Mission of four commissioners to Charles X.--General
Pajol--He is appointed commander of the Paris
Volunteers--Charras offers to be his aide-de-camp--The map
of Seine-et-Oise--The spies--The hirer of carriages--Rations
of bread--D'Arpentigny--The taking of the artillery of
Saint-Cyr--Halt at Cognières--M. Detours
May I now be permitted to lose my own poor little individuality in the
vortex of the general movement that was urging thirty to forty thousand
human beings with one common impulse towards Rambouillet.
Ever since the previous day, when, as we have stated, the
lieutenant-general had received official information of the abdication
of Charles X., he had tried to think of the best means of ridding
himself as quickly as possible of that inconvenient neighbour. Now
this is what he did. He decided that, in order to protect Charles X.
from the outburst of public anger that would break out next day, he
would send him four commissioners. These four were: Marshall Maison,
Colonel Jacqueminot, M. de Schonen, whom they desired to win over, and
Odilon Barrot, who needed no persuading, as he had been one of the
most powerful upholders of the new power that had just arisen. There
was a certain amount of interest attaching to Marshall Maison, because
it was he who had been to Calais to meet Louis XVIII., and now he was
getting ready to escort Charles X. back to Cherbourg. Moreover, by
presenting themselves at Rambouillet, the four commissioners believed
they were being summoned there by Charles X. They set off on 2 August
at four o'clock in the afternoon; by nine o'clock they had reached the
outposts. They passed through the Royal Army by the light of bivouac
fires, and reached Rambouillet, but not without, however, catching
sight of some eager glances and half-drawn swords. Luckily, the Duc
d'Orléans conceived the idea of adding to their number M. de Coigny,
whose name was connected with the ancient monarchy by traditions of
glory, by the devotion of his father and his ancestors. The name of M.
de Coigny protected them and procured their admission to the palace.
Charles X. did not understand their presence at such an unusual hour
and, to their request for an audience, sent word that the time for
audiences was past, but that he offered them hospitality at the château
de Rambouillet. Charles X. was, however, waiting for the answer of
the Duc d'Orléans to the letter he had sent him that morning by M.
de Latour-Foissac which the duke had taken from the hands of M. de
Mortemart, although he would not consent to receive the messenger who
had brought it. The hospitality of the château de Rambouillet! that was
not what the four commissioners had come for; so they at once got back
into their carriage and immediately returned to Paris. They returned
more quickly than they had come, and re-entered the Palais-Royal at
half-past twelve midnight. The future king was not as punctilious as
the retiring one: he would receive at any hour, especially when the
news was worth his while. The news the four commissioners brought
compelled him to take a resolution there and then, without loss of
time: Charles X. must be compelled to leave Rambouillet the very next
day. To this end a great patriotic demonstration was essential, and
Colonel Jacqueminot was commissioned to stir up such a demonstration.
At daybreak, two or three hundred policemen were let loose in every
quarter of Paris with orders to cry out--
"Charles X. is marching upon Paris!... To Rambouillet! To Rambouillet!"
They were also deputed to send forth all the drummers they knew of and
to let these beat the _rappel._ And this was the cause of the infernal
racket that had waked Paris.
The Government possessed one man at this crisis on whose courage they
could rely: this was General Pajol. He was the true type of a soldier;
courageous, honourable, open and loyal, quick in making decisions,
persistent in determination. At some battle or other, when he was
either colonel or major of a regiment, just in sight of the emperor, a
shell pierced his horse's stomach and burst inside it. Pajol was sent
flying fifteen feet into the air. Napoleon saw the strange ascension.
"By Jove!" he said, "if that beggar comes down, he must have a tough
life!"
A fortnight afterwards, a superior officer came and presented himself
before the emperor, limping slightly.
"Who are you?" asked Napoleon.
"I am the tough-lived beggar," replied Pajol.
And to this incident was due his rapid advance in an admirable military
career, only interrupted by Waterloo.
