was carried on a funeral litter borne by Captain Martin, Castillon, +Duchemin and Oliver. John Lebrenn, leaning because of his wounded knee +upon the arm of the young volunteer Duresnel, followed his sister's bier +in deep grief. It was snowing, and Victoria's last resting place soon +disappeared beneath the white blanket that fell upon the heights as the +army marched from its bivouac to advance upon Weissenburg, which might +still be defended by the Austrian army. But the Austrians left their +trenches during the night; they evacuated Weissenburg; the hordes of the +monarchs fled before the legions of the Republic.</p> + +<p>Oliver was made under-lieutenant in the Third Hussars. Captain Martin +was elected commander of the battalion of Paris Volunteers, succeeding +the former commander, who was killed in the siege of Geisberg. The +standard captured from the Gerolstein Cuirassiers was carried to General +Hoche by John Lebrenn, who received from the hands of the young general, +in honor and memory of the glorious defense, a sword taken from the +enemy on that day.<a name="vol-2-pg_179" id="vol-2-pg_179"></a></p> + +<p>On the 10th Nivose, General Donadieu, denounced before the revolutionary +tribunal, and convicted of treason, was condemned to death, a penalty +which he paid on the scaffold.</p> + +<p>Hoche's victory, of the Lines of Weissenburg, decided the success of the +whole campaign. On the 12th Nivose the Convention, upon motion of +Barrere, rendered this decree:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The National Convention decrees:</p> + +<p>The Armies of the Rhine and of the Moselle, and the citizens and +garrison of Landau, have deserved well of the fatherland.</p></div> + +<p>John Lebrenn, accordingly, being a soldier of the Army of the Rhine and +Moselle, engraved these words on the blade of the sword presented to him +by Hoche—<span class="smcap">John Lebrenn has deserved well of the Fatherland</span>.</p> + +<p>The war continued. As soon as his wound had closed, Lebrenn wished to +rejoin the Army of the Rhine and the Moselle. But the cut, hardly +healed, opened again, and grew worse under the fatigues of a new +campaign. He was invalided to the hospital at Strasburg late in the +month of Germinal of the year II (March, 1794).</p> + +<p>During her husband's absence Charlotte Lebrenn continued to live with +her mother in the house on Anjou Street. Master Gervais consented to +resume the direction of the smithy he had sold to Lebrenn, until the +latter's return from the army. Charlotte, as previously, kept the books +of the house. On this task she was engaged on the 23rd Prairial, year II +(June 11, 1794). The young woman, now nearing her confinement, was still +dressed in mourning<a name="vol-2-pg_180" id="vol-2-pg_180"></a> for Victoria, her sister-in-law. Madam Desmarais +was employed about some dressmaking.</p> + +<p>Having finished her accounts, Charlotte closed her books, took out a +portfolio of white paper, and prepared to write.</p> + +<p>"I must seem very curious, my dear daughter," said Madam Desmarais, "but +I am piqued about these sheets of paper which you fill with manuscript +every night, and which will soon make a book."</p> + +<p>"It is a surprise I am preparing for John upon his return, good mother."</p> + +<p>"May he be able, for his sake and for ours, to enjoy the surprise soon! +His last letter gave us at least the hope of seeing him any moment. He +wrote in the same tenor to Monsieur Billaud-Varenne, who came to see us +day before yesterday expecting to find your husband here."</p> + +<p>"John awaited only the permission of his surgeon to set out on his way, +for the results of his wound made great precautions imperative. Ah, +mother! How proud I am to be his wife! With what joy and honor I will +embrace him!"</p> + +<p>"Alas, that pride costs dear. My fear is that our poor John will be +crippled all his life. Ah, war, war," sighed Madam Desmarais, her eyes +moistening with tears. "Poor Victoria—what a terrible end was hers!"</p> + +<p>"Valiant sister! She lived a martyr, and died a heroine. Never was I so +moved as when reading the letter John wrote us from Weissenburg the day +after Victoria expired in his arms prophecying the Universal Republic, +the Federation of the Nations." Then smiling faintly and indicating to +her mother the papers scattered over the table Charlotte added: "And +that brings us back to the surprise<a name="vol-2-pg_181" id="vol-2-pg_181"></a> I am getting ready for our dear +John. Read the title of this page."</p> + +<p>Madam Desmarais took the sheet which her daughter held out to her, and +read upon it, traced in large characters, "<span class="smcap">To my child!</span>"</p> + +<p>"So!" began Madam Desmarais, much moved, "these pages you have been at +work on so many days—"</p> + +<p>"Are addressed, in thought, to my child. The babe will see the light +during a terrible period. If it is a boy, I can not hold before him a +better example than that of his own father; if it is a girl—" and +Charlotte's voice changed slightly, "I shall offer her as a model that +courageous woman whom chance gave me to know, to love, and to admire for +a short while before her martyrdom."</p> + +<p>"Lucile!" cried Madam Desmarais, shuddering at the recollection. "The +unfortunate wife of Camille Desmoulins! Poor Lucile! So beautiful, so +modest, so good—and a young mother, too! Nothing could soften the +monsters who sat upon the revolutionary tribunal; they sent that +innocent young woman of twenty to the scaffold!"</p> + +<p>"Alas, the eve of her death, she sent to Madam Duplessis, her mother, +this letter of two lines:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Good mother; a tear escapes my eye; it is for you. I go to sleep +in the calmness of innocence.</p> + +<p class="r">"L<small>UCILE</small>.<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p></div> + +<p>"Touching farewell!" continued Charlotte. "I also, shall know how to +die."</p> + +<p>"You frighten me!" exclaimed Madam Desmarais,<a name="vol-2-pg_182" id="vol-2-pg_182"></a> trembling. "But no; you +are a mother, and women in your condition escape the scaffold."</p> + +<p>"The child protects the mother. So I address this writing to my child, +to whom, perchance, I may owe my life. Camille Desmoulins, Danton, those +illustrious men, those lofty patriots, were all sacrificed yesterday. My +husband has equalled them in civic virtue, he may be judged and +guillotined to-morrow. Sad outlook!"</p> + +<p>"Ah, blood, always blood!" murmured Madam Desmarais, her heart sinking +within her. "Good God, have pity on us."</p> + +<p>"Good mother, let me read you a few lines from the memoirs I have +written for my child on the events of our times:</p> + +<p>"'You are born, dear child, in times without their like in the world. +And when your reason is sufficiently grown, you will read these pages +written by me under the eyes of a loving mother, while your father was +gone to fight for the independence of our country, and for the safety of +the Revolution and the Republic.</p> + +<p>"'Perhaps some day you will hear curses and calumnies leveled at this +heroic epoch in which you were born. Perhaps for a day, but for a day +only, you will see walk again the phantoms of the Church of Rome and of +royalty.</p> + +<p>"'Christ, the proletarian of Nazareth said, <i>The chains of the slaves +will be broken; all men shall be united in one fraternal equality; the +poor, the widows and the orphans shall be succored</i>.</p> + +<p>"'And now the time has arrived.</p> + +<p>"'Those who called themselves the ministers of God continued, for +eighteen centuries, to possess slaves, serfs and<a name="vol-2-pg_183" id="vol-2-pg_183"></a> vassals. In one day +the Revolution has realized the prophecy of Christ, misconstrued by the +priests.'"</p> + +<p>"True, true, my daughter," assented Madam Desmarais, "the Republic did +in one day what the Church had for centuries refused to do. It was the +place of the Church at least to set the example in freeing the slaves, +the serfs and the vassals who belonged to it before the Revolution. May +it be accursed for its failure to do so."</p> + +<p>"You recognize, then, dear mother, that in these troublous times the +good still outdistances the bad;" and Charlotte resumed her reading:</p> + +<p>"'Church and royalty purposely kept the people in profound ignorance, in +order to render them more docile to exploitation. On the other hand, +behold what the Republic decreed, on the 8th Nivose, year II (December +28, 1793):</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"'The National Convention decrees:</p> + +<p>"'Instruction is unrestricted and shall be gratuitous and +compulsory. The Convention charges its Committee on Instruction to +draw up for it elementary text books for the education of the +citizens. The first of these books shall have in them the +Declaration of the Rights of Man, the Constitution, the Table of +Virtuous or Heroic Deeds, and the Principles of Eternal Morality.</p></div> + +<p>"'This it followed up by two other decrees, the first under date of the +28th Nivose, year II (January 17, 1794):</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"'The National Convention decrees:</p> + +<p>"'A competition shall be opened for works treating of;</p> + +<p>"'Instruction on preserving the health of children, from the moment +of conception till their birth, and on their physical and<a name="vol-2-pg_184" id="vol-2-pg_184"></a> moral +training until their entrance into the national schools.</p> + +<p>"'The National Convention decrees:</p> + +<p>"'There shall be established in each district within the territory +of the Republic a national public library'!"</p></div> + +<p>"These are, as you say, my daughter, great and useful things."</p> + +<p>Charlotte continued reading:</p> + +<p>"'The National Convention, upon a report of the Committee of Public +Safety, adopted also this resolution:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"'The National Convention decrees:</p> + +<p>"'There shall be opened in each department a register entitled the +Book of National Benefits.</p> + +<p>"'The first division therein shall be for old and infirm farmers;</p> + +<p>"'The second, for old or infirm mechanics;</p> + +<p>"'The third shall be set apart for mothers and widows as well as +unmarried mothers, who have children in the country districts.</p></div> + +<p>"'These decrees prove that the Republic, in its commiseration for the +unfortunate, consecrates to them a sort of religious care; not only does +it relieve the miseries of the people, but it honors their misfortune. +It is not a degrading alms which it throws them, it is the debt of the +country which it seeks to pay off to the aged who have used up their +lives in toil upon the land or in trades. This debt the Republic also +pays off to the poor widows who can not undertake the care of their +young family. The aged, the child, and the woman, are the constant +objects of the solicitude of the Republic.'"</p> + +<p>Just then Gertrude the serving maid ran quickly into<a name="vol-2-pg_185" id="vol-2-pg_185"></a> the room. Her +countenance was at once joyous and pained. Charlotte sprang from her +seat, and cried,</p> + +<p>"My husband has come!"</p> + +<p>"Madam—that is to say—but pray, madam, in your condition do not +agitate yourself too greatly—" replied Gertrude. "Monsieur John is, +indeed, come, if you please—but—"</p> + +<p>Charlotte and her mother were both about to rush to meet their returning +soldier when he appeared on the threshold, supported on Castillon's arm. +The two men were dressed in the uniform of the volunteers of the +Republic. John embraced his wife and her mother rapturously, and wiped +from his eyes the happy tears which his wife's approaching motherhood +caused him. Then seeing that Castillon stood aside, with tears in his +eyes also, John said:</p> + +<p>"A hug for Castillon, too. In this campaign he has been to me not a +comrade, but a brother."</p> + +<p>"I knew it by your letters," replied Charlotte, as she warmly embraced +the foreman.</p> + +<p>"You will sup with us, Citizen Castillon—you would not leave us to +celebrate my husband's return alone?"</p> + +<p>"You are very kind, Citizeness Lebrenn. I accept your offer +gratefully—my day will then be complete," answered the foreman. "I +shall just run out and say good-day to my comrades in the shop. But do +not forget—friend John must be kept from walking, if he is not to +remain a cripple." And Castillon stepped out of the room.</p> + +<p>"My child," said Madam Desmarais, "your husband must get off his uniform +and lie down. Besides, his wound no doubt needs dressing. Let us attend +to it."<a name="vol-2-pg_186" id="vol-2-pg_186"></a></p> + +<p>Several hours later John and his wife were sitting together, still +drinking in the delicious raptures which follow long separations. Day +was nearly done.</p> + +<p>"When I left you," John was saying, "you were the dearest and best of +wives. I return to find you the noblest of mothers. Words fail me to +express how moved I am by the sentiment which dictated to you that +address to our child which you have just read me. I, too, am affrighted, +not for the future but for the present, for the present generation. The +most upright spirits seem now to be stricken with a sort of mad vertigo; +and still the republican arms are everywhere victorious, everywhere the +oppressed peoples stretch out their hands to us. The Terror has become a +fatal necessity. The Convention, having restored the public credit and +assured the livelihood of the people, continues daily to issue decrees +as generous and lofty in sentiment and as practical in operation as +those you have embodied in your pages to our child. The national wealth +still opens to the country enormous financial resources. The people, +calm and steady, has cast the slough, so to speak, of its effervescence +and political inexperience. It now shows itself full of respect for the +law, and for the Convention, in which it sees the incarnation of its own +sovereignty. And yet, it is at this supreme moment that the best +patriots are decimating, mowing one another down, with blind fury. +Anacharsis Clootz, Herault of Sechelles, Camille Desmoulins, Danton, and +many others, the best and most illustrious citizens, are sent to the +scaffold."</p> + +<p>"Eh! no doubt; and if there is anything surprising, it is your own +astonishment, my dear Lebrenn!" suddenly put in a voice.<a name="vol-2-pg_187" id="vol-2-pg_187"></a></p> + +<p>Charlotte and her husband turned quickly around, to see Billaud-Varenne +standing in the open doorway. For some moments he had been a party to +Lebrenn's confidences; an indiscretion almost involuntary on Billaud's +part, for the young couple, absorbed in their conversation, had not +noticed his entrance. Now stepping forward, he said to Charlotte:</p> + +<p>"Be so good as to excuse me, madam, for having listened. Your door was +open, and that circumstance should mitigate my 'spying'." Then with a +friendly gesture preventing John's rising from the reclining chair where +he half sat, half lay, Billaud-Varenne added, as he affectionately +pressed the hand of Charlotte's husband: "Do not move, my dear invalid. +You have won the right to remain on your stretcher. Your worthy wife +must have written to you what interest I took in all that concerned you +since your departure for the army."</p> + +<p>"My wife has often given me intimation of your affectionate remembrance, +my dear Billaud; and further, I know it is through your intervention +that Citizen Hubert, my mother-in-law's brother, has been mercifully +forgotten in the prison of Carmes, where he has long been held as a +suspect. Thanks to you, his life is no longer in danger."</p> + +<p>"Enough, too much, on that subject," declared Billaud-Varenne, half +smiling, half serious. "Do not awaken in me remorse for a slip. Citizen +Hubert has ever been, and ever will be, one of the bitterest enemies of +the Republic. For that reason, he should never have been spared. I +should have ordered his head to fall."<a name="vol-2-pg_188" id="vol-2-pg_188"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXXII-1-b" id="CHAPTER_XXXII-1-b"></a>CHAPTER XXXII.<br /><br /> +AD MAJOREM DEI GLORIAM!</h3> + +<p>It was forty-five days after the visit of Billaud-Varenne to John +Lebrenn; that is to say, it was the 8th Thermidor of the year II (July +26, 1794). Alone in his parlor, towards eight o'clock in the evening, +advocate Desmarais now paced up and down in agitation, now sank +pensively into a chair, his face between his hands. The anguish and +terror which for two years had dogged the hypocrite's steps had +completely whitened his hair. His sallow, atrabilious features disclosed +the tortures of his soul. Throwing himself into the arm-chair, worn out, +he muttered to himself:</p> + +<p>"They insist upon coming! Such a session on my premises! I tremble to +think of it—I may be sent to the guillotine to-morrow if Robespierre +triumphs. Curses upon my wife and daughter who deserted me! Yet, a +plague on my weakness, there is not a day goes by but I regret the +unworthy creatures! How happy I was in my family. I loved my daughter, I +love her still, as much as it is possible to love a creature on this +earth. With what tenderness she would have surrounded my old age. I +should have been consoled, comforted; for from my daughter I had no +secrets, and her confidences gladdened my heart. My God, 'tis I that am +unhappy!"<a name="vol-2-pg_189" id="vol-2-pg_189"></a></p> + +<p>After this outburst the lawyer remained for a long time silent and +dejected. Then, rising of a sudden, he shouted: "That infamous Lebrenn! +It is he who is the cause of my woes. He came to bring trouble under my +roof."</p> + +<p>The advocate's soliloquy was cut short by the entrance of a lackey, who +announced that several citizens desired audience with him.</p> + +<p>"Show them in," answered the lawyer; and as the servant vanished he +added, mentally: "The devil take Fouché, who conceived the idea of +choosing my house for the meeting place of his friends—a perilous honor +I wish I had the power of declining."</p> + +<p>Soon there were introduced into the parlor the Convention members +Tallien, Durand-Maillane, and Fouché; the reverend Father Morlet +accompanied them. The three Representatives of the people belonged to +the bloc formed against Robespierre. Durand-Maillane was a member of the +Right, or royalist side of the Assembly. Tallien was from the Mountain; +while Fouché, an ex-monk of the Oratory, was a Terrorist. A more ignoble +physiognomy than Fouché's it would be impossible to imagine. It was a +hang-dog face, hedged about with tow-hair, and seamed with vice, +treachery, dishonesty, baseness, and cruelty unrestrained. A cynical +smirk raised one corner of his thin mouth. He was the first to enter the +advocate's parlor. Leading up the Jesuit Morlet, he said:</p> + +<p>"Allow me, citizen colleague, to introduce to you a former priest, the +reverend Father Morlet. He is of the Society of Jesus, as I was of the +Order of the Oratory. Cassock and frock go together."</p> + +<p>"But," replied the attorney, very uneasily, as he returned<a name="vol-2-pg_190" id="vol-2-pg_190"></a> the Jesuit's +salute, "the object of the conference which brings us together can not +be discussed before witnesses."</p> + +<p>"The reverend is one of us," answered Fouché. "He comes from London, and +will give us information of the greatest importance. His head answers +for his discretion; he is a dissident priest. And so, let us get to +work."</p> + +<p>Fouché, Durand-Maillane, Tallien, Abbot Morlet and advocate Desmarais +thereupon seated themselves about a round table. Desmarais was made +chairman, and the conference began.</p> + +<p>"I ask the floor," said Durand-Maillane, "to state the question, and to +establish the conditions upon which as spokesman of the leaders of the +Right, I am empowered to pledge here the assistance of my political +friends, royalists, clericals, and conservatives."</p> + +<p>"You have the floor," said the chairman.</p> + +<p>Durand-Maillane continued:</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen, none of you is unaware that in presenting the law of the +22nd Prairial to the Convention six weeks ago Robespierre hoped to +obtain for the Committee of Public Safety, and under control of three of +its members, the right to pass judgment upon the Representatives of the +people without consulting the Assembly. Whence it follows that, by means +of the signatures of St. Just and Couthon, Robespierre would be able at +any time to send before the revolutionary tribunal, that is to say, to +the scaffold, those members of the Convention whom he wished to be rid +of. The law of Prairial threatened particularly the Terrorists; its +effect would soon have extended to the other parties. It is necessary +that we examine and discuss<a name="vol-2-pg_191" id="vol-2-pg_191"></a> the most significant passages of +Robespierre's speech to-day in the Convention, in order to decide what +we are to do to temper its effect and conjure away the danger which +overhangs us. Here are the particular points of the speech."</p> + +<p>Durand-Maillane drew a paper from his pocket and read:</p> + +<p>"'The counter-revolution has made its appearance in all parties. The +conspirators have pushed us, in spite of ourselves, <i>to violent +measures, which their crimes alone rendered necessary</i>. This system is +the work of the foreigners, who proposed it through the venal medium of +Chabot, Lhuilier, Hebert, and a number of other scoundrels. Every effort +must be made <i>to restore the Republic to a natural and mild rule</i>; this +work has not yet commenced. Slacken the reins of the Revolution for a +moment, and you will see military despotism seize upon it, and overturn +the maligned national representation; a century of civil wars and +calamities will desolate our country, and we would die for not having +seized the moment marked by history for the founding of liberty. Aye, we +would deliver up our country to calamities without number, and the +people's maledictions will fall upon our memory, which should remain +dear to the human race....</p> + +<p>"'The conclusion is, What are we to do? Our duty! What objection can be +raised to one's speaking the truth and consenting to die for it? Let it +be said, then, that there is <i>a conspiracy against the public liberty, +which owes its force to a criminal coalition that is intriguing in the +very heart of the Convention</i>; that this coalition has accomplices in +the Committee of General Surety and in the<a name="vol-2-pg_192" id="vol-2-pg_192"></a> bureaus of this committee, +which it dominates;—that the enemies of the Republic have set this +committee up against the Committee of Public Safety, thus constituting a +government within a government;—that <i>members of the Committee of +Public Safety are in the plot</i>;—that the coalition thus formed is +working for the destruction of patriots and of the fatherland. What is +the remedy for this evil? <i>Punish the traitors</i>, reorganize the bureaus +of the Committee of General Surety, purge the Committee itself, and +subordinate it to the Committee of Public Safety; <i>purge the Committee +of Public Safety itself</i>; establish unity of government under the +supreme authority of the National Convention, which should be the center +and the judge; <i>suppress all factions by the weight of national +authority</i>, and rear upon their ruins the power of justice and liberty. +Such are the principles the hour demands. If it is impossible to advance +them without earning the epithet Ambitious, I shall conclude that +principles are outlawed, that tyranny reigns among us,—but not that I +should keep quiet; for how can one object to a man who is right, and who +knows how to die for his country? I am made to fight crime, not to +govern it. The time is not yet come when men of worth can serve the +country fearlessly. The defenders of liberty are no better than exiles, +so long as there exists the horde of rogues and rascals.'</p> + +<p>"So, gentlemen, to sum up this harangue of Robespierre's, we find out +that 'it is necessary to bring back the Republic to a milder rule, to +check the bloodshed, to purge the Convention and the Committees, to wipe +out factions by the weight of national authority, and to combat crime, +because the defenders of liberty are but exiles as long as<a name="vol-2-pg_193" id="vol-2-pg_193"></a> the horde of +rogues and rascals exists.' There remains no one, it seems, outside of +Robespierre and the Jacobins, capable of defending, preserving and +strengthening the Republic. Therefore we, royalists and clericals, have +decided to form a coalition with the Terrorists and the Mountain for the +purpose of sending Robespierre to the scaffold, and, along with him, the +most active spirits of the Jacobin party."</p> + +<p>"I declare my approval of all the previous speaker has said," observed +Morlet the Jesuit. "Robespierre is the enemy not only of us Catholics +and royalists, but also of the Terrorists and Mountainists here present, +and of several of their friends, who insist upon living in splendor, +peace and happiness at the popular expense."</p> + +<p>"Robespierre to-morrow will attempt to hold a 'day,' with the support of +Commandant Henriot and the Commune. His designs must be frustrated," +added Tallien.</p> + +<p>"The surest way of reaching our end," Fouché advised, "is to drown St. +Just's voice when he mounts the tribunal to complete the speech of +Robespierre. He will want to speak in defense of his partner. Our cries +will redouble: 'Down with the tyrant!' 'Down with the dictator!' 'Death +to St. Just and Robespierre!'"</p> + +<p>"It is decided, then," asked Durand-Maillane, "that from the beginning +of the session we are to interrupt St. Just and Robespierre, and demand +of the Assembly their immediate arrest? Who will start the ball?"</p> + +<p>"I will," volunteered Tallien.</p> + +<p>"Collot D'Herbois, Robespierre's implacable enemy, is in the chair +to-morrow. The affair will go roundly," Desmarais plucked up heart +enough to say.<a name="vol-2-pg_194" id="vol-2-pg_194"></a></p> + +<p>"It is probable," continued the Jesuit, "that the Convention will not +confine itself to packing to the guillotine Robespierre, St. Just, +Couthon, Lebas, and the other leaders of this truculent party of virtue. +It may add to the batch several of the most rabid Jacobins from outside +of the Convention."</p> + +<p>"We shall rid ourselves at once of the big guns of the club, and the +Jacobins in the Commune, Fleuriot-Lescot the Mayor, Coffinhal, and their +consorts," chuckled Tallien.</p> + +<p>"I greatly desire," the Jesuit put in, "for motives of my own, to see +included in that batch a certain John Lebrenn, who has been made member +of the General Council of the Commune since his return from the army."</p> + +<p>At the mention of the name Fouché turned to Desmarais and said, with a +leer, "Hey, colleague, the reverend Father demands your son-in-law!"</p> + +<p>To which Desmarais grandiosely replied: "Brutus gave his own son—and +this Lebrenn is not even of my family. I grant you the Jacobin's head."</p> + +<p>"To-morrow, messieurs, let us be present at the Assembly before the +opening of the session, in order to prepare our colleagues of the Right +and the Center for what we expect of them," suggested Durand-Maillane.</p> + +<p>"Fouché and I," acquiesced Tallien, "will take care of the Mountain and +the Terrorists."</p> + +<p>So it was arranged. The cabal then broke up, while Jesuit Morlet said to +himself:</p> + +<p>"The Republic is lost. The sacrifice of the Jacobins delivers it up to +us, bound hand and foot—<i>ad majorem Dei gloriam!</i> to the greater glory +of God! May France perish, and our holy Order triumph!"<a name="vol-2-pg_195" id="vol-2-pg_195"></a></p> + +<p>During this mental invocation of the Jesuit's, Desmarais showed his four +guests to the door and returned to his parlor alone. For some time he +brooded somber and silent in his arm chair. At last he muttered +defiantly:</p> + +<p>"Was it I who demanded the guillotining of my son-in-law? After all, it +will be but justice; I will have returned him evil for evil. Is he not, +truly speaking, the prime cause of my torments? After his death my +daughter and wife will return to me. Everything will be for the best!"<a name="vol-2-pg_196" id="vol-2-pg_196"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIII-1-b" id="CHAPTER_XXXIII-1-b"></a>CHAPTER XXXIII.<br /><br /> +ARREST OF ROBESPIERRE.