THE KING VISITS PARIS.
Views of the Patriots.--Pardon of the French Guards.--Religious
Ceremonies.--Recall of Necker.--The King visits Paris.--Action
of the Clergy.--The King at the Hôtel de Ville.--Return of the
King to Versailles.--Count d'Artois, the Polignacs, and others
leave France.--Insolence of the Servants.--Sufferings of the
People.--Persecution of the Corn-dealers.--Berthier of Toulon.--M.
Foulon.--Their Assassination.--Humane Attempts of Necker.--Abolition
of Feudal Rights.
The new government was now established, consolidated with power which
neither the court nor the people as yet even faintly realized. The
National Assembly and the municipality of Paris were now supreme. A
million of men were ready to draw the sword and spring into the ranks
to enforce their decrees. The king was henceforth but a constitutional
monarch; though by no means conscious of it, his despotic power had
passed away, never to be regained. The Revolution had now made such
strides that nothing remained but to carry out those plans which
might be deemed essential for the welfare of France. The Revolution
thus far had been almost bloodless. And had it not been for the
interference of surrounding despots, who combined their armies to
rivet anew the chains of feudal aristocracy upon the French people,
the subsequent horrors of the Revolution, in all probability, never
would have occurred. Men of wisdom and of the purest patriotism were at
the head of these popular movements. Every step which had been taken
had been wisely taken. The object which all sought was _reform_, not
_revolution_--the reign of a constitutional monarchy, like that of
England, not the reign of terror.
A republic was not then even thought of. A monarchy was in accordance
with the habits and tastes of the people, and would leave them still in
sympathy with the great family of governments which surrounded them.
La Fayette, Talleyrand, Sièyes, Mirabeau, Bailly, and all the other
leaders in this great movement, wished only to infuse the spirit of
personal liberty into the monarchy of France.
But when all the surrounding despotisms combined and put their armies
in motion to invade France, determined that the French people should
not be free, and when the aristocracy of France combined with these
foreign invaders to enslave anew these millions who had just broken
their chains, a spirit of desperation was roused which led to all the
woes which ensued. We can not tell what would have been the result had
there not been the combination of these foreign kings, but we _do_
know that the results which _did_ ensue were the direct and legitimate
consequence of that combination.
It will be remembered that the French Guards, espousing the popular
side, had refused to fire upon the people. This disobedience to
the royal officers was, of course, an act of treason. The Duke of
Liancourt, speaking in behalf of the king, said, "The king _pardons_
the French Guards." At the utterance of the obnoxious word _pardon_, a
murmur of displeasure ran through the hall. Some of the guards who were
present immediately advanced to the platform, and one, as the organ of
the rest, said, firmly and nobly,
"We can not accept a _pardon_. We need none. In serving the nation we
serve the king; and the scenes now transpiring prove it."
The laconic speech was greeted with thunders of applause, and nothing
more was said about a pardon. The lower clergy, who were active in
these movements, were not unmindful of their obligations to God. The
whole people seemed to sympathize in this religious sentiment. At the
suggestion of the Archbishop of Paris a Te Deum was promptly voted, and
the electors, deputies, and new magistrates, accompanied by an immense
concourse of citizens, and escorted by the French Guards, repaired to
the Cathedral of Nôtre Dame, where the solemn chant of thanksgiving was
devoutly offered. La Fayette and Bailly then took the oath of office.
Upon the return of the deputation to the Assembly at Versailles, Lally
Tollendal reported that the universal cry of the Parisians was for the
recall of Necker, with which minister the popular cause was held to be
identified. A motion was immediately introduced to send a deputation
to the king soliciting his recall. They had but just entered upon the
discussion of this question when a message was received from Louis
announcing the dismissal of the obnoxious ministers, accompanied by an
unsealed letter addressed to Necker, summoning him to return to his
post. Inspired by gratitude for this act, the Assembly immediately
addressed a vote of thanks to the king.
