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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..669a1bd --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #63699 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/63699) diff --git a/old/63699-0.txt b/old/63699-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index e764e81..0000000 --- a/old/63699-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,9131 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of MADAME ROLAND, by Ida M. Tarbell - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this ebook. - -Title: MADAME ROLAND - A BIOGRAPHICAL STUDY - -Author: Ida M. Tarbell - -Release Date: December 05, 2020 [EBook #63699] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team - at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images - generously made available by The Internet Archive) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MADAME ROLAND *** - - - - - MADAME ROLAND - - A BIOGRAPHICAL STUDY - - -[Illustration: - - MADAME ROLAND AT THE CONCIERGERIE. - - From a painting by Jules Goupil, now in the museum of Amboise. -] - - - - - MADAME ROLAND - _A BIOGRAPHICAL STUDY_ - - - BY - - IDA M. TARBELL - -[Illustration] - - NEW YORK - CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS - 1896 - - - - - COPYRIGHT, 1896, BY - CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS - - - Norwood Press - J. S. Cushing & Co.—Berwick & Smith - Norwood Mass. U.S.A. - - - - - TO MY DEAR FRIEND - - MADAME CÉCILE MARILLIER - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - PREFACE - - -Some eight years ago I undertook a study of the women of the French -Revolution, my object being merely to satisfy myself as to the value of -their public services in that period. In the course of my studies I -became particularly interested in Madame Roland, and when five years ago -I found myself in Paris for an extended period, I decided to use my -leisure in making a more careful investigation of her life and times -than I had been able to do in America. The result of that study is -condensed in this volume. - -Much of the material used in preparing the book is new to the public. -The chapter on Mademoiselle Phlipon’s relations with M. Roland and of -their marriage has been written from unpublished letters, and presents a -very different view of that affair from that which her biographers have -hitherto given, and from that which she herself gives in her Memoirs. -The story of her seeking a title with its privileges in Paris in 1784 -has never before been told, the letters in which the details of her -search are given never having been published. Those of her biographers -who have had access to these letters have been too ardent republicans, -or too passionate admirers of their heroine, to dwell on an episode of -her career which seemed to them inconsistent with her later life. - -The manuscripts of the letters from which these chapters have been -written are now in the _Bibliothèque Nationale_ of Paris. They were -given to the library in 1888, by Madame Faugère, the widow of M. P. -Faugère, to whom they had been given by Madame Champagneux, only -daughter of Madame Roland, that he might prepare a satisfactory edition -of her mother’s works, and write a life of her father. M. Faugère -finished his edition of Madame Roland’s writings, but he died before -completing his life of M. Roland. - -Much of the material used in the book I have obtained from the -descendants of Madame Roland, now living in Paris. My relations with -them came about through that distinguished scholar and gentleman, the -late James Darmesteter. Learning that I was interested in Madame Roland, -he kindly sent me to her great-grandson M. Léon Marillier, a professor -in the _École des Hautes Études_, of Paris. M. Marillier and his wife -were of the greatest service to me, called my attention to the -manuscripts which Madame Faugère had turned over to the _Bibliothèque_, -and which had just been catalogued, and gave me for examination a large -quantity of letters and _cahiers_ from Madame Roland’s girlhood. There -also I met their mother, Madame Cécile Marillier. To her I owe a debt of -gratitude for sympathy and help, which I can never repay. Madame -Marillier gave me freely the family legends of her grandmother, and in -May, 1892, I spent a fortnight at Le Clos, the family home of the -Rolands, where Madame Roland passed her happiest, most natural years. -The old place is rife with memories of its former mistress, and it was -there and afterwards in Villefranche that I found material for Chapters -IV. and V. - -I cannot close this introductory word without acknowledging, too, my -indebtedness to the librarians of the _Bibliothèque Nationale_, of -Paris. During three years I worked there almost daily, and I was treated -with uniform courtesy and served willingly and intelligently. Indeed, I -may say the same for all libraries and museums of Paris where I had -occasion to seek information. - - I. M. T. - - - - - CONTENTS - - - CHAPTER I - - PAGE - THE GIRLHOOD OF MANON PHLIPON 1 - - - CHAPTER II - - LOVERS AND MARRIAGE 31 - - - CHAPTER III - - SEEKING A TITLE 73 - - - CHAPTER IV - - COUNTRY LIFE 87 - - - CHAPTER V - - HOW THE ROLANDS WELCOMED THE REVOLUTION 112 - - - CHAPTER VI - - FIRST POLITICAL SALON 134 - - - CHAPTER VII - - A STICK IN THE WHEEL 155 - - - CHAPTER VIII - - WORKING FOR A SECOND REVOLUTION 168 - - - CHAPTER IX - - DISILLUSION 210 - - - CHAPTER X - - BUZOT AND MADAME ROLAND 226 - - - CHAPTER XI - - THE ROLANDS TURN AGAINST THE REVOLUTION 245 - - - CHAPTER XII - - IN PRISON 264 - - - CHAPTER XIII - - DEATH ON THE GUILLOTINE 295 - - - CHAPTER XIV - - THOSE LEFT BEHIND 303 - - - BIBLIOGRAPHY 313 - - INDEX 321 - - - - - LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. - - - Madame Roland at the Conciergerie—From a painting by - Jules Goupil, now in the museum of Amboise _Frontispiece_ - - Madame Roland—From a cameo in the Musée Carnavalet _Title_ - - FACING - PAGE - The Place Dauphine in the Eighteenth Century 8 - - The Pont Neuf in 1895 40 - - Roland de la Platière—After the painting by Hesse 64 - - Le Clos de la Platière 96 - - Madame Roland—From the painting by Heinsius in the - museum of Versailles 128 - - Madame Roland—After a crayon portrait owned by the - family 152 - - Madame Roland—From a painting by an unknown artist in - the Musée Carnavalet 192 - - Engraving of Buzot by Nargeot—After the portrait worn by - Madame Roland during her captivity 224 - - Inscription written by Madame Roland on the back of the - portrait of Buzot which she carried while in prison 240 - - The prison, called the Abbaye, where Madame Roland - passed the first twenty-four days of her imprisonment 256 - - The Conciergerie in 1793—Prison where Madame Roland - passed the last eight days of her captivity, and from - which she went to the guillotine. Pont au Change in - the foreground 288 - - Roland de la Platière—From a drawing by Gabriel 304 - - - - - MADAME ROLAND - - - - - I - THE GIRLHOOD OF MANON PHLIPON - - -Since the days when all of the city of Paris, save a few mills, -fortresses, and donjon-towers, was to be found on the Île de la Cité, -the western end of that island has been the quarter of the gold and -silver smiths. Here, in the olden times, when this part of the island -was laid out in gardens and paths, the sellers of ornaments and metal -vessels arranged their wares on the ground or in rude booths; later when -peaked-roofed, latticed-faced buildings filled the space, these same -venders opened their workshops in them; later still, when good King -Henry IV. filled up this western end, built the Pont Neuf and put up the -two fine façades of red brick and stone—mates for the arcades of the -Place Royale—the same class continued here their trade. Even to-day, he -who knows Paris thoroughly seeks the neighborhood of the Quai de -l’Horloge and the Quai des Orfèvres for fine silverware and jewels. - -Among the master engravers who in the latter part of the eighteenth -century plied their trade in this quarter was one Pierre Gatien Phlipon. -His shop was in one of the houses of King Henry’s façade—a house still -standing almost intact, although the majority of them have been replaced -or rebuilt so as to be unrecognizable—that facing the King’s statue on -the west and looking on the Quai de l’Horloge on the north. - -M. Phlipon’s shop was in one of the best situations in Paris. The Pont -Neuf, on which his house looked, was the real centre of the city. Here -in those days loungers, gossips, recruiting agents, venders of all -sorts, _saltimbanques_, quacks, men of fashion, women of pleasure, the -high, the low, _tout Paris_, in short, surged back and forth across the -bridge. So fashionable a promenade had the place become that Mercier, -the eighteenth-century gossip, declared that when one wanted to meet a -person in Paris all that was necessary to do was to promenade an hour a -day on the Pont Neuf. If he did not find him, he might be sure he was -not in the city. - -Engraver by profession, M. Phlipon was also a painter and enameller. He -employed several workmen in his shop and received many orders, but he -had an itching for money-making which led him to sacrifice the artistic -side of his profession to the commercial and to combine with his art a -trade in jewelry and diamonds. We may suppose, in fact, that the reason -M. Phlipon had removed his shop to the Pont Neuf, instead of remaining -in the Rue de la Lanterne, now Rue de la Cité, near Notre Dame, where he -lived until about 1755, was because he saw in the new location a better -opportunity for carrying on trade. - -As his sacrifice of art to commerce shows, M. Phlipon was not a -particularly high-minded man. He was, in fact, an excellent type of what -the small _bourgeoisie_ of Paris was, and is to-day,—good-natured and -vain, thrifty and selfish, slightly common in his tastes, not always -agreeable to live with when crossed in his wishes, but on the whole a -respectable man, devoted to his family, with too great regard for what -his neighbors would say of him to do anything flagrantly vulgar, and too -good a heart to be continually disagreeable. - -His vanity made him fond of display, but it kept him in good company. If -he condescended to trade, he never condescended to traders, but -carefully preserved the relations with artists, painters, and sculptors -which his rank as an engraver brought him. “He was not exactly a -high-minded man,” said his daughter once, “but he had much of what one -calls honor. He would have willingly taken more for a thing than it was -worth, but he would have killed himself rather than not to have paid the -price of what he had bought.” What M. Phlipon lacked in dignity of -character and elevation of sentiments, Madame Phlipon supplied—a serene, -high-minded woman, knowing no other life than that of her family, -ambitious for nothing but duty. She is a perfect model for the gracious -housewife in _La mère laborieuse_ and _Le Bénédicité_ of Chardin, and -her face might well have served as the original for the exquisite pastel -of the Louvre, Chardin’s wife. - -Madame Phlipon’s marriage had been, as are the majority of her class, -one of reason. If she had suffered from a lack of delicacy on the part -of her husband, had never known deep happiness or real companionship, -she had, at least, been loved by the rather ordinary man whom her -superiority impressed, and her home had been pleasant and peaceful. - -The Phlipons led a typical _bourgeois_ life. The little home in the -second story of the house on the Quai de l’Horloge contained both shop -and living apartments. As in Paris to-day the business and domestic life -were closely dovetailed. Madame Phlipon minded the work and received -customers when her husband was out, helped with the accounts, and -usually had at her table one or more of the apprentices. Their busy -every-day life was varied in the simple and charming fashion of which -the French have the secret, leisurely promenades on Sunday, to -Saint-Cloud, Meudon, Vincennes, an hour now and then in the Luxembourg -or Tuileries gardens, an occasional evening at the theatre. As the -families of both Monsieur and Madame Phlipon were of the Parisian -_bourgeoisie_ they had many relatives scattered about in the commercial -parts of the city, and much animation and variety were added to their -lives by the constant informal visiting they did among them. - -The chief interest of the Phlipon household was centred in its one -little girl—the only child of seven left—Marie-Jeanne, or Manon, as she -was called for short. Little Manon had not been born in the house on the -Quai de l’Horloge, but in the Rue de la Lanterne (March 18, 1754), and -the first two years of her life had been spent with a nurse in the -suburbs of Arpajon. She was already a happy, active, healthy, observant -child when she was brought back to her father’s home. The change from -the quiet country house and garden, all of the world she had known, to -the shifting panorama of the Seine and the Pont Neuf made a vivid -impression upon her. The change, in fact, may be counted as the first -step in her awakening. It quickened her power of observation and aroused -in her a restless curiosity. - -Never having known her mother until now, she was almost at once taken -captive by the sweet, grave woman who guarded her with tenderest care, -yet demanded from her implicit obedience. Madame Phlipon obtained over -the child a complete ascendency and kept it so long as she lived. The -father, on the contrary, never was able to win from his little daughter -the homage she gave her mother. Monsieur Phlipon was often impatient and -arbitrary with Manon. The child was already sufficiently developed when -she began to make his acquaintance to discriminate dimly. While she was -pliable to reason and affection, she was obstinate before force and -impatience. She recognized that somehow they were illogical and unjust -and she would endure but never yield to them. Thus among Manon’s first -experiences was a species of hero-worship on one hand, of contempt for -injustice on the other. - -An incessant activity was one of the little girl’s natural qualities. -This and her curiosity explain how she came to learn to read without -anybody knowing exactly when. By the time she was four years old nothing -but the promise of flowers tempted her away from her books, unless, -indeed, it was stories; and with these the artist friends of M. Phlipon -often entertained her, weaving extravagances by the hour, varying the -pastime by repeating rhymes to her—an amusement which was even more -entertaining to them since she repeated them like a parrot. - -Madame Phlipon was a sincere and ardent Catholic and she took advantage -of the eager activity of little Manon to teach her the Old and New -Testament and the catechism. When the child was seven years old, she was -sent to the class to be prepared for her first communion. Here she -speedily distinguished herself, carrying away the prizes, much to the -glory of her uncle Bimont, a young curé of the parish charged with -directing the catechism. - -M. Phlipon and his wife, delighted with the child’s precocity, gave her -masters,—one to teach her to write and to give her history and -geography, another for the piano, another for dancing, another for the -guitar. M. Phlipon himself gave her drawing, and the Curé Bimont Latin. -She attacked these duties eagerly,—getting up at five in the morning to -copy her exercises and do her examples,—active because she could not -help it. - -But her real education was not what she was getting in these -conventional ways. It was what the books she read gave her. These were -of the most haphazard sort: the Bible in old French, to which she was -greatly attached, the _Lives of the Saints_, _The Civil Wars of Appias_, -Scarron, the _Memoirs of Mademoiselle de Montpensier_, a treatise on -Heraldry, another on Contracts, many travels, dramas of all sorts, -_Télémaque_, _Jerusalem Delivered_, even _Candide_. - -The child read with passionate absorption. At first it was simply for -something to do, as she did her exercises or fingered her guitar; but -soon she began to feel strongly and she sought in her books food for the -strange new emotions which stirred her heart, brought tears to her eyes, -and awakened her to the mysteries of joy and sorrow long before she was -able to call those emotions by name. - -In the motley collection of books read by Manon at this period one only -made a life-long impression upon her,—it was Dacier’s _Plutarch_. No one -can understand the eighteenth century in France without taking into -consideration the profound impress made upon it by _Plutarch’s Lives_. -The work was the source of the dreams and of the ambitions of numbers of -the men who exercised the greatest influence on the intellectual and -political life of the period. Jean Jacques Rousseau declares that when -he first read _Plutarch_, at about nine years of age, it cured him of -his love of romance, and formed his free and republican character, and -the impatience of servitude which tormented him throughout his life. -Hundreds of others like Rousseau, many of them, no doubt, in imitation -of him, trace their noblest qualities to the same source. - -When little Manon Phlipon first read the _Lives_, the stories of these -noble deeds moved her almost to delirium. She carried her book to church -all through one Lent in guise of a prayer-book and read through the -service. When at night, alone in her room, she leaned from the window -and looked upon the Pont Neuf and Seine, she wept that she had not been -born in Athens or Sparta. She was beginning to apply to herself what she -read, to feel that the noble actions which aroused such depths of -feeling in her heart were not only glorious to hear of but to perform. -She was filled with awe at the idea that she was herself a creature -capable of sublime deeds. A solemn sense of responsibility was awakened, -and she felt that she must form her soul for a worthy future. When most -children are busy with toys she was trembling before a mysterious -possibility,—a life of great and good deeds, a possibility which she -faintly felt was dependent upon her own efforts. - -[Illustration: - - THE PLACE DAUPHINE IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. - - Mademoiselle Phlipon lived in the second story of the house on the - left. -] - -Once penetrated by this splendid ideal, however vague it may have been, -it was inevitable that the rites of the Church, full of mysticism and -exaltation, the teachings of devotion and self-abnegation, the pictures -of lives spent in holy service, should appeal deeply to Manon’s -sensitive and untrained consciousness. As the time of her first -communion approached, and curé and friends combined to impress upon the -child the solemn and eternal importance of the act, she was more and -more stirred by dread and exaltation. All her time was given to -meditation, to prayer, to pious reading. Every day she fingered the -_Lives of the Saints_, sighing after the times when the fury of the -pagans bestowed the crown of martyrdom upon Christians. - -The necessary interruptions to her devotions which occurred in the -household, disturbed her. At last she felt that she could not endure any -longer the profane atmosphere; throwing herself at her parents’ feet, -she begged to be allowed to go to a convent to prepare for the -sacrament. M. and Madame Phlipon, touched by the zeal of their daughter, -consented to let her leave them for a year. - -It was not a difficult matter to find a convent suitable for a young -girl of any class, in the Paris of the eighteenth century. That selected -by the Phlipons for Manon stood in the Rue Neuve Ste. Étienne, a street -now known as Rue Rollin and Rue Navarre. The convent, Dames de la -Congrégation de Notre Dame, established in 1645, was well known for the -gratuitous instruction its sisters gave the children of the very poor as -well as for the simplicity and honesty with which the _pension_ for -young girls was conducted, a thing which could not be said of many of -the convents of that day. - -The instruction given by the Dames de la Congrégation was not, however, -any better than that of other institutions of the kind, if the morals -were. The amount of education regarded as necessary for a French girl of -good family at this period was, in fact, very meagre; even girls of the -highest classes being allowed to grow to womanhood in astonishing -ignorance. Madame du Deffand says that in the convent where she was -placed nothing was taught except “reading and writing, a light, very -light tinting of history, the four rules, some needle-work, many -pater-nosters—that was all.” Madame Louise, the sister of Louis XVI., -did not know her alphabet at twelve, so says Madame Campan. Madame de -Genlis taught her handsome sister-in-law, the favorite of the Duke of -Orleans, to write after she was married. Madame de Genlis herself at -twelve years of age had read almost nothing. - -Manon Phlipon’s acquirements when she entered the convent, at a little -over eleven years of age, were certainly much greater than those of -these celebrated women at her age. It is probable that her instruction -was far above that not only of the girls of her age in the school, but -of the most advanced pupils, perhaps even of some of the good sisters -themselves. - -The superior training of the new pupil was soon known. The discovery -caused her to be petted by all the sisterhood, and she was granted -special privileges of study. She continued her piano lessons and -drawing, so that she had sufficient work to satisfy her active nature -and to make the leisure given her sweet. This leisure she never passed -with her companions. Her frame of mind was altogether too serious to -permit her to romp like a child. The recreation hours she spent apart, -in a quiet corner of the silent old garden, reading or dreaming, -permeated by the beauty of the foliage, the sigh of the wind, the -perfume of the flowers. All this she felt, in her exalted state, was an -expression of God, a proof of his goodness. With her heart big with -gratitude and adoration, she would leave the garden to kneel in the dim -church, and listen to the chanting of the choir and the roll of the -organ. - -Sensitive, unpractical, fervent, the imposing and mystic services -allured her imagination and moved her heart until she lost self-control -and wept, she did not know why. - -During the first days at the convent, a novice took the veil,—one of the -most touching ceremonies of the Church. The young girl appeared before -the altar, dressed like a bride, and in a tone of joyous exaltation sang -the wonderful strain, “Here I have chosen my dwelling-place, here I -establish myself forever.” Then her white garments were taken from her, -and cruel shears cut her long hair, which fell in masses to the floor; -she prostrated herself before the altar, and in sign of her eternal -separation from the world a black cloth was spread over her. Even to the -experienced and unbelieving the sight is profoundly affecting. Manon, -sensitive and overstrung, was seized with the terrible, death-in-life -meaning of the sacrifice; she fancied herself in the place of the young -_dévouée_ and fell to the floor in violent convulsions. - -Under the influence of such emotions, intensified by long prayers, -retreats, meditation, exhortations, from curé and sisters, she took her -first communion. So penetrated was she by the solemnity and the joy of -the act that she was unable to walk alone to the altar. The report of -her piety went abroad in the convent and in the parish, and many a good -old woman whom she met afterwards, mindful of this extraordinary -exaltation, asked her prayers. - -Fortunately for the child’s development, this excessive mysticism, which -was developing a melancholy, sweet to begin with, but not unlikely to -become unhealthy, was relieved a few months after she entered the -convent by a friendship with a young girl from Amiens, Sophie Cannet by -name. - -When Sophie first appeared at the Congrégation, Manon had been deeply -touched by her grief at parting from her mother. Here was a sensibility -which approached her own. She soon saw, too, that the new _pensionnaire_ -avoided the noisy groups of the garden, that she loved solitude and -revery. She sought her and almost at once there sprang up between the -two a warm friendship. Sophie was three years older than Manon; she was -more self-contained, colder, more reasonable. She loved to discuss as -well as to meditate, to analyze as well as to read. She talked well, -too, and Manon had not learned as yet the pretty French accomplishment -of _causerie_, and she delighted to listen to her new friend. - -If the girls were different, they were companionable. Their work, their -study, their walks, were soon together. They opened their hearts to each -other, confided their desires, and decided to travel together the path -to perfection upon which each had resolved. - -To Manon Phlipon this new friendship was a revelation equal to the -vision of nobility aroused by Plutarch; or to that of mystic purity -found in the Church. So far in life she had had no opportunity for -healthy expression. Her excessive sensibility, the emotions which -frightened and stifled her, the aspirations which floated, indefinite -and glorious, before her, all that she felt, had been suppressed. She -could not tell her mother, her curé, the good sisters. Even if they -understood her, she felt vaguely that they would check her, calm her, -try to turn her attention to her lessons, to the practice of good deeds, -to pious exercises. She did not want this. She wanted to feel, to -preserve this tormenting sensibility which was her terror and her joy. - -To Sophie she could tell everything. Sophie, too, was sensitive, devout, -and understood joy and sorrow. The two girls shared the most secret -experiences of their souls. There grew up between them a form of -Platonic love which is not uncommon between idealistic and sensitive -young girls, a relation in which all that is most intimate, most -profound, most sincere in the intellectual and spiritual lives of the -two is exchanged; under its influence the most obscure and indefinite -impressions take form, the most subtile emotions materialize, and vague -and indefinite thoughts shape themselves. - -The effect of this relation on the emotional nature of Manon was -generally wholesome. Her affection for Sophie gave a new coloring to the -pleasure she found in her work, and it dispelled the melancholy which -hitherto had tinged her solitude. More important, it compelled her to -define her feelings so that her friend could understand them: to do this -she was forced to study her own moods and gradually her intelligence -came to be for something in all that she felt. - -When the year which Manon’s parents had given her for the convent was -up, she was obliged to leave her friend. For some time after the parting -Sophie remained at the Congrégation, so that they saw each other often; -but, afterwards, it was by letters that their friendship was kept up. -Never were more ardent love letters written than those of Manon to -Sophie. She commiserated all the world who did not know the joys of -friendship. She suffered tortures when Sophie’s letters were delayed, -and, like every lover since the beginning of the postal service, evolved -plans for improving its promptness and its exactness. She read and -re-read the letters which always filled her pockets, and she rose from -her bed at midnight to fill pages with declarations of her fondness. -This correspondence became one of the great joys of her life. All that -she thought, felt, and saw, she put into her letters. The effort to -express all of herself clearly compelled her to a greater degree of -reflection and crystallized her notions wonderfully. Beside making her -think, it awakened in her a passion for the pen which never left her. -Indeed, it became an imperative need for her to express in writing -whatever she thought or felt. Her emotions and ideas seemed to her -incomplete if they had not been written out. In her early letters there -is a full account of all the influences which were acting on her life, -and of the transformation and evolution they produced. - -When Manon left the Congrégation, it was with the determination to -preserve not only her friend, but her piety. To do the latter, she had -made up her mind to fit herself secretly to return to a convent life -when she reached her majority. She had even chosen already the order -which she should join, and had selected Saint François de Sales, “one of -the most amiable saints of Paradise,” as she rightly characterized him, -as her patron. - -For the time being, however, not a little of the world was mixed with -her preparations for religious retirement. When she came back to the -Quai de l’Horloge,—her first year out of the convent was spent on the -Île Saint Louis with her grandmother Phlipon,—her father and mother -began gradually to initiate her into the round of life which presumably -would be hers in the future. M. Phlipon took especial pride in his -fresh, bright-faced daughter. By his wish she was always dressed with -elegance, and she attracted attention everywhere. The tenderness with -which he introduced her always touched Manon in spite of the fact that -she was often embarrassed by his too evident pride in her. The two went -together to all the Salons and the expositions of art objects, and M. -Phlipon carefully directed her taste here where he was so thoroughly at -home. It was the only real point of contact between them. - -Sundays and fête days were usually devoted to promenades by the -Phlipons. The gayest paths, gardens, and boulevards were always chosen -by M. Phlipon. He enjoyed the crowd and the mirth; and, above all, he -enjoyed showing off his pretty daughter. But she, stern little moralist, -when she discovered that her holiday toilette really gave her pleasure, -that she actually felt flattered when people turned to look at her, that -she found compliments sweet and admiring glances gratifying, trembled -with apprehension. She might forgive her father’s vanity, but she could -not forgive such a feeling in herself. Was it to walk in gardens and to -be admired that she had been born? She gradually convinced herself that -these promenades were inconsistent with her ideal of what was “beautiful -and wise and grand,” and she urged her parents to the country, where all -was in harmony with her thoughts and feelings. Meudon, still one of the -loveliest of all the lovely forests in the environs of Paris, was her -favorite spot. Its quiet, its naturalness, its variety, pleased her -better than the movement and the artificiality of such a place as -Saint-Cloud. In the forest of Meudon her passion for nature was fully -satisfied; here she could study flower and tree, light and shade. - -In her love for nature Manon was in harmony with one of the curious -phases of the sentimental life of the eighteenth century in France. -Nature as food for sentiment seems to have never been discovered until -then by the French people. One searches in vain in French literature -before Bernardin de Saint-Pierre and Rousseau for anything which -resembles a comprehension of and feeling for the external world—yet -unaided Manon Phlipon became naturalist and pantheist. Never did -Bernardin de Saint-Pierre and Rousseau, in their tramps in the environs -of Paris, rejoice more profoundly over the beauties of the world, enter -more deeply into its mysteries, than did she when in her girlhood she -wandered in the _allées_ of the forest of Meudon or of the Bois de -Vincennes. - -But Manon was to see still another side of life,—people in their -relations to one another and to herself. Thus far she had been easily -first in her little world. She had never known the time when she was not -praised for her superiority. Whatever notions of equality she -entertained it is certain that she had not yet discovered that Manon -Phlipon was secondary to anybody else. - -It was on the visits which she began to make with her relatives, that -she first discovered that in the world men are not graded according to -their wisdom and their love for and practice of virtue. She went one day -with her grandmother Phlipon to visit a rich and would-be-great lady, -Madame de Boismorel, in whose house Madame Phlipon had, for many years -after her husband’s death, acted as a kind of governess. She was wounded -on entering by a sentiment not purely democratic—the servants, who loved -the old governess and wished to please her, crowded about the little -girl and complimented her freely. She was offended. These people might, -of course, _look_ at her, but it was not their business to compliment -her. Once in the grand salon she found a typical little old Frenchwoman, -pretentious, vain, exacting. Her _chiffons_, her rouge, her false hair, -her lofty manner with the beloved grandmamma Phlipon whom she addressed -as Mademoiselle,—_Mademoiselle_ to her grandmother, one of the great -personages of her life so far,—her assumption of superiority, her -frivolous talk, revolted this Spartan maid. She lowered her eyes and -blushed before the cold cynicism of the old lady. When she was asked -questions, she replied with amusing sententiousness. “You must have a -lucky hand, my little friend, have you ever tried it in a lottery?” - -“Never, Madame, I do not believe in games of chance.” - -“What a voice! how sweet and full it is, but how grave! Are you not a -little devout?” - -“I know my duty and I try to do it.” - -“Ah! You desire to become a nun, do you not?” - -“I am ignorant of my destiny, I do not seek to penetrate it.” - -Little wonder that after that Madame de Boismorel cautioned the -grandmother, “Take care that she does not become a blue-stocking; it -would be a great pity.” - -Manon went home from this visit full of disdain and anxiety. Evidently -things were not as they ought to be when servants dared to compliment -her to her face; when her own noble ideas were greeted coldly, and when -a vain and vulgar woman could patronize a sweet and bright little lady -like her grandmother; when her grandmother, too, would submit to the -patronage—perhaps even court it. - -She was to observe still more closely the world’s practices. An -acquaintance of the family, one Mademoiselle d’Hannaches, was in -difficulty over an inheritance and obliged to be in Paris to work up her -case. Madame Phlipon took her into her house, where she stayed some -eighteen months. Now Mademoiselle d’Hannaches belonged to an ancient -family, and on account of her birth demanded extra consideration from -those about her and treated her _bourgeois_ friends with a certain -condescension. Manon became a sort of secretary to her and often -accompanied her when she went out on business. “I noticed,” wrote Manon -afterwards, “that in spite of her ignorance, her stiff manner, her -incorrect language, her old-fashioned toilette,—all her -absurdities,—deference was paid her because of her family. The names of -her ancestors, which she always enumerated, were listened to gravely and -were used to support her claim. I compared the reception given to her -with that which Madame de Boismorel had given to me and which had made a -profound impression upon me. I knew that I was worth more than -Mademoiselle d’Hannaches, whose forty years and whose genealogy had not -given her the faculty of writing a sensible or legible letter. I began -to find the world very unjust and its institutions most extravagant.” - -Mademoiselle Phlipon had scarcely become accustomed to these vanities in -the society which she frequented, before she began to observe equally -puzzling and ridiculous pretensions in artistic and literary circles. -Through the kindness of her masters and of the friends of M. and Madame -Phlipon, she was often invited to the reunions of _bels esprits_, so -common in Paris then and now. It was not in a spirit of humiliation and -flattered vanity that so independent an observer and judge as she had -become, surveyed the celebrities she was allowed to look upon and to -listen to, in the various salons to which she was admitted. She saw -immediately the pose which characterized nearly all of the gatherings, -the pretentious vanity of those who read verses or portraits, the -insincerity and diplomacy of those who applauded. The blue-stockings who -read as their own verses which they had not always written, and who were -paid by ambitious salon leaders for sitting at their table; the small -poets who found inspiration in the muffs and snuff-boxes of the great -ladies whose favor they wanted; the bold, and not always too chaste, -compliments,—verily, if they made the gatherings _délicieuses_, as they -who followed them declared, there was a deep gulf between Manon -Phlipon’s standards and those of the society which her family -congratulated her upon being able to see. - -It was during Mademoiselle d’Hannaches’ stay with the Phlipons that -Manon made a visit of eight days to Versailles, then the seat of the -French Court, with her mother, her uncle, and their guest, to whose -influence indeed they owed their garret accommodations in the château. -Many things shocked and humiliated her in the life she saw there, but -she did not go home nearly so bitter and disillusioned as she tried to -represent herself to have been, nine years later, when she told the -story to posterity as an evidence of her early revolt against the abuses -of the monarchy. In fact, the reflections which the week at Versailles -awakened were very just and reasonable. We have them in a letter written -to Sophie some days after her return: - -“I cannot tell you how much what I saw there has made me value my own -situation and bless Heaven that I was born in an obscure rank. You -believe, perhaps, that this feeling is founded on the little value which -I attach to opinion and on the reality of the penalties which I see to -be connected with greatness? Not at all. It is founded on the knowledge -that I have of my own character which would be most harmful to myself -and to the state if I were placed at a certain distance from the throne. -I should be profoundly shocked by the enormous chasm between millions of -men and one individual of their own kind. In my present position I love -my King because I feel my dependence so little. If I were near him, I -should hate his grandeur.... A good king seems to me an adorable being; -still, if before coming into the world I had had my choice of a -government I should have decided on a republic. It is true I should have -wanted one different from any in Europe to-day.” - -Manon was twenty years old when she wrote this letter to Sophie Cannet. -Its reasonable tone is very different from what one would expect from -the passionate little mystic of the convent of the Congrégation, the -sententious critic of Madame de Boismorel. In fact, Manon’s attitude -towards the world had changed. By force of study and reflection she had -come to understand human nature better, and to accept with philosophical -resignation the contradictions, the pettiness, and the injustice of -society. “The longer I live, the more I study and observe,” she told -Sophie, “the more deeply I feel that we ought to be indulgent towards -our fellows. It is a lesson which personal experience teaches us every -day,—it seems to me that in proportion to the measure of light which -penetrates our minds we are disposed to humaneness, to benevolence, to -tolerant kindness.” - -Nor had she at this time any bitterness towards the existing order of -government. If she “would have chosen a republic if she had been allowed -a choice before coming into the world,” she had so far no idea of -rejecting the rule under which she was born. Indeed, she was a very -loyal subject of Louis XVI. When that prince came to the throne she -wrote to her friend: “The ministers are enlightened and well disposed, -the young prince docile and eager for good, the Queen amiable and -beneficent, the Court kind and respectable, the legislative body -honorable, the people obedient, wishing only to love their master, the -kingdom full of resources. Ah, but we are going to be happy!” Nor did -her ideas of equality at this period make her see in the mass of the -common people equals of those who by training, education, and birth had -been fitted to govern. “Truly human nature is not very respectable when -one considers it in a mass,” she reflected one day, as she saw the -people of Paris swarming even to the roofs to watch a poor wretch -tortured on the wheel. In describing a bread riot in 1775, she condemned -the people as impatient, called the measures of the ministers wise, and -excused the government by recalling Sully’s reflection: “With all our -enlightenment and good-will it is still difficult to do well.” And -again, apropos of similar disturbances, she said: “The King talks like a -father, but the people do not understand him; the people are hungry—it -is the only thing which touches them.” Nothing in all this of contempt -of the monarchy, of the sovereignty of the people, of the divine right -of insurrection. - -Manon Phlipon had in fact become, by the time she was twenty years of -age, a thoroughly intelligent and reflective young woman. Instead of -extravagant and impulsive opinions, results of excessive emotionalism -and idealism, which her first twelve years seemed to prophesy, we have -from her intelligent judgments. If it was not a question of some one she -loved, she could be trusted to look at any subject in a rational and -self-controlled way. - -This change had been brought about largely by the reading and reflecting -she had done since leaving the convent. For some time what she read had -depended on what she could get. Her resolution to enter a convent -eventually had made her at first prefer religious books, and she read -Saint Augustine and Saint François de Sales with fervor and joy. With -them she combined, helter-skelter, volumes from the _bouquinistes_, -mainly travels, letters, and mythology. Fortunately she happened on -Madame de Sévigné. Manon appreciated thoroughly the charming style of -this most agreeable French letter-writer, and her taste was influenced -by it, though her style was but little changed. - -This stock was not exhausted before she had the happiness to be turned -loose in the library of an abbé—a friend of her uncle. It was a house -where her mother and Mademoiselle d’Hannaches went often to make up a -party of tric-trac with the two curés. As it was necessary always to -take her along, all parties were satisfied that Manon could lose herself -in a book. For three years she found here all she could read: history, -literature, mythology, the Fathers of the Church. Dozens of obscure -authors passed through her hands; now and then she happened on a -classic—something from Voltaire, from Bossuet. Here too she read _Don -Quixote_. - -But the good abbé died, the tric-trac parties in his library ceased, and -Manon had to turn to the public library for books. She chose without any -plan, generally a book of which she had heard. So far her reading had -been simply out of curiosity, from a need of doing something. Usually -she had several books on hand at once—some serious, others light, one of -which she was always reading aloud to her mother. The habit of reading, -especially aloud, was one of the chief means advised by the French -educators of the time for carrying on a girl’s education. Madame de -Sévigné, Fénelon, Madame de Maintenon, L’abbé de Saint-Pierre, the -authorities at Port Royal, all had made much of the practice. Manon read -their treatises, and finding that she had herself already adopted -methods similar to those of the wisest men and women of her country, -continued her work with new vigor. - -All that she read she analyzed carefully, and she spent much time in -making extracts. Through the courtesy of one of the descendants of -Mademoiselle Phlipon, M. Léon Marillier of Paris, I had in my possession -at one time, for examination, a large number of her _cahiers_ prepared -at this period. They are made of a coarse, grayish-blue paper, with -rough edges, and are covered with a strong, graceful handwriting, almost -never marred by erasures or changes, much of it looking as if it had -been engraved; more characteristic and artistic manuscript one rarely -sees. - -The subjects of the quotations in the _cahiers_ are nearly always deeply -serious. In one there are eight pages on Necessity, long quotations on -Death, Suicide, the Good Man, Happiness, the Idea of God. Another -contains a long analysis of a work on Divorce Legislation, which had -pleased her. Buffon and Voltaire are freely quoted from. - -The passages which attracted her are philosophic and dogmatic rather -than literary and sentimental, or devout. In fact, Manon became, in the -period between fourteen and twenty-one, deeply interested in the -philosophic thought of the day. Soon she was examining dispassionately, -and with a freedom of mind remarkable in so unquestioning a believer as -she had been, the entire system of religion which she had been taught. -Once started on this track, her reading took a more systematic and -intelligent turn. She read for a purpose, not simply out of curiosity. - -It was the controversial works of Bossuet which first induced Manon -Phlipon to apply the test of reason to her faith. Soon after she began -to study the Christian dogma rationally, she revolted against the -doctrines of infallibility and of the universal damnation of all those -who never knew or who had not accepted the faith. When she discovered -that she could not accept these teachings, she resolved to find out if -there was anything else which she must give up, and so attacked eagerly -religious criticism, philosophy, metaphysics. She analyzed most -thoroughly all she read and compared authorities with unusual -intelligence. - -As her investigations went on, she found that her faith was going, and -she told her confessor, who immediately furnished her with the -apologists and defenders of the Church, Abbé Gauchat, Bergier, Abbadie, -Holland, Clark, and others. She read them conscientiously and annotated -them all; some of these notes she left in the books, not unwittingly we -may suspect. The Abbé asked her in amazement if the comments were -original with her. - -These annotations were, in fact, calculated to startle a curé interested -in conserving the orthodoxy of a parishioner. Part of those she made on -the works of the Abbé Gauchat fell into my hands with the extracts -spoken of above. They are the bold, intelligent criticisms of a person -who has resolved to subject every dogma to the test of reason. They are -never contemptuous or scoffing, though there is frequently a tone of -irritation at what she regards as the feebleness of the logic. They are -free from prejudice and from sentiment, and show no deference to -authority. - -Another result of the curé’s loan of controversial works was to intimate -to Manon what books they refuted, and she hastened to procure them one -after another. Thus the _Traité de la tolérance_, _Dictionnaire -philosophique_, the _Questions encyclopédiques_, the _Bons sens_ and the -_Lettres juives_, of the Marquis d’Argens, the works of Diderot, -d’Alembert, Raynal, in fact all the literature of the encyclopedists -passed through her hands. - -Manon Phlipon did not change her religious feelings or devout practices -during this period. She was living a religious life of peculiar -intensity, all the time that she was deep in the examination of -doctrines. The one was for her an affair of the heart, the other of the -head. Her letters to Sophie, after the question of doubt had once been -broached between them, are filled, now with philosophical analyses of -dogma, now with glowing piety, now with severe rules of conduct. It was -some time after she took to reasoning before the subject came up. -Sophie’s own faith was troubled and she pictured her state to her -friend. Manon, touched by this confidence, greater than her own had -been, freely portrayed afterwards her own mental and spiritual -condition. From these letters we find that she reached, very early in -her study, certain conclusions which she never abandoned, and upon these -as a basis erected a system which satisfied her heart and mind and which -regulated her conduct. - -When she first wrote Sophie she was so convinced of the existence of God -for “philosophical reasons” that she declared the authority of the world -could not upset her. With this went the immortality of the soul. These -two dogmas were enough to satisfy her heart and imagination. She did not -need them to be upright, she said, but she did to be happy. She did -right because she had convinced herself that it was to her own and to -her neighbor’s interest. She was happy because she had a reasonable -basis for goodness and nobility, and because she believed in God and in -immortality. On this foundation further study became an inspiration. “My -sentiments have gained an energy, a warmth, a range,” she wrote to -Sophie after reading Raynal’s _Philosophical History_, “that the -exhortations of priests have never given them—the General Good is my -idol, because it must be the result and the reasonable end of -everything. Virtue pleases me, inflames my imagination because it is -good for me, useful to others, and beautiful in itself. I cherish life -because I feel the value of it. I use it to the best advantage possible. -I love all that breathes, I hate nothing but evil, and still I pity the -guilty. With a conduct conformed to these ideas, I live happy and -tranquil, and I shall finish my career in peace and with the greatest -confidence in a God whom I dare believe to be better than I have been -taught.” - -She had her fundamentals, but she had not by any means finished her -investigations. Each system she examined, fascinated her. In turn she -was Jansenist, stoic, deist, materialist, idealist. - -“The same thing happens to me sometimes,” she wrote Sophie, “that -happened to the prince who went to the Court to hear the pleas,—the last -lawyer who spoke always seemed to him to be right.” “I am continually in -doubt, and I sleep there peacefully as the Americans in their hammocks. -This state is best suited to our situation and to the little we know.” - -Whatever her mental vagaries, she never altered her religious practices. -She did not wish to torment her mother, or to set a bad example to those -who took her as a model; for instance, there was her _bonne_ whom she -desired should keep her faith. “I should blame myself for weakening it,” -she said, “as I should for taking away her bread.” - -Only two months before the end of her life Madame Roland summed up her -religious and philosophical life in a passage of her Memoirs. It is -simply a résumé of what in her girlhood she wrote at different times to -Sophie. The main points of this philosophy have been given above. - - - - - II - LOVERS AND MARRIAGE - - -Until she was twenty-one years of age, Manon Phlipon’s life was -singularly free from care. Her studies, her letters to Sophie, her hours -with her mother, her promenades, filled it full. Suddenly in 1775 its -peace was broken by the death of Madame Phlipon. Manon’s veneration and -affection for her mother were sincere and passionate, her dependence -upon her complete. Her death left the girl groping pitifully. The -support and the joy of her life seemed to have been taken from her. But -the necessity of action, her obligations to her father, the kindness of -her friends, her own philosophy, finally calmed her, and she made a -brave effort to adjust herself to her new duties. Her real restoration, -however,—that is, her return to happiness and to enthusiasm, was wrought -by a book—the _Nouvelle Héloïse_, of Jean Jacques Rousseau. - -In the middle and in the latter half of the eighteenth century France -passed through a paroxysm of sentiment. Man was acknowledged a reasoning -being, to be sure, but it was because he was a sensitive one that he was -extolled. His mission was to escape pain and seek happiness. To laugh, -to weep, to vibrate with feeling, was the ideal of happiness. This -sensitiveness to sentiment was shown in the most extravagant ways. Words -ran out in the efforts to paint emotion. Friends no longer saluted, they -fell into each other’s arms. Tears were no longer sufficient for grief, -they were needed for joy. Convulsions and spasms alone expressed sorrow -adequately. At the least provocation women were in a faint and men -trembling. Acute sensibility was cultivated as an Anglo-Saxon cultivates -reserve. - -The prophet of this sentimental generation was Jean Jacques Rousseau, -the hand-book he gave his followers the _Nouvelle Héloïse_. Here -sentimentalism reaches the highest point possible without becoming -unadulterated mawkishness and sensuality, if, indeed, it does not -sometimes pass the limit. To France, however, the book was a revelation. -Rousseau declares that Frenchwomen particularly were intoxicated by it, -and that there were few ladies of rank of whom he could not have made -the conquest if he had undertaken it. It is only necessary to read the -memoirs of the day, to see that Rousseau tells the truth. The story that -George Sand tells of her grandmother, and those Madame de Genlis relates -of the reception of the book by the great ladies of the Palais Royal, -are but examples of the general outburst of admiration which swept -through feminine hearts. - -The _Nouvelle Héloïse_ was a revelation in sentiment to Manon Phlipon. -The severe studies of the past few years had checked and regulated the -excessive and uncontrolled emotions of her girlhood. She had become an -intelligent, reflecting creature. But the death of her mother had -overthrown her philosophy for the moment; then came the _Nouvelle -Héloïse_. Its effect on her was like that of Plutarch twelve years -before. It kindled her imagination to the raptures of love, the beauty -of filial affection, the peace of domestic life, the joy of motherhood. - -Her vigorous, passionate young nature asserted itself; her mind burned -with the possibilities of happiness; sentiment regained the power -temporarily given to the intellect, and from that time was the ruling -force of her life. - -“I fear that he strengthened my weakness,” Manon wrote of Rousseau -towards the end of her life, and certainly he did destroy the fine -harmony that she had established between her reason and her feelings, -making the latter master. She was quite right in thinking it fortunate -that she had not read him earlier. “He would have driven me mad; I -should have been willing to read nobody but him.” - -The _Nouvelle Héloïse_ was not, however, the first of Rousseau she had -read. _Émile_ had passed through her hands, and her religious -convictions had unquestionably been influenced by the Profession of -Faith of the Vicar of Savoy. But she had read him critically so far. Now -all was changed. She plunged enthusiastically into his works. She found -there clearly and fully stated what she herself had vaguely and -imperfectly felt; the sentiments he interpreted had stirred her; many of -the principles he laid down for conduct she had been practising. In less -than a year she was defending his works to Sophie. - -“I am astonished that you wonder at my love for Rousseau. I regard him -as the friend of humanity, as its benefactor and mine. Who pictures -virtue in a nobler and more touching manner? Who renders it more worthy -of love? His works inspire a taste for truth, simplicity, wisdom. As for -myself, I know well that I owe to them all that is best in me. His -genius has warmed my soul, I have been inflamed, elevated, and ennobled -by it. - -“I do not deny that there are some paradoxes in _Émile_, some -proceedings that our customs make impracticable. But how many profound -and wholesome opinions, how many useful precepts! how many beauties to -save the faults! Moreover, I confess that observation has led me to -approve things that at first I treated as foolish and chimerical. His -_Héloïse_ is a masterpiece of sentiment. The woman who can read it -without being better or at least without desiring to become so, has only -a soul of clay, a mind of apathy. She will never rise above the -common.... In all that he has done one recognizes not only a genius, but -an honest man and citizen.... And a scaffold has come near being erected -for this man, to whom, in another century, one will perhaps raise -altars!” - -Manon Phlipon had found in Rousseau her guide. The feminine need of an -authority was satisfied. She accepted him _en bloc_, and to defend and -follow him became henceforth her concern. - -Manon’s first appreciation of Rousseau was, naturally enough, an attempt -to play Julie to a fancied Saint-Preux. It is not to be supposed that -this is the first time in her life that her attention was turned towards -a lover. Ever since her piety began to cool under the combined effects -of study and observation, and her natural vanity and love of attention -began to assert themselves, she had thought a great deal of her future -husband. In a French girl’s life a future husband is a foregone -conclusion, and Manon, like all her countrywomen, had been accustomed to -the presentation of this or that person whom some zealous friend thought -a fitting mate for her. The procession of suitors that passes before the -readers of her Memoirs is so long and so motley that one is inclined to -believe that more than one is there by virtue of the heroine’s -imagination. Manon Phlipon was one of those women who see in every man a -possible lover. - -The applications for her hand began with her guitar master, who, having -taught her all he knew, ended by asking her to marry him. Then there was -a widower who had prepared himself for his courtship by having a wen -removed from his left cheek; the family butcher, who sought to win her -regard by sending her the choicest cuts of steak, and appearing on -Sunday in the midst of the Phlipons’ family promenade, arrayed in lace -and fine broadcloth; and in turn all the eligible young men and widowers -of the Place Dauphine. They were, without exception, peremptorily -declined by the young woman through her father. Had she read Plutarch -and all the philosophers, only to tie herself up to a merchant bent on -getting rich and cutting a good figure in his quarter? - -Her parents, flattered and amused by this cortège, did not at first try -to influence Manon to accept any one, but at last her father became -anxious. The disdain with which she refused all representatives of -commerce annoyed him a little, too. “What kind of a man will suit you?” -he asked her one day. - -“You have taught me to reflect, and allowed me to form studious habits. -I don’t know to what kind of a man I shall give myself, but it will -never be to any one with whom I cannot share my thoughts and -sentiments.” - -“But there are men in business who are polished and well educated.” - -“Yes, but not among those I see. Their politeness consists in a few -phrases and salutations. Their knowledge is always of business. They -would be of little use to me in the education of my children.” - -“Raise them yourself.” - -“That task would seem heavy to me if it were not shared by my husband.” - -“Don’t you think L——’s wife is happy? They have just gone out of -business; they have bought a large property; their house is well kept; -and they see a great deal of good society.” - -“I cannot judge of the happiness of others, and mine will never depend -upon wealth. I believe that there is no happiness in marriage except -when hearts are closely united. I can never give myself to one who has -not the same sentiments as I. Besides, my husband must be stronger than -I; nature and the laws make him my superior, and I should be ashamed of -him if he were not so.” - -“Is it a lawyer that you want? Women are never too happy with such men; -they are bad tempered and have very little money.” - -“But, papa, I shall never marry anybody for his gown. I don’t mean to -say that I want a man of such and such a profession, but a man that I -can love.” - -“But, if I understand you, such a man cannot be found in business?” - -“Ah! I confess that seems to me very probable; I have never found any -one there to my taste; and then business itself disgusts me.” - -“Nevertheless, it is a very pleasant thing to live tranquilly at home -while one’s husband carries on a good business. Look at Madame A——; she -knows good diamonds as well as her husband; she carries on the business -in his absence; she will continue to carry it on if she should become a -widow; their fortune is already large. You are intelligent; you would -inspire confidence; you could do what you wanted to. You would have a -very agreeable life if you would accept Delorme, Dabreuil, or -Obligeois.” - -“Hold on, papa; I have learned too well that in business one does not -succeed unless he sells dear what he has bought cheap; unless he lies -and beats down his workmen.” - -“Do you believe, then, that there are no honest men in commerce?” - -“I am not willing to say that; but I am persuaded that there are but few -of them; and more than that, that those honest men have not the -qualities that my husband must have.” - -“You are making matters very difficult for yourself. What if you do not -find your ideal?” - -“I shall die an old maid.” - -“Perhaps that will be harder than you think. However, you have time to -think of it. But remember, one day you will be alone; the crowd of -suitors will end,—but you know the fable.” - -“Oh, I shall revenge myself by meriting happiness; injustice cannot -deprive me of it.” - -“Ah, there you go in the clouds.” - -The first of Manon’s suitors who really interested her was Pahin de la -Blancherie, a _bel esprit_ who frequented a salon where she was often -seen. He had been attracted by the girl and had by a clever trick, which -Madame Phlipon had seen fit to ignore, gained an entrance to the house. -He interested Manon more than her usual callers. He had read the -philosophers; he expressed noble views; he had been to America; he was -writing a book. This was much better than the young man who plied a -trade and repeated the gossip of the Pont Neuf, and when she learned -from her father that he had asked her hand, but had been dismissed -because of his lack of fortune, she told the loss rather coldly to -Sophie. - -“He seemed to me to have an honest heart, much love for literature and -science, art and knowledge. In fact, if he had a secure position, was -older, had a cooler head, a little more solidity, he would not have -displeased me. Now he has gone and without doubt thinks as little of me -as I do about him.” - -This was nearly two years before Madame Phlipon’s death and Manon saw -almost nothing of La Blancherie until some four months after her loss, -when he came unexpectedly one evening to see her, pale and changed by a -long illness. The sight of the young man agitated her violently. It -recalled her mother, recalled, too, the fact that he alone of all her -suitors had seemed worthy of her. Her agitation embarrassed him. With -tears she told him her grief. He tried to console her and confided to -her the proof-sheets of his forthcoming book. - -Manon described the meeting to Sophie and added her appreciation of the -book. “You know my _Loisirs_,[1] do you not? Here are the same -principles. It is my whole soul. He is not a Rousseau, doubtless, but he -is never tiresome. It is a beautiful morality, agreeably presented, -supported by facts and an infinite number of historic allusions and of -quotations from many authors. I dare not judge the young man because we -are too much alike, but I can say of him what I said to Greuze of his -picture, ‘if I did not love virtue, he would give me a taste for it.’” - -Footnote 1: - - Manon Phlipon wrote before her marriage a series of philosophical and - literary essays which she called _Œuvres de loisir_ or _Mes Loisirs_. - They are reflections on a great variety of subjects, generally - following closely the books she read. Fragments from many of these - essays are found in the letters to Sophie Cannet. It was Mademoiselle - Phlipon’s habit to lend the manuscript of her productions to her - intimate friends and Sophie, of course, was familiar with them all. - The greatest part of the _Loisirs_ were published in 1800 in the - edition of Madame Roland’s works prepared by Champagneux. - -Manon’s imagination was violently excited by this interview and she -received La Blancherie’s visits with delight. Her father, however, was -displeased and insisted that the young man cease coming to the house. -This was all that was needed for Manon to persuade herself that she was -in love. She went farther—she was convinced La Blancherie loved her, was -suffering over their separation, and she shed tears of sympathy for him. -She comforted herself with dreams of his noble efforts to better his -situation and to win her in spite of her cruel father. She wrote Sophie -long letters describing their mutual efforts to be worthy of each other, -letters drawn entirely from her own fancy. - -[Illustration: - - THE PONT NEUF IN 1895. - - The house in which Madame Roland lived as a girl is the second of the - two to the right of the picture. -] - -“We are trying to make each other happy by making ourselves better, and -in this sweet emulation virtue becomes stronger, hope remains. If he has -an opportunity to do a good action, I am sure that he will do it more -gladly when he thinks that it is the sweetest and the only homage that -he can render me.” All this she assumed, but she thought she had -sufficient reason for her opinion. “I judge him by my own heart, nothing -else is so like him. We do not see each other, but we know we love each -other without ever having avowed it. We count on each other. We hasten -along the path of virtue and of sacrifice that we have chosen; there at -least we shall be eternally together.” - -She wrote him a fervent letter, which Sophie delivered, telling him that -it was not her will that he was forbidden the house. She saw that he had -a card for the Mass celebrating her mother’s death. She idealized him in -a manner worthy of Julie herself, without knowing anything in particular -of him, and without his ever having made her any declaration. - -A sentimental young woman rarely conceives her lover as he is. Certainly -the actual La Blancherie was a very different young man from the paragon -of stern virtue Mademoiselle Phlipon pictured, and when the creation of -her imagination was brought face to face, one day in the Luxembourg, -with the flesh and blood original, the latter made a poor showing. To -begin with, he had a feather in his cap, a common enough thing in that -day—“Ah, you would not believe how this cursed plume has tormented me,” -she wrote Sophie. “I have tried in every way to reconcile this frivolous -ornament with that philosophy, with that taste for the simple, with that -manner of thinking which made D. L. B. [it is thus that she designates -La Blancherie in her letters] so dear to me.” But she did not succeed. -No doubt her inability to forgive the feather was made greater by a bit -of gossip repeated to her the same day by a friend who was walking with -her, that La Blancherie had been forbidden the house of one of her -friends because he had boasted that he was going to marry one of the -daughters, and that he was commonly known among their friends as “the -lover of the eleven thousand virgins.” - -Her cure was rapid after this, and when, a few months later, La -Blancherie succeeded in getting an interview with her and represented -his misfortunes and his hopes, she listened calmly, and told him, at -length, that after having distinguished him from the ordinary young man, -and indeed placed him far higher, she had been obliged to replace him -among the large class of average mortals. For some four hours they -debated the situation, and at last La Blancherie withdrew. - -Manon’s first love affair was over, and she sat down with rare -complacency to describe the finale to Sophie. She had no self-reproach -in the affair. As always, she was infallible. - -La Blancherie was, no doubt, an excellent example of the -eighteenth-century literary adventurer. His first book, a souvenir of -college life and his travels in America, was an impossible account of -youthful follies and their distressing results, and seems never to have -aroused anybody’s interest save Manon’s, and that only during one year. -His next venture was to announce himself as the General Agent for -Scientific and Artistic Correspondence, and to open a salon in Paris, -where he arranged expositions of pictures, scientific conferences, -lectures and art _soirées_. In connection with his salon La Blancherie -published from 1779 to 1787 the _Nouvelles de la république des lettres -et des arts_, and a catalogue of French artists from Cousin to 1783. -Both of these works, now extremely rare, are useful in detailed study of -the French art of the eighteenth century, and were used by the De -Goncourts in preparing their work on this subject. - -In 1788 La Blancherie’s salon was closed, and he went to London. By -chance he inhabited Newton’s old house. He was inspired to exalt the -name of the scientist. His practical plan for accomplishing this was to -demand that the name of Newton should be given alternately with that of -George to the Princes of England, that all great scientific discoveries -should be celebrated in hymns which should be sung at divine services, -and that in public documents after the words _the year of grace_ should -be added _and of Newton_. - -In short, La Blancherie was in his literary life vain and pretentious, -without other aim than to make a sensation. In his social relations he -was a perfect type of _le petit maître_, whose philosophy Marivaux sums -up: “A Paris, ma chère enfant, les cœurs on ne se les donne pas, on se -les prête” (In Paris, my dear, we never give our hearts, we only lend -them). Manon Phlipon’s idealization and subsequent dismissal of La -Blancherie is an excellent example of how a sentimental girl’s -imagination will carry her to the brink of folly, and of the -cold-blooded manner in which, if she is disillusioned, she will discuss -what she has done when under the influence of her infatuation. - -No doubt the decline of Manon’s interest in La Blancherie was due no -little to the rise of her interest at this time in another type of -man,—the middle-aged man of experience and culture whom necessity has -forced to work in the world, but whom reflection and character have led -to remain always aloof from it. - -The first of these was a M. de Sainte-Lettre, a man sixty years of age, -who, after thirteen years’ government service in Louisiana with the -savages, had been given a place in Pondicherry. He was in Paris for a -year, and having brought a letter of introduction to M. Phlipon, soon -became a constant visitor of his daughter. His wealth of observation and -experience was fully drawn upon by this curious young philosopher, and -probably M. de Sainte-Lettre found a certain piquancy in relating his -traveller’s tales to a fresh and beautiful young girl whose intelligence -was only surpassed by her sentimentality, and whose frankness was as -great as her self-complacency. At all events they passed some happy -hours together. “I see him three or four times a week,” she wrote -Sophie; “when he dines at the house, he remains from noon until nine -o’clock. There is perfect freedom between us. This man, taciturn in -society, is confiding and gay with me. We talk on all sorts of subjects. -When I am not up, I question him, I listen, I reflect, I object. When we -do not wish to talk, we keep silent without troubling ourselves, but -that does not last long. Sometimes we read a fragment suggested by our -conversation, something well known and classic, whose beauties we love -to review. The last was a song of the poet Rousseau and some verses of -Voltaire. They awakened a veritable enthusiasm,—we both wept and re-read -the same thing ten times.” - -To this odd pair of philosophers a third was added,—a M. Roland de la -Platière, of whom we are to hear much more later on. Manon began at once -to effervesce. “These two men spoil me,” she declared to Sophie; “I find -in them the qualities that I consider most worthy my esteem.” - -But Roland and de Sainte-Lettre both left Paris, the latter retiring to -Pondicherry, where he died some six weeks after his arrival. Before -going away, however, he had put Mademoiselle Phlipon into relation with -an intimate friend of his, a M. de Sévelinges, of Soissons, a widower -some fifty-two years of age, of small fortune but excellent family and -wide culture. This acquaintance was kept up by letter, and in a few -months M. de Sévelinges asked her hand. Now Mademoiselle Phlipon had but -a small dot and that was fast disappearing through the dissipation of -her father, who, since her mother’s death, had taken to amusing himself -in expensive ways. M. de Sévelinges had children who did not like the -idea of his marrying a young wife without fortune. It was to imperil -their expected inheritance. Manon appreciated this and refused M. de -Sévelinges. But he insisted and they hit upon a quixotic arrangement -which Mademoiselle Phlipon describes thus to Sophie: - -“His project is simply to secure a sister and a friend, under a -perfectly proper title. I thank him for a plan that my reason justifies, -that I find honorable for both, and that I feel myself capable of -carrying out.... My sentiments, my situation, everything drives me to -celibacy. In keeping it voluntarily while apparently living in an -opposite state, I do not change the destiny which circumstances have -forced upon me, and at least I contribute by a close relation to the -happiness of an estimable man who is dear to me.... How chimerical this -idea would be for three-fourths of my kind! It seems as if nobody but M. -de Sévelinges and I could have conceived it, and that you are the only -one to whom I could confide it. The realisation of this dream would be -delightful it seems to me. I can imagine nothing more flattering and -more agreeable to one’s delicacy and confidence than this perfect -devotion to pure friendship. Can you conceive of a more delicate joy -than that of sacrificing oneself entirely to the happiness of an -appreciative man?” - -The affair with M. de Sévelinges came to nothing, and as Manon gradually -ceased to think of him she became more and more interested in the M. -Roland already mentioned. - -M. Roland de la Platière was a man about forty-two years of age when he -first met Mademoiselle Phlipon, in 1776. He held the important position -of Inspector-General of Commerce in Picardy, and lived in Amiens, the -chief town of the province. In his specialty he was one of the best -known men in France. His career had been one of energy and patience. -Leaving his home in the Lyonnais when but a boy of eighteen, rather than -to take orders or to go into business as his family proposed, he had -spent two years studying manufacture and commerce in Lyons, and then had -gone to Rouen, where, through the influence of a relative, he had passed -ten years in familiarizing himself with the methods of the factories of -Normandy, at that time one of the busiest manufacturing provinces in -France. M. Roland’s work at Rouen had not been of a simple, -unintelligent kind. He had studied seriously the whole subject of -manufacturing in its relations to commerce, to government, to society, -and had worked out a most positive set of opinions on what was necessary -to be done in France in order to revive her industries. He had already -begun to write, and his pamphlets had attracted the attention of the -ablest men in his department of science. - -In 1764 he had been sent to look after the manufacturing interests of -Languedoc, then in a serious condition, and in 1776 the position of -Inspector in Picardy, the third province of the country from a -manufacturing point of view, was given to him. For a man without -ambition, the duties of the office were simple. They required him to see -that the multitude of vexatious rules which were attached then to the -making of goods and articles of all kinds, were carried out; that the -regulations governing masters and workmen were observed; that the -formalities attending the establishment of new factories were not -neglected; that everything of significance that happened in the -factories in his province was reported; and that all suggestions for -improvement which occurred to him were presented. Evidently an ordinary -man, well protected, could fill the position of an inspector of -manufactures and have an easy life. - -But M. Roland did not understand his duties in this way. The value of -the position in his eyes was that it permitted the regulation of -disputes, allowed criticism, invited suggestions, encouraged study, and -welcomed pamphlets. From the beginning of his connection with Picardy he -had displayed an incredible activity in all of these directions. The -various industrial interests of the province were clashing seriously at -the moment, and the lawyers and councils were only making the -disagreement greater. Roland dismissed all interference and became -himself “the council, the lawyer, and the protector of the -manufacturer.” He became familiar with every master workman of Picardy, -with every industry, with every process, and in the reports sent to the -Council of Commerce at Paris, he attacked, praised, suggested -voluminously. At the same time he was studying seriously. Nothing was -foreign to his profession as he understood it, and though already he had -the reputation of being a _savant_ he went every year to Paris to do -original work in natural history, physics, chemistry, and the arts. - -Roland had only been long enough in Picardy to organize his office well -when he began to urge the Council to try to introduce into France some -of the superior manufacturing processes of other countries. The idea -seemed wise and he was invited to undertake a thorough study of foreign -and domestic manufacturing methods. This commission led him into many -countries. Before M. Roland met Mademoiselle Phlipon, in 1776, he had -been through Flanders, Holland, Switzerland, England, Germany, and -France in pursuit of information. He had studied lace-making at -Brussels, ironware at Nuremberg, linen-making in Silesia, pottery in -Saxony, velvet and embroidered ribbons on the Lower Rhine, paper-making -at Liège, cotton weaving and printing in England. - -His observations had been limited to no special step of the -manufacturing. He looked after the variety of plant which produced a -thread and studied the way it was raised. He knew how native ores were -taken out in every part of Europe. The processes of bleaching, dyeing, -and printing in all countries were familiar to him. He understood all -sorts of machines and had improved many himself. His ideas on designing -were excellent and had been enlarged by intelligent observation of the -arts of many countries. - -On all of his travels Roland had amassed samples of the stuffs he had -seen, had taken notes of dimensions, of prices, of the time required for -special processes, of the cost of materials, had gathered the pamphlets -and volumes written by specialists, often had brought back samples of -machines and utensils. All of this he had applied faithfully in Picardy, -and before the time he comes into our story he had had the satisfaction -of seeing, as a result of his efforts, the number of shops in his domain -tripled, the utensils gradually improved, a great variety of new stuffs -made, the old ones improved, and many new ideas introduced from other -countries. - -At the same time the full reports made of his investigations had won him -honors; the Academy of Science in Paris, the Royal Society of -Montpellier, had made him a correspondent; the academies of Rouen, -Villefranche, and Dijon, an honorary member; different societies of -Rome, an associate. - -He had, too, something besides technical knowledge. He was quite up to -the liberal thought of the day and had ranged himself with the large -body of French philosophers who were working for greater freedom in -commerce, in politics, in religion. In short, M. Roland de la Platière -was a man of more than ordinary value, who had rendered large services -to his country. But with all his value, and partly because of it, he was -not an easy man to get along with. His hard work had undermined his -health and left him morose and irritable. He was so thoroughly convinced -of his own ability and usefulness that he could not suffer opposition -even from his superiors, and he used often, in his reports, an arrogant -tone which exasperated those who were accustomed to official etiquette. -A large quantity of Roland’s business correspondence still exists, and -throughout it all is evidence of his pettish, unbending superiority. In -fact, some very serious controversies arose between him and his -associates at different times, in which if Roland was usually right in -what he urged, his way of putting it was offensive to the last degree. - -Roland prided himself not only on his services, but on his character. He -was independent, active, virtuous. He admired noble deeds and good -lives. He cultivated virtue as he did science and he made himself a -merit of being all this. Nothing is more offensive than self-complacent -virtue. Be it never so genuine, the average man who makes no pretensions -finds it ridiculous and is unmoved by it. Goodness must be unconscious -to be attractive. - -Above all, Roland prided himself on the perfect frankness of his -character, and to prove it he refused to practise the amiable little -flatteries and deceits which, under the name of politeness, keep people -in society feeling comfortable and kindly. Shoe-buckles were a vain -ornament, so he wore ribbons, though by doing it he offended the company -into which he was invited. To tell a man he was “charmed” to see him -when he was merely indifferent, was a lie, therefore he preserved a -silence. He would not follow a custom he could not defend -philosophically, nor repeat a formality which could not be interpreted -literally. By the conventional, what is there to be done with such a -character? They may respect his scientific worth, but they cannot -countenance such contempt for the laws of life as they understand them. - -Mademoiselle Phlipon, however, was not conventional. She admired -frankness and Roland’s disregard of formalities seemed to her a proof of -his simplicity and honesty. She was not offended by the man’s display of -character. She herself was as self-conscious, as convinced of her own -worth, and as fond as he of using it as an argument. As for his -irritability and scientific arrogance, she had little chance to judge of -it. He was so much wiser than she, that she accepted with gratitude and -humility the information he gave. - -It was in 1776 that Roland first came to visit Manon, to whom he had -been presented by Sophie Cannet, with whose family he was allied in -Amiens. The acquaintance did not go far; for in the fall of that year -Roland started out on one of his long trips, this time to Switzerland, -Italy, Sicily, and Malta. It was his plan to put his observations into -letter form and on his return to publish them. He needed some one to -whom he could address the letters, who would guard the copy faithfully -in his absence, and would edit it intelligently if he should never -return. Manon seemed to him a proper person, and so he requested her to -permit his brother, a curé in Cluny College, in Paris, to bring the -letters to her. She naturally was flattered, and the letters which came -regularly were a great delight to her. - -Now the sole object of Roland was evidently to have a safe depot for his -manuscript, yet as the trip stretched out Manon became more and more -interested. Might it not be that this grave philosopher had a more -personal interest in her than she had thought? Might he not be the -friend she sought? Her fancy was soon bubbling in true Rousseau style. -The long silences of M. Roland and the formal letters he wrote were not -sufficient to quiet it. An excuse for this premature ebullition was the -fact that Roland seemed to be the only person in her little world upon -whom for the moment she could exercise her imagination. De Sainte-Lettre -was dead, M. de Sévelinges had withdrawn. True, there was a Genevese of -some note, a M. Pittet, at that time in correspondence with Franklin, -whom she often saw. M. Pittet wrote for the _Journal des dames_ and -talked over his articles beforehand with Mademoiselle Phlipon, even -answering in them objections she had made. She was flattered, it is -evident from her letters to Sophie, by their relation and only waited a -sign to transfer her interest to this eminent Genevese, but the sign was -never given. - -Another reason for her exercising her imagination on Roland was the -dulness of her life at the moment. Though Manon had a large number of -good-natured and devoted relatives and friends who exerted themselves to -please her, she went out but little save to visit her uncle the curé -Bimont. The curé lived in the château at Vincennes. Manon was a real -favorite with the bizarre and amusing colony of retired officers and -their wives, discarded favorites of the Court, and nobles worn out in -the service, to whom a home had been given there. Some of the persons -she met at Vincennes are highly picturesque. Among others were a number -of Americans from Santo Domingo on a visit to an officer. She quickly -came to an understanding with them, and questioned them closely on the -revolution in progress in the neighboring colony. - -In Paris she went out rarely, but when she did go it was usually for a -visit which, at this distance, is of piquant interest. An amusing -attempt she made to see Rousseau is recounted in a letter to Sophie. Not -that she was entirely original in this effort. It was the mode at the -moment to practise all sorts of tricks to get a glimpse of the sulky -philosopher, and Mademoiselle Phlipon, devoted disciple that she was, -could not resist the temptation. A friend of hers had an errand to -Rousseau, of which he spoke before her. He saw immediately that she -would like to discharge it in order to see the man, and kindly turned it -over to her. Manon wrote a letter into which she put many things besides -the errand, and announced that she would go on such a day to receive the -answer. The visit she describes: - -“I entered a shoemaker’s alley, Rue Plâtrière. I mounted to the second -story and knocked at the door. One could not enter a temple with more -reverence than I this humble door. I was agitated, but I felt none of -that timidity which I feel in the presence of petty society people whom -at heart I esteem but little. I wavered between hope and fear.... Would -it be possible, I thought, that I should say of him what he had said of -_savants_: ‘I took them for angels; I passed the threshold of their -doors with respect; I have seen them; it is the only thing of which they -have disabused me.’ - -“Reasoning thus, I saw the door open; a woman of at least fifty years of -age appeared. She wore a round cap, a simple clean house-gown, and a big -apron. She had a severe air, a little hard even. - -“‘Is it here that M. Rousseau lives, Madame?’ - -“‘Yes, Mademoiselle.’ - -“‘May I speak to him?’ - -“‘What do you want?’ - -“‘I have come for the answer to a letter I wrote him a few days ago.’ - -“‘He is not to be spoken to, Mademoiselle, but you may say to the person -who had you write—for surely it is not you who wrote a letter like -that—’ - -“‘Pardon me,’ I interrupted— - -“‘The handwriting is a man’s.’ - -“‘Do you want to see me write?’ I said, laughing. - -“She shook her head, adding, ‘All that I can say to you is that my -husband has given up all these things absolutely. He has left all. He -would not ask anything better than to be of service; but he is of an age -to rest.’ - -“‘I know it, but I should have been flattered to have had this answer -from his mouth. I would have profited eagerly by the opportunity to -render homage to the man whom I esteem the highest of the world. Receive -it, Madame.’ - -“She thanked me, keeping her hand on the lock, and I descended the -stairs with the meagre satisfaction of knowing that he found my letter -sufficiently well written not to believe it the work of a woman.” - -Not all of her visits were so unsuccessful, as her description of one to -Greuze shows: - -“Last Thursday, Sophie, I recalled tenderly the pleasure that we had two -years ago, at Greuze’s. I was there on the same errand. The subject of -his picture is the _Paternal Curse_. I shall not attempt to give you a -full description of it; that would be too long. I shall simply content -myself with saying that, in spite of the number and the variety of the -passions expressed by the artist with force and truthfulness, the work, -as a whole, does not produce the touching impression which we both felt -in considering the other. The reason of this difference seems to me to -be in the nature of the subject. Greuze can be reproached for making his -coloring a little too gray, and I should accuse him of doing this in all -his pictures if I had not seen this same day a picture of quite another -style, which he showed me with especial kindness. It is a little girl, -naïve, fresh, charming, who has just broken her pitcher. She holds it in -her arms near the fountain, where the accident has just happened; her -eyes are not too open; her mouth is still half-agape. She is trying to -see how the misfortune happened, and to decide if she was at fault. -Nothing prettier and more piquant could be seen. No fault can be found -with Greuze here except, perhaps, for not having made his little one -sorrowful enough to prevent her going back to the fountain. I told him -that and the pleasantry amused us. - -“He did not criticise Rubens this year. I was better pleased with him -personally. He told me complacently certain flattering things that the -Emperor said to him.... I stayed three-quarters of an hour with him. I -was there with Mignonne [her _bonne_] simply. There were not many -people. I had him almost to myself. - -“I wanted to add to the praises that I gave him: - - On dit, Greuze, que ton pinceau - N’est pas celui de la vertu romaine; - Mais il peint la nature humaine: - C’est le plus sublime tableau. - -I kept still, and that was the best thing I did.” - -In the quiet life Manon was leading her habits of study and writing -served her to good purpose, and the little room overlooking the Pont -Neuf, where she had worked since a child, was still her favorite shrine. -Almost every day she added something to the collection of reflections -she had begun under the title of _Mes loisirs_, or prepared something -for the letters to Sophie; for these letters to her friend, outside of -the gossip and narrative portions, were anything but spontaneous. Her -habit was to copy into them the long digests she had made of books she -read and of her reflections on these books. Among the manuscript lent me -by M. Marillier I found several evidences of the preparations she made -of her letters. - -In spite of friends, visits, books, and letters, however, Manon was sad -at this period. Her father was leading an irregular life, which shocked -and irritated her. No two persons could have been more poorly prepared -for entertaining each other than M. Phlipon and his daughter. He was -proud of her, but he had no sympathy with the sentiments which made her -refuse the rich husband her accomplishments would have won her. He found -no pleasure in talking with her of other than ordinary events. He -recognized that she felt herself superior to him in many ways, and -though he probably cared very little whether she was or not, he was -annoyed that she felt so. - -Manon, on her part, lacked a little in loyalty towards her father, as -well as in tenderness. She considered him an inferior and always had. -When he took to dissipation, after her mother’s death, in spite of the -honest effort she made to keep his house pleasant and to be agreeable to -him, her pride, as well as her affection, was hurt, and she sometimes -took a censorious tone which could not fail to aggravate the case. There -were often disagreeable scenes between them, after which M. Phlipon went -about with averted eyes and gloomy brow. - -Manon complained to her relatives of the condition of her home, and the -private lectures M. Phlipon received from them only made him more -sullen. Sometimes, to be sure, there were returns to good feeling and -Manon felt hopeful, but soon an extravagant or petty act of her father -brought back her worry. In her despair she was even tempted to give up -her philosopher and marry one of the ordinary but honest and well-to-do -young men her friends and relatives presented. - -Manon was thus occupied and annoyed when M. Roland came back from Italy -in the spring of 1778. As he was much in Paris, the relation between -them soon became very friendly, and he was often at the Quai de -l’Horloge. But we hear almost nothing of him in the letters to Sophie. -The reason was simply that M. Roland had requested his new friend to say -nothing to the Cannets about his visits. Probably he foresaw gossip in -Amiens if it was known he saw much of Mademoiselle Phlipon. Then, too, -Henriette, an older sister of Sophie, was interested in him and he -feared an unpleasant complication in case she knew of his attentions. -Manon carried out his wishes implicitly in spite of her habit of writing -everything to her friend. She even practised some clever little shifts -to make Sophie believe that she did not see M. Roland often and then -only on business connected with his manuscript, or to ask him some -questions about Italian, which she had begun to study. - -The frankness on which she prided herself was completely set aside—a -thing of which she would not have been capable if she had not been more -anxious to please her new friend than she was to keep faith with the -old. Probably, too, she was very well pleased to have an opportunity to -give Roland this proof of her feeling for him. - -In the winter of 1778–79 Roland told her that he loved her. Manon, “en -héroine de la délicatesse,” as she puts it, felt that in the state of -her fortune, which her father was threatening to finish soon, and with -the danger there was of M. Phlipon bringing a scandal on the family, it -was not right for her to marry. She told all this to Roland, who agreed -with her, and they hit on a sort of a Platonic arrangement which went on -very well for a time. They openly declared their affection to each -other; they worked and studied together; they confessed to each other -that the happiness of their lives lay in this mutual confidence and -sympathy. But love is stronger than philosophy, and Roland was ardent. -Manon became unhappy. Was her dream going to fade? Restless and -uncertain, she wrote Roland, who had returned to Amiens, of her fears, -and a correspondence began which soon put an end to their Platonic idyl, -and landed them amid the irritating details which attend a French -betrothal. As this correspondence has never been published, and as it -throws much light on the sentimental side of Manon Phlipon’s life, it is -quoted from rather fully in the following pages. - -Roland had laughed at her first letter complaining of his fervor. In -answer she wrote him a voluminous epistle in which she traced the birth -and growth of her sentimental nature. - -“You laugh at my sermon, now listen to my complaints. I am sad, -discontented, ill. My heart is heavy, and burning tears fall without -giving me relief ... I do not understand myself ... but let me tell you -once for all what I am and wish always to be. - -“It is almost twenty-five years since I received life from a mother -whose gentleness, wisdom, and goodness would be an eternal reproach if -they were not an inspiration. The death of this loved mother caused the -deepest grief I have ever known. By nature I am sensitive (should I pity -or congratulate myself?); a solitary education concentrated my -affections, made them more fervid and profound. I felt happiness and -sorrow before I could call them by name. It was on them that I first -reflected. I was active and isolated.... I was meditating when usually a -child is busy with toys. - -“I have often told you how I was stirred by religious ideas, and how the -restless and vague sentiments which had oppressed me were finally fixed -on certain determined objects. Soon I awoke to the joy of friendship, -and before one would have supposed that I knew I had a heart, it was -overflowing. Young, ardent, happily situated, unconscious of the clash -of interests which makes men wicked, love of duty became a passion with -me and the mere name of virtue aroused my enthusiasm. - -“Eager to know, I began to read history. It became more and more -interesting to me. The story of a brave deed excited me almost to a -delirium. How many times I wept because I had not been born a Spartan or -a Roman! As my horizon enlarged, I began to think about my creed, and my -faith was overthrown. Humanity was dear to me, and I could not endure to -see it condemned without distinction and without pity. I threw over the -authority which would force me to believe a cruel absurdity. The first -step taken, the rest of the route was soon travelled, and I examined all -with the scrupulous defiance which one gives to a doctrine false in an -essential point. The philosophic works that I read at this time aided -me, but did not determine me to come to a decision. Each system seemed -to me to have its weakness and its strength. I held to some of my -brilliant chimeras; I became sceptical by an effort, and I took for my -creed beneficence in conduct and tolerance in opinion. - -“These changes in my ideas had no influence on my morals. They are -independent of all religious system because founded on the general -interest which is the same everywhere. Harmony in the affections seem to -me to constitute the individual goodness of a man; the justice of his -relations with his kind, the wisdom of the social man. The multiplied -relations of the civil life have also, without doubt, multiplied laws -and duties, and those peculiar to each one should be the first subject -of his study. - -“The place which my sex should occupy in the order of nature and of -society very soon fixed my curious attention. I will not say what I -thought of the question which has been raised as to the pre-eminence of -one sex over the other. It has never seemed to me worthy of the -attention of a serious mind. We differ essentially, and the superiority -which in some respects is yours does not alter the reciprocal dependence -in happiness which can only be the common work of both. - -“I appreciated the justice, the power, and the extent of the duties laid -upon my sex. I trembled with joy on finding that I had the courage, the -resolution, and the certainty of always fulfilling them.... I resolved -to change my condition only for the sake of an object worthy of absolute -devotion. In the number of those who solicited (my hand), one only of -whom I have talked to you (M. de Sévelinges) merited my heart. For a -long time I was silent, and it was only when I realized all the barriers -between us that I asked him to leave me. I have had reason since to -congratulate myself on this resolution, which was painful for me beyond -expression. - -“Many changes have come since, but I have steadily refused to marry -except for love. I have lost my fortune and my pride has increased. I -would not enter a family which did not appreciate me enough to be proud -of the alliance or which would think it was honoring me in receiving me. -I have felt in this way a long time, and have looked upon a single life -as my lot. My duties, true, would be fewer and not so sweet, perhaps, -but none the less severe and exacting. Friendship I have regarded as my -compensation, and I have wished to taste it with all the abandon of -confidence. But you are leading me too far, and it is against that that -I would protect myself. - -[Illustration: - - ROLAND DE LA PLATIÈRE. - - After the painting by Hesse. -] - -“I have seen in your strong, energetic, enlightened, practical soul, the -stuff for a friend of first rank. I have been delighted to regard you as -such, and to all the seriousness of friendship I wanted to add all the -fervor of which a tender soul is capable. But you have awakened in my -heart a feeling against which I believed myself armed. I have not -concealed it. I showed it unreservedly and I expected you to give me the -generous support which I needed. But far from sparing my weakness, you -became each day rasher, and you have dared ask me the cause of my -pensiveness, my silence, my pain. Sir, I may be the victim of my -sentiments, but I will never be the plaything of any man.... I cannot -make an amusement of love. For me it is a terrible passion which would -submerge my whole being and which would influence all my life. Give me -back friendship or fear—to force me to see you no more. - -“O my friend, why disturb the beautiful relation between us? My heart is -rich enough to repay you in tenderness for all the privations it imposes -upon you.... Spare me the greatest good that I know, the only one which -makes life tolerable to me,—a friend sincere and faithful. I have not -enough of your philosophy or I have too much of another which does not -resemble yours in this point only, to give myself up inconsiderately to -a passion which for me would be transport and delirium. - -“My friend, come back more moderate, more reserved, let us cherish -zealously, joyfully, and confidently the tastes which can strengthen the -sweet tie which unites us....” - -This letter threw Roland into confusion. He had taken her at her word -when she suggested an intimate friendship. He had taken her at her word -when she told him her affection was becoming love. He had been, perhaps, -too fervent, but how was one to regulate so delicate a situation? He -wrote her a piteous and helpless sort of letter in which he declared he -was unhappy. Manon replied in a way which did not help him particularly -in his quandary: - -“In the midst of the different objects which surround and oppress me, I -see, I feel but you. I hear always, ‘I am unhappy.’ O God! how, why, -since when, are you unhappy? Is it because I exist or because I love -you? The destruction of the first of these causes is in my power and -would cost me nothing. It would take away with it the other, over which -I have no longer any control.” - -Even after this Roland was so obtuse that he was uncertain of her -feeling for him, but finally he asked her squarely if it could be that -all this meant that she loved him. Very promptly she replied: “If I -thought that question was unsettled for you to-day, I should fear it -would always be.” Will she marry him then, _oui ou non_? He asked the -question despairingly, in the tone of a man who expected a scene to -follow, but could see nothing else for him to do honorably. In a letter -of passionate abandon Manon promised to be his wife. Roland was the -happiest of men. - -“You are mine,” he wrote. “You have taken the oath. It is irrevocable. O -my friend, my tender, faithful friend, I had need of that _yes_.” - -Manon’s joy was unbounded and she told it in true eighteenth-century -style. “I weep, I struggle to express myself, I stifle, I throw myself -upon your bosom, there I remain, entirely thine.” Immediately they -entered upon a correspondence, voluminous, extravagant, passionate. -Manon explained to Roland the beginning and the development of her -affection for him, and labored to harmonize two seemingly incongruous -experiences,—her interest in Roland during the time he was in Italy and -the marriage she had contemplated with M. de Sévelinges. The harmony -seems incomplete to the modern reader, but probably Roland was not -exacting since he was sure of his possession. - -In every way she tried to please him, even keeping their betrothal a -secret from Sophie—this at Roland’s request. They planned, confided, -rejoiced, and made each other miserable in true lover-like style. For -some time the worst of their misunderstandings were caused by delays in -letters, but, unfortunately, there were to be annoyances, in the course -of their love, more serious than those of the postman. There was M. -Phlipon; there was Roland’s family; there were all the vexatious -formalities which precede marriage in France. M. Phlipon was the most -serious obstacle to their happiness. Since his wife’s death he had been -constantly growing more dissipated and common. Roland regarded him with -the cold and irritating disapproval of a man convinced of his own -infallibility, and M. Phlipon, conscious of his own shortcomings, -disliked Roland heartily. For some time Roland refused to ask M. Phlipon -for his daughter, but he counselled her to insist upon having the -remnant of her dowry turned over. - -She began to talk to her father of this, and he, incensed at the -suspicion this demand implied, became surly and defiant. He talked to -the neighbors of his desire to live alone and accused Manon of -ingratitude and coldness. She held to her rights, however, and succeeded -finally in having her estate settled. She found at the end that she had -an income of just five hundred and thirty francs a year. - -The disagreement with her father made her unhappy. She wrote Roland -letters full of complaints and sighs. She saw everything black. She -declared that they were farther apart than ever, that her heart was -breaking. After a few weeks of melancholy she came to an understanding -with her father and wrote joyously again. This occurred several times -until at last Roland grew seriously out of patience with her. He told -her that it was her lack of firmness that was at the bottom of her -father’s conduct; that she was “always irresolute, always uncertain, -reasoned always by contraries.” His letters became brief, dry, -impatient. Finally, however, he wrote M. Phlipon, asking for Manon. - -The difficulty that Roland had foreseen with his prospective -father-in-law was at once realized. The old gentleman, incensed that his -daughter would not give him Roland’s letters to examine before he -replied, answered in a way which came very near ending negotiations on -the spot. Since his daughter had taken her property into her own hands -and since she refused to let him see the correspondence which had passed -between her and Roland, she could enjoy still further the privileges her -majority gave her and marry without his consent. - -Roland wrote to Manon, on receiving this curt response, that the _soul_ -of M. Phlipon horrified him; that he loved her as much as ever, -but—“your father, my friend, your father,” and delicately hinted that it -would be impossible for him to present such a man to his own family. -This was in September. For two months they lived in a state of miserable -uncertainty. Roland accused Manon of irresolution, of inconsistency, and -inconsequence; she accused him of fearing the prejudices of society, of -caring less for her than for his family’s good-will. With M. Phlipon -Manon alternately quarrelled and made up. Wretched as the lovers were, -their letters nearly always ended in protestations of affection and -appeals for confidence. - -The first of November Mademoiselle Phlipon brought matters to a crisis -by leaving her father for good and retiring to the Convent of the -Congregation. She wrote Sophie, who, of course, had known nothing of her -affair with Roland, but to whom she had often written freely of her -trouble with her father, that she had taken this resolution in order to -save her family, if possible, from further disgrace. - -In going into the convent she had broken with Roland. They were to -remain friends, but dismiss all projects of marriage; but they continued -to write heart-broken letters to each other. She told him, “I love you. -I feel nothing but that. I repeat it as if it were something new. Your -agonized letters inflame me. I devour them and they kill me. I cover -them with kisses and with tears.” - -Roland was quite as unhappy. He had taken Manon at her word again when -she declared that their engagement was at an end, and that they would -remain friends; but he could not support her unhappiness; he was too -wretched himself. The worst of it was that he could not make out what -she wanted: “You continually reproach me,” he wrote her in November, “of -not understanding you. Is it my fault? Do you not go by -contraries?”—“You complain always of what I say, and you always tell me -to tell you all.... You protest friendship and confidence at the moment -you give me proofs of the contrary. All your letters are a tissue of -contradictions, of bitterness, of reproaches, of wrangling.” - -This unhappy state continued until January, when Roland went to Paris -and saw Manon. Her sadness and her tears overcame him, and again he -begged her to marry him. This time the affair was happier, and in -February Manon Phlipon became Madame Roland. - -Twelve years later, in her Memoirs, Madame Roland gave an account of -this courtship and marriage, which is a curious contrast to that one -finds in the letters written at the time. If these letters show -anything, it is that she was, or at least imagined herself, desperately -in love; that after having outlined a Platonic relation she had broken -it by telling Roland she loved him too well to endure the restrictions -of mere friendship; that she had been extravagantly happy in her -betrothal, and correspondingly miserable in her liberation; and that -when the marriage was finally effected she was thoroughly satisfied. - -But in her Memoirs she says of Roland’s first proposal: “I was not -insensible to it because I esteemed him more than any one whom I had -known up to that time,” but—“I counselled M. Roland not to think of me, -as a stranger might have done. He insisted: I was touched and I -consented that he speak to my father.” She gives the impression that as -far as she was concerned her heart was not in the affair, that she -merely was moved by Roland’s devotion, and that she saw in him an -intelligent companion. Of his coming to her at the convent, she says -that it was he alone who was inflamed by the interview, and she gives -the impression that his renewed proposal awakened in her nothing but -sober and wise reflections: “I pondered deeply what I ought to do. I did -not conceal from myself that a man under forty-five would have hardly -waited several months to make me change my mind, and I confess that I -had no illusions.... If marriage was, as I thought it, a serious tie, an -association where the woman is for the most part charged with the -happiness of two persons, was it not better to exercise my faculties, my -courage, in that honorable task, than in the isolation in which I -lived?” - -But at the time that Madame Roland wrote her Memoirs she was under the -influence of a new and absorbing passion. The love, which twelve years -before had so engulfed all other considerations and affections that she -could for it break up her home, desert her father, take up a solitary -and wretched existence, even contemplate suicide, had become an -indifferent affair of which she could talk philosophically and at which -she could smile disinterestedly. - - - - - III - SEEKING A TITLE - - -The first year of their marriage the Rolands spent in Paris. New -regulations were being planned by the government for the national -manufactures, and Roland had been summoned to aid in the work. It was an -irritating task. His principles of free trade, and free competition, -were sadly ignored, even after all the concessions obtainable from the -government had been granted, and Madame Roland saw for the first time -the irascibility and rigidness of her husband when his opinions were -disregarded. - -They lived in a _hôtel garni_, and she gave all her time to him, -preparing his meals even, for he was never well, and spending hours in -his study aiding him in his work. Roland’s literary labors seem to have -awed her a little at first, and she took up copying and proof-reading -with amusing humility and solemnity. It was not an inviting task for a -young and imaginative mind accustomed to passing leisure hours with the -best thinkers of the world. Roland was writing on manufacturing arts and -getting his letters from Italy ready for the printer. As always, he was -overcrowded with work. He was particular and tenacious, careless about -notes, and wrote an execrable hand,—about the most aggravating type -possible to work with. But his wife accommodated herself to him with a -tact, a submission, a gentleness which were perfect. He found her -judgment so true, her devotion so complete, her notions of style so much -better than his own, that he grew to depend upon her entirely. It was -the object she had in view. She wanted to make herself indispensable to -him. - -Thus the first year of her marriage was largely an apprenticeship as a -secretary and proof-reader. In order to be better prepared for her -duties, she determined to follow the lectures in natural history and -botany at the Jardin des Plantes. This study, begun for practical -reasons, was in reality a delight and a recreation; for she had already -a decided taste for science, and was even something of an observer. The -lectures led to her forming one of the most satisfactory relations of -her life, that with Bosc, a member of the Academy of Sciences, and well -known in Paris for his original work. Bosc took an active interest in -Madame Roland and her husband, and was of great use to them in their -studies, as well as a most congenial comrade. In fact, they saw almost -no one but him at this time. Absorbed in her husband and her new duties, -Madame Roland relished no one who was not in some way essential to that -relation. Even Sophie was neglected; only six letters to her during the -year 1780, after the marriage, appearing in the published collection, -and evidently from their contents they are about all she wrote. - -The year was broken towards its close by a two months’ visit to the -Beaujolais, where Roland’s family lived. That she was heartily welcomed -by her new relatives and charmed by her visit, her reports to Sophie -show. “We are giving ourselves up like school children to the delights -of a country life,” she wrote from Le Clos, “seasoned by all that -harmony, intimacy, sweet ties, pleasant confidences, and frank -friendship can give. I have found brothers to whom I can give all the -affection that the name inspires, and I share joyfully bonds and -relations which were unknown to me.” When she returned to Paris she -declared that she was delighted with her trip, that the separation from -her new family was painful in the extreme, and that the two months with -them were passed in the greatest confidence and closest intimacy. - -From Paris they went to Amiens, which was to be their home for some -time. The old city, with its glorious cathedral, its remnants of middle -age life, and its industrial atmosphere, interested her but little. In -fact, she never had an opportunity to get very near to it. The first -year of her stay she was confined by the birth of her only child, -Eudora. Good disciple of Rousseau that she was, she concluded to nurse -her baby herself, in defiance of French custom, and naturally saw little -of Amiens society. - -When she was able to go out, Roland’s work had become so heavy that she -had little time for anything but copying and proof-reading. He was -preparing a serious part of the famous _Encyclopédie méthodique_, the -continuation of the work of Diderot and D’Alembert. Of this great -undertaking four volumes—numbers 117–120—are devoted to manufactures, -arts, and trades; the first three of these are by Roland, and appeared -in 1784, 1785, and 1790. - -The plan Roland followed in this work is an excellent example of the -methodic mind of the man, bent on analyzing the earth and its contents, -and putting into its proper place there each simplest operation, each -smallest article. He devised an ingenious diagram in which he classified -according to the historic, economic, or administrative side everything -he treated—one is obliged to master this system before he can find the -subject he wants to know about. A botanical analysis is play beside it. -Roland’s contributions to the _Encyclopédie méthodique_ are valuable no -doubt, but one needs a guide-book to find his way through them. - -Roland’s attempt to run over everything which directly or indirectly -concerned his subject, and the enormous number of notes he made, -encumbered his work wofully. He could not resist the temptation to use -everything he had at hand, and as a result his articles are frequently -diffuse and badly arranged, though always full of instruction, even if -it is sometimes a little puerile. Neither could he resist the temptation -to condemn and to argue. - -But though burdened with details sometimes irrelevant, not properly and -sufficiently digested, too personal, indulging in much criticism of his -authorities, not to say considerable carping, the volumes on -manufactures and arts are a colossal piece of work, most valuable in -their day, but which never had their full credit because of the stormy -times in which they appeared, and, perhaps, not a little too, because of -the chaotic series of encyclopedias to which they belonged; for -certainly there could with difficulty be a greater mass of information -published in a more inaccessible shape than that in the _Encyclopédie -méthodique_. - -It was in arranging notes, copying, polishing, and reading proofs of -articles on soaps and oils, dyes and weaving, skins and tanning, that -Madame Roland spent most of her time from 1780 to 1784. A part of the -work which was more happy was the botanizing they did. During their four -years at Amiens, she made, in fact, a very respectable herbarium of -Picardy. - -Of society she saw less than one would suppose, since the Cannets were -here, and since her husband occupied so prominent a place. She did, of -course, see Sophie and Henriette, but not often. Roland did not wish her -to be with them much, and she, obedient to his wishes, complied. They -had one intimate friend—a Dr. Lanthenas that Roland had met in Italy, -and who, since their marriage, had become a constant and welcome visitor -in their home. Then there were their acquaintances in the town—but for -them she cared but little. - -Indeed, she was thoroughly submerged in domestic life. She seems to have -had no thought, no desire, no happiness outside of her husband and her -child. A great number of her letters written at this period to Roland, -who was frequently away from home, have been preserved; one searches -them in vain for any interest in affairs outside her house. She wrote -pages of her _bonnes_, of the difficulty of finding this or that in the -market, of the price of groceries, of the repairs to be made, above all, -of her own ills and of those of Eudora, and she counselled Roland as to -his plasters and potions. Her absorption in her family went so far that -public questions rather bored her than otherwise, as this remark in a -letter in 1781 shows: - -“M. de Vin [one of their friends at Amiens] came to see me yesterday -expressly to tell me of our victory in America over Cornwallis. He -saluted me with this news on entering, and I was forced to carry on a -long political conversation—I cannot conceive the interest that a -private person, such as he is, has in these affairs of kings who are not -fighting for us.” - -Her calm domestic life was broken in 1784. Roland was dissatisfied at -Amiens. His health was miserable. His salary was small. He was out of -patience with the men and circumstances which surrounded him. His idea -was to seek a title of nobility. Such a concession would give him the -rights of the privileged, freedom from taxes of all sorts, a certain -income, a position in society. He would be free to pursue his studies. -There were grounds on which to base his claim. His family was one of the -most ancient of Beaujolais. Then there were his services,—over thirty -years of hard work, long tedious travels, solely for the good of the -country. - -It was decided, in the spring of 1784, that Madame Roland undertake the -delicate and intricate task of presenting the matter at Versailles. In -March she went to Paris, armed with the _mémoire_ which set forth -Roland’s claim. It is a collection of curious enough documents; showing -how one must go back to very ancient times to find the origin of the -Rolands in Beaujolais, how the name is “lost in the night of time, a -tradition placing it between the eleventh and twelfth centuries.” - -The memoir which presents this family tree of Roland is further -strengthened by the names of the foremost of Beaujolais, testifying that -it is “_sincère et véritable_”; and by a row of big black seals. Of -actual connected genealogy the memoir goes no further than 1574. Roland, -however, took a lofty tone, and declared his services were a more solid -and real reason for granting his request. Evidently they had thoroughly -studied the situation, had gathered all the facts which would support -their case, and had enlisted all their relations of influence, so that -when Madame Roland began her diplomatic career she was furnished with -all the arms which reflection on a desired object give a woman of -imagination, eloquence, and beauty. - -The daily letters which they exchanged in the period she was in Paris, -give a fresh and charming picture of favor-seeking in the eighteenth -century. They wrote to each other with frankness and good humor of -everything—rebuffs or advancement. They evidently had concluded to leave -nothing unturned to secure the reward which they were convinced they -deserved. - -Madame Roland established herself, with her _bonne_, at the Hôtel de -Lyon, Rue Saint Jacques, then the Boulevard Saint Michel of the Left -Bank. Her brother-in-law, a prior in the Benedictine Order of the Cluny, -lived near by and helped her settle; brought her what she needed from -his own apartment; passed his evenings with her; did her errands, and -helped her generally. She seems not to have seen her father at all. - -In order to secure the grant of nobility, a favorable recommendation to -the King from the Royal Counsel of Commerce, of which body the -_conseiller ordinaire_ was M. de Calonne, _Contrôleur-général des -finances_, was necessary. To obtain this all possible recommendations -must be brought to M. de Calonne’s attention; particularly was it -necessary to cultivate the directors of commerce, with whom the -Controller-general consulted freely, and on whom he depended for advice. -They had arranged, before she left Amiens, a list of the people upon -whom they could rely directly or indirectly for letters of introduction -and for other favors. - -No sooner was she settled than she began the work of seeing them. At the -very commencement she encountered prejudice and irritation against -Roland. One of her friends, who evidently had been investigating affairs -ahead, assured her that Roland was viewed everywhere with -dissatisfaction, and that the common opinion was, though he did a great -deal of work, he did not know how to keep his place. One of the -directors told her: “Take care how you present him to us as a superior -man. It is his pretension, but we are far from judging him as such.” -“Pedantry, insupportable vanity, eagerness for glory, pretensions of all -sorts, obstinacy, perpetual contradiction, bad writer, bad politician, -determination to regulate everything, incapable of subordination,” were -among the criticisms upon her husband, to which Madame Roland had to -listen. - -All of these complaints she faced squarely, writing them to Roland with -a frankness which is half-amusing, half-suspicious. One wonders if she -is not taking advantage of the situation to tell her husband some -wholesome truths about himself. She did not hesitate, in repeating these -criticisms, to add frequent counsels, which support the suspicion and -show how thoroughly she realized the danger of Roland’s fault-finding -irritation. “Above all, as I told you before my departure, do not get -angry in your letters, and let me see them before they are sent. You -must not irritate them any more. Your pride is well enough known, show -them your good nature now.” - -The criticisms on Roland’s character did not disconcert her. She pressed -ahead, talked, reasoned, urged, obtained promises; in short, showed -herself an admirable intrigante. She was afraid of no one. “As for my -rôle, I know it so well that I could defend it before the King without -being embarrassed by his crown,” she wrote Roland. After she had secured -what she wanted from each person, she did her best to keep them -friendly; for she had decided to ask for a pension if she did not secure -the letters. She succeeded admirably, even M. de Tolozan, one of the -directors whom she called her “bear,” telling her one day: “You have -lost nothing by this trip, Madame. We all do honor to your honesty and -your intelligence, and I am very glad to have made your acquaintance.” - -She seems not to have despised rather questionable methods even: “Did I -not let a certain person who was asking about my family, and who was -astonished that I should take so much trouble for a daughter, believe -that I expected an heir in a few months? That makes the business more -touching. They look at me walk and I laugh in my sleeve. I do not go so -far, though, as to tell a deliberate lie, but, like a good disciple of -Escobar, I give the impression without talking.” - -Whenever she was successful she was frankly delighted, and she began to -think herself capable of great things in diplomacy: “If we were at Paris -with just fifteen thousand livres income, and I should devote myself to -business—I almost said intrigue—I should have no trouble in doing many -things.” Her friends at Paris had as good opinion of her ability as she -herself did. Bosc wrote Roland of her surprising _finesse_ in managing -difficult relations, in interesting people, and of turning even -objections to her own credit. “In fact, she is astonishing,” he says. - -But it was not easy after all. There were delays which wore out her -spirit. And she experienced to the full the effects of the French vice -of doing nothing on time. The continual trips back and forth to -Versailles exasperated her. Then the business of each counsel was so -great that even after she had gotten to M. de Calonne she was obliged to -wait her turn. The money all this cost was, of course, a constant -annoyance. They were poor and could not afford the carriage hire, the -finery, and the presents that favor-seeking in the simplest way cost. -The business of solicitation in itself was much less rasping for her -than one would suspect. In fact, she seemed to enjoy it. Her successes -set her writing bubbling letters to Roland. She rarely showed -irritation, almost never impatience of the greatness of others, nor any -sign of feeling her position as a solicitor. It was only the failure to -see her cause advance rapidly that disheartened her. - -The uncertainty lasted until the middle of May, when it became evident -all had been done that could be, and that the title was impossible. She -decided to retire to Amiens and to return later to seek a pension. -Suddenly she got a new bee in her bonnet. When making her farewell -calls, she heard a bit of news which persuaded her that changes were to -be made in the department of commerce by which Roland might be sent to -Lyons as inspector. It was a larger and more interesting city than -Amiens. It was near his home. The salary would be larger, the work -easier. There was no time to consult Roland. If done at all, it must be -done on the spot. She went to work and almost immediately secured her -request. The directors with whom she had been laboring so long to secure -the impossible, were glad enough to grant her what appeared to them -reasonable. At the same time that she received word of the appointment, -a letter came from Roland saying that the change to Lyons, of which she -had written him as soon as it came into her head, would suit him if it -would her. - -Roland took this leadership and decision on the part of Madame in most -excellent spirit. The change was the best that they could do, he wrote; -as for the work, that would go on “in slippers.” He even showed no -resentment at a curtain lecture she gave him adroitly by the way of a -third person, telling him of his duties at Lyons. He cast out of the -account her fears for his health and peace of mind. It was she who -occupied him—if the change pleased her he had no other care. - -Indeed, from the beginning of the campaign, Roland’s letters to his wife -were full of consideration for her position, of anxiety for her health, -of longing for her return. Every ache or fatigue she wrote of caused him -the greatest anxiety. Throughout the correspondence, the expression of -confidence, of mutual help, of tenderness, was perfect. Their interest -extended to every detail of the other’s life, Madame Roland insisting -upon her husband’s wearing a certain plaster for some of his ailments, -and he counselling her not to come home without a new hat. - -They gave each other all the news of Paris and Amiens, and there are -many pages of her letters, especially, which are interesting for those -studying the life of that day: thus, during her stay in Paris, two -famous pieces—the _Danaïdes_ of Gluck and the _Figaro_ of -Beaumarchais—were given for the first time, and her letters on them are -long and vivid. More curious than opera or theatre is the place -mesmerism takes in the letters; the Rolands had taken up the new fad, -presumably to see what it would do for Roland, and were members of the -Magnetic Club of Amiens; Madame Roland repeated to her husband -everything she heard on the subject. - -Wire-pulling, favor-seeking, letter-writing, theatre-going and -Mesmer-studying were over at last, and the end of May she started home, -and glad to go. The separation had been severe for them both. There is -scarcely a letter in the two collections not marked by tenderness; many -of them are passionate in their warmth and longing. It is evident that -at this time Madame Roland had no life apart from her husband. - -Madame Roland reached Amiens early in June. The first day of July she -and her husband left for a trip in England which they had long planned. -She counted much on it; for many years she had been an enthusiastic -admirer of the English Constitution and its effects on the nation. -Roland had been there before and was somewhat known, and naturally she -saw what he thought best to show her. - -The journey lasted three weeks and she wrote full notes of what she saw -for her daughter. These notes were published in Champagneux’s edition of -her works. They are in no respect remarkable for originality of -observation, or for wit. But they are always intelligent and practical, -a result, no doubt, of Roland’s companionship. They touch a wide range -of subjects and they are entertaining as a look at what an -eighteenth-century traveller saw. It is easy to see that Madame Roland, -as most travellers do, sought to confirm her preconceived ideas. -England, for her, was the country of freedom, and she saw that which was -in harmony with her ideas. - - - - - IV - COUNTRY LIFE - - -It was in September of 1784 that the Rolands arrived in Beaujolais. -Although Roland’s new position kept him the greater part of the time at -Lyons, they settled for the winter some twenty-eight kilometres north, -in Villefranche-sur-Saône. It was mainly for economical reasons that -they did not go to Lyons. Roland’s mother had a home at Villefranche and -they could live with her through the winter. The summers and autumns -they meant to spend at Le Clos de la Platière, the family estate about -eleven miles from Villefranche, which had recently come under their -control. With such an arrangement it was necessary to take only a small -apartment at Lyons. As M. Roland could come often to Villefranche and Le -Clos, Madame planned to spend only about two months of the year at -Lyons. - -Villefranche, their first home in the Beaujolais, is to-day a -manufacturing town of perhaps twelve thousand inhabitants. There is a -wearisome commonplace about its rows of flat-faced houses, a dusty, -stupid, factory atmosphere about it as a whole. It seems to be utterly -destitute of those _genre_ pictures which give the flavor to so many -French towns, utterly lacking in those picturesque corners which make -their charm. - -Save Notre Dame des Marais and the hospital, it has no buildings of -note, but Notre Dame des Marais makes up for a multitude of -architectural deficiencies. It is an irregular fifteenth-century Gothic -church whose unbalanced façade is enriched with an absolute riot of -exquisite carvings. Every ogive is latticed with trefoils and flowing -tracery, every niche is peopled, every line breaks into tendrils, -everywhere is the thistle in honor of the house of Bourbon, everywhere -are saints and angels, devils and monsters. A hundred years ago -Villefranche must have been more interesting than it is now. Certainly -it was more picturesque; for its towers and crenellated walls were still -standing, and at either extremity of its chief thoroughfare were massive -gates, doubled with iron. Its picturesqueness interfered somewhat with -its comfort