</h3> + +<p>Early the next morning the chiefs of the anti-Robespierre factions were +in the Riding Hall of the Tuileries, where the sessions of the +Convention were held. At about eight o'clock Tallien came in. As he +walked to his seat on the crest of the Mountain, he passed along in +front of the benches of the Right, greeting Durand-Maillane and his +friends with an "Oh! what brave men are these of the Right!" Collot +D'Herbois, that ex-comedian, thief and criminal, occupied the +president's chair. St. Just, coming into the hall, went up to +Robespierre, who appeared to give him some instructions. Couthon was +carried to his seat between Robespierre the younger and Lebas by two +ushers; he was paralyzed in both legs. These three citizens were counted +among the purest, the most generous and energetic of the time. Long +before the opening of the session the galleries were filled with people +picked and stationed there by the enemies of Robespierre. The latter +took his seat, an air of firm assurance dominating the preoccupation +legible on his austere features. He knew not of the plot laid against +him, and depended upon St. Just's speech to settle in his favor the +question of accusation unhappily left undecided the night before. The +chiefs of the allied factions exchanged signals of intelligence. +Billaud<a name="vol-2-pg_197" id="vol-2-pg_197"></a>-Varenne was speaking with one of the vice-presidents of the +Convention, Thuriot, an irreproachable Terrorist. The whole aspect of +the Assembly was foreboding. Suddenly the tinkling of Collot D'Herbois's +bell sounded above the tumult of conversation, and the session was on.</p> + +<p>Why follow the debate into all its bitterness and spite; why tell how +again and again the plotters against the Republic raised their cries of +"Down with the tyrant! Death to St. Just and Robespierre!"? Suffice it +to say that the day ended in decrees of accusation against the +Robespierres, elder and younger, St. Just, Lebas, and Couthon. An +officer of the gendarmery was commissioned by the president to lead the +accused to prison.</p> + +<p>At five o'clock that afternoon, the 9th Thermidor, Madam Desmarais and +her daughter, seated side by side in their parlor, pricked their ears at +hearing the sound of the drum, mingled from time to time with the +hurried and distant clanging of the tocsin.</p> + +<p>"My God!" exclaimed Madam Desmarais, grief-stricken, "Again a +'day'—again a bloody struggle!"</p> + +<p>"Reassure yourself, good mother; the wicked shall not triumph," +Charlotte replied. "Robespierre is put under ban of arrest, but the +Jacobins and the Sections will go to his rescue. The Commune has +declared the country in danger, the tocsin calls the people to arms."</p> + +<p>"Alas, I fear for your husband. He is at the City Hall as a member of +the General Council. The Commune is in insurrection against the +Convention; if the Commune loses, John will have become an outlaw."</p> + +<p>"My husband will do his duty; the future belongs to God."<a name="vol-2-pg_198" id="vol-2-pg_198"></a></p> + +<p>Suddenly Castillon entered the parlor, crying: "Good news! The Sections +are taking arms and assembling to march to the Commune, with their +cannon; the Jacobins have declared themselves in permanent session. +Robespierre has been taken to the Luxembourg Prison; his brother to St. +Lazare; St. Just to the Scotch Prison; Couthon to La Bourbe; and Lebas +to the Chatelet. As I left the City Hall they were discussing the means +of rescuing them."</p> + +<p>"You see, mother, the Sections are in the majority, with the Commune."</p> + +<p>"Ah, madam, madam!" cried Gertrude, running in in a fright. "Don't be +too alarmed—Oh, heavens, there he is!"</p> + +<p>Hardly had Gertrude uttered these words when advocate Desmarais, pale, +half frightened to death, tumbled into the room, crying: "Save me! In +heaven's name!"</p> + +<p>And running to his wife and daughter, whom he pressed in his arms, he +continued wailing, "Hide me! They are after me!"</p> + +<p>"Fright has unbalanced you, father," said Charlotte. "No one is pursuing +you."</p> + +<p>Madam Desmarais had hurriedly found a bottle of smelling salts, which +she held to the nose of her half-fainting spouse. He recovered his +senses, and began again, in a quaking voice: "Thank you. You are +generous. Now, I beseech you both, conceal me somewhere. Charlotte's +husband may come back and be accompanied by some member of the General +Council. I shall be recognized—arrested—guillotined. Pity me!"</p> + +<p>"But, father, your fears are all exaggerated. My husband will not allow +you to be arrested in his house."<a name="vol-2-pg_199" id="vol-2-pg_199"></a></p> + +<p>At that moment Gertrude, opening a crack of the door, called +mysteriously to her mistress:</p> + +<p>"Madam, come at once!"</p> + +<p>"What is it, Gertrude?" Charlotte asked. "Who is there?"</p> + +<p>"A man of the mounted police demands to speak with you."</p> + +<p>Hearing the nature of the visitor, Monsieur Desmarais flew into a new +fit of fear. His mind gave way. He ran to a window and sought to hide by +wrapping himself up in the curtains. Charlotte left the room, closing +the door behind her. In a second she was back, joyfully waving a paper +she held in her hand. "It is good news, mother. Where's father?"</p> + +<p>Madam Desmarais indicated with a gesture the window, the curtains of +which revealed the figure of the attorney, and left his feet exposed at +the bottom. Then she added, in a low voice: "If we do not hide your +father somehow, he will die of agony and fright."</p> + +<p>"His fright is baseless, but I think you are right about it," responded +Charlotte in the same tone. "We can take him up to the garret, to the +locked room; there he will no doubt feel that he is safe, and his fears +will calm down." And she went to the window where her father, white as a +sheet and bathed in a cold sweat, was clinging for support to the window +casing.</p> + +<p>"That gendarme!" stammered the lawyer. "What did he want?"</p> + +<p>"He just brought me a letter from John. I shall read it to you and +mother, after which you will be taken, as you wish, to a retreat, in the +top of the house, where you<a name="vol-2-pg_200" id="vol-2-pg_200"></a> need not fear being seen by a soul. Here is +what John wrote me:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Dearly beloved wife:—All goes well here so far. The General +Council of the Commune is almost complete. We are advising on +energetic and prompt measures—prompt above all; the Convention, on +its side, is not idle. We are in session. The majority of the +Sections are with us. We shall receive word in an instant that the +suburbs of St. Antoine and Marceau are ready to march; we await +their delegates. The City Hall Place is covered with an armed +force, furnished with several pieces of artillery, and all crying +'Long live the Republic! Down with the brigands of the Convention!' +Robespierre and his friends are still in prison; we shall deliver +them. Be of good cheer, and remember that you live not alone for</p> + +<p class="r">"Your <br /> +"J. L.</p> + +<p>"Tell Castillon to join me as soon as possible. He is a sure man, +and I shall need him."</p></div> + +<p>"If the suburbs march with the Commune, the Convention is lost!" +murmured the lawyer. "Conduct me to the hiding place you spoke of. You +shall lock me in, you will keep the key about you, you will not give the +key to anyone, not even to your husband—you promise me?"</p> + +<p>"I swear it;" and forcing a smile, the young woman added: "I alone shall +be your jailer. Come, come."</p> + +<p>As she went out, Charlotte said to her mother, "Please ask Gertrude to +have Castillon wait for me in the parlor." The advocate staggered out on +the arm of his daughter. Looking after him, Madam Desmarais sighed to +herself, "Unhappy man! I pity him." Sinister reflections followed close: +"The triumph of Robespierre will mean the death of Billaud-Varenne, our +friend, our protector, he<a name="vol-2-pg_201" id="vol-2-pg_201"></a> who has prevented, to this very day, my +brother Hubert from being called before the revolutionary tribunal. But +when he is there no longer, who will take his place in protecting my +brother's life? Alas, this day, whatever its issue, will hold a sad +outcome for our family. How can one prepare for such a crisis?"</p> + +<p>Charlotte at that moment returned, bearing the walnut casket in which +reposed the legends and relics of the Lebrenn family. Madam Desmarais, +running to her daughter quickly, said, in a tone of reproach, as she +helped her set the casket down on a table, "Could you not have called +Gertrude, instead of yourself carrying such a burden?"</p> + +<p>"Have you asked Castillon to come here, good mother? I wish to set him +to a task."</p> + +<p>"I forgot your request, my girl. I shall at once repair the +forgetfulness, and go seek your foreman. But before all, tell me, why +you have brought this box in here?"</p> + +<p>"I wish to place it in a safe and secret place, with Castillon's aid, +dear mother. You know what store John and I set by the papers and +objects contained in it. In these times of revolution, one must think of +everything. John will be grateful to me for the precaution." So saying, +she rang the bell.</p> + +<p>Castillon entered. The foreman seemed preoccupied. He had slung on his +cartridge box, his sword, and his volunteer's rifle.</p> + +<p>"Put this chest on your shoulder and follow me, brave Castillon," said +Charlotte. "I shall soon be back, dear mother. Hope and courage, all +will go well! The Commune will triumph over the Convention."</p> + +<p>"Oh, my presentiments, my presentiments did not deceive<a name="vol-2-pg_202" id="vol-2-pg_202"></a> me," moaned +Madam Desmarais after her daughter's and Castillon's departure. "This +day will be fatal to us!"</p> + +<p>Ten o'clock at night of that same day found the General Council of the +Insurrectionary Commune of Paris still in session in that chamber of the +City Hall called the Equality Chamber. The open windows gave on the +square choked with citizens. Their bayonets and pike-heads glittered in +the light of numerous torches; several cannon had been dragged up by the +Sections, and from time to time one might hear cries of "Long live the +Republic!" "Long live the Commune!" Within, torches lighted the vast +expanse of the Equality Chamber, and the table about which sat, under +the presidency of Fleuriot-Lescot the Mayor of Paris, the members of the +Council of the Commune.</p> + +<p>"Here is the proclamation," said the Mayor, preparing to read, "which is +about to be placarded on the streets of Paris:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Citizens, the country is more than ever in danger. Scoundrels +dictate laws to the Convention, which they overmaster. They pursue +Robespierre, who declares for the consoling principles of the +existence of the Supreme Being and the immortality of the soul; St. +Just and Lebas, those two apostles of virtue; Couthon, who has but +his heart and head alive, though they are glowing with the ardor of +patriotism; Robespierre the younger, who presided over the +victories of the army in Italy.</p> + +<p>People, arise! Lose not the fruit of the 10th of August and the +31st of May. Let us hurl all the traitors into their tomb!</p> + +<p class="r">Signed, F<small>LEURIOT</small>-L<small>ESCOT</small>,<br /> +Mayor,</p> + +<p class="r">B<small>LIN</small>, <br /> +Secretary."</p></div> + +<p>As the Mayor's proclamation was declared adopted by the session, John +Lebrenn, who had approached one of the windows, remarked that not only +had the number of armed Section representatives in the square +diminished, but that the place was almost deserted. Soon the whole City +Hall Place, with the exception of a group here and there, lay silent and +empty. John had barely returned to his seat at the table when the doors +were flung open with a crash by the press of people who sought to enter. +They carried in Robespierre the elder, Robespierre the younger, Lebas, +St. Just and Couthon, borne aloft in chairs. At the sight of the +liberated Representatives of the people, surrounded by their Jacobin +friends, the members of the Council rose spontaneously with cries of +"Long live the Republic!" Gradually the tumult died down, and the Mayor +of Paris began to speak:</p> + +<p>"Citizens—from this moment the functions of the General Council of the +Commune should undergo a change. I move that it be transformed into a +committee of action, and that the presidency of it be conferred upon +Maximilien Robespierre. The <i>Revolution</i> now commences!"</p> + +<p>Robespierre responded in the following words:</p> + +<p>"Citizens, I long resisted the entreaties of the patriots who sought to +deliver me from prison. I wished to respect the law, for the very reason +that our enemies make of it a football. I wished, in Marat's steps, to +appear before the revolutionary tribunal. Had they pronounced me +innocent, the villains of the Convention would have been confounded, and +honest folks would triumph; on the contrary, had they pronounced my +death sentence, I would have drunk the hemlock calmly. But I yield to +events. I<a name="vol-2-pg_204" id="vol-2-pg_204"></a> accept the presidency. The era of the Revolution has begun."</p> + +<p>On the instant there rushed into the hall General Henriot, pale, +excited, his clothing in disorder. "All is lost!" he cried.</p> + +<p>Leonard Bourdon and Barras, delegates of the Convention, and escorted by +half a hundred gendarmes with pistols and muskets, burst in at Henriot's +heels. The soldiers covered with their guns the members of the Council +of the Commune and the five Representatives of the people, all of whom +remained standing; calm; impassible.<a name="vol-2-pg_205" id="vol-2-pg_205"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIV-1-b" id="CHAPTER_XXXIV-1-b"></a>CHAPTER XXXIV.<br /><br /> +THE NINTH THERMIDOR.</h3> + +<p>In the early morning of the 10th Thermidor, Charlotte Lebrenn and Madam +Desmarais, pale from a night of sleeplessness, silent, worried, listened +anxiously at their garden windows, which had been left open through the +beautiful, balmy July night. From their nests in the trees the birds +greeted with their chirping the first glow of the sun, which lighted up +the eastern azure. Nature was smiling, with repose and calm in every +lineament.</p> + +<p>"Not a sound, absolutely nothing!" said Madam Desmarais, the first to +break the silence. "It is more than an hour since the tocsin ceased +clanging."</p> + +<p>"If that is so, mother, have courage! If the tocsin has ceased, the +Commune is worsted. The Convention triumphs," replied the younger woman +in a tense voice. Then, unable to withstand the emotion which seized +her, Charlotte burst into tears, raised her hands heavenward, and cried, +"Just God, spare my husband!"</p> + +<p>At this moment Gertrude entered and said to her mistress: "Madam, there +is a citizen in the ante-chamber who says he is sent by your husband to +bring you news of him."</p> + +<p>"Let him enter," answered Charlotte gladly. "I wonder what the news will +be," she added, to her mother.<a name="vol-2-pg_206" id="vol-2-pg_206"></a></p> + +<p>No sooner had she spoken than Jesuit Morlet appeared in the room. His +hypocritical countenance at once caused Charlotte a revulsion of +feeling; but immediately reproaching herself for what was perhaps an +involuntary injustice to the man, she came a few steps toward the +Jesuit, saying: "Citizen, you come from my husband?"</p> + +<p>"Aye, citizeness; to reassure you, and inform you that he is in a safe +place."</p> + +<p>"You hear, my poor child," cried Madam Desmarais, weeping with joy as +she embraced her daughter. "He is out of danger."</p> + +<p>"Can you, citizen, conduct me at once to where my husband is?"</p> + +<p>"Such a trip would be very imprudent, citizeness. My friend John Lebrenn +has sent me to you, first to reassure you as to his situation; next, to +post you on the course of events. The City Hall is in the power of the +troops of the Convention, commanded by Leonard Bourdon and Barras. Lebas +is a suicide. Robespierre the younger has flung himself from a window +and broken both legs. Robespierre the elder has his jaw broken by a +pistol fired at him by a gendarme;<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> St. Just and Couthon are +arrested, they will be executed in the course of the day, without any +form of trial, having been outlawed by the Convention; the same decree +has been passed upon the members of the General Council of the Commune, +who will also, accordingly—all except my friend John, who escaped in +the melee, and is now in safe hiding with me—be guillotined without +trial. In short, to tell you all in two words, the Republic is lost. The +brigands triumph!"<a name="vol-2-pg_207" id="vol-2-pg_207"></a></p> + +<p>For a moment Charlotte's tears flowed in silence. Reassured as to her +husband, she wept for the first five victims of the 9th Thermidor, those +illustrious and virtuous citizens.</p> + +<p>"My eternal thanks are yours," she at length replied; and added: "Take +me to my husband, I implore you. I long to see him."</p> + +<p>"To do as you request, citizeness, would be to commit a great +imprudence. Perhaps its only result would be to put the police on his +track. As to the gratitude you believe you owe me, let us speak no more +of it. Between patriots there should be mutual aid and protection; in +concealing John from the searches of our enemies I did my duty, nothing +more. But time is fleeting, and I must get to the end of the errand your +husband sent me on: It is that you give me a certain casket, containing, +he told me, some precious legends which it is of importance to carry +away from here, lest they fall into the hands of our enemies; the latter +will not delay descending with a search party upon your house."</p> + +<p>"My husband has already given me his advice on that subject," answered +Charlotte. "Foreseeing that in the struggle against the Convention the +Commune might be worsted, my husband arrested, and the house searched, I +already have had the casket carried to the home of one of our friends." +A slight spasm of anger contracted the brows of the Jesuit; the young +woman caught the expression, and the thought flashed over her mind: +"Careful! This man may be a false friend!"</p> + +<p>"Madam," said Gertrude, coming in leading a young boy by the hand, "here +is a poor child who asked to speak to this gentleman; I brought him up +to you."<a name="vol-2-pg_208" id="vol-2-pg_208"></a></p> + +<p>The Jesuit's god-son—who else but he?—respectfully greeted Charlotte, +at the same moment that the latter whispered to her mother: "My anxiety +for John is still lively, despite this man's reassurances. Something +tells me he is deceiving us."</p> + +<p>"Gentle god-father," Rodin was whispering to the Jesuit, "I just saw +John Lebrenn hurry down a street at the end of Anjou Street, and turn in +this direction."</p> + +<p>"The devil!" thought the Jesuit to himself, "our man will land at home +sooner than I counted on. I shall have to double my audacity; nothing is +lost as yet." And then, sotto voice to his pupil, "Are the police agents +placed, and in sufficient number?"</p> + +<p>"They are watching all around the building—I counted twenty. John +Lebrenn will be caught like a mouse in a trap, <i>Ad majorem Dei +gloriam!</i>"</p> + +<p>"While the house is being searched from cellar to garret, follow you the +agents, and try to put your hand on that casket you know of."</p> + +<p>"Mother," whispered Charlotte, on her part, "they are plotting some +treachery." Then, suddenly dashing toward the door, which just then +opened, she cried,</p> + +<p>"Husband!"</p> + +<p>Charlotte's husband, into whose arms his wife joyfully threw herself, +was pale, his clothing in disorder; his face was bathed in sweat, and he +panted for breath. In a gasping voice he said to his wife, as he +returned her embrace, "Charlotte, I could not resist the craving to see +you an instant, and to reassure you and mother of my fate, before I +flee. The Commune is defeated, I am outlawed; but I hope to escape our +enemies. Have courage—" Then<a name="vol-2-pg_209" id="vol-2-pg_209"></a> his eyes falling upon the Jesuit and +little Rodin, he recognized in them the two spies he had arrested before +Weissenburg; he recalled that Victoria had designated Morlet to him as +an enemy of the Lebrenn family; hence, struck with astonishment, he said +to his wife as he stared at the reverend, "What does this fellow here? +How did he get entrance to my house?"</p> + +<p>"He professed to be sent by you, my friend. He demanded in your name the +chest with the family legends."</p> + +<p>"Ah, my reverend! The Society of Jesus never lets the scent of those it +seeks to run down grow cold!" cried John. "Wretched, infamous +spy—hence!"</p> + +<p>"Not before you," replied the reverend with a bow and a smirk, +indicating to John the commissioner of the Section, newly appointed by +the Convention, who appeared in the door, accompanied by several of his +agents.</p> + +<p>"Search, the house from top to bottom," ordered the magistrate; and to +Lebrenn: "Citizen, here is a warrant of arrest issued against you. I am +further ordered to seal your papers and carry them to the office of the +revolutionary tribunal."</p> + +<p>Lebrenn read the warrant and replied to the magistrate, "I am ready to +follow you, citizen."</p> + +<p>"I must first place the seals, in your presence, upon all your +furniture, and especially on your papers."</p> + +<p>The agents of the police, in their search of the house, soon arrived at +the retreat which sheltered advocate Desmarais. They incontinently broke +open the door. The advocate was soon informed by the agents of the turn +events had taken, and at once planned the new role he was to play in the +business. Stepping briskly down the<a name="vol-2-pg_210" id="vol-2-pg_210"></a> stairs, he strode into the parlor, +and went straight to the commissioner:</p> + +<p>"Citizen, in the name of the law, I denounce a plot of which I am +victim. Since yesterday I have been sequestered in this house."</p> + +<p>While the advocate was speaking to the officer, Charlotte had given her +surprised husband in a few words the history of the pretended +sequestration, and added, "Now, my friend, for your own dignity, and out +of regard for my mother and myself, maintain the silence of contempt. +The wretched man is still my father."</p> + +<p>"Dear wife, now, and in your presence, I shall keep silence. But +later—I shall speak," answered Lebrenn, yielding to Charlotte's plea; +then, recollecting, he suddenly asked, softly, "And the casket?"</p> + +<p>"It is safe. Yesterday I thought of burying it, with Castillon's aid, in +the cellar; but he suggested taking it to the house of one of his +friends, a workman like himself, in the St. Antoine suburb. This latter +course I adopted."</p> + +<p>"You did wisely. This Jesuit's presence here proves to me that the +Society of Jesus, which has so many a time and oft already sought the +destruction of our family legends, will leave no stone unturned to +ferret them out."</p> + +<p>John's words were interrupted by an exclamation from Madam Desmarais. +"Brother!" she cried as she ran toward the financier, who had just +entered the room precipitately, "Hubert! You here! You are free!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, free," replied Hubert, embracing his sister effusively. "And my +first visit is to you. The prisons are<a name="vol-2-pg_211" id="vol-2-pg_211"></a> opened, and all the royalist +suspects are giving place to the brigands and terrorists."<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p> + +<p>"Ah, brother, you forget that we are under the roof of my son-in-law +John Lebrenn, who has been accused, and has just fallen under arrest."</p> + +<p>"What!" exclaimed Hubert, not having noticed Lebrenn as he came in, "is +that true?" Then, addressing the young man, to whom he extended his +hand, "I was unaware of the misfortune which has fallen upon you, +Monsieur Lebrenn; I know what interest you have always borne me, and if +I can to-day in my turn prove useful to you, I am entirely at your +service."</p> + +<p>The commissioner received the report of his agents. They had unearthed +not a paper in the entire house, nor in the furniture, nor in the +workshop. They had sounded the cellar floor, examined the earth in the +garden, nothing gave suspicion of a secret hiding place. Little Rodin +also confirmed this information to the Jesuit.</p> + +<p>"Citizen," said the magistrate to John, "a coach is at the door. Are you +ready to follow me?"</p> + +<p>"<i>We</i> are ready," said Charlotte, hastily throwing a cloak over her +shoulders. "Come, my friend, let us go. I shall accompany my husband to +the prison door."</p> + +<p>"Adieu, good and dear mother," said John to Madam Desmarais, embracing +her. "Be of good heart, we shall see each other soon again, I hope. +Adieu, Citizen Hubert. Revolutions have strange outcomes! You, the +royalist, are free—I, the republican, go to prison!"</p> + +<p>"Whatever your opinions, I have always found you a<a name="vol-2-pg_212" id="vol-2-pg_212"></a> man of courage," +quoth the financier, in a voice of emotion. "If any consolation can +temper the bitterness of your temporary separation, let it be the +certainty that my sister and my niece, your wife, will find in me a most +tender and devoted friend. I shall watch over them both."</p> + +<p>John Lebrenn and Charlotte left with the commissioner. Monsieur Hubert +and Madam Desmarais accompanied them as far as the waiting carriage, and +strained them in a last adieu.<a name="vol-2-pg_213" id="vol-2-pg_213"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXXV-1-b" id="CHAPTER_XXXV-1-b"></a>CHAPTER XXXV.<br /><br /> +DEATH OF ROBESPIERRE.</h3> + +<p>Eight months after the events of Thermidor just described, I, John +Lebrenn, write this chapter of the story of the Sword of Honor, on the +26th Germinal, year III of the Republic (April 15, 1795).</p> + +<p>Escaped from my prison, I lay for several weeks in hiding in a retreat +offered me by the friendship of Billaud-Varenne; to him I also owed a +passport made out in another name, thanks to which I was enabled to +leave Paris, gain Havre, and there take a coasting vessel for Vannes. I +chose Vannes as a haven not alone because I was unknown in that retired +community, but because it was close by the cradle of our family, towards +which, after such excitement and such cruel political deception, I felt +myself strongly attracted. At the end of about a month's sojourn in +Vannes, certain then that I could continue to dwell there without +danger, I wrote to my wife to rejoin me in Brittany, with her mother and +our son, whom she had named Marik, and who was born the 7th Vendemiaire, +year III. Thus I had the joy of being soon reunited with my family. My +wife brought with her the inestimable treasure of our domestic legends, +happily preserved from the clutches of Jesuit Morlet. My wound, received +at the<a name="vol-2-pg_214" id="vol-2-pg_214"></a> battle of the Lines of Weissenburg, having reopened, I was for +some time almost helpless, and was forced to give up my trade of +ironsmith. Madam Desmarais was able to lay out for us some moneys, and +Charlotte proposed that they be expended in setting up a linen-drapery +and cloth store in Vannes.</p> + +<p>This business afforded my wife and mother-in-law an occupation in line +with their tastes and aptitudes. For my part I was able, although still +very lame, to drive about in a carriage to the various markets and out +into the country, to dispose of our cloth. Everything gave me to hope +that my obscure name was forgotten in the hurly-burly of the +Thermidorean reaction.</p> + +<p>A short time after the arrival here of my cherished wife, we made a +pilgrimage to the sacred stones of Karnak; we found them as they had +lain for so many centuries. You will undertake that same pilgrimage for +yourself when you have attained the age of reason, my son Marik, you to +whom I bequeath this legend of the Sword of Honor, which I add to the +relics of my family.