Book: The Memoirs of Louis XV. and XVI., Volume 7
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"Merlin de Thionville was the stoic head of this party. The Princesse
Elizabeth having pointed him out to me, I ventured to address him
respecting the dangerous situation to which the Royal Family were daily
exposed. I flattered him upon his influence over the majority of the
faubourgs, to which only we could look for the extinction of these
disorders. He replied that the despotism of the Court had set a bad
example to the people; that he felt for the situation of the royal party
as individuals, but he felt much more for the safety of the French
nation, who were in still greater danger than Their Majesties had to
dread, from the Austrian faction, by which a foreign army had been
encouraged to invade the territory of France, where they were now waiting
the opportunity of annihilating French liberty forever!
"To this Her Majesty replied, 'When the deputies of the Assembly have
permitted, nay, I may say, encouraged this open violation of the King's
asylum, and, by their indifference to the safety of all those who
surround us, have sanctioned the daily insults to which we have been, and
still are, exposed, it is not to be wondered, at that all Sovereigns
should consider it their interest to make common cause with us, to crush
internal commotions, levelled, not only against the throne, and the
persons of the Sovereign and his family, but against the very principle
of monarchy itself.'
"Here the King, though much intimidated for the situation of the Queen
and his family, for whose heads the wretches were at that very moment
howling in their ears, took up the conversation.
"'These cruel facts,' said he, 'and the menacing situation you even now
witness, fully justify our not rejecting foreign aid, though God knows
how deeply I deplore the necessity of such a cruel resource! But, when
all internal measures of conciliation have been trodden under foot, and
the authorities, who ought to check it and protect us from these cruel
outrages, are only occupied in daily fomenting the discord between us and
our subjects; though a forlorn hope, what other hope is there of safety?
I foresee the drift of all these commotions, and am resigned; but what
will become of this misguided nation, when the head of it shall be
destroyed?'
"Here the King, nearly choked by his feelings, was compelled to pause for
a moment, and he then proceeded.
"'I should not feel it any sacrifice to give up the guardianship of the
nation, could I, in so doing, insure its future tranquillity; but I
foresee that my blood, like that of one of my unhappy brother
Sovereigns,--[Charles the First, of England.]--will only open the
flood-gates of human misery, the torrent of which, swelled with the best
blood of France, will deluge this once peaceful realm.'
"This, as well as I can recollect, is the substance of what passed at the
castle on this momentous day. Our situation was extremely doubtful, and
the noise and horrid riots were at times so boisterous, that frequently
we could not, though so near them, distinguish a word the King and Queen
said; and yet, whenever the leaders of these organized ruffians spoke or
threatened, the most respectful stillness instantly prevailed.
"I weep in silence for misfortunes, which I fear are inevitable! The
King, the Queen, the Princesse Elizabeth and myself, with many others
under this unhappy roof, have never ventured to undress or sleep in bed,
till last night. None of us any longer reside on the ground floor.
"By the very manly exertions of some of the old officers incorporated in
the national army, the awful riot I have described was overpowered, and
the mob, with difficulty, dispersed. Among these, I should particularize
Generals de Vomenil, de Mandat, and de Roederer. Principally by their
means the interior of the Tuileries was at last cleared, though partial
mobs, such as you have often witnessed, still subsist.
"I am thus particular in giving you a full account of this last
revolutionary commotion, that your prudence may still keep you at a
distance from the vortex. Continue where you are, and tell your man
servant how much I am obliged to him, and, at the same time, how much I
am grieved at his being wounded! I knew nothing of the affair but from
your letter and your faithful messenger. He is an old pensioner of mine,
and a good honest fellow. You may depend on him. Serve yourself,
through him, in communicating with me. Though he has had a limited
education, he is not wanting in intellect. Remember that honesty, in
matters of such vital import, is to be trusted before genius.
"My apartment appears like a barrack, like a bear garden, like anything
but what it was! Numbers of valuable things have been destroyed, numbers
carried off. Still, notwithstanding all the horrors of these last days,
it delights me to be able to tell you that no one in the service of the
Royal Family failed in duty at this dreadful crisis. I think we may
firmly rely on the inviolable attachment of all around us. No jealousy,
no considerations of etiquette, stood in the way of their exertions to
show themselves worthy of the situations they hold. The Queen showed the
greatest intrepidity during the whole of these trying scenes.