and sanitary condition in Madame Roland’s eyes. She detested -particularly its flat roofs, its little streets, with their surface -sewers. In its organization it was much more complicated than to-day, -and it possessed at least one institution, since disappeared, which -placed it among the leading French towns of the period, that is, an -academy, one of the oldest in the realm. - -The household which the Rolands entered at Villefranche was made up of -Madame de la Platière, Roland’s mother, and an older brother, a priest -of the town. The latter is a pleasant example of the eighteenth-century -curé, half man of pleasure, half priest, spirited and versatile in -conversation, something of a diplomat, faithful to his dogmas and -duties, _bon enfant_ in morals, but in questions of politics and -religion, domineering and prejudiced. - -The _chanoine_ Roland occupied an excellent position at Villefranche. He -was one of the three dignitaries of Notre Dame des Marais; he was the -spiritual adviser of the sisters at the hospital, and he had been for -over thirty years an Academician. With these offices, his family, and -his agreeableness, he was of course received by all the families of the -town and country worth knowing. - -Madame Roland was on very good terms with the _chanoine_ in all the -early years in Beaujolais, caring for him when sick, making visits with -him, talking with him over the fire winter evenings when Roland was away -from home. No doubt he found her a welcome addition in a house which up -to that time had been under the more or less tyrannical rule of his -mother, a woman “of the age of the century,” and “terrible in her -temper.” Madame Roland found him a welcome relief from the care of her -mother-in-law, whom she seems to have regarded rather as an object for -patience and philosophy than for affection. The old lady was trying. She -had the child’s vice of gormandizing, and after each _petite débauche_, -as her daughter-in-law called it, was an invalid for a few days. Then -she invited recklessly, a habit that made much work and expense, and was -particularly obnoxious to Madame Roland because the company passed all -their time at cards. To see the house filled every evening with people -who had not intellect and resources to entertain each other -intelligently was exasperating. - -All these annoyances Madame Roland repeated to her husband in the long -letters she sent him almost every day. More questionable than her habit -of writing these petty vexations to him was her retailing of them to -Bosc, with whom she was in constant correspondence. - -In spite of the drawbacks there was much brightness in the new home, -much of that close intimacy which is the charm of the French interior. -Madame Roland realized this and frequently painted pleasant pictures to -Bosc as contrasts to the disagreeable ones she gave him. - -Although Madame Roland was greeted cordially at Villefranche by the -leading people, as became the wife and sister-in-law of two prominent -men, she never came any nearer to what was really good and enjoyable in -the place than she had in Amiens. The town displeased her, as it -naturally would, since she insisted on comparing it with Paris. She -amused herself in studying the _soul_ of the place, and she found it -frequently small, false, and distorted. Now an analysis of one’s -surroundings is certainly amusing and instructive, but if one is to be a -good neighbor and agreeable member of the society he dissects, he must -keep his observations to himself; must place humanity and courtesy -higher than analysis. Madame Roland did not do this; she showed often -what she thought and felt, and became unpopular in return. Roland, too, -made himself disliked in the Academy of Villefranche by his domineering -ways. - -The Abbé Guillon de Montléon, of Lyons, who was a fellow academician of -Roland’s, relates that whenever he went to the town to attend Academy -meetings, Madame Roland and her husband tried to secure him as their -guest, and he suggests that this attention was due simply to the fact -that they were on bad terms with their townsmen and were obliged to find -their company in outsiders. It seems that a satire on a number of the -leading people of the town had been sent from Paris, and that it was -believed to be the work of M. and Madame Roland. Whether true or not, -those who had been caricatured revenged themselves by cutting them and -by ordering sent to them each day from Paris satirical epigrams and -songs. - -The Abbé Guillon also tells that Roland left the Academy of Villefranche -in a pet because that body refused in 1788 to adopt the subject he had -suggested for a prize contest—“Would it not serve the public good to -establish courts to judge the dead.” - -However, all that the Abbé tells of Roland must be regarded with -suspicion. He wrote after the Revolution, with his heart full of bitter -contempt and hatred of everybody who had been connected with the -movement which led up to the Reign of Terror in Lyons, and, at that -moment, was not capable of impersonal judgments. - -Madame Roland was not much better pleased with Lyons than with -Villefranche. She did not love the place too well. At Lyons she mocked -at everything, she said. She was well situated there, however. Their -apartment was in a fine house in a pleasant quarter, and Madame had the -equipage of a friend to use when she would. She saw many celebrities who -passed through the town; was invited constantly; made visits; in fact, -had an admirable social position, as became the wife of one of the most -active citizens of the town, and Roland certainly was that. His -reputation for solid acquirements had preceded him. On arriving in Lyons -he was made an honorary member of the Academy, and afterwards an active -member, and from that time he constantly was at the front in the work of -the institution. - -In the archives of the Academy of Lyons there are still preserved a -large number of manuscripts by Roland, some of these in the hand of his -wife. They discuss a variety of subjects: the choice of themes for the -public séances of the provincial academies; the influence of literature -in the country and the capital (this paper was given a place in the -published annals); the outlook for a universal language—to be French of -course. One peculiar paper, to come from so dry a pen as his, is on the -“Means of Understanding a Woman.” Plutarch comes in for a eulogy, and -there is an exhortation on the wisdom of knowing our fellows. Most of -the manuscripts are purely scientific, and treat the subjects in which -M. Roland was particularly at home,—the preparation of hides and -leather, of oils and soaps; the processes of drying. Others consider -means for quickening the decaying manufacturing interests of Lyons. -Altogether, it is a very honorable collection. The annals of the Academy -contain also a full printed report of a contest over cotton velvet which -had embroiled Roland in the North. Both sides of the discussion, which -Roland’s efforts to spread the knowledge of the new industry awakened, -are given. - -I have examined all of these manuscripts, as well as Roland’s printed -articles in the _Encyclopédie_, and elsewhere, for a trace of the idea -the Abbé Guillon de Montléon credits to him, in his Memoirs,—that dead -bodies, instead of being buried, be utilized for the good of the -community, the flesh being used for oil and the bones for phosphoric -acid. This idea was advanced, it is said, to settle a dispute over the -cemeteries, which had long agitated Lyons; but as there is no reference -to it in any of Roland’s manuscripts or printed articles, it is probable -that it was never pushed to public attention, as the Abbé would have his -reader believe. The story is told too naturally not to have at least a -shadow of truth, and such a proposition is so like the utilitarian -Roland that, if anybody in France suggested such a thing, it probably -was he. - -If their life in Villefranche and Lyons was not satisfactory, that at -their country home was entirely so; indeed, Madame Roland seems never to -have been so happy, so natural, so charming, as she was at Le Clos, -where she spent much time each year. - -Le Clos is easily reached from Villefranche. One goes to-day, as one -hundred years ago, in carriage, or, as Madame Roland usually did, on -horseback, by one of the hard, smooth roads which have long formed a -network over the Lyonnais. The road runs from the town along a narrow -valley of luxuriant pasture land, strewn in May, the month in which I -visited the place, with purple mints and pure yellow fleur-de-lys. On -either hand are low, steep hillsides, all under cultivation, but so -divided under the French system of inheritance that they look like -patch-work quilts or Roman ribbons. A kilometre from town one begins to -wind and climb. Hill after hill, mountain after mountain, is passed; the -country opens broad and generous. There is a peculiar impression of -warmth and strength produced by the prevailing color of the soil and -building-material. This part of the Lyonnais is clad in a dark stone, -and walls and churches, roads and fields, are all in varying tones of -terra-cotta; here is the fresh, bright reddish-yellow of a plot recently -cultivated and not yet planted; there the dull and worn-out brown of an -ancient wall; but, though the shades are varied, the tone is never lost. -The green of the foliage and fields is peculiarly dark and positive in -contrast with this coloring of the stone. The whole makes a landscape of -originality and a certain rude strength. It looks like a country where -men worked and where there was little to tempt them to idleness. When -one comes to Beaujolais, after the soft gray tone of the Côte-d’Or and -the Seine-et-Marne, or the dull slate which prevails in Bourbonnais, the -contrast is harsh and a little saddening. - -It is a thickly settled country, and one passes many hamlets, all in -terra-cotta, with high walls and old churches topped by Romanesque -towers. At the centre of these hamlets are ancient crucifixes, some of -them of grotesque carvings. On the distant hillsides are châteaux. - -After climbing many hills, one passes along the side of a mountain -ridge. At the end of this ridge one sees a yellow town, of some fifty -houses, a château with its tower razed to the roof, and a small chapel. -It is the village of Theizé. - -While his eyes are still on the village, he falls into a hamlet, at the -end of whose one street is a high wall and gate. It is Le Clos. Shut in -by high yellow walls,—one might almost say fortifications, they are so -long and so high,—the quaint country house, dating from the first of the -last century, is a tranquil, sheltered spot which gives one the feeling -of complete seclusion from the world. On one side of the house lies the -court, with its broad grass-plot, its low wall, its long rows of stone -farm, and vintage buildings; on the other, lies an English garden, -planted thickly with maples, sycamores, and hemlocks, with lilac clumps -and shrubs, with roses and vines. Enclosing this garden on two sides is -a stone terrace, forming a beautiful promenade. From here all the -panorama of the Beaujolais hills, mountains, and valleys opens, with -their vineyards, yellow houses, forests, and here and there a tower—the -bellevue of some rich nineteenth-century proprietor or the relic of some -ancient château. Far beyond the farthest, faintest mountain outline -rises, on clear nights, the opal crest of Mont Blanc. - -To the left of garden and house are vines and fruit trees; to the right, -a long lane and vegetable garden; and everywhere beyond are vines, -vines, vines, to the very brook in Beauvallon at the foot of the -hillside. - -In Madame Roland’s time the country about Le Clos was much more heavily -wooded than now. There was less of vine raising and more of grain, but -many features are unchanged. These trees are of her time no doubt, these -vines, these walls, and she doubtlessly gathered blossoms, as one does -to-day, from the long hedge of _roses panachés_, the wonderful striped -roses of Provence now almost unknown in France, though still rioting the -full length of one of the walls of Le Clos,—fanciful, sweet things which -by their infinite variety set one, in spite of himself, at the endless -search of finding two alike, as in the play of his childhood with the -striped grass of his grandmother’s yard. - -[Illustration: - - LE CLOS DE LA PLATIÈRE. -] - -From the terrace she saw, as we do, in the valley at the right, the -château of Brossette, the friend of Boileau; and on the hillside in -front, the curious little chapel of Saint Hippolyte; and she must often -have heard the story the country folk still tell of the place, how -centuries ago the Saracens ravaged all the country as far as this -valley, but here were driven back. The Franks, in honor of their -victory, raised a chapel to Saint Hippolyte and many miracles were -performed there, and the people came to the shrine in pilgrimage from -long distances. Now, certain neighbors, wishing to possess this -miracle-working statue of Saint Hippolyte, had it carried off, but at -the moment that the person carrying the saint attempted to cross the -brook in Beauvallon, the holy image jumped from his shoulder and ran at -full speed back to the chapel. The pious thieves, seeing the preference -of the saint, like good Christians, gave up their project. - -The mountains of Beaujolais changed from faintest violet to darkest -purple for her as for us, and the crest of Mont Pilate, or the Cat -Mountain as the Lyonnais peasants call Mont Blanc, startled and thrilled -her by its mysterious opalescent beauty when now and then it appeared on -the horizon suddenly, like some celestial thing. - -The house, a white, square structure, with pavilions at the corners of -the court side, and red tiled roof, is unchanged without, though -rearranged somewhat within. Nevertheless, there are many things to -recall the Rolands and their immediate friends; the ancient well; the -brass water-fountain; now and then a book, with Roland de la Platière on -the fly-leaf, in the well-filled cases which one finds in every room; a -terra-cotta bust of Roland himself (by Chinard, dated 1777); portraits -of the family, including one called Madame Roland, which nobody supposes -to be she; photographs of the beautiful La Tour pastels of M. and Madame -Phlipon, now in the museum of Lyons; an oil of the _chanoine_; a few -fine old arms in the collection which decorates the billiard room; a -table whose top is made of squares of variegated marbles brought from -Italy by Roland. - -There is now and then a sign about the house of what it suffered in the -Revolution; for Le Clos was pillaged then and stripped of its contents -at the same time that the château above had its towers razed. On several -of the heavy doors is still clinging the red wax of the official seal -placed by the revolutionary officers. The _chanoine’s_ crucifix is -there, a graceful silver affair darkly oxidized from long burying, he -having hid it in the garden. In the raids on the property nearly all the -furniture was taken, and for many years the peasants were said to -account for new pieces of furniture in their neighbors’ houses by -saying, “Oh, it came from Le Clos.” Some time after the Revolution, M. -Champagneux, who married Eudora, the daughter of Madame Roland, received -a notice from the curé at Theizé that a sum of “conscience money” had -been given him for the family. - -Life must have been then at Le Clos—a hundred years ago—much what it is -now,—a busy, peaceful round of usefulness and kindliness, of generous -hospitality, of unaffected intelligence. Madame Roland entered it with -sentiments kindled by Rousseau. Her imagination had never been more -actively at work than it had over the prospect of this country -retirement. She had shed tears over the prospect of their future -Clarens, its bucolic pleasures, the delicious meditations, the sweet -effusions of friendship, the healthy duties. And Le Clos realized many -of her dreams; largely because she took hold of the practical life of -the house and farm with good-will and intelligence. She was no woman to -allow work to master her,—she managed it. Nor was she weak enough to -fret under it or to regard it as “beneath her.” She respected this most -dignified and useful of woman’s employments and gave it intelligence and -good-will. This acceptance of and cheerfulness over common duties is one -of the really strong things about Madame Roland. - -Some of the prettiest passages in her letters of this period are of her -homely duties. She kept the accounts, directed the servants, interested -herself in every detail of farm and house. She used her scientific -acquirements practically for the benefit of Le Clos and its neighbors. -Bosc she continually applied to for information. Now it was a remedy, -“sure and easy,” against the bites of the viper, of which there were -many in the country—and they still exist; now for the caterpillars which -were troubling the apples; again it was against an enemy of her -artichokes that she demanded, as a service to the province, a remedy. - -She took a lively interest in agricultural discussions, and many were -the flowers, from the rich flora of Le Clos, which she sent her friend -to analyze, or for a confirmation of her own analysis. - -Her devotion to her neighbors was genuine. In her Memoirs she speaks -with pride of their love for her, and this was no meaningless -recollection. Constantly in her letters there was question of service -rendered to this or that one, and we see that it was not without reason -that her husband was worried lest she make herself ill in caring for the -domestics of Le Clos and the peasants of Boitier and Theizé. - -She did more than care for them and instruct them,—she set them a good -example. Especially in religious matters was she careful to do this. One -who has climbed the long steep hill from Le Clos to the church at -Theizé, has a genuine respect for the unselfishness of a woman who would -get out of bed at six o’clock in the morning for her neighbor’s -sake,—“climbing up the rocks,” she called it. This she did, though Le -Clos possessed its own chapel where the curé came to say the Mass. - -She exercised a delightful hospitality. Le Clos was always open for -their friends. Lanthenas spent much of his time there, and one of the -apartments still is called by his name. Bosc she was always urging to -come, and she drew him many a pretty picture of their summer companies. -There was now and then a friend of Bosc, from Paris, who sought them; -for in those days of stage-coaches one had time to stop over _en route_. -There were foreign and French _savants_ who had heard of Roland and came -to pay their respects, and there were the country counts and abbés. - -And there were amusements besides—an occasional _petit bal_ given by a -_locataire_, where she danced “and contre-danced,” and, in spite of her -thirty-one years, only retired at midnight from “wisdom and not from -satiety.” And there was the watch-meeting which she kept with her -people, and the _vogue_, as the Beaujolais people call their provincial -fêtes. Le Clos had one peculiar to itself—a _vogue_ existing to-day. - -It is one of the events of the year at Theizé—this _vogue_—on Ascension -Sunday and Monday. The place is invaded the day before for preparation: -a stand is put up for the musicians; the wine rooms are cleared out for -the lunch tables; the trees and walls are decorated; outside the gate, -too, before night there is sure to establish itself one of the -travelling lotteries which infest France. - -The morning of Ascension Day there comes, between masses, a committee -headed by a band to take possession of the place and present the fête to -Madame. After dinner come the merry-makers,—young and old from all the -country round; a friendly, pleasant company who dance and walk and talk, -only quitting their sports long enough for the traditional service of -cutting the _brioche_,—a ceremony which begins with a grave promenade of -the big cake around the premises, fanfare ahead. This done, the chief of -the _vogue_, in the midst of a respectful silence from all the two or -three hundred peasants looking on, cuts the cake with a flourish so -solemn that it would be worthy of a sacrifice, and passes around the -pieces among the guests. - -The _brioches_ eaten, they dance again, and that until after the night -falls and the stars come out and the children and the old people go -home—a grave dance now and silent; for the night, the wind in the trees, -the simpler music too changes the gay and romping mood of the afternoon -to one of dreaminess and silence. But Monday they come back gayer than -ever and the dance and romp do not end until, late in the evening, -Madame declares the _vogue_ over. - -In this life at Le Clos Madame Roland’s most serious occupation was the -education of her daughter Eudora. She evidently hoped to find in her -little girl a second Manon Phlipon,—an infant prodigy in sentiment and -taste. She discovered early that Eudora was a rollicking, mischievous, -saucy youngster, who would rather frolic than study and who liked to -play with her doll better than to read Plutarch. She was in despair over -this lack of feeling. At the least sign of sentiment she wrote to her -husband or to Bosc, but as a rule she could only complain of the -indifference of the little miss. - -She had begun by nursing her baby,—Rousseau demands it,—but when she -came back from her favor-seeking at Paris the child—three years old—did -not recognize her. “I am like the women who do not nurse their children; -I have done better than they but I am no farther advanced.” At Le Clos -she became thoroughly discouraged and decided to take up Rousseau again -and study _Émile_ and _Julie_ on the education of children. She arrived -at certain conclusions and as she was about to write her husband of them -one day received a letter from him containing similar reflections. She -replied with her full plan. The letter, hitherto unpublished, is very -sensible. - -“What a pleasure to find that we are one in our ideas as in our -feelings, and for one never to have a plan that the other has not -already thought of. For the last twenty-four hours I have been trying -the method that you suggest with our little one. I had re-read Julie’s -plan, and I had decided that we were too far away from it. Controlled by -circumstances, we have either thought too much or not enough of our -child. Busy in a kind of work which demands quiet, we have kept her at -her tasks and her lessons, without taking time to cultivate a taste in -her for them, or of choosing the times when she was the most disposed -for them. When she has rebelled, and we have wanted her to be quiet, we -have been willing to do anything to silence her, so that we could go on -with our work. - -“‘That which makes children cry,’ Julie says, ‘is the attention that is -paid to them. It is only necessary to let them cry all day, a few times, -without paying any attention to them, to cure them of the habit. If one -pets them or threatens them, it has no effect. The more attention that -you give to their tears, the more reason they have for continuing them. -They will break themselves of the habit very soon when they see that no -one takes notice; for, great and small, no one cares to give himself -useless trouble.’ There, my good friend, is where we have been wrong. -Julie’s children were happy and peaceable under her eyes, but they were -subject to no one and only obliged to allow others the same liberty they -enjoyed themselves. - -“We want to be left in peace; that is just, but sometimes we constrain -our child, and she takes her revenge as she can. Moreover, there is no -use denying it, our little one has a strong will, and she has no -sensibility and no taste. It must be that this is, in part, our fault, -and because we have not known how to direct her. More than that, we risk -making a still greater mistake in conquering her by force or by fear, -though we have believed that it could be done in no other way. In acting -thus, we are going to be unhappy, and our child is going to develop a -hard and an unendurable obstinacy. - -“I have resolved: first, never to get angry, and always to be calm and -cold as justice itself when it comes to a question of correction. - -“Second, never to use either whip or blow, movement or tone, which show -impatience. Blows of whatever kind seem to me odious. They harden, -debase, and prevent the birth of sentiment. On this score we have been -guilty. When, as an infant, Eudora put her hands on something that she -ought not to have touched, and did not take them off at the first word, -it seemed to us that a little blow on her rebellious hand might have -good effect. But that little blow has led to the whip; the child has -become a torment, and we are annoyed by it; that little blow was a great -mistake; it is time that we began over again, and we have not a moment -to lose. - -“Third, the child must be happier with us than with any one else; it is -a question then of making her time pass more pleasantly when she is in -our presence than it does elsewhere. That would not be very difficult if -the mother was sewing or at housework, was free to talk with her -sometimes and to teach her little tasks. In a library, between two -desks, where severe research is going on and where silence is necessary, -it is quite natural that the child grow weary; above all, if she is -forbidden to sing or to chatter, and cannot play with any one. - -“None of those persons who have written treatises on education have -considered the student or those of a similar profession; they have -treated the father or the mother as occupied solely in carrying out -their duties, everything else being set aside for them. But the case is -different here; you must carry on your work, and I am only too happy to -aid you in it. I am a wife as well as a mother, and was the one before -becoming the other. - -“Let us try, then, while at our desks to have our child with us, and to -see to it that she is happy beside us. For that we must leave her free -as much as possible. If nature has not fitted her for study, let us not -insist. Let us form her character as well as we can, and let the rest -come by inspiration, not by punishment or caresses. Let us hold -ourselves to these rules, and I am sure that the child will soon feel -the justice and the necessity as well as the effect of our tenderness. - -“For three days now I have not compelled her to do anything. She reads -five or six times a day to amuse herself, and she seems to think that it -is a good act. Without entirely lending myself to her little hypocrisy, -I nevertheless pretend to be partially, at least, her dupe. In the -evening she begs for music and I make a thousand excuses in order to -have the lesson short, gay, and easy. The great thing is obedience. -There have been scenes, I have punished her and she has wept; but I have -pretended not to notice it, and have gone on with my work in perfect -indifference. She has been obliged to stop some time, and it has never -been very long.” - -The success was something, for by another spring, when the little one -was “six years six months and two days old,” she had commenced to -dislike being blamed as much as she did being put on dry bread; she -loved a caress better than her doll; reading amused her when she had -nothing better to do; and she loved to write and dance,—neither of which -fatigued her head,—but could not endure a story which was more than a -half hour long; and was still “a hundred leagues from Robinson.” - -Madame Roland’s return to Rousseau was not confined to his system of -education. She went back to him at this time for inspiration. In going -to Le Clos she had an ideal,—Julie at Clarens. Probably she found that -in practice there was much more hard work and patient endurance in her -Clarens than there were pastorals and sweet emotions. Much as she -approved these stern virtues, considered abstractly, they aroused less -enthusiasm when applied, and she sought her prophet; not without reward, -for again and again she wrote Roland of her delight: - -“I have been devouring _Julie_ as if it were not for the fourth or fifth -time. My friend, I shall always love that book, and if I ever become -_dévote_, it is the only one I shall desire. It seems to me that we -could have lived well with all those people and that they would have -found us as much to their taste as we them to ours.” - -And again after an evening in the chimney corner with Rousseau: “I shall -read him all my life, and if ever we should be in that condition of -which we no longer think, when you, old and blind, make shoe-laces while -I do needle-work, all the books I shall want will be those of Jean -Jacques. He would make us shed delicious tears and would arouse -sentiments which would make us forget our lot.” - -“Delicious tears” are as always her gauge of happiness. She never -learned that the amount of living one is doing, cannot always be -measured by the emotion one experiences. - -In the days at Villefranche and Le Clos, Roland was as dear to her as -ever. She served him with touching devotion, finding her greatest -delight in being useful to him. The long and tiresome extracts on wool -and hides, bleaching and tanning, were never too long and tiresome for -her to copy, in her vigorous, beautiful hand; the numerous academic -papers and public pamphlets never too numerous for her to apply all her -literary skill and her enthusiasm to polishing and brightening. She -arranged everything to make his life easy and to advance his work, and -her affection was poured out as freely as in the days before their -marriage. He is the “friend _par excellence_.” “I love you madly and I -am disposed to snap my fingers at the rest,” she told him. Her -letter-writing, in his absence, she calls “the dearest of her -occupations,” and it must have been, to judge from the following letter -written seven years after her marriage: - -“I had told —— to go after it [Roland’s letter]. I awaited it in vain -all the evening. He had forgotten to go. I sent him again when I sat -down to supper. While I ate I waited, my heart was troubled. The servant -seemed to me to be gone a long time. My heart jumped at every noise I -heard at the door. Overcome, I said: News from him was never dearer, -never awaited with more tender impatience. I scarcely heard what brother -said and I answered yes at random. It was worse still when the package -came. My heart went out to it beforehand. I examined the writing with -strange haste, I opened it, I read. The mutual sentiment which inspires -us leaves me incapable of feeling anything else. I scarcely spoke the -rest of the evening.” - -Unquestionably she believed in the endurance of this affection for -Roland, so far as there is any indication in her letters. Perhaps -something of the secret of the peculiar tenderness between Madame Roland -and her husband at this time was that Roland was but little at home. -Where the imagination has the habit of idealizing situations and -persons, it is difficult to quiet it—it must have its craving satisfied. -But no idealized object will resist long the friction of every-day life -and the disillusion which is inevitable from constant association. -Madame Roland never ceased her habit of idealization, but, fortunately, -her life with Roland was so broken by his repeated absences that her -imagination did still find pleasure in busying itself with him. - - -For several years after they went to Beaujolais there was but one break -in this busy life for Madame Roland,—a trip to Switzerland taken in 1787 -with her husband and her brother-in-law, the Curé of Longpoint. She -wrote full notes of her trip for Eudora, as she had done of her trip to -England. They were printed by Champagneux in the year 1800. They are -less spontaneous than those on England, following almost entirely -Roland’s letters of ten years before. This trip into Switzerland was to -have been followed by one to Italy, which never was taken. - -And so their life went on from 1784 to 1789. On the whole, it was happy, -as it certainly was useful and honorable. To be sure, they were not -quite satisfied. They still felt keenly that the title and privileges -they had asked had been refused, and they still cherished hopes of being -retired. Madame Roland, especially, kept the matter in view and worked -to bring it about; thus, in September of 1787 we find her directing -Roland: “Write to the _bear_ and pay him the compliment of your -encyclopedic work. I have imagined a little letter of which I send you -the idea. To flatter a person’s pretensions is a means of capturing his -good-will. If it is true that he has a mistress, Lanthenas must unearth -her, as well as the sides on which she is accessible. They will be -convenient notes to have in the portfolio, and can be used as one does -certain drugs in desperate cases.” - -On the whole, Madame Roland was very well off, and her life would -undoubtedly have gone on thus to the end, broken after a while, perhaps, -with the much desired pension; perhaps, by even the title of nobility; -she then would have had the “paradise” she so much desired—“the pretty -apartment in town and a bijou at Le Clos”; she might, on the other hand, -have had her sad sentimental picture realized and Roland, blind, have -made shoe-laces and she done needle-work, while they both shed delicious -tears over Rousseau, had there not been something in the air which was -about to take away all from him that had and to give it to him who had -not; to make leaders of country lawyers, and doctors, and schoolmasters, -and to send the diplomats and courtiers a-begging. - -The French Revolution was coming, and to trace briefly how it grew in -the Lyonnais and how our friends in particular regarded it and were -drawn to side with it, is our next affair. - - - - - V - HOW THE ROLANDS WELCOMED THE REVOLUTION - - -Monsieur and Madame Roland had both, throughout their lives, been -intelligent observers and critics of, as well as, to a degree, sufferers -from, the financial and social causes of the French Revolution. They had -both sympathized with the preliminary outbreaks of that revolution -which, beginning early in the century, had recurred at intervals -throughout their lives. They both had thoroughly imbibed the -intellectual causes of the movement, those new ideas of Voltaire, -Diderot, Helvétius, Abbé Raynal, Rousseau, which, coming _after_ the -first agitation,—there had been many a riot in Paris, in Lyons, in -Rouen; the King had been warned many a time that there were still -Ravaillacs; the word _Révolution_ had been often spoken by the French of -the eighteenth century before these men wrote,—had backed up the -revolutionist with philosophy and logic. - -Roland was but ten years old, a boy in the Lyonnais, when the war with -Austria caused so much misery, and when a new levy of men and the -doubling of the taxes desolated and irritated the province. Lyons was -obliged to contribute two million livres at that time to aid the King. -He was seventeen when, in 1751, the misery again became so terrible that -riots occurred throughout France, and D’Argenson wrote: “Nothing but a -near revolution is talked of on account of the bad condition of the -government.” These things could not but have affected him. Indeed, the -bad outlook at Lyons was one reason that he left home with the idea of -making his fortune in America. As a boy, then, Roland had felt the -financial errors of the French government. - -He was at Rouen when, in 1756, the Seven Years’ War broke out. At that -moment the annual receipts of the State were two hundred and fifty-three -million livres, the expenses between three hundred and twenty and three -hundred and thirty millions. That year Roland saw the people obliged to -pay a twentieth of their revenue—the detested _vingtième_. No one was -exempt, and no doubt the bill fell heavily on the manufacturing -interests. This tax was in addition to the _taille_, which tormented the -small proprietors of the country, and from which the nobles and clergy -were free. In addition were the special taxes of which Roland must have -felt the injury especially, both in the Lyonnais and at Rouen. These -included the _aides_, or tax on drinks; the _octroi_, at the gate of -every city; the salt-tax; the special duties on iron, leather, and -paper; the impost on tobacco, cards, and oils; the custom duties at the -frontier of every province of France, as well as at the frontier of the -kingdom. - -Two years later at Rouen, 1758, Roland no doubt felt the effect in his -personal expenses of the result of the gift which the city, in common -with all the cities, boroughs, and seignioralties of the kingdom, was -obliged to pay to help on the war, and to meet which they received -permission to put a tax on all drinks, on meat, hay, and wood. When one -has to pay more for his wood and fire, he reflects why. - -Two years later the Parlement of Rouen, in common with several others of -the kingdom, flatly refused to register the royal edicts creating new -taxes, declaring, with a hardihood superior even to that of the -Parlement of Paris, that the system of taxation was unjust, and the -people the victims of royal abuse, and suggesting audaciously a -parlement of France composed of all the parlements of the kingdom. So -eloquent and so free was this declaration that it was even printed and -sold in Paris. - -Roland’s position made him familiar with all these revolts; he heard -them discussed as well as the King’s haughty, energetic reply to the -deputation of the Parlement. “I am your master. I ought to punish you -for the impudence of your principles. Go back to Rouen, register my -decrees and declaration without further delay. I will be obeyed.” - -He was touched, no doubt, by the remonstrance which the same body sent -to the King in 1763: “Your people, Sire, is unhappy. Everything shows -this sad fact. Your parlements, the only organs of the nation, repeat it -unceasingly.... A deluge of taxes pitilessly ravages our towns and our -provinces; the property, the industry, the person of citizens, all are a -prey to these extraordinary imposts; poverty itself, and the charity -which aids it, have become its tributaries and its victims. The farming -out of the _aides_, whose rules attack all conditions and commerce in -general, weighs on the poor in a most inhuman manner. The farming of the -salt-tax presents a spectacle not less revolting.” - -At Amiens, as inspector of manufactures, Roland had a still better -opportunity to see the defects of the financial and commercial system of -France. At that time, in almost all the villages of the kingdom, the -exercise of the different arts and trades was concentrated in the hands -of a small number of masters, united in trades-unions, who alone could -make and sell certain objects. The man who wished to enter a trade could -only do so by acquiring a _maîtrise_. To do this he must go through a -long and painful apprenticeship and spend much money to satisfy the -numerous imposts and exactions. Frequently a large part of the sum which -he needed for setting up his shop or store was consumed in acquiring his -license. Certain unions excluded all but sons of masters, or those who -had married the widows of masters; others rejected all who were born in -another town—foreigners, as they called them. In a number of the unions -a married man could not be an apprentice. To practise his trade after -having served his apprenticeship, a linen-dealer must pay twenty-one -hundred livres; a dyer, thirteen hundred and fifty; a mason, seventeen -hundred; a butcher, fifteen hundred; a potter, twenty-four hundred; and -so on through all the trades of the community. One could not work if he -would, unless the union gave him permission, and all classes of citizens -were obliged to submit to the dictation of the unions as to whom they -should hire. So narrow was the spirit of these organizations that women -were not allowed to carry on even such industries as embroidery. - -Worse, in Roland’s eyes, were the restrictions on the way in which an -article was to be manufactured. These were so numerous that industrial -genius and initiative were practically prevented, that the manufacturer -could not respond to the demands of fashion and of taste, and that -competition with foreign trade was largely cut off. He could make only -certain stuffs. The dimensions were fixed; the dyeing and stamping must -follow a certain formula; they must bear a certain mark. If by any -accident, intentional or not, a stuff was turned out which did not -conform exactly to the rules, the severest penalty was fixed. A system -of inspection, most irritating and frequently unjust, was made of every -piece of goods; even houses with long reputation for honest -manufacturing were subjected to this examination, which was sometimes -little more than a kind of spying exercised by young and incapable men -who had no commercial training. A grave injustice was according the -title of _manufacture royale_ as a favor, or often, to new institutions, -for a sum. - -Roland clashed constantly with these regulations throughout his term in -Amiens. - -Mademoiselle Phlipon had likewise, in the days before her marriage, been -influenced by public affairs. She was in a centre where the populace -throbbed continually. A stone’s throw from her house the Parlement sat, -and its every act was a sign for popular joy or discontent. There could -be no demonstration without its passing largely under her windows. From -the first days of her life, then, her political education commenced. A -child of less intellectual curiosity and of less sensibility would not -have responded to these popular outbursts. They would have made but -fleeting impressions. It was different with her; she watched it all, -felt the rage or joy of the people, and brooded over its meaning. There -is, indeed, no more fascinating study in her life than the influence -which the panorama of the Pont Neuf and the Place Dauphine had upon her. - -When she was eight years old she saw the smoke of burning volumes, as -she looked from her window towards the Place de la Grève. It was -Rousseau’s _Émile_ going up in smoke. Every year after she saw the same -suggestive sight. Now it was remonstrances against interferences by the -King with the rights of the Parlement which were burned; now the -seditious utterances of the independent parlements of Bretagne, of -Rouen, of Dauphiné; now a too liberal general history of the present -condition of Europe, translated from the English; now too bold -reflections on feudal rights; now Voltaire’s _Dictionnaire -philosophique_; now Holbach; now Raynal; now Helvétius. In 1775 she -heard La Harpe admonished “to be more circumspect in the future,” -because of a daring article he had published. These condemned authors -she was beginning to read. - -She began to hear from her earliest days the word _révolution_. It had -been pronounced frequently for a long time in private, but it began to -be said aloud. When she was nine years old, a Paris priest declared: “We -approach a state of crisis and an age of revolutions. I believe it -impossible that the great monarchies of Europe endure long.” The priest -was condemned at the Châtelet across the river from her window, but his -discourse was printed and scattered right and left. She heard gossip of -how the Parlement had told the King that Frenchmen are free men and not -slaves; and a little later it is quite possible that she saw the King on -his way to the Palais de Justice, where, under the very eyes of the -Parlement, he erased their rebellious decree, and declared: “It is in my -person alone that the sovereign power exists; it is from me alone that -my courts have their existence and their authority; it is to me alone -that independent and indivisible legislative power belongs; public order -emanates entirely from me.” - -In 1770 she saw bread riots and seditious pamphlets posted in Paris. In -January, 1771, came the dissolution and exile of the Parlement because -of its refusal to record Louis XV.’s humiliating decree abrogating its -power and condemning its conduct. Little Manon saw a surging crowd of -Parisians filling the palace and its neighborhood—a crowd in which, -wrote one who watched it, “there was sometimes a dull silence, as in -times of great calamities; sometimes a noise and a murmur like that -which precedes great revolutions.” - -She saw the new and detested body—organ of the King’s despotism—sitting -in a veritable camp, and the walls of the palace covered with abusive -inscriptions. She read, too, many of the hardy pamphlets which flooded -the country after this despotic _coup d’état_. In them the doctrine of -power residing in one individual was roundly attacked; the divine -authority of kings was denied flatly, and the Constitution of England, -with the example of 1688, was held up to the country. We know she -followed the exciting seven months of the trial of Beaumarchais and -Goëzmann. When Louis XVI. came to the throne, she shared the general joy -at his promises, and doubtless felt that it was a true prophet who -printed _resurrexit_ on the statue of Henry IV., in front of her door. - -When in the next year the bread riots began and across the river the -people pillaged the markets, she saw much of the disorder,—people -dancing with joy over a loaf they had secured; guards about the bakeries -to give the bakers an opportunity properly to bake the bread: hungry men -waiting with their eight sous, taking the loaves from the very oven; -shops closed in terror, as the rioters moved from quarter to quarter. - -Married, the Rolands saw together all the abuses of the realm and aided -in the struggles against them. The first year of their married life -Roland labored in vain at Paris with the committee which the King had -summoned from the manufacturing centres of France, to obtain greater -freedom in the industries, and was forced to go back to Amiens with a -list of vexatious restrictions still encumbering all varieties of -manufacturing. - -After their marriage they were constantly cramped for money, for -Roland’s salary was very small, and he had but few privileges in -connection with his position. For instance, when Madame Roland was in -Paris in 1784 seeking the letters of nobility, she was forced to guard -her expenses with the greatest care; to avoid taking _fiacres_ as often -as possible, and to take cheap seats at the theatre. In the Beaujolais -she had been forced to give up going to Lyons often, on account of the -expense of life there, to stay much at Le Clos, and to administer her -household with greatest economy. - -There was no complaint on their part because of their poverty, but there -was dissatisfaction with the system which did not reward properly a man -who had given his life to the interests of his country, and had produced -numbers of valuable works, while it took up insignificant individuals, -and, through favoritism or for a round bribe, gave them easy and amply -paid positions, and allowed them to keep them whatever they did or did -not do; a system which, in short, justified Beaumarchais’ -characterization: “Il fallait un calculateur pour remplir la place, ce -fut un danseur qui l’obtint.” (An accountant was wanted in the place, a -dancer received it.) - -After the Rolands left Amiens, they came into personal contact with the -feudal rights; for in the Beaujolais the peasant was still often obliged -to give personal service to his lord. It was to the lord’s wine-press he -was obliged to take his grapes, to his mill that he must take his wheat. -They saw the effect of the wretched salt-tax, an indirect tax which -forced every inhabitant to buy seven pounds of salt a year, and it cost -eight times what it does to-day, considering the value of money. Not -only was he forced to buy, he was forced to use it in certain ways,—not -a grain of that seven pounds could be employed anywhere except in his -table food. If he wanted to salt pork, he must buy another kind. - -They probably saw, in their rides to and from Lyons, the peasants bent -at their _corvée_, or road tax; for the peasants still made the royal -roads in the Lyonnais. On an average, they gave twelve days a year, and -the use of their own implements, to the highways which they rarely had -the advantage of using. The terrible tolls were another unjust -imposition from which they suffered personally. They were innumerable. -Let a boat of wine attempt to go from Dauphiné, by the Rhone, Loire, and -the canal of Briare, and it paid thirty-five to forty kinds of duties, -not counting the entrée to Paris. From Pontarlier to Lyons there were -twenty-five or thirty tolls. If Madame Roland had bought ten cents worth -of wine in Burgundy, it would have cost her fifteen to eighteen sous -before she got it to Lyons. - -Another experience which intensified their disgust with the _ancien -régime_ was the study of the affairs of Lyons. In a report made, in -1791, on the condition of the city, Roland showed how Lyons, after -having been for a long time one of the most flourishing cities of the -world, because of her active and peculiar industries, and having earned -a world-wide credit, attracted the attention of the government, at that -time completely corrupt. The State forced the city to compromise her -industries and credit in order to lend money. She borrowed again and -again, and gave in return the saddest, most ruinous compensation,—the -permission to tax herself. This had gone on until Lyons was bankrupt, -her industries ruined, her streets full of beggars. - -This condition of finances and society they had long seen, as had the -whole country, must be changed or there would be an upheaval. They had -even calculated on this change when Madame Roland was soliciting the -letters of nobility at Paris, and the probability that when it came -something would fall to them. Like all France, it was in a reform of the -finances that they saw hope, and it was that which they demanded. They -did not believe that France was hopelessly involved, but were confident -that she could extricate herself by severe economies in the -administration, by cutting off favoritism, by arranging a just system of -taxes. Up to 1789 that was all that was demanded. - -Like all France, they participated in those outbursts of joy which swept -over the country at various periods in the reigns of Louis XV. and Louis -XVI., when ministers of force and wisdom devised relief. - -The call for the States-General, in 1788, interested them more deeply -than ever in the reforms needed; the effort of the Parlement of Paris to -prevent the Third Estate naming as many members as the nobility and -clergy together, and to prevent their sitting together aroused them. -When, however, in spite of all opposition, the King issued the edict -allowing the Third Estate double representation and called for the -election of members to, and the preparation of _cahiers_ for, the coming -gathering, the Rolands went to work with energy. It was on the -preparation of the _cahiers_[2] sent to the States-General by the Third -Estate of Lyons that Roland was principally occupied, and it was with -hopefulness that he saw the deputies and the memorials depart for -Versailles, where, on May 4th, the twelve hundred representatives of the -nation met to begin the work of restoring order in France and of making -a constitution. - -Footnote 2: - - Memorials prepared by each of the three classes, setting forth their - grievances, their demands, and the compromises they were willing to - make. - -At Le Clos the Rolands watched eagerly every act of the States-General, -of the King, and of the people. But the drama played in Paris and at -Versailles between May 4th and July 14th, turned their hopefulness to -despair, their gratitude to suspicion, their generosity to resentment, -their pliability to obstinacy. - -Suddenly, on July 14th, the Parisians, terrified at the rumors of a -conspiracy on the part of the Court which had for its object the -overthrow of the pet minister, Necker, the adjournment of the National -Assembly, the abandonment of reforms, and the coercion of the people by -the foreign soldiers who had been massed in and around the capitol, -razed the Bastille. - -With the falling of the Bastille a new ideal arose, full-winged, before -Madame Roland. Before the 14th of July she had no idea that out of the -events she watched so eagerly anything more than a reform of the -existing régime would grow; the old régime, stripped of its abuses and -regulated by a liberal constitution, was all she had asked. Now all was -changed; compromise, half-way measures, were at an end. Instead of -reforms she demanded “complete regeneration.” She saw in the sudden -uprising of the people the “sovereign” exercising “the divine right of -insurrection.” It was what Jean Jacques Rousseau had declared in the -_Social Contract_ the people had the right to do if the government under -which they were living was unjust. She seems to have gone at once to the -conclusion that, since the rightful “sovereign,” had at last asserted -itself, an immediate regeneration was to follow, abuses were to be wiped -out, tyranny destroyed, selfishness annihilated, equality created, and -the world to run at last with precision and to the satisfaction of all -concerned. To her the fall of the Bastille was the revolution of -society. “Friends of humanity, lovers of liberty,” she wrote afterwards, -“we believed it had come to regenerate the human kind, to destroy the -terrible misery of that unhappy class over which we had so often -mourned. We welcomed it with transports.” - -Their transports soon turned to irritation; for the immediate -regeneration she had pictured was replaced by struggles more fierce than -ever before. - -To those of her liberal aspirations, determined on a constitutional -government, recognizing the sovereignty of the people and the equality -of men, two political courses were open at that moment. They could unite -with the liberal party of reform in a struggle to frame a constitution; -could insist while this was doing upon respect for the National -Assembly; could recognize the difficulty of the situation; could respect -the laws and be patient;—or they could refuse alliance with this party -on the ground that reforms were no longer the need of France, but that -complete regeneration must be demanded; could suspect, and induce others -to suspect, the sincerity of all those who applied the doctrines less -vigorously than they did; could encourage by excuses or tacit sympathy -the riotous party which with incredible fecundity was spreading over -France, explaining its actions as the lawful efforts of the sovereign -people to get rid of its oppressors and to take possession of its own -rights. - -Madame Roland did not approve of the first party. It attempted nothing -but reforms. She wanted every vestige of the old régime wiped out. She -suspected it, hated it. It had proved itself unworthy and must be -abolished. The real sovereign must be allowed to prepare a government. -She had no particular idea of what this government should be; certainly -she did not suggest a republic. She was convinced, however, that it -would be a simple matter to arrange something where happiness and -justice and prosperity should be the lot of all. - -To obtain this ideal condition she believed riot and civil war -justifiable; indeed she believed them necessary now that the fall of the -Bastille had not been enough. They were necessary to keep the usurper in -terror and the people suspicious. For her part, even if she were a woman -and for that reason excluded from public activities, she meant to keep -her friends aroused to the necessity of insurrection. - -There is no doubt that the policy of Roland in the Revolution and the -relations which he formed and which shaped his course of action were due -to this determination of Madame Roland to use her influence in -agitation. All their contemporaries remark her ascendency over her -husband. But she did not content herself with inspiring Roland. The two -friends with whom she had been so long in regular correspondence, Bosc -and Lanthenas, she strove, with all her eloquence, to urge to action. “I -write you now but little of personal affairs. Who is the traitor who has -other interest to-day than that of the nation?” Once Bosc wrote her a -story of an interesting adventure; she replied: “I do not know whether -you are in love or not; but I do know this, that in the situation where -we now are, no honest man can follow the torch of love without having -first lit it at the sacred fire of country.” She formed new political -relations—the first, with Brissot de Warville, was of particular -importance to them. - -The Rolands had had a slight correspondence with Brissot before the -Revolution; for he, having been attracted by Roland’s writings, had sent -him certain of his manuscripts as a mark of his esteem. This had led to -an exchange of courteous letters, and, through one of their common -friends in Paris, the relation was still further cemented, and a regular -correspondence had grown up. When the Revolution came, Brissot started -_Le patriote français_ and the Rolands sent him “all,” said Madame -Roland, “which, under the circumstances, seemed to us to be useful to -publish.” A large number of these letters were published in the -_Patriote français_. - -It was not only in Paris that her letters inspired by their ardent -patriotism. They were in relation with a young man at Lyons, called -Champagneux. The 1st of September, 1789, he started the _Courrier de -Lyon_, a journal something in the style of Brissot’s, intended to preach -the principles of 1789, and to show what was passing in the National -Assembly. Madame Roland wrote often to this journal. - -The most important correspondence which she carried on at this time was -with Bancal des Issarts, a lawyer, formerly of Clermont, who had left -his profession for politics. Bancal had been a deputy to the National -Assembly, and, after the closing of the session, had returned to -Clermont, where he had established a society of Friends of the -Constitution. Returning to Paris, he made the acquaintance of Lanthenas -and the two had planned a community in which they wished to associate -the Rolands. Their idea was to buy a quantity of national property and -found a retreat where they could together prosecute the work of -regenerating France, while at the same time having the delights and the -stimulus of intelligent companionship. - -Lanthenas introduced Bancal by letter to the Rolands, and a -correspondence was at once begun. Madame Roland, as a rule, wrote for -both herself and her husband. Her letters are as patriotic and as -passionately vindictive as those she wrote Bosc. - -[Illustration: - - MADAME ROLAND. - - From the painting by Heinsius in the museum of Versailles. -] - -At the same time she preached to her acquaintances at Villefranche and -Le Clos, and solicited subscribers for Brissot’s journal. - -There was nothing vague or uncertain about her position at this moment. -Her convictions, her plan of action, had been taken. It was -uncompromising, unflinching war against the existing government. Twelve -days after the fall of the Bastille, she wrote to Bosc: “You are -occupying yourself with a municipality, and you are letting heads escape -that are going to conjure up new horrors. You are nothing but children; -your enthusiasm is a straw fire and if the National Assembly does not -put on trial two illustrious heads, or some generous Decius does not -take them, you are all mad.” She made the demand because she did not -believe in the King’s and the Court’s sincerity. Every action of theirs -which was liberal, a concession to the popular party, she scoffed at. Of -the appearance of the King and his beautiful Queen in the Assembly she -wrote: “They were abominably frightened, that is all the business shows. -Before we can believe in the sincerity of their promise to agree to what -the Assembly shall do, we must forget all that has passed ... the King -must send away all the foreign troops ... we are nearer than ever to a -frightful slavery if we allow ourselves to be blinded by false -confidence.” - -Her dissatisfaction with the National Assembly was complete. She sneered -at the emotion when Marie Antoinette appeared in their midst seeking -protection: “The French are easily won by the fine appearance of their -masters, and I am persuaded that the half of the Assembly has been -_bête_ enough to be touched at the sight of Antoinette confiding her son -to them. Morbleu! is it then of a child of which it is a question! It is -the safety of twenty million men. All is lost if we do not take care.” -The constitution displeased her, too: “We blush in reading the public -papers. They are plastering up a bad constitution just as they have -botched an incomplete and faulty declaration. Am I not going to see a -demand for the revision of all?” - -She saw clearly that it was not from the people of France, as a whole, -that she would get the revision of the constitution which she asked, or -a second to her demand for the heads of the king and queen. “There is -only one hope,” she said, “it is in Paris. It is for you, Parisians, to -give the example. By a wise and vigorous address show the Assembly that -you know your rights, that you mean to preserve them, that you are ready -to defend them, and that you demand that it declare them. Without such a -movement all is worse than ever. It is not the Palais Royal which must -do it; it is the united districts. However, if they do not respond, let -it be done by whomsoever it may, provided it be in sufficient numbers to -impose and to carry others by its example.” She was even ready to go a -little farther and did it cheerfully: “A civil war is necessary before -we shall be worth anything. All these little quarrels and insurrections -seem to me inevitable; I cannot imagine that it is possible to come from -the bosom of corruption and rise to liberty, without strong convulsions. -They are the salutary crises of a severe sickness, and a terrible -political fever is necessary to take away our bad humors.” - -Truly, there were few better Jacobins in 1793 than Madame Roland was two -months after the fall of the Bastille; for we have here in purity the -doctrine of the sovereignty of the people, the divine right of -insurrection, the demand for the head of Louis XVI., the call to Paris -to take into her hands what the people of the country are not ready to -do, even to use its power of terrorism against the Assembly, composed of -the representatives of the people. - -This spirit, this restless energy, never left her, though she was buried -at Le Clos almost all the first eighteen months of the Revolution. She -kept herself aflame by correspondence with her friends and by her -propagandism among her neighbors, most of them decidedly recalcitrant. -Especially did she incite herself by her reading. Writing to Bancal once -she told him: “I have left all the Italian poets for the _Tacitus_ of -Davanzati. It is not permitted in a time of revolution to turn to -pleasant studies, or objects remote from the public interest. If I can -give a little time this winter to English, I shall read Macaulay’s -history. I shall leave the historian only for the novel of Rousseau, -which is perfectly suited to civism.” - -She saw no danger in her doctrines. They moved to noble sentiments, to -great aspirations. What greater good? That they incited to crimes, too, -she did not admit. She was recklessly indifferent to what is; she looked -only at what might be. Her eyes were turned to America, to Greece, to -Rome, and not to the facts of the struggles of these countries, only to -the fine actions of their heroes, the rounded phrases of their orators. - -The reasonable girl who welcomed Louis XVI. to the throne, the politic -woman who for years had been seeking a title and its advantages, and who -had been willing to devote all her splendid power to reforming the old -régime, had become suddenly inexorable in her demands, unyielding in her -suspicions, fierce in her thought. She believed that one must “watch and -preach to the last sigh or else not mingle with the Revolution.” It was -the revolt of the idealist against compromises made in the past; -resentment for wrongs suffered; the “strike back” for the title not -granted, and for Roland’s talent and services unrecognized; the hope of -realizing dreams of an ideal society. - -Nor was it a momentary enthusiasm. Her conviction never wavered. Others -as firmly founded in the doctrines as she, and as eloquent in their -defence of them, hesitated sometimes, drew back with apprehension at the -torrents of passion and of demagogy they were loosening on France. But -she never admitted that anything but “complete regeneration” could come -of their teachings. It was the woman’s nature which, stirred to its -depths by enthusiasm or passion, becomes narrow, stern, unbending,—which -can do but one thing, can see but one way; that inexplicable feminine -conviction which is superior to experience, and indifferent to logic. - - - - - VI - FIRST POLITICAL SALON - - -The Rolands were not long in embroiling themselves in Lyons and in the -Beaujolais. Disorganization and disorder were increasing daily there, as -in Paris and throughout the country. The aristocracy, clergy, and -commercial portions of the community, irritated at the failure of the -government to restore tranquillity, and discouraged over the delay of -the National Assembly in forcing its way through the difficulties of the -situation, grew hard against the Revolution. There was a universal -demand for order. Disorder grew from day to day. - -The conservative party was firmly convinced that the disorder was the -fault of the friends of the Revolution. There was a suspicion of -everybody who professed the new doctrines. Those who taught them were -regarded as dangerous “agitators.” The reforms to which they had -consented, and which they had left to the National Assembly, would never -be made, they felt, unless the people could be quieted. They saw a -general and universal catastrophe awaiting society if organization was -not restored. - -On the other hand, the liberals saw in the policy of the aristocrats and -clergy a plot against the people; sympathy with the Court. The disorders -which occurred they attributed either to the just indignation of the -long-oppressed “sovereign,” or to hired agitators, brought in by the -conservative party to stir up riots, and thus cover the popular cause -with odium. - -On either hand there were accusations without proof, suspicions without -cause, violence and hatred instead of patience and good-will. All of the -generosity, the dignity, the reasonableness, which the different estates -had shown a year before in the memorials which they had sent to the -States-General, had disappeared. - -Roland and his wife were known to be deeply in sympathy with democratic -ideas, to preach them constantly. In spite of the fact that his natural -relations were with the aristocratic class, Roland was active in the -people’s clubs at Lyons; he was called the Mæcenas of Champagneux. He -was suspected, if not of inciting to disorder, yet of sympathizing with -it, and of regarding it as an instrument for forcing the Court, and -driving the Assembly. He began to be considered a “suspect” by the -conservatives. Such was the feeling towards him when he was a candidate -for mayor, in 1789, that the most improbable stories were circulated -about him. The Abbé Guillon declares in his Memoirs that Roland -disguised himself and went into the taverns, begging the people’s votes; -that he joined in their orgies and distributed among them seditious -pamphlets. These charges are so inconsistent with the real character of -Roland that it is not worth considering them, and they are only worth -quoting as a specimen of the violent suspicions of the liberals, or -_révolutionnaires_, held and spread by the conservative party. - -About this time a question arose in which Roland took an active -interest—that of the octroi. The misery of the people of Lyons demanded -that it be removed. It was retained, however, and the people, desperate, -rose in revolt. This uprising, said the patriots, was “spontaneous.” It -was the “work of agitators,” declared the conservatives. Brissot, in the -_Patriote français_, condemned the riot. Roland wrote, thereupon, a long -letter defending it, and remarked in Lyons, one day, that there never -had been a revolution yet without bloodshed. This was enough for his -opponents to declare him to be the author of the insurrection. “This -report has already [21 July, 1790] reached the capitol,” wrote Madame -Roland to Bancal, “and in three or four quarters of Lyons, where the -mercantile aristocracy is dominant, the strangest things are said -against him. You judge that this storm disturbs us very little; we have -seen more terrible, and would not mind it if our enemies should cause us -to be called to the bar of the National Assembly. Our friend there would -be like Scipio before the assembly of the people.” - -Every-day matters grew more complicated. The aristocracy, in face of the -disorders, called upon the government for troops. The people, like the -Parisians the year before, were exasperated at the idea of guards. At -the same time rumors of an Austrian and Prussian invasion, organized by -the _émigrés_ who had been leaving France ever since the days of October -5th, irritated and frightened the Lyonnais. It was said that the enemy -would enter by the way of Savoy. The idea of a counter-revolution, -centred in Lyons, was spread abroad and inflamed more than ever the -nervous and terrified populace. - -Madame Roland was convinced of the truth of all these rumors, just as -her opponents were convinced that she and her husband meant anarchy and -violence by their patriotic and determined support of the people and the -Revolution. In every letter to Bancal, since June 22d,—she had been -writing him constantly,—she repeated her distrust. In her judgment, it -was her duty to report very alarming signs. Her two principles, at this, -moment, were “security is the tomb of liberty,” “indulgence towards men -in authority tempts them to despotism.” - -Throughout the summer and fall of 1790, the rumors of -counter-revolution, accusation, denials, suspicion, terror, similar to -what Madame Roland was attempting to spread among her friends, agitated -Lyons; and the preparations for the elections of the year were made in -savage excitement. Roland was again a candidate for a position in the -municipality and from day to day was more detested. Madame Roland’s name -was everywhere associated with his. “They write me from Lyons,” she -says, “that at the mention of my name the aristocrats writhe as those -possessed of devils are said to do when holy water is sprinkled on -them.” - -Roland was elected a member of the municipal government in spite of the -machinations of the aristocrats, the power of whom had been greatly -weakened by the discovery in November of an extensive royalist plot. -There was no doubt of the plot this time, and the reaction in favor of -the Revolution was general. - -They left Le Clos after Roland’s election to establish themselves at -Lyons, which they had made up their minds not to abandon until after its -complete regeneration. So serious were the affairs of the city that the -new municipality soon decided to send representatives to Paris to claim -from the National Assembly the payment of the debt that the ancient -régime had made her take upon herself. Roland was one of the deputies -chosen to go. When he went up on this mission his wife accompanied him. - -The opinions on the work of the Assembly which Madame Roland carried up -to Paris were not friendly. She had watched its work all through the -year with critical keenness. All its actions had been tested by her pure -republican standards, and wherever they fell short had been sharply -condemned. She had absolutely no sympathy with delays, with compromises, -with tentative measures, and she was as aggressively suspicious of the -patriotism of the members as she was of the sincerity of the -aristocrats. The condition of the finances troubled her. She could see -no excuse for a delay in giving the country an exact statement of the -public accounts. The press had not enough liberty to please her. “A -people is not free,” she declared, “and cannot become so, unless each -one has the means of uncovering perfidious designs, of revealing the -abuses of talent as well as of authority, of exposing the opinions of -everybody, of weighing the laws in the scales of universal reason. What -does it matter if one is abused, providing one is innocent and always -ready to prove it? This kind of war on virtue seems to me excellent; -perhaps custom and security do nothing for virtue but take away its -energy. It must be attacked to be strong, and it is danger which renders -it sublime.” - -The manner in which the National Assembly did its work inspired her -contempt. It was stupid, mere patch-work. “It jumps perpetually from one -thing to another,” she complained, “and is behind with the things of the -first importance without our knowing why.” - -On account of this feebleness of the Assembly, she insisted that it must -be watched; that addresses should be made to it by the clubs; that the -_bons esprits_ should unite and sketch the objects which it was suitable -for the legislature to consider, to the exclusion of everything else. -She failed to see that it was largely just this interference with the -Assembly which was preventing its doing its work; that it was because -the patriots in their zeal did not mind their own business, but -encumbered the sittings with demands of the most varied character, -threatened the body with disaster if it did not hear them, sent -delegations on errands, now of private and selfish, now of large import, -that the continuity she demanded was wanting. - -They reached Paris towards the end of February, 1791, and installed -themselves at the Hôtel Britannique, in the Rue Guénégaud, opposite the -Hôtel des Monnaies. Here she was within easy reach of all her old -neighbors, and whenever she went out on the street which opened on the -quay, she could see her old home. She had not been in Paris for five -years. In her intimate circle great changes had taken place. Her father -had died in the rude winter of 1787–88; her uncle Bimont, the good curé -of Vincennes, and the Curé Roland, whom they loved so well, who made the -trip in Switzerland with them, and who had welcomed the Revolution as -they did, were both dead. There was left only “the débris of a family, -which in the last ten years had become almost extinct.” She took the -greatest pleasure in going over the places where her early years had -been passed, and the tears of tenderness she shed in looking on these -familiar scenes delighted her. They proved that she had not allowed -ambition, cares, and petty passions to dry up the springs of her soul. - -Her visits to her old friends were scarcely finished before she began to -devote herself to public affairs. The Assembly was sitting only a little -distance from her hotel, in the Manège of the Tuileries, now destroyed, -but then running along the north side of the garden, parallel with the -Rue de Rivoli, and thither she went frequently, but her first impression -of the body saddened and irritated her. All the opinions she had formed -at Le Clos were only intensified by the nearer view. - -Two years and a half afterwards, when she recalled these visits, she -noted an impression which explains unquestionably something of her -harshness towards the Assembly. “I saw, with secret resentment, that if -reason, honesty, principle, controlled the Left, there were advantages -on the Right, that I would have gladly turned over to the good cause -because of their great effect on an assembly. I mean that easy and noble -elocution, that nicety of expression, that polish in the tones of the -voice,—if I am allowed to express myself so,—which a superior education -and familiarity with good society give.” - -Her pride was wounded by the evident superiority of the aristocrats in -manner and in expression. It aroused in her an altogether illogical -bitterness against them. She was irritated because she and her friends, -who alone, she was convinced, understood unselfish patriotism, who alone -held the doctrines in all their purity and simplicity, should yet be -inferior in externals to their rivals. This distinction became a -personal grievance with her. - -After having followed the Assembly two months, she left a session at the -end of April in anger, persuaded that it was incapable of anything but -folly, and vowing never to look at it again,—an engagement she -faithfully kept. At the same time she told Champagneux, with whom she -and Roland were both in correspondence, that she was not going any more -to the theatre: “It is much too frivolous for my taste in such serious -circumstances.” And to Bancal she wrote: “In other days the fine arts -and all that concern them was the greatest charm of the capital in my -eyes, but now that I know that I have a country I feel differently; the -solicitude of the patriot leaves but little place for matters of taste.” - -To the patriotic clubs she did go, however, and one of them, the Cercle -Social, especially interested her. She even sent letters to it -sometimes, without signing them, however. “I do not believe that our -customs permit women to show themselves yet,” she said; “they ought to -inspire and nourish the good, inflame all the sentiments useful to the -country, but not appear to take part in political work. They can act -openly only when the French shall merit the name of free men; until -then, our lightness, our corrupt customs, would make what they tried to -do ridiculous; and would destroy the advantage which otherwise might -result.” While the Cercle Social pleased them both, the Jacobins were -too conservative. “The Jacobins have lost their credit, no longer doing, -or doing badly, the duty that they took upon themselves, to discuss the -subjects before the Assembly,” Madame Roland wrote. “They are led by -their directors’ board, which is under the thumb of two or three -individuals who are much more careful about preserving their own -ascendency than of propagating public spirit and of serving liberty -efficiently. In the club formerly so useful everything is now done by a -clique.” “We have seen those precious Jacobins,” Roland wrote to -Champagneux. “If objects increase in size as we approach them, it is -rare that it is not the contrary with mortals.” No doubt much of their -dissatisfaction with the Assembly and the public was due to the -difficulty Roland had in pushing the claims of Lyons. Paris was crowded -with commissioners from all the towns between Marseilles and Dunkirk, -and there was the greatest trouble in getting hearings from the -committee charged with such affairs, and in persuading the deputies of -the department to present the business to the Assembly. Roland worked -night and day almost, to push the claim of his town. “I sleep less and -walk much more. Truly I have scarcely time to live.” He besieged the -committee rooms, waiting for hours before the doors to collar his man as -he entered or retired. He ate his morsel of bread alone in order to run -to the Assembly, where one was obliged to arrive early in order to find -a seat. - -The spirit in which he went into the work was one of declared war to the -aristocratic party at Lyons and to the old régime. He was determined to -show up the situation, and exhorted his friends at Lyons to uncover all -the rascality and pillage of the old administration. The deputies from -the Lyonnais were not too sympathetic. They found the persistency, the -_vertu_, the incessant indignation, the insistency of Roland, tiresome. -After sitting so many long months, under such exciting circumstances, -they were weary. They saw the difficulties of getting a hearing, too, -from the Assembly. - -Roland poured out all his impatience to Champagneux, who was his -confidant and sympathizer. Long letters, written in his fine, nervous, -execrable hand, went almost daily to Lyons. They were full of -indignation at everything and everybody; especially was the delay -irritating to him. “If affairs do not go backwards like the crab,” he -says, “at least they go no faster than the tortoise.” The delay -disgusted Madame Roland as much as it did her husband. Both committee -and Assembly were blamed by her. She even wished that she were a man -that she might do something herself. - -Of much more importance to their political lives at this moment than -Assembly, clubs, or committee meetings, were the frequent gatherings of -patriots held at the Rolands’ apartments, in the Rue Guénégaud. They -were “grandly lodged,” the quarter was agreeable, and many of their -friends lived but a short distance away. As Roland found it necessary to -see the deputies frequently, he gathered them about him in his home. -Brissot was the nucleus of the little circle. The relation with Brissot -had been, up to this time, purely by correspondence. When they came to -Paris naturally they were anxious to see him. They liked him at once. -His simple manners, his frankness, his natural negligence, seemed in -harmony with the austerity of his principles. A more entire -disinterestedness and a greater zeal for public affairs were impossible, -it seemed to them. He was admirable, too, as a man, a good husband, a -tender father, a faithful friend, a virtuous citizen. His society was -charming; for he was gay, naïve, imprudently confident, the nature of a -sweet-tempered boy of fifteen. Such Brissot seemed to Madame Roland, who -esteemed him more and more the longer she knew him. - -Brissot brought several of his friends to see them. Among the most -important of these were Pétion and Robespierre. The most interesting of -the group was Buzot, of whom we shall hear much, later. To Pétion, -Robespierre, and Buzot were added Clavière, Louis Noailles, Volfius, -Antoine, Garran (“Cato Garran”), Grégoire, Garaud, and several others. -In April Thomas Paine appeared. So agreeable and profitable were these -informal reunions found to be that it was arranged to hold them four -times a week. The guests came between the close of the sessions of the -Assembly and the opening of the Jacobins. The condition of affairs in -general and of the Assembly in particular was discussed; the measures -which should be taken were suggested, and means of proposing them -arranged; the interests of the people, the tactics of the Court and of -individuals, were constantly criticised. - -To Madame Roland these gatherings were of absorbing interest. She -calculated carefully her relation to them, the place she ought to occupy -in them, and she affirms that she never deviated from it. “Seated near a -window before a little table on which were books, writing materials, and -sewing, I worked, or I wrote letters while they discussed. I preferred -to write; for it made me appear more indifferent to what was going on, -and permitted me to follow it almost as well. I can do more than one -thing at a time, and the habit of writing permits me to carry on my -correspondence while listening to something quite different from what I -am writing. It seems to me that I am three; I divide my attention into -two as if it were a material thing, and I consider and direct these two -parts as if I were quite another. I remember one day, when the -gentlemen, not agreeing, made considerable noise, that Clavière, -noticing the rapidity with which I wrote, said good-naturedly that it -was only a woman’s head which was capable of such a thing, but he -declared himself astonished at it all the same. ‘What would you say,’ I -asked, smiling, ‘if I should repeat all your arguments?’ - -“Excepting the customary compliments on the arrival or departure of the -gentlemen, I never allowed myself to pronounce a word, although I often -had to bite my lips to prevent it. If any one spoke to me, it was after -the club work and all deliberation were at an end. A carafe of water and -a bowl of sugar were the only refreshments they found, and I told them -it was all that it seemed to me appropriate to offer to men who came -together to discuss after dinner.” - -She was not always satisfied with the results of these gatherings. There -were plenty of good things said, but they rarely ended in a systematic -résumé. Ideas were advanced, but few measures resulted. It was fruitless -conversation, in short, and she generalized: “The French do not know how -to deliberate. A certain lightness leads them from one subject to -another, but prevents order and complete analysis. They do not know how -to listen. He who speaks always expands his own idea; he occupies -himself rather in developing his own thought than in answering that of -another. Their attention is easily fatigued; a laugh is awakened by a -word and a jest overthrows logic.” A more just observation on French -conversation would be impossible. It is its delight. A constant bound -from one idea to another, indifference to the outcome if the attention -is kept, insistence by each individual upon expressing his thought at -will, with eloquence and with fantasy, lawlessness, recklessness of -expression, characterize all groups of clever Frenchmen who meet to -talk. But this is conversation for pleasure, not discussion for results. -It was in mistaking this intellectual game of words and sentiments for -reflections and reason that one of the greatest mistakes of the Rolands -lay. It was these vagaries of speech in public, in private, in print -(the pamphlets which poured from the press were little more than random -bits of conversation and as little reflective), which kept the public, -the Assembly, the Court, in a constant state of ebb and flow. But Madame -Roland herself was a victim to this popular weakness. Her letters, which -are almost invariably outbursts of feeling rather than of reflection, -may safely be considered an index to what she was in conversation. - -Another real trouble of the moment which Madame Roland notes, though she -does not see that she shares it, she expressed to Bancal: - -“I have had the opportunity of seeing, since my sojourn here, that it is -much more difficult to do good than even reflecting men imagine. It is -not possible to do good in politics, save by uniting efforts; and there -is nothing so difficult as to unite different minds to work persistently -for the same end. Everybody believes only in the efficacy of his own -system, and his own way. He is irritated and bored by that of another, -and because he does not know how to bend to an idea a little different -from his own, he ends by going alone, without doing anything useful. For -more than a century, philosophy has been preaching tolerance; it has -begun to root itself in some minds; but I see little of it in our -customs. Our fine minds laugh at patience as a negative virtue. I -confess that in my eyes it is the true sign of the force of the soul, -the fruit of profound reflection, the necessary means for conciliating -men and spreading instruction, in short, the virtue of a free people. We -have everything to learn on this subject.” - -Madame Roland’s letters written at this period abound in similar just -criticisms on the Revolutionary temper. Her remarkably virile and -comprehensive intellect penetrated the real weaknesses of the movement -whenever she considered men and measures impersonally. Then she grasped -perfectly the meaning of things, and her observations were profound, her -insight keen, her judgments wise, and her conclusions statesmanlike. - -However discreet Madame Roland may have been at the gatherings in her -salon, however silent she may have kept, she gained at this period a -veritable supremacy over the group of patriots. There were many reasons -for this. She embodied in a sort of Greek clearness and chastity the -principles they professed. No one had a clearer conception of the ideal -government which France should have; no one expressed more eloquently -all this government ought to do; no one idealized the future with more -imagination, more hopefulness. No one gave himself more fully to the -cause than this woman who would not go to the theatre because the -country was in peril; who could not look at pictures; who was ashamed to -send Bancal a song in exchange for one he had sent her, because it was -not grave enough for the circumstances; who was even “ashamed to write -of songs.” She became in a way the ideal Revolutionary figure, a Greek -statue, the type of the Republic of which they dreamed. - -Her inflexibility was as great a power over her friends. They wavered, -compromised, stopped at practical results instead of pushing to ideal -ones. She had decision, firmness of purpose, the determination to reach -the end, and her influence over them was powerful because of this -unyielding attitude. Nothing daunted her. Riot and war were sacred -necessities. To die was their duty. Nothing could have been more -inspiring than her firmness of purpose, her superb indifference to -consequences. This high attitude had something of the inspired sibyl in -it. Their “Greek statue” became their prophetess. Her very cruelty was -divine. It was the “wrath of the gods,” the “righteous indignation” of -the moralist. - -No doubt the personal charm of Madame Roland had much to do with her -influence. All who knew her testify to her attractiveness. Guillon de -Montléon, by no means a sympathetic critic, speaks of “her pleasant, -piquant face, her active, brilliant mind.” Arthur Young, who saw her in -1789, describes her as “young and beautiful.” Dumont declares that to -“every personal charm” she joined “all merits of character.” Dumouriez, -who certainly knew all the beautiful women of his day, found her most -attractive, and speaks especially of her taste and elegance in dress. -Lemontey says of her: “Her eyes, her head, her hair, were of remarkable -beauty. Her delicate complexion had a freshness of color which, joined -to her air of reserve and candor, made her seem singularly young. I -found in her none of the elegant Parisian air which she claims in her -Memoirs, though I do not mean to say that she was awkward.” And he adds, -she talked “well, too well.” Indeed, all her contemporaries testify to -her brilliant conversation. Tissot tells of her “sonorous, flexible -voice, infinite charm in talking, eloquence which came from her heart.” -As the tradition in the family of Madame Roland goes, she was short and -stout, possessed no taste in dress, and could be called neither -beautiful, nor even pretty. However, vivacity, sympathy, and -intelligence were so combined in her face, and her voice was so mellow -and vibrating, that she exercised a veritable charm when she talked. She -herself considered her chief attraction to be her conversational power. -In one of the frequent self-complacent passages in her Memoirs, she -repeats a remark of Camille Desmoulins, that he could not understand how -a woman of her age and with so little beauty had so many admirers, and -she comments: “He had never heard me talk.” - -The portraits of Madame Roland, of which there are numbers, nearly all -show a singularly winning and piquant face. Several good collections of -these portraits are in existence. The Coste collection of Lyons -contained thirty-three different engravings and medallions of her, and -the print department of the Carnavalet Museum and of the Bibliothèque -Nationale have both rather good specimens. By far the best collection, -however, is in the town museum of Versailles—a recent donation of M. -Vatel, a well-known collector of Gironde and Charlotte Corday documents -and curios. - -[Illustration: - - MADAME ROLAND. - - After a crayon portrait owned by the family. -] - -The only surely authentic portrait of Madame Roland is that facing this -page. The original is in red crayon and much faded, but a faithful copy -in black, well preserved, bearing the date of 1822, is in the possession -of the great-granddaughter of Madame Roland, Madame Marillier of Paris. -If one compares this portrait with that of Heinsius at Versailles, he -will see that they have nothing in common. Heinsius’ portrait was bought -in Louis Philippe’s time, and bore the name of Madame Roland up to 1865, -when the placard was taken off because nothing proved that it was she. -However, it still figures in the catalogue as Madame Roland, and -photographs made after it are sold in all Paris shops. The director of -the Versailles Gallery was preparing in 1893 to revise the catalogue, -and purposed then to take the necessary steps to establish the -authenticity of the painting, but as late as May, 1894, it still was -marked Madame Roland. The family do not regard the picture as authentic; -one point they make against it is that it is a full-face view, while, -according to their traditions, Madame Roland never allowed anything but -a profile to be made. It bears no resemblance to other authentic -portraits, and is especially displeasing because of the full eyes, and -the bold expression. These characteristics, however, Heinsius gave to -all his portraits of French women; thus, the portraits of Mesdames -Victoire and Adelaide at Versailles are almost coarse in expression, and -in striking contrast to the other pictures of them which hang in the -same gallery. The best reason for supposing Heinsius’ portrait to be -Madame Roland is a sketch owned by the Carnavalet bearing the -inscription M. J. PHLIPON, GRAVÉ PAR SON PÈRE À 19 ANS, which strikingly -resembles it. - -The reproduction of the painting at the Musée Carnavalet, as well as -that of the cameo head, is due to the kindness of the director, M. -Cousins. The painting is a new acquisition of the museum, exhibited for -the first time in April, 1892. It is more apocryphal even than the -picture of Heinsius. It is a picture of the time—that of a very charming -woman, but it has almost nothing in common with Madame Roland. The eyes -are blue and hers were brown, the hair is lighter, the chin is not so -round and firm, the neck is longer. Besides it is a full-face view, thus -contradicting the family tradition. As for the cameo head, it is -evidently made after the family picture or the engraving of Gaucher, -which latter possesses all the characteristics of the former. - -One other portrait should not be forgotten; it is that traced in June, -1793, on the records of the prison of Sainte Pélagie by her jailer. - -Marie-Jeanne Phlipon, wife of Roland, ex-minister, aged thirty-nine -years, native of Paris, living Rue de la Harpe, No. 5. - -Height, five feet; hair and eyebrows dark chestnut; brown eyes; medium -nose; ordinary mouth; oval face; round chin; high forehead. - - - - - VII - A STICK IN THE WHEEL - - -During the months that the Rolands were in Paris, they were in constant -correspondence with Champagneux at Lyons. Their letters, for the most -part unpublished, show the state of mind into which French idealists -worked themselves in this period. Dissatisfied because the Assembly had -not been able to complete the regeneration of France in two years, -suspicious of everybody whose views differed from theirs, anxious to -show how reconstruction should be conducted and how easy it is to run a -government if you understand the principles and possess civic virtue, -this party of which the Rolands are excellent types worked incessantly -to discredit the government, to arouse contempt for the work the -Assembly had been able to do, and to show that Louis XVI. could not be -in earnest in his declaration of fidelity to reforms instituted. - -The Rolands lamented daily in their letters to Champagneux and other -friends that public opinion was languishing, that the country was -falling into the sleep of the enslaved, that the Assembly was worn out. -They tried to arouse them to suspicion like their own by repeating all -the alarming reports which ran the street without, of course, ever -taking pains to verify their truthfulness, and by railing at them -because they were inclined to feel that reforms were being brought about -quite as rapidly as in the nature of the situation was possible. - -It was not many months before their exasperation had reached such a -pitch that they were convinced that civil war was necessary, and they -began to look about for reasons with which to alarm and push on the -people to it. The only adequate one they found was to persuade the -country that the King was plotting with the _émigrés_ on the border, and -that they and the Austrians were watching for a chance to attack France, -overturn the new government, and restore the old régime. On June 22d an -event occurred which in Madame Roland’s opinion was ample proof of the -truthfulness of their opinions. On the morning of that day Madame Roland -opened a letter written the day before to Bancal to say: “The King and -Queen have fled, the shops are closed, the greatest tumult reigns. It is -almost impossible that Lafayette should not be an accomplice.” - -For twenty-four hours she was in an ecstasy of patriotic hopefulness. -The flight of the King was a renunciation of the contract he had made -with his people in taking the oath to support the constitution. The -evident duty of the country was to declare him dethroned and to -establish a republic. She was so excited she could not stay at home, but -went among her friends, urging them to immediate action. - -Her fixed principle that a woman should take no part in public -proceedings was laid aside now. “As long as peace lasted,” she wrote her -friend, “I played a peaceable rôle and exerted that kind of influence -which seems to me suitable to my sex. Now that the flight of the King -has declared war, it seems to me that every one must devote himself -without reserve. I have joined the fraternal societies, because -convinced that zeal and a good thought may sometimes be useful in a time -of crisis.” - -Her joy was short. The tumult which threatened in Paris was promptly -quieted by Lafayette, at the head of the National Guards. The citizens -were exhorted to calm, to vigilance, to confidence in the Assembly. -Madame Roland writhed under this attitude. “Is this the place to be -tranquil and contented?” she cried. She and her friends, convinced that -the measures to prevent a riot and restore order were directed -especially at themselves, gathered at Robespierre’s, where they -considered ways of driving the people to an action of which the Assembly -was incapable. - -In the midst of their activity the King was brought back, and to their -dismay they saw that he would in all probability be kept in place -without public trial. Their alarm was intense. Without the King they -were convinced all would be well. Regeneration was certain if royalty -could be dispensed with. Nothing else was preventing the adoption of a -Republic. He was “worse than a stick in a wheel,” declared Roland to -Champagneux. - -In the _mêlée_ of opinion which followed the King’s return, Madame -Roland’s position was well defined: “To put the King back on the -throne,” she wrote, “is an absurdity; to declare him incapable is to be -obliged, according to the constitution, to name a regent; to name a -regent would confirm the vices of the constitution at a moment when one -can and ought to correct them. The most just measure would be to try -him; but the country is incapable of anything so lofty as that. There is -nothing to do but suspend and guard him while searching those who aided -in his flight; to go on acting without royal consent and, in order to -put more regularity and activity into the distribution and exercise of -power, name a temporary President. In this way it would be easy to show -Paris and the departments that a king is not necessary and that the -machine can go on well enough without him.” This programme she was -willing to “preach from the roofs,” but it was not adopted. The King was -restored. - -The Republic which she and her friends dreamed of at this moment and did -not hesitate to announce, was not in the public mind, and when they -insisted upon it, they were insisting upon an individual opinion of -which the country at large had no conception, and for which it had no -sympathy. By her own confession both the Assembly and the Jacobins “went -into convulsions” at the mere pronunciation of the name _Republic_. -There were only two societies which, after the flight of the King, dared -declare themselves _tyrannicides_,—the Cordeliers and a group of private -individuals. At the Cercle Social they did discuss whether it was -suitable or not to conserve kings, but at the Jacobins the very name -_Republican_ was hissed. Nevertheless they worked valiantly to spread -their ideas. Robert published a pamphlet on the “Advantages of the -flight of the King and the necessity of a new government or Republic.” -Condorcet published a discussion “Whether a king is necessary to the -conservation of liberty”; and Brissot, at the Jacobins, made a hit with -a speech in which he showed that the cry that the King was inviolable -and could not be tried was false; that even if inviolability were -admitted it did not apply in this case; and that according to the -constitution the King could and ought to be tried. - -Thomas Paine was then in Paris, believing as Dumont says, that he had -made the American Revolution and was called upon to make another in -France. With Condorcet, Brissot, and a few others as sympathizers, Paine -formed a republican society. Their first concern was to publish a -journal, the prospectus of which was posted by Paine on the morning of -the first of July. In it he declared that the King by his flight is -“free of us as we are of him. He has no longer any authority; we no -longer owe him obedience; we know him now only as an individual in the -crowd, as M. Louis de Bourbon”; and he concluded his harangue by the -announcement that “A society of republicans had decided to publish in -separate sheets a work entitled _The Republican_. Its object is to -enlighten people’s minds on this republicanism which is calumniated -because it is not understood; on the uselessness, the vices, and the -abuses of the royalty that prejudice persists in defending, although -they may be known.” This poster made a great noise in the Assembly, -where it was denounced as “worthy of all the rigor of the law.” -According to Madame Roland, it was only by flattering the Assembly’s -love for the monarchy and by abusing republicanism and its partisans, -that it was possible to convince the body that however ridiculous the -idea might be, still it was necessary to leave it free course. - -Only two numbers of _The Republican_ appeared, says Madame Roland, in -her Memoirs; only one, says Moncure D. Conway, in his life of Paine. As -a matter of fact, there were at least four issues, that number being in -the collection of Revolutionary pamphlets in the Bibliothèque Nationale. - -It was soon evident that the new cause would not be supported. -Nevertheless, the new word was launched. The effect of the injudicious, -impractical action of Paine, Brissot, and their friends, Robespierre -described a few months later when he had broken with the Brissotins. -“The mere word _Republic_ caused division among the patriots, and gave -the enemies of liberty the evidence they sought to prove that there -existed in France a party which conspired against the monarchy and the -constitution; they hastened to impute to this motive the firmness with -which we defended in the Constituent Assembly the rights of national -sovereignty against the monster of inviolability. It is by this word -that they drove away the majority of the Constituent Assembly; it is -this word which was the signal for that massacre of peaceable citizens -whose whole crime was exercising legally the right of petition, -consecrated by the constitutional laws. At this word the true friends of -liberty were travestied as factious by perverse or ignorant citizens; -and the Revolution put back perhaps a half a century. It was in those -critical times that Brissot came to the society of the Friends of the -Constitution, where he had almost never appeared, to propose changes in -the form of government, when the simplest rules of prudence would have -forbidden us to present the idea to the Constituent Assembly.” - -As soon as the Rolands and their friends saw that the demand for the -Republic was not welcomed by the people, they turned their efforts -towards securing a trial for Louis XVI. - -It seemed to be the only thing for which they were strong enough. To do -this they were willing to unite with even demagogues, agitators, and -with the worst elements of the people. They had only their voice and -their pen, explains Madame Roland; if a popular movement came to their -aid they welcomed it with pleasure without looking after, or disturbing -themselves about, its origin. Beside they could not believe that a party -made up of the idle and the violent, and led by demagogues, could be -formidable. It was a force to be used when needed, and crushed when the -result desired had been obtained. Even when the union of the Brissotins -with the populace had produced so serious a riot as that of July 17, the -“Massacre of the Champ-de-Mars,” as the radicals called it, Madame -Roland did not change her views. She refused to see that the disorder -was provoked in any degree by the people, and attributed the fault -entirely to the Assembly and Lafayette. - -The letters they wrote to their friends after the riot of the -Champ-de-Mars are full of alarms and of suspicions. “In less than -twenty-four hours,” Roland wrote to Champagneux, “there have been about -three hundred imprisoned at the Abbaye and they are kept there in -secret. People are taken up in the night. There has just passed on the -Pont Neuf [it will be remembered that the Rolands were in the Rue -Guénégaud and could easily see] three loaded wagons escorted by many -National Guards. They say Marat is there, and different club members. -Desmoulins is said to have fled; they are after Brissot. The patriotic -journalists are in bad repute, and frightful charges against them are -being spread. The cross of Saint Louis multiplies incredibly. The -aristocrats are more sly and insolent than ever. It was said yesterday -in the Luxembourg that this legislature could not endure more than six -weeks or two months; that there would be war with the foreigners in this -interval; that the King and the ministers would come out ahead; that -they would displace everybody, annul everything; and that they would -re-establish things on the old basis, but assuredly not less despotic -than before.... There is nothing but treason, lies, poisons. Those who -live in hotels, or who are served by caterers, are afraid. A great -number sleep away from home. There were hundreds of deaths at the -Champ-de-Mars; husbands killed their wives; relatives, relatives; -friends, friends. Saint Bartholomew, the dragonades, offered nothing -more horrible.” - -But this is an alarmist’s letter, a repetition of rumors, not a serious -effort to picture what actually occurred. Compare simply its statement -of the number of killed at the Champ-de-Mars—“hundreds”—with the most -trustworthy accounts, and Roland’s and his wife’s state of mind is -clear. Gouverneur Morris, who was in Paris at the moment, went to the -“elevation opposite”—the present Trocadéro—to see the trouble. He says -there were a “dozen or two” killed; Prudhomme says fifty; the official -report gives twelve killed and the same number wounded. The same -exaggerated statements characterize all their letters. - -Before the summer of 1791 was over Madame Roland was certain that public -opinion could not be aroused to another revolution; that the “stick” was -going to stay in the “wheel”; that the Republic could not be -established. As this conviction grew on her, she lost heart. “I have had -enough of Paris, at least for this time.” She wrote: “I feel the need of -going to see my trees, after having seen so many dolts and knaves. One -rejoices in this little circle of honest souls when his cause triumphs, -but when the _cabale_ is on top, when the wicked succeed and error is -ahead, there is nothing to do but go home and plant cabbages.” - -And this she decided to do very soon, for the beginning of September she -left Paris for Villefranche. Everything on the trip discouraged her. She -wrote Robespierre: “I find the people on the route, as in Paris, -deceived by their enemies or ignorant of the true state of things; -everywhere the mass is well disposed; it is just because its interest is -the general interest, but it is misled or stupid. Nowhere have I met -people with whom I could talk openly and advantageously of our political -situation; I contented myself by distributing copies of your address in -all the places through which I passed; they will be found after my -departure and furnish an excellent text for meditation.” - -It was even worse at Villefranche, where, on arriving, she made a tour -of observation. She was convinced that the most of the inhabitants were -utterly despicable, and made so by the existing social institutions; -that they loved the Revolution only because it destroyed what was above -them, but that they knew nothing of the theory of free government, and -did not sympathize with that “sublime and delicious theory which makes -us brothers”; that they hated the name of Republic, and that a king -appeared to them essential to their existence. - -She was as disgusted with Lyons for its devotion to the aristocracy. Its -elections she declared detestable and the deputies nothing but enemies -of liberty. The officers in the department were as badly chosen as the -representatives; “if one was to judge of representative government by -the little experience we have had of it so far, we cannot esteem -ourselves very happy”; the elections were bought, so were the -administrators, so the representatives, who in their turn sold the -people. Even at Le Clos, where she went immediately for the fall -vintage, there was a cloud; for the calumnies spread at Lyons about -Roland when it was a question of nominating him for the Assembly, had -reached the hills, and the people attributed their absence in Paris to -the supposed arrest of Roland for _counter-revolution_. When she went -out to walk she heard behind her the cry _Les aristocrates à la -lanterne_. - -Although Madame Roland sighed to escape from the “dolts and knaves” of -Paris and longed for the peace of the country, the sentiment was only a -passing one. The charm of the little circle she criticised so freely, -the friendships she had formed, her devotion to the public cause, all -these things made the absence from Paris hard to bear. On leaving she -had hoped it would be only temporary. Roland was much talked of as a -candidate for the new Assembly, and if he succeeded, it would take them -back to Paris. She knew before her arrival at Le Clos that he had failed -to secure the nomination. The news deepened her irritation at the -condition of public affairs, strengthened the sense of oppression which -the province produced, made her dissatisfied with Le Clos, her husband’s -future, Eudora. - -She had not seen her little daughter for seven months. She was deeply -disappointed that she had changed so little. It seemed to her that she -had gained nothing in the interval of separation, and that she had no -idea of anything but loving and being loved. There was one way of -awakening the child, however, in her judgment. She told Roland of it in -one of the first letters she wrote him after reaching Villefranche, when -she said: “Hasten back so that we may put our affairs in shape, and -arrange to return to Paris as often as possible. I am not ambitious of -the pleasures there, but such is the stupidity of our only child that I -see no hope of making anything of her except by showing her as many -objects as possible, and finding something which will interest her.” - -For Roland, too, she felt that Paris was necessary. She was pained at -the idea that he was going to be thrown back into silence and obscurity. -He was accustomed to public life; it was more necessary to him than he -himself thought, and she feared that his energy and activity would be -fatal to his health, if they were not employed according to his tastes. - -When Roland came back, he shared her feelings. He soon finished his -affairs at Lyons, for the National Assembly had abolished the office of -inspector of manufactures, and they spent the fall at Le Clos, occupied -with the vintage, but they were restless. They had but little income and -they turned their minds again to the idea of the pension, to which -Roland’s forty years of service had certainly entitled him. If they were -at Paris, perhaps it could be obtained. Then Roland’s work, which was -simply the encyclopædia, would certainly be easier “at the fireside of -light among _savants_ and artists than at the bottom of a desert”; for -such their retreat seemed to them. They felt the need, too, of being -near the centre of affairs; they ought to be where they could “watch”; -where they could help bring about the “shock” which must come soon or -the public cause would be lost forever. Their dissatisfaction became so -great in the end, and public affairs so exciting, that they decided to -go to Paris. - - - - - VIII - WORKING FOR A SECOND REVOLUTION - - -But how could they justify themselves in their determination to bring -about a new “shock,” a second revolution? The Revolution was finished. -In the twenty-eight months that the Constituent Assembly had been in -operation, it had formed a constitution, accepted by Louis XVI. in -September, 1791, which had cut from the nation a score of obnoxious and -poisonous social, political, and economic growths. This constitution -guaranteed, as natural and civil rights, that all citizens should be -admissible to place and to employment without other distinction than -that of virtue and talents; that all contributions be levied equally -among the people in proportion to their ability, and that the same -violations of law be punished in the same way. Every man might go and -come as he would, speak, write, print, what he wished. There was no -limit to the right to assemble peaceably, or to make petitions. Property -was inviolable. Relief for the old, the weak, the poor, was promised. -Public education was to be organized. The sovereignty rested in the -nation; from it came all the power. The constitution was represented by -a legislative body, and the King could not dissolve this assembly. He -was King of the French, and his person was sacred, but he was inferior -to the law, and reigned by it and in its name. - -Undoubtedly, as Étienne Dumont said, “the constitution had too much of a -republic for a monarchy, and too much of a monarchy for a republic. The -King was a _hors d’œuvre_. He was everywhere in appearance, and he had -no real power,” but evidently here was a basis which gave every man in -France a chance, and which offered the opportunity to work out a -satisfactory liberal government. To refuse to work with this -constitution was to continue and to increase the disorganization, the -hatred, the fear, which had been agitating France for so long; it was to -prevent the new government having a fair chance, and was to make any -correction of the constitution impossible. How could Madame Roland -justify her resolve to prevent peace? - -Her ideal was not satisfied. It mattered little to her that the people -were indifferent to this ideal; that they were satisfied with the -constitution and asked for nothing but a chance to let it work. The -satisfaction of this ideal had become a necessity, an imperative -personal need. She could not give it up. It was too beautiful. - -Even if she could support the idea of a constitutional monarchy, she -could not believe in the sincerity of the king and court. “I have never -been able to believe in the constitutional vocation of a king, born -under despotism, raised by it and accustomed to exercise it.” She wrote -in her Memoirs: “Louis XVI. would have been a man much above the average -had he sincerely desired a constitution which restrained his power. If -he had been such a man, he would never have allowed the events which -brought about the constitution.” - -In her judgment the supporters of the monarchy were “traitors,” the -constitutionalists a “cabale.” This suspicion had become a disease. - -While she doubted the sincerity, the patriotism, the unselfishness of -all parties but her own, she had profound confidence in herself. She saw -no rôle in the world she says in her Memoirs, which suited her exactly -except that of Providence. She had penetration, and flattered herself -that she knew a “false eye” at first glance. She and Roland were “strong -in reason and in character,” but she was convinced that she was better -than he. “I have as much firmness and more flexibility. My energy has -more agreeable forms, but it is founded on the same principles. I shock -less and I penetrate deeper.” As for the majority of the human race, it -was a “poor” affair. - -She not only suspected the old régime, and believed herself superior to -it; she cherished a personal grievance against it. It had refused her -solicitations although they were just. She did not forgive the -humiliation. She was near enough to the Court now to feel her dependence -upon it. Years before she had written to Sophie: “I love my prince -because I feel my dependence but little; if I were too near him, I -should hate his grandeur.” She is “too near” now, and her prophecy is -realized. She “hates his grandeur.” It is a species of that resentful -jealousy which distorts certain really superior natures when they find -themselves in the presence of material splendor or of persons of lofty -rank. - -When the Rolands went up to Paris in December, 1791, they found there a -number of important persons who felt as they did, members of the -Legislative Assembly, which had assembled on October 1st. They found, -too, that they were already allied with their friends Brissot, -Robespierre, and Pétion, all three of whom held prominent public -positions, Brissot being a deputy to the Assembly from Paris, and at the -head of the diplomatic committee; Robespierre, criminal accuser; Pétion, -mayor. - -This party of new deputies whom they found so congenial were known as -the Gironde from the department whence most of them had come. They were -all young and all endowed with great talent. They had been brought up on -Plutarch and Rousseau, and their heads were filled with noble doctrines -and drafts of perfect constitutions. When they talked, it was in classic -phrases. Their arguments were based on what happened in Greece and Rome. -Their illustrations were drawn from ancient heroes. There could be no -doubt of the sincerity of their patriotism, of the nobility of their -aspirations, of the purity of their lives, of their anxiety to die, if -need be, for France. - -But they had no experience of politics, of men, or of society, save what -they had gotten from short terms in provincial law offices and clubs. -They had never come into contact with other forces than the petty -agitations and wire-pulling of their home towns. Of the force of human -passions, of the lethargy and persistence of the mass of men, of the -fine diplomacy of the trained statesman, they had not a notion. - -They knew their Plutarch well, to be sure; but all they had drawn from -him was a glibness in making fine periods and certain lofty sentiments, -a species of patriotic emotionalism by which they could move and thrill -men. Of practical policy for difficult and complicated situations, like -the one they had been elected to face, they had not a shadow. - -In courage, in audacity, in buoyancy of spirits, in eloquence, in bright -visions, in purity of life, they are all that one’s imagination could -paint. A more lovable and inspiring group of young men was never called -together. But there was not one of them in whom contact with the world -and sober reflection, had developed the common sense, the clear -comprehensive judgment, the hard determination to do his best, and the -simple honesty which alone make men fit for public office. - -They were as blindly partisan as Madame Roland, and what Dumont said of -Brissot was applicable to the Gironde as a whole: “He was one of those -men in whom the party spirit was stronger than all moral, or rather he -saw no moral save in his own party. No one had so much zeal of the -convent as he. Dominican, he would have burned the heretics; Roman, he -would not have been unworthy of following Cato and Regulus; French -republican, he wished to destroy the monarchy and to reach his object -did not shrink from calumny, persecution, or death on the scaffold.” - -They all had the malady of the times,—suspicion. It had become a species -of superstition with them. “One may laugh if he will,” said Dumont, “at -these imaginary terrors, but they made the second revolution.” It was -useless to argue with them, to give them proofs to call upon their -good-will; they were suspicious and what they imagined was as real to -them as if it had actually existed. They did not need proofs, mistrust -never does. They were possessed by a sentiment and reason had no place. - -As for their self-confidence, it was monumental. “No argument, no -criticism, was listened to by them,” says Mme. de Staël. “They answered -the observations of disinterested wisdom by a mocking smile. One wore -himself out in reminding them of circumstances and what had led to them; -if they condescended to answer, they denied the most evident facts and -observations and used in opposition to them common maxims, though, to be -sure, expressed eloquently.” - -Feeling as they did, the only logical thing for them was to struggle to -obtain power. If they were the “Providence” of France, it was their duty -to get to the front. It was not for the sake of power that they made -this effort. It was because they alone in their own judgment were -sufficiently virtuous and enlightened to carry out the doctrines. They -were “called” to preach liberty and a republic, and they went to their -work in the same frame of exaltation and expectation as he goes who -preaches the Kingdom of Heaven. - -The only way in which they could arrive at power was by uniting with one -of the two parties in the Assembly, with the constitutionalists or the -Mountain, as the Radicals were termed. The former was composed of the -well-to-do and the experienced men of the Assembly. It supported the -King. It was the more honest and trustworthy, but it was accused of -“aspiring secretly to increase the royal authority and to form two -chambers.” - -The Mountain was the party of the agitators and the street. It had the -audacity, the violence, and the populace of the faubourgs. The talents, -education, eloquence, refinement, of the Gironde were in harmony with -the conservatives, but they could not believe that there was not a -secret plot hidden under the patriotic pretensions of the -constitutionalists. Their self-pride was irritated, too, by the -aristocratic traditions, the courtly manners, and the reasonableness of -the moderates. There was a subtile superiority in their wisdom, their -gracious bearing, their _finesse_ which the Girondins resented. - -As for the Mountain the Girondins feared its violence, its open advocacy -of bloodshed less than they did its suspicion. They wanted to be -considered the purest of the patriots and they could not support the -idea that there was any one who pushed farther than they in making -claims for the “sovereign” and for the “divine right of insurrection.” -They had not the practical sense, the experience, and the -disinterestedness to judge the Mountain, to see that it was chaotic, -violent, irrational. Because it called itself the representative of the -poor and the suffering, they imagined that it must be virtuous, and they -wished its support. They feared its opinion of them even more than they -feared the skeleton in the conservative closet. - -To gain its favor they were even willing to sacrifice personal dignity -and delicacy. The Mountain was ragged and dirty, ill-bred and -foul-mouthed, but they shared a superstition of the day that rags and -dirt, little bread and a hut for a home, are signs of patriotism, and if -a man is poor, therefore he must have good principles. They found the -coarseness of the Mountain more endurable than the etiquette of the -Court. Pétion, at his public dinners as mayor, received the Gironde. -Among his guests were many “patriots” of the rudest sort, yet Condorcet, -Guadet, Gensonné, Roland, laughed at Chabot when he put on a _bonnet -rouge_ and went through a series of low buffoonery, mocking the King, -and applauded jests of “shocking grossness.” - -Thus suspicion drove them from the conservative party, while fear of -suspicion drove them towards the Mountain. Resentment at superior -refinement turned their sympathy from the decent element of the -Assembly, while a superstition about the true meaning of rags, dirt, and -disorder awakened it for the wanton element. - -Just as they floated between the parties of the Assembly, they -vacillated between the clubs,—the Feuillants, which was for the -constitution, and the Jacobins, which was for anarchy. Their object was -not simply to do what was just and honorable, it was to do what would -carry them into power. They must have power in order to carry their -cause. To serve their party all means were justifiable. It was their -uncertainty about which side would the quicker give them the leadership -of the Assembly which explains their wavering over all the questions -which absorbed the attention of the Legislative Assembly,—such as the -questions of the unsworn priests, the immigration of nobles, and the -declaration of war against Austria. - -When the Rolands came up to Paris in December, the Gironde was floating -between the two other parties, fearing both, suspected by both. Hate, -defiance, exaggeration, were at their height. No one knew what would -happen next. “You would say it was a fleet at anchor in a thick fog,” -wrote Morris to Washington. “No one dares to put up sail for fear of -running against a rock.” - -When Madame Roland appeared on the scene, she had no hesitation in -deciding what should be done by the Gironde. She had been too firmly -convinced since the fall of the Bastille of the benefits of anarchy to -fear it now. The lack of it had long been her despair. She was too -suspicious of all persons of aristocratic origin to tolerate any union -with the conservative party. She was too firmly convinced of the value -of war as a “great school of public virtue” to hesitate about offensive -operations. - -Arrived in Paris, they settled in the Rue de la Harpe, where they lived -very quietly, Roland occupying himself with the encyclopædia, with his -plan for a pension, and with his friends. He went to the chief places of -Gironde rendezvous when he had leisure, and they came to him sometimes. -His chief political work, however, was at the Jacobin Club, where he was -engaged on a committee. - -Their life was very quiet until March, when it suddenly changed. A -friend dropping in one day told Madame Roland that the patriots were to -be asked to form a ministry and that as they were going to seek men of -ability and courage, Roland had been thought of for a portfolio. Some -days later (March 21, 1792) Brissot came to see her to inquire if Roland -would accept if asked. They talked the matter over, considered its -dangers, sounded its possibilities,—the next day Brissot was told in -classic phrase that Roland’s courage did not falter, that the knowledge -of his force inspired him with confidence in his ability to be useful to -the country and to liberty. - -The movement which had brought about the Girondin ministry had been led -by Brissot. After the vetoes of the King to the decrees against the -priests and _émigrés_, every effort had been made by the Jacobins to -show that the ministry of the King was in secret sympathy with Court and -_émigrés_, that while posing as constitutional, they were, in fact, -anti-constitutional. Brissot had led this movement, and had condescended -to some very low manœuvres to discredit certain members of the ministry. -His plans had at last succeeded, and Louis XVI., hoping to quiet -suspicion, had consented to name a cabinet which would satisfy the -Girondins. - -It was in this body that Roland had been asked to take the Department of -the Interior. As was to be expected, the conservatives criticised the -new ministers harshly from the first. Roland was pictured to the country -by the _Mercure_ as one of the principal agitators of Lyons; “no -administrative talent, no experience in affairs of state, a hot head, -and the principles of the times in their greatest exaggeration.” The -conservative element naturally accepted this characterization; for, -outside of the manufacturing world, Roland was utterly unknown. As for -the Jacobin element, it was a question of how far in anarchy the cabinet -would go; if it kept up with them, well and good; if it fell behind, -then let it take care. - -With Roland’s appointment, Madame Roland was at once put into a position -of responsibility and power. The Hôtel of the Interior, into which they -moved, was situated in the Rue Neuve-des-Petits-Champs at the point -where the Rue Ventadour now opens. It was a fine building which had been -arranged elegantly by Calonne for the controller-general. In going into -this palace they did not give up their apartment in the Rue de la Harpe. -The other ministers settled themselves as if they were to remain for -life, but Madame Roland saw only the “luxury of an inn” in the gilded -hôtel, and kept her modest apartment on the Left Bank, a “retreat which -one must always have in mind as certain philosophers their coffins,” she -told Bancal. - -In no way were their habits changed by their new position. Roland was, -perhaps, even a little more severe than usual, and took virtuous delight -in appearing at Court with ribbons on his shoes instead of buckles, to -the horror of the courtiers. They called him a Quaker in Sunday dress, -with his white hair plastered down and sparsely powdered, his plain -black coat, above all his unadorned shoes. Madame Roland arranged her -life with strict regard for her notions of classic simplicity. She -neither made nor received visits, and never invited women to dinner. -Every Friday she had the members of the ministry; twice a week a mixed -company of ministers, deputies, and persons Roland wanted to see. Rarely -were there more than fifteen covers at table. One sat down at five -o’clock to a meal always simple, and at nine o’clock this puritan -household was closed. Of course, there was the theatre, with a _loge_ -for the minister, but it was not often that she left her duties for it. - -These duties were many; for the habit of working with Roland, of -copying, polishing, suggesting, begun the first year of her marriage, -over the dull pages of the encyclopædia and continued at Amiens and Le -Clos, was carried into the ministry of the interior. She went over the -daily mail with her husband. Together they noted the disorders in the -country, and together decided on the policy to pursue. She gave her -opinion on every subject, and exerted an influence on every question of -the ministry. This was in private. In her salon she was as quiet as in -the little salon of the Hôtel Britannique; nevertheless, she was always -the spirit of the gatherings; a skilful and gentle peacemaker in too hot -disputes; an inspiring advocate of the most radical undertakings; an -ardent defender of her own opinions. - -Many of the measures to be proposed in the Assembly by the Girondins -originated in her salon; much of Roland’s business with individuals was -talked over in her presence. It often happened that those who had -business with Roland came to her first with it. - -She was especially influential when it came to choosing persons for the -positions in the department which Roland controlled. She flattered -herself on her ability to tell a true patriot, and criticised and -praised candidates fearlessly. A minister of war was wanted soon after -Roland’s call to the cabinet. He thought of Servan, because the man had -exposed patriotic principles in a creditable book, because he had a -reputation for activity, because he had lost a court position on account -of civism, and above all because he declaimed bitterly against the -aristocrats. They wished to found a journal to represent their party, -and wanted a man “wise and enlightened” as editor. They decided on -Louvet, the author of the most licentious novel of the day, because of -his “noble forehead, the fire which animated his eye,” and the fine and -eloquent political pamphlets he had published. Because Pache had the -simplicity suitable to a republican and the manners of the ancients, -because he came to his office at seven o’clock in the morning and stayed -until three in the afternoon with only a morsel of bread brought in his -pocket for lunch, because he was prudent, attentive, zealous as a clerk, -he was thought fit to be a minister. - -They mistrusted all their colleagues who lacked these qualities. In the -ministry was General Dumouriez, a diplomat of skill, devoted to the -constitution, skilful with men, wise with the King. He had come to see -the Rolands in the Rue de la Harpe with Brissot to announce to them the -call