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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/3882.txt b/3882.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..98d19eb --- /dev/null +++ b/3882.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2712 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Memoirs of Louis XV. and XVI., Volume 7 +by Madame du Hausset, and of an Unknown English Girl and the Princess Lamballe + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Memoirs of Louis XV. and XVI., Volume 7 + Being Secret Memoirs of Madame du Hausset, Lady's Maid to Madame de + Pompadour, and of an Unknown English Girl and The Princess Lamballe + + +Author: Madame du Hausset, and of an Unknown English Girl and the Princess Lamballe + +Release Date: December 3, 2004 [EBook #3882] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LOUIS XV. AND XVI. *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +MEMOIRS OF LOUIS XV. AND XVI. + +Being Secret Memoirs of Madame du Hausset, +Lady's Maid to Madame de Pompadour, +and of an unknown English Girl +and the Princess Lamballe + + + + +BOOK 7. + + + +SECTION XIII. + +Editor in continuation: + + +I am again, for this and the following chapter, compelled to resume the +pen in my own person, and quit the more agreeable office of a transcriber +for my illustrious patroness. + +I have already mentioned that the Princesse de Lamballe, on first +returning from England to France, anticipated great advantages from the +recall of the emigrants. The desertion of France by so many of the +powerful could not but be a deathblow to the prosperity of the monarchy. +There was no reason for these flights at the time they began. The +fugitives only set fire to the four quarters of the globe against their +country. It was natural enough that the servants whom they had left +behind to keep their places should take advantage of their masters' +pusillanimity, and make laws to exclude those who had, uncalled for, +resigned the sway into bolder and more active hands. + +I do not mean to impeach the living for the dead; but, when we see those +bearing the lofty titles of Kings and Princesses, escaping with their +wives and families, from an only brother and sister with helpless infant +children, at the hour of danger, we cannot help wishing for a little +plebeian disinterestedness in exalted minds. + +I have travelled Europe twice, and I have never seen any woman with that +indescribable charm of person, manner, and character, which distinguished +Marie Antoinette. This is in itself a distinction quite sufficient to +detach friends from its possessor through envy. Besides, she was Queen +of France, the woman of highest rank in a most capricious, restless and +libertine nation. The two Princesses placed nearest to her, and who were +the first to desert her, though both very much inferior in personal and +mental qualifications, no doubt, though not directly, may have +entertained some anticipations of her place. Such feelings are not +likely to decrease the distaste, which results from comparisons to our +own disadvantage. It is, therefore, scarcely to be wondered at, that +those nearest to the throne should be least attached to those who fill +it. How little do such persons think that the grave they are thus +insensibly digging may prove their own! In this case it only did not by +a miracle. What the effect of the royal brothers' and the nobility's +remaining in France would have been we can only conjecture. That their +departure caused, great and irreparable evils we know; and we have good +reason to think they caused the greatest. Those who abandon their houses +on fire, silently give up their claims to the devouring element. Thus +the first emigration kindled the French flame, which, though for a while +it was got under by a foreign stream, was never completely, extinguished +till subdued by its native current. + +The unfortunate Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette ceased to be Sovereigns +from the period they were ignominiously dragged to their jail at the +Tuileries. From this moment they were abandoned to the vengeance of +miscreants, who were disgracing the nation with unprovoked and useless +murders. But from this moment also the zeal of the Princesses Elizabeth +and de Lamballe became redoubled. Out of one hundred individuals and +more, male and female, who had been exclusively occupied about the person +of Marie Antoinette, few, excepting this illustrious pair, and the +inestimable Clery, remained devoted to the last. The saint-like virtues +of these Princesses, malice itself has not been able to tarnish. Their +love and unalterable friendship became the shield of their unfortunate +Sovereigns, and their much injured relatives, till the dart struck their +own faithful bosoms. Princes of the earth! here is a lesson of +greatness from the great. + +Scarcely had the Princesse de Lamballe been reinstated in the Pavilion of +Flora at the Tuileries, when, by the special royal command, and in Her +Majesty's presence, she wrote to most of the nobility, entreating their +return to France. She urged them, by every argument, that there was no +other means of saving them and their country from the horrors impending +over them and France, should they persevere in their pernicious absence. +In some of these letters, which I copied, there was written on the +margin, in the Queen's hand, "I am at her elbow, and repeat the necessity +of your returning, if you love your King, your religion, your Government, +and your country. Marie Antoinette. Return! Return! Return!" + +Among these letters, I remember a large envelope directed to the Duchesse +de Brisac, then residing alternately at the baths of Albano and the +mineral waters at Valdagno, near Vicenza, in the Venetian States. Her +Grace was charged to deliver letters addressed to Her Majesty's royal +brothers, the Comte de Provence, and the Comte d'Artois, who were then +residing, I think, at Stra, on the Brenta, in company with Madame de +Polcatre, Diane de Polignac, and others. + +A few days after, I took another envelope, addressed to the Count Dufour, +who was at Turin. It contained letters for M. and Madame de Polignac, M. +and Madame de Guiche Grammont, the King's aunts at Rome, and the two +Princesses of Piedmont, wives of His Majesty's brothers. + +If, therefore, a judgment can be formed from the impressions of the Royal +Family, who certainly must have had ample information with respect to the +spirit which predominated at Paris at that period, could the nobility +have been prevailed on to have obeyed the mandates of the Queen and +prayers and invocations of the Princess, there can be no doubt that much +bloodshed would have been spared, and the page of history never have been +sullied by the atrocious names which now stand there as beacons of human +infamy. + +The storms were now so fearfully increasing that the King and Queen, the +Duc de Penthievre, the Count Fersen, the Princesse Elizabeth, the +Duchesse d'Orleans, and all the friends of the Princesse de Lamballe, +once more united in anxious wishes for her to quit France. Even the Pope +himself endeavoured to prevail upon Her Highness to join the royal aunts +at Rome. To all these applications she replied, "I have nothing to +reproach myself with. If my inviolable duty and unalterable attachment +to my Sovereigns, who are my relations and my friends; if love for my +dear father and for my adopted country are crimes, in the face of God and +the world I confess my guilt, and shall die happy if in such a cause!" + +The Duc de Penthievre, who loved her as well as his own child, the +Duchesse d'Orleans, was too good a man, and too conscientious a Prince, +not to applaud the disinterested firmness of his beloved daughter-in-law; +yet, foreseeing and dreading the fatal consequence which must result from +so much virtue at a time when vice alone predominated, unknown to the +Princesse de Lamballe, he interested the Court of France to write to the +Court of Sardinia to entreat that the King, as head of her family, would +use his good offices in persuading the Princess to leave the scenes of +commotion, in which she was so much exposed, and return to her native +country. The King of Sardinia, her family, and her particular friend, +the Princess of Piedmont, supplicated ineffectually. The answer of Her +Highness to the King, at Turin, was as follows: + +"SIRE, AND MOST AUGUST COUSIN,-- + +"I do not recollect that any of our illustrious ancestors of the house of +Savoy, before or since the great hero Charles Emmanuel, of immortal +memory, ever dishonoured or tarnished their illustrious names with +cowardice. In leaving the Court of France at this awful crisis, I should +be the first. Can Your Majesty pardon my presumption in differing from +your royal counsel? The King, Queen, and every member of the Royal +Family of France, both from the ties of blood and policy of States, +demand our united efforts in their defence. I cannot swerve from my +determination of never quitting them, especially at a moment when they +are abandoned by every one of their former attendants, except myself. In +happier days Your Majesty may command my obedience; but, in the present +instance, and given up as is the Court of France to their most atrocious +persecutors, I must humbly insist on being guided by my own decision. +During the most brilliant period of the reign of Marie Antoinette, I was +distinguished by the royal favour and bounty. To abandon her in +adversity, Sire, would stain my character, and that of my illustrious +family, for ages to come, with infamy and cowardice, much more to be +dreaded than the most cruel death." + +Similar answers were returned to all those of her numerous friends and +relatives, who were so eager to shelter her from the dangers threatening +Her Highness and the Royal Family. + +Her Highness was persuaded, however, to return once more to England, +under the pretext of completing the mission she had so successfully +began; but it is very clear that neither the King or Queen had any +serious idea of her succeeding, and that their only object was to get her +away from the theatre of disaster. Circumstances had so completely +changed for the worst, that, though Her Highness was received with great +kindness, her mission was no longer listened to. The policy of England +shrunk from encouraging twenty thousand French troops to be sent in a +body to the West Indies, and France was left to its fate. A conversation +with Mr. Burke, in which the disinclination of England to interfere was +distinctly owned, created that deep-rooted grief and apprehension in the +mind of the Queen from which Her Majesty never recovered. The Princesse +de Lamballe was the only one in her confidence. It is well known that +the King of England greatly respected the personal virtues of Their +French Majesties; but upon the point of business, both King and Ministers +were now become ambiguous and evasive. Her Highness, therefore, resolved +to return. It had already been whispered that she had left France, only +to save herself, like the rest; and she would no longer remain under so +slanderous an imputation. She felt, too, the necessity of her friendship +to her royal mistress. Though the Queen of England, by whom Her Highness +was very much esteemed, and many other persons of the first consequence +in the British nation, foreseeing the inevitable fate of the Royal +Family, and of all their faithful adherents, anxiously entreated her not +to quit England, yet she became insensible to every consideration as to +her own situation and only felt the isolated one of her august Sovereign, +her friend, and benefactress. + + + + +SECTION XIV. + +Editor in continuation: + + +Events seemed molded expressly to produce the state of feeling which +marked that disastrous day, the 20th of June, 1792. It frequently +happens that nations, like individuals, rush wildly upon the very dangers +they apprehend, and select such courses as invite what they are most +solicitous to avoid. So it was with everything preceding this dreadful +day. By a series of singular occurrences I did not witness its horrors, +though in some degree their victim. Not to detain my readers +unnecessarily, I will proceed directly to the accident which withdrew me +from the scene. + +The apartment of the Princesse de Lamballe, in the Pavilion of Flora, +looked from one side upon the Pont Royal. On the day of which I speak, a +considerable quantity of combustibles had been thrown from the bridge +into one of her rooms. The Princess, in great alarm, sent instantly for +me. She desired to have my English man servant, if he were not afraid, +secreted in her room, while she herself withdrew to another part of the +palace, till the extent of the intended mischief could be ascertained. I +assured Her Highness that I was not only ready to answer for my servant, +but would myself remain with him, as he always went armed, and I was so +certain of his courage and fidelity that I could not hesitate even to +trust my life in his hands. + +"For God's sake, 'mia cara'," exclaimed the Princess, "do not risk your +own safety, if you have any value for my friendship. I desire you not to +go near the Pavilion of Flora. Your servant's going is quite sufficient. +Never again let me hear such a proposition. What! after having hitherto +conducted yourself so punctually, would you, by one rash act, devote +yourself to ruin, and deprive us of your valuable services?" + +I begged Her Highness would pardon the ardour of the dutiful zeal I felt +for her in the moment of danger. + +"Yes, yes," continued she; "that is all very well; but this is not the +first time I have been alarmed at your too great intrepidity; and if ever +I hear of your again attempting to commit yourself so wantonly, I will +have you sent to Turin immediately, there to remain till you have +recovered your senses. I always thought English heads cool; but I +suppose your residence in France has changed the national character of +yours." + +Once more, with tears in my eyes, I begged her forgiveness, and, on my +knees, implored that she would not send me away in the hour of danger. +After having so long enjoyed the honour of her confidence, I trusted she +would overlook my fault, particularly as it was the pure emanation of my +resentment at any conspiracy against one I so dearly loved; and to whom I +had been under so many obligations, that the very idea of being deprived +of such a benefactress drove me frantic. + +Her Highness burst into tears. "I know your heart," exclaimed she; "but +I also know too well our situation, and it is that which makes me tremble +for the consequences which must follow your overstepping the bounds so +necessary to be observed by all of us at this horrid period." And then +she called me again her cars 'Inglesina', and graciously condescended to +embrace me, and bathed my face with her tears, in token of her +forgiveness, and bade me sit down and compose myself, and weep no more. + +Scarcely was I seated, when we were both startled by deafening shouts for +the head of Madame Veto, the name they gave the poor unfortunate Queen. +An immense crowd of cannibals and hired ruffians were already in the +Tuileries, brandishing all sorts of murderous weapons, and howling for +blood! My recollections from this moment are very indistinct. I know +that in an instant the apartment was filled; that the Queen, the +Princesse Elizabeth, all the attendants, even the King, I believe, +appeared there. I myself received a wound upon my hand in warding a blow +from my face; and in the turmoil of the scene, and of the blow, I +fainted, and was conveyed by some humane person to a place of safety, in +the upper part of the palace. + +Thus deprived of my senses for several hours, I was spared the agony of +witnessing the scenes of horror that succeeded. For two or three days I +remained in a state of so much exhaustion and alarm, that when the +Princess came to me I did not know her, nor even where I was. + +As soon as I was sufficiently recovered, places were taken for me and +another person in one of the common diligences, by which I was conveyed +to Passy, where the Princess came to me in the greatest confusion. + +My companion in the palace was the widow of one of the Swiss guards, who +had been murdered on the 6th of October, in defending the Queen's +apartment at Versailles. The poor woman had been herself protected by +Her Majesty, and accompanied me by the express order of the Princesse de +Lamballe. What the Princess said to her on departing, I know not, for I +only caught the words "general insurrection," on hearing which the +afflicted woman fell into a fit. To me, Her Highness merely exclaimed, +"Do not come to Paris till you hear from me;" and immediately set off to +return to the Tuileries. + +However, as usual, my courage soon got the better of my strength, and of +every consideration of personal safety. On the third day, I proposed to +the person who took care of me that we should both walk out together, +and, if there appeared no symptoms of immediate danger, it was agreed +that we might as well get into one of the common conveyances, and proceed +forthwith to Paris; for I could no longer repress my anxiety to learn +what was going on there, and the good creature who was with me was no +less impatient. + +When we got into a diligence, I felt the dread of another severe lecture +like the last, and thought it best not to incur fresh blame by new +imprudence. I therefore told the driver to set us down on the high road +near Paris leading to the Bois de Boulogne. But before we got so far, +the woods resounded with the howling of mobs, and we heard, "Vive le roi" +vociferated, mingled with "Down with the King,"--"Down with the Queen;" +and, what was still more horrible, the two parties were in actual bloody +strife, and the ground was strewn with the bodies of dead men, lying like +slaughtered sheep. + +It was fortunate that we were the only persons in the vehicle. The +driver, observing our extreme agitation, turned round to us. "Nay, nay," +cried he; "do not alarm yourselves. It is only the constitutionalists +and the Jacobins fighting against each other. I wish the devil had them +both." + +It was evident, however, that, though the man was desirous of quieting +our apprehensions, he was considerably disturbed by his own; for though +he acknowledged he had a wife and children in Paris, who he hoped were +safe, still he dared not venture to proceed, but said, if we wished to be +driven back, he would take us to any place we liked, out of Paris. + +Our anxiety to know what was going forward at the Tuileries was now +become intolerable; and the more so, from the necessity we felt of +restraining our feelings. At last, however, we were in some degree +relieved from this agony of reserve. + +"God knows," exclaimed the driver, "what will be the consequence of all +this bloodshed! The poor King and Queen are greatly to be pitied!" + +This ejaculation restored our courage, and we said he might drive us +wherever he chose out of the sight of those horrors; and it was at length +settled that he should take us to Passy. "Oh," cried he, "if you will +allow me, I will take you to my father's house there; for you seem more +dead than alive, both of you, and ought to go where you can rest in quiet +and safety." + +My companion, who was a German, now addressed me in that language. + +"German!" exclaimed the driver on hearing her. "German! Why, I am a +German myself, and served the good King, who is much to be pitied, for +many years; and when I was wounded, the Queen, God bless her! set me up +in the world, as I was made an invalid; and I have ever since been +enabled to support my family respectably. D---- the Assembly! I shall +never be a farthing the better for them!" + +"Oh," replied I, "then I suppose you are not a Jacobin?" + +The driver, with a torrent of curses, then began execrating the very name +of Jacobin. This emboldened me to ask him when he had left Paris. He +replied, "Only this very morning," and added that the Assembly had shut +the gates of the Tuileries under the pretence of preventing the King and +Queen from being assassinated. "But that is all a confounded lie," +continued he, "invented to keep out the friends of the Royal Family. But, +God knows, they are now so fallen, they have few such left to be turned +away!" + +"I am more enraged," pursued he, "at the ingratitude of the nobility than +I am at these hordes of bloodthirsty plunderers, for we all know that the +nobility owe everything to the King. Why do they not rise en masse to +shield the Royal Family from these bloodhounds? Can they imagine they +will be spared if the King should be murdered? I have no patience with +them!" + +I then asked him our fare. "Two livres is the fare, but you shall not +pay anything. I see plainly, ladies, that you are not what you assume to +be." + +"My good man," replied I, "we are not; and therefore take this louis d'or +for your trouble." + +He caught my hand and pressed it to his lips, exclaiming, "I never in my +life knew a man who was faithful to his King, that God did not provide +for." + +He then took us to Passy, but advised us not to remain at the place where +we had been staying; and fortunate enough it was for us that we did not, +for the house was set on fire and plundered by a rebel mob very soon +after. + +I told the driver how much I was obliged to him for his services, and he +seemed delighted when I promised to give him proofs of my confidence in +his fidelity. + +"If," said I, "you can find out my servant whom I left in Paris, I will +give you another louis d'or." I was afraid, at first, to mention where +he was to look for him. + +"If he be not dead," replied the driver, "I will find him out." + +"What!" cried I, "even though he should be at the Tuileries?" + +"Why, madame, I am one of the national guard. I have only to put on my +uniform to be enabled to go to any part of the palace I please. Tell me +his name, and where you think it likely he may be found, and depend upon +it I will bring him to you." + +"Perhaps," continued he, "it is your husband disguised as a servant; but +no matter. Give me a clue, and I'll warrant you he shall tell you the +rest himself by this time to-morrow." + +"Well, then," replied I, "he is in the Pavilion of Flora." + +"What, with the Princesse de Lamballe? Oh, I would go through fire and +water for that good Princess! She has done me the honour to stand +godmother to one of my children, and allows her a pension." + +I took him at his word. We changed our quarters to his father's house, a +very neat little cottage, about a quarter of a mile from the town. He +afterwards rendered me many services in going to and fro from Passy to +Paris; and, as he promised, brought me my servant. + +When the poor fellow arrived, his arm was in a sling. He had been +wounded by a musket shot, received in defence of the Princess. The +history of his disaster was this: + +On the night of the riot, as he was going from the Pont Royal to the +apartment of Her Highness, he detected a group of villains under her +windows. Six of them were attempting to enter by a ladder. He fired, +and two fell. While he was reloading, the others shot at him. Had he +not, in the flurry of the moment, fired both his pistols at the same +time, he thinks he should not have been wounded, but might have punished +the assailant. One of the men, he said, could have been easily taken by +the national guard, who so glaringly encouraged the escape that he could +almost swear the guard was a party concerned. The loss of blood had so +exhausted him that he could not pursue the offender himself, whom +otherwise he could have taken without any difficulty. + +As the employing of my servant had only been proposed, and the sudden +interruption of my conversation with Her Highness by the riot had +prevented my ever communicating the project to him, I wondered how he got +into the business, or ascertained so soon that the apartment of the +Princess was in danger. He explained that he never had heard of its +being so; but my own coachman having left me at the palace that day, and +not hearing of me for some time, had driven home, and, fearing that my +not returning arose from something which had happened, advised him to go +to the Pont Royal and hear what he could learn, as there was a report of +many persons having been murdered and thrown over the bridge. + +My man took the advice, and armed himself to be ready in case of attack. +It was between one and two o'clock after midnight when he went. The +first objects he perceived were these miscreants attempting to scale the +palace. + +He told me that the Queen had been most grossly insulted; that the gates +of the Tuileries had been shut in consequence; that a small part alone +remained open to the public, who were kept at their distance by a +national ribbon, which none could pass without being instantly arrested. +This had prevented his apprising the Princess of the attempt which he had +accidentally defeated, and which he wished me to communicate to her +immediately. I did so by letter, which my good driver carried to Paris, +and delivered safe into the hands of our benefactress. + +The surprise of the Princess on hearing from me, and her pleasure at my +good fortune in finding by accident such means, baffles all description. +Though she was at the time overwhelmed with the imminent dangers which +threatened her, yet she still found leisure to show her kindness to those +who were doing their best, though in vain, to serve her. The following +letter, which she sent me in reply, written amidst all the uneasiness it +describes, will speak for her more eloquently than my praises: + +"I can understand your anxiety. It was well for you that you were +unconscious of the dreadful scenes which were passing around you on that +horrid day. The Princesse de Tarente, Madame de Tourzel, Madame de +Mockau, and all the other ladies of the household owed the safety of +their lives to one of the national guards having given his national +cockade to the Queen. Her Majesty placed it on her head, unperceived by +the mob. One of the gentlemen of the King's wardrobe provided the King +and the Princesse Elizabeth with the same impenetrable shield. Though +the cannibals came for murder, I could not but admire the enthusiastic +deference that was shown to this symbol of authority, which instantly +paralyzed, the daggers uplifted for our extermination. + +"Merlin de Thionville was the stoic head of this party. The Princesse +Elizabeth having pointed him out to me, I ventured to address him +respecting the dangerous situation to which the Royal Family were daily +exposed. I flattered him upon his influence over the majority of the +faubourgs, to which only we could look for the extinction of these +disorders. He replied that the despotism of the Court had set a bad +example to the people; that he felt for the situation of the royal party +as individuals, but he felt much more for the safety of the French +nation, who were in still greater danger than Their Majesties had to +dread, from the Austrian faction, by which a foreign army had been +encouraged to invade the territory of France, where they were now waiting +the opportunity of annihilating French liberty forever! + +"To this Her Majesty replied, 'When the deputies of the Assembly have +permitted, nay, I may say, encouraged this open violation of the King's +asylum, and, by their indifference to the safety of all those who +surround us, have sanctioned the daily insults to which we have been, and +still are, exposed, it is not to be wondered, at that all Sovereigns +should consider it their interest to make common cause with us, to crush +internal commotions, levelled, not only against the throne, and the +persons of the Sovereign and his family, but against the very principle +of monarchy itself.' + +"Here the King, though much intimidated for the situation of the Queen +and his family, for whose heads the wretches were at that very moment +howling in their ears, took up the conversation. + +"'These cruel facts,' said he, 'and the menacing situation you even now +witness, fully justify our not rejecting foreign aid, though God knows +how deeply I deplore the necessity of such a cruel resource! But, when +all internal measures of conciliation have been trodden under foot, and +the authorities, who ought to check it and protect us from these cruel +outrages, are only occupied in daily fomenting the discord between us and +our subjects; though a forlorn hope, what other hope is there of safety? +I foresee the drift of all these commotions, and am resigned; but what +will become of this misguided nation, when the head of it shall be +destroyed?' + +"Here the King, nearly choked by his feelings, was compelled to pause for +a moment, and he then proceeded. + +"'I should not feel it any sacrifice to give up the guardianship of the +nation, could I, in so doing, insure its future tranquillity; but I +foresee that my blood, like that of one of my unhappy brother +Sovereigns,--[Charles the First, of England.]