[1] One entitled "Marie-Antoinette, correspondance secrÈte entre Marie- ThÉrÈse et le Comte Mercy d'Argenteau, avec des lettres de Marie-ThÉrÈse et de Marie-Antoinette." (The edition referred to in this work is the greatly enlarged second edition in three volumes, published at Paris, 1875.) The second is entitled "Marie-Antoinette, Joseph II., and Leopold II," published at Leipsic, 1866.
[2] Entitled "Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette, et Madame Elizabeth," in six volumes, published at intervals from 1864 to 1873.
[3] In his "Nouveau Lundi," March 5th, 1866, M. Sainte-Beuve challenged M. Feuillet de Conches to a more explicit defense of the authenticity of his collection than he had yet vouchsafed; complaining, with some reason, that his delay in answering the charges brought against it "was the more vexatious because his collection was only attacked in part, and in many points remained solid and valuable." And this challenge elicited from M.F. de Conches a very elaborate explanation of the sources from which he procured his documents, which he published in the Revue des Deux Mondes, July 15th, 1866, and afterward in the Preface to his fourth volume. That in a collection of nearly a thousand documents he may have occasionally been too credulous in accepting cleverly executed forgeries as genuine letters is possible, and even probable; in fact, the present writer regards it as certain. But the vast majority, including all those of the greatest value, can not be questioned without imputing to him a guilty knowledge that they were forgeries—a deliberate bad faith, of which no one, it is believed, has ever accused him.
It may be added that it is only from the letters of this later period that any quotations are made in the following work; and the greater part of the letters so cited exists in the archives at Vienna, while the others, such as those, addressed by the Queen, to Madame de Polignac, etc., are just such as were sure to be preserved as relics by the families of those to whom they were addressed, and can therefore hardly be considered as liable to the slightest suspicion.
CHAPTER I.
[1] Sainte-Beuve, "Nouveaux Lundis," August 8th, 1864.
CHAPTER II.
[1] "Histoire de Marie Antoinette," par E. and J. de Goncourt, p. 11.
[2] How popular masked halls were in London at this time may be learned from Walpole's "Letters," and especially from a passage in which he gives an account of one given by "sixteen or eighteen young Lords" just two months before this ball at Vienna.—Walpole to Mann, dated February 27th, 1770. Some one a few years later described the French nation as half tiger and half monkey; and it is a singular coincidence that Walpole's comment on this masquerading fashion should be, "It is very lucky, seeing how much of the tiger enters into the human composition, that there should be a good dose of the monkey too."
[3] "MÉmoires concernant Marie Antoinette," par Joseph Weber (her foster- brother), i., p. 6.
[4] "Goethe's Biography," p. 287.
[5] "MÉmoires de Bachaumont," January 30th, 1770.
[6] La maison du roi.
[7] Chevalier d'honneur. We have no corresponding office at the English court.
[8] The king said, "Vous Étiez dÉjÀ de la famille, car votre mÈre a l'Âme de Louis le Grand."—SAINTE-BEUVE, Nouveaux Lundis, viii., p. 322.
[9] In the language of the French heralds, the title princes of the royal family was confined to the children or grandchildren of the reigning sovereign. His nephews and cousins were only princes of the blood.
CHAPTER III.
[1] The word is Maria Teresa's own; "anti-franÇais" occurring in more than one of her letters.
[2] Quoted by Mme. du Deffand in a letter to Walpole, dated May 19th, 1770 ("Correspondance complÈte de Mme. du Deffand," ii., p.59).
[3] Mercy to Marie-ThÉrÈse, August 4th, 1770; "Correspondance secrÈte entre Marie-ThÉrÈse et la Comte de Mercy Argenteau, avec des Lettres de Marie-ThÉrÈse et Marie Antoinette," par M. le Chevalier Alfred d'Arneth, i., p. 29. For the sake of brevity, this Collection will be hereafter referred to as "Arneth."
[4] "The King of France is both hated and despised, which seldom happens to the same man."—LORD CHESTERFIELD, Letter to Mr. Dayrolles, dated May 19th, 1752.
[5] Maria Teresa died in December, 1780.
[6] Mme. du Deffand, letter of May 19th, 1770.
[7] Chambier, i., p. 60.
[8] Mme. de Campan, i., p. 3.
[9] He told Mercy she was "'vive et un peu enfant, mais," ajouta-t-il, "cela est bien de son Âge.'"—ARNETH, i., p. 11.
[10] Arneth, i., p.9-16
CHAPTER IV.
[1] Dates 9th and 12th., Arneth, i., pp. 16, 18.
[2] Marly was a palace belonging to the king, but little inferior in splendor to Versailles itself, and a favorite residence of Louis XV., because a less strict etiquette had been established there. Choisy and Bellevue, which will often be mentioned in the course of this narrative, were two others of the royal palaces on a somewhat smaller scale. They have both been destroyed. Marly, Choisy, and Bellevue were all between Versailles and Paris.
[3] MÉm. de Goncourt, quoting a MS. diary of Hardy, p. 35.
[4] De Vermond, who had accompanied her from Vienna as her reader.
[5] See St. Simon's account of Dangeau, i., p. 392.
[6] The Duc de Noailles, brother-in-law of the countess, "l'homme de France qui a peut-Être le plus d'esprit et qui connait le mieux son souverain et la cour," told Mercy in August that "jugeant d'aprÈs son expÉrience et d'aprÈs les qualitÉs qu'il voyait dans cette princesse, il Était persuadÉ qu'elle gouvernerait un jour l'esprit du roi."—ARNETH, i., p. 34.
[7] La petite rousse.
[8] "De monter À cheval gÂte le teint, et votre taille À la longue s'en ressentira."—Marie-ThÉrÈse À Marie-Antoinette, Arneth, i., p. 104.
[9] "On fit chercher partout des Ânes fort doux et tranquilles. Le 21 on rÉpÉta la promenade sur les Ânes. Mesdames voulurent Être de la partie ainsi que le Comte de Provence et le Comte d'Artois."—Mercy À Marie- ThÉrÈse, September 19, 1770, Arneth, i., p. 49.
[10] "Madame la Dauphine, À laquelle le trÉsor royal doit remettre 6000 frs. par mois, n'a rÉellement pas un Écu dont elle peut disposer elle-mÊme et sans le concours de personne" (Octobre 20).—ARNETH, i. p. 69.
[11] "Ses garÇons de chambre reÇoivent cent louis [a louis was twenty-four francs, so that the hundred made 2100 francs out of her 6000] par mois pour la dÉpense du jeu de S.A.R.; et soit qu'elle perde ou qu'elle gagne, on ne revoit rien de cette somme."—ARNETH, i.
[12] "Mme. Adelaide ajouta, 'On voit bien que vous n'Êtes pas de notre sang.'"—ARNETH, i., p. 94.
[13] Arneth, i., p. 95.
[14] "Finalement, Mme. la Dauphine se fait adorer de ses entours et du public; il n'est pas encore survenu un seul inconvÉnient grave dans sa conduite."—Mercy À Marie-ThÉrÈse, Novembre 16, Arneth, i., p. 98.
[15] Prince de Ligne, "MÉm." ii., p. 79.
[16] Mercy to Maria Teresa, dated November 17th, 1770, Arneth, i., p. 94.
[17] Mercy to Maria Teresa, dated February 25th, 1771, Arneth, i, p. 134.
CHAPTER V
[1] See the "Citizen of the World," Letter 55. Reference has often been made to Lord Chesterfield's prediction of the French Revolution. But I am not aware that any one has remarked on the equally acute foresight of Goldsmith.
[2] Letter of April 16th, 1771, Arneth, i., p. 148.
[3] Arneth, i., p. 186.
[4] Maria Teresa to Marie Antoinette, July 9th, and August 17th, Arneth, i., p. 196.
[5] "Ne soyez pas honteuse d'Être allemande jusqu'aux gaucheries…. Le FranÇais vous estimera plus et fera plus de compte sur vous s'il vous trouve la soliditÉ et la franchise allemande."—Maria Teresa to Marie Antoinette. May 8th, 1771, Arneth, i., p. 159.
[6] Walpole's letter to Sir H. Mann, June 8th, 1771, v., p. 301.
[7] Mercy to Maria Teresa, January 23d, 1772, Arneth, i., p. 265.
[8] The Duc de la Vauguyon, who, after the dauphin's marriage, still retained his post with his younger brother.
CHAPTER VI
[1] Mercy's letter to the empress, August 14th, 1772, Arneth, i., p. 335.
[2] Mercy to Maria Teresa, November 14th, 1772, Arneth, i., p. 307.
[3] Marie Antoinette to Maria Teresa, December 15th, 1772, Arneth, i., p. 382.
[4] Her sister Caroline, Queen of Naples.
[5] Her brother Leopold, at present Grand Duke of Tuscany, afterward emperor. His wife, Marie Louise, was a daughter of Charles III. of Spain.
