Journal of the Princess resumed and concluded:
“The insurrection of the 20th of June, and the uncertain state of the
safety of the Royal Family, menaced as it was by almost daily riots,
induced a number of well-disposed persons to prevail on General La
Fayette to leave his army and come to Paris, and there personally
remonstrate against these outrages. Had he been sincere he would have
backed the measure by appearing at the head of his army, then
well-disposed, as Cromwell did when he turned out the rogues who were
seeking the Lord through the blood of their King, and put the keys in his
pocket. Violent disorders require violent remedies. With an army and a
few pieces of cannon at the door of the Assembly, whose members were
seeking the aid of the devil, for the accomplishment of their horrors, he
might, as was done when the same scene occurred in England in 1668, by
good management; have averted the deluge of blood. But, by appearing
before the Assembly isolated, without ‘voila mon droit,’ which the King
of Prussia had had engraven on his cannon, he lost the opinion of all
parties.
[In this instance the general grossly committed himself, in the opinion
of every impartial observer of his conduct. He should never have shown
himself in the capital, but at the head of his army. France,
circumstanced as it was, torn by intestine commotion, was only to be
intimidated by the sight of a popular leader at the head of his forces.
Usurped authority can only be quashed by the force of legitimate
authority. La Fayette being the only individual in France that in
reality possessed such an authority, not having availed himself at a
crisis like the one in which he was called upon to act, rendered his
conduct doubtful, and all his intended operations suspicious to both
parties, whether his feelings were really inclined to prop up the fallen
kingly authority, or his newly-acquired republican principles prompted
him to become the head of the democratical party, for no one can see into
the hearts of men; his popularity from that moment ceased to exist.]
“La Fayette came to the palace frequently, but the King would never see
him. He was obliged to return, with the additional mortification of
having been deceived in his expected support from the national guard of
Paris, whose pay had been secretly trebled by the National Assembly, in
order to secure them to itself. His own safety, therefore, required that
he should join the troops under his command. He left many persons in
whom he thought he could confide; among whom were some who came to me one
day requesting I would present them to the Queen without loss of time, as
a man condemned to be shot had confessed to his captain that there was a
plot laid to murder Her Majesty that very night.
“I hastened to the royal apartment, without mentioning the motive; but
some such catastrophe was no more than what we incessantly expected, from
the almost hourly changes of the national guard, for the real purpose of
giving easy access to all sorts of wretches to the very rooms of the
unfortunate Queen, in order to furnish opportunities for committing the
crime with impunity.
“After I had seen the Queen, the applicants were introduced, and, in my
presence, a paper was handed by them to Her Majesty. At the moment she
received it, I was obliged to leave her for the purpose of watching an
opportunity for their departure unobserved. These precautions were
necessary with regard to every person who came to us in the palace,
otherwise the jealousy of the Assembly and its emissaries and the
national guard of the interior might have been alarmed, and we should
have been placed under express and open surveillance. The confusion
created by the constant change of guard, however, stood us in good stead
in this emergency. Much passing and repassing took place unheeded in the
bustle.
“When the visitors had departed, and Her Majesty at one window of the
palace, and I at another, had seen them safe over the Pont Royal, I
returned to Her Majesty. She then graciously handed me the paper which
they had presented.
“It contained an earnest supplication, signed by many thousand good
citizens, that the King and Queen would sanction the plan of sending the
Dauphin to the army of La Fayette. They pledged themselves, with the
assistance of the royalists, to rescue the Royal Family. They, urged
that if once the King could be persuaded to show himself at the head of
his army, without taking any active part, but merely for his own safety
and that of his family, everything might be accomplished with the
greatest tranquillity.
“The Queen exclaimed, ‘What! send my child! No! never while I breathe!
[Little did this unfortunate mother think that they, who thus pretended
to interest themselves for this beautiful, angelic Prince only a few
months before, would, when she was in her horrid prison after the
butchery of her husband, have required this only comfort to be violently
torn from her maternal arms!
Little, indeed, did she think, when her maternal devotedness thus
repelled the very thought of his being trusted to myriads of sworn
defenders, how soon he would be barbarously consigned by the infamous
Assembly as the foot-stool of the inhuman savage cobbler, Simon, to be
the night-boy of the excrements of the vilest of the works of human
nature!]
Yet were I an independent Queen, or the regent of a minority, I feel that
I should be inclined to accept the offer, to place myself at the head of
the army, as my immortal mother did, who, by that step, transmitted the
crown of our ancestors to its legitimate descendants. It is the monarchy
itself which now requires to be asserted. Though D’ORLEANS is actively
engaged in attempting the dethronement of His Majesty, I do not think the
nation will submit to such a Prince, or to any other monarchical
government, if the present be decidedly destroyed.
“‘All these plans, my dear Princess,’ continued she, ‘are mere castles in
the air. The mischief is too deeply rooted. As they have already
frantically declared for the King’s abdication, any strong measure now,
incompetent as we are to assure its success, would at once arm the
advocates of republicanism to proclaim the King’s dethronement.