to the ministry. When he left, Madame Roland said to her husband: -“There is a man I have seen for the first time. He has a penetrating -mind, a false eye; perhaps it will be more necessary to suspect him than -anybody in the world. He has expressed great satisfaction with the -patriotic choice he has been charged to announce, but I should not be -astonished if one day he caused you to be dismissed.” - -She mistrusted Dumouriez at once because of his courtly manners, and his -belief that the King was sincere in his efforts to support the -constitution. There was so great a difference between him and Roland -that she could not imagine the two working together. In the one she saw -“uprightness and frankness personified, severe equity without any of the -devices of the courtier or of the society-man.” In the other she -believed she recognized “an intelligent _roué_, a bold knight, who -sneered at everything except his own interests and his own glory.” - -She did not change her idea of Dumouriez, although obliged to confess -that he had more _esprit_ than any one else in the ministry, that he was -“diligent and brave,” “a good general, a skilful courtier, writing well, -capable of great enterprises,” but his “manners!” they were fit only for -the ministerial intrigues of a corrupt court. - -Her suspicions extended to all his friends. “All these fine fellows,” -she said to a friend one day _à propos_ of Dumouriez’s followers, “seem -poor patriots to me. They care too much for themselves to prefer the -public good to their own interests. I can never resist the temptation to -wound their self-sufficiency by pretending not to see the merit of which -they are vainest.” - -As for the good faith of the King, she would not listen to the idea. -During the first three weeks of the ministry of Roland, he and Clavière -were disposed to think well of the King, to have confidence in the turn -things were going to take. But she would tell them when they started out -confidently to the Council meetings: “When I see you go off in that way, -it always seems to me that you are going to commit a _sottise_.” And -when they came back with less done than she expected she declared the -Council was “nothing but a café.” “It is disgraceful. You are in good -humor because you experience no annoyance, even because you are well -treated. You have the air of doing about what you wish in your -departments. I fear that you are being tricked.” When they reminded her -that nevertheless affairs were going well, she replied: “Yes, and time -is being lost.” - -At the moment that Roland was called to office the question of public -tranquillity was most serious. It was not alone in the cities that -riots, pillage, and bloodshed were of constant occurrence. The provinces -were in many places almost uninhabitable. Roland, to cure the disorders, -wrote circulars and put up posters. - -For example, in his own department, Rhone-et-Loire, the question of the -priests was causing more and more difficulty. The provocation came now -from one side, now from another. In certain parishes the constitutional -priests were supported by the municipality, in others the unsworn were -favored. In the midst of these dissensions, births, marriages, and -deaths often went unrecorded. Here a priest declaimed against the -constitution and incited the people not to pay their taxes, there the -National Guard and mayor combined to drive a disturber from the -community. In the district of Villefranche, the constitutional _clergé_ -of “the former province of Beaujolais” brought a long complaint to the -authorities: “The inhabitants of the mountains,” they wrote, “influenced -by fanaticism, are in a state of insurrection. They believe the churches -to be profaned by the mere presence of the sworn priests; during the -services they throw stones against the doors, interrupt the services, -insult the new curés in the midst of their duties, force the faithful to -desert the churches.... The presbyteries are no longer a safe asylum. -Those who inhabit them are forced to keep a guard; they cannot travel -alone without being attacked and exposed to the greatest dangers. There -is not one of them who has not been driven several times from his home. -New-born children are baptized by Non-conformists without the ceremonies -of the Church—the fanatical and barbarous mothers declare that they -would rather choke them than permit them to be baptized by the priests.” - -The religious difficulties were inflamed by the rash and suspicious -actions of the various parties, whose wisdom and diplomacy were annulled -by excessive party spirit. The whole department, in fact, was racked by -religious quarrels, bitter party spirit, fear of _émigrés’_ plots and -foreign invasion, hatred of the constitution and “patriots.” - -Roland had a formula for such a situation, and when the directory of -Rhone-et-Loire asked him for help to restore order, he sent it to them. - -“The present troubles which agitate your department at several points,” -he wrote them, April 18th, “seem to have their source in the diversity -of religious opinions. This diversity of opinion is the fruit of error, -and the error comes from ignorance. If, then, we enlighten men, we -deliver them from prejudices, and if the prejudices were destroyed, -peace would reign on the earth.... It is not by force of arms that one -teaches reason.... In the first place a well-organized state has only -enough troops to prevent invasions, to meet force by force, and to -enable all the citizens to enjoy all the benefits of their own -constitution. Second, internal order should be maintained by -instruction, by public opinion, and finally by the force of the National -Guards.... Elected by the people, you ought to have their confidence. -Your instruction ought to produce the greatest effect, and you ought to -be able through confidence and reason to form and direct public opinion. -These means, used energetically and wisely, are sure. Is there a rare -circumstance when they are too slow? You have all the public force of -your department; you can use it as it is necessary, and you ought to -direct it according to the circumstances. These are your means, sirs, -and you rest responsible before the nation and its representatives, -before the King and your constituency, for all the disorders that you do -not foresee and prevent.” - -One can imagine the feelings of a board of county directors harassed by -daily riots, by incessant quarrels, by threats and plots, on receiving -such a letter from the minister, charged with executing the laws -relative to the internal tranquillity of the State. The directory must -have been composed of men singularly devoid of humor, if even in their -grave situation they did not laugh at Roland’s application of -instruction to the Lyons street-fights. - -To a department which had asked him for troops to restore order, and -secure the free circulation of grain in its territory, he responded that -if it was necessary to use force they must take the National Guards, and -he added: “But must I counsel this step? So soon as one employs arms to -execute the laws, one not only proves that he has not known how to make -himself loved, but that he will never be able to do so. A constitution -which is enforced by the bayonet only, is not a constitution. Other -means are necessary to attach a free people to the laws that it has -made.... Instruct the administrations that you direct, and if they -deviate from the observation of the rules, use that sweetness which -commands so easily, that persuasion which leads to the repentance of a -fault often involuntary. It is so easy for a superior administration to -make itself agreeable to those that it has under its surveillance that, -in fact, I believe I might say it is always the fault of the former when -harmony is broken.” - -And he continued this doctrinal campaign throughout his ministry. For -all the riot-ridden country he had but one formula. And while the people -burnt châteaux, stoned priests, pillaged storehouses, waylaid and stole -grain, murdered nobles, he serenely preached how easily the difficulty -could be ended by applying the dogma. And he believed it with the -incomparable naïveté of the theorist. If some one called his attention -to the fact that the disorders increased in spite of his preaching, he -was unmoved; that was the fault of the “stick in the wheel.” He was not -dissatisfied that disorder should increase. It would show the need for a -new shock. - -Armed with his formulas, his forty years of service, and his “virtue,” -Roland could see no reason why he was not adequate to the situation, and -why he should not act as he saw best. The conviction of his own -sufficiency made him tactless with those who were, in his judgment, less -infallible than he. He assumed a pedagogic tone, a severe mien, a stiff, -patronizing air towards them. He read them lectures, posed before them -as impeccable. To men of experience, used to the world and to politics, -as convinced as Roland of their own sincere desire for the good of -France, and of the sufficiency of their own ideas, this attitude was -exasperating beyond expression. - -It was not long before Roland and Servan, who was charged with the -portfolio of war, began to regulate the King, “to kill him by -pin-pricks,” said Dumouriez. Madame Roland was responsible, to a large -extent, no doubt, for their unpatriotic and traitorous conduct. Servan -was as completely under her rule as Roland, and she had cured both of -them of the confidence and support they gave the King at the beginning -of their ministry, and convinced them of his intention to betray the -constitution and restore the old régime. To deserve their support he -should, she believed, withdraw the vetoes he had put to the measures -against priests and _émigrés_. - -From the beginning of the Gironde ministry matters had steadily grown -worse. In April war had been declared. It had opened badly for the -French and terror and suspicion were greater than ever in Paris. -Religious troubles flamed up all over the provinces, made more intense -by the fear of foreign invasion. As rumors ran, the army was not doing -its duty; the generals were traitors; the court party was plotting to -receive the Prussians, to massacre the patriots, and to overthrow the -constitution. To meet the perils which threatened, Madame Roland had two -measures: the proscription of the Non-conformist priests, and a camp of -twenty thousand soldiers, five from each canton of France, around Paris, -to guard the city from the attack of the foreigners. - -This latter plan she persuaded Servan to present to the Assembly on June -4th without the King knowing anything of his minister’s plans and -without any of the Council save Clavière and Roland being in the secret. -The measure was voted by the Assembly, but it made a noise in Paris. The -National Guards regarded it as a reflection on their patriotism and -capacity. The Feuillants raised a petition of eight thousand names -(largely of women and children, sneered the patriots), protesting -against the measure. At the Assembly and at the Jacobins the measure was -hotly discussed; in the club it was opposed by Robespierre, now in open -rupture with the Girondins, and almost daily attacked by Brissot in the -_Patriote français_. - -The King hesitated to sign the measure when it was presented to him. In -Madame Roland’s eyes this refusal was due to nothing but his disloyalty, -and she advised forcing him to a decision. She was, she says, in a kind -of “moral fever” at the moment, and felt the absolute necessity of some -kind of action which would determine the situation. In her judgment -Roland should withdraw from the ministry if the King did not sign the -measures. But she wished that if he withdrew everybody should know that -he did it because the King would not take his advice. - -In these circumstances Madame Roland proposed to Roland to send a letter -to Louis XVI., stating his opinions, urging the King to consent to the -proscription of the priests and the camp about Paris, and warning him -against the consequences of a refusal. She dashed off this letter in a -single sitting, in the passion of conviction and exaltation which -possessed her. - - “SIRE,—The present condition of France cannot long endure. The - violence of the crisis has reached the highest degree; it must be - terminated by a blow which ought to interest Your Majesty as much as - it concerns the whole Empire. - - “Honored by your confidence, and placed in a position where I owe - you the truth, I dare to speak it; it is an obligation that you - yourself have imposed upon me. - - “The French have adopted a constitution; there are those that are - discontented and rebellious because of it; the majority of the - nation wishes to maintain it, has sworn to defend it with its blood, - and has welcomed joyfully the war which promises to assure it. The - minority, however, sustained by its hopes, has united all its forces - to overthrow it. Hence this internal struggle against the laws, this - anarchy over which good citizens groan, and of which the wicked take - advantage to heap calumny on the new régime. Hence this discord - which has been excited everywhere, for nowhere is there - indifference. The triumph or the overthrow of the constitution is - desired; everywhere people are eager to sustain it or to change it. - I shall refrain from examining it, and consider simply what - circumstances demand; taking as impersonal attitude as possible, I - shall consider what we can expect and what it is best to do. - - “Your Majesty enjoyed great privileges which you believed belonged - to royalty. Brought up in the idea of preserving them, you could not - see them taken from you with pleasure; your desire to recover them - was as natural as your regret at seeing them destroyed. These - sentiments, natural to the human heart, must have entered into the - calculation of the enemies of the Revolution. They counted then on - secret favor, until such times as circumstances permitted open - protection. This disposition could not escape the nation itself, and - it has been driven to defiance. Your Majesty has been constantly - between two alternatives: yielding to your prejudices, to your - private preferences, or making sacrifices dictated by philosophy and - demanded by necessity; that is, either emboldening the rebels by - disturbing the nation; or quieting the nation by uniting with her. - Everything has its course, and this uncertainty must end soon. - - “Does Your Majesty ally yourself openly to-day with those who are - pretending to reform the constitution? Are you going generously to - devote yourself without reserve to its triumph? Such is the true - question, and the present state of things makes a solution - necessary. - - “As for the very metaphysical question, are the French ripe for - liberty, the discussion is of no importance here; it is not a - question of judging what we shall be in a century, but of seeing of - what the present generation is capable. - - “The Declaration of Rights has become a political gospel, and the - French Constitution, a religion for which the people are ready to - die. Already violence has sometimes supplanted the law. When the law - has not been sufficiently vigorous to meet the situation, the - citizens have taken things in their own hands. This is why the - property of the _émigrés_, or persons of their party, has been - exposed to pillage. This is why so many departments have been forced - to punish severely the priests whom public opinion had proscribed, - and who otherwise would have become its victims. - - “In the shock of interests, passion has controlled. The country is - not a word that the imagination amuses itself in embellishing; it is - a being for whom one makes sacrifices, to whom one becomes attached - according to the suffering that it causes, who has been created by - great effort, and raised up in the midst of disturbances, and who is - loved for what it has cost as well as for what it promises. Every - attack made upon it inflames enthusiasm for it. - - “To what point is this enthusiasm going to rise when the enemy’s - forces, united without, intrigue with those within to deal it the - most fatal blows? - -[Illustration: - - MADAME ROLAND. - - From a painting by an unknown artist in the Musée Carnavalet. -] - - “The excitement is extreme in all parts of the Empire; unless - confidence in the intentions of Your Majesty calm it, it will burst - forth in terrible fury. Such confidence can never be based on - professions; it must have facts. - - “It is evident to the French nation that the constitution will work; - that the government will have the necessary strength the moment that - Your Majesty sincerely desires the triumph of the constitution, - sustains the legislative corps with all your executive power, and - takes away every pretext for uneasiness from the people and every - hope from the discontented. - - “For example, two important decrees have been passed; both concern - the tranquillity and the safety of the State. A delay to sanction - them awakens defiance; if it is prolonged, it will cause discontent; - and, it is my duty to say it, in the present state of excitement - discontent may lead to the worst. - - “There is no longer time to hesitate; there is no longer any way of - temporizing. The Revolution has been accomplished in the minds of - the people; it will be finished at the price of blood if wisdom does - not forestall the evils that it is still possible to avoid. - - “I know that it is imagined that anything can be done by extreme - measures; but when force shall have been used to constrain the - Assembly, terror spread throughout Paris, and disunion and stupor in - the suburbs, the whole of France will rise in indignation, and, - throwing herself into a civil war, will develop that sombre energy - always so fatal to those who have provoked it. - - “The safety of the State and the happiness of Your Majesty are - intimately allied; no power can separate them; cruel anguish and - certain misfortune will surround your throne, if you yourself do not - found it on the constitution and if it is not strengthened by the - peace which it ought to bring us. - - “Thus the disposition of the popular mind, the course of events, the - reason of politics, the interest of Your Majesty, make it - indispensable that you unite with the legislative corps and carry - out the desire of the nation; that which principle shows to be a - duty, the present situation makes a necessity.... You have been - cruelly deceived, Sire, by those who have sought to separate you - from your people. It is by perpetually disturbing you that they have - driven you into a course of conduct which has caused alarm. Let the - people see that you are determined to carry out the constitution - upon which they feel that their happiness depends, and you will soon - become the object of their gratitude. - - “The conduct of the priests in many places, the pretext which - fanaticism has given the discontented, have led to a wise law - against these agitators. Will not Your Majesty give it your - sanction? Public peace demands it. The safety of the priests depends - upon it. If this law does not go into force, the departments will be - forced to substitute violent measures for it, as they are doing on - all sides; and the irritated people will make up for it by their - excesses. - - “The attempts of our enemies, the disturbances in the capital, the - great unrest which the conduct of your guard has excited, the - situation of Paris,—all make a camp in this neighborhood necessary. - This measure, whose wisdom and urgency are recognised by all good - citizens, is waiting for nothing but the sanction of Your Majesty. - Why is it that you delay when promptness would win all hearts? - Already the efforts of the staff of the National Guard of Paris - against this measure have awakened the suspicion that it was - inspired by superior influence; already the declamations of certain - demagogues awaken suspicions of their relations with those - interested in overthrowing the constitution; already the intentions - of Your Majesty are compromised; a little more delay, and the people - will see in their King the friend and the accomplice of the - conspirators! - - “Just Heaven! have you struck the powers of the earth with - blindness? will they never have other counsels than those which - bring about their ruin? - - “I know that the austere language of virtue is rarely welcomed by - the throne; I know also that it is because it is so rarely heard - there, that revolutions are necessary; I know above all that it is - my duty to use it to Your Majesty, not only as a citizen, obedient - to law, but as a minister honored by your confidence and fulfilling - the functions which it supposes; and I know nothing which can - prevent me from fulfilling a duty which is on my conscience. - - “It is in the same spirit that I repeat what I have already said to - Your Majesty on the obligation and the utility of carrying out the - law which provides for a secretary in the Council. The simple - existence of this law speaks so powerfully that it seems as if its - execution would follow without delay; it is a matter of great - importance to employ all possible means to preserve in our - deliberations the necessary gravity, wisdom, and maturity; moreover, - for the ministers, some means of verifying their expressions is - necessary. If such existed, I should not be addressing myself in - writing at this moment to Your Majesty. - - “Life is nothing to the man who regards his duties as higher than - everything else; after the happiness of having fulfilled them, the - greatest good that he can know is that he has discharged them with - fidelity; and to do that is an obligation for the public man. - - (Signed.) ROLAND. - - “10 June, 1792. Year IV. of Liberty.” - -Roland sent this letter to the King on June 11th, although he had had -the idea of reading it to the Council the day before, but there was no -opportunity, so says Madame Roland in her Memoirs. According to -Dumouriez, the letter was sent earlier; for he relates that Roland read -the letter at the Council, and that when he had finished it the King -remarked with _sang-froid_: “M. Roland, it was three days ago that you -sent me your letter. It was useless to read it to the Council if it was -to remain a secret between us two.” - -This letter was the climax to the irritating policy which the Gironde -ministers had been pursuing with Louis, and he decided to dismiss them. - -Servan received his discharge first. “Congratulate me,” he cried when he -saw Madame Roland. “I have been put out.” - -“I am piqued,” she replied, “that you are the first to have that honor, -but I hope it will not be long before it is accorded to my husband.” It -was not, for on the 13th Roland followed Servan. He hurried home to tell -his wife. - -“There is only one thing to do,” she cried with vivacity: “it is to be -the first to announce it to the Assembly, sending along a copy of the -letter to the King.” - -The idea was put into effect at once. They were convinced that both -“usefulness and glory” would result. - -If this letter to the King began, as Dumouriez says, with a promise of -secrecy, then to send it to the Assembly was, considering the position -Roland occupied and the oath he had taken, a most disloyal act. But did -it begin so? Madame Roland does not speak of such a promise in her -Memoirs. The report of the letter given in the _Moniteur_ contains no -such opening phrase, though naturally Roland would have cut it out in -sending the document to the Assembly. Many of the memoirs and newspapers -of the day, however, either quote the promise or assume that the letter -was private. - -Dumont, in writing of Madame Roland, says that the greatest reproach -that could be made upon her conduct during the Revolution was persuading -her husband to publish this letter, which commenced, according to him: -“Sire, this letter will never be known save to you and me.” - -Mathieu Dumas says in his _Souvenirs_ that it was confidential, and -declares that it was read in the Council in the presence of the King, -“although the minister had promised to keep it a secret between himself -and His Majesty.” Of the presentation to the Assembly he adds: “It was a -new violation of the secret that the minister had imposed upon himself. -After his retreat propriety made the obligation of secrecy much more -rigorous.” - -The _Guardian of the Constitution_ of June 16th called the letter -“criminal” and its reading sufficient cause for delivering Roland to the -public prosecutor. Among the pamphlets which the publication of the -letter called forth was an anonymous one, in which the author told the -minister that he was under the greater obligation to keep the secret, as -he had promised, because the letter was an attempt to regulate the -King’s private conduct and because it insinuated that His Majesty -intended to betray the constitution. - -The result Madame Roland had foreseen, followed the presentation of the -letter to the Assembly. The reading was interrupted frequently by -applause, and it was ordered printed and distributed throughout the -eighty-three departments. - -“Usefulness and glory” were attained. The Rolands were convinced that -the letter would enlighten France; that it would serve as the shock -necessary to start the movement which would crush the remnants of -monarchical authority. Madame Roland retired to the Rue de la Harpe more -jubilant than she had entered the Hôtel of the Interior. She had not -been proud of their appointment to the ministry; she was of their -dismissal. - -What she and her friends expected would follow the dismissal of the -Girondin ministers, was a popular uprising, forcing the King to -reinstate them. The disturbance did not come of itself, and they set -about to prepare one—the artificial and abortive riot of the 20th of -June. On this date fell the anniversary of the oath of the Tennis Court, -and the citizens of the faubourgs Saint Antoine and Saint Marcel had -asked permission to celebrate it by presenting petitions to the Assembly -and to the King, and planting a tree of liberty. In the effervescence of -public spirit such a demonstration might easily be turned into a riot, -and there was opposition to it from the authorities; however, the -Gironde succeeded in securing the permission. - -On the 20th, the petitioners assembled, a motley crowd of men, women, -and children, armed and carrying banners, and marched to the Assembly, -where they demanded admission. It was against the law, but Vergniaud and -Guadet contended that it should be granted. It was, and eight thousand -persons filed through the hall. - -From the Assembly they pressed to the palace of the King, broke down the -doors, invaded the rooms, surrounded Louis XVI., put the red cap on his -head, but they did not strike. There was no popular fury. There were -cries of _Sanction the decrees_, _Recall the patriotic ministers_, _Away -with the priests_, _Choose between Coblentz or Paris_, but there were no -blows. For the people, the affair was simply a species of Mardi-gras, -and when they were tired of gazing at the splendors of the palace and at -the poor King, who, fearless and patient, let them surge about him, they -retired. The King was still king, the decrees were not signed, the -ministers were not recalled. Said Prudhomme in his report of the day: -“Paris is in consternation, but it is at seeing that this day has not -had the effect that the friends of liberty promised themselves.” - -The reaction was terrific. Lafayette left his army and hurried to Paris -to protest before the Assembly and to demand measures against the -Jacobins. The Feuillants rallied their friends for a desperate effort. -The Court—openly contra-revolutionary now—worked with the _émigrés_ to -make a _coup_ which would sweep out entirely the new régime. - -The patriots were not idle. In their supreme last struggle, never did -Girondin eloquence and intrigue run higher. The open contra-revolutions -in Paris and the foreign enemies now each day nearer the city were -reasons enough for action. By a burst of magnificent eloquence Vergniaud -secured a vote from the Assembly that the country was in danger, and a -call upon France to enlist for its defence. A movement of superb -patriotism followed the declaration. Here was an unmistakable enemy. -Vague alarms were at an end. The foreigners were actually approaching -the capital, and anybody could understand that they were not wanted. The -irritated, harassed country opened its heart and poured out its -blood,—young and old, weak and strong, even women and girls, offered -themselves. - -But this was a movement against foreign invasion—not against the -remnants of monarchical authority. The result looked uncertain. -Consternation and despair seized the Rolands. They foresaw the triumph -of the Court, the hope of a republic lost, and they calculated on what -course the patriots ought to pursue if the _émigrés_ and their allies -reached Paris and combined with the Court to restore the old régime. - -Walking one day in the Champs-Élysées with Lanthenas, Roland met two -Southerners who were in Paris on a commission from their department. -Their names were Barbaroux and Rebecqui. Since the opening of the -Revolution they had been active in the cause of the patriots in -Marseilles, Arles, and Avignon. The overthrow of the Girondin ministry -had alarmed them. Roland’s letter to the King had inspired them with -warm admiration for his courage and patriotism. - -Like all the young blood of the country, they were planning action -against the dangers which threatened. Their plans were well advanced -when they met Lanthenas and Roland. The latter wished to discuss the -situation seriously with them, and the next day Barbaroux went to the -Rue de la Harpe. Madame Roland was with the ex-minister, and the three -were not long in understanding each other. Barbaroux soon won their -confidence by his enthusiasm and eloquence. He was young, but -twenty-five, and of a beauty that won him the name of Antinoüs from -Madame Roland. He was animated, too, by a fiery scorn of “tyrants,” -“courts,” and “kings,” as unbelieving as Madame Roland in the sincerity -of any party outside his own, profoundly convinced of his call to -reverse the monarchy, and already with a record of services rendered to -the Revolution. The Rolands found him “active, laborious, frank, and -brave,” and they opened their hearts to him on the means of saving -France. - -“Liberty is lost,” cried Roland, “if the plots of the courts are not -immediately checked. Lafayette is meditating treason in the North. The -army of the centre is disorganized, in want of munitions, and cannot -stand against the enemy. There is nothing to prevent the Austrians being -in Paris in six weeks. Have we worked for three years for the grandest -of revolutions only to see it overthrown in a day? If liberty dies in -France, it is forever lost to the rest of the world. All the hopes of -philosophy are deceived. The most cruel tyranny will reign upon the -earth. Let us prevent this disaster. Let us arm Paris and the -departments of the North. If they fail, let us carry the statue of -liberty to the South. Let us found somewhere a colony of independent -men.” - -His words were broken by sobs. Madame Roland and Barbaroux wept with -him. Rapidly then the young man sketched his plan. It was Roland’s own. -Arm Paris; if that failed, seize the South. - -A map was brought out and they traced the natural boundaries of the new -State. The Vosges, the Jura, the Loire, and a vast plain between -mountains and river divide France. The plain they would take for a camp; -the river and mountains could be easily defended. If this position was -lost, there was a second boundary; on the east, the Doubs, the Ain, the -Rhone; on the west, the Vienne, the Dordogne; in the centre, the rocks -and rivers of Limoges. Farther still was Auvergne, the mountains of -Velay, the Cévennes, the Alps, Toulon. “And if all these points were -forced, Corsica remained,—Corsica where Genovese and French had not been -able to naturalize tyranny.” - -As they traced the boundaries, they devised plans for fortifications and -for mobilizing the army, but they concluded their council by the -decision that a final effort must be made to save Paris. There must be -another revolt if possible; the King must be deposed and a convention -called which would give France entire a republic. Barbaroux was ready -with a plan to help bring this about and he left them, promising to -bring a battalion and two pieces of cannon from Marseilles. - -They understood that it was an insurrection that he meant to prepare, -but they did not hesitate. All the violence, excess, passion, fear of -Paris must be excited this time; there must not be another 20th of June; -the stick must come out of the wheel now or never; and indifferent to -the possibility that the passion they proposed to use might assert its -right to help rule if it helped create, confident in the sufficiency of -their theory and of themselves, they awaited the promised insurrection. - -But not all of their friends were so serene. Several members of the -party had begun to realize the force of the popular fury they had been -arousing. They began to feel nervous at the prospect in Paris of the -horde of Marseillais Barbaroux had called. The bloodthirstiness of the -Cordeliers clubs began to revolt them. They were forced to admit that -Marat’s journal was more influential than their own. They saw, too, a -threatening thing—hitherto the insurrectionary element had been more or -less chaotic, it was now well organized and it had at its head a man -whom they feared, Danton. What if the mob should refuse to retire after -the overthrow of the King? Would anarchy be an improvement on monarchy? -Would a _sans-culotte_ be a more enlightened administrator than an -aristocrat? - -Vergniaud, Guadet, and Gensonné tried to frighten Louis XVI. into -recalling the ministers by telling him how formidable the threatened -insurrection appeared to them to be, and by assuring him that it might -be avoided by restoring the Girondins. Brissot in the Assembly denounced -“the faction of regicides, which wishes to create a dictator and -establish a republic.” He declared that men who were working to -establish a republic on the debris of the constitution were worthy to be -“smitten by the sword of the law.” If the King was guilty he should not -be deposed in haste, but a commission should be appointed to investigate -the affair thoroughly. Pétion, who, as mayor, had aided in bringing -about the 20th of June, became frightened, and counselled calm. - -But this sudden change could effect nothing now. It was too late for the -Girondins to do anything but join with the Jacobins, making a pretence -to leadership, although already feeling it slipping from them. - -Towards the end of July the allied force summoned France to lay down her -arms. Suspicion was at its height. Excitement and disorder were -increased by the arrival of the Marseillais on July 30th. Either the -allies would reach Paris and save the Court, or Paris must lay hands on -the Court and go out and subdue the allies. There was no certainty of -which it would be. At heart every faction was fearful. The King, the -Court, Lafayette, the allies, the _émigrés_, the Feuillants, Girondins, -Jacobins, Cordeliers, faubourgs, all hesitated. Something was coming. -What was it? There is no period of the Revolution of such awful tension -as this,—the months between the fall of the Gironde ministry and the -10th of August. - -In this exciting period it was the party of insurrection which organized -most thoroughly and most intelligently. The leaders who had taken this -organization upon themselves were Barbaroux, Danton, Camille Desmoulins, -Santerre. They worked through municipal organizations, which, instituted -since the Revolution, were turbulent, impetuous, fierce; these were the -forty-eight sections into which Paris had been divided, and in nearly -all of which the officials were sympathizers with insurrectionary -methods of getting what they wanted. Under the influence of the cry the -_Country is in danger, Paris must act_, the sections had aroused the -people within their limits. During the first days of August, frequent -reunions were held in the Place de la Bastille, at which the most -alarming rumors of the treachery of the King and the approach of the -enemy were circulated. These sections sent deputations to the Assembly -with incendiary addresses. They patrolled the Tuileries lest the -_executive power escape_, they said in unintentional irony. They -fraternized with the Marseillais, over whom the enthusiasm in -revolutionary circles was constant. They swore repeatedly in their -gatherings to save the country. - -By the 9th of August, the populace was in a tumult of alarm and of -exaltation. They were persuaded that they were the providence of France, -and they believed every man who did not join them was a traitor. It had -taken a long time to work up the sections of Paris to the united effort -which Madame Roland had demanded from them in 1789, but it was done at -last, and they were as convinced of the falsity of everybody but -themselves, and of their own call to save the country, as ever Madame -Roland herself had been. - -The 9th of August the ferment was perfect, and the order was given for -sounding the tocsin. At that moment the sections decided that three -commissioners should be appointed in each quarter of Paris to unite with -the Commune, with full powers to devise prompt means of saving the -country. The insurrectionary force thus had a legal representation. This -representation received at the Hôtel de Ville by the regular municipal -council, on evening of August 9th, had before morning superseded it, and -was the governing force of Paris. It was a transfer of power, probably -with the acquiescence of the legal municipality, glad to escape from the -turmoil of things. The new body, to be known as the Commune, was -composed of men almost without exception unknown outside of their -neighborhoods, and there only for agitation and violence. - -While the new Commune was settling itself at the Hôtel de Ville, the -populace it represented was in motion. The force with which the Court -and constitutional party attempted to control the movement was -insufficient, and in part unreliable. In a few hours the leaders of the -opposing force had been disposed; Mandat, the commander of the National -Guards, had been murdered; Pétion had been “chained by ribbons to his -wife’s side”; Louis XVI. and his family had taken refuge in the -Assembly; the Swiss guards, who had attempted to defend the château, had -been ordered by the King to retire to their barracks, and had been -murdered as they went; the château had been invaded. - -The mob filled not only the Tuileries, but the _Manège_ where the -Assembly sat. That body, composed the 10th of August of Girondins and -Jacobins alone, the constitutionals absenting themselves, found itself -under the pressure of a new force,—the populace. They had worked for -fifty days to arouse it. They had allowed it to organize itself. They -had permitted it to do the work of the day. But what were they going to -do with it now? Could they use it? Was there not a possibility that it -may use them? In any case, the objects for which the insurrection had -been prepared must be attained and the suspension of Louis XVI. was -voted; the Gironde ministers, Roland, Servan, and Clavière, were -returned, Danton, Monge, and Lebrun being added to them. - -Madame Roland’s policy had been carried out to the letter; the united -sections had acted; the King was out of the way; the patriots were in -power. - - - - - IX - DISILLUSION - - -Madame Roland’s plan had carried. Since the beginning of the Revolution -she had urged it. In 1789 when she called for “two illustrious heads,” -for “the united sections and not the Palais Royal”; throughout 1790 in -her demands for “blood, since there is nothing else to whip you and make -you go”; in her incessant preaching of civil war; in her remonstrances -in 1791 against the seizure of Marat’s sheets, against the arrest of the -turbulent, against shutting the doors of the Assembly on those who -prevented it doing its work; in the Hôtel of the Interior scoffing at -Roland’s weakness in believing in the sincerity of Louis XVI.; in urging -Servan to present his plan for a camp of twenty thousand soldiers around -Paris without the King’s knowledge; in writing the letter to the King -and in pushing Roland to present it to the Assembly; in encouraging -Barbaroux in his preparations for the 10th of August,—she had preached -the necessity and the wholesomeness of insurrection. - -Throughout this period there is not a word to show that she hesitated -about the wisdom of her demand. She was convinced, and never wavered. It -was her conviction which held Roland. It was her inspiration that fired -the Gironde. Now that the force that she had evoked was organized, -logically she must unite with it. - -Roland began his ministry consistently enough. Within twelve hours after -his appointment he had changed every one in his bureaux suspected of -sympathy with the constitution. He wrote immediately to the departments -describing the Revolution and sending copies of “all the laws and all -the pieces relative to the great discoveries of the 10th of August,” and -lest the people should not hear of them, he urged the curés and -officials to read them aloud whenever they could secure a gathering of -people. - -Everywhere in the departments he upheld the Jacobin party. Thus at Lyons -where the directory of Rhone-et-Sâone had been continually at war with -the municipality because of its moderation, the former body was deposed -and the latter put into power with the compliment that in all cases it -had maintained peace and tranquillity in spite of the fanaticism of the -enemies of the Revolution. Chalier, who came to Paris to represent the -municipality,—Chalier, who believed that calm could only be obtained in -Lyons by filling the streets with “impure blood” and who led in the -horrible massacres of the city,—was, through Roland’s influence, sent -home “with honors.” - -Never was Roland’s energy greater. He worked twenty hours out of -twenty-four, and even his four hours of repose were often interrupted. -By the 20th of August he was able to present the Assembly with a report -on the condition of France. In all his work he was logically in harmony -with the Second Revolution. - -But Roland soon found himself hindered in his activity by an important -part of the insurrectionary force which had produced the 10th of -August,—the Commune of Paris. The commissioners who had been sent to the -Town Hall the night of the 9th, with orders from their sections to -devise means to save the country, had refused to go away; large numbers -of violent Jacobins had joined the body, among them Robespierre and -Marat. The regular municipality had disappeared. - -The Commune believed that there was more need of it now than ever. The -passions which had been excited to call it into being were more -violently agitated than ever. The body felt, and rightly, that only the -greatest vigilance would preserve what had been gained on the 10th of -August; for now, as never before, the aristocratic and constitutional -part of France was against the Jacobin element; now more than ever the -allied powers felt that it was the business of kings to reinstate Louis -XVI. The Commune understood the force against it, saw that only -audacious and intrepid action would conquer it, and went to work with -awful energy to “save the country.” - -The tocsin was set a-ringing: the conservative printing offices were -raided; passports were suspended; barriers were put up; those who had -protested against recent patriotic measures were declared unfit for -duty; the royal family was confined in the Temple; lists of “suspects” -were made out; houses were visited at night to surprise plots, seize -suspected persons, examine papers, and search for firearms; a criminal -court of commissioners from the sections was chosen; the guillotine was -set up in the Carrousel. So much for the interior. To meet the enemy -without they seized horses and ammunition, set up stands where -volunteers could be enrolled, put every able-bodied man in Paris under -marching orders. All of this with a speed, a resolution, a savage sort -of fury which terrified the aristocrats, inflamed the populace, rejoiced -Marat, and alarmed the Assembly. - -From the first Roland found himself in conflict with this new body. He -was the law now, and they were called to act above all law. They had a -reason, the same that he had held for many months,—the divine right of -taking things into your own hands and compelling people to be -regenerated according to your notion. But Roland had reached the point -where all the essentials in his scheme of regeneration had been -gained—the Commune had not. Suddenly he who had been the vigorous -champion of revolutions for removing sticks from government wheels, -found himself the “stick in the wheel.” If he demanded information of -the Commune, he did not receive it. If he complained of its -irregularities, he was called a traitor. If he called attention to the -law, he was ignored. All through August Roland and the Commune continued -to irritate and antagonize one another. - -There was one man through whom they might have been reconciled,—Danton, -he who, with Robespierre and Marat, formed the triumvirate of the new -party of Terror. Danton represented the insurrectionary idea in the -ministry and it was through him alone that Roland and the Gironde might -have worked with the Commune. - -But from the first Madame Roland would have nothing to do with Danton. -When it was announced to her that he had been chosen to the ministry, -she told her friends: “It is a great pity that the Council should be -spoiled by this Danton, who has so bad a reputation.” They told her that -he had been useful to the Revolution; that the people loved him; that it -was no time to make enemies; that he must be used as he was. She could -do nothing to keep him out, but she was not convinced of the wisdom of -the choice. - -He sought her at once; for after the suspension of the King, Danton -never ceased to repeat that the safety of France lay in union,—in an -effort of all parties against the foreign invaders. “The enemy is at our -door and we rend one another. Will all our quarrels kill a Prussian?” -was his incessant warning. Few days passed that he did not drop into the -Hôtel of the Interior; now it was for the Council meeting, to which he -came early, hunting her up in her little salon for a chat before the -meeting began: again he dropped in on the days she was unaccustomed to -receive, begging a cup of tea before he went to the Assembly. Fabre -d’Eglantine often accompanied him. It was not a warm welcome they -received. They talked to her of patriotism, and she replied in a tone of -superiority and with a tinge of suspicion which was evident enough to -Danton and his colleague and could not fail to irritate them. She gave -them to understand that she saw through them, that she felt herself -incorruptible, and that no consideration would induce her to unite with -an element she suspected. - -Danton soon realized her inflexibility and before the end of August he -had ceased his visits. Madame Roland had refused the only mediator -between Gironde and Mountain, and in so doing had lighted another -interior blaze. She was too intelligent a woman for one to suppose that -she did not see the danger in further disunion. Why then for the -Republic’s sake, for humanity’s sake, did she not unite with him? - -The only reason she gives is the physical repugnance that Danton -inspired in her. She confessed that no one could have shown more zeal, a -greater love of liberty, a livelier desire to come to an understanding -for the sake of the public cause, than he. Certainly she had based her -judgments thus far in the Revolution on such indications, but Danton was -of a different nature from the men who surrounded her. A volcanic animal -tremendous in passions as in energy, in intellect, in influence. She -says that never did a face seem to her to show brutal passion so -perfectly. Her imagination had been awakened. All her life she had been -the plaything of this imagination, and every face that came under her -eyes had been read, its owner’s character analyzed and his rôle in life -assigned. Danton she figured poniard in hand, exciting by voice and -gesture a troup of assassins more timid or less bloodthirsty than he. -She could not conquer the effect of this vision and for this reason she -refused his proffer of reconciliation. - -Had Danton offended her by some coarse familiarity? The best reason for -rejecting this explanation of her dislike is that she says nothing about -it. If an unwarranted gallantry had ever occurred, we may be positive -that she would not have kept it to herself. The “confessions” of her -Memoirs make such an interpretation impossible; even her friend -Lanthenas was not spared on this score. It is impossible to suppose that -Danton would have been. - -For the first time, Madame Roland found herself face to face with a man -who was an embodiment of the insurrectionary spirit. Hitherto that -spirit had been an ideal, a theory, an unseen but powerful force which -was necessary to accomplish what she wanted. Personally she had never -come in contact with it. She had idealized it as an avenging spirit, -“terrible but glorious,” cruel but just, awful but divine. That this -force had an end to reach, a personal ambition to satisfy, an ideal to -attain, that it might come into conflict with her, she had not -calculated. In her plan it was simply an avenging fire which she could -use, and which, when she had had enough of it, she could snuff out. - -But now she saw an insurrection as a bald fact. Danton was a positive, -living incarnation of her doctrine. Instead of rhapsodizing over the -“divine right of insurrection,” he organized the slums into brigades; -instead of talking about Utopia, he gave the populace pikes and showed -them how to use them. His policy was one of action. It was a fearful -bloody policy, but it was definite and practical, and a logical result -of what Madame Roland had been preaching. - -The revolt she experienced against Danton’s brutality made her unwilling -that the insurrectionary force should be longer recognized. She suddenly -became conservative, as the radical who has gotten what he wants always -must. She was jealous, too, for her party. They were the patriots, and -they must be the ruling element in the new government. It would be a -shame to share their power with so terrible a Hydra. It was but a little -time before Roland under her influence was at cross-purposes with Danton -in the Council. Roland was destined to run athwart a more relentless and -savage enemy than Danton could ever be,—Marat, _l’Ami du Peuple_; that -Marat the destruction of whose journal by the “satellites of Lafayette” -Madame Roland had complained of but a year ago. The most violent and -uncontrolled type of the Revolutionary fury, Marat had won his following -by his daring _l’Ami du Peuple_, where in turn he had bombarded every -personality of the Revolution who seemed to him to favor anything but -absolute equality, who worked to preserve any vestige of the old régime, -or who hesitated at any extreme of terrorism. In the spring of 1792, the -“Brissotine faction” had been his target. His complaint against it was -the making of the war. Roland he had practically ignored, for until now -Roland had been the defender of Marat’s methods. - -The 11th of August Marat had had his people carry off from the national -printing office four presses,—his due, he claimed, for those that the -old régime had confiscated. It was a bit of lawlessness that Roland felt -he should rebuke. It was a first point against the minister. Soon after -the Department of the Interior received a large amount of money for -printing useful matter. Marat considered his productions of the highest -importance to the country. He asked for fifteen thousand livres. Roland -replied wisely that it was too large a sum for him to give without -knowledge of the object to which it was to be put, but that if Marat -would send him his manuscripts he would submit them to a council to see -if they were suitable to be published at the expense of the nation. But -this was questioning the purity of Marat’s patriotism, submitting to -scrutiny the spokesman of the people, and Marat was angry. He felt, as -Roland had since the beginning of the Revolution, that the right to cry -out against all that he suspected, and to voice all the terrors that -swarmed in his head, was unlimited and divine. - -Thus Roland had antagonized the Commune, Danton, and Marat, before the -September massacres, but he had done nothing to show the public that he -would not support their policy. On the second day of the massacres, -however, acting on the advice of Madame Roland, he put himself in open -conflict with them. - -It was on the second day of September that the riot began. Revolted by -the barbarity of the slaughter, stung by the insult offered them in a -raid on their hôtel, half-conscious, too, that they must do something or -their power would slip from them, they determined on the 3d, that Roland -should protest to the Assembly against the massacre. But to protest was -to put himself in antagonism with the Commune, with Robespierre, Marat, -Danton. It was to make himself forever a suspect, to take his life in -his hand. But that was immaterial to Roland and to his wife. To die was -part of the Gironde programme, and they were all of them serenely -indifferent to death if they could only serve the public by dying. -Roland wrote a letter to the Assembly, which is an admirable specimen of -the way in which he applied theories to situations which needed arms and -soldiers—a letter of platitude and generalities. He called attention to -the danger of disorganization becoming a habit; explained where power -legally belonged, and what the duties of the people were in -circumstances like those they then faced. As for the massacre, he said: -“Yesterday was a day over whose events it is perhaps necessary to draw a -veil. I know that the people, terrible in vengeance, showed a kind of -justice. They do not seize as victims all who fall in their way. They -take those whom they believe to have been too long spared by the law, -and whom they are persuaded in the peril of the moment should be -sacrificed without delay. But I know that it is easy for agitators and -traitors to abuse this effervescence, and that it must be stopped. I -know that we owe to all France the declaration that the executive power -was unable to foresee and prevent these excesses. I know that it is the -duty of the authorities to put a stop to them or to consider themselves -crushed. I know, further, that this declaration exposes me to the rage -of certain agitators. Very well, let them take my life. I desire to save -it only to use it for liberty, for equality.” - -These were bold words considering the situation. They were an open -defiance to the Mountain. They showed that the Minister of the Interior, -hitherto the enemy of the party of Order, had put himself at the head of -that party; that he had suddenly determined that he was going to snuff -out the candle he had gone to so much pains to light. He did not -consider it a serious task. It was only a question of appealing to the -people. “The docile people at the voice of their legislators will soon -feel that they must honor their own work and obey their -representatives.” - -The next day, September 4th, Roland wrote to the commander general of -the National Guard, Santerre, to employ all the forces that the law gave -him to prevent that either persons or property be violated. He sent him -a copy of the law and declared that he threw the responsibility of all -future disorder on Santerre. It was fully two days after this however, -before the massacre was stopped. - -Before the end the revolt of the Rolands was complete and terrible. -They, with the Gironde, were, indeed, very much in the position of -keepers of wild beasts, who, to clear their gardens of troublesome -visitors, let loose the animals. The intruders are driven out, but when -they would whistle in their beasts they find themselves obliged to flee -or to be torn in pieces in turn. “We are under the knife of Robespierre -and Marat,” Madame Roland wrote on the 5th of September, and a few days -later: - -“Marat posts every day the most frightful denunciations against the -Assembly and the Council. You will see both sacrificed. You will believe -that is possible only when you see it done, and then you will groan in -vain over it. My _friend_ Danton directs everything, Robespierre is his -mannikin, Marat holds his torch and his knife; this fierce tribune -reigns and we are only waiting to become its victims. If you knew the -frightful details of this affair,—women brutally violated before being -torn to pieces by these tigers, intestines cut off and worn as ribbons, -bleeding human flesh eaten.... You know my enthusiasm for the -Revolution. Well, I am ashamed of it. It is stained by these wretches. -It is become hideous. It is debasing to remain in office.” - -She had begun to experience one of the saddest disillusions of life,—the -loss of faith in her own undertaking, to see that the thing she had -worked to create was a monster, that it must be throttled, that it was -too horrible to live. - -The massacre was scarcely ended before Marat attacked Roland. He called -him a traitor trying to paralyze the means necessary to save the -country; his letter to the Assembly he stigmatized as a _chef-d’œuvre_ -of cunning and perfidy; he accused him of securing the nomination of as -many Brissotins as possible, of scattering gold by the handful to secure -what he wanted; again it was “opium” he was scattering to hide his -conspiracy with the traitors of the National Assembly. Madame Roland was -immediately brought to the front in Marat’s journal, he giving her the -credit of her husband’s administration. - -“Roland,” he says, “is only a _frère coupe-choux_ that his wife leads by -the ears. It is she who is the Minister of the Interior under the -direction of _L’Illuminé L’Anténas_, secret agent of the Guadet-Brissot -faction.” In the same number of his journal there is an article under -the heading “Bon mot à la femme Roland,” where she is accused of -squandering national funds and of having Marat’s posters pulled down. - -The quarrels between the various factions of the republicans were so -serious before the end of September that the best men of all parties saw -the imperative need of sacrificing all differences and antagonisms, in -order to combine solidly against the enemies of the new régime. - -Roland made overtures to Dumouriez, then at the head of the army, and -was welcomed. Danton did his best to persuade the Girondins to forget -the September massacres, and turn all their attention to protecting the -country. A portion of the party was ready to compromise, but others -refused; they were the circle about Madame Roland. Dumouriez, who came -to Paris after the important victory of Valmy in September, did his best -to reconcile her. In his judgment, “there was but one man who could -support the Gironde, save the King and his country,—that man was -Danton,” but he was unsuccessful in spite of his diplomacy. - -The experiences of September, the desperate condition of affairs, the -need of concentrating the entire force of the nation against the -invaders, the disorganization which was increasing on account of the -dissension among the patriots, the impotence of Roland, the power of the -Commune,—all seemed calculated to force Madame Roland to compromise with -the insurrectionary force as represented by Danton. That she would not -see the necessity of it, that she, so intelligent when she was -unprejudiced, so good a politician when she undertook a cause, should -refuse the only relation which could have enabled the Gironde to keep -the direction of the new government, was no doubt due partly to the fact -that she was at this time under the influence of the deepest passion of -her life. - -A woman in love is never a good politician. The sentiment she -experiences lifts her above all ordinary considerations. All relations -seem petty beside the supreme union which she desires. The object of her -passion becomes the standard for her feelings towards others. She is -revolted by natures which are in opposition to the one which is stirring -hers. The sentiments, the opinions, the course of action of her lover, -become personal matters with her. She is incapable of judging them -objectively. She defends them with the instinctive passion of the -animal, because they are _hers_. Intelligence has little or nothing to -do with this defence. Even if she be a cool-headed woman with a large -sense of humor and see that her championship is illogical, she cannot -give it up. - -[Illustration: - - Engraving of Buzot by Nargeot, after the portrait worn by Madame - Roland during her captivity. -] - -Madame Roland’s antipathy to Danton was intensified by her love for a -man who was in every way his opposite. The reserved, cold dignity of the -one made her despise the tempestuous oratory of the other. His ideals -and theories made Danton’s acts and riots more odious. His refinement -and melancholy put in insupportable contrast the brutality and joviality -of the great Commune leader. She could not see Danton’s importance to -the success of the Second Revolution, when absorbed in a personality so -different. All political tactics and compromises seemed to her -insignificant, trivial, unworthy in connection with her great passion. -Undoubtedly, too, she hoped to see her lover take a position in the new -legislature,—the Convention,—of which he was a member, which would make -the Gironde so strong that it would not need Danton. - - - - - X - BUZOT AND MADAME ROLAND - - -In the spring and summer of 1791, which the Rolands spent at the Hôtel -Britannique, they formed many relations which lasted throughout the -Revolution. In this number was a member of the Constitutional Assembly, -François-Nicolas-Léonard Buzot, a young man thirty-one years of age, -coming from Evreux, in Normandy. Buzot had had the typical Gironde -education, had been inspired by the Gironde heroes, and had adopted -their theories. - -Like Manon Phlipon at Paris, Vergniaud at Bordeaux, Barbaroux at -Marseilles, Charlotte Corday at Caen, Buzot had lived an intensely -sentimental life, nourishing himself on dreams of noble deeds and -relations; like them, he had become devoted to a theory of complete -regeneration; and like them, he had proudly flung himself into the -Revolution, aspiring, inexperienced, impassioned, and confident. - -Son of a member of the court of Evreux, Buzot became a lawyer in that -town, and took an active interest with the liberal and enlightened part -of the community in the political struggles of the Revolution. When the -notables were called together in 1787, he was elected one of them. He -aided in naming the deputies to the States-General, in preparing the -petition which the Third Estate sent to that body, and later was elected -a deputy. But his real political cares began in the Constituent -Assembly, where he sat with the extreme Left. His attitude towards the -confiscation of the property of the clergy is a specimen of his -radicalism at this period. “In my judgment,” he declared, -“ecclesiastical property belongs to the nation,” and this was at a -moment when the right of the clergy to hold property had not been -seriously questioned. - -When the Rolands came up to Paris in the spring of 1791, they found -Buzot allied with that part of the Assembly most sympathetic to them and -he supported, during the time they spent in the city, the measures which -they advocated. - -He lived near the Rolands, and soon became a constant visitor at the -house. His wife, an unattractive woman of no special intellectual cast, -was nevertheless amiable and sincere and the four fell into the habit of -visiting back and forth and of often going in company to call on Pétion -and Brissot. - -Madame Roland was more and more attracted by Buzot’s character as she -watched him in the little circle. He not only held the same theories as -she, but he developed them with ardor and a sort of penetrating and -persuasive eloquence which stirred her sympathetic, oratory-loving -nature. His courage was endless, and it was combined with a pride and -indifference to popular opinion, which harmonized with her notion that -the ideal was to be kept in sight rather than the practical means of -working towards it. His suspicion of others, even of some of their -associates, based as it was on sentiments of patriotism, struck her as -an evidence of unusual insight. - -Buzot had less of that gay versatility which annoyed her in many of her -circle, and which seemed to her inconsistent with the serious condition -of public affairs. His nature was grave and he looked at life with a -passionate earnestness which gave a permanent shade of melancholy to his -conduct and his thoughts. In affairs of great importance he became -tragic in his solemn concern. In lighter matters he was rather sober and -reflective. It was an attitude towards life which appealed deeply to -Madame Roland. - -The gentleness of Buzot’s character, the purity of his life, his -susceptibility to sentiment, the strength of his feelings, his love for -nature, his habit of revery, all touched her imagination and caused her -to select him from the circle at the Hôtel Britannique as one possessing -an especially just and sympathetic nature. - -When she left Paris, in the middle of September, 1791, she found the -parting with Buzot and his wife most trying. She was more deeply -attached to them than she knew. But if the two families were to be -separated, they were not to lose sight of each other. A correspondence -was arranged between them, which soon fell quite into the hands of -Madame Roland and Buzot, as the correspondence had done before between -the Rolands and other of their friends. Almost nothing remains of the -letters exchanged between them from the middle of September, 1791, when -she returned to Villefranche, and September, 1792, when Buzot went back -to Paris, a member of the Convention from Evreux, where he had been -acting as president of the civil court. - -But it is not necessary to have the letters to form a clear idea of what -they would be. Letters had always been a means of sentimental expansion -for Madame Roland. She wrote, as she felt, invariably in the eloquent -and glowing phrase which her emotion awakened; now with pathos and -longing, frequently with the real grace and playfulness which her more -spontaneous and natural moods caused. Her letters were invariably deeply -personal. It was her own life and feelings which permeated them, and it -was the sentiments, the interests, the tastes of her correspondent, -which she sought to draw out and to which she responded. An intimate and -sympathetic correspondence of this sort, even if the pretext for it and -the present topic of it is public affairs, as it was in this case, soon -takes a large part in a life. Close exchange of thought and sentiment, -complete and satisfactory, is, perhaps, the finest and truest, as it is -the rarest, experience possible between a man and a woman. When once -realized, it becomes infinitely precious. Madame Roland and Buzot poured -out to each other all their ambitions and dreams, their joys and their -sorrows, sure of perfect understanding. At this time the thoughts which -filled their minds were one, their emotions were one; both relied more -and more upon the correspondence for stimulus. - -To Buzot, harassed by petty criminal trials, and married to a woman who, -whatever her worth, could never be more to him than his housekeeper and -the mother of his children, this intimacy of thought, and hope, and -despair appeared like a realization of the perfect Platonic dream, and -Madame Roland became a sacred and glorified figure in his imagination. - -But if a man and woman carry on such a correspondence for a few months -and then are suddenly thrown into constant intercourse, their relation -becomes at once infinitely delicate. It is only experience, wisdom, -womanly tact, and an enormous force of self-renunciation which can -control such a situation and save the friendship. - -When Buzot and Madame Roland first met at the end of September, 1792, -she was ill prepared for resistance. The Revolution had suddenly -appeared to her fierce, bloody, desperate,—a thing to disown. She could -no longer see in it the divinity she had been worshipping. Her -disillusion had been terrible. The impotence and languor which follow -disillusion enfeebled her will, weakened her splendid enthusiasm, and -threatened to drive her to the conclusion that all effort is worthless. - -It must have been already evident to her that the men upon whom she -relied as leaders were inefficient. Roland, who had been the idol of the -people until since the installation of the Commune, was utterly -powerless to cope with the new force. She saw him reduced to defending -his actions, to answering criticisms on his honesty; she felt that he -was no longer necessary to the public cause; it was a humiliation to -her, and her interest in Roland lessened as his importance decreased. -Brissot had no influence; with a part of the Gironde, Vergniaud, -Gensonné, Guadet, she was not intimate; Robespierre was alienated; -Danton she had refused to work with. But in Buzot there was hope. He had -no record at Paris to hurt him. There were infinite possibilities in his -position in the new Convention. Why should he not become the leader of -the party, the spirit of the war between Gironde and Mountain, the -opponent of Danton, the incarnation of her ideals? The hope she had in -him as her spokesman, as a saviour of the situation, intensified the -interest she felt for him as a friend and comrade. - -Personally, too, apart from all public questions, Buzot attracted her. -His noble face, elegant manners, careful toilette, pleased her. She was -a woman to the tips of her fingers, and Buzot’s courtly air, his -deference to her, his attentions, flattered and satisfied her. She found -in him something of that “superiority,” that “purity of language,” that -“distinguished manner,” the absence of which she had regretted in the -patriots of the Constituent Assembly when she first came up to Paris. He -presented, too, a relief to Roland’s carelessness in dress, to his -indifference to conventionalities. This superiority was the more -attractive because it was in a man so young. Buzot’s youth explains -something of the ideality of the relation between them. A woman who -preserves her illusions, her enthusiasms, her sentiments, as Madame -Roland had, up to thirty-eight, rarely finds in a man much older than -herself the faith, the disinterestedness, the devotion to ideals, the -purity of life and thought which she demands. She is continually shocked -by his cynicism, his experience, his impersonal attitude, his -indifference. Life with him becomes practical and commonplace. It lacks -in hours of self-revelation, in an intimacy of all that she feels deep -and inspiring; there is no mystery in it—nothing of the unseen. But with -a young man of a character and nature like Buzot, she finds a response -to her noblest moods, her most elevated thoughts. - -A young man sees in a relation with a woman of such an elevation of -thought as Madame Roland the type of his dreams, the woman to whom -sentiments and ideals are of far more importance than amusement and -pleasure—the woman capable of great self-sacrifice for duty, of untiring -action for a noble cause, of comprehension of all that is best in him, -of brave resistance to temptation—and yet a woman to the last, dainty in -her love of beauty, flattered by his homage, untiring in her efforts to -please him, capable of a passion wide as the world. - -Buzot’s relation to Madame Roland must have been the dearer to her -because at the moment the intimacy which she had had with several of her -friends was waning. With Roland working twenty hours out of the -twenty-four, tormented by false accusations, conscious of his -helplessness, irritated by dyspepsia and over-work, there could have -been very little satisfactory personal intercourse. Their relation had -come to the point to which every intimate human relation must come, -where forbearance, charity, a bit of humorous cynicism, courage, -self-sacrifice, character, and nobility of heart must sustain it instead -of dreams, transports, passion. She was incapable of the effort. - -Bosc was an old friend and a loving one, but their friendship had -reached the stage where all has been said that could be, and while there -was the security and satisfaction in it which comes from all things to -which one is accustomed,—and it was necessary to her no doubt,—there was -no novelty, no possible future. - -Bancal was interested in a Miss Williams, and since he had made that -known to Madame Roland, she had been less expansive. No woman will long -give her best to a man who holds another woman dearer. - -Lanthenas, who had been for years their friend, to whom she had given -the title of “brother” and received in a free and frank intimacy, had -begun to withdraw his sympathy. - -When Buzot came to Paris, it was natural and inevitable that they should -see much of each other. All things considered, it was natural, -inevitable, perhaps, that love should come from their intimacy; but that -Madame Roland should have prevented the declaration of this love we have -a right to expect when we remember her opinions, her habit of -reflection, and, above all, her experience. - -Madame Roland had never accepted, other than theoretically, the idea -which at the end of the eighteenth century made hosts of advocates,—that -love is its own justification; that any civil or religious tie which -prevents one following the dictates of his heart is unnatural and wrong. -Nor did she accept for herself the practice then common in France, as it -is still, and as it must be so long as marriage remains a matter of -business, of keeping marriage ties for the sake of society, but of -finding satisfaction for the affections in _liaisons_ of which nobody -complains so long as they are _discreet_, to use the French -characterization. Her notions of duty, of devotion, of loyalty, were -those of the _Nouvelle Héloïse_ and allowed only marriage based on -affection and preserved with fidelity to the end. Her theory of life and -human relations would not allow her to be false to Roland. With such -opinions she could not allow Buzot to declare the affection he felt. - -Had she been an inexperienced woman, such a declaration might have come -naturally enough without any reproach for her; she would have been -unprepared for it. Madame Roland was not inexperienced. She knew all the -probability there was of Buzot loving her and she was too skilled in the -human heart to believe herself incapable of a new love. - -Already she had been absorbed by passions whose realization at the -moment had seemed necessary to her life. Her Platonic affection for -Sophie Cannet was of an intensity rarely equalled by the most ardent -love. For La Blancherie she had been ready to say that if she could not -marry him she would marry no one. Roland, before their marriage, she had -overwhelmed by her passion, and since she had followed him incessantly -with protestations of affection. Certainly she knew by this time that -impassioned love may grow cool and that the heart may recover its fire -and vehemence. - -Nor had all her experience been before her marriage. She had not the -excuse of those married women who suppose, in the simplicity of their -innocence and purity, that once married there is no deviation of -affection or loyalty possible, and who, when circumstances throw them -into relations where a new passion is awakened, are overpowered by shame -and surprise. - -Her relations with different ones of her friends after her marriage had -reached points which ought to have taught her serious lessons in -self-repression and in tact. Bosc, with whom she was in correspondence -from the time the Rolands left Paris for Amiens, became deeply attached -to her. Their relation seems to have become more tender during the time -that she spent in Paris seeking a title, and this quite naturally -because of the loss Bosc suffered then in the death of his father, and -because of the very practical aid she had given him in taking care of -his sister. Their correspondence, which, while she was at Amiens, was -gay and unrestrained, an ideal correspondence for two good friends and -comrades, later grew more delicate. Bosc was jealous and moody at times -and caused her uneasiness and sorrow. When they passed through Paris, on -their way to Villefranche, in September, 1784, he found at their meeting -some reason for discontent in their relation with a person he disliked, -and left them abruptly and angrily. - -The quarrel lasted some two months and was dismissed finally with good -sense by Madame Roland telling Bosc playfully, “Receive a sound boxing, -a hearty embrace, friendly and sincere—I am hungry for an old-fashioned -letter from you. Burn this and let us talk no more of our troubles.” - -After this whenever Bosc became too ardent in his letters, or inclined -to jealousy, she treated him in this half-playful, half-matronly style. -Her principle with him remained from the first to the last that there -could be between them no ignorance of the question of their duty. - -The experience with Bosc had taught her the strong probability that a -man admitted to such intimate relations would, at some period in the -friendship, fall more or less in love; and it had shown her, too, that -it is possible for a woman to control this delicate relation and insure -a healthy and inspiring relation. In short, Madame Roland had reason to -congratulate herself, as she did with her usual self-complacency, on her -wisdom and her tact in handling _l’ami_ Bosc. Whether she would not have -been less wise if she had been less in love with her husband, or Bosc -had been of a different nature, a little less dry and choleric, it is -not necessary to speculate here. - -She was quite as happy in directing her relations with Dr. Lanthenas, -whom it will be remembered Roland had picked up in Italy before their -marriage, who had come back with him, who had visited them often at -Amiens, and who had lived with them at Le Clos, where an apartment on -the first floor is still called Lanthenas’ room. He was associated in -all their planning, and in 1790, when Roland, disgusted with the turn -politics had taken, sighed for Pennsylvania, Lanthenas suggested that -the Rolands, and one of his friends at Paris, Bancal des Issarts, and he -himself should buy a piece of national property—the State had just -confiscated some millions’ worth of clerical estates and was selling -them cheap—and should establish together a community where they could -not fail to lead an existence ideal in its peace, its enthusiasm, its -growth. - -This Utopia was discussed at length in their letters, and several pieces -of property near Lyons and Clermont, where Bancal lived, were visited. -Roland was thoroughly taken with the idea, but Madame Roland, while she -saw all the advantages, discovered a possible danger. If she had been -able to resist the siege to her heart by Bosc and Lanthenas, even to win -them over as allies, her relation with Bancal des Issarts had taken -almost immediately a turn more serious for her. She was herself touched -and interested, and her policy when she felt her heart moved was most -questionable. Instead of concealing her feelings and mastering them, she -poured them out to Bancal himself in a way to excite his sympathy and to -inflame his passion. Indeed, the turn their correspondence took in a few -months reminds one forcibly of the letters of Manon Phlipon to M. Roland -in the days when, feeling herself moved by his attentions, she drew a -declaration out of him by portraying a state of heart which no man who -was as decidedly interested as Roland was, could resist. - -It was the new community which troubled her. Bancal had shown himself so -eager for it, she herself saw such a charm in it, that she became -alarmed. To a letter of Bancal’s, which we can suppose to have been -fervid, but which was not so much so that Roland was annoyed by it, it -being he who had received it and sent it on to her, she replied: “My -mind is busy with a thousand ideas, agitated by tumultuous sentiments. -Why is it that my eyes are blinded by constant tears? My will is firm, -my heart is pure, and yet I am not tranquil. ‘It will be the greatest -charm of our life and we shall be useful to our fellows,’ you say of the -affection which unites us, and these consoling words have not restored -my peace. I am not sure of your happiness and I should never forgive -myself for having disturbed it. I have believed that you were feeding it -on a hope that I ought to forbid. Who can foresee the effect of violent -agitations, too often renewed? Would they not be dangerous if they left -only that languor which weakens the moral being and which makes it -unequal to the situation? I am wrong. You do not experience this -unworthy alternative, you could never be weak. The idea of your strength -brings back mine. I shall know how to enjoy the happiness that Heaven -has allotted me, believing that it has not allowed me to trouble you.” - -She was quite conscious of her inconsistency, but with the feminine -propensity for finding an excuse for an indiscretion, she charged it on -the construction of society,—a construction which, it should be noted, -she had years ago convinced herself to be necessary, and which she had -repeatedly accepted, so that there was not the excuse for her that there -is for those who have never reflected that human laws and codes of -morals are simply the best possible arrangement thus far found for men -and women getting on together without a return to the savage state, and -have never made a tacit compact with themselves to be law-abiding -because they saw the reason for being so. - -“Why is it,” she writes, “that this sheet that I am writing you cannot -be sent to you openly? Why can one not show to all that which one would -dare offer to Divinity itself? Assuredly I can call upon Heaven, and -take it as a witness of my vow and of my intentions; I find pleasure in -thinking that it sees me, hears me, and judges me.... When shall we see -each other again? Question that I ask myself often, and that I dare not -answer.” - -Bancal went to Le Clos, and evidently, from passages in their subsequent -letters, there passed between them some scene of passion. - -Later, Bancal went to London to propagate the ideas of the patriots, but -Lanthenas and Roland became anxious that he return to Paris to help them -there. Madame Roland dared not advise him to return, though she could -not conceal her pleasure at the idea that he might, and that, too, after -she was again at Paris. - -“Do as you think best,” she wrote; “at any rate I shall not have the -false delicacy to conceal from you that I am going to Paris, and shall -even push my frankness to confessing that this circumstance adds much -to my scruples in writing you to return. There is, in this situation, -an infinite number of things which one feels but cannot explain, but -that which is very clear, and which I say frankly to you, is that I -wish never to see you bend to light considerations or to half -affections. Remember that if I need the happiness of my friends this -happiness is attached, for those who feel like us, to an absolute -_irreproachability_.” - -[Illustration: - - Inscription written by Madame Roland on the back of the portrait of - Buzot which she carried while in prison. -] - -It was by this constant return to the subject that she kept the relation -between herself and Bancal “interesting.” It was by holding up her -duty—the necessity of “virtue”—that she provoked him. It was the -“coquetry of virtue” which Dumouriez found in her. - -But when Madame Roland went up to Paris she found other interests, new -friends. Bancal received less attention, and he, occupied in making new -friends, gave less attention; gradually the personal tone dropped from -their letters, and by the fall of 1792 the correspondence had become -purely patriotic. The friendship became of still less moment to Madame -Roland when Bancal revealed to her his love for Miss Williams, a young -English girl who had been attracted to Paris by the Revolution, and -there had become associated with the Girondins. - -The affair with Bancal des Issarts proves Madame Roland to have had no -more discretion than an ordinary woman when her heart was engaged, and -drives one to the reluctant conclusion that in her case, as in the -majority of cases, she was saved from folly by circumstances. - -By experience and by reflection, then, she was armed. Indeed, on -whatever side we regard the revelation of her love to Buzot, she was -blamable save one—and that of importance. In the general dissolution of -old ideas, in the return, in theory, to the state of nature, which -intellectual France had made, every law of social life, as every law of -government, had been traced to its origin, and its reasonableness and -justice questioned in the light of pure theory. Marriage had come under -the general dissection. Love is a divine law, a higher wisdom. It is -unjust, unreasonable, unnatural, to separate those who love because of -any previous tie. It is the natural right of man to be happy. - -This opinion in the air had affected Madame Roland. She found it -“bizarre and cruel” that two people should be chained together whom -differences of age, of sentiment, of character, have rendered -incompatible; and although she would not consent to take advantage of -this theory and leave Roland, it justified her in loving Buzot and in -telling him so. - -It was not only the new ideas on love and marriage which influenced her. -In the chaos of laws, of usages, of ideas, of aspirations, of hopes in -which she found herself, there seemed nothing worth saving but this. The -Revolution was stained and horrible. Her friends were helpless, she -herself seemed to be no longer of any use,—why not seize the one last -chance of joy? When the efforts and enthusiasms of one’s youth suddenly -show themselves to be but illusions, and the end of life seems to be at -hand, can it be expected that human nature with its imperious demand for -happiness refuse the last chance offered? Remember, too, that never in -the world’s history had a class of people believed more completely in -the _right_ to happiness, never demanded it more fully. - -At all events Madame Roland and Buzot declared their love. But this was -not enough for her; she felt that she could not deceive Roland and she -told him that she loved Buzot, but that since it was her duty to stay -with him (Roland) she would do it, and that she would be faithful to her -marriage vows. All considerations of kindliness, of reserve, of womanly -tenderness, of honor, should have dictated to Madame Roland that if she -really had no intention of yielding to her love, as she certainly never -had, it was useless and cruel to torment Roland at his age, with failing -health, and in his desperate public position, with the story of her -passion. He loved her devotedly, and she had incessantly worked to -excite and deepen this love—to be told now that she loved another must -wound him in his deepest affections. But she had a sentimental need of -frankness. She loved expansion; she must open her heart to him. In doing -it she heaped upon the overburdened old man the heaviest load a heart -can carry, that of the desertion of its most trusted friend and -companion, and that after years of association and almost daily renewal -of vows of love and fidelity. - -Absorbed by her passion, she found it unreasonable and vexing that -Roland should take her confession to heart, that he did not rejoice over -her candor and accept her “sacrifice” with gratitude and tears. In her -Memoirs she says of Roland’s attitude towards the affair: - -“I honor and cherish my husband as a sensitive daughter adores a -virtuous father, to whom she would sacrifice even her lover; but I found -the man who might have been my lover, and while remaining faithful to my -duties, I was too artless to conceal my feelings. My husband, -excessively sensitive on account of his affection and his self-respect, -could not endure the idea of the least change in his empire; he grew -suspicious, his jealousy irritated me. Happiness fled from us. He adored -me, I sacrificed myself for him, and we were unhappy.” - -Such was the delicate and painful situation in which Madame Roland, -Buzot, and Roland were placed during the struggle between the Gironde -and Mountain. We might expect despair and indifference from them in the -face of the enormous difficulties in the Convention. But they never -faltered. Their courage was superb from first to last. Furthermore, -there is no sign left us of distrust and irritation towards one another. -Buzot supported Roland in every particular. Madame Roland and her -husband were associated as closely as ever in public work. Roland and -Buzot, both of them, were held to an almost Quixotic state of -forbearance and strength by the exalted enthusiasm of this woman of -powerful sentiments and affections. Neither of the men ever looked upon -her with dimmed love and respect. In spite of all she made them suffer, -inspired by her faith in their virtue, they accepted a Platonic life _à -trois_, and for many months were able to work together. - - - - - XI - THE ROLANDS TURN AGAINST THE REVOLUTION - - -Upon Roland the effect of the atrocities of September, and the -consciousness of his own powerlessness, was terrible. His health was -undermined; he could not eat; his skin became yellow; he did not sleep; -his step was feeble, but his activity was feverish; he worked night and -day. Having a chance to become a member of the new legislative body, the -Convention to meet September 21st, he sent in his resignation as -Minister of the Interior. The resignation raised a cry from the Gironde, -and hosts of anxious patriots urged him to remain. - -In the session of September 29th, the question came up in the Convention -of inviting Roland, and those of his colleagues who had resigned with -him, to remain in office. His enemies did not lose the opportunity to -attack him. Danton even went so far as to say: “If you invite him, -invite Madame Roland too; everybody knows that he has not been alone in -his department.” - -This discussion, and the discovery that his election as deputy would be -illegal, persuaded Roland to withdraw his resignation. He announced his -decision in an address which was an unmistakable arraignment of the -Commune and the Mountain, an announcement that the Minister of the -Interior, in remaining in office, remained as their enemy. He abandoned -in this same address an important point of his old policy. Formerly it -had been to Paris that he had appealed. She alone had the energy, the -fire, the daring to act. The rest of the country was apathetic, -passionless; but now he says Paris has done all that is necessary. She -must retire, “must be reduced to her eighty-third portion of influence; -a more extensive influence would excite fears, and nothing would be more -harmful to Paris than the discontent or suspicion of the departments—no -representations, however numerous, should acquire an ascendency over the -Convention.” - -At that particular moment no policy could have been more antagonistic to -the Parisian populace. They were “saving the country.” None but a -traitor would oppose their efforts. Roland not only declared that they -must cease their work; he called for an armed force drawn from all the -departments and stationed about Paris to prevent the city from -interfering with the free action of the Convention. The suspicion which -before the 10th of August he had applied to the constitutional party he -now turned upon the party which had produced that day; the measure he -had proposed to prevent the treason of the Court, he now proposed as a -guard against the excesses of the patriots. - -He ran a Bureau of Public Opinion, which scattered thousands of -documents filled with the eloquent and vague teachings of the Gironde -schools. He urged the pastors to stop singing the _Domine Salvum fac -Regnum_, and to translate their services into French; he discoursed upon -how and when the word _citizen_ should be used, advised a national -costume, suggested that scenes from the classics be regularly reproduced -in public to stir to patriotism, that fêtes celebrating every possible -anniversary be instituted; but chiefly he defended himself against the -charges of his antagonists, extolling his own impeccability and the -exactness of his accounts. No sadder reading ever was printed than the -campaign of words Roland carried on during the four months he struggled -against the Mountain. Fearless, sincere, honest, disinterested as he -was, he was still so pitifully inadequate to the situation, so -ridiculously subjective in his methods, that irritation at his impotence -is forgotten in the compassion it awakens. - -While Roland carried on his Bureau of Public Opinion and defended his -character, Buzot, in the Convention, fought the Mountain more openly and -more bitterly. He had no excuse whatever for the excesses of September; -no veil to draw over the first twenty-four hours, no patience, no -thought of compromise with Robespierre and Danton, the leaders of the -Commune. To his mind they were murderers pure and simple, and the -country was not worth saving, if it could not be saved without them. In -Roland’s case there is always the feeling that if the Commune had -regarded him as necessary, obeyed his directions, let him run his Public -Opinion Office to suit himself, and ceased maligning his character, he -would have condoned their massacre as one of the unhappy but necessary -means of insuring the Revolution; that if these “misled brothers,” as he -called them, had recognized their mistake, he would have opened his arms -to them. Never so with Buzot. Sensitive, idealistic, indifferent to -public applause, from the first he took a violent and pronounced -position against the Mountain, and refused to compromise with them. It -was not hatred alone of the excesses. It was sympathy with Madame -Roland, who had revolted against the Revolution. From the day at Evreux, -when he received a letter from her, telling of her disgust and -disillusion, and setting up a new cause,—the purification of the country -of agitators and rioters,—Buzot’s ideas on the policy of Terror changed. -When he came up to the Convention he immediately made a violent attack -on Robespierre, declared that the Mountain was the most dangerous foe of -the country, that Paris was usurping the power of France, and he never -ceased his war. - -The measure which Madame Roland had suggested a few months before to -protect Paris, the patriots, and the Assembly against the aristocrats, -he now proposed to thwart the activity of Paris and the Commune,—a guard -drawn from all the departments for the defence of the Convention. -Naturally, this drew upon him the hatred of the sections and leaders, -and he was accounted in the Convention, from the 1st of October, the -avowed opponent of the Terrorists. - -Nothing intimidated him. He followed up the proposition for a guard by a -demand for a decree against those who provoked to murder and -assassination. Systematically he refused to believe in the sincerity of -Robespierre and Danton,—they were usurpers aiming at dictatorship. When -in March they sought to organize a revolutionary tribunal, Buzot, -furious and trembling, declared to the Convention that he was weary of -despotism. He signalled the abuses that were made all over France by the -revolutionary bodies, and violently attacked members of the Jacobin -society and of the Mountain, denouncing them as infamous wretches, as -assassins of the country. It was not only murder of which he accused -them,—it was corruption. “Sudden and scandalous fortunes” were noted -among the Terrorists in the Convention,—and he demanded that each deputy -give the condition and origin of his fortune. - -In all these measures Buzot was in harmony with Roland, and he fought -the minister’s cause in the Convention so far as possible. Indeed, it -came to be a sort of personal resentment he showed when Roland was -attacked in the body, and once he went so far that they cried out to -him, “It is not you we are talking about.” It was a lover’s jealousy -against anything which harmed his lady. - -But while attacking the Terrorists Buzot was obliged to prove his -patriotism, to show that he was a republican, and a hater of the -monarchy. He did it by radical measures. While insisting on an armed -force to protect the Convention, he demanded the perpetual banishment of -the _émigrés_, and their death if they set foot in France. A few weeks -later he demanded that whosoever should propose the re-establishment of -royalty in France, under whatsoever denomination, should be punished by -death; afterwards he asked the banishment of all the Bourbons, not -excepting Philippe of Orleans, then sitting in the Convention. - -When it came to the question of the death of Louis XVI., Buzot wished -that the King be heard and not condemned immediately; when he came to -vote, it was for his death with delay and a _referendum_ that he -decided. - -But no amount of violence against the royalists could now prove him a -patriot. That which made a patriot in the fall of 1792 was an altogether -different thing from what made one in the spring of 1792. Buzot, with -the Gironde, was suspected. It was not enough that he opposed the old -régime and approved a Republic, he must approve the vengeance of -Terrorism and support the Terrorists. But he could not do it. He was -revolted by the awful excess, and he underwent a physical repulsion -which was almost feminine and made any union with the party impossible, -whatever the demands of politics were. - -As a matter of fact, the Mountain feared Buzot but little. His -irritability, haughtiness, lack of humor, made him of small importance -as a leader in the Gironde. He could not move the Convention as -Vergniaud; he had none of the wire-pulling skill of Brissot; he was -important chiefly as the spokesman of Madame Roland’s measures. Buzot’s -intimate relations to the Rolands seem to have been well understood. The -contemptuous way in which Marat treated him shows this. Marat called him -_frère tranquille Buzot_; and sneered at him for “declaiming in a -ridiculous tone”; said the _frère tranquille_ had a _pathos glacial_; -called him _le pédant Buzot; the corypheus of the Rolands_. - -In this chaotic and desperate struggle neither Roland nor Buzot were -more active than Madame Roland. She had become a public factor by -Marat’s accusations, and by Danton’s sneers in the Convention. She kept -her place. At home she was as active as ever in assisting her husband. -Many of the official papers of this period, which have been preserved, -are in her hand, or have been annotated by her. Important circulars and -reports she frequently prepared, and Roland trusted her implicitly in -such work. She was his adviser and helper in every particular of the -official work, and at the same time saw many people who were essential -to them. This social activity brought down Marat’s abuse. She was -“Penelope Roland” for him, and in one number of the journal under the -head “Le Trantran de la Penelope Roland,” he wrote: “The woman Roland -has a very simple means of recruiting. Does a deputy need her husband -for affairs of the department, Roland pretends a multiplicity of -engagements and begs to put him off until after the Assembly,—‘Come and -take supper with us, citizen and deputy, we will talk of your business -afterwards.’ The woman Roland cajoles the guests one after the other, -even _en portant la main sous le menton de ses favoris_, redoubles -attention for the new-comer, who soon joins the clique.” - -Marat professes to have this from a deputy who had visited her. It is -abusive and false, but it is well to remember that a year before Madame -Roland had not hesitated to believe and repeat equally ridiculous -stories of Marie Antoinette. Indeed, Madame Roland had the same place in -the minds of the patriots of the fall of 1792, that the Queen had a year -before in the minds of the Gironde. “We have destroyed royalty,” says -_Père Duchesne_, “and in its place we have raised a tyranny still more -odious. The tender other half of the virtuous Roland has France in -leading-strings to-day, as once the Pompadours and the Du Barrys. She -receives every evening at the hour of the bats in the same place where -Antoinette plotted a new Saint Bartholomew with the Austrian committee. -Like the former Queen, Madame Coco (the name _Père Duchesne_ usually -gives Madame Roland), stretched on a sofa, surrounded by her wits, -reasons blindly on war, politics, supplies. It is in this gambling-den -that all the announcements posted up are manufactured.” - -In December she was even obliged to appear before the Convention. Roland -had been accused of being in correspondence with certain eminent -_émigrés_ then in England, and to be plotting with them the -re-establishment of the King. One Viard was said to be the go-between, -and to have had a meeting with Madame Roland. Roland was summoned to -answer the charge and, having responded, demanded that his wife be -heard. Her appearance made a sensation in the Convention, and she -cleared herself so well of the charges that she was loudly applauded, -and was accorded the honors of the session. The spectators alone were -silent and Marat remarked, “See how still the people are; they are wiser -than we.” - -At the beginning of the year 1793, the danger of mob violence was added -to the incessant slanders by Hébert and Marat. “Every day,” says -Champagneux, who was then employed by the minister, “a new danger -appeared. It seemed as if each night would be the last of her life, as -if an army of assassins would profit by the darkness to come and murder -her as well as her husband. The most sinister threats came from all -sides. She was urged not to sleep at the Hôtel of the Interior.” - -At first the alarm was so great on her account that she yielded to her -friends’ wishes, but she hated the idea of flight. One evening the -danger was such that every one insisted on her disguising herself and -leaving the hotel. She consented, but the wig they brought did not fit, -and in a burst of impatience she flung the costume, wig and all, into -the corner and declared she was ashamed of herself; that if any one -wanted to assassinate her, he might do it there; that she ought to give -an example of firmness and she would. And from that day she never left -the hotel until Roland resigned on January 22d. - -The little apartment in the Rue de la Harpe was waiting them. To leave -the Hôtel of the Interior was no trial to them privately. No one could -have been more indifferent to considerations of position and -surroundings. Their convictions of their own right-doing made them -superior to all influences which affect worldly and selfish natures. It -is impossible for such people as the Rolands to “come down” in life. -Material considerations are so external, so mere an incident, that they -can go from palace to hut without giving the matter a second thought. -But retirement did not mean relief. Roland’s reports which he had made -to the Convention, and which he felt justly were a complete answer to -the charges against him, were unnoticed. He begged the body repeatedly -to examine them. He urged his ill-health and his desire to leave Paris -as a reason, but no notice was taken of him. To Roland this neglect -seemed insolence. He felt that he deserved honorable recognition. He -craved it, and was irritated and discouraged when he did not receive it. - -It was evident, too, that his retirement from office had not made his -enemies forget him. They followed him as they had priests, _émigrés_, -and nobles, and Marat repeatedly denounced him as connected with the -opposition to the Mountain. - -It was horrible for them to watch day after day the struggle going on in -the Convention between Gironde and Mountain. Day by day the condition of -the former grew more desperate, their defeat and the triumph of the -policy of vengeance more certain. The most tragic part of the gradual -downfall of the Gironde was not defeat, however. It was disillusion—the -slow-growing and unconfessed suspicion that their dream had been an -error. It was Buzot who felt this most deeply. In his Memoirs he -confesses that gradually he grew convinced that France was not fitted -for the Republic they had dared to give it, and that often he had been -at the point of owning his mistake: - -“My friends and I kept our hope of a Republic in France for a long -time,” he writes; “even when everything seemed to show us that the -enlightened class, either through prejudice or guided by experience and -reason, refused this form of government. My friends did not give up this -hope even at the period when those who governed the Republic were the -most vicious and the vilest of men, and when the French people could be -least counted on.... For myself, I avow that I despaired several times -of the success of this project so dear to my heart. Before my expulsion -from the Convention, not wishing to betray my conscience or my -principles, I was on the point, several times, of retiring from a -position where all the dangers, even that of dishonoring my memory, left -me no hope of doing good; where even our obstinate and useless -resistance did nothing but increase the error of good citizens on the -true situation of the National Convention. A kind of self-love which was -honored by the name of duty kept me at my post in spite of myself. My -friends desired it and I stayed.... It is useless to deny it—the -majority of the French people sighed after royalty and the constitution -of 1790. There were only a few men with noble and elevated souls who -felt worthy of having been born republicans, and whom the example of -America had encouraged to follow the project of a similar institution in -France, who thought in good faith to naturalize it in the country of -frivolities and inconstancy. The rest—with the exception of a crowd of -wretches without intelligence, without education, and without resources, -who vomited injuries on the monarchy as in six months they will on the -Republic, without knowing any reason why—the rest did not desire it, -wanted only the constitution of 1791, and talked of the true republicans -as one talks of extremely sincere fools. Have the events of the 20th of -June, the suffering, the persecution, the assassinations which have -followed them, changed the opinion of the majority in France? No; but in -the cities they pretend to be _sans-culottes_; those that do not are -guillotined. In the country the most unjust requisitions are obeyed, -because those who do not obey them are guillotined; on all sides the -young go to war, because those who do not go are guillotined. The -guillotine explains everything. It is the great weapon of the French -government. This people is republican because of the guillotine. Examine -closely, go into families, search the hearts if they dare open to you; -you will read there hate against the government that fear imposes upon -them. You will see there that all desires, all hopes, turn towards the -constitution of 1791.” - -[Illustration: - - The prison, called the Abbaye, where Madame Roland passed the first - twenty-four days of her imprisonment. -] - -That Buzot should have remained until the end with the Gironde, when -convinced, as he here says, that their efforts for a Republic were -contrary to the will of the country, and when, too, he was revolted -against the excesses its establishment was causing, he explained fully, -when he wrote: “My error was too beautiful to be repented of;” and -again, when he says: “Our dream was too beautiful to be abandoned.” - -The terrible whirlpool had dragged away hopes, ambitions, dreams, from -them. Into it went, too, some of their most valued friends; men whom -they had raised to positions of importance, but who now that they saw -the party defeated abandoned them through fear and disillusion. At the -same time that they were experiencing all the force of their -disillusion, the relation between Roland and his wife was becoming -terribly tense and painful. They felt that they must bring it to an end -in some way, must get away from Buzot, and they resolved to go to the -country. In May Roland wrote, for the eighth time, to the Convention, -begging that the report on his administration be examined. His letter -was not even read to the body. It became more and more probable that -threats which had followed them a long time would take effect soon, and -Roland be arrested. Madame Roland decided that she ought not to remain -in Paris with her daughter any longer, as Roland could escape more -easily if they were at Le Clos. Her health, too, sadly altered by the -storm of emotions which she had passed through, demanded a change. - -The passports permitting them to leave Paris had been delayed some days, -and just as she received them she fell ill. She was not herself again -when the 31st of May came. This day was for the Gironde what the 10th of -August had been for the King. - -During the latter half of May the Convention had been the scene of one -of the maddest, awfulest struggles in the history of legislative bodies, -and the victory had throughout leaned towards the Terrorists. They were -decided, and audacious. The indecision, the platitudes, the disgust, of -the Gironde weakened the party constantly. The struggle was ended by the -riot of May 31st. Before the contest was over the Convention had voted -the expulsion and trial of twenty-two members of the Gironde. Again the -stick was out of the wheel, and the Republic was to roll. - -Roland was not in the number that the Mountain could strike through the -Convention. It had a much more direct and simple, a more _legal_, method -of reaching him. Its Revolutionary committee had already been in -operation some time. Its work was arresting those who stood in the way -of the Republic. That Roland did, Marat had proved time and again, and -now that the time had come to rid the country of the Gironde _in toto_, -it would never do to let him escape. - -It was on the afternoon of May 31st that the arrest of Roland was made -at their apartment in the Rue de la Harpe. Arrests at this period were -so arbitrary a matter, the sympathy or resentment of the officers and -spectators had so much to do with their execution or non-execution, that -it is not surprising that Roland by his own protestations and arguments, -and by the aid of the good people of the house who were friendly to him, -was able to induce the officer in charge to leave his colleagues and go -after further orders. - -Madame Roland took advantage of the delay to attempt a _coup d’état_, go -to the Convention, secure a hearing, present Roland’s case, and trust to -her beauty, her wit, and her eloquence to obtain his release. In her -morning gown, for she was only just off her sick-bed, she sprung into a -cab and drove to the Carrousel. The front court was filled with armed -men; every entrance was guarded. With the greatest difficulty she -reached the waiting-room and attempted to get a hearing from the -president. A terrible uproar came from the Assembly, and after a long -wait she learned what it meant,—the demand for the arrest of the -twenty-two was being made. - -She sent for Vergniaud and explained the situation. She could hope for -nothing in the condition of affairs in the Assembly,—he told her the -Convention was able to do nothing more. “It can do everything,” she -cried; “the majority of Paris only asks to know what ought to be done. -If I am admitted, I shall dare say what you could not without being -accused. I fear nothing in the world, and if I do not save Roland, I -shall say what will be useful to the Republic.” But what use to insist -in this chaos? Not Vergniaud, not Buzot, not the Gironde as a body, had -the power at this final moment to secure a hearing. She was forced to -give it up and retire; not so easy a matter through the suspicious -battalions guarding the approaches to the château. She was even obliged -to leave her cab at last and go home on foot. - -Back in the apartment she found that Roland had escaped. She went from -house to house until she found him. They talked over the situation, he -concluded to fly, she decided to go again to the Convention, and they -parted. - -In spite of weakness and fatigue Madame Roland made, that night, another -attempt to reach the Convention. But when she reached the palace the -session was closed. After infinite difficulty from the citizens who -guarded the Tuileries she reached her home again. She had seated herself -to write a note to Roland when, about midnight, a deputation from the -Commune presented itself, asking for Roland. She refused to answer their -questions, and they retired, leaving a sentinel at the door of the -apartment and at that of the house. She finished her letter and went to -bed. In an hour she was awakened. Her frightened servant told her that -delegates from the section wanted to see her. With perfect calm she -dressed herself for the street and passed into the room where the -commissioners waited. - -“We come, Citoyenne, to arrest you and put on the seals.” - -“Where are your orders?” - -“Here,” says a man drawing an order of arrest from the Revolutionary -committee of the Commune. No reason of arrest is assigned in the -document, which still exists, and the order given is to place her in the -Abbaye to be questioned the next day. She hesitated. Should she resist? -But what was the use? She was in their eyes _mise hors de la loi_ and -she submitted, not sorry at heart perhaps, to be put into a position -where she could resist publicly the tyranny of her enemies. Reinforced -by officers from the section, and by fifty to a hundred good -_sans-culottes_ come to see that the officers do their duty according to -their sovereign will, the commissioners placed seals on boxes and doors, -windows and wardrobes. One zealous patriot wanted to put one on the -piano. They told him it was a musical instrument. Thereupon he contented -himself with pulling out a yardstick and taking its dimensions. - -In this ignorant, vulgar, and violent crowd she came and went serenely, -preparing for her imprisonment. She even noted with amusement their -curiosity and stupidity. It was morning when she left her weeping -household. “These people love you,” said one of the commissioners, as -they went downstairs. “I never have any one about me who does not,” she -replied proudly. - -Two rows of armed men extended from the doorway across the Rue de la -Harpe to the carriage, waiting on the other side of the street. She -looked about as she came out, at all this display of force, at the crowd -of curious Parisian _badauds_ who watched the scene, and with conscious -dignity she advanced “slowly considering the cowardly and mistaken -troop.” It is a short five minutes’ walk from where Madame Roland lived -to the prison of the Abbaye and she soon was within the walls. - -Two days later, June 2d, the arrest of Buzot was decreed by the -Convention. He was seized but escaped from his guards, and fled from -Paris to Evreux, where he was well received by the department which -believed that the Convention had been forced into its decree against the -twenty-two. Roland in the meantime had reached Amiens. The three were -never to see one another again. The cause which brought them together -had separated them forever. - - - - - XII - IN PRISON - - -It was the morning of the first day of June, 1792, that Madame Roland -was taken to the Abbaye. The imprisonment then begun lasted until -November 8th, the day of her death. The record we have of her life -during these five months is full and intimate. - -Separated from her child, her husband in flight, her friends persecuted -by the Commune, she herself only just off a sick-bed, confined in a -prison which had been from the beginning of the Revolution a centre of -riot and the floors of whose halls and courts were still warm with the -blood of the massacre of September, the cries of _à la Guillotine_ -following her from the street, it would not have been strange if her -courage had failed, if she had paled before the fate which she knew in -all probability awaited her. But from the beginning to the end of her -long durance she showed a proud indifference to the result, an almost -reckless audacity in braving her enemies, a splendid courage in -suffering. She was serene, haughty, triumphant, a man, not a woman. - -She declared that she would not exchange the moments which followed her -entrance into the Abbaye for those which others would call the sweetest -of her life. Indifferent to her surroundings, she sank into a revery, -reviewing her past: there was nothing to make her blush, she felt, even -if her heart was the scene of a powerful passion. She calculated the -future and with pride and joy felt that she had the courage to accept -her lot, to defy its rigors. “What can compare to a good conscience, a -strong purpose,” she cries. There is nothing in her situation which is -worth an instant of unrest. Her enemies shall not prevent her loving to -the last, and if they destroy her she will go from life as one enters -upon repose. And this high serenity endured even when, twenty-four days -later, she suffered one of the most cruel and unnecessary outrages of -the Revolution. On June 24th, she was freed. Hurrying home to the Rue de -la Harpe, she flew into the house “like a bird,” calling a gay good-day -to her concierge. She had not mounted four steps of her staircase before -two men who had entered at her heels called: - -“Citoyenne Roland.” - -“What do you want?” - -“In the name of the law we arrest you.” - -That night she slept in the prison of Sainte Pélagie, only a stone’s -throw from the convent where as a girl she had prepared for her first -communion. - -The bitter disappointment of reimprisonment did not bend her spirit. “I -am proud,” she wrote, some hours after her rearrest, “to be persecuted -at a moment when talent and honor are being proscribed. I am assuredly -more tranquil in my chains than my oppressors are in the exercise of -their unjust power. I confess that the refinement of cruelty with which -they ordered me to be set at liberty in order to rearrest me a moment -afterwards, has fired me with indignation. I can no longer see where -this tyranny will go.” This indignation was so bitter that the first -night in her new prison she could not sleep. It was only the first -night, however. To allow herself to be irritated by the injustice of her -enemies was to be their dupe. She would not give them that satisfaction, -and this intrepidity endured to the end. - -There are several reasons for her really phenomenal fortitude. At the -bottom of it was no doubt the fact that material considerations had no -influence on her when they came into conflict with sentiments and -enthusiasms. An ordinary woman would have paled with fear at the sound -of women shouting into her carriage _à la guillotine_; the crowded halls -of the Abbaye, the tocsin sounding all night, the brutality of the -officers and guards, would have sickened her soul; the narrow and dirty -staircases, the bare and foul-smelling rooms, would have revolted her -delicacy; the dreadful associations filled her with shame and disgust. -But Madame Roland found inspiration in the thought of enduring all this. -She would not allow her soul to be moved by filth and noise, and she -moved serenely among the lowest outcasts. These things were externals, -mere incidents in life. They had no real importance in themselves. She -would use them to school her soul to more steadfast endurance,—certainly -she would never allow them to interfere with her soul’s life. - -A stolid and unimaginative mind might have endured her position with -equal calm; a dull and sluggish nature might have been equally -indifferent to the revolting sights; but never was an imagination more -responsive, a nature more vibrant and sensitive than hers. It was no -lack of life and vigor. She was brave and indifferent because the fact -of being so stirred her imagination. This sort of endurance seemed to -her worthy of a hero of antiquity. Her whole nature was kindled by the -thought of being superior to circumstances, of thwarting her enemies by -her courage. - -The training of her whole life helped her to carry out this idea. -Rousseau never drilled and trained Émile more rigidly in the doctrine of -submitting to necessity than she had herself. The more severe her trial, -the higher her courage rose. This she felt was a supreme test, a -martyrdom worthy of a Greek. Her classic conception of patriotism was -satisfied by the thought that she, like the ancients, was in prison for -the country and would undoubtedly die for it. - -Her imprisonment made her a prominent actor, too, in the tragedy. -Hitherto she had been behind the scenes, an influence recognized, to be -sure, by all parties, but acting through others. A woman’s place was not -in public, she believed, and she conformed carefully to her idea. But in -serious natures, feeling deeply their individual responsibility, there -is a demand for action. So long as Roland was minister she had ample -chance to satisfy her patriotic longings for helping. But after his -retirement and since the Gironde had been so demoralized that Buzot -could do little or nothing, she had felt bitterly her impotence. - -Now all was changed; she was in the fight, not as the amanuensis of her -husband, the inspirer of her friend, but as an independent actor. She -must show an example of how a patriot should endure and die, and she -must strike a blow for truth whenever she had a chance. What she did and -said would not only have its influence to-day, it would be quoted in the -future. This conviction of her obligation to help the cause and make -herself a figure in history, exalted her mind. She took a dramatic pose, -and she kept it to the end. If there was a shade of the theatrical in -it,—and there is almost always such a shading in Madame Roland’s -loftiest moods and finest acts,—there is so much indifference to self, -hatred of despotism, contempt of injustice, courage before pain, that -the lack of perfect naturalness is forgotten. - -From the beginning of her imprisonment she lost no opportunity to give a -lesson in civism to those about her. To the guard who brought her to the -Abbaye, and who remarked on leaving her that if Roland was not guilty it -was strange that he absented himself, she said that Roland was _just_, -like Aristides, and severe, like Cato, and that it was his virtues which -had made his enemies pursue him. “Let them heap their rage on me. I can -brave it and be resigned; he must be saved for his country, for he may -yet be able to render great service.” - -She neglected no opportunity of obtaining her liberty, not so much for -the sake of liberty as that it gave her a means of expressing her -opinions. By the advice of Grandpré, an inspector of prisons, protected -formerly by Roland, and who hurried to her aid the first day of her -imprisonment, she wrote to the Convention. In a haughty tone she -described her arrest, the fact that no motive for it was given, the -indignities and illegalities she had suffered, and demanded justice and -protection. - -So severe was the letter that Grandpré, after consulting Champagneux, -brought it back to her to soften a little. After reflection she -consented. “If I thought the letter would be read,” she told Grandpré, -“I would leave it as it is, even if it resulted in failure. One cannot -flatter himself that he will obtain justice of the Assembly. It does not -know how to practise to-day the truths addressed to it, but they must be -said that the departments may hear.” - -Grandpré did his best to have her letter read at the Convention, but in -the turmoil of the early days of June there was nothing to be obtained -from this body save through fear or force. Madame Roland, hearing that -the section in which she lived had taken her and Roland under its care, -wrote to thank them, and to suggest that they try to secure a reading of -the letter. But she took care that they should feel that she was no -tearful suppliant: “I submit this question to your _judgment_; I add no -_prayer_; truth has only one language; it is to expose _facts_; citizens -who desire _justice_ do not care that _supplications_ should be -addressed to them, and _innocence_ does not know how to make them.” - -The letter was read at the section and debated, but the Terrorists from -other quarters filled the hall, and by their menaces prevented any -effectual interference by those disposed in Madame Roland’s favor. -Grandpré insisted that she should write to the ministers of justice and -of the interior. She despised the weakness and mediocrity of both, and -declared she would write nothing unless she could “give them severe -lessons.” Grandpré found the letters she prepared humiliating, and -persuaded her to change them. Even after the changes they were intensely -hostile and contemptuous, anything but politic. - -The “lessons” she gave in her letters she never failed to put into any -conversation she had with public officials. One of these conversations -she relates. It was with a committee of five or six persons who had come -to look after the condition of the prisoners. - -“Good-day, Citoyenne.” - -“Good-day, sir.” - -“Are you satisfied with your quarters? Have you any complaints to make -of your treatment. Do you want anything?” - -“I complain because I am here and I ask to be released.” - -“Isn’t your health good? Are you a little dull?” - -“I am well and I am never dull. _L’ennui_ is a disease of an empty soul -and a mind without resources, but I have a lively sense of injustice. I -complain because I have been arrested without reason, and am detained -without being examined.” - -“Ah, in a time of revolution there is so much to do that one cannot -accomplish everything.” - -“A woman to whom King Philip made about the same answer told him, ‘If -you have not the time to do justice you have not time to be king.’ Take -care that you do not force oppressed citizens to say the same thing to -the people, or rather to the arbitrary authorities who are misleading -them.” - -“Adieu, Citoyenne.” - -“Adieu.” - -She had soon a more serious task than administering gratuitous rebukes -and repeating high-sounding maxims. It was in defending herself against -calumnies and accusations. She did it with spirit and clear-headedness, -as was to be expected, and frequently in a tone of contemptuous asperity -and superiority that could not fail to be exasperating. - -It was on June 12th that she was questioned. She was asked if she knew -anything about the troubles of the Republic during and after Roland’s -ministry, or of the plan to make a Federal Republic; who were the -persons who came to her salon; if she knew any traitors, or was allied -with friends of Dumouriez; what she knew of Roland’s Public Opinion -Bureau and his plan for corrupting the provinces; and lastly where was -Roland. The committee got very little satisfaction out of their victim. -They accused her of sharpness and evasion, and probably the accusation -was just. The interview indicated to Madame Roland the complaint of the -Commune against her, and showed her more clearly than before that there -was no definite reason for her arrest. She was a suspect; that explained -all. - -To vague accusations was added direct calumny. _Père Duchesne_ had not -forgotten _la reine Roland_, and one morning she heard cried under her -cell window: _Visit of Père Duchesne to the citoyenne Roland in the -prison of the Abbaye_. The details of the pretended visit were cried so -that she could hear them and at the same time the people collected in -the market of Saint Germain, held by the side of the prison, were -exhorted to avenge the wrongs Madame Coco had done them. The article was -in Hébert’s most offensive and ribald style and told how its author, -visiting the prison, was taken by Madame Roland for a brigand from La -Vendée; how she rejoiced with him over the losses of the Republic; told -him that aid was coming from Coblentz and England, and assured him that -the contra-revolution had been brought about through Roland. - -At first, hot with indignation at these calumnies, she tried to defend -herself, but she soon saw that to besiege the Revolutionary authorities -any longer was not only useless, but humiliating. It was better suited -to her proud courage to ignore them, and she found in her silence and -disdain a source of inspiration and strength. - -While natural courage, long schooling in self-denial, submission to -necessity, superiority to material considerations, intense patriotism, a -desire to vindicate herself to posterity, explain her remarkable -fortitude in her imprisonment, they do not her triumph. The exaltation -she found in her prison was that of love, a love which duty had thus far -forbidden her even to think of, but which now she felt she dared yield -to. Her jailers had become her liberators. - -In the documents which Madame Roland addressed from her prison to -“posterity” there are frequent allusions to her passion for one whose -name she concealed. In the collection of letters she left for friends, -under the head of “Last Thoughts,” is a passionate and exultant farewell -addressed to one whom “I dare not name, to one whom the most terrible of -passions has not kept from respecting the barriers of virtue.” She bids -him not to mourn that she precedes him to a place where “fatal -prejudices, arbitrary conventions, hateful passions, and all kinds of -tyranny are ended, where one day they can love each other without crime, -and where nothing will prevent their being united.” - -That Buzot was meant, remained a secret of the family for seventy years -after Madame Roland’s death. Her biographers frequently speculated as to -whom the object of her passion was. Lairtullier, writing in 1840, quotes -her portrait of Barbaroux and apostrophizes her thus: “Femme, voilá ton -secret trahi.” Servan and Vergniaud have been named as possibly her -hero. The truth came out in 1864, when a _bouquiniste_ of the Quai -Voltaire advertised for sale a quantity of French Revolution papers -among which were mentioned five letters of Madame Roland to Buzot. He -had bought them from a young man whose father was an amateur of -_bouquins_. Evidently they had been wandering among lovers of old papers -since the day they had been taken from the dead body of Buzot. Those -letters offered for sale were bought by the Bibliothèque Nationale. - -They paint, as no published letters, the exultation of love, its power -to lift the soul above all ordinary influences, free it from accepted -laws and conventionalities, to strengthen it until it glories in -suffering, if by that suffering it can yield itself to love. They show, -too, how noble and pure a conception of such a passion Madame Roland -had. It must not interfere with duty. Neither Roland must be betrayed, -nor the country neglected; if either happened, the crown of their -passion would be broken. Its glory and joy was not in abandon, but in -endurance. - -It was three weeks after she was confined in the Abbaye before she heard -from Buzot. Her first letter to him bears the date of June 22d. Buzot -was at that time at Evreux, exhorting the people to take part in a -movement of federalism to arouse the departments to act against the -usurpation of Paris. She wrote in response to the first letters from him -which her friends had been able to get to her. - -“How often have I re-read them! I press them to my heart; I cover them -with kisses; I had ceased to hope for them!... I came here proud and -calm, praying and still hoping in the defenders of Liberty. When I -learned of the decree against the Twenty-two, I cried, ‘My country is -lost!’ I was in the most cruel anguish until I was sure of your escape. -It was renewed by the decree against you; they owed that atrocity to -your courage. But when I found that you were at Calvados, I recovered my -calm. Continue your generous efforts, my friend. Brutus on the fields of -Philippi despaired too soon of the safety of Rome. So long as a -republican breathes and is free, let him act. He must, he can, be -useful. In any case, the South offers you a refuge; it will be an asylum -for the country. If dangers gather around you, it is there that you must -turn your eyes and your steps; it is there that you must live, for there -you can serve your fellow-men and practise virtue. - -“As for me, I know how to wait patiently for the return of the reign of -justice, or to undergo the last excesses of tyranny in such a way that -my example shall not be vain. If I fear anything, it is that you may -make imprudent efforts for me. My friend, it is by saving your country -that you deliver me. I do not want my safety at its expense, but I shall -die satisfied if I know you are working for your country. Death, -suffering, sorrow, are nothing to me. I can defy all. Why, I shall live -to my last hour without spending a single moment in unworthy agitation.” - -She went over life in the Abbaye, and told him what she knew of her -family and friends. Of Roland she said: - -“The unfortunate Roland has been twenty days in two refuges in the -houses of trembling friends, concealed from all eyes, more of a captive -than I am myself. I have feared for his mind and his health. He is now -in your neighborhood. Would that were true in a moral sense! I dare not -tell you, and you alone can understand, that I was not sorry to be -arrested.... I owe it to my jailers that I can reconcile duty and love. -Do not pity me. People admire my courage, but they do not understand my -joys. Thou who must feel them, savest their charm by the constancy of -thy courage.” - -One would believe it a quotation from a letter of Julie to Saint-Preux. -The 3d of July she sent another letter: - -“I received your letter of the 27th. I still hear your voice; I am a -witness to your resolutions; I share the sentiments which animate you. I -am proud of loving you and of being loved by you.... My friend, let us -not so forget ourselves as to say evil of that virtue which is bought by -great sacrifice, it is true, but which pays in its turn by priceless -compensations. Tell me, do you know sweeter moments than those passed in -the innocence and the charm of an affection that nature recognizes and -that delicacy regulates; which honors duty for the privations that she -imposes upon it and gathers strength in enduring them? Do you know a -greater advantage than that of being superior to adversity and to death; -of finding in the heart something to enjoy and to sweeten life up to the -last sigh? Have you ever experienced better these effects than in the -attachment which binds us, in spite of the contradictions of society and -the horrors of oppression? I have told you that to it I owe my joy in my -captivity. Proud of being persecuted in these times when character and -honesty are proscribed, I would have supported it with dignity, even -without you, but you make it sweet and dear to me. The wretches think to -overwhelm me by putting irons upon me—senseless! What does it matter to -me if I am here or there? Is not my heart always with me? To confine me -in a prison—is it not to deliver me entirely to it? My company, it is my -love! My occupation, it is to think of it!... If I must die, very well. -I know what is best in life, and its duration would perhaps only force -new sacrifices upon me. The most glorified instant of my existence, that -in which I felt most deeply that exaltation of soul which rejoices in -braving all clangers, was when I entered the Bastille that my jailers -had chosen for me. I will not say that I went before them, but it is -true that I did not flee them. I had not calculated on their fury -reaching me, but I believed that if it did, it would give me an -opportunity to serve Roland by my testimony, my constancy, and my -firmness. I would be glad to sacrifice my life for him in order to win -the right to give you my last sigh.” - -She sent for his picture, and writes, July 7th: - -“It is on my heart, concealed from all eyes, felt at every moment, and -often bathed in my tears. Oh, I am filled with your courage, honored by -your affection, and glorying in all that both can inspire in your proud -and sensitive soul. I cannot believe that Heaven reserves nothing but -trials for sentiments so pure and so worthy of its favor. This sort of -confidence makes me endure life and face death calmly. Let us enjoy with -gratitude the goods given us. He who knows how to love as we do, carries -within himself the principle of the greatest and best actions, the price -of the most painful sacrifices, the compensation for all evils. -Farewell, my beloved, farewell.” - -On July 7th, she wrote Buzot the last letter, so far as we know, that he -received from her. In it all the exultation of her ardent passion, all -the force of her noble courage, are concentrated. - -“My friend, you cannot picture the charm of a prison where one need -account only to his own heart for the employment of his moments! No -annoying distraction, no painful sacrifice, no tiresome cares; none of -those duties so much the more binding on an honest heart because they -are respectable; none of those contradictions of law, or of the -prejudices of society, with the sweetest inspirations of nature; no -jealous look spies on what one feels, or the occupation which one -chooses; no one suffers from your inaction or your melancholy; no one -expects efforts or demands sentiments which are not in your power; left -to yourself and to truth, with no obstacles to overcome, no friction to -endure, one can, without harm to the rights and to the affection of -another, abandon his soul to its own righteousness, refind his moral -independence in an apparent captivity, and exercise it with a -completeness that social relations almost always change. I had not -looked for this independence.... Circumstances have given me that which -I could never have had without a kind of crime. How I love the chains -which give me freedom to love you undividedly, to think of you -ceaselessly! Here all other occupation is laid aside. I belong only to -him who loves me and merits so well to be loved by me.... I do not want -to penetrate the designs of Heaven, I will not allow myself to make -guilty prayers, but I bless God for having substituted my present chains -for those I wore before. And this change appears to me the beginning of -favor. If He grants me more, may He leave me here until my deliverance -from a world given over to injustice and unhappiness!” - -“Do not pity me,” she wrote to Buzot in her letter of June 22. She was -not to be pitied. Life and death were kinder to her than to most of -those upon whom fall the supreme misfortune of loving where -conventionalities and law forbid love to go. It took the struggle from -her hand and prevented the disillusion which she must have undergone had -she lived. There is no escaping the conclusion that she would have -ultimately left Roland for Buzot. Her idealization of all relations, -persons, and ideas which stirred her; her imagination from infancy, -given full play; her passionate nature, which she knew but poorly, -though flattering herself that she was entirely its mistress; her -confidence in the superiority of sentiment and in herself,—would have -unquestionably pushed her to a union of some sort with Buzot. She was -happy to be guillotined when she was, otherwise she must have inevitably -suffered the most terrible and humiliating of all the disillusions of a -woman,—the loss of faith in herself, in the infallibility of her -sentiments, in her incapability to do wrong. - -There is a much more natural and simple side to Madame Roland’s five -months in prison than this one of exaltation and endurance, which, when -viewed apart, sometimes becomes a little fatiguing. If one regards only -the heroine, her self-sufficiency is a bit irritating at moments, much -as one must admire it. It is the arrangement of her life, her -occupations, her amusements, which appeal most to ordinary minds, and -which perhaps are a better index to her real force of character than her -exalted periods and professions. - -When first taken to the Abbaye she was obliged to be alone in her cell, -to take a tiny room with dirty walls and a heavily grated window. It -opened on a disagreeable street, and below she could hear by night the -cries of the sentry; by day, the hawking of _Père Duchesne’s_ journal, -and the rudeness of the market people, cries sometimes directed against -herself. Nevertheless she decorated the little cell so gayly with -flowers and books that her jailers called it Flora’s Pavilion. - -At the Abbaye about fifty cents a day were allowed each prisoner for his -expenses, although he could spend more if he had it. Madame Roland -decided to amuse herself by making an experiment,—to see to what she -could reduce her fare. Bread and water was served her for her -_déjeuner_; for dinner (one hundred years ago the French dined at noon) -she ate only one kind of meat, with a salad; in the evening, a little -vegetable, but no dessert. After a time she got on without wine or beer. -“This régime,” she explained, “had a moral end, and as I should have had -as much aversion as contempt for a useless economy, I commenced by -giving a sum to the poor, in order to have the pleasure, when eating my -dry bread in the morning, of thinking that the poor souls would owe it -to me that they could add something to their dinners.” - -When she went to Sainte Pélagie, she found her life a little different. -There the State gave nothing in money for the prisoners, who even paid -for their beds. All that was furnished them was a pound and a half of -bread and a dish of beans each day. She made arrangements with the -concierge of the prison to furnish her meals which were about as simple -as at the Abbaye. The prison itself she found most disagreeable. In -fact, Sainte Pélagie, which exists to-day, though condemned to -destruction, is the most gloomy and forbidding building in Paris. Its -mere presence in the quarter where it stands gives a dreary and hopeless -air to the street. The inmates of the prison at the period when Madame -Roland was confined there were of such a character that she was -subjected to the most disgusting annoyances. In the corridor from which -her cell opened, their rooms separated from one and another only by thin -partitions, were numbers of abandoned and criminal women. So obscene and -revolting were they that she rarely left her room, though she could not -shut out their noise. - -From this pandemonium the concierge succeeded in saving her for a time, -giving her a large chamber near her own, where she even had a piano; but -the inspectors, once aware of the favor, ordered her back into the noisy -corridor. Even there, however, she had her pleasures,—her flowers and -her books. The first Bosc supplied her; the second she bought, or begged -from her friends. She had Thompson, Shaftesbury, an English dictionary, -Tacitus, and Plutarch. She bought pencils and drew a little every day; -altogether it was a busy life. Her day was arranged regularly. In the -morning she studied English, the essay of Shaftesbury on virtue, and -Thompson; after that she drew until noon. Then she had serious work, -for, conscious that her imprisonment might end in her death, she -resolved at its outset to set down as fully as she should have time to, -the facts in the political life of Roland, and to explain her own -relations to him. It is from the material that she was able to write in -this five months and get to her friends, that most of what we know of -her life comes. - -The first undertaken was her _Historical Notes_, written at the Abbaye. -These she did, so rapidly, she says, and with such pleasure, that in -less than a month she had manuscript for a volume. It was a summary of -her public life, and an estimate on the people she had known during it. -She had, herself, a very good opinion of the production: “I wrote it -with my natural freedom and energy, with frank abandon and with the ease -of one who is free from all private considerations, with pleasure in -painting what I had felt and seen, and, finally, with the confidence -that in any case it would be my moral and political testament. It had -the originality which circumstances lent it, and the merit of -reflections born from passing events, and the freshness which belongs to -such an origin.” - -The manuscript was confided to Champagneux, who was still in the -Department of the Interior, but he, arrested, confided it to a person -who, frightened lest it should fall into the hands of the inspectors, -threw it into the fire. “I should have preferred to have been thrown -there myself,” said Madame Roland, when she heard of this disaster. - -Not all of the _Historical Notes_ were destroyed, however, the account -of her own and her husband’s arrest, of her first days at the Abbaye, -and a brief sketch of their official life being saved. - -It was more than a month after she was imprisoned at Sainte Pélagie -before she determined to do over the task. The new undertaking included -a series of portraits and anecdotes drawn from her political life, an -account of her second arrest, and of the first and second ministries. At -the same time that she wrote this, she prepared her private Memoirs,—a -detailed history of her life up to 1777,—and notes on the time between -her marriage and the Revolution. She intended to add to her Memoirs the -story of her relations with Buzot, giving the origin and progress of her -passion, but she was never able to finish it. - -To this literary budget, already large, she afterwards added several -short manuscripts,—a set of “Last Thoughts,” a number of letters, and a -comment on the accusation made by the Mountain against the Gironde, that -it was guilty of a conspiracy against the unity and the indivisibility -of the Republic, and the liberty and safety of the French people. - -Almost all of this matter was given to Bosc, who, thanks to the -concierge of Sainte Pélagie, was allowed to see her twice a week, up to -the middle of October. But Bosc was proscribed later, and obliged to -flee. Unwilling to trust the treasures he held to another, he hid the -manuscripts in the crevice of a rock in the depths of the forest of -Montmorency, where they remained eight months. Later, these papers were -given to Eudora. They remained in the family until given to the -Bibliothèque Nationale, where they now are. - -The difficulties under which she wrote were, of course, great. It was -essential that she should elude her guardians. She had no notes. She was -surrounded by a ribald and noisy company. But these disadvantages only -acted as spurs. She took delight in carrying on this forbidden work -under the eyes of her persecutors. So rapidly did she write that in -twenty-four days she produced two hundred pages of manuscript, including -all the early part of her Memoirs. The words seemed to flow from her -pen. The bulky manuscript of seven hundred pages, preserved at the -Bibliothèque Nationale, is a marvel of neatness and firmness. The -grayish pages are filled evenly from margin to margin in her beautiful -characteristic hand, and there is scarcely a blot or erasure, scarcely a -correction, save those made by Bosc, who published the first edition of -the Memoirs in 1795. - -In style, the political writings are always clear and positive; often -they rise to a real eloquence. Written as they were under the force of -the most powerful emotions, unbiassed judgments cannot be expected. She -was defending her husband primarily in this work, and she did it with -the more earnestness and warmth because she felt, as she wrote Buzot, -that this was one way of compensating him for the sorrow she had caused -him. - -Her judgments on men are not always just. Indeed, they cannot be called -judgments, they are simply her feelings towards those persons at the -moment she wrote. Her indignation against the wrongs done her and her -party is so intense that often her tone is irritated, contemptuous, -impatient. The arrangement is not systematic, as, indeed, it was -impossible to be, under the circumstances, and her pen bounds from one -character to another,—from hero to agitator, from apostrophe to -anecdote,—in a sort of reckless, impassioned hurry. The whole gallery of -the Gironde and its opponents, from 1791 to 1793 pass before us, every -one stamped with a positive, definite character. - -That she poses throughout the narrative is unquestionable. It is to -posterity she speaks, and she wished to appear in the eyes of the future -as she believed herself to be,—the apostle of the ideas of liberty, -equality, and fraternity, the incarnation of patriotism, the most -perfect disinterestedness, and the highest fortitude. - -It was Madame Roland’s plan, in writing her personal Memoirs, to cover -her whole life, and to follow Jean Jacques Rousseau’s _Confessions_. -Although the work was never completed, we have the first twenty-five -years. The charm of the narrative is irresistible. Never, even in the -gayest and most natural of her letters to Bosc and Roland, was Madame -Roland’s pen so happy as in these Memoirs of her youth. They sparkle -with mirth and with tenderness. Never did any one appreciate better his -own youth, nor idealize it more lovingly. To her these souvenirs are -radiant pictures, and she sketches them one after another, with a full -appreciation of all their attractiveness. - -Her early masters, her suitors, her youthful enthusiasm, Sophie, the -Convent des Dames de la Congrégation, Meudon, Vincennes, La Blancherie, -her mother, the Salon, river, Luxembourg, her toilettes, duties, -sorrows, joys, the whole flows in a steady, sparkling stream, vivid with -color, pulsating with life. She relives it all, and without reflection -or hesitation pours out everything which comes into her mind. So full -and natural are these Memoirs that they are really the most attractive -material we have of the life of her class in the eighteenth century. - -In all Madame Roland’s dramatic life there is no more attractive picture -than that which the writing of her Memoirs brings up: this splendid, -passionate woman, glorying in her love and her courage, sitting day -after day before the little table in her prison cell, oblivious to the -cries and oaths which rise about her, indifferent to discomfort, -forgetful of everything but the souvenirs which her flying pen records, -and which bring smiles and tears by turn to her mobile face. Here we -have none of the stilted, prepared style of her early writings, none of -the pose of the political memoirs. It is self-complacent, to be sure, -and we feel that she is making herself out to have been a most -extraordinary young girl, but one cannot help forgiving her, she makes -herself out so charming. However, if one is interested in finding out -the woman as she really was, he must not trust too fully to her -interpretations. She was so interested in herself, idealized herself so -thoroughly, was so serious in her self-confidence, so devoid of -self-reproach, that she was oblivious to her own inconsistencies and -inconsequentialities. - -Rousseau’s _Confessions_ were the model of her Memoirs. The result was -that she related some experiences which good sense and taste, not to say -delicacy, ought to have forbidden her to repeat to any one, above all, -to the public. These passages in her Memoirs are due to her slavish -following of Rousseau. She was incapable of exercising an independent -judgment in a matter of taste, of opinion, of morals, where Rousseau was -concerned, so completely had she adopted him. When she came to writing -her life, she dragged to light unimportant and unpleasant details -because Rousseau had had the bad taste to do the same before her. The -naïveté, with which these things are told, will convince any one that -cares to examine the Memoirs that they mean nothing but she had taken -the foolish engagement to tell everything she could remember about her -life. - -[Illustration: - - THE CONCIERGERIE IN 1793. - - Prison where Madame Roland passed the last eight days of her - captivity, and from which she went to the - guillotine. Pont au Change in the foreground. -] - -The Memoirs, as well as her daily life, her letters, her attitude -towards the authorities, show her courage. But they show, too, the -anguish which shook her from time to time. More than once her firm, -brilliant narrative is broken suddenly—the sentence unfinished—to record -some new outrage against her friends, and as she expresses indignantly -her horror and her grief at the usurpers who are ruling France, one can -almost hear the sob which shook her, but to which she would not yield. -Here and there the gray pages of her beautiful manuscript are spotted by -tear stains. Even now, a hundred years and more after it all, one cannot -read them and see how, in spite of her iron will, her splendid courage, -her heart was sometimes so heavy with woe that her tears would fall, -without a choking in the throat and a dimness of the eyes. - -One crisis after another indeed followed throughout her -imprisonment,—the arrest of the Twenty-two; her own release and -rearrest; the pursuit of Buzot; her friends and Roland’s declared -suspect, imprisoned, driven from Paris, sometimes even guillotined -because of their relations to her; the trial in October of the members -of the Gironde; her summons to the trial as a witness, but the failure -to call her,—a call which she had awaited, “as a soul in pain awaits its -liberator,” she said, so did she desire to have the chance to render one -last service to these friends, in whom she believed so strongly, whom -she deemed so trusty; her anxiety for Eudora; the execution in October -of the Twenty-one; above all, her despair for her country, for France, -which permits the dishonor and murder not of “her children, but of the -fathers of her liberty.” - -The saddest phase of this dark side of her imprisonment was the growing -conviction that she and the patriots had been wrong. At last she saw -what she did when in 1791 she spurned the Assembly. She acknowledged now -that she would have disdained the members of the National Assembly less, -if she could have had an idea of their successors. She had learned to -regret Mirabeau, whose death then had seemed to her well both for his -glory and for the cause of liberty. “The counterpoise of a man of that -force was necessary to oppose the crowd of puppets and to preserve us -from the domination of the bandits.” She had learned that men may -profess, but when their interests and ideals are in opposition it is the -former which wins. She had discovered, at last, that to demand speedy -and immediate regeneration of society is to break the laws of the -universe; that to take away from men what the ages have given them is -simply to restore them to the primitive state of teeth and claws, to let -loose the passions the centuries have tamed. She saw that in politics, -in society, in individual relations, the ideal is the inspiration; the -realization, the laborious effort of centuries. She acknowledged that in -Plutarch she glided over the storms of the Republic, “forgot the death -of Socrates, the exile of Aristides, the condemnation of Phocion.” She -was willing at last to say with Sully, “C’est très difficile de faire le -bien de son pays”; to confess that “if it is permitted to politics to do -good through the wicked, or to profit by their excesses, it is -infinitely dangerous to give them the honor of the one, or not to punish -them for the other.” - -Under the pressure of all these woes she sometimes felt her resolution -weaken. What wonder that when she heard, in October, that Buzot and his -friends, now escaped to the Gascogne, were being tracked so closely that -their arrest was sure, she determined to kill herself? “You know the -malady the English call _heart-break_,” she wrote; “I am attacked -hopelessly by it and I have no desire to delay its effects.” It seemed -to her now that it was weak to await the blow of her tyrants—their _coup -de grâce_ she called it—when she could give it to herself. Why should -she allow them to see how bravely she could die—they who were incapable -of understanding her courage? Three months ago a noble public death -might have served for something. To-day it was pure loss. All this she -wrote to Bosc. She consented, however, to accept his decision as to -whether she ought or not to take her own life, charging him to weigh the -question as if it were impersonal. - -This letter to Bosc bears the date of October 25th. On October 31st, the -condemned Girondins were beheaded. On November 1st, Madame Roland, who -because of Bosc’s arguments had abandoned her resolution to suicide, was -conveyed to the Conciergerie, a prison which in those days was but a -transfer to the cart which led to the guillotine. - -But could she not have been saved? She had friends who would have gladly -dared death for her. All Paris knew of her imprisonment—was there no -lover of justice to intercede? Her friends had tried to save her. Buzot -and Roland both contrived many plans; she repulsed them all. They were -too foolhardy to succeed; they might implicate those who would interest -themselves in carrying them out, or perhaps ruin guardians who had been -kind to her—of these she would hear nothing. Her old friend, Henriette -Cannet, then a widow, came from Amiens, succeeded in reaching her in -prison, insisted on changing garments with her and on remaining in her -place. She would not consent; she would rather “suffer a thousand -deaths” than run the risk of causing that of a friend. And then what did -release mean? Merely the taking on of her old chains. “Nothing would -stop me if I braved dangers only to rejoin you,” she wrote Buzot; “but -to expose my friends and to leave the irons with which the wicked honor -me, in order to take on others that no one sees—there is no hurry for -that.” - -Madame Roland, throughout her imprisonment, had hoped for a popular -uprising, a revolt against tyranny, coming from Paris or the -departments, which would release her and her friends. She never got -thoroughly over her illusion that the people, as a mass, were the ones -that were to reconstruct France; never realized fully how the people -are simply a passive unit, asking only to be let alone, to be allowed -to live as they can without interference; that they have no -initiative, that when they act it is because they have been aroused by -leaders working on them systematically, appealing to their wants, -their desires, their reason sometimes, but more often inflaming their -passions. She never appreciated, save dimly, the fact that throughout -the Revolution, so far, the revolt of the people had been prepared by -agitators,—prepared as she and her friends wished to make the 20th of -July, did make the 10th of August. The people know she is imprisoned; -if they reflect at all, they know that probably it is unjust, but they -are cautious. They have seen, ever since the Revolution commenced, -that he who tries to prevent outrage is sure to be the first to be -punished. They have concluded wisely that the only safe plan is to let -the belligerents fight it out, to follow as well as they can their -usual occupations, and to say nothing. The mass of the Parisians go on -as usual. The Terror has become a part of daily discussion, a part of -the city’s spectacles,—that is all. People buy and sell as usual, the -theatres do not close, not even the Sunday promenade is omitted. They -even take advantage of events to give a livelier interest to their -amusements. The theatres, the fairs, the _cafés chantants_, the maker -of songs and engravings, draw their subjects from the quarrels of the -Assembly, the persecutions of the Commune, the events of the prisons -and of the guillotine. They even use it to advertise their wares: The -real estate agents announce, “in the new state of Kentucky, and the -ancient state of Virginia, lands in a country free from despotism and -anarchy.” The potter improves the chance, and turns out plates and -cups and saucers by the thousands, suitable for all the varying tastes -and shades of opinion; there is elegant Sèvres with a _bonnet rouge_ -for the rich patriot; there is a _vive le roi_, with a sceptre, for -the monarchist; there is a guillotine for the bloodthirsty; there is a -coarse and vulgar joke for the ribald. The cloth-maker prints -patriotic scenes on his curtain stuff; the handkerchief-maker -decorates with transcriptions of the _droits des hommes_; the -hat-maker turns out idealized _bonnets rouges_ suitable for the street -or opera; the fan-maker illuminates with king or _sans-culottes_, -according to taste; the very manufacturer of playing-cards takes off -the time-honored king and queen and knave, and replaces them with -heroes, philosophers, and Revolutionary emblems. Cabinet-maker, -jeweller, shoemaker, weaver, all turn the Revolution to account. For -whether justice reign or fall, the world must go on, and while the few -wrestle with the pains of progress, of achievement, of aspiration, the -mass looks on and calculates what effect the struggle will have on the -price of bread. - - - - - XIII - DEATH ON THE GUILLOTINE - - -The inmates of the Conciergerie were still shivering under the horror of -the death of the twenty-one Girondins when Madame Roland appeared among -them. Her coming was an event which awakened the liveliest interest. For -eight months she had been the most influential woman in France. She was -the recognized inspiration of the party which had wrecked the monarchy -and established the Republic, which had been conquered by the force it -had called to life. To the majority she was but a name. They all knew -that her death was a foregone conclusion. They felt that she, too, knew -it, and they watched, many of them with curiosity—for numbers of the -inmates were of constitutional and royalist sympathies—for signs of -revolt and of weakness. Never, however, had she been calmer, never more -serene. - -The prisons of Paris were at that time terribly overcrowded and poorly -cared for. It was the custom to confine people together without any -regard to their character or lives. “On the same straw, and behind the -same bars,” writes an inmate, “the Duchesse de Grammont and a -handkerchief thief, Madame Roland and a wretch of the streets, a sister -and a habitué of Salpétrière. The quarrelling and the obscenity were -often terrible. But from the time of her arrival the chamber of Madame -Roland became an asylum of peace in the bosom of this hell. If she -descended into the court, her simple presence restored good order, and -the unhappy women, on whom no known power had longer any influence, were -restrained by the fear of displeasing her. She gave money to the most -needy, and to all counsel, consolation, and hope.” - -Over many of the prisoners she exercised a kind of spell. “I experienced -every day a new charm in listening to her,” says Comte Beugnot, a -fellow-prisoner who, rare thing, escaped to write his memoirs; “less -from what she said than from the magic of her manner.” “We were all -attentive about her in a kind of stupefied admiration,” declares Rioffe. - -The next day after her arrival she was questioned for the first time; -two days later she underwent a second examination. She had gone into the -tribunal in her usual serene way. She came back deeply moved, her eyes -wet. The interrogation was indeed most trying. The questions were so -couched that in answering them honestly she condemned herself. Did she -not entertain Brissot, Barbaroux, Buzot, Pétion, in conference? She must -admit it, and explain the “conference” as she would, the Revolutionary -tribunal used her admission as a confession of a criminal relation. A -letter written to a person, whom she knew but slightly, and who had -tried to secure a reading of her letters to the Convention, was used as -evidence against her. It was useless to declare that she simply tried -through this correspondent to reach the ear of the authorities and to -obtain news of her friends. Her friends have been guillotined as -traitors to the country, or are in open rebellion at this moment, -conspiring for the destruction of the Republic. This person, if he were -a patriot, would not have been in communication with them. If she were -loyal, she would not want news of them. Let her try to explain and they -accuse her of evasion. Roland’s office for creating public opinion was -brought up. Was she not the directress of this pretended Bureau of -Public Opinion, whose end was evidently to attack the doctrines in their -purest source and to bring about the destruction of the Republic by -sowing disorder? It was useless to explain the tame and harmless nature -of this department of Roland’s work—a department established by public -decree; for they accused her of outraging truth when she did, and told -her that everybody knew that the correspondence carried on by the -perfidious minister had for its principal object to bring the -departments to Paris and to spread calumnies against the faithful -representatives of the people. They asked her the whereabouts of Roland, -and when she refused to tell they informed her that she was in rebellion -against the law. - -It was evident, indeed, that whatever she might say was useless. She was -the friend of the Gironde, and the last of the race must be exterminated -just as royalist and _émigré_ had been. The world was being made over, -and all who objected to the transformation and wished to fight for -another order must be put out of the way. There was not room enough in -France any longer for people of different ways of looking at things. - -The night after her second interrogation, Madame Roland wrote a defence -to read before the tribunal, in which she indignantly denied the -accusations against her friends, and declared herself honored to perish -for her fidelity to them. The defence was in her haughtiest, most -uncompromising style, and showed her at the very end as resolute, as -proud, as triumphant, as ever. But this defence was written in the heat -of indignation at her examination, and for the hearing of the judges she -despised. Away from her persecutors, many times during the days which -followed, her strength failed and her fellow-prisoners remarked, almost -with awe, that she had been weeping. The woman who served her told them: -“Before you she collects all her strength, but in her chamber she -remains often hours at a time, leaning against the window, weeping.” - -On the 7th of November, the witnesses against Madame Roland appeared. -There were three of them;—her faithful _bonne_, for thirteen years in -her service, and who during her imprisonment had dared every danger to -be useful to her, a governess of Eudora’s, and a domestic. The weight of -their testimony was simply that the Girondins had frequented the house. - -That night Madame Roland’s lawyer, a courageous young man, -Chauveau-Lagarde by name, who was ambitious to defend her, came to -consult with her. She listened calmly to him and discussed several -points of her defence. When he rose to go she drew a ring from her -finger and, without a word, gave it to him. The young man divined the -farewell. “Madame,” he cried, “we shall see each other to-morrow after -the sentence.” - -“To-morrow I shall not be alive. I know the fate which awaits me. Your -counsels are dear to me, but they might be fatal to you. They would ruin -you without saving me. Let me never know the sorrow of causing the death -of a good man. Do not come to the court, I shall disown you, but accept -the only token my gratitude can offer. To-morrow I shall exist no more.” - -The next day, November 8th, was her trial. When she came out from her -cell to await for her summons to the court, Comte Beugnot joined her. -“She was clad carefully in white muslin, trimmed with blonde and -fastened by a girdle of black velvet.” He says: “Her face seemed to me -more animated than usual. Its color was exquisite and she had a smile on -her lips. With one hand she held up the train of her gown; the other she -had abandoned to a crowd of prisoners who pressed near to kiss it. Those -who understood the fate which awaited her sobbed about her and commended -her to God.... Madame responded to all with affectionate kindness. She -did not promise to return, she did not say she was going to her death, -but her last words to them were touching counsels. She begged them to -have peace, courage, hope, to practise those virtues which are fitting -for misfortune. An old jailer, called Fontenay, whose good heart had -resisted the practice of his cruel trade for thirty years, came to open -the gate for her, weeping. I did my errand with her in the passage. She -answered me in a few words and in a firm tone. She had commenced a -sentence when two jailers from the interior called her to the tribunal. -At this cry, terrible for another than her, she stopped and, pressing my -hand, said: ‘Good-by, sir, let us make peace, it is time.’ Raising her -eyes, she saw that I was struggling violently to keep back my tears. She -seemed moved and added but two words, ‘Have courage.’” - -The accusation waited her. It was a charge of having “wickedly and -designedly participated in a conspiracy against the unity and -indivisibility of the Republic, against the liberty and surety of the -French people, by collecting at her home the principal leaders of this -conspiracy, and carrying on a correspondence with them tending to -facilitate their murderous projects.” She was not allowed to read her -defence, and the judgment was pronounced at once. She was convicted of -being one of the authors, or accomplices, in a “horrible conspiracy -against the unity and indivisibility of the Republic, the liberty and -surety of the French people,” and was sentenced to be punished by death. - -When she came out from the tribunal the cart awaited her in the prison -court. - - -Standing on the Pont au Change and looking down the Seine, is one of -those fascinating river views of Paris where a wealth of associations -disputes with endless charm the attention of the loiterer. The left of -the view is filled by the Norman Towers of the Conciergerie, the façades -of the prison, the irregular fronts of the houses facing on the Quai de -l’Horloge, and ends in an old house of Henry IV.’s time. It is the house -where Manon Phlipon passed her girlhood. When the cart drove across the -Pont au Change, Madame Roland had before her the window from which, as a -girl, she had leaned at sunset, and “with a heart filled with -inexpressible joy, happy to exist, had offered to the Supreme Being a -pure and worthy homage.” - -She faces death now as she faced life then. The girl and the woman, in -spite of the drama between, are unchanged: the same ideals, the same -courage, the same faith. Not even this tragic last encounter with the -home of her youth moves her calm; for she passed the Pont Neuf, writes -one who saw her, “upright and calm,—her eyes shining, her color fresh -and brilliant,—a smile on her lips, trying to cheer her companion, a man -overwhelmed by the terror of approaching death.” - -It was a long and weary jolt in the rough cart from the Pont Neuf, where -M. Tissot saw her passing, “erect and calm,” by the Rue Saint Honoré to -the Place de la Concorde, then Place de la Guillotine. The hideous, -howling crowd followed and cursed her. But nothing earthly could reach -the heights whither she had risen. At the foot of the guillotine, so -tradition goes, she asked for a pen to write the thoughts which had -arisen in this awful journey to death, but it was refused. Sanson, the -headsman, in a hurry, pressed her to mount the short ladder which led to -the platform; for there was a grim guillotine etiquette which gave her -the right to die first, but she asked him to give her place to her -cringing companion and spare him the misery of seeing her die. Sanson -demurred. It was against his orders. “Can you refuse a lady her last -request?” she said, smiling, and he, a little shamefaced, consented. - -Then her turn came. As they fastened her to the fatal plank, her eyes -fell on a colossal statue of liberty erected to celebrate the first -anniversary of the 10th of August. “O liberté,” she cried, “comme on t’a -jouée.” Then the axe dropped, the beautiful head fell; Madame Roland was -dead. - - - - - XIV - THOSE LEFT BEHIND - - -Madame Roland was dead, but she had left behind the three beings dearest -and closest to her,—her husband, her child, and her lover. - -Roland fled from Paris, as we have seen, on the night of May 31st. He -succeeded in reaching Amiens, where he had lived many years and where he -had many friends; but though more than one home was opened to him the -surveillance of the Mountain was such that he thought it wise to leave -the town. From Amiens he went westward to Rouen, where he easily found -shelter. He was here on June 22d, when Madame Roland wrote her first -letter to Buzot. The life he led there was miserable in the extreme. He -constantly feared to be arrested; he felt that he was jeopardizing the -lives of his hosts by his presence; he fretted under the contempt and -false accusations which the Mountain continued to rain upon him; and, -above all, he was tortured by his inability to do anything to insure the -future of his child or to effect the release of his wife. - -This anxiety had not grown less with time. The events of the summer and -the fall of 1793 only increased day by day his misery and apprehension. -The news of the death of the twenty-one Girondins in October seemed to -turn to bitterness the last drop of his hope. A heavier blow awaited -him. That happened which must have seemed to his simple soul the -impossible,—his wife was guillotined. When the fatal word reached him, -she had been dead for several days. As the news was given him he fell, -stricken with a blessed unconsciousness. When he recovered himself, his -distress was so great that he resolved to put an end to his days. In -vain did the friends who had sheltered and cared for him all these -months urge him to give up his resolution. He would not listen to them, -but with perfect serenity laid before them two plans which he felt he -might follow. The first savored strongly of Madame Roland’s influence: -it was to go _incognito_ to Paris, appear in the Convention, make an -unexpected speech in which he should tell them the truths he felt they -ought to hear, and then ask them to kill him on the guillotine where his -wife had lost her life. The second was to kill himself. - -[Illustration: - - ROLAND DE LA PLATIÈRE. - - From a drawing by Gabriel. -] - -One consideration alone deterred him from carrying out his first plan. -The property of persons guillotined was confiscated by the State. If he -should die in this manner, Eudora would be left penniless, and Roland -abandoned the idea. There remained nothing for him but suicide. On the -evening of November 15th, he bade his friends good-by, and left Rouen by -the route to Paris. About four leagues from Rouen, in the hamlet of -Baudoin, he left the highway, entered the roadway leading to a private -house, seated himself on the ground on the edge of the avenue, and -deliberately ran a cane-sword into his breast. His death must have been -immediate; for passers-by, next morning, seeing him there leaning -against a tree, thought he was sleeping. When the truth was discovered, -a deputy from the Convention, who happened to be at Rouen, went at once -to the spot and took possession of the papers on his person. The only -one of importance was a note which ran: - -“Whoever finds me lying here, let him respect my remains. They are those -of a man who died as he lived, virtuous and honest. - -“The day is not far distant when you will have to bear a terrible -judgment; await that day; you will act then in full knowledge of causes, -and you will understand the meaning of this advice. - -“May my country soon abhor these crimes and return to humanity and -kindliness.” - -On another fold of the paper was written: - - “_Not fear, but Indignation._ - -“I left my refuge as soon as I heard that my wife had been murdered. I -desire to remain no longer in a world covered with crime.” - - -Eudora Roland, born October 7, 1781, was twelve years old at the time of -her mother’s death. Separated the night of the arrest, the two never saw -each other again. Happily, there were warm and faithful friends ready to -take care of her as soon as her serious situation was known. Bosc, who -throughout Madame Roland’s imprisonment showed himself of the most -fearless and tender devotion, went to the apartment in the Rue de la -Harpe soon after the arrest, and took the little girl to the home of a -member of the Convention, Creuzé-la-Touche. Here she remained until a -few days before her mother’s death. Then it became evident that, in -sheltering Eudora, Madame Creuzé-la-Touche was compromising the safety -of her family, and she was compelled to place her charge in a _pension_. -She was not received there, even, until her name had been changed. All -this was a great grief to Madame Roland in her last days. She understood -only too well now that her child was in danger of suffering her own -fate. She wrote an anxious letter to “the person charged with the care -of my daughter,” and to Eudora herself she wrote a courageous adieu: - -“I do not know, my little girl,” she wrote, “that I shall ever see or -write to you again. REMEMBER YOUR MOTHER, that is the best thing I can -say to you. You have seen me happy in doing my duty and in serving those -who were suffering. There is no better life. - -“You have seen me tranquil in misfortune and captivity. I could be so -because I had no remorse, and only pleasant memories of the good I had -done. Nothing else can sustain one in the sorrows of life. Perhaps you -will never experience trials like mine, but you must prepare for others. -A busy, active life is the best safeguard against danger, and necessity, -as well as wisdom, will compel you to work seriously. - -“Be worthy of your parents. They leave you a noble example. If you -follow them, you will not live in vain. - -“Farewell, dear child. I nursed you at my breast. I would inspire you -with my aspirations. The day will come when you will understand the -effort I am making to be strong as I think of your sweet face. - -“Would that I could fold you to my breast! - -“Adieu, my Eudora.” - -It was Madame Roland’s last letter to her child. Bosc, who had been -allowed to visit her twice a week throughout the fall, was now forbidden -to see her. Letters had to be smuggled in and out of the prison, and she -soon ceased to have any trustworthy news of her loved ones. Six days -after the above letter, she wrote to Bosc: - -“My poor little one! Where is she? Tell me, I beg of you. Give me some -details that I may picture her to myself in her new surroundings.” - -It was too late. In less than a week after this letter she was in the -Conciergerie. - -After the death of M. and Madame Roland, Eudora was taken in charge by -Bosc, who, in 1795, published the first edition of Madame Roland’s -Memoirs, to help in her support. Legend has it that Bosc even wanted to -marry the child. Later a marriage was arranged for her with a brother of -Champagneux of Lyons, the old friend of the Rolands. - -After the Revolution, Madame Champagneux recovered her father’s -property, and Le Clos, the family estate, near Villefranche, came into -her possession. This property is still in the family, being owned by one -of Madame Champagneux’s granddaughters, Madame Cécile Marillier of -Paris. - -All of the papers of Madame Roland, which had been confided to Bosc, -were given by him to Eudora, and she seems to have experienced a certain -resentment towards her mother when she found that she had told posterity -so frankly that her only child lacked in depth of sentiment and keenness -of intellect. This feeling only intensified her admiration for her -father, and when Lamartine’s _History of the Girondins_ appeared, she -was deeply indignant at the way in which he belittled M. Roland in order -to make the figure of Madame Roland more brilliant. It was with the hope -that Lamartine’s influence could be counteracted, that she urged a -friend, a grand-nephew of Bosc, M. P. Faugère by name, to take -possession of all the family papers, and prepare a work which would -justify the memory of Roland. M. Faugère was already busy with a new -edition of the Memoirs, but he promised Madame Champagneux to do the -work on M. Roland as soon as that was finished. The Memoirs he -completed, and his edition is by far the best published; but though he -began the study of Roland he died before finishing it. The family papers -remained in the possession of Madame Faugère, who, in 1888, turned over -the most important of them to the Bibliothèque Nationale. - -Madame Champagneux lived to be nearly seventy-seven years old, dying in -Paris July 19, 1858. The last years of her life were clouded by the -death of one of her daughters, a loss from which she is said never fully -to have recovered. - - -Of the three left behind, the fate of Buzot was saddest. At the moment -that he escaped to Evreux, the northwest departments felt that the -Convention had been coerced into the decree against the Gironde and -there was a general revolt against the tyranny of Paris. Buzot and his -friends who had escaped decided, on sounding this feeling, that it was -sufficiently wide-spread and profound to justify them in undertaking a -campaign against the Convention and in favor of federalism. Buzot began -by speaking in the cathedral at Evreux and here he was joined by Pétion, -Barbaroux, and Louvet. The agitators were not long unmolested. The -Convention turned its fiercest anathemas against the “traitors,” as it -called them, and the Revolutionary authorities of the northwest were -ordered to crush them. At first they fled into Brittany, evidently -hoping to find a vessel there for America, but disappointed in this, -they made their way to Gascogne, where one of their number had friends. - -While Buzot was escaping, the patriotic saviours of their country were -exhausting themselves in fantastic efforts to show their hatred of his -“treason.” His house was demolished amid civic rejoicings. His effigy -was burned and riddled with bullets in the process. On the walls near -his residence could be still read a few years ago an inscription written -in the excitement. - - “Buzot le scélérat trahit la liberté; - Pour ce crime infâme, il sera decapité.” - -This effectual and dignified way of dealing with a political opponent -reached its climax on December 30, 1793, when Evreux held a fête of -rejoicing over the recapture of Toulon. The cathedral in which, six -months before, Buzot had spoken had become a “temple of reason and -philosophy.” On the altars were the busts of Marat, Lepelletier, and -Brutus, where once were the forms of Virgin and Child and peaceable -saint. The latter had been transferred to the Place de la Fédération, -where, together with effigies of Buzot and other local celebrities who -had refused to believe and vote as the authorities desired, they were -burned. - -In the mean time Buzot had escaped to Saint Émilion, where, for some -three months, he and his friends were concealed. They busied themselves, -when their places of hiding permitted it, with writing their memoirs. -Buzot discussed his political career and made a violent, often -vindictive, attack on his opponents. There is no direct avowal, in his -work, of his love for Madame Roland, but one feels throughout the -despairing, passionate passages the struggling of a great emotion, -stifled, but not dead. It is said that when the news of Madame Roland’s -death reached Buzot, his friends thought he had gone mad, and it was -many days before the violence of his grief was calmed. - -At the beginning of 1794 the refugees were obliged to change asylums, -and went to the house of a hair-dresser in Saint Émilion, where they -stayed until June of that year. At that time, however, the Revolutionary -authorities of Bordeaux decided that they were not doing their whole -duty in saving the country, and began a house-to-house search throughout -the department. Buzot, with his friends, Pétion and Barbaroux, were -forced to fly. After days of fatigue and fear and hunger, the end came. -Barbaroux, thinking he was discovered, attempted to shoot himself, but -succeeded only in wounding himself, and was captured. - -Just how death came to Buzot no one knows; for when his body was found -it lay beside that of Pétion in a wheat-field, half-eaten by wolves. - -In unconscious irony the peasants have since called the field the _champ -des émigrés_. - - - - - BIBLIOGRAPHY - - - Appel à l’impartiale postérité. Par la citoyenne Roland, femme du - ministre de l’intérieur. 1795. - - Œuvres de J. M. Ph. Roland, femme de l’ex-ministre de l’intérieur. - 1800. 3 vols. - - Mémoires de Madame Roland, avec une notice sur sa vie. Par MM. - Berville et Barrière. 1820. 2 vols. - - Mémoires de Madame Roland. Par Ravenel. 1840. 2 vols. - - Lettres inédites de Mademoiselle Phlipon. Adressées aux demoiselles - Cannet. Par M. Auguste Breuil. 1841. - - Mémoires particuliers de Madame Roland. Par M. François Barrière. - 1855. 1 vol. - - Mémoires de Madame Roland, écrits durant sa captivité. Par M. P. - Faugère. 1864. 2 vols. - - Mémoires de Madame Roland. Par C. A. Dauban. - - Lettres de Madame Roland (Mademoiselle Phlipon) aux demoiselles - Cannet. Par C. A. Dauban. 1867. 2 vols. - - Étude sur Madame Roland et son temps, suivie des lettres de Madame - Roland à Buzot. Par C. A. Dauban. 1864. - - Lettres autographes adressées à Bancal des Issarts. Publiées par - Henriette des Issarts et précédées d’une introduction par - Sainte-Beuve. 1836. - - Papiers de M. et Madame Roland, Nouvelles acquisitions françaises, - Bibliothèque Nationale. 4 vols. In this collection are over 250 - unpublished letters of Madame Roland, a large number by Roland, a - voluminous academic and political correspondence, many - communications to the academies, the documents for establishing - the genealogy of the Roland family, and many other papers. - - Manuscript contributed to the Academy of Lyons by Roland. Now in the - library of the Academy at Lyons. - - Published Reports of the Academy of Lyons. 1785–1790. - - Lettres écrites de Suisse, d’Italie, de Sicile, et de Malte. Par M. ... - à Mademoiselle ... à Paris, en 1776, 1777 et 1778. 1782. 6 vols. - - Dictionnaires des Manufactures des Arts et des Métiers in the - Encyclopédie Méthodique. 4 vols. By Roland. - - Madame Roland. By Mathilde Blind. 1886. - - Four Frenchwomen. By Henry Austin Dobson. 1890. - - Tableau de Paris. Par Mercier. 1783–1789. - - Le Nouveau Paris. Par Mercier. 6 vols. 1795. - - Paris tel qu’il était avant la Révolution. Par M. Thiéry. An IV. - - État ou Tableau de la ville de Paris. Par de Jéze. 1761. - - Dictionnaire historique de la ville de Paris et de ses environs. Par - Hurtant et Magry. 1779. - - Tableaux des Mœurs. 1600–1880. Par Paul Lacombe. 1887. - - L’an 1789. Par Hippolyte Gautier. 1888. - - Paris en 1789. Par Albert Babeau. 1890. - - La vie privée d’autrefois. Par A. Franklin. 17 vols. 1887–1895. - - Mémoires inédits de M^{me} de Genlis. 1825. 10 vols. - - Mémoires de M^{me} d’Épinay. - - La femme au XVIII^{me} Siècle. Par Edmond et Jules de Goncourt. 1874. - 2 vols. - - L’Éducation des femmes par les femmes. Par Octave Gréard. 1887. - - L’Art du XVIII^{me} Siècle. Par Edmond et Jules de Goncourt. 1874. 2 - vols. - - Causeries du Lundi. Par Sainte-Beuve. - - Études sur la littérature contemporaine. Par Edmond Scherer. - - Extrait du journal de mes voyages. 1776. 2 vols. Par Pahin de la - Blancherie. - - Nouvelles de la République des lettres et des arts. 8 vols. 1779–1787. - Par Pahin de la Blancherie. - - Émile—Les Confessions—La Nouvelle Héloïse—Contrat social. Par J. J. - Rousseau. - - Histoire Parlementaire. Par Buchez et Roux. 32 vols. - - L’Esprit public au XVIII^{me} Siècle. Par Charles Aubertin. 1872. - - L’Esprit Révolutionnaire avant la Revolution. Par Felix Rocquain. - - Les causes financières de la Révolution française. Par Charles Gomel. - 1893. - - De l’administration Provinciale et de la réforme de l’impôt. Par - Letrosne. 1779. - - Le Paysan sous l’Ancien Régime. Par Ferdinand Brunetière. Revue des - Deux Mondes. Avril, 1883. - - La Vie Rurale dans l’Ancienne France. Par Albert Babeau, 1883. - - Procés verbaux de l’assemblée provinciale de Lyon. 1787. - - Lettres de l’intendant du Lyonnais pendant 1780–1789. - - Cahiers du Tiers État, de la noblesse, et du clergé de Lyon aux États - Généraux, 1789. - - Almanach Royal de France. - - Almanach National de France. - - Dr. Rigby’s Letters from France in 1789. - - Procés Verbaux. Assemblée Nationale, 1789–1791. 76 vols. - - Letters written in France. H. M. Williams. 1796. - - Histoire littéraire de la Convention Nationale. Par E. Maron. 1860. - - L’eloquence parlementaire pendant la Révolution française. Par F. A. - Aulard. 1885–1886. 2 vols. - - Catalogue d’une collection d’ouvrages historiques sur la Révolution - française. Par E. Gonon. - - Les Origines de la France contemporaine. Par A. Taine. 1878–1885. 3 - vols. - - Considérations sur les principaux événements de la Révolution - française. Par Madame la baronne de Staël. 1843. - - Letters and Speeches of Thomas Paine during the French Revolution. - - Diary and Letters of Gouverneur Morris. 1888. 2 vols. - - Mémoires et correspondance (de Mallet du Pan) pour servir à l’histoire - de la Révolution française. 1851. 2 vols. - - Histoire de la société française pendant la Révolution. Par Edmond et - Jules de Goncourt. 1854. - - De l’autorité de Rabelais dans la révolution présente et dans la - constitution civile du clergé. Par Pierre Louis Ginguené. 1791. - - La démagogie en 1793 à Paris. Charles Aimé Dauban. 1868. - - Souvenirs sur les deux premières assemblées. Par E. Dumont. - - Mémoires sur la Révolution. Par D. J. Garat. 1795. - - J. P. Brissot député du département d’Eure et Loire à ses commettans, - sur la situation de la Convention Nationale, sur l’influence des - anarchistes, et les maux qu’elle a causés, sur la nécessité - d’anéantir cette influence pour sauver la République. 1794. - - Histoire Musée de la République française depuis l’Assemblée des - notables jusqu’à l’empire. Avec les estampes, médailles, - caricatures, portraits historiques et autographes remarquables du - temps. Par Jean Challamel. 2 vols. 1842. - - La société des Jacobins, Recueil de documents pour l’histoire du club - des Jacobins de Paris. Par. F. A. Aulard. 1889–1895. 5 vols. - - Journal d’un bourgeois de Paris pendant la Terreur. Par Edmond Biré. - 1884. - - Légendes révolutionnaires. Par Edmond Biré. 1893. - - Mémoires du comte Beugnot, ancien ministre (1783–1815). Publiés par le - comte Albert Beugnot. 1868. 2 vols. - - Englishmen in the French Revolution, 1789–1795. By John G. Alger. - 1889. - - Glimpses of the French Revolution. By John G. Alger. 1894. - - Le culte de la Raison et le culte de l’Être Suprême. Par F. A. Aulard. - 1892. - - Études et leçons sur la Révolution française. Par F. A. Aulard. - - Dumouriez. Vie et Mémoires. 1822. 4 vols. - - Mémoires inédits de Pétion et Mémoires de Buzot et de Barbaroux. Par - C. A. Dauban. 1866. - - Charlotte de Corday et les Girondins. Par Charles Vatel. 1864–1872. - - Histoire de la faction de la Gironde. Par Camille Desmoulins. - - Les Girondins, leur vie privée, leur vie publique, leur proscription - et leur mort. Joseph Guadet. 2 vols. 1861. - - Recherches historiques sur les Girondins. Par Charles Vatel. 2 vols. - - Histoire des Girondins et des Massacres de Septembre. A. de Granier de - Cassagnac. 1860. 2 vols. - - Protestation contre le livre intitulé Histoire des Girondins et des - Massacres de Septembre. Par Joseph Guadet. 1860. - - La Légende des Girondins. Par E. Biré. 1881. - - Histoire des Girondins. Par A. de Lamartine. 1847. 8 vols. - - La Grande Encyclopédie. Vol. 18. Les Girondins. Par H. Monin. - - Les ministres de la République Française. Roland et Madame Roland. Par - le Baron de Girardot. 1860. - - Histoire de Lyon et des anciennes provinces du Lyonnais. Par Eug. - Fabrier. 1846. 2 vols. - - Almanach de la ville de Lyon et des provinces du Lyonnais. Par Forez - et Beaujolais. 1784–86. - - Histoire de Villefranche. Par Hippolyte Laplatte. - - Bibliographie Historique de la ville de Lyon. Par Gonon. 1845. - - Histoire de Lyon. Par Ballydier. - - Histoire du commerce de l’industrie des fabriques de Lyon. Par C. - Beaulieu. 1838. - - Histoire de la ville de Lyon pendant la Révolution. Par l’Abbe Guillou - de Montléon. - - Les premières années de la Révolution à Lyon. Par Maurice Wahl. 1894. - - - NEWSPAPERS - - Courrier de Lyon. - - Le Patriote Français. - - Moniteur Universel. - - Le Gardien de la Constitution. - - L’Ami du Peuple. - - Journal de la République Française. - - La Sentinelle. - - Mercure de France. - - Le Père Duchèsne. - - - POLITICAL PAMPHLETS - - Correspondance du ministre de l’intérieur Roland avec le Général - Lafayette. - - Lettre au Roi. - - Lettre de Junius à Roland. - - Lettre à M. Roland. - - Lettres sur le ministère de Roland. - - Rapport relatif au 20 Juin. - - Adresse au peuple français. - - Ni Marat ni Roland. Opinion d’Anarcharsis Cloots. 1792. - - Réponses au Prussien Cloots par Roland, Kersaint, Guadet, et Brissot. - - L’ex-ministre de l’intérieur au président de la Convention Nationale. - - Observations de l’ex-ministre Roland sur le rapport fait contre lui - par le député Brival. - - Lettres et pièces intéressantes pour servir à l’histoire des ministres - de Roland, de Servan et de Clavière. - - Conversations et correspondance de M. Champy avec M. Roland. - - À M. Roland de la Platière sur sa “Lettre au Roi,” 17 Juillet, 1792. - - Almanach des Bizarreries Humaines. Par J. C. Bailleul. 1889. - - - - - INDEX - - - Abbaye, Madame Roland imprisoned in the, 261 _et seq._ - - Antoine, 145. - - Assembly, National, see National Assembly. - - - Barbaroux, and the Rolands, their plans, 202–205, 206; - his fate, 309–311. - - Beaumarchais, his _Figaro_ first given, 85; - quoted, 121. - - Beugnot, Comte, his words concerning Madame Roland in prison, 296, 299. - - Buzot, François-Nicolas-Léonard, at the home of the Rolands, 145; - Madame Roland’s passion for, 224, 225; - his early career, 226, 227; - attracts Madame Roland, 227; - his nature, 228; - correspondence with Madame Roland, 228, 230; - his wife not his equal, 227, 230; - his personal attractions, 231, 232; - his love for Madame Roland, 230, 234, 242–244; - his relations toward M. Roland, 244; - his struggle against the Mountain party, 247–249; - his opinion of Danton and Robespierre, 247, 249; - in harmony with M. Roland, 249; - his efforts to prove his patriotism, 250; - could not approve the Terrorists, 250, 251; - his relations with the Rolands well understood, 251; - characterized by Marat as _frère tranquille_, 251; - his words on the Republic, 255–257; - flees from Paris to Evreux, 262, 263; - Madame Roland’s letters to, from prison, 274–280; - his last days and death, 309–311. - - - Cannet, Henriette, offers to take Madame Roland’s place in prison, 292. - - Cannet, Sophie, Manon Phlipon’s friendship with, 12–15. - - Cercle Social, the, patriotic club, 142, 143. - - Chalier, sent home to Lyons by Roland “with honors,” 211. - - Champagneux, M., starts the _Courrier de Lyon_, 128; - in constant correspondence with the Rolands, 155; - arrested, 284. - - Champagneux, brother of above, husband of Eudora Roland, 98, 308. - - Champ-de-Mars, the massacre of, 162, 163. - - Chauveau-Lagarde, ambitious to defend Madame Roland in her trial, 299. - - Clavière, at the home of the Rolands, 145–147. - - Commune, the, 208; - and M. Roland, 212, 213; - vigorous action of, 212. - - Conciergerie, Madame Roland imprisoned in the, 292, 295, 296. - - Condorcet, his pamphlet on “Whether a king is necessary to the - conservation of energy,” 159. - - Constitution, the, formed by the Assembly and accepted by Louis XVI., - 168, 169. - - Constitutionalist party, the, 174. - - Convention, National, see National Assembly. - - Conversation, French, character of, 147, 148. - - Creuzé-la-Touche, shelters Eudora Roland, 306. - - - Dames de la Congrégation de Notre Dame, Convent, Manon Phlipon at, 9 - _et seq._; - instruction given at, 10. - - Danton, at the head of the insurrectionary element, 205, 206, 214; - Madame Roland’s antipathy to, 214–217; - the only mediator between the Gironde and the Mountain parties, 215; - his brutality, 217, 222; - “the one man who could support the Gironde, save the King and his - country,” 223; - his words concerning Madame Roland, 245; - Buzot’s opinion of, 247, 249. - - Desmoulins, Camille, his inability to understand the general admiration - for Madame Roland, 151, 152, 206. - - Dumas, Mathieu, his words on the publication of Roland’s letter to the - King, 198. - - Dumont, his comment on Madame Roland’s persuading her husband to - publish his letter to the King, 198. - - Dumouriez, General, Madame Roland’s distrust of, 181, 182; - Roland made overtures to, 223. - - - _Encyclopédie méthodique_, M. Roland’s contributions to, 76, 77. - - - Faugère, M. P., and the Roland Memoirs, 308, 309. - - Feuillants, the, 176, 189, 201. - - Financial errors of the French government, 113–117, 121, 122. - - France, financial errors of the government, 113–117, 121, 122. - - - Garaud, 146. - - Garran, 145. - - Genlis, Madame de, her lack of knowledge at twelve, 10. - - Gironde, the party of the, character and principles of, 171–176; - Madame de Staël’s words concerning, 173; - its attitude toward the Mountain and constitutionalist parties, - 174–176; - the Girondin ministry, 178; - join the Jacobins, 205; - struggle between the Mountain party and, 255; - expulsion and trial of twenty-two members of, 259; - twenty-one executed, 290. - - Gluck, his _Danaïdes_ first given, 85. - - Grandpré, his assistance to Madame Roland in prison, 269, 270. - - Grégoire, 146. - - Greuze, Manon Phlipon’s visit to, 57, 58. - - Guillon de Montléon, Abbé, his words concerning M. Roland, 91; - his words concerning Madame Roland, 150, 151. - - - Hannaches, Mademoiselle d’, and Manon Phlipon, 19, 20. - - Heinsius, his portrait of Madame Roland, 152, 153. - - - Insurrection, party of the, 205–207. - - - Jacobins, too conservative for the Rolands, 143; - the Girondins join, 205. - - - Lafayette, Marquis de, 157, 200. - - Lanthenas, and the Rolands, 127, 128, 216, 233, 237. - - Le Clos, the country home of M. and Madame Roland, 94 _et seq._; - amusements at, 101; - Madame Roland’s life at, 99–111. - - Louis Noailles, 145. - - Louise, Madame, sister of Louis XVI., did not know her alphabet at - twelve, 10. - - Louis XVI., appears with Marie Antoinette in the National Assembly, - 129, 130; - his flight and return, 156–159; - “worse than a stick in a wheel,” 158; - efforts to secure a trial of, 161, 162; - accepts the constitution, 168; - names a cabinet to suit the Girondins, 178; - Madame Roland doubts the good faith of, 183; - hesitates to sign measure to raise army for protection of Paris - against foreign attack, 189; - Roland’s letter to, concerning the public perils, 190–199; - his words to Roland concerning the letter, 197; - the red cap placed on his head in the riot of the 20th of June, 200. - - Lyons, M. and Madame Roland at, 91–93; - M. Roland’s manuscripts in the archives of the Academy of, 92, 93; - disorders in, 134–137; - rumors of a Prussian and Austrian invasion, 137; - the Rolands detested in, 138; - its devotion to the aristocracy, 165. - - - Mandat, murdered, 208. - - Marat, joins the Commune, 212; - his character, 218; - and M. Roland, 218, 219; - attacks M. and Madame Roland in his journal, 222, 223; - his words concerning Buzot, 251; - his characterization of Madame Roland, 252. - - Marie Antoinette, her appearance in the National Assembly, 129, 130; - her flight, 156. - - Mesmer-study, 85. - - Mirabeau, Madame Roland’s words concerning, 290. - - Morris, Gouverneur, quoted, 163; - his words concerning the attitude of affairs in Paris, 177. - - Mountain party, the, its character, 174–176; - M. Roland’s struggle against, 247; - Buzot’s struggle against, 247–249; - struggle of the Gironde party with, 255. - - - National Assembly, the, 124; - King and Marie Antoinette appear in, 129, 130; - Madame Roland’s dissatisfaction with, 129–131, 138–142; - M. Roland a deputy to, 138; - measure to raise army to protect Paris against attack of foreigners, - voted by, 189; - Roland’s letter to the King presented to the, 197–199; - Madame Roland appears before the Convention, 253; - struggle in, between the Mountain and Gironde parties, 255; - expulsion and trial of members of the Gironde, 259; - Madame Roland’s letter to, from prison, 269, 270. - - Noailles, Louis, 145. - - Notre Dame des Marais, the Gothic church at Villefranche, 88. - - _Nouvelle Héloïse_, Rousseau’s, its influence on Manon Phlipon, 32–35. - - - Paine, Thomas, at the home of the Rolands, 146; - forms a republican society in Paris, 159. - - Paris, gold and silver smiths in the western end of, 1; - measure to guard the city against attack of foreigners, 188 _et - seq._, 201; - life in, during the Revolution, 293, 294. - - Pétion, at the home of the Rolands, 145; - a Girondin, 171; - counsels calm, 205, 208; - his fate, 309–311. - - Phlipon, Madame, mother of Manon Phlipon, her character, 3; - her control over her daughter, 5; - her death, 31. - - Phlipon, Marie-Jeanne, called Manon, afterwards Madame Roland, her - parents, 2–6; - her birth, 5; - her character as a child, 5, 6; - early reading and education, 6 _et seq._; - effect of _Plutarch’s Lives_ on, 7, 8; - her religions zeal, 9; - enters the convent, Dames de la Congrégation de Notre Dame, 9, 10; - her life and work there, 10–14; - her friendship with Sophie Cannet, 12–15; - her piety, 11, 12; - her letters to Sophie Cannet, 14, 15; - her secret resolve to return to convent life, 15; - her dislike for the vanities of life, 16, 17, 20, 21; - her love of nature, 17; - Meudon her favorite spot, 17; - her visit to Madame de Boismorel, 18, 19; - her early contempt for the social conditions, 19–21; - a secretary to Mademoiselle d’Hannaches, 20; - makes an eight-day visit to Versailles, 21; - her description of her impressions there, 22; - her attitude toward the King and government at twenty years of age, - 22–24; - prefers a republic, 22, 23; - her reading after leaving the convent, 24–26; - her _cahiers_, 26; - deeply interested in philosophy, 26, 27; - studies Christian dogma severely and rationally, 27, 28; - her mental and spiritual condition, 28–30; - the influence of Rousseau’s _Nouvelle Héloïse_ on, 31–35; - her words concerning Rousseau and his works, 34, 35; - her notions of a future husband, 35–38; - applicants for her hand, 35, 36; - her love affair with Pahin de la Blancherie, 38–44; - her _Loisirs_, 40, 58; - her interest in Sainte-Lettre, 44, 45; - refuses M. de Sévelinges, 46, 47; - her interest in Roland de la Platière, 45, 52, 53; - her interest in M. Pittet, 54; - the dulness of her life, 54; - her visit to Rousseau, 55, 56; - her visit to Greuze, 57, 58; - her relations with her father, 58, 59; - conceals from Sophie Cannet her feeling for Roland de la Platière, - 60; - Platonic arrangement with Roland, 61; - correspondence between Roland and, 61–69; - difficulty with her father in her betrothal to M. Roland, 67–69; - leaves her father, and retires to the convent, 69, 70; - marries Roland, 71; - her account in her Memoirs of the courtship and marriage, 71, 72. - See Roland, Madame. - - Phlipon, Pierre Gatien, his engraving shop, 2, 3; - his character, 3, 4; - his home life and family, 4, 5; - displeased with Pahin de la Blancherie, 40; - his relations toward his daughter, 58, 59; - grows dissipated, 68; - his attitude toward M. Roland, 68, 69; - death, 140. - - Pittet, M., Manon Phlipon’s interest in, 54. - - _Plutarch’s Lives_, effect of, on Manon Phlipon, 7, 8. - - - Rebecqui, 202. - - Republic, excitement at the name of, 158–160; - not welcomed by the people, 161. - - _Republican_, the, journal, 159, 160. - - Robespierre, at home of the Rolands, 145; - his words concerning a Republic, 160, 161; - criminal accuser, 171; - in open rupture with the Girondins, 189; - joins the Commune, 212, 221, 222; - Buzot’s opinion of, 247, 249. - - Revolution, the French, the Rolands welcomed, 112 _et seq._; - preliminary outbreaks of, 117–120; - the word _révolution_ long used in private, 118; - call for States-General in 1788, 123; - the fall of the Bastille, 124; - disorders in Lyons, 134–137; - rumors of a Prussian and Russian invasion, 137; - the Revolutionary temper, 149; - the flight and return of the king, 156–159; - the massacre of the Champ-de-Mars, 162, 163; - disorders and riots everywhere, 183, 184; - the riot of the 20th of June, 199, 200; - the insurrectionary element organizing, 206, 207; - the Commune, 208, 212, 213; - the September massacres, 219–222; - the execution of the twenty-one Girondins, 290; - the daily life of Parisians during, 293, 294. - - Roland, Eudora, daughter of Madame Roland, born, 75; - her husband Champagneux receives “conscience money,” 98; - her education by her mother, 102; - her life, 305–309; - her resentment toward her mother and admiration for her father, 308. - - Roland, the _chanoine_, brother of M. Roland, 89, 140. - - Roland, Madame, first year of married life, 73–75; - at Amiens, 75; - her child, 75; - helping her husband on the _Encyclopédie_, 77; - absorbed in her domestic life, 78; - her efforts in Paris to secure a title for her husband, 79–84; - secures for her husband the position of inspector at Lyons, 84; - her correspondence with her husband while in Paris, 85, 86; - interest in Mesmerism, 85; - returns to Amiens, 85, 86; - trip to England, 86; - life at Villefranche-sur-Saône, 87 _et seq._; - her relations toward M. Roland’s mother and brother, 89, 90; - in correspondence with Bosc, 90; - not pleased with and not popular at Villefranche, 90, 91; - not pleased with Lyons, 92; - home life at Le Clos, 94, 99–111; - education of her daughter, 102; - her letters on Rousseau’s _Julie_ and the education of children, - 103–108; - her devotion to her husband unabated during life at Le Clos, 108, - 109; - her trip to Switzerland, 109, 110; - a sympathetic witness of preliminary outbreaks of the Revolution, - 112, 117 _et seq._; - cramped for money after marriage, 120; - her idea of “complete regeneration” of social affairs, 124, 125; - her political convictions and plan of action, 125–133; - her influence over her husband and friends, 126–129; - her words after the fall of the Bastille, 129; - concerning the King’s and Marie Antoinette’s appearance in the - National Assembly, 129, 130; - displeased with the constitution, 130; - her firmness, 132; - detested in Lyons, 138; - her dissatisfaction with the National Assembly, 129–131, 138–142; - goes up to Paris, 138, 140; - her irritation at the aristocrats, 142; - gives up going to theatres, and goes to political clubs, 142, 143; - her words concerning Jacobins, 143; - her esteem for Brissot, 145; - her comments on the discussions of patriots that gathered at her - house, 146–148; - her words on the necessity of uniting efforts, 148, 149; - her supremacy over group of patriots around her, 149, 150; - her inflexibility, 150; - her personal charms, 150–152; - the portraits of, 152–154; - her joy at the flight of the King, 156, 157; - her words on the return of the King, 158; - endeavors to secure a trial of the King, 161, 162; - she loses heart, and returns from Paris to Villefranche, 164; - her disgust with Lyons, 165; - her disappointment in her child, 166; - decides to return to Paris, 166, 167; - her ideal of government unsatisfied, 169, 170; - her supreme confidence in herself, 170; - considered herself better than her husband, 170; - her feeling against the old régime, 170; - her attitude on her return to Paris, 176, 177; - her life and habits after her husband entered the Ministry of the - Interior, 179, 180; - her influence in choosing persons for positions in the department, - 180, 181; - her mistrust of General Dumouriez and others, 181, 182; - doubts the good faith of the King, 183; - her measures to meet perils threatening Paris, 188 _et seq._; - she writes letter to the King concerning the perils, 190; - persuades her husband to publish the letter to the King, 197, 198; - meets Barbaroux, 201, 202; - her plan carried, 210; - her antipathy to Danton, 214–217; - her words concerning Robespierre, Marat, and Danton, 221, 222; - her disgust at the brutal turn of affairs in the Revolution, 222; - attacked by Marat, 222, 223; - would not compromise with the insurrectionary force, 223, 225; - her passion for Buzot, 224, 225, 227–244; - her first interest in Buzot, 227, 228; - her correspondence with Buzot, 228–230; - her disillusionment in regard to the Revolution, 230, 231; - her hope in Buzot, 231; - attracted by Buzot’s personal charms, 231, 232; - the waning of her affection for her husband and of her friendship - with Bosc, Lanthenas, and Bancal, 233; - her notions of duty and devotion, 234; - her relations with various friends during her life, 235–241; - influenced by the “new ideas” of love and marriage, she accepts the - love of Buzot, 242, 243; - she tells her husband of her love for Buzot, 243; - her relations to her husband thereafter, 244; - Danton’s words concerning, 245; - holds her place in the struggle, 251; - abused by Marat, 252; - her position compared with that of Marie Antoinette, 252; - appears before the Convention, 253; - danger to her life, 253, 254; - attempts to leave Paris, but falls ill, 258; - her vain endeavor to reach the Convention to plead her husband’s - cause, 259–261; - put under arrest, 261, 262; - her imprisonment in the Abbaye and Sainte Pélagie, 264, 265; - her fortitude in prison, 266, 267; - made a prominent actor in the public tragedy by her imprisonment, - 267, 268; - her letters from prison to the Convention and to the ministers, 269, - 270; - her conversation with a committee visiting her prison, 270, 271; - defending herself against accusations and calumnies, 271–273; - her “Last Thoughts,” 273, 284; - doubt as to the object of her passion alluded to in her last letters, - 274; - her letters to Buzot from prison, 274–280; - would ultimately have left Roland for Buzot, 280; - her life and occupations in prison, 280–283; - her _Historical Notes_ written at the Abbaye prison, 283, 284; - her Memoirs and other writings, 284–289; - rapidity and ease with which she wrote, 285; - Rousseau’s _Confessions_ the model of her Memoirs, 287, 288; - her anguish and despair, 289, 290; - her words concerning Mirabeau, 290; - she resolves to kill herself, 291; - conveyed to the Conciergerie, 292; - refuses assistance from her friends, 292; - had hoped, during her imprisonment, for a popular uprising, 292, 293; - her life in the Conciergerie, 295, 296; - her second examination, 296–298; - her defence, 298; - her trial, 299, 300; - sentenced to death, 301; - her words to Chauveau-Lagarde, refusing his assistance as counsel, - 299; - her trip to the guillotine, and death, 301, 302. - See Phlipon, Marie-Jeanne. - - Roland de la Platière, M., 45; - his position and career, 47–51; - his character and disposition, 51, 52; - first acquaintance with Manon Phlipon, 53; - professes love for Manon Phlipon, 60; - Platonic arrangement with Manon, 61; - correspondence between Manon and, 61–69; - annoyances and obstacles in his love affair with Manon, 67–70; - marries Manon, 71; - the first year after his marriage, 73, 74; - his contribution to the _Encyclopédie méthodique_, 76, 77; - ambitious to obtain a title, 78, 79; - the general prejudice against, 81, 82; - his wife obtains for him the position of inspector of commerce at - Lyons, 84; - his letters to his wife while she was in Paris, 85, 86; - trip to England, 86; - his life at Villefranche-sur-Saône, 87 _et seq._; - his mother and brother, 88–90; - disliked in the Academy of Villefranche, 91; - the Abbé Guillon’s words concerning, 91; - his manuscripts in the archives of the Academy of Lyons, 92, 93; - home life at Le Clos, 94 _et seq._; - sympathized with preliminary outbreaks of the Revolution, 112 _et - seq._; - appreciated the financial errors of the French government, 113–116; - labors against the abuses of the realm, 120; - poverty after marriage, 120; - his wife’s influence over, 126, 127; - becomes embroiled in Lyons, 134–138; - detested in Lyons, 138; - goes to Paris as deputy to the National Assembly, 138; - his words concerning Jacobins, 143; - hard at work in Paris, 143, 144; - his zealous spirit, 144; - gathering of patriots at home of, 145–147; - pronounces the King “worse than a stick in a wheel,” 158; - his pamphlet on the “Advantages of the flight of the king, etc.,” - 159; - his words on the riot in the Champ-de-Mars, 162, 163; - appointed to head of Department of Interior on Girondin ministry, - 177–179; - pictured by the _Mercure_ as one of the principal agitators of Lyons, - 178; - his life and duties as minister, 179, 180; - his formulas in reply to requests of departments that he suppress - disorders, 185–187; - his conduct exasperating, 188; - his letter to the King concerning the perils threatening Paris, - 190–196; - discharged from the ministry, 197; - presents his letter to the Assembly, 197–199; - meets and plans with Barbaroux, 201–205; - everywhere upheld the Jacobin party, 211; - his great energy, 212; - hindered in activity by the Commune, 212–214; - at cross-purposes with Danton, 217; - antagonized Marat, 218, 219; - protests against the September massacres, 219–221; - orders Santerre to quell disorder, 221; - attacked by Marat, 222; - makes overtures to Dumouriez, 223; - Madame Roland informs him of her love for Buzot, 243; - resigns from the ministry, 245; - withdraws his resignation, 246; - his struggle against the Mountain party, 247; - his retirement, 254, 255; - neglected by the Convention, 254, 255, 258; - arrested, 259; - in concealment, 276; - his last days and death, 303–305. - - Rousseau, Jean Jacques, the prophet of the sentimental generation, 32; - his _Nouvelle Héloïse_ and its influence on Manon Phlipon, 32–35; - his _Émile_, 33, 34; - Manon Phlipon’s visit to, 55, 56; - his _Social Contract_, 125; - his _Confessions_ the model of Madame Roland’s Memoirs, 287, 288. - - - Sainte-Lettre, M. de, and Manon Phlipon, 44, 45. - - Sainte Pélagie, the prison of, 281, 282. - - Sanson, the headsman, and Madame Roland, 302. - - Santerre, 206, 221. - - Servan, in the ministry with Roland, 188, 189; - discharged from the ministry, 197. - - Sévelinges, M. de, Manon Phlipon declines hand of, 46, 47. - - Staël, Madame de, her words concerning Girondins, 173, 174. - - - Taxes, heavy previous to the Revolution, 113–116, 121, 122. - - Tissot, his words concerning Madame Roland, 151. - - - Vergniaud, 201. - - Villefranche-sur-Saône, 87 _et seq._; - the Church Notre Dame des Marais, at, 88; - disorders in the district of, 184. - - Volfius, 145. - - - Williams, Miss, Bancal’s love for, 233, 241. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES - - - 1. 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text-indent: 0em; } - body {font-family: serif, 'DejaVu Sans'; text-align: justify; } - table {font-size: .9em; padding: 1.5em .5em 1em; page-break-inside: avoid; - clear: both; } - div.titlepage {text-align: center; page-break-before: always; - page-break-after: always; } - div.titlepage p {text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; font-weight: bold; - line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 3em; } - .ph1 { text-indent: 0em; font-weight: bold; font-size: xx-large; - margin: .67em auto; page-break-before: always; } - .ph2 { text-indent: 0em; font-weight: bold; font-size: x-large; margin: .75em auto; - page-break-before: always; } - .x-ebookmaker p.dropcap:first-letter { float: left; } - </style> - </head> - <body> -<pre style='margin-bottom:6em;'>The Project Gutenberg EBook of MADAME ROLAND, by Ida M. Tarbell - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this ebook. - -Title: MADAME ROLAND - A BIOGRAPHICAL STUDY - -Author: Ida M. Tarbell - -Release Date: December 05, 2020 [EBook #63699] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team - at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images - generously made available by The Internet Archive) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MADAME ROLAND *** -</pre> -<div class='tnotes covernote'> - -<p class='c000'><b>Transcriber’s Note:</b></p> - -<p class='c000'>The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='section ph1'> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c001'> - <div>MADAME ROLAND</div> - <div class='c002'>A BIOGRAPHICAL STUDY</div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div id='Frontispiece' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_frontis.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>MADAME ROLAND AT THE CONCIERGERIE.<br /><br />From a painting by Jules Goupil, now in the museum of Amboise.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='titlepage'> - -<div> - <h1 class='c003'>MADAME ROLAND<br /> <span class='xlarge'><em>A BIOGRAPHICAL STUDY</em></span></h1> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c004'> - <div><span class='small'>BY</span></div> - <div class='c002'><span class='large'>IDA M. TARBELL</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div id='Title' class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i_title.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>NEW YORK</div> - <div>CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS</div> - <div>1896</div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c005'> - <div>COPYRIGHT, 1896, BY</div> - <div>CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS</div> - <div class='c004'>Norwood Press</div> - <div>J. S. Cushing & Co.—Berwick & Smith</div> - <div>Norwood Mass. U.S.A.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c001'> - <div><span class='sc'>To my dear Friend</span></div> - <div class='c002'>MADAME CÉCILE MARILLIER</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_vii'>vii</span> - <h2 class='c006'>PREFACE</h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c007'>Some eight years ago I undertook a study of the -women of the French Revolution, my object -being merely to satisfy myself as to the value of -their public services in that period. In the course -of my studies I became particularly interested in -Madame Roland, and when five years ago I found -myself in Paris for an extended period, I decided -to use my leisure in making a more careful investigation -of her life and times than I had been able to -do in America. The result of that study is condensed -in this volume.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Much of the material used in preparing the book -is new to the public. The chapter on Mademoiselle -Phlipon’s relations with M. Roland and of their -marriage has been written from unpublished letters, -and presents a very different view of that affair -from that which her biographers have hitherto given, -and from that which she herself gives in her Memoirs. -The story of her seeking a title with its privileges in -Paris in 1784 has never before been told, the letters -in which the details of her search are given never -having been published. Those of her biographers -who have had access to these letters have been too -<span class='pageno' id='Page_viii'>viii</span>ardent republicans, or too passionate admirers of their -heroine, to dwell on an episode of her career which -seemed to them inconsistent with her later life.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The manuscripts of the letters from which these -chapters have been written are now in the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Bibliothèque -Nationale</span></i> of Paris. They were given to the -library in 1888, by Madame Faugère, the widow -of M. P. Faugère, to whom they had been given by -Madame Champagneux, only daughter of Madame -Roland, that he might prepare a satisfactory edition -of her mother’s works, and write a life of her father. -M. Faugère finished his edition of Madame Roland’s -writings, but he died before completing his life of -M. Roland.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Much of the material used in the book I have obtained -from the descendants of Madame Roland, now -living in Paris. My relations with them came about -through that distinguished scholar and gentleman, -the late James Darmesteter. Learning that I was -interested in Madame Roland, he kindly sent me -to her great-grandson M. Léon Marillier, a professor -in the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">École des Hautes Études</span></i>, of Paris. -M. Marillier and his wife were of the greatest service -to me, called my attention to the manuscripts which -Madame Faugère had turned over to the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Bibliothèque</span></i>, -and which had just been catalogued, and gave me for -examination a large quantity of letters and <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">cahiers</span></i> -from Madame Roland’s girlhood. There also I met -their mother, Madame Cécile Marillier. To her I -owe a debt of gratitude for sympathy and help, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_ix'>ix</span>which I can never repay. Madame Marillier gave -me freely the family legends of her grandmother, -and in May, 1892, I spent a fortnight at Le Clos, -the family home of the Rolands, where Madame -Roland passed her happiest, most natural years. -The old place is rife with memories of its former -mistress, and it was there and afterwards in Villefranche -that I found material for Chapters IV. -and V.</p> - -<p class='c008'>I cannot close this introductory word without -acknowledging, too, my indebtedness to the librarians -of the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Bibliothèque Nationale</span></i>, of Paris. During three -years I worked there almost daily, and I was treated -with uniform courtesy and served willingly and -intelligently. Indeed, I may say the same for all -libraries and museums of Paris where I had occasion -to seek information.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>I. M. T.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_xi'>xi</span> - <h2 class='c006'>CONTENTS</h2> -</div> - -<table class='table0' summary='CONTENTS'> -<colgroup> -<col width='88%' /> -<col width='11%' /> -</colgroup> - <tr><td class='c009' colspan='2'>CHAPTER I</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <th class='c010'></th> - <th class='c011'><span class='small'>PAGE</span></th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c010'><span class='sc'>The Girlhood of Manon Phlipon</span></td> - <td class='c011'><a href='#Page_1'>1</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td class='c009' colspan='2'>CHAPTER II</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c010'><span class='sc'>Lovers and Marriage</span></td> - <td class='c011'><a href='#Page_31'>31</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td class='c009' colspan='2'>CHAPTER III</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c010'><span class='sc'>Seeking a Title</span></td> - <td class='c011'><a href='#Page_73'>73</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td class='c009' colspan='2'>CHAPTER IV</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c010'><span class='sc'>Country Life</span></td> - <td class='c011'><a href='#Page_87'>87</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td class='c009' colspan='2'>CHAPTER V</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c010'><span class='sc'>How the Rolands welcomed the Revolution</span></td> - <td class='c011'><a href='#Page_112'>112</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td class='c009' colspan='2'>CHAPTER VI</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c010'><span class='sc'>First Political Salon</span></td> - <td class='c011'><a href='#Page_134'>134</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td class='c009' colspan='2'>CHAPTER VII</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c010'><span class='sc'>A Stick in the Wheel</span></td> - <td class='c011'><a href='#Page_155'>155</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td class='c009' colspan='2'><span class='pageno' id='Page_xii'>xii</span>CHAPTER VIII</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c010'><span class='sc'>Working for a Second Revolution</span></td> - <td class='c011'><a href='#Page_168'>168</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td class='c009' colspan='2'>CHAPTER IX</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c010'><span class='sc'>Disillusion</span></td> - <td class='c011'><a href='#Page_210'>210</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td class='c009' colspan='2'>CHAPTER X</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c010'><span class='sc'>Buzot and Madame Roland</span></td> - <td class='c011'><a href='#Page_226'>226</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td class='c009' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XI</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c010'><span class='sc'>The Rolands turn against the Revolution</span></td> - <td class='c011'><a href='#Page_245'>245</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td class='c009' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XII</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c010'><span class='sc'>In Prison</span></td> - <td class='c011'><a href='#Page_264'>264</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td class='c009' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XIII</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c010'><span class='sc'>Death on the Guillotine</span></td> - <td class='c011'><a href='#Page_295'>295</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td class='c009' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XIV</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c010'><span class='sc'>Those left behind</span></td> - <td class='c011'><a href='#Page_303'>303</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c010'><span class='sc'>Bibliography</span></td> - <td class='c011'><a href='#Page_313'>313</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c010'><span class='sc'>Index</span></td> - <td class='c011'><a href='#Page_321'>321</a></td> - </tr> -</table> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_xiii'>xiii</span> - <h2 class='c006'>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.</h2> -</div> - -<table class='table0' summary='LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS'> -<colgroup> -<col width='80%' /> -<col width='20%' /> -</colgroup> - <tr> - <td class='c012'>Madame Roland at the Conciergerie—From a painting by Jules Goupil, now in the museum of Amboise</td> - <td class='c013'><em><a href='#Frontispiece'>Frontispiece</a></em></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'>Madame Roland—From a cameo in the Musée Carnavalet</td> - <td class='c013'><em><a href='#Title'>Title</a></em></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <th class='c012'></th> - <th class='c013'><span class='small'>FACING<br />PAGE</span></th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'>The Place Dauphine in the Eighteenth Century</td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#Page_8'>8</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'>The Pont Neuf in 1895</td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#Page_40'>40</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'>Roland de la Platière—After the painting by Hesse</td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#Page_64'>64</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'>Le Clos de la Platière</td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#Page_96'>96</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'>Madame Roland—From the painting by Heinsius in the museum of Versailles</td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#Page_128'>128</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'>Madame Roland—After a crayon portrait owned by the family</td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#Page_152'>152</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'>Madame Roland—From a painting by an unknown artist in the Musée Carnavalet</td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#Page_192'>192</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'>Engraving of Buzot by Nargeot—After the portrait worn by Madame Roland during her captivity</td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#Page_224'>224</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'>Inscription written by Madame Roland on the back of the portrait of Buzot which she carried while in prison</td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#Page_240'>240</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'>The prison, called the Abbaye, where Madame Roland passed the first twenty-four days of her imprisonment</td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#Page_256'>256</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'>The Conciergerie in 1793—Prison where Madame Roland passed the last eight days of her captivity, and from which she went to the guillotine. Pont au Change in the foreground</td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#Page_288'>288</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'>Roland de la Platière—From a drawing by Gabriel</td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#Page_304'>304</a></td> - </tr> -</table> - -<div class='section ph1'> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c001'> - <div>MADAME ROLAND</div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_1'>1</span> - <h2 class='c006'>I<br /> <span class='large'>THE GIRLHOOD OF MANON PHLIPON</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c007'>Since the days when all of the city of Paris, save -a few mills, fortresses, and donjon-towers, was to -be found on the Île de la Cité, the western end of -that island has been the quarter of the gold and silver -smiths. Here, in the olden times, when this part -of the island was laid out in gardens and paths, the -sellers of ornaments and metal vessels arranged their -wares on the ground or in rude booths; later when -peaked-roofed, latticed-faced buildings filled the space, -these same venders opened their workshops in them; -later still, when good King Henry IV. filled up this -western end, built the Pont Neuf and put up the two -fine façades of red brick and stone—mates for the -arcades of the Place Royale—the same class continued -here their trade. Even to-day, he who knows -Paris thoroughly seeks the neighborhood of the Quai -de l’Horloge and the Quai des Orfèvres for fine -silverware and jewels.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Among the master engravers who in the latter part -of the eighteenth century plied their trade in this -<span class='pageno' id='Page_2'>2</span>quarter was one Pierre Gatien Phlipon. His shop -was in one of the houses of King Henry’s façade—a -house still standing almost intact, although the -majority of them have been replaced or rebuilt so as -to be unrecognizable—that facing the King’s statue -on the west and looking on the Quai de l’Horloge on -the north.</p> - -<p class='c008'>M. Phlipon’s shop was in one of the best situations -in Paris. The Pont Neuf, on which his house -looked, was the real centre of the city. Here in -those days loungers, gossips, recruiting agents, venders -of all sorts, <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">saltimbanques</span></i>, quacks, men of -fashion, women of pleasure, the high, the low, <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">tout -Paris</span></i>, in short, surged back and forth across the -bridge. So fashionable a promenade had the place -become that Mercier, the eighteenth-century gossip, -declared that when one wanted to meet a person in -Paris all that was necessary to do was to promenade -an hour a day on the Pont Neuf. If he did not find -him, he might be sure he was not in the city.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Engraver by profession, M. Phlipon was also a -painter and enameller. He employed several workmen -in his shop and received many orders, but he -had an itching for money-making which led him -to sacrifice the artistic side of his profession to the -commercial and to combine with his art a trade in -jewelry and diamonds. We may suppose, in fact, -that the reason M. Phlipon had removed his shop to -the Pont Neuf, instead of remaining in the Rue de -la Lanterne, now Rue de la Cité, near Notre Dame, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_3'>3</span>where he lived until about 1755, was because he saw -in the new location a better opportunity for carrying -on trade.</p> - -<p class='c008'>As his sacrifice of art to commerce shows, M. -Phlipon was not a particularly high-minded man. -He was, in fact, an excellent type of what the small -<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">bourgeoisie</span></i> of Paris was, and is to-day,—good-natured -and vain, thrifty and selfish, slightly common in his -tastes, not always agreeable to live with when crossed -in his wishes, but on the whole a respectable man, -devoted to his family, with too great regard for what -his neighbors would say of him to do anything flagrantly -vulgar, and too good a heart to be continually -disagreeable.</p> - -<p class='c008'>His vanity made him fond of display, but it kept -him in good company. If he condescended to trade, -he never condescended to traders, but carefully preserved -the relations with artists, painters, and sculptors -which his rank as an engraver brought him. -“He was not exactly a high-minded man,” said his -daughter once, “but he had much of what one calls -honor. He would have willingly taken more for a -thing than it was worth, but he would have killed -himself rather than not to have paid the price of -what he had bought.” What M. Phlipon lacked -in dignity of character and elevation of sentiments, -Madame Phlipon supplied—a serene, high-minded -woman, knowing no other life than that of -her family, ambitious for nothing but duty. She is -a perfect model for the gracious housewife in <cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">La mère -<span class='pageno' id='Page_4'>4</span>laborieuse</span></cite> and <cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Le Bénédicité</span></cite> of Chardin, and her face -might well have served as the original for the exquisite -pastel of the Louvre, Chardin’s wife.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Madame Phlipon’s marriage had been, as are the -majority of her class, one of reason. If she had -suffered from a lack of delicacy on the part of her -husband, had never known deep happiness or real -companionship, she had, at least, been loved by the -rather ordinary man whom her superiority impressed, -and her home had been pleasant and peaceful.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The Phlipons led a typical <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">bourgeois</span></i> life. The -little home in the second story of the house on the -Quai de l’Horloge contained both shop and living -apartments. As in Paris to-day the business and -domestic life were closely dovetailed. Madame -Phlipon minded the work and received customers -when her husband was out, helped with the accounts, -and usually had at her table one or more of the -apprentices. Their busy every-day life was varied -in the simple and charming fashion of which the -French have the secret, leisurely promenades on -Sunday, to Saint-Cloud, Meudon, Vincennes, an hour -now and then in the Luxembourg or Tuileries gardens, -an occasional evening at the theatre. As the -families of both Monsieur and Madame Phlipon -were of the Parisian <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">bourgeoisie</span></i> they had many -relatives scattered about in the commercial parts of -the city, and much animation and variety were added -to their lives by the constant informal visiting they -did among them.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_5'>5</span>The chief interest of the Phlipon household was -centred in its one little girl—the only child of -seven left—Marie-Jeanne, or Manon, as she was -called for short. Little Manon had not been born -in the house on the Quai de l’Horloge, but in -the Rue de la Lanterne (March 18, 1754), and the -first two years of her life had been spent with a -nurse in the suburbs of Arpajon. She was already -a happy, active, healthy, observant child when she -was brought back to her father’s home. The change -from the quiet country house and garden, all of the -world she had known, to the shifting panorama of -the Seine and the Pont Neuf made a vivid impression -upon her. The change, in fact, may be counted as the -first step in her awakening. It quickened her power -of observation and aroused in her a restless curiosity.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Never having known her mother until now, she -was almost at once taken captive by the sweet, grave -woman who guarded her with tenderest care, yet -demanded from her implicit obedience. Madame -Phlipon obtained over the child a complete ascendency -and kept it so long as she lived. The father, -on the contrary, never was able to win from his -little daughter the homage she gave her mother. -Monsieur Phlipon was often impatient and arbitrary -with Manon. The child was already sufficiently -developed when she began to make his acquaintance -to discriminate dimly. While she was pliable to -reason and affection, she was obstinate before force -and impatience. She recognized that somehow they -<span class='pageno' id='Page_6'>6</span>were illogical and unjust and she would endure but -never yield to them. Thus among Manon’s first -experiences was a species of hero-worship on one -hand, of contempt for injustice on the other.</p> - -<p class='c008'>An incessant activity was one of the little girl’s -natural qualities. This and her curiosity explain -how she came to learn to read without anybody -knowing exactly when. By the time she was four -years old nothing but the promise of flowers tempted -her away from her books, unless, indeed, it was -stories; and with these the artist friends of M. Phlipon -often entertained her, weaving extravagances -by the hour, varying the pastime by repeating -rhymes to her—an amusement which was even -more entertaining to them since she repeated them -like a parrot.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Madame Phlipon was a sincere and ardent Catholic -and she took advantage of the eager activity of -little Manon to teach her the Old and New Testament -and the catechism. When the child was seven -years old, she was sent to the class to be prepared -for her first communion. Here she speedily distinguished -herself, carrying away the prizes, much to -the glory of her uncle Bimont, a young curé of the -parish charged with directing the catechism.</p> - -<p class='c008'>M. Phlipon and his wife, delighted with the child’s -precocity, gave her masters,—one to teach her to -write and to give her history and geography, another -for the piano, another for dancing, another -for the guitar. M. Phlipon himself gave her drawing, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_7'>7</span>and the Curé Bimont Latin. She attacked these -duties eagerly,—getting up at five in the morning -to copy her exercises and do her examples,—active -because she could not help it.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But her real education was not what she was -getting in these conventional ways. It was what -the books she read gave her. These were of the -most haphazard sort: the Bible in old French, to -which she was greatly attached, the <cite>Lives of the -Saints</cite>, <cite>The Civil Wars of Appias</cite>, Scarron, the <cite>Memoirs -of Mademoiselle de Montpensier</cite>, a treatise on -Heraldry, another on Contracts, many travels, dramas -of all sorts, <cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Télémaque</span></cite>, <cite>Jerusalem Delivered</cite>, even -<cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Candide</span></cite>.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The child read with passionate absorption. At -first it was simply for something to do, as she did -her exercises or fingered her guitar; but soon she -began to feel strongly and she sought in her books -food for the strange new emotions which stirred her -heart, brought tears to her eyes, and awakened her -to the mysteries of joy and sorrow long before she -was able to call those emotions by name.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In the motley collection of books read by Manon -at this period one only made a life-long impression -upon her,—it was Dacier’s <cite>Plutarch</cite>. No one can -understand the eighteenth century in France without -taking into consideration the profound impress -made upon it by <cite>Plutarch’s Lives</cite>. The work was the -source of the dreams and of the ambitions of numbers -of the men who exercised the greatest influence -<span class='pageno' id='Page_8'>8</span>on the intellectual and political life of the period. -Jean Jacques Rousseau declares that when he first -read <cite>Plutarch</cite>, at about nine years of age, it cured -him of his love of romance, and formed his free and -republican character, and the impatience of servitude -which tormented him throughout his life. Hundreds -of others like Rousseau, many of them, no doubt, -in imitation of him, trace their noblest qualities to -the same source.</p> - -<p class='c008'>When little Manon Phlipon first read the <cite>Lives</cite>, the -stories of these noble deeds moved her almost to delirium. -She carried her book to church all through -one Lent in guise of a prayer-book and read through -the service. When at night, alone in her room, she -leaned from the window and looked upon the Pont -Neuf and Seine, she wept that she had not been born -in Athens or Sparta. She was beginning to apply to -herself what she read, to feel that the noble actions -which aroused such depths of feeling in her heart -were not only glorious to hear of but to perform. -She was filled with awe at the idea that she was herself -a creature capable of sublime deeds. A solemn -sense of responsibility was awakened, and she felt that -she must form her soul for a worthy future. When -most children are busy with toys she was trembling -before a mysterious possibility,—a life of great and -good deeds, a possibility which she faintly felt was -dependent upon her own efforts.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id003'> -<img src='images/i_008fp.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>THE PLACE DAUPHINE IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.<br /><br />Mademoiselle Phlipon lived in the second story of the house on the left.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_9'>9</span>Once penetrated by this splendid ideal, however -vague it may have been, it was inevitable that the -rites of the Church, full of mysticism and exaltation, -the teachings of devotion and self-abnegation, the -pictures of lives spent in holy service, should appeal -deeply to Manon’s sensitive and untrained consciousness. -As the time of her first communion approached, -and curé and friends combined to impress upon the -child the solemn and eternal importance of the act, -she was more and more stirred by dread and exaltation. -All her time was given to meditation, to prayer, -to pious reading. Every day she fingered the <cite>Lives -of the Saints</cite>, sighing after the times when the fury -of the pagans bestowed the crown of martyrdom upon -Christians.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The necessary interruptions to her devotions -which occurred in the household, disturbed her. -At last she felt that she could not endure any -longer the profane atmosphere; throwing herself at -her parents’ feet, she begged to be allowed to go -to a convent to prepare for the sacrament. M. and -Madame Phlipon, touched by the zeal of their -daughter, consented to let her leave them for a -year.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It was not a difficult matter to find a convent -suitable for a young girl of any class, in the Paris -of the eighteenth century. That selected by the -Phlipons for Manon stood in the Rue Neuve Ste. -Étienne, a street now known as Rue Rollin and -Rue Navarre. The convent, <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Dames de la Congrégation -de Notre Dame</span>, established in 1645, was well -known for the gratuitous instruction its sisters gave -<span class='pageno' id='Page_10'>10</span>the children of the very poor as well as for the simplicity -and honesty with which the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">pension</span></i> for young -girls was conducted, a thing which could not be said -of many of the convents of that day.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The instruction given by the <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Dames de la Congrégation</span> -was not, however, any better than that of -other institutions of the kind, if the morals were. -The amount of education regarded as necessary for -a French girl of good family at this period was, in -fact, very meagre; even girls of the highest classes -being allowed to grow to womanhood in astonishing -ignorance. Madame du Deffand says that in the -convent where she was placed nothing was taught -except “reading and writing, a light, very light tinting -of history, the four rules, some needle-work, -many pater-nosters—that was all.” Madame Louise, -the sister of Louis XVI., did not know her alphabet -at twelve, so says Madame Campan. Madame de -Genlis taught her handsome sister-in-law, the favorite -of the Duke of Orleans, to write after she was -married. Madame de Genlis herself at twelve years -of age had read almost nothing.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Manon Phlipon’s acquirements when she entered -the convent, at a little over eleven years of age, were -certainly much greater than those of these celebrated -women at her age. It is probable that her instruction -was far above that not only of the girls of her -age in the school, but of the most advanced pupils, -perhaps even of some of the good sisters themselves.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The superior training of the new pupil was soon -<span class='pageno' id='Page_11'>11</span>known. The discovery caused her to be petted -by all the sisterhood, and she was granted special -privileges of study. She continued her piano lessons -and drawing, so that she had sufficient work -to satisfy her active nature and to make the leisure -given her sweet. This leisure she never -passed with her companions. Her frame of mind -was altogether too serious to permit her to romp -like a child. The recreation hours she spent apart, -in a quiet corner of the silent old garden, reading -or dreaming, permeated by the beauty of the foliage, -the sigh of the wind, the perfume of the flowers. -All this she felt, in her exalted state, was an expression -of God, a proof of his goodness. With her -heart big with gratitude and adoration, she would -leave the garden to kneel in the dim church, and -listen to the chanting of the choir and the roll of -the organ.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Sensitive, unpractical, fervent, the imposing and -mystic services allured her imagination and moved -her heart until she lost self-control and wept, she -did not know why.</p> - -<p class='c008'>During the first days at the convent, a novice took -the veil,—one of the most touching ceremonies of -the Church. The young girl appeared before the -altar, dressed like a bride, and in a tone of joyous -exaltation sang the wonderful strain, “Here I have -chosen my dwelling-place, here I establish myself -forever.” Then her white garments were taken from -her, and cruel shears cut her long hair, which fell in -<span class='pageno' id='Page_12'>12</span>masses to the floor; she prostrated herself before the -altar, and in sign of her eternal separation from the -world a black cloth was spread over her. Even to -the experienced and unbelieving the sight is profoundly -affecting. Manon, sensitive and overstrung, -was seized with the terrible, death-in-life meaning -of the sacrifice; she fancied herself in the place of -the young <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">dévouée</span></i> and fell to the floor in violent -convulsions.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Under the influence of such emotions, intensified -by long prayers, retreats, meditation, exhortations, -from curé and sisters, she took her first communion. -So penetrated was she by the solemnity and the joy -of the act that she was unable to walk alone to the -altar. The report of her piety went abroad in the -convent and in the parish, and many a good old -woman whom she met afterwards, mindful of this -extraordinary exaltation, asked her prayers.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Fortunately for the child’s development, this -excessive mysticism, which was developing a melancholy, -sweet to begin with, but not unlikely to -become unhealthy, was relieved a few months after -she entered the convent by a friendship with a young -girl from Amiens, Sophie Cannet by name.</p> - -<p class='c008'>When Sophie first appeared at the <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Congrégation</span>, -Manon had been deeply touched by her grief at parting -from her mother. Here was a sensibility which -approached her own. She soon saw, too, that the new -<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">pensionnaire</span></i> avoided the noisy groups of the garden, -that she loved solitude and revery. She sought her -<span class='pageno' id='Page_13'>13</span>and almost at once there sprang up between the two -a warm friendship. Sophie was three years older -than Manon; she was more self-contained, colder, -more reasonable. She loved to discuss as well as to -meditate, to analyze as well as to read. She talked -well, too, and Manon had not learned as yet the -pretty French accomplishment of <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">causerie</span></i>, and she -delighted to listen to her new friend.</p> - -<p class='c008'>If the girls were different, they were companionable. -Their work, their study, their walks, were soon -together. They opened their hearts to each other, -confided their desires, and decided to travel together -the path to perfection upon which each had resolved.</p> - -<p class='c008'>To Manon Phlipon this new friendship was a -revelation equal to the vision of nobility aroused by -Plutarch; or to that of mystic purity found in the -Church. So far in life she had had no opportunity -for healthy expression. Her excessive sensibility, -the emotions which frightened and stifled her, the -aspirations which floated, indefinite and glorious, -before her, all that she felt, had been suppressed. -She could not tell her mother, her curé, the good -sisters. Even if they understood her, she felt vaguely -that they would check her, calm her, try to turn her -attention to her lessons, to the practice of good -deeds, to pious exercises. She did not want this. -She wanted to feel, to preserve this tormenting sensibility -which was her terror and her joy.</p> - -<p class='c008'>To Sophie she could tell everything. Sophie, too, -was sensitive, devout, and understood joy and sorrow. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_14'>14</span>The two girls shared the most secret experiences of -their souls. There grew up between them a form of -Platonic love which is not uncommon between idealistic -and sensitive young girls, a relation in which all -that is most intimate, most profound, most sincere in -the intellectual and spiritual lives of the two is exchanged; -under its influence the most obscure and -indefinite impressions take form, the most subtile emotions -materialize, and vague and indefinite thoughts -shape themselves.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The effect of this relation on the emotional nature -of Manon was generally wholesome. Her affection -for Sophie gave a new coloring to the pleasure she -found in her work, and it dispelled the melancholy -which hitherto had tinged her solitude. More important, -it compelled her to define her feelings so that -her friend could understand them: to do this she was -forced to study her own moods and gradually her -intelligence came to be for something in all that -she felt.</p> - -<p class='c008'>When the year which Manon’s parents had given -her for the convent was up, she was obliged to leave -her friend. For some time after the parting Sophie -remained at the <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Congrégation</span>, so that they saw each -other often; but, afterwards, it was by letters that -their friendship was kept up. Never were more -ardent love letters written than those of Manon to -Sophie. She commiserated all the world who did -not know the joys of friendship. She suffered tortures -when Sophie’s letters were delayed, and, like -<span class='pageno' id='Page_15'>15</span>every lover since the beginning of the postal service, -evolved plans for improving its promptness and its -exactness. She read and re-read the letters which -always filled her pockets, and she rose from her bed -at midnight to fill pages with declarations of her -fondness. This correspondence became one of the -great joys of her life. All that she thought, felt, and -saw, she put into her letters. The effort to express -all of herself clearly compelled her to a greater degree -of reflection and crystallized her notions wonderfully. -Beside making her think, it awakened in her a passion -for the pen which never left her. Indeed, it -became an imperative need for her to express in writing -whatever she thought or felt. Her emotions and -ideas seemed to her incomplete if they had not been -written out. In her early letters there is a full -account of all the influences which were acting on -her life, and of the transformation and evolution they -produced.</p> - -<p class='c008'>When Manon left the <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Congrégation</span>, it was with -the determination to preserve not only her friend, -but her piety. To do the latter, she had made up -her mind to fit herself secretly to return to a convent -life when she reached her majority. She had even -chosen already the order which she should join, and -had selected Saint François de Sales, “one of the -most amiable saints of Paradise,” as she rightly -characterized him, as her patron.</p> - -<p class='c008'>For the time being, however, not a little of the -world was mixed with her preparations for religious -<span class='pageno' id='Page_16'>16</span>retirement. When she came back to the Quai de -l’Horloge,—her first year out of the convent was -spent on the Île Saint Louis with her grandmother -Phlipon,—her father and mother began gradually to -initiate her into the round of life which presumably -would be hers in the future. M. Phlipon took especial -pride in his fresh, bright-faced daughter. By -his wish she was always dressed with elegance, and -she attracted attention everywhere. The tenderness -with which he introduced her always touched -Manon in spite of the fact that she was often embarrassed -by his too evident pride in her. The -two went together to all the Salons and the expositions -of art objects, and M. Phlipon carefully -directed her taste here where he was so thoroughly -at home. It was the only real point of contact -between them.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Sundays and fête days were usually devoted to -promenades by the Phlipons. The gayest paths, -gardens, and boulevards were always chosen by M. -Phlipon. He enjoyed the crowd and the mirth; -and, above all, he enjoyed showing off his pretty -daughter. But she, stern little moralist, when -she discovered that her holiday toilette really gave -her pleasure, that she actually felt flattered when -people turned to look at her, that she found compliments -sweet and admiring glances gratifying, trembled -with apprehension. She might forgive her -father’s vanity, but she could not forgive such a -feeling in herself. Was it to walk in gardens and to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_17'>17</span>be admired that she had been born? She gradually -convinced herself that these promenades were inconsistent -with her ideal of what was “beautiful and -wise and grand,” and she urged her parents to the -country, where all was in harmony with her thoughts -and feelings. Meudon, still one of the loveliest of all -the lovely forests in the environs of Paris, was her -favorite spot. Its quiet, its naturalness, its variety, -pleased her better than the movement and the artificiality -of such a place as Saint-Cloud. In the forest -of Meudon her passion for nature was fully satisfied; -here she could study flower and tree, light and shade.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In her love for nature Manon was in harmony -with one of the curious phases of the sentimental -life of the eighteenth century in France. Nature as -food for sentiment seems to have never been discovered -until then by the French people. One searches -in vain in French literature before Bernardin de -Saint-Pierre and Rousseau for anything which resembles -a comprehension of and feeling for the external -world—yet unaided Manon Phlipon became -naturalist and pantheist. Never did Bernardin -de Saint-Pierre and Rousseau, in their tramps -in the environs of Paris, rejoice more profoundly -over the beauties of the world, enter more deeply -into its mysteries, than did she when in her girlhood -she wandered in the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">allées</span></i> of the forest of Meudon -or of the Bois de Vincennes.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But Manon was to see still another side of life,—people -in their relations to one another and to herself. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_18'>18</span>Thus far she had been easily first in her little -world. She had never known the time when she -was not praised for her superiority. Whatever -notions of equality she entertained it is certain that -she had not yet discovered that Manon Phlipon was -secondary to anybody else.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It was on the visits which she began to make -with her relatives, that she first discovered that in -the world men are not graded according to their -wisdom and their love for and practice of virtue. -She went one day with her grandmother Phlipon -to visit a rich and would-be-great lady, Madame de -Boismorel, in whose house Madame Phlipon had, for -many years after her husband’s death, acted as a kind -of governess. She was wounded on entering by a -sentiment not purely democratic—the servants, who -loved the old governess and wished to please her, -crowded about the little girl and complimented her -freely. She was offended. These people might, of -course, <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">look</span></i> at her, but it was not their business to -compliment her. Once in the grand salon she found -a typical little old Frenchwoman, pretentious, vain, -exacting. Her <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">chiffons</span></i>, her rouge, her false hair, her -lofty manner with the beloved grandmamma Phlipon -whom she addressed as Mademoiselle,—<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Mademoiselle</span></i> -to her grandmother, one of the great personages of -her life so far,—her assumption of superiority, her -frivolous talk, revolted this Spartan maid. She -lowered her eyes and blushed before the cold cynicism -of the old lady. When she was asked questions, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_19'>19</span>she replied with amusing sententiousness. “You -must have a lucky hand, my little friend, have you -ever tried it in a lottery?”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Never, Madame, I do not believe in games of -chance.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“What a voice! how sweet and full it is, but how -grave! Are you not a little devout?”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“I know my duty and I try to do it.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Ah! You desire to become a nun, do you not?”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“I am ignorant of my destiny, I do not seek to -penetrate it.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Little wonder that after that Madame de Boismorel -cautioned the grandmother, “Take care that -she does not become a blue-stocking; it would be a -great pity.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Manon went home from this visit full of disdain -and anxiety. Evidently things were not as they -ought to be when servants dared to compliment her -to her face; when her own noble ideas were greeted -coldly, and when a vain and vulgar woman could -patronize a sweet and bright little lady like her -grandmother; when her grandmother, too, would -submit to the patronage—perhaps even court it.</p> - -<p class='c008'>She was to observe still more closely the world’s -practices. An acquaintance of the family, one Mademoiselle -d’Hannaches, was in difficulty over an inheritance -and obliged to be in Paris to work up her case. -Madame Phlipon took her into her house, where -she stayed some eighteen months. Now Mademoiselle -d’Hannaches belonged to an ancient family, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_20'>20</span>and on account of her birth demanded extra consideration -from those about her and treated her <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">bourgeois</span></i> -friends with a certain condescension. Manon -became a sort of secretary to her and often accompanied -her when she went out on business. “I noticed,” -wrote Manon afterwards, “that in spite of -her ignorance, her stiff manner, her incorrect language, -her old-fashioned toilette,—all her absurdities,—deference -was paid her because of her family. -The names of her ancestors, which she always enumerated, -were listened to gravely and were used -to support her claim. I compared the reception -given to her with that which Madame de Boismorel -had given to me and which had made a profound -impression upon me. I knew that I was worth -more than Mademoiselle d’Hannaches, whose forty -years and whose genealogy had not given her the faculty -of writing a sensible or legible letter. I began -to find the world very unjust and its institutions -most extravagant.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Mademoiselle Phlipon had scarcely become accustomed -to these vanities in the society which -she frequented, before she began to observe equally -puzzling and ridiculous pretensions in artistic and -literary circles. Through the kindness of her masters -and of the friends of M. and Madame Phlipon, -she was often invited to the reunions of <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">bels esprits</span></i>, -so common in Paris then and now. It was not in a -spirit of humiliation and flattered vanity that so independent -an observer and judge as she had become, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_21'>21</span>surveyed the celebrities she was allowed to look upon -and to listen to, in the various salons to which she -was admitted. She saw immediately the pose which -characterized nearly all of the gatherings, the pretentious -vanity of those who read verses or portraits, -the insincerity and diplomacy of those who -applauded. The blue-stockings who read as their -own verses which they had not always written, and -who were paid by ambitious salon leaders for sitting -at their table; the small poets who found inspiration -in the muffs and snuff-boxes of the great ladies whose -favor they wanted; the bold, and not always too -chaste, compliments,—verily, if they made the -gatherings <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">délicieuses</span></i>, as they who followed them declared, -there was a deep gulf between Manon Phlipon’s -standards and those of the society which her -family congratulated her upon being able to see.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It was during Mademoiselle d’Hannaches’ stay with -the Phlipons that Manon made a visit of eight days -to Versailles, then the seat of the French Court, with -her mother, her uncle, and their guest, to whose influence -indeed they owed their garret accommodations -in the château. Many things shocked and -humiliated her in the life she saw there, but she -did not go home nearly so bitter and disillusioned -as she tried to represent herself to have -been, nine years later, when she told the story to -posterity as an evidence of her early revolt against -the abuses of the monarchy. In fact, the reflections -which the week at Versailles awakened were very -<span class='pageno' id='Page_22'>22</span>just and reasonable. We have them in a letter written -to Sophie some days after her return:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“I cannot tell you how much what I saw there -has made me value my own situation and bless -Heaven that I was born in an obscure rank. You -believe, perhaps, that this feeling is founded on the -little value which I attach to opinion and on the -reality of the penalties which I see to be connected -with greatness? Not at all. It is founded on the -knowledge that I have of my own character which -would be most harmful to myself and to the state -if I were placed at a certain distance from the -throne. I should be profoundly shocked by the -enormous chasm between millions of men and one -individual of their own kind. In my present position -I love my King because I feel my dependence -so little. If I were near him, I should hate his -grandeur.... A good king seems to me an adorable -being; still, if before coming into the world I -had had my choice of a government I should have -decided on a republic. It is true I should have -wanted one different from any in Europe to-day.