[6] They, with several of the princes of the blood and some of the peers, as already mentioned, had been banished for their opposition to the abolition of the Parliaments; but now, in the hopes of obtaining the king's consent to his marriage with Madame de Montessan, a widow of enormous wealth, the Due d'OrlÉans made overtures for forgiveness, accompanying them, however, with a letter so insolent that it might we be regarded as an aggravation of his original offense. According to Madame du Deffand (letter to Walpole, December 18th, 1772, vol. ii., p. 283), he was only prevented from reconciling himself to the king some months before by his son, the Due de Chartres (afterward the infamous ÉgalitÉ), whom she describes as "a young man, very obstinate, and who hopes to play a great part by putting himself at the head of a faction." The princes, however, in the view of the shrewd old lady, had made the mistake of greatly overrating their own importance. "These great princes, since their protest, have been just citizens of the Rue St. Denis. No one at court ever perceived their absence, and no one in the city ever noticed their presence."
[7] Lord Stormont, the English Embassador at Vienna, from which city he was removed to Paris. In the preceding September Maria Teresa had complained to him of being "animated against her cabinet, from indignation at the partition of Poland."
[8] That is, sisters-in-law—the Princesses Clotilde and Elizabeth.
[9] The Hotel-Dieu was the most ancient hospital in Paris. It had already existed several hundred years when Philip Augustus enlarged it, and gave it the name of Maison de Dieu. Henry IV. and his successors had further enlarged it, and enriched it with monuments; and even the revolutionists respected it, though when they had disowned the existence of God they changed its name to that of L'Hospice de l'HumanitÉ. It had been almost destroyed by fire a fortnight before the date of this letter, on the night of the 29th of December.
[10] St. Anthony's Day was June 14th, and her name of Antoinette was regarded as placing her under his especial protection.
CHAPTER VII
[1] They have not, however, been preserved.
[2] Mercy to Maria Teresa, June 16th, 1773, Arneth, i., p. 467.
[3] "Marie Antoinette, Louis XVI., et la Famille Royale", p. 23.
[4] Marie Antoinette to Maria Theresa, July 17th, Arneth, ii., p. 8.
[5] "Histoire de Marie Antoinette," par M. de Goncourt, p. 50. Quoting an unpublished journal by M.M. Hardy, in the Royal Library.
[6] It is the name by which she is more than once described in Madame du Deffand's letters. See her "Correspondence," ii., p. 357.
[7] Mercy to Maria Teresa, December 11th, 1773, Arneth, ii., p. 81.
[8] "MÉmoires de Besenval," i., p. 304.
CHAPTER VIII
[1] Mercy to Maria Teresa, August 14th, 1773, Arneth, ii., p. 31.
[2] The money was a joint gift from herself as well as from him. Great distress, arising from the extraordinarily high price of bread, was at this time prevailing in Paris.
[3] The term most commonly used by Marie Antoinette in her letters to her mother to describe Madame du Barri. She was ordered to retire to the Abbey of Pont-aux-Dames, near Meaux. Subsequently she was allowed to return to Luciennes, a villa which her royal lover had given her.
[4] Madame de Mazarin was the lady who, by the fulsomeness of her servility to Madame du Barri, provoked Madame du Deffand (herself a lady not altogether sans reproche) to say that it was not easy to carry "the heroism of baseness and absurdity farther."
[5] Lorraine had become a French province a few years before, on the death of Stanislaus Leczinsky, father of the queen of Louis XV.
[6] Maria Teresa to Marie Antoinette, May 18th, and to Mercy on the same day, Arneth, ii., p. 149.
[7] See his letter of 8th May to Maria Teresa. "Il faut que pour la suite de son bonheur, elle commence À s'emparer de l'autoritÉ que M. le Dauphin n'exercera jamais que d'une faÇon convenable, et … ce serait du dernier danger et pour l'État et pour le systÈme gÉnÉral que qui ce soit s'emparÂt de M. le Dauphin et qu'il fut conduit par autre que par Madame la Dauphine."—ARNETH, ii., p. 137.
[8] "Je parle À l'amie, À la confidente du roi."—Maria Teresa to Marie Antoinette, May 30th, 1770, Arneth, ii., p. 155.
[9] "Jusqu'À prÉsent l'Étiquette de cette cour a toujours interdit aux reines et princesses royales de manger avec des hommes."—Mercy to Maria Teresa, June 7th, 1774, Arneth, ii, p. 164
[10] "Elle me traite, À mon arrivÉe, comme tous les jeunes gens qui composaient ses pages, qu'elle comblait de bontÉs, en leur montrant une bienveillance pleine de dignitÉ, mais qu'on pouvait aussi appeler maternelle."—Marie ThÉrÈse, MÉmoires de Tilly, i., p. 25.
[11] Le don, ou le droit, de joyeux avÈnement.
[12] La ceinture de la reine. It consisted of three pence (deniers) on each hogs-head of wine imported into the city, and was levied every three years in the capital.—ARNETH, ii, p. 179.
[13] The title "ceinture de la reine" had been given to it because in the old times queens and all other ladies had carried their purses at their girdles.
CHAPTER IX
[1] The title by which the count was usually known: that of the countess was madame.
[2] St. Simon, 1709, ch. v., and 1715, ch. i, vols. vii. and xiii., ed. 1829.
[3] Ibid., 1700, ch xxx., vol. ii., p. 469.
[4] Arneth, ii, p. 206.
[5] Madame de Campan, ch. iv.
[6] Madame de Campan, ch. v., p. 106.
[7] Id., p. 101.
[8] "Sir Peter. Ah, madam, true wit is more neatly allied to good— nature than your ladyship is aware of."—School for Scandal, act ii., sc. 2.
CHAPTER X
[1] "Elle avait entiÈrement le dÉfaut contraire [À la prodigalitÉ], et je pouvais prouver qu'elle portait souvent l'Économie jusqu'À des dÉtails d'une mesquinerie blÂmable, surtout dans une souveraine."—MADAME DE CAMPAN, ch. v., p. 106, ed. 1858.
[2] Arneth, ii., p. 307.
[3] See the author's "History of France under the Bourbons," iii., p. 418. Lacretelle, iv., p. 368, affirms that this outbreak, for which in his eyes "une prÉtendue disette" was only a pretext, was "Évidemment fomentÉ par des hommes puissans," and that "un salaire qui Était payÉ par des hommes qu'on ne pouvait nommer aujourd'hui avec assez de certitude, excitait leurs fureurs factices."
[4] La Guerre des Farines.
[5] Arneth, ii., p. 342.
[6] "Souvenirs de Vaublanc," i., p. 231.
[7] August 23d, 1775, No. 1524, in Cunningham's edition, vol. vi., p. 245.
[8] The Prince of Wales and the Duke of York, who were just at this time astonishing London with their riotous living.
CHAPTER XI
[1] "Gustave III. et la Cour de France," i. p. 279.
[2] The Duc d'AngoulÊme, afterward dauphin, when the Count d'Artois succeeded to the throne as Charles X.
[3] Marie Antoinette to Maria Teresa, August 12th, 1775, Arneth, ii., p. 366.
[4] "Le projet de la reine Était d'exiger du roi que le Sieur Turgot fÛt chassÉ, mÊme envoyÉ À la Bastille … et il a fallu les reprÉsentations les plus fortes et les plus instantes pour arrÊter les effets de la colÈre de la Reine."—Mercy to Maria Teresa, May 16th, 1776, Arneth, ii., p. 446.
[5] The compiler of "Marie Antoinette, Louis XVI., et La Famille Royale" (date April 24th, 1776) has a story of a conversation between the king and queen which illustrates her feeling toward the minister. She had just come in from the opera. He asked her "how she had been received by the Parisians; if she had had the usual cheers." She made no reply; the king understood her silence. "Apparently, madame, you had not feathers enough." "I should have liked to have seen you there, sir, with your St. Germain and your Turgot; you would have been rudely hissed." St. Germain was the minister of war.
[6] Mercy to Maria Teresa, May 16th, 1776, Arneth, ii., p. 446.
[7] January 14th, 1776, Arneth, ii., p. 414.
[8] The ground-floor of the palace was occupied by the shops of jewelers and milliners, some of whom were great sufferers by the fire.
[9] In a letter written at the end of 1775, Mercy reports to the empress that some of Turgot's economical reforms had produced real discontent among those "qui trouvent leur intÉrÊt dans le dÉsordre," which they had vented in scandalous and seditious writings. Many songs of that character had come out, some of which were attributed to Beaumarchais, "le roi et la reine n'y ont point ÉtÉ respectÉs."—December 17th, 1775. Arneth, ii, p. 410.
[10] Mercy to Maria Teresa, November 15th, 1776, Arneth, ii., p. 524.
CHAPTER XII.
[1] "Le petit nombre de ceux que la Reine appelle 'sa sociÉtÉ'"—Mercy to Marie Teresa, February 15th, 1777, Arneth, iii., p. 18.
