The Sword of Honor Part 28

Hardly had Roederer p.r.o.nounced the words when the detonation of an artillery discharge shook the windowpanes of the chamber. The fight at the Tuileries was on! The first discharge was answered by a rapid fire of musketry, broken every now and again by the thunder of a new cannonade. Stupor seized the a.s.sembly and the galleries. It was a fresh royalist act of treason.

The almost incessant boom of artillery and rattle of musketry bore evidence to the warmth of the engagement. It is impossible to picture the anxiety, the heaving agitation of the chamber and the people in the hall. Among the latter, exasperation reached the last pitch. They broke into threats, into curses against Veto, against the Austrian woman.

"Down with the King!" "Down with the Queen!" rang the cry.

Of a sudden the cannonade burst into still wilder fury. The reverberations of the artillery fire were so violent that several windows in the hall were s.h.i.+vered to bits. But soon the volleys slackened; they became less and less lively and frequent; then one heard only gunshots, rare, desultory, far between; and then one heard--nothing.

Victory, evidently, not a suspension of hostilities, had terminated the battle. Clearly, also, the victory had been a decisive one. But who were the conquerors, the inhabitants of the Sections, or the Swiss regiments?

Terrible alternative! Under the spell of this incert.i.tude the tumult, at its height some minutes before, fell of itself. A poignant load weighed upon every heart, choked every voice, paralyzed every movement; a mournful silence held sway over the house. If the insurrection were victorious, it was done for Louis XVI and the monarchy! Marie Antoinette by her att.i.tude and facial expression revealed her belief--she was confident the royal troops had won the day.

The uncertainty was not long in being dispelled. A deputation of members of the new Commune of Paris presented itself at the bar of the a.s.sembly.

It was attended by citizens bearing a banner with the device "LIBERTY, EQUALITY, FRATERNITY."

The head of the deputation spoke:

"Citizens, we are the victors! After prodigies of heroism, the people have taken the Tuileries! Long live the Nation!"

The majority of the Representatives rose in their seats, and all repeated with enthusiasm:

"Long live the Nation!"

The joy, the patriotic exaltation of the galleries bordered on delirium.

The session previously so agitated was now resumed amid relative calm.

All doubt as to the triumph of the people being laid, the deputies went back to their places; the president tapped his bell, and said:

"I beg the members of the a.s.sembly, as well as the public in the galleries, to refrain from further interruption. The graver the circ.u.mstances, all the more should we preserve calmness and dignity in our deliberations. The delegate of the Commune has the floor."

"Citizen legislators," resumed the latter, "in the name of the victorious people, we have come to demand of you the deposition of Louis Capet." All eyes were turned towards the booth where Louis XVI sat with his face in his hands. "To-morrow we shall bring to the a.s.sembly the records of this memorable day of the tenth of August, 1792. This record should be sent to the forty-four thousand munic.i.p.alities of France, that it may arouse their national pride!" (Applause.) "We announce to you that Petion, Manuel and Danton are still our colleagues in the Commune.

We have named Citizen Santerre commander of the armed force of Paris."

Seeing the delegate was through, President Morlot announced to the a.s.sembly: "During the invasion of the Tuileries by the people, a box of jewels was found in the Queen's apartment. A citizen, wounded in the attack, has just thrown it on the table."

This lofty act, so free from all thought of pillage or petty personal gain, stirred the admiration of the a.s.sembly, and prepared the way for others of similar stamp. "I propose," said Bazire, rising, "that the a.s.sembly decree that the Swiss citizens and all other foreigners residing in Paris are placed in the safekeeping of the law and in the hospitality of the French people!"

The motion was carried unanimously, amidst the echoing applause of the galleries.