</p> + +<p>I conclude my recital of the events of the bourgeois revolution of 1789 +with a few words on the last moments of the martyrs of the 9th +Thermidor, the words of a hostile eye witness. What could be more +touching than his account:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Robespierre the elder was carried to the City Hall, to the +Committee of Public Safety, on the 10th Thermidor, between the +hours of one and two in the morning. He was carried in on a board, +by several artillerymen and armed citizens. He was placed on a +table in the audience hall<a name="vol-2-pg_215" id="vol-2-pg_215"></a> which lay in front of the executive +room of the committee. A pine box, which held some samples of bread +sent from the Army of the North, was placed under his head and +served in some sort as a pillow. He lay for the space of nearly an +hour so immobile that one might think he had ceased to live. Then +he began to open his eyes. Blood flowed freely from the wound in +his lower left jaw. The jawbone was shattered by a pistol shot. His +shirt was bloody; he was hatless and cravatless. He wore a sky-blue +coat, and trousers of nankeen; his white stockings were rolled down +to his shoes. Between three and four in the morning they noticed +that he held in his hand a little bag of white skin, inscribed 'At +the Grand Monarch; Lecourt, outfitter to the King and his troops, +St. Honoré Street, near Poulies Street, Paris.' This sack he used +to dispose of the clotted blood which came from his mouth. The +citizens surrounded him, observing all his movements. Some of them +even gave him a piece of white linen paper, which he put to the +same use, keeping himself ever propped up on his left elbow, and +using only his right hand. Two or three different times he was +scolded at by citizens, but especially by a cannonier of the same +district as himself, who reproached him, with military vigor, for +his perfidy and scoundrelism. Towards six in the morning a surgeon +who happened to be in the courtyard of the National Palace was +called in to tend him. For precaution he placed a key in +Robespierre's mouth, and found that his jaw was fractured. He drew +two or three teeth, bandaged the wound, and had a hand-basin with +water placed beside him. Robespierre made use of this, and also of +pieces of paper folded several times, to clean out his mouth, +still<a name="vol-2-pg_216" id="vol-2-pg_216"></a> employing only his right hand. At the moment when it was +least expected, he sat up, raised his stockings, slid quickly from +the table, and ran to seat himself in an arm-chair. As soon as +seated he asked for water and some clean linen. During all the time +he had lain on the table, after he regained consciousness, he +fixedly regarded all who surrounded him, especially those employes +of the Committee of Public Safety whom he recognized. He often +raised his eyes toward the platform; but apart from some almost +convulsive movements, the bystanders constantly remarked in him a +great impassibility, even during the dressing of his wound, which +must have caused him the severest pain. His complexion, habitually +bilious, assumed the pallor of death.</p> + +<p>"At nine o'clock in the morning Couthon, and Gombeau, a conspirator +of the Commune, were brought in on stretchers as far as the big +staircase of the Committee, where they were deposited. The citizens +detailed to watch them stood about, while a commissioner and an +officer of the National Guard went to report to Billaud-Varenne, +Barrere and Collot D'Herbois, then sitting in committee. They took +an order to these three calling for Robespierre, Couthon and +Gombeau to be removed at once to the Conciergerie Prison, a decree +which was immediately carried out by the good citizens to whom had +been confided the guard over the three prisoners.</p> + +<p>"St. Just and Dumas were taken before the Committee in the audience +hall, and at once taken on to the Conciergerie by those who had +brought them in. St. Just gazed at the large engrossing of the +Declaration of the Rights of<a name="vol-2-pg_217" id="vol-2-pg_217"></a> Man, and said, as he pointed towards +it, 'Yet it was I who got that passed!'</p> + +<p>"Such was the downfall of Robespierre. His agony was more cruel +than his death. His erstwhile colleagues on the committees insulted +him, struck at him, spat in his face; the clerks of the bureau +pricked him with their penknives."</p></div> + +<p>So died Robespierre by the guillotine. Let us glorify, sons of Joel, the +memory of this great citizen, the Incorruptible revolutionist. And as +sacred for us let the memory be of the other illustrious martyr-victims +of Thermidor, like St. Just, Lebas, Couthon, Robespierre the younger; or +martyrs obscure, like that throng of patriots whose blood flowed from +the scaffold in torrents during the Four Days. The reaction of Thermidor +smote with the guillotine without judgment; it assassinated the greater +part of the last defenders of the Republic.</p> + +<p><a name="vol-2-pg_218" id="vol-2-pg_218"></a></p> + +<p><a name="vol-2-pg_219" id="vol-2-pg_219"></a></p> + +<h2><a name="PART_III" id="PART_III"></a>PART III.<br /><br /> +NAPOLEON</h2> + +<p><a name="vol-2-pg_220" id="vol-2-pg_220"></a></p> + +<p><a name="vol-2-pg_221" id="vol-2-pg_221"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_I-1-c" id="CHAPTER_I-1-c"></a>CHAPTER I.<br /><br /> +THE WHITE TERROR.</h3> + +<p>To-day, the 22nd of September, 1830, the thirty-eighth anniversary of +the foundation of the French Republic in 1792, I, John Lebrenn, arrived +at the sixtieth year of my life, add these pages to the legend of the +Sword of Honor.</p> + +<p>I have been for long back in Paris, established with my family in St. +Denis Street. During my stay in Brittany, beginning after the days of +Thermidor, 1794, I kept track of the more important historical events by +means of the journals of the period. Later, on my return to Paris, I +re-entered political life and took part in the events of the Eighteenth +Brumaire, the Hundred Days, and the Revolution of 1830. In the following +pages I shall endeavor to reproduce briefly the principal deeds of these +three epochs—1800, 1815, and 1830.</p> + +<p>Should I depart this life before the completion of my task, my son Marik +Lebrenn, now arrived in his thirty-seventh year, will supply my place in +the work, aided thereto by the material and notes left by me, and by his +own memories. I have postponed from year to year this continuation to +our family legends, awaiting the accomplishment of the two prophecies +which hover ever above<a name="vol-2-pg_222" id="vol-2-pg_222"></a> these accounts. One has been realized, in the +period from 1800 to 1814; the other has had but one approach toward +success—in July of this present year 1830.</p> + +<p> +<br /> +</p> + +<p>Alas, we have already seen the sinister fulfilment of the prophecy of +Robespierre the Incorruptible, the martyr of Thermidor—'<i>The brigands +have triumphed, the Revolution is lost.</i>' The reins of the Revolution +fell into hands that were corrupt, perfidious, criminal. The national +representation was debauched, annihilated in the month of Brumaire by +Bonaparte; <i>military despotism seized the power, and civil war desolated +the country</i>.</p> + +<p>The second prophecy of our family records—that there should be no more +Kings—had already begun to move towards fulfilment. Since 1793 the +tradition of republicanism had struck in the people's minds roots that +were live, deep, and indestructible. The people protested against the +Consulate of Bonaparte by the conspiracy of Topino Lebrun and Arena; it +protested against the Empire by forming the secret society of the +<i>Philadelphians</i> and by the conspiracy of General Mallet; it protested +against the Restoration by several conspiracies, among them that of the +four sergeants of La Rochelle.</p> + +<p>Let us rest firm in the assurance that, despite these eclipses, the star +of the Republic will yet rise over France, over the world, and our +children will yet greet the appearance of the United States of Europe, +the Universal Republic.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the disinherited shuddered and trembled before the fury of the +counter-revolution. At Avignon, at Lyons, at Marseilles, prisoner +patriots were massacred<a name="vol-2-pg_223" id="vol-2-pg_223"></a> without even the excuse the latter had when in +September they put the traitors to death in the name of public safety +and of the fatherland, menaced from without and within. The victims of +the royalist reaction were ten times as numerous as those of the Terror. +The murders of Lyons pass all belief, and that in time of peace, without +provocation or cause. In one single day and in one single prison one +hundred and ninety-seven prisoners, among whom were three women, were +assassinated by the royalist dandies known as the Jeunesse Dorée, or +"Gilded Youth." At Marseilles, at the St. John Fortress, two hundred and +ten patriots were slashed to pieces or burned in the same day.</p> + +<p>But let us draw the veil over these saturnalia of blood, these orgies of +the White Terror, and compose our minds in thoughts of the republican +armies. Our armies learned with grief of the fall of Robespierre; but +then, submissive to the civil and military powers, and respecting the +decrees of the Convention, they accepted the Thermidor government; and +under the command of Hoche, Marceau, Jourdan, Moreau, Augereau, and +Joubert, they continued to battle against the coalized Kings. Holland, +freed by our arms, set itself up anew as a Republic; Prussia and Spain +sued for peace and obtained it; the royalists, encouraged by the +reaction, attempted again to arouse the Vendee, with the support of the +English, who made a descent upon Quiberon; but Hoche snuffed out that +civil war in its first flickers. The Convention modified on the 15th +Thermidor, year III (August 2, 1795), the Constitution of 1793. The mass +of the proletariat was stripped of its political rights. According to +the Constitution of 1793, all citizens twenty-one years old, born and +living in France,<a name="vol-2-pg_224" id="vol-2-pg_224"></a> were electors, and members of the sovereign people; +according to the Constitution of 1795, on the contrary, it was necessary +to pay a direct tax in order to be eligible to the electoral right. The +Constitution of the year III, further, divided the legislative power +into two bodies, the Council of Five Hundred, and the Council of +Ancients; to be a member of the latter, one must have attained the age +of forty. The executive power, or Directorate, was to be composed of +five members, chosen by the Councils, which were themselves elected by a +taxpayers' and indirect vote, in two degrees. Primary assemblies +nominated electors, and these latter chose the deputies to the Councils. +The imposition of a tax qualification excluded the proletariat from the +count, and delivered it up to the will of a reactionary bourgeoisie; +hence the royalist party had not the slightest doubt of the success of +its candidates. The majority of the old Convention, composed in part of +lukewarm oligarchic republicans, but in the main of corrupted +legislators who were opposed to a restoration of the monarchy (whose +vengeance they feared, most of them having been regicides), attempted to +obviate the certain success of the royalists by decreeing that +two-thirds of the old members must be re-elected. This restraint imposed +upon the freedom of the ballot was at once iniquitous and absurd, and +paved the way for a new civil war. The Constitution of the year III and +the clause relative to the re-election of two-thirds of the members of +the Convention was submitted to the sanction of the primary assemblies, +composed of taxpayers. Among these, thanks to the exclusion of the +proletariat, the reaction was on top. Certain of a majority in the +approaching elections, and expecting<a name="vol-2-pg_225" id="vol-2-pg_225"></a> consequently to control both the +Councils and Directorate, the reaction had anticipated dealing the last +blows to the expiring Republic, and re-establishing the monarchy. But +defeated in their hope by the decree rendering obligatory the +re-election of two-thirds of the Conventionals, the royalists incited +the primary assemblies against this decree. On the 11th Vendemiaire, +year IV (October 3, 1795) the bourgeois and aristocratic Sections of the +center of Paris—Daughters of St. Thomas and Hill of the Mills among +others—came to the front of the movement, and a horde of Emigrants and +ex-suspects raised an insurrection. The rebels declared the decree +compelling the re-election of two-thirds of the old Conventionals an +assault upon the rights of the 'sovereign people'; they took up arms and +organized a council of resistance under the presidency of the Duke of +Nivernais. The Convention named a committee of defense and called to its +assistance the patriots of the suburbs. Twelve or fifteen hundred +patriots responded to the appeal. The royalists, to the number of forty +thousand men, or thereabouts, under the command of Generals Danican, +Duhoux, and the ex-bodyguard Lafond, marched against the troops of the +Convention, and won at first some advantage over them. Barras, +commander-in-chief of the forces at the disposal of the Assembly, called +to his staff a young artillery officer named Bonaparte, whose military +renown dated from the siege of Toulon. The latter hastily brought up the +cannon from the camp of Sablons, made an able strategic disposition of +his forces, and, with the aid of the patriots of '93, wiped out the +royalist insurrection before the Church of St. Roche, on the 13th +Vendemiaire, year IV. The Convention<a name="vol-2-pg_226" id="vol-2-pg_226"></a> employed its last session in +organizing the Councils; that of the Ancients was composed of two +hundred and fifty members; the remaining elected deputies formed the +Council of the Five Hundred.</p> + +<p>The members of the Directorate elected by these Councils were Carnot, +Rewbell, Lareveillere-Lepaux, Letourneur, and Barras—all of them, +except Barras, men of honesty, only moderate republicans, but sincere.</p> + +<p>The 4th Brumaire, year IV (October 26, 1795), the Convention pronounced +its own dissolution. It had been in session since the proclamation of +the Republic, September 21, 1792.<a name="vol-2-pg_227" id="vol-2-pg_227"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_II-1-c" id="CHAPTER_II-1-c"></a>CHAPTER II.<br /><br /> +COLONEL OLIVER.</h3> + +<p>The studio of Citizen Martin, painter, member of the Council of Five +Hundred, and former captain and then battalion commander of the Paris +Volunteers who fought at Weissenburg, was decorated in martial fashion +with pictures and sketches depicting episodes in the republican wars, +placed here and there on easels; models of antique statuary and studies +of nature graced the walls. On one side was a gay display composed of +the epaulets of Commander Martin, his arms of war, and his military hat, +whose two bullet holes bore witness to its wearer's intrepidity. One +morning early in November, 1799, the painter himself was gladsomely +embracing John Lebrenn, who had just deposited on a stool the traveling +bag he carried.</p> + +<p>"Well, but I'm glad to see you, my friend," said John warmly, "after so +many chances and such a long separation!"</p> + +<p>"It was made less grievous for me," rejoined Martin, "by our +correspondence. What is the news of your worthy wife, your little Marik, +and Madam Desmarais?"</p> + +<p>"They were all well when I left them."</p> + +<p>"And your cloth business—does it prosper as you would wish?"<a name="vol-2-pg_228" id="vol-2-pg_228"></a></p> + +<p>"Our labor furnishes us the means to supply our modest wants; we desire +nothing more. Our life is rolling on peacefully at Vannes, that old town +of Armorica, the cradle of our family."</p> + +<p>"I know how greatly the country should please you."</p> + +<p>"And nevertheless, we must soon leave our nest, for it is impossible +there to give my son a suitable education. In a year or two, or perhaps +even sooner, we shall return to Paris, where we shall continue our +Breton cloth commerce. Such, at least, is my intention and that of my +dear wife and her mother."</p> + +<p>"Hurrah! May your plan be realized, the sooner the better, my dear +friend. Then we shall no longer be reduced to a correspondence for +consolation."</p> + +<p>"Your last letters," replied John, "decided me to come to Paris, seeing +the Republic was in danger of perishing. I think I could be useful to +you in such a case, and also perhaps to the Republic, by still pulling a +trigger against her enemies."</p> + +<p>"The political situation is indeed grave. Nevertheless, there is no +ground for fearing a catastrophe very soon. In the Council of Five +Hundred there is an imposing republican majority; we are decided to +preserve liberty, and to fight the clericals, Jesuits and monarchists to +the finish."</p> + +<p>"I doubt not your energy nor that of your friends; but the Republic has +now been for some time deprived of the popular element, its life, its +spirit, its strength."</p> + +<p>"True; since Thermidor a great gap has been made in the republican +ranks. You may be sure that General Bonaparte, for all his military +renown, would never have dared affront Vergniaud, Danton, or +Robespierre, had they been<a name="vol-2-pg_229" id="vol-2-pg_229"></a> in the Council of Five Hundred. At their +voice the people would rise in arms, and the ambitious dictator would be +sent before the revolutionary tribunal."</p> + +<p>"Belated regrets, my friend. But explain to me how it is that the +Directorate, knowing full well the intrigues organized in Napoleon's +favor by his brothers, by Fouché, and by that former Bishop Talleyrand, +than whom no meaner rascal ever lived—how the Directorate was so weak +as not to send this General Bonaparte before a court-martial, guilty as +he was of deserting the army in Egypt, more than six hundred leagues +from France? In the height of the Convention such an act would not have +passed unpunished."</p> + +<p>"For this weakness of the Directorate, and our own indecision in the +Council of Five Hundred, there are many causes. Sieyès is the soul of +the conspiracy against the Constitution of the year III, which he +himself framed, while we republicans rather defend that Constitution, +defective as it is, in order not to throw the Republic open to new +dangers. Sieyès, a member of the Directorate, and Roger Ducos, his +colleague and accomplice, are at the head of the sworn enemies of the +present Constitution. Among these oppositionists are the majority of the +Council of Ancients and some members of the Council of Five Hundred; +then come a crowd of intriguers of all sorts, stock brokers, men with +frayed reputations, get-rich-quick contractors, bourgeois weather-vanes, +corruptionists, harpies, repentant Terrorists, like Fouché and your +brother-in-law Desmarais, who is now a member of the Council of +Ancients. Sieyès's object is to overthrow the Constitution of the year +III by a coup d'etat and replace it by a bourgeois<a name="vol-2-pg_230" id="vol-2-pg_230"></a> oligarchy; on top of +which would come a constitutional monarchy similar to that of '92, and +then it would be done for the Republic. That is the plan of the +opposition. Now here is the situation of us republicans, who constitute +the majority of the Council of Five Hundred. We count on the support of +two members of the Directorate, Moulins and Gohier, devoted to the +Republic. Then in case of a conflict, we have cause to hope that General +Bernadotte, whose influence may serve to blanket Bonaparte's, will march +on our side. The Council of Five Hundred has, moreover, for braces, the +remains of the several republican parties—Girondins, Mountainists, +Jacobins, Terrorists—as well as a large number of former members of the +Commune who escaped the scaffold after Thermidor, and belong to the +bourgeoisie—men of progress and free thought."</p> + +<p>"And the people," inquired John again, "the workingmen of the suburbs, +are they also sunk in inertia? They should form a strong element for +you."</p> + +<p>"Alas, they live indifferent to public affairs, except some workingmen +in Santerre's brewery and some old sans-culottes, such as your old +foreman Castillon—whom you will no doubt see this morning, as I +notified him of your arrival."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, friend, for having arranged this pleasure for me. I shall be +happy to see our brave Castillon."</p> + +<p>"He is still the industrious and honest artisan of yore; only, credulous +and naïve as a veritable child of the people, he is like so many other +sincere republicans, a great partisan of Bonaparte's."</p> + +<p>"Castillon, once so devoted to the Republic!"</p> + +<p>"Exactly, since there is not a better republican—God<a name="vol-2-pg_231" id="vol-2-pg_231"></a> save the +mark!—than this very General Bonaparte, according to Castillon and his +friends."</p> + +<p>Just then Martin's servant entered to hand him a letter, saying: "An +ordnance dragoon has just brought this epistle, citizen, and awaits your +answer."</p> + +<p>Martin tore open the envelope and read aloud:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Perhaps you recall, sir, an under-officer in the Third Hussars, +who in the days of terrorism when the nation's honor sought refuge +in the armies, fought with you in the defense of a battery at the +battle of Weissenburg. This under-officer has made his way. He has +had the happy fortune of serving under the orders of the greatest +captain of ancient and modern times, on whom to-day hangs the +safety of France.</p> + +<p>"Knowing, sir, your renown as a painter of battles, I desire to +engage you on a picture. I beg you to let me know at what hour +to-day you can grant me an interview on the subject of this work, +on which you may set your own price.</p> + +<p>"Accept, sir, my best sentiments,</p> + +<p class="r">"O<small>LIVER</small>,<br /> +"Colonel of the Seventh Dragoons,<br /> +aide-de-camp to General Bonaparte.</p></div> + +<p>"Tell the soldier I await his colonel this morning," added Martin to the +domestic, after a moment's thought.</p> + +<p>The servant left the studio, and Lebrenn, to whom Martin had passed the +letter, began:</p> + +<p>"My sister's forecast, I see, was not wide of the mark. 'Oliver,' she +said to me, 'loves battles. He sees in war only a trade, a means to +carve out a fortune—pride and ambition.' And Oliver has become a +colonel and one of the staff officers of Bonaparte."</p> + +<p>"This order for a picture," replied Martin, "is only a pretext to renew +acquaintanceship with me, and attempt to bring me over into the party of +his general."<a name="vol-2-pg_232" id="vol-2-pg_232"></a></p> + +<p>"Painful as a meeting with Oliver will be, I almost congratulate myself +on the opportunity. Who knows but I may be able to bring home the truth +to him who was once my apprentice, and perhaps, thanks to my old +influence over him, open his eyes to the light?"</p> + +<p>"I would like to think, at least, that he will not show himself a +monster of ingratitude toward you. I know all that he owes to your +family, and above all to the devotion of your sister."</p> + +<p>"Oliver wrote me several times from Italy to inform me of his rapid +promotion in the army. Then the correspondence gradually died out, and +now for two years I have completely ceased to receive news from him. +Such have been his forgetfulness and ingratitude!"</p> + +<p>At this moment who should enter the studio but Castillon, accompanied by +Duchemin, the old quartermaster of the field-artillery of the Army of +the Rhine and Moselle. The latter wore the fatigue uniform of the +artillery, and the straps of his rank; his left arm hung in a scarf. His +face, bronzed by the sun of Egypt, was dark as an Arab's. Unable to +repress his tears of joy, Castillon fell into Lebrenn's arms, crying +"Oh! Friend John!"</p> + +<p>"Embrace me, my old Castillon," replied the latter, with unrestrained +warmth. "I find you still as I left you, the best of men."</p> + +<p>Lebrenn and his former foreman continued their conversation to one side, +in low tones, while Duchemin said to Martin, who was studying his face +as if seeking to trace a resemblance:</p> + +<p>"You don't recognize me, captain?"<a name="vol-2-pg_233" id="vol-2-pg_233"></a></p> + +<p>"It seems to me I have seen you——" replied Martin dubiously.</p> + +<p>"That blasted sun of Egypt has spoiled my complexion, else you'd +remember Duchemin, once cannonier in the Army of the Rhine and Moselle, +where we served together."</p> + +<p>"Aye, now I remember you, old comrade," cried the artist, seizing the +other's hand. "And how is Carmagnole—and Reddy?" he added with a grin.</p> + +<p>"My poor Reddy—he went the way of Double-grey," sighed the artillerist. +"He died like a brave war-horse. He received a ball in the body at the +battle of Altenkirchen. As to Carmagnole, my sweetheart of a spit-fire, +she split laughing, my pretty piece, while sending a triple charge of +grape-shot into the Austrians. After which, widowed of my Carmagnole, I +set out for the Orient."</p> + +<p>"And so you went through the campaign in Egypt?"</p> + +<p>"Bad luck to it, yes! A devil of a war! And Bonaparte!—Twist his noose +without drum or trumpet! To leave the army in the lurch! Name of names, +what cries, what shouts there were against the 'Little Corporal,' when +it became known he had abandoned us. Had we caught him, we'd have tied +his necktie for him!"</p> + +<p>"<i>You left Egypt, then, after him?</i>"</p> + +<p>"Three days after, with a convoy of wounded men they were sending back +to France. Our ship had the luck to dodge the English cruisers and +disembark us at Toulon. Thence I demanded to be sent during my recovery +to my old Paris, to see again my St. Antoine and the sans-culottes of +'93. They are not very thick now, but those who are still of this world +are all good and solid, witness comrade Castillon, one of the first I +encountered in the suburb. He<a name="vol-2-pg_234" id="vol-2-pg_234"></a> told me that he was on his way to visit +you, captain, and as an old soldier of the Rhine and Moselle and a pure +Jacobin, I thought I might be permitted to follow along with him."</p> + +<p>"You could not afford me a greater pleasure, comrade," the painter +assented, cordially. "The faithful of '93 are scarce in these times."</p> + +<p>"Monsieur Colonel Oliver asks to see you, citizen," announced the +servant.</p> + +<p>"Let Colonel Oliver enter. You, Castillon, and you, Duchemin, are going +to St. Antoine to have a talk with Santerre's workmen?"</p> + +<p>"To meet here again at eight this evening, and decide what we shall do, +in view of developments," added Lebrenn.</p> + +<p>Colonel Oliver was introduced. The brilliant uniform of the dragoons +besat him with natural grace; but his face was haughty, imperious and +rude; every line in it denoted the arrogance of command. He did not at +first recognize, or rather he paid no attention to, Lebrenn, Castillon +and Duchemin; but addressed himself straightway to Martin:</p> + +<p>"I am delighted, citizen, to take this opportunity of renewing +acquaintance with an old brother in arms."</p> + +<p>"Citizen," politely rejoined Martin, "I am no less happy than yourself +at the circumstance that brings us together, as well as three of our old +comrades of the Army of the Rhine;" and he indicated the three friends.</p> + +<p>Greatly surprised, Oliver held out his hand and quickly ran over to +Lebrenn, crying, "Good meeting! You here? How are Madam Lebrenn and your +son?"</p> + +<p>"All the family are in good health; my son is growing up, and I hope to +make a good republican out of him."<a name="vol-2-pg_235" id="vol-2-pg_235"></a></p> + +<p>Castillon now approached, and slapping the colonel familiarly over the +shoulder, called out, "Say now, my boy—has your rank of colonel made +you near-sighted?"</p> + +<p>Oliver trembled and turned purple with rage. He looked Castillon up and +down, and replied: "Who are you, sir, to permit yourself such +familiarity?"</p> + +<p>"Well, well! Forsooth, it is I, Castillon, your old foreman, who taught +you how to handle a file and hammer a piece of iron, when you were our +apprentice."</p> + +<p>"Give you good day, my dear sir, give you good day," retorted Oliver +haughtily and impatiently; and continuing his conversation with Lebrenn: +"And what chance brings you to Paris? Tell me about it."</p> + +<p>But Castillon touched Oliver on the arm before he had time to get an +answer, and said: "Say, my boy, have you truly become, to all intents +and purposes, an aristocrat, since you belong to the staff of General +Bonaparte, as Duchemin says, our old comrade of the Lines of +Weissenburg, here, whom you don't seem to recognize either?"</p> + +<p>"Hush, my old fellow," said Duchemin in Castillon's ear, "else he will +have the commandant of Paris toss me into the headquarters of police, +and then we won't be able to go to St. Antoine."</p> + +<p>After a moment's silence, Colonel Oliver spoke, with difficulty holding +himself in: "I would reply to Monsieur Castillon, that if I was his +apprentice, it is nothing to blush for. He should understand that my age +and the rank I owe to my sword render inappropriate the pleasantries +permissible when I was eighteen."</p> + +<p>"Pardon, excuse me, Monsieur the Marquis!" rejoined Castillon, not a +whit put down by Oliver's manner. "Ah,<a name="vol-2-pg_236" id="vol-2-pg_236"></a> that's how the staff of General +Bonaparte comports itself!"</p> + +<p>"As to you, who are still in the service," continued Colonel Oliver +rudely to Duchemin, "do not forget that we put the insolent in cells, +and shoot the unruly."</p> + +<p>"I said nothing, Colonel," replied Duchemin quietly.</p> + +<p>"Shut your mouth, hang-dog, and go to the devil!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, hold your peace, old comrade, and make yourself scarce, since you +have but the choice between a cell and the shooting squad," Castillon +advised Duchemin; and then he turned on Oliver: "As to me, who, as a +private citizen have hanging over me the shadow of neither, nor yet the +awe of gold epaulets, I tell you this, Oliver, son of the people, a poor +orphan, put on your feet by the goodness of our friend John—you contemn +your brothers. A soldier of the Republic, you conspire against her. +You're an ingrate and a traitor! But the day of remorse will come."