[2] "Il faut cependant convenir que dans ces circonstances si rapprochÉes de la familiaritÉ, la Reine, par un maintien qui tient À son Âme, a toujours su imprimer À ceux qui l'entouraient une contenance de respect qui contrebalanÇait un peu la libertÉ des propos."—Mercy to Maria Teresa, Arneth, ii, p.520.
[3] Brunoy is about fifteen miles from Paris.
[4] "Au reste il est temps pour la santÉ de la Reine que le carnaval finisse. On remarque qu'elle s'en altÈre, et que sa MajestÉ maigrit beaucoup."—Marie ThÉrÈse À Louis XVI., la date FÉvrier 1, 1777, p 101.
[5] Once when he had spoken to her with a severity which alarmed Mercy, who feared it might irritate the queen, "Il me dit en riant qu'il en avait agi ainsi pour sonder l'Âme de la reine, et voir si par la force il n'y aurait pas moyen d'obtenir plus que par la douceur."—Mercy to Maria Teresa, Arneth, iii., p. 79.
[6] Arneth, iii., p. 73.
CHAPTER XIII.
[1] When Mercy remonstrated with her on her relapse into some of her old habits from which at first she seemed to have weaned herself, "La seule rÉponse que j'aie obtenu a ÉtÉ la crainte de s'ennuyer."—Mercy to Maria Teresa, November 19th, 1777, Arneth, iii., p. 13.
[2] See Marie Antoinette's account to her mother of his quarrel with the Duchess de Bourbon at a bal de l'opÉra, Arneth, iii., p. 174.
[3] "Il y a apparence que notre marine dont on s'occupe depuis longtemps va bientÔt Être en activitÉ. Dieu veuille que tous ces mouvements n'amÈnent pas la guerre de terre."—Marie Antoinette to Maria Teresa, March 18th, 1777, Arneth, iii., p. 174.
[4] "Jamais les Anglais n'ont eu tant de supÉrioritÉ sur mer; mais ils en eurent sur les FranÇais dans tous les temps."—SiÈcle de Louis, ch xxxv.
[5] The Comte de la Marck, who knew him well, says of him, "Il Était gauche dans toutes ses maniÈres; sa taille Était trÈs ÉlevÉe, ses cheveux trÈs roux, il dansait sans grÂce, montait mal À cheval, et les jeunes gens avec lesquels il vivait se montraient plus adroits que lui dans les diverses exercices d'alors À la mode." He describes his income as "une fortune de 120,000 livres de rente," a little under £5000 a year.— Correspondance entre le Comte de Mirabeau et le Comte de la Marck, i. p. 47.
[6] "On a parlÉ de moi dans tous les cercles, mÊme aprÈs que la bontÉ de la reine m'eut valu le rÉgiment du roi dragons."—MÉmoires de ma Main, MÉmoires de La Fayette, i., p 86.
[7] "La lettre oÙ Votre MajestÉ, parlant du Roi de Prusse, s'exprime ainsi …. 'cela ferait un changement dans notre alliance, ce qui me donnerait la mort,' j'ai vu la reine pÂlir en me lisant cet article."—Mercy to Maria Teresa, February 18th, 1778, Arneth, iii., p. 170.
[8] See Coxe's "House of Austria," ch. cxxi. The war, which was marked by no action or event of importance, was terminated by the treaty of Teschen, May 10th, 1779.
[9] "Il n'a pas voulu y consentir, et a toujours ÉtÉ attentif À exciter lui-mÊme la reine aux choses qu'il jugeait pouvoir lui Être agrÉables."— Mercy to Maria Teresa, March 29th, 1778, Arneth, iii., p. 177.
[10] Marie Antoinette to Joseph II, and Leopold II., p. 21, date January 16th, 1778.
[11] Louis.
[12] Marie Antoinette to Maria Teresa, May 16th, Arneth, iii., p. 200.
[13] Weber, i., p.40.
[14] One of his admirers, seeing his mortification, said to him: "You are very simple to have wished to go to court. Do you know what would have happened to you? I will tell you. The king, with his usual affability, would have laughed in your face, and talked to you of your converts at Ferney. The queen would have spoken of your plays. Monsieur would have asked you what your income was. Madame would have quoted some of your verses. The Countess of Artois would have said nothing at all; and the count would have conversed with you about 'the Maid of Orleans.'"—Marie Antoinette, Louis XVI. et la Famille Royale, p. 125, March 3d.
CHAPTER XIV.
[1] "La cour se prÉcipite pÊle-mÊle avec la foule, car l'Étiquette de France veut que tous entrent À ce moment, que nul ne soit refusÉ, et que le spectacle soit public d'une reine qui va donner un hÉritier À la couronne, ou seulement un enfant au roi."—MÉm. de Goncourt, p. 105.
[2] Arneth, iii., p. 270.
[3] Madame de Campan, ch. ix.
[4] Ibid., ch. ix.
[5] Chambrier, i., p. 394.
[6] "Marie Antoinette, Louis XVI., et la Famille Royale," p. 147, December 24th, 1778.
[7] Garde-malades was the name given to them.
[8] "Du moment qu'ils [les enfants] peuvent Être À l'air on les y accoutume petit À petit, et ils finissent par y Être presque toujours; je crois que c'est la maniÈre la plus saine et la meilleure des les Élever."
[9] Letter of Marie Antoinette to Maria Teresa, May 15th, 1779, Arneth, iii., p. 311.
[10] Maria Teresa had offered the mediation of the empire to restore peace between England and France.
[11] Spain had recently entered into the alliance against England in the hope of recovering Gibraltar. And just at the date of this letter the combined fleet of sixty-six sail of the line sailed into the Channel, while a French army of 50,000 men was waiting at St. Malo to invade England so soon as the British Channel fleet should have been defeated; but, though Sir Charles Hardy had only forty sail under his orders, D'Orvilliers and his Spanish colleague retreated before him, and at the beginning of September, from fear of the equinoctial gales, of which the queen here speaks with such alarm, retired to their own harbors, without even venturing to come to action with a foe of scarcely two-thirds of their own strength. See the author's "History of the British Navy," ch. xiv.
[12] Letter of September 15th.
[13] Letter of October 14th.
[14] Letter of November 16th.
[15] Letter of November 17th.
[16] Kaunitz had been the prime minister of the empress, who negotiated the alliances with France and Russia, which were the preparations for the Seven Years' War.
CHAPTER XV.
[1] "On assure que sa majestÉ ne joue pas bien; ce que personne, exceptÉ le roi, n'a osÉ lui dire. Au contraire, on l'applaudit À tout rompre."— Marie Antoinette, Louis XVI. et la Famille Royale p. 203, date September 28th, 1780.
[2] In May, 1780, Sir Henry Clinton took Charleston, with a great number of prisoners, a great quantity of stores and four hundred guns.—LORD STANHOPE'S History of England, ch. lxii.
[3] "Cette disposition a ÉtÉ faite deux ans plutÔt que ne le comporte l'usage Établi pour les enfants de France."—Mercy to Maria Teresa, October 14th, Arneth, iii. p. 476.
[4] Madame de Campan, ch. ix.
[5] "Gustave III. et la Cour de France," i., p. 349.
[6] An order known as that "du MÉrite" had been recently distributed for foreign Protestant officers, whose religion prevented them from taking the oath required of the Knights of the Grand Order of St. Louis.
[7] "Sa figure et son air convenaient parfaitement À un hÉros de roman, mais non pas d'un roman franÇais; il n'en avait ni le brillant ni lÉgÈretÉ."—Souvenirs et Portraits, par M. de Levis, p. 130.
[8] "La Marck et Mirabeau," p. 32.
[9] See his letter to Lord North proposing peace, date December 1st, 1780. Lord Stanhope's "History of England," vol. vii., Appendix, p. 13.
CHAPTER XVI.
[1] "Gustave III. et la Cour de France," i., p. 357.
[2] Chambrier, i., p. 430; "Gustave III.," etc., i., p. 353.
[3] "Gustave III.," etc., i., p. 353.
[4] "MÉmoires de Weber," i., p. 50.
[5] "On s'arrÊtait dans les rues, on se parlait sans se connaÎtre."— Madame de Campan, ch. ix.
[6] L'Oeil de Boeuf.
[7] Madame de Campan, ch. ix.; "Marie Antoinette, Louis XII., et la Famille Royale," p. 238.
[8] "Un soleil d'ÉtÉ"—Weber, i., p. 53.
[9] La Muette derived its name from les mues of the deer who were reared there. It had been enlarged by the Regent d'OrlÉans, who gave it to his daughter, the Duchess de Berri; and it, was the frequent scene of the orgies of that infamous father and daughter, while more recently it had been known as the Parc aux Cerfs, under which title it had acquired a still more infamous reputation.