The populace of Paris had expressed the earnest wish that the king
would pay them a visit. During the afternoon and evening of the 16th,
the question was earnestly discussed by the court at Versailles,
whether the king should fly from the kingdom, protected by the foreign
troops whom he could gather around him, and seek the assistance of
foreign powers, or whether he should continue to express acquiescence
in the popular movement and visit the people in Paris. The queen was in
favor of escape. She told Madame Campan that, after a long discussion
at which she was present, the king, impatient and weary, said, "Well,
gentlemen, we must decide. Must I go away, or stay? I am ready to do
either." "The majority," the queen continued, "were for the king's
stay. Time will show whether the right choice has been made."[180]
The king was very apprehensive that in going powerless to Paris he
might be assassinated. In preparation of the event, he partook of the
sacrament of the Lord's Supper, and nominated his brother, subsequently
Louis XVIII., Lieutenant of France, in case of his detention or death.
Early the next morning, the 17th of July, he took an affecting leave of
his weeping, distracted family, to visit the tumultuous metropolis. His
pale and melancholy countenance impressed every observer. The queen,
who was bitterly hostile to the movement, was almost in despair. She
immediately retired to her chamber, and employed herself in writing an
address to the Assembly, which she determined to present in person in
case the king should be detained a prisoner.[181]
It was ten o'clock in the morning when the king left Versailles. He
rode in an unostentatious carriage, without any guards, but surrounded
by the whole body of the deputies on foot.[182]
It was three o'clock in the afternoon before the long procession
arrived at the gates of the city. Thus far they had proceeded in
silence. M. Bailly, the newly-appointed mayor, then, met him and
presented him with the keys of the city, saying "These are the keys
presented to Henry the Fourth. He had reconquered his people. Now the
people have reconquered their king."
Two hundred thousand men, now composing the National Guard, were
marshaled in military array to receive their monarch. They lined the
avenue four or five men deep from the bridge of Sevres to the Hôtel
de Ville. They had but 30,000 muskets and 50,000 pikes. The rest were
armed with sabres, lances, scythes, and pitchforks. The Revolution thus
far was the movement, not of a party, but of the nation. Even matrons
and young girls were seen standing armed by the side of their husbands
and fathers. The clergy, lower clergy, and some of the bishops, not
forgetting that they were men and citizens, were there also in this
hour of their country's peril, consecrating all their influence to
the cause of freedom. They did not ingloriously take refuge beneath
their clerical robes from the responsibilities of this greatest of
conflicts for human rights. Shouts were continually heard swelling
from the multitude of "Vive la Nation!" As yet not a voice had been
heard exclaiming "Vive le Roi!" The people had again become suspicious.
Rumors of the unrelenting hostility of the court had been circulating
through the crowd, and there were many fears that the ever-vacillating
king would again espouse the cause of aristocratic usurpation. Passing
through these lines of the National Guard, with the whole population
of Paris thronging the house-tops, the balconies, and the pavements,
the king at length arrived, at four o'clock in the afternoon, at the
Hôtel de Ville, the seat of the new government. He alighted from his
carriage and ascended the stairs beneath a canopy of steel formed by
the grenadiers crossing their bayonets over his head. This was intended
not as a humiliation, but as a singular act of honor.[183]
The king took his position in the centre of the spacious hall, which
presented an extraordinary aspect. It was crowded with the notabilities
of the city and of the realm, and those near the centre with true
French politeness dropped upon their knees, that those more remote
might have a view of the king. Bailly then presented the king with the
tricolored cockade. He received it, and immediately pinned it upon his
hat. This was the adoption of the popular cause. It was received with a
shout of enthusiasm, and "Vive le Roi!" burst from all lips with almost
delirious energy. Tears gushed into the eyes of the king, and, turning
to one of his suite, M. de Cubieres, he said, "My heart stands in need
of such shouts from the people."
"Sire," replied Cubieres, "the people love your majesty, and your
majesty ought never to have doubted it."
The king rejoined, in accents of deep sensibility, "The French loved
Henry the Fourth; and what king ever better deserved to be beloved?"