Pajol belonged to the Opposition and was almost Republican in his views.
Three days before this, when the Chamber was laying the preliminary
foundations of a new monarchy, Pajol, who saw the turn things were
taking, was walking sadly along the rue de Chabrol, in company with
Degousée, who himself deplored the direction in which the Revolution
was turning, when, suddenly, Pajol stopped.
"You told me, a minute ago, that you led a company of devoted men in
the attack on the Louvre?" he asked.
"No doubt of it."
"Well, could you still rely on those men?"
"I believe so."
"To the pitch of executing to the letter, and without any discussion,
any order you might give them?"
"What sort of order?"
"Suppose it were to arrest the deputies?"
"Oh! I would not answer for them in that respect!"
"In that case, the Revolution has miscarried!..."
He went to his home, in the rue de la Ferme des Mathurins, to await the
turn of events.
Events soon happened: they made him commander of the insurrection on
the 3rd and they counted upon him to lead the democratic army, which
he did. It was all one to him, so long as he was serving France.
Charras had heard it cried in the streets that General Pajol was to
be commander-in-chief of the expedition and he rushed off to the
general's house. Let us begin by saying that he had been beforehand
to the stables of Kausmann and had taken his best horse, over which
he had had a dispute with a man who was a great judge of horses and
had chosen it himself. The horse-fancier was Charles Ledru, who had
left me in the rue Saint-Honoré, refusing the seat I offered him in my
cab, to go and bestride the horse waiting for him at Kausmann's. Just
as he entered the stables, Charras was leaving them at full gallop
on the very horse he, Charles Ledru, had selected. He chose another,
however, and rode after the first. Luckily, he found the second a good
one, and accordingly, when he overtook Charras, he merely shook him
by the hand. Charras, without any previous introduction, presented
himself to General Pajol. That general, accustomed to taking all sorts
of precautions during military expeditions, was having two enormous
saddlebags taken down: one was full of hams, legs of mutton and fowls,
and the other was filled with bread. At the fourth word Charras
addressed to him, and at the first look he cast at him he said--
"Look here, I like you!"
"So much the better," said Charras.
"You appear to be a nice young dog!"
"Dogs are not allowed to take a share in things."
"Will you be my aide-de-camp?"
"Yes, indeed; that was what I came for!"
"Then it is settled"; and he held out his hand to the young man.
"Now," he replied, "will you have a bit of food?"
"I shall be delighted!... I am dying of hunger."
"Go into the dining-room, then.... Madame Pajol! Madame Pajol!"
The general's wife entered.
"Give this young fellow a good breakfast ... he has come to offer me
his services as aide-de-camp; he little knows what work I shall cut out
for him."
Charras sat down at the table, devoured his food by huge mouthfuls,
drank like a fish and was ready to start in ten minutes' time.
"Come along now, _en route!_" said the general.
They went down into the courtyard, where three or four persons were
waiting for them, leapt into their saddles and the general set off
at a gallop, turning short round the corner of the stable-yard gate
and making his horse change feet, like the perfect horseman he was.
Charras was an excellent horseman himself and stood this first test
victoriously. But the horse that was being ridden by another student
of the École was pushed on to the footpath and fell down on the left
hand. This happened outside a chemist's shop and both student and horse
disappeared into the shop--breaking in the front as they fell. The
accident was not thought worth wasting time over and the others went on
their way without even turning their heads to look. When they reached
the barrier at Passy, the general took command of the column. Our cab
was one of the first, after the general's staff, which consisted of
Jacqueminot, Charras, Charles Ledru, d'Higonnet, M. de Lagrange, Vernon
and Bernadou. Vernon and Bernadou wore the uniform of students at the
École. Charles Ledru was in the old uniform of the National Horse
Guards, and wore a helmet; Higonnet wore the uniform of a pupil of
the School of Cavalry at Saumur; and M. de Lagrange that of the Light
Cavalry. General Exelmans appeared farther on, beyond the quai de Billy.