"At present, I can say no more. Petion, the Mayor of Paris, has just
been announced; and, I believe, he wishes for an audience of Her Majesty,
though he never made his appearance during the whole time of the riots in
the palace. Adieu, mia cara Inglesina!"
The receipt of this letter, however it might have affected me to hear
what Her Highness suffered, in common with the rest of the unfortunate
royal inmates of the Tuileries, gave me extreme pleasure from the
assurance it contained of the firmness of those nearest to the sufferers.
I was also sincerely gratified in reflecting on the probity and
disinterested fidelity of this worthy man, which contrasted him, so
strikingly and so advantageously to himself, with many persons of birth
and education, whose attachment could not stand the test of the trying
scenes of the Revolution, which made them abandon and betray, where they
had sworn an allegiance to which they were doubly bound by gratitude.
My man servant was attended, and taken the greatest care of. The
Princess never missed a day in sending to inquire after his health; and,
on his recovery, the Queen herself not only graciously condescended to
see him, but, besides making him a valuable present, said many flattering
and obliging things of his bravery and disinterestedness.
I should scarcely have deemed these particulars honourable as they are to
the feelings of the illustrious personages from whom they
proceeded--worth mentioning in a work of this kind, did they not give
indications of character rarely to be met with (and, in their case, how
shamefully rewarded!), from having occurred at a crisis when their minds
were occupied in affairs of such deep importance, and amidst the
appalling dangers which hourly threatened their own existence.
Her Majesty's correspondence with foreign Courts had been so much
increased by these scenes of horror, especially her correspondence with
her relations in Italy, that, ere long, I was sent for back to Paris.
SECTION XV.
Journal of the Princess resumed and concluded:
"The insurrection of the 20th of June, and the uncertain state of the
safety of the Royal Family, menaced as it was by almost daily riots,
induced a number of well-disposed persons to prevail on General La
Fayette to leave his army and come to Paris, and there personally
remonstrate against these outrages. Had he been sincere he would have
backed the measure by appearing at the head of his army, then
well-disposed, as Cromwell did when he turned out the rogues who were
seeking the Lord through the blood of their King, and put the keys in his
pocket. Violent disorders require violent remedies. With an army and a
few pieces of cannon at the door of the Assembly, whose members were
seeking the aid of the devil, for the accomplishment of their horrors, he
might, as was done when the same scene occurred in England in 1668, by
good management; have averted the deluge of blood. But, by appearing
before the Assembly isolated, without 'voila mon droit,' which the King
of Prussia had had engraven on his cannon, he lost the opinion of all
parties.
[In this instance the general grossly committed himself, in the opinion
of every impartial observer of his conduct. He should never have shown
himself in the capital, but at the head of his army. France,
circumstanced as it was, torn by intestine commotion, was only to be
intimidated by the sight of a popular leader at the head of his forces.
Usurped authority can only be quashed by the force of legitimate
authority. La Fayette being the only individual in France that in
reality possessed such an authority, not having availed himself at a
crisis like the one in which he was called upon to act, rendered his
conduct doubtful, and all his intended operations suspicious to both
parties, whether his feelings were really inclined to prop up the fallen
kingly authority, or his newly-acquired republican principles prompted
him to become the head of the democratical party, for no one can see into
the hearts of men; his popularity from that moment ceased to exist.]
"La Fayette came to the palace frequently, but the King would never see
him. He was obliged to return, with the additional mortification of
having been deceived in his expected support from the national guard of
Paris, whose pay had been secretly trebled by the National Assembly, in
order to secure them to itself. His own safety, therefore, required that
he should join the troops under his command. He left many persons in
whom he thought he could confide; among whom were some who came to me one
day requesting I would present them to the Queen without loss of time, as
a man condemned to be shot had confessed to his captain that there was a
plot laid to murder Her Majesty that very night.
"I hastened to the royal apartment, without mentioning the motive; but
some such catastrophe was no more than what we incessantly expected, from
the almost hourly changes of the national guard, for the real purpose of
giving easy access to all sorts of wretches to the very rooms of the
unfortunate Queen, in order to furnish opportunities for committing the
crime with impunity.