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Manon was twenty years old when she wrote this -letter to Sophie Cannet. Its reasonable tone is very -different from what one would expect from the passionate -little mystic of the convent of the <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Congrégation</span>, -the sententious critic of Madame de Boismorel. -In fact, Manon’s attitude towards the world had -changed. By force of study and reflection she had -come to understand human nature better, and to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_23'>23</span>accept with philosophical resignation the contradictions, -the pettiness, and the injustice of society. -“The longer I live, the more I study and observe,” -she told Sophie, “the more deeply I feel that we -ought to be indulgent towards our fellows. It is a -lesson which personal experience teaches us every -day,—it seems to me that in proportion to the -measure of light which penetrates our minds we -are disposed to humaneness, to benevolence, to tolerant -kindness.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Nor had she at this time any bitterness towards -the existing order of government. If she “would -have chosen a republic if she had been allowed a -choice before coming into the world,” she had so -far no idea of rejecting the rule under which she -was born. Indeed, she was a very loyal subject of -Louis XVI. When that prince came to the throne -she wrote to her friend: “The ministers are enlightened -and well disposed, the young prince docile and -eager for good, the Queen amiable and beneficent, -the Court kind and respectable, the legislative body -honorable, the people obedient, wishing only to love -their master, the kingdom full of resources. Ah, -but we are going to be happy!” Nor did her ideas -of equality at this period make her see in the -mass of the common people equals of those who by -training, education, and birth had been fitted to -govern. “Truly human nature is not very respectable -when one considers it in a mass,” she reflected -one day, as she saw the people of Paris swarming -<span class='pageno' id='Page_24'>24</span>even to the roofs to watch a poor wretch tortured on -the wheel. In describing a bread riot in 1775, she -condemned the people as impatient, called the measures -of the ministers wise, and excused the government -by recalling Sully’s reflection: “With all -our enlightenment and good-will it is still difficult -to do well.” And again, apropos of similar disturbances, -she said: “The King talks like a father, -but the people do not understand him; the people -are hungry—it is the only thing which touches -them.” Nothing in all this of contempt of the monarchy, -of the sovereignty of the people, of the divine -right of insurrection.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Manon Phlipon had in fact become, by the time -she was twenty years of age, a thoroughly intelligent -and reflective young woman. Instead of extravagant -and impulsive opinions, results of excessive emotionalism -and idealism, which her first twelve years -seemed to prophesy, we have from her intelligent -judgments. If it was not a question of some one she -loved, she could be trusted to look at any subject -in a rational and self-controlled way.</p> - -<p class='c008'>This change had been brought about largely by -the reading and reflecting she had done since leaving -the convent. For some time what she read had -depended on what she could get. Her resolution to -enter a convent eventually had made her at first -prefer religious books, and she read Saint Augustine -and Saint François de Sales with fervor and joy. With -them she combined, helter-skelter, volumes from the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_25'>25</span><i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">bouquinistes</span></i>, mainly travels, letters, and mythology. -Fortunately she happened on Madame de Sévigné. -Manon appreciated thoroughly the charming style -of this most agreeable French letter-writer, and her -taste was influenced by it, though her style was but -little changed.</p> - -<p class='c008'>This stock was not exhausted before she had the -happiness to be turned loose in the library of an abbé—a -friend of her uncle. It was a house where her -mother and Mademoiselle d’Hannaches went often -to make up a party of tric-trac with the two curés. -As it was necessary always to take her along, all -parties were satisfied that Manon could lose herself -in a book. For three years she found here all -she could read: history, literature, mythology, the -Fathers of the Church. Dozens of obscure authors -passed through her hands; now and then she happened -on a classic—something from Voltaire, from -Bossuet. Here too she read <cite>Don Quixote</cite>.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But the good abbé died, the tric-trac parties in his -library ceased, and Manon had to turn to the public -library for books. She chose without any plan, generally -a book of which she had heard. So far her -reading had been simply out of curiosity, from a -need of doing something. Usually she had several -books on hand at once—some serious, others light, -one of which she was always reading aloud to her -mother. The habit of reading, especially aloud, was -one of the chief means advised by the French educators -of the time for carrying on a girl’s education. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_26'>26</span>Madame de Sévigné, Fénelon, Madame de Maintenon, -L’abbé de Saint-Pierre, the authorities at Port -Royal, all had made much of the practice. Manon -read their treatises, and finding that she had herself -already adopted methods similar to those of the -wisest men and women of her country, continued her -work with new vigor.</p> - -<p class='c008'>All that she read she analyzed carefully, and she -spent much time in making extracts. Through the -courtesy of one of the descendants of Mademoiselle -Phlipon, M. Léon Marillier of Paris, I had in my -possession at one time, for examination, a large -number of her <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">cahiers</span></i> prepared at this period. They -are made of a coarse, grayish-blue paper, with rough -edges, and are covered with a strong, graceful handwriting, -almost never marred by erasures or changes, -much of it looking as if it had been engraved; more -characteristic and artistic manuscript one rarely sees.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The subjects of the quotations in the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">cahiers</span></i> are -nearly always deeply serious. In one there are eight -pages on Necessity, long quotations on Death, Suicide, -the Good Man, Happiness, the Idea of God. -Another contains a long analysis of a work on -Divorce Legislation, which had pleased her. Buffon -and Voltaire are freely quoted from.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The passages which attracted her are philosophic -and dogmatic rather than literary and sentimental, -or devout. In fact, Manon became, in the period -between fourteen and twenty-one, deeply interested -in the philosophic thought of the day. Soon she -<span class='pageno' id='Page_27'>27</span>was examining dispassionately, and with a freedom -of mind remarkable in so unquestioning a believer -as she had been, the entire system of religion which -she had been taught. Once started on this track, her -reading took a more systematic and intelligent turn. -She read for a purpose, not simply out of curiosity.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It was the controversial works of Bossuet which -first induced Manon Phlipon to apply the test of -reason to her faith. Soon after she began to study -the Christian dogma rationally, she revolted against -the doctrines of infallibility and of the universal damnation -of all those who never knew or who had not -accepted the faith. When she discovered that she -could not accept these teachings, she resolved to find -out if there was anything else which she must give up, -and so attacked eagerly religious criticism, philosophy, -metaphysics. She analyzed most thoroughly all she -read and compared authorities with unusual intelligence.</p> - -<p class='c008'>As her investigations went on, she found that her -faith was going, and she told her confessor, who -immediately furnished her with the apologists and -defenders of the Church, Abbé Gauchat, Bergier, -Abbadie, Holland, Clark, and others. She read -them conscientiously and annotated them all; some -of these notes she left in the books, not unwittingly -we may suspect. The Abbé asked her in amazement -if the comments were original with her.</p> - -<p class='c008'>These annotations were, in fact, calculated to -startle a curé interested in conserving the orthodoxy -<span class='pageno' id='Page_28'>28</span>of a parishioner. Part of those she made on the -works of the Abbé Gauchat fell into my hands with -the extracts spoken of above. They are the bold, -intelligent criticisms of a person who has resolved -to subject every dogma to the test of reason. They -are never contemptuous or scoffing, though there -is frequently a tone of irritation at what she regards -as the feebleness of the logic. They are free from -prejudice and from sentiment, and show no deference -to authority.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Another result of the curé’s loan of controversial -works was to intimate to Manon what books they -refuted, and she hastened to procure them one after -another. Thus the <cite>Traité de la tolérance</cite>, <cite>Dictionnaire -philosophique</cite>, the <cite>Questions encyclopédiques</cite>, the -<cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Bons sens</span></cite> and the <cite>Lettres juives</cite>, of the Marquis -d’Argens, the works of Diderot, d’Alembert, Raynal, -in fact all the literature of the encyclopedists -passed through her hands.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Manon Phlipon did not change her religious feelings -or devout practices during this period. She was -living a religious life of peculiar intensity, all the -time that she was deep in the examination of doctrines. -The one was for her an affair of the heart, the -other of the head. Her letters to Sophie, after the -question of doubt had once been broached between -them, are filled, now with philosophical analyses of -dogma, now with glowing piety, now with severe -rules of conduct. It was some time after she took -to reasoning before the subject came up. Sophie’s -<span class='pageno' id='Page_29'>29</span>own faith was troubled and she pictured her state -to her friend. Manon, touched by this confidence, -greater than her own had been, freely portrayed -afterwards her own mental and spiritual condition. -From these letters we find that she reached, -very early in her study, certain conclusions which -she never abandoned, and upon these as a basis -erected a system which satisfied her heart and mind -and which regulated her conduct.</p> - -<p class='c008'>When she first wrote Sophie she was so convinced -of the existence of God for “philosophical reasons” -that she declared the authority of the world could -not upset her. With this went the immortality of -the soul. These two dogmas were enough to satisfy -her heart and imagination. She did not need them -to be upright, she said, but she did to be happy. -She did right because she had convinced herself -that it was to her own and to her neighbor’s interest. -She was happy because she had a reasonable basis for -goodness and nobility, and because she believed in -God and in immortality. On this foundation further -study became an inspiration. “My sentiments have -gained an energy, a warmth, a range,” she wrote to -Sophie after reading Raynal’s <cite>Philosophical History</cite>, -“that the exhortations of priests have never given -them—the General Good is my idol, because it must -be the result and the reasonable end of everything. -Virtue pleases me, inflames my imagination because it -is good for me, useful to others, and beautiful in itself. -I cherish life because I feel the value of it. I use it -<span class='pageno' id='Page_30'>30</span>to the best advantage possible. I love all that -breathes, I hate nothing but evil, and still I pity the -guilty. With a conduct conformed to these ideas, I -live happy and tranquil, and I shall finish my career in -peace and with the greatest confidence in a God whom -I dare believe to be better than I have been taught.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>She had her fundamentals, but she had not by any -means finished her investigations. Each system she -examined, fascinated her. In turn she was Jansenist, -stoic, deist, materialist, idealist.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“The same thing happens to me sometimes,” she -wrote Sophie, “that happened to the prince who -went to the Court to hear the pleas,—the last lawyer -who spoke always seemed to him to be right.” “I am -continually in doubt, and I sleep there peacefully as -the Americans in their hammocks. This state is best -suited to our situation and to the little we know.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Whatever her mental vagaries, she never altered her -religious practices. She did not wish to torment her -mother, or to set a bad example to those who took -her as a model; for instance, there was her <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">bonne</span></i> -whom she desired should keep her faith. “I should -blame myself for weakening it,” she said, “as I -should for taking away her bread.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Only two months before the end of her life Madame -Roland summed up her religious and philosophical -life in a passage of her Memoirs. It is simply a -résumé of what in her girlhood she wrote at different -times to Sophie. The main points of this philosophy -have been given above.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_31'>31</span> - <h2 class='c006'>II<br /> <span class='large'>LOVERS AND MARRIAGE</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c007'>Until she was twenty-one years of age, Manon -Phlipon’s life was singularly free from care. -Her studies, her letters to Sophie, her hours with her -mother, her promenades, filled it full. Suddenly in -1775 its peace was broken by the death of Madame -Phlipon. Manon’s veneration and affection for her -mother were sincere and passionate, her dependence -upon her complete. Her death left the girl groping -pitifully. The support and the joy of her life seemed -to have been taken from her. But the necessity of -action, her obligations to her father, the kindness of -her friends, her own philosophy, finally calmed her, -and she made a brave effort to adjust herself to her -new duties. Her real restoration, however,—that -is, her return to happiness and to enthusiasm, was -wrought by a book—the <cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Nouvelle Héloïse</span></cite>, of Jean -Jacques Rousseau.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In the middle and in the latter half of the eighteenth -century France passed through a paroxysm -of sentiment. Man was acknowledged a reasoning -being, to be sure, but it was because he was a sensitive -<span class='pageno' id='Page_32'>32</span>one that he was extolled. His mission was to -escape pain and seek happiness. To laugh, to weep, -to vibrate with feeling, was the ideal of happiness. -This sensitiveness to sentiment was shown in the -most extravagant ways. Words ran out in the -efforts to paint emotion. Friends no longer saluted, -they fell into each other’s arms. Tears were -no longer sufficient for grief, they were needed for -joy. Convulsions and spasms alone expressed sorrow -adequately. At the least provocation women -were in a faint and men trembling. Acute sensibility -was cultivated as an Anglo-Saxon cultivates -reserve.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The prophet of this sentimental generation was -Jean Jacques Rousseau, the hand-book he gave his -followers the <cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Nouvelle Héloïse</span></cite>. Here sentimentalism -reaches the highest point possible without becoming -unadulterated mawkishness and sensuality, if, indeed, -it does not sometimes pass the limit. To France, -however, the book was a revelation. Rousseau declares -that Frenchwomen particularly were intoxicated -by it, and that there were few ladies of rank -of whom he could not have made the conquest if -he had undertaken it. It is only necessary to read -the memoirs of the day, to see that Rousseau tells -the truth. The story that George Sand tells of her -grandmother, and those Madame de Genlis relates of -the reception of the book by the great ladies of the -Palais Royal, are but examples of the general outburst -of admiration which swept through feminine hearts.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_33'>33</span>The <cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Nouvelle Héloïse</span></cite> was a revelation in sentiment -to Manon Phlipon. The severe studies of the past -few years had checked and regulated the excessive -and uncontrolled emotions of her girlhood. She had -become an intelligent, reflecting creature. But the -death of her mother had overthrown her philosophy -for the moment; then came the <cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Nouvelle Héloïse</span></cite>. -Its effect on her was like that of Plutarch twelve -years before. It kindled her imagination to the -raptures of love, the beauty of filial affection, the -peace of domestic life, the joy of motherhood.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Her vigorous, passionate young nature asserted -itself; her mind burned with the possibilities of -happiness; sentiment regained the power temporarily -given to the intellect, and from that time was -the ruling force of her life.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“I fear that he strengthened my weakness,” Manon -wrote of Rousseau towards the end of her life, and -certainly he did destroy the fine harmony that she -had established between her reason and her feelings, -making the latter master. She was quite right in -thinking it fortunate that she had not read him -earlier. “He would have driven me mad; I should -have been willing to read nobody but him.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>The <cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Nouvelle Héloïse</span></cite> was not, however, the first of -Rousseau she had read. <cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Émile</span></cite> had passed through -her hands, and her religious convictions had unquestionably -been influenced by the Profession of Faith -of the Vicar of Savoy. But she had read him critically -so far. Now all was changed. She plunged -<span class='pageno' id='Page_34'>34</span>enthusiastically into his works. She found there -clearly and fully stated what she herself had vaguely -and imperfectly felt; the sentiments he interpreted -had stirred her; many of the principles he laid -down for conduct she had been practising. In -less than a year she was defending his works to -Sophie.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“I am astonished that you wonder at my love for -Rousseau. I regard him as the friend of humanity, -as its benefactor and mine. Who pictures virtue in -a nobler and more touching manner? Who renders -it more worthy of love? His works inspire a taste -for truth, simplicity, wisdom. As for myself, I -know well that I owe to them all that is best in me. -His genius has warmed my soul, I have been inflamed, -elevated, and ennobled by it.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“I do not deny that there are some paradoxes in -<cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Émile</span></cite>, some proceedings that our customs make -impracticable. But how many profound and wholesome -opinions, how many useful precepts! how many -beauties to save the faults! Moreover, I confess that -observation has led me to approve things that at first -I treated as foolish and chimerical. His <cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Héloïse</span></cite> is -a masterpiece of sentiment. The woman who can -read it without being better or at least without -desiring to become so, has only a soul of clay, a -mind of apathy. She will never rise above the -common.... In all that he has done one recognizes -not only a genius, but an honest man and -citizen.... And a scaffold has come near being -<span class='pageno' id='Page_35'>35</span>erected for this man, to whom, in another century, -one will perhaps raise altars!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Manon Phlipon had found in Rousseau her guide. -The feminine need of an authority was satisfied. She -accepted him <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">en bloc</span></i>, and to defend and follow him -became henceforth her concern.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Manon’s first appreciation of Rousseau was, naturally -enough, an attempt to play Julie to a fancied -Saint-Preux. It is not to be supposed that this is -the first time in her life that her attention was -turned towards a lover. Ever since her piety began -to cool under the combined effects of study and -observation, and her natural vanity and love of attention -began to assert themselves, she had thought -a great deal of her future husband. In a French -girl’s life a future husband is a foregone conclusion, -and Manon, like all her countrywomen, had been -accustomed to the presentation of this or that person -whom some zealous friend thought a fitting -mate for her. The procession of suitors that passes -before the readers of her Memoirs is so long and so -motley that one is inclined to believe that more than -one is there by virtue of the heroine’s imagination. -Manon Phlipon was one of those women who see -in every man a possible lover.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The applications for her hand began with her -guitar master, who, having taught her all he knew, -ended by asking her to marry him. Then there was -a widower who had prepared himself for his courtship -by having a wen removed from his left cheek; -<span class='pageno' id='Page_36'>36</span>the family butcher, who sought to win her regard by -sending her the choicest cuts of steak, and appearing -on Sunday in the midst of the Phlipons’ family -promenade, arrayed in lace and fine broadcloth; and -in turn all the eligible young men and widowers of -the Place Dauphine. They were, without exception, -peremptorily declined by the young woman through -her father. Had she read Plutarch and all the -philosophers, only to tie herself up to a merchant -bent on getting rich and cutting a good figure in -his quarter?</p> - -<p class='c008'>Her parents, flattered and amused by this cortège, -did not at first try to influence Manon to accept any -one, but at last her father became anxious. The -disdain with which she refused all representatives of -commerce annoyed him a little, too. “What kind -of a man will suit you?” he asked her one day.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“You have taught me to reflect, and allowed me -to form studious habits. I don’t know to what kind -of a man I shall give myself, but it will never be -to any one with whom I cannot share my thoughts -and sentiments.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“But there are men in business who are polished -and well educated.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Yes, but not among those I see. Their politeness -consists in a few phrases and salutations. Their -knowledge is always of business. They would -be of little use to me in the education of my -children.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Raise them yourself.”</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_37'>37</span>“That task would seem heavy to me if it were -not shared by my husband.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Don’t you think L——’s wife is happy? They -have just gone out of business; they have bought -a large property; their house is well kept; and they -see a great deal of good society.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“I cannot judge of the happiness of others, and -mine will never depend upon wealth. I believe that -there is no happiness in marriage except when hearts -are closely united. I can never give myself to one -who has not the same sentiments as I. Besides, my -husband must be stronger than I; nature and the -laws make him my superior, and I should be ashamed -of him if he were not so.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Is it a lawyer that you want? Women are never -too happy with such men; they are bad tempered -and have very little money.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“But, papa, I shall never marry anybody for his -gown. I don’t mean to say that I want a man of -such and such a profession, but a man that I can -love.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“But, if I understand you, such a man cannot be -found in business?”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Ah! I confess that seems to me very probable; -I have never found any one there to my taste; and -then business itself disgusts me.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Nevertheless, it is a very pleasant thing to live -tranquilly at home while one’s husband carries on a -good business. Look at Madame A——; she knows -good diamonds as well as her husband; she carries -<span class='pageno' id='Page_38'>38</span>on the business in his absence; she will continue -to carry it on if she should become a widow; their -fortune is already large. You are intelligent; you -would inspire confidence; you could do what you -wanted to. You would have a very agreeable life if -you would accept Delorme, Dabreuil, or Obligeois.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Hold on, papa; I have learned too well that in -business one does not succeed unless he sells dear -what he has bought cheap; unless he lies and beats -down his workmen.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Do you believe, then, that there are no honest -men in commerce?”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“I am not willing to say that; but I am persuaded -that there are but few of them; and more than that, -that those honest men have not the qualities that -my husband must have.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“You are making matters very difficult for yourself. -What if you do not find your ideal?”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“I shall die an old maid.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Perhaps that will be harder than you think. However, -you have time to think of it. But remember, -one day you will be alone; the crowd of suitors will -end,—but you know the fable.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Oh, I shall revenge myself by meriting happiness; -injustice cannot deprive me of it.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Ah, there you go in the clouds.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>The first of Manon’s suitors who really interested -her was Pahin de la Blancherie, a <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">bel esprit</span></i> who frequented -a salon where she was often seen. He had -been attracted by the girl and had by a clever trick, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_39'>39</span>which Madame Phlipon had seen fit to ignore, gained -an entrance to the house. He interested Manon -more than her usual callers. He had read the philosophers; -he expressed noble views; he had been to -America; he was writing a book. This was much -better than the young man who plied a trade and -repeated the gossip of the Pont Neuf, and when she -learned from her father that he had asked her hand, -but had been dismissed because of his lack of fortune, -she told the loss rather coldly to Sophie.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“He seemed to me to have an honest heart, much -love for literature and science, art and knowledge. -In fact, if he had a secure position, was older, had -a cooler head, a little more solidity, he would not -have displeased me. Now he has gone and without -doubt thinks as little of me as I do about -him.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>This was nearly two years before Madame Phlipon’s -death and Manon saw almost nothing of La Blancherie -until some four months after her loss, when he -came unexpectedly one evening to see her, pale and -changed by a long illness. The sight of the young -man agitated her violently. It recalled her mother, -recalled, too, the fact that he alone of all her suitors -had seemed worthy of her. Her agitation embarrassed -him. With tears she told him her grief. He -tried to console her and confided to her the proof-sheets -of his forthcoming book.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Manon described the meeting to Sophie and added -her appreciation of the book. “You know my -<span class='pageno' id='Page_40'>40</span><cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Loisirs</span></cite>,<a id='r1' /><a href='#f1' class='c014'><sup>[1]</sup></a> do you not? Here are the same principles. -It is my whole soul. He is not a Rousseau, doubtless, -but he is never tiresome. It is a beautiful morality, -agreeably presented, supported by facts and an infinite -number of historic allusions and of quotations -from many authors. I dare not judge the young -man because we are too much alike, but I can say -of him what I said to Greuze of his picture, ‘if -I did not love virtue, he would give me a taste -for it.’”</p> - -<div class='footnote' id='f1'> -<p class='c008'><a href='#r1'>1</a>. Manon Phlipon wrote before her marriage a series of philosophical -and literary essays which she called <cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Œuvres de loisir</span></cite> or -<cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Mes Loisirs</span></cite>. They are reflections on a great variety of subjects, -generally following closely the books she read. Fragments from -many of these essays are found in the letters to Sophie Cannet. -It was Mademoiselle Phlipon’s habit to lend the manuscript of her -productions to her intimate friends and Sophie, of course, was -familiar with them all. The greatest part of the <cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Loisirs</span></cite> were -published in 1800 in the edition of Madame Roland’s works prepared -by Champagneux.</p> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>Manon’s imagination was violently excited by this -interview and she received La Blancherie’s visits -with delight. Her father, however, was displeased -and insisted that the young man cease coming to the -house. This was all that was needed for Manon to -persuade herself that she was in love. She went -farther—she was convinced La Blancherie loved -her, was suffering over their separation, and she shed -tears of sympathy for him. She comforted herself -with dreams of his noble efforts to better his situation -and to win her in spite of her cruel father. -She wrote Sophie long letters describing their mutual efforts to be worthy of each other, letters drawn -entirely from her own fancy.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id003'> -<img src='images/i_040fp.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>THE PONT NEUF IN 1895.<br /><br />The house in which Madame Roland lived as a girl is the second of the two to the right of the picture.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_41'>41</span>“We are trying to make each other happy by -making ourselves better, and in this sweet emulation -virtue becomes stronger, hope remains. If he has -an opportunity to do a good action, I am sure that -he will do it more gladly when he thinks that it is -the sweetest and the only homage that he can render -me.” All this she assumed, but she thought she had -sufficient reason for her opinion. “I judge him by -my own heart, nothing else is so like him. We do -not see each other, but we know we love each other -without ever having avowed it. We count on each -other. We hasten along the path of virtue and of -sacrifice that we have chosen; there at least we -shall be eternally together.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>She wrote him a fervent letter, which Sophie delivered, -telling him that it was not her will that he -was forbidden the house. She saw that he had a -card for the Mass celebrating her mother’s death. -She idealized him in a manner worthy of Julie herself, -without knowing anything in particular of him, -and without his ever having made her any declaration.</p> - -<p class='c008'>A sentimental young woman rarely conceives her -lover as he is. Certainly the actual La Blancherie -was a very different young man from the paragon of -stern virtue Mademoiselle Phlipon pictured, and -when the creation of her imagination was brought -face to face, one day in the Luxembourg, with the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_42'>42</span>flesh and blood original, the latter made a poor showing. -To begin with, he had a feather in his cap, a -common enough thing in that day—“Ah, you would -not believe how this cursed plume has tormented -me,” she wrote Sophie. “I have tried in every way -to reconcile this frivolous ornament with that philosophy, -with that taste for the simple, with that manner -of thinking which made D. L. B. [it is thus that -she designates La Blancherie in her letters] so dear -to me.” But she did not succeed. No doubt her inability -to forgive the feather was made greater by -a bit of gossip repeated to her the same day by a -friend who was walking with her, that La Blancherie -had been forbidden the house of one of her friends -because he had boasted that he was going to marry -one of the daughters, and that he was commonly -known among their friends as “the lover of the -eleven thousand virgins.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Her cure was rapid after this, and when, a few -months later, La Blancherie succeeded in getting -an interview with her and represented his misfortunes -and his hopes, she listened calmly, and told -him, at length, that after having distinguished him -from the ordinary young man, and indeed placed -him far higher, she had been obliged to replace him -among the large class of average mortals. For some -four hours they debated the situation, and at last La -Blancherie withdrew.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Manon’s first love affair was over, and she sat -down with rare complacency to describe the finale -<span class='pageno' id='Page_43'>43</span>to Sophie. She had no self-reproach in the affair. -As always, she was infallible.</p> - -<p class='c008'>La Blancherie was, no doubt, an excellent example -of the eighteenth-century literary adventurer. -His first book, a souvenir of college life and his -travels in America, was an impossible account of -youthful follies and their distressing results, and -seems never to have aroused anybody’s interest save -Manon’s, and that only during one year. His next -venture was to announce himself as the General -Agent for Scientific and Artistic Correspondence, -and to open a salon in Paris, where he arranged -expositions of pictures, scientific conferences, lectures -and art <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">soirées</span></i>. In connection with his salon -La Blancherie published from 1779 to 1787 the <cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Nouvelles -de la république des lettres et des arts</span></cite>, and a catalogue -of French artists from Cousin to 1783. Both -of these works, now extremely rare, are useful in -detailed study of the French art of the eighteenth -century, and were used by the De Goncourts in -preparing their work on this subject.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In 1788 La Blancherie’s salon was closed, and he -went to London. By chance he inhabited Newton’s -old house. He was inspired to exalt the name of the -scientist. His practical plan for accomplishing this -was to demand that the name of Newton should be -given alternately with that of George to the Princes -of England, that all great scientific discoveries -should be celebrated in hymns which should be -sung at divine services, and that in public documents -<span class='pageno' id='Page_44'>44</span>after the words <em>the year of grace</em> should be -added <em>and of Newton</em>.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In short, La Blancherie was in his literary life -vain and pretentious, without other aim than to -make a sensation. In his social relations he was -a perfect type of <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">le petit maître</span></i>, whose philosophy -Marivaux sums up: “A Paris, ma chère enfant, les -cœurs on ne se les donne pas, on se les prête” (In -Paris, my dear, we never give our hearts, we only -lend them). Manon Phlipon’s idealization and subsequent -dismissal of La Blancherie is an excellent -example of how a sentimental girl’s imagination will -carry her to the brink of folly, and of the cold-blooded -manner in which, if she is disillusioned, she will discuss -what she has done when under the influence of -her infatuation.</p> - -<p class='c008'>No doubt the decline of Manon’s interest in La -Blancherie was due no little to the rise of her interest -at this time in another type of man,—the -middle-aged man of experience and culture whom -necessity has forced to work in the world, but whom -reflection and character have led to remain always -aloof from it.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The first of these was a M. de Sainte-Lettre, a man -sixty years of age, who, after thirteen years’ government -service in Louisiana with the savages, had -been given a place in Pondicherry. He was in Paris -for a year, and having brought a letter of introduction -to M. Phlipon, soon became a constant visitor -of his daughter. His wealth of observation and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_45'>45</span>experience was fully drawn upon by this curious -young philosopher, and probably M. de Sainte-Lettre -found a certain piquancy in relating his traveller’s -tales to a fresh and beautiful young girl whose intelligence -was only surpassed by her sentimentality, -and whose frankness was as great as her self-complacency. -At all events they passed some happy -hours together. “I see him three or four times a -week,” she wrote Sophie; “when he dines at the -house, he remains from noon until nine o’clock. -There is perfect freedom between us. This man, -taciturn in society, is confiding and gay with me. -We talk on all sorts of subjects. When I am not -up, I question him, I listen, I reflect, I object. -When we do not wish to talk, we keep silent -without troubling ourselves, but that does not last -long. Sometimes we read a fragment suggested by -our conversation, something well known and classic, -whose beauties we love to review. The last was a -song of the poet Rousseau and some verses of Voltaire. -They awakened a veritable enthusiasm,—we -both wept and re-read the same thing ten times.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>To this odd pair of philosophers a third was -added,—a M. Roland de la Platière, of whom we -are to hear much more later on. Manon began at -once to effervesce. “These two men spoil me,” she -declared to Sophie; “I find in them the qualities -that I consider most worthy my esteem.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>But Roland and de Sainte-Lettre both left Paris, -the latter retiring to Pondicherry, where he died -<span class='pageno' id='Page_46'>46</span>some six weeks after his arrival. Before going -away, however, he had put Mademoiselle Phlipon -into relation with an intimate friend of his, a M. de -Sévelinges, of Soissons, a widower some fifty-two -years of age, of small fortune but excellent family -and wide culture. This acquaintance was kept up by -letter, and in a few months M. de Sévelinges asked -her hand. Now Mademoiselle Phlipon had but a -small dot and that was fast disappearing through -the dissipation of her father, who, since her mother’s -death, had taken to amusing himself in expensive -ways. M. de Sévelinges had children who did not -like the idea of his marrying a young wife without -fortune. It was to imperil their expected inheritance. -Manon appreciated this and refused M. de -Sévelinges. But he insisted and they hit upon a -quixotic arrangement which Mademoiselle Phlipon -describes thus to Sophie:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“His project is simply to secure a sister and a -friend, under a perfectly proper title. I thank him -for a plan that my reason justifies, that I find honorable -for both, and that I feel myself capable of -carrying out.... My sentiments, my situation, -everything drives me to celibacy. In keeping it -voluntarily while apparently living in an opposite -state, I do not change the destiny which circumstances -have forced upon me, and at least I contribute -by a close relation to the happiness of an -estimable man who is dear to me.... How chimerical -this idea would be for three-fourths of my -<span class='pageno' id='Page_47'>47</span>kind! It seems as if nobody but M. de Sévelinges -and I could have conceived it, and that you are the -only one to whom I could confide it. The realisation -of this dream would be delightful it seems to -me. I can imagine nothing more flattering and -more agreeable to one’s delicacy and confidence than -this perfect devotion to pure friendship. Can you -conceive of a more delicate joy than that of sacrificing -oneself entirely to the happiness of an appreciative -man?”</p> - -<p class='c008'>The affair with M. de Sévelinges came to nothing, -and as Manon gradually ceased to think of him she -became more and more interested in the M. Roland -already mentioned.</p> - -<p class='c008'>M. Roland de la Platière was a man about forty-two -years of age when he first met Mademoiselle -Phlipon, in 1776. He held the important position -of Inspector-General of Commerce in Picardy, and -lived in Amiens, the chief town of the province. In -his specialty he was one of the best known men in -France. His career had been one of energy and -patience. Leaving his home in the Lyonnais when -but a boy of eighteen, rather than to take orders -or to go into business as his family proposed, he had -spent two years studying manufacture and commerce -in Lyons, and then had gone to Rouen, where, through -the influence of a relative, he had passed ten years in -familiarizing himself with the methods of the factories -of Normandy, at that time one of the busiest -manufacturing provinces in France. M. Roland’s -<span class='pageno' id='Page_48'>48</span>work at Rouen had not been of a simple, unintelligent -kind. He had studied seriously the whole -subject of manufacturing in its relations to commerce, -to government, to society, and had worked -out a most positive set of opinions on what was -necessary to be done in France in order to revive -her industries. He had already begun to write, and -his pamphlets had attracted the attention of the -ablest men in his department of science.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In 1764 he had been sent to look after the manufacturing -interests of Languedoc, then in a serious -condition, and in 1776 the position of Inspector in -Picardy, the third province of the country from a -manufacturing point of view, was given to him. For -a man without ambition, the duties of the office were -simple. They required him to see that the multitude -of vexatious rules which were attached then to -the making of goods and articles of all kinds, were -carried out; that the regulations governing masters -and workmen were observed; that the formalities -attending the establishment of new factories were -not neglected; that everything of significance that -happened in the factories in his province was reported; -and that all suggestions for improvement -which occurred to him were presented. Evidently -an ordinary man, well protected, could fill the position -of an inspector of manufactures and have an -easy life.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But M. Roland did not understand his duties in -this way. The value of the position in his eyes was -<span class='pageno' id='Page_49'>49</span>that it permitted the regulation of disputes, allowed -criticism, invited suggestions, encouraged study, and -welcomed pamphlets. From the beginning of his -connection with Picardy he had displayed an incredible -activity in all of these directions. The various -industrial interests of the province were clashing -seriously at the moment, and the lawyers and councils -were only making the disagreement greater. Roland -dismissed all interference and became himself “the -council, the lawyer, and the protector of the manufacturer.” -He became familiar with every master -workman of Picardy, with every industry, with every -process, and in the reports sent to the Council of -Commerce at Paris, he attacked, praised, suggested -voluminously. At the same time he was studying -seriously. Nothing was foreign to his profession as -he understood it, and though already he had the reputation -of being a <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">savant</span></i> he went every year to Paris -to do original work in natural history, physics, chemistry, -and the arts.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Roland had only been long enough in Picardy to -organize his office well when he began to urge the -Council to try to introduce into France some of the -superior manufacturing processes of other countries. -The idea seemed wise and he was invited to undertake -a thorough study of foreign and domestic manufacturing -methods. This commission led him into many -countries. Before M. Roland met Mademoiselle -Phlipon, in 1776, he had been through Flanders, -Holland, Switzerland, England, Germany, and France -<span class='pageno' id='Page_50'>50</span>in pursuit of information. He had studied lace-making -at Brussels, ironware at Nuremberg, linen-making -in Silesia, pottery in Saxony, velvet and embroidered -ribbons on the Lower Rhine, paper-making at Liège, -cotton weaving and printing in England.</p> - -<p class='c008'>His observations had been limited to no special -step of the manufacturing. He looked after the -variety of plant which produced a thread and studied -the way it was raised. He knew how native ores -were taken out in every part of Europe. The processes -of bleaching, dyeing, and printing in all countries -were familiar to him. He understood all sorts -of machines and had improved many himself. His -ideas on designing were excellent and had been enlarged -by intelligent observation of the arts of many -countries.</p> - -<p class='c008'>On all of his travels Roland had amassed samples -of the stuffs he had seen, had taken notes of dimensions, -of prices, of the time required for special -processes, of the cost of materials, had gathered the -pamphlets and volumes written by specialists, often -had brought back samples of machines and utensils. -All of this he had applied faithfully in Picardy, and -before the time he comes into our story he had had -the satisfaction of seeing, as a result of his efforts, -the number of shops in his domain tripled, the utensils -gradually improved, a great variety of new stuffs -made, the old ones improved, and many new ideas -introduced from other countries.</p> - -<p class='c008'>At the same time the full reports made of his investigations -<span class='pageno' id='Page_51'>51</span>had won him honors; the Academy of -Science in Paris, the Royal Society of Montpellier, -had made him a correspondent; the academies of -Rouen, Villefranche, and Dijon, an honorary member; -different societies of Rome, an associate.</p> - -<p class='c008'>He had, too, something besides technical knowledge. -He was quite up to the liberal thought of -the day and had ranged himself with the large body -of French philosophers who were working for -greater freedom in commerce, in politics, in religion. -In short, M. Roland de la Platière was a man of -more than ordinary value, who had rendered large -services to his country. But with all his value, and -partly because of it, he was not an easy man to get -along with. His hard work had undermined his -health and left him morose and irritable. He was -so thoroughly convinced of his own ability and usefulness -that he could not suffer opposition even -from his superiors, and he used often, in his reports, -an arrogant tone which exasperated those who were -accustomed to official etiquette. A large quantity -of Roland’s business correspondence still exists, and -throughout it all is evidence of his pettish, unbending -superiority. In fact, some very serious controversies -arose between him and his associates at -different times, in which if Roland was usually right -in what he urged, his way of putting it was offensive -to the last degree.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Roland prided himself not only on his services, -but on his character. He was independent, active, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_52'>52</span>virtuous. He admired noble deeds and good lives. -He cultivated virtue as he did science and he made -himself a merit of being all this. Nothing is more -offensive than self-complacent virtue. Be it never -so genuine, the average man who makes no pretensions -finds it ridiculous and is unmoved by it. -Goodness must be unconscious to be attractive.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Above all, Roland prided himself on the perfect -frankness of his character, and to prove it he refused -to practise the amiable little flatteries and deceits -which, under the name of politeness, keep people in -society feeling comfortable and kindly. Shoe-buckles -were a vain ornament, so he wore ribbons, though by -doing it he offended the company into which he was -invited. To tell a man he was “charmed” to see him -when he was merely indifferent, was a lie, therefore -he preserved a silence. He would not follow a custom -he could not defend philosophically, nor repeat -a formality which could not be interpreted literally. -By the conventional, what is there to be done with -such a character? They may respect his scientific -worth, but they cannot countenance such contempt -for the laws of life as they understand them.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Mademoiselle Phlipon, however, was not conventional. -She admired frankness and Roland’s disregard -of formalities seemed to her a proof of his -simplicity and honesty. She was not offended by -the man’s display of character. She herself was as -self-conscious, as convinced of her own worth, and -as fond as he of using it as an argument. As for his -<span class='pageno' id='Page_53'>53</span>irritability and scientific arrogance, she had little -chance to judge of it. He was so much wiser than -she, that she accepted with gratitude and humility -the information he gave.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It was in 1776 that Roland first came to visit -Manon, to whom he had been presented by Sophie -Cannet, with whose family he was allied in Amiens. -The acquaintance did not go far; for in the fall of -that year Roland started out on one of his long trips, -this time to Switzerland, Italy, Sicily, and Malta. -It was his plan to put his observations into letter -form and on his return to publish them. He needed -some one to whom he could address the letters, who -would guard the copy faithfully in his absence, and -would edit it intelligently if he should never return. -Manon seemed to him a proper person, and so he -requested her to permit his brother, a curé in Cluny -College, in Paris, to bring the letters to her. She -naturally was flattered, and the letters which came -regularly were a great delight to her.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Now the sole object of Roland was evidently to -have a safe depot for his manuscript, yet as the trip -stretched out Manon became more and more interested. -Might it not be that this grave philosopher -had a more personal interest in her than she had -thought? Might he not be the friend she sought? -Her fancy was soon bubbling in true Rousseau style. -The long silences of M. Roland and the formal -letters he wrote were not sufficient to quiet it. An -excuse for this premature ebullition was the fact -<span class='pageno' id='Page_54'>54</span>that Roland seemed to be the only person in her -little world upon whom for the moment she could -exercise her imagination. De Sainte-Lettre was dead, -M. de Sévelinges had withdrawn. True, there was a -Genevese of some note, a M. Pittet, at that time in -correspondence with Franklin, whom she often saw. -M. Pittet wrote for the <cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Journal des dames</span></cite> and -talked over his articles beforehand with Mademoiselle -Phlipon, even answering in them objections she had -made. She was flattered, it is evident from her -letters to Sophie, by their relation and only waited a -sign to transfer her interest to this eminent Genevese, -but the sign was never given.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Another reason for her exercising her imagination -on Roland was the dulness of her life at the moment. -Though Manon had a large number of good-natured -and devoted relatives and friends who exerted themselves -to please her, she went out but little save to -visit her uncle the curé Bimont. The curé lived in -the château at Vincennes. Manon was a real favorite -with the bizarre and amusing colony of retired -officers and their wives, discarded favorites of the -Court, and nobles worn out in the service, to whom a -home had been given there. Some of the persons she -met at Vincennes are highly picturesque. Among -others were a number of Americans from Santo Domingo -on a visit to an officer. She quickly came to -an understanding with them, and questioned them -closely on the revolution in progress in the neighboring -colony.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_55'>55</span>In Paris she went out rarely, but when she did -go it was usually for a visit which, at this distance, -is of piquant interest. An amusing attempt she -made to see Rousseau is recounted in a letter to -Sophie. Not that she was entirely original in this -effort. It was the mode at the moment to practise -all sorts of tricks to get a glimpse of the sulky -philosopher, and Mademoiselle Phlipon, devoted disciple -that she was, could not resist the temptation. -A friend of hers had an errand to Rousseau, of which -he spoke before her. He saw immediately that she -would like to discharge it in order to see the man, -and kindly turned it over to her. Manon wrote a -letter into which she put many things besides the -errand, and announced that she would go on such a -day to receive the answer. The visit she describes:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“I entered a shoemaker’s alley, Rue Plâtrière. I -mounted to the second story and knocked at the door. -One could not enter a temple with more reverence -than I this humble door. I was agitated, but I felt -none of that timidity which I feel in the presence -of petty society people whom at heart I esteem but -little. I wavered between hope and fear.... Would -it be possible, I thought, that I should say of him -what he had said of <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">savants</span></i>: ‘I took them for angels; -I passed the threshold of their doors with respect; -I have seen them; it is the only thing of which they -have disabused me.’</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Reasoning thus, I saw the door open; a woman -of at least fifty years of age appeared. She wore a -<span class='pageno' id='Page_56'>56</span>round cap, a simple clean house-gown, and a big -apron. She had a severe air, a little hard even.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“‘Is it here that M. Rousseau lives, Madame?’</p> - -<p class='c008'>“‘Yes, Mademoiselle.’</p> - -<p class='c008'>“‘May I speak to him?’</p> - -<p class='c008'>“‘What do you want?’</p> - -<p class='c008'>“‘I have come for the answer to a letter I wrote -him a few days ago.’</p> - -<p class='c008'>“‘He is not to be spoken to, Mademoiselle, but -you may say to the person who had you write—for -surely it is not you who wrote a letter like that—’</p> - -<p class='c008'>“‘Pardon me,’ I interrupted—</p> - -<p class='c008'>“‘The handwriting is a man’s.’</p> - -<p class='c008'>“‘Do you want to see me write?’ I said, laughing.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“She shook her head, adding, ‘All that I can say to -you is that my husband has given up all these things -absolutely. He has left all. He would not ask anything -better than to be of service; but he is of an -age to rest.’</p> - -<p class='c008'>“‘I know it, but I should have been flattered to -have had this answer from his mouth. I would have -profited eagerly by the opportunity to render homage -to the man whom I esteem the highest of the -world. Receive it, Madame.’</p> - -<p class='c008'>“She thanked me, keeping her hand on the lock, -and I descended the stairs with the meagre satisfaction -of knowing that he found my letter sufficiently -well written not to believe it the work of a -woman.”</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_57'>57</span>Not all of her visits were so unsuccessful, as her -description of one to Greuze shows:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Last Thursday, Sophie, I recalled tenderly the -pleasure that we had two years ago, at Greuze’s. -I was there on the same errand. The subject of his -picture is the <cite>Paternal Curse</cite>. I shall not attempt -to give you a full description of it; that would be -too long. I shall simply content myself with saying -that, in spite of the number and the variety of the -passions expressed by the artist with force and truthfulness, -the work, as a whole, does not produce the -touching impression which we both felt in considering -the other. The reason of this difference seems -to me to be in the nature of the subject. Greuze -can be reproached for making his coloring a little -too gray, and I should accuse him of doing this in -all his pictures if I had not seen this same day a -picture of quite another style, which he showed me -with especial kindness. It is a little girl, naïve, fresh, -charming, who has just broken her pitcher. She -holds it in her arms near the fountain, where the -accident has just happened; her eyes are not too -open; her mouth is still half-agape. She is trying -to see how the misfortune happened, and to decide -if she was at fault. Nothing prettier and more -piquant could be seen. No fault can be found with -Greuze here except, perhaps, for not having made -his little one sorrowful enough to prevent her going -back to the fountain. I told him that and the pleasantry -amused us.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_58'>58</span>“He did not criticise Rubens this year. I was better -pleased with him personally. He told me complacently -certain flattering things that the Emperor -said to him.... I stayed three-quarters of an hour -with him. I was there with Mignonne [her <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">bonne</span></i>] -simply. There were not many people. I had him -almost to myself.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“I wanted to add to the praises that I gave him:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c015'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">On dit, Greuze, que ton pinceau</span></div> - <div class='line'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">N’est pas celui de la vertu romaine;</span></div> - <div class='line'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Mais il peint la nature humaine:</span></div> - <div class='line'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">C’est le plus sublime tableau.</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c016'>I kept still, and that was the best thing I did.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>In the quiet life Manon was leading her habits of -study and writing served her to good purpose, and -the little room overlooking the Pont Neuf, where she -had worked since a child, was still her favorite shrine. -Almost every day she added something to the collection -of reflections she had begun under the title of -<cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Mes loisirs</span></cite>, or prepared something for the letters to -Sophie; for these letters to her friend, outside of the -gossip and narrative portions, were anything but -spontaneous. Her habit was to copy into them the -long digests she had made of books she read and of -her reflections on these books. Among the manuscript -lent me by M. Marillier I found several evidences -of the preparations she made of her letters.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In spite of friends, visits, books, and letters, however, -Manon was sad at this period. Her father was -leading an irregular life, which shocked and irritated -<span class='pageno' id='Page_59'>59</span>her. No two persons could have been more poorly -prepared for entertaining each other than M. Phlipon -and his daughter. He was proud of her, but he had -no sympathy with the sentiments which made her -refuse the rich husband her accomplishments would -have won her. He found no pleasure in talking -with her of other than ordinary events. He recognized -that she felt herself superior to him in many -ways, and though he probably cared very little -whether she was or not, he was annoyed that she -felt so.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Manon, on her part, lacked a little in loyalty -towards her father, as well as in tenderness. She -considered him an inferior and always had. When -he took to dissipation, after her mother’s death, in -spite of the honest effort she made to keep his house -pleasant and to be agreeable to him, her pride, as well -as her affection, was hurt, and she sometimes took a -censorious tone which could not fail to aggravate the -case. There were often disagreeable scenes between -them, after which M. Phlipon went about with averted -eyes and gloomy brow.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Manon complained to her relatives of the condition -of her home, and the private lectures M. Phlipon -received from them only made him more sullen. -Sometimes, to be sure, there were returns to good -feeling and Manon felt hopeful, but soon an extravagant -or petty act of her father brought back her -worry. In her despair she was even tempted to give -up her philosopher and marry one of the ordinary but -<span class='pageno' id='Page_60'>60</span>honest and well-to-do young men her friends and relatives -presented.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Manon was thus occupied and annoyed when M. -Roland came back from Italy in the spring of 1778. -As he was much in Paris, the relation between them -soon became very friendly, and he was often at the -Quai de l’Horloge. But we hear almost nothing of -him in the letters to Sophie. The reason was simply -that M. Roland had requested his new friend to say -nothing to the Cannets about his visits. Probably -he foresaw gossip in Amiens if it was known he saw -much of Mademoiselle Phlipon. Then, too, Henriette, -an older sister of Sophie, was interested in him -and he feared an unpleasant complication in case she -knew of his attentions. Manon carried out his wishes -implicitly in spite of her habit of writing everything -to her friend. She even practised some clever little -shifts to make Sophie believe that she did not see -M. Roland often and then only on business connected -with his manuscript, or to ask him some questions -about Italian, which she had begun to study.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The frankness on which she prided herself was -completely set aside—a thing of which she would -not have been capable if she had not been more -anxious to please her new friend than she was to -keep faith with the old. Probably, too, she was very -well pleased to have an opportunity to give Roland -this proof of her feeling for him.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In the winter of 1778–79 Roland told her that he -loved her. Manon, “<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">en héroine de la délicatesse</span>,” -<span class='pageno' id='Page_61'>61</span>as she puts it, felt that in the state of her fortune, -which her father was threatening to finish soon, and -with the danger there was of M. Phlipon bringing -a scandal on the family, it was not right for her to -marry. She told all this to Roland, who agreed with -her, and they hit on a sort of a Platonic arrangement -which went on very well for a time. They openly -declared their affection to each other; they worked -and studied together; they confessed to each other -that the happiness of their lives lay in this mutual -confidence and sympathy. But love is stronger than -philosophy, and Roland was ardent. Manon became -unhappy. Was her dream going to fade? Restless -and uncertain, she wrote Roland, who had returned -to Amiens, of her fears, and a correspondence began -which soon put an end to their Platonic idyl, and -landed them amid the irritating details which attend -a French betrothal. As this correspondence -has never been published, and as it throws much -light on the sentimental side of Manon Phlipon’s -life, it is quoted from rather fully in the following -pages.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Roland had laughed at her first letter complaining -of his fervor. In answer she wrote him a voluminous -epistle in which she traced the birth and growth -of her sentimental nature.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“You laugh at my sermon, now listen to my complaints. -I am sad, discontented, ill. My heart is -heavy, and burning tears fall without giving me -relief ... I do not understand myself ... but let -<span class='pageno' id='Page_62'>62</span>me tell you once for all what I am and wish always -to be.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“It is almost twenty-five years since I received life -from a mother whose gentleness, wisdom, and goodness -would be an eternal reproach if they were not -an inspiration. The death of this loved mother -caused the deepest grief I have ever known. By -nature I am sensitive (should I pity or congratulate -myself?); a solitary education concentrated my affections, -made them more fervid and profound. I felt -happiness and sorrow before I could call them by -name. It was on them that I first reflected. I was -active and isolated.... I was meditating when -usually a child is busy with toys.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“I have often told you how I was stirred by religious -ideas, and how the restless and vague sentiments -which had oppressed me were finally fixed on certain -determined objects. Soon I awoke to the joy of -friendship, and before one would have supposed that -I knew I had a heart, it was overflowing. Young, -ardent, happily situated, unconscious of the clash of -interests which makes men wicked, love of duty -became a passion with me and the mere name of -virtue aroused my enthusiasm.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Eager to know, I began to read history. It -became more and more interesting to me. The story -of a brave deed excited me almost to a delirium. -How many times I wept because I had not been born -a Spartan or a Roman! As my horizon enlarged, I -began to think about my creed, and my faith was -<span class='pageno' id='Page_63'>63</span>overthrown. Humanity was dear to me, and I could -not endure to see it condemned without distinction -and without pity. I threw over the authority which -would force me to believe a cruel absurdity. The -first step taken, the rest of the route was soon travelled, -and I examined all with the scrupulous defiance -which one gives to a doctrine false in an essential -point. The philosophic works that I read at this -time aided me, but did not determine me to come to -a decision. Each system seemed to me to have its -weakness and its strength. I held to some of my -brilliant chimeras; I became sceptical by an effort, -and I took for my creed beneficence in conduct and -tolerance in opinion.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“These changes in my ideas had no influence on -my morals. They are independent of all religious -system because founded on the general interest which -is the same everywhere. Harmony in the affections -seem to me to constitute the individual goodness of -a man; the justice of his relations with his kind, the -wisdom of the social man. The multiplied relations -of the civil life have also, without doubt, multiplied -laws and duties, and those peculiar to each one -should be the first subject of his study.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“The place which my sex should occupy in the -order of nature and of society very soon fixed my curious -attention. I will not say what I thought of the -question which has been raised as to the pre-eminence -of one sex over the other. It has never seemed to -me worthy of the attention of a serious mind. We -<span class='pageno' id='Page_64'>64</span>differ essentially, and the superiority which in some -respects is yours does not alter the reciprocal dependence -in happiness which can only be the common -work of both.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“I appreciated the justice, the power, and the extent -of the duties laid upon my sex. I trembled with -joy on finding that I had the courage, the resolution, -and the certainty of always fulfilling them.... I -resolved to change my condition only for the sake of -an object worthy of absolute devotion. In the number -of those who solicited (my hand), one only of -whom I have talked to you (M. de Sévelinges) -merited my heart. For a long time I was silent, -and it was only when I realized all the barriers -between us that I asked him to leave me. I have -had reason since to congratulate myself on this -resolution, which was painful for me beyond expression.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Many changes have come since, but I have -steadily refused to marry except for love. I have -lost my fortune and my pride has increased. I would -not enter a family which did not appreciate me enough -to be proud of the alliance or which would think it -was honoring me in receiving me. I have felt in -this way a long time, and have looked upon a single -life as my lot. My duties, true, would be fewer and -not so sweet, perhaps, but none the less severe and -exacting. Friendship I have regarded as my compensation, -and I have wished to taste it with all the -abandon of confidence. But you are leading me -too far, and it is against that that I would protect -myself.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_064fp.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>ROLAND DE LA PLATIÈRE.<br /><br />After the painting by Hesse.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_65'>65</span>“I have seen in your strong, energetic, enlightened, -practical soul, the stuff for a friend of first rank. I -have been delighted to regard you as such, and to all -the seriousness of friendship I wanted to add all the -fervor of which a tender soul is capable. But you -have awakened in my heart a feeling against which I -believed myself armed. I have not concealed it. I -showed it unreservedly and I expected you to give -me the generous support which I needed. But far -from sparing my weakness, you became each day -rasher, and you have dared ask me the cause of my -pensiveness, my silence, my pain. Sir, I may be the -victim of my sentiments, but I will never be the plaything -of any man.... I cannot make an amusement -of love. For me it is a terrible passion which would -submerge my whole being and which would influence -all my life. Give me back friendship or fear—to -force me to see you no more.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“O my friend, why disturb the beautiful relation -between us? My heart is rich enough to repay you -in tenderness for all the privations it imposes upon -you.... Spare me the greatest good that I know, -the only one which makes life tolerable to me,—a -friend sincere and faithful. I have not enough of -your philosophy or I have too much of another which -does not resemble yours in this point only, to give -myself up inconsiderately to a passion which for me -would be transport and delirium.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_66'>66</span>“My friend, come back more moderate, more reserved, -let us cherish zealously, joyfully, and confidently -the tastes which can strengthen the sweet tie -which unites us....”</p> - -<p class='c008'>This letter threw Roland into confusion. He had -taken her at her word when she suggested an intimate -friendship. He had taken her at her word -when she told him her affection was becoming love. -He had been, perhaps, too fervent, but how was one -to regulate so delicate a situation? He wrote her a -piteous and helpless sort of letter in which he declared -he was unhappy. Manon replied in a way which did -not help him particularly in his quandary:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“In the midst of the different objects which surround -and oppress me, I see, I feel but you. I hear -always, ‘I am unhappy.’ O God! how, why, since -when, are you unhappy? Is it because I exist or -because I love you? The destruction of the first of -these causes is in my power and would cost me nothing. -It would take away with it the other, over -which I have no longer any control.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Even after this Roland was so obtuse that he was -uncertain of her feeling for him, but finally he asked -her squarely if it could be that all this meant that she -loved him. Very promptly she replied: “If I thought -that question was unsettled for you to-day, I should -fear it would always be.” Will she marry him then, -<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">oui ou non</span></i>? He asked the question despairingly, in -the tone of a man who expected a scene to follow, -but could see nothing else for him to do honorably. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_67'>67</span>In a letter of passionate abandon Manon promised -to be his wife. Roland was the happiest of men.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“You are mine,” he wrote. “You have taken the -oath. It is irrevocable. O my friend, my tender, -faithful friend, I had need of that <em>yes</em>.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Manon’s joy was unbounded and she told it in true -eighteenth-century style. “I weep, I struggle to -express myself, I stifle, I throw myself upon your -bosom, there I remain, entirely thine.” Immediately -they entered upon a correspondence, voluminous, extravagant, -passionate. Manon explained to Roland -the beginning and the development of her affection -for him, and labored to harmonize two seemingly -incongruous experiences,—her interest in Roland -during the time he was in Italy and the marriage she -had contemplated with M. de Sévelinges. The harmony -seems incomplete to the modern reader, but -probably Roland was not exacting since he was sure -of his possession.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In every way she tried to please him, even keeping -their betrothal a secret from Sophie—this at Roland’s -request. They planned, confided, rejoiced, and made -each other miserable in true lover-like style. For -some time the worst of their misunderstandings were -caused by delays in letters, but, unfortunately, there -were to be annoyances, in the course of their love, -more serious than those of the postman. There was -M. Phlipon; there was Roland’s family; there were -all the vexatious formalities which precede marriage -in France. M. Phlipon was the most serious obstacle -<span class='pageno' id='Page_68'>68</span>to their happiness. Since his wife’s death he had been -constantly growing more dissipated and common. -Roland regarded him with the cold and irritating -disapproval of a man convinced of his own infallibility, -and M. Phlipon, conscious of his own shortcomings, -disliked Roland heartily. For some time -Roland refused to ask M. Phlipon for his daughter, -but he counselled her to insist upon having the remnant -of her dowry turned over.</p> - -<p class='c008'>She began to talk to her father of this, and he, -incensed at the suspicion this demand implied, became -surly and defiant. He talked to the neighbors -of his desire to live alone and accused Manon of -ingratitude and coldness. She held to her rights, -however, and succeeded finally in having her estate -settled. She found at the end that she had -an income of just five hundred and thirty francs a -year.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The disagreement with her father made her unhappy. -She wrote Roland letters full of complaints -and sighs. She saw everything black. She declared -that they were farther apart than ever, that her heart -was breaking. After a few weeks of melancholy she -came to an understanding with her father and wrote -joyously again. This occurred several times until at -last Roland grew seriously out of patience with her. -He told her that it was her lack of firmness that was -at the bottom of her father’s conduct; that she was -“always irresolute, always uncertain, reasoned always -by contraries.” His letters became brief, dry, impatient. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_69'>69</span>Finally, however, he wrote M. Phlipon, -asking for Manon.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The difficulty that Roland had foreseen with his -prospective father-in-law was at once realized. The -old gentleman, incensed that his daughter would not -give him Roland’s letters to examine before he replied, -answered in a way which came very near ending -negotiations on the spot. Since his daughter -had taken her property into her own hands and -since she refused to let him see the correspondence -which had passed between her and Roland, she could -enjoy still further the privileges her majority gave -her and marry without his consent.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Roland wrote to Manon, on receiving this curt -response, that the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">soul</span></i> of M. Phlipon horrified him; -that he loved her as much as ever, but—“your -father, my friend, your father,” and delicately hinted -that it would be impossible for him to present such a -man to his own family. This was in September. For -two months they lived in a state of miserable uncertainty. -Roland accused Manon of irresolution, of inconsistency, -and inconsequence; she accused him of -fearing the prejudices of society, of caring less for -her than for his family’s good-will. With M. Phlipon -Manon alternately quarrelled and made up. -Wretched as the lovers were, their letters nearly -always ended in protestations of affection and appeals -for confidence.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The first of November Mademoiselle Phlipon -brought matters to a crisis by leaving her father -<span class='pageno' id='Page_70'>70</span>for good and retiring to the Convent of the Congregation. -She wrote Sophie, who, of course, had known -nothing of her affair with Roland, but to whom she -had often written freely of her trouble with her -father, that she had taken this resolution in order to -save her family, if possible, from further disgrace.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In going into the convent she had broken with -Roland. They were to remain friends, but dismiss -all projects of marriage; but they continued to write -heart-broken letters to each other. She told him, “I -love you. I feel nothing but that. I repeat it as if -it were something new. Your agonized letters inflame -me. I devour them and they kill me. I cover -them with kisses and with tears.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Roland was quite as unhappy. He had taken -Manon at her word again when she declared that -their engagement was at an end, and that they -would remain friends; but he could not support her -unhappiness; he was too wretched himself. The -worst of it was that he could not make out what she -wanted: “You continually reproach me,” he wrote -her in November, “of not understanding you. Is it -my fault? Do you not go by contraries?”—“You -complain always of what I say, and you always tell -me to tell you all.... You protest friendship and -confidence at the moment you give me proofs of the -contrary. All your letters are a tissue of contradictions, -of bitterness, of reproaches, of wrangling.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>This unhappy state continued until January, -when Roland went to Paris and saw Manon. Her -<span class='pageno' id='Page_71'>71</span>sadness and her tears overcame him, and again he -begged her to marry him. This time the affair was -happier, and in February Manon Phlipon became -Madame Roland.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Twelve years later, in her Memoirs, Madame Roland -gave an account of this courtship and marriage, -which is a curious contrast to that one finds in the -letters written at the time. If these letters show -anything, it is that she was, or at least imagined -herself, desperately in love; that after having outlined -a Platonic relation she had broken it by telling -Roland she loved him too well to endure the restrictions -of mere friendship; that she had been extravagantly -happy in her betrothal, and correspondingly -miserable in her liberation; and that when the marriage -was finally effected she was thoroughly satisfied.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But in her Memoirs she says of Roland’s first -proposal: “I was not insensible to it because I -esteemed him more than any one whom I had -known up to that time,” but—“I counselled M. -Roland not to think of me, as a stranger might have -done. He insisted: I was touched and I consented -that he speak to my father.” She gives the impression -that as far as she was concerned her heart was -not in the affair, that she merely was moved by Roland’s -devotion, and that she saw in him an intelligent -companion. Of his coming to her at the convent, -she says that it was he alone who was inflamed by -the interview, and she gives the impression that his -renewed proposal awakened in her nothing but sober -<span class='pageno' id='Page_72'>72</span>and wise reflections: “I pondered deeply what I -ought to do. I did not conceal from myself that -a man under forty-five would have hardly waited -several months to make me change my mind, and I -confess that I had no illusions.... If marriage was, -as I thought it, a serious tie, an association where the -woman is for the most part charged with the happiness -of two persons, was it not better to exercise my -faculties, my courage, in that honorable task, than in -the isolation in which I lived?”</p> - -<p class='c008'>But at the time that Madame Roland wrote her -Memoirs she was under the influence of a new and -absorbing passion. The love, which twelve years -before had so engulfed all other considerations and -affections that she could for it break up her home, -desert her father, take up a solitary and wretched -existence, even contemplate suicide, had become an -indifferent affair of which she could talk philosophically -and at which she could smile disinterestedly.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_73'>73</span> - <h2 class='c006'>III<br /> <span class='large'>SEEKING A TITLE</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c007'>The first year of their marriage the Rolands spent -in Paris. New regulations were being planned -by the government for the national manufactures, -and Roland had been summoned to aid in the work. -It was an irritating task. His principles of free -trade, and free competition, were sadly ignored, even -after all the concessions obtainable from the government -had been granted, and Madame Roland saw for -the first time the irascibility and rigidness of her -husband when his opinions were disregarded.</p> - -<p class='c008'>They lived in a <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">hôtel garni</span></i>, and she gave all her -time to him, preparing his meals even, for he was -never well, and spending hours in his study aiding -him in his work. Roland’s literary labors seem to -have awed her a little at first, and she took up copying -and proof-reading with amusing humility and -solemnity. It was not an inviting task for a young -and imaginative mind accustomed to passing leisure -hours with the best thinkers of the world. Roland -was writing on manufacturing arts and getting his -letters from Italy ready for the printer. As always, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_74'>74</span>he was overcrowded with work. He was particular -and tenacious, careless about notes, and wrote an -execrable hand,—about the most aggravating type -possible to work with. But his wife accommodated -herself to him with a tact, a submission, a gentleness -which were perfect. He found her judgment -so true, her devotion so complete, her notions of -style so much better than his own, that he grew to -depend upon her entirely. It was the object she had -in view. She wanted to make herself indispensable -to him.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Thus the first year of her marriage was largely an -apprenticeship as a secretary and proof-reader. In -order to be better prepared for her duties, she determined -to follow the lectures in natural history and -botany at the Jardin des Plantes. This study, begun -for practical reasons, was in reality a delight and a -recreation; for she had already a decided taste for -science, and was even something of an observer. -The lectures led to her forming one of the most satisfactory -relations of her life, that with Bosc, a member -of the Academy of Sciences, and well known in -Paris for his original work. Bosc took an active -interest in Madame Roland and her husband, and -was of great use to them in their studies, as well as a -most congenial comrade. In fact, they saw almost -no one but him at this time. Absorbed in her husband -and her new duties, Madame Roland relished -no one who was not in some way essential to that -relation. Even Sophie was neglected; only six letters -<span class='pageno' id='Page_75'>75</span>to her during the year 1780, after the marriage, -appearing in the published collection, and evidently -from their contents they are about all she wrote.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The year was broken towards its close by a two -months’ visit to the Beaujolais, where Roland’s family -lived. That she was heartily welcomed by her -new relatives and charmed by her visit, her reports -to Sophie show. “We are giving ourselves up like -school children to the delights of a country life,” -she wrote from Le Clos, “seasoned by all that harmony, -intimacy, sweet ties, pleasant confidences, and -frank friendship can give. I have found brothers to -whom I can give all the affection that the name inspires, -and I share joyfully bonds and relations which -were unknown to me.” When she returned to Paris -she declared that she was delighted with her trip, that -the separation from her new family was painful in the -extreme, and that the two months with them were -passed in the greatest confidence and closest intimacy.</p> - -<p class='c008'>From Paris they went to Amiens, which was to be -their home for some time. The old city, with its -glorious cathedral, its remnants of middle age life, -and its industrial atmosphere, interested her but -little. In fact, she never had an opportunity to get -very near to it. The first year of her stay she was -confined by the birth of her only child, Eudora. -Good disciple of Rousseau that she was, she concluded -to nurse her baby herself, in defiance of -French custom, and naturally saw little of Amiens -society.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_76'>76</span>When she was able to go out, Roland’s work had -become so heavy that she had little time for anything -but copying and proof-reading. He was preparing -a serious part of the famous <cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Encyclopédie -méthodique</span></cite>, the continuation of the work of Diderot -and D’Alembert. Of this great undertaking four -volumes—numbers 117–120—are devoted to manufactures, -arts, and trades; the first three of these -are by Roland, and appeared in 1784, 1785, and -1790.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The plan Roland followed in this work is an excellent -example of the methodic mind of the man, bent -on analyzing the earth and its contents, and putting -into its proper place there each simplest operation, -each smallest article. He devised an ingenious diagram -in which he classified according to the historic, -economic, or administrative side everything he treated—one -is obliged to master this system before he can -find the subject he wants to know about. A botanical -analysis is play beside it. Roland’s contributions -to the <cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Encyclopédie méthodique</span></cite> are valuable no doubt, -but one needs a guide-book to find his way through -them.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Roland’s attempt to run over everything which -directly or indirectly concerned his subject, and the -enormous number of notes he made, encumbered his -work wofully. He could not resist the temptation to -use everything he had at hand, and as a result his -articles are frequently diffuse and badly arranged, -though always full of instruction, even if it is sometimes -<span class='pageno' id='Page_77'>77</span>a little puerile. Neither could he resist the -temptation to condemn and to argue.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But though burdened with details sometimes irrelevant, -not properly and sufficiently digested, too personal, -indulging in much criticism of his authorities, -not to say considerable carping, the volumes on manufactures -and arts are a colossal piece of work, most -valuable in their day, but which never had their full -credit because of the stormy times in which they -appeared, and, perhaps, not a little too, because of the -chaotic series of encyclopedias to which they belonged; -for certainly there could with difficulty be a greater -mass of information published in a more inaccessible -shape than that in the <cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Encyclopédie méthodique</span></cite>.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It was in arranging notes, copying, polishing, -and reading proofs of articles on soaps and oils, -dyes and weaving, skins and tanning, that Madame -Roland spent most of her time from 1780 to 1784. -A part of the work which was more happy was the -botanizing they did. During their four years at -Amiens, she made, in fact, a very respectable herbarium -of Picardy.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Of society she saw less than one would suppose, -since the Cannets were here, and since her husband -occupied so prominent a place. She did, of course, -see Sophie and Henriette, but not often. Roland -did not wish her to be with them much, and she, -obedient to his wishes, complied. They had one -intimate friend—a Dr. Lanthenas that Roland had -met in Italy, and who, since their marriage, had become -<span class='pageno' id='Page_78'>78</span>a constant and welcome visitor in their home. -Then there were their acquaintances in the town—but -for them she cared but little.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Indeed, she was thoroughly submerged in domestic -life. She seems to have had no thought, no desire, -no happiness outside of her husband and her child. -A great number of her letters written at this period -to Roland, who was frequently away from home, -have been preserved; one searches them in vain for -any interest in affairs outside her house. She wrote -pages of her <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">bonnes</span></i>, of the difficulty of finding this -or that in the market, of the price of groceries, of -the repairs to be made, above all, of her own ills -and of those of Eudora, and she counselled Roland -as to his plasters and potions. Her absorption in -her family went so far that public questions rather -bored her than otherwise, as this remark in a letter -in 1781 shows:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“M. de Vin [one of their friends at Amiens] came -to see me yesterday expressly to tell me of our victory -in America over Cornwallis. He saluted me -with this news on entering, and I was forced to carry -on a long political conversation—I cannot conceive -the interest that a private person, such as he is, has -in these affairs of kings who are not fighting for us.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Her calm domestic life was broken in 1784. -Roland was dissatisfied at Amiens. His health was -miserable. His salary was small. He was out of -patience with the men and circumstances which surrounded -him. His idea was to seek a title of nobility. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_79'>79</span>Such a concession would give him the rights -of the privileged, freedom from taxes of all sorts, -a certain income, a position in society. He would -be free to pursue his studies. There were grounds -on which to base his claim. His family was one of -the most ancient of Beaujolais. Then there were -his services,—over thirty years of hard work, long -tedious travels, solely for the good of the country.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It was decided, in the spring of 1784, that Madame -Roland undertake the delicate and intricate task of -presenting the matter at Versailles. In March she -went to Paris, armed with the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">mémoire</span></i> which set -forth Roland’s claim. It is a collection of curious -enough documents; showing how one must go back -to very ancient times to find the origin of the Rolands -in Beaujolais, how the name is “lost in the night -of time, a tradition placing it between the eleventh -and twelfth centuries.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>The memoir which presents this family tree of -Roland is further strengthened by the names of the -foremost of Beaujolais, testifying that it is “<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">sincère -et véritable</span></i>”; and by a row of big black seals. Of -actual connected genealogy the memoir goes no further -than 1574. Roland, however, took a lofty tone, -and declared his services were a more solid and real -reason for granting his request. Evidently they had -thoroughly studied the situation, had gathered all -the facts which would support their case, and had -enlisted all their relations of influence, so that when -Madame Roland began her diplomatic career she was -<span class='pageno' id='Page_80'>80</span>furnished with all the arms which reflection on a desired -object give a woman of imagination, eloquence, -and beauty.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The daily letters which they exchanged in the -period she was in Paris, give a fresh and charming -picture of favor-seeking in the eighteenth century. -They wrote to each other with frankness and good -humor of everything—rebuffs or advancement. -They evidently had concluded to leave nothing unturned -to secure the reward which they were convinced -they deserved.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Madame Roland established herself, with her -<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">bonne</span></i>, at the Hôtel de Lyon, Rue Saint Jacques, -then the Boulevard Saint Michel of the Left Bank. -Her brother-in-law, a prior in the Benedictine Order -of the Cluny, lived near by and helped her settle; -brought her what she needed from his own apartment; -passed his evenings with her; did her errands, -and helped her generally. She seems not to have -seen her father at all.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In order to secure the grant of nobility, a favorable -recommendation to the King from the Royal Counsel -of Commerce, of which body the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">conseiller ordinaire</span></i> -was M. de Calonne, <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Contrôleur-général des finances</span></i>, -was necessary. To obtain this all possible recommendations -must be brought to M. de Calonne’s -attention; particularly was it necessary to cultivate -the directors of commerce, with whom the Controller-general -consulted freely, and on whom he depended -for advice. They had arranged, before she left -<span class='pageno' id='Page_81'>81</span>Amiens, a list of the people upon whom they could -rely directly or indirectly for letters of introduction -and for other favors.</p> - -<p class='c008'>No sooner was she settled than she began the work -of seeing them. At the very commencement she encountered -prejudice and irritation against Roland. -One of her friends, who evidently had been investigating -affairs ahead, assured her that Roland was -viewed everywhere with dissatisfaction, and that the -common opinion was, though he did a great deal -of work, he did not know how to keep his place. -One of the directors told her: “Take care how -you present him to us as a superior man. It is his -pretension, but we are far from judging him as such.” -“Pedantry, insupportable vanity, eagerness for glory, -pretensions of all sorts, obstinacy, perpetual contradiction, -bad writer, bad politician, determination to -regulate everything, incapable of subordination,” -were among the criticisms upon her husband, to -which Madame Roland had to listen.</p> - -<p class='c008'>All of these complaints she faced squarely, writing -them to Roland with a frankness which is half-amusing, -half-suspicious. One wonders if she is -not taking advantage of the situation to tell her -husband some wholesome truths about himself. She -did not hesitate, in repeating these criticisms, to add -frequent counsels, which support the suspicion and -show how thoroughly she realized the danger of -Roland’s fault-finding irritation. “Above all, as I -told you before my departure, do not get angry in -<span class='pageno' id='Page_82'>82</span>your letters, and let me see them before they are -sent. You must not irritate them any more. Your -pride is well enough known, show them your good -nature now.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>The criticisms on Roland’s character did not disconcert -her. She pressed ahead, talked, reasoned, -urged, obtained promises; in short, showed herself -an admirable intrigante. She was afraid of no one. -“As for my rôle, I know it so well that I could -defend it before the King without being embarrassed -by his crown,” she wrote Roland. After she had -secured what she wanted from each person, she did -her best to keep them friendly; for she had decided -to ask for a pension if she did not secure the letters. -She succeeded admirably, even M. de Tolozan, one -of the directors whom she called her “bear,” telling -her one day: “You have lost nothing by this trip, -Madame. We all do honor to your honesty and -your intelligence, and I am very glad to have made -your acquaintance.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>She seems not to have despised rather questionable -methods even: “Did I not let a certain person -who was asking about my family, and who was -astonished that I should take so much trouble for a -daughter, believe that I expected an heir in a few -months? That makes the business more touching. -They look at me walk and I laugh in my sleeve. I -do not go so far, though, as to tell a deliberate lie, -but, like a good disciple of Escobar, I give the impression -without talking.”</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_83'>83</span>Whenever she was successful she was frankly -delighted, and she began to think herself capable of -great things in diplomacy: “If we were at Paris with -just fifteen thousand livres income, and I should devote -myself to business—I almost said intrigue—I -should have no trouble in doing many things.” Her -friends at Paris had as good opinion of her ability as -she herself did. Bosc wrote Roland of her surprising -<em>finesse</em> in managing difficult relations, in interesting -people, and of turning even objections to her own -credit. “In fact, she is astonishing,” he says.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But it was not easy after all. There were delays -which wore out her spirit. And she experienced to -the full the effects of the French vice of doing nothing -on time. The continual trips back and forth to -Versailles exasperated her. Then the business of -each counsel was so great that even after she had -gotten to M. de Calonne she was obliged to wait -her turn. The money all this cost was, of course, a -constant annoyance. They were poor and could not -afford the carriage hire, the finery, and the presents -that favor-seeking in the simplest way cost. The -business of solicitation in itself was much less rasping -for her than one would suspect. In fact, she seemed -to enjoy it. Her successes set her writing bubbling -letters to Roland. She rarely showed irritation, -almost never impatience of the greatness of others, -nor any sign of feeling her position as a solicitor. -It was only the failure to see her cause advance -rapidly that disheartened her.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_84'>84</span>The uncertainty lasted until the middle of May, -when it became evident all had been done that could -be, and that the title was impossible. She decided -to retire to Amiens and to return later to seek a -pension. Suddenly she got a new bee in her bonnet. -When making her farewell calls, she heard a bit of -news which persuaded her that changes were to be -made in the department of commerce by which -Roland might be sent to Lyons as inspector. It was -a larger and more interesting city than Amiens. -It was near his home. The salary would be larger, -the work easier. There was no time to consult -Roland. If done at all, it must be done on the -spot. She went to work and almost immediately secured -her request. The directors with whom she had -been laboring so long to secure the impossible, were -glad enough to grant her what appeared to them -reasonable. At the same time that she received -word of the appointment, a letter came from Roland -saying that the change to Lyons, of which she had -written him as soon as it came into her head, would -suit him if it would her.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Roland took this leadership and decision on the -part of Madame in most excellent spirit. The -change was the best that they could do, he wrote; -as for the work, that would go on “in slippers.” -He even showed no resentment at a curtain lecture -she gave him adroitly by the way of a third person, -telling him of his duties at Lyons. He cast out of -the account her fears for his health and peace of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_85'>85</span>mind. It was she who occupied him—if the change -pleased her he had no other care.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Indeed, from the beginning of the campaign, Roland’s -letters to his wife were full of consideration -for her position, of anxiety for her health, of longing -for her return. Every ache or fatigue she wrote -of caused him the greatest anxiety. Throughout the -correspondence, the expression of confidence, of mutual -help, of tenderness, was perfect. Their interest -extended to every detail of the other’s life, Madame -Roland insisting upon her husband’s wearing a certain -plaster for some of his ailments, and he counselling -her not to come home without a new hat.</p> - -<p class='c008'>They gave each other all the news of Paris and -Amiens, and there are many pages of her letters, -especially, which are interesting for those studying -the life of that day: thus, during her stay in Paris, -two famous pieces—the <cite>Danaïdes</cite> of Gluck and the -<cite>Figaro</cite> of Beaumarchais—were given for the first -time, and her letters on them are long and vivid. -More curious than opera or theatre is the place -mesmerism takes in the letters; the Rolands had -taken up the new fad, presumably to see what it -would do for Roland, and were members of the -Magnetic Club of Amiens; Madame Roland repeated -to her husband everything she heard on the subject.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Wire-pulling, favor-seeking, letter-writing, theatre-going -and Mesmer-studying were over at last, and -the end of May she started home, and glad to go. -The separation had been severe for them both. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_86'>86</span>There is scarcely a letter in the two collections not -marked by tenderness; many of them are passionate -in their warmth and longing. It is evident that at -this time Madame Roland had no life apart from her -husband.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Madame Roland reached Amiens early in June. -The first day of July she and her husband left for -a trip in England which they had long planned. -She counted much on it; for many years she had -been an enthusiastic admirer of the English Constitution -and its effects on the nation. Roland had -been there before and was somewhat known, and -naturally she saw what he thought best to show -her.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The journey lasted three weeks and she wrote -full notes of what she saw for her daughter. -These notes were published in Champagneux’s edition -of her works. They are in no respect remarkable -for originality of observation, or for wit. But -they are always intelligent and practical, a result, -no doubt, of Roland’s companionship. They touch -a wide range of subjects and they are entertaining -as a look at what an eighteenth-century traveller -saw. It is easy to see that Madame Roland, as most -travellers do, sought to confirm her preconceived -ideas. England, for her, was the country of freedom, -and she saw that which was in harmony with -her ideas.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_87'>87</span> - <h2 class='c006'>IV<br /> <span class='large'>COUNTRY LIFE</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c007'>It was in September of 1784 that the Rolands -arrived in Beaujolais. Although Roland’s new -position kept him the greater part of the time at -Lyons, they settled for the winter some twenty-eight -kilometres north, in Villefranche-sur-Saône. It was -mainly for economical reasons that they did not go -to Lyons. Roland’s mother had a home at Villefranche -and they could live with her through the -winter. The summers and autumns they meant to -spend at Le Clos de la Platière, the family estate -about eleven miles from Villefranche, which had -recently come under their control. With such an -arrangement it was necessary to take only a small -apartment at Lyons. As M. Roland could come -often to Villefranche and Le Clos, Madame planned -to spend only about two months of the year at Lyons.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Villefranche, their first home in the Beaujolais, is to-day -a manufacturing town of perhaps twelve thousand -inhabitants. There is a wearisome commonplace -about its rows of flat-faced houses, a dusty, stupid, -factory atmosphere about it as a whole. It seems to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_88'>88</span>be utterly destitute of those <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">genre</span></i> pictures which give -the flavor to so many French towns, utterly lacking -in those picturesque corners which make their charm.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Save Notre Dame des Marais and the hospital, it -has no buildings of note, but Notre Dame des Marais -makes up for a multitude of architectural deficiencies. -It is an irregular fifteenth-century Gothic church -whose unbalanced façade is enriched with an absolute -riot of exquisite carvings. Every ogive is latticed -with trefoils and flowing tracery, every niche is peopled, -every line breaks into tendrils, everywhere is the -thistle in honor of the house of Bourbon, everywhere -are saints and angels, devils and monsters. A hundred -years ago Villefranche must have been more interesting -than it is now. Certainly it was more picturesque; -for its towers and crenellated walls were still -standing, and at either extremity of its chief thoroughfare -were massive gates, doubled with iron. Its -picturesqueness interfered somewhat with its comfort -and sanitary condition in Madame Roland’s eyes. -She detested particularly its flat roofs, its little -streets, with their surface sewers. In its organization -it was much more complicated than to-day, and -it possessed at least one institution, since disappeared, -which placed it among the leading French -towns of the period, that is, an academy, one of the -oldest in the realm.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The household which the Rolands entered at -Villefranche was made up of Madame de la Platière, -Roland’s mother, and an older brother, a priest of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_89'>89</span>the town. The latter is a pleasant example of -the eighteenth-century curé, half man of pleasure, -half priest, spirited and versatile in conversation, -something of a diplomat, faithful to his dogmas and -duties, <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">bon enfant</span></i> in morals, but in questions of -politics and religion, domineering and prejudiced.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">chanoine</span></i> Roland occupied an excellent position -at Villefranche. He was one of the three dignitaries -of Notre Dame des Marais; he was the -spiritual adviser of the sisters at the hospital, and -he had been for over thirty years an Academician. -With these offices, his family, and his agreeableness, -he was of course received by all the families of the -town and country worth knowing.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Madame Roland was on very good terms with the -<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">chanoine</span></i> in all the early years in Beaujolais, caring -for him when sick, making visits with him, talking -with him over the fire winter evenings when Roland -was away from home. No doubt he found her -a welcome addition in a house which up to that -time had been under the more or less tyrannical -rule of his mother, a woman “of the age of the -century,” and “terrible in her temper.” Madame -Roland found him a welcome relief from the care of -her mother-in-law, whom she seems to have regarded -rather as an object for patience and philosophy than -for affection. The old lady was trying. She had -the child’s vice of gormandizing, and after each -<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">petite débauche</span></i>, as her daughter-in-law called it, was -an invalid for a few days. Then she invited recklessly, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_90'>90</span>a habit that made much work and expense, -and was particularly obnoxious to Madame Roland -because the company passed all their time at cards. -To see the house filled every evening with people -who had not intellect and resources to entertain each -other intelligently was exasperating.</p> - -<p class='c008'>All these annoyances Madame Roland repeated to -her husband in the long letters she sent him almost -every day. More questionable than her habit of -writing these petty vexations to him was her retailing -of them to Bosc, with whom she was in constant -correspondence.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In spite of the drawbacks there was much brightness -in the new home, much of that close intimacy -which is the charm of the French interior. Madame -Roland realized this and frequently painted pleasant -pictures to Bosc as contrasts to the disagreeable ones -she gave him.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Although Madame Roland was greeted cordially -at Villefranche by the leading people, as became the -wife and sister-in-law of two prominent men, she -never came any nearer to what was really good and -enjoyable in the place than she had in Amiens. The -town displeased her, as it naturally would, since she -insisted on comparing it with Paris. She amused -herself in studying the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">soul</span></i> of the place, and she -found it frequently small, false, and distorted. Now -an analysis of one’s surroundings is certainly amusing -and instructive, but if one is to be a good neighbor -and agreeable member of the society he dissects, he -<span class='pageno' id='Page_91'>91</span>must keep his observations to himself; must place -humanity and courtesy higher than analysis. Madame -Roland did not do this; she showed often what -she thought and felt, and became unpopular in return. -Roland, too, made himself disliked in the Academy -of Villefranche by his domineering ways.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The Abbé Guillon de Montléon, of Lyons, who was -a fellow academician of Roland’s, relates that whenever -he went to the town to attend Academy meetings, -Madame Roland and her husband tried to secure -him as their guest, and he suggests that this attention -was due simply to the fact that they were on bad -terms with their townsmen and were obliged to find -their company in outsiders. It seems that a satire -on a number of the leading people of the town had -been sent from Paris, and that it was believed to be -the work of M. and Madame Roland. Whether -true or not, those who had been caricatured revenged -themselves by cutting them and by ordering sent to -them each day from Paris satirical epigrams and -songs.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The Abbé Guillon also tells that Roland left the -Academy of Villefranche in a pet because that body -refused in 1788 to adopt the subject he had suggested -for a prize contest—“Would it not serve the public -good to establish courts to judge the dead.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>However, all that the Abbé tells of Roland must -be regarded with suspicion. He wrote after the -Revolution, with his heart full of bitter contempt and -hatred of everybody who had been connected with -<span class='pageno' id='Page_92'>92</span>the movement which led up to the Reign of Terror -in Lyons, and, at that moment, was not capable of -impersonal judgments.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Madame Roland was not much better pleased -with Lyons than with Villefranche. She did not -love the place too well. At Lyons she mocked at -everything, she said. She was well situated there, -however. Their apartment was in a fine house in a -pleasant quarter, and Madame had the equipage of -a friend to use when she would. She saw many -celebrities who passed through the town; was invited -constantly; made visits; in fact, had an admirable -social position, as became the wife of one of the -most active citizens of the town, and Roland certainly -was that. His reputation for solid acquirements had -preceded him. On arriving in Lyons he was made -an honorary member of the Academy, and afterwards -an active member, and from that time he constantly -was at the front in the work of the institution.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In the archives of the Academy of Lyons there are -still preserved a large number of manuscripts by -Roland, some of these in the hand of his wife. They -discuss a variety of subjects: the choice of themes -for the public séances of the provincial academies; -the influence of literature in the country and the capital -(this paper was given a place in the published -annals); the outlook for a universal language—to -be French of course. One peculiar paper, to come -from so dry a pen as his, is on the “Means of Understanding -a Woman.” Plutarch comes in for a -<span class='pageno' id='Page_93'>93</span>eulogy, and there is an exhortation on the wisdom -of knowing our fellows. Most of the manuscripts -are purely scientific, and treat the subjects in which -M. Roland was particularly at home,—the preparation -of hides and leather, of oils and soaps; the processes -of drying. Others consider means for quickening -the decaying manufacturing interests of Lyons. Altogether, -it is a very honorable collection. The -annals of the Academy contain also a full printed -report of a contest over cotton velvet which had -embroiled Roland in the North. Both sides of the -discussion, which Roland’s efforts to spread the -knowledge of the new industry awakened, are given.</p> - -<p class='c008'>I have examined all of these manuscripts, as well -as Roland’s printed articles in the <cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Encyclopédie</span></cite>, and -elsewhere, for a trace of the idea the Abbé Guillon -de Montléon credits to him, in his Memoirs,—that -dead bodies, instead of being buried, be utilized -for the good of the community, the flesh -being used for oil and the bones for phosphoric -acid. This idea was advanced, it is said, to settle -a dispute over the cemeteries, which had long agitated -Lyons; but as there is no reference to it in any -of Roland’s manuscripts or printed articles, it is -probable that it was never pushed to public attention, -as the Abbé would have his reader believe. The -story is told too naturally not to have at least a -shadow of truth, and such a proposition is so like the -utilitarian Roland that, if anybody in France suggested -such a thing, it probably was he.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_94'>94</span>If their life in Villefranche and Lyons was not -satisfactory, that at their country home was entirely -so; indeed, Madame Roland seems never to have -been so happy, so natural, so charming, as she was at -Le Clos, where she spent much time each year.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Le Clos is easily reached from Villefranche. One -goes to-day, as one hundred years ago, in carriage, or, -as Madame Roland usually did, on horseback, by one -of the hard, smooth roads which have long formed a -network over the Lyonnais. The road runs from -the town along a narrow valley of luxuriant pasture -land, strewn in May, the month in which I visited -the place, with purple mints and pure yellow fleur-de-lys. -On either hand are low, steep hillsides, all -under cultivation, but so divided under the French -system of inheritance that they look like patch-work -quilts or Roman ribbons. A kilometre from town -one begins to wind and climb. Hill after hill, mountain -after mountain, is passed; the country opens -broad and generous. There is a peculiar impression -of warmth and strength produced by the prevailing -color of the soil and building-material. This part -of the Lyonnais is clad in a dark stone, and walls and -churches, roads and fields, are all in varying tones of -terra-cotta; here is the fresh, bright reddish-yellow -of a plot recently cultivated and not yet planted; -there the dull and worn-out brown of an ancient -wall; but, though the shades are varied, the tone is -never lost. The green of the foliage and fields is -peculiarly dark and positive in contrast with this -<span class='pageno' id='Page_95'>95</span>coloring of the stone. The whole makes a landscape -of originality and a certain rude strength. It looks -like a country where men worked and where there -was little to tempt them to idleness. When one -comes to Beaujolais, after the soft gray tone of the -Côte-d’Or and the Seine-et-Marne, or the dull slate -which prevails in Bourbonnais, the contrast is harsh -and a little saddening.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It is a thickly settled country, and one passes -many hamlets, all in terra-cotta, with high walls and -old churches topped by Romanesque towers. At the -centre of these hamlets are ancient crucifixes, some -of them of grotesque carvings. On the distant hillsides -are châteaux.</p> - -<p class='c008'>After climbing many hills, one passes along the -side of a mountain ridge. At the end of this ridge -one sees a yellow town, of some fifty houses, a château -with its tower razed to the roof, and a small -chapel. It is the village of Theizé.</p> - -<p class='c008'>While his eyes are still on the village, he falls into -a hamlet, at the end of whose one street is a high -wall and gate. It is Le Clos. Shut in by high yellow -walls,—one might almost say fortifications, they -are so long and so high,—the quaint country house, -dating from the first of the last century, is a tranquil, -sheltered spot which gives one the feeling of complete -seclusion from the world. On one side of the house -lies the court, with its broad grass-plot, its low wall, -its long rows of stone farm, and vintage buildings; -on the other, lies an English garden, planted thickly -<span class='pageno' id='Page_96'>96</span>with maples, sycamores, and hemlocks, with lilac -clumps and shrubs, with roses and vines. Enclosing -this garden on two sides is a stone terrace, forming a -beautiful promenade. From here all the panorama -of the Beaujolais hills, mountains, and valleys opens, -with their vineyards, yellow houses, forests, and here -and there a tower—the bellevue of some rich nineteenth-century -proprietor or the relic of some ancient -château. Far beyond the farthest, faintest -mountain outline rises, on clear nights, the opal crest -of Mont Blanc.</p> - -<p class='c008'>To the left of garden and house are vines and -fruit trees; to the right, a long lane and vegetable -garden; and everywhere beyond are vines, vines, -vines, to the very brook in Beauvallon at the foot of -the hillside.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In Madame Roland’s time the country about Le -Clos was much more heavily wooded than now. -There was less of vine raising and more of grain, -but many features are unchanged. These trees are -of her time no doubt, these vines, these walls, and -she doubtlessly gathered blossoms, as one does to-day, -from the long hedge of <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">roses panachés</span></i>, the wonderful -striped roses of Provence now almost unknown -in France, though still rioting the full length of one -of the walls of Le Clos,—fanciful, sweet things -which by their infinite variety set one, in spite of -himself, at the endless search of finding two alike, -as in the play of his childhood with the striped grass -of his grandmother’s yard.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id003'> -<img src='images/i_096fp.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>LE CLOS DE LA PLATIÈRE.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_97'>97</span>From the terrace she saw, as we do, in the valley -at the right, the château of Brossette, the friend of -Boileau; and on the hillside in front, the curious -little chapel of Saint Hippolyte; and she must often -have heard the story the country folk still tell of the -place, how centuries ago the Saracens ravaged all the -country as far as this valley, but here were driven -back. The Franks, in honor of their victory, raised -a chapel to Saint Hippolyte and many miracles -were performed there, and the people came to the -shrine in pilgrimage from long distances. Now, -certain neighbors, wishing to possess this miracle-working -statue of Saint Hippolyte, had it carried off, -but at the moment that the person carrying the saint -attempted to cross the brook in Beauvallon, the holy -image jumped from his shoulder and ran at full speed -back to the chapel. The pious thieves, seeing the -preference of the saint, like good Christians, gave up -their project.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The mountains of Beaujolais changed from faintest -violet to darkest purple for her as for us, and the -crest of Mont Pilate, or the Cat Mountain as the -Lyonnais peasants call Mont Blanc, startled and -thrilled her by its mysterious opalescent beauty when -now and then it appeared on the horizon suddenly, -like some celestial thing.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The house, a white, square structure, with pavilions -at the corners of the court side, and red tiled roof, -is unchanged without, though rearranged somewhat -within. Nevertheless, there are many things to recall -<span class='pageno' id='Page_98'>98</span>the Rolands and their immediate friends; the ancient -well; the brass water-fountain; now and then a book, -with Roland de la Platière on the fly-leaf, in the well-filled -cases which one finds in every room; a terra-cotta -bust of Roland himself (by Chinard, dated -1777); portraits of the family, including one called -Madame Roland, which nobody supposes to be she; -photographs of the beautiful La Tour pastels of M. -and Madame Phlipon, now in the museum of Lyons; -an oil of the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">chanoine</span></i>; a few fine old arms in the -collection which decorates the billiard room; a table -whose top is made of squares of variegated marbles -brought from Italy by Roland.</p> - -<p class='c008'>There is now and then a sign about the house of -what it suffered in the Revolution; for Le Clos was -pillaged then and stripped of its contents at the same -time that the château above had its towers razed. -On several of the heavy doors is still clinging the -red wax of the official seal placed by the revolutionary -officers. The <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">chanoine’s</span></i> crucifix is there, a graceful -silver affair darkly oxidized from long burying, -he having hid it in the garden. In the raids on the -property nearly all the furniture was taken, and for -many years the peasants were said to account for -new pieces of furniture in their neighbors’ houses by -saying, “Oh, it came from Le Clos.” Some time -after the Revolution, M. Champagneux, who married -Eudora, the daughter of Madame Roland, received a -notice from the curé at Theizé that a sum of “conscience -money” had been given him for the family.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_99'>99</span>Life must have been then at Le Clos—a hundred -years ago—much what it is now,—a busy, -peaceful round of usefulness and kindliness, of generous -hospitality, of unaffected intelligence. Madame -Roland entered it with sentiments kindled -by Rousseau. Her imagination had never been -more actively at work than it had over the prospect -of this country retirement. She had shed -tears over the prospect of their future Clarens, -its bucolic pleasures, the delicious meditations, the -sweet effusions of friendship, the healthy duties. -And Le Clos realized many of her dreams; largely -because she took hold of the practical life of the -house and farm with good-will and intelligence. -She was no woman to allow work to master her,—she -managed it. Nor was she weak enough to -fret under it or to regard it as “beneath her.” She -respected this most dignified and useful of woman’s -employments and gave it intelligence and good-will. -This acceptance of and cheerfulness over common -duties is one of the really strong things about -Madame Roland.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Some of the prettiest passages in her letters of -this period are of her homely duties. She kept the -accounts, directed the servants, interested herself in -every detail of farm and house. She used her scientific -acquirements practically for the benefit of Le -Clos and its neighbors. Bosc she continually applied -to for information. Now it was a remedy, -“sure and easy,” against the bites of the viper, of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_100'>100</span>which there were many in the country—and they -still exist; now for the caterpillars which were troubling -the apples; again it was against an enemy of -her artichokes that she demanded, as a service to -the province, a remedy.</p> - -<p class='c008'>She took a lively interest in agricultural discussions, -and many were the flowers, from the rich flora -of Le Clos, which she sent her friend to analyze, or -for a confirmation of her own analysis.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Her devotion to her neighbors was genuine. In -her Memoirs she speaks with pride of their love for -her, and this was no meaningless recollection. Constantly -in her letters there was question of service -rendered to this or that one, and we see that it was -not without reason that her husband was worried -lest she make herself ill in caring for the domestics -of Le Clos and the peasants of Boitier and Theizé.</p> - -<p class='c008'>She did more than care for them and instruct -them,—she set them a good example. Especially -in religious matters was she careful to do this. -One who has climbed the long steep hill from Le -Clos to the church at Theizé, has a genuine respect -for the unselfishness of a woman who would get out -of bed at six o’clock in the morning for her neighbor’s -sake,—“climbing up the rocks,” she called it. -This she did, though Le Clos possessed its own -chapel where the curé came to say the Mass.</p> - -<p class='c008'>She exercised a delightful hospitality. Le Clos -was always open for their friends. Lanthenas spent -much of his time there, and one of the apartments -<span class='pageno' id='Page_101'>101</span>still is called by his name. Bosc she was always -urging to come, and she drew him many a pretty -picture of their summer companies. There was now -and then a friend of Bosc, from Paris, who sought -them; for in those days of stage-coaches one had -time to stop over <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">en route</span></i>. There were foreign -and French <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">savants</span></i> who had heard of Roland and -came to pay their respects, and there were the -country counts and abbés.</p> - -<p class='c008'>And there were amusements besides—an occasional -<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">petit bal</span></i> given by a <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">locataire</span></i>, where she -danced “and contre-danced,” and, in spite of her -thirty-one years, only retired at midnight from -“wisdom and not from satiety.” And there was -the watch-meeting which she kept with her people, -and the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">vogue</span></i>, as the Beaujolais people call their -provincial fêtes. Le Clos had one peculiar to itself—a -<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">vogue</span></i> existing to-day.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It is one of the events of the year at Theizé—this -<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">vogue</span></i>—on Ascension Sunday and Monday. -The place is invaded the day before for preparation: -a stand is put up for the musicians; the wine -rooms are cleared out for the lunch tables; the -trees and walls are decorated; outside the gate, too, -before night there is sure to establish itself one of -the travelling lotteries which infest France.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The morning of Ascension Day there comes, between -masses, a committee headed by a band to -take possession of the place and present the fête -to Madame. After dinner come the merry-makers,—young -<span class='pageno' id='Page_102'>102</span>and old from all the country round; a -friendly, pleasant company who dance and walk -and talk, only quitting their sports long enough for -the traditional service of cutting the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">brioche</span></i>,—a -ceremony which begins with a grave promenade of -the big cake around the premises, fanfare ahead. -This done, the chief of the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">vogue</span></i>, in the midst of a -respectful silence from all the two or three hundred -peasants looking on, cuts the cake with a flourish -so solemn that it would be worthy of a sacrifice, -and passes around the pieces among the guests.