"Here I am, Pajol!" he said, breaking through the ranks to get to him.
"You are somewhat late ... but never mind," Pajol replied; "you can
command the rearguard."
"Good!" was Exelmans' reply.
And he passed along to the rearguard, where he found the Rouennais, who
had but just arrived.
Pajol pulled up his horse at Point-du-Jour.
"By Jove!" he exclaimed, "I bet...."
"What?" they inquired.
"That nobody here has a map of the department of Seine-et-Oise... Eh?
Has anyone got a map of the department of Seine-et-Oise?"
Nobody replied.
"Shall I go and find one?" asked Charras.
"Where?"
"I don't know! Wherever I can!"
"But if you don't know where to look?"
"Oh! if one hunts, one always finds what one wants."
Charras started off at a gallop--he had a notion where to look. He went
to the manufactory of Sèvres: it would surely be impossible not to
find a map of Seine-et-Oise there. Nor was he mistaken: they had two.
They were put at his disposal by my namesake, M. Dumas, the chemist,
erewhile minister and present senator. Pajol received the two maps a
quarter of a league outside Sèvres.
"Now, then, Jacqueminot," he said, "we must have bread, and plenty of
it, too.... Go to Versailles and order ten thousand rations."
Jacqueminot started off.
"And we must also have spies," said Pajol. "Who will undertake to find
me spies?"
"I will," said Charras.
"Ah! do you mean to undertake to find everything?"
"Why not?" said Charras. "I must make myself useful."
"Where will you find me these?"
"At Versailles."
"Do you know anybody there?"
"Not a soul ... but don't trouble on that account."
"I will go with you," said Bernadou.
"Come, then."
The two young men set off as fast as their horses could go. They
reached the Hôtel de Ville of Versailles consumed with thirst. Somebody
had conceived the notion of breaking open a dozen barrels of beer in
the courtyard, in the full sunshine: they attempted to drink it, but
found it like poison. A man in civilian dress was there, representing
the mayor, sweating like an ox: for that matter, everybody, mayor,
deputies, municipal councillors, were all melting with the heat.
"Look quick!" said Charras; "come, we want spies, horses and a
carriage!"
"Excuse me?" asked the perspiring citizen.
"Are you deaf? I ask you for spies, horses and a carriage!"
"Where do you suppose I can find them?" replied the citizen, perspiring
more and more.
"That is no concern of mine.... Find them--I must have them. That is
all I have to say to you."
"But, all the same, monsieur, who may you be?"
"I am M. Charras, first aide-de-camp to General Pajol, who is
commander-in-chief of the Expeditionary Army of the West."
Charras had invented this phrase on the spur of the moment, and,
thinking it sufficiently high-sounding, had adopted it to impress the
country town's folk.
"All I can do," he said, "is to give you the names of carriage
proprietors."
"Give them me.... We shall discover the other things, for you do not
seem to me to be very much up to matters yourself."
The man gave the addresses of two or three cab proprietors. They left
the mansion-house, which was on the left as you enter the town, about
three hundred yards before you come to the château, and they returned
in the direction of Paris. A magnificent signboard was grilling in the
noonday sun: it represented a coach drawn by four horses, with two
saddle-horses held by grooms. This set Charras's mouth watering.
"Hullo there! Where is the proprietor?" he shouted.
"Here I am!" said an individual in a somewhat bad-tempered tone.
"I want a carriage with a couple of horses immediately."
"What for?"
"For the persons whom I shall put inside it."
"Who are they?"
"I don't know yet."
"I haven't any carriages."
"What! no carriages?"
"No."
"What about those in the yard?"
"They are engaged."
"Ah! very well."
Charras looked about him: there were over a hundred people already
gathered round, and amongst these spectators were a dozen or so
soldiers of the National Guard together with a sergeant.
