THE ODYSSEY OF A BRETON MAGISTRATE
On December 8, 1740, in the Rue de Montfort, at Rennes, there were
great rejoicings in one of the finest houses of that provincial
capital. Monsieur Yves-Gilles Cormier, one of the rich citizens, had
become the father of an heir the night before; and this heir was to be
named Yves-Jean-François-Marie. The delighted father was getting ready
to go to the Church of Saint-Sauveur (about two steps from his abode),
there to present his son for the Sacrament of Holy Baptism.
He had invited to this solemnity his relative, Master (Messire)
Jean-François Cormier, Prior and Rector of Bazouges-du-Desert,[52]
and his neighbour, the Director of the Treasury in the States of
Brittany, M. de Saint-Cristan. Madame Françoise Lecomte, wife of the
_Sieur_ Imbault, Chief Registrar of the Chamber of La Tournelle, in
the Parliament of Brittany, and Dame Marie-Anne Lardoul were also
among the guests, who enhanced by their presence the splendour of the
ceremony.[53] When the bells rang out the _cortège_ was entering the
church porch; shortly afterwards it reissued thence, and went towards
the house attached to the Treasury of Brittany, where Mme. Cormier
(formerly au Egasse du Boulay) was impatiently awaiting their return.
The Cormiers were a family highly respected at Rennes. By his
own labours, Yves Cormier had made a fine fortune, which placed
him and his above any kind of need. Four years later a second
child, a daughter this time, was born. She was given the names of
Françoise-Michelle-Marie.
Yves-François grew up, a worker like his father, a sage follower of
parental advice, and both intelligent end gifted. After leaving school
he entered the Law Schools at Rennes, and before he was twenty he had
got his degree and been entered (on August 18, 1760) as a barrister.
Less than a year later the position of Crown Counsel at Rennes falling
vacant, the young barrister applied for it, his youth notwithstanding,
and obtained it (by Lettres de provision) on August 10, 1761.
This was a rapid advance in his career, and his parents might justly
be proud of it; but fortune meant to lavish very special favours
on the young magistrate, for on October 27 in the following year,
another position falling vacant in the same department--that of Crown
Prosecutor--Yves Cormier, exchanging the sitting magistracy for the
standing, obtained the place. Crown Prosecutor at twenty-two! This was
a good beginning.
For fifteen years he practised at Rennes. That town was going
through troublous times. The arrival of the Duc d’Aiguillon as
Governor, and his conduct in that position, created an uproar in
the ancient city, jealous, as it had always been, of its liberties.
The states proclaimed themselves injured in their rights. Led by La
Chalotais, they obstinately fought against the claims of the King’s
representative, the Duke d’Aiguillon. And there ensued an interminable
paper-war--pamphlets, libels, insults--which did not cease even with
the imprisonment of La Chalotais and his followers. Ancient quarrels
against the Jesuits were mixed up with these complaints of the
encroachments of Royal; and the angry Chalotistes ended by accusing
them of being the cause of all their misfortunes.
It was naturally impossible for the Crown Prosecutor to escape being
mixed up in a business which caused such rivers of ink to flow, and
created such an endless succession of lawsuits. A police report accused
him “of having ‘done a job’ in the La Chalotais affair.” But he had
only played a very passive part in it. His name only figures once[54]
in the voluminous _dossiers_ so meticulously rummaged through of late
years; and that is in a defamatory pamphlet (which, moreover, was torn
and burnt by parliamentary decree), denouncing him as a participator
in those Jesuit Assemblies, upon which the full wrath of the Breton
parliamentarians descended.[55] The utmost one can say is that Cormier
perhaps inclined towards the Duc d’Aiguillon’s party, which, moreover,
his position as Crown Prosecutor more or less obliged him to do.
Was it at that time that he began to pay repeated visits to Paris?
Very likely. At all events, from 1776 Yves Cormier practised only
intermittently. His father was dead. He lived with his mother on the
second floor of the Rue de Montfort house. Tired of bachelor life,
the young magistrate, who was then entering his thirty-sixth year,
resolved to marry. He had met in Paris a young lady from Nantes, who
belonged to a family of rich landowners in Saint-Domingo. Her name was
Suzanne-Rosalie de Butler; she was a little younger than he, and had
rooms in the La Tour du Pin Hotel, Rue Vieille-du-Temple.