</p> + +<p>"Do not provoke me, wretch, or——" cried Colonel Oliver.</p> + +<p>Castillon and Duchemin turned on their heels and went out, Martin +accompanying them to the outer door, as Lebrenn had requested that he be +left alone a few minutes with the colonel. The latter hung his head and +maintained an embarrassed silence.</p> + +<p>"Castillon's reproaches seem to have made some impression on you, +Oliver," Lebrenn began, at last.</p> + +<p>"Not at all; such insolence does not trouble me. But let us forget the +wretches, and speak of you and your family, my dear Lebrenn."</p> + +<p>"Let us speak rather of you, Oliver; let us speak also of my sister, +whose memory should be sacred to you. Her forebodings of your future are +realized; I fear her devotion to you has gone for naught."<a name="vol-2-pg_237" id="vol-2-pg_237"></a></p> + +<p>"In what may my conduct justify your criticism? Has not my sword been +ever at the service of the Republic?"</p> + +<p>"At the service of your ambition! And at the present moment you seem to +be in a mind to sacrifice the Republic."</p> + +<p>Oliver responded with a start: "I firmly believe that France has need of +order, repose, stability, and a firm hand. I believe that authority +should be concentrated in the greatest captain of modern times."</p> + +<p>"And what are your Bonaparte's titles—for you doubtless mean him—to +the government of France?"</p> + +<p>"His victories!"</p> + +<p>"But is not the military glory of Hoche, Marceau, Joubert, Massena, +Moreau, Kleber, Augereau, Bernadotte, Desaix, equal to that of your +general? And even if he were the greatest captain the world has ever +seen, it does not follow that he should be given the dictatorship. A +nation should never place its destinies in the hands of one man and +confide to him that exorbitant power, which smites with vertigo even the +hardest heads."</p> + +<p>At this juncture Martin returned, and by a look inquired of his friend +the result of his interview with the colonel. Lebrenn shook his head in +the negative. Martin then addressed the officer:</p> + +<p>"I would have excused myself, citizen, for my absence just now, had I +not left you in the company of our comrade John. Now I am at your +service. Let us discuss the battle scene you wish to give me the +commission for. Some explanation will be requisite."</p> + +<p>"It is a brilliant charge executed by a squadron of my regiment against +the Mamelukes of Hussein Bey. I can furnish you with a sketch of the +field of battle made by<a name="vol-2-pg_238" id="vol-2-pg_238"></a> one of my officers, and some notes I took on +the feat of arms itself."</p> + +<p>"Any such documents would much facilitate my work, and I can, if you +desire it, citizen, commence work in a month—provided," he added with a +smile, "I am not in the meantime banished or shot."</p> + +<p>"And why should either of those fates befall you, monsieur?"</p> + +<p>"I am one of the Council of Five Hundred, and strongly resolved, like +the majority of my colleagues, to defend the Republic and the +Constitution against all factions. But the defenders of the best cause +may be defeated. In that case, your general, who seems to side with the +conspirators, is capable, in the event of his triumph, of transporting +the republican deputies to Cayenne, or having them shot on the plain of +Grenelle."</p> + +<p>"Monsieur, I have still to learn that the vanquisher of Lodi, Arcola, +and the Pyramids is party to a conspiracy. But if he is conspiring, he +has for accomplice the whole of France; and in that case the factious +are those who attempt to oppose themselves to the national will."</p> + +<p>Just then Duresnel, the young recruit of the Parisian battalion who +served under Martin at Weissenburg was introduced into the studio. The +colonel brusquely saluted the newcomer together with the two who were +already present and left the apartment.</p> + +<p>Duresnel looked at John Lebrenn several seconds, and then cried out:</p> + +<p>"Eh! If I am not mistaken, I have the pleasure of meeting, at the house +of a common friend, an old comrade of the Seventh Battalion of +Volunteers?"<a name="vol-2-pg_239" id="vol-2-pg_239"></a></p> + +<p>"A comrade who was a witness to your first feat of arms, Citizen +Duresnel," rejoined Lebrenn cordially, "when after the charge of the +German cuirassiers upon our battery, you and Castillon took the Grand +Duke of Gerolstein prisoner."<a name="vol-2-pg_240" id="vol-2-pg_240"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_III-1-c" id="CHAPTER_III-1-c"></a>CHAPTER III.<br /><br /> +CROSS PURPOSES.</h3> + +<p>The same day as that on which occurred the scene just described, that is +to say, the 17th Brumaire, year VIII (November 7, 1799), the following +events took place at the home of Monsieur Hubert, banker and member of +the Council of Ancients and uncle to Charlotte. This exponent of high +finance had tenfold increased his fortune by his enterprises in +furnishing supplies to the army, or, in other words, robbing the people +and famishing the soldiers. In conference with the banker was the +reverend Father Morlet; politics was on the carpet.</p> + +<p>"My reverend sir," asked Hubert, "will you please to tell me why the +Catholic and royalist party is taking no hand in political affairs? Do +you not comprehend that in supporting the dictatorship of Bonaparte you +deal the last blow to the Republic?"</p> + +<p>"And who will profit thereby? Just clarify me on that point."</p> + +<p>"He will, as a matter of course."</p> + +<p>"Bonaparte's ambition is boundless," returned the Jesuit. "He is not +ignorant that a monarchy which owes its restoration to a Monck has no +more dire need than, as soon as it no longer needs his treasons, to rid +itself of the traitor.<a name="vol-2-pg_241" id="vol-2-pg_241"></a> It is thus more than probable that General +Bonaparte prefers the role of a Cromwell, or a Caesar. In either of +these two cases we Catholics and royalists must oppose him, for he would +thus put off for a long time the return of the Old Regime. But as, after +all, and in spite of its improbability, there is one chance in a +thousand that he may be looking out for a restoration, we maintain for +the present complete neutrality."</p> + +<p>"Monsieur John Lebrenn asks to speak with you, sir," announced a valet.</p> + +<p>"John Lebrenn in Paris!—Pray Monsieur Lebrenn to wait an instant!" +cried the banker to the valet, who at once left the room to execute his +master's orders.</p> + +<p>"My dear Monsieur Hubert, I am not at all anxious for a meeting with +that red-cap Jacobin, and for reasons of a particular nature," said the +Jesuit.</p> + +<p>"Step into my cabinet. Thence you can descend by the little staircase."</p> + +<p>"In case of unforeseen developments, write me, or—you know——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I forgot to ask you about the Count of Plouernel."</p> + +<p>"He is," replied the Jesuit, "at Vienna, with his wife, who has just +presented him with a son, according to what the Count's brother, the +Bishop <i>in partibus</i>, whom you know, has just written me."</p> + +<p>"And your god-son, little Rodin?"</p> + +<p>"He is growing up under the eye of the Lord. He is in Rome, attending +the seminary of our Society."</p> + +<p>The financier conducted Father Morlet to the door of the cabinet, and +then rang for the valet to show in Monsieur Lebrenn at once.<a name="vol-2-pg_242" id="vol-2-pg_242"></a></p> + +<p>"What can be the motive of my nephew's coming now to Paris?" pondered +Hubert. "I hope he bears no bad news from my poor sister. Her last +letters foreshadowed nothing untoward. Ah, here he is. Welcome, my dear +nephew," he cried as he held out his hand, "welcome! And first of all +put me at ease about my sister and niece. Are they well?"</p> + +<p>"Charlotte and her mother are in perfect health," answered Lebrenn. +"They charged me to visit you and tell you so, and I have made it a +point to deliver the message the very day of my arrival. We are living +happily in the peaceful town of Vannes, and still occupied in our cloth +trade."</p> + +<p>"From which I conclude that you no longer trouble yourself with +politics. I congratulate you upon your wisdom, my dear nephew. The +Republic is a chimera, as I said long ago. Look at it to-day, as good as +dead, and to-morrow it will have heaved its last sigh. You come just in +time to attend the funeral. May it never rise from its ashes."</p> + +<p>"The Republic is like Lazarus in the Scriptures. It may be wrapped in +its shroud, it will burst the stones of its sepulture. But let us leave +politics aside; we are not agreed on the matter, and never will be. I am +asked by my wife and her mother to inquire of you after the health of my +father-in-law, your colleague in the Council of Ancients, of whom we +have no news."</p> + +<p>"My brother-in-law is still the same, dragging his miserable life from +apostasy to apostasy, tormented by the fear of death."</p> + +<p>"What an existence!"</p> + +<p>"He is, indeed, the most cowardly of men, and at the<a name="vol-2-pg_243" id="vol-2-pg_243"></a> same time the most +talkative and vain of lawyers. Then, his position of Representative of +the people in the Convention, and now as deputy in the Council of +Ancients, flatters his vanity, and furnishes him with the opportunity to +give a loose to his voluble oratory. So, tossed back and forth between +his vanity, which impels him toward the hazards of political life, just +now so tempestuous, and his cowardice, which makes him tremble each day +lest he receive the reward of his apostasies, the miserable fellow's +life is kept, as the Catholics say, in perpetual hell."</p> + +<p>"Monsieur Desmarais!" announced the valet.</p> + +<p>The lawyer, barely across the threshold, stopped stock still, as +surprised as put out of sorts by the unexpected presence of his +son-in-law; for a moment he was unable to utter a word, and Hubert said +to him sardonically:</p> + +<p>"How, brother! Is it so that you greet your son-in-law after so many +years' separation?"</p> + +<p>"Monsieur Lebrenn should know," at length replied the lawyer, regaining +his self-assurance, "that a deep gulf separates honest men from the +Jacobins of '93, the Septembrists, Terrorists, Communists, and other +Socialists."</p> + +<p>"Citizen Desmarais, we have known each other a long time," retorted +Lebrenn. "You are the father of my dear wife, to whom my life owes its +happiness. Whatever may be your words or your conduct toward me, there +are limits which I shall never exceed in my treatment of you. You +inspire me neither with anger nor hatred, but with a profound pity, for +you are unhappy."</p> + +<p>"What insolence! To hear such words issue from the lips of my daughter's +husband, and be unable to punish him for them!"<a name="vol-2-pg_244" id="vol-2-pg_244"></a></p> + +<p>"My pity for you is very natural," continued Lebrenn. "I pity your +condition because you must feel a cruel chagrin at being separated from +your wife and daughter."</p> + +<p>"Scurrilous fellow!" bellowed the attorney, unable to contain himself. +"It is you who came to sow trouble and discord between the members of my +family and me."</p> + +<p>"Citizen Desmarais, you are arrived at the decline of life; your +solitude weighs upon you. You regret, you regret each day anew the +sweets of the domestic hearth; our home is and always will be open to +you. Renounce your life in politics, the incessant source of your +anguish and your alarms, because of your lack of steadfastness. Return +to your wife and daughter; they will forget the past. But when fear has +its clutch upon you, you are like a person out of his mind; though you +may be in perfect safety, yet you will perish anyhow. So then, when you +please, Citizen Desmarais, you will find a place at our fireside. You +will enjoy with us an existence as peaceful and happy as your present +one is tortured."</p> + +<p>Then to Hubert he added:</p> + +<p>"Adieu, citizen. I shall return before my departure, to get your +messages for Vannes."</p> + +<p>"Adieu, dear nephew," answered the latter. "Although a Jacobin, you have +my esteem."<a name="vol-2-pg_245" id="vol-2-pg_245"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IV-1-c" id="CHAPTER_IV-1-c"></a>CHAPTER IV.<br /><br /> +LAYING THE TRAIN.</h3> + +<p>Late that afternoon conspiracy held high carnival in the parlor of +Lahary, an influential member of the Council of Ancients. The +conspirators present were scattered in groups about the apartment, +engaged in lively conversation, when Hubert the banker and advocate +Desmarais made their entrance upon the scene.</p> + +<p>"Messieurs," Lahary was saying, "there are a number of us present. Let +us begin our deliberations. I shall preside. Our colleague Regnier has +the floor."</p> + +<p>Regnier at once began: "Gentlemen, yesterday, in a long conference held +at the home of our friend the president of the Council of Ancients, +various opinions were advanced and discussed, but we separated without +having reached any conclusion, setting to-day for the final +deliberation. We should no longer temporize. Time presses; public +opinion, very uneasy, very restless, is watching; it apprehends a coup +d'etat, they say, from moment to moment. This state of mind is +particularly favorable to our projects, only we must make speed to +profit by circumstances, and hasten events. Else the Council of Five +Hundred will steal a march on us and appeal to an insurrection, in the +name of the Constitution in danger. We should thus lose much of our +vantage ground."<a name="vol-2-pg_246" id="vol-2-pg_246"></a></p> + +<p>"Aye, let us haste," agreed Fouché. "Trust to my long experience. In +revolutions, he who attacks has three chances to one."</p> + +<p>"The experience and authority of our friend Fouché in matters of +conspiracy can not be too highly estimated," Regnier hastened to put in. +"I am for attacking, and that to-morrow, the 18th Brumaire. Here is my +project. The Council of Five Hundred is the only real obstacle to the +overthrow of the Constitution, which, it is decided, shall give way to +another form of government, to be determined on later. The Council of +Five Hundred, composed in its immense majority of republicans, is, then, +the stumbling block to our projects. It must be either suppressed or +annihilated."</p> + +<p>"It is more than probable that the canaille of the suburbs will not +budge an inch. Nevertheless, let us proceed prudently, as if an +insurrection were really to be feared. Let us get all the police, horse +and foot, upon the field to repress all suggestion of revolt," advised +Fouché.</p> + +<p>"To conjure away the peril of an insurrection, this is what I would +propose," Regnier continued. "The Constitution of the year III vests +exclusively in us, the Council of Ancients, the right to appoint or +change the meeting-place of the Assemblies. Let us, in virtue of our +constitutional right, transfer our seat and that of the Five Hundred to +St. Cloud, which we can invest with five or six thousand troops, of +which we will give the command to General Bonaparte. Things thus +prepared, if the Council of Five Hundred refuses to adhere to our most +drastic measures—a refusal who can doubt?—we shall pronounce<a name="vol-2-pg_247" id="vol-2-pg_247"></a> the +dissolution of their Council, and commission General Bonaparte to carry +out the decree. Triumph is assured—"</p> + +<p>"I am authorized by my brother," spoke up a new party to the debate, +Lucien Bonaparte, "to declare to you that if he is placed in supreme +command of the troops he will answer for everything, even to the burning +of Paris."</p> + +<p>"Those are extreme measures, but we must not recoil before them. We may +have to burn Paris," chimed in the plotters in chorus.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I share the opinion of my colleagues," declared Desmarais the +lawyer. "The Council of Five Hundred, transferred to St. Cloud, becomes +no longer an object of fear. But how can we justify that relegation in +the eyes of the public?"</p> + +<p>Fouché smiled sardonically. "Citizen Brutus Desmarais," said he, "you +have forgotten the fifty thousand Septembrists who are in the catacombs! +My spies and my horse police will spread themselves all over Paris +to-morrow trumpeting to the good bourgeois that a tremendous plot has +been unearthed to-night by Monsieur Fouché, Minister of Police. He, +wishing to frustrate the abominable projects of the scoundrels of +Terrorists, who are in league with the Five Hundred, all Jacobins, +warned the Council of Ancients of what was on foot; and the noble +conscript fathers, who would be the first to perish under the daggers of +the bloodthirsty Terrorists, thereupon decided to remove the sessions of +the national representation to St. Cloud."</p> + +<p>"Hurrah for the great complot!" shouted Lemercier, opening his mouth for +the first time. "And this reason can well be supported by another, by +insisting above all<a name="vol-2-pg_248" id="vol-2-pg_248"></a> that the lives of the Council of Ancients are +menaced by their sitting any longer in Paris."</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes—on with the 'great conspiracy'!" cried all.</p> + +<p>"It is agreed, then," summed up Regnier, "that the discovery of this +plot—excellent invention of the police!—is to justify the removal to +St. Cloud. Now we must see that our project does not miss fire."</p> + +<p>"For that purpose we must call a special session of our colleagues of +the Council of Ancients, without informing them of the reason therefor," +suggested Lemercier.</p> + +<p>"I would observe to my honorable colleague, that, to my mind, it would +be a very prudent move not to notify the republican minority which sits +with us in the Council. These fellows would ask the most indiscreet +questions, the most absurd, ridiculous questions. They wouldn't content +themselves with the simple affirmation that there was a plot discovered; +they would ask for proofs of the plot! And the details of its discovery! +It would be most difficult to answer them!" put in Desmarais.</p> + +<p>"Desmarais is right," assented Cornet, another of the conspirators. "My +belief is that all of us here present should charge ourselves to go this +evening to see our colleagues of the majority personally, let them know +the reason for to-morrow morning's extraordinary session, and address +letters of notification to them alone. Treason all along the line—our +success depends upon it. Is my advice taken?"</p> + +<p>"If the republican minority complains about not being notified, we can +blame the inspectors of the hall," ventured Lemercier.</p> + +<p>"It will be necessary, as a matter of precaution, to double<a name="vol-2-pg_249" id="vol-2-pg_249"></a> the troops +about the Council of Ancients," Lucien Bonaparte advised. "Everything +must be foreseen. Squads of police agents should even be mixed with +them."</p> + +<p>"General Bonaparte, more than anyone else, will serve our ends," +answered Regnier. "We shall count on General Bonaparte; say to him that +he may count on us."</p> + +<p>"Ah, there, Lucien," said Fouché with his withered leer, "if your +brother orders the troops to march, how will you, as president of the +Fire Hundred, whom you betray with such neatness and despatch, keep +those prattlers from screeching like jays when they are dissolved?"</p> + +<p>"I shall head off the storm, never fear," laughed Lucien.</p> + +<p>"And now, dear colleagues," interrupted Regnier, "let us make haste. The +day is nearly gone, and we have not a moment to lose. Let us go on. Who +will undertake to prepare the letters of notification?"</p> + +<p>"I," volunteered Lahary, their host. "I shall see the inspectors of the +hall, who are ours. They are all ready to sell themselves."</p> + +<p>"My dear Lucien, you will make it your duty to signify to the General +the result of our deliberations?" asked Regnier.</p> + +<p>"I am going at once to my brother's, on Victory Street," answered the +young man.</p> + +<p>"Who," Regnier continued, "will post the inspectors of the hall to have +the guards doubled to-morrow?"</p> + +<p>"I; and I shall reinforce the posts with spies," replied Cornet.</p> + +<p>"My other colleagues and I," Regnier went on, "shall partition among us +the task of visiting our friends at once, at their homes, and informing +them of the motive of to-morrow's special session."<a name="vol-2-pg_250" id="vol-2-pg_250"></a></p> + +<p>"We ought above all to caution them to keep the strictest secrecy about +the affair," counseled Boulay, from the Meurthe district. "Otherwise it +will get noised about, and to-morrow we will see the republican minority +march into the Council with their bothersome questions."</p> + +<p>"It must be an absolute secret, and I particularly recommend this to our +friends," assented Regnier.</p> + +<p>"And I," Fouché added, "I shall go teach their lesson to my spies and +agents of police, all blackguards and off-scourings, willing to do +anything, if they are well paid."</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Desmarais, aside, was saying in Lucien's ear: "And so, +to-morrow evening the greatest captain of modern times, your illustrious +brother, that grand man clad in the dictatorship which he alone can +wield, will decide the form of government it pleases him to bestow upon +France. We shall behold once more the glorious days of the monarchy."</p> + +<p>"How! the dictatorship is to fall on Bonaparte!" cried Councillor +Herwin, in surprise.</p> + +<p>"We certainly shall not allow General Bonaparte to decide alone on the +form of the government!" declared Cornet.</p> + +<p>"What a stupid ass this Desmarais is!" said young Bonaparte to himself. +"Messieurs," he added aloud, "I give you my word of honor as a man, my +brother has no other ambition than to place his genius and his sword at +the service of the Council of Ancients. He is outspokenly republican, +and has no thoughts of a dictatorship."</p> + +<p>Despite the reassuring effect of Lucien Bonaparte's words, his fellow +conspirator Regnier thought it wisest also to jump into the breach. "We +won't occupy ourselves,<a name="vol-2-pg_251" id="vol-2-pg_251"></a> dear colleagues," he said, "with a premature +question. Let us first turn down the Constitution of the year III, and +pronounce the dissolution of the Council of Five Hundred which sustains +it. That done, we shall take further counsel; but first let us triumph +over the common enemy. And now, gentlemen—till to-morrow!"</p> + +<p>To cries of "Till to-morrow!" "Till to-morrow, the day of great events!" +the conspirators dispersed.<a name="vol-2-pg_252" id="vol-2-pg_252"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_V-1-c" id="CHAPTER_V-1-c"></a>CHAPTER V.<br /><br /> +THE EIGHTEENTH BRUMAIRE.</h3> + +<p>By eight o'clock on the morning of the 18th Brumaire, year VIII +(November 9, 1799), the Council of Ancients were assembled in their +hall. Several members of the republican minority, which had not been +notified of the session, had nevertheless come to the Assembly, warned +by public rumor of something unusual in the wind. These latter gathered +in a group about the tribunal, engaged in animated conversation.</p> + +<p>Lemercier, presiding officer of the Council, sounded his bell; silence +fell upon the assembly, and the members took their seats.</p> + +<p>"Messieurs, our colleague Cornet, chairman of the Committee of +Inspectors, has the floor," he said.</p> + +<p>Cornet mounted the tribunal and began: "Representatives of the +people:—The confidence you have reposed in your Committee of Inspectors +has laid it under the obligation of watching over your individual +safety, with which the public safety is so closely bound up. For, when +the representatives of a nation are menaced in their persons, so that +they do not enjoy in their deliberations the most absolute independence, +it is no longer a Republic. Your Committee of Inspectors knows that +conspirators are pouring<a name="vol-2-pg_253" id="vol-2-pg_253"></a> into Paris in swarms; that those who are +already here do but await the signal to bare their poniards against the +representatives of the nation, against the highest authorities and +members of the Republic. In presence of the danger which encompasses +you, Representatives of the people, your committee felt it incumbent +upon it to call you together in special session to inform you thereon; +it felt it to be its duty to spur the deliberations of the Council on in +deciding what part it was to play in these circumstances. The Council of +Ancients holds in its hands the means of saving the country and liberty; +it would be doubting its prudence, it would be doubting its wisdom, to +think that it will not grapple the problem with its accustomed courage +and energy."</p> + +<p>"It is inconceivable that neither I nor several of my colleagues +received notice of this convocation of the Assembly. This +omission—voluntary or involuntary—must be explained," interposed +Montmayon, a member of the minority.</p> + +<p>"You have not been given the floor!" yelled President Lemercier. "Your +motion is out of order. I give the floor to Monsieur Regnier."</p> + +<p>"Representatives of the people," declared the latter when he in turn had +climbed up to the tribunal, "where is the man so stupid as still to +doubt the dangers which encompass us? The proofs have been only too well +multiplied. But this is not the time to unroll their lamentable length. +Time presses! The least delay may prove so fatal that it would then no +longer lie in your power to deliberate on remedies. God forbid that I +should so insult the citizens of Paris as to believe them capable of +assaulting the national<a name="vol-2-pg_254" id="vol-2-pg_254"></a> representation! On the contrary, I doubt not +but they would protect it with their own bodies, if need were; but this +immense city is nursing within its bosom a horde of brigands, of bold +and desperate scoundrels. They only await, with ferocious impatience, +our first unguarded moment to strike us, and, consequently, to strike at +the heart of the Republic itself."</p> + +<p>Great cries of feigned indignation burst from the conspirators. Tumult +rose in the hall. Aside to himself Hubert muttered—"Forward, with +Fouché's Septembrists!"</p> + +<p>"If there exists a conspiracy against the Republic—unmask it!" cried a +member of the minority. "Your assertions are without bottom. Let's have +the proofs!"</p> + +<p>"You have not got the floor!" again declared President Lemercier.</p> + +<p>Regnier continued: "I propose, gentlemen, according to the precise terms +of the Constitution, the following motion and irrevocable decree; and I +propose it to you with all the more confidence that a large number of +our colleagues, honored by our confidence, share my views:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The Council of Ancients, in virtue of Articles 102, 103, and 104 +of the Constitution, decrees the following:</p> + +<p>"Article 1.—The legislative body is transferred to the Commune of +St. Cloud. The two Councils, the Five Hundred and the Ancients, +shall there sit in the two wings of the palace.</p> + +<p>"Article 2.—They shall have moved by to-morrow, the 19th Brumaire, +at noon. All continuation of functions and deliberations elsewhere +before that time is forbidden.</p> + +<p>"Article 3.—General Bonaparte is commissioned to execute the +present decree. He will take all measures necessary for the safety +of the national representation. All the troops are placed<a name="vol-2-pg_255" id="vol-2-pg_255"></a> under +the command of General Bonaparte; he will be called into the +Council to receive the announcement of the present decree and to +take the oath. He shall act in concert with the Committee of +Inspectors of the two Councils.</p> + +<p>"Article 5.—The present decree shall at once be transmitted by +messenger to the Council of Five Hundred and to the executive +Directorate."</p></div> + +<p>The reading of the decree, acclaimed though it was by the intriguing +majority, elicited the most energetic disapproval from the members +present of the republican minority.</p> + +<p>Cornudet followed Regnier on the tribunal: "Representatives of the +people, I move the adoption of this address to the French:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Frenchmen—The Council of Ancients uses its right, delegated to it +by Article 102 of the Constitution, to change the seat of the +legislative body.</p> + +<p>"The common safety, the common prosperity, are alone the object of +this constitutional measure. They shall be attained.</p> + +<p>"And you, inhabitants of Paris, be calm. In a few days the presence +of the legislative body will be restored to you.</p> + +<p>"Frenchmen, the results of this day will soon make it evident +whether the legislative body is worthy of establishing your +happiness, and if worthy, whether it can.