[10] "AprÈs le dÎner il y eut appartement jeu, et la fÊte fut terminÉe par un feu d'artifice."—Weber, i., p. 57, from whom the greater part of those details are taken. For the etiquette of the "jeu," see Madame de Campan, ch. ix., p. 17, and 2 ed. 1858.
CHAPTER XVII.
[1] Mercy to Maria Teresa, June 18th, 1780, Arneth iii., p. 440.
[2] Le tabouret. See St. Simon.
[3] See infra, the queen's letter to Madame de Tourzel, date July 25th, 1789.
[4] "Souvenirs de Quarante Ans," by Mademoiselle de Tourzel, p. 20.
[5] "Filia dolorosa."—ChÂteaubriand.
[6] Napoleon, in 1814, called her the only man of her family.
[7] Madame de Campan, ch. x.
[8] MÉmoires de Madame d'Oberkirch, i., p. 279
[9] The Marshal Prince de Soubise, whose incapacity and cowardice caused the disgraceful rout of Rosbach, was the head of this family; his sister, Madame Marsan, as governess of the "children of France", had brought up Louis XVI.
[10] "Il [Rohan] a mÊme menacÉ, si on ne veut pas prendre le bon chemin qui lui indique, que ma fille s'en ressentira."—Marie-ThÉrÈse À Mercy, August 28th, 1774, Arneth, ii., p. 226.
[11] "Ils paraissent si excÉdÉs du grand monde et des fÊtes, qu'avec d'autres petites difficultÉs qui se sont ÉlevÉes, nous avons dÉcidÉ qu'il n'y aurait rien À Marly."—Marie Antoinette to Mercy; Marie Antoinette, Joseph II., and Leopold II., p. 27.
[12] "No fewer than five actions were fought in 1782, and the spring of 1783, by those unwearied foes. De Suffrein's force was materially the stronger of the two; it consisted of ten sail of the line, one fifty-gun ship, and four frigates; while Sir E. Hughes had but eight sail of the line, a fifty-gun ship, and one frigate," See the author's "History of the British Navy," i., p. 400.
[13] Weber, i., p. 77. For the importance at this time attached to a reception at court, see ChÂteaubriand, "MÉmoires d'Outre-tombe," i., p. 221.
CHAPTER XVIII.
[1] Joseph to Marie Antoinette, date September 9th, 1783.—Marie Antoinette, Joseph II., and Leopold II., p.30, which, to save such a lengthened reference, will hereafter be referred to as "Arneth."
[2] She was again expecting a confinement; but, as had happened between the birth of Madame Royale and that of the dauphin, an accident disappointed her hope, and her third child was not born till 1785.
[3] Date September 29th, 1783, Arneth, p. 35.
[4] Ministre de la maison du roi.
[5] Arneth, p. 38.
CHAPTER XIX.
[1] "Le roi signa une lettre de cachet qui dÉfendait cette reprÉsentation."—Madame de Campan, ch. xi.; see the whole chapter. Madame de Campan's account of the queen's inclinations on the subject differs from that given by M. de LomÉnie, in his "Beaumarchais et son Temps," but seems more to be relied on, as she had certainly better means of information.
[2] See M. Gaillard's report to the lieutenant of police.—Beaumarchais et son Temps, ii., p. 313.
[3] "Il n'y a que les petits hommes qui redoutent les petits Écrits."— Act v., scene 3.
[4] "Avec Goddam en, Angleterre on ne manque de rien nulle part. Voulez- vous tÂter un bon poulet gras … Goddam … Aimez-vous À boire un coup d'excellent Bourgogne ou de clairet? rien que celui-ci Goddam. Les Anglais À la vÉritÉ ajoutent par-ci par-lÀ autres mots en conversant, mais il est bien aisÉ de voir que Goddam est le fond de la langue."—Act iii., scene 5.
[5] "Gustave III. et la Cour de France," ii., p.22
[6] Ibid., p. 35.
CHAPTER XX.
[1] "De par la reine."
[2] Madame de Campan, ch. xi.
[3] "'La lÉgÈretÉ À tout croire et À tout dire des souverains,' Écrit trÈs justement M. Nisard (Moniteur du 22 Janvier, 1886), 'est un des travers de notre pays, et comme le dÉfaut de notre qualitÉ de nation monarchique. C'est ce travers qui a tuÉ Marie Antoinette par la main des furieux qui eurent peut-Être des honnÊtes gens pour complices. Sa mort devait rendre À jamais impossible en France la calomnie politique.'"—Chambrier, i., p. 494.
[4] "MÉmoires de la Reine de France," par M. Lafont d'Aussonne, p. 42.
[5] See her letters to Mercy, December 26th, 1784, and to the emperor, December 31st, 1784, and February 4th, 1785, Arneth, p. 64, et seq.
[6] "J'ai ÉtÉ rÉellement touchÉe, de la raison et de la fermetÉ que le roi a mises dans cette rude sÉance."—Marie Antoinette to Joseph II., August 22d, 1785, Arneth, p. 93.
[7] "La calomnie s'est attachÉe À poursuivre la reine, mÊme avant cette Époque oÙ l'esprit de parti a fait disparaÎtre la vÉritÉ de la terre."— Madame de StaËl, ProcÈs de la Reine, p. 2
[8] Madame de Campan, "Éclaircissements Historiques," p. 461; "Marie Antoinette et le ProcÈs du Collier," par M. Émile Campardon, p. 144, seq.
[9] "Permet au Cardinal de Rohan et au dit de Cagliostro de faire imprimer et afficher le prÉsent arrÊt partout oÙ bon leur semblera."—Campardon, p. 152.
[10] "Sans doute le cardinal avait les mains pures de toute fraude; sans doute il n'Était pour rien dans l'escroquerie commise par les Époux de La Mothe."—Campardon, p. 155.
[11] Campardon, p. 153, quoting Madame de Campan.
[12] The most recent French historian, M.H. Martin, sees in this trial a proof of the general demoralization of the whole French nation. "L'impression qui en rÉsulte pour nous est l'impossibilitÉ que la reine ait ÉtÉ coupable. Mais plus les imputations dirigÉes contre elle Étaient vraisemblables, plus la crÉance accordÉe À ces imputations Était caractÉristique, et attestait la ruine morale de la monarchie. C'Était l'ombre du Parc aux Cerfs qui couvrait toujours Versailles."—Histoire de France, xvi., p. 559, ed. 1860.
[13] Feuillet de Conches, i., p. 161.
[14] Feuillet de Conches, i., p. 162. Some of the critics of M.F. de Conches's collection have questioned without sufficient reason the probability of there having been any correspondence between the queen and her elder sister. But the genuineness of this letter is strongly corroborated by a mistake into which no forger would have fallen. The queen speaks as if the cardinal had alleged that he had given her a rose; while his statement really was that Oliva, personating the queen, had dropped a rose at his feet. A forger would have made the letter Correspond with the evidence and the fact. The queen, in her agitation, might easily make a mistake.
[15] "Il se retira dans son ÉvÊchÉ de l'autre cÔtÉ du Rhin. LÀ sa noble conduite fit oublier les torts de sa vie passÉe," etc.—Campardon, p. 156.
[16] Campardon, p. 156.
[17] It was from Ettenheim that the Duke d'Enghien was carried off in March, 1804. The cardinal died in February, 1803.
CHAPTER XXI.
[1] "Le duc dÉclarait de son cÔtÉ À Mr. Elliott que … si la reine l'eÛt mieux traitÉ il eut peut-Être mieux fait."—Chambrier, i., p.519
[2] Sophie HÉlÈne BÉatrix, born July 9th, 1786, died June 9th, 1787, F. de Conches, i. p. 195.
[3] See her letter to her brother, February, 1788, Arneth, p. 112.
[4] "C'est un vrai enfant de paysan, grand frais et gros."—Arneth, pp. 113.
[5] Feuillet de Conches, i, p. 195.
[6] Apparently she means the Notables and the Parliament.
[7] The Duc de Guines.
[8] See ante, ch. xviii.
[9] "'Il faut,' dit-il, avec un mouvement d'impatience qui lui fit honneur, 'que, du moins, l'archevÊque de Paris croie en Dieu.'"— Souvenirs par le Duc de Levis, p. 102.
[10] The continuer of Sismondi's history, A. RenÉe, however, attributes the archbishop's appointment to the influence of the Baron de Breteuil.
[11] "Son grand art consistait À parler À chacun des choses qu'il croyait qu'on ignorait."—De Levis, p. 100.
[12] The loan he proposed in June was eighty millions (of francs); in October, that which he demanded was four hundred and forty millions.