On July 10, 1776, in presence of notaries of the Du Châtelet
district, M. Cormier and Mademoiselle de Butler signed their marriage
contract.[56] By a rather unusual clause, the future husband and wife,
“departing in this respect from the custom of Paris,” declared that
they didn’t intend to sign the usual _communauté de biens_, but that
each would retain as his and her own property whatever they brought to
the marriage.
The husband’s property consisted of his appointment as Crown Prosecutor
at Rennes, and, further, of different lands and estates which his
father had bequeathed to him, at and near Rennes, and, finally, in
“his furniture, linen, wearing-apparel, etc., which were stored in
his place of abode.” The magistrate’s wardrobe was remarkably well
stocked, to judge by the enumeration we give below.[57] It must have
been a difficult matter to choose between the “winter, spring, autumn,
and summer garments;” the breeches of “velvet patterned with large
flowers,” or with “little bouquets”; the coats of purple cloth, grey
cloth, embroidered _gourgouran_, black-and-olive taffetas, or green
_musulmane_! And then there were jewels, and there were carriages for
one person called _désobligeantes_, to say nothing of hats, frills, and
lace cuffs.
Nor did Mlle. de Butler fall in any way below this standard. Her
father, Count Jean-Baptiste Butler, deceased, had bequeathed her, in
joint tenancy with her brother, Patrice, a rich state in Saint-Domingo,
one of the most flourishing colonies at that time. This state was the
farm and dwelling-house of Bois-de-Lance in the parish of Sainte-Anne
de Limonade, “with the negroes, negresses, negro-boys and negro-girls;
pieces of furniture; utensils, riggings, horses, beasts, and all
other effects of any kind whatever, being on the said estate.” This
document recalls the state of slavery in which the Colony then was. By
a second marriage Comte de Butler had had a son, Jean-Pantaléon, who
was thus the half-brother of the future Mme. Cormier, and who had also
some liens on the property in question.[58] Suzanne de Butler further
brought her husband some estates in France, arising from her father’s
succession; and a very complete array of household furniture, which was
enriched by articles in “mahogany, tulip-wood, and the wood peculiar to
the island,” etc.
The marriage was celebrated some days later. Once settled at Paris, it
became difficult for the Crown Prosecutor to keep his appointment at
Rennes. Nevertheless, he did not resign it until January 23, 1779. Two
years earlier their first child had been born, a boy, who was baptized
at the Madeleine in Paris, and named Achille-Marie. The parents were
probably at that time living in the enormous house which Mme. Cormier
bought in the following year, No. 15 in the Rue Basse-du-Rempart. It
was a handsome house with a courtyard and several entrances.
On March 10, 1779, arrived another son, who was called Patrice, after
his maternal uncle. His godmother was a sister of Mme. Cormier, married
to a former naval officer.
The management of his own estates, and, more particularly, those of
his wife, occupied the greater part of Cormier’s time in the years
preceding the Revolution. Of middle height, inclining to stoutness,
with greyish hair and an energetic type of face, the sometime Breton
magistrate was quite a personality, for he spoke remarkably well,
and, besides being most intelligent, had a real gift of persuasion.
The times that were now at hand seemed likely to provide him with a
prominent position on the revolutionary scene.
We know that, in view of the elections to the States-General, a Royal
Ordinance of April 13, 1789, had decreed the provisional division of
Paris into sixty districts.[59] A year later this mode of division,
being no longer useful, was replaced by a division into forty-eight
sections--those sections which, from August 10 onwards, were to
exercise so potent a political influence. Cormier was active from the
very first. The section of the Place Vendôme had scarcely been formed
before he occupied a prominent position therein. We see him first as
Commissary of the Section, then as President of its Civil Committee.
The General Assembly held its meetings in the old Church of the
Capuchins in the Place Vendôme; and Cormier, whose home was close by,
took part in the deliberations. He would have played a more active part
if other business had not taken up most of his time.
Amongst the numerous monarchical clubs which then sprang up in
Paris, one had just been founded whose members, for the most part
rich planters from Saint-Domingo, used to meet in the Place des
Victoires, at the Hôtel Massiac. Their object was to counterbalance
what they held to be the pernicious influence exercised by a new
society originating in England. This was the _Friends of the Blacks_,
and had for its principal object the amelioration of the coloured
race.[60] The movement, begun by Wilberforce across the Channel, met
with many adherents in France, for it accorded well with the new ideas
of enfranchisement and liberty proclaimed by the National Assembly.