Several of the combatants from the Tuileries, covered with dust, now appeared at the bar. One of these, in the uniform of the National Guard, his forehead bound in a b.l.o.o.d.y bandage, held in one hand his gun, and with the other dragged after him a Swiss soldier, pale and overcome with terror. The unhappy fellow's red uniform was in ribbons; he seemed ready to swoon. The wounded citizen, leaning on his weapon, drew close to the bar and said with emotion:

"Legislators, we come to express to you our indignation! Long has a perfidious court trifled with the French people. To-day it has drawn our blood. We penetrated the palace only over the corpses of our ma.s.sacred brothers. We have taken prisoner several Swiss soldiers, wretched instruments of tyranny! Some of them have thrown down their arms. As to us, we shall use toward them only the arms of generosity; we shall treat them as brothers."

At ten o'clock that evening, when the illumination of the lamps had long replaced the light of day, the National a.s.sembly, having been in continuous session since the night of August 9, took a recess of an hour.

At eleven o'clock, when the a.s.sembly reconvened, the reporters' lodge was still occupied by the royal family. Louis XVI was crushed. His flaccid lips, his fixed and sunken eyes, announced his complete mental prostration. Marie Antoinette, on the contrary, seemed to have preserved all the energy of her character. Her eyes were red and dry; but her glance, when she occasionally allowed it to travel about, bore still its look of hateful disdain and defiance.

The Dauphin slept on the knees of Madam Elizabeth, who bent her pale brow toward the child. Dames Tourzel and Lamballe were silent and dazed.

Almost as soon as the session was reopened, a citizen presented himself at the bar:

"Legislators, the Swiss soldiers arrested during the day have been placed, according to the orders of the a.s.sembly, in the building of the Feuillants. They have been, like us, the victims of royalist treason; we must save them."

From the gallery Mailhe called out: "I have just come from addressing the people. They are disposed to listen to the language of justice and humanity. I ask that the Swiss be admitted within these precincts, and that they be kept here till all danger to them has pa.s.sed, and till they can be taken to a place of safety."

The large s.p.a.ce reserved behind the bar for visiting deputations was suddenly filled with patriots, who brought with them Swiss soldiers, pale and trembling, and several of them wounded. What touching and admirable episodes took place in this pell-mell of grat.i.tude and generosity, which embraced the combatants on both sides! Vanquished and vanquishers fraternized! The a.s.sembly as one man rose spontaneously at the spectacle, and gave utterance to its enthusiasm by cheers.

When the first transports of emotion were past and silence had again settled down upon the a.s.sembly, one of the patriots who brought in the Swiss advanced towards the bar, saying:

"Citizen President, one of these brave soldiers, who speaks French, asks the floor, in the name of his comrades, to explain their conduct."

A young Swiss sergeant stepped forward and addressed the vast audience as follows:

"Had the King and the royal family remained at the palace, we would have allowed ourselves to be killed to the last man in their defense. That was our duty as soldiers. But having learned of the departure of the King, we refused to fire on the people, in spite of the orders, in spite of the threats, even, of our officers. They alone are responsible for the blood that has flowed. It was one of them, and one of the gentlemen of the palace who were the first to fire from the steps of the grand staircase at the moment that we fraternized with the people from the Sections. The latter cried out 'Treason!' fired back in return, and the fight was on. Victory rested with the people."

A new announcement was now made by the president. "They have just brought in," he said, "eleven cases of silver plate rescued from the flames at the Tuileries by the brave citizens who hastened to check the fire. They have also brought several bundles of papers discovered in an iron cupboard, a secret cupboard fas.h.i.+oned in the wall of the King's apartment." (Profound sensation.) "These papers, no doubt of the highest importance, shall be turned over to the proper committees."

When the president announced the discovery of the papers in the Iron Cupboard, Louis XVI seemed unmanned by the shock. His face grew ashen; his first look was shot at the Queen; even she, in spite of her iron will, shuddered and became paler than her royal spouse. What secrets that cupboard contained!

And now was to come the climax of that moving drama, whose precipitate progress, whose impa.s.sioned and unexpected catastrophe surpa.s.sed anything the imagination could invent or dream of. Time seemed to march with a dizzying haste during that session of two nights and a day--the night of the 9th of August and the day and night of the 10th.