"After I had seen the Queen, the applicants were introduced, and, in my
presence, a paper was handed by them to Her Majesty. At the moment she
received it, I was obliged to leave her for the purpose of watching an
opportunity for their departure unobserved. These precautions were
necessary with regard to every person who came to us in the palace,
otherwise the jealousy of the Assembly and its emissaries and the
national guard of the interior might have been alarmed, and we should
have been placed under express and open surveillance. The confusion
created by the constant change of guard, however, stood us in good stead
in this emergency. Much passing and repassing took place unheeded in the
bustle.
"When the visitors had departed, and Her Majesty at one window of the
palace, and I at another, had seen them safe over the Pont Royal, I
returned to Her Majesty. She then graciously handed me the paper which
they had presented.
"It contained an earnest supplication, signed by many thousand good
citizens, that the King and Queen would sanction the plan of sending the
Dauphin to the army of La Fayette. They pledged themselves, with the
assistance of the royalists, to rescue the Royal Family. They, urged
that if once the King could be persuaded to show himself at the head of
his army, without taking any active part, but merely for his own safety
and that of his family, everything might be accomplished with the
greatest tranquillity.
"The Queen exclaimed, 'What! send my child! No! never while I breathe!
[Little did this unfortunate mother think that they, who thus pretended
to interest themselves for this beautiful, angelic Prince only a few
months before, would, when she was in her horrid prison after the
butchery of her husband, have required this only comfort to be violently
torn from her maternal arms!
Little, indeed, did she think, when her maternal devotedness thus
repelled the very thought of his being trusted to myriads of sworn
defenders, how soon he would be barbarously consigned by the infamous
Assembly as the foot-stool of the inhuman savage cobbler, Simon, to be
the night-boy of the excrements of the vilest of the works of human
nature!]
Yet were I an independent Queen, or the regent of a minority, I feel that
I should be inclined to accept the offer, to place myself at the head of
the army, as my immortal mother did, who, by that step, transmitted the
crown of our ancestors to its legitimate descendants. It is the monarchy
itself which now requires to be asserted. Though D'ORLEANS is actively
engaged in attempting the dethronement of His Majesty, I do not think the
nation will submit to such a Prince, or to any other monarchical
government, if the present be decidedly destroyed.
"'All these plans, my dear Princess,' continued she, 'are mere castles in
the air. The mischief is too deeply rooted. As they have already
frantically declared for the King's abdication, any strong measure now,
incompetent as we are to assure its success, would at once arm the
advocates of republicanism to proclaim the King's dethronement.
"'The cruel observations of Petion to His Majesty, on our ever memorable
return from Varennes, have made a deeper impression than you are aware
of. When the King observed to him, "What do the French nation want?"--"A
republic," replied he. And though he has been the means of already
costing us some thousands, to crush this unnatural propensity, yet I
firmly believe that he himself is at the head of all the civil disorders
fomented for its attainment. I am the more confirmed in this opinion
from a conversation I had with the good old man, M. De Malesherbes, who
assured me the great sums we were lavishing on this man were thrown away,
for he would be certain, eventually, to betray us: and such an inference
could only have been drawn from the lips of the traitor himself. Petion
must have given Malesherbes reason to believe this. I am daily more and
more convinced it will be the case. Yet, were I to show the least energy
or activity in support of the King's authority, I should then be accused
of undermining it. All France would be up in arms against the danger of
female influence. The King would only be lessened in the general opinion
of the nation, and the kingly authority still more weakened. Calm
submission to His Majesty is, therefore, the only safe, course for both
of us, and we must wait events.'
"While Her Majesty was thus opening her heart to me, the King and
Princesse Elizabeth entered, to inform her that M. Laporte, the head of
the private police, had discovered, and caused to be arrested, some of
the wretches who had maliciously attempted to fire the palace of the
Tuileries.
"'Set them at liberty!' exclaimed Her Majesty; 'or, to clear themselves
and their party, they will accuse us of something worse.'