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">brioches</span></i> eaten, they dance again, and that -until after the night falls and the stars come out and -the children and the old people go home—a grave -dance now and silent; for the night, the wind in -the trees, the simpler music too changes the gay and -romping mood of the afternoon to one of dreaminess -and silence. But Monday they come back gayer -than ever and the dance and romp do not end until, -late in the evening, Madame declares the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">vogue</span></i> over.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In this life at Le Clos Madame Roland’s most -serious occupation was the education of her daughter -Eudora. She evidently hoped to find in her little -girl a second Manon Phlipon,—an infant prodigy in -sentiment and taste. She discovered early that -Eudora was a rollicking, mischievous, saucy youngster, -who would rather frolic than study and who -liked to play with her doll better than to read Plutarch. -She was in despair over this lack of feeling. -At the least sign of sentiment she wrote to her husband -<span class='pageno' id='Page_103'>103</span>or to Bosc, but as a rule she could only complain -of the indifference of the little miss.</p> - -<p class='c008'>She had begun by nursing her baby,—Rousseau -demands it,—but when she came back from her -favor-seeking at Paris the child—three years old—did -not recognize her. “I am like the women who -do not nurse their children; I have done better than -they but I am no farther advanced.” At Le Clos -she became thoroughly discouraged and decided to -take up Rousseau again and study <cite>Émile</cite> and <cite>Julie</cite> -on the education of children. She arrived at certain -conclusions and as she was about to write her husband -of them one day received a letter from him -containing similar reflections. She replied with her -full plan. The letter, hitherto unpublished, is very -sensible.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“What a pleasure to find that we are one in our -ideas as in our feelings, and for one never to have a -plan that the other has not already thought of. For -the last twenty-four hours I have been trying the -method that you suggest with our little one. I had -re-read Julie’s plan, and I had decided that we were -too far away from it. Controlled by circumstances, -we have either thought too much or not enough of -our child. Busy in a kind of work which demands -quiet, we have kept her at her tasks and her lessons, -without taking time to cultivate a taste in -her for them, or of choosing the times when she was -the most disposed for them. When she has rebelled, -and we have wanted her to be quiet, we have been -<span class='pageno' id='Page_104'>104</span>willing to do anything to silence her, so that we -could go on with our work.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“‘That which makes children cry,’ Julie says, ‘is -the attention that is paid to them. It is only necessary -to let them cry all day, a few times, without paying -any attention to them, to cure them of the habit. -If one pets them or threatens them, it has no effect. -The more attention that you give to their tears, -the more reason they have for continuing them. -They will break themselves of the habit very soon -when they see that no one takes notice; for, great -and small, no one cares to give himself useless -trouble.’ There, my good friend, is where we have -been wrong. Julie’s children were happy and peaceable -under her eyes, but they were subject to no -one and only obliged to allow others the same liberty -they enjoyed themselves.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“We want to be left in peace; that is just, but -sometimes we constrain our child, and she takes her -revenge as she can. Moreover, there is no use denying -it, our little one has a strong will, and she has no -sensibility and no taste. It must be that this is, in -part, our fault, and because we have not known how -to direct her. More than that, we risk making a -still greater mistake in conquering her by force or by -fear, though we have believed that it could be done -in no other way. In acting thus, we are going to be -unhappy, and our child is going to develop a hard -and an unendurable obstinacy.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“I have resolved: first, never to get angry, and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_105'>105</span>always to be calm and cold as justice itself when it -comes to a question of correction.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Second, never to use either whip or blow, movement -or tone, which show impatience. Blows of -whatever kind seem to me odious. They harden, -debase, and prevent the birth of sentiment. On this -score we have been guilty. When, as an infant, -Eudora put her hands on something that she ought -not to have touched, and did not take them off at -the first word, it seemed to us that a little blow on -her rebellious hand might have good effect. But -that little blow has led to the whip; the child has -become a torment, and we are annoyed by it; that -little blow was a great mistake; it is time that we -began over again, and we have not a moment to lose.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Third, the child must be happier with us than with -any one else; it is a question then of making her time -pass more pleasantly when she is in our presence than -it does elsewhere. That would not be very difficult -if the mother was sewing or at housework, was free to -talk with her sometimes and to teach her little tasks. -In a library, between two desks, where severe research -is going on and where silence is necessary, it -is quite natural that the child grow weary; above all, -if she is forbidden to sing or to chatter, and cannot -play with any one.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“None of those persons who have written treatises -on education have considered the student or those of -a similar profession; they have treated the father or -the mother as occupied solely in carrying out their -<span class='pageno' id='Page_106'>106</span>duties, everything else being set aside for them. But -the case is different here; you must carry on your -work, and I am only too happy to aid you in it. I -am a wife as well as a mother, and was the one before -becoming the other.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Let us try, then, while at our desks to have our -child with us, and to see to it that she is happy -beside us. For that we must leave her free as much -as possible. If nature has not fitted her for study, -let us not insist. Let us form her character as well -as we can, and let the rest come by inspiration, not -by punishment or caresses. Let us hold ourselves to -these rules, and I am sure that the child will soon -feel the justice and the necessity as well as the effect -of our tenderness.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“For three days now I have not compelled her to -do anything. She reads five or six times a day to -amuse herself, and she seems to think that it is a -good act. Without entirely lending myself to her -little hypocrisy, I nevertheless pretend to be partially, -at least, her dupe. In the evening she begs for music -and I make a thousand excuses in order to have the -lesson short, gay, and easy. The great thing is obedience. -There have been scenes, I have punished her -and she has wept; but I have pretended not to notice -it, and have gone on with my work in perfect indifference. -She has been obliged to stop some time, -and it has never been very long.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>The success was something, for by another spring, -when the little one was “six years six months and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_107'>107</span>two days old,” she had commenced to dislike being -blamed as much as she did being put on dry bread; -she loved a caress better than her doll; reading -amused her when she had nothing better to do; and -she loved to write and dance,—neither of which -fatigued her head,—but could not endure a story -which was more than a half hour long; and was still -“a hundred leagues from Robinson.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Madame Roland’s return to Rousseau was not confined -to his system of education. She went back to -him at this time for inspiration. In going to Le Clos -she had an ideal,—Julie at Clarens. Probably she -found that in practice there was much more hard -work and patient endurance in her Clarens than -there were pastorals and sweet emotions. Much as -she approved these stern virtues, considered abstractly, -they aroused less enthusiasm when applied, -and she sought her prophet; not without reward, for -again and again she wrote Roland of her delight:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“I have been devouring <cite>Julie</cite> as if it were not for -the fourth or fifth time. My friend, I shall always -love that book, and if I ever become <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">dévote</span></i>, it is the -only one I shall desire. It seems to me that we -could have lived well with all those people and that -they would have found us as much to their taste as -we them to ours.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>And again after an evening in the chimney corner -with Rousseau: “I shall read him all my life, and if -ever we should be in that condition of which we no -longer think, when you, old and blind, make shoe-laces -<span class='pageno' id='Page_108'>108</span>while I do needle-work, all the books I shall -want will be those of Jean Jacques. He would make -us shed delicious tears and would arouse sentiments -which would make us forget our lot.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Delicious tears” are as always her gauge of happiness. -She never learned that the amount of living -one is doing, cannot always be measured by the -emotion one experiences.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In the days at Villefranche and Le Clos, Roland -was as dear to her as ever. She served him with -touching devotion, finding her greatest delight in -being useful to him. The long and tiresome extracts -on wool and hides, bleaching and tanning, were never -too long and tiresome for her to copy, in her vigorous, -beautiful hand; the numerous academic papers and -public pamphlets never too numerous for her to apply -all her literary skill and her enthusiasm to polishing -and brightening. She arranged everything to make -his life easy and to advance his work, and her affection -was poured out as freely as in the days before their -marriage. He is the “friend <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">par excellence</span></i>.” “I -love you madly and I am disposed to snap my fingers -at the rest,” she told him. Her letter-writing, in -his absence, she calls “the dearest of her occupations,” -and it must have been, to judge from the following -letter written seven years after her marriage:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“I had told —— to go after it [Roland’s letter]. -I awaited it in vain all the evening. He had forgotten -to go. I sent him again when I sat down to -supper. While I ate I waited, my heart was troubled. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_109'>109</span>The servant seemed to me to be gone a long time. -My heart jumped at every noise I heard at the door. -Overcome, I said: News from him was never dearer, -never awaited with more tender impatience. I -scarcely heard what brother said and I answered -yes at random. It was worse still when the package -came. My heart went out to it beforehand. I examined -the writing with strange haste, I opened it, -I read. The mutual sentiment which inspires us -leaves me incapable of feeling anything else. I -scarcely spoke the rest of the evening.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Unquestionably she believed in the endurance of -this affection for Roland, so far as there is any indication -in her letters. Perhaps something of the -secret of the peculiar tenderness between Madame -Roland and her husband at this time was that Roland -was but little at home. Where the imagination has -the habit of idealizing situations and persons, it is -difficult to quiet it—it must have its craving satisfied. -But no idealized object will resist long the -friction of every-day life and the disillusion which is -inevitable from constant association. Madame Roland -never ceased her habit of idealization, but, fortunately, -her life with Roland was so broken by his -repeated absences that her imagination did still find -pleasure in busying itself with him.</p> - -<p class='c017'>For several years after they went to Beaujolais -there was but one break in this busy life for Madame -Roland,—a trip to Switzerland taken in 1787 with her -<span class='pageno' id='Page_110'>110</span>husband and her brother-in-law, the Curé of Longpoint. -She wrote full notes of her trip for Eudora, as -she had done of her trip to England. They were -printed by Champagneux in the year 1800. They are -less spontaneous than those on England, following -almost entirely Roland’s letters of ten years before. -This trip into Switzerland was to have been followed -by one to Italy, which never was taken.</p> - -<p class='c008'>And so their life went on from 1784 to 1789. On the -whole, it was happy, as it certainly was useful and -honorable. To be sure, they were not quite satisfied. -They still felt keenly that the title and privileges -they had asked had been refused, and they still cherished -hopes of being retired. Madame Roland, especially, -kept the matter in view and worked to bring it -about; thus, in September of 1787 we find her directing -Roland: “Write to the <em>bear</em> and pay him the -compliment of your encyclopedic work. I have imagined -a little letter of which I send you the idea. To -flatter a person’s pretensions is a means of capturing -his good-will. If it is true that he has a mistress, -Lanthenas must unearth her, as well as the sides on -which she is accessible. They will be convenient -notes to have in the portfolio, and can be used as one -does certain drugs in desperate cases.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>On the whole, Madame Roland was very well off, -and her life would undoubtedly have gone on thus to -the end, broken after a while, perhaps, with the much -desired pension; perhaps, by even the title of nobility; -she then would have had the “paradise” she so much -<span class='pageno' id='Page_111'>111</span>desired—“the pretty apartment in town and a bijou -at Le Clos”; she might, on the other hand, have -had her sad sentimental picture realized and Roland, -blind, have made shoe-laces and she done needle-work, -while they both shed delicious tears over Rousseau, -had there not been something in the air which was -about to take away all from him that had and to give -it to him who had not; to make leaders of country -lawyers, and doctors, and schoolmasters, and to send -the diplomats and courtiers a-begging.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The French Revolution was coming, and to trace -briefly how it grew in the Lyonnais and how our -friends in particular regarded it and were drawn to -side with it, is our next affair.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_112'>112</span> - <h2 class='c006'>V<br /> <span class='large'>HOW THE ROLANDS WELCOMED THE REVOLUTION</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c007'>Monsieur and Madame Roland had both, -throughout their lives, been intelligent observers -and critics of, as well as, to a degree, sufferers -from, the financial and social causes of the French -Revolution. They had both sympathized with the -preliminary outbreaks of that revolution which, beginning -early in the century, had recurred at intervals -throughout their lives. They both had thoroughly -imbibed the intellectual causes of the movement, -those new ideas of Voltaire, Diderot, Helvétius, Abbé -Raynal, Rousseau, which, coming <em>after</em> the first agitation,—there -had been many a riot in Paris, in -Lyons, in Rouen; the King had been warned many -a time that there were still Ravaillacs; the word -<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Révolution</span></i> had been often spoken by the French of -the eighteenth century before these men wrote,—had -backed up the revolutionist with philosophy and -logic.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Roland was but ten years old, a boy in the Lyonnais, -when the war with Austria caused so much -misery, and when a new levy of men and the doubling -<span class='pageno' id='Page_113'>113</span>of the taxes desolated and irritated the province. -Lyons was obliged to contribute two million livres at -that time to aid the King. He was seventeen when, in -1751, the misery again became so terrible that riots -occurred throughout France, and D’Argenson wrote: -“Nothing but a near revolution is talked of on account -of the bad condition of the government.” -These things could not but have affected him. -Indeed, the bad outlook at Lyons was one reason -that he left home with the idea of making his fortune -in America. As a boy, then, Roland had felt the -financial errors of the French government.</p> - -<p class='c008'>He was at Rouen when, in 1756, the Seven Years’ -War broke out. At that moment the annual receipts -of the State were two hundred and fifty-three million -livres, the expenses between three hundred and -twenty and three hundred and thirty millions. That -year Roland saw the people obliged to pay a twentieth -of their revenue—the detested <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">vingtième</span></i>. No one -was exempt, and no doubt the bill fell heavily on the -manufacturing interests. This tax was in addition to -the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">taille</span></i>, which tormented the small proprietors of -the country, and from which the nobles and clergy -were free. In addition were the special taxes of -which Roland must have felt the injury especially, -both in the Lyonnais and at Rouen. These included -the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">aides</span></i>, or tax on drinks; the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">octroi</span></i>, at the gate of -every city; the salt-tax; the special duties on iron, -leather, and paper; the impost on tobacco, cards, -and oils; the custom duties at the frontier of every -<span class='pageno' id='Page_114'>114</span>province of France, as well as at the frontier of the -kingdom.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Two years later at Rouen, 1758, Roland no doubt -felt the effect in his personal expenses of the result -of the gift which the city, in common with all the -cities, boroughs, and seignioralties of the kingdom, -was obliged to pay to help on the war, and to meet -which they received permission to put a tax on all -drinks, on meat, hay, and wood. When one has to -pay more for his wood and fire, he reflects why.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Two years later the Parlement of Rouen, in common -with several others of the kingdom, flatly refused -to register the royal edicts creating new taxes, -declaring, with a hardihood superior even to that of -the Parlement of Paris, that the system of taxation -was unjust, and the people the victims of royal abuse, -and suggesting audaciously a parlement of France -composed of all the parlements of the kingdom. So -eloquent and so free was this declaration that it was -even printed and sold in Paris.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Roland’s position made him familiar with all these -revolts; he heard them discussed as well as the -King’s haughty, energetic reply to the deputation -of the Parlement. “I am your master. I ought to -punish you for the impudence of your principles. -Go back to Rouen, register my decrees and declaration -without further delay. I will be obeyed.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>He was touched, no doubt, by the remonstrance -which the same body sent to the King in 1763: -“Your people, Sire, is unhappy. Everything shows -<span class='pageno' id='Page_115'>115</span>this sad fact. Your parlements, the only organs of -the nation, repeat it unceasingly.... A deluge of -taxes pitilessly ravages our towns and our provinces; -the property, the industry, the person of citizens, all -are a prey to these extraordinary imposts; poverty -itself, and the charity which aids it, have become -its tributaries and its victims. The farming out of -the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">aides</span></i>, whose rules attack all conditions and commerce -in general, weighs on the poor in a most -inhuman manner. The farming of the salt-tax presents -a spectacle not less revolting.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>At Amiens, as inspector of manufactures, Roland -had a still better opportunity to see the defects of -the financial and commercial system of France. At -that time, in almost all the villages of the kingdom, -the exercise of the different arts and trades was concentrated -in the hands of a small number of masters, -united in trades-unions, who alone could make -and sell certain objects. The man who wished to -enter a trade could only do so by acquiring a <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">maîtrise</span></i>. -To do this he must go through a long and -painful apprenticeship and spend much money to -satisfy the numerous imposts and exactions. Frequently -a large part of the sum which he needed -for setting up his shop or store was consumed in -acquiring his license. Certain unions excluded all -but sons of masters, or those who had married the -widows of masters; others rejected all who were -born in another town—foreigners, as they called -them. In a number of the unions a married man -<span class='pageno' id='Page_116'>116</span>could not be an apprentice. To practise his trade -after having served his apprenticeship, a linen-dealer -must pay twenty-one hundred livres; a dyer, thirteen -hundred and fifty; a mason, seventeen hundred; -a butcher, fifteen hundred; a potter, twenty-four hundred; -and so on through all the trades of the community. -One could not work if he would, unless -the union gave him permission, and all classes of -citizens were obliged to submit to the dictation of -the unions as to whom they should hire. So narrow -was the spirit of these organizations that women -were not allowed to carry on even such industries -as embroidery.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Worse, in Roland’s eyes, were the restrictions on -the way in which an article was to be manufactured. -These were so numerous that industrial genius and -initiative were practically prevented, that the manufacturer -could not respond to the demands of fashion -and of taste, and that competition with foreign -trade was largely cut off. He could make only certain -stuffs. The dimensions were fixed; the dyeing -and stamping must follow a certain formula; they -must bear a certain mark. If by any accident, intentional -or not, a stuff was turned out which did -not conform exactly to the rules, the severest penalty -was fixed. A system of inspection, most irritating -and frequently unjust, was made of every -piece of goods; even houses with long reputation for -honest manufacturing were subjected to this examination, -which was sometimes little more than a kind -<span class='pageno' id='Page_117'>117</span>of spying exercised by young and incapable men -who had no commercial training. A grave injustice -was according the title of <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">manufacture royale</span></i> as a -favor, or often, to new institutions, for a sum.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Roland clashed constantly with these regulations -throughout his term in Amiens.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Mademoiselle Phlipon had likewise, in the days -before her marriage, been influenced by public affairs. -She was in a centre where the populace throbbed -continually. A stone’s throw from her house the -Parlement sat, and its every act was a sign for popular -joy or discontent. There could be no demonstration -without its passing largely under her windows. -From the first days of her life, then, her political -education commenced. A child of less intellectual -curiosity and of less sensibility would not have responded -to these popular outbursts. They would -have made but fleeting impressions. It was different -with her; she watched it all, felt the rage or joy of -the people, and brooded over its meaning. There is, -indeed, no more fascinating study in her life than the -influence which the panorama of the Pont Neuf and -the Place Dauphine had upon her.</p> - -<p class='c008'>When she was eight years old she saw the smoke -of burning volumes, as she looked from her window -towards the Place de la Grève. It was Rousseau’s -<cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Émile</span></cite> going up in smoke. Every year after she -saw the same suggestive sight. Now it was remonstrances -against interferences by the King with the -rights of the Parlement which were burned; now the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_118'>118</span>seditious utterances of the independent parlements -of Bretagne, of Rouen, of Dauphiné; now a too -liberal general history of the present condition of -Europe, translated from the English; now too bold -reflections on feudal rights; now Voltaire’s <cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Dictionnaire -philosophique</span></cite>; now Holbach; now Raynal; -now Helvétius. In 1775 she heard La Harpe admonished -“to be more circumspect in the future,” -because of a daring article he had published. These -condemned authors she was beginning to read.</p> - -<p class='c008'>She began to hear from her earliest days the word -<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">révolution</span></i>. It had been pronounced frequently for a -long time in private, but it began to be said aloud. -When she was nine years old, a Paris priest declared: -“We approach a state of crisis and an age of revolutions. -I believe it impossible that the great monarchies -of Europe endure long.” The priest was -condemned at the Châtelet across the river from her -window, but his discourse was printed and scattered -right and left. She heard gossip of how the Parlement -had told the King that Frenchmen are free men -and not slaves; and a little later it is quite possible -that she saw the King on his way to the Palais de -Justice, where, under the very eyes of the Parlement, -he erased their rebellious decree, and declared: -“It is in my person alone that the sovereign power -exists; it is from me alone that my courts have their -existence and their authority; it is to me alone that -independent and indivisible legislative power belongs; -public order emanates entirely from me.”</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_119'>119</span>In 1770 she saw bread riots and seditious pamphlets -posted in Paris. In January, 1771, came the -dissolution and exile of the Parlement because of its -refusal to record Louis XV.’s humiliating decree abrogating -its power and condemning its conduct. Little -Manon saw a surging crowd of Parisians filling the -palace and its neighborhood—a crowd in which, -wrote one who watched it, “there was sometimes a -dull silence, as in times of great calamities; sometimes -a noise and a murmur like that which precedes -great revolutions.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>She saw the new and detested body—organ of the -King’s despotism—sitting in a veritable camp, and the -walls of the palace covered with abusive inscriptions. -She read, too, many of the hardy pamphlets which -flooded the country after this despotic <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">coup d’état</span></i>. -In them the doctrine of power residing in one individual -was roundly attacked; the divine authority of -kings was denied flatly, and the Constitution of England, -with the example of 1688, was held up to the -country. We know she followed the exciting seven -months of the trial of Beaumarchais and Goëzmann. -When Louis XVI. came to the throne, she shared -the general joy at his promises, and doubtless felt -that it was a true prophet who printed <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">resurrexit</span></i> on -the statue of Henry IV., in front of her door.</p> - -<p class='c008'>When in the next year the bread riots began and -across the river the people pillaged the markets, she -saw much of the disorder,—people dancing with -joy over a loaf they had secured; guards about the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_120'>120</span>bakeries to give the bakers an opportunity properly -to bake the bread: hungry men waiting with their -eight sous, taking the loaves from the very oven; -shops closed in terror, as the rioters moved from -quarter to quarter.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Married, the Rolands saw together all the abuses -of the realm and aided in the struggles against them. -The first year of their married life Roland labored -in vain at Paris with the committee which the King -had summoned from the manufacturing centres of -France, to obtain greater freedom in the industries, -and was forced to go back to Amiens with a list of -vexatious restrictions still encumbering all varieties -of manufacturing.</p> - -<p class='c008'>After their marriage they were constantly cramped -for money, for Roland’s salary was very small, and -he had but few privileges in connection with his -position. For instance, when Madame Roland was -in Paris in 1784 seeking the letters of nobility, she -was forced to guard her expenses with the greatest -care; to avoid taking <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">fiacres</span></i> as often as possible, and -to take cheap seats at the theatre. In the Beaujolais -she had been forced to give up going to Lyons -often, on account of the expense of life there, to stay -much at Le Clos, and to administer her household -with greatest economy.</p> - -<p class='c008'>There was no complaint on their part because of -their poverty, but there was dissatisfaction with the -system which did not reward properly a man who -had given his life to the interests of his country, and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_121'>121</span>had produced numbers of valuable works, while it -took up insignificant individuals, and, through favoritism -or for a round bribe, gave them easy and amply -paid positions, and allowed them to keep them whatever -they did or did not do; a system which, in short, -justified Beaumarchais’ characterization: “Il fallait -un calculateur pour remplir la place, ce fut un danseur -qui l’obtint.” (An accountant was wanted in -the place, a dancer received it.)</p> - -<p class='c008'>After the Rolands left Amiens, they came into -personal contact with the feudal rights; for in the -Beaujolais the peasant was still often obliged to give -personal service to his lord. It was to the lord’s -wine-press he was obliged to take his grapes, to his -mill that he must take his wheat. They saw the -effect of the wretched salt-tax, an indirect tax which -forced every inhabitant to buy seven pounds of salt -a year, and it cost eight times what it does to-day, -considering the value of money. Not only was he -forced to buy, he was forced to use it in certain ways,—not -a grain of that seven pounds could be employed -anywhere except in his table food. If he wanted to -salt pork, he must buy another kind.</p> - -<p class='c008'>They probably saw, in their rides to and from -Lyons, the peasants bent at their <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">corvée</span></i>, or road tax; -for the peasants still made the royal roads in the Lyonnais. -On an average, they gave twelve days a year, -and the use of their own implements, to the highways -which they rarely had the advantage of using. -The terrible tolls were another unjust imposition -<span class='pageno' id='Page_122'>122</span>from which they suffered personally. They were innumerable. -Let a boat of wine attempt to go from -Dauphiné, by the Rhone, Loire, and the canal of -Briare, and it paid thirty-five to forty kinds of duties, -not counting the entrée to Paris. From Pontarlier -to Lyons there were twenty-five or thirty tolls. If -Madame Roland had bought ten cents worth of -wine in Burgundy, it would have cost her fifteen -to eighteen sous before she got it to Lyons.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Another experience which intensified their disgust -with the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">ancien régime</span></i> was the study of the affairs of -Lyons. In a report made, in 1791, on the condition -of the city, Roland showed how Lyons, after having -been for a long time one of the most flourishing -cities of the world, because of her active and peculiar -industries, and having earned a world-wide -credit, attracted the attention of the government, -at that time completely corrupt. The State forced -the city to compromise her industries and credit -in order to lend money. She borrowed again and -again, and gave in return the saddest, most ruinous -compensation,—the permission to tax herself. This -had gone on until Lyons was bankrupt, her industries -ruined, her streets full of beggars.</p> - -<p class='c008'>This condition of finances and society they had -long seen, as had the whole country, must be -changed or there would be an upheaval. They -had even calculated on this change when Madame -Roland was soliciting the letters of nobility at Paris, -and the probability that when it came something -<span class='pageno' id='Page_123'>123</span>would fall to them. Like all France, it was in a reform -of the finances that they saw hope, and it was -that which they demanded. They did not believe -that France was hopelessly involved, but were confident -that she could extricate herself by severe -economies in the administration, by cutting off -favoritism, by arranging a just system of taxes. -Up to 1789 that was all that was demanded.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Like all France, they participated in those outbursts -of joy which swept over the country at various -periods in the reigns of Louis XV. and Louis -XVI., when ministers of force and wisdom devised -relief.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The call for the States-General, in 1788, interested -them more deeply than ever in the reforms needed; -the effort of the Parlement of Paris to prevent the -Third Estate naming as many members as the nobility -and clergy together, and to prevent their sitting -together aroused them. When, however, in spite -of all opposition, the King issued the edict allowing -the Third Estate double representation and called -for the election of members to, and the preparation -of <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">cahiers</span></i> for, the coming gathering, the Rolands -went to work with energy. It was on the preparation -of the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">cahiers</span></i><a id='r2' /><a href='#f2' class='c014'><sup>[2]</sup></a> sent to the States-General by the -Third Estate of Lyons that Roland was principally -occupied, and it was with hopefulness that he saw -<span class='pageno' id='Page_124'>124</span>the deputies and the memorials depart for Versailles, -where, on May 4th, the twelve hundred representatives -of the nation met to begin the work of restoring -order in France and of making a constitution.</p> - -<div class='footnote' id='f2'> -<p class='c008'><a href='#r2'>2</a>. Memorials prepared by each of the three classes, setting forth -their grievances, their demands, and the compromises they were -willing to make.</p> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>At Le Clos the Rolands watched eagerly every act -of the States-General, of the King, and of the people. -But the drama played in Paris and at Versailles -between May 4th and July 14th, turned their hopefulness -to despair, their gratitude to suspicion, their -generosity to resentment, their pliability to obstinacy.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Suddenly, on July 14th, the Parisians, terrified at -the rumors of a conspiracy on the part of the Court -which had for its object the overthrow of the pet -minister, Necker, the adjournment of the National -Assembly, the abandonment of reforms, and the coercion -of the people by the foreign soldiers who had -been massed in and around the capitol, razed the -Bastille.</p> - -<p class='c008'>With the falling of the Bastille a new ideal arose, -full-winged, before Madame Roland. Before the -14th of July she had no idea that out of the events -she watched so eagerly anything more than a reform -of the existing régime would grow; the old régime, -stripped of its abuses and regulated by a liberal constitution, -was all she had asked. Now all was -changed; compromise, half-way measures, were at an -end. Instead of reforms she demanded “complete -regeneration.” She saw in the sudden uprising of -the people the “sovereign” exercising “the divine -right of insurrection.” It was what Jean Jacques -<span class='pageno' id='Page_125'>125</span>Rousseau had declared in the <cite>Social Contract</cite> the -people had the right to do if the government under -which they were living was unjust. She seems to -have gone at once to the conclusion that, since the -rightful “sovereign,” had at last asserted itself, an -immediate regeneration was to follow, abuses were to -be wiped out, tyranny destroyed, selfishness annihilated, -equality created, and the world to run at last -with precision and to the satisfaction of all concerned. -To her the fall of the Bastille was the revolution of -society. “Friends of humanity, lovers of liberty,” -she wrote afterwards, “we believed it had come to -regenerate the human kind, to destroy the terrible -misery of that unhappy class over which we had so -often mourned. We welcomed it with transports.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Their transports soon turned to irritation; for the -immediate regeneration she had pictured was replaced -by struggles more fierce than ever before.</p> - -<p class='c008'>To those of her liberal aspirations, determined on -a constitutional government, recognizing the sovereignty -of the people and the equality of men, two -political courses were open at that moment. They -could unite with the liberal party of reform in a -struggle to frame a constitution; could insist while -this was doing upon respect for the National Assembly; -could recognize the difficulty of the situation; -could respect the laws and be patient;—or they could -refuse alliance with this party on the ground that -reforms were no longer the need of France, but that -complete regeneration must be demanded; could suspect, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_126'>126</span>and induce others to suspect, the sincerity of all -those who applied the doctrines less vigorously than -they did; could encourage by excuses or tacit sympathy -the riotous party which with incredible fecundity -was spreading over France, explaining its -actions as the lawful efforts of the sovereign people -to get rid of its oppressors and to take possession of -its own rights.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Madame Roland did not approve of the first party. -It attempted nothing but reforms. She wanted every -vestige of the old régime wiped out. She suspected -it, hated it. It had proved itself unworthy and must -be abolished. The real sovereign must be allowed -to prepare a government. She had no particular -idea of what this government should be; certainly -she did not suggest a republic. She was convinced, -however, that it would be a simple matter to arrange -something where happiness and justice and prosperity -should be the lot of all.</p> - -<p class='c008'>To obtain this ideal condition she believed riot -and civil war justifiable; indeed she believed them -necessary now that the fall of the Bastille had not -been enough. They were necessary to keep the -usurper in terror and the people suspicious. For her -part, even if she were a woman and for that reason -excluded from public activities, she meant to keep -her friends aroused to the necessity of insurrection.</p> - -<p class='c008'>There is no doubt that the policy of Roland in the -Revolution and the relations which he formed and -which shaped his course of action were due to this -<span class='pageno' id='Page_127'>127</span>determination of Madame Roland to use her influence -in agitation. All their contemporaries remark -her ascendency over her husband. But she did not -content herself with inspiring Roland. The two -friends with whom she had been so long in regular -correspondence, Bosc and Lanthenas, she strove, -with all her eloquence, to urge to action. “I write -you now but little of personal affairs. Who is the -traitor who has other interest to-day than that of the -nation?” Once Bosc wrote her a story of an interesting -adventure; she replied: “I do not know whether -you are in love or not; but I do know this, that in -the situation where we now are, no honest man can -follow the torch of love without having first lit it at -the sacred fire of country.” She formed new political -relations—the first, with Brissot de Warville, was of -particular importance to them.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The Rolands had had a slight correspondence with -Brissot before the Revolution; for he, having been -attracted by Roland’s writings, had sent him certain -of his manuscripts as a mark of his esteem. This -had led to an exchange of courteous letters, and, -through one of their common friends in Paris, the -relation was still further cemented, and a regular correspondence -had grown up. When the Revolution -came, Brissot started <cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Le patriote français</span></cite> and the -Rolands sent him “all,” said Madame Roland, “which, -under the circumstances, seemed to us to be useful to -publish.” A large number of these letters were published -in the <cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Patriote français</span></cite>.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_128'>128</span>It was not only in Paris that her letters inspired -by their ardent patriotism. They were in relation -with a young man at Lyons, called Champagneux. -The 1st of September, 1789, he started the <cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Courrier -de Lyon</span></cite>, a journal something in the style of Brissot’s, -intended to preach the principles of 1789, and to show -what was passing in the National Assembly. Madame -Roland wrote often to this journal.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The most important correspondence which she -carried on at this time was with Bancal des Issarts, -a lawyer, formerly of Clermont, who had left his -profession for politics. Bancal had been a deputy -to the National Assembly, and, after the closing of -the session, had returned to Clermont, where he had -established a society of Friends of the Constitution. -Returning to Paris, he made the acquaintance of -Lanthenas and the two had planned a community -in which they wished to associate the Rolands. -Their idea was to buy a quantity of national property -and found a retreat where they could together -prosecute the work of regenerating France, while at -the same time having the delights and the stimulus -of intelligent companionship.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Lanthenas introduced Bancal by letter to the -Rolands, and a correspondence was at once begun. -Madame Roland, as a rule, wrote for both herself -and her husband. Her letters are as patriotic -and as passionately vindictive as those she wrote -Bosc.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_128fp.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>MADAME ROLAND.<br /><br />From the painting by Heinsius in the museum of Versailles.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_129'>129</span>At the same time she preached to her acquaintances -at Villefranche and Le Clos, and solicited subscribers -for Brissot’s journal.</p> - -<p class='c008'>There was nothing vague or uncertain about her -position at this moment. Her convictions, her plan -of action, had been taken. It was uncompromising, -unflinching war against the existing government. -Twelve days after the fall of the Bastille, she wrote -to Bosc: “You are occupying yourself with a municipality, -and you are letting heads escape that are -going to conjure up new horrors. You are nothing -but children; your enthusiasm is a straw fire and if -the National Assembly does not put on trial two -illustrious heads, or some generous Decius does not -take them, you are all mad.” She made the demand -because she did not believe in the King’s and the -Court’s sincerity. Every action of theirs which was -liberal, a concession to the popular party, she scoffed -at. Of the appearance of the King and his beautiful -Queen in the Assembly she wrote: “They were -abominably frightened, that is all the business shows. -Before we can believe in the sincerity of their promise -to agree to what the Assembly shall do, we must forget -all that has passed ... the King must send -away all the foreign troops ... we are nearer than -ever to a frightful slavery if we allow ourselves to be -blinded by false confidence.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Her dissatisfaction with the National Assembly -was complete. She sneered at the emotion when -Marie Antoinette appeared in their midst seeking -protection: “The French are easily won by the fine -<span class='pageno' id='Page_130'>130</span>appearance of their masters, and I am persuaded -that the half of the Assembly has been <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">bête</span></i> enough -to be touched at the sight of Antoinette confiding -her son to them. Morbleu! is it then of a child of -which it is a question! It is the safety of twenty -million men. All is lost if we do not take care.” -The constitution displeased her, too: “We blush in -reading the public papers. They are plastering up -a bad constitution just as they have botched an incomplete -and faulty declaration. Am I not going -to see a demand for the revision of all?”</p> - -<p class='c008'>She saw clearly that it was not from the people of -France, as a whole, that she would get the revision of -the constitution which she asked, or a second to her -demand for the heads of the king and queen. “There -is only one hope,” she said, “it is in Paris. It is for -you, Parisians, to give the example. By a wise and -vigorous address show the Assembly that you know -your rights, that you mean to preserve them, that -you are ready to defend them, and that you demand -that it declare them. Without such a movement -all is worse than ever. It is not the Palais Royal -which must do it; it is the united districts. However, -if they do not respond, let it be done by whomsoever -it may, provided it be in sufficient numbers to -impose and to carry others by its example.” She -was even ready to go a little farther and did it cheerfully: -“A civil war is necessary before we shall be -worth anything. All these little quarrels and insurrections -seem to me inevitable; I cannot imagine -<span class='pageno' id='Page_131'>131</span>that it is possible to come from the bosom of corruption -and rise to liberty, without strong convulsions. -They are the salutary crises of a severe sickness, and -a terrible political fever is necessary to take away -our bad humors.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Truly, there were few better Jacobins in 1793 than -Madame Roland was two months after the fall of the -Bastille; for we have here in purity the doctrine of the -sovereignty of the people, the divine right of insurrection, -the demand for the head of Louis XVI., the -call to Paris to take into her hands what the people -of the country are not ready to do, even to use its -power of terrorism against the Assembly, composed -of the representatives of the people.</p> - -<p class='c008'>This spirit, this restless energy, never left her, -though she was buried at Le Clos almost all the -first eighteen months of the Revolution. She kept -herself aflame by correspondence with her friends -and by her propagandism among her neighbors, most -of them decidedly recalcitrant. Especially did she -incite herself by her reading. Writing to Bancal -once she told him: “I have left all the Italian -poets for the <cite>Tacitus</cite> of Davanzati. It is not permitted -in a time of revolution to turn to pleasant -studies, or objects remote from the public interest. -If I can give a little time this winter to English, I -shall read Macaulay’s history. I shall leave the historian -only for the novel of Rousseau, which is perfectly -suited to civism.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>She saw no danger in her doctrines. They moved -<span class='pageno' id='Page_132'>132</span>to noble sentiments, to great aspirations. What -greater good? That they incited to crimes, too, she -did not admit. She was recklessly indifferent to -what is; she looked only at what might be. Her -eyes were turned to America, to Greece, to Rome, -and not to the facts of the struggles of these countries, -only to the fine actions of their heroes, the -rounded phrases of their orators.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The reasonable girl who welcomed Louis XVI. to -the throne, the politic woman who for years had been -seeking a title and its advantages, and who had been -willing to devote all her splendid power to reforming -the old régime, had become suddenly inexorable in -her demands, unyielding in her suspicions, fierce in -her thought. She believed that one must “watch -and preach to the last sigh or else not mingle with -the Revolution.” It was the revolt of the idealist -against compromises made in the past; resentment -for wrongs suffered; the “strike back” for the title -not granted, and for Roland’s talent and services unrecognized; -the hope of realizing dreams of an ideal -society.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Nor was it a momentary enthusiasm. Her conviction -never wavered. Others as firmly founded in -the doctrines as she, and as eloquent in their defence -of them, hesitated sometimes, drew back with apprehension -at the torrents of passion and of demagogy -they were loosening on France. But she never admitted -that anything but “complete regeneration” -could come of their teachings. It was the woman’s -<span class='pageno' id='Page_133'>133</span>nature which, stirred to its depths by enthusiasm or -passion, becomes narrow, stern, unbending,—which -can do but one thing, can see but one way; that inexplicable -feminine conviction which is superior to -experience, and indifferent to logic.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_134'>134</span> - <h2 class='c006'>VI<br /> <span class='large'>FIRST POLITICAL SALON</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c007'>The Rolands were not long in embroiling themselves -in Lyons and in the Beaujolais. Disorganization -and disorder were increasing daily there, -as in Paris and throughout the country. The aristocracy, -clergy, and commercial portions of the community, -irritated at the failure of the government to -restore tranquillity, and discouraged over the delay -of the National Assembly in forcing its way through -the difficulties of the situation, grew hard against -the Revolution. There was a universal demand for -order. Disorder grew from day to day.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The conservative party was firmly convinced that -the disorder was the fault of the friends of the Revolution. -There was a suspicion of everybody who -professed the new doctrines. Those who taught -them were regarded as dangerous “agitators.” The -reforms to which they had consented, and which they -had left to the National Assembly, would never be -made, they felt, unless the people could be quieted. -They saw a general and universal catastrophe awaiting -society if organization was not restored.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_135'>135</span>On the other hand, the liberals saw in the policy -of the aristocrats and clergy a plot against the -people; sympathy with the Court. The disorders -which occurred they attributed either to the just -indignation of the long-oppressed “sovereign,” or to -hired agitators, brought in by the conservative party -to stir up riots, and thus cover the popular cause -with odium.</p> - -<p class='c008'>On either hand there were accusations without -proof, suspicions without cause, violence and hatred -instead of patience and good-will. All of the generosity, -the dignity, the reasonableness, which the -different estates had shown a year before in the -memorials which they had sent to the States-General, -had disappeared.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Roland and his wife were known to be deeply in -sympathy with democratic ideas, to preach them constantly. -In spite of the fact that his natural relations -were with the aristocratic class, Roland was -active in the people’s clubs at Lyons; he was called -the Mæcenas of Champagneux. He was suspected, if -not of inciting to disorder, yet of sympathizing with -it, and of regarding it as an instrument for forcing -the Court, and driving the Assembly. He began -to be considered a “suspect” by the conservatives. -Such was the feeling towards him when he was a -candidate for mayor, in 1789, that the most improbable -stories were circulated about him. The Abbé -Guillon declares in his Memoirs that Roland disguised -himself and went into the taverns, begging -<span class='pageno' id='Page_136'>136</span>the people’s votes; that he joined in their orgies -and distributed among them seditious pamphlets. -These charges are so inconsistent with the real character -of Roland that it is not worth considering them, -and they are only worth quoting as a specimen of -the violent suspicions of the liberals, or <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">révolutionnaires</span></i>, -held and spread by the conservative party.</p> - -<p class='c008'>About this time a question arose in which Roland -took an active interest—that of the octroi. The -misery of the people of Lyons demanded that it be -removed. It was retained, however, and the people, -desperate, rose in revolt. This uprising, said the -patriots, was “spontaneous.” It was the “work of -agitators,” declared the conservatives. Brissot, in -the <cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Patriote français</span></cite>, condemned the riot. Roland -wrote, thereupon, a long letter defending it, and -remarked in Lyons, one day, that there never had -been a revolution yet without bloodshed. This was -enough for his opponents to declare him to be the -author of the insurrection. “This report has already -[21 July, 1790] reached the capitol,” wrote Madame -Roland to Bancal, “and in three or four quarters of -Lyons, where the mercantile aristocracy is dominant, -the strangest things are said against him. You -judge that this storm disturbs us very little; we -have seen more terrible, and would not mind it if -our enemies should cause us to be called to the -bar of the National Assembly. Our friend there -would be like Scipio before the assembly of the -people.”</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_137'>137</span>Every-day matters grew more complicated. The -aristocracy, in face of the disorders, called upon -the government for troops. The people, like the -Parisians the year before, were exasperated at the -idea of guards. At the same time rumors of an -Austrian and Prussian invasion, organized by the -<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">émigrés</span></i> who had been leaving France ever since -the days of October 5th, irritated and frightened -the Lyonnais. It was said that the enemy would -enter by the way of Savoy. The idea of a counter-revolution, -centred in Lyons, was spread abroad -and inflamed more than ever the nervous and -terrified populace.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Madame Roland was convinced of the truth of -all these rumors, just as her opponents were convinced -that she and her husband meant anarchy -and violence by their patriotic and determined support -of the people and the Revolution. In every -letter to Bancal, since June 22d,—she had been -writing him constantly,—she repeated her distrust. -In her judgment, it was her duty to report very -alarming signs. Her two principles, at this, moment, -were “security is the tomb of liberty,” “indulgence -towards men in authority tempts them -to despotism.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Throughout the summer and fall of 1790, the -rumors of counter-revolution, accusation, denials, suspicion, -terror, similar to what Madame Roland was -attempting to spread among her friends, agitated -Lyons; and the preparations for the elections of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_138'>138</span>the year were made in savage excitement. Roland -was again a candidate for a position in the municipality -and from day to day was more detested. -Madame Roland’s name was everywhere associated -with his. “They write me from Lyons,” she says, -“that at the mention of my name the aristocrats -writhe as those possessed of devils are said to do -when holy water is sprinkled on them.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Roland was elected a member of the municipal -government in spite of the machinations of the -aristocrats, the power of whom had been greatly -weakened by the discovery in November of an extensive -royalist plot. There was no doubt of the -plot this time, and the reaction in favor of the -Revolution was general.</p> - -<p class='c008'>They left Le Clos after Roland’s election to establish -themselves at Lyons, which they had made -up their minds not to abandon until after its complete -regeneration. So serious were the affairs of -the city that the new municipality soon decided to -send representatives to Paris to claim from the -National Assembly the payment of the debt that -the ancient régime had made her take upon herself. -Roland was one of the deputies chosen to go. -When he went up on this mission his wife accompanied -him.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The opinions on the work of the Assembly -which Madame Roland carried up to Paris were -not friendly. She had watched its work all -through the year with critical keenness. All its -<span class='pageno' id='Page_139'>139</span>actions had been tested by her pure republican -standards, and wherever they fell short had been -sharply condemned. She had absolutely no sympathy -with delays, with compromises, with tentative -measures, and she was as aggressively -suspicious of the patriotism of the members as -she was of the sincerity of the aristocrats. The -condition of the finances troubled her. She could -see no excuse for a delay in giving the country an -exact statement of the public accounts. The press -had not enough liberty to please her. “A people -is not free,” she declared, “and cannot become so, -unless each one has the means of uncovering perfidious -designs, of revealing the abuses of talent -as well as of authority, of exposing the opinions of -everybody, of weighing the laws in the scales of -universal reason. What does it matter if one is -abused, providing one is innocent and always ready -to prove it? This kind of war on virtue seems to me -excellent; perhaps custom and security do nothing -for virtue but take away its energy. It must be -attacked to be strong, and it is danger which renders -it sublime.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>The manner in which the National Assembly did -its work inspired her contempt. It was stupid, mere -patch-work. “It jumps perpetually from one thing -to another,” she complained, “and is behind with -the things of the first importance without our -knowing why.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>On account of this feebleness of the Assembly, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_140'>140</span>she insisted that it must be watched; that addresses -should be made to it by the clubs; that -the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">bons esprits</span></i> should unite and sketch the objects -which it was suitable for the legislature to -consider, to the exclusion of everything else. She -failed to see that it was largely just this interference -with the Assembly which was preventing its -doing its work; that it was because the patriots -in their zeal did not mind their own business, but -encumbered the sittings with demands of the most -varied character, threatened the body with disaster -if it did not hear them, sent delegations on errands, -now of private and selfish, now of large -import, that the continuity she demanded was -wanting.</p> - -<p class='c008'>They reached Paris towards the end of February, -1791, and installed themselves at the Hôtel Britannique, -in the Rue Guénégaud, opposite the Hôtel des -Monnaies. Here she was within easy reach of all her -old neighbors, and whenever she went out on the -street which opened on the quay, she could see her -old home. She had not been in Paris for five years. -In her intimate circle great changes had taken place. -Her father had died in the rude winter of 1787–88; -her uncle Bimont, the good curé of Vincennes, and -the Curé Roland, whom they loved so well, who -made the trip in Switzerland with them, and who -had welcomed the Revolution as they did, were both -dead. There was left only “the débris of a family, -which in the last ten years had become almost -<span class='pageno' id='Page_141'>141</span>extinct.” She took the greatest pleasure in going -over the places where her early years had been -passed, and the tears of tenderness she shed in -looking on these familiar scenes delighted her. -They proved that she had not allowed ambition, -cares, and petty passions to dry up the springs of -her soul.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Her visits to her old friends were scarcely finished -before she began to devote herself to public affairs. -The Assembly was sitting only a little distance -from her hotel, in the Manège of the Tuileries, now -destroyed, but then running along the north side of -the garden, parallel with the Rue de Rivoli, and -thither she went frequently, but her first impression -of the body saddened and irritated her. All -the opinions she had formed at Le Clos were only -intensified by the nearer view.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Two years and a half afterwards, when she recalled -these visits, she noted an impression which explains -unquestionably something of her harshness towards -the Assembly. “I saw, with secret resentment, -that if reason, honesty, principle, controlled the Left, -there were advantages on the Right, that I would -have gladly turned over to the good cause because of -their great effect on an assembly. I mean that easy -and noble elocution, that nicety of expression, that -polish in the tones of the voice,—if I am allowed to -express myself so,—which a superior education and -familiarity with good society give.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Her pride was wounded by the evident superiority -<span class='pageno' id='Page_142'>142</span>of the aristocrats in manner and in expression. It -aroused in her an altogether illogical bitterness -against them. She was irritated because she and her -friends, who alone, she was convinced, understood -unselfish patriotism, who alone held the doctrines in -all their purity and simplicity, should yet be inferior -in externals to their rivals. This distinction became -a personal grievance with her.</p> - -<p class='c008'>After having followed the Assembly two months, -she left a session at the end of April in anger, persuaded -that it was incapable of anything but folly, -and vowing never to look at it again,—an engagement -she faithfully kept. At the same time she told -Champagneux, with whom she and Roland were both -in correspondence, that she was not going any more -to the theatre: “It is much too frivolous for my taste -in such serious circumstances.” And to Bancal she -wrote: “In other days the fine arts and all that -concern them was the greatest charm of the capital -in my eyes, but now that I know that I have a country -I feel differently; the solicitude of the patriot -leaves but little place for matters of taste.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>To the patriotic clubs she did go, however, and -one of them, the Cercle Social, especially interested -her. She even sent letters to it sometimes, without -signing them, however. “I do not believe that our -customs permit women to show themselves yet,” she -said; “they ought to inspire and nourish the good, -inflame all the sentiments useful to the country, but -not appear to take part in political work. They can -<span class='pageno' id='Page_143'>143</span>act openly only when the French shall merit the -name of free men; until then, our lightness, our -corrupt customs, would make what they tried to do -ridiculous; and would destroy the advantage which -otherwise might result.” While the Cercle Social -pleased them both, the Jacobins were too conservative. -“The Jacobins have lost their credit, no longer -doing, or doing badly, the duty that they took upon -themselves, to discuss the subjects before the Assembly,” -Madame Roland wrote. “They are led by -their directors’ board, which is under the thumb of -two or three individuals who are much more careful -about preserving their own ascendency than of propagating -public spirit and of serving liberty efficiently. -In the club formerly so useful everything is now -done by a clique.” “We have seen those precious -Jacobins,” Roland wrote to Champagneux. “If -objects increase in size as we approach them, it is -rare that it is not the contrary with mortals.” No -doubt much of their dissatisfaction with the Assembly -and the public was due to the difficulty Roland -had in pushing the claims of Lyons. Paris was -crowded with commissioners from all the towns -between Marseilles and Dunkirk, and there was -the greatest trouble in getting hearings from the -committee charged with such affairs, and in persuading -the deputies of the department to present -the business to the Assembly. Roland worked -night and day almost, to push the claim of his -town. “I sleep less and walk much more. Truly -<span class='pageno' id='Page_144'>144</span>I have scarcely time to live.” He besieged the -committee rooms, waiting for hours before the -doors to collar his man as he entered or retired. -He ate his morsel of bread alone in order to run -to the Assembly, where one was obliged to arrive -early in order to find a seat.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The spirit in which he went into the work was one -of declared war to the aristocratic party at Lyons and -to the old régime. He was determined to show up -the situation, and exhorted his friends at Lyons to -uncover all the rascality and pillage of the old administration. -The deputies from the Lyonnais were -not too sympathetic. They found the persistency, -the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">vertu</span></i>, the incessant indignation, the insistency -of Roland, tiresome. After sitting so many long -months, under such exciting circumstances, they -were weary. They saw the difficulties of getting a -hearing, too, from the Assembly.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Roland poured out all his impatience to Champagneux, -who was his confidant and sympathizer. Long -letters, written in his fine, nervous, execrable hand, -went almost daily to Lyons. They were full of -indignation at everything and everybody; especially -was the delay irritating to him. “If affairs do not -go backwards like the crab,” he says, “at least they -go no faster than the tortoise.” The delay disgusted -Madame Roland as much as it did her husband. Both -committee and Assembly were blamed by her. She -even wished that she were a man that she might do -something herself.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_145'>145</span>Of much more importance to their political lives -at this moment than Assembly, clubs, or committee -meetings, were the frequent gatherings of patriots -held at the Rolands’ apartments, in the Rue Guénégaud. -They were “grandly lodged,” the quarter -was agreeable, and many of their friends lived but -a short distance away. As Roland found it necessary -to see the deputies frequently, he gathered them -about him in his home. Brissot was the nucleus of -the little circle. The relation with Brissot had been, -up to this time, purely by correspondence. When -they came to Paris naturally they were anxious to -see him. They liked him at once. His simple manners, -his frankness, his natural negligence, seemed -in harmony with the austerity of his principles. A -more entire disinterestedness and a greater zeal for -public affairs were impossible, it seemed to them. He -was admirable, too, as a man, a good husband, a tender -father, a faithful friend, a virtuous citizen. His -society was charming; for he was gay, naïve, imprudently -confident, the nature of a sweet-tempered boy -of fifteen. Such Brissot seemed to Madame Roland, -who esteemed him more and more the longer she -knew him.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Brissot brought several of his friends to see them. -Among the most important of these were Pétion and -Robespierre. The most interesting of the group was -Buzot, of whom we shall hear much, later. To -Pétion, Robespierre, and Buzot were added Clavière, -Louis Noailles, Volfius, Antoine, Garran (“Cato Garran”), -<span class='pageno' id='Page_146'>146</span>Grégoire, Garaud, and several others. In -April Thomas Paine appeared. So agreeable and -profitable were these informal reunions found to be -that it was arranged to hold them four times a week. -The guests came between the close of the sessions -of the Assembly and the opening of the Jacobins. -The condition of affairs in general and of the Assembly -in particular was discussed; the measures which -should be taken were suggested, and means of proposing -them arranged; the interests of the people, -the tactics of the Court and of individuals, were constantly -criticised.</p> - -<p class='c008'>To Madame Roland these gatherings were of absorbing -interest. She calculated carefully her relation -to them, the place she ought to occupy in them, -and she affirms that she never deviated from it. -“Seated near a window before a little table on which -were books, writing materials, and sewing, I worked, -or I wrote letters while they discussed. I preferred -to write; for it made me appear more indifferent to -what was going on, and permitted me to follow it -almost as well. I can do more than one thing at -a time, and the habit of writing permits me to carry -on my correspondence while listening to something -quite different from what I am writing. It seems to -me that I am three; I divide my attention into two -as if it were a material thing, and I consider and -direct these two parts as if I were quite another. I -remember one day, when the gentlemen, not agreeing, -made considerable noise, that Clavière, noticing -<span class='pageno' id='Page_147'>147</span>the rapidity with which I wrote, said good-naturedly -that it was only a woman’s head which was capable -of such a thing, but he declared himself astonished at -it all the same. ‘What would you say,’ I asked, -smiling, ‘if I should repeat all your arguments?’</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Excepting the customary compliments on the -arrival or departure of the gentlemen, I never -allowed myself to pronounce a word, although I -often had to bite my lips to prevent it. If any one -spoke to me, it was after the club work and all -deliberation were at an end. A carafe of water and -a bowl of sugar were the only refreshments they -found, and I told them it was all that it seemed to -me appropriate to offer to men who came together -to discuss after dinner.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>She was not always satisfied with the results of -these gatherings. There were plenty of good things -said, but they rarely ended in a systematic résumé. -Ideas were advanced, but few measures resulted. It -was fruitless conversation, in short, and she generalized: -“The French do not know how to deliberate. -A certain lightness leads them from one subject to -another, but prevents order and complete analysis. -They do not know how to listen. He who speaks -always expands his own idea; he occupies himself -rather in developing his own thought than in answering -that of another. Their attention is easily -fatigued; a laugh is awakened by a word and a jest -overthrows logic.” A more just observation on -French conversation would be impossible. It is its -<span class='pageno' id='Page_148'>148</span>delight. A constant bound from one idea to another, -indifference to the outcome if the attention is kept, -insistence by each individual upon expressing his -thought at will, with eloquence and with fantasy, -lawlessness, recklessness of expression, characterize -all groups of clever Frenchmen who meet to talk. -But this is conversation for pleasure, not discussion -for results. It was in mistaking this intellectual -game of words and sentiments for reflections and -reason that one of the greatest mistakes of the Rolands -lay. It was these vagaries of speech in public, -in private, in print (the pamphlets which poured -from the press were little more than random bits -of conversation and as little reflective), which kept -the public, the Assembly, the Court, in a constant -state of ebb and flow. But Madame Roland herself -was a victim to this popular weakness. Her letters, -which are almost invariably outbursts of feeling -rather than of reflection, may safely be considered -an index to what she was in conversation.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Another real trouble of the moment which Madame -Roland notes, though she does not see that she -shares it, she expressed to Bancal:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“I have had the opportunity of seeing, since my -sojourn here, that it is much more difficult to do -good than even reflecting men imagine. It is not -possible to do good in politics, save by uniting efforts; -and there is nothing so difficult as to unite different -minds to work persistently for the same end. Everybody -believes only in the efficacy of his own system, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_149'>149</span>and his own way. He is irritated and bored by -that of another, and because he does not know how -to bend to an idea a little different from his own, he -ends by going alone, without doing anything useful. -For more than a century, philosophy has been preaching -tolerance; it has begun to root itself in some -minds; but I see little of it in our customs. Our -fine minds laugh at patience as a negative virtue. I -confess that in my eyes it is the true sign of the -force of the soul, the fruit of profound reflection, the -necessary means for conciliating men and spreading -instruction, in short, the virtue of a free people. We -have everything to learn on this subject.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Madame Roland’s letters written at this period -abound in similar just criticisms on the Revolutionary -temper. Her remarkably virile and comprehensive -intellect penetrated the real weaknesses of the movement -whenever she considered men and measures impersonally. -Then she grasped perfectly the meaning -of things, and her observations were profound, her -insight keen, her judgments wise, and her conclusions -statesmanlike.</p> - -<p class='c008'>However discreet Madame Roland may have been -at the gatherings in her salon, however silent she -may have kept, she gained at this period a veritable -supremacy over the group of patriots. There were -many reasons for this. She embodied in a sort of -Greek clearness and chastity the principles they professed. -No one had a clearer conception of the ideal -government which France should have; no one expressed -<span class='pageno' id='Page_150'>150</span>more eloquently all this government ought -to do; no one idealized the future with more imagination, -more hopefulness. No one gave himself more -fully to the cause than this woman who would not go -to the theatre because the country was in peril; who -could not look at pictures; who was ashamed to -send Bancal a song in exchange for one he had sent -her, because it was not grave enough for the circumstances; -who was even “ashamed to write of songs.” -She became in a way the ideal Revolutionary figure, -a Greek statue, the type of the Republic of which -they dreamed.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Her inflexibility was as great a power over her -friends. They wavered, compromised, stopped at -practical results instead of pushing to ideal ones. -She had decision, firmness of purpose, the determination -to reach the end, and her influence over them -was powerful because of this unyielding attitude. -Nothing daunted her. Riot and war were sacred -necessities. To die was their duty. Nothing could -have been more inspiring than her firmness of purpose, -her superb indifference to consequences. This -high attitude had something of the inspired sibyl in -it. Their “Greek statue” became their prophetess. -Her very cruelty was divine. It was the “wrath -of the gods,” the “righteous indignation” of the -moralist.</p> - -<p class='c008'>No doubt the personal charm of Madame Roland -had much to do with her influence. All who knew -her testify to her attractiveness. Guillon de Montléon, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_151'>151</span>by no means a sympathetic critic, speaks of -“her pleasant, piquant face, her active, brilliant -mind.” Arthur Young, who saw her in 1789, describes -her as “young and beautiful.” Dumont -declares that to “every personal charm” she joined -“all merits of character.” Dumouriez, who certainly -knew all the beautiful women of his day, found her -most attractive, and speaks especially of her taste -and elegance in dress. Lemontey says of her: “Her -eyes, her head, her hair, were of remarkable beauty. -Her delicate complexion had a freshness of color -which, joined to her air of reserve and candor, made -her seem singularly young. I found in her none of -the elegant Parisian air which she claims in her -Memoirs, though I do not mean to say that she was -awkward.” And he adds, she talked “well, too well.” -Indeed, all her contemporaries testify to her brilliant -conversation. Tissot tells of her “sonorous, flexible -voice, infinite charm in talking, eloquence which -came from her heart.” As the tradition in the -family of Madame Roland goes, she was short and -stout, possessed no taste in dress, and could be called -neither beautiful, nor even pretty. However, vivacity, -sympathy, and intelligence were so combined in -her face, and her voice was so mellow and vibrating, -that she exercised a veritable charm when she talked. -She herself considered her chief attraction to be her -conversational power. In one of the frequent self-complacent -passages in her Memoirs, she repeats a -remark of Camille Desmoulins, that he could not -<span class='pageno' id='Page_152'>152</span>understand how a woman of her age and with so -little beauty had so many admirers, and she comments: -“He had never heard me talk.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>The portraits of Madame Roland, of which there -are numbers, nearly all show a singularly winning -and piquant face. Several good collections of these -portraits are in existence. The Coste collection of -Lyons contained thirty-three different engravings -and medallions of her, and the print department of -the Carnavalet Museum and of the Bibliothèque -Nationale have both rather good specimens. By far -the best collection, however, is in the town museum -of Versailles—a recent donation of M. Vatel, a well-known -collector of Gironde and Charlotte Corday -documents and curios.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_152fp.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>MADAME ROLAND.<br /><br />After a crayon portrait owned by the family.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_153'>153</span>The only surely authentic portrait of Madame -Roland is that facing this page. The original is -in red crayon and much faded, but a faithful copy in -black, well preserved, bearing the date of 1822, is in -the possession of the great-granddaughter of Madame -Roland, Madame Marillier of Paris. If one compares -this portrait with that of Heinsius at Versailles, he -will see that they have nothing in common. Heinsius’ -portrait was bought in Louis Philippe’s time, -and bore the name of Madame Roland up to 1865, -when the placard was taken off because nothing -proved that it was she. However, it still figures in -the catalogue as Madame Roland, and photographs -made after it are sold in all Paris shops. The director -of the Versailles Gallery was preparing in 1893 -to revise the catalogue, and purposed then to take the -necessary steps to establish the authenticity of the -painting, but as late as May, 1894, it still was marked -Madame Roland. The family do not regard the -picture as authentic; one point they make against it -is that it is a full-face view, while, according to their -traditions, Madame Roland never allowed anything -but a profile to be made. It bears no resemblance to -other authentic portraits, and is especially displeasing -because of the full eyes, and the bold expression. -These characteristics, however, Heinsius gave -to all his portraits of French women; thus, the -portraits of Mesdames Victoire and Adelaide at Versailles -are almost coarse in expression, and in striking -contrast to the other pictures of them which -hang in the same gallery. The best reason for -supposing Heinsius’ portrait to be Madame Roland -is a sketch owned by the Carnavalet bearing the -inscription <span class='sc'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">M. J. Phlipon, gravé par son père à -19 ans</span></span>, which strikingly resembles it.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The reproduction of the painting at the Musée -Carnavalet, as well as that of the cameo head, -is due to the kindness of the director, M. Cousins. -The painting is a new acquisition of the museum, -exhibited for the first time in April, 1892. It is -more apocryphal even than the picture of Heinsius. -It is a picture of the time—that of a very -charming woman, but it has almost nothing in common -with Madame Roland. The eyes are blue and -hers were brown, the hair is lighter, the chin is not -<span class='pageno' id='Page_154'>154</span>so round and firm, the neck is longer. Besides it is -a full-face view, thus contradicting the family tradition. -As for the cameo head, it is evidently made -after the family picture or the engraving of Gaucher, -which latter possesses all the characteristics of the -former.</p> - -<p class='c008'>One other portrait should not be forgotten; it is -that traced in June, 1793, on the records of the -prison of Sainte Pélagie by her jailer.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Marie-Jeanne Phlipon, wife of Roland, ex-minister, -aged thirty-nine years, native of Paris, living -Rue de la Harpe, No. 5.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Height, five feet; hair and eyebrows dark chestnut; -brown eyes; medium nose; ordinary mouth; -oval face; round chin; high forehead.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_155'>155</span> - <h2 class='c006'>VII<br /> <span class='large'>A STICK IN THE WHEEL</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c007'>During the months that the Rolands were in -Paris, they were in constant correspondence with -Champagneux at Lyons. Their letters, for the most -part unpublished, show the state of mind into which -French idealists worked themselves in this period. -Dissatisfied because the Assembly had not been able -to complete the regeneration of France in two years, -suspicious of everybody whose views differed from -theirs, anxious to show how reconstruction should be -conducted and how easy it is to run a government -if you understand the principles and possess civic -virtue, this party of which the Rolands are excellent -types worked incessantly to discredit the government, -to arouse contempt for the work the Assembly -had been able to do, and to show that Louis XVI. -could not be in earnest in his declaration of fidelity -to reforms instituted.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The Rolands lamented daily in their letters to -Champagneux and other friends that public opinion -was languishing, that the country was falling into -the sleep of the enslaved, that the Assembly was -<span class='pageno' id='Page_156'>156</span>worn out. They tried to arouse them to suspicion -like their own by repeating all the alarming reports -which ran the street without, of course, ever taking -pains to verify their truthfulness, and by railing at -them because they were inclined to feel that reforms -were being brought about quite as rapidly as in the -nature of the situation was possible.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It was not many months before their exasperation -had reached such a pitch that they were convinced -that civil war was necessary, and they began to look -about for reasons with which to alarm and push on -the people to it. The only adequate one they found -was to persuade the country that the King was plotting -with the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">émigrés</span></i> on the border, and that they and -the Austrians were watching for a chance to attack -France, overturn the new government, and restore -the old régime. On June 22d an event occurred -which in Madame Roland’s opinion was ample proof -of the truthfulness of their opinions. On the morning -of that day Madame Roland opened a letter -written the day before to Bancal to say: “The King -and Queen have fled, the shops are closed, the greatest -tumult reigns. It is almost impossible that Lafayette -should not be an accomplice.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>For twenty-four hours she was in an ecstasy of -patriotic hopefulness. The flight of the King was -a renunciation of the contract he had made with his -people in taking the oath to support the constitution. -The evident duty of the country was to declare him -dethroned and to establish a republic. She was so -<span class='pageno' id='Page_157'>157</span>excited she could not stay at home, but went among -her friends, urging them to immediate action.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Her fixed principle that a woman should take no -part in public proceedings was laid aside now. “As -long as peace lasted,” she wrote her friend, “I played -a peaceable rôle and exerted that kind of influence -which seems to me suitable to my sex. Now that -the flight of the King has declared war, it seems -to me that every one must devote himself without -reserve. I have joined the fraternal societies, because -convinced that zeal and a good thought may sometimes -be useful in a time of crisis.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Her joy was short. The tumult which threatened -in Paris was promptly quieted by Lafayette, at the -head of the National Guards. The citizens were exhorted -to calm, to vigilance, to confidence in the Assembly. -Madame Roland writhed under this attitude. -“Is this the place to be tranquil and contented?” -she cried. She and her friends, convinced that the -measures to prevent a riot and restore order were -directed especially at themselves, gathered at Robespierre’s, -where they considered ways of driving the -people to an action of which the Assembly was -incapable.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In the midst of their activity the King was brought -back, and to their dismay they saw that he would -in all probability be kept in place without public -trial. Their alarm was intense. Without the King -they were convinced all would be well. Regeneration -was certain if royalty could be dispensed with. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_158'>158</span>Nothing else was preventing the adoption of a Republic. -He was “worse than a stick in a wheel,” -declared Roland to Champagneux.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">mêlée</span></i> of opinion which followed the King’s -return, Madame Roland’s position was well defined: -“To put the King back on the throne,” she wrote, -“is an absurdity; to declare him incapable is to be -obliged, according to the constitution, to name a -regent; to name a regent would confirm the vices -of the constitution at a moment when one can and -ought to correct them. The most just measure -would be to try him; but the country is incapable of -anything so lofty as that. There is nothing to do -but suspend and guard him while searching those -who aided in his flight; to go on acting without -royal consent and, in order to put more regularity -and activity into the distribution and exercise of -power, name a temporary President. In this way -it would be easy to show Paris and the departments -that a king is not necessary and that the machine can -go on well enough without him.” This programme -she was willing to “preach from the roofs,” but it -was not adopted. The King was restored.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The Republic which she and her friends dreamed -of at this moment and did not hesitate to announce, -was not in the public mind, and when they insisted -upon it, they were insisting upon an individual -opinion of which the country at large had no conception, -and for which it had no sympathy. By her -own confession both the Assembly and the Jacobins -<span class='pageno' id='Page_159'>159</span>“went into convulsions” at the mere pronunciation -of the name <em>Republic</em>. There were only two societies -which, after the flight of the King, dared declare -themselves <em>tyrannicides</em>,—the Cordeliers and a group -of private individuals. At the Cercle Social they -did discuss whether it was suitable or not to conserve -kings, but at the Jacobins the very name <em>Republican</em> -was hissed. Nevertheless they worked valiantly to -spread their ideas. Robert published a pamphlet -on the “Advantages of the flight of the King and -the necessity of a new government or Republic.” -Condorcet published a discussion “Whether a king -is necessary to the conservation of liberty”; and -Brissot, at the Jacobins, made a hit with a speech -in which he showed that the cry that the King was -inviolable and could not be tried was false; that even -if inviolability were admitted it did not apply in -this case; and that according to the constitution the -King could and ought to be tried.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Thomas Paine was then in Paris, believing as -Dumont says, that he had made the American Revolution -and was called upon to make another in France. -With Condorcet, Brissot, and a few others as sympathizers, -Paine formed a republican society. Their -first concern was to publish a journal, the prospectus -of which was posted by Paine on the morning of the -first of July. In it he declared that the King by his -flight is “free of us as we are of him. He has no -longer any authority; we no longer owe him obedience; -we know him now only as an individual in the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_160'>160</span>crowd, as M. Louis de Bourbon”; and he concluded -his harangue by the announcement that “A society -of republicans had decided to publish in separate -sheets a work entitled <cite>The Republican</cite>. Its object is to -enlighten people’s minds on this republicanism which -is calumniated because it is not understood; on the -uselessness, the vices, and the abuses of the royalty -that prejudice persists in defending, although they -may be known.” This poster made a great noise in -the Assembly, where it was denounced as “worthy -of all the rigor of the law.” According to Madame -Roland, it was only by flattering the Assembly’s love -for the monarchy and by abusing republicanism and -its partisans, that it was possible to convince the -body that however ridiculous the idea might be, still -it was necessary to leave it free course.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Only two numbers of <cite>The Republican</cite> appeared, -says Madame Roland, in her Memoirs; only one, -says Moncure D. Conway, in his life of Paine. As -a matter of fact, there were at least four issues, -that number being in the collection of Revolutionary -pamphlets in the Bibliothèque Nationale.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It was soon evident that the new cause would not -be supported. Nevertheless, the new word was -launched. The effect of the injudicious, impractical -action of Paine, Brissot, and their friends, Robespierre -described a few months later when he had broken -with the Brissotins. “The mere word <em>Republic</em> -caused division among the patriots, and gave the -enemies of liberty the evidence they sought to prove -<span class='pageno' id='Page_161'>161</span>that there existed in France a party which conspired -against the monarchy and the constitution; -they hastened to impute to this motive the firmness -with which we defended in the Constituent Assembly -the rights of national sovereignty against the monster -of inviolability. It is by this word that they -drove away the majority of the Constituent Assembly; -it is this word which was the signal for that massacre -of peaceable citizens whose whole crime was -exercising legally the right of petition, consecrated -by the constitutional laws. At this word the true -friends of liberty were travestied as factious by perverse -or ignorant citizens; and the Revolution put -back perhaps a half a century. It was in those -critical times that Brissot came to the society of the -Friends of the Constitution, where he had almost -never appeared, to propose changes in the form of -government, when the simplest rules of prudence -would have forbidden us to present the idea to the -Constituent Assembly.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>As soon as the Rolands and their friends saw that -the demand for the Republic was not welcomed by -the people, they turned their efforts towards securing -a trial for Louis XVI.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It seemed to be the only thing for which they -were strong enough. To do this they were willing -to unite with even demagogues, agitators, and with -the worst elements of the people. They had only -their voice and their pen, explains Madame Roland; -if a popular movement came to their aid -<span class='pageno' id='Page_162'>162</span>they welcomed it with pleasure without looking -after, or disturbing themselves about, its origin. -Beside they could not believe that a party made up -of the idle and the violent, and led by demagogues, -could be formidable. It was a force to be used when -needed, and crushed when the result desired had been -obtained. Even when the union of the Brissotins -with the populace had produced so serious a riot -as that of July 17, the “Massacre of the Champ-de-Mars,” -as the radicals called it, Madame Roland -did not change her views. She refused to see that -the disorder was provoked in any degree by the -people, and attributed the fault entirely to the -Assembly and Lafayette.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The letters they wrote to their friends after the -riot of the Champ-de-Mars are full of alarms and -of suspicions. “In less than twenty-four hours,” -Roland wrote to Champagneux, “there have been -about three hundred imprisoned at the Abbaye and -they are kept there in secret. People are taken up -in the night. There has just passed on the Pont -Neuf [it will be remembered that the Rolands were -in the Rue Guénégaud and could easily see] three -loaded wagons escorted by many National Guards. -They say Marat is there, and different club members. -Desmoulins is said to have fled; they are -after Brissot. The patriotic journalists are in bad -repute, and frightful charges against them are being -spread. The cross of Saint Louis multiplies incredibly. -The aristocrats are more sly and insolent than -<span class='pageno' id='Page_163'>163</span>ever. It was said yesterday in the Luxembourg that -this legislature could not endure more than six weeks -or two months; that there would be war with the -foreigners in this interval; that the King and the -ministers would come out ahead; that they would -displace everybody, annul everything; and that they -would re-establish things on the old basis, but assuredly -not less despotic than before.... There -is nothing but treason, lies, poisons. Those who live -in hotels, or who are served by caterers, are afraid. A -great number sleep away from home. There were -hundreds of deaths at the Champ-de-Mars; husbands -killed their wives; relatives, relatives; friends, -friends. Saint Bartholomew, the dragonades, offered -nothing more horrible.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>But this is an alarmist’s letter, a repetition of -rumors, not a serious effort to picture what actually -occurred. Compare simply its statement of the -number of killed at the Champ-de-Mars—“hundreds”—with -the most trustworthy accounts, and -Roland’s and his wife’s state of mind is clear. Gouverneur -Morris, who was in Paris at the moment, -went to the “elevation opposite”—the present -Trocadéro—to see the trouble. He says there were -a “dozen or two” killed; Prudhomme says fifty; -the official report gives twelve killed and the same -number wounded. The same exaggerated statements -characterize all their letters.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Before the summer of 1791 was over Madame -Roland was certain that public opinion could not be -<span class='pageno' id='Page_164'>164</span>aroused to another revolution; that the “stick” was -going to stay in the “wheel”; that the Republic could -not be established. As this conviction grew on her, -she lost heart. “I have had enough of Paris, at least -for this time.” She wrote: “I feel the need of going -to see my trees, after having seen so many dolts and -knaves. One rejoices in this little circle of honest -souls when his cause triumphs, but when the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">cabale</span></i> is -on top, when the wicked succeed and error is ahead, -there is nothing to do but go home and plant cabbages.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>And this she decided to do very soon, for the -beginning of September she left Paris for Villefranche. -Everything on the trip discouraged her. -She wrote Robespierre: “I find the people on the -route, as in Paris, deceived by their enemies or ignorant -of the true state of things; everywhere the mass -is well disposed; it is just because its interest is the -general interest, but it is misled or stupid. Nowhere -have I met people with whom I could talk openly -and advantageously of our political situation; I contented -myself by distributing copies of your address -in all the places through which I passed; they will -be found after my departure and furnish an excellent -text for meditation.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>It was even worse at Villefranche, where, on arriving, -she made a tour of observation. She was convinced -that the most of the inhabitants were utterly -despicable, and made so by the existing social institutions; -that they loved the Revolution only because it -<span class='pageno' id='Page_165'>165</span>destroyed what was above them, but that they knew -nothing of the theory of free government, and did not -sympathize with that “sublime and delicious theory -which makes us brothers”; that they hated the name -of Republic, and that a king appeared to them essential -to their existence.</p> - -<p class='c008'>She was as disgusted with Lyons for its devotion -to the aristocracy. Its elections she declared detestable -and the deputies nothing but enemies of liberty. -The officers in the department were as badly chosen -as the representatives; “if one was to judge of representative -government by the little experience we have -had of it so far, we cannot esteem ourselves very -happy”; the elections were bought, so were the administrators, -so the representatives, who in their turn -sold the people. Even at Le Clos, where she went -immediately for the fall vintage, there was a cloud; -for the calumnies spread at Lyons about Roland when -it was a question of nominating him for the Assembly, -had reached the hills, and the people attributed their -absence in Paris to the supposed arrest of Roland for -<em>counter-revolution</em>. When she went out to walk she -heard behind her the cry <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Les aristocrates à la lanterne</span></i>.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Although Madame Roland sighed to escape from -the “dolts and knaves” of Paris and longed for the -peace of the country, the sentiment was only a passing -one. The charm of the little circle she criticised -so freely, the friendships she had formed, her devotion -to the public cause, all these things made the -absence from Paris hard to bear. On leaving she had -<span class='pageno' id='Page_166'>166</span>hoped it would be only temporary. Roland was -much talked of as a candidate for the new Assembly, -and if he succeeded, it would take them back to -Paris. She knew before her arrival at Le Clos that -he had failed to secure the nomination. The news -deepened her irritation at the condition of public -affairs, strengthened the sense of oppression which -the province produced, made her dissatisfied with -Le Clos, her husband’s future, Eudora.</p> - -<p class='c008'>She had not seen her little daughter for seven -months. She was deeply disappointed that she had -changed so little. It seemed to her that she had -gained nothing in the interval of separation, and that -she had no idea of anything but loving and being -loved. There was one way of awakening the child, -however, in her judgment. She told Roland of it in -one of the first letters she wrote him after reaching -Villefranche, when she said: “Hasten back so that we -may put our affairs in shape, and arrange to return -to Paris as often as possible. I am not ambitious of -the pleasures there, but such is the stupidity of our -only child that I see no hope of making anything -of her except by showing her as many objects as -possible, and finding something which will interest -her.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>For Roland, too, she felt that Paris was necessary. -She was pained at the idea that he was going to be -thrown back into silence and obscurity. He was accustomed -to public life; it was more necessary to -him than he himself thought, and she feared that his -<span class='pageno' id='Page_167'>167</span>energy and activity would be fatal to his health, if -they were not employed according to his tastes.</p> - -<p class='c008'>When Roland came back, he shared her feelings. -He soon finished his affairs at Lyons, for the National -Assembly had abolished the office of inspector of -manufactures, and they spent the fall at Le Clos, -occupied with the vintage, but they were restless. -They had but little income and they turned their -minds again to the idea of the pension, to which -Roland’s forty years of service had certainly entitled -him. If they were at Paris, perhaps it could be -obtained. Then Roland’s work, which was simply -the encyclopædia, would certainly be easier “at the -fireside of light among <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">savants</span></i> and artists than at the -bottom of a desert”; for such their retreat seemed -to them. They felt the need, too, of being near the -centre of affairs; they ought to be where they could -“watch”; where they could help bring about the -“shock” which must come soon or the public cause -would be lost forever. Their dissatisfaction became -so great in the end, and public affairs so exciting, -that they decided to go to Paris.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_168'>168</span> - <h2 class='c006'>VIII<br /> <span class='large'>WORKING FOR A SECOND REVOLUTION</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c007'>But how could they justify themselves in their -determination to bring about a new “shock,” -a second revolution? The Revolution was finished. -In the twenty-eight months that the Constituent Assembly -had been in operation, it had formed a constitution, -accepted by Louis XVI. in September, 1791, -which had cut from the nation a score of obnoxious -and poisonous social, political, and economic growths. -This constitution guaranteed, as natural and civil -rights, that all citizens should be admissible to place -and to employment without other distinction than -that of virtue and talents; that all contributions be -levied equally among the people in proportion to -their ability, and that the same violations of law be -punished in the same way. Every man might go -and come as he would, speak, write, print, what he -wished. There was no limit to the right to assemble -peaceably, or to make petitions. Property was -inviolable. Relief for the old, the weak, the poor, -was promised. Public education was to be organized. -The sovereignty rested in the nation; from -<span class='pageno' id='Page_169'>169</span>it came all the power. The constitution was represented -by a legislative body, and the King could -not dissolve this assembly. He was King of the -French, and his person was sacred, but he was inferior -to the law, and reigned by it and in its -name.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Undoubtedly, as Étienne Dumont said, “the constitution -had too much of a republic for a monarchy, -and too much of a monarchy for a republic. The -King was a <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">hors d’œuvre</span></i>. He was everywhere in -appearance, and he had no real power,” but evidently -here was a basis which gave every man in France a -chance, and which offered the opportunity to work -out a satisfactory liberal government. To refuse to -work with this constitution was to continue and to -increase the disorganization, the hatred, the fear, -which had been agitating France for so long; it was -to prevent the new government having a fair chance, -and was to make any correction of the constitution -impossible. How could Madame Roland justify her -resolve to prevent peace?</p> - -<p class='c008'>Her ideal was not satisfied. It mattered little to -her that the people were indifferent to this ideal; -that they were satisfied with the constitution and -asked for nothing but a chance to let it work. The -satisfaction of this ideal had become a necessity, an -imperative personal need. She could not give it up. -It was too beautiful.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Even if she could support the idea of a constitutional -monarchy, she could not believe in the sincerity -<span class='pageno' id='Page_170'>170</span>of the king and court. “I have never been -able to believe in the constitutional vocation of a -king, born under despotism, raised by it and accustomed -to exercise it.” She wrote in her Memoirs: -“Louis XVI. would have been a man much above -the average had he sincerely desired a constitution -which restrained his power. If he had been such -a man, he would never have allowed the events -which brought about the constitution.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>In her judgment the supporters of the monarchy -were “traitors,” the constitutionalists a “cabale.” -This suspicion had become a disease.</p> - -<p class='c008'>While she doubted the sincerity, the patriotism, -the unselfishness of all parties but her own, she had -profound confidence in herself. She saw no rôle -in the world she says in her Memoirs, which suited -her exactly except that of Providence. She had -penetration, and flattered herself that she knew a -“false eye” at first glance. She and Roland were -“strong in reason and in character,” but she was -convinced that she was better than he. “I have as -much firmness and more flexibility. My energy -has more agreeable forms, but it is founded on the -same principles. I shock less and I penetrate -deeper.” As for the majority of the human race, -it was a “poor” affair.</p> - -<p class='c008'>She not only suspected the old régime, and believed -herself superior to it; she cherished a personal -grievance against it. It had refused her solicitations -although they were just. She did not forgive -<span class='pageno' id='Page_171'>171</span>the humiliation. She was near enough to the Court -now to feel her dependence upon it. Years before -she had written to Sophie: “I love my prince because -I feel my dependence but little; if I were too -near him, I should hate his grandeur.” She is “too -near” now, and her prophecy is realized. She “hates -his grandeur.” It is a species of that resentful jealousy -which distorts certain really superior natures -when they find themselves in the presence of material -splendor or of persons of lofty rank.</p> - -<p class='c008'>When the Rolands went up to Paris in December, -1791, they found there a number of important persons -who felt as they did, members of the Legislative -Assembly, which had assembled on October 1st. -They found, too, that they were already allied with -their friends Brissot, Robespierre, and Pétion, all -three of whom held prominent public positions, -Brissot being a deputy to the Assembly from Paris, -and at the head of the diplomatic committee; Robespierre, -criminal accuser; Pétion, mayor.</p> - -<p class='c008'>This party of new deputies whom they found so -congenial were known as the Gironde from the department -whence most of them had come. They -were all young and all endowed with great talent. -They had been brought up on Plutarch and Rousseau, -and their heads were filled with noble doctrines -and drafts of perfect constitutions. When -they talked, it was in classic phrases. Their arguments -were based on what happened in Greece and -Rome. Their illustrations were drawn from ancient -<span class='pageno' id='Page_172'>172</span>heroes. There could be no doubt of the sincerity -of their patriotism, of the nobility of their aspirations, -of the purity of their lives, of their anxiety -to die, if need be, for France.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But they had no experience of politics, of men, -or of society, save what they had gotten from -short terms in provincial law offices and clubs. -They had never come into contact with other forces -than the petty agitations and wire-pulling of their -home towns. Of the force of human passions, of -the lethargy and persistence of the mass of men, -of the fine diplomacy of the trained statesman, they -had not a notion.</p> - -<p class='c008'>They knew their Plutarch well, to be sure; but -all they had drawn from him was a glibness in making -fine periods and certain lofty sentiments, a species -of patriotic emotionalism by which they could -move and thrill men. Of practical policy for difficult -and complicated situations, like the one they -had been elected to face, they had not a shadow.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In courage, in audacity, in buoyancy of spirits, in -eloquence, in bright visions, in purity of life, they -are all that one’s imagination could paint. A more -lovable and inspiring group of young men was never -called together. But there was not one of them in -whom contact with the world and sober reflection, -had developed the common sense, the clear comprehensive -judgment, the hard determination to do his -best, and the simple honesty which alone make men -fit for public office.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_173'>173</span>They were as blindly partisan as Madame Roland, -and what Dumont said of Brissot was applicable to -the Gironde as a whole: “He was one of those men -in whom the party spirit was stronger than all moral, -or rather he saw no moral save in his own party. -No one had so much zeal of the convent as he. Dominican, -he would have burned the heretics; Roman, -he would not have been unworthy of following Cato -and Regulus; French republican, he wished to destroy -the monarchy and to reach his object did not shrink -from calumny, persecution, or death on the scaffold.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>They all had the malady of the times,—suspicion. -It had become a species of superstition with them. -“One may laugh if he will,” said Dumont, “at these -imaginary terrors, but they made the second revolution.” -It was useless to argue with them, to give -them proofs to call upon their good-will; they were -suspicious and what they imagined was as real to them -as if it had actually existed. They did not need -proofs, mistrust never does. They were possessed by -a sentiment and reason had no place.</p> - -<p class='c008'>As for their self-confidence, it was monumental. -“No argument, no criticism, was listened to by -them,” says Mme. de Staël. “They answered the -observations of disinterested wisdom by a mocking -smile. One wore himself out in reminding them of -circumstances and what had led to them; if they -condescended to answer, they denied the most evident -facts and observations and used in opposition -<span class='pageno' id='Page_174'>174</span>to them common maxims, though, to be sure, expressed -eloquently.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Feeling as they did, the only logical thing for them -was to struggle to obtain power. If they were the -“Providence” of France, it was their duty to get to -the front. It was not for the sake of power that -they made this effort. It was because they alone -in their own judgment were sufficiently virtuous and -enlightened to carry out the doctrines. They were -“called” to preach liberty and a republic, and they -went to their work in the same frame of exaltation -and expectation as he goes who preaches the Kingdom -of Heaven.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The only way in which they could arrive at power -was by uniting with one of the two parties in the -Assembly, with the constitutionalists or the Mountain, -as the Radicals were termed. The former was composed -of the well-to-do and the experienced men of -the Assembly. It supported the King. It was the -more honest and trustworthy, but it was accused of -“aspiring secretly to increase the royal authority and -to form two chambers.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>The Mountain was the party of the agitators and -the street. It had the audacity, the violence, and the -populace of the faubourgs. The talents, education, -eloquence, refinement, of the Gironde were in harmony -with the conservatives, but they could not believe -that there was not a secret plot hidden under the -patriotic pretensions of the constitutionalists. Their -self-pride was irritated, too, by the aristocratic traditions, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_175'>175</span>the courtly manners, and the reasonableness of -the moderates. There was a subtile superiority in -their wisdom, their gracious bearing, their <em>finesse</em> -which the Girondins resented.</p> - -<p class='c008'>As for the Mountain the Girondins feared its violence, -its open advocacy of bloodshed less than -they did its suspicion. They wanted to be considered -the purest of the patriots and they could not -support the idea that there was any one who pushed -farther than they in making claims for the “sovereign” -and for the “divine right of insurrection.” They had -not the practical sense, the experience, and the disinterestedness -to judge the Mountain, to see that it was -chaotic, violent, irrational. Because it called itself -the representative of the poor and the suffering, they -imagined that it must be virtuous, and they wished -its support. They feared its opinion of them even -more than they feared the skeleton in the conservative -closet.</p> - -<p class='c008'>To gain its favor they were even willing to sacrifice -personal dignity and delicacy. The Mountain was -ragged and dirty, ill-bred and foul-mouthed, but they -shared a superstition of the day that rags and dirt, -little bread and a hut for a home, are signs of -patriotism, and if a man is poor, therefore he must -have good principles. They found the coarseness of -the Mountain more endurable than the etiquette of the -Court. Pétion, at his public dinners as mayor, received -the Gironde. Among his guests were many -“patriots” of the rudest sort, yet Condorcet, Guadet, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_176'>176</span>Gensonné, Roland, laughed at Chabot when he put on -a <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">bonnet rouge</span></i> and went through a series of low buffoonery, -mocking the King, and applauded jests of -“shocking grossness.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Thus suspicion drove them from the conservative -party, while fear of suspicion drove them towards -the Mountain. Resentment at superior refinement -turned their sympathy from the decent element of -the Assembly, while a superstition about the true -meaning of rags, dirt, and disorder awakened it for -the wanton element.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Just as they floated between the parties of the Assembly, -they vacillated between the clubs,—the Feuillants, -which was for the constitution, and the Jacobins, -which was for anarchy. Their object was not simply -to do what was just and honorable, it was to do -what would carry them into power. They must -have power in order to carry their cause. To serve -their party all means were justifiable. It was their -uncertainty about which side would the quicker give -them the leadership of the Assembly which explains -their wavering over all the questions which absorbed -the attention of the Legislative Assembly,—such as -the questions of the unsworn priests, the immigration -of nobles, and the declaration of war against Austria.</p> - -<p class='c008'>When the Rolands came up to Paris in December, -the Gironde was floating between the two other -parties, fearing both, suspected by both. Hate, defiance, -exaggeration, were at their height. No one -knew what would happen next. “You would say -<span class='pageno' id='Page_177'>177</span>it was a fleet at anchor in a thick fog,” wrote Morris -to Washington. “No one dares to put up sail for -fear of running against a rock.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>When Madame Roland appeared on the scene, she -had no hesitation in deciding what should be done -by the Gironde. She had been too firmly convinced -since the fall of the Bastille of the benefits of anarchy -to fear it now. The lack of it had long been -her despair. She was too suspicious of all persons of -aristocratic origin to tolerate any union with the conservative -party. She was too firmly convinced of the -value of war as a “great school of public virtue” to -hesitate about offensive operations.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Arrived in Paris, they settled in the Rue de la -Harpe, where they lived very quietly, Roland occupying -himself with the encyclopædia, with his plan -for a pension, and with his friends. He went to the -chief places of Gironde rendezvous when he had -leisure, and they came to him sometimes. His chief -political work, however, was at the Jacobin Club, -where he was engaged on a committee.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Their life was very quiet until March, when it -suddenly changed. A friend dropping in one day -told Madame Roland that the patriots were to be -asked to form a ministry and that as they were -going to seek men of ability and courage, Roland -had been thought of for a portfolio. Some days later -(March 21, 1792) Brissot came to see her to inquire -if Roland would accept if asked. They talked the -matter over, considered its dangers, sounded its possibilities,—the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_178'>178</span>next day Brissot was told in classic -phrase that Roland’s courage did not falter, that the -knowledge of his force inspired him with confidence -in his ability to be useful to the country and to -liberty.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The movement which had brought about the Girondin -ministry had been led by Brissot. After the -vetoes of the King to the decrees against the priests -and <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">émigrés</span></i>, every effort had been made by the Jacobins -to show that the ministry of the King was in -secret sympathy with Court and <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">émigrés</span></i>, that while -posing as constitutional, they were, in fact, anti-constitutional. -Brissot had led this movement, and had -condescended to some very low manœuvres to discredit -certain members of the ministry. His plans -had at last succeeded, and Louis XVI., hoping to -quiet suspicion, had consented to name a cabinet -which would satisfy the Girondins.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It was in this body that Roland had been asked to -take the Department of the Interior. As was to be -expected, the conservatives criticised the new ministers -harshly from the first. Roland was pictured to -the country by the <cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Mercure</span></cite> as one of the principal -agitators of Lyons; “no administrative talent, no experience -in affairs of state, a hot head, and the principles -of the times in their greatest exaggeration.” -The conservative element naturally accepted this -characterization; for, outside of the manufacturing -world, Roland was utterly unknown. As for the -Jacobin element, it was a question of how far in -<span class='pageno' id='Page_179'>179</span>anarchy the cabinet would go; if it kept up with -them, well and good; if it fell behind, then let it -take care.</p> - -<p class='c008'>With Roland’s appointment, Madame Roland was -at once put into a position of responsibility and -power. The Hôtel of the Interior, into which they -moved, was situated in the Rue Neuve-des-Petits-Champs -at the point where the Rue Ventadour now -opens. It was a fine building which had been -arranged elegantly by Calonne for the controller-general. -In going into this palace they did not give -up their apartment in the Rue de la Harpe. The -other ministers settled themselves as if they were -to remain for life, but Madame Roland saw only the -“luxury of an inn” in the gilded hôtel, and kept her -modest apartment on the Left Bank, a “retreat which -one must always have in mind as certain philosophers -their coffins,” she told Bancal.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In no way were their habits changed by their new -position. Roland was, perhaps, even a little more -severe than usual, and took virtuous delight in appearing -at Court with ribbons on his shoes instead of -buckles, to the horror of the courtiers. They called -him a Quaker in Sunday dress, with his white hair -plastered down and sparsely powdered, his plain -black coat, above all his unadorned shoes. Madame -Roland arranged her life with strict regard for her -notions of classic simplicity. She neither made nor -received visits, and never invited women to dinner. -Every Friday she had the members of the ministry; -<span class='pageno' id='Page_180'>180</span>twice a week a mixed company of ministers, deputies, -and persons Roland wanted to see. Rarely -were there more than fifteen covers at table. One -sat down at five o’clock to a meal always simple, and -at nine o’clock this puritan household was closed. -Of course, there was the theatre, with a <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">loge</span></i> for the -minister, but it was not often that she left her duties -for it.</p> - -<p class='c008'>These duties were many; for the habit of working -with Roland, of copying, polishing, suggesting, begun -the first year of her marriage, over the dull pages of -the encyclopædia and continued at Amiens and Le -Clos, was carried into the ministry of the interior. -She went over the daily mail with her husband. -Together they noted the disorders in the country, -and together decided on the policy to pursue. She -gave her opinion on every subject, and exerted an -influence on every question of the ministry. This -was in private. In her salon she was as quiet as in -the little salon of the Hôtel Britannique; nevertheless, -she was always the spirit of the gatherings; a -skilful and gentle peacemaker in too hot disputes; -an inspiring advocate of the most radical undertakings; -an ardent defender of her own opinions.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Many of the measures to be proposed in the Assembly -by the Girondins originated in her salon; much -of Roland’s business with individuals was talked over -in her presence. It often happened that those who -had business with Roland came to her first with it.</p> - -<p class='c008'>She was especially influential when it came to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_181'>181</span>choosing persons for the positions in the department -which Roland controlled. She flattered herself on -her ability to tell a true patriot, and criticised and -praised candidates fearlessly. A minister of war was -wanted soon after Roland’s call to the cabinet. He -thought of Servan, because the man had exposed -patriotic principles in a creditable book, because he -had a reputation for activity, because he had lost a -court position on account of civism, and above all -because he declaimed bitterly against the aristocrats. -They wished to found a journal to represent their -party, and wanted a man “wise and enlightened” as -editor. They decided on Louvet, the author of -the most licentious novel of the day, because of -his “noble forehead, the fire which animated his -eye,” and the fine and eloquent political pamphlets -he had published. Because Pache had the simplicity -suitable to a republican and the manners of the ancients, -because he came to his office at seven o’clock -in the morning and stayed until three in the afternoon -with only a morsel of bread brought in his -pocket for lunch, because he was prudent, attentive, -zealous as a clerk, he was thought fit to be a minister.</p> - -<p class='c008'>They mistrusted all their colleagues who lacked -these qualities. In the ministry was General Dumouriez, -a diplomat of skill, devoted to the constitution, -skilful with men, wise with the King. He -had come to see the Rolands in the Rue de la Harpe -with Brissot to announce to them the call to the -ministry. When he left, Madame Roland said to her -<span class='pageno' id='Page_182'>182</span>husband: “There is a man I have seen for the -first time. He has a penetrating mind, a false eye; -perhaps it will be more necessary to suspect him -than anybody in the world. He has expressed great -satisfaction with the patriotic choice he has been -charged to announce, but I should not be astonished -if one day he caused you to be dismissed.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>She mistrusted Dumouriez at once because of his -courtly manners, and his belief that the King was -sincere in his efforts to support the constitution. -There was so great a difference between him and -Roland that she could not imagine the two working -together. In the one she saw “uprightness and -frankness personified, severe equity without any of -the devices of the courtier or of the society-man.” -In the other she believed she recognized “an intelligent -<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">roué</span></i>, a bold knight, who sneered at everything -except his own interests and his own glory.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>She did not change her idea of Dumouriez, although -obliged to confess that he had more <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">esprit</span></i> -than any one else in the ministry, that he was “diligent -and brave,” “a good general, a skilful courtier, -writing well, capable of great enterprises,” but his -“manners!” they were fit only for the ministerial -intrigues of a corrupt court.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Her suspicions extended to all his friends. “All -these fine fellows,” she said to a friend one day -<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">à propos</span></i> of Dumouriez’s followers, “seem poor patriots -to me. They care too much for themselves -to prefer the public good to their own interests. I -<span class='pageno' id='Page_183'>183</span>can never resist the temptation to wound their self-sufficiency -by pretending not to see the merit of -which they are vainest.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>As for the good faith of the King, she would not -listen to the idea. During the first three weeks of -the ministry of Roland, he and Clavière were disposed -to think well of the King, to have confidence -in the turn things were going to take. But she -would tell them when they started out confidently to -the Council meetings: “When I see you go off in -that way, it always seems to me that you are going -to commit a <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">sottise</span></i>.” And when they came back -with less done than she expected she declared the -Council was “nothing but a café.” “It is disgraceful. -You are in good humor because you experience -no annoyance, even because you are well -treated. You have the air of doing about what you -wish in your departments. I fear that you are being -tricked.” When they reminded her that nevertheless -affairs were going well, she replied: “Yes, and -time is being lost.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>At the moment that Roland was called to office -the question of public tranquillity was most serious. -It was not alone in the cities that riots, pillage, and -bloodshed were of constant occurrence. The provinces -were in many places almost uninhabitable. -Roland, to cure the disorders, wrote circulars and put -up posters.</p> - -<p class='c008'>For example, in his own department, Rhone-et-Loire, -the question of the priests was causing more -<span class='pageno' id='Page_184'>184</span>and more difficulty. The provocation came now -from one side, now from another. In certain parishes -the constitutional priests were supported by -the municipality, in others the unsworn were favored. -In the midst of these dissensions, births, marriages, -and deaths often went unrecorded. Here a priest -declaimed against the constitution and incited the -people not to pay their taxes, there the National -Guard and mayor combined to drive a disturber from -the community. In the district of Villefranche, the -constitutional <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">clergé</span></i> of “the former province of -Beaujolais” brought a long complaint to the authorities: -“The inhabitants of the mountains,” they -wrote, “influenced by fanaticism, are in a state of -insurrection. They believe the churches to be profaned -by the mere presence of the sworn priests; during -the services they throw stones against the doors, -interrupt the services, insult the new curés in the -midst of their duties, force the faithful to desert the -churches.... The presbyteries are no longer a -safe asylum. Those who inhabit them are forced to -keep a guard; they cannot travel alone without -being attacked and exposed to the greatest dangers. -There is not one of them who has not been driven -several times from his home. New-born children are -baptized by Non-conformists without the ceremonies -of the Church—the fanatical and barbarous mothers -declare that they would rather choke them than permit -them to be baptized by the priests.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>The religious difficulties were inflamed by the rash -<span class='pageno' id='Page_185'>185</span>and suspicious actions of the various parties, whose -wisdom and diplomacy were annulled by excessive -party spirit. The whole department, in fact, was -racked by religious quarrels, bitter party spirit, fear -of <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">émigrés’</span></i> plots and foreign invasion, hatred of the -constitution and “patriots.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Roland had a formula for such a situation, and -when the directory of Rhone-et-Loire asked him for -help to restore order, he sent it to them.