The second night was near its close. A committee in extraordinary had gone to entreat of the Commune of Paris, on that day of August 10, whether the palace of the Luxembourg could not be appropriated as a residence for the King and his family. At the time it was adopted, this measure was in full accord with the hesitant disposition of the majority of the a.s.sembly, who wished only to decree the suspension of the King's powers. But the att.i.tude of the people, victorious and fully armed, happily made its weight felt within the a.s.sembly. The choice of Danton as Minister of Justice testified to the sudden change of mind on the part of the majority of the popular Representatives. They admitted the necessity for the deposition of the royal person. Louis XVI was held prisoner, under accusation of high treason.

But what part of Paris could serve as his prison?

CHAPTER VIII.

REPRISALS.

Sublime was the picture thus presented by the 10th of August, 1792, a picture in which the heroism of the combatants blended with their disinterestedness, and with their generosity to their enemies.

Alas, why was it fated that, so shortly after, the wretched days of the 2nd and 3rd of September should present so sad a contrast! Inexorable was the law of reprisal!

Pitiless became the anger of the people when it saw its trust violated, its hopes blasted; when it saw its generosity towards its enemies only confirm their high-handedness, and encourage them to new transgressions.

Such were the experiences that brought about the occurrences of the 2nd and 3rd of September, known as the Prison Ma.s.sacres--a pitiless popular retribution.

Petion, Mayor of the Commune of Paris, speaking at the bar of the a.s.sembly, once said:

"The people demands justice on its enemies; legislators, it looks to you!"

In those words of Petion's is contained almost entirely the secret of the days of September. The expectations of the people were deceived. The courts proved themselves unworthy of their trust by absolving proven criminals. Then the people, as highly angered as it had before shown itself magnanimous, took justice into its own hands.

The circ.u.mstances which produced the formidable explosion were many.

After the victory of the 10th of August--a victory the consequences of which were the deposition of Louis XVI, his imprisonment in the Temple, and the convocation of a National Convention to proclaim the Republic and inst.i.tute proceedings against the former King--Paris calmly awaited the accomplishment of these great events. Everyone confidently expected the conviction of the accomplices of Louis XVI by the national High Court at Orleans. The High Court acquitted the prisoners, despite their guilt, and among them the Count of Montmorin, the old Minister of Foreign Affairs, who had aided the flight of Louis. The High Court also acquitted the Prince of Poix, a high counter-revolutionist, and Bakman, a colonel of the Swiss, who was one of the instigators of the resistance by the soldiers, and hence, a part author of the carnage at the Tuileries.

The prisons, meanwhile, were filled with suspects, declared royalists, and refractory priests, taken red-handed in the incitation of civil war--all guilty on the first count. It was also learned that in the interior of the prisons themselves existed establishments for turning out false notes, which were put in circulation through channels of communication between the prisoners and their friends outside. The collusion between the imprisoned n.o.bles and priests on the one hand, and the counterfeiters, their companions in captivity, on the other, was indisputable.

Emboldened by the acquittal of the conspirators, the counter-revolution reared its head again in Paris and in the provinces. Each day brought from without news more and more alarming. Part of the west and south, lied to by the n.o.bility, goaded to fanaticism by the clergy, was on the verge of rebellion. Rumors were rife that the a.s.sembly had sent the King's trial minutes to a Convention, not daring itself to pa.s.s upon the fate of Louis XVI; that the allied army would be upon Paris before the 20th of September, the date set for the opening of the new a.s.sembly.

These predictions were, in fact, on the point of fulfilment. On September 1st, Paris learned that the Prussian army had crossed the frontier; Longwy was taken; the enemy had invested Verdun; the fortified place, left designedly by Louis XVI almost without defense, was unable to resist; from this city the allied army could in three days arrive in Paris!