</p> + +<p>"Long live the people, by whom, and of whom, the Republic has its +existence."</p></div> + +<p>The intriguers rose in mass to adopt this address to the French. In vain +the minority struggled to make their protests heard. They were drowned +out by the clamor raised by the conspirators.</p> + +<p>"Ushers, lead General Bonaparte to the bar," ordered President +Lemercier.<a name="vol-2-pg_256" id="vol-2-pg_256"></a></p> + +<p>Bonaparte was introduced by the ushers. He was clad in the severe +uniform of the generals of the Republic, a blue coat with large lapels, +a scarf tricolored, like the plume in his hat, tight trousers of white +cloth, and high yellow boots coming up to the middle of his calf. The +sickly and bilious complexion of the Corsican general brought out +remarkably the leanness of his countenance, which was furthermore +strongly accentuated by its frame of straight black hair. His look was +inscrutable; it disclosed at once pride and dissimulation, astuteness +and energy. A smile, which varied between insidiousness, mockery and +haughtiness, completed his physiognomy. Generals Berthier, Lefebvre, +Moreau, Macdonald, Murat, Moncey, Beurnonville, Marmont, and several +aides-de-camp, among whom strode Colonel Oliver, escorted Bonaparte. +Their air was one of jauntiness and triumph, and the clatter of their +trailing sabers and their spurred boots on the flagstones of the hall +rang out harshly. Then a profound silence fell upon the Assembly.</p> + +<p>"General," quoth President Lemercier, "the Council of Ancients has +summoned you to its bar to impart to you its instructions."</p> + +<p>In a voice that was clear and shrill, and marked by a curt and haughty +accent, General Bonaparte answered: "Representatives of the people, the +Republic was perishing. You perceived its plight; your decree has saved +it. Unhappy they who would trouble or disturb it! I shall arrest them, +with the aid of General Lefebvre, General Berthier, and all my +companions in arms. Woe to the seditious!"</p> + +<p>Immoderate applause, echoing "Bravos!" on the part of<a name="vol-2-pg_257" id="vol-2-pg_257"></a> the majority, +greeted this speech. Cries of "Long live General Bonaparte!" were heard.</p> + +<p>President Lemercier interrupted the tumult. "General," he said, "the +Council of Ancients receives your oaths. It entertains no doubt of their +sincerity and your zeal to fulfil them. He who never promised the +Republic victories in vain can not but execute with devotion his new +engagement to serve her in all faith and loyalty."</p> + +<p>Followed by his staff, General Bonaparte strode from the hall. The +traitor majority rose to its feet with the foresworn cry upon its lips:</p> + +<p>"Long live the Republic!"<a name="vol-2-pg_258" id="vol-2-pg_258"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VI-1-c" id="CHAPTER_VI-1-c"></a>CHAPTER VI.<br /><br /> +IN THE ORANGERY AT ST. CLOUD.</h3> + +<p>Promptly at noon of the 19th Brumaire the Council of Ancients assembled +in the great gallery of the palace at St. Cloud, still under the +presidency of Lemercier, one of the most active spirits in the +conspiracy. An usher announced:</p> + +<p>"General Bonaparte."</p> + +<p>General Bonaparte entered the gallery with a lofty air; his aides +trailed in his wake. Through the doors of the gallery, which remained +open, were visible the guns and fur caps of a platoon of grenadiers.</p> + +<p>"What! Soldiers here!" demanded several members of the minority, with +indignation. "What right has General Bonaparte to announce himself in +this guise? Would he play the role of a new Caesar?"</p> + +<p>"I demand the floor!" cried Bonaparte imperiously.</p> + +<p>"In what title, in what right do you thrust yourself into these +precincts?" demanded Savary.</p> + +<p>"General Bonaparte has the floor," Lemercier declared from his chair.</p> + +<p>"Representatives of the people, you are in no ordinary circumstances," +began Bonaparte, when at last he could speak. "You are sitting upon a +volcano. Allow me to speak with the frankness of a soldier, the +frankness of a<a name="vol-2-pg_259" id="vol-2-pg_259"></a> citizen zealous for the welfare of his country; and +suspend, I pray you, your judgment till you have heard me to the end. I +was at ease and quiet in Paris when I received the decree of the Council +of Ancients, which opened my eyes to the dangers that it and the +Republic ran. At once I called to my brothers-in-arms, and we came to +give you our support. We came to offer you the arm of the nation, for +you are its head. Our intentions were pure and disinterested; and as the +price of the devotion we yesterday and to-day displayed, lo, already we +reap calumnies! There is speech of 'a new Caesar,' 'a new Cromwell'; +they pretend that I aim to establish a new military government."</p> + +<p>The majority violently applauded these words. The minority held itself +impassible. General Bonaparte continued, increasingly threatening, +imperious, and haughty:</p> + +<p>"If it was said, to put me outside the law, I would call upon you, brave +defenders of the Republic, with whom I have shared so many perils to +establish liberty and equality. I would throw myself and my braves upon +the courage of you all, and upon my fortune!" (Shudders of indignation +among the minority, shocked by this audacious appeal to force.) "I +invite you, Representatives of the people, to form into a general +committee, and to take those salutary measures which the present dangers +urgently demand. You will find my arm ever ready to execute your +commands."</p> + +<p>Then Bonaparte and his suite retired.</p> + +<p>While the majority of the Council of Ancients pledged their allegiance +to the military dictator, the republican majority in the Council of Five +Hundred, assembled in<a name="vol-2-pg_260" id="vol-2-pg_260"></a> the Orangery of the palace, was a prey to the +most lively agitation. Lucien Bonaparte was in the chair.</p> + +<p>"You have the floor, citizen," he said, indicating Emile Gaudin, who was +on his feet.</p> + +<p>The latter mounted to the tribunal: "Citizen Representatives," he began, +"a decree of the Council of Ancients has transferred the seat of the +legislative body to this commune. So extraordinary a measure can only be +evoked by the fear of, or approach of, some extraordinary danger. In +fact, the Council of Ancients has declared to the French people that it +made use of the right conferred upon it by Article 102 of the +Constitution, in order <i>to disarm the factions which seek to subjugate +the national representation, and to restore internal peace</i>. I ask, +first, that a committee of seven members be elected to report on the +condition of the Republic and the means of saving it; second, that the +committee make its report to the present session; third, that until then +all deliberation be suspended; fourth, that all motions be submitted to +it. Let the Assembly decide."</p> + +<p>Long applause followed this speech. Representative Delbrel rose next.</p> + +<p>"Representatives of the people," said he, "grave dangers do, in fact, +threaten the Republic. But those who wish to destroy it are themselves +the very ones who, under the pretext of saving it, wish to change or +overturn the existing form of government. In vain these conspirators +have hoped to frighten us by deploying about us the trappings of armed +force. If, nevertheless, the conspirators succeed in deceiving or +misleading the courage of our troops, we shall know how to die at our +posts, in the defense of<a name="vol-2-pg_261" id="vol-2-pg_261"></a> public liberty against the tyrants, against +the dictators who wish to crush it. <i>We want the Constitution!</i>"</p> + +<p>Again prolonged applause burst out as Delbrel uttered these words. Many +of the members spontaneously rose and repeated, with enthusiasm:</p> + +<p>"The Constitution or death!"</p> + +<p>Lucien Bonaparte hammered his bell for silence, and Delbrel resumed, +energetically:</p> + +<p>"Bayonets affright us not. Here we are free! I ask that all the members +of this Council, by roll-call, renew at once their oath to sustain the +Constitution of the year III."</p> + +<p>The Assembly rose as one. "Down with the traitors!" "Long live the +Constitution!" "Death to the traitors and conspirators!" shouted several +members.</p> + +<p>"I ask that we take the oath to oppose the re-establishment of all forms +of tyranny," cried Grandmaison.</p> + +<p>Grandmaison left the tribunal amid thunderous applause and continued +cries of "Long live the Constitution!" The acclamations lasted several +minutes. Hardly able to dissimulate the inward irritation he felt, young +Bonaparte was finally forced to put the taking of the oath to a vote. It +was carried unanimously, the infamous minority of intriguers in league +with the president not daring to come out in the open by voting against.</p> + +<p>When it came in regular course to his turn to take the oath, Lucien +Bonaparte left the chair, ostentatiously mounted the tribunal, and in +the midst of a profound silence, with the eyes of all fixed upon him, +uttered the words in a strangely unnatural voice:</p> + +<p>"<i>I swear fidelity to the Republic and to the Constitution of the year +III.</i>"<a name="vol-2-pg_262" id="vol-2-pg_262"></a></p> + +<p>"Secretary of the <i>Monitor</i> newspaper, insert in the report the solemn +oath of Citizen Lucien Bonaparte!" cried Briot quickly. The words were +followed by shouts of "Bravo!"</p> + +<p>"If he plays false to his oath, the treachery will live in history!" +exclaimed Grandmaison.</p> + +<p>Suddenly one of the doors of the Orangery flew open with a crash, and on +the threshold appeared General Bonaparte, encircled by his generals and +aides-de-camp, and followed by his company of grenadiers, with fixed +bayonets. At the sight of this irruption of armed force into their +sacred precincts, the Representatives of the people sprang from their +benches as if impelled by an electric shock. Their indignation swelled +to voice, and outcries rose in all quarters—"What! Bayonets here! Saber +draggers! Down with the dictator!"</p> + +<p>All his assurance notwithstanding, General Bonaparte fell back before +the outburst produced by his and his soldiers' presence. He removed his +hat and signified that he wished to speak. He made to cross the sill of +the entrance, when Representative Bigonnet sprang before him, and, +barring his passage and that of his armed escort, cried:</p> + +<p>"Back—back, rash man! Leave this place at once; you violate the +sanctuary of the law!"</p> + +<p>The attitude of the Representative of the people, his forceful accents, +made their impression upon General Bonaparte. He paled, hesitated, and +stopped. A new outburst of indignation resounded in the hall:</p> + +<p>"Down with the dictator!"</p> + +<p>"Outlaw the audacious fellow!"</p> + +<p>"Long live the Constitution!"</p> + +<p>"Let us die at our post; long live the Republic!"<a name="vol-2-pg_263" id="vol-2-pg_263"></a></p> + +<p>Controlling the passion which boiled within him, General Bonaparte shook +his head haughtily, and seemed again, by a commanding gesture, to ask +for the floor. Once more he essayed to cross the threshold of the hall, +followed by his staff, when again several Representatives threw +themselves in front of him, forcing him to retire; and Citizen Destrem +called in a voice choked with indignation:</p> + +<p>"General, did you, then, only conquer in order to insult the national +representation?"</p> + +<p>Anew, and with redoubled energy, the cries broke out of "Long live the +Constitution! Outlaw the dictator!"</p> + +<p>White with fear and at a loss what to do, Bonaparte recoiled before the +universal reprobation displayed against him. His boldness no longer +swayed the situation; he made a sign to his officers, several of whom +had carried their clenched hands to their sabers, and he and they +withdrew.</p> + +<p>Lucien Bonaparte, the secret accomplice of his brother's intrigue +against the liberties of the land, and who had followed with anguish the +diverse incidents of the preceding scene, seemed stricken with +consternation at the General's retreat. The great uproar which continued +after the departure of Bonaparte gradually calmed down, and little by +little peace was restored on the benches of the national +representatives.</p> + +<p>No sooner had quiet come upon the assembly, however, than a grenadier +captain burst into the hall, leaving his platoon standing in the +hallway. He marched rapidly towards the group in the middle of which +stood Lucien Bonaparte, answering a vehement cross fire of questions +from his colleagues with a vehemence no less than theirs.<a name="vol-2-pg_264" id="vol-2-pg_264"></a> The captain +approached Lucien, spoke a few words in his ear, and the young man +hastened from the hall, followed by the captain and his escort. This new +violation of the council-chamber of the Five Hundred was so sudden, the +departure of their president so unexpected, that the Representatives of +the people at first were dumb with astonishment. Then a full-throated +cry burst forth, "We are betrayed! Our president has gone over to +General Bonaparte!" The agitation of the assembly was tremendous.</p> + +<p>Lucien Bonaparte, on the other hand, surrounded by his escort of +soldiers, marched rapidly from the hall of the Five Hundred towards a +large assemblage of troops drawn up in the middle of the park of St. +Cloud. A great drove of people, inhabitants of the commune or arrivals +from Paris, drawn thither by curiosity, crowded behind the ranks of +soldiers; among these spectators were John Lebrenn and Duresnel. +Bonaparte and his staff were in front of the troops. The General was +pale and seemed a prey to keen anxiety; for the rumor had spread among +the throng of onlookers and the soldiers that he had just been outlawed +by the Council of Five Hundred. When Lucien, feigning intense +indignation, ran up and spoke to his brother, his first words reassured +and put new heart into the would-be dictator. Assuredly, failing of +Lucien's presence of mind, the fortune of that day would have gone +against the house of Bonaparte, for the youngster at once faced the +troops and cried, in ringing tones:</p> + +<p>"Citizens! Soldiers! I, president of the Council of Five Hundred, +declare to you that the majority of the Council is at this moment under +the terror of several Representatives armed with stilettos, who besiege +the tribunal,<a name="vol-2-pg_265" id="vol-2-pg_265"></a> threatening their fellow-members with death, and carrying +on the most frightful deliberations.</p> + +<p>"Soldiers," he continued, "I declare to you that these audacious +brigands, who are without doubt sold to England, have set themselves up +in rebellion against the Council of Ancients; they have dared to declare +a sentence of outlawry against the general charged to execute its +decree, just as if we were still living in the frightful times of the +Reign of Terror, when that one word—'outlaw'—sufficed to cause the +dearest heads of the fatherland to fall under the knife."</p> + +<p>The aides and generals about Bonaparte began to utter threats against +the members of the Council of Five Hundred. Colonel Oliver, drawing his +sword and brandishing it aloft, cried:</p> + +<p>"These bandits must be put an end to!"</p> + +<p>"Aye! Aye!" replied several voices from the ranks of the soldiery. "Long +live General Bonaparte!"</p> + +<p>"Soldiers, I declare to you," continued Lucien, "that this little +handful of rabid Representatives has read itself outside the law by its +assaults on the liberty of the Council. Well, in the name of that people +which is a by-word with this miserable spawn of the Terror, I confide to +you, brave soldiers, the necessity of delivering the majority of its +Representatives, so that, freed by the bayonet from the stiletto, they +may deliberate on the welfare of the Republic."</p> + +<p>Prolonged acclamation on the part of the officers and soldiers greeted +these words of Lucien's. Exasperation ran high against the +'Representatives of the stiletto.' "The villains," exclaimed several +soldiers, "it is with poniard at<a name="vol-2-pg_266" id="vol-2-pg_266"></a> throat that they have forced the +others to decree our general an outlaw. They should be shot on the spot! +Death to the assassins! To the firing squad with these aristocrats."</p> + +<p>Noticing that his brother was more and more regaining his confidence, at +the success of this jugglery with facts, Lucien continued, addressing +him at first:</p> + +<p>"General! And you, soldiers! You shall not recognize as legislators of +France any but those who follow me. As to those who remain in the +Orangery, let force be invoked to expel them. These folks are no longer +Representatives of the people, but Representatives of the poniard. Let +that title stick to them—let it follow them forever, and when they dare +to show themselves before the people, let all fingers point them out +under that well-deserved designation, 'Representatives of the poniard'! +Long live the Republic!"</p> + +<p>While Lucien was thus haranguing his brother's troops, the +Representatives of the people, no longer doubting the complicity of +their president in the schemes of the aspiring dictator, and beset by +inexpressible anxiety, set about averting the evils which they felt +impending. Motion after motion followed hard upon one another, and +passed unnoticed amid the tumult.</p> + +<p>"Let us die for liberty!" "Outlawry for the dictator!" "Long live the +Constitution!" "Long live the Republic!" Such were the cries that rang +within the Orangery.</p> + +<p>All at once the roll of drums was heard approaching, then the heavy and +regular tread of a marching army. The Orangery door was battered down +with the butts of muskets. General Leclerc, his sword drawn, entered, +followed<a name="vol-2-pg_267" id="vol-2-pg_267"></a> by grenadiers. At this apparition, a death-like stillness fell +as if by enchantment upon the assembly. The Representatives, calm and +grave, regained their benches, where they sat immovable as the Senators +of ancient Rome. Right, succumbing to the blows of brutal force, +protested as it fell, and denounced Iniquity triumphant, a denunciation +which will ring through the ages.</p> + +<p>From the tribunal General Leclerc gave the word of command:</p> + +<p>"In the name of General Bonaparte, the Council of Five Hundred is +dissolved. Let all good citizens retire. Forward, grenadiers! Strike for +the breast!"</p> + +<p>The grenadiers swarmed down the length of the hall, presenting the +points of their bayonets to the breasts of the elected legislators of +the nation. Most of the Representatives of the people fell back slowly, +step by step, still facing the soldiers and crying "Long live the +Republic!" Others threw themselves upon the bayonet-blades; but the +grenadiers raised their guns and dragged the Representatives out of the +hall.</p> + +<p>Caesar triumphed; but the day of Brutus will come! Execration on +Bonaparte!</p> + +<p>Such were the days of Brumaire.<a name="vol-2-pg_268" id="vol-2-pg_268"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VII-1-c" id="CHAPTER_VII-1-c"></a>CHAPTER VII.<br /><br /> +GLORY; AND ELBA.</h3> + +<p>The war, immediately after the Brumaire coup d'etat, was pushed with +vigor. Moreau received the commandership-in-chief of the Army of the +Rhine, and Bonaparte, on the 16th Floreal of the same year (May 6, +1800), left Paris to put himself at the head of the Army of Italy. On +the 25th Prairial (June 14), he achieved the brilliant victory of +Marengo, which, completing the work begun under the Directorate, +expelled the Austrians from Italy.</p> + +<p>Between January 8, 1801, and the 25th of March, 1802, the various powers +at war with France were one by one forced to sue for peace. The first +treaty was signed by England at Amiens. The peace was to be short-lived, +but Bonaparte improved his days of calm to restore a great part of the +abuses overthrown by the Revolution, and to lay the foundations for his +future hereditary power. Himself a sceptic, but considering religion in +the light of an instrument of domination, he treated with the Pope of +Rome toward the end of re-establishing Catholicism in all its splendor. +He founded the order of the Legion of Honor, a ridiculous and +anti-democratic body, and in so much a restoration of social inequality. +Shortly thereafter the Revolutionary calendar was replaced by the +Gregorian;<a name="vol-2-pg_269" id="vol-2-pg_269"></a> in short, the First Consul set himself against the current +of public opinion, by returning, more and more, to the traditions of the +Old Regime.</p> + +<p>On May 6, 1802, the Tribunate promulgated the suggestion that the powers +of the First Consul be extended for ten years; and two months later upon +motion of the Senate, the docile tool of Bonaparte, he was voted the +Consulate for life. Pope Pius VII came to Paris to anoint and crown the +brow of Napoleon, Emperor of the French by the grace of God.</p> + +<p>The consequences of the restoration of hereditary monarchy in France +were not long to await. One by one Napoleon forcibly seized all the +budding republics of Europe which the breath of the Revolution had +fanned into being, and bestowed them as benefices upon his family. Part +of Italy, incorporated into France, was given into the vice-regency of +Prince Eugene Beauharnais, the Emperor's brother-in-law; and one of the +Emperor's sisters received the Duchy of Modena.</p> + +<p>The 11th of April, 1803, was marked by a new coalition between England, +Austria and Russia. For a moment bent on a descent upon England, +Napoleon abandoned the adventurous project. Recalled from Boulogne to +face a war on the continent, Bonaparte, whose military genius still +attended him, gained on the 2nd of December, 1805, the wonderful victory +of Austerlitz. Peace was again imposed upon Austria; on the 26th of the +same month she signed the treaty of Presburg by which she surrendered +enormous slices of territory.</p> + +<p>In 1806 the King of Naples broke his treaties with France. He was +summarily dispossessed of his throne to<a name="vol-2-pg_270" id="vol-2-pg_270"></a> the profit of Joseph Bonaparte, +brother to Napoleon. A short time thereafter, the republic of Batavia +was presented to Louis Bonaparte, another brother.</p> + +<p>Now dreaming of universal empire, and retrograding toward the era of +feudal barbarism, Napoleon attached foreign duchy after foreign duchy as +fiefs to his throne. His continual inroads into the neighboring +territories rekindled the war. A fourth coalition was formed against the +Empire. Prussia, neutral in the previous war, this time took an active +part; but October 14, 1806, saw her crushing defeat at Jena; on the 26th +the French army entered Berlin in triumph.</p> + +<p>Russia, defeated at Friedland and at Eylau, begged for peace; it was +concluded at Tilsitt, June 21, 1807.</p> + +<p>At each of these new and crowning victories Napoleon's vertigo grew. +Drunk with constant success, a universal monarchy now became his fixed +idea, and still another of his brothers, Jerome Bonaparte, was invested +with a kingdom formed out of several states of the Germanic +Confederation. The single member of the Bonaparte family who took no +part in the rich quarry of thrones distributed by the conqueror was +Lucien. Did he seek thus voluntarily to expiate his complicity in the +events of Brumaire, or was he victim to the Emperor's ingratitude? +Lucien received not a single crown out of the booty.</p> + +<p>Napoleon's return to the traditions of the Old Regime, even to those +most execrated by the nation, became more and more extravagant. For +instance, the right of primogeniture, abolished by the Revolution, was +re-established. This iniquity, from the point of view of society and of +the family, was forced upon the Emperor by the logic of his<a name="vol-2-pg_271" id="vol-2-pg_271"></a> mistakes: +if he reconstituted the nobility, he could not but ensure its existence +by restricting the partition of property.</p> + +<p>On March 1st, 1813, the Prussian government, yielding to the public +voice of Germany, which was ever more and more hostile to Napoleon, gave +the signal for treachery by breaking its alliance with the French Empire +and again joining hands with England and Russia. The new coalition was +reinforced by Sweden, where Bernadotte, the old general of the Republic, +had become King. The victories of Lutzen and Bautzen at first seemed to +assure Napoleon's success. Austria proffered its mediation to the +belligerent parties, and they concluded, on June 4, 1813, the armistice +of Plessewitz. A congress, in session at Prague, offered Napoleon as +national limits those won by the armies of the Republic—the Rhine, the +Meuse, and the Alps. But Napoleon rejected the proposal with disdain; he +feared to lose by it his prestige in the eyes of the world and of +France, which he believed he could hold in subjection only by the glamor +of his victories.</p> + +<p>The war recommenced, but soon, blow upon blow, began the reverses. +Macdonald was defeated in Silesia, Ney in Prussia, Vandamme at Culm. The +princes of the Germanic Confederation, encouraged by these checks, and +yielding to the pressure of their people, abandoned Napoleon on the +battle-field of Leipzig. They turned their troops against him. The +French army, in full rout, retreated within its frontiers, October 31, +1813; soon the allies threatened them even there. Napoleon rushed to +Paris on November 9th, and ordered new levies of troops. Thousands of +families, at extortionate prices, had previously<a name="vol-2-pg_272" id="vol-2-pg_272"></a> bought off their sons +from conscription. This last draft took them all. The Corsican ogre +devoured the whole generation.</p> + +<p>The situation was desperate. The Austrians advanced by way of Italy and +through Switzerland; the English, masters of Spain and Portugal, poured +over the Pyrenees, under the command of Wellington; the Prussians, led +by Bluecher, invaded Frankfort; and the army of the North, with +Bernadotte at its head, penetrated France by way of Belgium. In vain the +French soldiers performed miracles of valor; in vain were the Prussians +annihilated at Montmirail, at Champaubert, and at Chateau-Thierry, and +the Austrians overthrown at Montereau. These sterile victories were the +final effort of Napoleon's warrior genius.</p> + +<p>On the 30th of March, 1814, the foreign armies entered the capital, a +shame which France had undergone but once before across the ages, under +the monarchy, in the reign of King John. Talleyrand and Fouché, so long +the servile tools of their master, were the first to betray him. On +April 11, 1814, Napoleon abdicated the Empire after a reign of ten +years.</p> + +<p>The Senate, whose conduct during the Empire had been marked with abject +servility, put the final touches to its ignominy by decreeing with the +following justifications the deposition of the man of whom its own +members had been the accomplices:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The Senate Conservator,</p> + +<p>Considering, That under a constitutional monarchy the monarch +exists only in virtue of the Constitution, or the social contract;</p> + +<p>That Napoleon Bonaparte, for some time head of a firm and<a name="vol-2-pg_273" id="vol-2-pg_273"></a> prudent +government, gave to the nation and his subjects reason to depend +for the future upon his wisdom and justice; but thereupon he +sundered the pact which bound the French people, notably by levying +imposts and establishing taxes not warranted by the law, and +against the expressed tenor of the oath which he swore to before +his ascension to the throne, according to Article 43 of the Act of +Constitution of the 28th Floreal, year XII;</p> + +<p>That he committed this assault upon the rights of the people just +when he had without necessity adjourned the legislative body and +had caused to be suppressed as criminal a report of that body in +which it contested his title and his part in the national +representation;</p> + +<p>That he undertook a series of wars in violation of Article 50 of +the Constitutional Act of the 22nd Frimaire, year VIII, which +states that declarations of war must be moved, discussed, decreed +and promulgated the same as laws;</p> + +<p>That he unconstitutionally rendered several decrees carrying the +penalty of death, namely the decrees of the 5th of March, last; +that he presumed to consider national a war which he entered upon +in the interest alone of his own unbridled ambition;</p> + +<p>That he violated the laws and the Constitution by his decrees on +State Prisons;</p> + +<p>That he has abolished ministerial responsibility, confounded all +powers, and destroyed the independence of the judiciary;</p> + +<p>Considering, That the liberty of the press, established and +consecrated as one of the rights of the nation, has been constantly +subjected to the arbitrary censorship of the police, and that at +the same time he has made use of the press to fill France and all +Europe with contradicted facts, false maxims, doctrines favorable +to despotism, and outrages against foreign governments;</p> + +<p>That acts and reports rendered by the Senate have been caused to be +garbled in publication;</p> + +<p>Considering, That, in place of reigning with an eye singly to the +interest, the happiness and the glory of the French people and in +accordance with the words of his oath, Napoleon has heaped high the +woes of the fatherland by his refusal to treat upon conditions +which the national interests bade him accept,<a name="vol-2-pg_274" id="vol-2-pg_274"></a> and which would have +compromised neither French honor nor the interests of the nation;</p> + +<p>By the abuse he has made of all the resources of men and of money +that have been confided to him;</p> + +<p>By his abandoning of the wounded without medical attention, without +assistance, and without food;</p> + +<p>By various measures, the result of which has been the ruin of +cities, the misery and depopulation of the country districts, +famine and contagious diseases;</p> + +<p>Considering, That, by all these causes, the Imperial Government, +established by the Senate-Consulate on the 28th Floreal, year XII, +has ceased to exist, and that the manifest will of all the French +calls for an order of things whose first result shall be the +re-establishment of general peace and which may be also an epoch of +solemn reconciliation among all the states of the great European +family,</p> + +<p>The Senate declares and decrees as follows:</p> + +<p>Article 1.