This very soon became clear to the landowners of the Leeward Islands,
who lived on the labour of their slaves, and whose whole well-being
depended on their continued existence as such. Saint-Domingo was then
in a state of astonishing prosperity. The sugar plantations and the
cultivation of indigo and cotton had made it one of the chief colonies.
If Wilberforce’s theories were to prevail there, it was all over with
the planters and the white people, who formed the minority of the
population.
Founded on August 20, 1789, the Hôtel Massiac Club intended to oppose
with all its strength the current of sympathy for the blacks, which
threatened to overflow the Assembly. Its members meant to prevent
at any cost the concession of rights to the mulattos inhabiting the
island, which would be the preliminary to granting similar rights to
the slaves. And for three years the planters devoted all their energies
to this task.
Cormier, as a landowner in Saint-Domingo, was, of course, in accord
with his compatriots. On August 24, 1789, he was made a member of
the club, and a fortnight later he was occupying the position of
vice-president. After a period of absence--his name disappeared from
the proceedings for several months--he reappeared at the sittings at
the commencement of 1791. From that time forth he played a foremost
part in the club; had charge of all its correspondence and papers;
and these, now lying in the National Archives, have yielded us a
quantity of letters and speeches, and many memoranda covered with
his microscopic handwriting. In the spring he was made president of
the club; and the position was no sinecure. Tragic news arrived from
Saint-Domingo during the summer. At the end of August there was a
rising of the mulattos and negroes, and the angry populace burned and
pillaged the plantations, and massacred the white folk, male and female.
The Colonists, very inferior in numbers as they were, were powerless
to resist them, and clamoured for help from their compatriots and for
support from the Assembly. Letters came to the club, more terrifying
every day; the planters were in despair. Many of them had their
families out there, and they shuddered to think of their dear ones at
the mercy of the blacks.
The club held many extra meetings and discussions, but every effort
that was made by its members met with furious opposition in the
Assembly. At last, in desperation, they resolved to write and despatch
an address to the King, pointing out to him the deplorable state of
the Colony, and appealing for his intervention. The address, which was
probably the work of Cormier, after having depicted the calamities
which were overwhelming Saint-Domingo, hinted at the cause of these
woes; they were (it pointed out) a direct sequence from the recent
Decrees of the Assembly.
“For three years it has been the untiring aim of the Assembly to
sow broadcast in our midst the seeds of trouble and revolt. In vain
we multiply our efforts to escape their snares; and now a society
founded by foreigners and cranks for our ruin and the humiliation of
France, and using ignorance and credulity for its pernicious ends, is
inundating us with incendiary writings, and flaunting its emissaries
in our very workshops.”
The planters, for all their impassioned denunciation, had proved
powerless to avert the detested action of the Friends of the Blacks;
therefore they now brought the King to take their part.
“Our cause is that of all the American Colonies; our cause is that of
French Commerce, which must inevitably be ruined if we are ruined; our
cause is that of the creditors of the State, whom these events will
bring to bankruptcy; our cause is that of six millions of men employed
directly or indirectly in the navigation, the commerce, and the
victualling of the Colonies; our cause is that of the monarchy, which
will lose all splendour when we are no longer wealthy, which will lose
all power on the sea if we are to perish. Sire, you are the Supreme
Head of the Executive, you are the preserver of the Public Peace, and
the guardian of the public rights. We beseech your Majesty to take
the French Colonies under your protection. We beseech you, while our
total ruin is not yet consummated, to oppose your authority to the
new designs of these men, who will never be satisfied until they have
filled our cup of misery to the brim. We ask for powerful aid for our
almost despairing brethren; we ask for the most searching inquiries,
and the most elaborate justice upon the authors of these cabals.”
There were a hundred signatures of Colonists and members of the club to
this bold and convincing manifesto of Cormier’s, when it was read at
the session of November. First, it “was decided to print 3000 copies to
be sent broadcast throughout France.”
On the next day, Wednesday, towards eleven o’clock a.m., a group of
black-garbed men assembled at the Tuileries Palace, in the Hall of the
Nobles. As each arrived, he was presented by one of their party--a
broad-shouldered, energetic-looking personage--to a gentleman before
whom each bowed respectfully: this was M. Bertrand de Molleville,
Minister of the King, and head of the Naval Department. The men thus
severally presented to him were none other than the members of the
Massiac Club, _headed_ by their President, M. Cormier. When every one
had arrived, they set off towards the Royal apartments. The King was
in his study. The Colonists were permitted to enter, and were then
presented one after the other to His Majesty, after which Cormier began
to speak:--
“Sire, the news from Saint-Domingo has caused consternation among
the Colonists of that unhappy land. But confident of your Majesty’s
sentiments towards them, and assured of that fatherly solicitude of
which France has already enjoyed so many touching evidences, they have
set forth their fears and their desires in the address which they have
the honour to present to you. They implore your Majesty’s gracious
consideration of it.”