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“The present troubles which agitate your department -at several points,” he wrote them, April 18th, -“seem to have their source in the diversity of religious -opinions. This diversity of opinion is the fruit -of error, and the error comes from ignorance. If, -then, we enlighten men, we deliver them from prejudices, -and if the prejudices were destroyed, peace -would reign on the earth.... It is not by force of -arms that one teaches reason.... In the first place -a well-organized state has only enough troops to prevent -invasions, to meet force by force, and to enable -all the citizens to enjoy all the benefits of their own -constitution. Second, internal order should be maintained -by instruction, by public opinion, and finally -by the force of the National Guards.... Elected -by the people, you ought to have their confidence. -Your instruction ought to produce the greatest effect, -and you ought to be able through confidence and -reason to form and direct public opinion. These -means, used energetically and wisely, are sure. Is -there a rare circumstance when they are too slow? -<span class='pageno' id='Page_186'>186</span>You have all the public force of your department; -you can use it as it is necessary, and you ought to -direct it according to the circumstances. These are -your means, sirs, and you rest responsible before the -nation and its representatives, before the King and -your constituency, for all the disorders that you do -not foresee and prevent.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>One can imagine the feelings of a board of county -directors harassed by daily riots, by incessant quarrels, -by threats and plots, on receiving such a letter from -the minister, charged with executing the laws relative -to the internal tranquillity of the State. The -directory must have been composed of men singularly -devoid of humor, if even in their grave situation -they did not laugh at Roland’s application of instruction -to the Lyons street-fights.</p> - -<p class='c008'>To a department which had asked him for troops -to restore order, and secure the free circulation of -grain in its territory, he responded that if it was -necessary to use force they must take the National -Guards, and he added: “But must I counsel this -step? So soon as one employs arms to execute the -laws, one not only proves that he has not known how -to make himself loved, but that he will never be able -to do so. A constitution which is enforced by the -bayonet only, is not a constitution. Other means are -necessary to attach a free people to the laws that it -has made.... Instruct the administrations that -you direct, and if they deviate from the observation -of the rules, use that sweetness which commands so -<span class='pageno' id='Page_187'>187</span>easily, that persuasion which leads to the repentance -of a fault often involuntary. It is so easy for a -superior administration to make itself agreeable to -those that it has under its surveillance that, in fact, -I believe I might say it is always the fault of the -former when harmony is broken.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>And he continued this doctrinal campaign throughout -his ministry. For all the riot-ridden country he -had but one formula. And while the people burnt -châteaux, stoned priests, pillaged storehouses, waylaid -and stole grain, murdered nobles, he serenely -preached how easily the difficulty could be ended by -applying the dogma. And he believed it with the -incomparable naïveté of the theorist. If some one -called his attention to the fact that the disorders -increased in spite of his preaching, he was unmoved; -that was the fault of the “stick in the wheel.” He -was not dissatisfied that disorder should increase. It -would show the need for a new shock.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Armed with his formulas, his forty years of service, -and his “virtue,” Roland could see no reason -why he was not adequate to the situation, and why -he should not act as he saw best. The conviction of -his own sufficiency made him tactless with those who -were, in his judgment, less infallible than he. He -assumed a pedagogic tone, a severe mien, a stiff, -patronizing air towards them. He read them lectures, -posed before them as impeccable. To men of -experience, used to the world and to politics, as convinced -as Roland of their own sincere desire for the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_188'>188</span>good of France, and of the sufficiency of their own -ideas, this attitude was exasperating beyond expression.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It was not long before Roland and Servan, who -was charged with the portfolio of war, began to -regulate the King, “to kill him by pin-pricks,” said -Dumouriez. Madame Roland was responsible, to a -large extent, no doubt, for their unpatriotic and -traitorous conduct. Servan was as completely under -her rule as Roland, and she had cured both of them -of the confidence and support they gave the King at -the beginning of their ministry, and convinced them -of his intention to betray the constitution and restore -the old régime. To deserve their support he should, -she believed, withdraw the vetoes he had put to the -measures against priests and <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">émigrés</span></i>.</p> - -<p class='c008'>From the beginning of the Gironde ministry matters -had steadily grown worse. In April war had -been declared. It had opened badly for the French -and terror and suspicion were greater than ever in -Paris. Religious troubles flamed up all over the -provinces, made more intense by the fear of foreign -invasion. As rumors ran, the army was not doing -its duty; the generals were traitors; the court party -was plotting to receive the Prussians, to massacre -the patriots, and to overthrow the constitution. To -meet the perils which threatened, Madame Roland -had two measures: the proscription of the Non-conformist -priests, and a camp of twenty thousand -soldiers, five from each canton of France, around -<span class='pageno' id='Page_189'>189</span>Paris, to guard the city from the attack of the -foreigners.</p> - -<p class='c008'>This latter plan she persuaded Servan to present -to the Assembly on June 4th without the King knowing -anything of his minister’s plans and without any -of the Council save Clavière and Roland being in the -secret. The measure was voted by the Assembly, -but it made a noise in Paris. The National Guards -regarded it as a reflection on their patriotism and -capacity. The Feuillants raised a petition of eight -thousand names (largely of women and children, -sneered the patriots), protesting against the measure. -At the Assembly and at the Jacobins the measure -was hotly discussed; in the club it was opposed by -Robespierre, now in open rupture with the Girondins, -and almost daily attacked by Brissot in the <cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Patriote -français</span></cite>.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The King hesitated to sign the measure when it -was presented to him. In Madame Roland’s eyes -this refusal was due to nothing but his disloyalty, -and she advised forcing him to a decision. She was, -she says, in a kind of “moral fever” at the moment, -and felt the absolute necessity of some kind of action -which would determine the situation. In her judgment -Roland should withdraw from the ministry if -the King did not sign the measures. But she wished -that if he withdrew everybody should know that he -did it because the King would not take his advice.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In these circumstances Madame Roland proposed -to Roland to send a letter to Louis XVI., stating his -<span class='pageno' id='Page_190'>190</span>opinions, urging the King to consent to the proscription -of the priests and the camp about Paris, and -warning him against the consequences of a refusal. -She dashed off this letter in a single sitting, in the -passion of conviction and exaltation which possessed -her.</p> - -<p class='c018'>“<span class='sc'>Sire</span>,—The present condition of France cannot -long endure. The violence of the crisis has reached -the highest degree; it must be terminated by a blow -which ought to interest Your Majesty as much as it -concerns the whole Empire.</p> - -<p class='c018'>“Honored by your confidence, and placed in a position -where I owe you the truth, I dare to speak it; -it is an obligation that you yourself have imposed -upon me.</p> - -<p class='c018'>“The French have adopted a constitution; there -are those that are discontented and rebellious because -of it; the majority of the nation wishes to -maintain it, has sworn to defend it with its blood, -and has welcomed joyfully the war which promises -to assure it. The minority, however, sustained by -its hopes, has united all its forces to overthrow it. -Hence this internal struggle against the laws, this -anarchy over which good citizens groan, and of -which the wicked take advantage to heap calumny -on the new régime. Hence this discord which has -been excited everywhere, for nowhere is there indifference. -The triumph or the overthrow of the constitution -is desired; everywhere people are eager to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_191'>191</span>sustain it or to change it. I shall refrain from examining -it, and consider simply what circumstances -demand; taking as impersonal attitude as possible, -I shall consider what we can expect and what it is -best to do.</p> - -<p class='c018'>“Your Majesty enjoyed great privileges which you -believed belonged to royalty. Brought up in the -idea of preserving them, you could not see them -taken from you with pleasure; your desire to recover -them was as natural as your regret at seeing them -destroyed. These sentiments, natural to the human -heart, must have entered into the calculation of -the enemies of the Revolution. They counted then -on secret favor, until such times as circumstances -permitted open protection. This disposition could -not escape the nation itself, and it has been driven -to defiance. Your Majesty has been constantly between -two alternatives: yielding to your prejudices, -to your private preferences, or making sacrifices -dictated by philosophy and demanded by necessity; -that is, either emboldening the rebels by disturbing -the nation; or quieting the nation by uniting with -her. Everything has its course, and this uncertainty -must end soon.</p> - -<p class='c018'>“Does Your Majesty ally yourself openly to-day -with those who are pretending to reform the constitution? -Are you going generously to devote yourself -without reserve to its triumph? Such is the -true question, and the present state of things makes -a solution necessary.</p> - -<p class='c018'><span class='pageno' id='Page_192'>192</span>“As for the very metaphysical question, are the -French ripe for liberty, the discussion is of no importance -here; it is not a question of judging what we -shall be in a century, but of seeing of what the -present generation is capable.</p> - -<p class='c018'>“The Declaration of Rights has become a political -gospel, and the French Constitution, a religion for -which the people are ready to die. Already violence -has sometimes supplanted the law. When the law has -not been sufficiently vigorous to meet the situation, -the citizens have taken things in their own hands. -This is why the property of the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">émigrés</span></i>, or persons -of their party, has been exposed to pillage. This is -why so many departments have been forced to punish -severely the priests whom public opinion had proscribed, -and who otherwise would have become its -victims.</p> - -<p class='c018'>“In the shock of interests, passion has controlled. -The country is not a word that the imagination -amuses itself in embellishing; it is a being for whom -one makes sacrifices, to whom one becomes attached -according to the suffering that it causes, who has -been created by great effort, and raised up in the -midst of disturbances, and who is loved for what it -has cost as well as for what it promises. Every attack -made upon it inflames enthusiasm for it.</p> - -<p class='c018'>“To what point is this enthusiasm going to rise -when the enemy’s forces, united without, intrigue -with those within to deal it the most fatal blows?</p> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_192fp.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>MADAME ROLAND.<br /><br />From a painting by an unknown artist in the Musée Carnavalet.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c018'><span class='pageno' id='Page_193'>193</span>“The excitement is extreme in all parts of the -Empire; unless confidence in the intentions of Your -Majesty calm it, it will burst forth in terrible fury. -Such confidence can never be based on professions; -it must have facts.</p> - -<p class='c018'>“It is evident to the French nation that the constitution -will work; that the government will have -the necessary strength the moment that Your Majesty -sincerely desires the triumph of the constitution, -sustains the legislative corps with all your -executive power, and takes away every pretext for -uneasiness from the people and every hope from -the discontented.</p> - -<p class='c018'>“For example, two important decrees have been -passed; both concern the tranquillity and the safety -of the State. A delay to sanction them awakens -defiance; if it is prolonged, it will cause discontent; -and, it is my duty to say it, in the present -state of excitement discontent may lead to the worst.</p> - -<p class='c018'>“There is no longer time to hesitate; there is -no longer any way of temporizing. The Revolution -has been accomplished in the minds of the people; -it will be finished at the price of blood if wisdom -does not forestall the evils that it is still possible -to avoid.</p> - -<p class='c018'>“I know that it is imagined that anything can -be done by extreme measures; but when force -shall have been used to constrain the Assembly, -terror spread throughout Paris, and disunion and -stupor in the suburbs, the whole of France will rise -in indignation, and, throwing herself into a civil -<span class='pageno' id='Page_194'>194</span>war, will develop that sombre energy always so -fatal to those who have provoked it.</p> - -<p class='c018'>“The safety of the State and the happiness of -Your Majesty are intimately allied; no power can -separate them; cruel anguish and certain misfortune -will surround your throne, if you yourself do -not found it on the constitution and if it is not -strengthened by the peace which it ought to -bring us.</p> - -<p class='c018'>“Thus the disposition of the popular mind, the -course of events, the reason of politics, the interest -of Your Majesty, make it indispensable that -you unite with the legislative corps and carry out -the desire of the nation; that which principle -shows to be a duty, the present situation makes -a necessity.... You have been cruelly deceived, -Sire, by those who have sought to separate you -from your people. It is by perpetually disturbing -you that they have driven you into a course of -conduct which has caused alarm. Let the people -see that you are determined to carry out the constitution -upon which they feel that their happiness -depends, and you will soon become the object of -their gratitude.</p> - -<p class='c018'>“The conduct of the priests in many places, the -pretext which fanaticism has given the discontented, -have led to a wise law against these -agitators. Will not Your Majesty give it your -sanction? Public peace demands it. The safety -of the priests depends upon it. If this law does -<span class='pageno' id='Page_195'>195</span>not go into force, the departments will be forced -to substitute violent measures for it, as they are -doing on all sides; and the irritated people will -make up for it by their excesses.</p> - -<p class='c018'>“The attempts of our enemies, the disturbances -in the capital, the great unrest which the conduct -of your guard has excited, the situation of Paris,—all -make a camp in this neighborhood necessary. -This measure, whose wisdom and urgency are recognised -by all good citizens, is waiting for nothing -but the sanction of Your Majesty. Why is it that -you delay when promptness would win all hearts? -Already the efforts of the staff of the National -Guard of Paris against this measure have awakened -the suspicion that it was inspired by superior influence; -already the declamations of certain demagogues -awaken suspicions of their relations with -those interested in overthrowing the constitution; -already the intentions of Your Majesty are compromised; -a little more delay, and the people will -see in their King the friend and the accomplice -of the conspirators!</p> - -<p class='c018'>“Just Heaven! have you struck the powers of -the earth with blindness? will they never have -other counsels than those which bring about their -ruin?</p> - -<p class='c018'>“I know that the austere language of virtue is -rarely welcomed by the throne; I know also that -it is because it is so rarely heard there, that revolutions -are necessary; I know above all that it is -<span class='pageno' id='Page_196'>196</span>my duty to use it to Your Majesty, not only as -a citizen, obedient to law, but as a minister honored -by your confidence and fulfilling the functions -which it supposes; and I know nothing which can -prevent me from fulfilling a duty which is on my -conscience.</p> - -<p class='c018'>“It is in the same spirit that I repeat what I -have already said to Your Majesty on the obligation -and the utility of carrying out the law which provides -for a secretary in the Council. The simple -existence of this law speaks so powerfully that it -seems as if its execution would follow without delay; -it is a matter of great importance to employ -all possible means to preserve in our deliberations -the necessary gravity, wisdom, and maturity; moreover, -for the ministers, some means of verifying their -expressions is necessary. If such existed, I should -not be addressing myself in writing at this moment -to Your Majesty.</p> - -<p class='c018'>“Life is nothing to the man who regards his -duties as higher than everything else; after the happiness -of having fulfilled them, the greatest good -that he can know is that he has discharged them -with fidelity; and to do that is an obligation for -the public man.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-r c019'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>(Signed.) <span class='sc'>Roland.</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>“10 June, 1792. Year IV. of Liberty.”</span></p> - -<p class='c008'>Roland sent this letter to the King on June 11th, -although he had had the idea of reading it to the -Council the day before, but there was no opportunity, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_197'>197</span>so says Madame Roland in her Memoirs. -According to Dumouriez, the letter was sent earlier; -for he relates that Roland read the letter at the -Council, and that when he had finished it the King -remarked with <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">sang-froid</span></i>: “M. Roland, it was three -days ago that you sent me your letter. It was -useless to read it to the Council if it was to remain -a secret between us two.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>This letter was the climax to the irritating policy -which the Gironde ministers had been pursuing with -Louis, and he decided to dismiss them.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Servan received his discharge first. “Congratulate -me,” he cried when he saw Madame Roland. -“I have been put out.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“I am piqued,” she replied, “that you are the first -to have that honor, but I hope it will not be long -before it is accorded to my husband.” It was not, -for on the 13th Roland followed Servan. He hurried -home to tell his wife.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“There is only one thing to do,” she cried with -vivacity: “it is to be the first to announce it to the -Assembly, sending along a copy of the letter to the -King.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>The idea was put into effect at once. They were -convinced that both “usefulness and glory” would -result.</p> - -<p class='c008'>If this letter to the King began, as Dumouriez -says, with a promise of secrecy, then to send it to -the Assembly was, considering the position Roland -occupied and the oath he had taken, a most disloyal -<span class='pageno' id='Page_198'>198</span>act. But did it begin so? Madame Roland does -not speak of such a promise in her Memoirs. The -report of the letter given in the <cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Moniteur</span></cite> contains -no such opening phrase, though naturally Roland -would have cut it out in sending the document to -the Assembly. Many of the memoirs and newspapers -of the day, however, either quote the promise -or assume that the letter was private.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Dumont, in writing of Madame Roland, says that -the greatest reproach that could be made upon her -conduct during the Revolution was persuading her -husband to publish this letter, which commenced, -according to him: “Sire, this letter will never be -known save to you and me.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Mathieu Dumas says in his <cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Souvenirs</span></cite> that it was -confidential, and declares that it was read in the -Council in the presence of the King, “although the -minister had promised to keep it a secret between -himself and His Majesty.” Of the presentation to -the Assembly he adds: “It was a new violation of -the secret that the minister had imposed upon himself. -After his retreat propriety made the obligation -of secrecy much more rigorous.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>The <cite>Guardian of the Constitution</cite> of June 16th -called the letter “criminal” and its reading sufficient -cause for delivering Roland to the public prosecutor. -Among the pamphlets which the publication of the -letter called forth was an anonymous one, in which -the author told the minister that he was under the -greater obligation to keep the secret, as he had -<span class='pageno' id='Page_199'>199</span>promised, because the letter was an attempt to regulate -the King’s private conduct and because it insinuated -that His Majesty intended to betray the -constitution.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The result Madame Roland had foreseen, followed -the presentation of the letter to the Assembly. The -reading was interrupted frequently by applause, and -it was ordered printed and distributed throughout -the eighty-three departments.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Usefulness and glory” were attained. The Rolands -were convinced that the letter would enlighten -France; that it would serve as the shock necessary -to start the movement which would crush the remnants -of monarchical authority. Madame Roland -retired to the Rue de la Harpe more jubilant than -she had entered the Hôtel of the Interior. She had -not been proud of their appointment to the ministry; -she was of their dismissal.</p> - -<p class='c008'>What she and her friends expected would follow -the dismissal of the Girondin ministers, was a popular -uprising, forcing the King to reinstate them. The -disturbance did not come of itself, and they set about -to prepare one—the artificial and abortive riot of -the 20th of June. On this date fell the anniversary -of the oath of the Tennis Court, and the citizens of -the faubourgs Saint Antoine and Saint Marcel had -asked permission to celebrate it by presenting petitions -to the Assembly and to the King, and planting -a tree of liberty. In the effervescence of public -spirit such a demonstration might easily be turned -<span class='pageno' id='Page_200'>200</span>into a riot, and there was opposition to it from the -authorities; however, the Gironde succeeded in securing -the permission.</p> - -<p class='c008'>On the 20th, the petitioners assembled, a motley -crowd of men, women, and children, armed and carrying -banners, and marched to the Assembly, where -they demanded admission. It was against the law, -but Vergniaud and Guadet contended that it should -be granted. It was, and eight thousand persons filed -through the hall.</p> - -<p class='c008'>From the Assembly they pressed to the palace of -the King, broke down the doors, invaded the rooms, -surrounded Louis XVI., put the red cap on his -head, but they did not strike. There was no popular -fury. There were cries of <em>Sanction the decrees</em>, <em>Recall -the patriotic ministers</em>, <em>Away with the priests</em>, -<em>Choose between Coblentz or Paris</em>, but there were no -blows. For the people, the affair was simply a species -of Mardi-gras, and when they were tired of gazing -at the splendors of the palace and at the poor -King, who, fearless and patient, let them surge about -him, they retired. The King was still king, the decrees -were not signed, the ministers were not recalled. -Said Prudhomme in his report of the day: “Paris is -in consternation, but it is at seeing that this day has -not had the effect that the friends of liberty promised -themselves.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>The reaction was terrific. Lafayette left his army -and hurried to Paris to protest before the Assembly -and to demand measures against the Jacobins. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_201'>201</span>The Feuillants rallied their friends for a desperate -effort. The Court—openly contra-revolutionary -now—worked with the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">émigrés</span></i> to make a <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">coup</span></i> -which would sweep out entirely the new régime.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The patriots were not idle. In their supreme last -struggle, never did Girondin eloquence and intrigue -run higher. The open contra-revolutions in Paris -and the foreign enemies now each day nearer the -city were reasons enough for action. By a burst -of magnificent eloquence Vergniaud secured a vote -from the Assembly that the country was in danger, -and a call upon France to enlist for its defence. A -movement of superb patriotism followed the declaration. -Here was an unmistakable enemy. Vague -alarms were at an end. The foreigners were actually -approaching the capital, and anybody could understand -that they were not wanted. The irritated, -harassed country opened its heart and poured out -its blood,—young and old, weak and strong, even -women and girls, offered themselves.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But this was a movement against foreign invasion—not -against the remnants of monarchical authority. -The result looked uncertain. Consternation and despair -seized the Rolands. They foresaw the triumph -of the Court, the hope of a republic lost, and they -calculated on what course the patriots ought to pursue -if the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">émigrés</span></i> and their allies reached Paris and -combined with the Court to restore the old régime.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Walking one day in the Champs-Élysées with -Lanthenas, Roland met two Southerners who were -<span class='pageno' id='Page_202'>202</span>in Paris on a commission from their department. -Their names were Barbaroux and Rebecqui. Since -the opening of the Revolution they had been active -in the cause of the patriots in Marseilles, Arles, and -Avignon. The overthrow of the Girondin ministry -had alarmed them. Roland’s letter to the King had -inspired them with warm admiration for his courage -and patriotism.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Like all the young blood of the country, they were -planning action against the dangers which threatened. -Their plans were well advanced when they met Lanthenas -and Roland. The latter wished to discuss -the situation seriously with them, and the next day -Barbaroux went to the Rue de la Harpe. Madame -Roland was with the ex-minister, and the three were -not long in understanding each other. Barbaroux -soon won their confidence by his enthusiasm and -eloquence. He was young, but twenty-five, and -of a beauty that won him the name of Antinoüs -from Madame Roland. He was animated, too, by a -fiery scorn of “tyrants,” “courts,” and “kings,” as -unbelieving as Madame Roland in the sincerity of -any party outside his own, profoundly convinced of -his call to reverse the monarchy, and already with a -record of services rendered to the Revolution. The -Rolands found him “active, laborious, frank, and -brave,” and they opened their hearts to him on the -means of saving France.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Liberty is lost,” cried Roland, “if the plots of the -courts are not immediately checked. Lafayette is -<span class='pageno' id='Page_203'>203</span>meditating treason in the North. The army of the -centre is disorganized, in want of munitions, and -cannot stand against the enemy. There is nothing -to prevent the Austrians being in Paris in six weeks. -Have we worked for three years for the grandest of -revolutions only to see it overthrown in a day? If -liberty dies in France, it is forever lost to the rest -of the world. All the hopes of philosophy are deceived. -The most cruel tyranny will reign upon -the earth. Let us prevent this disaster. Let us -arm Paris and the departments of the North. If -they fail, let us carry the statue of liberty to the -South. Let us found somewhere a colony of independent -men.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>His words were broken by sobs. Madame Roland -and Barbaroux wept with him. Rapidly then the -young man sketched his plan. It was Roland’s own. -Arm Paris; if that failed, seize the South.</p> - -<p class='c008'>A map was brought out and they traced the natural -boundaries of the new State. The Vosges, the -Jura, the Loire, and a vast plain between mountains -and river divide France. The plain they would take -for a camp; the river and mountains could be easily -defended. If this position was lost, there was a -second boundary; on the east, the Doubs, the Ain, -the Rhone; on the west, the Vienne, the Dordogne; -in the centre, the rocks and rivers of Limoges. -Farther still was Auvergne, the mountains of Velay, -the Cévennes, the Alps, Toulon. “And if all these -points were forced, Corsica remained,—Corsica where -<span class='pageno' id='Page_204'>204</span>Genovese and French had not been able to naturalize -tyranny.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>As they traced the boundaries, they devised plans -for fortifications and for mobilizing the army, but -they concluded their council by the decision that a -final effort must be made to save Paris. There must -be another revolt if possible; the King must be deposed -and a convention called which would give -France entire a republic. Barbaroux was ready -with a plan to help bring this about and he left them, -promising to bring a battalion and two pieces of -cannon from Marseilles.</p> - -<p class='c008'>They understood that it was an insurrection that -he meant to prepare, but they did not hesitate. All -the violence, excess, passion, fear of Paris must be -excited this time; there must not be another 20th -of June; the stick must come out of the wheel now -or never; and indifferent to the possibility that the -passion they proposed to use might assert its right -to help rule if it helped create, confident in the sufficiency -of their theory and of themselves, they -awaited the promised insurrection.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But not all of their friends were so serene. Several -members of the party had begun to realize the -force of the popular fury they had been arousing. -They began to feel nervous at the prospect in Paris -of the horde of Marseillais Barbaroux had called. -The bloodthirstiness of the Cordeliers clubs began -to revolt them. They were forced to admit that -Marat’s journal was more influential than their own. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_205'>205</span>They saw, too, a threatening thing—hitherto the -insurrectionary element had been more or less chaotic, -it was now well organized and it had at its -head a man whom they feared, Danton. What if -the mob should refuse to retire after the overthrow -of the King? Would anarchy be an improvement -on monarchy? Would a <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">sans-culotte</span></i> be a more enlightened -administrator than an aristocrat?</p> - -<p class='c008'>Vergniaud, Guadet, and Gensonné tried to frighten -Louis XVI. into recalling the ministers by telling -him how formidable the threatened insurrection appeared -to them to be, and by assuring him that it -might be avoided by restoring the Girondins. Brissot -in the Assembly denounced “the faction of regicides, -which wishes to create a dictator and establish a -republic.” He declared that men who were working -to establish a republic on the debris of the constitution -were worthy to be “smitten by the sword of -the law.” If the King was guilty he should not -be deposed in haste, but a commission should be appointed -to investigate the affair thoroughly. Pétion, -who, as mayor, had aided in bringing about the 20th -of June, became frightened, and counselled calm.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But this sudden change could effect nothing now. -It was too late for the Girondins to do anything but -join with the Jacobins, making a pretence to leadership, -although already feeling it slipping from them.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Towards the end of July the allied force summoned -France to lay down her arms. Suspicion was at its -height. Excitement and disorder were increased by -<span class='pageno' id='Page_206'>206</span>the arrival of the Marseillais on July 30th. Either -the allies would reach Paris and save the Court, or -Paris must lay hands on the Court and go out and -subdue the allies. There was no certainty of which it -would be. At heart every faction was fearful. The -King, the Court, Lafayette, the allies, the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">émigrés</span></i>, -the Feuillants, Girondins, Jacobins, Cordeliers, faubourgs, -all hesitated. Something was coming. What -was it? There is no period of the Revolution of -such awful tension as this,—the months between -the fall of the Gironde ministry and the 10th of -August.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In this exciting period it was the party of insurrection -which organized most thoroughly and most -intelligently. The leaders who had taken this organization -upon themselves were Barbaroux, Danton, -Camille Desmoulins, Santerre. They worked through -municipal organizations, which, instituted since the -Revolution, were turbulent, impetuous, fierce; these -were the forty-eight sections into which Paris had -been divided, and in nearly all of which the officials -were sympathizers with insurrectionary methods of -getting what they wanted. Under the influence of -the cry the <em>Country is in danger, Paris must act</em>, the -sections had aroused the people within their limits. -During the first days of August, frequent reunions -were held in the Place de la Bastille, at which the -most alarming rumors of the treachery of the King -and the approach of the enemy were circulated. These -sections sent deputations to the Assembly with incendiary -<span class='pageno' id='Page_207'>207</span>addresses. They patrolled the Tuileries lest -the <em>executive power escape</em>, they said in unintentional -irony. They fraternized with the Marseillais, over -whom the enthusiasm in revolutionary circles was -constant. They swore repeatedly in their gatherings -to save the country.</p> - -<p class='c008'>By the 9th of August, the populace was in a -tumult of alarm and of exaltation. They were persuaded -that they were the providence of France, -and they believed every man who did not join them -was a traitor. It had taken a long time to work -up the sections of Paris to the united effort which -Madame Roland had demanded from them in 1789, -but it was done at last, and they were as convinced -of the falsity of everybody but themselves, and of -their own call to save the country, as ever Madame -Roland herself had been.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The 9th of August the ferment was perfect, and -the order was given for sounding the tocsin. At -that moment the sections decided that three commissioners -should be appointed in each quarter -of Paris to unite with the Commune, with full -powers to devise prompt means of saving the country. -The insurrectionary force thus had a legal -representation. This representation received at the -Hôtel de Ville by the regular municipal council, on -evening of August 9th, had before morning superseded -it, and was the governing force of Paris. It -was a transfer of power, probably with the acquiescence -of the legal municipality, glad to escape from -<span class='pageno' id='Page_208'>208</span>the turmoil of things. The new body, to be known -as the Commune, was composed of men almost without -exception unknown outside of their neighborhoods, -and there only for agitation and violence.</p> - -<p class='c008'>While the new Commune was settling itself at -the Hôtel de Ville, the populace it represented was -in motion. The force with which the Court and -constitutional party attempted to control the movement -was insufficient, and in part unreliable. In a -few hours the leaders of the opposing force had -been disposed; Mandat, the commander of the National -Guards, had been murdered; Pétion had been -“chained by ribbons to his wife’s side”; Louis XVI. -and his family had taken refuge in the Assembly; -the Swiss guards, who had attempted to defend the -château, had been ordered by the King to retire to -their barracks, and had been murdered as they went; -the château had been invaded.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The mob filled not only the Tuileries, but the -<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Manège</span></i> where the Assembly sat. That body, composed -the 10th of August of Girondins and Jacobins -alone, the constitutionals absenting themselves, -found itself under the pressure of a new force,—the -populace. They had worked for fifty days to arouse -it. They had allowed it to organize itself. They had -permitted it to do the work of the day. But what -were they going to do with it now? Could they use -it? Was there not a possibility that it may use -them? In any case, the objects for which the insurrection -had been prepared must be attained and the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_209'>209</span>suspension of Louis XVI. was voted; the Gironde -ministers, Roland, Servan, and Clavière, were returned, -Danton, Monge, and Lebrun being added to -them.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Madame Roland’s policy had been carried out to -the letter; the united sections had acted; the King -was out of the way; the patriots were in power.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_210'>210</span> - <h2 class='c006'>IX<br /> <span class='large'>DISILLUSION</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c007'>Madame Roland’s plan had carried. Since -the beginning of the Revolution she had urged -it. In 1789 when she called for “two illustrious -heads,” for “the united sections and not the Palais -Royal”; throughout 1790 in her demands for “blood, -since there is nothing else to whip you and make -you go”; in her incessant preaching of civil war; -in her remonstrances in 1791 against the seizure of -Marat’s sheets, against the arrest of the turbulent, -against shutting the doors of the Assembly on those -who prevented it doing its work; in the Hôtel of -the Interior scoffing at Roland’s weakness in believing -in the sincerity of Louis XVI.; in urging Servan -to present his plan for a camp of twenty thousand -soldiers around Paris without the King’s knowledge; -in writing the letter to the King and in pushing -Roland to present it to the Assembly; in encouraging -Barbaroux in his preparations for the 10th of -August,—she had preached the necessity and the -wholesomeness of insurrection.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Throughout this period there is not a word to show -<span class='pageno' id='Page_211'>211</span>that she hesitated about the wisdom of her demand. -She was convinced, and never wavered. It was her -conviction which held Roland. It was her inspiration -that fired the Gironde. Now that the force that -she had evoked was organized, logically she must -unite with it.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Roland began his ministry consistently enough. -Within twelve hours after his appointment he had -changed every one in his bureaux suspected of -sympathy with the constitution. He wrote immediately -to the departments describing the Revolution -and sending copies of “all the laws and all the -pieces relative to the great discoveries of the 10th of -August,” and lest the people should not hear of them, -he urged the curés and officials to read them aloud -whenever they could secure a gathering of people.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Everywhere in the departments he upheld the -Jacobin party. Thus at Lyons where the directory -of Rhone-et-Sâone had been continually at war -with the municipality because of its moderation, -the former body was deposed and the latter put -into power with the compliment that in all cases -it had maintained peace and tranquillity in spite -of the fanaticism of the enemies of the Revolution. -Chalier, who came to Paris to represent the municipality,—Chalier, -who believed that calm could only -be obtained in Lyons by filling the streets with -“impure blood” and who led in the horrible massacres -of the city,—was, through Roland’s influence, -sent home “with honors.”</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_212'>212</span>Never was Roland’s energy greater. He worked -twenty hours out of twenty-four, and even his four -hours of repose were often interrupted. By the -20th of August he was able to present the Assembly -with a report on the condition of France. In all his -work he was logically in harmony with the Second -Revolution.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But Roland soon found himself hindered in his -activity by an important part of the insurrectionary -force which had produced the 10th of August,—the -Commune of Paris. The commissioners who had -been sent to the Town Hall the night of the 9th, -with orders from their sections to devise means to -save the country, had refused to go away; large -numbers of violent Jacobins had joined the body, -among them Robespierre and Marat. The regular -municipality had disappeared.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The Commune believed that there was more need -of it now than ever. The passions which had been -excited to call it into being were more violently agitated -than ever. The body felt, and rightly, that only -the greatest vigilance would preserve what had been -gained on the 10th of August; for now, as never -before, the aristocratic and constitutional part of -France was against the Jacobin element; now more -than ever the allied powers felt that it was the -business of kings to reinstate Louis XVI. The -Commune understood the force against it, saw that -only audacious and intrepid action would conquer -it, and went to work with awful energy to “save the -country.”</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_213'>213</span>The tocsin was set a-ringing: the conservative -printing offices were raided; passports were suspended; -barriers were put up; those who had -protested against recent patriotic measures were -declared unfit for duty; the royal family was confined -in the Temple; lists of “suspects” were made -out; houses were visited at night to surprise plots, -seize suspected persons, examine papers, and search -for firearms; a criminal court of commissioners from -the sections was chosen; the guillotine was set up -in the Carrousel. So much for the interior. To -meet the enemy without they seized horses and ammunition, -set up stands where volunteers could be -enrolled, put every able-bodied man in Paris under -marching orders. All of this with a speed, a resolution, -a savage sort of fury which terrified the -aristocrats, inflamed the populace, rejoiced Marat, -and alarmed the Assembly.</p> - -<p class='c008'>From the first Roland found himself in conflict -with this new body. He was the law now, and they -were called to act above all law. They had a reason, -the same that he had held for many months,—the -divine right of taking things into your own hands -and compelling people to be regenerated according to -your notion. But Roland had reached the point -where all the essentials in his scheme of regeneration -had been gained—the Commune had not. Suddenly -he who had been the vigorous champion of revolutions -for removing sticks from government wheels, -found himself the “stick in the wheel.” If he demanded -<span class='pageno' id='Page_214'>214</span>information of the Commune, he did not -receive it. If he complained of its irregularities, he -was called a traitor. If he called attention to the law, -he was ignored. All through August Roland and the -Commune continued to irritate and antagonize one -another.</p> - -<p class='c008'>There was one man through whom they might -have been reconciled,—Danton, he who, with Robespierre -and Marat, formed the triumvirate of the new -party of Terror. Danton represented the insurrectionary -idea in the ministry and it was through him -alone that Roland and the Gironde might have -worked with the Commune.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But from the first Madame Roland would have -nothing to do with Danton. When it was announced -to her that he had been chosen to the ministry, she -told her friends: “It is a great pity that the Council -should be spoiled by this Danton, who has so bad a -reputation.” They told her that he had been useful -to the Revolution; that the people loved him; that it -was no time to make enemies; that he must be used -as he was. She could do nothing to keep him out, -but she was not convinced of the wisdom of the -choice.</p> - -<p class='c008'>He sought her at once; for after the suspension of -the King, Danton never ceased to repeat that the -safety of France lay in union,—in an effort of all -parties against the foreign invaders. “The enemy is -at our door and we rend one another. Will all our -quarrels kill a Prussian?” was his incessant warning. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_215'>215</span>Few days passed that he did not drop into the -Hôtel of the Interior; now it was for the Council -meeting, to which he came early, hunting her up in -her little salon for a chat before the meeting began: -again he dropped in on the days she was unaccustomed -to receive, begging a cup of tea before he went to -the Assembly. Fabre d’Eglantine often accompanied -him. It was not a warm welcome they received. -They talked to her of patriotism, and she replied in -a tone of superiority and with a tinge of suspicion -which was evident enough to Danton and his colleague -and could not fail to irritate them. She gave -them to understand that she saw through them, that -she felt herself incorruptible, and that no consideration -would induce her to unite with an element she -suspected.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Danton soon realized her inflexibility and before -the end of August he had ceased his visits. Madame -Roland had refused the only mediator between -Gironde and Mountain, and in so doing had lighted -another interior blaze. She was too intelligent a -woman for one to suppose that she did not see the -danger in further disunion. Why then for the Republic’s -sake, for humanity’s sake, did she not unite -with him?</p> - -<p class='c008'>The only reason she gives is the physical repugnance -that Danton inspired in her. She confessed -that no one could have shown more zeal, a greater -love of liberty, a livelier desire to come to an understanding -for the sake of the public cause, than he. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_216'>216</span>Certainly she had based her judgments thus far in -the Revolution on such indications, but Danton was -of a different nature from the men who surrounded -her. A volcanic animal tremendous in passions as -in energy, in intellect, in influence. She says that -never did a face seem to her to show brutal passion -so perfectly. Her imagination had been awakened. -All her life she had been the plaything of this -imagination, and every face that came under her -eyes had been read, its owner’s character analyzed -and his rôle in life assigned. Danton she figured -poniard in hand, exciting by voice and gesture a -troup of assassins more timid or less bloodthirsty -than he. She could not conquer the effect of this -vision and for this reason she refused his proffer of -reconciliation.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Had Danton offended her by some coarse familiarity? -The best reason for rejecting this explanation -of her dislike is that she says nothing about it. -If an unwarranted gallantry had ever occurred, we -may be positive that she would not have kept it to -herself. The “confessions” of her Memoirs make -such an interpretation impossible; even her friend -Lanthenas was not spared on this score. It is impossible -to suppose that Danton would have been.</p> - -<p class='c008'>For the first time, Madame Roland found herself -face to face with a man who was an embodiment -of the insurrectionary spirit. Hitherto that spirit -had been an ideal, a theory, an unseen but powerful -force which was necessary to accomplish what she -<span class='pageno' id='Page_217'>217</span>wanted. Personally she had never come in contact -with it. She had idealized it as an avenging spirit, -“terrible but glorious,” cruel but just, awful but -divine. That this force had an end to reach, a -personal ambition to satisfy, an ideal to attain, that -it might come into conflict with her, she had not -calculated. In her plan it was simply an avenging -fire which she could use, and which, when she had -had enough of it, she could snuff out.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But now she saw an insurrection as a bald fact. -Danton was a positive, living incarnation of her -doctrine. Instead of rhapsodizing over the “divine -right of insurrection,” he organized the slums into -brigades; instead of talking about Utopia, he gave -the populace pikes and showed them how to use -them. His policy was one of action. It was a -fearful bloody policy, but it was definite and practical, -and a logical result of what Madame Roland -had been preaching.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The revolt she experienced against Danton’s brutality -made her unwilling that the insurrectionary -force should be longer recognized. She suddenly -became conservative, as the radical who has gotten -what he wants always must. She was jealous, too, -for her party. They were the patriots, and they -must be the ruling element in the new government. -It would be a shame to share their power with so -terrible a Hydra. It was but a little time before -Roland under her influence was at cross-purposes -with Danton in the Council. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_218'>218</span>Roland was destined to run athwart a more relentless -and savage enemy than Danton could ever be,—Marat, -<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">l’Ami du Peuple</span></i>; that Marat the destruction -of whose journal by the “satellites of Lafayette” -Madame Roland had complained of but a year -ago. The most violent and uncontrolled type of the -Revolutionary fury, Marat had won his following -by his daring <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">l’Ami du Peuple</span></i>, where in turn he had -bombarded every personality of the Revolution who -seemed to him to favor anything but absolute equality, -who worked to preserve any vestige of the old régime, -or who hesitated at any extreme of terrorism. In the -spring of 1792, the “Brissotine faction” had been -his target. His complaint against it was the making -of the war. Roland he had practically ignored, for -until now Roland had been the defender of Marat’s -methods.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The 11th of August Marat had had his people -carry off from the national printing office four presses,—his -due, he claimed, for those that the old régime -had confiscated. It was a bit of lawlessness that -Roland felt he should rebuke. It was a first point -against the minister. Soon after the Department of -the Interior received a large amount of money for -printing useful matter. Marat considered his productions -of the highest importance to the country. He -asked for fifteen thousand livres. Roland replied -wisely that it was too large a sum for him to give -without knowledge of the object to which it was to -be put, but that if Marat would send him his manuscripts -<span class='pageno' id='Page_219'>219</span>he would submit them to a council to see -if they were suitable to be published at the expense -of the nation. But this was questioning the purity -of Marat’s patriotism, submitting to scrutiny the -spokesman of the people, and Marat was angry. -He felt, as Roland had since the beginning of the -Revolution, that the right to cry out against all that -he suspected, and to voice all the terrors that -swarmed in his head, was unlimited and divine.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Thus Roland had antagonized the Commune, Danton, -and Marat, before the September massacres, but -he had done nothing to show the public that he -would not support their policy. On the second day -of the massacres, however, acting on the advice of -Madame Roland, he put himself in open conflict -with them.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It was on the second day of September that the -riot began. Revolted by the barbarity of the slaughter, -stung by the insult offered them in a raid on -their hôtel, half-conscious, too, that they must do -something or their power would slip from them, they -determined on the 3d, that Roland should protest to -the Assembly against the massacre. But to protest -was to put himself in antagonism with the Commune, -with Robespierre, Marat, Danton. It was to make -himself forever a suspect, to take his life in his -hand. But that was immaterial to Roland and to his -wife. To die was part of the Gironde programme, -and they were all of them serenely indifferent to -death if they could only serve the public by dying. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_220'>220</span>Roland wrote a letter to the Assembly, which is an -admirable specimen of the way in which he applied -theories to situations which needed arms and soldiers—a -letter of platitude and generalities. He called -attention to the danger of disorganization becoming -a habit; explained where power legally belonged, -and what the duties of the people were in circumstances -like those they then faced. As for the massacre, -he said: “Yesterday was a day over whose -events it is perhaps necessary to draw a veil. I know -that the people, terrible in vengeance, showed a kind -of justice. They do not seize as victims all who fall -in their way. They take those whom they believe -to have been too long spared by the law, and whom -they are persuaded in the peril of the moment should -be sacrificed without delay. But I know that it is -easy for agitators and traitors to abuse this effervescence, -and that it must be stopped. I know that we -owe to all France the declaration that the executive -power was unable to foresee and prevent these excesses. -I know that it is the duty of the authorities -to put a stop to them or to consider themselves -crushed. I know, further, that this declaration exposes -me to the rage of certain agitators. Very well, -let them take my life. I desire to save it only to -use it for liberty, for equality.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>These were bold words considering the situation. -They were an open defiance to the Mountain. They -showed that the Minister of the Interior, hitherto the -enemy of the party of Order, had put himself at the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_221'>221</span>head of that party; that he had suddenly determined -that he was going to snuff out the candle he had -gone to so much pains to light. He did not consider -it a serious task. It was only a question of appealing -to the people. “The docile people at the voice -of their legislators will soon feel that they must -honor their own work and obey their representatives.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>The next day, September 4th, Roland wrote to the -commander general of the National Guard, Santerre, -to employ all the forces that the law gave him to -prevent that either persons or property be violated. -He sent him a copy of the law and declared that he -threw the responsibility of all future disorder on -Santerre. It was fully two days after this however, -before the massacre was stopped.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Before the end the revolt of the Rolands was -complete and terrible. They, with the Gironde, were, -indeed, very much in the position of keepers of wild -beasts, who, to clear their gardens of troublesome -visitors, let loose the animals. The intruders are -driven out, but when they would whistle in their -beasts they find themselves obliged to flee or to be -torn in pieces in turn. “We are under the knife of -Robespierre and Marat,” Madame Roland wrote on -the 5th of September, and a few days later:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Marat posts every day the most frightful denunciations -against the Assembly and the Council. You -will see both sacrificed. You will believe that is -possible only when you see it done, and then you will -<span class='pageno' id='Page_222'>222</span>groan in vain over it. My <em>friend</em> Danton directs -everything, Robespierre is his mannikin, Marat holds -his torch and his knife; this fierce tribune reigns -and we are only waiting to become its victims. If -you knew the frightful details of this affair,—women -brutally violated before being torn to pieces by these -tigers, intestines cut off and worn as ribbons, bleeding -human flesh eaten.... You know my enthusiasm -for the Revolution. Well, I am ashamed of it. It -is stained by these wretches. It is become hideous. -It is debasing to remain in office.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>She had begun to experience one of the saddest -disillusions of life,—the loss of faith in her own -undertaking, to see that the thing she had worked -to create was a monster, that it must be throttled, -that it was too horrible to live.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The massacre was scarcely ended before Marat -attacked Roland. He called him a traitor trying to -paralyze the means necessary to save the country; -his letter to the Assembly he stigmatized as a <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">chef-d’œuvre</span></i> -of cunning and perfidy; he accused him of -securing the nomination of as many Brissotins as -possible, of scattering gold by the handful to secure -what he wanted; again it was “opium” he was scattering -to hide his conspiracy with the traitors of the -National Assembly. Madame Roland was immediately -brought to the front in Marat’s journal, he -giving her the credit of her husband’s administration.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Roland,” he says, “is only a <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">frère coupe-choux</span></i> -that his wife leads by the ears. It is she who is the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_223'>223</span>Minister of the Interior under the direction of <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">L’Illuminé -L’Anténas</span></i>, secret agent of the Guadet-Brissot -faction.” In the same number of his journal there is -an article under the heading “<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Bon mot à la femme -Roland</span>,” where she is accused of squandering national -funds and of having Marat’s posters pulled down.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The quarrels between the various factions of the -republicans were so serious before the end of September -that the best men of all parties saw the imperative -need of sacrificing all differences and antagonisms, -in order to combine solidly against the -enemies of the new régime.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Roland made overtures to Dumouriez, then at the -head of the army, and was welcomed. Danton did -his best to persuade the Girondins to forget the -September massacres, and turn all their attention to -protecting the country. A portion of the party was -ready to compromise, but others refused; they were -the circle about Madame Roland. Dumouriez, who -came to Paris after the important victory of Valmy -in September, did his best to reconcile her. In his -judgment, “there was but one man who could support -the Gironde, save the King and his country,—that -man was Danton,” but he was unsuccessful in spite -of his diplomacy.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The experiences of September, the desperate condition -of affairs, the need of concentrating the entire -force of the nation against the invaders, the disorganization -which was increasing on account of the dissension -among the patriots, the impotence of Roland, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_224'>224</span>the power of the Commune,—all seemed calculated -to force Madame Roland to compromise with the insurrectionary -force as represented by Danton. That -she would not see the necessity of it, that she, so -intelligent when she was unprejudiced, so good a -politician when she undertook a cause, should refuse -the only relation which could have enabled the -Gironde to keep the direction of the new government, -was no doubt due partly to the fact that she -was at this time under the influence of the deepest -passion of her life.</p> - -<p class='c008'>A woman in love is never a good politician. The -sentiment she experiences lifts her above all ordinary -considerations. All relations seem petty beside the -supreme union which she desires. The object of her -passion becomes the standard for her feelings towards -others. She is revolted by natures which are in -opposition to the one which is stirring hers. The -sentiments, the opinions, the course of action of -her lover, become personal matters with her. She -is incapable of judging them objectively. She defends -them with the instinctive passion of the -animal, because they are <em>hers</em>. Intelligence has little -or nothing to do with this defence. Even if she -be a cool-headed woman with a large sense of humor -and see that her championship is illogical, she cannot -give it up.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_224fp.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>Engraving of Buzot by Nargeot, after the portrait worn by Madame Roland during her captivity.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_225'>225</span>Madame Roland’s antipathy to Danton was intensified -by her love for a man who was in every way -his opposite. The reserved, cold dignity of the one -made her despise the tempestuous oratory of the -other. His ideals and theories made Danton’s acts -and riots more odious. His refinement and melancholy -put in insupportable contrast the brutality and -joviality of the great Commune leader. She could -not see Danton’s importance to the success of the -Second Revolution, when absorbed in a personality -so different. All political tactics and compromises -seemed to her insignificant, trivial, unworthy in connection -with her great passion. Undoubtedly, too, -she hoped to see her lover take a position in the new -legislature,—the Convention,—of which he was a -member, which would make the Gironde so strong -that it would not need Danton.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_226'>226</span> - <h2 class='c006'>X<br /> <span class='large'>BUZOT AND MADAME ROLAND</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c007'>In the spring and summer of 1791, which the -Rolands spent at the Hôtel Britannique, they -formed many relations which lasted throughout the -Revolution. In this number was a member of the -Constitutional Assembly, François-Nicolas-Léonard -Buzot, a young man thirty-one years of age, coming -from Evreux, in Normandy. Buzot had had the -typical Gironde education, had been inspired by the -Gironde heroes, and had adopted their theories.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Like Manon Phlipon at Paris, Vergniaud at Bordeaux, -Barbaroux at Marseilles, Charlotte Corday at -Caen, Buzot had lived an intensely sentimental life, -nourishing himself on dreams of noble deeds and -relations; like them, he had become devoted to a -theory of complete regeneration; and like them, he -had proudly flung himself into the Revolution, aspiring, -inexperienced, impassioned, and confident.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Son of a member of the court of Evreux, Buzot -became a lawyer in that town, and took an active -interest with the liberal and enlightened part of the -community in the political struggles of the Revolution. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_227'>227</span>When the notables were called together in -1787, he was elected one of them. He aided in naming -the deputies to the States-General, in preparing -the petition which the Third Estate sent to that body, -and later was elected a deputy. But his real political -cares began in the Constituent Assembly, -where he sat with the extreme Left. His attitude -towards the confiscation of the property of the clergy -is a specimen of his radicalism at this period. “In -my judgment,” he declared, “ecclesiastical property -belongs to the nation,” and this was at a moment -when the right of the clergy to hold property had -not been seriously questioned.</p> - -<p class='c008'>When the Rolands came up to Paris in the spring -of 1791, they found Buzot allied with that part of the -Assembly most sympathetic to them and he supported, -during the time they spent in the city, the measures -which they advocated.</p> - -<p class='c008'>He lived near the Rolands, and soon became a constant -visitor at the house. His wife, an unattractive -woman of no special intellectual cast, was nevertheless -amiable and sincere and the four fell into the -habit of visiting back and forth and of often going -in company to call on Pétion and Brissot.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Madame Roland was more and more attracted by -Buzot’s character as she watched him in the little -circle. He not only held the same theories as she, -but he developed them with ardor and a sort of penetrating -and persuasive eloquence which stirred her -sympathetic, oratory-loving nature. His courage was -<span class='pageno' id='Page_228'>228</span>endless, and it was combined with a pride and indifference -to popular opinion, which harmonized with -her notion that the ideal was to be kept in sight -rather than the practical means of working towards -it. His suspicion of others, even of some of their -associates, based as it was on sentiments of patriotism, -struck her as an evidence of unusual insight.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Buzot had less of that gay versatility which annoyed -her in many of her circle, and which seemed to her -inconsistent with the serious condition of public -affairs. His nature was grave and he looked at life -with a passionate earnestness which gave a permanent -shade of melancholy to his conduct and his thoughts. -In affairs of great importance he became tragic in his -solemn concern. In lighter matters he was rather -sober and reflective. It was an attitude towards life -which appealed deeply to Madame Roland.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The gentleness of Buzot’s character, the purity of -his life, his susceptibility to sentiment, the strength -of his feelings, his love for nature, his habit of revery, -all touched her imagination and caused her to select -him from the circle at the Hôtel Britannique as one -possessing an especially just and sympathetic nature.</p> - -<p class='c008'>When she left Paris, in the middle of September, -1791, she found the parting with Buzot and his wife -most trying. She was more deeply attached to -them than she knew. But if the two families were -to be separated, they were not to lose sight of each -other. A correspondence was arranged between -them, which soon fell quite into the hands of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_229'>229</span>Madame Roland and Buzot, as the correspondence -had done before between the Rolands and other of their -friends. Almost nothing remains of the letters exchanged -between them from the middle of September, -1791, when she returned to Villefranche, and September, -1792, when Buzot went back to Paris, a member -of the Convention from Evreux, where he had been -acting as president of the civil court.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But it is not necessary to have the letters to form -a clear idea of what they would be. Letters had -always been a means of sentimental expansion for -Madame Roland. She wrote, as she felt, invariably -in the eloquent and glowing phrase which her emotion -awakened; now with pathos and longing, frequently -with the real grace and playfulness which her more -spontaneous and natural moods caused. Her letters -were invariably deeply personal. It was her own -life and feelings which permeated them, and it was -the sentiments, the interests, the tastes of her correspondent, -which she sought to draw out and to which -she responded. An intimate and sympathetic correspondence -of this sort, even if the pretext for it and -the present topic of it is public affairs, as it was in -this case, soon takes a large part in a life. Close -exchange of thought and sentiment, complete and -satisfactory, is, perhaps, the finest and truest, as it is -the rarest, experience possible between a man and a -woman. When once realized, it becomes infinitely -precious. Madame Roland and Buzot poured out to -each other all their ambitions and dreams, their joys -<span class='pageno' id='Page_230'>230</span>and their sorrows, sure of perfect understanding. -At this time the thoughts which filled their minds -were one, their emotions were one; both relied more -and more upon the correspondence for stimulus.</p> - -<p class='c008'>To Buzot, harassed by petty criminal trials, and -married to a woman who, whatever her worth, could -never be more to him than his housekeeper and the -mother of his children, this intimacy of thought, and -hope, and despair appeared like a realization of the -perfect Platonic dream, and Madame Roland became -a sacred and glorified figure in his imagination.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But if a man and woman carry on such a correspondence -for a few months and then are suddenly -thrown into constant intercourse, their relation becomes -at once infinitely delicate. It is only experience, -wisdom, womanly tact, and an enormous force -of self-renunciation which can control such a situation -and save the friendship.</p> - -<p class='c008'>When Buzot and Madame Roland first met at -the end of September, 1792, she was ill prepared -for resistance. The Revolution had suddenly appeared -to her fierce, bloody, desperate,—a thing -to disown. She could no longer see in it the divinity -she had been worshipping. Her disillusion -had been terrible. The impotence and languor -which follow disillusion enfeebled her will, weakened -her splendid enthusiasm, and threatened to drive her -to the conclusion that all effort is worthless.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It must have been already evident to her that -the men upon whom she relied as leaders were inefficient. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_231'>231</span>Roland, who had been the idol of the -people until since the installation of the Commune, -was utterly powerless to cope with the new force. -She saw him reduced to defending his actions, to -answering criticisms on his honesty; she felt that -he was no longer necessary to the public cause; it -was a humiliation to her, and her interest in Roland -lessened as his importance decreased. Brissot -had no influence; with a part of the Gironde, Vergniaud, -Gensonné, Guadet, she was not intimate; -Robespierre was alienated; Danton she had refused -to work with. But in Buzot there was hope. He -had no record at Paris to hurt him. There were -infinite possibilities in his position in the new Convention. -Why should he not become the leader of -the party, the spirit of the war between Gironde and -Mountain, the opponent of Danton, the incarnation -of her ideals? The hope she had in him as her -spokesman, as a saviour of the situation, intensified -the interest she felt for him as a friend and comrade.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Personally, too, apart from all public questions, -Buzot attracted her. His noble face, elegant manners, -careful toilette, pleased her. She was a woman -to the tips of her fingers, and Buzot’s courtly air, -his deference to her, his attentions, flattered and -satisfied her. She found in him something of that -“superiority,” that “purity of language,” that “distinguished -manner,” the absence of which she had -regretted in the patriots of the Constituent Assembly -when she first came up to Paris. He presented, too, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_232'>232</span>a relief to Roland’s carelessness in dress, to his indifference -to conventionalities. This superiority was -the more attractive because it was in a man so -young. Buzot’s youth explains something of the -ideality of the relation between them. A woman -who preserves her illusions, her enthusiasms, her sentiments, -as Madame Roland had, up to thirty-eight, -rarely finds in a man much older than herself the -faith, the disinterestedness, the devotion to ideals, -the purity of life and thought which she demands. -She is continually shocked by his cynicism, his experience, -his impersonal attitude, his indifference. -Life with him becomes practical and commonplace. -It lacks in hours of self-revelation, in an intimacy -of all that she feels deep and inspiring; there is -no mystery in it—nothing of the unseen. But with -a young man of a character and nature like Buzot, -she finds a response to her noblest moods, her most -elevated thoughts.</p> - -<p class='c008'>A young man sees in a relation with a woman -of such an elevation of thought as Madame Roland -the type of his dreams, the woman to whom sentiments -and ideals are of far more importance than -amusement and pleasure—the woman capable of -great self-sacrifice for duty, of untiring action for -a noble cause, of comprehension of all that is best -in him, of brave resistance to temptation—and yet -a woman to the last, dainty in her love of beauty, -flattered by his homage, untiring in her efforts to -please him, capable of a passion wide as the world.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_233'>233</span>Buzot’s relation to Madame Roland must have -been the dearer to her because at the moment the -intimacy which she had had with several of her -friends was waning. With Roland working twenty -hours out of the twenty-four, tormented by false -accusations, conscious of his helplessness, irritated -by dyspepsia and over-work, there could have been -very little satisfactory personal intercourse. Their -relation had come to the point to which every intimate -human relation must come, where forbearance, -charity, a bit of humorous cynicism, courage, -self-sacrifice, character, and nobility of heart must -sustain it instead of dreams, transports, passion. -She was incapable of the effort.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Bosc was an old friend and a loving one, but their -friendship had reached the stage where all has been -said that could be, and while there was the security -and satisfaction in it which comes from all things to -which one is accustomed,—and it was necessary to -her no doubt,—there was no novelty, no possible -future.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Bancal was interested in a Miss Williams, and since -he had made that known to Madame Roland, she had -been less expansive. No woman will long give her -best to a man who holds another woman dearer.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Lanthenas, who had been for years their friend, -to whom she had given the title of “brother” and -received in a free and frank intimacy, had begun to -withdraw his sympathy.</p> - -<p class='c008'>When Buzot came to Paris, it was natural and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_234'>234</span>inevitable that they should see much of each other. -All things considered, it was natural, inevitable, -perhaps, that love should come from their intimacy; -but that Madame Roland should have prevented the -declaration of this love we have a right to expect -when we remember her opinions, her habit of reflection, -and, above all, her experience.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Madame Roland had never accepted, other than -theoretically, the idea which at the end of the eighteenth -century made hosts of advocates,—that love -is its own justification; that any civil or religious tie -which prevents one following the dictates of his -heart is unnatural and wrong. Nor did she accept -for herself the practice then common in France, as it -is still, and as it must be so long as marriage remains -a matter of business, of keeping marriage ties for the -sake of society, but of finding satisfaction for the -affections in <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">liaisons</span></i> of which nobody complains so -long as they are <em>discreet</em>, to use the French characterization. -Her notions of duty, of devotion, of loyalty, -were those of the <cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Nouvelle Héloïse</span></cite> and allowed -only marriage based on affection and preserved with -fidelity to the end. Her theory of life and human -relations would not allow her to be false to Roland. -With such opinions she could not allow Buzot to -declare the affection he felt.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Had she been an inexperienced woman, such a -declaration might have come naturally enough without -any reproach for her; she would have been unprepared -for it. Madame Roland was not inexperienced. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_235'>235</span>She knew all the probability there was of -Buzot loving her and she was too skilled in the human -heart to believe herself incapable of a new love.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Already she had been absorbed by passions whose -realization at the moment had seemed necessary to -her life. Her Platonic affection for Sophie Cannet -was of an intensity rarely equalled by the most -ardent love. For La Blancherie she had been ready -to say that if she could not marry him she would -marry no one. Roland, before their marriage, she had -overwhelmed by her passion, and since she had followed -him incessantly with protestations of affection. -Certainly she knew by this time that impassioned -love may grow cool and that the heart may recover -its fire and vehemence.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Nor had all her experience been before her marriage. -She had not the excuse of those married -women who suppose, in the simplicity of their innocence -and purity, that once married there is no deviation -of affection or loyalty possible, and who, -when circumstances throw them into relations where -a new passion is awakened, are overpowered by shame -and surprise.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Her relations with different ones of her friends -after her marriage had reached points which ought to -have taught her serious lessons in self-repression and -in tact. Bosc, with whom she was in correspondence -from the time the Rolands left Paris for Amiens, -became deeply attached to her. Their relation seems -to have become more tender during the time that she -<span class='pageno' id='Page_236'>236</span>spent in Paris seeking a title, and this quite naturally -because of the loss Bosc suffered then in the death of -his father, and because of the very practical aid she -had given him in taking care of his sister. Their -correspondence, which, while she was at Amiens, was -gay and unrestrained, an ideal correspondence for two -good friends and comrades, later grew more delicate. -Bosc was jealous and moody at times and caused her -uneasiness and sorrow. When they passed through -Paris, on their way to Villefranche, in September, -1784, he found at their meeting some reason for discontent -in their relation with a person he disliked, -and left them abruptly and angrily.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The quarrel lasted some two months and was -dismissed finally with good sense by Madame Roland -telling Bosc playfully, “Receive a sound boxing, a -hearty embrace, friendly and sincere—I am hungry -for an old-fashioned letter from you. Burn this and -let us talk no more of our troubles.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>After this whenever Bosc became too ardent in his -letters, or inclined to jealousy, she treated him in this -half-playful, half-matronly style. Her principle with -him remained from the first to the last that there -could be between them no ignorance of the question -of their duty.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The experience with Bosc had taught her the -strong probability that a man admitted to such intimate -relations would, at some period in the friendship, -fall more or less in love; and it had shown her, -too, that it is possible for a woman to control this -<span class='pageno' id='Page_237'>237</span>delicate relation and insure a healthy and inspiring -relation. In short, Madame Roland had reason to -congratulate herself, as she did with her usual self-complacency, -on her wisdom and her tact in handling -<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">l’ami</span></i> Bosc. Whether she would not have been less -wise if she had been less in love with her husband, or -Bosc had been of a different nature, a little less dry -and choleric, it is not necessary to speculate here.</p> - -<p class='c008'>She was quite as happy in directing her relations -with Dr. Lanthenas, whom it will be remembered -Roland had picked up in Italy before their marriage, -who had come back with him, who had visited them -often at Amiens, and who had lived with them at Le -Clos, where an apartment on the first floor is still -called Lanthenas’ room. He was associated in all -their planning, and in 1790, when Roland, disgusted -with the turn politics had taken, sighed for Pennsylvania, -Lanthenas suggested that the Rolands, and -one of his friends at Paris, Bancal des Issarts, and he -himself should buy a piece of national property—the -State had just confiscated some millions’ worth -of clerical estates and was selling them cheap—and -should establish together a community where they -could not fail to lead an existence ideal in its peace, -its enthusiasm, its growth.</p> - -<p class='c008'>This Utopia was discussed at length in their letters, -and several pieces of property near Lyons and Clermont, -where Bancal lived, were visited. Roland -was thoroughly taken with the idea, but Madame -Roland, while she saw all the advantages, discovered a -<span class='pageno' id='Page_238'>238</span>possible danger. If she had been able to resist the -siege to her heart by Bosc and Lanthenas, even to -win them over as allies, her relation with Bancal des -Issarts had taken almost immediately a turn more -serious for her. She was herself touched and interested, -and her policy when she felt her heart moved -was most questionable. Instead of concealing her -feelings and mastering them, she poured them out to -Bancal himself in a way to excite his sympathy and -to inflame his passion. Indeed, the turn their correspondence -took in a few months reminds one forcibly -of the letters of Manon Phlipon to M. Roland in the -days when, feeling herself moved by his attentions, -she drew a declaration out of him by portraying a -state of heart which no man who was as decidedly -interested as Roland was, could resist.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It was the new community which troubled her. -Bancal had shown himself so eager for it, she herself -saw such a charm in it, that she became alarmed. -To a letter of Bancal’s, which we can suppose to -have been fervid, but which was not so much so that -Roland was annoyed by it, it being he who had received -it and sent it on to her, she replied: “My -mind is busy with a thousand ideas, agitated by -tumultuous sentiments. Why is it that my eyes are -blinded by constant tears? My will is firm, my heart -is pure, and yet I am not tranquil. ‘It will be the -greatest charm of our life and we shall be useful to -our fellows,’ you say of the affection which unites -us, and these consoling words have not restored my -<span class='pageno' id='Page_239'>239</span>peace. I am not sure of your happiness and I -should never forgive myself for having disturbed it. -I have believed that you were feeding it on a hope -that I ought to forbid. Who can foresee the effect -of violent agitations, too often renewed? Would -they not be dangerous if they left only that languor -which weakens the moral being and which makes it -unequal to the situation? I am wrong. You do -not experience this unworthy alternative, you could -never be weak. The idea of your strength brings -back mine. I shall know how to enjoy the happiness -that Heaven has allotted me, believing that it -has not allowed me to trouble you.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>She was quite conscious of her inconsistency, but -with the feminine propensity for finding an excuse -for an indiscretion, she charged it on the construction -of society,—a construction which, it should be -noted, she had years ago convinced herself to be -necessary, and which she had repeatedly accepted, -so that there was not the excuse for her that there -is for those who have never reflected that human -laws and codes of morals are simply the best possible -arrangement thus far found for men and women getting -on together without a return to the savage state, -and have never made a tacit compact with themselves -to be law-abiding because they saw the reason for -being so.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Why is it,” she writes, “that this sheet that I -am writing you cannot be sent to you openly? Why -can one not show to all that which one would dare -<span class='pageno' id='Page_240'>240</span>offer to Divinity itself? Assuredly I can call upon -Heaven, and take it as a witness of my vow and of -my intentions; I find pleasure in thinking that it -sees me, hears me, and judges me.... When shall -we see each other again? Question that I ask myself -often, and that I dare not answer.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Bancal went to Le Clos, and evidently, from -passages in their subsequent letters, there passed -between them some scene of passion.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Later, Bancal went to London to propagate the -ideas of the patriots, but Lanthenas and Roland became -anxious that he return to Paris to help them -there. Madame Roland dared not advise him to -return, though she could not conceal her pleasure -at the idea that he might, and that, too, after she -was again at Paris.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Do as you think best,” she wrote; “at any rate -I shall not have the false delicacy to conceal from -you that I am going to Paris, and shall even push -my frankness to confessing that this circumstance -adds much to my scruples in writing you to return. -There is, in this situation, an infinite number of -things which one feels but cannot explain, but that -which is very clear, and which I say frankly to -you, is that I wish never to see you bend to light considerations -or to half affections. Remember that if -I need the happiness of my friends this happiness is -attached, for those who feel like us, to an absolute -<em>irreproachability</em>.”</p> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_240fp.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>Inscription written by Madame Roland on the back of the portrait of Buzot which she carried while in prison.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_241'>241</span>It was by this constant return to the subject that -she kept the relation between herself and Bancal -“interesting.” It was by holding up her duty—the -necessity of “virtue”—that she provoked him. -It was the “coquetry of virtue” which Dumouriez -found in her.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But when Madame Roland went up to Paris she -found other interests, new friends. Bancal received -less attention, and he, occupied in making new -friends, gave less attention; gradually the personal -tone dropped from their letters, and by the fall of -1792 the correspondence had become purely patriotic. -The friendship became of still less moment to -Madame Roland when Bancal revealed to her his -love for Miss Williams, a young English girl who -had been attracted to Paris by the Revolution, and -there had become associated with the Girondins.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The affair with Bancal des Issarts proves Madame -Roland to have had no more discretion than an -ordinary woman when her heart was engaged, and -drives one to the reluctant conclusion that in her -case, as in the majority of cases, she was saved from -folly by circumstances.</p> - -<p class='c008'>By experience and by reflection, then, she was -armed. Indeed, on whatever side we regard the -revelation of her love to Buzot, she was blamable -save one—and that of importance. In the general -dissolution of old ideas, in the return, in theory, -to the state of nature, which intellectual France had -made, every law of social life, as every law of government, -had been traced to its origin, and its reasonableness -<span class='pageno' id='Page_242'>242</span>and justice questioned in the light of -pure theory. Marriage had come under the general -dissection. Love is a divine law, a higher wisdom. -It is unjust, unreasonable, unnatural, to separate -those who love because of any previous tie. It is -the natural right of man to be happy.</p> - -<p class='c008'>This opinion in the air had affected Madame Roland. -She found it “bizarre and cruel” that two -people should be chained together whom differences -of age, of sentiment, of character, have rendered -incompatible; and although she would not consent -to take advantage of this theory and leave Roland, -it justified her in loving Buzot and in telling him so.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It was not only the new ideas on love and marriage -which influenced her. In the chaos of laws, -of usages, of ideas, of aspirations, of hopes in which -she found herself, there seemed nothing worth saving -but this. The Revolution was stained and horrible. -Her friends were helpless, she herself seemed to be -no longer of any use,—why not seize the one last -chance of joy? When the efforts and enthusiasms -of one’s youth suddenly show themselves to be but -illusions, and the end of life seems to be at hand, can -it be expected that human nature with its imperious -demand for happiness refuse the last chance offered? -Remember, too, that never in the world’s history had -a class of people believed more completely in the -<em>right</em> to happiness, never demanded it more fully.</p> - -<p class='c008'>At all events Madame Roland and Buzot declared -their love. But this was not enough for her; she felt -<span class='pageno' id='Page_243'>243</span>that she could not deceive Roland and she told him -that she loved Buzot, but that since it was her duty -to stay with him (Roland) she would do it, and that -she would be faithful to her marriage vows. All -considerations of kindliness, of reserve, of womanly -tenderness, of honor, should have dictated to Madame -Roland that if she really had no intention of yielding -to her love, as she certainly never had, it was -useless and cruel to torment Roland at his age, with -failing health, and in his desperate public position, -with the story of her passion. He loved her devotedly, -and she had incessantly worked to excite -and deepen this love—to be told now that she loved -another must wound him in his deepest affections. -But she had a sentimental need of frankness. She -loved expansion; she must open her heart to him. -In doing it she heaped upon the overburdened old -man the heaviest load a heart can carry, that of the -desertion of its most trusted friend and companion, -and that after years of association and almost daily -renewal of vows of love and fidelity.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Absorbed by her passion, she found it unreasonable -and vexing that Roland should take her confession -to heart, that he did not rejoice over her candor and -accept her “sacrifice” with gratitude and tears. In -her Memoirs she says of Roland’s attitude towards -the affair:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“I honor and cherish my husband as a sensitive -daughter adores a virtuous father, to whom she -would sacrifice even her lover; but I found the man -<span class='pageno' id='Page_244'>244</span>who might have been my lover, and while remaining -faithful to my duties, I was too artless to conceal -my feelings. My husband, excessively sensitive on -account of his affection and his self-respect, could -not endure the idea of the least change in his empire; -he grew suspicious, his jealousy irritated me. -Happiness fled from us. He adored me, I sacrificed -myself for him, and we were unhappy.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Such was the delicate and painful situation in -which Madame Roland, Buzot, and Roland were -placed during the struggle between the Gironde and -Mountain. We might expect despair and indifference -from them in the face of the enormous difficulties -in the Convention. But they never faltered. -Their courage was superb from first to last. Furthermore, -there is no sign left us of distrust and irritation -towards one another. Buzot supported Roland -in every particular. Madame Roland and her husband -were associated as closely as ever in public -work. Roland and Buzot, both of them, were held -to an almost Quixotic state of forbearance and -strength by the exalted enthusiasm of this woman -of powerful sentiments and affections. Neither of -the men ever looked upon her with dimmed love -and respect. In spite of all she made them suffer, -inspired by her faith in their virtue, they accepted -a Platonic life <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">à trois</span></i>, and for many months were -able to work together.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_245'>245</span> - <h2 class='c006'>XI<br /> <span class='large'>THE ROLANDS TURN AGAINST THE REVOLUTION</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c007'>Upon Roland the effect of the atrocities of September, -and the consciousness of his own powerlessness, -was terrible. His health was undermined; -he could not eat; his skin became yellow; he did -not sleep; his step was feeble, but his activity was -feverish; he worked night and day. Having a chance -to become a member of the new legislative body, the -Convention to meet September 21st, he sent in his resignation -as Minister of the Interior. The resignation -raised a cry from the Gironde, and hosts of anxious -patriots urged him to remain.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In the session of September 29th, the question came -up in the Convention of inviting Roland, and those -of his colleagues who had resigned with him, to remain -in office. His enemies did not lose the opportunity -to attack him. Danton even went so far as to -say: “If you invite him, invite Madame Roland too; -everybody knows that he has not been alone in his -department.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>This discussion, and the discovery that his election -as deputy would be illegal, persuaded Roland to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_246'>246</span>withdraw his resignation. He announced his decision -in an address which was an unmistakable arraignment -of the Commune and the Mountain, an -announcement that the Minister of the Interior, in -remaining in office, remained as their enemy. He -abandoned in this same address an important point -of his old policy. Formerly it had been to Paris that -he had appealed. She alone had the energy, the fire, -the daring to act. The rest of the country was apathetic, -passionless; but now he says Paris has done -all that is necessary. She must retire, “must be reduced -to her eighty-third portion of influence; a more -extensive influence would excite fears, and nothing -would be more harmful to Paris than the discontent -or suspicion of the departments—no representations, -however numerous, should acquire an ascendency -over the Convention.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>At that particular moment no policy could have -been more antagonistic to the Parisian populace. -They were “saving the country.” None but a -traitor would oppose their efforts. Roland not only -declared that they must cease their work; he called -for an armed force drawn from all the departments -and stationed about Paris to prevent the city from -interfering with the free action of the Convention. -The suspicion which before the 10th of August he -had applied to the constitutional party he now turned -upon the party which had produced that day; the -measure he had proposed to prevent the treason of -the Court, he now proposed as a guard against the -excesses of the patriots.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_247'>247</span>He ran a Bureau of Public Opinion, which scattered -thousands of documents filled with the eloquent -and vague teachings of the Gironde schools. He -urged the pastors to stop singing the <cite><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Domine Salvum -fac Regnum</span></cite>, and to translate their services into -French; he discoursed upon how and when the word -<em>citizen</em> should be used, advised a national costume, -suggested that scenes from the classics be regularly -reproduced in public to stir to patriotism, that fêtes -celebrating every possible anniversary be instituted; -but chiefly he defended himself against the charges of -his antagonists, extolling his own impeccability and -the exactness of his accounts. No sadder reading -ever was printed than the campaign of words Roland -carried on during the four months he struggled -against the Mountain. Fearless, sincere, honest, disinterested -as he was, he was still so pitifully inadequate -to the situation, so ridiculously subjective -in his methods, that irritation at his impotence is -forgotten in the compassion it awakens.</p> - -<p class='c008'>While Roland carried on his Bureau of Public -Opinion and defended his character, Buzot, in the -Convention, fought the Mountain more openly and -more bitterly. He had no excuse whatever for the -excesses of September; no veil to draw over the -first twenty-four hours, no patience, no thought of -compromise with Robespierre and Danton, the leaders -of the Commune. To his mind they were murderers -pure and simple, and the country was not -worth saving, if it could not be saved without them. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_248'>248</span>In Roland’s case there is always the feeling that if -the Commune had regarded him as necessary, obeyed -his directions, let him run his Public Opinion Office -to suit himself, and ceased maligning his character, -he would have condoned their massacre as one of -the unhappy but necessary means of insuring the -Revolution; that if these “misled brothers,” as he -called them, had recognized their mistake, he would -have opened his arms to them. Never so with Buzot. -Sensitive, idealistic, indifferent to public applause, -from the first he took a violent and pronounced position -against the Mountain, and refused to compromise -with them. It was not hatred alone of the -excesses. It was sympathy with Madame Roland, -who had revolted against the Revolution. From -the day at Evreux, when he received a letter from -her, telling of her disgust and disillusion, and setting -up a new cause,—the purification of the country -of agitators and rioters,—Buzot’s ideas on the -policy of Terror changed. When he came up to -the Convention he immediately made a violent attack -on Robespierre, declared that the Mountain was -the most dangerous foe of the country, that Paris -was usurping the power of France, and he never -ceased his war.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The measure which Madame Roland had suggested -a few months before to protect Paris, the -patriots, and the Assembly against the aristocrats, -he now proposed to thwart the activity of Paris and -the Commune,—a guard drawn from all the departments -<span class='pageno' id='Page_249'>249</span>for the defence of the Convention. Naturally, -this drew upon him the hatred of the sections and -leaders, and he was accounted in the Convention, -from the 1st of October, the avowed opponent of -the Terrorists.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Nothing intimidated him. He followed up the -proposition for a guard by a demand for a decree -against those who provoked to murder and assassination. -Systematically he refused to believe in the -sincerity of Robespierre and Danton,—they were -usurpers aiming at dictatorship. When in March -they sought to organize a revolutionary tribunal, -Buzot, furious and trembling, declared to the Convention -that he was weary of despotism. He signalled -the abuses that were made all over France -by the revolutionary bodies, and violently attacked -members of the Jacobin society and of the Mountain, -denouncing them as infamous wretches, as -assassins of the country. It was not only murder -of which he accused them,—it was corruption. -“Sudden and scandalous fortunes” were noted among -the Terrorists in the Convention,—and he demanded -that each deputy give the condition and origin of his -fortune.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In all these measures Buzot was in harmony with -Roland, and he fought the minister’s cause in the -Convention so far as possible. Indeed, it came to -be a sort of personal resentment he showed when -Roland was attacked in the body, and once he went -so far that they cried out to him, “It is not you we -<span class='pageno' id='Page_250'>250</span>are talking about.” It was a lover’s jealousy against -anything which harmed his lady.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But while attacking the Terrorists Buzot was -obliged to prove his patriotism, to show that he was -a republican, and a hater of the monarchy. He did -it by radical measures. While insisting on an armed -force to protect the Convention, he demanded the -perpetual banishment of the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">émigrés</span></i>, and their death -if they set foot in France. A few weeks later he -demanded that whosoever should propose the re-establishment -of royalty in France, under whatsoever -denomination, should be punished by death; afterwards -he asked the banishment of all the Bourbons, -not excepting Philippe of Orleans, then sitting in the -Convention.</p> - -<p class='c008'>When it came to the question of the death of -Louis XVI., Buzot wished that the King be heard -and not condemned immediately; when he came to -vote, it was for his death with delay and a <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">referendum</span></i> -that he decided.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But no amount of violence against the royalists -could now prove him a patriot. That which made -a patriot in the fall of 1792 was an altogether -different thing from what made one in the spring of -1792. Buzot, with the Gironde, was suspected. It -was not enough that he opposed the old régime and -approved a Republic, he must approve the vengeance -of Terrorism and support the Terrorists. But he -could not do it. He was revolted by the awful -excess, and he underwent a physical repulsion which -<span class='pageno' id='Page_251'>251</span>was almost feminine and made any union with the -party impossible, whatever the demands of politics -were.</p> - -<p class='c008'>As a matter of fact, the Mountain feared Buzot -but little. His irritability, haughtiness, lack of -humor, made him of small importance as a leader -in the Gironde. He could not move the Convention -as Vergniaud; he had none of the wire-pulling skill -of Brissot; he was important chiefly as the spokesman -of Madame Roland’s measures. Buzot’s intimate -relations to the Rolands seem to have been -well understood. The contemptuous way in which -Marat treated him shows this. Marat called him -<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">frère tranquille Buzot</span></i>; and sneered at him for “declaiming -in a ridiculous tone”; said the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">frère tranquille</span></i> -had a <em>pathos glacial</em>; called him <em><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">le pédant -Buzot</span>; the corypheus of the Rolands</em>.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In this chaotic and desperate struggle neither -Roland nor Buzot were more active than Madame -Roland. She had become a public factor by Marat’s -accusations, and by Danton’s sneers in the Convention. -She kept her place. At home she was -as active as ever in assisting her husband. Many -of the official papers of this period, which have -been preserved, are in her hand, or have been -annotated by her. Important circulars and reports -she frequently prepared, and Roland trusted her -implicitly in such work. She was his adviser and -helper in every particular of the official work, and -at the same time saw many people who were essential -<span class='pageno' id='Page_252'>252</span>to them. This social activity brought down -Marat’s abuse. She was “Penelope Roland” for -him, and in one number of the journal under the -head “Le Trantran de la Penelope Roland,” he -wrote: “The woman Roland has a very simple means -of recruiting. Does a deputy need her husband -for affairs of the department, Roland pretends a -multiplicity of engagements and begs to put him -off until after the Assembly,—‘Come and take supper -with us, citizen and deputy, we will talk of your -business afterwards.’ The woman Roland cajoles -the guests one after the other, even <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">en portant la -main sous le menton de ses favoris</span></i>, redoubles attention -for the new-comer, who soon joins the clique.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Marat professes to have this from a deputy who -had visited her. It is abusive and false, but it is -well to remember that a year before Madame Roland -had not hesitated to believe and repeat equally ridiculous -stories of Marie Antoinette. Indeed, Madame -Roland had the same place in the minds of the -patriots of the fall of 1792, that the Queen had a -year before in the minds of the Gironde. “We have -destroyed royalty,” says <cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Père Duchesne</span></cite>, “and in -its place we have raised a tyranny still more odious. -The tender other half of the virtuous Roland has -France in leading-strings to-day, as once the Pompadours -and the Du Barrys. She receives every evening -at the hour of the bats in the same place where -Antoinette plotted a new Saint Bartholomew with -the Austrian committee. Like the former Queen, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_253'>253</span>Madame Coco (the name <cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Père Duchesne</span></cite> usually -gives Madame Roland), stretched on a sofa, surrounded -by her wits, reasons blindly on war, politics, -supplies. It is in this gambling-den that all the -announcements posted up are manufactured.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>In December she was even obliged to appear before -the Convention. Roland had been accused of being -in correspondence with certain eminent <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">émigrés</span></i> then -in England, and to be plotting with them the re-establishment -of the King. One Viard was said to -be the go-between, and to have had a meeting with -Madame Roland. Roland was summoned to answer -the charge and, having responded, demanded that his -wife be heard. Her appearance made a sensation in -the Convention, and she cleared herself so well of -the charges that she was loudly applauded, and was -accorded the honors of the session. The spectators -alone were silent and Marat remarked, “See how -still the people are; they are wiser than we.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>At the beginning of the year 1793, the danger -of mob violence was added to the incessant slanders -by Hébert and Marat. “Every day,” says -Champagneux, who was then employed by the minister, -“a new danger appeared. It seemed as if -each night would be the last of her life, as if an -army of assassins would profit by the darkness to -come and murder her as well as her husband. -The most sinister threats came from all sides. She -was urged not to sleep at the Hôtel of the Interior.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>At first the alarm was so great on her account -<span class='pageno' id='Page_254'>254</span>that she yielded to her friends’ wishes, but she -hated the idea of flight. One evening the danger -was such that every one insisted on her disguising -herself and leaving the hotel. She consented, but -the wig they brought did not fit, and in a burst -of impatience she flung the costume, wig and all, -into the corner and declared she was ashamed of -herself; that if any one wanted to assassinate her, -he might do it there; that she ought to give an -example of firmness and she would. And from -that day she never left the hotel until Roland -resigned on January 22d.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The little apartment in the Rue de la Harpe -was waiting them. To leave the Hôtel of the -Interior was no trial to them privately. No one -could have been more indifferent to considerations -of position and surroundings. Their convictions of -their own right-doing made them superior to all -influences which affect worldly and selfish natures. -It is impossible for such people as the Rolands to -“come down” in life. Material considerations are -so external, so mere an incident, that they can go -from palace to hut without giving the matter a -second thought. But retirement did not mean relief. -Roland’s reports which he had made to the -Convention, and which he felt justly were a complete -answer to the charges against him, were -unnoticed. He begged the body repeatedly to examine -them. He urged his ill-health and his desire -to leave Paris as a reason, but no notice was -<span class='pageno' id='Page_255'>255</span>taken of him. To Roland this neglect seemed insolence. -He felt that he deserved honorable recognition. -He craved it, and was irritated and discouraged -when he did not receive it.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It was evident, too, that his retirement from -office had not made his enemies forget him. They -followed him as they had priests, <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">émigrés</span></i>, and nobles, -and Marat repeatedly denounced him as connected -with the opposition to the Mountain.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It was horrible for them to watch day after day -the struggle going on in the Convention between -Gironde and Mountain. Day by day the condition -of the former grew more desperate, their defeat -and the triumph of the policy of vengeance more -certain. The most tragic part of the gradual -downfall of the Gironde was not defeat, however. -It was disillusion—the slow-growing and unconfessed -suspicion that their dream had been an -error. It was Buzot who felt this most deeply. -In his Memoirs he confesses that gradually he -grew convinced that France was not fitted for the -Republic they had dared to give it, and that often -he had been at the point of owning his mistake:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“My friends and I kept our hope of a Republic -in France for a long time,” he writes; “even when -everything seemed to show us that the enlightened -class, either through prejudice or guided by experience -and reason, refused this form of government. -My friends did not give up this hope even -at the period when those who governed the Republic -<span class='pageno' id='Page_256'>256</span>were the most vicious and the vilest of men, -and when the French people could be least counted -on.... For myself, I avow that I despaired several -times of the success of this project so dear to -my heart. Before my expulsion from the Convention, -not wishing to betray my conscience or my -principles, I was on the point, several times, of retiring -from a position where all the dangers, even -that of dishonoring my memory, left me no hope -of doing good; where even our obstinate and useless -resistance did nothing but increase the error -of good citizens on the true situation of the National -Convention. A kind of self-love which was -honored by the name of duty kept me at my post -in spite of myself. My friends desired it and I -stayed.... It is useless to deny it—the majority -of the French people sighed after royalty and the -constitution of 1790. There were only a few men -with noble and elevated souls who felt worthy of -having been born republicans, and whom the example -of America had encouraged to follow the project -of a similar institution in France, who thought in -good faith to naturalize it in the country of frivolities -and inconstancy. The rest—with the exception -of a crowd of wretches without intelligence, without -education, and without resources, who vomited -injuries on the monarchy as in six months they -will on the Republic, without knowing any reason -why—the rest did not desire it, wanted only the -constitution of 1791, and talked of the true republicans as one talks of extremely sincere fools. -Have the events of the 20th of June, the suffering, -the persecution, the assassinations which have followed -them, changed the opinion of the majority in -France? No; but in the cities they pretend to be -<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">sans-culottes</span></i>; those that do not are guillotined. In -the country the most unjust requisitions are obeyed, -because those who do not obey them are guillotined; -on all sides the young go to war, because those who -do not go are guillotined. The guillotine explains -everything. It is the great weapon of the French -government. This people is republican because of -the guillotine. Examine closely, go into families, -search the hearts if they dare open to you; you -will read there hate against the government that -fear imposes upon them. You will see there that -all desires, all hopes, turn towards the constitution -of 1791.”</p> - -<div class='figcenter id003'> -<img src='images/i_256fp.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>The prison, called the Abbaye, where Madame Roland passed the first twenty-four days of her imprisonment.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_257'>257</span>That Buzot should have remained until the end -with the Gironde, when convinced, as he here says, -that their efforts for a Republic were contrary to the -will of the country, and when, too, he was revolted -against the excesses its establishment was causing, -he explained fully, when he wrote: “My error was -too beautiful to be repented of;” and again, when -he says: “Our dream was too beautiful to be abandoned.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>The terrible whirlpool had dragged away hopes, -ambitions, dreams, from them. Into it went, too, -some of their most valued friends; men whom they -<span class='pageno' id='Page_258'>258</span>had raised to positions of importance, but who now -that they saw the party defeated abandoned them -through fear and disillusion. At the same time that -they were experiencing all the force of their disillusion, -the relation between Roland and his wife was -becoming terribly tense and painful. They felt that -they must bring it to an end in some way, must get -away from Buzot, and they resolved to go to the -country. In May Roland wrote, for the eighth time, -to the Convention, begging that the report on his administration -be examined. His letter was not even -read to the body. It became more and more probable -that threats which had followed them a long -time would take effect soon, and Roland be arrested. -Madame Roland decided that she ought not to remain -in Paris with her daughter any longer, as Roland -could escape more easily if they were at Le -Clos. Her health, too, sadly altered by the storm of -emotions which she had passed through, demanded a -change.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The passports permitting them to leave Paris had -been delayed some days, and just as she received -them she fell ill. She was not herself again when -the 31st of May came. This day was for the Gironde -what the 10th of August had been for the King.</p> - -<p class='c008'>During the latter half of May the Convention had -been the scene of one of the maddest, awfulest struggles -in the history of legislative bodies, and the -victory had throughout leaned towards the Terrorists. -They were decided, and audacious. The indecision, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_259'>259</span>the platitudes, the disgust, of the Gironde weakened -the party constantly. The struggle was ended by the -riot of May 31st. Before the contest was over the -Convention had voted the expulsion and trial of -twenty-two members of the Gironde. Again the -stick was out of the wheel, and the Republic was to -roll.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Roland was not in the number that the Mountain -could strike through the Convention. It had a much -more direct and simple, a more <em>legal</em>, method of reaching -him. Its Revolutionary committee had already -been in operation some time. Its work was arresting -those who stood in the way of the Republic. -That Roland did, Marat had proved time and again, -and now that the time had come to rid the country -of the Gironde <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">in toto</span></i>, it would never do to let him -escape.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It was on the afternoon of May 31st that the -arrest of Roland was made at their apartment in -the Rue de la Harpe. Arrests at this period were so -arbitrary a matter, the sympathy or resentment of -the officers and spectators had so much to do with -their execution or non-execution, that it is not surprising -that Roland by his own protestations and -arguments, and by the aid of the good people of the -house who were friendly to him, was able to induce -the officer in charge to leave his colleagues and go -after further orders.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Madame Roland took advantage of the delay to -attempt a <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">coup d’état</span></i>, go to the Convention, secure -<span class='pageno' id='Page_260'>260</span>a hearing, present Roland’s case, and trust to her -beauty, her wit, and her eloquence to obtain his release. -In her morning gown, for she was only just -off her sick-bed, she sprung into a cab and drove to -the Carrousel. The front court was filled with armed -men; every entrance was guarded. With the greatest -difficulty she reached the waiting-room and attempted -to get a hearing from the president. A -terrible uproar came from the Assembly, and after -a long wait she learned what it meant,—the demand -for the arrest of the twenty-two was being made.</p> - -<p class='c008'>She sent for Vergniaud and explained the situation. -She could hope for nothing in the condition -of affairs in the Assembly,—he told her the Convention -was able to do nothing more. “It can do -everything,” she cried; “the majority of Paris only -asks to know what ought to be done. If I am admitted, -I shall dare say what you could not without -being accused. I fear nothing in the world, and -if I do not save Roland, I shall say what will be useful -to the Republic.” But what use to insist in this -chaos? Not Vergniaud, not Buzot, not the Gironde -as a body, had the power at this final moment to -secure a hearing. She was forced to give it up and -retire; not so easy a matter through the suspicious -battalions guarding the approaches to the château. -She was even obliged to leave her cab at last and go -home on foot.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Back in the apartment she found that Roland had -escaped. She went from house to house until she -<span class='pageno' id='Page_261'>261</span>found him. They talked over the situation, he concluded -to fly, she decided to go again to the Convention, -and they parted.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In spite of weakness and fatigue Madame Roland -made, that night, another attempt to reach the Convention. -But when she reached the palace the session -was closed. After infinite difficulty from the -citizens who guarded the Tuileries she reached her -home again. She had seated herself to write a note -to Roland when, about midnight, a deputation from -the Commune presented itself, asking for Roland. -She refused to answer their questions, and they retired, -leaving a sentinel at the door of the apartment -and at that of the house. She finished her letter -and went to bed. In an hour she was awakened. -Her frightened servant told her that delegates from -the section wanted to see her. With perfect calm -she dressed herself for the street and passed into the -room where the commissioners waited.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“We come, Citoyenne, to arrest you and put on -the seals.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Where are your orders?”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Here,” says a man drawing an order of arrest from -the Revolutionary committee of the Commune. No -reason of arrest is assigned in the document, which -still exists, and the order given is to place her in the -Abbaye to be questioned the next day. She hesitated. -Should she resist? But what was the use? -She was in their eyes <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">mise hors de la loi</span></i> and she submitted, -not sorry at heart perhaps, to be put into a -<span class='pageno' id='Page_262'>262</span>position where she could resist publicly the tyranny of -her enemies. Reinforced by officers from the section, -and by fifty to a hundred good <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">sans-culottes</span></i> come to -see that the officers do their duty according to their -sovereign will, the commissioners placed seals on -boxes and doors, windows and wardrobes. One zealous -patriot wanted to put one on the piano. They -told him it was a musical instrument. Thereupon -he contented himself with pulling out a yardstick -and taking its dimensions.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In this ignorant, vulgar, and violent crowd she -came and went serenely, preparing for her imprisonment. -She even noted with amusement their curiosity -and stupidity. It was morning when she left -her weeping household. “These people love you,” -said one of the commissioners, as they went downstairs. -“I never have any one about me who does -not,” she replied proudly.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Two rows of armed men extended from the doorway -across the Rue de la Harpe to the carriage, waiting -on the other side of the street. She looked about -as she came out, at all this display of force, at the -crowd of curious Parisian <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">badauds</span></i> who watched -the scene, and with conscious dignity she advanced -“slowly considering the cowardly and mistaken -troop.” It is a short five minutes’ walk from where -Madame Roland lived to the prison of the Abbaye -and she soon was within the walls.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Two days later, June 2d, the arrest of Buzot was -decreed by the Convention. He was seized but escaped -<span class='pageno' id='Page_263'>263</span>from his guards, and fled from Paris to Evreux, -where he was well received by the department which -believed that the Convention had been forced into -its decree against the twenty-two. Roland in the -meantime had reached Amiens. The three were -never to see one another again. The cause which -brought them together had separated them forever.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_264'>264</span> - <h2 class='c006'>XII<br /> <span class='large'>IN PRISON</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c007'>It was the morning of the first day of June, 1792, -that Madame Roland was taken to the Abbaye. -The imprisonment then begun lasted until November -8th, the day of her death. The record we have of -her life during these five months is full and intimate.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Separated from her child, her husband in flight, -her friends persecuted by the Commune, she herself -only just off a sick-bed, confined in a prison which -had been from the beginning of the Revolution a -centre of riot and the floors of whose halls and courts -were still warm with the blood of the massacre of -September, the cries of <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">à la Guillotine</span></i> following her -from the street, it would not have been strange if -her courage had failed, if she had paled before the -fate which she knew in all probability awaited her. -But from the beginning to the end of her long durance -she showed a proud indifference to the result, -an almost reckless audacity in braving her enemies, -a splendid courage in suffering. She was serene, -haughty, triumphant, a man, not a woman.</p> - -<p class='c008'>She declared that she would not exchange the moments -<span class='pageno' id='Page_265'>265</span>which followed her entrance into the Abbaye -for those which others would call the sweetest of her -life. Indifferent to her surroundings, she sank into -a revery, reviewing her past: there was nothing to -make her blush, she felt, even if her heart was the -scene of a powerful passion. She calculated the -future and with pride and joy felt that she had the -courage to accept her lot, to defy its rigors. “What -can compare to a good conscience, a strong purpose,” -she cries. There is nothing in her situation which is -worth an instant of unrest. Her enemies shall not -prevent her loving to the last, and if they destroy -her she will go from life as one enters upon repose. -And this high serenity endured even when, twenty-four -days later, she suffered one of the most cruel -and unnecessary outrages of the Revolution. On -June 24th, she was freed. Hurrying home to the -Rue de la Harpe, she flew into the house “like a bird,” -calling a gay good-day to her concierge. She had -not mounted four steps of her staircase before two -men who had entered at her heels called:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Citoyenne Roland.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“What do you want?”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“In the name of the law we arrest you.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>That night she slept in the prison of Sainte Pélagie, -only a stone’s throw from the convent where as a -girl she had prepared for her first communion.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The bitter disappointment of reimprisonment did -not bend her spirit. “I am proud,” she wrote, some -hours after her rearrest, “to be persecuted at a -<span class='pageno' id='Page_266'>266</span>moment when talent and honor are being proscribed. -I am assuredly more tranquil in my chains than my -oppressors are in the exercise of their unjust power. -I confess that the refinement of cruelty with which -they ordered me to be set at liberty in order to rearrest -me a moment afterwards, has fired me with indignation. -I can no longer see where this tyranny -will go.” This indignation was so bitter that the -first night in her new prison she could not sleep. -It was only the first night, however. To allow herself -to be irritated by the injustice of her enemies -was to be their dupe. She would not give them -that satisfaction, and this intrepidity endured to the -end.</p> - -<p class='c008'>There are several reasons for her really phenomenal -fortitude. At the bottom of it was no doubt the -fact that material considerations had no influence on -her when they came into conflict with sentiments and -enthusiasms. An ordinary woman would have paled -with fear at the sound of women shouting into her -carriage <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">à la guillotine</span></i>; the crowded halls of the -Abbaye, the tocsin sounding all night, the brutality -of the officers and guards, would have sickened her -soul; the narrow and dirty staircases, the bare and -foul-smelling rooms, would have revolted her delicacy; -the dreadful associations filled her with shame -and disgust. But Madame Roland found inspiration -in the thought of enduring all this. She would not -allow her soul to be moved by filth and noise, and -she moved serenely among the lowest outcasts. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_267'>267</span>These things were externals, mere incidents in life. -They had no real importance in themselves. She -would use them to school her soul to more steadfast -endurance,—certainly she would never allow them -to interfere with her soul’s life.</p> - -<p class='c008'>A stolid and unimaginative mind might have -endured her position with equal calm; a dull and -sluggish nature might have been equally indifferent -to the revolting sights; but never was an imagination -more responsive, a nature more vibrant and sensitive -than hers. It was no lack of life and vigor. She -was brave and indifferent because the fact of being -so stirred her imagination. This sort of endurance -seemed to her worthy of a hero of antiquity. Her -whole nature was kindled by the thought of being -superior to circumstances, of thwarting her enemies -by her courage.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The training of her whole life helped her to carry -out this idea. Rousseau never drilled and trained -Émile more rigidly in the doctrine of submitting to -necessity than she had herself. The more severe her -trial, the higher her courage rose. This she felt was -a supreme test, a martyrdom worthy of a Greek. -Her classic conception of patriotism was satisfied by -the thought that she, like the ancients, was in prison -for the country and would undoubtedly die for it.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Her imprisonment made her a prominent actor, -too, in the tragedy. Hitherto she had been behind -the scenes, an influence recognized, to be sure, by all -parties, but acting through others. A woman’s place -<span class='pageno' id='Page_268'>268</span>was not in public, she believed, and she conformed -carefully to her idea. But in serious natures, feeling -deeply their individual responsibility, there is a demand -for action. So long as Roland was minister -she had ample chance to satisfy her patriotic longings -for helping. But after his retirement and -since the Gironde had been so demoralized that -Buzot could do little or nothing, she had felt bitterly -her impotence.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Now all was changed; she was in the fight, not as -the amanuensis of her husband, the inspirer of her -friend, but as an independent actor. She must show -an example of how a patriot should endure and die, -and she must strike a blow for truth whenever she -had a chance. What she did and said would not -only have its influence to-day, it would be quoted -in the future. This conviction of her obligation to -help the cause and make herself a figure in history, -exalted her mind. She took a dramatic pose, and -she kept it to the end. If there was a shade of the -theatrical in it,—and there is almost always such -a shading in Madame Roland’s loftiest moods and -finest acts,—there is so much indifference to self, -hatred of despotism, contempt of injustice, courage -before pain, that the lack of perfect naturalness is -forgotten.