"Sergeant," said Charras, "do me the kindness to lay hold of that
gentleman."
Now a Frenchman is by nature prone to laying hands on people,
especially if he wears the uniform of the National Guard. Sergeant
Mercier, who refused to seize Manuel, was an exception to this rule and
that was why such honours were paid him. The sergeant moved towards the
carriage proprietor and seized him by the collar.
"Good!" said Charras; "presently we will see what is to be done with
him."
"Really, monsieur," said the proprietor, "who are you?"
"I am M. Charras, first aide-de-camp to General Pajol, who is
commander-in-chief of the Expeditionary Army of the West." "Why did you
not say so before, monsieur? That quite alters matters."
"Shall I liberate him?" asked the sergeant.
"Not until he has given me a carriage and two horses.... Bernadou, go
and choose a couple of good horses and a good carriage."
"All right!"
Bernadou, the sergeant and the proprietor disappeared beneath the large
gateway and were lost to sight in the dim distance of the stableyard
and the darkness of the stables themselves.
"And now," said Charras, "for two volunteers!"
"What for?" asked a score of voices.
"To go and examine the position of the royal army and to return and
give us full particulars."
"Where?"
"Wherever we ... the staff ... and General Pajol may be; there will be
no difficulty in discovering that."
"We will go," said two men.
Charras looked at them.
"I do not know who you are," he said; "who will be responsible for your
good faith?"
"I," said a gentleman, who was equally unknown to him.
"Very good," continued Charras; "but you must know, messieurs, that you
are patriots for us, but spies in regard to the royal army."
"Well?"
"And suppose you are caught...?"
"They will shoot us.... And then...?"
"Good! if you had begun by telling me that I should not have asked for
a surety."
The carriage and horses were now brought out. Charras did not leave
until he had seen the carriage and the two men safely started upon the
road to Rambouillet. The head of the column now came in sight on the
Paris road. In a few seconds Charras was beside Pajol.
"It is done, General," he said.
"What?"
"I have found spies."
"Where are they?"
"Gone."
"Really, my dear lad, you are worth your weight in gold!... Now you
must go to the village of Cognières; we shall probably halt there."
"Where is it?"
"Here ... see...!"
The general showed the position of the village on the map, four leagues
from Rambouillet.
"Good! What am I to do at Cognières?"
"You must tell the mayor I shall want ten thousand feeds of hay by this
evening."
"Ten thousand feeds of hay? He will never be able to get so much!"
"What do you think we are to do, then? We have two or three thousand
fiacres, twelve or fifteen hundred cabriolets, and tilburys and waggons
and the devil knows what beside!"
"All right! don't despair: if we can't get hay, we will get something
else...."
"What?" the general interrupted impatiently.
"Why, we will take the standing crops of oats!"
"Excellent!" exclaimed Pajol; "upon my word, you understand the art of
war! What is your name?"
"Charras."
"I shall not forget it, be sure! Go! I shall feel as confident of my
ten thousand feeds as though I had them here already."
"Oh! you may rely on them."
And again Charras set off. Meanwhile, we had arrived and were
dispersing ourselves over Versailles. I, for my part, ran to the
barracks of the Guards; I had an intimate friend there, in Grammont's
company, a man of irreproachable bravery and, what I appreciated still
more, he was marvellously clever. He was called d'Arpentigny. Young
though he was, he had been a soldier under the Empire, and he wrote one
of the most amazing books imaginable upon his captivity in Russia.
There was not a single Guard at the palace; everyone had followed the
king to Rambouillet; they accompanied him as far as Cherbourg, as is
known.
After a halt of half an hour, the order was given to resume our march.
Just at starting, General Pajol learnt that there were two regiments
stationed in Versailles. Would it be wise of him to leave them behind?