"'Such, too, is my opinion, Sire,' observed I; 'for however I abhor their
intentions, I have here a letter from one of these miscreants which was
found among the combustibles. It cautions us not to inhabit the upper
part of the Pavilion. My not having paid the attention which was
expected to the letter, has aroused the malice of the writer, and caused
a second attempt to be made from the Pont Royal upon my own apartment; in
preventing which, a worthy man has been cruelly wounded in the arm.'
"'Merciful Heaven!' exclaimed the poor Queen and the Princesse Elizabeth,
I not dangerously, I hope!
"'I hope not,' added I; 'but the attempt, and its escaping unpunished,
though there were guards all around, is a proof how perilous it will be,
while we are so weak, to kindle their rancour by any show of impotent
resentment; for I have reason to believe it was to that, the want of
attention to the letter of which I speak was imputed.'
"The Queen took this opportunity, of laying before the King the
above-mentioned plan. His Majesty, seeing it in the name of La Fayette,
took up the paper, and, after he had attentively perused it, tore it in
pieces, exclaiming, 'What! has not M. La Fayette done mischief enough
yet, but must he even expose the names of so many worthy men by
committing them to paper at a critical period like this, when he is fully
aware that we are in immediate danger of being assailed by a banditti of
inhuman cannibals, who would sacrifice every individual attached to us,
if, unfortunately, such a paper should be found? I am determined to have
nothing to do with his ruinous plans. Popularity and ambition made him
the principal promoter of republicanism. Having failed of becoming a
Washington, he is mad to become a Cromwell. I have no faith in these
turncoat constitutionalists.'
"I know that the Queen heartily concurred in this sentiment concerning
General La Fayette, as soon as she ascertained his real character, and
discovered that he considered nothing paramount to public notoriety. To
this he had sacrificed the interest of his country, and trampled under
foot the throne; but finding he could not succeed in forming a Republican
Government in France as he had in America, he, like many others, lost his
popularity with the demagogues, and, when too late, came to offer his
services, through me, to the Queen, to recruit a monarchy which his
vanity had undermined to gratify, his chimerical ambition. Her Majesty
certainly saw him frequently, but never again would she put herself in
the way of being betrayed by one whom she considered faithless to all."
[Thus ended the proffered services of General La Fayette, who then took
the command of the national army, served against that of the Prince de
Conde, and the Princes of his native country, and was given up with
General Bournonville, De Lameth, and others, by General Dumourier, on the
first defeat of the French, to the Austrians, by whom they were sent to
the fortress of Olmutz in Hungary, where they remained till after the
death of the wretch Robespierre, when they were exchanged for the
Duchesse d'Angouleme, now Dauphine of France.
From the retired life led by General La Fayette on his return to France,
there can be but little doubt that he spent a great part of his time in
reflecting on the fatal errors of his former conduct, as he did not
coincide with any of the revolutionary principles which preceded the
short-lived reign of imperialism. But though Napoleon too well knew him
to be attached from principle to republicanism--every vestige of which he
had long before destroyed--to employ him in any military capacity, still
he recalled him from his hiding-place, in order to prevent his doing
mischief, as he politically did--every other royalist whom he could bring
under the banners of his imperialism.
Had Napoleon made use of his general knowledge of mankind in other
respects, as he politically did in France over his conquered subjects, in
respecting ancient habits, and gradually weaned them from their natural
prejudices instead of violently forcing all men to become Frenchmen, all
men would have fought for him, and not against him. These were the
weapons by which his power became annihilated, and which, in the end,
will be the destruction of all potentates who presume to follow his
fallacious plan of forming individuals to a system instead of
accommodating systems to individuals. The fruits from Southern climes
have been reared in the North, but without their native virtue or vigour.
It is more dangerous to attack the habits of men than their religion.
The British Constitution, though a blessing to Englishmen, is very
ill-suited to nations not accustomed to the climate and its variations.
Every country has peculiarities of thought and manners resulting from the
physical influence of its sky and soil. Whenever we lose sight of this
truth, we naturally lose the affections of those whose habits we
counteract.]
Here ends the Journal of my lamented benefactress. I have continued the
history to the close of her career, and that of the Royal Family,
especially as Her Highness herself acted so important a part in many of
the scenes, which are so strongly illustrated by her conversation and
letters. It is only necessary to add that the papers which I have
arranged were received from Her Highness amidst the disasters which were
now thickening around her and her royal friends.