[13] It is worth noticing that the French people in general did not regard the power of arbitrary imprisonment exercised by their kings as a grievance. In their eyes it was one of his most natural prerogatives. A year or two before the time of which we are speaking, Dr. Moore, the author of "Zeluco," and father of Sir John Moore, who fell at Corunna, was traveling in France, and was present at a party of French merchants and others of the same rank, who asked him many questions about the English Constitution, When he said that the King of England could not impose a tax by his own authority, "they said, with some degree of satisfaction, 'Cependant c'est assez beau cela.'"… But when he informed them "that the king himself had not the power to encroach upon the liberty of the meanest of his subjects, and that if he or the minister did so, damages were recoverable in a court of law, a loud and prolonged 'Diable!' issued from every mouth. They forgot their own situation, and turned to their natural bias of sympathy with the king, who, they all seemed to think, must be the most oppressed and injured of manhood. One of them at last, addressing himself to the English politician, said, 'Tout ce que je puis vous dire, monsieur, c'est que votre pauvre roi est bien À plaindre.'"—A View of the Society and Manners in France, etc., by Dr. John Moore, vol. i., p. 47, ed. 1788.
CHAPTER XXII.
[1] Feuillet de Conches, i., p. 205.
[2] M. Foulon was about this time made paymaster of the army and navy, and was generally credited with ability as a financier; but he was unpopular, as a man of ardent and cruel temper, and was brutally murdered by the mob in one of the first riots of the Revolution.
[3] The king.
[4] Necker.
[5] Feuillet de Conches, i., p. 214.
[6] Ibid., p. 217.
[7] On one occasion when the Marquis de BouillÉ pointed out to him the danger of some of his plans as placing the higher class at the mercy of the mob, "dirigÉ par les deux passions les plus actives du coeur humain, l'intÉrÊt et l'amour propre, … il me rÉpondit froidement, en levant les yeux au ciel, qu'il fallait bien compter sur les vertus morales des hommes."—MÉmoires de M. de BouillÉ, p. 70; and Madame de StaËl admits of her father that he was "se fiant trop, il faut l'avouer, À l'empire de la raison," and adds that he "Étudia constamment l'esprit public, comme la boussole À laquelle les dÉcisions du roi devaient se conformer."— ConsidÉrations sur la RÉvolution FranÇaise, i., pp. 171, 172.
[8] Her exact words are "si … il fasse reculer l'autoritÉ du roi" (if he causes the king's authority to retreat before the populace or the Parliament).
[9] "Histoire de Marie Antoinette," par M. Montjoye, p. 202.
[10] Madame de Campan, p. 412.
[11] This edict was registered in the "Chambre Syndicate," September 13th, 1787.—La Reine Marie Antoinette et la RÉv. FranÇaise, Recherches Historiques, par le Comte de Bel-Castel, p. 246.
[12] There is at the present moment so strong a pretension set up in many constituencies to dictate to the members whom they send to Parliament as if they were delegates, and not representatives, that it is worth while to refer to the opinion which the greatest of philosophical statesman, Edmund Burke, expressed on the subject a hundred years ago, in opposition to that at a rival candidate who admitted and supported the claim of constituents to furnish the member whom they returned to Parliament with "instructions" of "coercive authority." He tells the citizens of Bristol plainly that such a claim he ought not to admit, and never will. The "opinion" of constituents is "a weighty and respectable opinion, which a representative ought always to rejoice to hear, and which he ought most seriously to consider; but authoritative instruction, mandates issued which the member is bound blindly and implicitly to obey, to vote, and to argue for, though contrary to the clearest conviction of his judgment and his conscience; these are things utterly unknown to the laws of this land, and which arise from a fundamental mistake of the whole order and tenor of our constitution. Parliament is not a congress of embassadors from different and hostile interests…but Parliament is a deliberative assembly of one nation, with one interest, that of the whole, where not local purposes, not local prejudices ought to guide, but the general good resulting from the general reason of the whole. You choose a member indeed; but when you have chosen him, he is not member of Bristol, but he is a member of Parliament."—General Election Speech at the Conclusion of the Poll at Bristol, November 3d, 1774, Burke's Works, vol. iii., pp. 19, 20, ed. 1803.
[13] De Tocqueville considers the feudal system in France in many points more oppressive than that of Germany.—Ancien RÉgime, p. 43.
[14] Silence des grenouilles. Arthur Young, "Travels in France during 1787, '88, '89," p. 537. It is singular proof how entirely research into the condition of the country and the people of France had been neglected both by its philosophers and its statesmen, that there does not seem to have been any publication in the language which gave information on these subjects. And this work of Mr. Young's is the one to which modern French writers, such as M. Alexis de Tocqueville, chiefly refer.
[15] "The lettres de cachet were carried to an excess hardly credible; to the length of being sold, with blanks, to be filled up with names at the pleasure of the purchaser, who was thus able, in the gratification of private revenge, to tear a man from the bosom of his family, and bury him in a dungeon, where he would exist forgotten and die unknown."—A. Young, p. 532. And in a note he gives an instance of an Englishman, named Gordon, who was imprisoned in the Bastile for thirty years without even knowing the reason of his arrest.
[16] Arthur Young, writing January 10th, 1790, identifies Les EnragÉs with the club afterward so infamous as the Jacobins. "The ardent democrats who have the reputation of being so much republican in principle that they do not admit any political necessity for having even the name of the king, are called the EnragÉs. They have a meeting at the Jacobins', the Revolution Club which assembles every night in the very room in which the famous League was formed in the reign of Henry III." (p. 267).
[17] M. Droz asserts that a collector of such publications bought two thousand five hundred in the last three months of 1788, and that his collection was far from complete.—Histoire de Louis XVI., ii., p. 180.
[18] "Tout auteur s'Érige en lÉgislateur."—Memorial of the Princes to the King, quoted in a note to the last chapter of Sismondi's History, p. 551, Brussels ed., 1849.
[19] In reality the numbers were even more in favor of the Commons: the representatives of the clergy were three hundred and eight, and those of the nobles two hundred and eighty-five, making only five hundred and ninety-three of the two superior orders, while the deputies of the Tiers- État were six hundred and twenty-one.—Souvenirs de la Marquise de CrÉquy, vii., p. 58.
[20] "Se levant alors, 'Non,' dit le roi, 'ce ne peut Être qu'À Versailles, À cause des chasses.'"—LOUIS BLANC, ii., p. 212, quoting Barante.
[21] "La reine adopta ce dernier avis [that the States should meet forty or sixty leagues from the capital], et elle insista auprÈs du roi que l'on s'eloignÂt de l'immense population de Paris. Elle craignait dÈs lors que le peuple n'influenÇÂt les dÉlibÉrations des dÉputÉs."—MADAME DE CAMPAN, ch 83.
[22] Chambrier, i., p. 562.
CHAPTER XXIII.
[1] It was called "L'insurrection du Faubourg St. Antoine."
[2] The best account of this riot is to be found in Dr. Moore's "Views of the Causes and Progress of the French Revolution," i., p. 189.
[3] Madame de Campan specially remarks that the disloyal cry of "Vive le Duc d'OrlÉans" came from "les femmes du peuple" (ch. xiii.).
[4] Afterward Louis Philippe, King of the French.
[5] "View of the Causes and Progress of the French Revolution," by Dr. Moore, i., p. 144.
[6] The dauphin was too ill to be present. The children were Madame Royale and the Duc de Normandie, who became dauphin the next month by the death of his elder brother.
[7] "Aucun nom propre, exceptÉ le sien, n'Était encore cÉlÈbre dans les six cents dÉputÉs du Tiers."—ConsidÉrations sur la RÉvolution FranÇaise, pp. 186, 187
[8] In the first weeks of the session he told the Count de la Marck, "On ne sortira plus de lÀ sans un gouvernement plus ou moins semblable À celui d'Angleterre."—Correspondance entre le comte de la Marck, i., p. 67.
[9] He employed M. Malouet, a very influential member of the Assembly, as his agent to open his views to Necker, saying to him, "Je m'adresse donc À votre probitÉ. Vous Êtes liÉ avec MM. Necker et de Montmorin, vous devez savoir ce qu'ils veulent, et s'ils ont un plan; si ce plan est raisonnable je le dÉfendrai."—Correspondance de Mirabeau et La Marck, i., p. 219.
[10] There is some uncertainty about Mirabeau's motives and connections at this time. M. de Bacourt, the very diligent and judicious editor of that correspondence with De la Marck which has been already quoted, denies that Mirabeau ever received money from the Duc d'OrlÉans, or that he had any connection with his party or his views. The evidence on the other side seems much stronger, and some of the statements of the Comte de la Marck contained in that volume go to exculpate Mirabeau from all complicity in the attack on Versailles on the 9th of October, which seems established by abundant testimony.
CHAPTER XXIV.
[1] A letter of Madame Roland dated the 26th of this very month, July, 1789, declares that the people "are undone if the National Assembly does not proceed seriously and regularly to the trial of the illustrious heads [the king and queen], or if some generous Decius does not risk his life to take theirs."