--will only open the +flood-gates of human misery, the torrent of which, swelled with the best +blood of France, will deluge this once peaceful realm.' + +"This, as well as I can recollect, is the substance of what passed at the +castle on this momentous day. Our situation was extremely doubtful, and +the noise and horrid riots were at times so boisterous, that frequently +we could not, though so near them, distinguish a word the King and Queen +said; and yet, whenever the leaders of these organized ruffians spoke or +threatened, the most respectful stillness instantly prevailed. + +"I weep in silence for misfortunes, which I fear are inevitable! The +King, the Queen, the Princesse Elizabeth and myself, with many others +under this unhappy roof, have never ventured to undress or sleep in bed, +till last night. None of us any longer reside on the ground floor. + +"By the very manly exertions of some of the old officers incorporated in +the national army, the awful riot I have described was overpowered, and +the mob, with difficulty, dispersed. Among these, I should particularize +Generals de Vomenil, de Mandat, and de Roederer. Principally by their +means the interior of the Tuileries was at last cleared, though partial +mobs, such as you have often witnessed, still subsist. + +"I am thus particular in giving you a full account of this last +revolutionary commotion, that your prudence may still keep you at a +distance from the vortex. Continue where you are, and tell your man +servant how much I am obliged to him, and, at the same time, how much I +am grieved at his being wounded! I knew nothing of the affair but from +your letter and your faithful messenger. He is an old pensioner of mine, +and a good honest fellow. You may depend on him. Serve yourself, +through him, in communicating with me. Though he has had a limited +education, he is not wanting in intellect. Remember that honesty, in +matters of such vital import, is to be trusted before genius. + +"My apartment appears like a barrack, like a bear garden, like anything +but what it was! Numbers of valuable things have been destroyed, numbers +carried off. Still, notwithstanding all the horrors of these last days, +it delights me to be able to tell you that no one in the service of the +Royal Family failed in duty at this dreadful crisis. I think we may +firmly rely on the inviolable attachment of all around us. No jealousy, +no considerations of etiquette, stood in the way of their exertions to +show themselves worthy of the situations they hold. The Queen showed the +greatest intrepidity during the whole of these trying scenes. + +"At present, I can say no more. Petion, the Mayor of Paris, has just +been announced; and, I believe, he wishes for an audience of Her Majesty, +though he never made his appearance during the whole time of the riots in +the palace. Adieu, mia cara Inglesina!" + +The receipt of this letter, however it might have affected me to hear +what Her Highness suffered, in common with the rest of the unfortunate +royal inmates of the Tuileries, gave me extreme pleasure from the +assurance it contained of the firmness of those nearest to the sufferers. +I was also sincerely gratified in reflecting on the probity and +disinterested fidelity of this worthy man, which contrasted him, so +strikingly and so advantageously to himself, with many persons of birth +and education, whose attachment could not stand the test of the trying +scenes of the Revolution, which made them abandon and betray, where they +had sworn an allegiance to which they were doubly bound by gratitude. + +My man servant was attended, and taken the greatest care of. The +Princess never missed a day in sending to inquire after his health; and, +on his recovery, the Queen herself not only graciously condescended to +see him, but, besides making him a valuable present, said many flattering +and obliging things of his bravery and disinterestedness. + +I should scarcely have deemed these particulars honourable as they are to +the feelings of the illustrious personages from whom they +proceeded--worth mentioning in a work of this kind, did they not give +indications of character rarely to be met with (and, in their case, how +shamefully rewarded!), from having occurred at a crisis when their minds +were occupied in affairs of such deep importance, and amidst the +appalling dangers which hourly threatened their own existence. + +Her Majesty's correspondence with foreign Courts had been so much +increased by these scenes of horror, especially her correspondence with +her relations in Italy, that, ere long, I was sent for back to Paris. + + + + +SECTION XV. + +Journal of the Princess resumed and concluded: + + +"The insurrection of the 20th of June, and the uncertain state of the +safety of the Royal Family, menaced as it was by almost daily riots, +induced a number of well-disposed persons to prevail on General La +Fayette to leave his army and come to Paris, and there personally +remonstrate against these outrages. Had he been sincere he would have +backed the measure by appearing at the head of his army, then +well-disposed, as Cromwell did when he turned out the rogues who were +seeking the Lord through the blood of their King, and put the keys in his +pocket. Violent disorders require violent remedies. With an army and a +few pieces of cannon at the door of the Assembly, whose members were +seeking the aid of the devil, for the accomplishment of their horrors, he +might, as was done when the same scene occurred in England in 1668, by +good management; have averted the deluge of blood. But, by appearing +before the Assembly isolated, without 'voila mon droit,' which the King +of Prussia had had engraven on his cannon, he lost the opinion of all +parties. + +[In this instance the general grossly committed himself, in the opinion +of every impartial observer of his conduct. He should never have shown +himself in the capital, but at the head of his army. France, +circumstanced as it was, torn by intestine commotion, was only to be +intimidated by the sight of a popular leader at the head of his forces. +Usurped authority can only be quashed by the force of legitimate +authority. La Fayette being the only individual in France that in +reality possessed such an authority, not having availed himself at a +crisis like the one in which he was called upon to act, rendered his +conduct doubtful, and all his intended operations suspicious to both +parties, whether his feelings were really inclined to prop up the fallen +kingly authority, or his newly-acquired republican principles prompted +him to become the head of the democratical party, for no one can see into +the hearts of men; his popularity from that moment ceased to exist.] + +"La Fayette came to the palace frequently, but the King would never see +him. He was obliged to return, with the additional mortification of +having been deceived in his expected support from the national guard of +Paris, whose pay had been secretly trebled by the National Assembly, in +order to secure them to itself. His own safety, therefore, required that +he should join the troops under his command. He left many persons in +whom he thought he could confide; among whom were some who came to me one +day requesting I would present them to the Queen without loss of time, as +a man condemned to be shot had confessed to his captain that there was a +plot laid to murder Her Majesty that very night. + +"I hastened to the royal apartment, without mentioning the motive; but +some such catastrophe was no more than what we incessantly expected, from +the almost hourly changes of the national guard, for the real purpose of +giving easy access to all sorts of wretches to the very rooms of the +unfortunate Queen, in order to furnish opportunities for committing the +crime with impunity. + +"After I had seen the Queen, the applicants were introduced, and, in my +presence, a paper was handed by them to Her Majesty. At the moment she +received it, I was obliged to leave her for the purpose of watching an +opportunity for their departure unobserved. These precautions were +necessary with regard to every person who came to us in the palace, +otherwise the jealousy of the Assembly and its emissaries and the +national guard of the interior might have been alarmed, and we should +have been placed under express and open surveillance. The confusion +created by the constant change of guard, however, stood us in good stead +in this emergency. Much passing and repassing took place unheeded in the +bustle. + +"When the visitors had departed, and Her Majesty at one window of the +palace, and I at another, had seen them safe over the Pont Royal, I +returned to Her Majesty. She then graciously handed me the paper which +they had presented. + +"It contained an earnest supplication, signed by many thousand good +citizens, that the King and Queen would sanction the plan of sending the +Dauphin to the army of La Fayette. They pledged themselves, with the +assistance of the royalists, to rescue the Royal Family. They, urged +that if once the King could be persuaded to show himself at the head of +his army, without taking any active part, but merely for his own safety +and that of his family, everything might be accomplished with the +greatest tranquillity. + +"The Queen exclaimed, 'What! send my child! No! never while I breathe! + +[Little did this unfortunate mother think that they, who thus pretended +to interest themselves for this beautiful, angelic Prince only a few +months before, would, when she was in her horrid prison after the +butchery of her husband, have required this only comfort to be violently +torn from her maternal arms! + +Little, indeed, did she think, when her maternal devotedness thus +repelled the very thought of his being trusted to myriads of sworn +defenders, how soon he would be barbarously consigned by the infamous +Assembly as the foot-stool of the inhuman savage cobbler, Simon, to be +the night-boy of the excrements of the vilest of the works of human +nature!] + +Yet were I an independent Queen, or the regent of a minority, I feel that +I should be inclined to accept the offer, to place myself at the head of +the army, as my immortal mother did, who, by that step, transmitted the +crown of our ancestors to its legitimate descendants. It is the monarchy +itself which now requires to be asserted. Though D'ORLEANS is actively +engaged in attempting the dethronement of His Majesty, I do not think the +nation will submit to such a Prince, or to any other monarchical +government, if the present be decidedly destroyed. + +"'All these plans, my dear Princess,' continued she, 'are mere castles in +the air. The mischief is too deeply rooted. As they have already +frantically declared for the King's abdication, any strong measure now, +incompetent as we are to assure its success, would at once arm the +advocates of republicanism to proclaim the King's dethronement. + +"'The cruel observations of Petion to His Majesty, on our ever memorable +return from Varennes, have made a deeper impression than you are aware +of. When the King observed to him, "What do the French nation want?"--"A +republic," replied he. And though he has been the means of already +costing us some thousands, to crush this unnatural propensity, yet I +firmly believe that he himself is at the head of all the civil disorders +fomented for its attainment. I am the more confirmed in this opinion +from a conversation I had with the good old man, M. De Malesherbes, who +assured me the great sums we were lavishing on this man were thrown away, +for he would be certain, eventually, to betray us: and such an inference +could only have been drawn from the lips of the traitor himself. Petion +must have given Malesherbes reason to believe this. I am daily more and +more convinced it will be the case. Yet, were I to show the least energy +or activity in support of the King's authority, I should then be accused +of undermining it. All France would be up in arms against the danger of +female influence. The King would only be lessened in the general opinion +of the nation, and the kingly authority still more weakened. Calm +submission to His Majesty is, therefore, the only safe, course for both +of us, and we must wait events.' + +"While Her Majesty was thus opening her heart to me, the King and +Princesse Elizabeth entered, to inform her that M. Laporte, the head of +the private police, had discovered, and caused to be arrested, some of +the wretches who had maliciously attempted to fire the palace of the +Tuileries. + +"'Set them at liberty!' exclaimed Her Majesty; 'or, to clear themselves +and their party, they will accuse us of something worse.' + +"'Such, too, is my opinion, Sire,' observed I; 'for however I abhor their +intentions, I have here a letter from one of these miscreants which was +found among the combustibles. It cautions us not to inhabit the upper +part of the Pavilion. My not having paid the attention which was +expected to the letter, has aroused the malice of the writer, and caused +a second attempt to be made from the Pont Royal upon my own apartment; in +preventing which, a worthy man has been cruelly wounded in the arm.' + +"'Merciful Heaven!' exclaimed the poor Queen and the Princesse Elizabeth, +I not dangerously, I hope! + +"'I hope not,' added I; 'but the attempt, and its escaping unpunished, +though there were guards all around, is a proof how perilous it will be, +while we are so weak, to kindle their rancour by any show of impotent +resentment; for I have reason to believe it was to that, the want of +attention to the letter of which I speak was imputed.' + +"The Queen took this opportunity, of laying before the King the +above-mentioned plan. His Majesty, seeing it in the name of La Fayette, +took up the paper, and, after he had attentively perused it, tore it in +pieces, exclaiming, 'What! has not M. La Fayette done mischief enough +yet, but must he even expose the names of so many worthy men by +committing them to paper at a critical period like this, when he is fully +aware that we are in immediate danger of being assailed by a banditti of +inhuman cannibals, who would sacrifice every individual attached to us, +if, unfortunately, such a paper should be found? I am determined to have +nothing to do with his ruinous plans. Popularity and ambition made him +the principal promoter of republicanism. Having failed of becoming a +Washington, he is mad to become a Cromwell. I have no faith in these +turncoat constitutionalists.' + +"I know that the Queen heartily concurred in this sentiment concerning +General La Fayette, as soon as she ascertained his real character, and +discovered that he considered nothing paramount to public notoriety. To +this he had sacrificed the interest of his country, and trampled under +foot the throne; but finding he could not succeed in forming a Republican +Government in France as he had in America, he, like many others, lost his +popularity with the demagogues, and, when too late, came to offer his +services, through me, to the Queen, to recruit a monarchy which his +vanity had undermined to gratify, his chimerical ambition. Her Majesty +certainly saw him frequently, but never again would she put herself in +the way of being betrayed by one whom she considered faithless to all." + +[Thus ended the proffered services of General La Fayette, who then took +the command of the national army, served against that of the Prince de +Conde, and the Princes of his native country, and was given up with +General Bournonville, De Lameth, and others, by General Dumourier, on the +first defeat of the French, to the Austrians, by whom they were sent to +the fortress of Olmutz in Hungary, where they remained till after the +death of the wretch Robespierre, when they were exchanged for the +Duchesse d'Angouleme, now Dauphine of France. + +From the retired life led by General La Fayette on his return to France, +there can be but little doubt that he spent a great part of his time in +reflecting on the fatal errors of his former conduct, as he did not +coincide with any of the revolutionary principles which preceded the +short-lived reign of imperialism. But though Napoleon too well knew him +to be attached from principle to republicanism--every vestige of which he +had long before destroyed--to employ him in any military capacity, still +he recalled him from his hiding-place, in order to prevent his doing +mischief, as he politically did--every other royalist whom he could bring +under the banners of his imperialism. + +Had Napoleon made use of his general knowledge of mankind in other +respects, as he politically did in France over his conquered subjects, in +respecting ancient habits, and gradually weaned them from their natural +prejudices instead of violently forcing all men to become Frenchmen, all +men would have fought for him, and not against him. These were the +weapons by which his power became annihilated, and which, in the end, +will be the destruction of all potentates who presume to follow his +fallacious plan of forming individuals to a system instead of +accommodating systems to individuals. The fruits from Southern climes +have been reared in the North, but without their native virtue or vigour. +It is more dangerous to attack the habits of men than their religion. + +The British Constitution, though a blessing to Englishmen, is very +ill-suited to nations not accustomed to the climate and its variations. +Every country has peculiarities of thought and manners resulting from the +physical influence of its sky and soil. Whenever we lose sight of this +truth, we naturally lose the affections of those whose habits we +counteract.] + +Here ends the Journal of my lamented benefactress. I have continued the +history to the close of her career, and that of the Royal Family, +especially as Her Highness herself acted so important a part in many of +the scenes, which are so strongly illustrated by her conversation and +letters. It is only necessary to add that the papers which I have +arranged were received from Her Highness amidst the disasters which were +now thickening around her and her royal friends. + + + + +SECTION XVI. + + +From the time I left Passy till my final departure from Paris for Italy, +which took place on the 2nd of August, 1792, my residence was almost +exclusively at the capital. The faithful driver, who had given such +proofs of probity, continued to be of great service, and was put in +perpetual requisition. I was daily about on the business of the Queen +and the Princess, always disguised, and most frequently as a drummerboy; +on which occasions the driver and my man servant were my companions. My +principal occupation was to hear and take down the debates of the +Assembly, and convey and receive letters from the Queen to the Princesse +de Lamballe, to and from Barnave, Bertrand de Moleville, Alexandre de +Lameth, Deport de Fertre, Duportail, Montmorin, Turbo, De Mandat, the Duc +de Brissac, etc., with whom my illustrious patronesses kept up a +continued correspondence, to which I believe all of them fell a +sacrifice; for, owing to the imprudence of the King in not removing their +communications when he removed the rest of his papers from the Tuileries, +the exposure of their connections with the Court was necessarily +consequent upon the plunder of the palace on the 10th of August, 1792. + +In my masquerade visits to the Assembly, I got acquainted with an editor +of one of the papers; I think he told me his name was Duplessie. Being +pleased with the liveliness of my remarks on some of the organized +disorders, as I termed them, and with some comments I made upon the +meanness of certain disgusting speeches on the patriotic gifts, my new +acquaintance suffered me to take copies of his own shorthand remarks and +reports. By this means the Queen and the Princess had them before they +appeared in print. M. Duplessie was on other occasions of great service +to me, especially as a protector in the mobs, for my man servant and the +honest driver were so much occupied in watching the movements of the +various faubourg factions, that I was often left entirely unattended. + +The horrors of the Tuileries, both by night and day, were now grown +appallingly beyond description. Almost unendurable as they had been +before, they were aggravated by the insults of the national guard to +every passenger to and from the palace. I was myself in so much peril, +that the Princess thought it necessary to procure a trusty person, of +tried courage, to see me through the throngs, with a large bandbox of all +sorts of fashionable millinery, as the mode of ingress and egress least +liable to excite suspicion. + +Thus equipped, and guarded by my cicisbeo, I one day found myself, on +entering the Tuileries, in the midst of an immense mob of regular trained +rioters, who, seeing me go towards the palace, directed their attention +entirely to me. They took me for some one belonging to the Queen's +milliner, Madame Bertin, who, they said, was fattening upon the public +misery, through the Queen's extravagance. The poor Queen herself they +called by names so opprobious that decency will not suffer me to repeat +them. + +With a volley of oaths, pressing upon us, they bore us to another part of +the garden, for the purpose of compelling us to behold six or eight of +the most infamous outcasts, amusing themselves, in a state of exposure, +with their accursed hands and arms tinged with blood up to the elbows. +The spot they had chosen for this exhibition of their filthy persons was +immediately before the windows of the apartments of the Queen and the +ladies of the Court. Here they paraded up and down, to the great +entertainment of a throng of savage rebels, by whom they were applauded +and encouraged with shouts of "Bis! bis!" signifying in English," Again! +again!" + +The demoniac interest excited by this scene withdrew the attention of +those who were enjoying it from me, and gave me the opportunity of +escaping unperceived, merely with the loss of my bandbox. Of that the +infuriated mob made themselves masters; and the hats, caps, bonnets, and +other articles of female attire, were placed on the parts of their +degraded carcases, which, for the honour of human nature, should have +been shot. + +Overcome with agony at these insults, I burst from the garden in a flood +of tears. On passing the gate, I was accosted by a person who exclaimed +in a tone of great kindness, "Qu'as tu, ma bonne? qu'est ce qui vous +afflige?" Knowing the risk I should run in representing the real cause +of my concern, I immediately thought of ascribing it to the loss of the +property of which I had been plundered. I told him I was a poor +milliner, and had been robbed of everything I possessed in the world by +the mob. "Come back with me," said he, "and I will have it restored to +you." I knew it was of no avail, but policy stimulated me to comply; and +I returned with him into the garden toward the palace. + +What should I have felt, had I been aware, when this man came up, that I +was accosted by the villain Danton! The person who was with me knew him, +but dared not speak, and watched a chance of escaping in the crowd for +fear of being discovered. When I looked round and found myself alone, I +said I had lost my brother in the confusion, which added to my grief. + +"Oh, never mind," said Danton; "take hold of my arm; no one shall molest +you. We will look for your brother, and try to recover your things;" and +on we went together: I, weeping, I may truly say, for my life, stopped at +every step, while he related my doleful story to all whose curiosity was +excited by my grief. + +On my appearing arm in arm with Danton before the windows of the Queen's +apartments, we were observed by Her Majesty and the Princesses. Their +consternation and perplexity, as well as alarm for my safety, may readily +be conceived. A signal from the window instantly apprised me that I +might enter the palace, to which my return had been for some time +impatiently expected. + +Finding it could no longer be of any service to carry on the farce of +seeking my pretended brother, I begged to be escorted out of the mob to +the apartments of the Princesse de Lamballe. + +"Oh," said Danton, "certainly! and if you had only told the people that +you were going to that good Princess, I am sure your things would not +have been taken from you. But," added he, "are you perfectly certain +they were not for that detestable Marie Antoinette?" + +"Oh!" I replied, "quite, quite certain!" All this while the mob was at +my heels. + +"Then," said he, "I will not leave you till you are safe in the +apartments of the Princesse de Lamballe, and I will myself make known to +her your loss: she is so good," continued he, "that I am convinced she +will make you just compensation." + +I then told him how much I should be obliged by his doing so, as I had +been commissioned to deliver the things, and if I was made to pay for +them, the loss would be more serious than I could bear. + +"Bah! bah!" exclaimed he. "Laissez moi faire! Laissez moi faire!" + +When he came to the inner door, which I pretended to know nothing about, +he told the gentleman of the chamber his name, and said he wished to see +his mistress. + +Her Highness came in a few minutes, and from her looks and visible +agitation at the sight of Danton, I feared she would have betrayed both +herself and me. However, while he was making a long preamble, I made +signs, from which she inferred that all was safe. + +When Danton had finished telling her the story, she calmly said to me, +"Do you recollect, child, the things you have been robbed of?" + +I replied that, if I had pen and ink, I could even set down the prices. + +"Oh, well, then, child, come in," said Her Highness, "and we will see +what is to be done!" + +"There!" exclaimed Danton; "Did I not tell you this before?" Then, +giving me a hearty squeeze of the hand, he departed, and thus terminated +the millinery speculation, which, I have no doubt, cost Her Highness a +tolerable sum. + +As soon as he was gone, the Princess said, "For Heaven's sake, tell me +the whole of this affair candidly; for the Queen has been in the greatest +agitation at the bare idea of your knowing Danton, ever since we first +saw you walking with him! He is one of our moat inveterate enemies." + +I said that if they had but witnessed one half of the scenes that I saw, +I was sure their feelings would have been shocked beyond description. "We +did not see all, but we heard too much for the ears of our sex." + +I then related the particulars of our meeting to Her Highness, who +observed, "This accident, however unpleasant, may still turn out to our +advantage. This fellow believes you to be a marchande de modes, and the +circumstance of his having accompanied you to my apartment will enable +you, in future, to pass to and from the Pavilion unmolested by the +national guard." + +With tears of joy in her eyes for my safety, she could not, however, help +laughing when I told her the farce I kept up respecting the loss of my +brother, and my bandbox with the millinery, for which I was also soon +congratulated most graciously by Her Majesty, who much applauded my +spirit and presence of mind, and condescended, immediately, to entrust me +with letters of the greatest importance, for some of the most +distinguished members of the Assembly, with which I left the palace in +triumph, but taking care to be ready with a proper story of my losses. + +When I passed the guard-room, I was pitied by the very wretches, who, +perhaps, had already shared in the spoils; and who would have butchered +me, no doubt, into the bargain, could they have penetrated the real +object of my mission. They asked me if I had been paid for the loss I +sustained. I told them I had not, but I was promised that it should be +settled. + +"Settled!" said one of the wretches. "Get the money as soon as you can. +Do not trust to promises of its being settled. They will all be settled +themselves soon!" + +The next day, on going to the palace, I found the Princesse de Lamballe +in the greatest agitation, from the accounts the Court had just received +of the murder of a man belonging to Arthur Dillon, and of the massacres +at Nantes. + +"The horrid prints, pamphlets, and caricatures," cried she, "daily +exhibited under the very windows of the Tuileries, against His Majesty, +the Queen, the Austrian party, and the Coblentz party, the constant +thwarting of every plan, and these last horrors at Nantes, have so +overwhelmed the King that he is nearly become a mere automaton. Daily +and nightly execrations are howled in his ears. Look at our boasted +deliverers! The poor Queen, her children, and all of us belonging to the +palace, are in danger of our lives at merely being seen; while they by +whom we have been so long buoyed up with hope are quarrelling amongst +themselves for the honour and etiquette of precedency, leaving us to the +fury of a race of cannibals, who know no mercy, and will have destroyed +us long before their disputes of etiquette can be settled." + +The utterance of Her Highness while saying this was rendered almost +inarticulate by her tears. + +"What support against internal disorganization," continued she, "is to be +expected from so disorganized a body as the present army of different +nations, having all different interests?" + +I said there was no doubt that the Prussian army was on its march, and +would soon be joined by that of the Princes and of Austria. + +"You speak as you wish, mia cara Inglesina, but it is all to no purpose. +Would to God they had never been applied to, never been called upon to +interfere. Oh, that Her Majesty could have been persuaded to listen to +Dumourier and some other of the members, instead of relying on succours +which, I fear, will never enter Paris in our lifetime! No army can +subdue a nation; especially a nation frenzied by the recent recovery of +its freedom and independence from the shackles of a corrupt and weak +administration. The King is too good; the Queen has no equal as to +heart; but they have both been most grossly betrayed. The royalists on +one side, the constitutionalists on the other, will be the victims of the +Jacobins, for they are the most powerful, they are the most united, they +possess the most talent, and they act in a body, and not merely for the +time being. Believe me, my dear, their plans are too well grounded to be +defeated, as every one framed by the fallacious constitutionalists and +mad-headed royalists has been; and so they will ever be while they +continue to form two separate interests. From the very first moment when +these two bodies were worked upon separately, I told the Queen that, till +they were united for the same object, the monarchy would be unsafe, and +at the mercy of the Jacobins, who, from hatred to both parties, would +overthrow it themselves to rule despotically over those whom they no +longer respected or feared, but whom they hated, as considering them both +equally their former oppressors. + +"May the All-seeing Power," continued Her Highness, "grant, for the good +of this shattered State, that I may be mistaken, and that my predictions +may prove different in the result; but of this I see no hope, unless in +the strength of our own internal resources. God knows how powerful they +might prove could they be united at this moment! But from the anarchy +and division kept up between them, I see no prospect of their being +brought to bear, except in a general overthrow of this, as you have +justly observed, organized system of disorders, from which at some future +period we may obtain a solid, systematic order of government. Would +Charles the Second ever have reigned after the murder of his father had +England been torn to pieces by different factions? No! It was the union +of the body of the nation for its internal tranquillity, the amalgamation +of parties against domestic faction, which gave vigour to the arm of +power, and enabled the nation to check foreign interference abroad, while +it annihilated anarchy at home. By that means the Protector himself laid +the first stone of the Restoration. The division of a nation is the +surest harbinger of success to its invaders, the death-blow to its +Sovereign's authority, and the total destruction of that innate energy by +which alone a country can obtain the dignity of its own independence." + + + + +SECTION XVII. + + +While Her Highness was thus pondering on the dreadful situation of +France, strengthening her arguments by those historical illustrations, +which, from the past, enabled her to look into the future, a message came +to her from Her Majesty. She left me, and, in a few minutes, returned to +her apartment, accompanied by the Queen and Her Royal Highness the +Princesse Elizabeth. I was greatly surprised at seeing these two +illustrious and august personages bathed in tears. Of course, I could +not be aware of any new motive to create any new or extraordinary +emotion; yet there was in the countenances of all of the party an +appearance different from anything I had ever witnessed in them, or any +other person before; a something which seemed to say, they no longer had +any affinity with the rest of earthly beings. + +They had all been just writing to their distant friends and relations. A +fatal presentiment, alas! too soon verified, told them it was for the +last time. + +Her Highness the Princesse de Lamballe now approached me. + +"Her Majesty," observed the Princess, "wishes to give you a mark of her +esteem, in delivering to you, with her own hands, letters to her family, +which it is her intention to entrust to your especial care. + +"On this step Her Majesty has resolved, as much to send you out of the +way of danger, as from the conviction occasioned by the firm reliance +your conduct has created in us, that you will faithfully obey the orders +you may receive, and execute our intentions with that peculiar +intelligence which the emergency of the case requires. + +"But even the desirable opportunity which offers, through you, for the +accomplishment of her mission, might not have prevailed with Her Majesty +to hasten your departure, had not the wretch Danton twice inquired at the +palace for the 'little milliner,' whom he rescued and conducted safe to +the apartments of the Pavilion of Flora. This, probably, may be a matter +of no real consequence whatever; but it is our duty to avoid danger, and +it has been decided that you should, at least for a time, absent Paris. + +"Per cio, mia cara Inglesina, speak now, freely and candidly: is it your +wish to return to England, or go elsewhere? For though we are all sorry +to lose you, yet it would be a source of still greater sorrow to us, +prizing your services and fidelity as we do, should any plans and +purposes of ours lead you into difficulty or embarrassment." + +"Oh, mon Dieu! c'est vrai!" interrupted Her Majesty, her eyes at the +same time filled with tears. + +"I should never forgive myself," continued the Princess, "if I should +prove the cause of any misfortune to you." + +"Nor I!" most graciously subjoined the Queen. + +"Therefore," pursued the Princess, "speak your mind without