The king could not forget that the affection of the people did not
protect Henry from the dagger of the assassin. Moreau de St. Mèrry,
president of the Assembly of Electors, in his address to the king,
said, "You owed your crown to birth; you are now indebted for it
only to your virtues."[184] The minutes of the proceedings of the
municipality were then read, and the king, by silence, gave his assent
to the appointment of La Fayette as Commander of the National Guard, of
Bailly as Mayor of Paris, and to the order for the utter demolition of
the Bastille. It was also proposed that a monument should be erected
upon its site to Louis XVI., "the Regenerator of public liberty, the
Restorer of national prosperity, the Father of the French people."
These were, to the monarch, hours of terrific humiliation. He bore
them, however, with the spirit of a martyr, struggling in vain to
assume the aspect of confidence and cordiality.
[Illustration: ARRIVAL OF THE KING AT THE HÔTEL DE VILLE, JULY 17,
1789.]
When Bailly led him to the balcony, to exhibit him to the people with
the tricolored cockade upon his hat, and shouts of triumph, like
thunder-peals, rose from the myriad throng, tears flooded the eyes
of the king, and he bowed his head in silence and sadness, as if
presenting himself a victim for the sacrifice. Some one whispered to
the monarch that it was expected that he would make an address. Two or
three times he attempted it, but his voice was choked with emotion, and
he could only, in almost inarticulate accents, exclaim, "You may always
rely upon my affection!"
As the king returned through the vast throng to Versailles, the tide of
enthusiasm set strongly in his favor. Shouts of "Vive le Roi!" almost
deafened his ears. The populace bore him in their arms to his chariot.
A woman threw herself upon his neck and wept with joy. Men ran from the
houses with goblets of wine for his postillions and his suite. A few
words from his lips then would have re-echoed through the crowd, and
might have saved the monarchy. But Louis was a man of feeble intellect,
and of no tact whatever. He was pleased with the homage which was
spontaneously offered him, and, stolid in his immense corpulence, sat
lolling in his chariot, with a good-natured smile upon his face, but
uttered not a word. It was after nine o'clock in the evening when
he returned to the palace at Versailles. The queen and her children
met him on the stairs, and, convulsively weeping, threw themselves
into his arms. Clinging together, they ascended to the saloon. There
the queen caught sight of the tricolored cockade, which the king had
forgotten to remove from his hat. The queen recoiled, and looking upon
it contemptuously, exclaimed, "I did not think that I had married a
plebeian." The good-natured king, however, forgot all his humiliations
in his safe return, and congratulated himself that no violence had been
excited.
"Happily," he said, "no blood has been shed; and it is my firm
determination that never shall a drop of French blood be spilled by my
order."[185]
While these scenes were transpiring on this the 17th of July, the Count
d'Artois, second brother of the king, the Condés, the Polignacs, and
most of the other leaders of the aristocratic party fled from France.
The conspiracy they had formed had failed, the nation had risen against
them, and no reliance could be placed on the vacillating king. Their
only hope now was to summon the combined energies of foreign despotisms
to arrest the progress of that liberty in France which alike threatened
all their thrones. The palace was now forsaken and gloomy as a tomb.
For three days the king sadly paced the deserted halls, with none of
his old friends to cheer or counsel him but Bensenval and Montmorin.
His servants, conscious that he had fallen from his kingly power,
became careless even to insolence. Even the French Guard mounted guard
at Versailles only on orders received from the Electors at Paris.[186]
On the 19th Bensenval presented an order for the king to sign. A
footman entered the cabinet, and looked over the king's shoulder to see
what he was writing. Louis, amazed at such unparalleled effrontery,
seized the tongs to break the head of the miscreant. Bensenval
interposed to prevent the undignified blow. The king clasped the
hand of his friend, and, bursting into tears, thanked him for the
interposition. Thus low had fallen the descendant of Louis XIV. in his
own palace at Versailles.[187]
There was now, in reality, no government in France. The kingly power
was entirely overthrown, and the National Assembly had hardly awoke to
the consciousness that all power had passed into its hands. Even in
Paris, the municipality, now supreme there, had by no means organized
an efficient government. Famine desolated the kingdom. Ages of misrule
had so utterly impoverished the people that they were actually dying of
starvation. "Bread! bread!" was every where the cry, but bread could
not be obtained. Many boiled grass and fern-roots for sustenance.
Every where the eye met wan and haggard men in a state of desperation.