The King, when he had been informed of the calamitous events in the
Colony, tried, in a voice full of emotion, to calm the anxiety which he
saw in every face. “I still hope, gentlemen,” he said to them, “that
the evils are not so great as rumour would have them. I shall see that
all measures are taken to give powerful help to the Colonists in the
shortest possible time.” And in speaking privately to one or two of the
delegates he reaffirmed these promises of succour.
Their business finished, the planters were about to withdraw, when
somebody suggested a further appeal, this time to the Queen. The
proposal was eagerly acclaimed, and Count de Duras brought almost
directly an affirmative reply. Without going back to the courtyard,
but by way of the Royal apartments, the visitors were conducted to the
ground-floor, and found themselves in presence of the Queen. Cormier
spoke--
“Madame, in our time of great misfortune, we felt the need of seeing
your Majesty, that by so doing we might both find consolation and
study an example of lofty courage.”
Marie-Antoinette, more moved than even the King had been, replied in a
broken voice, striving to repress her tears--
“Gentlemen, be assured of the interest that we take in your
misfortunes, and assure ... the Colony also ... that the King will
leave no stone unturned to send them----”[61]
She was unable to finish; the anguish of those before her, the thought
that they also were watching in agonizing uncertainty the ruin of their
dearest hopes--such a communion of kindred suffering was too much
for the Queen. Moreover, what now could be done by the fugitives of
Varennes? Every day it was growing clearer that they were prisoners in
this Tuileries Palace.
The Queen left them, to hear Mass. During her absence Mme. de Tourzel,
the Dauphin’s governess, happened to enter the apartment where the
planters still lingered, thrilled and touched by the scene that had
just taken place. She presented the little Dauphin to them. He opened
his eyes wide at the sight of all the black coats. “Monseigneur was
very, very sorry,” said Mme. de Tourzel, “when he was told of all the
sad things that are happening in the Colony; he feels very deeply for
all the sorrows of the gentlemen.”
“Yes, indeed I do,” said the Dauphin, in his little voice.
One can imagine the impression which would have been left by this
picture upon these serious men, come to invoke their Sovereign’s aid,
and most of whom were ardent defenders of the Royalist cause. Their
president, in particular, was never to forget this reception; and the
vision of the little Duke of Normandy, with his fair curling hair, his
clear eyes, and his ineffably sweet expression, was to remain for ever
in the man’s heart. Perhaps he heard, later on, the charming story that
Mme. de Tourzel tells in her memoirs, of how, when the delegates were
gone, and the Dauphin alone with his mother, he was told in a few words
of the Colonists’ misfortunes, and forthwith begged her to give him
their address.
“What are you going to do with it?” the Queen asked him.
“I want to put it in my left pocket, because that’s the nearest to my
heart.”
Before finally withdrawing, the delegates went also to Mme. Elizabeth,
who received them with equal sympathy. They were leaving the palace,
when, on passing in front of the chapel, they met with the Queen, who
was returning to her apartments, after having heard Mass. “Gentlemen,”
she said to them, “I was not able to answer you just now, but the cause
of my silence will have spoken to you eloquently enough.”
On the evening of the same day, in their night-session, the planters
broke into applause at the reading of the account of their visit to the
Tuileries. What a memory it was! And yet, how much they had still to
fear! They had been able to read between the lines of the kindly Royal
speeches; they knew that the goodwill of their Sovereigns would have
to encounter the hostile intentions of the National Assembly, and that
the promised help would be long in coming. And, in fact, the Decree of
December 7, while ordering the despatch of troops, put a very stringent
limitation to their powers, and confirmed the rights accorded to the
coloured races.
Nevertheless, the club did not lose heart. Its activity during the
winter and spring of 1792 is proved by a copious correspondence, and
many reports of sessions, presided over with praiseworthy care and
regularity by the sometime magistrate of Rennes. These strenuous
functions, however, did not prevent him from fulfilling his civil
duties. We find him mounting guard, like others, at the guard-house of
the headquarters of his section,[62] and attending the meetings of
that section where he is a member of the Civil Committee.