reserve." + +Here my own feelings, and the sobs of the illustrious party, completely +overcame me, and I could not proceed. The Princesse de Lamballe clasped +me in her arms. "Not only letters," exclaimed she, "but my life I would +trust to the fidelity of my vera, verissima, cara Inglesina! And now," +continued Her Highness, turning round to the Queen, "will it please Your +Majesty to give Inglesina your commands." + +"Here, then," said the Queen, "is a letter for my dear sister, the Queen +of Naples, which you must deliver into her own hands. Here is another +for my sister, the Duchess of Parma. If she should not be at Parma, you +will find her at Colorno. This is for my brother, the Archduke of Milan; +this for my sister-in-law, the Princesse Clotilde Piedmont, at Turin; and +here are four others. You will take off the envelope when you get to +Turin, and then put them into the post yourself. Do not give them to, or +send them by, any person whatsoever. + +"Tell my sisters the state of Paris. Inform them of our cruel situation. +Describe the riots and convulsions you have seen. Above all, assure them +how dear they are to me, and how much I love them." + +At the word love, Her Majesty threw herself on a sofa and wept bitterly. + +The Princesse Elizabeth gave me a letter for her sister, and two for her +aunts, to be delivered to them, if at Rome; but if not, to be put under +cover and sent through the post at Rome to whatever place they might have +made their residence. + +I had also a packet of letters to deliver for the Princesse de Lamballe +at Turin; and another for the Duc de Serbelloni at Milan. + +Her Majesty and the Princesse Elizabeth not only allowed me the honour to +kiss their hands, but they, both gave me their blessing, and good wishes +for my safe return, and then left me with the Princesse de Lamballe. + +Her Majesty had scarcely left the apartment of the Princess, when I +recollected she had forgotten to give me the cipher and the key for the +letters. The Princess immediately went to the Queen's apartment, and +returned with them shortly after. + +"Now that we are alone," said Her Highness, "I will tell you what Her +Majesty has graciously commanded me to signify to you in her royal name. +The Queen commands me to say that you are provided for for life; and +that, on the first vacancy which may occur, she intends fixing you at +Court. + +"Therefore mia cara Inglesina, take especial care what you are about, and +obey Her Majesty's wishes when you are absent, as implicitly as you have +hitherto done all her commands during your abode near her. You are not +to write to any one. No one is to be made acquainted with your route. +You are not to leave Paris in your own carriage. It will be sent after +you by your man servant, who is to join you at Chalon sur Saone. + +"I have further to inform you that Her Majesty the Queen, on sending you +the cipher, has at the same time graciously condescended to add these +presents as further marks of her esteem." + +Her Highness then showed me a most beautiful gold watch, chain and seals. + +"These," said she, placing them with her own hands, "Her Majesty desired +me to put round your neck in testimony of her regard." + +At the same time Her Highness presented me, on her own part, with a +beautiful pocketbook, the covers of which were of gold enamelled, with +the word "SOUVENIR" in diamonds on one side, and a large cipher of her +own initials on the other. The first page contained the names of the +Queen and Her Royal Highness the Princesse Elizabeth, in their own +handwriting. There was a cheque in it on a Swiss banker, at Milan, of +the name of Bonny. + +Having given me these invaluable tokens, Her Highness proceeded with her +instructions. + +"At Chalon," continued she, "mia cara, your man servant will perhaps +bring you other letters. Take two places in the stage for yourself and +your femme de chambre, in her name, and give me the memorandum, that our +old friend, the driver, may procure the passports. You must not be seen; +for there is no doubt that Danton has given the police a full description +of your person. Now go and prepare: we shall see each other again before +your departure." + +Only a few minutes afterwards my man servant came to me to say that it +would be some hours before the stage would set off, and that there was a +lady in her carriage waiting for me in the Bois de Boulogne. I hastened +thither. What was my surprise on finding it was the Princess. I now saw +her for the last time! + +Let me pass lightly over this sad moment. I must not, however, dismiss +the subject, without noticing the visible changes which had taken place +in the short space of a month, in the appearance of all these illustrious +Princesses. Their very complexions were no longer the same, as if grief +had changed the whole mass of their blood. The Queen, in particular, +from the month of July to the 2d of August, looked ten years older. The +other two Princesses were really worn out with fatigue, anxiety, and the +want of rest, as, during the whole month of July, they scarcely ever +slept, for fear of being murdered in their beds, and only threw +themselves on them, now and then, without undressing. The King, three or +four times in the night, would go round to their different apartments, +fearful they might be destroyed in their sleep, and ask, "Etes vous la?" +when they would answer him from within, "Nous sommes encore ici." Indeed, +if, when nature was exhausted, sleep by chance came to the relief of +their worn-out and languid frames, it was only to awaken them to fresh +horrors, which constantly threatened the convulsion by which they were +finally annihilated. + +It would be uncandid in me to be silent concerning the marked difference +I found in the feelings of the two royal sisters of Her Majesty. + +I had never had the honour before to execute any commissions for her +Royal Highness the Duchess of Parma, and, of course, took that city in my +way to Naples. + +I did not reach Parma till after the horrors which had taken place at the +Tuileries on the 10th of August, 1792. The whole of the unfortunate +Royal Family of France were then lodged in the Temple. There was not a +feeling heart in Europe unmoved at their afflicting situation. + +I arrived at Colorno, the country residence of the Duchess of Parma, just +as Her Royal Highness was going out on horseback. + +I ordered my servant to inform one of the pages that I came by express +from Paris, and requested the honour to know when it would be convenient +for Her Royal Highness to allow me a private audience, as I was going, +post-haste, to Rome and Naples. Of course, I did not choose to tell my +business either to my own or Her Royal Highness's servant, being in +honour and duty bound to deliver the letter and the verbal message of her +then truly unfortunate sister in person and in privacy. + +The mention of Paris I saw somewhat startled and confused her. Meantime, +she came near enough to my carriage for me to say to her in German, in +order that none of the servants, French or Italian, might understand, +that I had a letter to deliver into her own hands, without saying from +whom. + +She then desired I would alight, and she soon followed me; and, after +having very graciously ordered me some refreshments, asked me from whom I +had been sent. + +I delivered Her Majesty's letter. Before she opened it, she exclaimed, +"'O Dio! tutto e perduto e troppo tardi'! Oh, God! all is lost, it is +too late!" I then gave her the cipher and the key. In a few minutes I +enabled her to decipher the letter. On getting through it, she again +exclaimed, "'E tutto inutile'! it is entirely useless! I am afraid they +are all lost. I am sorry you are so situated as not to allow of your +remaining here to rest from your fatigue. Whenever you come to Parma, I +shall be glad to see you." + +She then took out her pocket handkerchief, shed a few tears, and said +that, as circumstances were now so totally changed, to answer the letter +might only commit her, her sister, and myself; but that if affairs took +the turn she wished, no doubt, her sister would write again. She then +mounted her horse, and wished me a good journey; and I took leave, and +set off for Rome. + +I must confess that the conduct of the Duchess of Parma appeared to me +rather cold, if not unfeeling. Perhaps she was afraid of showing too +much emotion, and wished to encourage the idea that Princesses ought not +to give way to sensibility, like common mortals. + +But how different was the conduct of the Queen of Naples! She kissed the +letter: she bathed it with her tears! Scarcely could she allow herself +time to decipher it. At every sentence she exclaimed, "Oh, my dear, oh, +my adored sister! What will become of her! My brothers are now both no +more! Surely, she will soon be liberated!" Then, turning suddenly to +me, she asked with eagerness, "Do you not think she will? Oh, Marie, +Marie! why did she not fly to Vienna? Why did she not come to me +instead of writing? Tell me, for God's sake, all you know!" + +I said I knew nothing further of what had taken place at Paris, having +travelled night and day, except what I had heard from the different +couriers, which I had met and stopped on my route; but I hoped to be +better informed by Sir William Hamilton, as all my letters were to be +sent from France to Turin, and thence on to Sir William at Naples; and if +I found no letters with him, I should immediately set off and return to +Turin or Milan, to be as near France as possible for my speedy return if +necessary. I ventured to add that it was my earnest prayer that all the +European Sovereigns would feel the necessity of interesting themselves +for the Royal Family of France, with whose fate the fate of monarchy +throughout Europe might be interwoven. + +"Oh, God of Heaven!" cried the Queen, "all that dear family may ere now +have been murdered! Perhaps they are already numbered among the dead! +Oh, my poor, dear, beloved Marie! Oh, I shall go frantic! I must send +for General Acton." + +Wringing her hands, she pulled the bell, and in a few minutes the general +came. On his entering the apartment, she flew to him like one deprived +of reason. + +"There!" exclaimed she. "There! Behold the fatal consequences!" showing +him the letter. "Louis XVI. is in the state of Charles the First of +England, and my sister will certainly be murdered." + +"No, no, no!" exclaimed the general. "Something will be done. Calm +yourself, madame." Then turning to me, "When," said he, "did you leave +Paris?" + +"When all was lost!" interrupted the Queen. + +"Nay," cried the general; "pray let me speak. All is not lost, you will +find; have but a little patience." + +"Patience!" said the Queen. "For two years I have heard of nothing else. +Nothing has been done for these unfortunate beings." She then threw +herself into a chair. "Tell him!" cried she to me, "tell him! tell +him!" + +I then informed the general that I had left Paris on the 2d of August, +but did not believe at the time, though the daily riots were horrible, +that such a catastrophe could have occurred so soon as eight days after. + +The Queen was now quite exhausted, and General Acton rang the bell for +the lady-in-waiting, who entered accompanied by the Duchesse Curigliano +Marini, and they assisted Her Majesty to bed. + +When she had retired, "Do not," said the general to me, "do not go to Sir +William's to-night. He is at Caserte. You seem too much fatigued." + +"More from grief," replied I, "and reflection on the fatal consequences +that might result to the great personages I have so lately left, than +from the journey." + +"Take my advice," resumed he. "You had much better go to bed and rest +yourself. You look very ill." + +I did as he recommended, and went to the nearest hotel I could find. I +felt no fatigue of mind or body till I had got into bed, where I was +confined for several days with a most violent fever. During my illness I +received every attention both from the Court, and our Ambassador and Lady +Hamilton, who kindly visited me every day. The Queen of Naples I never +again saw till my return in 1793, after the murder of the Queen of +France; and I am glad I did not, for her agony would have acted anew upon +my disordered frame, and might have proved fatal. + +I was certainly somewhat prepared for a difference of feeling between the +two Princesses, as the unfortunate Marie Antoinette, in the letters to +the Queen of Naples, always wrote, "To my much beloved sister, the Queen +of the two Sicilies, etc.," and to the other, merely, "To the Duchess of +Parma, etc." But I could never have dreamt of a difference so little +flattering, under such circumstances, to the Duchess of Parma. + + + + +SECTION XVIII. + + +From the moment of my departure from Paris on the 2d of August, 1792, the +tragedy hastened to its denouement. On the night of the 9th, the tocsin +was sounded, and the King and the Royal Family looked upon their fate as +sealed. Notwithstanding the personal firmness of His Majesty, he was a +coward for others. He dreaded the responsibility of ordering blood to be +shed, even in defence of his nearest and dearest interests. Petion, +however, had given the order to repel force by force to De Mandat, who +was murdered upon the steps of the Hotel de Ville. It has been generally +supposed that Petion had received a bribe for not ordering the cannon +against the Tuileries on the night of the 9th, and that De Mandat was +massacred by the agents of Petion for the purpose of extinguishing all +proof that he was only acting under the instructions of the Mayor. + +I shall not undertake to judge of the propriety of the King's impression +that there was no safety from the insurgents but in the hall, and under +the protection of the Assembly. Had the members been well disposed +towards him, the event might have proved very different. But there is +one thing certain. The Queen would never have consented to this step but +to save the King and her innocent children. She would have preferred +death to the humiliation of being under obligations to her sworn enemies; +but she was overcome by the King declaring, with tears in his eyes, that +he would not quit the palace without her. The Princesses Elizabeth and +de Lamballe fell at her feet, implored Her Majesty to obey the King, and +assured her there was no alternative between instant death and refuge +from it in the Assembly. "Well," said the Queen, "if our lot be death, +let us away to receive it with the national sanction." + +I need not expatiate on the succession of horrors which now overwhelmed +the royal sufferers. Their confinement at the Feuillans, and their +subsequent transfer to the Temple, are all topics sufficiently enlarged +upon by many who were actors in the scenes to which they led. The +Princesse de Lamballe was, while it was permitted, the companion of their +captivity. But the consolation of her society was considered too great +to be continued. Her fate had no doubt been predetermined; and, +unwilling to await the slow proceedings of a trial, which it was thought +politic should precede the murder of her royal mistress, it was found +necessary to detach her from the wretched inmates of the Temple, in order +to have her more completely within the control of the miscreants, who +hated her for her virtues. The expedient was resorted to of casting +suspicion upon the correspondence which Her Highness kept up with the +exterior of the prison, for the purpose of obtaining such necessaries as +were required, in consequence of the utter destitution in which the Royal +Family retired from the Tuileries. Two men, of the names of Devine and +Priquet, were bribed to create a suspicion, by their informations against +the Queen's female attendant. The first declared that on the 18th of +August, while he was on duty near the cell of the King, he saw a woman +about eleven o'clock in the day come from a room in the centre, holding +in one hand three letters, and with the other cautiously opening the door +of the right-hand chamber, whence she presently came back without the +letters and returned into the centre chamber. He further asserted that +twice, when this woman opened the door, he distinctly saw a letter +half-written, and every evidence of an eagerness to hide it from +observation. The second informant, Priquet, swore that, while on duty as +morning sentinel on the gallery between the two towers, he saw, through +the window of the central chamber, a woman writing with great earnestness +and alarm during the whole time he was on guard. + +All the ladies were immediately summoned before the authorities. The +hour of the separation between the Princess and her royal friend accorded +with the solemnity of the circumstance. It was nearly midnight when they +were torn asunder, and they never met again. + +The examinations were all separate. That of the Princesse de Lamballe +was as follows + +Q. Your name? + +A. Marie-Therese-Louise de Savoy, Bourbon Lamballe. + +Q. What do you know of the events which occurred on the 10th of August? + +A. Nothing. + +Q. Where did you pass that day? + +A. As a relative I followed the King to the National Assembly. + +Q. Were you in bed on the nights of the 9th and 10th? + +A. No. + +Q. Where were you then? + +A. In my apartments, at the chateau. + +Q. Did you not go to the apartments of the King in the course of that +night? + +A. Finding there was a likelihood of a commotion, went thither towards +one in the morning. + +Q. You were aware, then, that the people had arisen? + +A. I learnt it from hearing the tocsin. + +Q. Did you see the Swiss and National Guards, who passed the night on +the terrace? + +A. I was at the window, but saw neither. + +Q. Was the King in his apartment when you went thither? + +A. There were a great number of persons in the room, but not the King. + +Q. Did you know of the Mayor of Paris being at the Tuileries? + +A. I heard he was there. + +Q. At what hour did the King go to the National Assembly? + +A. Seven. + +Q. Did he not, before he went, review the troops? Do you know the oath +he made them swear? + +A. I never heard of any oath. + +Q. Have you any knowledge of cannon being mounted and pointed in the +apartments? + +A. No. + +Q. Have you ever seen Messrs. Mandat and d'Affry in the chateau? + +A. No. + +Q. Do you know the secret doors of the Tuileries? + +A. I know of no such doors. + +Q. Have you not, since you have been in the Temple, received and written +letters, which you sought to send away secretly? + +A. I have never received or written any letters, excepting such as have +been delivered to the municipal officer. + +Q. Do you know anything of an article of furniture which is making for +Madame Elizabeth? + +A. No. + +Q. Have you not recently received some devotional books? + +A. No. + +Q. What are the books which you have at the Temple? + +A. I have none. + +Q. Do you know anything of a barred staircase? + +A. No. + +Q. What general officers did you see at the Tuileries, on the nights of +the 9th and 10th? + +A. I saw no general officers, I only saw M. Roederer. + +For thirteen hours was Her Highness, with her female companions in +misfortune, exposed to these absurd forms, and to the gaze of insulting +and malignant curiosity. At length, about the middle of the day, they +were told that it was decreed that they should be detained till further +orders, leaving them the choice of prisons, between that of la Force and +of la Salpetriere. + +Her Highness immediately decided on the former. It was at first +determined that she should be separated from Madame de Tourzel, but +humanity so far prevailed as to permit the consolation of her society, +with that of others of her friends and fellow-sufferers, and for a moment +the Princess enjoyed the only comfort left to her, that of exchanging +sympathy with her partners in affliction. But the cell to which she was +doomed proved her last habitation upon earth. + +On the 1st of September the Marseillois began their murderous operations. +Three hundred persons in two days massacred upwards of a thousand defence +less prisoners, confined under the pretext of malpractices against the +State, or rather devotedness to the royal cause. The spirit which +produced the massacres of the prisons at Paris extended them through the +principal towns and cities all over France. + +Even the universal interest felt for the Princesse de Lamballe was of no +avail against this frenzy. I remember once (as if it were from a +presentiment of what was to occur) the King observing to her, "I never +knew any but fools and sycophants who could keep themselves clear from +the lash of public censure. How is it, then, that you, my dear Princess, +who are neither, contrive to steer your bark on this dangerous coast +without running against the rocks on which so many good vessels like your +own have been dashed to pieces?" "Oh, Sire," replied Her Highness, "my +time is not yet come--I am not dead yet!" Too soon, and too horribly, her +hour did come! + +The butchery of the prisons was now commenced. The Duc de Penthievre set +every engine in operation to save his beloved daughter-in-law. He sent +for Manuel, who was then Procureur of Paris. The Duke declared that half +his fortune should be Manuel's if he could but save the Princesse de +Lamballe and the ladies who were in the same prison with her from the +general massacre. Manuel promised the Duke that he would instantly set +about removing them all from the reach of the blood-hunters. He began +with those whose removal was least likely to attract attention, leaving +the Princesse de Lamballe, from motives of policy, to the last. + +Meanwhile, other messengers had been dispatched to different quarters for +fear of failure with Manuel. It was discovered by one of these that the +atrocious tribunal,--[Thibaudeau, Hebert, Simonier, etc.]--who sat in +mock judgment upon the tenants of these gloomy abodes, after satiating +themselves with every studied insult they could devise, were to pronounce +the word "libre!" It was naturally presumed that the predestined +victims, on hearing this tempting sound, and seeing the doors at the same +moment set open by the clerks of the infamous court, would dart off in +exultation, and, fancying themselves liberated, rush upon the knives of +the barbarians, who were outside, in waiting for their blood! Hundreds +were thus slaughtered. + +To save the Princess from such a sacrifice, it was projected to prevent +her from appearing before the tribunal, and a belief was encouraged that +means would be devised to elude the necessity. The person who interested +himself for her safety contrived to convey a letter containing these +words: "Let what will happen, for God's sake do not quit your cell. You +will be spared. Adieu." + +Manuel, however, who knew not of this cross arrangement, was better +informed than its projector. + +He was aware it would be impossible for Her Highness to escape from +appearing before the tribunal. He had already removed her companions. +The Princesse de Tarente, the Marquise de Tourzel, her daughter, and +others, were in safety. But when, true to his promise, he went to the +Princesse de Lamballe, she would not be prevailed upon to quit her cell. +There was no time for parley. The letter prevailed, and her fate was +inevitable. + +The massacre had begun at daybreak. The fiends had been some hours busy +in the work of death. The piercing shrieks of the dying victims brought +the Princess and her remaining companion upon their knees, in fervent +prayer for the souls of the departed. The messengers of the tribunal now +appeared. The Princess was compelled to attend the summons. She went, +accompanied by her faithful female attendant. + +A glance at the seas of blood, of which she caught a glimpse upon her way +to the Court, had nearly shocked her even to sudden death. Would it had! +She staggered, but was sustained by her companion. Her courage +triumphed. She appeared before the gore-stained tribunes. + +After some questions of mere form, Her Highness was commanded to swear to +be faithful to the new order of government, and to hate the King, the +Queen, and royalty. + +"To the first," replied Her Highness, "I willingly submit. To the +second, how can I accede? There is nothing of which I can accuse the +Royal Family. To hate them is against my nature. They are my +Sovereigns. They are my friends and relations. I have served them for +many years, and never have I found reason for the slightest complaint." + +The Princess could no longer articulate. She fell into the arms of her +attendant. The fatal signal was pronounced. She recovered, and, +crossing the court of the prison, which was bathed with the blood of +mutilated victims, involuntarily exclaimed, "Gracious Heaven! What a +sight is this!" and fell into a fit. + +Nearest to her in the mob stood a mulatto, whom she had caused to be +baptized, educated, and maintained; but whom, for ill-conduct, she had +latterly excluded from her presence. This miscreant struck at her with +his halbert. The blow removed her cap. Her luxuriant hair (as if to +hide her angelic beauty from the sight of the murderers, pressing +tiger-like around to pollute that form, the virtues of which equalled its +physical perfection)--her luxuriant hair fell around and veiled her a +moment from view. An individual, to whom I was nearly allied, seeing the +miscreants somewhat staggered, sprang forward to the rescue; but the +mulatto wounded him. The Princess was lost to all feeling from the +moment the monster first struck at her. But the demons would not quit +their prey. She expired gashed with wounds. + +Scarcely was the breath out of her body, when the murderers cut off her +head. One party of them fixed it, like that of the vilest traitor, on an +immense pole, and bore it in triumph all over Paris; while another +division of the outrageous cannibals were occupied in tearing her clothes +piecemeal from her mangled corpse. The beauty of that form, though +headless, mutilated and reeking with the hot blood of their foul +crime--how shall I describe it?--excited that atrocious excess of lust, +which impelled these hordes of assassins to satiate their demoniac +passions upon the remains of this virtuous angel. + +This incredible crime being perpetrated, the wretches fastened ropes +round the body, arms, and legs, and dragged it naked through the streets +of Paris, till no vestige remained by which it could be distinguished as +belonging to the human species; and then left it among the hundreds of +innocent victims of that awful day, who were heaped up to putrefy in one +confused and disgusting mass. + +The head was reserved for other purposes of cruelty and horror. It was +first borne to the Temple, beneath the windows of the royal prisoners. +The wretches who were hired daily to insult them in their dens of misery, +by proclaiming all the horrors vomited from the national Vesuvius, were +commissioned to redouble their howls of what had befallen the Princesse +de Lamballe. + +[These horrid circumstances I had from the Chevalier Clery, who was the +only attendant allowed to assist Louis XVI. and his unhappy family, +during their last captivity; but who was banished from the Temple as soon +as his royal master was beheaded, and never permitted to return. Clery +told me all this when I met him at Pyrmont, in Germany. He was then in +attendance upon the late Comtesse de Lisle, wife of Louie XVIII., at +whose musical parties I had often the honour of assisting, when on a +visit to the beautiful Duchesse de Guiche. On returning to Paris from +Germany, on my way back into Italy, I met the wife of Clery, and her +friend M. Beaumont, both old friends of mine, who confirmed Clery's +statement, and assured me they were all for two years in hourly +expectation of being sent to the Place de Greve for execution. The death +of Robespierre saved their lives. + +Madame Clery taught Marie Antoinette to play upon the harp. Madame +Beaumont was a natural daughter of Louis XV. I had often occasion to be +in their agreeable society; and, as might be expected, their minds were +stored with the most authentic anecdotes and information upon the topics +of the day.] + +The Queen sprang up at the name of her friend. She heard subjoined to, +it, "la voila en triomphe," and then came shouts and laughter. She +looked out. At a distance she perceived something like a Bacchanalian +procession, and thought, as she hoped, that the Princess was coming to +her in triumph from her prison, and her heart rejoiced in the +anticipation of once more being, blessed with her society. But the King, +who had seen and heard more distinctly from his apartment, flew to that +of the Queen. That the horrid object might not escape observation, the +monsters had mounted upon each other's shoulders so as to lift the +bleeding head quite up to the prison bars. The King came just in time to +snatch Her Majesty from the, spot, and thus she was prevented from seeing +it. He took her up in his arms and carried her to a distant part of the +Temple, but the mob pursued her in her retreat, and howled the fatal +truth even at her, very door, adding that her head would be the next, the +nation would require. Her Majesty fell into violent hysterics. The +butchers of human flesh continued in the interior of the Temple, parading +the triumph of their assassination, until the shrieks of the Princesse +Elizabeth at the state in which she saw the Queen, and serious fears for +the safety of the royal prisoners, aroused the commandant to treble the +national guards and chase the barbarians to the outside, where they +remained for hours. + + + + +SECTION XIX. + + +It now remains for me to complete my record by a few facts and +observations relating to the illustrious victims who a short time +survived the Princesse de Lamballe. I shall add to this painful +narrative some details which have been mentioned to me concerning their +remorseless persecutors, who were not long left unpursued by just and +awful retribution. Having done this, I shall dismiss the subject. + +The execrable and sacrilegious modern French Pharisees, who butchered, on +the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd of September, 1792, all the prisoners at Paris, by +these massacres only gave the signal for the more diabolical machinations +which led to the destruction of the still more sacred victims of the 21st +of January, and the 16th of October, 1793, and the myriads who followed. + +The King himself never had a doubt with regard to his ultimate fate. His +only wish was to make it the means of emancipation for the Queen and +Royal Family. It was his intention to appeal to the National Assembly +upon the subject, after his trial. Such also was the particular wish of +his saint-like sister, the Princesse Elizabeth, who imagined that an +appeal under such circumstances could not be resisted. But the Queen +strongly opposed the measure; and His Majesty said he should be loath, in +the last moments of his painful existence, in anything to thwart one whom +he loved so tenderly. + +He had long accustomed himself, when he spoke of the Queen and royal +infants, in deference to the temper of the times, only to say, "my wife +and children." They, as he told Clery, formed a tie, and the only one +remaining, which still bound him to earth. Their last embraces, he said, +went so to his aching heart, that he could even yet feel their little +hands clinging about him, and see their streaming eyes, and hear their +agonized and broken voices. The day previous to the fatal catastrophe, +when permitted for the last time to see his family, the Princesse +Elizabeth whispered him, not for herself, but for the Queen and his +helpless innocents, to remember his intentions. He said he should not +feel himself happy if, in his last hour, he did not give them a proof of +his paternal affection, in obtaining an assurance that the sacrifice of +his life should be the guarantee of theirs. So intent was his mind upon +this purpose, said Clery to me, that when his assassins came to take him +to the slaughtering-place, he said, "I hope my death will appease the +nation, and