The king, constitutionally humane, felt deeply these woes of his
subjects. With a little apparent ostentation, quite pardonable under
the circumstances, he occasionally walked out and administered relief
with his own hands to the haggard beggary he every where met. He was by
nature one of the kindest of men, but he had hardly a single quality
to fit him to be the ruler of a great people. A nation was on the
brink of famine, and the monarch was giving gold to beggars instead of
introducing vigorous measures for relief.
[Illustration: LOUIS XVI. GIVING MONEY TO THE POOR.]
As the National Assembly met on the morning of the 18th of July,
reports were brought from all parts of violence and riots. The most
vigorous efforts were adopted by the Electors in Paris to supply the
city with food. Nearly a million of people were within its walls. Vast
numbers had crowded into the city from the country, hoping to obtain
food. No law could restrain such multitudes of men, actually dying
of hunger. As it was better to die by the bullet or the bayonet than
by starvation, they would, at all hazards, break into the dwellings
of the wealthy, and into magazines, to obtain food, unless food in
some other way could be provided for them. The disorders of the times
had put a stop to all the enterprises of industry, and thus the
impoverished millions were left without money, without employment, and
without food.
In one of the villages near Paris it was reported that a rich farmer
had concealed a large quantity of grain, to enrich himself by its sale
at an exorbitant price. A haggard multitude of men, women, and children
surrounded his dwelling, and threatened to hang the farmer unless
he delivered up his stores. The Assembly hastily sent a deputation
of twelve members to attempt to save the unfortunate corn-dealer's
life.[188] While engaged in this business, a delegation entered from
the Faubourg San Antoine, stating that the wretched inhabitants of
that faubourg had for the last five days been without work and without
bread, and entreating that some measure might be devised to save them
from starvation. Nine thousand dollars were immediately subscribed by
the deputies for their relief. Four thousand of this sum were given by
the Archbishop of Paris.
[Illustration: PERSECUTION OF THE CORN-DEALERS.]
The rage of the people, during these days of distress, was particularly
directed against those whom they deemed monopolists, who were accused
of keeping from the market the very sources of life. The sufferings of
the people and their desperation were so intense that it was necessary
to send military bands from the city of Paris to convoy provisions
through the famishing districts. The peasants, who saw their children
actually gasping and dying of hunger, would attack the convoys with
the ferocity of wolves, and, though it seemed absolutely necessary to
resist them even unto death, no one could severely blame them.
There were two men, M. Foulon and M. Berthier, who were conspicuous
members of the court, and who had both been very active in their
hostility to the popular cause. Upon the overthrow of the Necker
ministry, these men were called into the new ministry, antagonistic to
the people. It was reported that M. Foulon, who was the father-in-law
of M. Berthier, had frequently said, "If the _people_ are hungry, let
them eat grass. It is good enough for _them_; my horses eat it."[189]
He is also stated to have uttered the terrible threat, "France must be
mowed as we mow a meadow." He was reputed to be a man of great wealth,
and had long been execrated by the people. These brutal remarks,
which have never been proved against him, but which were universally
believed, and which were in entire harmony with his established
character, excited the wrath of the people to the highest pitch.[190]
Berthier, his son-in-law, even the Royalists confess to have been a
very hard-hearted man, unscrupulous and grasping.[191] Though fifty
years of age he was an atrocious libertine, and seemed to exult in the
opportunity of making war upon the Parisians, by whom he was detested.
He showed "a diabolical activity," says Michelet, "in collecting arms,
troops, every thing together, and in manufacturing cartridges. If Paris
was not laid waste with fire and sword it was not his fault."[192]
Both Berthier and Foulon were now at the mercy of the people. Neither
the court nor the royal army had any power to protect them, and murmurs
loud and deep fell upon their ears. Berthier attempted to escape from
France to join the Royalists who had already emigrated. Fleeing by
night and hiding by day, in four nights he reached as far as Soissons.
Foulon adopted the stratagem of a pretended death. He spread the report
that he had died suddenly of apoplexy. He was buried by proxy with
great pomp, one of his servants having by chance died at the right
moment. He then repaired to the house of a friend, where he concealed
himself. He would have been forgotten had he not been so utterly
execrated by all France. Those who knew him best hated him the worst.