SECTION XVI.
From the time I left Passy till my final departure from Paris for Italy,
which took place on the 2nd of August, 1792, my residence was almost
exclusively at the capital. The faithful driver, who had given such
proofs of probity, continued to be of great service, and was put in
perpetual requisition. I was daily about on the business of the Queen
and the Princess, always disguised, and most frequently as a drummerboy;
on which occasions the driver and my man servant were my companions. My
principal occupation was to hear and take down the debates of the
Assembly, and convey and receive letters from the Queen to the Princesse
de Lamballe, to and from Barnave, Bertrand de Moleville, Alexandre de
Lameth, Deport de Fertre, Duportail, Montmorin, Turbo, De Mandat, the Duc
de Brissac, etc., with whom my illustrious patronesses kept up a
continued correspondence, to which I believe all of them fell a
sacrifice; for, owing to the imprudence of the King in not removing their
communications when he removed the rest of his papers from the Tuileries,
the exposure of their connections with the Court was necessarily
consequent upon the plunder of the palace on the 10th of August, 1792.
In my masquerade visits to the Assembly, I got acquainted with an editor
of one of the papers; I think he told me his name was Duplessie. Being
pleased with the liveliness of my remarks on some of the organized
disorders, as I termed them, and with some comments I made upon the
meanness of certain disgusting speeches on the patriotic gifts, my new
acquaintance suffered me to take copies of his own shorthand remarks and
reports. By this means the Queen and the Princess had them before they
appeared in print. M. Duplessie was on other occasions of great service
to me, especially as a protector in the mobs, for my man servant and the
honest driver were so much occupied in watching the movements of the
various faubourg factions, that I was often left entirely unattended.
The horrors of the Tuileries, both by night and day, were now grown
appallingly beyond description. Almost unendurable as they had been
before, they were aggravated by the insults of the national guard to
every passenger to and from the palace. I was myself in so much peril,
that the Princess thought it necessary to procure a trusty person, of
tried courage, to see me through the throngs, with a large bandbox of all
sorts of fashionable millinery, as the mode of ingress and egress least
liable to excite suspicion.
Thus equipped, and guarded by my cicisbeo, I one day found myself, on
entering the Tuileries, in the midst of an immense mob of regular trained
rioters, who, seeing me go towards the palace, directed their attention
entirely to me. They took me for some one belonging to the Queen's
milliner, Madame Bertin, who, they said, was fattening upon the public
misery, through the Queen's extravagance. The poor Queen herself they
called by names so opprobious that decency will not suffer me to repeat
them.
With a volley of oaths, pressing upon us, they bore us to another part of
the garden, for the purpose of compelling us to behold six or eight of
the most infamous outcasts, amusing themselves, in a state of exposure,
with their accursed hands and arms tinged with blood up to the elbows.
The spot they had chosen for this exhibition of their filthy persons was
immediately before the windows of the apartments of the Queen and the
ladies of the Court. Here they paraded up and down, to the great
entertainment of a throng of savage rebels, by whom they were applauded
and encouraged with shouts of "Bis! bis!" signifying in English," Again!
again!"
The demoniac interest excited by this scene withdrew the attention of
those who were enjoying it from me, and gave me the opportunity of
escaping unperceived, merely with the loss of my bandbox. Of that the
infuriated mob made themselves masters; and the hats, caps, bonnets, and
other articles of female attire, were placed on the parts of their
degraded carcases, which, for the honour of human nature, should have
been shot.
Overcome with agony at these insults, I burst from the garden in a flood
of tears. On passing the gate, I was accosted by a person who exclaimed
in a tone of great kindness, "Qu'as tu, ma bonne? qu'est ce qui vous
afflige?" Knowing the risk I should run in representing the real cause
of my concern, I immediately thought of ascribing it to the loss of the
property of which I had been plundered. I told him I was a poor
milliner, and had been robbed of everything I possessed in the world by
the mob. "Come back with me," said he, "and I will have it restored to
you." I knew it was of no avail, but policy stimulated me to comply; and
I returned with him into the garden toward the palace.