that my innocent family, who have suffered on my account, +will now be released." + +The ruffians answered, "The nation, always magnanimous, only seeks to +punish the guilty. You may be assured your family will be respected." +Events have proved how well they kept their word. + +It was to fulfil the intention of recommending his family to the people +with his dying breath that he commenced his address upon the scaffold, +when Santerre ordered the drums to drown his last accents, and the axe +to fall! + +The Princesse Elizabeth, and perhaps others of the royal prisoners, hoped +he would have been reprieved, till Herbert, that real 'Pere du chene', +with a smile upon his countenance, came triumphantly to announce to the +disconsolate family that Louis was no more! + +Perhaps there never was a King more misrepresented and less understood, +especially by the immediate age in which he lived, than Louis XVI. He +was the victim of natural timidity, increased by the horror of bloodshed, +which the exigencies of the times rendered indispensable to his safety. +He appeared weak in intellect, when he was only so from circumstances. An +overwrought anxiety to be just made him hesitate about the mode of +overcoming the abuses, until its procrastination had destroyed the object +of his wishes. He had courage sufficient, as well as decision, where +others were not menaced and the danger was confined to himself; but, +where his family or his people were involved, he was utterly unfit to +give direction. The want of self-sufficiency in his own faculties have +been his, and his throne's, ruin. He consulted those who caused him to +swerve from the path his own better reason had dictated, and, in seeking +the best course, he often chose the worst. + +The same fatal timidity which pervaded his character extended to his +manners. From being merely awkward, he at last became uncouth; but from +the natural goodness of his heart, the nearest to him soon lost sight of +his ungentleness from the rectitude of his intentions, and, to parody the +poet, saw his deportment in his feelings. + +Previous to the Revolution, Louis XVI. was generally considered gentle +and affable, though never polished. But the numberless outrages suffered +by his Queen, his family, his friends, and himself, especially towards +the close of his career, soured him to an air of rudeness, utterly +foreign to his nature and to his intention. + +It must not be forgotten that he lived in a time of unprecedented +difficulty. He was a lamb governing tigers. So far as his own personal +bearing is concerned, who is there among his predecessors, that, replaced +upon the throne, would have resisted the vicissitudes brought about by +internal discord, rebellion, and riot, like himself? What said he when +one of the heterogeneous, plebeian, revolutionary assemblies not only +insulted him, but added to the insult a laugh? "If you think you can +govern better, I am ready to resign," was the mild but firm reply of +Louis. + +How glorious would have been the triumph for the most civilized nation in +the centre of Europe had the insulter taken him at his word. When the +experimentalists did attempt to govern, we all know, and have too +severely felt, the consequences. Yet this unfortunate monarch has been +represented to the world as imbecile, and taxed with wanting character, +firmness, and fortitude, because he has been vanquished! The +despot-conqueror has been vanquished since! + +His acquirements were considerable. His memory was remarkably retentive +and well-stored,--a quality, I should infer from all I have observed, +common to most Sovereigns. By the multiplicity of persons they are in +the habit of seeing, and the vast variety of objects continually passing +through their minds, this faculty is kept in perpetual exercise. + +But the circumstance which probably injured Louis XVI. more than any +other was his familiarity with the locksmith, Gamin. Innocent as was the +motive whence it arose, this low connection lessened him more with the +whole nation than if he had been the most vicious of Princes. How +careful Sovereigns ought to be, with respect to the attention they bestow +on men in humble life; especially those whose principles may have been +demoralized by the meanness of the associations consequent upon their +occupation, and whose low origin may have denied them opportunities of +intellectual cultivation. + +This observation map even be extended to the liberal arts. It does not +follow because a monarch is fond of these that he should so far forget +himself as to make their professors his boon companions. He loses ground +whenever he places his inferiors on a level with himself. Men are +estimated from the deference they pay to their own stations in society. +The great Frederic of Prussia used to sap, "I must show myself a King, +because my trade is royalty." + +It was only in destitution and anguish that the real character of Louis +developed itself. He was firm and patient, utterly regardless of +himself, but wrung to the heart for others, not even excepting his +deluded murderers. Nothing could swerve him from his trust in Heaven, +and he left a glorious example of how far religion can triumph over every +calamity and every insult this world has power to inflict. + +There was a national guard, who, at the time of the imprisonment of the +Royal Family, was looked upon as the most violent of Jacobins, and the +sworn enemy of royalty. On that account the sanguinary agents of the +self-created Assembly employed him to frequent the Temple. His special +commission was to stimulate the King and Royal Family by every possible +argument to self-destruction. + +But this man was a friend in disguise. He undertook the hateful office +merely to render every service in his power, and convey regular +information of the plots of the Assembly against those whom he was +deputed to persecute. The better to deceive his companions, he would +read aloud to the Royal Family all the debates of the regicides, which +those who were with him encouraged, believing it meant to torture and +insult, when the real motive was to prepare them to meet every +accusation, by communicating to them each charge as it occurred. So +thoroughly were the Assembly deceived, that the friendly guard was +allowed free access to the apartments, in order to facilitate, as was +imagined, his wish to agonize and annoy. By this means, he was enabled +to caution the illustrious prisoners never to betray any emotion at what +he read, and to rely upon his doing his best to soften the rigour of +their fate. + +The individual of whom I speak communicated these circumstances to me +himself. He declared, also, that the Duc d'Orleans came frequently to +the Temple during the imprisonment of Louis XVI., but, always in +disguise; and never, till within a few days after the murder of the poor +King, did he disclose himself. On that occasion he had bribed the men +who were accustomed to light the fires, to admit him in their stead to +the apartment of the Princesse Elizabeth. He found her on her knees, in +fervent prayer for the departed soul of her beloved brother. He +performed this office, totally unperceived by this predestined victim; +but his courage was subdued by her piety. He dared not extend the +stratagem to the apartment of the Queen. On leaving the angelic +Princess, he was so overcome by remorse that he: requested my informant +to give him a glass of water, saying, "that woman has unmanned me." It +was by this circumstance he was discovered. + +The Queen was immediately apprised by the good man of the occurrence. + +"Gracious God!" exclaimed Her Majesty, "I thought once or twice that I +had seen him at our miserable dinner hours, occupied with the other +jailers at the outside door. I even mentioned the circumstance to +Elizabeth, and she replied, "I also have observed a man resembling +D'ORLEANS, but it cannot be he, for the man I noticed had a wooden leg." + +"That was the very disguise he was discovered in this morning, when +preparing, or pretending to prepare, the fire in the Princesse +Elizabeth's apartment," replied the national guard. + +"Merciful Heaven!" said the Queen, "is he not yet satisfied? Must he +even satiate his barbarous brutality with being an eye-witness of the +horrid state into which he has thrown us? Save me," continued Her +Majesty, "oh, save me from contaminating my feeble sight, which is almost +exhausted, nearly parched up for the loss of my dear husband, by looking +on him!--Oh, death! come, come and release me from such a sight!" + +"Luckily," observed the guard to me, "it was the hour of the general jail +dinner, and we were alone; otherwise, I should infallibly have been +discovered, as my tears fell faster than those of the Queen, for really +hers seemed to be nearly exhausted: However," pursued he, "that D'ORLEANS +did see the Queen, and that the Queen saw him, I am very sure. From what +passed between them in the month of July, 1793, she was hurried off from +the Temple to the common prison, to take her trial." This circumstance +combined, with other motives, to make the Assembly hasten the Duke's +trial soon after, who had been sent with his young son to Marseilles, +there being no doubt that he wished to rescue the Queen, so as to have +her in his own power. + +On the 16th of October, Her Majesty was beheaded. Her death was +consistent with her life. She met her fate like a Christian, but still +like a Queen. + +Perhaps, had Marie Antoinette been uncontrolled in the exercise of her +judgment, she would have shown a spirit in emergency better adapted to +wrestle with the times than had been discovered by His Majesty. Certain +it is she was generally esteemed the most proper to be consulted of the +two. From the imperfect idea which many of the persons in office +entertained of the King's capacity, few of them ever made any +communication of importance but to the Queen. Her Majesty never kept a +single circumstance from her husband's knowledge, and scarcely decided on +the smallest trifle without his consent; but so thorough was his +confidence in the correctness of her judgment that he seldom, if ever, +opposed her decisions. The Princesse de Lamballe used to say, "Though +Marie Antoinette is not a woman of great or uncommon talents, yet her +long practical knowledge gave her an insight into matters of moment which +she turned to advantage with so much coolness and address amid +difficulties, that I am convinced she only wanted free scope to have +shone in the history of Princes as a great Queen. Her natural tendencies +were perfectly domestic. Had she been kept in countenance by the manners +of the times, or favoured earlier by circumstances, she would have sought +her only pleasures in the family circle, and, far from Court intrigue, +have become the model of her sex and age." + +It is by no means to be wondered at that, in her peculiar situation, +surrounded by a thoughtless and dissipated Court, long denied the natural +ties so necessary to such a heart, in the heyday of youth and beauty, and +possessing an animated and lively spirit, she should have given way in +the earlier part of her career to gaiety, and been pleased with a round +of amusement. The sincere friendship which she afterwards formed for the +Duchesse de Polignac encouraged this predilection. The plot to destroy +her had already been formed, and her enemies were too sharp-sighted and +adroit not to profit and take advantage of the opportunities afforded by +this weakness. The miscreant had murdered her character long, long +before they assailed her person. + +The charge against her of extravagance has been already refuted. Her +private palace was furnished from the State lumber rooms, and what was +purchased, paid for out of her savings. As for her favourites, she never +had but two, and these were no supernumerary expense or encumbrance to +the State. + +Perhaps it would have been better had she been more thoroughly directed +by the Princesse de Lamballe. She was perfectly conscious of her good +qualities, but De Polignac dazzled and humoured her love of amusement and +display of splendour. Though this favourite was the image of her royal +mistress in her amiable characteristics, the resemblance unfortunately +extended to her weaknesses. This was not the case with the Princesse de +Lamballe; she possessed steadiness, and was governed by the cool +foresight of her father-in-law, the Duc de Penthievre, which both the +other friends wanted. + +The unshaken attachment of the Princesse de Lamballe to the Queen, +notwithstanding the slight at which she at one time had reason to feel +piqued, is one of the strongest evidences against the slanderers of Her +Majesty. The moral conduct of the Princess has never been called in +question. Amid the millions of infamous falsehoods invented to vilify +and degrade every other individual connected with the Court, no +imputation, from the moment of her arrival in France, up to the fatal one +of her massacre, ever tarnished her character. To her opinion, then, the +most prejudiced might look with confidence. Certainly no one had a +greater opportunity of knowing the real character of Marie Antoinette. +She was an eye-witness to her conduct during the most brilliant and +luxurious portion of her reign; she saw her from the meridian of her +magnificence down to her dejection to the depths of unparalleled misery. +If the unfortunate Queen had ever been guilty of the slightest of those +glaring vices of which she was so generally accused, the Princess must +have been aware of them; and it was not in her nature to have remained +the friend and advocate, even unto death, of one capable of depravity. +Yet not a breath of discord ever arose between them on that score. Virtue +and vice can never harmonize; and even had policy kept Her Highness from +avowing a change of sentiments, it never could have continued her +enthusiasm, which was augmented, and not diminished, by the fall of her +royal friend. An attachment which holds through every vicissitude must +be deeply rooted from conviction of the integrity of its object. + +The friendship that subsisted between this illustrious pair is an +everlasting monument that honours their sex. The Queen used to say of +her, that she was the only woman she had ever known without gall. "Like +the blessed land of Ireland," observed Her Majesty, "exempt from the +reptiles elsewhere so dangerous to mankind, so was she freed by +Providence from the venom by which the finest form in others is +empoisoned. No envy, no ambition, no desire, but to contribute to the +welfare and happiness of her fellow creatures--and yet, with all these +estimable virtues, these angelic qualities, she is doomed, from her +virtuous attachment to our persons, to sink under the weight of that +affliction, which, sooner or later, must bury us all in one common +ruin--a ruin which is threatening hourly." + +These presentiments of the awful result of impending storms were mutual. +From frequent conversations with the Princesse de Lamballe, from the +evidence of her letters and her private papers, and from many remarks +which have been repeated to me personally by Her Highness, and from +persons in her confidence, there is abundant evidence of the forebodings +she constantly had of her own and the Queen's untimely end. + +[A very remarkable circumstance was related to me when I was at Vienna, +after this horrid murder. The Princess of Lobkowitz, sister to the +Princesse de Lamballe, received a box, with an anonymous letter, telling +her to conceal the box carefully till further notice. After the riots +had subsided a little in France, she was apprised that the box contained +all, or the greater part, of the jewels belonging to the Princess, and +had been taken from the Tuileries on the 10th of August. + +It is supposed that the jewels had been packed by the Princess in +anticipation of her doom, and forwarded to her sister through her agency +or desire.] + +There was no friend of the Queen to whom the King showed any deference, +or rather anything like the deference he paid to the Princesse de +Lamballe. When the Duchesse de Polignac, the Comtesse Diane de Polignac, +the Comte d'Artois, the Duchesse de Guiche, her husband, the present Duc +de Grammont, the Prince of Hesse-Darmstadt, etc., fled from Paris, he and +the Queen, as if they had foreseen the awful catastrophe which was to +destroy her so horribly, entreated her to leave the Court, and take +refuge in Italy. So also did her father-in-law, the Duc de Penthievre; +but all in vain. She saw her friend deprived of De Polignac, and all +those near and dear to her heart, and became deaf to every solicitation. +Could such constancy, which looked death in its worst form in the face +unshrinking, have existed without great and estimable qualities in its +possessor? + +The brother-in-law of the Princesse de Lamballe, the Duc d'Orleans, was +her declared enemy merely from her attachment to the Queen. These three +great victims have been persecuted to the tomb, which had no sooner +closed over the last than the hand of Heaven fell upon their destroyer. +That Louis XVI. was not the friend of this member of his family can +excite no surprise, but must rather challenge admiration. He had been +seduced by his artful and designing regicide companions to expend +millions to undermine the throne, and shake it to pieces under the feet +of his relative, his Sovereign, the friend of his earliest youth, who was +aware of the treason, and who held the thunderbolt, but would not crush +him. But they have been foiled in their hope of building a throne for +him upon the ruin they had made, and placed an age where they flattered +him he would find a diadem. + +The Prince de Conti told me at Barcelona that the Duchesse d'Orleans had +assured him that, even had the Duc d'Orleans survived, he never could +have attained, his object. The immense sums he had lavished upon the +horde of his revolutionary satellites had, previous to his death, thrown +him into embarrassment. The avarice of his party increased as his +resources diminished. The evil, as evil generally does, would have +wrought its own punishment in either way. He must have lived suspected +and miserable, had he not died. But his reckless character did not +desert him at the scaffold. It is said that before he arrived at the +Place de Greve he ate a very rich ragout, and drank a bottle of +champagne, and left the world as he had gone through it. + +The supernumerary, the uncalled-for martyr, the last of the four devoted +royal sufferers, was beheaded the following spring. For this murder +there could not have been the shadow of a pretext. The virtues of this +victim were sufficient to redeem the name of Elizabeth + +[The eighteen years' imprisonment and final murder of Mary, Queen of +Scots, by Elizabeth of England, is enough to stigmatize her forever, +independently of the many other acts of tyranny which stain her memory. +The dethronement by Elizabeth of Russia of the innocent Prince Ivan, her +near relation, while yet in the cradle, gives the Northern Empress a +claim to a similar character to the British Queen.] + +from the stain with which the two of England and Russia, who had already +borne it, had clouded its immortality. She had never, in any way, +interfered in political events. Malice itself had never whispered a +circumstance to her dispraise. After this wanton assassination, it is +scarcely to be expected that the innocent and candid looks and streaming +azure eyes of that angelic infant, the Dauphin, though raised in humble +supplication to his brutal assassins, with an eloquence which would have +disarmed the savage tiger, could have won wretches so much more pitiless +than the most ferocious beasts of the wilderness, or saved him from their +slow but sure poison, whose breath was worse than the upas tree to all +who came within its influence. + +The Duchesse d'Angouleme, the only survivor of these wretched captives, +is a living proof of the baleful influence of that contaminated prison, +the infectious tomb of the royal martyrs. That once lovely countenance, +which, with the goodness and amiableness of her royal father, whose +mildness hung on her lips like the milk and honey of human kindness, +blended the dignity, grace, elegance, and innocent vivacity, which were +the acknowledged characteristics of her beautiful mother, lost for some +time all traces of its original attractions. The lines of deep-seated +sorrow are not easily obliterated. If the sanguinary republic had not +wished to obtain by exchange the Generals La Fayette, Bournonville, +Lameth, etc., whom Dumourier had treacherously consigned into the hands +of Austria, there is little: doubt but that, from the prison in which she +was so long doomed to vegetate only to make life a burthen, she would +have been sent to share the fate of her murdered family. + +How can the Parisians complain that they found her Royal Highness, on her +return to France, by no means what they required in a Princess? Can it +be wondered at that her marked grief should be visible when amidst the +murderers of her family? It should rather be a wonder that she can at +all bear the scenes in which she moves, and not abhor the very name of +Paris, when every step must remind her of some out rage to herself, or +those most dear to her, or of some beloved relative or friend destroyed! +Her return can only be accounted for by the spell of that all-powerful +'amor patriae', which sometimes prevails over every other influence. + +Before I dismiss this subject, it may not be uninteresting to my readers +to receive some desultory anecdotes that I have heard concerning one or +two of the leading monsters, by whom the horrors upon which I have +expatiated were occasioned. + +David, the famous painter, was a member of the sanguinary tribunal which +condemned the King. On this account he has been banished from France +since the restoration. + +If any one deserved this severity, it was David. It was at the expense +of the Court of Louis XVI. that this ungrateful being was sent to Rome, +to perfect himself in his sublime art. His studies finished, he was +pensioned from the same patrons, and upheld as an artist by the special +protection of every member of the Royal Family. + +And yet this man, if he may be dignified by the name, had the baseness to +say in the hearing of the unfortunate Louis XVI., when on trial, "Well! +when are we to have his head dressed, a la guillotine." + +At another time, being deputed to visit the Temple, as one of the +committee of public safety, as he held out his snuff-box before the +Princesse Elizabeth, she, conceiving he meant to offer it, took a pinch. +The monster, observing what she had done, darting a look of contempt at +her, instantly threw away the snuff, and dashed the box to pieces on the +floor. + +Robespierre had a confidential physician, who attended him almost to the +period when he ascended the scaffold, and who was very often obliged, +'malgre-lui', to dine tete-a-tete with this monopolizer of human flesh +and blood. One day he happened to be with him, after a very +extraordinary number had been executed, and amongst the rest, some of the +physician's most intimate acquaintances. + +The unwilling guest was naturally very downcast, and ill at ease, and +could not dissemble his anguish. He tried to stammer out excuses and get +away from the table. + +Robespierre, perceiving his distress, interrogated him as to the cause. + +The physician, putting his hand to his head, discovered his reluctance to +explain. + +Robespierre took him by the hand, assured him he had nothing to fear, and +added, "Come, doctor, you, as a professional man, must be well informed +as to the sentiments of the major part of the Parisians respecting me. I +entreat you, my dear friend, frankly to avow their opinion. It may +perhaps serve me for the future, as a guide for governing them." + +The physician answered, "I can no longer resist the impulse of nature. I +know I shall thereby oppose myself to your power, but I must tell you, +you are generally abhorred,--considered the Attila, the Sylla, of the +age,--the two-footed plague, that, walks about to fill peaceful abodes +with miseries and family mournings. The myriads you are daily sending to +the slaughter at the Place de Greve, who have, committed no crime, the +carts of a certain description, you have ordered daily to bear a stated +number to be sacrificed, directing they should be taken from the prisons, +and, if enough are not in the prisons, seized, indiscriminately in the +streets, that no place in the deadly vehicle may be left unoccupied, and +all this without a trial, without even an accusation, and without any +sanction but your own mandate--these things call the public curse upon +you, which is not the less bitter for not being audible." + +"Ah!" said Robespierre, laughing. "This puts me in mind of a story told +of the cruelty and tyranny, of Pope Sixtus the Fifth, who, having one +night, after he had enjoyed himself at a Bacchanalian supper, when heated +with wine, by way of a 'bonne bouche', ordered the first man that should +come through the gate of the 'Strada del popolo' at Rome to be +immediately hanged. Every person at this drunken conclave--nay, all +Rome--considered the Pope a tyrant, the most cruel of tyrants, till it +was made known and proved, after his death, that the wretch so executed +had murdered his father and mother ten years previously. I know whom I +send to the Place de Greve. All who go there are guilty, though they may +not seem so. Go on, what else have you heard?" + +"Why, that you have so terrified all descriptions of persons, that they +fear even your very breath, and look upon you as worse than the plague; +and I should not be surprised, if you persist in this course of conduct, +if something serious to yourself should be the consequence, and that ere +long." + +Not the least extraordinary part of the story is that this dialogue +between the devil and the doctor took place but a very, few hours +previous to Robespierre's being denounced by Tallien and Carriere to the +national convention, as a conspirator against the republican cause. In +defending himself from being arrested by the guard, he attempted to shoot +himself, but the ball missed, broke the monster's jaw-bone only, and +nearly impeded his speaking. + +Singularly enough, it was this physician who was sent for to assist and +dress his wounds. Robespierre replied to the doctor's observations, +laughing, and in the following language: + +"Oh, poor devils! they do not know their own interest. But my plan of +exterminating the evil will soon teach them. This is the only thing for +the good of the nation; for, before you can reform a thousand Frenchmen, +you must first lop off half a million of these vagabonds, and, if God +spare my life, in a few months there will be so many the less to breed +internal commotions, and disturb the general peace of Europe. + +[When Bonaparte was contriving the Consulship for life, and, in the Irish +way, forced the Italian Republic to volunteer an offer of the Consulship +of Italy, by a deputation to him at Paris, I happened to be there. Many +Italians, besides the deputies, went on the occasion, and, among them, we +had the good fortune to meet the Abbe Fortis, the celebrated naturalist, +a gentleman of first-rate abilities, who had travelled three-fourths of +the globe in mineralogical research. The Abbe chanced one day to be in +company with my husband, who was an old acquaintance of his, where many +of the chopfallen deputies, like themselves, true lovers of their +country, could not help declaring their indignation at its degraded +state, and reprobating Bonaparte for rendering it so ridiculous in the +face of Europe and the world. The Abbe Fords, with the voice of a +Stentor, and spreading his gigantic form, which exceeded six feet in +height, exclaimed: "This would not have been the case had that just and +wise man Robespierre lived but a little longer." + +Every one present was struck with horror at the observation. Noticing the +effect of his words, the Abbe resumed: + +"I knew well I should frighten you in showing any partiality for that +bloody monopoliser of human heads. But you do not know the perfidy of +the French nation so well as I do. I have lived among them many years. +France is the sink of human deception. A Frenchman will deceive his +father, wife, and child; for deception is his element. Robespierre knew +this, and acted upon it, as you shall hear." + +The Abbe then related to us the story I have detailed above, verbatim, as +he had it from the son of Esculapius, who himself confirmed it afterwards +in a conversation with the Abbe in our presence. + +Having completed his anecdote, "Well," said the Abbe, "was I not right in +my opinion of this great philosopher and foreseer of evils, when I +observed that had he but lived a few months longer, there would have been +so many less in the world to disturb its tranquillity?"] + +The same physician observed that from the immense number of executions +during the sanguinary reign of that monster, the Place de Greve became so +complete a swamp of human blood that it would scarcely hold the +scaffolding of the instrument of death, which, in consequence, was +obliged to be continually moved from one side of the square to the other. +Many of the soldiers and officers, who were obliged to attend these +horrible executions, had constantly their half-boots and stockings filled +with the blood of the poor sufferers; and as, whenever there was any +national festival to be given, it generally followed one of the most +sanguinary of these massacres, the public places, the theatres +especially, all bore the tracks of blood throughout the saloons and +lobbies. + +The infamous Carrier, who was the execrable agent of his still more +execrable employer, Robespierre, was left afterwards to join Tallien in a +conspiracy against him, merely to save himself; but did not long survive +his atrocious crimes or his perfidy. + +It is impossible to calculate the vast number of private assassinations +committed in the dead of the night, by order of this cannibal, on persons +of every rank and description. + +My task is now ended. Nothing remains for me but the reflections which +these sad and shocking remembrances cannot fail to awaken in all minds, +and especially in mine. Is it not astonishing that, in an age so +refined, so free from the enormous and flagitious crimes which were the +common stains of barbarous centuries, and at an epoch peculiarly +enlightened by liberal views, the French nation, by all deemed the most +polished since the Christian era, should have given an example of such +wanton, brutal, and coarse depravity to the world, under pretences +altogether chimerical, and, after unprecedented bloodshed and horror, +ended at the point where it began! + +The organized system of plunder and anarchy, exercised under different +forms more or less sanguinary, produced no permanent result beyond an +incontestible proof that the versatility of the French nation, and its +puny suppleness of character, utterly incapacitate it for that energetic +enterprise without which there can be no hope of permanent emancipation +from national slavery. It is my unalterable conviction that the French +will never know how to enjoy an independent and free Constitution. + +The tree of liberty unavoidably in all nations has been sprinkled with +human blood; but, when bathed by innocent victims, like the foul weed, +though it spring up, it rots in its infancy, and becomes loathsome and +infectious. Such has been the case in France; and the result justifies +the Italian satire: + + "Un albero senza fruta + Baretta senza testa + Governo che non resta." + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Honesty is to be trusted before genius +More dangerous to attack the habits of men than their religion + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Memoirs of Louis XV. and XVI., +Volume 7, by Madame du Hausset, and of an Unknown English Girl and the Princess Lamballe + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LOUIS XV. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.06/12/01*END* +[Portions of this header are copyright (C) 2001 by Michael S. Hart +and may be reprinted only when these Etexts are free of all fees.] +[Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be used in any sales +of Project Gutenberg Etexts or other materials be they hardware or +software or any other related product without express permission.] + + + + + +This etext was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + + + + + +[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the +file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an +entire meal of them. D.W.] + + + + + +MEMOIRS OF LOUIS XV. AND XVI. + +Being Secret Memoirs of Madame du Hausset, Lady's Maid to Madame +de Pompadour, and of an unknown English Girl and the Princess Lamballe + + + +BOOK 7 + + +SECTION XIII. + +Editor in continuation: + +I am again, for this and the following chapter, compelled to resume the +pen in my own person, and quit the more agreeable office of a transcriber +for my illustrious patroness. + +I have already mentioned that the Princesse de Lamballe, on first +returning from England to France, anticipated great advantages from the +recall of the emigrants. The desertion of France by so many of the +powerful could not but be a deathblow to the prosperity of the monarchy. +There was no reason for these flights at the time they began. The +fugitives only set fire to the four quarters of the globe against their +country. It was natural enough that the servants whom they had left +behind to keep their places should take advantage of their masters' +pusillanimity, and make laws to exclude those who had, uncalled for, +resigned the sway into bolder and more active hands. + +I do not mean to impeach the living for the dead; but, when we see those +bearing the lofty titles of Kings and Princesses, escaping with their +wives and families, from an only brother and sister with helpless infant +children, at the hour of danger, we cannot help wishing for a little +plebeian disinterestedness in exalted minds. + +I have travelled Europe twice, and I have never seen any woman with that +indescribable charm of person, manner, and character, which distinguished +Marie Antoinette. This is in itself a distinction quite sufficient to +detach friends from its possessor through envy. Besides, she was Queen +of France, the woman of highest rank in a most capricious, restless and +libertine nation. The two Princesses placed nearest to her, and who were +the first to desert her, though both very much inferior in personal and +mental qualifications, no doubt, though not directly, may have +entertained some anticipations of her place. Such feelings are not +likely to decrease the distaste, which results from comparisons to our +own disadvantage. It is, therefore, scarcely to be wondered at, that +those nearest to the throne should be least attached to those who fill +it. How little do such persons think that the grave they are thus +insensibly digging may prove their own! In this case it only did not by +a miracle. What the effect of the royal brothers' and the nobility's +remaining in France would have been we can only conjecture. That their +departure caused, great and irreparable evils we know; and we have good +reason to think they caused the greatest. Those who abandon their houses +on fire, silently give up their claims to the devouring element. Thus +the first emigration kindled the French flame, which, though for a while +it was got under by a foreign stream, was never completely, extinguished +till subdued by its native current. + +The unfortunate Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette ceased to be Sovereigns +from the period they were ignominiously dragged to their jail at the +Tuileries. From this moment they were abandoned to the vengeance of +miscreants, who were disgracing the nation with unprovoked and useless +murders. But from this moment also the zeal of the Princesses Elizabeth +and de Lamballe became redoubled. Out of one hundred individuals and +more, male and female, who had been exclusively occupied about the person +of Marie Antoinette, few, excepting this illustrious pair, and the +inestimable Clery, remained devoted to the last. The saint-like virtues +of these Princesses, malice itself has not been able to tarnish. Their +love and unalterable friendship became the shield of their unfortunate +Sovereigns, and their much injured relatives, till the dart struck their +own faithful bosoms. Princes of the earth! here is a lesson of +greatness from the great. + +Scarcely had the Princesse de Lamballe been reinstated in the Pavilion of +Flora at the Tuileries, when, by the special royal command, and in Her +Majesty's presence, she wrote to most of the nobility, entreating their +return to France. She urged them, by every argument, that there was no +other means of saving them and their country from the horrors impending +over them and France, should they persevere in their pernicious absence. +In some of these letters, which I copied, there was written on the +margin, in the Queen's hand, "I am at her elbow, and repeat the necessity +of your returning, if you love your King, your religion, your Government, +and your country. Marie Antoinette. Return! Return! Return!" + +Among these letters, I remember a large envelope directed to the Duchesse +de Brisac, then residing alternately at the baths of Albano and the +mineral waters at Valdagno, near Vicenza, in the Venetian States. Her +Grace was charged to deliver letters addressed to Her Majesty's royal +brothers, the Comte de Provence, and the Comte d'Artois, who were then +residing, I think, at Stra, on the Brenta, in company with Madame de +Polcatre, Diane de Polignac, and others. + +A few days after, I took another envelope, addressed to the Count Dufour, +who was at Turin. It contained letters for M. and Madame de Polignac, M. +and Madame de Guiche Grammont, the King's aunts at Rome, and the two +Princesses of Piedmont, wives of His Majesty's brothers. + +If, therefore, a judgment can be formed from the impressions of the Royal +Family, who certainly must have had ample information with respect to the +spirit which predominated at Paris at that period, could the nobility +have been prevailed on to have obeyed the mandates of the Queen and +prayers and invocations of the Princess, there can be no doubt that much +bloodshed would have been spared, and the page of history never have been +sullied by the atrocious names which now stand there as beacons of human +infamy. + +The storms were now so fearfully increasing that the King and Queen, the +Duc de Penthievre, the Count Fersen, the Princesse Elizabeth, the +Duchesse d'Orleans, and all the friends of the Princesse de Lamballe, +once more united in anxious wishes for her to quit France. Even the Pope +himself endeavoured to prevail upon Her Highness to join the royal aunts +at Rome. To all these applications she replied, "I have nothing to +reproach myself with. If my inviolable duty and unalterable attachment +to my Sovereigns, who are my relations and my friends; if love for my +dear father and for my adopted country are crimes, in the face of God and +the world I confess my guilt, and shall die happy if in such a cause!" + +The Duc de Penthievre, who loved her as well as his own child, the +Duchesse d'Orleans, was too good a man, and too conscientious a Prince, +not to applaud the disinterested firmness of his beloved daughter-in-law; +yet, foreseeing and dreading the fatal consequence which must result from +so much virtue at a time when vice alone predominated, unknown to the +Princesse de Lamballe, he interested the Court of France to write to the +Court of Sardinia to entreat that the King, as head of her family, would +use his good offices in persuading the Princess to leave the scenes of +commotion, in which she was so much exposed, and return to her native +country. The King of Sardinia, her family, and her particular friend, +the Princess of Piedmont, supplicated ineffectually. The answer of Her +Highness to the King, at Turin, was as follows + + "SIRE, AND MOST AUGUST COUSIN,-- + + "I do not recollect that any of our illustrious ancestors of the + house of Savoy, before or since the great hero Charles Emmanuel, of + immortal memory, ever dishonoured or tarnished their illustrious + names with cowardice. In leaving the Court of France at this awful + crisis, I should be the first. Can Your Majesty pardon my + presumption in differing from your royal counsel? The King, Queen, + and every member of the Royal Family of France, both from the ties + of blood and policy of States, demand our united efforts in their + defence. I cannot swerve from my determination of never quitting + them, especially at a moment when they are abandoned by every one of + their former attendants, except myself. In happier days Your + Majesty may command my obedience; but, in the present instance, + and given up as is the Court of France to their most atrocious + persecutors, I must humbly insist on being guided by my own + decision. During the most brilliant period of the reign of Marie + Antoinette, I was distinguished by the royal favour and bounty. To + abandon her in adversity, Sire, would stain my character, and that + of my illustrious family, for ages to come, with infamy and + cowardice, much more to be dreaded than the most cruel death." + +Similar answers were returned to all those of her numerous friends and +relatives, who were so eager to shelter her from the dangers threatening +Her Highness and the Royal Family. + +Her Highness was persuaded, however, to return once more to England, +under the pretext of completing the mission she had so successfully +began; but it is very clear that neither the King or Queen had any +serious idea of her succeeding, and that their only object was to get her +away from the theatre of disaster. Circumstances had so completely +changed for the worst, that, though Her Highness was received with great +kindness, her mission was no longer listened to. The policy of England +shrunk from encouraging twenty thousand French troops to be sent in a +body to the West Indies, and France was left to its fate. A conversation +with Mr. Burke, in which the disinclination of England to interfere was +distinctly owned, created that deep-rooted grief and apprehension in the +mind of the Queen from which Her Majesty never recovered. The Princesse +de Lamballe was the only one in her confidence. It is well known that +the King of England greatly respected the personal virtues of Their +French Majesties; but upon the point of business, both King and Ministers +were now become ambiguous and evasive. Her Highness, therefore, resolved +to return. It had already been whispered that she had left France, only +to save herself, like the rest; and she would no longer remain under so +slanderous an imputation. She felt, too, the necessity of her friendship +to her royal mistress. Though the Queen of England, by whom Her Highness +was very much esteemed, and many other persons of the first consequence +in the British nation, foreseeing the inevitable fate of the Royal +Family, and of all their faithful adherents, anxiously entreated her not +to quit England, yet she became insensible to every consideration as to +her own situation and only felt the isolated one of her august Sovereign, +her friend, and benefactress. + + + + +SECTION XIV. + +Editor in continuation: + +Events seemed molded expressly to produce the state of feeling which +marked that disastrous day, the 20th of June, 1792. It frequently +happens that nations, like individuals, rush wildly upon the very dangers +they apprehend, and select such courses as invite what they are most +solicitous to avoid. So it was with everything preceding this dreadful +day. By a series of singular occurrences I did not witness its horrors, +though in some degree their victim. Not to detain my readers +unnecessarily, I will proceed directly to the accident which withdrew +me from the scene. + +The apartment of the Princesse de Lamballe, in the Pavilion of Flora, +looked from one side upon the Pont Royal. On the day of which I speak, +a considerable quantity of combustibles had been thrown from the bridge +into one of her rooms. The Princess, in great alarm, sent instantly for +me. She desired to have my English man servant, if he were not afraid, +secreted in her room, while she herself withdrew to another part of the +palace, till the extent of the intended mischief could be ascertained. +I assured Her Highness that I was not only ready to answer for my +servant, but would myself remain with him, as he always went armed, and I +was so certain of his courage and fidelity that I could not hesitate even +to trust my life in his hands. + +"For God's sake, 'mia cara'," exclaimed the Princess, "do not risk your +own safety, if you have any value for my friendship. I desire you not to +go near the Pavilion of Flora. Your servant's going is quite sufficient. +Never again let me hear such a proposition. What! after having hitherto +conducted yourself so punctually, would you, by one rash act, devote +yourself to ruin, and deprive us of your valuable services?" + +I begged Her Highness would pardon the ardour of the dutiful zeal I felt +for her in the moment of danger. + +"Yes, yes," continued she; "that is all very well; but this is not the +first time I have been alarmed at your too great intrepidity; and if ever +I hear of your again attempting to commit yourself so wantonly, I will +have you sent to Turin immediately, there to remain till you have +recovered your senses. I always thought English heads cool; but I +suppose your residence in France has changed the national character of +yours." + +Once more, with tears in my eyes, I begged her forgiveness, and, on my +knees, implored that she would not send me away in the hour of danger. +After having so long enjoyed the honour of her confidence, I trusted she +would overlook my fault, particularly as it was the pure emanation of my +resentment at any conspiracy against one I so dearly loved; and to whom I +had been under so many obligations, that the very idea of being deprived +of such a benefactress drove me frantic. + +Her Highness burst into tears. "I know your heart," exclaimed she; "but +I also know too well our situation, and it is that which makes me tremble +for the consequences which must follow your overstepping the bounds so +necessary to be observed by all of us at this horrid period." And then +she called me again her cars 'Inglesina', and graciously condescended to +embrace me, and bathed my face with her tears, in token of her +forgiveness, and bade me sit down and compose myself, and weep no more. + +Scarcely was I seated, when we were both startled by deafening shouts for +the head of Madame Veto, the name they gave the poor unfortunate Queen. +An immense crowd of cannibals and hired ruffians were already in the +Tuileries, brandishing all sorts of murderous weapons, and howling for +blood! My recollections from this moment are very indistinct. I know +that in an instant the apartment was filled; that the Queen, the +Princesse Elizabeth, all the attendants, even the King, I believe, +appeared there. I myself received a wound upon my hand in warding a blow +from my face; and in the turmoil of the scene, and of the blow, I +fainted, and was conveyed by some humane person to a place of safety, in +the upper part of the palace. + +Thus deprived of my senses for several hours, I was spared the agony of +witnessing the scenes of horror that succeeded. For two or three days I +remained in a state of so much exhaustion and alarm, that when the +Princess came to me I did not know her, nor even where I was. + +As soon as I was sufficiently recovered, places were taken for me and +another person in one of the common diligences, by which I was conveyed +to Passy, where the Princess came to me in the greatest confusion. + +My companion in the palace was the widow of one of the Swiss guards, who +had been murdered on the 6th of October, in defending the Queen's +apartment at Versailles. The poor woman had been herself protected by +Her Majesty, and accompanied me by the express order of the Princesse de +Lamballe. What the Princess said to her on departing, I know not, for I +only caught the words "general insurrection," on hearing which the +afflicted woman fell into a fit. To me, Her Highness merely exclaimed, +"Do not come to Paris till you hear from me;" and immediately set off to +return to the Tuileries. + +However, as usual, my courage soon got the better of my strength, and of +every consideration of personal safety. On the third day, I proposed to +the person who took care of me that we should both walk out together, +and, if there appeared no symptoms of immediate danger, it was agreed +that we might as well get into one of the common conveyances, and proceed +forthwith to Paris; for I could no longer repress my anxiety to learn +what was going on there, and the good creature who was with me was no +less impatient. + +When we got into a diligence, I felt the dread of another severe lecture +like the last, and thought it best not to incur fresh blame by new +imprudence. I therefore told the driver to set us down on the high road +near Paris leading to the Bois de Boulogne. But before we got so far, +the woods resounded with the howling of mobs, and we heard, "Vive le roi" +vociferated, mingled with "Down with the King,"--"Down with the Queen;" +and, what was still more horrible, the two parties were in actual bloody +strife, and the ground was strewn with the bodies of dead men, lying like +slaughtered sheep. + +It was fortunate that we were the only persons in the vehicle. The +driver, observing our extreme agitation, turned round to us. "Nay, nay," +cried he; "do not alarm yourselves. It is only the constitutionalists +and the Jacobins fighting against each other. I wish the devil had them +both." + +It was evident, however, that, though the man was desirous of quieting +our apprehensions, he was considerably disturbed by his own; for though +he acknowledged he had a wife and children in Paris, who he hoped were +safe, still he dared not venture to proceed, but said, if we wished to be +driven back, he would take us to any place we liked, out of Paris. + +Our anxiety to know what was going forward at the Tuileries was now +become intolerable; and the more so, from the necessity we felt of +restraining our feelings. At last, however, we were in some degree +relieved from this agony of reserve. + +"God knows," exclaimed the driver, "what will be the consequence of all +this bloodshed! The poor King and Queen are greatly to be pitied!" + +This ejaculation restored our courage, and we said he might drive us +wherever he chose out of the sight of those horrors; and it was at length +settled that he should take us to Passy. "Oh," cried he, "if you will +allow me, I will take you to my father's house there; for you seem more +dead than alive, both of you, and ought to go where you can rest in quiet +and safety." + +My companion, who was a German, now addressed me in that language. + +"German!" exclaimed the driver on hearing her. "German! Why, I am a +German myself, and served the good King, who is much to be pitied, for +many years; and when I was wounded, the Queen, God bless her! set me up +in the world, as I was made an invalid; and I have ever since been +enabled to support my family respectably. D---- the Assembly! I shall +never be a farthing the better for them!" + +"Oh," replied I, "then I suppose you are not a Jacobin?" + +The driver, with a torrent of curses, then began execrating the very name +of Jacobin. This emboldened me to ask him when he had left Paris. He +replied, "Only this very morning," and added that the Assembly had shut +the gates of the Tuileries under the pretence of preventing the King and +Queen from being assassinated. "But that is all a confounded lie," +continued he, "invented to keep out the friends of the Royal Family. +But, God knows, they are now so fallen, they have few such left to be +turned away!" + +"I am more enraged," pursued he, "at the ingratitude of the nobility than +I am at these hordes of bloodthirsty plunderers, for we all know that the +nobility owe everything to the King. Why do they not rise en masse to +shield the Royal Family from these bloodhounds? Can they imagine they +will be spared if the King should be murdered? I have no patience with +them!" + +I then asked him our fare. "Two livres is the fare, but you shall not +pay anything. I see plainly, ladies, that you are not what you assume to +be." + +"My good man," replied I, "we are not; and therefore take this louis d'or +for your trouble." + +He caught my hand and pressed it to his lips, exclaiming, "I never in my +life knew a man who was faithful to his King, that God did not provide +for." + +He then took us to Passy, but advised us not to remain at the place where +we had been staying; and fortunate enough it was for us that we did not, +for the house was set on fire and plundered by a rebel mob very soon +after. + +I told the driver how much I was obliged to him for his services, and he +seemed delighted when I promised to give him proofs of my confidence in +his fidelity. + +"If," said I, "you can find out my servant whom I left in Paris, I will +give you another louis d'or." I was afraid, at first, to mention where +he was to look for him. + +"If he be not dead," replied the driver, "I will find him out." + +"What!" cried I, "even though he should be at the Tuileries?" + +"Why, madame, I am one of the national guard. I have only to put on my +uniform to be enabled to go to any part of the palace I please. Tell me +his name, and where you think it likely he may be found, and depend upon +it I will bring him to you." + +"Perhaps," continued he, "it is your husband disguised as a servant; but +no matter. Give me a clue, and I'll warrant you he shall tell you the +rest himself by this time to-morrow." + +"Well, then," replied I, "he is in the Pavilion of Flora." + +"What, with the Princesse de Lamballe? Oh, I would go through fire and +water for that good Princess! She has done me the honour to stand +godmother to one of my children, and allows her a pension." + +I took him at his word. We changed our quarters to his father's house, +a very neat little cottage, about a quarter of a mile from the town. +He afterwards rendered me many services in going to and fro from +Passy to Paris; and, as he promised, brought me my servant. + +When the poor fellow arrived, his arm was in a sling. He had been +wounded by a musket shot, received in defence of the Princess. The +history of his disaster was this: + +On the night of the riot, as he was going from the Pont Royal to the +apartment of Her Highness, he detected a group of villains under her +windows. Six of them were attempting to enter by a ladder. He fired, +and two fell. While he was reloading, the others shot at him. Had he +not, in the flurry of the moment, fired both his pistols at the same +time, he thinks he should not have been wounded, but might have punished +the assailant. One of the men, he said, could have been easily taken by +the national guard, who so glaringly encouraged the escape that he could +almost swear the guard was a party concerned. The loss of blood had so +exhausted him that he could not pursue the offender himself, whom +otherwise he could have taken without any difficulty. + +As the employing of my servant had only been proposed, and the sudden +interruption of my conversation with Her Highness by the riot had +prevented my ever communicating the project to him, I wondered how he got +into the business, or ascertained so soon that the apartment of the +Princess was in danger. He explained that he never had heard of its +being so; but my own coachman having left me at the palace that day, +and not hearing of me for some time, had driven home, and, fearing that +my not returning arose from something which had happened, advised him to +go to the Pont Royal and hear what he could learn, as there was a report +of many persons having been murdered and thrown over the bridge. + +My man took the advice, and armed himself to be ready in case of attack. +It was between one and two o'clock after midnight when he went. The +first objects he perceived were these miscreants attempting to scale the +palace. + +He told me that the Queen had been most grossly insulted; that the gates +of the Tuileries had been shut in consequence; that a small part alone +remained open to the public, who were kept at their distance by a +national ribbon, which none could pass without being instantly arrested. +This had prevented his apprising the Princess of the attempt which he had +accidentally defeated, and which he wished me to communicate to her +immediately. I did so by letter, which my good driver carried to Paris, +and delivered safe into the hands of our benefactress. + +The surprise of the Princess on hearing from me, and her pleasure at my +good fortune in finding by accident such means, baffles all description. +Though she was at the time overwhelmed with the imminent dangers which +threatened her, yet she still found leisure to show her kindness to those +who were doing their best, though in vain, to serve her. The following +letter, which she sent me in reply, written amidst all the uneasiness it +describes, will speak for her more eloquently than my praises: + +"I can understand your anxiety. It was well for you that you were +unconscious of the dreadful scenes which were passing around you on that +horrid day. The Princesse de Tarente, Madame de Tourzel, Madame de +Mockau, and all the other ladies of the household owed the safety of +their lives to one of the national guards having given his national +cockade to the Queen. Her Majesty placed it on her head, unperceived by +the mob. One of the gentlemen of the King's wardrobe provided the King +and the Princesse Elizabeth with the same impenetrable shield. Though +the cannibals came for murder, I could not but admire the enthusiastic +deference that was shown to this symbol of authority, which instantly +paralyzed, the daggers uplifted for our extermination. + +"Merlin de Thionville was the stoic head of this party. The Princesse +Elizabeth having pointed him out to me, I ventured to address him +respecting the dangerous situation to which the Royal Family were daily +exposed. I flattered him upon his influence over the majority of the +faubourgs, to which only we could look for the extinction of these +disorders. He replied that the despotism of the Court had set a bad +example to the people; that he felt for the situation of the royal party +as individuals, but he felt much more for the safety of the French +nation, who were in still greater danger than Their Majesties had to +dread, from the Austrian faction, by which a foreign army had been +encouraged to invade the territory of France, where they were now waiting +the opportunity of annihilating French liberty forever! + +"To this Her Majesty replied, 'When the deputies of the Assembly have +permitted, nay, I may say, encouraged this open violation of the King's +asylum, and, by their indifference to the safety of all those who +surround us, have sanctioned the daily insults to which we have been, +and still are, exposed, it is not to be wondered, at that all Sovereigns +should consider it their interest to make common cause with us, to crush +internal commotions, levelled, not only against the throne, and the +persons of the Sovereign and his family, but against the very principle +of monarchy itself.' + +"Here the King, though much intimidated for the situation of the Queen +and his family, for whose heads the wretches were at that very moment +howling in their ears, took up the conversation. + +"'These cruel facts,' said he, 'and the menacing situation you even now +witness, fully justify our not rejecting foreign aid, though God knows +how deeply I deplore the necessity of such a cruel resource! But, when +all internal measures of conciliation have been trodden under foot, and +the authorities, who ought to check it and protect us from these cruel +outrages, are only occupied in daily fomenting the discord between us and +our subjects; though a forlorn hope, what other hope is there of safety? +I foresee the drift of all these commotions, and am resigned; but what +will become of this misguided nation, when the head of it shall be +destroyed?' + +"Here the King, nearly choked by his feelings, was compelled to pause for +a moment, and he then proceeded. + +"'I should not feel it any sacrifice to give up the guardianship of the +nation, could I, in so doing, insure its future tranquillity; but I +foresee that my blood, like that of one of my unhappy brother +Sovereigns,--[Charles the First, of England.]