[2] This story reached even distant province. On the 24th of July Arthur Young, being at Colmar, was assured at the table-d'hÔte "That the queen had a plot, nearly on the point of execution, to blow up the National Assembly by a mine, and to march the army instantly to massacre all Paris." A French officer presumed but to doubt of the truth of it, and was immediately overpowered with numbers of tongues. A deputy had written it; they had seen the letter. And at Dijon, a week later, he tells us that "the current report at present, to which all possible credit is given, is that the queen has been convicted of a plot to poison the king and monsieur, and give the regency to the Count d'Artois, to set fire to Paris, and blow up the Palais Royal by a mine."—ARTHUR YOUNG'S Travels, etc., in France, pp. 143, 151.
[3] "Car dÈs ce moment on menaÇait Versailles d'une incursion de gens armÉs de Paris."—MADAME DE CAMPAN, ch. xiv.
[4] Lacretelle, vol. vii., p. 105.
[5] She meant to say, "Messieurs, je viens remettre entre vos mains l'Épouse et la famille de votre souverain. Ne souffrez pas que l'on dÉsunisse sur la terre ce qui a ÉtÉ uni dans le ciel."—MADAME DE CAMPAN, ch. xiv.
[6] Napoleon seems to have formed this opinion of his political views: "Selon M. Gourgaud, Buonaparte, causant À Ste. HÉlÈne le traitait avec plus de mÉpris [que Madame de StaËl]. 'La Fayette Était encore un autre niais. Il Était nullement taillÉ pour le rÔle qu'il avait À jouer…. C'Était un homme sans talents, ni civils, ni militaires; esprit bornÉ, caractÈre dissimulÉ, dominÉ par des idÉes vagues de libertÉ mal digÉrÉes chez lui; mal conÇues.'"—Biographie Universelle.
[7] In his Memoirs he boasts of the "gaucherie de ses maniÈres qui ne se pliÈrent jamais aux grÂces de la Cour," p. 7.
[8] See her letter to Mercy, without date, but, apparently written a day or two after the king's journey to Paris, Feuillet de Conches, i., p. 238.
[9] "Souvenirs de Quarante Ans" (by Madame de Tourzel's daughter), p. 30.
[10] Feuillet de Conches, i., p. 240.
CHAPTER XXV.
[1] "MÉmoires de la Princesse de Lamballe," i., p. 342.
[2] Les Gardes du Corps.
[3] Louis Blanc, iii., p. 156, quoting the ProcÉdure du ChÂtelet.
[4] "Souvenirs de la Marquise de CrÉquy," vol. vii, p. 119.
[5] There is some uncertainty where La Fayette slept that night. Lacretelle says it was at the "Maison du Prince de Foix, fort ÉloignÉe du chÂteau." Count Dumas, meaning to be as favorable to him as possible, places him at the HÔtel de Noailles, which is "not one hundred paces from the iron gates of the chapel" ("Memoirs of the Count Dumas," p. 159). However, the nearer he was to the palace, the more incomprehensible it is that he should not have reached the palace the next morning till nearly eight o'clock, two hours after the mob had forced their entrance into the Cour des Princes.
[6] Weber, i., p. 218.
[7] Le Boulanger (the king), la BoulangÈre (the queen), et le petit mitron (the dauphin).
[8] "Souvenirs de la Marquise de CrÉquy," vii., p. 123.
[9] Weber, ii, p. 226.
[10] "Souvenirs de Quarante Ans," p. 47.
CHAPTER XXVI.
[1] Madame de Campan, ch. xv.
[2] F. de Conches, p. 264.
[3] Madam de Campan, ch. xv.
[4] See a letter from M. Huber to Lord Auckland, "Journal and Correspondence of Lord Auckland," ii, p. 365.
[5] La Marck et Mirabeau, ii., pp. 90-93, 254.
[6] "Arthur Young's Travels," etc., p. 264; date, Paris, January 4th, 1790.
[7] Feuillet de Conches, iii., p. 229.
[8] Joseph died February 20th.
[9] "Je me flatte que je la mÉriterai [l'amitiÉ et confiance] de votre part lorsque ma faÇon de penser et mon tendre attachement pour vous, votre Époux, vos enfants, et tout ce qui peut vous intÉresser vous seront mieux connus."—ARNETH, p. 120. Leopold had been for many years absent from Germany, being at Florence as Grand Duke of Tuscany.
[10] Feuillet de Conches, iii., p. 260.
[11] As early as the second week in October (La Marck, p. 81, seems to place the conversation even before the outrages of October 5th and 6th; but this seems impossible, and may arise from his manifest desire to represent Mirabeau as unconnected with those horrors), Mirabeau said to La Marck, "Tout est perdu, le roi et la reine y pÉriront et vous le verrez, la populace battra leurs cadavres."
[12] LÈse-nation.
CHAPTER XXVII.
[1] Arthur Young's "Journal," January 4th, 1790, p. 251.
[2] Feuillet de Conches, i., p. 315.
[3] "Le mal dÉjÀ fait est bien grave, et je doute que Mirabeau lui-mÊme puisse rÉparer celui qu'on lui a laissÉ faire."—Mirabeau et La Marck, i., p. 100.
[4] La Marck et Mirabeau, i., p. 315.
[5] Ibid., p. 111.
[6] Feuillet de Conches, i., p. 345.
[7] Mirabeau et La Marck, i., p. 125.
[8] He alludes to Maria Teresa's appearance at Presburg at the beginning of the Silesian war.
[9] "Il lui [À l'AssemblÉe] importait de faire une Épreuve sur toutes les Gardes Nationales de France, d'animer ce grand corps dont tous les membres Étaient encore Épars et incohÉrents, de leur donner une mÊme impulsion…. Enfin, de faire sous les yeux de l'Europe une imposante revue des force qu'elle pourrait un jour opposer À des rois inquiets ou courroucÉs."— LACRETELLE, vii., p. 359.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
[1] We learn from Dr. Moore that there was a leader with five subaltern officers and one hundred and fifty rank and file in each gallery of the chamber; that the wages of the latter were from two to three francs a day; the subaltern had ten francs, the leaders fifty. The entire expense was about a thousand francs a day, a sum which strengthens the suspicion that the pay-master (originally, at least) was the Duc d'OrlÉans.—DR. MOORE'S View of the Causes, etc., of the French Revolution, i., p. 425.
[2] Mirabeau et La Marck, ii., p. 47.
[3] Feuillet de Conches, i., p. 352.
[4] Marie Antoinette to Mercy, Feuillet de Conches, i., p. 355.
[5] Ibid., i., p. 365.
[6] Arneth, p. 140.
[7] It is remarkable that he, like one or two of the Girondin party, belonged by birth to the Huguenot persuasion, and Marat had studied medicine at Edinburgh.
[8] The Marquise de Brinvilliers had been executed for poisoning several of her own relations in the reign of Louis XIV.
[9] Madame de Campan, ch. xvii.; Chambrier, ii., p. 12.
[10] He said to La Marck, "Aucun homme seul ne sera capable de ramener les FranÇais an bon sens, le temps seul peut rÉtablir l'ordre dans les esprits," etc., etc.— Mirabeau et La Marck, i., p. 147.
[11] Feuillet de Conches, i., p, 376.
[12] Marie Antoinette to Leopold, date December 11th, 1790, Arneth, p. 143.
CHAPTER XXIX.
[1] The Marshal de BouillÉ, who was La Fayette's cousin, says, in October of this year, "L'ÉvÊque de Pamiers me fit le tableau de la situation malheureux de ce prince et de la famille royale … que la rigueur et duretÉ de La Fayette, devenu leur geÔlier, rendent de jour en jour plus insupportable."—MÉmories de De BouillÉ, pp. 175, 181. And in June he had remarked, "Que sa popularitÉ (de La Fayette) dÉpendait plutÔt de la captivitÉ du roi, qu'il tenait prisonnier, et qui Était sous sa garde, que de sa force personnelle, qui n'avait plus d'autre appui que la milice Parisienne."
[2] Ibid., p. 130.
[3] The letter to the King of Prussia is given by Lamartine; its date is December 3d, 1790.—Histoire des Girondins, book v., § 12.
[4] Mercy to Marie Antoinette, from The Hague, December 17th, 1790, Feuillet de Conches, i., p. 398.
[5] Feuillet de Conches, i., p. 401.
[6] _Ibid., p. 403, date December 27th, 1790.
[7] "Mirabeau et La Marck," ii., pp. 57—61.
[8] Letter to the queen, date February 19th, 1791; "Correspondance de Mirabeau et La Marck," ii., p. 229.
[9] "Mirabeau et La Marck," ii., pp. 153, 194, et passim.
[10] "Souvenirs de Quarante Ans," p. 54.
[11] "Mirabeau aurait prÉfÉrÉ que Louis XVI. sortit publiquement, et en roi, M. de BouillÉ pensait de mÊme."—Mirabeau et La Marck, i., p. 172.
[12] 1789, see ante, p. 256.
[13] Date February 18th, 1791, Feuillet de Conches, i., p. 465.
[14] "Mirabeau et La Marck," ii., p., 216 date February 3d, 1791.