</p> - -<p class='c008'>From the beginning of her imprisonment she lost -no opportunity to give a lesson in civism to those -about her. To the guard who brought her to the -Abbaye, and who remarked on leaving her that if -<span class='pageno' id='Page_269'>269</span>Roland was not guilty it was strange that he absented -himself, she said that Roland was <em>just</em>, like -Aristides, and severe, like Cato, and that it was his -virtues which had made his enemies pursue him. -“Let them heap their rage on me. I can brave it -and be resigned; he must be saved for his country, -for he may yet be able to render great service.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>She neglected no opportunity of obtaining her -liberty, not so much for the sake of liberty as that -it gave her a means of expressing her opinions. By -the advice of Grandpré, an inspector of prisons, -protected formerly by Roland, and who hurried to -her aid the first day of her imprisonment, she wrote -to the Convention. In a haughty tone she described -her arrest, the fact that no motive for it was given, -the indignities and illegalities she had suffered, and -demanded justice and protection.</p> - -<p class='c008'>So severe was the letter that Grandpré, after consulting -Champagneux, brought it back to her to -soften a little. After reflection she consented. “If -I thought the letter would be read,” she told Grandpré, -“I would leave it as it is, even if it resulted -in failure. One cannot flatter himself that he will -obtain justice of the Assembly. It does not know -how to practise to-day the truths addressed to it, but -they must be said that the departments may hear.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Grandpré did his best to have her letter read at -the Convention, but in the turmoil of the early days -of June there was nothing to be obtained from this -body save through fear or force. Madame Roland, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_270'>270</span>hearing that the section in which she lived had taken -her and Roland under its care, wrote to thank them, -and to suggest that they try to secure a reading of -the letter. But she took care that they should feel -that she was no tearful suppliant: “I submit this -question to your <em>judgment</em>; I add no <em>prayer</em>; truth -has only one language; it is to expose <em>facts</em>; citizens -who desire <em>justice</em> do not care that <em>supplications</em> -should be addressed to them, and <em>innocence</em> does not -know how to make them.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>The letter was read at the section and debated, but -the Terrorists from other quarters filled the hall, and -by their menaces prevented any effectual interference -by those disposed in Madame Roland’s favor. -Grandpré insisted that she should write to the -ministers of justice and of the interior. She despised -the weakness and mediocrity of both, and -declared she would write nothing unless she could -“give them severe lessons.” Grandpré found the -letters she prepared humiliating, and persuaded her -to change them. Even after the changes they were -intensely hostile and contemptuous, anything but -politic.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The “lessons” she gave in her letters she never -failed to put into any conversation she had with -public officials. One of these conversations she -relates. It was with a committee of five or six -persons who had come to look after the condition -of the prisoners.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Good-day, Citoyenne.”</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_271'>271</span>“Good-day, sir.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Are you satisfied with your quarters? Have you -any complaints to make of your treatment. Do you -want anything?”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“I complain because I am here and I ask to be -released.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Isn’t your health good? Are you a little dull?”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“I am well and I am never dull. <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">L’ennui</span></i> is a -disease of an empty soul and a mind without resources, -but I have a lively sense of injustice. I -complain because I have been arrested without reason, -and am detained without being examined.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Ah, in a time of revolution there is so much to -do that one cannot accomplish everything.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“A woman to whom King Philip made about the -same answer told him, ‘If you have not the time to -do justice you have not time to be king.’ Take care -that you do not force oppressed citizens to say the -same thing to the people, or rather to the arbitrary -authorities who are misleading them.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Adieu, Citoyenne.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Adieu.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>She had soon a more serious task than administering -gratuitous rebukes and repeating high-sounding -maxims. It was in defending herself against calumnies -and accusations. She did it with spirit and -clear-headedness, as was to be expected, and frequently -in a tone of contemptuous asperity and -superiority that could not fail to be exasperating.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It was on June 12th that she was questioned. She -<span class='pageno' id='Page_272'>272</span>was asked if she knew anything about the troubles -of the Republic during and after Roland’s ministry, -or of the plan to make a Federal Republic; who -were the persons who came to her salon; if she knew -any traitors, or was allied with friends of Dumouriez; -what she knew of Roland’s Public Opinion Bureau -and his plan for corrupting the provinces; and lastly -where was Roland. The committee got very little -satisfaction out of their victim. They accused her -of sharpness and evasion, and probably the accusation -was just. The interview indicated to Madame -Roland the complaint of the Commune against her, -and showed her more clearly than before that there -was no definite reason for her arrest. She was a -suspect; that explained all.</p> - -<p class='c008'>To vague accusations was added direct calumny. -<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Père Duchesne</span></i> had not forgotten <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">la reine Roland</span></i>, -and one morning she heard cried under her cell window: -<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Visit of Père Duchesne to the citoyenne Roland -in the prison of the Abbaye</span></i>. The details of the -pretended visit were cried so that she could hear -them and at the same time the people collected in -the market of Saint Germain, held by the side of the -prison, were exhorted to avenge the wrongs Madame -Coco had done them. The article was in Hébert’s -most offensive and ribald style and told how its -author, visiting the prison, was taken by Madame -Roland for a brigand from La Vendée; how she -rejoiced with him over the losses of the Republic; -told him that aid was coming from Coblentz and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_273'>273</span>England, and assured him that the contra-revolution -had been brought about through Roland.</p> - -<p class='c008'>At first, hot with indignation at these calumnies, -she tried to defend herself, but she soon saw that -to besiege the Revolutionary authorities any longer -was not only useless, but humiliating. It was better -suited to her proud courage to ignore them, and she -found in her silence and disdain a source of inspiration -and strength.</p> - -<p class='c008'>While natural courage, long schooling in self-denial, -submission to necessity, superiority to material -considerations, intense patriotism, a desire to vindicate -herself to posterity, explain her remarkable fortitude -in her imprisonment, they do not her triumph. -The exaltation she found in her prison was that of -love, a love which duty had thus far forbidden her -even to think of, but which now she felt she dared -yield to. Her jailers had become her liberators.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In the documents which Madame Roland addressed -from her prison to “posterity” there are frequent -allusions to her passion for one whose name she concealed. -In the collection of letters she left for -friends, under the head of “Last Thoughts,” is a -passionate and exultant farewell addressed to one -whom “I dare not name, to one whom the most terrible -of passions has not kept from respecting the barriers -of virtue.” She bids him not to mourn that she -precedes him to a place where “fatal prejudices, arbitrary -conventions, hateful passions, and all kinds of -tyranny are ended, where one day they can love each -<span class='pageno' id='Page_274'>274</span>other without crime, and where nothing will prevent -their being united.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>That Buzot was meant, remained a secret of the -family for seventy years after Madame Roland’s -death. Her biographers frequently speculated as to -whom the object of her passion was. Lairtullier, writing -in 1840, quotes her portrait of Barbaroux and -apostrophizes her thus: “<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Femme, voilá ton secret -trahi</span>.” Servan and Vergniaud have been named as -possibly her hero. The truth came out in 1864, when -a <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">bouquiniste</span></i> of the Quai Voltaire advertised for sale -a quantity of French Revolution papers among which -were mentioned five letters of Madame Roland to -Buzot. He had bought them from a young man -whose father was an amateur of <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">bouquins</span></i>. Evidently -they had been wandering among lovers of old papers -since the day they had been taken from the dead -body of Buzot. Those letters offered for sale were -bought by the Bibliothèque Nationale.</p> - -<p class='c008'>They paint, as no published letters, the exultation -of love, its power to lift the soul above all ordinary -influences, free it from accepted laws and conventionalities, -to strengthen it until it glories in suffering, if -by that suffering it can yield itself to love. They -show, too, how noble and pure a conception of such -a passion Madame Roland had. It must not interfere -with duty. Neither Roland must be betrayed, -nor the country neglected; if either happened, the -crown of their passion would be broken. Its glory -and joy was not in abandon, but in endurance.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_275'>275</span>It was three weeks after she was confined in the -Abbaye before she heard from Buzot. Her first letter -to him bears the date of June 22d. Buzot was -at that time at Evreux, exhorting the people to take -part in a movement of federalism to arouse the departments -to act against the usurpation of Paris. -She wrote in response to the first letters from him -which her friends had been able to get to her.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“How often have I re-read them! I press them to -my heart; I cover them with kisses; I had ceased to -hope for them!... I came here proud and calm, -praying and still hoping in the defenders of Liberty. -When I learned of the decree against the Twenty-two, -I cried, ‘My country is lost!’ I was in the -most cruel anguish until I was sure of your escape. -It was renewed by the decree against you; they -owed that atrocity to your courage. But when I -found that you were at Calvados, I recovered my -calm. Continue your generous efforts, my friend. -Brutus on the fields of Philippi despaired too soon -of the safety of Rome. So long as a republican -breathes and is free, let him act. He must, he can, -be useful. In any case, the South offers you a refuge; -it will be an asylum for the country. If dangers -gather around you, it is there that you must turn -your eyes and your steps; it is there that you must -live, for there you can serve your fellow-men and -practise virtue.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“As for me, I know how to wait patiently for the -return of the reign of justice, or to undergo the last -<span class='pageno' id='Page_276'>276</span>excesses of tyranny in such a way that my example -shall not be vain. If I fear anything, it is that you -may make imprudent efforts for me. My friend, it -is by saving your country that you deliver me. I do -not want my safety at its expense, but I shall die -satisfied if I know you are working for your country. -Death, suffering, sorrow, are nothing to me. I can -defy all. Why, I shall live to my last hour without -spending a single moment in unworthy agitation.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>She went over life in the Abbaye, and told him -what she knew of her family and friends. Of Roland -she said:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“The unfortunate Roland has been twenty days in -two refuges in the houses of trembling friends, concealed -from all eyes, more of a captive than I am -myself. I have feared for his mind and his health. -He is now in your neighborhood. Would that were -true in a moral sense! I dare not tell you, and -you alone can understand, that I was not sorry to -be arrested.... I owe it to my jailers that I can -reconcile duty and love. Do not pity me. People -admire my courage, but they do not understand my -joys. Thou who must feel them, savest their charm -by the constancy of thy courage.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>One would believe it a quotation from a letter -of Julie to Saint-Preux. The 3d of July she sent -another letter:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“I received your letter of the 27th. I still hear -your voice; I am a witness to your resolutions; I -share the sentiments which animate you. I am proud -<span class='pageno' id='Page_277'>277</span>of loving you and of being loved by you.... My -friend, let us not so forget ourselves as to say evil of -that virtue which is bought by great sacrifice, it is -true, but which pays in its turn by priceless compensations. -Tell me, do you know sweeter moments -than those passed in the innocence and the charm of -an affection that nature recognizes and that delicacy -regulates; which honors duty for the privations that -she imposes upon it and gathers strength in enduring -them? Do you know a greater advantage than that -of being superior to adversity and to death; of finding -in the heart something to enjoy and to sweeten -life up to the last sigh? Have you ever experienced -better these effects than in the attachment which -binds us, in spite of the contradictions of society and -the horrors of oppression? I have told you that to -it I owe my joy in my captivity. Proud of being -persecuted in these times when character and honesty -are proscribed, I would have supported it with dignity, -even without you, but you make it sweet and -dear to me. The wretches think to overwhelm me -by putting irons upon me—senseless! What does -it matter to me if I am here or there? Is not my -heart always with me? To confine me in a prison—is -it not to deliver me entirely to it? My company, -it is my love! My occupation, it is to think of it!... -If I must die, very well. I know what is best in -life, and its duration would perhaps only force new -sacrifices upon me. The most glorified instant of my -existence, that in which I felt most deeply that exaltation -<span class='pageno' id='Page_278'>278</span>of soul which rejoices in braving all clangers, was -when I entered the Bastille that my jailers had chosen -for me. I will not say that I went before them, but -it is true that I did not flee them. I had not calculated -on their fury reaching me, but I believed that -if it did, it would give me an opportunity to serve -Roland by my testimony, my constancy, and my firmness. -I would be glad to sacrifice my life for him -in order to win the right to give you my last sigh.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>She sent for his picture, and writes, July 7th:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“It is on my heart, concealed from all eyes, felt at -every moment, and often bathed in my tears. Oh, I -am filled with your courage, honored by your affection, -and glorying in all that both can inspire in your -proud and sensitive soul. I cannot believe that -Heaven reserves nothing but trials for sentiments so -pure and so worthy of its favor. This sort of confidence -makes me endure life and face death calmly. -Let us enjoy with gratitude the goods given us. He -who knows how to love as we do, carries within himself -the principle of the greatest and best actions, the -price of the most painful sacrifices, the compensation -for all evils. Farewell, my beloved, farewell.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>On July 7th, she wrote Buzot the last letter, so far -as we know, that he received from her. In it all the -exultation of her ardent passion, all the force of her -noble courage, are concentrated.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“My friend, you cannot picture the charm of a -prison where one need account only to his own heart -for the employment of his moments! No annoying -<span class='pageno' id='Page_279'>279</span>distraction, no painful sacrifice, no tiresome cares; -none of those duties so much the more binding on an -honest heart because they are respectable; none of -those contradictions of law, or of the prejudices of -society, with the sweetest inspirations of nature; no -jealous look spies on what one feels, or the occupation -which one chooses; no one suffers from your inaction -or your melancholy; no one expects efforts or demands -sentiments which are not in your power; left -to yourself and to truth, with no obstacles to overcome, -no friction to endure, one can, without harm to -the rights and to the affection of another, abandon -his soul to its own righteousness, refind his moral -independence in an apparent captivity, and exercise -it with a completeness that social relations almost -always change. I had not looked for this independence.... -Circumstances have given me that which -I could never have had without a kind of crime. How -I love the chains which give me freedom to love you -undividedly, to think of you ceaselessly! Here all -other occupation is laid aside. I belong only to him -who loves me and merits so well to be loved by me.... -I do not want to penetrate the designs of Heaven, I -will not allow myself to make guilty prayers, but I -bless God for having substituted my present chains -for those I wore before. And this change appears to -me the beginning of favor. If He grants me more, -may He leave me here until my deliverance from a -world given over to injustice and unhappiness!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Do not pity me,” she wrote to Buzot in her letter -<span class='pageno' id='Page_280'>280</span>of June 22. She was not to be pitied. Life and -death were kinder to her than to most of those upon -whom fall the supreme misfortune of loving where -conventionalities and law forbid love to go. It took -the struggle from her hand and prevented the disillusion -which she must have undergone had she lived. -There is no escaping the conclusion that she would -have ultimately left Roland for Buzot. Her idealization -of all relations, persons, and ideas which stirred -her; her imagination from infancy, given full play; -her passionate nature, which she knew but poorly, -though flattering herself that she was entirely its -mistress; her confidence in the superiority of sentiment -and in herself,—would have unquestionably -pushed her to a union of some sort with Buzot. -She was happy to be guillotined when she was, otherwise -she must have inevitably suffered the most terrible -and humiliating of all the disillusions of a -woman,—the loss of faith in herself, in the infallibility -of her sentiments, in her incapability to do -wrong.</p> - -<p class='c008'>There is a much more natural and simple side to -Madame Roland’s five months in prison than this one -of exaltation and endurance, which, when viewed -apart, sometimes becomes a little fatiguing. If one -regards only the heroine, her self-sufficiency is a bit -irritating at moments, much as one must admire it. -It is the arrangement of her life, her occupations, her -amusements, which appeal most to ordinary minds, -and which perhaps are a better index to her real -<span class='pageno' id='Page_281'>281</span>force of character than her exalted periods and professions.</p> - -<p class='c008'>When first taken to the Abbaye she was obliged to -be alone in her cell, to take a tiny room with dirty -walls and a heavily grated window. It opened on -a disagreeable street, and below she could hear by -night the cries of the sentry; by day, the hawking -of <cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Père Duchesne’s</span></cite> journal, and the rudeness of the -market people, cries sometimes directed against herself. -Nevertheless she decorated the little cell so -gayly with flowers and books that her jailers called -it Flora’s Pavilion.</p> - -<p class='c008'>At the Abbaye about fifty cents a day were allowed -each prisoner for his expenses, although he -could spend more if he had it. Madame Roland decided -to amuse herself by making an experiment,—to -see to what she could reduce her fare. Bread and -water was served her for her <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">déjeuner</span></i>; for dinner -(one hundred years ago the French dined at noon) -she ate only one kind of meat, with a salad; in the -evening, a little vegetable, but no dessert. After a -time she got on without wine or beer. “This -régime,” she explained, “had a moral end, and as -I should have had as much aversion as contempt -for a useless economy, I commenced by giving a -sum to the poor, in order to have the pleasure, when -eating my dry bread in the morning, of thinking -that the poor souls would owe it to me that they -could add something to their dinners.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>When she went to Sainte Pélagie, she found her -<span class='pageno' id='Page_282'>282</span>life a little different. There the State gave nothing in -money for the prisoners, who even paid for their beds. -All that was furnished them was a pound and a half -of bread and a dish of beans each day. She made -arrangements with the concierge of the prison to -furnish her meals which were about as simple as -at the Abbaye. The prison itself she found most -disagreeable. In fact, Sainte Pélagie, which exists -to-day, though condemned to destruction, is the -most gloomy and forbidding building in Paris. Its -mere presence in the quarter where it stands gives -a dreary and hopeless air to the street. The inmates -of the prison at the period when Madame -Roland was confined there were of such a character -that she was subjected to the most disgusting annoyances. -In the corridor from which her cell opened, -their rooms separated from one and another only -by thin partitions, were numbers of abandoned and -criminal women. So obscene and revolting were -they that she rarely left her room, though she -could not shut out their noise.</p> - -<p class='c008'>From this pandemonium the concierge succeeded -in saving her for a time, giving her a large chamber -near her own, where she even had a piano; but the -inspectors, once aware of the favor, ordered her back -into the noisy corridor. Even there, however, she -had her pleasures,—her flowers and her books. The -first Bosc supplied her; the second she bought, or -begged from her friends. She had Thompson, -Shaftesbury, an English dictionary, Tacitus, and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_283'>283</span>Plutarch. She bought pencils and drew a little -every day; altogether it was a busy life. Her day -was arranged regularly. In the morning she studied -English, the essay of Shaftesbury on virtue, and -Thompson; after that she drew until noon. Then -she had serious work, for, conscious that her imprisonment -might end in her death, she resolved -at its outset to set down as fully as she should have -time to, the facts in the political life of Roland, and -to explain her own relations to him. It is from the -material that she was able to write in this five -months and get to her friends, that most of what -we know of her life comes.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The first undertaken was her <cite>Historical Notes</cite>, -written at the Abbaye. These she did, so rapidly, -she says, and with such pleasure, that in less than a -month she had manuscript for a volume. It was -a summary of her public life, and an estimate on the -people she had known during it. She had, herself, -a very good opinion of the production: “I wrote -it with my natural freedom and energy, with frank -abandon and with the ease of one who is free from -all private considerations, with pleasure in painting -what I had felt and seen, and, finally, with the confidence -that in any case it would be my moral and -political testament. It had the originality which circumstances -lent it, and the merit of reflections born -from passing events, and the freshness which belongs -to such an origin.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>The manuscript was confided to Champagneux, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_284'>284</span>who was still in the Department of the Interior, but -he, arrested, confided it to a person who, frightened -lest it should fall into the hands of the inspectors, -threw it into the fire. “I should have preferred -to have been thrown there myself,” said Madame -Roland, when she heard of this disaster.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Not all of the <cite>Historical Notes</cite> were destroyed, -however, the account of her own and her husband’s -arrest, of her first days at the Abbaye, and -a brief sketch of their official life being saved.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It was more than a month after she was imprisoned -at Sainte Pélagie before she determined to do -over the task. The new undertaking included a -series of portraits and anecdotes drawn from her -political life, an account of her second arrest, and -of the first and second ministries. At the same -time that she wrote this, she prepared her private -Memoirs,—a detailed history of her life up to -1777,—and notes on the time between her marriage -and the Revolution. She intended to add to her -Memoirs the story of her relations with Buzot, -giving the origin and progress of her passion, but -she was never able to finish it.</p> - -<p class='c008'>To this literary budget, already large, she afterwards -added several short manuscripts,—a set of -“Last Thoughts,” a number of letters, and a comment -on the accusation made by the Mountain -against the Gironde, that it was guilty of a conspiracy -against the unity and the indivisibility of -the Republic, and the liberty and safety of the French -people.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_285'>285</span>Almost all of this matter was given to Bosc, who, -thanks to the concierge of Sainte Pélagie, was -allowed to see her twice a week, up to the middle -of October. But Bosc was proscribed later, and -obliged to flee. Unwilling to trust the treasures -he held to another, he hid the manuscripts in the -crevice of a rock in the depths of the forest of -Montmorency, where they remained eight months. -Later, these papers were given to Eudora. They -remained in the family until given to the Bibliothèque -Nationale, where they now are.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The difficulties under which she wrote were, of -course, great. It was essential that she should elude -her guardians. She had no notes. She was surrounded -by a ribald and noisy company. But these -disadvantages only acted as spurs. She took delight -in carrying on this forbidden work under the eyes -of her persecutors. So rapidly did she write that in -twenty-four days she produced two hundred pages -of manuscript, including all the early part of her -Memoirs. The words seemed to flow from her pen. -The bulky manuscript of seven hundred pages, preserved -at the Bibliothèque Nationale, is a marvel of -neatness and firmness. The grayish pages are filled -evenly from margin to margin in her beautiful characteristic -hand, and there is scarcely a blot or erasure, -scarcely a correction, save those made by Bosc, -who published the first edition of the Memoirs in -1795.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In style, the political writings are always clear -<span class='pageno' id='Page_286'>286</span>and positive; often they rise to a real eloquence. -Written as they were under the force of the most -powerful emotions, unbiassed judgments cannot be -expected. She was defending her husband primarily -in this work, and she did it with the more earnestness -and warmth because she felt, as she wrote -Buzot, that this was one way of compensating him -for the sorrow she had caused him.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Her judgments on men are not always just. Indeed, -they cannot be called judgments, they are -simply her feelings towards those persons at the -moment she wrote. Her indignation against the -wrongs done her and her party is so intense that -often her tone is irritated, contemptuous, impatient. -The arrangement is not systematic, as, indeed, it was -impossible to be, under the circumstances, and her -pen bounds from one character to another,—from -hero to agitator, from apostrophe to anecdote,—in -a sort of reckless, impassioned hurry. The whole -gallery of the Gironde and its opponents, from 1791 -to 1793 pass before us, every one stamped with a -positive, definite character.</p> - -<p class='c008'>That she poses throughout the narrative is unquestionable. -It is to posterity she speaks, and she -wished to appear in the eyes of the future as she -believed herself to be,—the apostle of the ideas of -liberty, equality, and fraternity, the incarnation of -patriotism, the most perfect disinterestedness, and -the highest fortitude.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It was Madame Roland’s plan, in writing her personal -<span class='pageno' id='Page_287'>287</span>Memoirs, to cover her whole life, and to follow -Jean Jacques Rousseau’s <cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Confessions</span></cite>. Although the -work was never completed, we have the first twenty-five -years. The charm of the narrative is irresistible. -Never, even in the gayest and most natural of -her letters to Bosc and Roland, was Madame Roland’s -pen so happy as in these Memoirs of her youth. -They sparkle with mirth and with tenderness. Never -did any one appreciate better his own youth, nor -idealize it more lovingly. To her these souvenirs -are radiant pictures, and she sketches them one -after another, with a full appreciation of all their -attractiveness.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Her early masters, her suitors, her youthful enthusiasm, -Sophie, the <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Convent des Dames de la Congrégation</span>, -Meudon, Vincennes, La Blancherie, her -mother, the Salon, river, Luxembourg, her toilettes, -duties, sorrows, joys, the whole flows in a steady, -sparkling stream, vivid with color, pulsating with -life. She relives it all, and without reflection or -hesitation pours out everything which comes into -her mind. So full and natural are these Memoirs -that they are really the most attractive material we -have of the life of her class in the eighteenth century.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In all Madame Roland’s dramatic life there is no -more attractive picture than that which the writing -of her Memoirs brings up: this splendid, passionate -woman, glorying in her love and her courage, sitting -day after day before the little table in her prison cell, -oblivious to the cries and oaths which rise about her, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_288'>288</span>indifferent to discomfort, forgetful of everything but -the souvenirs which her flying pen records, and which -bring smiles and tears by turn to her mobile face. -Here we have none of the stilted, prepared style of -her early writings, none of the pose of the political -memoirs. It is self-complacent, to be sure, and we -feel that she is making herself out to have been a -most extraordinary young girl, but one cannot help -forgiving her, she makes herself out so charming. -However, if one is interested in finding out the -woman as she really was, he must not trust too fully -to her interpretations. She was so interested in herself, -idealized herself so thoroughly, was so serious -in her self-confidence, so devoid of self-reproach, that -she was oblivious to her own inconsistencies and -inconsequentialities.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Rousseau’s <cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Confessions</span></cite> were the model of her -Memoirs. The result was that she related some -experiences which good sense and taste, not to say -delicacy, ought to have forbidden her to repeat to -any one, above all, to the public. These passages -in her Memoirs are due to her slavish following of -Rousseau. She was incapable of exercising an independent -judgment in a matter of taste, of opinion, -of morals, where Rousseau was concerned, so completely -had she adopted him. When she came to -writing her life, she dragged to light unimportant -and unpleasant details because Rousseau had had the -bad taste to do the same before her. The naïveté, -with which these things are told, will convince any -one that cares to examine the Memoirs that they -mean nothing but she had taken the foolish engagement -to tell everything she could remember about -her life.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id003'> -<img src='images/i_288fp.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>THE CONCIERGERIE IN 1793.<br /><br />Prison where Madame Roland passed the last eight days of her captivity, and from which she went to the<br />guillotine. Pont au Change in the foreground.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_289'>289</span>The Memoirs, as well as her daily life, her letters, -her attitude towards the authorities, show her courage. -But they show, too, the anguish which shook -her from time to time. More than once her firm, -brilliant narrative is broken suddenly—the sentence -unfinished—to record some new outrage -against her friends, and as she expresses indignantly -her horror and her grief at the usurpers who -are ruling France, one can almost hear the sob which -shook her, but to which she would not yield. Here -and there the gray pages of her beautiful manuscript -are spotted by tear stains. Even now, a hundred -years and more after it all, one cannot read -them and see how, in spite of her iron will, her splendid -courage, her heart was sometimes so heavy with -woe that her tears would fall, without a choking in -the throat and a dimness of the eyes.</p> - -<p class='c008'>One crisis after another indeed followed throughout -her imprisonment,—the arrest of the Twenty-two; -her own release and rearrest; the pursuit of -Buzot; her friends and Roland’s declared suspect, imprisoned, -driven from Paris, sometimes even guillotined -because of their relations to her; the trial in -October of the members of the Gironde; her summons -to the trial as a witness, but the failure to call her,—a -call which she had awaited, “as a soul in pain awaits -<span class='pageno' id='Page_290'>290</span>its liberator,” she said, so did she desire to have -the chance to render one last service to these friends, -in whom she believed so strongly, whom she deemed -so trusty; her anxiety for Eudora; the execution in -October of the Twenty-one; above all, her despair -for her country, for France, which permits the dishonor -and murder not of “her children, but of the -fathers of her liberty.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>The saddest phase of this dark side of her imprisonment -was the growing conviction that she and the -patriots had been wrong. At last she saw what she -did when in 1791 she spurned the Assembly. She -acknowledged now that she would have disdained -the members of the National Assembly less, if she -could have had an idea of their successors. She had -learned to regret Mirabeau, whose death then had -seemed to her well both for his glory and for the -cause of liberty. “The counterpoise of a man of that -force was necessary to oppose the crowd of puppets -and to preserve us from the domination of the -bandits.” She had learned that men may profess, -but when their interests and ideals are in opposition -it is the former which wins. She had discovered, at -last, that to demand speedy and immediate regeneration -of society is to break the laws of the universe; -that to take away from men what the ages have given -them is simply to restore them to the primitive state -of teeth and claws, to let loose the passions the -centuries have tamed. She saw that in politics, -in society, in individual relations, the ideal is the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_291'>291</span>inspiration; the realization, the laborious effort of -centuries. She acknowledged that in Plutarch she -glided over the storms of the Republic, “forgot the -death of Socrates, the exile of Aristides, the condemnation -of Phocion.” She was willing at last to say -with Sully, “C’est très difficile de faire le bien de son -pays”; to confess that “if it is permitted to politics -to do good through the wicked, or to profit by their -excesses, it is infinitely dangerous to give them the -honor of the one, or not to punish them for the -other.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Under the pressure of all these woes she sometimes -felt her resolution weaken. What wonder that when -she heard, in October, that Buzot and his friends, -now escaped to the Gascogne, were being tracked so -closely that their arrest was sure, she determined -to kill herself? “You know the malady the English -call <em>heart-break</em>,” she wrote; “I am attacked hopelessly -by it and I have no desire to delay its effects.” -It seemed to her now that it was weak to await the -blow of her tyrants—their <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">coup de grâce</span></i> she called it—when -she could give it to herself. Why should -she allow them to see how bravely she could die—they -who were incapable of understanding her courage? -Three months ago a noble public death might -have served for something. To-day it was pure loss. -All this she wrote to Bosc. She consented, however, -to accept his decision as to whether she ought or not -to take her own life, charging him to weigh the question -as if it were impersonal.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_292'>292</span>This letter to Bosc bears the date of October 25th. -On October 31st, the condemned Girondins were beheaded. -On November 1st, Madame Roland, who -because of Bosc’s arguments had abandoned her resolution -to suicide, was conveyed to the Conciergerie, -a prison which in those days was but a transfer to -the cart which led to the guillotine.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But could she not have been saved? She had -friends who would have gladly dared death for her. -All Paris knew of her imprisonment—was there no -lover of justice to intercede? Her friends had tried -to save her. Buzot and Roland both contrived many -plans; she repulsed them all. They were too foolhardy -to succeed; they might implicate those who -would interest themselves in carrying them out, or -perhaps ruin guardians who had been kind to her—of -these she would hear nothing. Her old friend, -Henriette Cannet, then a widow, came from Amiens, -succeeded in reaching her in prison, insisted on changing -garments with her and on remaining in her place. -She would not consent; she would rather “suffer a -thousand deaths” than run the risk of causing that -of a friend. And then what did release mean? -Merely the taking on of her old chains. “Nothing -would stop me if I braved dangers only to rejoin -you,” she wrote Buzot; “but to expose my friends -and to leave the irons with which the wicked honor -me, in order to take on others that no one sees—there -is no hurry for that.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Madame Roland, throughout her imprisonment, had -<span class='pageno' id='Page_293'>293</span>hoped for a popular uprising, a revolt against tyranny, -coming from Paris or the departments, which would -release her and her friends. She never got thoroughly -over her illusion that the people, as a mass, -were the ones that were to reconstruct France; never -realized fully how the people are simply a passive -unit, asking only to be let alone, to be allowed to live -as they can without interference; that they have no -initiative, that when they act it is because they have -been aroused by leaders working on them systematically, -appealing to their wants, their desires, their -reason sometimes, but more often inflaming their passions. -She never appreciated, save dimly, the fact -that throughout the Revolution, so far, the revolt of -the people had been prepared by agitators,—prepared -as she and her friends wished to make the 20th of -July, did make the 10th of August. The people know -she is imprisoned; if they reflect at all, they know that -probably it is unjust, but they are cautious. They -have seen, ever since the Revolution commenced, that -he who tries to prevent outrage is sure to be the first -to be punished. They have concluded wisely that -the only safe plan is to let the belligerents fight it -out, to follow as well as they can their usual occupations, -and to say nothing. The mass of the Parisians -go on as usual. The Terror has become a part -of daily discussion, a part of the city’s spectacles,—that -is all. People buy and sell as usual, the theatres -do not close, not even the Sunday promenade -is omitted. They even take advantage of events to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_294'>294</span>give a livelier interest to their amusements. The theatres, -the fairs, the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">cafés chantants</span></i>, the maker of songs -and engravings, draw their subjects from the quarrels -of the Assembly, the persecutions of the Commune, -the events of the prisons and of the guillotine. They -even use it to advertise their wares: The real estate -agents announce, “in the new state of Kentucky, and -the ancient state of Virginia, lands in a country free -from despotism and anarchy.” The potter improves -the chance, and turns out plates and cups and saucers -by the thousands, suitable for all the varying tastes -and shades of opinion; there is elegant Sèvres with a -<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">bonnet rouge</span></i> for the rich patriot; there is a <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">vive le roi</span></i>, -with a sceptre, for the monarchist; there is a guillotine -for the bloodthirsty; there is a coarse and -vulgar joke for the ribald. The cloth-maker prints -patriotic scenes on his curtain stuff; the handkerchief-maker -decorates with transcriptions of the -<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">droits des hommes</span></i>; the hat-maker turns out idealized -<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">bonnets rouges</span></i> suitable for the street or opera; -the fan-maker illuminates with king or <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">sans-culottes</span></i>, -according to taste; the very manufacturer of playing-cards -takes off the time-honored king and queen -and knave, and replaces them with heroes, philosophers, -and Revolutionary emblems. Cabinet-maker, -jeweller, shoemaker, weaver, all turn the Revolution -to account. For whether justice reign or fall, the -world must go on, and while the few wrestle with -the pains of progress, of achievement, of aspiration, -the mass looks on and calculates what effect the -struggle will have on the price of bread.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_295'>295</span> - <h2 class='c006'>XIII<br /> <span class='large'>DEATH ON THE GUILLOTINE</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c007'>The inmates of the Conciergerie were still shivering -under the horror of the death of the twenty-one -Girondins when Madame Roland appeared among -them. Her coming was an event which awakened -the liveliest interest. For eight months she had -been the most influential woman in France. She -was the recognized inspiration of the party which -had wrecked the monarchy and established the Republic, -which had been conquered by the force it had -called to life. To the majority she was but a name. -They all knew that her death was a foregone conclusion. -They felt that she, too, knew it, and they -watched, many of them with curiosity—for numbers -of the inmates were of constitutional and royalist -sympathies—for signs of revolt and of weakness. -Never, however, had she been calmer, never more -serene.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The prisons of Paris were at that time terribly overcrowded -and poorly cared for. It was the custom to -confine people together without any regard to their -character or lives. “On the same straw, and behind -<span class='pageno' id='Page_296'>296</span>the same bars,” writes an inmate, “the Duchesse de -Grammont and a handkerchief thief, Madame Roland -and a wretch of the streets, a sister and a habitué of -Salpétrière. The quarrelling and the obscenity were -often terrible. But from the time of her arrival the -chamber of Madame Roland became an asylum of -peace in the bosom of this hell. If she descended -into the court, her simple presence restored good -order, and the unhappy women, on whom no known -power had longer any influence, were restrained by -the fear of displeasing her. She gave money to the -most needy, and to all counsel, consolation, and hope.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Over many of the prisoners she exercised a kind of -spell. “I experienced every day a new charm in -listening to her,” says Comte Beugnot, a fellow-prisoner -who, rare thing, escaped to write his memoirs; -“less from what she said than from the magic of her -manner.” “We were all attentive about her in a -kind of stupefied admiration,” declares Rioffe.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The next day after her arrival she was questioned -for the first time; two days later she underwent a -second examination. She had gone into the tribunal -in her usual serene way. She came back deeply -moved, her eyes wet. The interrogation was indeed -most trying. The questions were so couched that -in answering them honestly she condemned herself. -Did she not entertain Brissot, Barbaroux, Buzot, -Pétion, in conference? She must admit it, and explain -the “conference” as she would, the Revolutionary -tribunal used her admission as a confession of a -<span class='pageno' id='Page_297'>297</span>criminal relation. A letter written to a person, whom -she knew but slightly, and who had tried to secure a -reading of her letters to the Convention, was used -as evidence against her. It was useless to declare -that she simply tried through this correspondent to -reach the ear of the authorities and to obtain news -of her friends. Her friends have been guillotined as -traitors to the country, or are in open rebellion at -this moment, conspiring for the destruction of the Republic. -This person, if he were a patriot, would not -have been in communication with them. If she were -loyal, she would not want news of them. Let her try -to explain and they accuse her of evasion. Roland’s -office for creating public opinion was brought up. -Was she not the directress of this pretended Bureau -of Public Opinion, whose end was evidently to attack -the doctrines in their purest source and to bring about -the destruction of the Republic by sowing disorder? -It was useless to explain the tame and harmless -nature of this department of Roland’s work—a department -established by public decree; for they -accused her of outraging truth when she did, and -told her that everybody knew that the correspondence -carried on by the perfidious minister had for its -principal object to bring the departments to Paris -and to spread calumnies against the faithful representatives -of the people. They asked her the whereabouts -of Roland, and when she refused to tell they -informed her that she was in rebellion against the -law.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_298'>298</span>It was evident, indeed, that whatever she might -say was useless. She was the friend of the Gironde, -and the last of the race must be exterminated just as -royalist and <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">émigré</span></i> had been. The world was being -made over, and all who objected to the transformation -and wished to fight for another order must be put -out of the way. There was not room enough in -France any longer for people of different ways of -looking at things.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The night after her second interrogation, Madame -Roland wrote a defence to read before the tribunal, in -which she indignantly denied the accusations against -her friends, and declared herself honored to perish -for her fidelity to them. The defence was in her -haughtiest, most uncompromising style, and showed -her at the very end as resolute, as proud, as triumphant, -as ever. But this defence was written in the -heat of indignation at her examination, and for the -hearing of the judges she despised. Away from her -persecutors, many times during the days which followed, -her strength failed and her fellow-prisoners -remarked, almost with awe, that she had been weeping. -The woman who served her told them: “Before -you she collects all her strength, but in her -chamber she remains often hours at a time, leaning -against the window, weeping.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>On the 7th of November, the witnesses against -Madame Roland appeared. There were three of -them;—her faithful <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">bonne</span></i>, for thirteen years in her -service, and who during her imprisonment had -<span class='pageno' id='Page_299'>299</span>dared every danger to be useful to her, a governess -of Eudora’s, and a domestic. The weight of their -testimony was simply that the Girondins had frequented -the house.</p> - -<p class='c008'>That night Madame Roland’s lawyer, a courageous -young man, Chauveau-Lagarde by name, who was -ambitious to defend her, came to consult with her. -She listened calmly to him and discussed several -points of her defence. When he rose to go she drew -a ring from her finger and, without a word, gave -it to him. The young man divined the farewell. -“Madame,” he cried, “we shall see each other to-morrow -after the sentence.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“To-morrow I shall not be alive. I know the fate -which awaits me. Your counsels are dear to me, -but they might be fatal to you. They would ruin -you without saving me. Let me never know the -sorrow of causing the death of a good man. Do not -come to the court, I shall disown you, but accept the -only token my gratitude can offer. To-morrow I -shall exist no more.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>The next day, November 8th, was her trial. When -she came out from her cell to await for her summons -to the court, Comte Beugnot joined her. “She was -clad carefully in white muslin, trimmed with blonde -and fastened by a girdle of black velvet.” He says: -“Her face seemed to me more animated than usual. -Its color was exquisite and she had a smile on her lips. -With one hand she held up the train of her gown; -the other she had abandoned to a crowd of prisoners -<span class='pageno' id='Page_300'>300</span>who pressed near to kiss it. Those who understood -the fate which awaited her sobbed about her and -commended her to God.... Madame responded to -all with affectionate kindness. She did not promise -to return, she did not say she was going to her death, -but her last words to them were touching counsels. -She begged them to have peace, courage, hope, to -practise those virtues which are fitting for misfortune. -An old jailer, called Fontenay, whose good heart had -resisted the practice of his cruel trade for thirty -years, came to open the gate for her, weeping. I did -my errand with her in the passage. She answered -me in a few words and in a firm tone. She had -commenced a sentence when two jailers from the -interior called her to the tribunal. At this cry, -terrible for another than her, she stopped and, pressing -my hand, said: ‘Good-by, sir, let us make peace, -it is time.’ Raising her eyes, she saw that I was -struggling violently to keep back my tears. She -seemed moved and added but two words, ‘Have -courage.’”</p> - -<p class='c008'>The accusation waited her. It was a charge of -having “wickedly and designedly participated in a -conspiracy against the unity and indivisibility of the -Republic, against the liberty and surety of the French -people, by collecting at her home the principal leaders -of this conspiracy, and carrying on a correspondence -with them tending to facilitate their murderous projects.” -She was not allowed to read her defence, and -the judgment was pronounced at once. She was convicted -<span class='pageno' id='Page_301'>301</span>of being one of the authors, or accomplices, in -a “horrible conspiracy against the unity and indivisibility -of the Republic, the liberty and surety of the -French people,” and was sentenced to be punished by -death.</p> - -<p class='c008'>When she came out from the tribunal the cart -awaited her in the prison court.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Standing on the Pont au Change and looking -down the Seine, is one of those fascinating river -views of Paris where a wealth of associations disputes -with endless charm the attention of the loiterer. The -left of the view is filled by the Norman Towers of -the Conciergerie, the façades of the prison, the irregular -fronts of the houses facing on the Quai de -l’Horloge, and ends in an old house of Henry IV.’s -time. It is the house where Manon Phlipon passed -her girlhood. When the cart drove across the Pont -au Change, Madame Roland had before her the -window from which, as a girl, she had leaned at -sunset, and “with a heart filled with inexpressible -joy, happy to exist, had offered to the Supreme Being -a pure and worthy homage.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>She faces death now as she faced life then. The -girl and the woman, in spite of the drama between, -are unchanged: the same ideals, the same courage, -the same faith. Not even this tragic last encounter -with the home of her youth moves her calm; for she -passed the Pont Neuf, writes one who saw her, -“upright and calm,—her eyes shining, her color -<span class='pageno' id='Page_302'>302</span>fresh and brilliant,—a smile on her lips, trying to -cheer her companion, a man overwhelmed by the -terror of approaching death.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>It was a long and weary jolt in the rough cart -from the Pont Neuf, where M. Tissot saw her -passing, “erect and calm,” by the Rue Saint Honoré -to the Place de la Concorde, then Place de la Guillotine. -The hideous, howling crowd followed and -cursed her. But nothing earthly could reach the -heights whither she had risen. At the foot of the -guillotine, so tradition goes, she asked for a pen to -write the thoughts which had arisen in this awful -journey to death, but it was refused. Sanson, the -headsman, in a hurry, pressed her to mount the short -ladder which led to the platform; for there was a -grim guillotine etiquette which gave her the right to -die first, but she asked him to give her place to her -cringing companion and spare him the misery of seeing -her die. Sanson demurred. It was against his -orders. “Can you refuse a lady her last request?” -she said, smiling, and he, a little shamefaced, consented.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Then her turn came. As they fastened her to the -fatal plank, her eyes fell on a colossal statue of liberty -erected to celebrate the first anniversary of the -10th of August. “O liberté,” she cried, “comme on -t’a jouée.” Then the axe dropped, the beautiful -head fell; Madame Roland was dead.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_303'>303</span> - <h2 class='c006'>XIV<br /> <span class='large'>THOSE LEFT BEHIND</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c007'>Madame Roland was dead, but she had left -behind the three beings dearest and closest to -her,—her husband, her child, and her lover.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Roland fled from Paris, as we have seen, on the -night of May 31st. He succeeded in reaching -Amiens, where he had lived many years and where -he had many friends; but though more than one -home was opened to him the surveillance of the -Mountain was such that he thought it wise to leave -the town. From Amiens he went westward to -Rouen, where he easily found shelter. He was here -on June 22d, when Madame Roland wrote her first -letter to Buzot. The life he led there was miserable -in the extreme. He constantly feared to be arrested; -he felt that he was jeopardizing the lives of his hosts -by his presence; he fretted under the contempt and -false accusations which the Mountain continued to -rain upon him; and, above all, he was tortured by -his inability to do anything to insure the future of -his child or to effect the release of his wife.</p> - -<p class='c008'>This anxiety had not grown less with time. The -<span class='pageno' id='Page_304'>304</span>events of the summer and the fall of 1793 only -increased day by day his misery and apprehension. -The news of the death of the twenty-one Girondins -in October seemed to turn to bitterness the last drop -of his hope. A heavier blow awaited him. That -happened which must have seemed to his simple soul -the impossible,—his wife was guillotined. When -the fatal word reached him, she had been dead for -several days. As the news was given him he fell, -stricken with a blessed unconsciousness. When he -recovered himself, his distress was so great that he -resolved to put an end to his days. In vain did the -friends who had sheltered and cared for him all these -months urge him to give up his resolution. He -would not listen to them, but with perfect serenity -laid before them two plans which he felt he might -follow. The first savored strongly of Madame Roland’s -influence: it was to go <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">incognito</span></i> to Paris, -appear in the Convention, make an unexpected -speech in which he should tell them the truths he -felt they ought to hear, and then ask them to kill -him on the guillotine where his wife had lost her life. -The second was to kill himself.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_304fp.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>ROLAND DE LA PLATIÈRE.<br /><br />From a drawing by Gabriel.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_305'>305</span>One consideration alone deterred him from carrying -out his first plan. The property of persons -guillotined was confiscated by the State. If he -should die in this manner, Eudora would be left -penniless, and Roland abandoned the idea. There -remained nothing for him but suicide. On the evening -of November 15th, he bade his friends good-by, -and left Rouen by the route to Paris. About four -leagues from Rouen, in the hamlet of Baudoin, he left -the highway, entered the roadway leading to a private -house, seated himself on the ground on the edge -of the avenue, and deliberately ran a cane-sword into -his breast. His death must have been immediate; for -passers-by, next morning, seeing him there leaning -against a tree, thought he was sleeping. When the -truth was discovered, a deputy from the Convention, -who happened to be at Rouen, went at once to the -spot and took possession of the papers on his person. -The only one of importance was a note which ran:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Whoever finds me lying here, let him respect my -remains. They are those of a man who died as he -lived, virtuous and honest.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“The day is not far distant when you will have to -bear a terrible judgment; await that day; you will -act then in full knowledge of causes, and you will -understand the meaning of this advice.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“May my country soon abhor these crimes and -return to humanity and kindliness.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>On another fold of the paper was written:</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>“<em>Not fear, but Indignation.</em></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>“I left my refuge as soon as I heard that my wife -had been murdered. I desire to remain no longer in -a world covered with crime.”</p> - -<p class='c017'>Eudora Roland, born October 7, 1781, was twelve -years old at the time of her mother’s death. Separated -<span class='pageno' id='Page_306'>306</span>the night of the arrest, the two never saw each -other again. Happily, there were warm and faithful -friends ready to take care of her as soon as her -serious situation was known. Bosc, who throughout -Madame Roland’s imprisonment showed himself -of the most fearless and tender devotion, went to the -apartment in the Rue de la Harpe soon after the -arrest, and took the little girl to the home of a member -of the Convention, Creuzé-la-Touche. Here she -remained until a few days before her mother’s death. -Then it became evident that, in sheltering Eudora, -Madame Creuzé-la-Touche was compromising the -safety of her family, and she was compelled to place -her charge in a <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">pension</span></i>. She was not received there, -even, until her name had been changed. All this -was a great grief to Madame Roland in her last days. -She understood only too well now that her child was -in danger of suffering her own fate. She wrote an -anxious letter to “the person charged with the care -of my daughter,” and to Eudora herself she wrote -a courageous adieu:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“I do not know, my little girl,” she wrote, “that I -shall ever see or write to you again. <span class='sc'>Remember -your mother</span>, that is the best thing I can say to -you. You have seen me happy in doing my duty -and in serving those who were suffering. There is -no better life.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“You have seen me tranquil in misfortune and -captivity. I could be so because I had no remorse, -and only pleasant memories of the good I had done. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_307'>307</span>Nothing else can sustain one in the sorrows of life. -Perhaps you will never experience trials like mine, -but you must prepare for others. A busy, active life -is the best safeguard against danger, and necessity, as -well as wisdom, will compel you to work seriously.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Be worthy of your parents. They leave you a -noble example. If you follow them, you will not -live in vain.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Farewell, dear child. I nursed you at my breast. -I would inspire you with my aspirations. The day -will come when you will understand the effort I -am making to be strong as I think of your sweet -face.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Would that I could fold you to my breast!</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Adieu, my Eudora.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>It was Madame Roland’s last letter to her child. -Bosc, who had been allowed to visit her twice a -week throughout the fall, was now forbidden to -see her. Letters had to be smuggled in and out -of the prison, and she soon ceased to have any -trustworthy news of her loved ones. Six days after -the above letter, she wrote to Bosc:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“My poor little one! Where is she? Tell me, I -beg of you. Give me some details that I may picture -her to myself in her new surroundings.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>It was too late. In less than a week after this -letter she was in the Conciergerie.</p> - -<p class='c008'>After the death of M. and Madame Roland, -Eudora was taken in charge by Bosc, who, in 1795, -published the first edition of Madame Roland’s Memoirs, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_308'>308</span>to help in her support. Legend has it that -Bosc even wanted to marry the child. Later a marriage -was arranged for her with a brother of Champagneux -of Lyons, the old friend of the Rolands.</p> - -<p class='c008'>After the Revolution, Madame Champagneux recovered -her father’s property, and Le Clos, the family -estate, near Villefranche, came into her possession. -This property is still in the family, being owned -by one of Madame Champagneux’s granddaughters, -Madame Cécile Marillier of Paris.</p> - -<p class='c008'>All of the papers of Madame Roland, which had -been confided to Bosc, were given by him to Eudora, -and she seems to have experienced a certain resentment -towards her mother when she found that she -had told posterity so frankly that her only child -lacked in depth of sentiment and keenness of intellect. -This feeling only intensified her admiration -for her father, and when Lamartine’s <cite>History of the -Girondins</cite> appeared, she was deeply indignant at the -way in which he belittled M. Roland in order to -make the figure of Madame Roland more brilliant. -It was with the hope that Lamartine’s influence could -be counteracted, that she urged a friend, a grand-nephew -of Bosc, M. P. Faugère by name, to take -possession of all the family papers, and prepare a -work which would justify the memory of Roland. -M. Faugère was already busy with a new edition -of the Memoirs, but he promised Madame Champagneux -to do the work on M. Roland as soon as -that was finished. The Memoirs he completed, and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_309'>309</span>his edition is by far the best published; but though -he began the study of Roland he died before finishing -it. The family papers remained in the possession -of Madame Faugère, who, in 1888, turned over the -most important of them to the Bibliothèque Nationale.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Madame Champagneux lived to be nearly seventy-seven -years old, dying in Paris July 19, 1858. The -last years of her life were clouded by the death of -one of her daughters, a loss from which she is said -never fully to have recovered.</p> - -<p class='c017'>Of the three left behind, the fate of Buzot was -saddest. At the moment that he escaped to Evreux, -the northwest departments felt that the Convention -had been coerced into the decree against the Gironde -and there was a general revolt against the tyranny -of Paris. Buzot and his friends who had escaped -decided, on sounding this feeling, that it was sufficiently -wide-spread and profound to justify them in -undertaking a campaign against the Convention and -in favor of federalism. Buzot began by speaking in -the cathedral at Evreux and here he was joined by -Pétion, Barbaroux, and Louvet. The agitators were -not long unmolested. The Convention turned its -fiercest anathemas against the “traitors,” as it called -them, and the Revolutionary authorities of the northwest -were ordered to crush them. At first they fled -into Brittany, evidently hoping to find a vessel there -for America, but disappointed in this, they made their -way to Gascogne, where one of their number had -friends.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_310'>310</span>While Buzot was escaping, the patriotic saviours -of their country were exhausting themselves in fantastic -efforts to show their hatred of his “treason.” -His house was demolished amid civic rejoicings. -His effigy was burned and riddled with bullets in the -process. On the walls near his residence could be -still read a few years ago an inscription written in -the excitement.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c015'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Buzot le scélérat trahit la liberté;</span></div> - <div class='line'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Pour ce crime infâme, il sera decapité.</span>”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>This effectual and dignified way of dealing with a -political opponent reached its climax on December -30, 1793, when Evreux held a fête of rejoicing -over the recapture of Toulon. The cathedral in -which, six months before, Buzot had spoken had -become a “temple of reason and philosophy.” On -the altars were the busts of Marat, Lepelletier, and -Brutus, where once were the forms of Virgin and -Child and peaceable saint. The latter had been -transferred to the Place de la Fédération, where, -together with effigies of Buzot and other local -celebrities who had refused to believe and vote as -the authorities desired, they were burned.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In the mean time Buzot had escaped to Saint -Émilion, where, for some three months, he and his -friends were concealed. They busied themselves, -when their places of hiding permitted it, with writing -their memoirs. Buzot discussed his political -career and made a violent, often vindictive, attack -<span class='pageno' id='Page_311'>311</span>on his opponents. There is no direct avowal, in his -work, of his love for Madame Roland, but one feels -throughout the despairing, passionate passages the -struggling of a great emotion, stifled, but not dead. -It is said that when the news of Madame Roland’s -death reached Buzot, his friends thought he had gone -mad, and it was many days before the violence of -his grief was calmed.</p> - -<p class='c008'>At the beginning of 1794 the refugees were -obliged to change asylums, and went to the house -of a hair-dresser in Saint Émilion, where they stayed -until June of that year. At that time, however, the -Revolutionary authorities of Bordeaux decided that -they were not doing their whole duty in saving the -country, and began a house-to-house search throughout -the department. Buzot, with his friends, Pétion -and Barbaroux, were forced to fly. After days of -fatigue and fear and hunger, the end came. Barbaroux, -thinking he was discovered, attempted to -shoot himself, but succeeded only in wounding himself, -and was captured.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Just how death came to Buzot no one knows; for -when his body was found it lay beside that of Pétion -in a wheat-field, half-eaten by wolves.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In unconscious irony the peasants have since -called the field the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">champ des émigrés</span></i>.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_313'>313</span> - <h2 class='c006'>BIBLIOGRAPHY</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c020'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Appel à l’impartiale postérité. Par la citoyenne Roland, femme -du ministre de l’intérieur. 1795.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Œuvres de J. M. Ph. Roland, femme de l’ex-ministre de l’intérieur. -1800. 3 vols.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Mémoires de Madame Roland, avec une notice sur sa vie. Par -MM. Berville et Barrière. 1820. 2 vols.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Mémoires de Madame Roland. Par Ravenel. 1840. 2 vols.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lettres inédites de Mademoiselle Phlipon. Adressées aux -demoiselles Cannet. Par M. Auguste Breuil. 1841.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Mémoires particuliers de Madame Roland. Par M. François -Barrière. 1855. 1 vol.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Mémoires de Madame Roland, écrits durant sa captivité. Par -M. P. Faugère. 1864. 2 vols.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Mémoires de Madame Roland. Par C. A. Dauban.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lettres de Madame Roland (Mademoiselle Phlipon) aux demoiselles -Cannet. Par C. A. Dauban. 1867. 2 vols.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Étude sur Madame Roland et son temps, suivie des lettres de -Madame Roland à Buzot. Par C. A. Dauban. 1864.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lettres autographes adressées à Bancal des Issarts. Publiées -par Henriette des Issarts et précédées d’une introduction -par Sainte-Beuve. 1836.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Papiers de M. et Madame Roland, Nouvelles acquisitions françaises, -Bibliothèque Nationale. 4 vols.</span> In this collection -are over 250 unpublished letters of Madame Roland, a -large number by Roland, a voluminous academic and -political correspondence, many communications to the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_314'>314</span>academies, the documents for establishing the genealogy -of the Roland family, and many other papers.</p> - -<p class='c021'>Manuscript contributed to the Academy of Lyons by Roland. -Now in the library of the Academy at Lyons.</p> - -<p class='c021'>Published Reports of the Academy of Lyons. 1785–1790.</p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lettres écrites de Suisse, d’Italie, de Sicile, et de Malte. Par -M. ... à Mademoiselle ... à Paris, en 1776, 1777 et 1778. -1782. 6 vols.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Dictionnaires des Manufactures des Arts et des Métiers in the -Encyclopédie Méthodique. 4 vols. By Roland.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'>Madame Roland. By Mathilde Blind. 1886.</p> - -<p class='c021'>Four Frenchwomen. By Henry Austin Dobson. 1890.</p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Tableau de Paris. Par Mercier. 1783–1789.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Le Nouveau Paris. Par Mercier. 6 vols. 1795.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Paris tel qu’il était avant la Révolution. Par M. Thiéry. -An IV.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">État ou Tableau de la ville de Paris. Par de Jéze. 1761.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Dictionnaire historique de la ville de Paris et de ses environs. -Par Hurtant et Magry. 1779.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Tableaux des Mœurs. 1600–1880. Par Paul Lacombe. 1887.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">L’an 1789. Par Hippolyte Gautier. 1888.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Paris en 1789. Par Albert Babeau. 1890.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">La vie privée d’autrefois. Par A. Franklin. 17 vols. 1887–1895.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Mémoires inédits de M<sup>me</sup> de Genlis. 1825. 10 vols.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Mémoires de M<sup>me</sup> d’Épinay.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">La femme au XVIII<sup>me</sup> Siècle. Par Edmond et Jules de Goncourt. -1874. 2 vols.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">L’Éducation des femmes par les femmes. Par Octave Gréard. -1887.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span class='pageno' id='Page_315'>315</span><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">L’Art du XVIII<sup>me</sup> Siècle. Par Edmond et Jules de Goncourt. -1874. 2 vols.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Causeries du Lundi. Par Sainte-Beuve.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Études sur la littérature contemporaine. Par Edmond Scherer.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Extrait du journal de mes voyages. 1776. 2 vols. Par -Pahin de la Blancherie.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Nouvelles de la République des lettres et des arts. 8 vols. -1779–1787. Par Pahin de la Blancherie.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Émile—Les Confessions—La Nouvelle Héloïse—Contrat -social. Par J. J. Rousseau.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Histoire Parlementaire. Par Buchez et Roux. 32 vols.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">L’Esprit public au XVIII<sup>me</sup> Siècle. Par Charles Aubertin. -1872.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">L’Esprit Révolutionnaire avant la Revolution. Par Felix Rocquain.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Les causes financières de la Révolution française. Par Charles -Gomel. 1893.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">De l’administration Provinciale et de la réforme de l’impôt. -Par Letrosne. 1779.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Le Paysan sous l’Ancien Régime. Par Ferdinand Brunetière. -Revue des Deux Mondes. Avril, 1883.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">La Vie Rurale dans l’Ancienne France. Par Albert Babeau, -1883.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Procés verbaux de l’assemblée provinciale de Lyon. 1787.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lettres de l’intendant du Lyonnais pendant 1780–1789.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Cahiers du Tiers État, de la noblesse, et du clergé de Lyon aux -États Généraux, 1789.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Almanach Royal de France.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Almanach National de France.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'>Dr. Rigby’s Letters from France in 1789.</p> - -<p class='c021'><span class='pageno' id='Page_316'>316</span><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Procés Verbaux. Assemblée Nationale, 1789–1791. 76 vols.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'>Letters written in France. H. M. Williams. 1796.</p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Histoire littéraire de la Convention Nationale. Par E. Maron. -1860.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">L’eloquence parlementaire pendant la Révolution française. -Par F. A. Aulard. 1885–1886. 2 vols.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Catalogue d’une collection d’ouvrages historiques sur la Révolution -française. Par E. Gonon.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Les Origines de la France contemporaine. Par A. Taine. -1878–1885. 3 vols.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Considérations sur les principaux événements de la Révolution -française. Par Madame la baronne de Staël. 1843.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'>Letters and Speeches of Thomas Paine during the French -Revolution.</p> - -<p class='c021'>Diary and Letters of Gouverneur Morris. 1888. 2 vols.</p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Mémoires et correspondance (de Mallet du Pan) pour servir à -l’histoire de la Révolution française. 1851. 2 vols.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Histoire de la société française pendant la Révolution. Par -Edmond et Jules de Goncourt. 1854.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">De l’autorité de Rabelais dans la révolution présente et dans la -constitution civile du clergé. Par Pierre Louis Ginguené. -1791.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">La démagogie en 1793 à Paris. Charles Aimé Dauban. 1868.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Souvenirs sur les deux premières assemblées. Par E. Dumont.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Mémoires sur la Révolution. Par D. J. Garat. 1795.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">J. P. Brissot député du département d’Eure et Loire à ses commettans, -sur la situation de la Convention Nationale, sur -l’influence des anarchistes, et les maux qu’elle a causés, -sur la nécessité d’anéantir cette influence pour sauver la -République. 1794.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Histoire Musée de la République française depuis l’Assemblée -des notables jusqu’à l’empire. Avec les estampes, médailles, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_317'>317</span>caricatures, portraits historiques et autographes -remarquables du temps. Par Jean Challamel. 2 vols. 1842.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">La société des Jacobins, Recueil de documents pour l’histoire -du club des Jacobins de Paris. Par. F. A. Aulard. -1889–1895. 5 vols.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Journal d’un bourgeois de Paris pendant la Terreur. Par -Edmond Biré. 1884.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Légendes révolutionnaires. Par Edmond Biré. 1893.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Mémoires du comte Beugnot, ancien ministre (1783–1815). -Publiés par le comte Albert Beugnot. 1868. 2 vols.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'>Englishmen in the French Revolution, 1789–1795. By John G. -Alger. 1889.</p> - -<p class='c021'>Glimpses of the French Revolution. By John G. Alger. 1894.</p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Le culte de la Raison et le culte de l’Être Suprême. Par F. A. -Aulard. 1892.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Études et leçons sur la Révolution française. Par F. A. -Aulard.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Dumouriez. Vie et Mémoires. 1822. 4 vols.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Mémoires inédits de Pétion et Mémoires de Buzot et de Barbaroux. -Par C. A. Dauban. 1866.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Charlotte de Corday et les Girondins. Par Charles Vatel. -1864–1872.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Histoire de la faction de la Gironde. Par Camille Desmoulins.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Les Girondins, leur vie privée, leur vie publique, leur proscription -et leur mort. Joseph Guadet. 2 vols. 1861.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Recherches historiques sur les Girondins. Par Charles Vatel. -2 vols.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Histoire des Girondins et des Massacres de Septembre. A. de -Granier de Cassagnac. 1860. 2 vols.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Protestation contre le livre intitulé Histoire des Girondins et -des Massacres de Septembre. Par Joseph Guadet. 1860.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">La Légende des Girondins. Par E. Biré. 1881.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span class='pageno' id='Page_318'>318</span><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Histoire des Girondins. Par A. de Lamartine. 1847. 8 vols.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">La Grande Encyclopédie. Vol. 18. Les Girondins. Par H. -Monin.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Les ministres de la République Française. Roland et Madame -Roland. Par le Baron de Girardot. 1860.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Histoire de Lyon et des anciennes provinces du Lyonnais. Par -Eug. Fabrier. 1846. 2 vols.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Almanach de la ville de Lyon et des provinces du Lyonnais. -Par Forez et Beaujolais. 1784–86.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Histoire de Villefranche. Par Hippolyte Laplatte.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Bibliographie Historique de la ville de Lyon. Par Gonon. 1845.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Histoire de Lyon. Par Ballydier.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Histoire du commerce de l’industrie des fabriques de Lyon. -Par C. Beaulieu. 1838.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Histoire de la ville de Lyon pendant la Révolution. Par l’Abbe -Guillou de Montléon.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Les premières années de la Révolution à Lyon. Par Maurice -Wahl. 1894.</span></p> - -<h3 class='c022'>NEWSPAPERS</h3> - -<p class='c023'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Courrier de Lyon.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Le Patriote Français.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Moniteur Universel.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Le Gardien de la Constitution.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">L’Ami du Peuple.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Journal de la République Française.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">La Sentinelle.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Mercure de France.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Le Père Duchèsne.</span></p> - -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_319'>319</span> - <h3 class='c022'>POLITICAL PAMPHLETS</h3> -</div> - -<p class='c023'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Correspondance du ministre de l’intérieur Roland avec le -Général Lafayette.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lettre au Roi.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lettre de Junius à Roland.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lettre à M. Roland.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lettres sur le ministère de Roland.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rapport relatif au 20 Juin.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Adresse au peuple français.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Ni Marat ni Roland. Opinion d’Anarcharsis Cloots. 1792.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Réponses au Prussien Cloots par Roland, Kersaint, Guadet, et -Brissot.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">L’ex-ministre de l’intérieur au président de la Convention -Nationale.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Observations de l’ex-ministre Roland sur le rapport fait contre -lui par le député Brival.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lettres et pièces intéressantes pour servir à l’histoire des -ministres de Roland, de Servan et de Clavière.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Conversations et correspondance de M. Champy avec M. Roland.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">À M. Roland de la Platière sur sa “Lettre au Roi,” 17 Juillet, -1792.</span></p> - -<p class='c021'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Almanach des Bizarreries Humaines. Par J. C. Bailleul. 1889.</span></p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_321'>321</span> - <h2 class='c006'>INDEX</h2> -</div> - -<ul class='index c004'> - <li class='c024'><span class='pageno' id='Page_322'>322</span>Abbaye, Madame Roland imprisoned in the, <a href='#Page_261'>261</a> <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">et seq.</span></i></li> - <li class='c024'>Antoine, <a href='#Page_145'>145</a>.</li> - <li class='c024'>Assembly, National, see National Assembly.</li> - <li class='c004'>Barbaroux, and the Rolands, their plans, <a href='#Page_202'>202</a>–205, <a href='#Page_206'>206</a>; - <ul> - <li>his fate, <a href='#Page_309'>309</a>–311.</li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Beaumarchais, his <cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Figaro</span></cite> first given, <a href='#Page_85'>85</a>; - <ul> - <li>quoted, <a href='#Page_121'>121</a>.</li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Beugnot, Comte, his words concerning Madame Roland in prison, <a href='#Page_296'>296</a>, <a href='#Page_299'>299</a>.</li> - <li class='c024'>Buzot, François-Nicolas-Léonard, at the home of the Rolands, <a href='#Page_145'>145</a>; - <ul> - <li>Madame Roland’s passion for, <a href='#Page_224'>224</a>, <a href='#Page_225'>225</a>;</li> - <li>his early career, <a href='#Page_226'>226</a>, <a href='#Page_227'>227</a>;</li> - <li>attracts Madame Roland, <a href='#Page_227'>227</a>;</li> - <li>his nature, <a href='#Page_228'>228</a>;</li> - <li>correspondence with Madame Roland, <a href='#Page_228'>228</a>, <a href='#Page_230'>230</a>;</li> - <li>his wife not his equal, <a href='#Page_227'>227</a>, <a href='#Page_230'>230</a>;</li> - <li>his personal attractions, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a>, <a href='#Page_232'>232</a>;</li> - <li>his love for Madame Roland, <a href='#Page_230'>230</a>, <a href='#Page_234'>234</a>, <a href='#Page_242'>242</a>–244;</li> - <li>his relations toward M. Roland, <a href='#Page_244'>244</a>;</li> - <li>his struggle against the Mountain party, <a href='#Page_247'>247</a>–249;</li> - <li>his opinion of Danton and Robespierre, <a href='#Page_247'>247</a>, <a href='#Page_249'>249</a>;</li> - <li>in harmony with M. Roland, <a href='#Page_249'>249</a>;</li> - <li>his efforts to prove his patriotism, <a href='#Page_250'>250</a>;</li> - <li>could not approve the Terrorists, <a href='#Page_250'>250</a>, <a href='#Page_251'>251</a>;</li> - <li>his relations with the Rolands well understood, <a href='#Page_251'>251</a>;</li> - <li>characterized by Marat as <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">frère tranquille</span></i>, <a href='#Page_251'>251</a>;</li> - <li>his words on the Republic, <a href='#Page_255'>255</a>–257;</li> - <li>flees from Paris to Evreux, <a href='#Page_262'>262</a>, <a href='#Page_263'>263</a>;</li> - <li><span class='pageno' id='Page_323'>323</span>Madame Roland’s letters to, from prison, <a href='#Page_274'>274</a>–280;</li> - <li>his last days and death, <a href='#Page_309'>309</a>–311.</li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c004'>Cannet, Henriette, offers to take Madame Roland’s place in prison, <a href='#Page_292'>292</a>.</li> - <li class='c024'>Cannet, Sophie, Manon Phlipon’s friendship with, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a>–15.</li> - <li class='c024'>Cercle Social, the, patriotic club, <a href='#Page_142'>142</a>, <a href='#Page_143'>143</a>.</li> - <li class='c024'>Chalier, sent home to Lyons by Roland “with honors,” <a href='#Page_211'>211</a>.</li> - <li class='c024'>Champagneux, M., starts the <cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Courrier de Lyon</span></cite>, <a href='#Page_128'>128</a>; - <ul> - <li>in constant correspondence with the Rolands, <a href='#Page_155'>155</a>;</li> - <li>arrested, <a href='#Page_284'>284</a>.</li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Champagneux, brother of above, husband of Eudora Roland, <a href='#Page_98'>98</a>, <a href='#Page_308'>308</a>.</li> - <li class='c024'>Champ-de-Mars, the massacre of, <a href='#Page_162'>162</a>, <a href='#Page_163'>163</a>.</li> - <li class='c024'>Chauveau-Lagarde, ambitious to defend Madame Roland in her trial, <a href='#Page_299'>299</a>.</li> - <li class='c024'>Clavière, at the home of the Rolands, <a href='#Page_145'>145</a>–147.</li> - <li class='c024'>Commune, the, <a href='#Page_208'>208</a>; - <ul> - <li>and M. Roland, <a href='#Page_212'>212</a>, <a href='#Page_213'>213</a>;</li> - <li>vigorous action of, <a href='#Page_212'>212</a>.</li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Conciergerie, Madame Roland imprisoned in the, <a href='#Page_292'>292</a>, <a href='#Page_295'>295</a>, <a href='#Page_296'>296</a>.</li> - <li class='c024'>Condorcet, his pamphlet on “Whether a king is necessary to the conservation of energy,” <a href='#Page_159'>159</a>.</li> - <li class='c024'>Constitution, the, formed by the Assembly and accepted by Louis XVI., <a href='#Page_168'>168</a>, <a href='#Page_169'>169</a>.</li> - <li class='c024'><span class='pageno' id='Page_324'>324</span>Constitutionalist party, the, <a href='#Page_174'>174</a>.</li> - <li class='c024'>Convention, National, see National Assembly.</li> - <li class='c024'>Conversation, French, character of, <a href='#Page_147'>147</a>, <a href='#Page_148'>148</a>.</li> - <li class='c024'>Creuzé-la-Touche, shelters Eudora Roland, <a href='#Page_306'>306</a>.</li> - <li class='c004'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Dames de la Congrégation de Notre Dame</span>, Convent, Manon Phlipon at, <a href='#Page_9'>9</a> <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">et seq.</span></i>; - <ul> - <li>instruction given at, <a href='#Page_10'>10</a>.</li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Danton, at the head of the insurrectionary element, <a href='#Page_205'>205</a>, <a href='#Page_206'>206</a>, <a href='#Page_214'>214</a>; - <ul> - <li>Madame Roland’s antipathy to, <a href='#Page_214'>214</a>–217;</li> - <li>the only mediator between the Gironde and the Mountain parties, <a href='#Page_215'>215</a>;</li> - <li>his brutality, <a href='#Page_217'>217</a>, <a href='#Page_222'>222</a>;</li> - <li>“the one man who could support the Gironde, save the King and his country,” <a href='#Page_223'>223</a>;</li> - <li>his words concerning Madame Roland, <a href='#Page_245'>245</a>;</li> - <li>Buzot’s opinion of, <a href='#Page_247'>247</a>, <a href='#Page_249'>249</a>.</li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Desmoulins, Camille, his inability to understand the general admiration for Madame Roland, <a href='#Page_151'>151</a>, <a href='#Page_152'>152</a>, <a href='#Page_206'>206</a>.</li> - <li class='c024'>Dumas, Mathieu, his words on the publication of Roland’s letter to the King, <a href='#Page_198'>198</a>.</li> - <li class='c024'>Dumont, his comment on Madame Roland’s persuading her husband to publish his letter to the King, <a href='#Page_198'>198</a>.</li> - <li class='c024'>Dumouriez, General, Madame Roland’s distrust of, <a href='#Page_181'>181</a>, <a href='#Page_182'>182</a>; - <ul> - <li>Roland made overtures to, <a href='#Page_223'>223</a>.</li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c004'><cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Encyclopédie méthodique</span></cite>, M. Roland’s contributions to, <a href='#Page_76'>76</a>, <a href='#Page_77'>77</a>.</li> - <li class='c004'>Faugère, M. P., and the Roland Memoirs, <a href='#Page_308'>308</a>, <a href='#Page_309'>309</a>.</li> - <li class='c024'>Feuillants, the, <a href='#Page_176'>176</a>, <a href='#Page_189'>189</a>, <a href='#Page_201'>201</a>.</li> - <li class='c024'>Financial errors of the French government, <a href='#Page_113'>113</a>–117, <a href='#Page_121'>121</a>, <a href='#Page_122'>122</a>.</li> - <li class='c024'><span class='pageno' id='Page_325'>325</span>France, financial errors of the government, <a href='#Page_113'>113</a>–117, <a href='#Page_121'>121</a>, <a href='#Page_122'>122</a>.</li> - <li class='c004'>Garaud, <a href='#Page_146'>146</a>.</li> - <li class='c024'>Garran, <a href='#Page_145'>145</a>.</li> - <li class='c024'>Genlis, Madame de, her lack of knowledge at twelve, <a href='#Page_10'>10</a>.</li> - <li class='c024'>Gironde, the party of the, character and principles of, <a href='#Page_171'>171</a>–176; - <ul> - <li>Madame de Staël’s words concerning, <a href='#Page_173'>173</a>;</li> - <li>its attitude toward the Mountain and constitutionalist parties, <a href='#Page_174'>174</a>–176;</li> - <li>the Girondin ministry, <a href='#Page_178'>178</a>;</li> - <li>join the Jacobins, <a href='#Page_205'>205</a>;</li> - <li>struggle between the Mountain party and, <a href='#Page_255'>255</a>;</li> - <li>expulsion and trial of twenty-two members of, <a href='#Page_259'>259</a>;</li> - <li>twenty-one executed, <a href='#Page_290'>290</a>.</li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Gluck, his <cite>Danaïdes</cite> first given, <a href='#Page_85'>85</a>.</li> - <li class='c024'>Grandpré, his assistance to Madame Roland in prison, <a href='#Page_269'>269</a>, <a href='#Page_270'>270</a>.</li> - <li class='c024'>Grégoire, <a href='#Page_146'>146</a>.</li> - <li class='c024'>Greuze, Manon Phlipon’s visit to, <a href='#Page_57'>57</a>, <a href='#Page_58'>58</a>.</li> - <li class='c024'>Guillon de Montléon, Abbé, his words concerning M. Roland, <a href='#Page_91'>91</a>; - <ul> - <li>his words concerning Madame Roland, <a href='#Page_150'>150</a>, <a href='#Page_151'>151</a>.</li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c004'>Hannaches, Mademoiselle d’, and Manon Phlipon, <a href='#Page_19'>19</a>, <a href='#Page_20'>20</a>.</li> - <li class='c024'>Heinsius, his portrait of Madame Roland, <a href='#Page_152'>152</a>, <a href='#Page_153'>153</a>.</li> - <li class='c004'>Insurrection, party of the, <a href='#Page_205'>205</a>–207.</li> - <li class='c004'>Jacobins, too conservative for the Rolands, <a href='#Page_143'>143</a>; - <ul> - <li>the Girondins join, <a href='#Page_205'>205</a>.</li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c004'>Lafayette, Marquis de, <a href='#Page_157'>157</a>, <a href='#Page_200'>200</a>.</li> - <li class='c024'>Lanthenas, and the Rolands, <a href='#Page_127'>127</a>, <a href='#Page_128'>128</a>, <a href='#Page_216'>216</a>, <a href='#Page_233'>233</a>, <a href='#Page_237'>237</a>.</li> - <li class='c024'>Le Clos, the country home of M. and Madame Roland, <a href='#Page_94'>94</a> <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">et seq.</span></i>; - <ul> - <li><span class='pageno' id='Page_326'>326</span>amusements at, <a href='#Page_101'>101</a>;</li> - <li>Madame Roland’s life at, <a href='#Page_99'>99</a>–111.</li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Louis Noailles, <a href='#Page_145'>145</a>.</li> - <li class='c024'>Louise, Madame, sister of Louis XVI., did not know her alphabet at twelve, <a href='#Page_10'>10</a>.</li> - <li class='c024'>Louis XVI., appears with Marie Antoinette in the National Assembly, <a href='#Page_129'>129</a>, <a href='#Page_130'>130</a>; - <ul> - <li>his flight and return, <a href='#Page_156'>156</a>–159;</li> - <li>“worse than a stick in a wheel,” <a href='#Page_158'>158</a>;</li> - <li>efforts to secure a trial of, <a href='#Page_161'>161</a>, <a href='#Page_162'>162</a>;</li> - <li>accepts the constitution, <a href='#Page_168'>168</a>;</li> - <li>names a cabinet to suit the Girondins, <a href='#Page_178'>178</a>;</li> - <li>Madame Roland doubts the good faith of, <a href='#Page_183'>183</a>;</li> - <li>hesitates to sign measure to raise army for protection of Paris against foreign attack, <a href='#Page_189'>189</a>;</li> - <li>Roland’s letter to, concerning the public perils, <a href='#Page_190'>190</a>–199;</li> - <li>his words to Roland concerning the letter, <a href='#Page_197'>197</a>;</li> - <li>the red cap placed on his head in the riot of the 20th of June, <a href='#Page_200'>200</a>.</li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Lyons, M. and Madame Roland at, <a href='#Page_91'>91</a>–93; - <ul> - <li>M. Roland’s manuscripts in the archives of the Academy of, <a href='#Page_92'>92</a>, <a href='#Page_93'>93</a>;</li> - <li>disorders in, <a href='#Page_134'>134</a>–137;</li> - <li>rumors of a Prussian and Austrian invasion, <a href='#Page_137'>137</a>;</li> - <li>the Rolands detested in, <a href='#Page_138'>138</a>;</li> - <li>its devotion to the aristocracy, <a href='#Page_165'>165</a>.</li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c004'>Mandat, murdered, <a href='#Page_208'>208</a>.</li> - <li class='c024'>Marat, joins the Commune, <a href='#Page_212'>212</a>; - <ul> - <li>his character, <a href='#Page_218'>218</a>;</li> - <li>and M. Roland, <a href='#Page_218'>218</a>, <a href='#Page_219'>219</a>;</li> - <li>attacks M. and Madame Roland in his journal, <a href='#Page_222'>222</a>, <a href='#Page_223'>223</a>;</li> - <li>his words concerning Buzot, <a href='#Page_251'>251</a>;</li> - <li>his characterization of Madame Roland, <a href='#Page_252'>252</a>.</li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Marie Antoinette, her appearance in the National Assembly, <a href='#Page_129'>129</a>, <a href='#Page_130'>130</a>; - <ul> - <li>her flight, <a href='#Page_156'>156</a>.</li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Mesmer-study, <a href='#Page_85'>85</a>.</li> - <li class='c024'>Mirabeau, Madame Roland’s words concerning, <a href='#Page_290'>290</a>.</li> - <li class='c024'>Morris, Gouverneur, quoted, <a href='#Page_163'>163</a>; - <ul> - <li><span class='pageno' id='Page_327'>327</span>his words concerning the attitude of affairs in Paris, <a href='#Page_177'>177</a>.</li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Mountain party, the, its character, <a href='#Page_174'>174</a>–176; - <ul> - <li>M. Roland’s struggle against, <a href='#Page_247'>247</a>;</li> - <li>Buzot’s struggle against, <a href='#Page_247'>247</a>–249;</li> - <li>struggle of the Gironde party with, <a href='#Page_255'>255</a>.</li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c004'>National Assembly, the, <a href='#Page_124'>124</a>; - <ul> - <li>King and Marie Antoinette appear in, <a href='#Page_129'>129</a>, <a href='#Page_130'>130</a>;</li> - <li>Madame Roland’s dissatisfaction with, <a href='#Page_129'>129</a>–131, <a href='#Page_138'>138</a>–142;</li> - <li>M. Roland a deputy to, <a href='#Page_138'>138</a>;</li> - <li>measure to raise army to protect Paris against attack of foreigners, voted by, <a href='#Page_189'>189</a>;</li> - <li>Roland’s letter to the King presented to the, <a href='#Page_197'>197</a>–199;</li> - <li>Madame Roland appears before the Convention, <a href='#Page_253'>253</a>;</li> - <li>struggle in, between the Mountain and Gironde parties, <a href='#Page_255'>255</a>;</li> - <li>expulsion and trial of members of the Gironde, <a href='#Page_259'>259</a>;</li> - <li>Madame Roland’s letter to, from prison, <a href='#Page_269'>269</a>, <a href='#Page_270'>270</a>.</li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Noailles, Louis, <a href='#Page_145'>145</a>.</li> - <li class='c024'>Notre Dame des Marais, the Gothic church at Villefranche, <a href='#Page_88'>88</a>.</li> - <li class='c024'><cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Nouvelle Héloïse</span></cite>, Rousseau’s, its influence on Manon Phlipon, <a href='#Page_32'>32</a>–35.</li> - <li class='c004'>Paine, Thomas, at the home of the Rolands, <a href='#Page_146'>146</a>; - <ul> - <li>forms a republican society in Paris, <a href='#Page_159'>159</a>.</li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Paris, gold and silver smiths in the western end of, <a href='#Page_1'>1</a>; - <ul> - <li>measure to guard the city against attack of foreigners, <a href='#Page_188'>188</a> <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">et seq.</span></i>, <a href='#Page_201'>201</a>;</li> - <li>life in, during the Revolution, <a href='#Page_293'>293</a>, <a href='#Page_294'>294</a>.</li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Pétion, at the home of the Rolands, <a href='#Page_145'>145</a>; - <ul> - <li>a Girondin, <a href='#Page_171'>171</a>;</li> - <li>counsels calm, <a href='#Page_205'>205</a>, <a href='#Page_208'>208</a>;</li> - <li>his fate, <a href='#Page_309'>309</a>–311.</li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Phlipon, Madame, mother of Manon Phlipon, her character, <a href='#Page_3'>3</a>; - <ul> - <li>her control over her daughter, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a>;</li> - <li>her death, <a href='#Page_31'>31</a>.</li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Phlipon, Marie-Jeanne, called Manon, afterwards Madame Roland, her parents, <a href='#Page_2'>2</a>–6; - <ul> - <li><span class='pageno' id='Page_328'>328</span>her birth, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a>;</li> - <li>her character as a child, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a>, <a href='#Page_6'>6</a>;</li> - <li>early reading and education, <a href='#Page_6'>6</a> <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">et seq.</span></i>;</li> - <li>effect of <cite>Plutarch’s Lives</cite> on, <a href='#Page_7'>7</a>, <a href='#Page_8'>8</a>;</li> - <li>her religions zeal, <a href='#Page_9'>9</a>;</li> - <li>enters the convent, <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Dames de la Congrégation de Notre Dame</span>, <a href='#Page_9'>9</a>, <a href='#Page_10'>10</a>;</li> - <li>her life and work there, <a href='#Page_10'>10</a>–14;</li> - <li>her friendship with Sophie Cannet, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a>–15;</li> - <li>her piety, <a href='#Page_11'>11</a>, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a>;</li> - <li>her letters to Sophie Cannet, <a href='#Page_14'>14</a>, <a href='#Page_15'>15</a>;</li> - <li>her secret resolve to return to convent life, <a href='#Page_15'>15</a>;</li> - <li>her dislike for the vanities of life, <a href='#Page_16'>16</a>, <a href='#Page_17'>17</a>, <a href='#Page_20'>20</a>, <a href='#Page_21'>21</a>;</li> - <li>her love of nature, <a href='#Page_17'>17</a>;</li> - <li>Meudon her favorite spot, <a href='#Page_17'>17</a>;</li> - <li>her visit to Madame de Boismorel, <a href='#Page_18'>18</a>, <a href='#Page_19'>19</a>;</li> - <li>her early contempt for the social conditions, <a href='#Page_19'>19</a>–21;</li> - <li>a secretary to Mademoiselle d’Hannaches, <a href='#Page_20'>20</a>;</li> - <li>makes an eight-day visit to Versailles, <a href='#Page_21'>21</a>;</li> - <li>her description of her impressions there, <a href='#Page_22'>22</a>;</li> - <li>her attitude toward the King and government at twenty years of age, <a href='#Page_22'>22</a>–24;</li> - <li>prefers a republic, <a href='#Page_22'>22</a>, <a href='#Page_23'>23</a>;</li> - <li>her reading after leaving the convent, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a>–26;</li> - <li>her <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">cahiers</span></i>, <a href='#Page_26'>26</a>;</li> - <li>deeply interested in philosophy, <a href='#Page_26'>26</a>, <a href='#Page_27'>27</a>;</li> - <li>studies Christian dogma severely and rationally, <a href='#Page_27'>27</a>, <a href='#Page_28'>28</a>;</li> - <li>her mental and spiritual condition, <a href='#Page_28'>28</a>–30;</li> - <li>the influence of Rousseau’s <cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Nouvelle Héloïse</span></cite> on, <a href='#Page_31'>31</a>–35;</li> - <li>her words concerning Rousseau and his works, <a href='#Page_34'>34</a>, <a href='#Page_35'>35</a>;</li> - <li>her notions of a future husband, <a href='#Page_35'>35</a>–38;</li> - <li>applicants for her hand, <a href='#Page_35'>35</a>, <a href='#Page_36'>36</a>;</li> - <li>her love affair with Pahin de la Blancherie, <a href='#Page_38'>38</a>–44;</li> - <li>her <cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Loisirs</span></cite>, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a>, <a href='#Page_58'>58</a>;</li> - <li>her interest in Sainte-Lettre, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>, <a href='#Page_45'>45</a>;</li> - <li>refuses M. de Sévelinges, <a href='#Page_46'>46</a>, <a href='#Page_47'>47</a>;</li> - <li>her interest in Roland de la Platière, <a href='#Page_45'>45</a>, <a href='#Page_52'>52</a>, <a href='#Page_53'>53</a>;</li> - <li>her interest in M. Pittet, <a href='#Page_54'>54</a>;</li> - <li>the dulness of her life, <a href='#Page_54'>54</a>;</li> - <li>her visit to Rousseau, <a href='#Page_55'>55</a>, <a href='#Page_56'>56</a>;</li> - <li>her visit to Greuze, <a href='#Page_57'>57</a>, <a href='#Page_58'>58</a>;</li> - <li><span class='pageno' id='Page_329'>329</span>her relations with her father, <a href='#Page_58'>58</a>, <a href='#Page_59'>59</a>;</li> - <li>conceals from Sophie Cannet her feeling for Roland de la Platière, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>;</li> - <li>Platonic arrangement with Roland, <a href='#Page_61'>61</a>;</li> - <li>correspondence between Roland and, <a href='#Page_61'>61</a>–69;</li> - <li>difficulty with her father in her betrothal to M. Roland, <a href='#Page_67'>67</a>–69;</li> - <li>leaves her father, and retires to the convent, <a href='#Page_69'>69</a>, <a href='#Page_70'>70</a>;</li> - <li>marries Roland, <a href='#Page_71'>71</a>;</li> - <li>her account in her Memoirs of the courtship and marriage, <a href='#Page_71'>71</a>, <a href='#Page_72'>72</a>.</li> - <li>See Roland, Madame.</li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Phlipon, Pierre Gatien, his engraving shop, <a href='#Page_2'>2</a>, <a href='#Page_3'>3</a>; - <ul> - <li>his character, <a href='#Page_3'>3</a>, <a href='#Page_4'>4</a>;</li> - <li>his home life and family, <a href='#Page_4'>4</a>, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a>;</li> - <li>displeased with Pahin de la Blancherie, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a>;</li> - <li>his relations toward his daughter, <a href='#Page_58'>58</a>, <a href='#Page_59'>59</a>;</li> - <li>grows dissipated, <a href='#Page_68'>68</a>;</li> - <li>his attitude toward M. Roland, <a href='#Page_68'>68</a>, <a href='#Page_69'>69</a>;</li> - <li>death, <a href='#Page_140'>140</a>.</li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Pittet, M., Manon Phlipon’s interest in, <a href='#Page_54'>54</a>.</li> - <li class='c024'><cite>Plutarch’s Lives</cite>, effect of, on Manon Phlipon, <a href='#Page_7'>7</a>, <a href='#Page_8'>8</a>.</li> - <li class='c004'>Rebecqui, <a href='#Page_202'>202</a>.</li> - <li class='c024'>Republic, excitement at the name of, <a href='#Page_158'>158</a>–160; - <ul> - <li>not welcomed by the people, <a href='#Page_161'>161</a>.</li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'><cite>Republican</cite>, the, journal, <a href='#Page_159'>159</a>, <a href='#Page_160'>160</a>.</li> - <li class='c024'>Robespierre, at home of the Rolands, <a href='#Page_145'>145</a>; - <ul> - <li>his words concerning a Republic, <a href='#Page_160'>160</a>, <a href='#Page_161'>161</a>;</li> - <li>criminal accuser, <a href='#Page_171'>171</a>;</li> - <li>in open rupture with the Girondins, <a href='#Page_189'>189</a>;</li> - <li>joins the Commune, <a href='#Page_212'>212</a>, <a href='#Page_221'>221</a>, <a href='#Page_222'>222</a>;</li> - <li>Buzot’s opinion of, <a href='#Page_247'>247</a>, <a href='#Page_249'>249</a>.</li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Revolution, the French, the Rolands welcomed, <a href='#Page_112'>112</a> <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">et seq.</span></i>; - <ul> - <li>preliminary outbreaks of, <a href='#Page_117'>117</a>–120;</li> - <li>the word <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">révolution</span></i> long used in private, <a href='#Page_118'>118</a>;</li> - <li>call for States-General in 1788, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a>;</li> - <li>the fall of the Bastille, <a href='#Page_124'>124</a>;</li> - <li>disorders in Lyons, <a href='#Page_134'>134</a>–137;</li> - <li>rumors of a Prussian and Russian invasion, <a href='#Page_137'>137</a>;</li> - <li><span class='pageno' id='Page_330'>330</span>the Revolutionary temper, <a href='#Page_149'>149</a>;</li> - <li>the flight and return of the king, <a href='#Page_156'>156</a>–159;</li> - <li>the massacre of the Champ-de-Mars, <a href='#Page_162'>162</a>, <a href='#Page_163'>163</a>;</li> - <li>disorders and riots everywhere, <a href='#Page_183'>183</a>, <a href='#Page_184'>184</a>;</li> - <li>the riot of the 20th of June, <a href='#Page_199'>199</a>, <a href='#Page_200'>200</a>;</li> - <li>the insurrectionary element organizing, <a href='#Page_206'>206</a>, <a href='#Page_207'>207</a>;</li> - <li>the Commune, <a href='#Page_208'>208</a>, <a href='#Page_212'>212</a>, <a href='#Page_213'>213</a>;</li> - <li>the September massacres, <a href='#Page_219'>219</a>–222;</li> - <li>the execution of the twenty-one Girondins, <a href='#Page_290'>290</a>;</li> - <li>the daily life of Parisians during, <a href='#Page_293'>293</a>, <a href='#Page_294'>294</a>.</li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Roland, Eudora, daughter of Madame Roland, born, <a href='#Page_75'>75</a>; - <ul> - <li>her husband Champagneux receives “conscience money,” <a href='#Page_98'>98</a>;</li> - <li>her education by her mother, <a href='#Page_102'>102</a>;</li> - <li>her life, <a href='#Page_305'>305</a>–309;</li> - <li>her resentment toward her mother and admiration for her father, <a href='#Page_308'>308</a>.</li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Roland, the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">chanoine</span></i>, brother of M. Roland, <a href='#Page_89'>89</a>, <a href='#Page_140'>140</a>.</li> - <li class='c024'>Roland, Madame, first year of married life, <a href='#Page_73'>73</a>–75; - <ul> - <li>at Amiens, <a href='#Page_75'>75</a>;</li> - <li>her child, <a href='#Page_75'>75</a>;</li> - <li>helping her husband on the <cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Encyclopédie</span></cite>, <a href='#Page_77'>77</a>;</li> - <li>absorbed in her domestic life, <a href='#Page_78'>78</a>;</li> - <li>her efforts in Paris to secure a title for her husband, <a href='#Page_79'>79</a>–84;</li> - <li>secures for her husband the position of inspector at Lyons, <a href='#Page_84'>84</a>;</li> - <li>her correspondence with her husband while in Paris, <a href='#Page_85'>85</a>, <a href='#Page_86'>86</a>;</li> - <li>interest in Mesmerism, <a href='#Page_85'>85</a>;</li> - <li>returns to Amiens, <a href='#Page_85'>85</a>, <a href='#Page_86'>86</a>;</li> - <li>trip to England, <a href='#Page_86'>86</a>;</li> - <li>life at Villefranche-sur-Saône, <a href='#Page_87'>87</a> <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">et seq.</span></i>;</li> - <li>her relations toward M. Roland’s mother and brother, <a href='#Page_89'>89</a>, <a href='#Page_90'>90</a>;</li> - <li>in correspondence with Bosc, <a href='#Page_90'>90</a>;</li> - <li>not pleased with and not popular at Villefranche, <a href='#Page_90'>90</a>, <a href='#Page_91'>91</a>;</li> - <li>not pleased with Lyons, <a href='#Page_92'>92</a>;</li> - <li>home life at Le Clos, <a href='#Page_94'>94</a>, <a href='#Page_99'>99</a>–111;</li> - <li>education of her daughter, <a href='#Page_102'>102</a>;</li> - <li>her letters on Rousseau’s <cite>Julie</cite> and the education of children, <a href='#Page_103'>103</a>–108;</li> - <li><span class='pageno' id='Page_331'>331</span>her devotion to her husband unabated during life at Le Clos, <a href='#Page_108'>108</a>, <a href='#Page_109'>109</a>;</li> - <li>her trip to Switzerland, <a href='#Page_109'>109</a>, <a href='#Page_110'>110</a>;</li> - <li>a sympathetic witness of preliminary outbreaks of the Revolution, <a href='#Page_112'>112</a>, <a href='#Page_117'>117</a> <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">et seq.</span></i>;</li> - <li>cramped for money after marriage, <a href='#Page_120'>120</a>;</li> - <li>her idea of “complete regeneration” of social affairs, <a href='#Page_124'>124</a>, <a href='#Page_125'>125</a>;</li> - <li>her political convictions and plan of action, <a href='#Page_125'>125</a>–133;</li> - <li>her influence over her husband and friends, <a href='#Page_126'>126</a>–129;</li> - <li>her words after the fall of the Bastille, <a href='#Page_129'>129</a>;</li> - <li>concerning the King’s and Marie Antoinette’s appearance in the National Assembly, <a href='#Page_129'>129</a>, <a href='#Page_130'>130</a>;</li> - <li>displeased with the constitution, <a href='#Page_130'>130</a>;</li> - <li>her firmness, <a href='#Page_132'>132</a>;</li> - <li>detested in Lyons, <a href='#Page_138'>138</a>;</li> - <li>her dissatisfaction with the National Assembly, <a href='#Page_129'>129</a>–131, <a href='#Page_138'>138</a>–142;</li> - <li>goes up to Paris, <a href='#Page_138'>138</a>, <a href='#Page_140'>140</a>;</li> - <li>her irritation at the aristocrats, <a href='#Page_142'>142</a>;</li> - <li>gives up going to theatres, and goes to political clubs, <a href='#Page_142'>142</a>, <a href='#Page_143'>143</a>;</li> - <li>her words concerning Jacobins, <a href='#Page_143'>143</a>;</li> - <li>her esteem for Brissot, <a href='#Page_145'>145</a>;</li> - <li>her comments on the discussions of patriots that gathered at her house, <a href='#Page_146'>146</a>–148;</li> - <li>her words on the necessity of uniting efforts, <a href='#Page_148'>148</a>, <a href='#Page_149'>149</a>;</li> - <li>her supremacy over group of patriots around her, <a href='#Page_149'>149</a>, <a href='#Page_150'>150</a>;</li> - <li>her inflexibility, <a href='#Page_150'>150</a>;</li> - <li>her personal charms, <a href='#Page_150'>150</a>–152;</li> - <li>the portraits of, <a href='#Page_152'>152</a>–154;</li> - <li>her joy at the flight of the King, <a href='#Page_156'>156</a>, <a href='#Page_157'>157</a>;</li> - <li>her words on the return of the King, <a href='#Page_158'>158</a>;</li> - <li>endeavors to secure a trial of the King, <a href='#Page_161'>161</a>, <a href='#Page_162'>162</a>;</li> - <li>she loses heart, and returns from Paris to Villefranche, <a href='#Page_164'>164</a>;</li> - <li>her disgust with Lyons, <a href='#Page_165'>165</a>;</li> - <li>her disappointment in her child, <a href='#Page_166'>166</a>;</li> - <li>decides to return to Paris, <a href='#Page_166'>166</a>, <a href='#Page_167'>167</a>;</li> - <li>her ideal of government unsatisfied, <a href='#Page_169'>169</a>, <a href='#Page_170'>170</a>;</li> - <li>her supreme confidence in herself, <a href='#Page_170'>170</a>;</li> - <li>considered herself better than her husband, <a href='#Page_170'>170</a>;</li> - <li><span class='pageno' id='Page_332'>332</span>her feeling against the old régime, <a href='#Page_170'>170</a>;</li> - <li>her attitude on her return to Paris, <a href='#Page_176'>176</a>, <a href='#Page_177'>177</a>;</li> - <li>her life and habits after her husband entered the Ministry of the Interior, <a href='#Page_179'>179</a>, <a href='#Page_180'>180</a>;</li> - <li>her influence in choosing persons for positions in the department, <a href='#Page_180'>180</a>, <a href='#Page_181'>181</a>;</li> - <li>her mistrust of General Dumouriez and others, <a href='#Page_181'>181</a>, <a href='#Page_182'>182</a>;</li> - <li>doubts the good faith of the King, <a href='#Page_183'>183</a>;</li> - <li>her measures to meet perils threatening Paris, <a href='#Page_188'>188</a> <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">et seq.</span></i>;</li> - <li>she writes letter to the King concerning the perils, <a href='#Page_190'>190</a>;</li> - <li>persuades her husband to publish the letter to the King, <a href='#Page_197'>197</a>, <a href='#Page_198'>198</a>;</li> - <li>meets Barbaroux, <a href='#Page_201'>201</a>, <a href='#Page_202'>202</a>;</li> - <li>her plan carried, <a href='#Page_210'>210</a>;</li> - <li>her antipathy to Danton, <a href='#Page_214'>214</a>–217;</li> - <li>her words concerning Robespierre, Marat, and Danton, <a href='#Page_221'>221</a>, <a href='#Page_222'>222</a>;</li> - <li>her disgust at the brutal turn of affairs in the Revolution, <a href='#Page_222'>222</a>;</li> - <li>attacked by Marat, <a href='#Page_222'>222</a>, <a href='#Page_223'>223</a>;</li> - <li>would not compromise with the insurrectionary force, <a href='#Page_223'>223</a>, <a href='#Page_225'>225</a>;</li> - <li>her passion for Buzot, <a href='#Page_224'>224</a>, <a href='#Page_225'>225</a>, <a href='#Page_227'>227</a>–244;</li> - <li>her first interest in Buzot, <a href='#Page_227'>227</a>, <a href='#Page_228'>228</a>;</li> - <li>her correspondence with Buzot, <a href='#Page_228'>228</a>–230;</li> - <li>her disillusionment in regard to the Revolution, <a href='#Page_230'>230</a>, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a>;</li> - <li>her hope in Buzot, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a>;</li> - <li>attracted by Buzot’s personal charms, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a>, <a href='#Page_232'>232</a>;</li> - <li>the waning of her affection for her husband and of her friendship with Bosc, Lanthenas, and Bancal, <a href='#Page_233'>233</a>;</li> - <li>her notions of duty and devotion, <a href='#Page_234'>234</a>;</li> - <li>her relations with various friends during her life, <a href='#Page_235'>235</a>–241;</li> - <li>influenced by the “new ideas” of love and marriage, she accepts the love of Buzot, <a href='#Page_242'>242</a>, <a href='#Page_243'>243</a>;</li> - <li>she tells her husband of her love for Buzot, <a href='#Page_243'>243</a>;</li> - <li>her relations to her husband thereafter, <a href='#Page_244'>244</a>;</li> - <li>Danton’s words concerning, <a href='#Page_245'>245</a>;</li> - <li><span class='pageno' id='Page_333'>333</span>holds her place in the struggle, <a href='#Page_251'>251</a>;</li> - <li>abused by Marat, <a href='#Page_252'>252</a>;</li> - <li>her position compared with that of Marie Antoinette, <a href='#Page_252'>252</a>;</li> - <li>appears before the Convention, <a href='#Page_253'>253</a>;</li> - <li>danger to her life, <a href='#Page_253'>253</a>, <a href='#Page_254'>254</a>;</li> - <li>attempts to leave Paris, but falls ill, <a href='#Page_258'>258</a>;</li> - <li>her vain endeavor to reach the Convention to plead her husband’s cause, <a href='#Page_259'>259</a>–261;</li> - <li>put under arrest, <a href='#Page_261'>261</a>, <a href='#Page_262'>262</a>;</li> - <li>her imprisonment in the Abbaye and Sainte Pélagie, <a href='#Page_264'>264</a>, <a href='#Page_265'>265</a>;</li> - <li>her fortitude in prison, <a href='#Page_266'>266</a>, <a href='#Page_267'>267</a>;</li> - <li>made a prominent actor in the public tragedy by her imprisonment, <a href='#Page_267'>267</a>, <a href='#Page_268'>268</a>;</li> - <li>her letters from prison to the Convention and to the ministers, <a href='#Page_269'>269</a>, <a href='#Page_270'>270</a>;</li> - <li>her conversation with a committee visiting her prison, <a href='#Page_270'>270</a>, <a href='#Page_271'>271</a>;</li> - <li>defending herself against accusations and calumnies, <a href='#Page_271'>271</a>–273;</li> - <li>her “Last Thoughts,” <a href='#Page_273'>273</a>, <a href='#Page_284'>284</a>;</li> - <li>doubt as to the object of her passion alluded to in her last letters, <a href='#Page_274'>274</a>;</li> - <li>her letters to Buzot from prison, <a href='#Page_274'>274</a>–280;</li> - <li>would ultimately have left Roland for Buzot, <a href='#Page_280'>280</a>;</li> - <li>her life and occupations in prison, <a href='#Page_280'>280</a>–283;</li> - <li>her <cite>Historical Notes</cite> written at the Abbaye prison, <a href='#Page_283'>283</a>, <a href='#Page_284'>284</a>;</li> - <li>her Memoirs and other writings, <a href='#Page_284'>284</a>–289;</li> - <li>rapidity and ease with which she wrote, <a href='#Page_285'>285</a>;</li> - <li>Rousseau’s <cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Confessions</span></cite> the model of her Memoirs, <a href='#Page_287'>287</a>, <a href='#Page_288'>288</a>;</li> - <li>her anguish and despair, <a href='#Page_289'>289</a>, <a href='#Page_290'>290</a>;</li> - <li>her words concerning Mirabeau, <a href='#Page_290'>290</a>;</li> - <li>she resolves to kill herself, <a href='#Page_291'>291</a>;</li> - <li>conveyed to the Conciergerie, <a href='#Page_292'>292</a>;</li> - <li>refuses assistance from her friends, <a href='#Page_292'>292</a>;</li> - <li>had hoped, during her imprisonment, for a popular uprising, <a href='#Page_292'>292</a>, <a href='#Page_293'>293</a>;</li> - <li>her life in the Conciergerie, <a href='#Page_295'>295</a>, <a href='#Page_296'>296</a>;</li> - <li>her second examination, <a href='#Page_296'>296</a>–298;</li> - <li>her defence, <a href='#Page_298'>298</a>;</li> - <li>her trial, <a href='#Page_299'>299</a>, <a href='#Page_300'>300</a>;</li> - <li>sentenced to death, <a href='#Page_301'>301</a>;</li> - <li>her words to Chauveau-Lagarde, refusing his assistance as counsel, <a href='#Page_299'>299</a>;</li> - <li><span class='pageno' id='Page_334'>334</span>her trip to the guillotine, and death, <a href='#Page_301'>301</a>, <a href='#Page_302'>302</a>.</li> - <li>See Phlipon, Marie-Jeanne.</li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Roland de la Platière, M., <a href='#Page_45'>45</a>; - <ul> - <li>his position and career, <a href='#Page_47'>47</a>–51;</li> - <li>his character and disposition, <a href='#Page_51'>51</a>, <a href='#Page_52'>52</a>;</li> - <li>first acquaintance with Manon Phlipon, <a href='#Page_53'>53</a>;</li> - <li>professes love for Manon Phlipon, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>;</li> - <li>Platonic arrangement with Manon, <a href='#Page_61'>61</a>;</li> - <li>correspondence between Manon and, <a href='#Page_61'>61</a>–69;</li> - <li>annoyances and obstacles in his love affair with Manon, <a href='#Page_67'>67</a>–70;</li> - <li>marries Manon, <a href='#Page_71'>71</a>;</li> - <li>the first year after his marriage, <a href='#Page_73'>73</a>, <a href='#Page_74'>74</a>;</li> - <li>his contribution to the <cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Encyclopédie méthodique</span></cite>, <a href='#Page_76'>76</a>, <a href='#Page_77'>77</a>;</li> - <li>ambitious to obtain a title, <a href='#Page_78'>78</a>, <a href='#Page_79'>79</a>;</li> - <li>the general prejudice against, <a href='#Page_81'>81</a>, <a href='#Page_82'>82</a>;</li> - <li>his wife obtains for him the position of inspector of commerce at Lyons, <a href='#Page_84'>84</a>;</li> - <li>his letters to his wife while she was in Paris, <a href='#Page_85'>85</a>, <a href='#Page_86'>86</a>;</li> - <li>trip to England, <a href='#Page_86'>86</a>;</li> - <li>his life at Villefranche-sur-Saône, <a href='#Page_87'>87</a> <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">et seq.</span></i>;</li> - <li>his mother and brother, <a href='#Page_88'>88</a>–90;</li> - <li>disliked in the Academy of Villefranche, <a href='#Page_91'>91</a>;</li> - <li>the Abbé Guillon’s words concerning, <a href='#Page_91'>91</a>;</li> - <li>his manuscripts in the archives of the Academy of Lyons, <a href='#Page_92'>92</a>, <a href='#Page_93'>93</a>;</li> - <li>home life at Le Clos, <a href='#Page_94'>94</a> <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">et seq.</span></i>;</li> - <li>sympathized with preliminary outbreaks of the Revolution, <a href='#Page_112'>112</a> <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">et seq.</span></i>;</li> - <li>appreciated the financial errors of the French government, <a href='#Page_113'>113</a>–116;</li> - <li>labors against the abuses of the realm, <a href='#Page_120'>120</a>;</li> - <li>poverty after marriage, <a href='#Page_120'>120</a>;</li> - <li>his wife’s influence over, <a href='#Page_126'>126</a>, <a href='#Page_127'>127</a>;</li> - <li>becomes embroiled in Lyons, <a href='#Page_134'>134</a>–138;</li> - <li>detested in Lyons, <a href='#Page_138'>138</a>;</li> - <li>goes to Paris as deputy to the National Assembly, <a href='#Page_138'>138</a>;</li> - <li>his words concerning Jacobins, <a href='#Page_143'>143</a>;</li> - <li>hard at work in Paris, <a href='#Page_143'>143</a>, <a href='#Page_144'>144</a>;</li> - <li>his zealous spirit, <a href='#Page_144'>144</a>;</li> - <li><span class='pageno' id='Page_335'>335</span>gathering of patriots at home of, <a href='#Page_145'>145</a>–147;</li> - <li>pronounces the King “worse than a stick in a wheel,” <a href='#Page_158'>158</a>;</li> - <li>his pamphlet on the “Advantages of the flight of the king, etc.,” <a href='#Page_159'>159</a>;</li> - <li>his words on the riot in the Champ-de-Mars, <a href='#Page_162'>162</a>, <a href='#Page_163'>163</a>;</li> - <li>appointed to head of Department of Interior on Girondin ministry, <a href='#Page_177'>177</a>–179;</li> - <li>pictured by the <cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Mercure</span></cite> as one of the principal agitators of Lyons, <a href='#Page_178'>178</a>;</li> - <li>his life and duties as minister, <a href='#Page_179'>179</a>, <a href='#Page_180'>180</a>;</li> - <li>his formulas in reply to requests of departments that he suppress disorders, <a href='#Page_185'>185</a>–187;</li> - <li>his conduct exasperating, <a href='#Page_188'>188</a>;</li> - <li>his letter to the King concerning the perils threatening Paris, <a href='#Page_190'>190</a>–196;</li> - <li>discharged from the ministry, <a href='#Page_197'>197</a>;</li> - <li>presents his letter to the Assembly, <a href='#Page_197'>197</a>–199;</li> - <li>meets and plans with Barbaroux, <a href='#Page_201'>201</a>–205;</li> - <li>everywhere upheld the Jacobin party, <a href='#Page_211'>211</a>;</li> - <li>his great energy, <a href='#Page_212'>212</a>;</li> - <li>hindered in activity by the Commune, <a href='#Page_212'>212</a>–214;</li> - <li>at cross-purposes with Danton, <a href='#Page_217'>217</a>;</li> - <li>antagonized Marat, <a href='#Page_218'>218</a>, <a href='#Page_219'>219</a>;</li> - <li>protests against the September massacres, <a href='#Page_219'>219</a>–221;</li> - <li>orders Santerre to quell disorder, <a href='#Page_221'>221</a>;</li> - <li>attacked by Marat, <a href='#Page_222'>222</a>;</li> - <li>makes overtures to Dumouriez, <a href='#Page_223'>223</a>;</li> - <li>Madame Roland informs him of her love for Buzot, <a href='#Page_243'>243</a>;</li> - <li>resigns from the ministry, <a href='#Page_245'>245</a>;</li> - <li>withdraws his resignation, <a href='#Page_246'>246</a>;</li> - <li>his struggle against the Mountain party, <a href='#Page_247'>247</a>;</li> - <li>his retirement, <a href='#Page_254'>254</a>, <a href='#Page_255'>255</a>;</li> - <li>neglected by the Convention, <a href='#Page_254'>254</a>, <a href='#Page_255'>255</a>, <a href='#Page_258'>258</a>;</li> - <li>arrested, <a href='#Page_259'>259</a>;</li> - <li>in concealment, <a href='#Page_276'>276</a>;</li> - <li>his last days and death, <a href='#Page_303'>303</a>–305.</li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Rousseau, Jean Jacques, the prophet of the sentimental generation, <a href='#Page_32'>32</a>; - <ul> - <li>his <cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Nouvelle Héloïse</span></cite> and its influence on Manon Phlipon, <a href='#Page_32'>32</a>–35;</li> - <li>his <cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Émile</span></cite>, <a href='#Page_33'>33</a>, 34;</li> - <li><span class='pageno' id='Page_336'>336</span>Manon Phlipon’s visit to, <a href='#Page_55'>55</a>, <a href='#Page_56'>56</a>;</li> - <li>his <cite>Social Contract</cite>, <a href='#Page_125'>125</a>;</li> - <li>his <cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Confessions</span></cite> the model of Madame Roland’s Memoirs, <a href='#Page_287'>287</a>, <a href='#Page_288'>288</a>.</li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c004'>Sainte-Lettre, M. de, and Manon Phlipon, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>, <a href='#Page_45'>45</a>.</li> - <li class='c024'>Sainte Pélagie, the prison of, <a href='#Page_281'>281</a>, <a href='#Page_282'>282</a>.</li> - <li class='c024'>Sanson, the headsman, and Madame Roland, <a href='#Page_302'>302</a>.</li> - <li class='c024'>Santerre, <a href='#Page_206'>206</a>, <a href='#Page_221'>221</a>.</li> - <li class='c024'>Servan, in the ministry with Roland, <a href='#Page_188'>188</a>, <a href='#Page_189'>189</a>; - <ul> - <li>discharged from the ministry, <a href='#Page_197'>197</a>.</li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Sévelinges, M. de, Manon Phlipon declines hand of, <a href='#Page_46'>46</a>, <a href='#Page_47'>47</a>.</li> - <li class='c024'><span class='pageno' id='Page_337'>337</span>Staël, Madame de, her words concerning Girondins, <a href='#Page_173'>173</a>, <a href='#Page_174'>174</a>.</li> - <li class='c004'>Taxes, heavy previous to the Revolution, <a href='#Page_113'>113</a>–116, <a href='#Page_121'>121</a>, <a href='#Page_122'>122</a>.</li> - <li class='c024'>Tissot, his words concerning Madame Roland, <a href='#Page_151'>151</a>.</li> - <li class='c004'>Vergniaud, <a href='#Page_201'>201</a>.</li> - <li class='c024'>Villefranche-sur-Saône, <a href='#Page_87'>87</a> <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">et seq.</span></i>; - <ul> - <li>the Church Notre Dame des Marais, at, <a href='#Page_88'>88</a>;</li> - <li>disorders in the district of, <a href='#Page_184'>184</a>.</li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Volfius, <a href='#Page_145'>145</a>.</li> - <li class='c004'>Williams, Miss, Bancal’s love for, <a href='#Page_233'>233</a>, <a href='#Page_241'>241</a>.</li> -</ul> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> -<div class='tnotes'> - -<div class='section ph2'> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c001'> - <div>TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES</div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - - <ol class='ol_1 c004'> - <li>Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling. - - </li> - <li>Archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings retained as printed. - </li> - </ol> - -</div> - -<pre style='margin-top:6em'> -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MADAME ROLAND *** - -This file should be named 63699-h.htm or 63699-h.zip - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -http://www.gutenberg.org/6/3/6/9/63699/ - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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