The Life of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France Part 30

[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 princ.i.p.al 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 circ.u.mstances 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 Ferrieres, 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 x.x.xV.

[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 x.x.xVI.

[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 a 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 a.s.sume 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.--_Memoires Particuliers,_ ii., p. 122.

[9] _Memoires Particuliers,_ ii., p. 132.

[10] "Memoires Particuliers," p. 111.

CHAPTER x.x.xVII.

[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 doc.u.ments 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] "a quatre heures la reine sort.i.t de la chambre du roi, et vint nous dire qu'elle n'esperait plus rien; que M. Mandat venait d'etre a.s.sa.s.sine."--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 royaute ne fut pas enleve de vive force, mais abandonne 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 x.x.xVIII.

[1] "Dernieres Annees du Regne et de la Vie de Louis XVI.," par Francois Hue, p. 336.

[2] For about a fortnight they had two, both men--Hue, the valet to the dauphin, as well as Clery; but Hue was removed on the 2d of September. He, as well as Clery, has left an account of the imprisonment till the day of his dismissal.

[3] "Journal de ce qui s'est pa.s.se a la tour du Temple," etc. p.28, _seq._

[4] "Memoires Particuliers," par Madame la d.u.c.h.esse d'Angouleme, 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 Clery, "La reine et moi nous nous attendons a tout, et nous ne nous faisons aucune illusion sur le sort qu'on prepare au roi,"

etc.--CLeRY, p. 106.

[7] "Memoires" de la d.u.c.h.esse d'Angouleme, p. 53.

CHAPTER x.x.xIX.

[1] Clery'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. .h.i.therto 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 Clery, whom he allowed to take a copy of them.--CLeRY'S _Journal_, p. 174.

[3] "Memoires" de la d.u.c.h.esse d'Angouleme, p. 56.

[4] It was burned in 1871, in the time of the Commune.