CHAPTER XXX.
[1] Feuillet de Conches, ii., p. 14, date March 7th.
[2] Arneth, p. 146, letter of the queen to Leopold, February 27th, 1791.
[3] Feuillet de Conches, ii., p. 20, date March 20th, 1791.
[4] Letter of M. Simolin, the Russian embassador, April 4th, 1791, Feuillet de Conches, ii., p. 31.
[5] "Souvenirs sur Mirabeau," par Étienne Dumont, p. 201.
[6] In her letter to Mercy of August 16th, of which extracts are given in ch. xi., she takes credit for having encountered the dangers of the journey to MontmÉdy for the sake of "the public welfare."
[7] Arneth, p. 155.
[8] Letter of Leopold to Marie Antoinette, date May 2d, 1791, Arneth, p. 162.
[9] "Cette dÉmarche est le terme extrÊme de rÉussir ou pÉrir. Les choses en sont-elles au point de rendre ce risque indispensable?"—Mercy to Marie Antoinette, May 11th, 1791, Arneth, p. 163.
[10] The day on which the king and she had been prevented from going to St. Cloud.
[11] The king.
CHAPTER XXXI.
[1] Chambrier, ii., p. 86-88.
[2] Lamartine's "Histoire des Girondins," ii., p. 15.
[3] Moore's "View," ii., p. 367.
[4] The Palais Royal had been named the Palais National. All signs with the portraits of the king or queen, all emblems of royalty, had been torn down. A shop-keeper was even obliged to erase his name from his shop because it was Louis.—MOORE'S View, etc., ii., p. 356.
CHAPTER XXXII.
[1] A certain set of writers in this country at one time made La Fayette a subject for almost unmixed eulogy, with such earnestness that it may be worth while to reproduce the opinion expressed of him by the greatest of his contemporaries—a man as acute in his penetration into character as he was stainless in honor—the late Duke of Wellington. In the summer of 1815, he told Sir John Malcolm that "he had used La Fayette like a dog, as he merited. The old rascal," said he, "had made a false report of his mission to the Emperor of Russia, and I possessed complete evidence of his having done so. I told him, the moment he entered, of this fact; I did not even state it in the most delicate manner. I told him he must be sensible he had made a false report. He made no answer." And the duke bowed him out of the room with unconcealed scorn.—Kaye's Life of Sir J. Malcolm, ii., p. 109.
[2] Lamartine calls the Cordeliers the Club of Coups-de-main, as he calls the Jacobins the Club of Radical Theories.—Histoire des Girondins, xvi., p. 4.
[3] Dr. Moore, ii., p. 372; Chambrier, ii., p. 142.
[4] Mercy to Marie Antoinette, May 16th, Feuillet de Conches, ii., p. 60.
[5] Ibid., p. 140.
[6] A resolution, that is, to recognize the Constitution.
[7] Arneth, p. 188; Feuillet de Conches, ii, p. 186.
[8] The letter took several days to write, and was so interrupted that portions of it have three different dates affixed, August 16th, 21st, 26th. Mercy's letter, which incloses Burke's memorial, is dated the 20th, from London, so that the first portion of the queen's letter can not be regarded as an intentional answer to Burke's arguments, though it is so, as embodying all the reasons which influenced the queen.
[9] The manifesto which he left behind him when starting for MontmÉdy.
[10] The king.
[11] Feuillet de Conches, ii., p. 228; Arneth, p. 203.
[12] The Emperor Leopold died March 1st, 1792.
[13] The declaration of Pilnitz, drawn up by the emperor and the King of Prussia at a personal interview, August 21st, 1791, did not in express words denounce the new Constitution (which, in fact, they had not seen), but, after declaring "the situation of the King of France to be a matter of common interest to all European sovereigns," and expressing a hope that "the reality of that interest will be duly appreciated by the other powers whose assistance they invoke," they propose that those other powers "shall employ, in conjunction with their majesties, the most efficacious means, in order to enable the King of France to consolidate in the most perfect liberty the foundation of a monarchical government, conformable alike to the rights of sovereigns and the well-being of the French nation."— Alison, ch. ix., Section 90.
[14] Arneth, p. 208.
[15] Ibid, p. 210; Feuillet de Conches, ii., p. 325.
[16] Letter, date December 3d, 1791. Feuillet de Conches, iv., p. 278.
[17] Madame de Campan, ch xix.
[18] "Leurs touffes de cheveux noirs volaient dans la salle, eux seuls À cette Époque avaient quittÉ l'usage de poudrer les cheveux."—Note on the Passage by Madame de Campan, ch xix.
[19] This first Assembly, as having framed the Constitution, is often called the Constituent Assembly; the second, that which was about to meet, being distinguished as the Legislative Assembly.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
[1] "MÉmoires Particuliers," etc., par A.F. Bertrand de Moleville, i., p. 355. Brissot, Isnard, Vergniaud, Gaudet, and an infamous ecclesiastic, the AbbÉ Fauchet, are those whom he particularly mentions, adding: "Mais M. de Lessart trouva que c'Était les payer trop cher, et comme ils ne voulurent rien rabattre de leur demande, cette nÉgociation n'eut aucune suite, et ne produisit d'autre effet que d'aigrir davantage ces cinq dÉputÉs contre ce ministre."
[2] Feuillet de Conches, ii., p.414, date October 4th: "Je pense qu'au fond le bon bourgeois et le bon peuple ont toujours ÉtÉ bien pour nous."
[3] "MÉmoires Particuliers," etc., par A.F. Bertrand de Moleville, i., p. 10-12. It furnishes a striking proof of the general accuracy of Dr. Moore's information, that he, in his "View" (ii., p. 439), gives the name account of this conversation, his work being published above twenty years before that of M. Bertrand de Moleville.
[4] "La reine lui rÉpondit par un sourire de pitiÉ, et lui demanda s'il Était fou…. C'est par la reine elle-mÊme que, le lendemain de cette Étrange scÈne, je fus instruit de tous les dÉtails que je viens de rapporter."—BERTRAND DE MOLEVILLE, i., p. 126.
[5] She herself called him so on this occasion, and he belonged to the Jacobin Club; but he was also one of the Girondin party, of which, indeed, he was one of the founders, and it was as a Girondin that he was afterward pursued to death by Robespierre.
[6] Narrative of the Comte Valentin Esterhazy, Feuillet de Conches, iv., p. 40.
[7] The queen spoke plainly to her confidants: "M. de La Fayette will only be the Mayor of Paris that he may the sooner become Mayor of the Palace. PÉtion is a Jacobin, a republican; but he is a fool, incapable of ever becoming the leader of a party. He would be a nullity as mayor, and, besides, the very interest which he knows we take in his nomination may bind him to the king."—Lamartine's Histoire des Girondins vi., p.22.
[8] "Elle [Madame d'Ossun, dame d'atours de la reine] m'a dit, il y a trois semaines, que le roi et la reine avaiet ÉtÉ neuf jours sans un sou." Letter of the Prince de Nassau-Siegen to the Russian Empress Catherine, Feuillet de Conches, iv., p. 316; of also Madame de Campan, ch. xxi.
[9] Letter of the Princess to Madame de Bombelles, Feuillet de Conches, v., p.267.
[10] "N'est-il pas bien gentil, mon enfant?"—MÉmoires Particuliers, p. 235.
[11] See two most insolent letters from the Count de Provence and Count d'Artois to Louis XVI, Feuillet de Conches, v., pp. 260, 261.
[12] Feuillet de Conches, iv., p. 291
CHAPTER XXXIV.
[1] Letter to Madame de Polignac, March 17th, Feuillet de Conches, v., p. 337.
[2] The Monks of St. Bernard were known as Feuillants, from Feuillans, a village in Languedoc where their principal convent was situated.
[3] Lamartine, "Histoire des Girondins," xiii., p.18.
[4] The messenger was M. Goguelat: he took the name of M. Daumartin, and adhered to the cause of his sovereigns to the last moment of their lives.
[5] Letter of the Count de Fersen, who was at Brussels, to Gustavus (who, however, was dead before it could reach him), dated March 24th, 1792. In many respects the information De Fersen sends to his king tallies precisely with that sent by Breteuil to the emperor; he only adds a few circumstances which had not reached the baron.
[6] Afterward Louis Philippe, King of the French, who was himself driven from the throne by insurrection above half a century afterward.
[7] Madame de Campan, ch. xx.
[8] Ibid., ch. XIX.
[9] "Vie de Dumouriez," ii, p. 163, quoted by Marquis de FerriÈres, Feuillet de Conches, and several other writers.
[10] Even Lamartine condemns the letter, the greater part of which he inserts in his history as one in which "the threat is no less evident than the treachery."—Histoire des Girondins, xiii., p. 16.
CHAPTER XXXV.
[1] "Gare la Lanterne," alluding to the use of the chains to which the street-lamps were suspended as gibbets.
[2] Madame de Campan, ch. xxi.