His servants and vassals detected the fraud, and, hunting him out,
found him in the park of his friend.
"You wanted to give _us_ hay," said they; "you shall eat some yourself."
The awful hour of blind popular vengeance had come. They tied a truss
of hay upon his back, threw a collar of thistles over his neck, and
bound a nosegay of nettles upon his breast. They then led him on foot
to Paris, to the Hôtel de Ville, and demanded that he should be fairly
tried and legally punished. At the same time Berthier was arrested as
he was hastening to the frontier.
The municipality were in great perplexity. They had no power to sit in
judgment as a criminal court. The old courts were broken up and no new
ones had as yet been established. It was six o'clock in the morning
when he was presented at the Hôtel de Ville. The news of his arrest
spread rapidly through Paris, and the Place de Grève was soon thronged
with an excited multitude. Foulon was universally known as well as
execrated. La Fayette was anxious to send him to the protection of a
prison, that he might subsequently receive a legal trial for his deeds
of inhumanity.
"Gentlemen," said La Fayette to the people, "I can not blame your
indignation against this man. I have always considered him a great
culprit, and no punishment is too severe for him. He shall receive the
punishment he merits. But he has accomplices, and we must know them. I
will conduct him to the Abbaye, where we will draw up charges against
him, and he shall be tried and punished according to the laws."[193]
The people applauded this speech, and Foulon insanely joined with
them in the applause. This excited their suspicion that some plot was
forming for his rescue. A man from the crowd cried out,
"What is the use of judging a man who has been judged these thirty
years?"
This cry was Foulon's death-warrant. It kindled anew the flame of
indignation and it now burned unquenchably. The enraged populace
clamored for their victim. The surgings of the multitude were like the
tumult of the ocean in a storm. The countless thousands pressed on,
sweeping electors, judges, and witnesses before them, and Foulon was
seized, no one can tell by whom or how, till at last he was found in
the street with a cord around his neck, while the mob were attempting
to hang him upon a lamp-post. Twice the iron cut the cord, and the
old man on his knees begged for mercy. But the infuriated populace
were unrelenting. A third rope was obtained, and the poor man was soon
dangling lifeless in the air.
While these scenes were transpiring Berthier was brought into the city.
He was in a cabriolet, that the people might have a sight of their
inhuman persecutor. A frightful mob surrounded him, filling the air
with menaces and execrations. A placard was borne before him with this
inscription in large letters:
"He has devoured the substance of the people; he has been the slave of
the rich and the tyrant of the poor; he has robbed the king and France;
he has betrayed his country."[194]
[Illustration: THE ASSASSINATION OF BERTHIER.]
The miserable wretch was dragged up the steps of the Hôtel de Ville.
But the mob was now in the ascendency. There was no longer law or
even semblance of authority. An attempt was made by the National
Guard to convey him to the Abbaye; but the moment they appeared with
their prisoner in the street the crowd fell irresistibly upon him.
Seizing a gun, he fought like a tiger; but he soon fell, pierced
with bayonets.[195] A dragoon tore out his heart, and carried it
dripping with blood to the Hôtel de Ville, saying, "Here is the heart
of Berthier!"[196] The man attempted an extenuation of his ferocity
by declaring that Berthier had caused the death of his father. His
comrades, however, deemed such brutality a disgrace to their corps.
They told him that he must die, and that they would all fight him in
turn until he was killed. He was killed that night.[197]
These deeds of violence excited the disgust of Bailly, the mayor, and
La Fayette. Having such evidence that both the municipality and the
National Guard were impotent, both La Fayette and Bailly tendered their
resignations.
They were, however, prevailed upon to continue in office by the most
earnest solicitations of the friends of France.[198]
A report was spread throughout the kingdom that the fugitive princes
and nobles were organizing a force on the frontiers for the invasion of
France, that the armies of foreign despots were at their command, and
that all the Royalists in France were conspiring to welcome them. The
panic which pervaded the kingdom was fearful. France, just beginning
to breathe the atmosphere of liberty, was threatened with chains of
slavery more heavy than had ever been worn before. The energies of a
semi-enfranchised people were roused to the utmost vigor. Every city,
and every village of any importance, organized a municipal government
in sympathy with the municipality in Paris. The peasantry in the rural
districts, hating the nobles who had long oppressed them, attacked
and burned their castles. There was a universal rising of the Third
Estate against the tyranny of the privileged classes, assailing that
tyranny with the only instrument at its command--blind brutal force.