—Napoleon Bonaparte is deposed from the throne, and the +hereditary right set up in his family is abolished. The French +people and the army are released from their oath of fidelity +towards Napoleon Bonaparte, who has ceased to be Emperor.</p></div> + +<p>The heart rises with indignation and disgust at the thought of the +shamefulness of these miserable senators. Not alone did not one among +them dare to protest, even by his silence, against these acts which they +now condemned, but these very acts in their time had had no more +vociferous upholders than they themselves.</p> + +<p>One last test was reserved for France and Napoleon. The latter was +furnished later (in 1815) with the opportunity to expiate and redeem the +past. His monarchical pride, his hatred for the Revolution both +contrived to render impossible this supreme expiation, and a terrible +chastisement fell upon him. In 1814 Bonaparte, although his<a name="vol-2-pg_275" id="vol-2-pg_275"></a> throne was +forfeit, was recognized sovereign of the island of Elba. The coalized +Kings assigned him that place as a residence, and thither, attended by +several officers and soldiers faithful to him in his misfortune, he +repaired.</p> + +<p>So great was the need felt by France for peace, repose, and +independence, after these ten years of warfare and hard service, that in +spite of her profound aversion for the Bourbons, their return was hailed +with joy. The kingdom of 1814, a new usurpation of the sole, +indivisible, indefeasable and inalienable sovereignty of the people, +consecrated again the iniquitous principle of monarchy, against which +the republican minority in vain protested.</p> + +<p>Louis XVIII, accordingly, made his solemn entry into Paris on the 3rd of +May, 1814, in the midst of the princes of his family, escorted by the +greater part of the Marshals of the Empire, among whom mingled Emigrants +and foreign generals: legitimate punishment to Napoleon!</p> + +<p>The Bourbons deeply wounded the sentiment of the nation by a return to +the usages of the Old Regime and by outrages against the acts of the +Revolution. Decrees restored to the Emigrants the estates and property +that had not yet been sold; the loans contracted by Louis XVIII in +various countries were placed among the debts of the state. Ordinances +prescribed the observation of church days and Sundays; the censorship +was retained almost as rigorous as under the Empire. Processions +commenced again to circulate about the churches. Thus the royal +government in a short space became as odious as the imperial government +had been. Several military conspiracies were organized. One faction of +the bourgeoisie thought of calling to the throne the Duke of Orleans, +while the republican party<a name="vol-2-pg_276" id="vol-2-pg_276"></a> thought, on its part, to turn the trend of +events to its own profit. But, as has well been said, the fate of France +lay in the hands of the army, attached to Napoleon by the privileges he +had showered upon it, and by the memories of its glory. The people, long +grown disused to political life, switched off by Napoleon, and wounded +by the Bourbons in its revolutionary instincts, lay inert, all save a +few old patriots of the illustrious days of the Revolution. The army +alone, then, was the deciding factor in the fate of the Restoration. +Such was the state of mind in France from the 3rd of May, 1814, the day +of Louis XVIII's entry into Paris, up to the beginning of the month of +March, 1815, at which period begins our next chapter.<a name="vol-2-pg_277" id="vol-2-pg_277"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VIII-1-c" id="CHAPTER_VIII-1-c"></a>CHAPTER VIII.<br /><br /> +RETURN OF NAPOLEON.</h3> + +<p>It was ten o'clock in the morning of the 20th day of March, of the year +1815. Monsieur Desmarais and his brother-in-law, Monsieur Hubert, were +awaiting in a chamber of the Tuileries an audience which they had +requested with the Duke of Blacas, minister to Louis XVIII, and his most +intimate favorite. They had anticipated the hour of the interview, in +order to arrive among the first; for great was the throng of solicitants +which sought Monsieur Blacas, whose recommendation was all-powerful with +the King. Desmarais and Hubert were dressed in the costume of peers of +the realm of France. The former, first senator under the Consulate, then +under the Empire, had been besides created a Count by Napoleon. Thus, +turned royalist, just as he had been Bonapartist (and, to retrace his +political career, Thermidorean, Terrorist, Jacobin, and first of all +Constitutional), Count Desmarais owed to his recent royalist devotion +the fact that he had been included in the list of senators who were made +peers of France since the Bourbon return. He was now in his sixty-ninth +year; his careworn, bitter features began to show the weakening hand of +age. Hubert, on the contrary, seemed lively and brisk as ever. He had +become the possessor of an enormous<a name="vol-2-pg_278" id="vol-2-pg_278"></a> fortune, thanks to his purveyorship +under the Directorate, while he was a member of the Council of Ancients. +He had curried no favors at the hand of the Empire, whose absolutism +conflicted with his political principles; his ideal government had +always been a constitutional King, subordinated to an oligarchy of +bourgeois. Hubert had been one of a batch of large proprietors whom +Louis XVIII had in one day admitted to the Chamber of Peers; but he had +not been long in alienating himself from the government of the +Restoration, which was piling fault upon fault; he accordingly attached +himself to the Orleanist faction.</p> + +<p>While awaiting their audience with Minister Blacas, the two were engaged +in a political discussion. Soon there entered Fouché, in tow of an +usher. "You will inform his Excellency that the Duke of Otranto begs an +audience with him," said Fouché to the usher. The usher bowed and +disappeared into the ante-room, while the new Duke exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"What, is this you, Citizen Brutus Desmarais? And pray, what are you +soliciting here? An order for the debut at the Opera of that dancing +girl you are protecting?"</p> + +<p>"That devil of a Fouché knows everything! You would think he was still +Minister of Police," interjected Hubert.</p> + +<p>"The cask will always smell of the herring, my dear. I saw this morning +two of my old agents, who continue to make me their little confidences."</p> + +<p>"Prefect of police, chief of spies! A pretty function, and highly +honorable!" sneered Hubert.</p> + +<p>"Take care, take care, Citizen Hubert," cautioned Fouché. "I have my eye +on the Orleanist conspiracy, in which you have taken it upon yourself to +play a role!"<a name="vol-2-pg_279" id="vol-2-pg_279"></a></p> + +<p>"Your spies are robbing you. You are very ill informed," retorted the +banker.</p> + +<p>"Why try to trifle with me? Everybody conspires under the open heavens +these days. These Bourbons are imbeciles, and their Prefect of Police, +Monsieur André, is a ninny! We play all around their legs."</p> + +<p>"How can you dare to hold such language in the very palace of our +beloved sovereigns?" protested Count Desmarais.</p> + +<p>"Come, now! You and your fellows in the Chamber of Peers are yourselves +conspirators and enemies of the Bourbons."</p> + +<p>"Your conspiracies are pure will-o'-the-wisps," again retorted Hubert.</p> + +<p>"Well, I tell you that you, Hubert, are conspiring for the Duke of +Orleans. Several officers and generals are conspiring in favor of +Bonaparte. A number of colonels in command of regiments are connected +with this second plot; while, finally, the old Jacobins, and notably +your son-in-law John Lebrenn, Citizen Brutus, as well as the painter +Martin and their friends, are conspiring for the Republic; that's a +third conspiracy."</p> + +<p>"All these plots and complots are of your own invention," grumbled +Desmarais, feeling very uneasy.</p> + +<p>"True!" acquiesced Fouché with a smile. "But if I never follow the +conspiracies I invent, I at least always let myself into those which the +imbeciles are nursing. I've a foot everywhere: with the republicans, as +an ex-Terrorist; among the Bonapartists, as ex-minister of the Emperor; +with the Orleanists as an old friend of Philip Equality's; in short, the +best proof I can give you of the existence of<a name="vol-2-pg_280" id="vol-2-pg_280"></a> these complots is, that I +have just come to denounce them. Yes," he continued, his smile +broadening, while Desmarais and Hubert stared at him in stupefaction, "I +have come to denounce them to that blockhead of a Blacas."</p> + +<p>"His Excellency will have the honor to receive Monsieur the Duke of +Otranto," announced the usher, making a low bow to Fouché.</p> + +<p>"Messieurs," beamed Fouché as he moved towards the open door, "a +royalist like me comes before everybody."</p> + +<p>As the door closed after Fouché, a new group of solicitors entered the +waiting room. These newcomers were the Count of Plouernel, now in spite +of his missing eye lieutenant-general and second in command of the +company of Black Musketeers of the military household of Louis XVIII; +the Count's son, Viscount Gonthram, a boy of thirteen, in the costume of +King's page; and, lastly, Cardinal Plouernel, the Count's younger +brother. The prelate was garbed in a red cloak and cap. For a moment +these new personages stood apart, then the Count of Plouernel advanced +towards Monsieur Hubert, whom he did not at first recognize, and engaged +him in the following conversation:</p> + +<p>"Will you have the goodness, sir, to inform me whether the audiences +have commenced?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, monsieur; just now the Duke of Otranto was called in by Monsieur +the Duke of Blacas. But, pardon me," he added, as little by little he +recalled the other's features, "is it not Monsieur the Count of +Plouernel whom I have the honor to address?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, monsieur," replied the latter.</p> + +<p>"Monsieur, do you not recognize me?" continued Hubert.<a name="vol-2-pg_281" id="vol-2-pg_281"></a> "I will assist +you. We met in 1792, during the trial of our unhappy King. We were +conspiring then against the Republic—"</p> + +<p>"St. Roche Street, at the house of the former beadle of the parish? Now +I recall it!"</p> + +<p>"Who would have told us then, Monsieur Count, that more than twenty +years after that meeting we would encounter each other again in the +palace of the brother of that royal martyr?"</p> + +<p>"I fear lest that terrible lesson be lost upon royalty."</p> + +<p>"Between ourselves, and without reproach, you have been somewhat the +cause of these unhappinesses, you gentlemen of the nobility."</p> + +<p>"In conspiring against the republican Constitution we but defended our +property and our honor. The Republic despoiled us of our seigniorial +rights, sacred and consecrated rights which we held of God and of our +sword."</p> + +<p>"Ah, the eternal strife between the Franks and the Gauls! Why is not my +nephew Lebrenn here to reply to you!"</p> + +<p>"What say you, sir?" asked Plouernel, shuddering at the name. "That +Lebrenn, that ironsmith, has he become your nephew? What strange news!"</p> + +<p>"He married my niece, the daughter of advocate Desmarais, to-day Count +and peer of France."</p> + +<p>Under the weight of the memories evoked by the name of Lebrenn, the +Count fell silent. The Cardinal drew close to the speakers, holding by +the hand his nephew Gonthram. His Eminence, better served by his memory +than his brother the Count, recognized Hubert at once, and addressed him +in the most courteous tones:<a name="vol-2-pg_282" id="vol-2-pg_282"></a></p> + +<p>"It has indeed been many years since we met, monsieur; for, if you +recollect, I accompanied my brother to the cabal in St. Roche Street. +What a time! What sad days!"</p> + +<p>"Indeed; and your Eminence must recall how lacking in respect to you the +reverend Father Morlet was, who arrogated to himself the chairmanship of +our meeting. The reverend was accompanied by his god-son, who seemed to +be about the age of this pretty page" (indicating Gonthram); "but he was +far from resembling him, for I never saw a face more sly and +hypocritical than that child of the Church wore."</p> + +<p>"Father Morlet is dead, and his god-son, taking orders in Rome under the +name of Abbot Rodin, is affiliated with the Society of Jesus," the +Cardinal informed the group. "This Father Rodin, as private secretary of +the present General of the Order, enjoys great influence. Ah! by my +faith! I did not know that our master hypocrite was in Paris!"</p> + +<p>While the Cardinal was uttering these last words, the door opened and in +stepped himself, the reverend Father Rodin. He was accompanied by an +usher, into whose ear he dropped a couple of words. Rodin was now past +his thirtieth year. His meager face, smooth shaven and wan, his +half-closed and restless reptile eyes, his slightly bowed back, his +already bald forehead, his bent neck, his sidling gait, his attitude of +mock-humility, through which shone his contempt for others—everything +about the man stamped him as hypocrisy incarnate. His black gown was +threadbare and whitened at the seams; the mud was caked on his clumsy +shoes. In one hand he held a squalid-looking cap, in the other an old +cotton umbrella with red-and-white checks.<a name="vol-2-pg_283" id="vol-2-pg_283"></a></p> + +<p>The usher to whom he spoke stepped for a moment into the next room and +returned almost immediately. He made a deep obeisance of respect to the +Jesuit, and said to him in a voice marked with great deference, +"Reverend Father, I have the honor to conduct you at once to the private +cabinet of monseigneur, who is at present engaged with the Duke of +Otranto."</p> + +<p>Rodin made a sign of assent, and with eyes fixed on his shoes, so that +he did not see the Cardinal, he was about to walk by the group in which +the latter stood.</p> + +<p>"Usher!" called the Cardinal, haughtily, "a word with you. We, Monsieur +the Count of Plouernel and I, were here before this reverend, which he +does not seem to know. The reverend gentleman should wait his time of +audience, and not usurp ours," he added, while Rodin bowed himself +almost to the ground before him.</p> + +<p>"I have the honor to inform your Eminence that I have orders from +Monseigneur the Duke of Blacas on the subject of this holy Father. He is +to be introduced whenever he presents himself, and before all other +persons. I obey the orders given me," returned the usher.</p> + +<p>"I shall not allow a simple priest to precede by a single step a Prince +of the Church!" stamped the Cardinal. Rodin only bowed before him +several times, lower than before, without raising his eyes to his face.</p> + +<p>"My orders are imperative," said the usher.</p> + +<p>Indignant the Cardinal turned to his brother. "Well, brother," he said, +"there we are! By the navel of the Pope, I'd like to knock the +interloper down!"</p> + +<p>For all answer Rodin again mutely and humbly inclined towards the +Cardinal. Then he made a sign to the usher<a name="vol-2-pg_284" id="vol-2-pg_284"></a> to precede him, and vanished +through a door on the opposite side of the room from where he had +entered.</p> + +<p>The latter entrance again swung open, and admitted Lieutenant General +Count Oliver, in the garish uniform of his rank and decorated with the +Legion of Honor and several foreign orders. He wore the great red ribbon +on his scarf, the order of the Iron Crown over his shoulder, and the +Cross of St. Louis in one of the buttonholes of his coat, which +glittered with braid. John Lebrenn's old apprentice was now +thirty-eight; his moustache still held its blackness, but his hair was +streaked with grey; his face still was handsome and martial. A total +stranger to the other personages in the audience chamber, he seated +himself a little distance off from the group formed by the Cardinal, the +Count of Plouernel, and Monsieur Hubert. Count Desmarais had withdrawn +into the alcove of a window.</p> + +<p>"That Jesuit, that scamp, that priestlet, introduced to Monsieur Blacas +before me!" stormed the Cardinal to the Count, his brother. "Me, a +Prince of the Church! I declare, as things are going, helped along by +that execrable charter of 1814, we are marching towards another '93! +France is lost!"</p> + +<p>"The Restoration has done a great deal for the clergy, Monsieur +Cardinal," declared Hubert. "You are very wrong to cast reproaches at +the King and the government."</p> + +<p>"I am of my brother's opinion as to what concerns the nobility," said +the Count of Plouernel. "I blame the King strongly for giving the +command of two regiments of his guards to ex-Marshals of the Empire, +clodhoppers, men of no account, like all these plebeians, hardly scraped +clean<a name="vol-2-pg_285" id="vol-2-pg_285"></a> by the nobility Napoleon covered them with." General Oliver, so +far unnoticed by the Count of Plouernel, here moved indignantly, but the +Count proceeded: "The King should never have entrusted commands to these +barrack-heroes, smelling of the pipe and the bottle, bumpkins whom we +must elbow out of our way at the Tuileries, we, old Emigrants, who +fought them under the Republic. We sacrificed all for our masters, and +they do us the outrage to treat these upstarts as our equals! These +specimens, during their Emperor's time, expressed themselves most +insultingly toward the house of Bourbon; and to-day they accept +services, favors, and commands from the King. It is only to betray him +some day; at least that would not be the last word in the renegades' +baseness, and they would not even be conscious of their apostasy!"</p> + +<p>At this General Oliver rose, pale with anger, and striding roughly up to +Plouernel said in a voice of concentrated rage:</p> + +<p>"Sir, you will regret, I am convinced, your last words, when you learn +that I, Lieutenant General, Count Oliver, have served the Emperor, to +whom I owe my rank and title. For I have the honor to be a soldier of +fortune, sir. I shall know how to chastise any insolence that may be +addressed to me!"</p> + +<p>Disdainfully looking General Oliver over from head to foot, the Count of +Plouernel made answer: "Well, sir! I, Gaston, Count of Plouernel, second +in command in his Majesty's Black Musketeers, have the honor never to +have served any but my masters. I followed them into exile, and I +returned to France in 1814. You have my opinion of traitors and +turn-coats."<a name="vol-2-pg_286" id="vol-2-pg_286"></a></p> + +<p>"The King has conferred on me the command of a military division, and it +pleased him to award me the Cross of St. Louis. Tell me, sir, am I in +your eyes because of that command and that decoration a traitor or a +renegade? Answer, sir," demanded Oliver.</p> + +<p>"Since you ask me, sir, I shall reply in all sincerity——"</p> + +<p>At the moment when Plouernel would have finished the sentence, he was +interrupted by the hilarious roar of a new personage who had burst into +the room laughing fit to split his sides. It was his old friend the +Marquis of St. Esteve, that intolerable would-be conspirator, whom the +most serious moment could not check in his buffoonery. Powdered white, +the Marquis's hair was dressed in 'pigeon-wings'; his little queue +bobbed up and down on the collar of his bourgeois' coat with gold +epaulets. He wore a court sword, knee breeches, and top boots; he was +the epitome of that type of Emigrant dubbed 'Louis XV's tumblers.' On +seeing Plouernel he at once ran toward him, clasped him in his arms, and +all the while laughing fit to kill, exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"Ah, Count! Hold me! I die! Oh, the idea! Ha, ha, ha! This time I shall +split of it, surely! Oh, oh, oh! If you knew the funny sto—ry! Ah, the +idea! I shall surely choke—let me laugh!"</p> + +<p>Plouernel pushed him off, muttering "Devil take the nuisance!"</p> + +<p>"Hang the Emigrant!" growled Oliver, on his part. "Interrupting just as +I was about to slap that insolent fellow's face!"</p> + +<p>"You don't know of it!" ran on the Marquis, continuing <a name="vol-2-pg_287" id="vol-2-pg_287"></a>to shriek with +laughter. "Ha, ha, ha! Bonaparte—has—has—oh! the idea!—has +returned—has landed at the gulf—oh! oh!—at the gulf of Juan, near the +town of Antibes! If that wouldn't make one split his sides laughing! Hi, +hi, hi!"</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen," cried an usher rushing in in a fright, and beside himself, +"his Excellency has just been summoned to the King in haste by an +important unforeseen matter. There is no need waiting—the audiences are +off for another day!"</p> + +<p>Following him hurriedly out of Blacas's cabinet, came Fouché, rubbing +his hands. Glimpsing Desmarais, pale and distracted at the news of +Napoleon's landing, he called to him: "If the tyrant does not have you +shot on his return, Citizen Count Brutus, my faith, you will have +fortune with you this time. Make your will!"</p> + +<p>"Such a catastrophe! The designs of God are indeed impenetrable!" +exclaimed the Cardinal to Fouché.</p> + +<p>"On the contrary, this is the happiest event that could happen under the +canopy. You don't see that Bonaparte falls into the little trap I set +for him. His return is folly. He will reach Paris without striking a +blow, for the Bourbons are execrated. But before a month, all Europe +will march against France."</p> + +<p>Without waiting for Fouché to finish his speech, the various persons in +the hall fled to the door, each a prey to a different fear.<a name="vol-2-pg_288" id="vol-2-pg_288"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IX-1-c" id="CHAPTER_IX-1-c"></a>CHAPTER IX.<br /><br /> +WATERLOO.</h3> + +<p>The Hundred Days were over. They had passed like the lightning in a +stormy night. Relying only on his genius and his army, Napoleon had +staked upon the turn of a battle his Empire and the independence of the +country. This battle, of Waterloo, he lost, in spite of the super-human +heroism of his soldiers.</p> + +<p>May the name of Napoleon be accursed!</p> + +<p>Several days had passed since that great disaster. In the cloth shop of +John Lebrenn, in St. Denis Street, under the sign of the 'Sword of +Brennus,' the following scene was enacting.</p> + +<p>General Oliver, back wounded from the battle of Waterloo, where he had +bravely conducted himself, was engaged in conversation with his former +master.</p> + +<p>"Well, Oliver," Lebrenn was saying to the wounded warrior, "your +Bonaparte has led France to her doom. We have lost the frontiers +conquered by the Republic. A second time the stranger is in the heart of +our country."</p> + +<p>"Ah, would that I had remained at Waterloo, like so many others of my +companions-in-arms. But death would not take me!"</p> + +<p><a name="vol-2-pg_289" id="vol-2-pg_289"></a>"I reproach you not, Oliver. You are defeated and unhappy; you have +returned to us. Let us draw the curtain over the past."</p> + +<p>"How just were the forebodings of your valiant sister! I sought a title +of nobility, chivalric orders, and an income. To sustain the Empire I +would have shot my parents and friends. When the Restoration took place, +I did like the most of the Marshals and generals. In order to preserve +my rank, my title, my crosses and my pay, I turned traitor to my past, I +served the Bourbons, whom I despised. I would still have retained a fair +competency even if, which was almost impossible, I had been able to tear +myself away from the attraction of the army. But no, I had become a +servile courtier. I had breathed the air of the court, I could live +nowhere else. I cried 'Long live the King!' I went to mass, I followed +the processions, a wax taper in my hand, I swallowed the insults the +Emigrants heaped upon us when they beheld us at court crooking the knee +to their princes. Ah, Victoria! Victoria! Shame and anguish have fallen +upon me. I betrayed the Republic in Brumaire, I sold myself to the +Restoration in 1814, I deserted it during the Hundred Days, and here I +am reduced to exile—a just punishment for my apostasies."</p> + +<p>"You have at least, Oliver, the conscience to repent that sad past. But +you will see how few among the generals and Marshals of the Empire will +repent like you the acts whose memory now galls you. Yes, you will yet +see the Princes, the Dukes, and the Counts of the Empire, little as the +new Restoration will please them, take up again the white cockade as +quickly as they threw it down three months ago for the tricolor. Most of +the Marshals are gorged<a name="vol-2-pg_290" id="vol-2-pg_290"></a> with wealth; dignity would be easy for them. +But no, they must renounce it for vanities dearer to their pride. Just +God! There you have the fruits of Napoleon's maxim 'It is by rattles +that men are led.'"</p> + +<p>"I see too late the abysses toward which Napoleon was driving France," +groaned Oliver.</p> + +<p>Martin the painter just then happened in. "Ah, my dear friend," he +announced from the threshold, "all hope is lost. Carnot despairs of the +situation."</p> + +<p>"Nevertheless, the situation is still good," protested Oliver. "Paris, +considered as an immense entrenched camp, gives us the disposition of +the five bridges across the Seine. It would be possible, by a night +march, to move our troops by either bank of the river and wipe out the +Prussian army. But, to carry out that plan, the people would have to be +armed, which Napoleon does not want. The people in arms would mean +revolution and the Republic."</p> + +<p>"What Oliver says bears the stamp of reason," remarked Lebrenn.</p> + +<p>"Our friends said to Carnot," returned Martin, "'The Emperor will be +forced to abdicate, his hopes of empire will be blasted. The allies will +not content themselves with sending him back again to Elba; he has +everything to fear at their hands. Well, despairing as our position +seems, never, if he wished it, will it have been so excellent! He can +yet become the savior of France and the admiration of posterity. Let him +again transform himself into General Bonaparte, let him put himself at +the head of the troops and the armed people, with the battle-cry "Long<a name="vol-2-pg_291" id="vol-2-pg_291"></a> +live the Republic! Long live the Nation!" Then liberty will triumph and +France arise, as ever, victorious.'"</p> + +<p>"My heart leaps with enthusiasm at hearing such noble language," cried +Oliver. "Yes, yes, Long live the Republic! No more monarchs! Neither +Kings nor masters!"</p> + +<p>"'The Emperor is resolved to abdicate,' replied Carnot to us," Martin +continued. "'He knows well enough that he has only to don the red bonnet +and cry To arms! for the whole people to rise. But he does not desire a +new revolution, he does not want to go outside the law. He has no longer +any authority. The Chamber of Deputies has seized the executive power, +and is treating with the allies. The Emperor's part is played, he can do +nothing more for France. Without his concurrence, I consider it futile +to engage upon a struggle.' Such was the response of Carnot."</p> + +<p>Castillon and Duchemin were the next to come into the cloth shop. The +first, in his working clothes, still had on his leather apron, blackened +by smoke from the forge. Duchemin, whose moustache had grown quite grey +in the interim, wore a veteran's uniform. He had been placed in that +corps after the Russian campaign, in which he served as quartermaster in +the artillery of the Imperial Guard.