[3] Dumas, "Memoirs of his Own Time," i., p. 353.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
[1] To be issued by the foreign powers.
[2] Feuillet de Conches, vi., p. 192, and Arneth, p. 265.
[3] The day is not mentioned. "Lettres de la Reine Marie Antoinette À la Landgravine Louise," etc. p. 47.
[4] The bearer was Prince George himself, but she does not venture to name him more explicitly.
[5] Lamourette might correspond to the English name Lovekin.
[6] Letter of the Princess Elizabeth, date July 16th, 1792, Feuillet de Conches, vi., p. 215.
[7] It is remarkable, however, that, if we are to take Lamartine as a guide in any respect, and he certainly was not in intention unfavorable to La Fayette, the marquis was even now playing a double game. Speaking of this very proposal, he says: "La Fayette himself did not disguise his ambition for a protectorate under Louis XVI. At the very moment when he seemed devoted to the preservation of the king he wrote thus to his confidante, La Colombe: 'In the matter of liberty I do not trust myself either to the king or any other person, and if he were to assume the sovereign, I would fight against him as I did in 1789.'"—Histoire des Girondins, xvii., p.7 (English translation). It deserves remark, too, if his words are accurately reported, that the only occasion 1789 on which he "fought against" Louis must have been October 5th and 6th, when he professed to be using every exertion for his safety.
[8] M. Bertrand expressly affirms the insurrection of August 10th to have been almost exclusively the work of the Girondin faction.—MÉmoires Particuliers, ii., p. 122.
[9] MÉmoires Particuliers, ii., p. 132.
[10] "MÉmoires Particuliers," p. 111.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
[1] See ante.
[2] "Histoire de la Terreur," par Mortimer Ternaux, ii., p. 269. For the transactions of this day, and of the following months, he is by far the most trustworthy guide, as having had access to official documents of which earlier writers were ignorant. But he admits the extreme difficulty of ascertaining the precise details and time of each event. And it is not easy in every instance to reconcile his account with that of Madame de Campan, on whom for many particulars he greatly relies. He differs from her especially as to the hour at which the different occurrences of this day took place. For instance, he says (p. 268, note 2) that Mandat left the Tuileries a little after five, while Madame de Campan says it was four o'clock when the queen told her he had been murdered. Both, however, agree that it was soon after eight o'clock when the king left the palace.
[3] "À quatre heures la reine sortit de la chambre du roi, et vint nous dire qu'elle n'espÉrait plus rien; que M. Mandat venait d'Être assassinÉ."—MADAME DE CAMPAN, ch. xxi.
[4] "La Terreur," viii., p. 4.
[5] It is clear that this is the opinion formed by M Mortimer Ternaux. He sums up the fourth chapter of his eighth book with the conclusion that "le palais de la royautÉ ne fut pas enlevÉ de vive force, mais abandonnÉ par ordre de Louis XVI." And in a note he affirms that the entire number of killed and wounded on the part of the rioters did not exceed one hundred and sixty "en chiffres ronds."
[6] Bertrand de Moleville, ch. xxvii.
[7] Madame de Campan, ch. xxi.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
[1] "DerniÈres AnnÉes du RÈgne et de la Vie de Louis XVI.," par FranÇois Hue, p. 336.
[2] For about a fortnight they had two, both men—Hue, the valet to the dauphin, as well as ClÉry; but Hue was removed on the 2d of September. He, as well as ClÉry, has left an account of the imprisonment till the day of his dismissal.
[3] "Journal de ce qui s'est passÉ À la tour du Temple," etc. p.28, seq.
[4] "MÉmoires Particuliers," par Madame la Duchesse d'AngoulÊme, p. 21.
[5] Decius was the hero whose example was especially invoked by Madame Roland. The historians of his own country had never accused him of murdering any one; but she, in the very first month of the Revolution, had called, with a very curious reading of history, for "some generous Decius to risk his life to take theirs" (the lives of the king and queen).
[6] The princess told ClÉry, "La reine et moi nous nous attendons À tout, et nous ne nous faisons aucune illusion sur le sort qu'on prÉpare au roi," etc.—CLÉRY, p. 106.
[7] "MÉmoires" de la Duchesse d'AngoulÊme, p. 53.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
[1] ClÉry's "Journal," p. 169.
[2] In March, having an opportunity of communicating with the Count de Provence, she sent these precious memorials to him for safer custody, with a joint letter from herself and her three fellow-prisoners: "Having a faithful person on whom we can depend, I profit by the opportunity to send to my brother and friend this deposit, which may not be intrusted to any other hands. The bearer will tell you by what a miracle we were able to obtain these precious pledges. I reserve the name of him who is so useful to us, to tell it you some day myself. The impossibility which has hitherto existed of sending you any intelligence of us, and the excess of our misfortunes, make us feel more vividly our cruel separation. May it not lie long. Meanwhile I embrace you as I love you, and you know that that is with all my heart.—M.A." A line is added by the princess royal, and signed by her brother, as king, as well as by herself: "I am charged for my brother and myself to embrace you with all my heart.—M.T. [MARIA TERESA], LOUIS." And another by the Princess Elizabeth: "I enjoy beforehand the pleasure which you will feel in receiving this pledge of love and confidence. To be reunited to you and to see you happy is all that I desire. You know if I love you. I embrace you with all my heart.— E." The letters were shown by the Count de Provence to ClÉry, whom he allowed to take a copy of them.—CLÉRY'S Journal, p. 174.
[3] "MÉmoires" de la Duchesse d'AngoulÊme, p. 56.
[4] It was burned in 1871, in the time of the Commune.
[5] Feuillet de Conches, vi., p. 499. The letter is neither dated nor signed.
[6] Lanjuinais had subsequently the singular fortune of gaining the confidence of both Napoleon and Lounis XVIII. The decree against him was reversed in 1795, and he became a professor at Rennes. Though he had opposed the making of Napoleon consul for life, Napoleon gave him a place in his Senate; and at the first restoration, in 1814, Louis XVIII named him a peer of France. He died in 1827.
[7] Some of the apologists of the Girondins—nearly all the oldest criminals of the Revolution have found defenders, except perhaps Marat and Robespierre—have affirmed that the Girondins, though they had not courage to give their votes to save the life of Louis, yet hoped to save him by voting for an appeal to the people; but the order in which the different questions were put to the Convention is a complete disproof of this plea. The first question put was, Was Louis guilty? They all voted "Oui" (Lacretelle, x., p. 403). But though on the second question, whether this verdict should be submitted to the people for ratification, many of them did vote for such an appeal being made, yet after the appeal had been rejected by a majority of one hundred and forty-two, and the third question, "What penalty shall be inflicted on Louis?" (Lacretelle, x., p. 441) was put to the Convention, they all except Lanjuinais voted for "death." The majorities were, on their question, 683 to 66; on the second, 423 to 281; on the third, 387 to 334; so that on this last, the fatal question, it would have been easy for the Girondins to have turned the scale. And Lamartine himself expressly affirms (xxxv., p.5) that the king's life depended on the Girondin vote, and that his death was chiefly owing to Vergniaud.
[8] Goncourt, p. 370, quoting "Fragments de Turgy."
[9] "S'en dÉfaire."—Louis XVII., sa Vie, son Agonie, sa Mort, par M. de Beauchesne, quoting Senart. See Croker's "Essays on the Revolution," p. 266.
[10] Duchesse d'AngoulÊme, p. 78.
[11] See a letter from Miss Chowne to Lord Aukland, September 23d, 1793, Journal, etc., of Lord Aukland, ii., p. 517.
[12] "Le peuple la reÇut non seulement comme une reine adorÉe, mais il semblait aussi qu'il lui savait grÉ d'Être charmante," p.5, ed. 1820.
[13] Great interest was felt for her in England. In October Horace Walpole writes: "While assemblies of friends calling themselves men are from day to day meditating torment and torture for his [Louis XVI.'s] heroic widow, on whom, with all their power and malice, and with every page, footman, and chamber-maid of hers in their reach, and with the rack in their hands, they have not been able to fix a speck. Nay, do they not talk of the inutility of evidence? What other virtue ever sustained such an ordeal?" Walpole's testimony in such a matter is particularly valuable, because he had not only been intimately acquainted with all the gossip of the French capital for many years, but also because his principal friends in France did not belong to the party which might have been expected to be most favorable to the queen. Had there been the very slightest foundation for the calumnies which had been propagated against her, we may be sure that such a person as Madame du Deffand would not only have heard them, but would have been but too willing to believe them. His denunciation of them is a proof that she knew their falsehood.
[14] Goncourt, p. 388, quoting La Quotidienne of October 17th, 18th.
[15] The depositions which the little king had been compelled to sign contained accusations of his aunt as well as of his mother.
[16] As we shall see in the close of the letter, she did not regard those priests who had taken the oath imposed by the Assembly, but which the Pope had condemned, as any longer priests.