Another winter, that of 1792, goes by, and alarming symptoms in the
spring of ’93 seem to indicate that the year is not to end tranquilly.
In Paris political life is the only life; the effervescence grows
and grows. The difficulty of provisioning the capital, the dearness
of food, and the consequent great distress, bring about a state of
instability and demoralization which is bound to express itself in
action, and which will break out on the slightest pretext. Moreover,
the people, already indignant, are exasperated by the flight of so
many nobles from the kingdom--a flight which serves to reinforce the
_émigré_ contingent.
Cormier perceives the gravity of the situation. Two alternatives
present themselves to him--either to leave Paris and the country
and join those who are working at the frontiers for the restoration
of the Monarchy, or to win over the Western Department, in which,
however, revolt is already brewing. If this breaks out it will be a
most formidable insurrection. The second plan will have the advantage
of taking him to the neighbourhood of Rennes, where he still has
interests; and, after a period of waiting, he can, according to the
course of events, either place his abilities at the service of the
Royalist cause, or retire definitely from active life.
And there is nothing to keep him in Paris. The members of the Massiac
Club are the objects of daily-increasing suspicion on the part of the
“patriots.” These “aristocrats” have got themselves detested for their
obstinate self-defence, for their tenacious hold upon their properties,
and for their continued struggle for the maintenance of slavery. If
things go on as they are doing now, in a few months the club will be so
universally attacked that its only course will be to close its doors.
In these circumstances Cormier does not hesitate. He will leave his
wife at Paris; she is a sensible woman, full of resource--_she_ will
know how to take care of the house in the Rue Basse-du-Rempart, and,
supported by her younger son, she may in the future be of the greatest
assistance to the party.
Desirous of completing their elder son’s education, the Cormiers had
sent him, a year before this, to Hamburg; he there spent six months
with a worthy citizen of the Place Schaarmarkt;[63] and then left, to
go to the little town of Itzehoë, in Holstein, where he continued his
studies.
So everything seemed to confirm Cormier in his intention. On June 25,
1792, he begged his colleague, M. de Grandchamp, to represent him as
President--“for a fortnight;” and, by way of excuse, he pointed out
that it was the first time he had been away for four years. We then
lose sight of him for some days, and when we next encounter him, he
is settled, from the end of July onwards, in Brittany, at Gaël, near
Montfort. It would be difficult to account for this sojourn in a remote
locality if we did not recollect that the sometime Crown Prosecutor had
inherited several estates from his father in that neighbourhood; and
where could he have found a safer or more tranquil retreat than in one
of these, during that troublous period which followed June 20, when the
proclamation of the “Country in Danger” disturbed the whole of France,
and drums were beating in all the towns and countrysides--when, in a
word, the _Tenth of August_ was at hand? Just before that bloody dawn,
there arrived at Madame Cormier’s house an official-looking personage,
escorted by a quartermaster of the National Gendarmerie. She had been
anticipating something of the kind for so long that she knew at once
what her visitors wanted. In reply to her questions, the stranger,
who was no other than a Commissary of the Place Vendôme section,
displayed a warrant for arrest from the Surveillance Committee of the
National Assembly, issued in due form against the President of the
Colonial Club. “He had not expected any such visit, and was away from
home, at Calais,” answered “the lady his wife;” and that being so, the
Commissary, to make up for it, had to request that he might be taken
to M. Cormier’s room, and, once there, proceeded to make a thorough
search in every corner of it. When he had made a clean sweep of all the
papers he found, tied them up in bundles, and deposited them in two
band-boxes, he took it into his head to move away the fire-screen. In
the grate a heap of blackened paper was still smoking. He had been too
late for that, also.
Cormier had clearly been happily inspired to get off in time. Although
he could not exactly have been accused of conspiring against the public
safety, still the mere fact of his position makes it doubtful that,
once arrested, he would have escaped the “Septemberers,” who in a few
weeks’ time were to commence the chapter of their exploits.