In one week three millions of men assumed the military character, and
organized themselves for the defense of the kingdom. The tricolored
cockade became the national uniform.
The National Assembly, intently occupied in framing a constitution, was
greatly disturbed by reports of these wide-spread acts of violence;
yet daily delegations arrived with vows of homage from the different
provinces, and with their recognition of the authority of the national
representatives.
Necker was in exile at Basle. He had left the Polignacs in pride and
power at Versailles; _they_ now were fugitives. One morning one of
the Polignacs hastened to Necker's apartment and informed him of the
overthrow of the court and the triumph of the people. Necker had just
received these tidings when a courier placed in his hand the letter
of the king recalling him to the ministry. The grandest of triumphs
greeted him from the moment his carriage entered France until he was
received with a delirium of joy in the streets of Paris. The people,
who had with lawless violence punished Foulon and Berthier, who had
conspired so inhumanly for the overthrow of their liberties, were
determined that others, who with equal malignity had conspired against
them, should also be condemned. Necker humanely resolved that an act of
general amnesty should be passed. Many of his friends assured him that
it was not safe to attempt to secure the passage of such a measure;
that the crimes of the leaders of the court were too great to be thus
easily forgotten; that the indignant nation, finding Necker pleading
the cause of the court, would think that he had been bought over; and
that thus he would only secure his own ruin. But Necker, relying upon
his popularity, resolved to make the trial. On the 29th of July he
repaired to the Hôtel de Ville. As he passed through the streets and
entered the spacious hall, he was received with rapturous applause.
Deeming his popularity equal to the emergence, he demanded a general
amnesty. In the enthusiasm of the moment it was granted by acclamation.
Necker retired to his apartments delighted with his success; but before
the sun had set he found himself cruelly deceived. The Assembly, led by
Mirabeau, remonstrated peremptorily against this usurpation of power by
the Municipality of Paris, asserting that that body had no authority
either to condemn or to pardon. The measure of amnesty was annulled by
the Assembly, and the detention of the prisoners confirmed.
The great question which now agitated the Assembly was, what measures
were to be adopted to bring order out of the chaos into which France
was plunged. All the old courts were virtually annihilated. No new
courts had been organized with the sanction of national authority. The
nobles and all their friends, in conference with the emigrants and
foreign despots, were conspiring to reinstate the reign of despotic
power. The people were in a state of terror. The degraded, the
desperate, the vicious, in banditti hordes, were sweeping the country,
burning and pillaging indiscriminately. It was proposed to publish a
decree enjoining upon the people to demean themselves peaceably, to
pay such taxes and duties as were not yet suppressed, and to yield
obedience for the present to the old laws of the realm, obnoxious and
unjust as they undeniably were.
While this question was under discussion, the Viscount de Noailles
and the Duke d'Aguillon, both distinguished members of the nobility,
ascended the tribune and declared that it was vain to attempt to
quiet the people by force, that the only way of appeasing them was
by removing the cause of their sufferings. They then, though both of
them members of the privileged class, nobly avowed the enormity of the
aggressions under which, by the name of feudal rights, the people were
oppressed, and voted for the repeal of those atrocities.
It is a remarkable fact that in this great revolution the boldest
and ablest friends of popular rights came out from the body of the
nobles themselves. Some were influenced by as pure motives as can move
the human heart. With others, perhaps, selfish and ambitious motives
predominated. Among the most active in all these movements, we see La
Fayette, Talleyrand, Sièyes, Mirabeau, and the Duke of Orleans. But
for the aid of these men, whatever may have been the motives which
influenced the one or the other, the popular cause could not have
triumphed. And now we find, in the National Assembly, two of the most
distinguished of the nobles rising and themselves proposing the utter
abolition of all feudal rights.