</p> + +<p>"Well, my friends, what news from the suburbs?" asked Lebrenn.</p> + +<p>"In St. Antoine they are demanding arms to run to the defense of the +barrier of La Villette, which they say is already threatened by the +Prussians. 'Guns! Your Emperor will never give them to you!' I told +them," answered Castillon. And catching sight of General Oliver, he +gazed at him a moment open-mouthed and concluded:<a name="vol-2-pg_292" id="vol-2-pg_292"></a> "Well, I am not +blind! There is Oliver! What a strange encounter!"</p> + +<p>"It is indeed Oliver, our old apprentice," said Lebrenn, smiling.</p> + +<p>"Ah, it is really you, my fine fellow!" returned Castillon. "Well, well! +It seems you have become a general. Well, that is nothing wrong, for you +are a brave one. But I also learned—and this, on my faith, would make a +hen smile—I also read that you had become a Count! Is it possible! You, +a Count! an ex-ragamuffin who used to ply the bellows for our forge, and +to whom I taught the song of those fine days: '<i>Ah ça ira, ça ira</i>, to +the lamp-post with the aristocrats!'"</p> + +<p>Instead this time of getting angry, Oliver smiled sadly and extended his +hand to Castillon, saying, "Amuse yourself at my expense, my old +Castillon; it is your right. Your quips are merited, I confess my +wrongs. But be indulgent toward your old comrade. To-day, I wish to +fight for the Republic."</p> + +<p>"Heaven be thanked! You have sung me an air there that has brought the +tears to my eyes," exclaimed Castillon with emotion as he eagerly +pressed the general's hand.</p> + +<p>Duchemin smiled genially and gave the military salute. "Present, +general," he said. "Still another of the Army of the Rhine and Moselle. +You do not recall me at the passage of the Beresina?"</p> + +<p>"Well! Well!" replied Oliver warmly. "Well do I remember you, and +Carmagnole, your sweetheart of a spit-fire."</p> + +<p>"Here is an ex-member of the battalion of Paris Volunteers<a name="vol-2-pg_293" id="vol-2-pg_293"></a>—a tried +patriot, and a republican of the old school," raid Castillon, indicating +to General Oliver Duresnel, who just then entered.</p> + +<p>"Ah, my friend," said John Lebrenn to the new arrival, "if you do not +bring me better news than Martin has just given us, our reunion to-day +will lack its flavor. The masses lie indifferent."</p> + +<p>"<i>Consummatum est!</i>" Duresnel sighed by way of answer. "It is finished. +I have just left the Chamber of Deputies; the Emperor has issued his +abdication, and is preparing, they say, to set out for his residence of +Malmaison, where he will remain while the allies settle upon his fate."</p> + +<p>"And what news of the army?"</p> + +<p>"The Prince of Eckmuehl, who commands the troops united under the walls +of Paris, assembled his generals this morning, and all or nearly all +have gone over to the Bourbon government. No more hope for it; we must +endure the ignominy of a second Restoration."</p> + +<p>"In which case, friend John, what shall we do? Without arms, without +headship, without leaders, the people can do nothing," sighed Castillon.</p> + +<p>"The old sans-culottes of the St. Antoine suburb ask nothing better than +to go to the front. In desperation for the cause, they were to march +to-day in mass to the Elysian Fields, in the hope that Napoleon would +yield to the acclamations of the populace," commented Duchemin.</p> + +<p>"I am on guard at the Elysian Fields at six o'clock!" exclaimed John +Lebrenn, looking at his watch. "Like an old National Guard, I must to my +post. Adieu, friends!" And he continued to Oliver, "Come to supper this +evening<a name="vol-2-pg_294" id="vol-2-pg_294"></a> with us and with our old comrades here. We shall take our +adieus of the banished soldier, and before we part, Oliver, we will +drain a last bumper of wine to the re-birth of the Republic. Neither +Kings nor masters! The Commune, the Federation, and the Red Flag!"</p> + +<p>"Till this evening, then," replied Oliver. "Long live the Republic! War +upon Kings! Down with the Bourbons!"<a name="vol-2-pg_295" id="vol-2-pg_295"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_X-1-c" id="CHAPTER_X-1-c"></a>CHAPTER X.<br /><br /> +DEPOSITION.</h3> + +<p>Although it was mid-June, the day touched its close towards eight +o'clock in the evening. The shadows of night were already mingling with +the thick shade of the Elysian Garden, where Napoleon dismounted on his +return from Waterloo. A compact mass of people filled Marigny Alley, one +of whose sides was formed by the terrace of the palace, on which trees +and verdure grew in profusion.</p> + +<p>The throng was composed almost to a man of artisans or federated troops +of the suburbs. From time to time the buzzing of the vast multitude was +dominated by the cry from thousands of throats—"Down with the +Bourbons!"—"Down with the foreigners!"—"Down with the +traitors!"—"Arms!"—"To the front!"—"Long live the Emperor!"</p> + +<p>As the evening wore on, however, that last cry of "Long live the +Emperor," became more and more infrequent. The people understood at last +that Napoleon, whose return they had acclaimed with such hopefulness, +preferred rather to abandon France to the woes which hung over her than +to make an appeal to the spirit of Revolution. The Corsican ceased to be +the idol of the people. Cursed be the name of Napoleon!<a name="vol-2-pg_296" id="vol-2-pg_296"></a></p> + +<p>At his post, gun on shoulder, John Lebrenn paced up and down the length +of the terrace of the Elysian Garden. He heard the cries of the +crowd—"Down with the traitors"—"Down with the Bourbons"—"The Emperor, +the Emperor!"—"War to the knife against the invaders!"</p> + +<p>At that moment Napoleon, in a round hat and plain citizen's cloak, +turned out of the alley which abutted on the terrace. The dethroned +Emperor was walking, in a revery, his hands crossed behind his back. In +the dark, and under the trees, he did not notice the sentry until close +upon him. When he did, he stopped short, and, falling into his usual +habit of questioning those whom he met, he said to Lebrenn, who +presented arms:</p> + +<p>"Have you been in the service?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Sire," replied John. The thought flashed through his mind that he +had in the same words answered Louis Capet in his prison in the Temple; +now he was calling Napoleon "Sire" on the day of his deposition.</p> + +<p>"What campaigns were you in? Answer," commanded Napoleon.</p> + +<p>"The campaign of 1794, in the Army of the Rhine and Moselle."</p> + +<p>"Under the Republic! Have you served since?"</p> + +<p>"No, Sire; I was married. I served the Republic."</p> + +<p>"What is your profession?"</p> + +<p>"I am a cloth merchant."</p> + +<p>"In what quarter?"</p> + +<p>"St. Denis Street."</p> + +<p>"What say they of the Emperor among the merchants of St. Denis Street? +Answer me without hunting for phrases."<a name="vol-2-pg_297" id="vol-2-pg_297"></a></p> + +<p>At that moment a new cry burst from the throng below and reached the +ears of Napoleon:</p> + +<p>"Down with the Bourbons!"</p> + +<p>"Down with the traitors!"</p> + +<p>"Arms! Arms! To the frontiers!"</p> + +<p>"The Emperor, long live the Emperor!"</p> + +<p>"Again?" said Napoleon, shrugging his shoulders; and then to Lebrenn, +"Well, what do they say of me in St. Denis Street?"</p> + +<p>"The most of the burghers look with repugnance upon a new Restoration; +but for the commercial bourgeoisie, the Restoration, if it will only +assure peace, means a renewal of business," replied Lebrenn.</p> + +<p>"Always the same, these bourgeois," muttered Napoleon; "peace, business. +Their mouths can shape no other words. Among them never the shadow of +national sentiment! And what is the attitude of the people, the +workingmen of your quarter?"</p> + +<p>"Some are astonished at your inaction, Sire; others are more severe; +they arraign your general policies."</p> + +<p>"Have I not always had my hands tied by the Chamber of Deputies, by +babblers, lawyers, and rainbow-chasers! They think only of orating, of +overwhelming me with their reproaches, instead of aiding me to save the +country. They balanced opinions like the Greeks in the lower world, +while here the barbarians were at the gates of Paris. They are the +wretches!"</p> + +<p>"I was at St. Cloud in the days of Brumaire, Sire, when with your +grenadiers you drove the Representatives of the people from their seats. +Now, when the safety of the fatherland is at stake, why do you not +employ the same measures<a name="vol-2-pg_298" id="vol-2-pg_298"></a> against the deputies who prevent your saving +France?"</p> + +<p>"The Five Hundred were Terrorists, malcontents, seditionists, +assassins," said Napoleon quickly; "they merited death."</p> + +<p>"I arrived shortly after the session of the Five Hundred. You ran no +danger. No poniard was raised against you. The Five Hundred were no +malcontents; they defended the law and the Constitution."</p> + +<p>"You are a Jacobin."</p> + +<p>"Yes, Sire; ever since '93; and I believe that to-day, as in '93, the +Republic single-handed could cope with coalized Europe—especially had +the Republic your sword!"</p> + +<p>Napoleon's face changed, and he smiled with that inscrutability mingled +with grace and good-fellowship which gave him, more than anything else, +such influence over the simple-minded. "Ah, ah, Sir Jacobin," he said, +"well for you it is that I find out so late what you are. You have no +doubt some influence in your quarter; I would have sent you to rot in +Vincennes, my new prison of state, at the bottom of a pit!"</p> + +<p>Anew the cries from below broke out: "Down with the Bourbons!" "Arms!" +"To the frontiers!" "Long live the Emperor—War to the death against the +foreigners!"</p> + +<p>"Brave people!" said Napoleon. "They would let themselves still be hewed +to pieces for me; and still they bear the weight of imposts, of +munitions of war, while my Marshals and all the military chiefs whom I +covered with riches betray me. My role is played out. I shall go to +America and turn planter, and philosophize on the emptiness of human +events! I shall write my campaigns, like Caesar."<a name="vol-2-pg_299" id="vol-2-pg_299"></a></p> + +<p>"Sire, you forget France. Place your sword at her service; become again +General Bonaparte, as you were in the glorious days of Arcola and +Lodi—"</p> + +<p>"Sir," broke in the Emperor impatiently and with emphasis, "when one has +been Emperor of the French, he does not step down. To fall, smitten by +the thunderbolt, is not debasement. Never shall I consent to become +again a simple general."</p> + +<p>An aide-de-camp came up and joined the General. "Sire," he said, +"Colonel Gourgaud awaits your Majesty's commands."</p> + +<p>"Let him harness the six-horse coach and make his way out through the +large gate of the Elysian Garden, to draw the attention of the mob about +the palace. I shall take the single-horse carriage and leave by the +equerries' gate. Hold, I have another order for you."</p> + +<p>Napoleon grasped the aide by the arm, addressed him in a low voice, and +walked off with him. Soon they both disappeared around the corner of the +alley. The night was now black as pitch. Below, the cries of the people +ascended again:</p> + +<p>"Arms! Arms!"</p> + +<p>"To the frontiers!"</p> + +<p>"The Emperor, the Emperor! War to the bitter end against the invaders!"</p> + +<p>"Your Emperor, O people! is fleeing from you by night," soliloquized +John Lebrenn as he paced his weary round on the terrace. "He flees the +duties to which your voice would call him. He might have enshrined his +name in a new glory, that would have been pure and bright forever. But<a name="vol-2-pg_300" id="vol-2-pg_300"></a> +fate drives him on to terrible retribution—captivity, perhaps death. +And thus will be avenged the coup d'etat of Brumaire, thus his attempts +against the liberty of the people. May the same fate fall upon all the +monarchs of the world!"<a name="vol-2-pg_301" id="vol-2-pg_301"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="EPILOGUE" id="EPILOGUE"></a>EPILOGUE.<br /><br /> +<a name="vol-2-pg_302" id="vol-2-pg_302"></a></h3> + +<p><a name="vol-2-pg_303" id="vol-2-pg_303"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_I-1-d" id="CHAPTER_I-1-d"></a>CHAPTER I.<br /><br /> +"TO THE BARRICADES!"—1830.</h3> + +<p>Fifteen years have rolled their course since the second Restoration, +accomplished after the Hundred Days. The Bourbon government seems to +have set itself the task of making the indignation of the people run +over.</p> + +<p>Many are the grievances of France against the Bourbons: Provocations, +iniquities, barbarisms, the White Terror of 1815;—the provost courts, +where the hatred and rancor of the Emigrants sated itself with +vengeance;—assassination, organized, blessed, and glorified, in the +south;—Trestaillon and other defenders of altar and throne slaying +their fellow citizens with impunity;—the Chamber of Deputies +unattainable, all its members royalists save one;—the billion francs' +indemnity granted to the Emigrants;—the establishment by the +Ultramountainists and the Ultraroyalists of the law of sacrilege and the +law of primogeniture;—the impieties of the clergy;—the orgies of the +mission fathers.</p> + +<p>Military and civil conspiracies sprang up, to protest against the +Bourbons with the blood of martyrs. The <i>Carbonarii</i>, a vast secret +society, extended its ramifications throughout all France and preserved +the traditions of republicanism. The Chamber of Deputies was dissolved,<a name="vol-2-pg_304" id="vol-2-pg_304"></a> +having been guilty of declaring to Charles X through the organ of its +majority, in its address to the crown, that harmony no longer existed +between the legislative body and the government. The Chamber having been +dissolved, the country in the new elections responded by returning 221 +deputies of the opposition which composed the majority of the Assembly. +King Charles X, in place of deferring to this manifestation by the +country, imagined that, thanks to the successes of the French arms in +Algeria, he could successfully put through a coup d'etat; which he +attempted, using Minister Polignac as his instrument, and rendering the +ordinances of the 26th of July, 1830, which suppressed the liberties of +the nation.</p> + +<p>During the fifteen years of the Restoration, John Lebrenn had continued +his Breton cloth trade in Paris. Monsieur Desmarais, having gone mad +upon the second return of the Bourbons, died in isolation. Marik, +Lebrenn's son, had espoused Henory Kerdren, the daughter of a merchant +of Vannes, a correspondent of his father's. One son had been born of the +marriage. He was now two years old, and had been given the name of one +of the heroes of ancient Gaul, Sacrovir.</p> + +<p>The 27th of July, the day after the promulgation of the Polignac +decrees, at about eleven in the evening, Madam Lebrenn and her +daughter-in-law Henory had closed the shop, and had gone up to their +mezzanine floor; there, together in their room, they busied themselves +with the preparation of lint, in anticipation of the insurrection which +seemed due on the morrow. Marik Lebrenn and Castillon were loading +cartridges. Castillon, now at the ripe old age of sixty-three, was white +of hair, but still supple and<a name="vol-2-pg_305" id="vol-2-pg_305"></a> robust, and still plied his ironsmith's +trade. A cradle, in which slept little Sacrovir, the grandson of John +Lebrenn, was placed beside Henory. It was a picture of the sweet joys of +the family.</p> + +<p>"In the presence of the passing events, and especially of those that +seem to be preparing," observed Madam Lebrenn, the same brave, steadfast +Charlotte as of yore, "I feel again that grave and almost solemn emotion +which I felt in my girlhood, in the grand days of the Revolution. Those +were glorious spectacles!"</p> + +<p>"A terrible and glorious time, mother," answered Henory. "Imperishable +memories!"</p> + +<p>"In the name of a name! We shall fight, Madam Henory!" quoth old +Castillon. "These cartridges will not be wasted. Down with Charles X, +Polignac, and the whole clique of them! Down with the skull-caps!"</p> + +<p>Just then John Lebrenn came up. All rose and ran to meet him. He held +out his hand to his wife, and kissed his daughter-in-law Henory on the +forehead.</p> + +<p>"The delegates of the patriot workingmen of the quarter have not yet +come?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"No, father," replied Marik.</p> + +<p>"What news have you picked up on your travels, my friend?" asked his +wife.</p> + +<p>"Good, and bad."</p> + +<p>"Commence with the bad, father," said Marik.</p> + +<p>"The 221 deputies of the opposition lack energy," began his father; +"there is indeed a minority of resolute citizens, Mauguin, Labbey of +Pompieres, Dupont from the Eure, Audrey of Puyraveau, Daunou, and some +others. But the majority seems paralyzed with fear. Thiers is a coward,<a name="vol-2-pg_306" id="vol-2-pg_306"></a> +Casimir Perier a poltroon. These two wretches pretend that royalty must +be given time to repent and to return to the paths of legality. They +propose opening negotiations with the monarchy."</p> + +<p>"Death to Thiers, the petty bourgeois! Death to his accomplices. To the +lamp-post with the traitors!" cried Castillon, as he filled a shell.</p> + +<p>"The same fear, the same lack of confidence on the part of the +bourgeoisie as in 1789," remarked Madam Lebrenn. "To-day, as then, the +bourgeoisie is ready to fall at the feet of the King and implore his aid +against the revolution."</p> + +<p>"What is James Lafitte's attitude?" queried Marik. "Does he show himself +a man of resolution in the struggle?"</p> + +<p>"His civic courage does not fail him. He remains calm and smiling. His +establishment is the rendezvous of the Orleanist party, which is making +a lot of stir, but takes no determined stand."</p> + +<p>"And Lafayette—is he on the side of the people?" asked Madam Lebrenn in +turn.</p> + +<p>"He is still the same man as we knew him forty years ago," her husband +replied; "undecided, vacillating, incapable of taking a stand. Lafayette +is of all cliques."</p> + +<p>"General Lafayette knows well enough that if Charles X wins in the +struggle, his life is in danger," interjected Madam Lebrenn.</p> + +<p>"The General's courage is above suspicion; but his lack of decision may +have disastrous consequences for our cause."</p> + +<p>"His popularity is very great, and he may aspire to be President of the +Republic," pursued Lebrenn's wife.<a name="vol-2-pg_307" id="vol-2-pg_307"></a></p> + +<p>"Our friends declared to him to-day that they counted on him for +President in case the Republic were proclaimed. He made answer that he +had no ambition in that direction, and that he would first have to see +how things fell out."</p> + +<p>At that moment Martin, the painter of battles, and Duresnel entered the +room. They were both armed with hunting pieces, and carried belts full +of cartridges. Both the artist and Duresnel were chiefs in the +republican Carbonarii, and had played their part in many a conspiracy +upon the return of the Bourbons. Duresnel had spent three years in +prison, having been sentenced for press offences, for being proprietor +of a liberal newspaper. Martin, compromised in the conspiracy of +Belfort, and being condemned to death in John Doe proceedings, took +refuge in England, where he lived for four years, returning to France +only after the amnesty. Through it all the two men had retained the +patriotic ardor of their youth. They were frank republicans, and +partisans of the Commune.</p> + +<p>"Good even, Madam Lebrenn," said Martin, setting down his gun. "I see +you are pulling lint; a good precaution, for to-morrow, at daybreak, +there will be hot work, or I am mistaken. Good evening, Madam Henory; +your little Sacrovir will probably hear music to-morrow which will not +be as pleasing to his ear as his mother's songs."</p> + +<p>"It is good that my son become early used to such music, Monsieur +Martin," smiled the young mother. "Perhaps he will have to listen to it +often, for I want to make him a good republican, like his father and +grandfather."</p> + +<p>"What news do you bring, friends?" asked John Lebrenn.<a name="vol-2-pg_308" id="vol-2-pg_308"></a></p> + +<p>"I am just from the office of the <i>National</i>," said Duresnel, "where +they were holding a meeting of the opposition journalists. Armand Carrel +regards all attempt at revolution as senseless. He will not admit that +an undisciplined population can triumph over an army."</p> + +<p>"The people, happily, will not guide themselves by the opinion of this +particular journalist," laughed Martin. "The agitation is spreading in +all quarters. A gathering, ordered to evacuate the Place of the Bourse, +attacked the troops, shouting 'Long live the charter! Down with the +King! To the lamp-post with the Jesuits and Polignac!'"</p> + +<p>"The same scene was reproduced on the Place of Our Lady of Victories, +and on St. Denis Boulevard," said Duresnel.</p> + +<p>"And they are getting ready for the same struggle in the St. Honoré +quarter," Martin continued. "To-morrow at dawn Paris will bristle with +barricades. The combatants are pouring in by the thousand. Several +printers have released their workmen. Maes, the brewer in the Marceau +suburb, is ready to march at the head of his helpers. Coming along the +Dauphine passage, I stepped into our friend Joubert's; his book store is +a veritable arsenal, filled with arms."</p> + +<p>"Several armorers' shops have been invaded," Duresnel went on. "On the +Place of the Bourse I met Etienne Arago, the director of the Vaudeville +Theater, who was taking a cart-load of guns and swords from the theater +to the home of Citizen Charles Teste, whom he charged with the task of +distributing them to combatants. There will be arms in abundance."</p> + +<p>"This evening," said Martin, "I saw in St. Antoine<a name="vol-2-pg_309" id="vol-2-pg_309"></a> women and children +carrying paving stones to the upper stories of their houses, to hurl +down upon the troops. The word is being passed along: 'Down with the +pretorians! Death to all the officers!'"</p> + +<p>"When the women take part in a revolution," put in Madam Lebrenn, "it is +a good omen. Here are some old friends coming," she added. "They will +have news also."</p> + +<p>Upon the word, in came General Oliver, accompanied by the old mounted +artilleryman of the republican Army of the Rhine and Moselle. Duchemin's +hair and moustache were now both as white as snow; but he was still +alert and active, and carried under his arm an old rusted musket. The +bitterness of exile had furrowed Oliver's face with premature wrinkles, +and turned his hair nigh as white as his companion's.</p> + +<p>Oliver affectionately gave his hand to Charlotte, saying as he did so, +"Good evening, my dear Madam Lebrenn;—good evening, Madam Henory. Oh, +ho! Here you are occupied like the Gallic women of old on the eve of +battle. And here is brave Castillon filling shells. The picture is +complete."</p> + +<p>Duchemin, also, saluted the company in military fashion, and said, "In +my capacity as old artilleryman, I shall lend you a hand, Castillon."</p> + +<p>"So here you are at last," cried John Lebrenn cordially to the General. +"Our friends and I were beginning to get surprised, and almost worried +at not having seen you since the promulgation of the ordinances."</p> + +<p>"Before two days have passed the Bourbons will be driven from France," +returned the General. "The army can not stand against Paris in +insurrection. There are but twelve<a name="vol-2-pg_310" id="vol-2-pg_310"></a> thousand troops in the city; the +victory of the people is assured."</p> + +<p>"I fear you are mistaken, General," interposed Martin.</p> + +<p>"You may be certain of what I tell you. I have my information from +several old officers of the Empire, who have maintained some sort of +relations with the War Ministry."</p> + +<p>"Your old friends are thinking, perhaps, of giving the movement a +Bonapartist turn?" asked Lebrenn.</p> + +<p>"They are thinking seriously of it. They besought me to attend a reunion +at the house of Colonel Gourgaud, where I met Dumoulin, Dufays, +Bacheville, Clavel, and other old comrades. I strove hard, but +ineffectually, to convince them that Napoleon's death had made all +thought of empire impossible. I remained alone in my opinion."</p> + +<p>"I am afraid you will fall again under the influence of your old +war-time memories, and that of your companions-in-arms," said Lebrenn, +kindly.</p> + +<p>"Ah, my friend," replied Oliver with emotion, "I have to-day no other +desire than that of retrieving the errors of my military career. I have +resolved to fight with you and our friends for the triumph of the +Republic."</p> + +<p>"We have examined, with Martin, the position of this house," continued +Lebrenn, "and the wide open angle which the street forms twenty paces +from here seems to render imperative the building of a barricade almost +at our doors, in order to cut off the communication of the troops that +may come by the boulevards to effect their junction with those who no +doubt will occupy the City Hall."</p> + +<p>"The place is well chosen," commented Oliver, ever the General.<a name="vol-2-pg_311" id="vol-2-pg_311"></a></p> + +<p>"In that case," cried Duresnel, smiling, "I move that we name the +General commandant-in-chief of the barricade!"</p> + +<p>"Carried! Carried!" cried all.</p> + +<p>"I accept the position," replied Oliver; "but in order to command a +barricade, there must first be one."</p> + +<p>"Here, my friend, is how things stand," Lebrenn resumed, when the +merriment had subsided; "my son and I enjoy in this street some +reputation as patriots. The active men of the quarter, mainly +workingmen, have full confidence in us. A number of them have come +several times through the day to seek advice. They are resolved to +engage in the struggle, if necessary, and only await our giving the +signal. Our responsibility is great. If we urge them to the conflict, we +must, in placing ourselves at their head, be certain in our consciences +of our means of defense. I have assured the brave patriots that this +evening, after having visited the different quarters of Paris and +informing myself to the best of my ability, by personal observation and +through friends, of the state of affairs, I would answer them as to +whether they would best take up arms or not. They were to come at eleven +o'clock or midnight to receive my decision. It is now half after eleven; +their delegates should not be long in coming.</p> + +<p>"Now, my friends," continued John, "the supreme hour is come. Let us +take counsel. Let us not forget that among the energetic citizens who +await only one word of ours to run to arms, many have wives and children +of whom they are the only support. If they are killed or defeated, their +families will be plunged into distress. It is for us, then, to decide +whether their fighting is commanded by civic duty, whether it offers +sufficient chance of success<a name="vol-2-pg_312" id="vol-2-pg_312"></a> for us to give the signal for battle. We, +more happy than our proletarian brothers, are at least certain, if we +succumb, of not leaving our families resourceless. Here, then, my +friends, is what I propose. We all know how things stand in Paris. Let +us put the question to a vote."</p> + +<p>Madam Lebrenn spoke first. "Civil war is a terrible extremity," she +said. "Vanquishers or vanquished, the mother-country has always some +children to mourn. But to-day one can no longer hesitate. It is a choice +between servitude or revolt. So, with my spirit in mourning for the +fratricidal strife, I say to my husband, and to my son, You must fight +to defend the liberties that the kingdom has not yet despoiled us of; +you must fight to reconquer, if possible, the heritage of the great +Republic. It alone can bestow moral and material freedom upon the +disinherited ones of the world, in virtue of its immortal principles, +Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, and Solidarity. So then, as I see it, we +must fight. Let the blood which flows fall upon the head of royalty, it +alone has called down this impious struggle! To arms! To arms!"</p> + +<p>All were deeply moved at Charlotte's stirring words, and Lebrenn said to +his daughter-in-law, "What is your opinion, dear Henory?"</p> + +<p>"I believe throughout with my mother. The insurrection must be called."</p> + +<p>"And your opinion, Castillon? Speak, old comrade," Lebrenn continued.</p> + +<p>"Faggot and death, and <i>Ça ira</i>! Commune and Federation, and the Red +Flag!"</p> + +<p>"You have no need to ask me, friend Lebrenn," volunteered Duchemin. "You +have only to look at my musket.<a name="vol-2-pg_313" id="vol-2-pg_313"></a> The barrel is oiled, and the lock +graced with a new flint. Long live the social and democratic Republic!"