-- will only open the flood- +gates of human misery, the torrent of which, swelled with the best blood +of France, will deluge this once peaceful realm.' + +"This, as well as I can recollect, is the substance of what passed at the +castle on this momentous day. Our situation was extremely doubtful, and +the noise and horrid riots were at times so boisterous, that frequently +we could not, though so near them, distinguish a word the King and Queen +said; and yet, whenever the leaders of these organized ruffians spoke or +threatened, the most respectful stillness instantly prevailed. + +"I weep in silence for misfortunes, which I fear are inevitable! The +King, the Queen, the Princesse Elizabeth and myself, with many others +under this unhappy roof, have never ventured to undress or sleep in bed, +till last night. None of us any longer reside on the ground floor. + +"By the very manly exertions of some of the old officers incorporated in +the national army, the awful riot I have described was overpowered, and +the mob, with difficulty, dispersed. Among these, I should particularize +Generals de Vomenil, de Mandat, and de Roederer. Principally by their +means the interior of the Tuileries was at last cleared, though partial +mobs, such as you have often witnessed, still subsist. + +"I am thus particular in giving you a full account of this last +revolutionary commotion, that your prudence may still keep you at a +distance from the vortex. Continue where you are, and tell your man +servant how much I am obliged to him, and, at the same time, how much I +am grieved at his being wounded! I knew nothing of the affair but from +your letter and your faithful messenger. He is an old pensioner of mine, +and a good honest fellow. You may depend on him. Serve yourself, +through him, in communicating with me. Though he has had a limited +education, he is not wanting in intellect. Remember that honesty, in +matters of such vital import, is to be trusted before genius. + +"My apartment appears like a barrack, like a bear garden, like anything +but what it was! Numbers of valuable things have been destroyed, numbers +carried off. Still, notwithstanding all the horrors of these last days, +it delights me to be able to tell you that no one in the service of the +Royal Family failed in duty at this dreadful crisis. I think we may +firmly rely on the inviolable attachment of all around us. No jealousy, +no considerations of etiquette, stood in the way of their exertions to +show themselves worthy of the situations they hold. The Queen showed the +greatest intrepidity during the whole of these trying scenes. + +"At present, I can say no more. Petion, the Mayor of Paris, has just +been announced; and, I believe, he wishes for an audience of Her Majesty, +though he never made his appearance during the whole time of the riots in +the palace. Adieu, mia cara Inglesina!" + +The receipt of this letter, however it might have affected me to hear +what Her Highness suffered, in common with the rest of the unfortunate +royal inmates of the Tuileries, gave me extreme pleasure from the +assurance it contained of the firmness of those nearest to the sufferers. +I was also sincerely gratified in reflecting on the probity and +disinterested fidelity of this worthy man, which contrasted him, so +strikingly and so advantageously to himself, with many persons of birth +and education, whose attachment could not stand the test of the trying +scenes of the Revolution, which made them abandon and betray, where they +had sworn an allegiance to which they were doubly bound by gratitude. + +My man servant was attended, and taken the greatest care of. The +Princess never missed a day in sending to inquire after his health; and, +on his recovery, the Queen herself not only graciously condescended to +see him, but, besides making him a valuable present, said many flattering +and obliging things of his bravery and disinterestedness. + +I should scarcely have deemed these particulars honourable as they are to +the feelings of the illustrious personages from whom they proceeded-- +worth mentioning in a work of this kind, did they not give indications of +character rarely to be met with (and, in their case, how shamefully +rewarded!), from having occurred at a crisis when their minds were +occupied in affairs of such deep importance, and amidst the appalling +dangers which hourly threatened their own existence. + +Her Majesty's correspondence with foreign Courts had been so much +increased by these scenes of horror, especially her correspondence with +her relations in Italy, that, ere long, I was sent for back to Paris. + + + + +SECTION XV. + +Journal of the Princess resumed and concluded: + +"The insurrection of the 20th of June, and the uncertain state of the +safety of the Royal Family, menaced as it was by almost daily riots, +induced a number of well-disposed persons to prevail on General +La Fayette to leave his army and come to Paris, and there personally +remonstrate against these outrages. Had he been sincere he would have +backed the measure by appearing at the head of his army, then well- +disposed, as Cromwell did when he turned out the rogues who were seeking +the Lord through the blood of their King, and put the keys in his pocket. +Violent disorders require violent remedies. With an army and a few +pieces of cannon at the door of the Assembly, whose members were seeking +the aid of the devil, for the accomplishment of their horrors, he might, +as was done when the same scene occurred in England in 1668, by good +management; have averted the deluge of blood. But, by appearing before +the Assembly isolated, without 'voila mon droit,' which the King of +Prussia had had engraven on his cannon, he lost the opinion of all +parties. + + [In this instance the general grossly committed himself, in the + opinion of every impartial observer of his conduct. He should never + have shown himself in the capital, but at the head of his army. + France, circumstanced as it was, torn by intestine commotion, was + only to be intimidated by the sight of a popular leader at the head + of his forces. Usurped authority can only be quashed by the force + of legitimate authority. La Fayette being the only individual in + France that in reality possessed such an authority, not having + availed himself at a crisis like the one in which he was called upon + to act, rendered his conduct doubtful, and all his intended + operations suspicious to both parties, whether his feelings were + really inclined to prop up the fallen kingly authority, or his + newly-acquired republican principles prompted him to become the head + of the democratical party, for no one can see into the hearts of + men; his popularity from that moment ceased to exist.] + +"La Fayette came to the palace frequently, but the King would never see +him. He was obliged to return, with the additional mortification of +having been deceived in his expected support from the national guard of +Paris, whose pay had been secretly trebled by the National Assembly, in +order to secure them to itself. His own safety, therefore, required that +he should join the troops under his command. He left many persons in +whom he thought he could confide; among whom were some who came to me one +day requesting I would present them to the Queen without loss of time, as +a man condemned to be shot had confessed to his captain that there was a +plot laid to murder Her Majesty that very night. + +"I hastened to the royal apartment, without mentioning the motive; but +some such catastrophe was no more than what we incessantly expected, from +the almost hourly changes of the national guard, for the real purpose of +giving easy access to all sorts of wretches to the very rooms of the +unfortunate Queen, in order to furnish opportunities for committing the +crime with impunity. + +"After I had seen the Queen, the applicants were introduced, and, in my +presence, a paper was handed by them to Her Majesty. At the moment she +received it, I was obliged to leave her for the purpose of watching an +opportunity for their departure unobserved. These precautions were +necessary with regard to every person who came to us in the palace, +otherwise the jealousy of the Assembly and its emissaries and the +national guard of the interior might have been alarmed, and we should +have been placed under express and open surveillance. The confusion +created by the constant change of guard, however, stood us in good stead +in this emergency. Much passing and repassing took place unheeded in the +bustle. + +"When the visitors had departed, and Her Majesty at one window of the +palace, and I at another, had seen them safe over the Pont Royal, I +returned to Her Majesty. She then graciously handed me the paper which +they had presented. + +"It contained an earnest supplication, signed by many thousand good +citizens, that the King and Queen would sanction the plan of sending the +Dauphin to the army of La Fayette. They pledged themselves, with the +assistance of the royalists, to rescue the Royal Family. They, urged +that if once the King could be persuaded to show himself at the head of +his army, without taking any active part, but merely for his own safety +and that of his family, everything might be accomplished with the +greatest tranquillity. + +"The Queen exclaimed, 'What! send my child! No! never while I breathe! + + [Little did this unfortunate mother think that they, who thus + pretended to interest themselves for this beautiful, angelic Prince + only a few months before, would, when she was in her horrid prison + after the butchery of her husband, have required this only comfort + to be violently torn from her maternal arms! + + Little, indeed, did she think, when her maternal devotedness thus + repelled the very thought of his being trusted to myriads of sworn + defenders, how soon he would be barbarously consigned by the + infamous Assembly as the foot-stool of the inhuman savage cobbler, + Simon, to be the night-boy of the excrements of the vilest of the + works of human nature!] + +Yet were I an independent Queen, or the regent of a minority, I feel that +I should be inclined to accept the offer, to place myself at the head of +the army, as my immortal mother did, who, by that step, transmitted the +crown of our ancestors to its legitimate descendants. It is the monarchy +itself which now requires to be asserted. Though D'ORLEANS is actively +engaged in attempting the dethronement of His Majesty, I do not think the +nation will submit to such a Prince, or to any other monarchical +government, if the present be decidedly destroyed. + +"'All these plans, my dear Princess,' continued she, 'are mere castles in +the air. The mischief is too deeply rooted. As they have already +frantically declared for the King's abdication, any strong measure now, +incompetent as we are to assure its success, would at once arm the +advocates of republicanism to proclaim the King's dethronement. + +"'The cruel observations of Petion to His Majesty, on our ever memorable +return from Varennes, have made a deeper impression than you are aware +of. When the King observed to him, "What do the French nation want?"-- +"A republic," replied he. And though he has been the means of already +costing us some thousands, to crush this unnatural propensity, yet I +firmly believe that he himself is at the head of all the civil disorders +fomented for its attainment. I am the more confirmed in this opinion +from a conversation I had with the good old man, M. De Malesherbes, who +assured me the great sums we were lavishing on this man were thrown away, +for he would be certain, eventually, to betray us: and such an inference +could only have been drawn from the lips of the traitor himself. Petion +must have given Malesherbes reason to believe this. I am daily more and +more convinced it will be the case. Yet, were I to show the least energy +or activity in support of the King's authority, I should then be accused +of undermining it. All France would be up in arms against the danger of +female influence. The King would only be lessened in the general opinion +of the nation, and the kingly authority still more weakened. Calm +submission to His Majesty is, therefore, the only safe, course for both +of us, and we must wait events.' + +"While Her Majesty was thus opening her heart to me, the King and +Princesse Elizabeth entered, to inform her that M. Laporte, the head of +the private police, had discovered, and caused to be arrested, some of +the wretches who had maliciously attempted to fire the palace of the +Tuileries. + +"'Set them at liberty!' exclaimed Her Majesty; 'or, to clear themselves +and their party, they will accuse us of something worse.' + +"'Such, too, is my opinion, Sire,' observed I; 'for however I abhor their +intentions, I have here a letter from one of these miscreants which was +found among the combustibles. It cautions us not to inhabit the upper +part of the Pavilion. My not having paid the attention which was +expected to the letter, has aroused the malice of the writer, and caused +a second attempt to be made from the Pont Royal upon my own apartment; in +preventing which, a worthy man has been cruelly wounded in the arm.' + +"'Merciful Heaven!' exclaimed the poor Queen and the Princesse Elizabeth, +I not dangerously, I hope! + +"'I hope not,' added I; 'but the attempt, and its escaping unpunished, +though there were guards all around, is a proof how perilous it will be, +while we are so weak, to kindle their rancour by any show of impotent +resentment; for I have reason to believe it was to that, the want of +attention to the letter of which I speak was imputed.' + +"The Queen took this opportunity, of laying before the King the above- +mentioned plan. His Majesty, seeing it in the name of La Fayette, took +up the paper, and, after he had attentively perused it, tore it in +pieces, exclaiming, 'What! has not M. La Fayette done mischief enough +yet, but must he even expose the names of so many worthy men by +committing them to paper at a critical period like this, when he is fully +aware that we are in immediate danger of being assailed by a banditti of +inhuman cannibals, who would sacrifice every individual attached to us, +if, unfortunately, such a paper should be found? I am determined to have +nothing to do with his ruinous plans. Popularity and ambition made him +the principal promoter of republicanism. Having failed of becoming a +Washington, he is mad to become a Cromwell. I have no faith in these +turncoat constitutionalists.' + +"I know that the Queen heartily concurred in this sentiment concerning +General La Fayette, as soon as she ascertained his real character, +and discovered that he considered nothing paramount to public notoriety. +To this he had sacrificed the interest of his country, and trampled under +foot the throne; but finding he could not succeed in forming a Republican +Government in France as he had in America, he, like many others, lost his +popularity with the demagogues, and, when too late, came to offer his +services, through me, to the Queen, to recruit a monarchy which his +vanity had undermined to gratify, his chimerical ambition. Her Majesty +certainly saw him frequently, but never again would she put herself in +the way of being betrayed by one whom she considered faithless to all." + + [Thus ended the proffered services of General La Fayette, who then + took the command of the national army, served against that of the + Prince de Conde, and the Princes of his native country, and was + given up with General Bournonville, De Lameth, and others, by + General Dumourier, on the first defeat of the French, to the + Austrians, by whom they were sent to the fortress of Olmutz in + Hungary, where they remained till after the death of the wretch + Robespierre, when they were exchanged for the Duchesse d'Angouleme, + now Dauphine of France. + + From the retired life led by General La Fayette on his return to + France, there can be but little doubt that he spent a great part of + his time in reflecting on the fatal errors of his former conduct, as + he did not coincide with any of the revolutionary principles which + preceded the short-lived reign of imperialism. But though Napoleon + too well knew him to be attached from principle to republicanism-- + every vestige of which he had long before destroyed--to employ him + in any military capacity, still he recalled him from his hiding- + place, in order to prevent his doing mischief, as he politically + did--every other royalist whom he could bring under the banners of + his imperialism. + + Had Napoleon made use of his general knowledge of mankind in other + respects, as he politically did in France over his conquered + subjects, in respecting ancient habits, and gradually weaned them + from their natural prejudices instead of violently forcing all men + to become Frenchmen, all men would have fought for him, and not + against him. These were the weapons by which his power became + annihilated, and which, in the end, will be the destruction of all + potentates who presume to follow his fallacious plan of forming + individuals to a system instead of accommodating systems to + individuals. The fruits from Southern climes have been reared in + the North, but without their native virtue or vigour. It is more + dangerous to attack the habits of men than their religion. + + The British Constitution, though a blessing to Englishmen, is very + ill-suited to nations not accustomed to the climate and its + variations. Every country has peculiarities of thought and manners + resulting from the physical influence of its sky and soil. Whenever + we lose sight of this truth, we naturally lose the affections of + those whose habits we counteract.] + + +Here ends the Journal of my lamented benefactress. I have continued the +history to the close of her career, and that of the Royal Family, +especially as Her Highness herself acted so important a part in many of +the scenes, which are so strongly illustrated by her conversation and +letters. It is only necessary to add that the papers which I have +arranged were received from Her Highness amidst the disasters which were +now thickening around her and her royal friends. + + + + +SECTION XVI. + +From the time I left Passy till my final departure from Paris for Italy, +which took place on the 2nd of August, 1792, my residence was almost +exclusively at the capital. The faithful driver, who had given such +proofs of probity, continued to be of great service, and was put in +perpetual requisition. I was daily about on the business of the Queen +and the Princess, always disguised, and most frequently as a drummerboy; +on which occasions the driver and my man servant were my companions. +My principal occupation was to hear and take down the debates of the +Assembly, and convey and receive letters from the Queen to the Princesse +de Lamballe, to and from Barnave, Bertrand de Moleville, Alexandre de +Lameth, Deport de Fertre, Duportail, Montmorin, Turbo, De Mandat, the +Duc de Brissac, etc., with whom my illustrious patronesses kept up a +continued correspondence, to which I believe all of them fell a +sacrifice; for, owing to the imprudence of the King in not removing their +communications when he removed the rest of his papers from the Tuileries, +the exposure of their connections with the Court was necessarily +consequent upon the plunder of the palace on the 10th of August, 1792. + +In my masquerade visits to the Assembly, I got acquainted with an editor +of one of the papers; I think he told me his name was Duplessie. Being +pleased with the liveliness of my remarks on some of the organized +disorders, as I termed them, and with some comments I made upon the +meanness of certain disgusting speeches on the patriotic gifts, my new +acquaintance suffered me to take copies of his own shorthand remarks and +reports. By this means the Queen and the Princess had them before they +appeared in print. M. Duplessie was on other occasions of great service +to me, especially as a protector in the mobs, for my man servant and the +honest driver were so much occupied in watching the movements of the +various faubourg factions, that I was often left entirely unattended. + +The horrors of the Tuileries, both by night and day, were now grown +appallingly beyond description. Almost unendurable as they had been +before, they were aggravated by the insults of the national guard to +every passenger to and from the palace. I was myself in so much peril, +that the Princess thought it necessary to procure a trusty person, of +tried courage, to see me through the throngs, with a large bandbox of all +sorts of fashionable millinery, as the mode of ingress and egress least +liable to excite suspicion. + +Thus equipped, and guarded by my cicisbeo, I one day found myself, on +entering the Tuileries, in the midst of an immense mob of regular trained +rioters, who, seeing me go towards the palace, directed their attention +entirely to me. They took me for some one belonging to the Queen's +milliner, Madame Bertin, who, they said, was fattening upon the public +misery, through the Queen's extravagance. The poor Queen herself they +called by names so opprobious that decency will not suffer me to repeat +them. + +With a volley of oaths, pressing upon us, they bore us to another part +of the garden, for the purpose of compelling us to behold six or eight of +the most infamous outcasts, amusing themselves, in a state of exposure, +with their accursed hands and arms tinged with blood up to the elbows. +The spot they had chosen for this exhibition of their filthy persons was +immediately before the windows of the apartments of the Queen and the +ladies of the Court. Here they paraded up and down, to the great +entertainment of a throng of savage rebels, by whom they were applauded +and encouraged with shouts of "Bis! bis!" signifying in English," Again! +again!" + +The demoniac interest excited by this scene withdrew the attention of +those who were enjoying it from me, and gave me the opportunity of +escaping unperceived, merely with the loss of my bandbox. Of that the +infuriated mob made themselves masters; and the hats, caps, bonnets, and +other articles of female attire, were placed on the parts of their +degraded carcases, which, for the honour of human nature, should have +been shot. + +Overcome with agony at these insults, I burst from the garden in a flood +of tears. On passing the gate, I was accosted by a person who exclaimed +in a tone of great kindness, "Qu'as tu, ma bonne? qu'est ce qui vous +afflige?" Knowing the risk I should run in representing the real cause of +my concern, I immediately thought of ascribing it to the loss of the +property of which I had been plundered. I told him I was a poor +milliner, and had been robbed of everything I possessed in the world by +the mob. "Come back with me," said he, "and I will have it restored to +you." I knew it was of no avail, but policy stimulated me to comply; and +I returned with him into the garden toward the palace. + +What should I have felt, had I been aware, when this man came up, that I +was accosted by the villain Danton! The person who was with me knew him, +but dared not speak, and watched a chance of escaping in the crowd for +fear of being discovered. When I looked round and found myself alone, +I said I had lost my brother in the confusion, which added to my grief. + +"Oh, never mind," said Danton; "take hold of my arm; no one shall molest +you. We will look for your brother, and try to recover your things;" and +on we went together: I, weeping, I may truly say, for my life, stopped at +every step, while he related my doleful story to all whose curiosity was +excited by my grief. + +On my appearing arm in arm with Danton before the windows of the Queen's +apartments, we were observed by Her Majesty and the Princesses. Their +consternation and perplexity, as well as alarm for my safety, may readily +be conceived. A signal from the window instantly apprised me that I +might enter the palace, to which my return had been for some time +impatiently expected. + +Finding it could no longer be of any service to carry on the farce of +seeking my pretended brother, I begged to be escorted out of the mob to +the apartments of the Princesse de Lamballe. + +"Oh," said Danton, "certainly! and if you had only told the people that +you were going to that good Princess, I am sure your things would not +have been taken from you. But," added he, "are you perfectly certain +they were not for that detestable Marie Antoinette?" + +"Oh!" I replied, "quite, quite certain!" All this while the mob was at +my heels. + +"Then," said he, "I will not leave you till you are safe in the +apartments of the Princesse de Lamballe, and I will myself make known to +her your loss: she is so good," continued he, "that I am convinced she +will make you just compensation." + +I then told him how much I should be obliged by his doing so, as I had +been commissioned to deliver the things, and if I was made to pay for +them, the loss would be more serious than I could bear. + +"Bah! bah!" exclaimed he. "Laissez moi faire! Laissez moi faire!" + +When he came to the inner door, which I pretended to know nothing about, +he told the gentleman of the chamber his name, and said he wished to see +his mistress. + +Her Highness came in a few minutes, and from her looks and visible +agitation at the sight of Danton, I feared she would have betrayed both +herself and me. However, while he was making a long preamble, I made +signs, from which she inferred that all was safe. + +When Danton had finished telling her the story, she calmly said to me, +"Do you recollect, child, the things you have been robbed of?" + +I replied that, if I had pen and ink, I could even set down the prices. + +"Oh, well, then, child, come in," said Her Highness, "and we will see +what is to be done!" + +"There!" exclaimed Danton; "Did I not tell you this before?" Then, +giving me a hearty squeeze of the hand, he departed, and thus terminated +the millinery speculation, which, I have no doubt, cost Her Highness a +tolerable sum. + +As soon as he was gone, the Princess said, "For Heaven's sake, tell me +the whole of this affair candidly; for the Queen has been in the greatest +agitation at the bare idea of your knowing Danton, ever since we first +saw you walking with him! He is one of our moat inveterate enemies." + +I said that if they had but witnessed one half of the scenes that I saw, +I was sure their feelings would have been shocked beyond description. +"We did not see all, but we heard too much for the ears of our sex." + +I then related the particulars of our meeting to Her Highness, who +observed, "This accident, however unpleasant, may still turn out to our +advantage. This fellow believes you to be a marchande de modes, and the +circumstance of his having accompanied you to my apartment will enable +you, in future, to pass to and from the Pavilion unmolested by the +national guard." + +With tears of joy in her eyes for my safety, she could not, however, help +laughing when I told her the farce I kept up respecting the loss of my +brother, and my bandbox with the millinery, for which I was also soon +congratulated most graciously by Her Majesty, who much applauded my +spirit and presence of mind, and condescended, immediately, to entrust me +with letters of the greatest importance, for some of the most +distinguished members of the Assembly, with which I left the palace in +triumph, but taking care to be ready with a proper story of my losses. + +When I passed the guard-room, I was pitied by the very wretches, who, +perhaps, had already shared in the spoils; and who would have butchered +me, no doubt, into the bargain, could they have penetrated the real +object of my mission. They asked me if I had been paid for the loss I +sustained. I told them I had not, but I was promised that it should be +settled. + +"Settled!" said one of the wretches. "Get the money as soon as you can. +Do not trust to promises of its being settled. They will all be settled +themselves soon!" + +The next day, on going to the palace, I found the Princesse de Lamballe +in the greatest agitation, from the accounts the Court had just received +of the murder of a man belonging to Arthur Dillon, and of the massacres +at Nantes. + +"The horrid prints, pamphlets, and caricatures," cried she, "daily +exhibited under the very windows of the Tuileries, against His Majesty, +the Queen, the Austrian party, and the Coblentz party, the constant +thwarting of every plan, and these last horrors at Nantes, have so +overwhelmed the King that he is nearly become a mere automaton. Daily +and nightly execrations are howled in his ears. Look at our boasted +deliverers! The poor Queen, her children, and all of us belonging to the +palace, are in danger of our lives at merely being seen; while they by +whom we have been so long buoyed up with hope are quarrelling amongst +themselves for the honour and etiquette of precedency, leaving us to the +fury of a race of cannibals, who know no mercy, and will have destroyed +us long before their disputes of etiquette can be settled." + +The utterance of Her Highness while saying this was rendered almost +inarticulate by her tears. + +"What support against internal disorganization," continued she, "is to be +expected from so disorganized a body as the present army of different +nations, having all different interests?" + +I said there was no doubt that the Prussian army was on its march, and +would soon be joined by that of the Princes and of Austria. + +"You speak as you wish, mia cara Inglesina, but it is all to no purpose. +Would to God they had never been applied to, never been called upon to +interfere. Oh, that Her Majesty could have been persuaded to listen to +Dumourier and some other of the members, instead of relying on succours +which, I fear, will never enter Paris in our lifetime! No army can +subdue a nation; especially a nation frenzied by the recent recovery of +its freedom and independence from the shackles of a corrupt and weak +administration. The King is too good; the Queen has no equal as to +heart; but they have both been most grossly betrayed. The royalists on +one side, the constitutionalists on the other, will be the victims of the +Jacobins, for they are the most powerful, they are the most united, they +possess the most talent, and they act in a body, and not merely for the +time being. Believe me, my dear, their plans are too well grounded to be +defeated, as every one framed by the fallacious constitutionalists and +mad-headed royalists has been; and so they will ever be while they +continue to form two separate interests. From the very first moment when +these two bodies were worked upon separately, I told the Queen that, till +they were united for the same object, the monarchy would be unsafe, and +at the mercy of the Jacobins, who, from hatred to both parties, would +overthrow it themselves to rule despotically over those whom they no +longer respected or feared, but whom they hated, as considering them both +equally their former oppressors. + +"May the All-seeing Power," continued Her Highness, "grant, for the good +of this shattered State, that I may be mistaken, and that my predictions +may prove different in the result; but of this I see no hope, unless in +the strength of our own internal resources. God knows how powerful they +might prove could they be united at this moment! But from the anarchy +and division kept up between them, I see no prospect of their being +brought to bear, except in a general overthrow of this, as you have +justly observed, organized system of disorders, from which at some future +period we may obtain a solid, systematic order of government. Would +Charles the Second ever have reigned after the murder of his father had +England been torn to pieces by different factions? No! It was the union +of the body of the nation for its internal tranquillity, the amalgamation +of parties against domestic faction, which gave vigour to the arm of +power, and enabled the nation to check foreign interference abroad, while +it annihilated anarchy at home. By that means the Protector himself laid +the first stone of the Restoration. The division of a nation is the +surest harbinger of success to its invaders, the death-blow to its +Sovereign's authority, and the total destruction of that innate energy by +which alone a country can obtain the dignity of its own independence." + + + + +SECTION XVII. + +While Her Highness was thus pondering on the dreadful situation of +France, strengthening her arguments by those historical illustrations, +which, from the past, enabled her to look into the future, a message came +to her from Her Majesty. She left me, and, in a few minutes, returned to +her apartment, accompanied by the Queen and Her Royal Highness the +Princesse Elizabeth. I was greatly surprised at seeing these two +illustrious and august personages bathed in tears. Of course, I could +not be aware of any new motive to create any new or extraordinary +emotion; yet there was in the countenances of all of the party an +appearance different from anything I had ever witnessed in them, or any +other person before; a something which seemed to say, they no longer had +any affinity with the rest of earthly beings. + +They had all been just writing to their distant friends and relations. +A fatal presentiment, alas! too soon verified, told them it was for the +last time. + +Her Highness the Princesse de Lamballe now approached me. + +"Her Majesty," observed the Princess, "wishes to give you a mark of her +esteem, in delivering to you, with her own hands, letters to her family, +which it is her intention to entrust to your especial care. + +"On this step Her Majesty has resolved, as much to send you out of the +way of danger, as from the conviction occasioned by the firm reliance +your conduct has created in us, that you will faithfully obey the orders +you may receive, and execute our intentions with that peculiar +intelligence which the emergency of the case requires. + +"But even the desirable opportunity which offers, through you, for the +accomplishment of her mission, might not have prevailed with Her Majesty +to hasten your departure, had not the wretch Danton twice inquired at the +palace for the 'little milliner,' whom he rescued and conducted safe to +the apartments of the Pavilion of Flora. This, probably, may be a matter +of no real consequence whatever; but it is our duty to avoid danger, and +it has been decided that you should, at least for a time, absent Paris. + +"Per cio, mia cara Inglesina, speak now, freely and candidly: is it your +wish to return to England, or go elsewhere? For though we are all sorry +to lose you, yet it would be a source of still greater sorrow to us, +prizing your services and fidelity as we do, should any plans and +purposes of ours lead you into difficulty or embarrassment." + +"Oh, mon Dieu! c'est vrai!" interrupted Her Majesty, her eyes at the +same time filled with tears. + +"I should never forgive myself," continued the Princess, "if I should +prove the cause of any misfortune to you." + +"Nor I!" most graciously subjoined the Queen. + +"Therefore," pursued the Princess, "speak your mind without reserve." + +Here my own feelings, and the sobs of the illustrious party, completely +overcame me, and I could not proceed. The Princesse de Lamballe clasped +me in her arms. "Not only