Three parlementaires were sent and the two regiments gave themselves
up without resistance; their arms were distributed among the men of
the expedition and my seventeen soldiers got hold of three rifles. On
arrival at Saint-Cyr, Degousée proposed seizing the artillery belonging
to the École; he asked for volunteers and we offered ourselves, two
hundred of us setting out to seize eight pieces of cannon. We harnessed
ourselves to them to drag them out as far as the road, and messengers,
sent out in all directions, brought back horses and traces.
The Expeditionary Army of the West now had artillery, but it lacked
cartridges and bullets. At this moment, we were joined by Georges La
Fayette and, as the command of the artillery was vacant, Pajol gave it
to him. I never heard whether they succeeded in obtaining bullets and
cartridges. When the Expeditionary Army reached the top of the hill of
Saint-Cyr, they began to find the high road strewn with sabres, rifles,
cartridge boxes and soldiers' caps. So demoralised was the retreat that
the men had actually flung away their arms all along the route. Five
more of my men thus found arms for themselves, thanks to these spars of
the royal wreckage. We reached Cognières at about seven in the evening,
harassed with fatigue and dying with hunger. We had, indeed, managed to
pick up some scraps of bread and a few glasses of wine, at Versailles;
but, as my scene-shifter said, there was only enough to stop a hollow
tooth with. By the time we reached Cognières, there were a terrible
number of hollow teeth: the horses had found their ten thousand rations
of hay and oats, but the men had found nothing at all to eat. Yet
Jacqueminot had scrupulously fulfilled his mission: they had promised
him that, as soon as the new prefect arrived (and he was expected any
moment), the bread should be hurried up. Every man among us set to work
like the lion of Scripture, seeking whom he might devour. I had pitched
our camp round a great stack of straw that stood on the right of the
road and our flag was planted on the top of the stack by one of the
scene-shifters, to serve as a guide-post. I had been singularly unlucky
in my search, until, happily, I spied out the curé's house. I went
inside and laid my wants and those of my troop before the worthy man.
He gave me a fine loaf of bread, which must have weighed three or four
pounds, and, as he had no bottles in the house, he filled with wine a
bottle intended to hold milk. Whilst I was on my foraging expedition,
two things were being attended to elsewhere: thirty of the peasants of
Cognières, armed with swords and rifles picked up on the road, were
placed as an advance-post, a quarter of a league from the village; and,
with the three or four thousand fiacres, fifteen to eighteen hundred
cabriolets, tilburys and waggons, etc., they built up a big line of
barricades across the road stretching across the plain to left and
right, covering the whole of the front of the camp and bending back
on two sides upon the flanks. On my way, I had been buttonholed by a
gentleman in black coat and trousers with a white waistcoat--the whole
forming a pearl-grey picture. He had met the procession, was carried
away by the whirlpool, had climbed up the back of a fiacre and been
thus transported. He had no weapons of any sort, not even a penknife. I
could see he was a very green hand at this sort of business. He had not
had a bite to eat since the previous day and was clamouring for some
sort of food. By trade, he was a broker and his name was Detours. I
pointed our flag out to him and encouraged him to continue his hitherto
unfruitful hunt a little longer, and then to join us at our stack,
whether his hands were full or empty.
After a quarter of an hour's time, I saw him coming along with a piece
of bread and half a leg of mutton. He had met Charras, who had taken
pity on him and had put General Pajol's canteen at his disposal. He
apologised for not bringing more. My men had, however, gone abroad
among the neighbouring farms and had annexed a few fowls and eggs. We
put all the provender together and supped as well as possible. But only
we four or five hundred, perhaps, who had arrived first, got supper:
the groans of hunger of those who came after us were audible all
around. When the repast was done, I dug out a sort of vault under the
stack, into which Delanoue and I got with sybaritic appreciation. The
rest of our men strewed straw on the ground and camped in the open air.
As for M. Detours, I do not know whether he lives in Paris or in the
provinces, whether he be dead or alive, Bonapartist or Republican, for
I have never seen him again. It is by a miracle that I happen to have
remembered his name.