He judged it prudent not to leave his retreat at Gaël before the
spring of 1793. At Paris, the tempest still raged, most assuredly
not calmed by the King’s death; in the provinces--added to other
causes, such as the general rising and the application of the Civil
Constitution to the clergy--the execution of “Louis Capet” led to an
outbreak of “Chouannerie:” it was at that very moment, indeed, that
the Insurrection in La Vendée exploded, captained by those brilliant
chiefs, Stofflet, Cathelineau, Bonchamp, and Larochejaquelein. At the
news of their rapid successes, Cormier, called on by them, quitted
Gaël; and if we are to believe the certificates “of presence” given
by the Vendean generals, it was he who directed the correspondence of
the Royalist Army during the early operations.[64] The former President
of the Massiac Club was very much in his element among such active and
varied functions, requiring a systematic brain. His pen never rests;
his letters, addresses, orders, teem in the insurgent districts, and
yet his name remains unknown; one scarcely comes across it even in
the abundant publications devoted to the history of Chouannerie. The
defeat of Mans in December, 1793, when a part of the Catholic and Royal
Army was routed, did not cool Cormier’s zeal. The theatre of war was
altered, that was all. He went nearer to Rennes, and “worked” in the
districts of Fougères and of Rennes. If we believe the aforementioned
certificates, he did not desist from his labours during the months
and years that followed. Both before and after the pacification of La
Mabilais, Cormier, according to them, had continued to live in the
revolted departments, fighting in the ranks of the Chouans. But we must
not confide too much in these testimonials, which were for the most
part written and produced for a certain very definite purpose--that of
clearing the subject of them from a charge of emigration. By proving
his share in the operations of the Vendean Army, he proved also his
presence in France. Now, the famous “lists of the _émigrés_” contained
the name of “Cormier, father and son.” So the necessity is evident for
our magistrate to insist in any and every fashion upon the part which
he had taken in the rising at La Vendée, even if this insistence were
in absolute opposition to the truth.
By a lucky chance there is other testimony to be had (and that of
undoubted authenticity), which enables us to get at the truth of the
matter. It consists of Cormier’s own letters, written at that time.
While he, some years later, maintained that he had never quitted French
soil, we know for certain that, at the beginning of 1794, perhaps soon
after the Queen’s death, he landed in England, and, instantly joining
the restless throng around the Princes, was soon playing a prominent
part in its midst.
We meet him with de Puisaye, with the Bishop of Arras, with Dutheil,
hovering around the English Ministers and associating himself with the
leaders of the _émigrés_ in trying to induce England to agree to an
effective, that is to say, an armed, intervention.
The history of these attempts is inextricably complex. Ministers’ halls
and corridors were crammed with unemployed soldiers, needy nobles,
agents, spies--each with a scheme more dazzling than the others. There
were many adventurers who were never taken at any other valuation,
and whose incessant activity deceived nobody. But there were also
personages of considerable importance, and of illustrious name, who
came there with undeniable reputations, and who could not easily be
repulsed. In the variety of their schemes and the abundance of their
offers, it is necessary to disentangle and take into consideration
all kinds of secret motives, petty views, personal grudges, or even
jealousies, against their compatriots. Every one wanted to act,
and every one wanted the best part; and as their various rivalries
displayed themselves, the general confusion increased.
One of the favourite meeting-places of this set of people was the
office of Peltier, the journalist. All the news came there; they could
get the latest information from France, and discuss the chances of the
parties, the military operations on the frontiers, and, above all, the
intentions of the British Government.
A quartette was soon formed in the office of the sometime editor of the
_Acts of the Apostles_. It was made up of Peltier and his second in
command, the Baron d’Auerweck (whom we have already met); of Cormier,
and of a fourth arrival, who is no stranger to us--the Chevalier Louis
de Frotté.
After his exploits at Dunkirk, the ex-officer of the Colonel-Generals
had spent many months in the Army of the Emigration. Accompanied by
his friend and inseparable, La Tremoïlle, he had taken part in the
first campaign of 1792, under the Duke of Brunswick. The inexplicable
retreat of this last with his 80,000 men, the lack of sympathy that
the two officers felt with the Austrians, and the incessant squabbles
that went on, disgusted them with the whole affair. They left for
Italy, and reached Milan and Turin--not without adventures on the way;
then, in the spring following, they re-entered Condé’s army, which was
now in the Emperor’s pay.[65] Fresh vexations awaited them there--for
the general Royalist rising that had been arranged to come off
simultaneously at Lyons, in the South, and in the Jura, fell through in
a pitiable fashion. And from La Vendée there came, on the other hand,
the news of many successes by the Chouans.
Frotté made up his mind. He would go and rejoin his compatriots; he
would come to France itself and fight the Revolution there. To do this,
a short stay in England was indispensable. He could obtain resources
there, and he had none at the moment. Who could say that he might not
even be entrusted with an official command? At any rate, that was
how, in the early months of 1794, the Chevalier de Couterne came to
disembark at London like the rest. We shall not be surprised, knowing
as we do his relations with Lady Atkyns, and _her_ relations with
Peltier and d’Auerweck, to find Frotté very quickly made free of that
little circle of intimates.