It was the 4th of August, 1789, when this memorable scene was enacted
in the National Assembly, one of the most remarkable which ever
transpired on earth. The whole body of the nobles seems to have been
seized with a paroxysm of magnanimity and disinterestedness. One
of the deputies of the _Tiers Etat_, M. Kerengal, in the dress of
a farmer, gave a frightful picture of the sufferings of the people
under feudal oppression.[199] There was no more discussion. No voice
defended feudality. The nobles, one after another, renounced all their
prerogatives. The clergy surrendered their tithes. The deputies of the
towns and of the provinces gave up their special privileges, and, in
one short night, all those customs and laws by which, for ages, one man
had been robbed to enrich another were scattered to the winds. Equality
of rights was established between all individuals and all parts of
the French territory. Louis XVI. was then proclaimed the restorer of
French liberty. It was decreed that a medal should be struck off in
his honor, in memory of that glorious night. And when the Archbishop
of Paris proposed that God's goodness should be acknowledged in a
solemn Te Deum, to be celebrated in the king's chapel, in the presence
of the king and of all the members of the National Assembly, it was
carried by acclamation. During the whole of this exciting scene, when
sacrifices were made such as earth never witnessed before; when nobles
surrendered their titles, their pensions, and their incomes; when towns
and corporations surrendered their privileges and pecuniary immunities;
when prelates relinquished their tithes and their benefices; not a
solitary voice of opposition or remonstrance was heard. The whole
Assembly--clergy, nobles, and _Tiers Etat_--moved as one man. "It
seemed," says M. Rabaud, "as if France was near being regenerated in
the course of a single night. So true it is that the happiness of a
people is easily to be accomplished, when those who govern are less
occupied with themselves than with the people."[200]
It subsequently, however, appeared that this seeming unanimity was
not real. "The impulse," writes Thiers, "was general; but amid this
enthusiasm it was easy to see that certain of the privileged persons,
so far from being sincere, were desirous only of making matters worse."
This was the measure which the unrelenting nobles adopted to regain
their power. Finding that they could not resist the torrent, they
endeavored to swell its volume and to give impulse to its rush, that it
might not only sweep away all the rubbish which through ages had been
accumulating, but that it might also deluge every field of fertility,
and sweep, in indiscriminate ruin, all the abodes of industry and
all the creations of art. It was now their sole endeavor to plunge
France into a state of perfect anarchy, with the desperate hope that
from the chaos they might rebuild their ancient despotism; that the
people, plunged into unparalleled misery, might themselves implore the
restoration of the ancient régime.
This combination of the highest of the aristocracy and of the clergy
to exasperate the mob immeasurably increased the difficulties of the
patriots. The court party, with all its wealth and influence--a wealth
and influence which had been accumulating for ages--scattered its
emissaries every where to foster discord, to excite insurrection, to
stimulate the mob to all brutality, that the Revolution might have an
infamous name through Europe, and might be execrated in France. In
almost every act of violence which _immediately_ succeeded, the hand of
these instigators from palaces and castles was distinctly to be seen.
Indeed, it was generally supposed that even Berthier and Foulon were
wrested from the protection of La Fayette by emissaries of the court.
And the British government was so systematically assailed for exciting
disturbances in France, that the Duke of Dorset, British embassador at
the time, found it necessary to present a formal contradiction of the
charge.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 180: Madame Campan, Memoirs, p. 251.]
[Footnote 181: "She got this address by heart," writes Madame Campan.
"I remember it began with these words, 'Gentlemen, I come to place in
your hands the wife and family of your sovereign. Do not suffer those
who have been united in Heaven to be put asunder on earth.' While she
was repeating this address her voice was often interrupted by her
tears, and by the sorrowful exclamation, 'They will never let him
return.'"]
[Footnote 182: The Parliamentary History, vol. ii., p. 130, records
that 100 deputies accompanied the king; Thiers states 200; Louis
Blanc, 240; Michelet, 300 or 400. M. Rabaud de St. Etienne, a member
of the Assembly, says that the whole body of the deputies accompanied
the king; and M. Ant. Fantin Desodoards, an eye-witness, writes,
"L'Assemblée National, entière l'accompagnait à pied dans son costume
de ceremonie," vol. i., p. 34. The probability is that 100 were chosen,
but all went.]