letters," exclaimed she, "but my life I would +trust to the fidelity of my vera, verissima, cara Inglesina! And now," +continued Her Highness, turning round to the Queen, "will it please Your +Majesty to give Inglesina your commands." + +"Here, then," said the Queen, "is a letter for my dear sister, the Queen +of Naples, which you must deliver into her own hands. Here is another +for my sister, the Duchess of Parma. If she should not be at Parma, you +will find her at Colorno. This is for my brother, the Archduke of Milan; +this for my sister-in-law, the Princesse Clotilde Piedmont, at Turin; and +here are four others. You will take off the envelope when you get to +Turin, and then put them into the post yourself. Do not give them to, or +send them by, any person whatsoever. + +"Tell my sisters the state of Paris. Inform them of our cruel situation. +Describe the riots and convulsions you have seen. Above all, assure them +how dear they are to me, and how much I love them." + +At the word love, Her Majesty threw herself on a sofa and wept bitterly. + +The Princesse Elizabeth gave me a letter for her sister, and two for her +aunts, to be delivered to them, if at Rome; but if not, to be put under +cover and sent through the post at Rome to whatever place they might have +made their residence. + +I had also a packet of letters to deliver for the Princesse de Lamballe +at Turin; and another for the Duc de Serbelloni at Milan. + +Her Majesty and the Princesse Elizabeth not only allowed me the honour to +kiss their hands, but they, both gave me their blessing, and good wishes +for my safe return, and then left me with the Princesse de Lamballe. + +Her Majesty had scarcely left the apartment of the Princess, when I +recollected she had forgotten to give me the cipher and the key for the +letters. The Princess immediately went to the Queen's apartment, and +returned with them shortly after. + +"Now that we are alone," said Her Highness, "I will tell you what Her +Majesty has graciously commanded me to signify to you in her royal name. +The Queen commands me to say that you are provided for for life; and +that, on the first vacancy which may occur, she intends fixing you at +Court. + +"Therefore mia cara Inglesina, take especial care what you are about, and +obey Her Majesty's wishes when you are absent, as implicitly as you have +hitherto done all her commands during your abode near her. You are not +to write to any one. No one is to be made acquainted with your route. +You are not to leave Paris in your own carriage. It will be sent after +you by your man servant, who is to join you at Chalon sur Saone. + +"I have further to inform you that Her Majesty the Queen, on sending you +the cipher, has at the same time graciously condescended to add these +presents as further marks of her esteem." + +Her Highness then showed me a most beautiful gold watch, chain and seals. + +"These," said she, placing them with her own hands, "Her Majesty desired +me to put round your neck in testimony of her regard." + +At the same time Her Highness presented me, on her own part, with a +beautiful pocketbook, the covers of which were of gold enamelled, with +the word "SOUVENIR" in diamonds on one side, and a large cipher of her +own initials on the other. The first page contained the names of the +Queen and Her Royal Highness the Princesse Elizabeth, in their own +handwriting. There was a cheque in it on a Swiss banker, at Milan, of +the name of Bonny. + +Having given me these invaluable tokens, Her Highness proceeded with her +instructions. + +"At Chalon," continued she, "mia cara, your man servant will perhaps +bring you other letters. Take two places in the stage for yourself and +your femme de chambre, in her name, and give me the memorandum, that our +old friend, the driver, may procure the passports. You must not be seen; +for there is no doubt that Danton has given the police a full description +of your person. Now go and prepare: we shall see each other again before +your departure." + +Only a few minutes afterwards my man servant came to me to say that it +would be some hours before the stage would set off, and that there was a +lady in her carriage waiting for me in the Bois de Boulogne. I hastened +thither. What was my surprise on finding it was the Princess. I now saw +her for the last time! + +Let me pass lightly over this sad moment. I must not, however, dismiss +the subject, without noticing the visible changes which had taken place +in the short space of a month, in the appearance of all these illustrious +Princesses. Their very complexions were no longer the same, as if grief +had changed the whole mass of their blood. The Queen, in particular, +from the month of July to the 2d of August, looked ten years older. The +other two Princesses were really worn out with fatigue, anxiety, and the +want of rest, as, during the whole month of July, they scarcely ever +slept, for fear of being murdered in their beds, and only threw +themselves on them, now and then, without undressing. The King, three or +four times in the night, would go round to their different apartments, +fearful they might be destroyed in their sleep, and ask, "Etes vous la?" +when they would answer him from within, "Nous sommes encore ici." +Indeed, if, when nature was exhausted, sleep by chance came to the relief +of their worn-out and languid frames, it was only to awaken them to fresh +horrors, which constantly threatened the convulsion by which they were +finally annihilated. + +It would be uncandid in me to be silent concerning the marked difference +I found in the feelings of the two royal sisters of Her Majesty. + +I had never had the honour before to execute any commissions for her +Royal Highness the Duchess of Parma, and, of course, took that city in my +way to Naples. + +I did not reach Parma till after the horrors which had taken place at the +Tuileries on the 10th of August, 1792. The whole of the unfortunate +Royal Family of France were then lodged in the Temple. There was not a +feeling heart in Europe unmoved at their afflicting situation. + +I arrived at Colorno, the country residence of the Duchess of Parma, just +as Her Royal Highness was going out on horseback. + +I ordered my servant to inform one of the pages that I came by express +from Paris, and requested the honour to know when it would be convenient +for Her Royal Highness to allow me a private audience, as I was going, +post-haste, to Rome and Naples. Of course, I did not choose to tell my +business either to my own or Her Royal Highness's servant, being in +honour and duty bound to deliver the letter and the verbal message of her +then truly unfortunate sister in person and in privacy. + +The mention of Paris I saw somewhat startled and confused her. Meantime, +she came near enough to my carriage for me to say to her in German, in +order that none of the servants, French or Italian, might understand, +that I had a letter to deliver into her own hands, without saying from +whom. + +She then desired I would alight, and she soon followed me; and, after +having very graciously ordered me some refreshments, asked me from whom I +had been sent. + +I delivered Her Majesty's letter. Before she opened it, she exclaimed, +"'O Dio! tutto e perduto e troppo tardi'! Oh, God! all is lost, it is +too late!" I then gave her the cipher and the key. In a few minutes I +enabled her to decipher the letter. On getting through it, she again +exclaimed, "'E tutto inutile'! it is entirely useless! I am afraid they +are all lost. I am sorry you are so situated as not to allow of your +remaining here to rest from your fatigue. Whenever you come to Parma, I +shall be glad to see you." + +She then took out her pocket handkerchief, shed a few tears, and said +that, as circumstances were now so totally changed, to answer the letter +might only commit her, her sister, and myself; but that if affairs took +the turn she wished, no doubt, her sister would write again. She then +mounted her horse, and wished me a good journey; and I took leave, and +set off for Rome. + +I must confess that the conduct of the Duchess of Parma appeared to me +rather cold, if not unfeeling. Perhaps she was afraid of showing too +much emotion, and wished to encourage the idea that Princesses ought not +to give way to sensibility, like common mortals. + +But how different was the conduct of the Queen of Naples! She kissed the +letter: she bathed it with her tears! Scarcely could she allow herself +time to decipher it. At every sentence she exclaimed, "Oh, my dear, oh, +my adored sister! What will become of her! My brothers are now both no +more! Surely, she will soon be liberated!" Then, turning suddenly to +me, she asked with eagerness, "Do you not think she will? Oh, Marie, +Marie! why did she not fly to Vienna? Why did she not come to me +instead of writing? Tell me, for God's sake, all you know!" + +I said I knew nothing further of what had taken place at Paris, having +travelled night and day, except what I had heard from the different +couriers, which I had met and stopped on my route; but I hoped to be +better informed by Sir William Hamilton, as all my letters were to be +sent from France to Turin, and thence on to Sir William at Naples; and if +I found no letters with him, I should immediately set off and return to +Turin or Milan, to be as near France as possible for my speedy return if +necessary. I ventured to add that it was my earnest prayer that all the +European Sovereigns would feel the necessity of interesting themselves +for the Royal Family of France, with whose fate the fate of monarchy +throughout Europe might be interwoven. + +"Oh, God of Heaven!" cried the Queen, "all that dear family may ere now +have been murdered! Perhaps they are already numbered among the dead! +Oh, my poor, dear, beloved Marie! Oh, I shall go frantic! I must send +for General Acton." + +Wringing her hands, she pulled the bell, and in a few minutes the general +came. On his entering the apartment, she flew to him like one deprived +of reason. + +"There!" exclaimed she. "There! Behold the fatal consequences!" showing +him the letter. "Louis XVI. is in the state of Charles the First of +England, and my sister will certainly be murdered." + +"No, no, no!" exclaimed the general. "Something will be done. Calm +yourself, madame." Then turning to me, "When," said he, "did you leave +Paris?" + +"When all was lost!" interrupted the Queen. + +"Nay," cried the general; "pray let me speak. All is not lost, you will +find; have but a little patience." + +"Patience!" said the Queen. "For two years I have heard of nothing else. +Nothing has been done for these unfortunate beings." She then threw +herself into a chair. "Tell him!" cried she to me, "tell him! tell him!" + +I then informed the general that I had left Paris on the 2d of August, +but did not believe at the time, though the daily riots were horrible, +that such a catastrophe could have occurred so soon as eight days after. + +The Queen was now quite exhausted, and General Acton rang the bell for +the lady-in-waiting, who entered accompanied by the Duchesse Curigliano +Marini, and they assisted Her Majesty to bed. + +When she had retired, "Do not," said the general to me, "do not go to Sir +William's to-night. He is at Caserte. You seem too much fatigued." + +"More from grief," replied I, "and reflection on the fatal consequences +that might result to the great personages I have so lately left, than +from the journey." + +"Take my advice," resumed he. "You had much better go to bed and rest +yourself. You look very ill." + +I did as he recommended, and went to the nearest hotel I could find. I +felt no fatigue of mind or body till I had got into bed, where I was +confined for several days with a most violent fever. During my illness I +received every attention both from the Court, and our Ambassador and Lady +Hamilton, who kindly visited me every day. The Queen of Naples I never +again saw till my return in 1793, after the murder of the Queen of +France; and I am glad I did not, for her agony would have acted anew upon +my disordered frame, and might have proved fatal. + +I was certainly somewhat prepared for a difference of feeling between the +two Princesses, as the unfortunate Marie Antoinette, in the letters to +the Queen of Naples, always wrote, "To my much beloved sister, the Queen +of the two Sicilies, etc.," and to the other, merely, "To the Duchess of +Parma, etc." But I could never have dreamt of a difference so little +flattering, under such circumstances, to the Duchess of Parma. + + + + +SECTION XVIII. + +From the moment of my departure from Paris on the 2d of August, 1792, the +tragedy hastened to its denouement. On the night of the 9th, the tocsin +was sounded, and the King and the Royal Family looked upon their fate as +sealed. Notwithstanding the personal firmness of His Majesty, he was a +coward for others. He dreaded the responsibility of ordering blood to be +shed, even in defence of his nearest and dearest interests. Petion, +however, had given the order to repel force by force to De Mandat, who +was murdered upon the steps of the Hotel de Ville. It has been generally +supposed that Petion had received a bribe for not ordering the cannon +against the Tuileries on the night of the 9th, and that De Mandat was +massacred by the agents of Petion for the purpose of extinguishing all +proof that he was only acting under the instructions of the Mayor. + +I shall not undertake to judge of the propriety of the King's impression +that there was no safety from the insurgents but in the hall, and under +the protection of the Assembly. Had the members been well disposed +towards him, the event might have proved very different. But there is +one thing certain. The Queen would never have consented to this step but +to save the King and her innocent children. She would have preferred +death to the humiliation of being under obligations to her sworn enemies; +but she was overcome by the King declaring, with tears in his eyes, that +he would not quit the palace without her. The Princesses Elizabeth and +de Lamballe fell at her feet, implored Her Majesty to obey the King, and +assured her there was no alternative between instant death and refuge +from it in the Assembly. "Well," said the Queen, "if our lot be death, +let us away to receive it with the national sanction." + +I need not expatiate on the succession of horrors which now overwhelmed +the royal sufferers. Their confinement at the Feuillans, and their +subsequent transfer to the Temple, are all topics sufficiently enlarged +upon by many who were actors in the scenes to which they led. The +Princesse de Lamballe was, while it was permitted, the companion of their +captivity. But the consolation of her society was considered too great +to be continued. Her fate had no doubt been predetermined; and, +unwilling to await the slow proceedings of a trial, which it was thought +politic should precede the murder of her royal mistress, it was found +necessary to detach her from the wretched inmates of the Temple, in order +to have her more completely within the control of the miscreants, who +hated her for her virtues. The expedient was resorted to of casting +suspicion upon the correspondence which Her Highness kept up with the +exterior of the prison, for the purpose of obtaining such necessaries as +were required, in consequence of the utter destitution in which the Royal +Family retired from the Tuileries. Two men, of the names of Devine and +Priquet, were bribed to create a suspicion, by their informations against +the Queen's female attendant. The first declared that on the 18th of +August, while he was on duty near the cell of the King, he saw a woman +about eleven o'clock in the day come from a room in the centre, holding +in one hand three letters, and with the other cautiously opening the door +of the right-hand chamber, whence she presently came back without the +letters and returned into the centre chamber. He further asserted that +twice, when this woman opened the door, he distinctly saw a letter half- +written, and every evidence of an eagerness to hide it from observation. +The second informant, Priquet, swore that, while on duty as morning +sentinel on the gallery between the two towers, he saw, through the +window of the central chamber, a woman writing with great earnestness and +alarm during the whole time he was on guard. + +All the ladies were immediately summoned before the authorities. The +hour of the separation between the Princess and her royal friend accorded +with the solemnity of the circumstance. It was nearly midnight when they +were torn asunder, and they never met again. + +The examinations were all separate. That of the Princesse de Lamballe +was as follows + +Q. Your name? + +A. Marie-Therese-Louise de Savoy, Bourbon Lamballe. + +Q. What do you know of the events which occurred on the 10th of August? + +A. Nothing. + +Q. Where did you pass that day? + +A. As a relative I followed the King to the National Assembly. + +Q. Were you in bed on the nights of the 9th and 10th? + +A. No. + +Q. Where were you then? + +A. In my apartments, at the chateau. + +Q. Did you not go to the apartments of the King in the course of that +night? + +A. Finding there was a likelihood of a commotion, went thither towards +one in the morning. + +Q. You were aware, then, that the people had arisen? + +A. I learnt it from hearing the tocsin. + +Q. Did you see the Swiss and National Guards, who passed the night on +the terrace? + +A. I was at the window, but saw neither. + +Q. Was the King in his apartment when you went thither? + +A. There were a great number of persons in the room, but not the King. + +Q. Did you know of the Mayor of Paris being at the Tuileries? + +A. I heard he was there. + +Q. At what hour did the King go to the National Assembly? + +A. Seven. + +Q. Did he not, before he went, review the troops? Do you know the oath +he made them swear? + +A. I never heard of any oath. + +Q. Have you any knowledge of cannon being mounted and pointed in the +apartments? + +A. No. + +Q. Have you ever seen Messrs. Mandat and d'Affry in the chateau? + +A. No. + +Q. Do you know the secret doors of the Tuileries? + +A. I know of no such doors. + +Q. Have you not, since you have been in the Temple, received and written +letters, which you sought to send away secretly? + +A. I have never received or written any letters, excepting such as have +been delivered to the municipal officer. + +Q. Do you know anything of an article of furniture which is making for +Madame Elizabeth? + +A. No. + +Q. Have you not recently received some devotional books? + +A. No. + +Q. What are the books which you have at the Temple? + +A. I have none. + +Q. Do you know anything of a barred staircase? + +A. No. + +Q. What general officers did you see at the Tuileries, on the nights of +the 9th and 10th? + +A. I saw no general officers, I only saw M. Roederer. + +For thirteen hours was Her Highness, with her female companions in +misfortune, exposed to these absurd forms, and to the gaze of insulting +and malignant curiosity. At length, about the middle of the day, they +were told that it was decreed that they should be detained till further +orders, leaving them the choice of prisons, between that of la Force and +of la Salpetriere. + +Her Highness immediately decided on the former. It was at first +determined that she should be separated from Madame de Tourzel, but +humanity so far prevailed as to permit the consolation of her society, +with that of others of her friends and fellow-sufferers, and for a moment +the Princess enjoyed the only comfort left to her, that of exchanging +sympathy with her partners in affliction. But the cell to which she was +doomed proved her last habitation upon earth. + +On the 1st of September the Marseillois began their murderous operations. +Three hundred persons in two days massacred upwards of a thousand defence +less prisoners, confined under the pretext of malpractices against the +State, or rather devotedness to the royal cause. The spirit which +produced the massacres of the prisons at Paris extended them through the +principal towns and cities all over France. + +Even the universal interest felt for the Princesse de Lamballe was of no +avail against this frenzy. I remember once (as if it were from a +presentiment of what was to occur) the King observing to her, "I never +knew any but fools and sycophants who could keep themselves clear from +the lash of public censure. How is it, then, that you, my dear Princess, +who are neither, contrive to steer your bark on this dangerous coast +without running against the rocks on which so many good vessels like your +own have been dashed to pieces?" "Oh, Sire," replied Her Highness, "my +time is not yet come--I am not dead yet!" Too soon, and too horribly, her +hour did come! + +The butchery of the prisons was now commenced. The Duc de Penthievre set +every engine in operation to save his beloved daughter-in-law. He sent +for Manuel, who was then Procureur of Paris. The Duke declared that half +his fortune should be Manuel's if he could but save the Princesse de +Lamballe and the ladies who were in the same prison with her from the +general massacre. Manuel promised the Duke that he would instantly set +about removing them all from the reach of the blood-hunters. He began +with those whose removal was least likely to attract attention, leaving +the Princesse de Lamballe, from motives of policy, to the last. + +Meanwhile, other messengers had been dispatched to different quarters for +fear of failure with Manuel. It was discovered by one of these that the +atrocious tribunal,--[Thibaudeau, Hebert, Simonier, etc.]-- who sat in +mock judgment upon the tenants of these gloomy abodes, after satiating +themselves with every studied insult they could devise, were to pronounce +the word "libre!" It was naturally presumed that the predestined +victims, on hearing this tempting sound, and seeing the doors at the same +moment set open by the clerks of the infamous court, would dart off in +exultation, and, fancying themselves liberated, rush upon the knives of +the barbarians, who were outside, in waiting for their blood! Hundreds +were thus slaughtered. + +To save the Princess from such a sacrifice, it was projected to prevent +her from appearing before the tribunal, and a belief was encouraged that +means would be devised to elude the necessity. The person who interested +himself for her safety contrived to convey a letter containing these +words: "Let what will happen, for God's sake do not quit your cell. You +will be spared. Adieu." + +Manuel, however, who knew not of this cross arrangement, was better +informed than its projector. + +He was aware it would be impossible for Her Highness to escape from +appearing before the tribunal. He had already removed her companions. +The Princesse de Tarente, the Marquise de Tourzel, her daughter, and +others, were in safety. But when, true to his promise, he went to the +Princesse de Lamballe, she would not be prevailed upon to quit her cell. +There was no time for parley. The letter prevailed, and her fate was +inevitable. + +The massacre had begun at daybreak. The fiends had been some hours busy +in the work of death. The piercing shrieks of the dying victims brought +the Princess and her remaining companion upon their knees, in fervent +prayer for the souls of the departed. The messengers of the tribunal now +appeared. The Princess was compelled to attend the summons. She went, +accompanied by her faithful female attendant. + +A glance at the seas of blood, of which she caught a glimpse upon her way +to the Court, had nearly shocked her even to sudden death. Would it had! +She staggered, but was sustained by her companion. Her courage +triumphed. She appeared before the gore-stained tribunes. + +After some questions of mere form, Her Highness was commanded to swear to +be faithful to the new order of government, and to hate the King, the +Queen, and royalty. + +"To the first," replied Her Highness, "I willingly submit. To the +second, how can I accede? There is nothing of which I can accuse the +Royal Family. To hate them is against my nature. They are my +Sovereigns. They are my friends and relations. I have served them for +many years, and never have I found reason for the slightest complaint." + +The Princess could no longer articulate. She fell into the arms of her +attendant. The fatal signal was pronounced. She recovered, and, +crossing the court of the prison, which was bathed with the blood of +mutilated victims, involuntarily exclaimed, "Gracious Heaven! What a +sight is this!" and fell into a fit. + +Nearest to her in the mob stood a mulatto, whom she had caused to be +baptized, educated, and maintained; but whom, for ill-conduct, she had +latterly excluded from her presence. This miscreant struck at her with +his halbert. The blow removed her cap. Her luxuriant hair (as if to +hide her angelic beauty from the sight of the murderers, pressing tiger- +like around to pollute that form, the virtues of which equalled its +physical perfection)--her luxuriant hair fell around and veiled her a +moment from view. An individual, to whom I was nearly allied, seeing the +miscreants somewhat staggered, sprang forward to the rescue; but the +mulatto wounded him. The Princess was lost to all feeling from the +moment the monster first struck at her. But the demons would not quit +their prey. She expired gashed with wounds. + +Scarcely was the breath out of her body, when the murderers cut off her +head. One party of them fixed it, like that of the vilest traitor, on an +immense pole, and bore it in triumph all over Paris; while another +division of the outrageous cannibals were occupied in tearing her clothes +piecemeal from her mangled corpse. The beauty of that form, though +headless, mutilated and reeking with the hot blood of their foul crime-- +how shall I describe it?--excited that atrocious excess of lust, which +impelled these hordes of assassins to satiate their demoniac passions +upon the remains of this virtuous angel. + +This incredible crime being perpetrated, the wretches fastened ropes +round the body, arms, and legs, and dragged it naked through the streets +of Paris, till no vestige remained by which it could be distinguished as +belonging to the human species; and then left it among the hundreds of +innocent victims of that awful day, who were heaped up to putrefy in one +confused and disgusting mass. + +The head was reserved for other purposes of cruelty and horror. It was +first borne to the Temple, beneath the windows of the royal prisoners. +The wretches who were hired daily to insult them in their dens of misery, +by proclaiming all the horrors vomited from the national Vesuvius, were +commissioned to redouble their howls of what had befallen the Princesse +de Lamballe. + + [These horrid circumstances I had from the Chevalier Clery, who was + the only attendant allowed to assist Louis XVI. and his unhappy + family, during their last captivity; but who was banished from the + Temple as soon as his royal master was beheaded, and never permitted + to return. Clery told me all this when I met him at Pyrmont, in + Germany. He was then in attendance upon the late Comtesse de Lisle, + wife of Louie XVIII., at whose musical parties I had often the + honour of assisting, when on a visit to the beautiful Duchesse de + Guiche. On returning to Paris from Germany, on my way back into + Italy, I met the wife of Clery, and her friend M. Beaumont, both old + friends of mine, who confirmed Clery's statement, and assured me + they were all for two years in hourly expectation of being sent to + the Place de Greve for execution. The death of Robespierre saved + their lives. + + Madame Clery taught Marie Antoinette to play upon the harp. Madame + Beaumont was a natural daughter of Louis XV. I had often occasion + to be in their agreeable society; and, as might be expected, their + minds were stored with the most authentic anecdotes and information + upon the topics of the day.] + +The Queen sprang up at the name of her friend. She heard subjoined to, +it, "la voila en triomphe," and then came shouts and laughter. She +looked out. At a distance she perceived something like a Bacchanalian +procession, and thought, as she hoped, that the Princess was coming to +her in triumph from her prison, and her heart rejoiced in the +anticipation of once more being, blessed with her society. But the King, +who had seen and heard more distinctly from his apartment, flew to that +of the Queen. That the horrid object might not escape observation, the +monsters had mounted upon each other's shoulders so as to lift the +bleeding head quite up to the prison bars. The King came just in time to +snatch Her Majesty from the, spot, and thus she was prevented from seeing +it. He took her up in his arms and carried her to a distant part of the +Temple, but the mob pursued her in her retreat, and howled the fatal +truth even at her, very door, adding that her head would be the next, the +nation would require. Her Majesty fell into violent hysterics. The +butchers of human flesh continued in the interior of the Temple, parading +the triumph of their assassination, until the shrieks of the Princesse +Elizabeth at the state in which she saw the Queen, and serious fears for +the safety of the royal prisoners, aroused the commandant to treble the +national guards and chase the barbarians to the outside, where they +remained for hours. + + + +SECTION XIX. + +It now remains for me to complete my record by a few facts and +observations relating to the illustrious victims who a short time +survived the Princesse de Lamballe. I shall add to this painful +narrative some details which have been mentioned to me concerning their +remorseless persecutors, who were not long left unpursued by just and +awful retribution. Having done this, I shall dismiss the subject. + +The execrable and sacrilegious modern French Pharisees, who butchered, on +the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd of September, 1792, all the prisoners at Paris, by +these massacres only gave the signal for the more diabolical machinations +which led to the destruction of the still more sacred victims of the 21st +of January, and the 16th of October, 1793, and the myriads who followed. + +The King himself never had a doubt with regard to his ultimate fate. +His only wish was to make it the means of emancipation for the Queen and +Royal Family. It was his intention to appeal to the National Assembly +upon the subject, after his trial. Such also was the particular wish of +his saint-like sister, the Princesse Elizabeth, who imagined that an +appeal under such circumstances could not be resisted. But the Queen +strongly opposed the measure; and His Majesty said he should be loath, +in the last moments of his painful existence, in anything to thwart one +whom he loved so tenderly. + +He had long accustomed himself, when he spoke of the Queen and royal +infants, in deference to the temper of the times, only to say, "my wife +and children." They, as he told Clery, formed a tie, and the only one +remaining, which still bound him to earth. Their last embraces, he said, +went so to his aching heart, that he could even yet feel their little +hands clinging about him, and see their streaming eyes, and hear their +agonized and broken voices. The day previous to the fatal catastrophe, +when permitted for the last time to see his family, the Princesse +Elizabeth whispered him, not for herself, but for the Queen and his +helpless innocents, to remember his intentions. He said he should not +feel himself happy if, in his last hour, he did not give them a proof of +his paternal affection, in obtaining an assurance that the sacrifice of +his life should be the guarantee of theirs. So intent was his mind upon +this purpose, said Clery to me, that when his assassins came to take him +to the slaughtering-place, he said, "I hope my death will appease the +nation, and that my innocent family, who have suffered on my account, +will now be released." + +The ruffians answered, "The nation, always magnanimous, only seeks to +punish the