His admiration for his fair friend of Lille was far from having
decreased; and he now listened to the details, by her own lips, of her
repeated offers for, and her unalterable devotion to, the Royal family.
He even came, under her influence, to share the hopes which she, brave
lady! still cherished.
FOOTNOTES:
[52] Bazouges-du-Desert, Ile-et-Vilaine, _arrondissement_ of Fougères,
district of Louvigné-du-Désert.
[53] Here is the baptismal certificate of Yves Cormier:--
“Yves-Jean-François-Marie, son of M. Yves-Gilles and Dame
Marie-Anne-Françoise Egasse (_alias_ Egace), born yesterday, baptized
this day, December 8, 1740, by me the Rector undersigned; and held to
the Holy Baptismal Font by M. Jean-François Cormier, Prior-Rector of
Bassouge-du-Desert, and by Dame Marie-Anne Lardoul; the father being
present, and others undersigned:--
Marie-Anne Lardoul.
Perrine Cormier.
De Saint Cristan.
Mangourit.
Cormier, Prior-Rector of la Baionges.
Françoise Lecomte--Imbault.
Cormier.
P. F. d’Oultremer, Rector.”
_Municipal Archives of Rennes_, series G.G., _Parish of Saint-Sauveur,
Register of Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials for 1740_. We owe the
greater part of our information relative to the sojourn of Cormier
at Rennes to the kindness of our lamented _confrère_, M. Parfouru,
departmental archivist.
[54] Barthélemy Pocquet, _Le pouvoir absolu et l’esprit provincial: Le
Duc d’Aiguillon et La Chalotais_, Paris, 1900-1901, 3 vols. 8vo.
[55] It was entitled, _Tableau des assemblées secrètes et fréquentes
des Jesuites et leurs affilés a Rennes_.
[56] _Archives of Maitre Motel, notary, of Paris._
[57] “Memo. of the effects belonging to M. Cormier.--_Winter, spring,
and autumn garments_: A coat, vest, and breeches of velvet with figured
stripes. A coat, vest, and breeches of reddish-brown satin, with
diamond buttons. A coat, vest, and breeches of velvet patterned with
large flowers; and also of velvet patterned with small bouquets. Two
pairs of black satin breeches. A coat in purple embroidered cloth, with
coloured braid, the vest of gold striped cloth, embroidered same. A
grey cloth dress-coat, lined crimson satin, vest of gold ribbed cloth.
A green cloth dress-coat and vest, braided with gold. A grey quilted
coat, vest, and breeches. Two quilted vests, one green, the other fawn.
A redingote in best napped cloth. A knitted coat, lined plush; the vest
of quilted grey satin. Coat, vest, and breeches in pale yellow velvet.
Coat, vest, and breeches in black velvet. A hazel-coloured cloth,
coat striped blue, lined blue, vest silver ground, ribbed. A coat of
_gourgouran_, embroidered lined marten fur, vest of satin embroidered
_en gay_, breeches of _gourgouran_, with garter embroidered. Silk
waistcoat, striped blue and white. Two reddish-brown pelisses, one
with gold bugles, lined white fur. Riding-coat and vest of Silesian
cloth, embroidered in gold, steel buttons. _Summer garments_:
Black-and-olive silk coat and embroidered vest. Coat of _musulmane_,
vest and breeches embroidered gold. Blue lustrine coat, vest, and
breeches, silver buttons. Grey _musulmane_ dress-coat and breeches,
lined pink-and-green muslin, embroidered gold. Dress-coat grey-and-blue
ribbed cloth, embroidered silver and lilac, and two pairs of breeches.
Dress-coat grey _musulmane_, _ditto_ breeches, vest of _gourgouran_,
embroidered lilac, and muslin vest, embroidered gold, lined lilac.
Reddish-brown dress-coat, lined green; _ditto_ breeches.... Grey camlet
dress-coat, embroidered bronze spangles, white vest, embroidered black.
Coat in lilac _éternelle_, white dimity vest, embroidered and piped
cold. White-and-lilac silk vest. Coat, vest, and breeches crimson
_gourgouran_, embroidered white, with tassels. Dress-coat, purple
_gourgouran_. Grey-and-white striped camlet riding-coat. Two vests
and two pairs breeches. Striped _circaça_ (old). Two vests and two
pairs breeches white _circaça_, striped white. White quilted vest.