“‘The cruel observations of Petion to His Majesty, on our ever memorable
return from Varennes, have made a deeper impression than you are aware
of. When the King observed to him, “What do the French nation want?”--“A
republic,” replied he. And though he has been the means of already
costing us some thousands, to crush this unnatural propensity, yet I
firmly believe that he himself is at the head of all the civil disorders
fomented for its attainment. I am the more confirmed in this opinion
from a conversation I had with the good old man, M. De Malesherbes, who
assured me the great sums we were lavishing on this man were thrown away,
for he would be certain, eventually, to betray us: and such an inference
could only have been drawn from the lips of the traitor himself. Petion
must have given Malesherbes reason to believe this. I am daily more and
more convinced it will be the case. Yet, were I to show the least energy
or activity in support of the King’s authority, I should then be accused
of undermining it. All France would be up in arms against the danger of
female influence. The King would only be lessened in the general opinion
of the nation, and the kingly authority still more weakened. Calm
submission to His Majesty is, therefore, the only safe, course for both
of us, and we must wait events.’
“While Her Majesty was thus opening her heart to me, the King and
Princesse Elizabeth entered, to inform her that M. Laporte, the head of
the private police, had discovered, and caused to be arrested, some of
the wretches who had maliciously attempted to fire the palace of the
Tuileries.
“‘Set them at liberty!’ exclaimed Her Majesty; ‘or, to clear themselves
and their party, they will accuse us of something worse.’
“‘Such, too, is my opinion, Sire,’ observed I; ‘for however I abhor their
intentions, I have here a letter from one of these miscreants which was
found among the combustibles. It cautions us not to inhabit the upper
part of the Pavilion. My not having paid the attention which was
expected to the letter, has aroused the malice of the writer, and caused
a second attempt to be made from the Pont Royal upon my own apartment; in
preventing which, a worthy man has been cruelly wounded in the arm.’
“‘Merciful Heaven!’ exclaimed the poor Queen and the Princesse Elizabeth,
I not dangerously, I hope!
“‘I hope not,’ added I; ‘but the attempt, and its escaping unpunished,
though there were guards all around, is a proof how perilous it will be,
while we are so weak, to kindle their rancour by any show of impotent
resentment; for I have reason to believe it was to that, the want of
attention to the letter of which I speak was imputed.’
“The Queen took this opportunity, of laying before the King the
above-mentioned plan. His Majesty, seeing it in the name of La Fayette,
took up the paper, and, after he had attentively perused it, tore it in
pieces, exclaiming, ‘What! has not M. La Fayette done mischief enough
yet, but must he even expose the names of so many worthy men by
committing them to paper at a critical period like this, when he is fully
aware that we are in immediate danger of being assailed by a banditti of
inhuman cannibals, who would sacrifice every individual attached to us,
if, unfortunately, such a paper should be found? I am determined to have
nothing to do with his ruinous plans. Popularity and ambition made him
the principal promoter of republicanism. Having failed of becoming a
Washington, he is mad to become a Cromwell. I have no faith in these
turncoat constitutionalists.’
“I know that the Queen heartily concurred in this sentiment concerning
General La Fayette, as soon as she ascertained his real character, and
discovered that he considered nothing paramount to public notoriety. To
this he had sacrificed the interest of his country, and trampled under
foot the throne; but finding he could not succeed in forming a Republican
Government in France as he had in America, he, like many others, lost his
popularity with the demagogues, and, when too late, came to offer his
services, through me, to the Queen, to recruit a monarchy which his
vanity had undermined to gratify, his chimerical ambition. Her Majesty
certainly saw him frequently, but never again would she put herself in
the way of being betrayed by one whom she considered faithless to all.”
[Thus ended the proffered services of General La Fayette, who then took
the command of the national army, served against that of the Prince de
Conde, and the Princes of his native country, and was given up with
General Bournonville, De Lameth, and others, by General Dumourier, on the
first defeat of the French, to the Austrians, by whom they were sent to
the fortress of Olmutz in Hungary, where they remained till after the
death of the wretch Robespierre, when they were exchanged for the
Duchesse d’Angouleme, now Dauphine of France.
From the retired life led by General La Fayette on his return to France,
there can be but little doubt that he spent a great part of his time in
reflecting on the fatal errors of his former conduct, as he did not
coincide with any of the revolutionary principles which preceded the
short-lived reign of imperialism. But though Napoleon too well knew him
to be attached from principle to republicanism--every vestige of which he
had long before destroyed--to employ him in any military capacity, still
he recalled him from his hiding-place, in order to prevent his doing
mischief, as he politically did--every other royalist whom he could bring
under the banners of his imperialism.
Had Napoleon made use of his general knowledge of mankind in other
respects, as he politically did in France over his conquered subjects, in
respecting ancient habits, and gradually weaned them from their natural
prejudices instead of violently forcing all men to become Frenchmen, all
men would have fought for him, and not against him. These were the
weapons by which his power became annihilated, and which, in the end,
will be the destruction of all potentates who presume to follow his
fallacious plan of forming individuals to a system instead of
accommodating systems to individuals. The fruits from Southern climes
have been reared in the North, but without their native virtue or vigour.
It is more dangerous to attack the habits of men than their religion.
The British Constitution, though a blessing to Englishmen, is very
ill-suited to nations not accustomed to the climate and its variations.
Every country has peculiarities of thought and manners resulting from the
physical influence of its sky and soil. Whenever we lose sight of this
truth, we naturally lose the affections of those whose habits we
counteract.]
Here ends the Journal of my lamented benefactress. I have continued the
history to the close of her career, and that of the Royal Family,
especially as Her Highness herself acted so important a part in many of
the scenes, which are so strongly illustrated by her conversation and
letters. It is only necessary to add that the papers which I have
arranged were received from Her Highness amidst the disasters which were
now thickening around her and her royal friends.