</p> + +<p>"What do you think about it, my dear Martin? What is your advice?" asked +Lebrenn of the painter in turn.</p> + +<p>"I," said Martin, "say with Madam Lebrenn: Civil war is a terrible +extremity; but legal resistance is impossible and laughable. When a +government appeals to cannon to back up a coup d'etat, insurrection +becomes the most sacred of duties. Long live the Republic!"</p> + +<p>"Is that your opinion too, Duresnel?" queried Lebrenn.</p> + +<p>"Aye, and all the more so because, as I see it, the insurrection has +every chance of success. As for asserting that success will lead to a +re-establishment of the Republic, I would be careful of falling into a +deception. But at any rate we will have made a big step forward in +finally driving out the Bourbons; and whatever the government may be +that succeeds them, it can not but carry us far towards the Republic. +So, then, down with the King! Down with the Jesuits and priests!"</p> + +<p>General Oliver did not wait for the question to be put to him. "My +friend," he declared simply, "I have but one way to redeem the past. +That is to fight for the Republic, or to die for it."</p> + +<p>"As to you, Marik," said Lebrenn, turning to his son, "you have regarded +an insurrection as inevitable ever since you heard of the ordinances. +You are, then, for taking arms, are you not?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I am for battle, father."</p> + +<p>"Well, then, war!" cried John; "Long live the Republic."</p> + +<p>"Someone to see you, sir," announced a servant.<a name="vol-2-pg_314" id="vol-2-pg_314"></a></p> + +<p>"These are the delegates of our friends, come for the word. Ask the +gentlemen in."</p> + +<p>The servant showed into the room three workmen, in their laboring +clothes. One of them, a man still young, and with a face full of fire, +addressed John Lebrenn: "Are we to fight, or not to fight, in this +quarter, sir? They say it is warming up in St. Antoine, and that they +are building barricades. Our St. Denis Street is behind-hand; that will +be humiliating for the quarter."</p> + +<p>"My men, you have asked my advice—" began Lebrenn.</p> + +<p>"We felt the need of getting in touch with things, Monsieur Lebrenn. +Yes, for indeed we said to each other from the first, Ordinances, coups +d'etat—what has all that to do with us? Our misery is great, our wages +hardly buy bread for our children and ourselves; will our distress be +any greater after the coup d'etat than before? And still we said that +these Bourbons, these 'whites,' are the enemies of the people, and that +we should seize the occasion to turn them out. But after all, what will +it bring us? The same misery as in the past."</p> + +<p>"What will we have gained by driving out Charles, Polignac, and the +skull-cap bands?" added the other two workingmen.</p> + +<p>"My men, here in two words is the meat of the matter. To-day, in 1830, +the proletarians of the towns and the country, in other words the +immense majority of the people, produce, almost by their labor alone, +the riches of the country; and yet they live in misery. Why is it thus? +Because you have no political rights."</p> + +<p>"And what help would political rights be to us?"</p> + +<p>"Suppose you were all electors, as you were under the<a name="vol-2-pg_315" id="vol-2-pg_315"></a> great Republic. +You would elect your representatives; these representatives would make +the laws. So that, if you chose for representatives friends of the +people, is it not clear that the laws they made would be favorable to +the people? The law could decree, for example, as in the time of the +Republic, the education of children, instructed and maintained by the +state, from the age of five to twelve. The law could decree assistance +for disabled proletarians, for widows with children. The law could +decree the abolition of slavery in the colonies, equality of civic +rights between man and woman. The law could assure work to citizens in +times of unemployment, and sustain them against the exploitation of +capital. The law, in short, could change your condition completely, for +the law is sovereign. The law can perform everything within the limits +of the possible; so then, by their number, the proletarians composing +the great majority of the citizens, they would be assured of having a +majority in the elections; whence it follows that if they had well +chosen their representatives, all the laws made by these would be in +favor of the proletariat. Do you follow me, friends?"</p> + +<p>"In virtue of our political rights we would choose the representatives +who make the laws, and they would make them in our interests," answered +the first workingman. The other two also added: "That is easy to +understand."</p> + +<p>"That is why," continued John Lebrenn, "as long as you remain without +political rights, your condition will continue precarious and +miserable."</p> + +<p>"But how can we obtain these political rights?" asked one of the +workingmen.</p> + +<p>"By combatting all governments which refuse to recognize<a name="vol-2-pg_316" id="vol-2-pg_316"></a> your rights or +which pluck you of them, as did Napoleon, the accursed Corsican, and as +the Bourbons have done."</p> + +<p>"It stiffens one's spine," returned the artisan, "to know that by +fighting against Charles X and Polignac we will obtain rights which will +permit us to choose the representatives who will make laws in our favor. +On to the barricades, then! Let us strike a blow that will count, +against the gendarmes, and the officers of the troops."</p> + +<p>"To the barricades! Death to the gendarmes!" repeated the other two +artisans.</p> + +<p>"In conclusion, my men," resumed Lebrenn, "I tell you in all sincerity, +it is possible, although doubtful, that we may with this one blow +reconquer the Republic, which alone can free you in mind and body, and +restore to you the exercise of your sovereignty. Now, my men, decide."</p> + +<p>With ringing enthusiasm the three workingmen shouted:</p> + +<p>"To the barricades!"</p> + +<p>"Down with Charles X and Polignac!"</p> + +<p>"Down with all the Jesuits and skull-caps!"</p> + +<p>And all present joined in the battle-cry:</p> + +<p>"Long live the Republic! To the barricades!"<a name="vol-2-pg_317" id="vol-2-pg_317"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_II-1-d" id="CHAPTER_II-1-d"></a>CHAPTER II.<br /><br /> +ORLEANS ON THE THRONE.</h3> + +<p>Four days later, namely, the 31st of July, Marik Lebrenn lay on his bed, +sorely wounded. Bravely defending, with his father, his friends, and a +little army of workingmen of St. Denis Street, on the 28th, the +barricade raised by them the preceding day a few steps from the Lebrenn +domicile, he had his arm broken by a ball. The wound, grave in itself, +was further complicated by an attack of lockjaw, induced by the stifling +heat of those summer days. Thanks to the care of Doctor Delaberge, one +of his father's political friends and one of the heroes of July, Marik +had come safely through the lockjaw, in spite of its usual deadliness. +But for the three days he had remained a prey to a violent delirium; his +reason had now returned to him hardly an hour ago.</p> + +<p>Beside his cot was seated his mother; his wife, bent over the bed, held +her infant in her arms.</p> + +<p>"How sweet it is to return to life between a mother and a darling wife, +to embrace one's child, and moreover to feel that one has done his duty +as a patriot," murmured Marik feebly, but happily. "But where is +father?"</p> + +<p>"Father is unwounded. He went out, an hour ago, to be present at a final +meeting with Monsieur Godefroy Cavaignac, the valiant democrat," +answered his mother.<a name="vol-2-pg_318" id="vol-2-pg_318"></a></p> + +<p>"And our friends, Martin, Duresnel, and General Oliver?"</p> + +<p>"You will see them all soon. Neither the General nor Monsieur Martin was +wounded. Duresnel was grazed slightly by a bayonet."</p> + +<p>"And Castillon? And Duchemin?"</p> + +<p>Madam Lebrenn exchanged a look of intelligence with her daughter-in-law, +who had gone to put her child in his cradle, and answered, "We have as +yet no news of those brave champions, Castillon and Duchemin."</p> + +<p>"Then they must be badly hurt," exclaimed Marik, anxiously. "Castillon +would not have gone without coming to see me, for it was he who picked +me up when I fell, on the barricade."</p> + +<p>"Our friends are probably in some hospital," suggested his wife, +soothingly. "But please, do not alarm yourself so; you are still very +weak, and strong excitement might be bad for you. We can only tell you +that your father is unscathed, and the insurrection victorious."</p> + +<p>"Victory rests with the people! It is well; and yet, what will it profit +them?"</p> + +<p>John Lebrenn and General Oliver now entered the sick-room. Madam Lebrenn +rose and said to her husband, with all a mother's joy: "Our son has come +entirely to himself, as the consequence of the long sleep which already +reassured us. About half an hour after you left he awoke with his head +perfectly clear. Our last anxieties may now be set aside; the +convalescence begins well."</p> + +<p>Lebrenn walked quickly over to the bed, looked at Marik a moment, and +then embraced him tenderly, saying: "Here you are, out of danger, my +dear son. Ah, what a weight<a name="vol-2-pg_319" id="vol-2-pg_319"></a> was on my heart! The joy I feel consoles me +for our deception—"</p> + +<p>"My friend, I beg you—" interposed Madam Lebrenn. "The physician bade +me shield our dear patient from all emotion."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps it would, indeed, be better to leave Marik in ignorance of the +result of our victory; but now it is impossible longer to hide from him +the truth."</p> + +<p>"You may tell me everything, dear father. Disillusionment is no doubt +cruel, but we have already reckoned with that possibility in our +forecasts. Whatever the government may be which succeeds that of Charles +X, it will still be an improvement over the abhorred regime of the +Bourbons."</p> + +<p>"Well, then, my son, here is our disappointment: The Republic has been +crowded out by the intriguers of the bourgeoisie, and the Duke of +Orleans has been acclaimed Lieutenant-General of the kingdom. In a few +days the deputies will offer him the crown."</p> + +<p>"Our friends then let their guns cool after their success? And did not +Lafayette intervene in this matter of kingship?"</p> + +<p>"Here," replied John, "is how the comedy was played. Seeing the +triumphant progress of the insurrection, and recognizing that Charles +was as good as gone, his friends flocked over to the Orleanists. The +Chamber of Deputies met last evening in the Bourbon Palace, in solemn +session. It was there that Lafitte, elected to the chairmanship of the +Assembly, proposed outright to confer upon the Duke of Orleans the +Lieutenant-Generalship of the realm. The majority applauded, and named a +committee to go to the<a name="vol-2-pg_320" id="vol-2-pg_320"></a> Chamber of Peers, also in session, and inform +them of the decision of the deputies. The peers spared no enthusiasm in +acclaiming the Lieutenant-Generalship of Orleans, in order to safeguard +their own places, their titles, and their pensions. One single voice +protested against this act of turpitude, that of Chateaubriand. At the +City Hall, meanwhile, a municipal committee was in waiting there before +the arrival of Lafayette. It was composed of Casimir Perier, General +Lobau, and Messieurs Schonen, Audrey of Puyraveau, and Mauguin. These +two last republicans and anti-Orleanists urged upon the committee to +institute a provisional government, but the majority would not hear of +it, wishing, on the contrary, like Casimir Perier, to treat with Charles +X; or, like General Lobau, to turn over the office to Orleans. In fact, +Messieurs Semonville and Sussy having presented themselves in the name +of Charles X, who then proposed to abdicate in favor of the Duke of +Bordeaux, Casimir Perier consented to listen to their overtures. But +Audrey of Puyraveau cried out indignantly, 'If you do not break off your +shameful negotiations, sir, I shall bring the people up here!' His +language intimidated Perier, and the Bourbon go-betweens retired, +followed by Mauguin's words, 'It is too late, gentlemen.'</p> + +<p>"A deputation headed by the two Garnier-Pagè brothers was sent to +General Lafayette to offer him the supreme command of the National +Guards of the kingdom; which he accepted. From that moment it was a +dictatorship. The General went to the City Hall, amid the transports of +the people; he could do anything; he was master, and could have carried +the revolution to its logical conclusion! But, with the exception of +Mauguin and Audrey of Puyraveau,<a name="vol-2-pg_321" id="vol-2-pg_321"></a> the municipal committee, in +subordinating itself to Lafayette, contrived to frustrate any such +intention on his part by at once flattering and frightening him, posing +him in his own eyes as the supreme arbiter of the situation, and showing +him the responsibility that was falling upon him and the calamities +ready to loose themselves upon France if he did not attach himself to +the Duke of Orleans; whom, they went on with much ado to show, was able, +by an unhoped-for piece of good fortune, to restore order and liberty, +while as to the Republic—that was anarchy, that was civil war, that was +war with Europe! These words at once tickled Lafayette's vanity and +disturbed his honest conscience. He saw before him a role of a certain +degree of grandeur, that of sacrificing his personal convictions to the +peace of the country."</p> + +<p>"In other words, of sacrificing the Republic to senseless fears!" cried +Marik.</p> + +<p>"History will severely reproach Lafayette for that defection, that lack +of faith in the principles he supported, which he propagated for half a +century," continued Marik's father. "But, his character not being equal +to the dizzy height of the position whither events had wafted him, he +slipped; and promised his support to the Orleanists. In July, 1830, as +in the old days of Thermidor, our enemies have defeated us by their +quickness, although we had right and the people on our side. The Commune +should at that time have triumphed over the scoundrels of the +Convention, the same as to-day the City Hall should have triumphed over +the intrigues of the Bourbon Palace. May this new lesson be studied and +taken to heart by the revolutionists of the future."<a name="vol-2-pg_322" id="vol-2-pg_322"></a></p> + +<p>"Malediction on the Conservative deputies! They deserve to be shot!"</p> + +<p>"Our program contained in substance this: 'France is free, she wants a +Constitution. She will accord to the provisional government no right but +that to consult the nation. The people should not, and can not, alienate +its sovereignty. No more royalty. Let the executive power be delegated +to an elected President, responsible and subject to recall. The +legislative power should be reposed in an Assembly elected by universal +suffrage. For these principles we have just exposed our lives and shed +our blood, and we will uphold them at need by a new insurrection.'"</p> + +<p>"What effect had the reading of this program?" asked Marik.</p> + +<p>"It was applauded by the small number who could hear it. Some cried out, +in their simplicity, 'That's the program of Lafayette! Long live +Lafayette!' But at that moment a singular procession arrived at the City +Hall. It was headed by a coach in which sat Monsieur Lafitte, whose bad +leg prevented him from walking. Then came the Duke of Orleans, on +horseback, attended by Generals Gerard, Sebastiani, and others, and +followed by the committee of the deputies who had named him +Lieutenant-General of the kingdom. The prince was pale and uneasy, +although he affected to smile at the throngs of combatants, who still +carried their arms. Their attitude, their words, became more and more +threatening. Some guns were even leveled at this man who, after the +combat, came to usurp the sovereignty of the people. But a feeling of +humanity soon raised them again, and a few minutes later the Duke +appeared<a name="vol-2-pg_323" id="vol-2-pg_323"></a> on the balcony of the City Hall with Lafayette. The latter +embraced the Duke, and presented him to the people, with the words:</p> + +<p>"'Here, my friends, is the best of Republics—'</p> + +<p>"Such was the result for which the people of Paris had fought for three +days! It is for this that we risked our lives, that you shed your blood, +my son—and that our old friends Castillon and Duchemin died valiantly, +as did so many other patriots."</p> + +<p>"Great heaven! Father, what say you! Castillon—Duchemin—both dead!"</p> + +<p>In agony at his unfortunate words, Lebrenn turned to his wife: "Our son +did not know, then, the fate of our friends?"</p> + +<p>"Poor old Castillon—I loved him so," sobbed Marik, while his tears +poured upon the pillow. "Brave Duchemin—how did he meet his end?"</p> + +<p>"In spite of his age," said General Oliver, who had so far been a silent +spectator of the scene, "he did not leave my side the whole day of the +27th. His patriotic fervor seemed to double his strength. That night he +went home with me. At daybreak of the 28th we rejoined, in Prouvaires +Street, the citizens who were defending the barricades there. The +colonel who commanded the attack, despairing of ever capturing the +barricade, attempted to demolish it with his cannon. A piece was brought +up, and at the first round a bullet rebounded and tore into Duchemin's +thigh. He fell, crying 'Long live the Republic!' Then he forced a smile +on his lips, and with his last breath<a name="vol-2-pg_324" id="vol-2-pg_324"></a> said to me, 'I die like an old +republican cannonier. Long live the Commune!'"</p> + +<p>Just then a servant entered, and said to Lebrenn, "Sir, one of the +workingmen who was here four days ago is come to ask news of Marik."</p> + +<p>"Let him come in," replied the young man's father.</p> + +<p>It was the artisan who, on the 27th, had acted as spokesman for his +comrades of St. Denis Street. His head was wrapped in a bloody bandage; +he was also wounded in the leg, and supported himself as with a cane, +with the scabbard of a cavalry saber.</p> + +<p>"I heard that your son was wounded, Monsieur Lebrenn. I came to inquire +after him," he said.</p> + +<p>"My son's condition is causing us no uneasiness," Madam Lebrenn +answered. "Be pleased to take a seat beside his bed, for you also are +wounded."</p> + +<p>"I received a saber cut on the head and a bayonet thrust in the leg. But +they will be healed in a day or two."</p> + +<p>Marik held out his hand to the workman, and said: "Thanks to you, +citizen, for thinking of me. Thank you for your mark of sympathy."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's nothing, Monsieur Marik," replied the workman, heartily +pressing the proffered hand. "Only I am sorry to have to come alone to +see you, because the two comrades who accompanied me here—the other +evening—"</p> + +<p>"They are also wounded?" asked John Lebrenn hastily.</p> + +<p>"They are dead, sir," sighed the workman.</p> + +<p>"Still martyrs! How much blood Kings cause to flow! What woes they bring +to families!"</p> + +<p>"Here, dear son, is how the political farce was wound up," began John +Lebrenn again, to complete his interrupted<a name="vol-2-pg_325" id="vol-2-pg_325"></a> account. "The majority of +the 221 opposition deputies, typified in Casimir Perier, Dupin, +Sebastiani, Guizot, Thiers, and a few other reprobates, were terrified +when they saw the insurrection on the 28th grow to formidable +proportions. For, had it been defeated, the 221 would have been taken as +its instigators, and, as such, assuredly condemned for high treason +either to death or to life imprisonment; on the other hand, if it was +successful, they dreaded the establishment of the Republic. To conjure +off this double peril, they declared in their special sessions that they +still regarded Charles X as the legitimate King, and that if he would +revoke the ordinances and discharge his minister, they would at all +costs stand for the continuation of the elder branch. Penetrated by this +thought, they went to Marshal Marmont on the 28th to beg him to cease +firing, declaring that if the ordinances were repealed, Paris would +return to its duty. The Prince of Polignac, full of faith in his army, +would listen to no proposition on the 27th nor on the 28th. He counted +on the intervention of God. The stupid monarch and his minister did not +begin to recognize the gravity of their situation till the evening of +the 29th, when the troops, thoroughly routed, beat a retreat upon St. +Cloud. Then the ordinances were repealed, and Messieurs Mortemart and +Gerard were appointed ministers. Charles imagined that these concessions +would mollify the insurrectionists, and cause them to throw down their +arms."</p> + +<p>"And what sort of a role did James Lafitte play through all this?" again +inquired Marik.</p> + +<p>"The minority of the deputies convened at his house, and, from the 28th +on, they judged the kingship of Charles<a name="vol-2-pg_326" id="vol-2-pg_326"></a> to be at an end. Thenceforward, +yielding to the counsel of Beranger, they labored actively for the Duke +of Orleans. The rich bourgeoisie, the big commercial men, and a certain +number of military chieftains, Gerard and Lobau among them, also rallied +to the Orleanist party, desiring a new kingdom under which they hoped to +place the actual government in the hands of a bourgeois oligarchy. The +house of James Lafitte was thus the center of the Orleanist +wire-pullings. You asked my advice," continued Lebrenn to the +workingman, "in the name of your comrades, before entering the fight. In +the light of our present set-back, do you regret having assisted in the +revolution?"</p> + +<p>"No, Monsieur Lebrenn; I have no regret for having taken up arms. No +doubt we have not obtained what we sought, a government of the people. +But is it nothing to have cleaned out the Bourbons who wished to enslave +us? If we did not get the Republic this time, we at least know how to go +about driving out a King and defeating his army. We shall appeal to the +spirit of insurrection!"</p> + +<p>"The day of retribution will come, my friend," declared Lebrenn. "A few +elected men, chosen not by the rank and file of the citizens, but by a +small party representing the privilege of riches, has decided upon the +form of government for France and has offered the crown to Louis +Philippe. They have stained themselves with the guilt of usurping the +sovereignty of the people, which is single, indivisible, and +inalienable. To this usurpation we shall reply by a permanent conspiracy +until the day of that new revolution when shall be proclaimed the +Republican government, which alone is compatible with the sovereignty of +the people, which alone is capable of striking off the material<a name="vol-2-pg_327" id="vol-2-pg_327"></a> and +mental shackles of the proletariat. The Commune, and the Federation +under the Red Flag! Neither priests, nor Kings, nor masters!"</p> + +<p>"On that day," re-echoed the stalwart proletarian at Marik's bedside, +"we shall all rise in arms, and cry:</p> + +<p>"Long live the Republic! Long live the Commune!"</p> + +<p><a name="vol-2-pg_328" id="vol-2-pg_328"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CONCLUSION" id="CONCLUSION"></a>CONCLUSION</h3> + +<p class="c">————</p> + +<p>I, John Lebrenn, concluded the writing of this account on the 29th of +December, 1831, the eve of the day on which a daughter was born to my +son Marik; she was named Velleda, in memory of our Gallic nationality.</p> + +<p>To you, Marik, my beloved son, I bequeath this chronicle, along with the +sword I received from General Hoche the day of the battle of +Weissenburg. You will join them to the other legends and relics of our +family, and you will bequeath them, in your turn, to your son Sacrovir. +You will add to these scrolls the history of whatever new events may +befall in your time, and our posterity will continue, from generation to +generation, these our domestic annals.</p> + +<p>And now sons of Joel, courage, perseverance, hope—not only hope, but +certitude. In spite of the transient eclipses of the star of the +Republic since the beginning of this century, in spite of the +disappointment of which we were the victims in 1830, in spite of all the +trials which we, and our children, perhaps, have yet to undergo, the +future of the world belongs to the principle of Democracy.</p> + +<p class="c">————</p> + +<p>I, Marik Lebrenn, inscribe here, with unspeakable anguish, the date of +April 17, 1832, the evil day on which my beloved father and mother, both +at the same hour, although some distance from each other, died under the +scourge of the cholera. They retained to the end the serenity of their +unsullied lives, and went to await us in those mysterious worlds where +we shall at last be reborn, to continue to live in mind and body, and +follow there our eternal existence.</p> + +<p class="c">THE END.</p> + +<p><a name="vol-2-pg_329" id="vol-2-pg_329"></a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> See "The Pocket Bible," the sixteenth of this series.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> See "The Iron Arrow Head," the tenth of this series.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> This speech, which clearly shows the social tendencies of +the most radical party in 1789, is here reproduced almost literally from +Luchet, <i>Essays on the Illuminati</i>, chap. V, p. 23.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> See, for details of these scenes, and the questions and +discourse of the initiators, Luchet's <i>Essays on the Illuminati</i>, chap. +V. p. 23, and following; also Robinson, <i>Proofs of a Conspiracy against +All the Religions and all the Governments of Europe</i>, vol. I, p. 114 and +following.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> See the preceding work in this series, "The Blacksmith's +Hammer."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> The old palace of the Bourbons, now abandoned to cheap +lodgings and hucksters' booths.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> All the persons and facts cited in this story as of +historic importance, are authentic.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> For an exactly parallel line of conduct, see that of Abbot +Le Roy, at the time of the invasion of Reveillon's paper factory in the +St. Antoine suburb, as given in the admirable <i>History of the +Revolution</i> by Louis Blanc. We are glad to render here this public +testimony of our sympathy and old friendship for an illustrious campaign +in exile.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Mirabeau's death was for long attributed to poison.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> The correspondence found at the Tuileries, in the Iron +Cupboard, on August 10, 1792, and the correspondence of the Count of +Lamark, published in our day, establish superabundantly the treason of +Mirabeau.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> See "The Abbatial Crosier," volume eight in this series.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> See "The Infant's Skull," volume eleven in this series.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> As each year started anew on the autumnal equinox, the +dates varied a little from those here given. Those given are for the +first year of the era. September, 1792, to September, 1793.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> The name for the paper notes issued by the Convention.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> Department of War, Sec. III, Correspondence, 1793-1794.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> This note is historic.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> It is fallaciously that tradition reports the attempted +suicide of Robespierre. He was assaulted by the gendarme Herda. See the +<i>Monitor</i>, session of the 10th Thermidor.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> The first care of the Royalists in the Convention, the day +after the 9th Thermidor, was not to decree liberty to the suspects, but +to go in person to open the prisons, whence flocked forth a horde of +recalcitrant priests and blood-stained counter-revolutionaries.</p></div> + +</div> +<hr class="full" /> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Sword of Honor, volumes 1 & 2, by Eugène Sue + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SWORD OF HONOR, VOLUMES 1 & 2 *** + +***** This file should be named 35633-h.htm or 35633-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/6/3/35633/ + +Produced by Chuck Greif, Michigan Libraries and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +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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