guilty. You may be assured your family will be respected." +Events have proved how well they kept their word. + +It was to fulfil the intention of recommending his family to the people +with his dying breath that he commenced his address upon the scaffold, +when Santerre ordered the drums to drown his last accents, and the axe +to fall! + +The Princesse Elizabeth, and perhaps others of the royal prisoners, hoped +he would have been reprieved, till Herbert, that real 'Pere du chene', +with a smile upon his countenance, came triumphantly to announce to the +disconsolate family that Louis was no more! + +Perhaps there never was a King more misrepresented and less understood, +especially by the immediate age in which he lived, than Louis XVI. He +was the victim of natural timidity, increased by the horror of bloodshed, +which the exigencies of the times rendered indispensable to his safety. +He appeared weak in intellect, when he was only so from circumstances. +An overwrought anxiety to be just made him hesitate about the mode of +overcoming the abuses, until its procrastination had destroyed the object +of his wishes. He had courage sufficient, as well as decision, where +others were not menaced and the danger was confined to himself; but, +where his family or his people were involved, he was utterly unfit to +give direction. The want of self-sufficiency in his own faculties have +been his, and his throne's, ruin. He consulted those who caused him to +swerve from the path his own better reason had dictated, and, in seeking +the best course, he often chose the worst. + +The same fatal timidity which pervaded his character extended to his +manners. From being merely awkward, he at last became uncouth; but from +the natural goodness of his heart, the nearest to him soon lost sight of +his ungentleness from the rectitude of his intentions, and, to parody the +poet, saw his deportment in his feelings. + +Previous to the Revolution, Louis XVI. was generally considered gentle +and affable, though never polished. But the numberless outrages suffered +by his Queen, his family, his friends, and himself, especially towards +the close of his career, soured him to an air of rudeness, utterly +foreign to his nature and to his intention. + +It must not be forgotten that he lived in a time of unprecedented +difficulty. He was a lamb governing tigers. So far as his own personal +bearing is concerned, who is there among his predecessors, that, replaced +upon the throne, would have resisted the vicissitudes brought about by +internal discord, rebellion, and riot, like himself? What said he when +one of the heterogeneous, plebeian, revolutionary assemblies not only +insulted him, but added to the insult a laugh? "If you think you can +govern better, I am ready to resign," was the mild but firm reply of +Louis. + +How glorious would have been the triumph for the most civilized nation in +the centre of Europe had the insulter taken him at his word. When the +experimentalists did attempt to govern, we all know, and have too +severely felt, the consequences. Yet this unfortunate monarch has been +represented to the world as imbecile, and taxed with wanting character, +firmness, and fortitude, because he has been vanquished! The despot- +conqueror has been vanquished since! + +His acquirements were considerable. His memory was remarkably retentive +and well-stored,--a quality, I should infer from all I have observed, +common to most Sovereigns. By the multiplicity of persons they are in +the habit of seeing, and the vast variety of objects continually passing +through their minds, this faculty is kept in perpetual exercise. + +But the circumstance which probably injured Louis XVI. more than any +other was his familiarity with the locksmith, Gamin. Innocent as was the +motive whence it arose, this low connection lessened him more with the +whole nation than if he had been the most vicious of Princes. How +careful Sovereigns ought to be, with respect to the attention they bestow +on men in humble life; especially those whose principles may have been +demoralized by the meanness of the associations consequent upon their +occupation, and whose low origin may have denied them opportunities of +intellectual cultivation. + +This observation map even be extended to the liberal arts. It does not +follow because a monarch is fond of these that he should so far forget +himself as to make their professors his boon companions. He loses ground +whenever he places his inferiors on a level with himself. Men are +estimated from the deference they pay to their own stations in society. +The great Frederic of Prussia used to sap, "I must show myself a King, +because my trade is royalty." + +It was only in destitution and anguish that the real character of Louis +developed itself. He was firm and patient, utterly regardless of +himself, but wrung to the heart for others, not even excepting his +deluded murderers. Nothing could swerve him from his trust in Heaven, +and he left a glorious example of how far religion can triumph over every +calamity and every insult this world has power to inflict. + +There was a national guard, who, at the time of the imprisonment of the +Royal Family, was looked upon as the most violent of Jacobins, and the +sworn enemy of royalty. On that account the sanguinary agents of the +self-created Assembly employed him to frequent the Temple. His special +commission was to stimulate the King and Royal Family by every possible +argument to self-destruction. + +But this man was a friend in disguise. He undertook the hateful office +merely to render every service in his power, and convey regular +information of the plots of the Assembly against those whom he was +deputed to persecute. The better to deceive his companions, he would +read aloud to the Royal Family all the debates of the regicides, which +those who were with him encouraged, believing it meant to torture and +insult, when the real motive was to prepare them to meet every +accusation, by communicating to them each charge as it occurred. So +thoroughly were the Assembly deceived, that the friendly guard was +allowed free access to the apartments, in order to facilitate, as was +imagined, his wish to agonize and annoy. By this means, he was enabled +to caution the illustrious prisoners never to betray any emotion at what +he read, and to rely upon his doing his best to soften the rigour of +their fate. + +The individual of whom I speak communicated these circumstances to me +himself. He declared, also, that the Duc d'Orleans came frequently to +the Temple during the imprisonment of Louis XVI., but, always in +disguise; and never, till within a few days after the murder of the poor +King, did he disclose himself. On that occasion he had bribed the men +who were accustomed to light the fires, to admit him in their stead to +the apartment of the Princesse Elizabeth. He found her on her knees, in +fervent prayer for the departed soul of her beloved brother. He +performed this office, totally unperceived by this predestined victim; +but his courage was subdued by her piety. He dared not extend the +stratagem to the apartment of the Queen. On leaving the angelic +Princess, he was so overcome by remorse that he: requested my informant +to give him a glass of water, saying, "that woman has unmanned me." It +was by this circumstance he was discovered. + +The Queen was immediately apprised by the good man of the occurrence. + +"Gracious God!" exclaimed Her Majesty, "I thought once or twice that I +had seen him at our miserable dinner hours, occupied with the other +jailers at the outside door. I even mentioned the circumstance to +Elizabeth, and she replied, "I also have observed a man resembling +D'ORLEANS, but it cannot be he, for the man I noticed had a wooden leg." + +"That was the very disguise he was discovered in this morning, when +preparing, or pretending to prepare, the fire in the Princesse +Elizabeth's apartment," replied the national guard. + +"Merciful Heaven!" said the Queen, "is he not yet satisfied? Must he +even satiate his barbarous brutality with being an eye-witness of the +horrid state into which he has thrown us? Save me," continued Her +Majesty, "oh, save me from contaminating my feeble sight, which is almost +exhausted, nearly parched up for the loss of my dear husband, by looking +on him!--Oh, death! come, come and release me from such a sight!" + +"Luckily," observed the guard to me, "it was the hour of the general jail +dinner, and we were alone; otherwise, I should infallibly have been +discovered, as my tears fell faster than those of the Queen, for really +hers seemed to be nearly exhausted: However," pursued he, "that D'ORLEANS +did see the Queen, and that the Queen saw him, I am very sure. From what +passed between them in the month of July, 1793, she was hurried off from +the Temple to the common prison, to take her trial." This circumstance +combined, with other motives, to make the Assembly hasten the Duke's +trial soon after, who had been sent with his young son to Marseilles, +there being no doubt that he wished to rescue the Queen, so as to have +her in his own power. + +On the 16th of October, Her Majesty was beheaded. Her death was +consistent with her life. She met her fate like a Christian, but still +like a Queen. + +Perhaps, had Marie Antoinette been uncontrolled in the exercise of her +judgment, she would have shown a spirit in emergency better adapted to +wrestle with the times than had been discovered by His Majesty. Certain +it is she was generally esteemed the most proper to be consulted of the +two. From the imperfect idea which many of the persons in office +entertained of the King's capacity, few of them ever made any +communication of importance but to the Queen. Her Majesty never kept a +single circumstance from her husband's knowledge, and scarcely decided on +the smallest trifle without his consent; but so thorough was his +confidence in the correctness of her judgment that he seldom, if ever, +opposed her decisions. The Princesse de Lamballe used to say, "Though +Marie Antoinette is not a woman of great or uncommon talents, yet her +long practical knowledge gave her an insight into matters of moment which +she turned to advantage with so much coolness and address amid +difficulties, that I am convinced she only wanted free scope to have +shone in the history of Princes as a great Queen. Her natural tendencies +were perfectly domestic. Had she been kept in countenance by the manners +of the times, or favoured earlier by circumstances, she would have sought +her only pleasures in the family circle, and, far from Court intrigue, +have become the model of her sex and age." + +It is by no means to be wondered at that, in her peculiar situation, +surrounded by a thoughtless and dissipated Court, long denied the natural +ties so necessary to such a heart, in the heyday of youth and beauty, and +possessing an animated and lively spirit, she should have given way in +the earlier part of her career to gaiety, and been pleased with a round +of amusement. The sincere friendship which she afterwards formed for the +Duchesse de Polignac encouraged this predilection. The plot to destroy +her had already been formed, and her enemies were too sharp-sighted and +adroit not to profit and take advantage of the opportunities afforded by +this weakness. The miscreant had murdered her character long, long +before they assailed her person. + +The charge against her of extravagance has been already refuted. Her +private palace was furnished from the State lumber rooms, and what was +purchased, paid for out of her savings. As for her favourites, she never +had but two, and these were no supernumerary expense or encumbrance to +the State. + +Perhaps it would have been better had she been more thoroughly directed +by the Princesse de Lamballe. She was perfectly conscious of her good +qualities, but De Polignac dazzled and humoured her love of amusement and +display of splendour. Though this favourite was the image of her royal +mistress in her amiable characteristics, the resemblance unfortunately +extended to her weaknesses. This was not the case with the Princesse de +Lamballe; she possessed steadiness, and was governed by the cool +foresight of her father-in-law, the Duc de Penthievre, which both the +other friends wanted. + +The unshaken attachment of the Princesse de Lamballe to the Queen, +notwithstanding the slight at which she at one time had reason to feel +piqued, is one of the strongest evidences against the slanderers of Her +Majesty. The moral conduct of the Princess has never been called in +question. Amid the millions of infamous falsehoods invented to vilify +and degrade every other individual connected with the Court, no +imputation, from the moment of her arrival in France, up to the fatal one +of her massacre, ever tarnished her character. To her opinion, then, the +most prejudiced might look with confidence. Certainly no one had a +greater opportunity of knowing the real character of Marie Antoinette. +She was an eye-witness to her conduct during the most brilliant and +luxurious portion of her reign; she saw her from the meridian of her +magnificence down to her dejection to the depths of unparalleled misery. +If the unfortunate Queen had ever been guilty of the slightest of those +glaring vices of which she was so generally accused, the Princess must +have been aware of them; and it was not in her nature to have remained +the friend and advocate, even unto death, of one capable of depravity. +Yet not a breath of discord ever arose between them on that score. +Virtue and vice can never harmonize; and even had policy kept Her +Highness from avowing a change of sentiments, it never could have +continued her enthusiasm, which was augmented, and not diminished, by the +fall of her royal friend. An attachment which holds through every +vicissitude must be deeply rooted from conviction of the integrity of its +object. + +The friendship that subsisted between this illustrious pair is an +everlasting monument that honours their sex. The Queen used to say of +her, that she was the only woman she had ever known without gall. +"Like the blessed land of Ireland," observed Her Majesty, "exempt from +the reptiles elsewhere so dangerous to mankind, so was she freed by +Providence from the venom by which the finest form in others is +empoisoned. No envy, no ambition, no desire, but to contribute to the +welfare and happiness of her fellow creatures--and yet, with all these +estimable virtues, these angelic qualities, she is doomed, from her +virtuous attachment to our persons, to sink under the weight of that +affliction, which, sooner or later, must bury us all in one common ruin-- +a ruin which is threatening hourly." + +These presentiments of the awful result of impending storms were mutual. +From frequent conversations with the Princesse de Lamballe, from the +evidence of her letters and her private papers, and from many remarks +which have been repeated to me personally by Her Highness, and from +persons in her confidence, there is abundant evidence of the forebodings +she constantly had of her own and the Queen's untimely end. + + [A very remarkable circumstance was related to me when I was at + Vienna, after this horrid murder. The Princess of Lobkowitz, sister + to the Princesse de Lamballe, received a box, with an anonymous + letter, telling her to conceal the box carefully till further + notice. After the riots had subsided a little in France, she was + apprised that the box contained all, or the greater part, of the + jewels belonging to the Princess, and had been taken from the + Tuileries on the 10th of August. + + It is supposed that the jewels had been packed by the Princess in + anticipation of her doom, and forwarded to her sister through her + agency or desire.] + +There was no friend of the Queen to whom the King showed any deference, +or rather anything like the deference he paid to the Princesse de +Lamballe. When the Duchesse de Polignac, the Comtesse Diane de Polignac, +the Comte d'Artois, the Duchesse de Guiche, her husband, the present Duc +de Grammont, the Prince of Hesse-Darmstadt, etc., fled from Paris, he and +the Queen, as if they had foreseen the awful catastrophe which was to +destroy her so horribly, entreated her to leave the Court, and take +refuge in Italy. So also did her father-in-law, the Duc de Penthievre; +but all in vain. She saw her friend deprived of De Polignac, and all +those near and dear to her heart, and became deaf to every solicitation. +Could such constancy, which looked death in its worst form in the face +unshrinking, have existed without great and estimable qualities in its +possessor? + +The brother-in-law of the Princesse de Lamballe, the Duc d'Orleans, was +her declared enemy merely from her attachment to the Queen. These three +great victims have been persecuted to the tomb, which had no sooner +closed over the last than the hand of Heaven fell upon their destroyer. +That Louis XVI. was not the friend of this member of his family can +excite no surprise, but must rather challenge admiration. He had been +seduced by his artful and designing regicide companions to expend +millions to undermine the throne, and shake it to pieces under the feet +of his relative, his Sovereign, the friend of his earliest youth, who was +aware of the treason, and who held the thunderbolt, but would not crush +him. But they have been foiled in their hope of building a throne for +him upon the ruin they had made, and placed an age where they flattered +him he would find a diadem. + +The Prince de Conti told me at Barcelona that the Duchesse d'Orleans had +assured him that, even had the Duc d'Orleans survived, he never could +have attained, his object. The immense sums he had lavished upon the +horde of his revolutionary satellites had, previous to his death, thrown +him into embarrassment. The avarice of his party increased as his +resources diminished. The evil, as evil generally does, would have +wrought its own punishment in either way. He must have lived suspected +and miserable, had he not died. But his reckless character did not +desert him at the scaffold. It is said that before he arrived at the +Place de Greve he ate a very rich ragout, and drank a bottle of +champagne, and left the world as he had gone through it. + +The supernumerary, the uncalled-for martyr, the last of the four devoted +royal sufferers, was beheaded the following spring. For this murder +there could not have been the shadow of a pretext. The virtues of this +victim were sufficient to redeem the name of Elizabeth + + [The eighteen years' imprisonment and final murder of Mary, Queen of + Scots, by Elizabeth of England, is enough to stigmatize her forever, + independently of the many other acts of tyranny which stain her + memory. The dethronement by Elizabeth of Russia of the innocent + Prince Ivan, her near relation, while yet in the cradle, gives the + Northern Empress a claim to a similar character to the British + Queen.] + +from the stain with which the two of England and Russia, who had already +borne it, had clouded its immortality. She had never, in any way, +interfered in political events. Malice itself had never whispered a +circumstance to her dispraise. After this wanton assassination, it is +scarcely to be expected that the innocent and candid looks and streaming +azure eyes of that angelic infant, the Dauphin, though raised in humble +supplication to his brutal assassins, with an eloquence which would have +disarmed the savage tiger, could have won wretches so much more pitiless +than the most ferocious beasts of the wilderness, or saved him from their +slow but sure poison, whose breath was worse than the upas tree to all +who came within its influence. + +The Duchesse d'Angouleme, the only survivor of these wretched captives, +is a living proof of the baleful influence of that contaminated prison, +the infectious tomb of the royal martyrs. That once lovely countenance, +which, with the goodness and amiableness of her royal father, whose +mildness hung on her lips like the milk and honey of human kindness, +blended the dignity, grace, elegance, and innocent vivacity, which were +the acknowledged characteristics of her beautiful mother, lost for some +time all traces of its original attractions. The lines of deep-seated +sorrow are not easily obliterated. If the sanguinary republic had not +wished to obtain by exchange the Generals La Fayette, Bournonville, +Lameth, etc., whom Dumourier had treacherously consigned into the hands +of Austria, there is little: doubt but that, from the prison in which she +was so long doomed to vegetate only to make life a burthen, she would +have been sent to share the fate of her murdered family. + +How can the Parisians complain that they found her Royal Highness, on her +return to France, by no means what they required in a Princess? Can it +be wondered at that her marked grief should be visible when amidst the +murderers of her family? It should rather be a wonder that she can at +all bear the scenes in which she moves, and not abhor the very name of +Paris, when every step must remind her of some out rage to herself, or +those most dear to her, or of some beloved relative or friend destroyed! +Her return can only be accounted for by the spell of that all-powerful +'amor patriae', which sometimes prevails over every other influence. + +Before I dismiss this subject, it may not be uninteresting to my readers +to receive some desultory anecdotes that I have heard concerning one or +two of the leading monsters, by whom the horrors upon which I have +expatiated were occasioned. + +David, the famous painter, was a member of the sanguinary tribunal which +condemned the King. On this account he has been banished from France +since the restoration. + +If any one deserved this severity, it was David. It was at the expense +of the Court of Louis XVI. that this ungrateful being was sent to Rome, +to perfect himself in his sublime art. His studies finished, he was +pensioned from the same patrons, and upheld as an artist by the special +protection of every member of the Royal Family. + +And yet this man, if he may be dignified by the name, had the baseness to +say in the hearing of the unfortunate Louis XVI., when on trial, "Well! +when are we to have his head dressed, a la guillotine." + +At another time, being deputed to visit the Temple, as one of the +committee of public safety, as he held out his snuff-box before the +Princesse Elizabeth, she, conceiving he meant to offer it, took a pinch. +The monster, observing what she had done, darting a look of contempt at +her, instantly threw away the snuff, and dashed the box to pieces on the +floor. + +Robespierre had a confidential physician, who attended him almost to the +period when he ascended the scaffold, and who was very often obliged, +'malgre-lui', to dine tete-a-tete with this monopolizer of human flesh +and blood. One day he happened to be with him, after a very +extraordinary number had been executed, and amongst the rest, some of the +physician's most intimate acquaintances. + +The unwilling guest was naturally very downcast, and ill at ease, and +could not dissemble his anguish. He tried to stammer out excuses and get +away from the table. + +Robespierre, perceiving his distress, interrogated him as to the cause. + +The physician, putting his hand to his head, discovered his reluctance to +explain. + +Robespierre took him by the hand, assured him he had nothing to fear, and +added, "Come, doctor, you, as a professional man, must be well informed +as to the sentiments of the major part of the Parisians respecting me. +I entreat you, my dear friend, frankly to avow their opinion. It may +perhaps serve me for the future, as a guide for governing them." + +The physician answered, "I can no longer resist the impulse of nature. +I know I shall thereby oppose myself to your power, but I must tell you, +you are generally abhorred,--considered the Attila, the Sylla, of the +age,--the two-footed plague, that, walks about to fill peaceful abodes +with miseries and family mournings. The myriads you are daily sending to +the slaughter at the Place de Greve, who have, committed no crime, the +carts of a certain description, you have ordered daily to bear a stated +number to be sacrificed, directing they should be taken from the prisons, +and, if enough are not in the prisons, seized, indiscriminately in the +streets, that no place in the deadly vehicle may be left unoccupied, and +all this without a trial, without even an accusation, and without any +sanction but your own mandate--these things call the public curse upon +you, which is not the less bitter for not being audible." + +"Ah!" said Robespierre, laughing. "This puts me in mind of a story told +of the cruelty and tyranny, of Pope Sixtus the Fifth, who, having one +night, after he had enjoyed himself at a Bacchanalian supper, when heated +with wine, by way of a 'bonne bouche', ordered the first man that should +come through the gate of the 'Strada del popolo' at Rome to be +immediately hanged. Every person at this drunken conclave--nay, all +Rome--considered the Pope a tyrant, the most cruel of tyrants, till it +was made known and proved, after his death, that the wretch so executed +had murdered his father and mother ten years previously. I know whom I +send to the Place de Greve. All who go there are guilty, though they may +not seem so. Go on, what else have you heard?" + +"Why, that you have so terrified all descriptions of persons, that they +fear even your very breath, and look upon you as worse than the plague; +and I should not be surprised, if you persist in this course of conduct, +if something serious to yourself should be the consequence, and that ere +long." + +Not the least extraordinary part of the story is that this dialogue +between the devil and the doctor took place but a very, few hours +previous to Robespierre's being denounced by Tallien and Carriere to +the national convention, as a conspirator against the republican cause. +In defending himself from being arrested by the guard, he attempted to +shoot himself, but the ball missed, broke the monster's jaw-bone only, +and nearly impeded his speaking. + +Singularly enough, it was this physician who was sent for to assist and +dress his wounds. Robespierre replied to the doctor's observations, +laughing, and in the following language: + +"Oh, poor devils! they do not know their own interest. But my plan of +exterminating the evil will soon teach them. This is the only thing for +the good of the nation; for, before you can reform a thousand Frenchmen, +you must first lop off half a million of these vagabonds, and, if God +spare my life, in a few months there will be so many the less to breed +internal commotions, and disturb the general peace of Europe. + + [When Bonaparte was contriving the Consulship for life, and, in the + Irish way, forced the Italian Republic to volunteer an offer of the + Consulship of Italy, by a deputation to him at Paris, I happened to + be there. Many Italians, besides the deputies, went on the + occasion, and, among them, we had the good fortune to meet the Abbe + Fortis, the celebrated naturalist, a gentleman of first-rate + abilities, who had travelled three-fourths of the globe in + mineralogical research. The Abbe chanced one day to be in company + with my husband, who was an old acquaintance of his, where many of + the chopfallen deputies, like themselves, true lovers of their + country, could not help declaring their indignation at its degraded + state, and reprobating Bonaparte for rendering it so ridiculous in + the face of Europe and the world. The Abbe Fords, with the voice of + a Stentor, and spreading his gigantic form, which exceeded six feet + in height, exclaimed: "This would not have been the case had that + just and wise man Robespierre lived but a little longer." + + Every one present was struck with horror at the observation. + Noticing the effect of his words, the Abbe resumed: + + "I knew well I should frighten you in showing any partiality for + that bloody monopoliser of human heads. But you do not know the + perfidy of the French nation so well as I do. I have lived among + them many years. France is the sink of human deception. A Frenchman + will deceive his father, wife, and child; for deception is his + element. Robespierre knew this, and acted upon it, as you shall + hear." + + The Abbe then related to us the story I have detailed above, + verbatim, as he had it from the son of Esculapius, who himself + confirmed it afterwards in a conversation with the Abbe in our + presence. + + Having completed his anecdote, "Well," said the Abbe, "was I not + right in my opinion of this great philosopher and foreseer of evils, + when I observed that had be but lived a few months longer, there + would have been so many less in the world to disturb its + tranquillity?"] + +The same physician observed that from the immense number of executions +during the sanguinary reign of that monster, the Place de Greve became so +complete a swamp of human blood that it would scarcely hold the +scaffolding of the instrument of death, which, in consequence, was +obliged to be continually moved from one side of the square to the other. +Many of the soldiers and officers, who were obliged to attend these +horrible executions, had constantly their half-boots and stockings filled +with the blood of the poor sufferers; and as, whenever there was any +national festival to be given, it generally followed one of the most +sanguinary of these massacres, the public places, the theatres +especially, all bore the tracks of blood throughout the saloons and +lobbies. + +The infamous Carrier, who was the execrable agent of his still more +execrable employer, Robespierre, was left afterwards to join Tallien in a +conspiracy against him, merely to save himself; but did not long survive +his atrocious crimes or his perfidy. + +It is impossible to calculate the vast number of private assassinations +committed in the dead of the night, by order of this cannibal, on persons +of every rank and description. + +My task is now ended. Nothing remains for me but the reflections which +these sad and shocking remembrances cannot fail to awaken in all minds, +and especially in mine. Is it not astonishing that, in an age so +refined, so free from the enormous and flagitious crimes which were the +common stains of barbarous centuries, and at an epoch peculiarly +enlightened by liberal views, the French nation, by all deemed the most +polished since the Christian era, should have given an example of such +wanton, brutal, and coarse depravity to the world, under pretences +altogether chimerical, and, after unprecedented bloodshed and horror, +ended at the point where it began! + +The organized system of plunder and anarchy, exercised under different +forms more or less sanguinary, produced no permanent result beyond an +incontestible proof that the versatility of the French nation, and its +puny suppleness of character, utterly incapacitate it for that energetic +enterprise without which there can be no hope of permanent emancipation +from national slavery. It is my unalterable conviction that the French +will never know how to enjoy an independent and free Constitution. + +The tree of liberty unavoidably in all nations has been sprinkled with +human blood; but, when bathed by innocent victims, like the foul weed, +though it spring up, it rots in its infancy, and becomes loathsome and +infectious. Such has been the case in France; and the result justifies +the Italian satire: + + "Un albero senza fruta + Baretta senza testa + Governo che non resta." + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Honesty is to be trusted before genius +More dangerous to attack the habits of men than their religion + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext Memoirs of Louis XV., and XVI., v7 +by Madame du Hausset, and an unknown English girl and Princess Lamballe + diff --git a/old/cm45b10.zip b/old/cm45b10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7cd7878 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/cm45b10.zip |