Vest and breeches, yellow-and-white _circaça_. Pair of trousers,
grey cotton ribbed. Grey silk trousers. White cotton-cloth trousers.
Damask dressing-gown and vest. Taffetas dressing-gown and vest. Three
hats.”--_Archives of Maître Motel, notary, of Paris._
[58] Jean Baptiste Butler had married firstly, at Rochelle, in
1741, his wife being Suzanne Bonfils, by whom he had one son,
Jacques-Pierre-Charles _Patrice_ (born at Rochelle, 1743, died 1793,
married in 1769, Germaine-Marie-Félicité de Butler); and one daughter,
Marie-Anne-Suzanne-Rosalie Butler, who became Mme. Cormier. He married,
secondly, at Saint-Domingo, Julie de Trousset d’Héricourt, by whom he
had a son, Jean-Pantaléon, born at Saint-Domingo, 1753; captain of
dragoons in the Militia of the Colony from 1768 to 1772; musketeer,
2nd company, May 24, 1772; sub-lieutenant, January 14, 1777; captain,
February 28, 1778, promoted December 5, 1784; captain commanding, May
1, 1788; chief of squadron, June 12, 1790.--_Archives of War Office._
[59] Ernst Mellié, _Les sections de Paris pendant la Revolution
française_, 1898, p. 7.
[60] A. Challamel, _Les clubs contre-révolutionnaires_. A collection of
documents relating to the history of Paris. Paris, 1895, 8vo, pp. 67
_et seq._
[61] _Mémoires de Mme. la Duchesse de Tourzel_, published by the Duc
Des Cars, Paris, 3rd edition, 1893, vol. ii. p. 16.
[62] “Section armed with pikes.
“National Guard, fourth legion, seventh section, second company.
“Citizen and dear comrade--
“You will be good enough to report yourself at headquarters on
Friday, March 29, at eleven a.m., to mount guard for 24 hours in the
guard-room there. I am, dear comrade, your fellow-citizen,
_Signed_: “THOMAS.
“Paris, March 27, 1792.
“You are informed that, according to law, this service must be
performed personally, and punctually. To the Citizen Cormier, 15, Rue
Basse.”--_National Archives_, F⁷ 5152.
[63] “To the Administrative Citizens of the Municipality of the 1st
_arrondissement_:--
“9th Messidor, year VI.
“Marie-Achille Cornier, junior, informs you, in compliance with his
parents’ wishes, and in pursuance of his own desire of acquiring
knowledge which will enable him to be independent of his family (whose
property was situated at Saint-Domingo), he left France in the month
of March, 1791, and has now gone to Holstein, in order to learn the
German language there and to continue his other studies, which he hopes
will afford him the opportunity of becoming useful to his family, whose
estates in the Colonies had been burnt down almost immediately before
his departure.”--_National Archives_, F⁷ 5621.
[64] Literal copy of a certificate given to the Cornouaille, on the
3rd Prairial, 4th year of the Republic, on paper stamped in red with
the stamp of said 4th year, by the citizen Scepeaux to the citizen
Yves-J.-F.-M. Cormier:--
“We, the inhabitants of the lands formerly insurgent, but now tranquil,
and subject to the Laws of the Republic of France, certify to all
whom it may concern, that the Citizen Yves-J.-F.-M. Cormier, native
of the Commune of Rennes, Department Ile-et-Vilaine, born December 7,
1740, height 5 feet 2 inches, grey hair, medium mouth, round chin,
full face, has constantly been entrusted with correspondence of the
Vendean Army, from its formation to its defeat at the town of Mans; and
that, since then, he has held consecutively the same office in those
Communes formerly insurgent, classed under the head of ‘Chouans;’ and
we further declare that the Citizen Yves ... Cormier has never hindered
submission to the Laws of the Republic, in virtue of which we give
him the present certificate to be to him of whatever use and value it
may with the constituted authorities, the misfortunes of the country
making it impossible to procure any other testimonials.... (Executed at
the Cornouaille, the 3rd Prairial, 4th year of the Republic) [May 22,
1796]. Given in duplicate, at Paris, 10th Messidor, VIII.
_Signed_: “D’Autichamp. Scepeaux.”
(_National Archives_, F⁷ 5152.)
[65] L. de la Sicotière, _Louis de Frotté_, vol. i. pp. 34, _et seq._