[Footnote 183: Michelet, vol. i., p. 173.]
[Footnote 184: Histoire de la Revolution Française, par Louis Blanc,
vol. ii., p. 420.]
[Footnote 185: Madame Campan, Memoirs, etc., ii., 59.]
[Footnote 186: Michelet, 186.]
[Footnote 187: Michelet, 175.]
[Footnote 188: "He was saved only by a deputation of the Assembly, who
showed themselves admirable for courage and humanity, risked their
lives, and preserved the man only after having begged him of the people
on their knees."--_Michelet_, p. 186.]
[Footnote 189: Bertrand de Moleville testifies that this was an
habitual expression in the mouth of Foulon.--_Annals_, vol. i., p. 347.]
[Footnote 190: "The old man (Foulon) believed, by such bravado, to
please the young military party, and recommend himself for the day he
saw approaching, when the court, wanting to strike some desperate blow,
would look out for a hardened villain."--_Michelet_, vol. ii., p. 10.]
[Footnote 191: Beaulieu's Memoirs, vol. ii., p. 10.]
[Footnote 192: "Foulon had a son-in-law after his own heart--Berthier,
the intendant of Paris, a shrewd but hard-hearted man, and
unscrupulous, as confessed by the Royalists. A libertine at the age of
fifty, in spite of his numerous family, he purchased on all sides, so
it was said, little girls twelve years of age. He knew well that he was
detested by the Parisians, and was but too happy to find an opportunity
of making war upon them."--_Michelet_, p. 184.]
[Footnote 193: An appeal to the then existing courts would have secured
the trial of Foulon by his own colleagues and accomplices, the ancient
magistrates, the only judges then empowered to act. This was evident to
all. See Michelet, p. 187.]
[Footnote 194: Deux Amis de la Liberté, vol. ii., p. 60.]
[Footnote 195: "These people," says Michelet, "whom Mirabeau termed so
well the refuse of public contempt, are as if restored to character by
punishment. The gallows becomes their apotheosis. They are now become
interesting victims--the martyrs of monarchy; their legend will go on
increasing in pathetic fictions. Mr. Burke canonized them and prayed on
their tomb."--_Historical View of the French Revolution_, p. 190.]
[Footnote 196: Sir Archibald Alison, true to his instincts as the
advocate of aristocratic usurpation, carefully conceals the character
of these men, which drew down upon them the vengeance of the mob.
Impartial history, while denouncing the ferocity of the mob, should not
conceal those outrages which roused the people to madness.]
[Footnote 197: "It is an indisputable fact that the murder of Foulon
and Berthier was not looked upon by the majority of the people of
Paris with horror and disgust. So unpopular were these two men that
their death was viewed as an act of justice, only irregular in its
execution. Frenchmen were still accustomed to witness the odious
punishment of torture and the wheel; and society may hence learn a
lesson that the sight of cruel executions tends to destroy the feelings
of humanity."--_France and its Revolutions, by George Long, Esq._, p.
47.]
[Footnote 198: "The people and the militia did actually throng
around La Fayette, and promised the utmost obedience in future. On
this condition he resumed the command; and subsequently he had the
satisfaction of preventing many disturbances by his own energy and the
zeal of the troops."--_Thiers_, vol. i., p. 76.]
[Footnote 199: "You would have prevented," said Kerengal, "the burning
of the chateau, if you had been more prompt in declaring that the
terrible arms which they contain, and which for ages have tormented the
people, were to be destroyed. Let these arms, the title-deeds, which
insult not only modesty but even humanity, which humiliate the human
species by requiring men to be yoked to a wagon like beasts of labor,
which compel men to pass the night in beating the ponds to prevent the
frogs from disturbing the sleep of their voluptuous lords, let them be
brought here. Which of us would not make an expiatory pile of these
infamous parchments? You can never restore quiet to the people until
they are redeemed from the destruction of feudalism."]
[Footnote 200: "That night, which an enemy of the Revolution designated
at the time the Saint Bartholomew of property, was only the Saint
Bartholomew of abuses."--_Miguet_, p. 54.]