Born at Arras, May 6, 1756; died in Paris, July 1794.
The public history of Robespierre is so well known that it is
unnecessary to give it here. A short description of his early life,
previous to becoming a Deputy to the States-General in 1789, may,
however, be of interest, as but little is known.
Robespierre’s father, a lawyer, was a man of eccentric habits and
peculiar disposition, who after the death of his wife left his native
town, and, it is believed, went to England and America. Nothing was
again seen of him in France, nor did he ever communicate with his
family. He left behind him three young children, Augustus, Maximilien,
and a daughter Margaret. Of these Maximilien was adopted by two
maiden aunts, who sent him to the College at Arras, and defrayed the
expenses of his education. The religious circle in which his aunts
lived brought the boy in contact with the wealthy and influential
clergy of the town; a canon of the Cathedral of Arras took him under
his immediate protection, and obtained for him, when twelve years of
age, a _bourse_ or scholarship at the College of Louis le Grand,
Paris. Robespierre, during his six years’ stay at this College, was
studious, obedient, and intelligent, and took a first prize in the
class of rhetoric. Among his schoolfellows were Camille, Desmoulins,
and Fréron. On leaving college, Robespierre, who was very poor, studied
law. A letter addressed by him to the Abbé Proyart, is still extant,
in which he begs for a little help towards purchasing a decent suit of
clothes in which to present himself before the Bishop of Arras, one
of his protectors then in Paris. At this time (1778) Robespierre was
twenty years of age. After completing his legal studies, he returned to
his native town and exercised his profession as lawyer. His reputation
had preceded him, and he soon obtained many clients, unfortunately for
him most of them poorer than himself. Many reports of his pleadings
remain--they are (most of them) mere declamations or speeches upon
political and social questions; full of tirades against the “ignorance,
prejudice, and those passions which form a redoubtable league against
all men of genius--in order to punish these men for the services
they render to humanity.” These speeches produced a great sensation.
Robespierre invariably interlarded his discourses with the most fulsome
eulogies of the King. In one speech he speaks of “that beloved and
sacred head, the head of the Prince who is the delight and glory of
France.” He occupied his spare time in literary pursuits, and wrote a
great deal of indifferent poetry. He was in 1783 elected member of the
Academy of Arras. His reputation for eloquence and intellect was now
such that when the States-General assembled he was immediately chosen
one of the sixteen representatives for the province of Artois. He was
then so poor that he was obliged to borrow ten louis and a travelling
trunk in order to be able to proceed to Paris. The inventory of the
contents of his trunk is preserved, viz.: “six shirts, six neckcloths,
and six pocket handkerchiefs, of which the greater portion are in good
order.”
ROCHEFOUCAULT, FRANÇOIS ALEXANDRE FREDERIC, DUKE DE LA (_Liancourt_.)
Born, 1737; died, 1827, aged eighty.
This distinguished nobleman was the son of the Duke d’Estissac and of
Marie, daughter and heiress of the Duke Alexandre de la Rochefoucault,
from whom he inherited his title. He joined the regiment of Carabineers
when a mere lad, and married at the age of seventeen. His father
was Grand Master of the King’s _Garderobe_, this appointment
being hereditary in the family. The young Duke of Liancourt, as he
was then called, did not find favour with Madame du Barry. He left
Court in 1769, and paid a long visit to England. On his return he
put into practice, upon his estate at Liancourt, the industrial and
agricultural improvements he had observed upon his journey; amongst
other undertakings he started a model farm, and brought cattle from
Switzerland and Germany, to improve the breed of cows. He founded an
industrial school at Liancourt for the education and instruction of
the children of poor soldiers. In 1786 de la Rochefoucault accompanied
Louis XVI. on a progress through Normandy, and showed the King the
various industrial and agricultural establishments of that province,
then in a very prosperous condition. When the States-General assembled,
the Duke de Liancourt was elected Deputy by the nobility of Clermont.
His position in the Assembly was that of a defender of Royalty, and
also of public liberty. On July 12, 1789, the Duke de Liancourt,
who, though no courtier, was one of the few sincere friends of Louis
XVI., for whom he had a personal regard, appeared at Versailles and
gave a true and succinct account of the agitation which was pervading
the capital. “It is a revolt,” said the astonished monarch. “Sire,”
replied the Duke, “it is a _Revolution_.” The Bastille fell two
days later. On July 18 the Duke was invested with the Presidency of
the Assembly. After the session of the Assembly had concluded, he
returned to Liancourt, where he continued his industrial experiments,
and founded in 1790 work-rooms for spinning and weaving cotton and
wool under a new process. As a lieutenant-general, his rank in the
army, he commanded a military division in Normandy, and, when the first
excesses of the Revolution began, implored the King and Royal Family
to take refuge at Rouen. Had this proposal been accepted much trouble
might have been averted. Upon the King’s refusal of his offer the Duke
generously put at his disposal the sum of 150,000 livres (£6000).
The horrors of August 10 decided the Duke to fly from France, and
pass into England. In exile he was almost without resources. An old
maiden lady, in whom--although she had never seen him--he inspired a
romantic interest, left him her whole fortune, some £50,000. He refused
to accept any part of the legacy, and handed the money to her legal
heirs. The death of Louis XVI. induced the Duke de la Rochefoucault
(since the massacre of his cousin in 1793, he had assumed this
title) to leave Europe and spend several years in America, devoting
his time to scientific studies, and observations of the Government
and character of the people of the United States, and even of the
Indians in Canada. Louis XVIII. sent him in 1798 an imperious message,
commanding him to join him and take up his duties as Grand Master of
the royal household, an order which the Duke respectfully declined;
Louis XVIII. never forgave him, and there is little doubt the neglect
and quasi-disgrace with which la Rochefoucault was treated after the
Restoration arose mainly from this unforgotten incident.
In 1799 Rochefoucault returned to France, and dwelt for some time
ignored in Paris; he was still, however, conferring benefits
upon humanity. As soon as his name was erased from the list of
_émigrés_ he started a committee for vaccination in Paris, and
opened a dispensary for the purpose of making this remedy known among
the people. When he was allowed to return to Liancourt, he found
to his delight that notwithstanding the storms of the Revolution,
every succeeding Government since his departure had respected the
institutions he had created. The Emperor Napoleon bestowed upon him
the legion of honour, but affected to treat him as a manufacturer, and
did not offer him a peerage. The Duke lived entirely at Liancourt. In
1809 when Napoleon restored his title, and gave him the right of grand
entry to the Imperial Court, la Rochefoucault did not take advantage
of this favour, and remained in retirement until the Restoration.
Louis XVIII. treated him with marked coldness and disfavour, and did
not appoint him to any office at Court. Rochefoucault, nevertheless,
was a member of the House of Peers as a Duke of France. In 1816 he
was elected member of the general council of the hospitals of Paris.
The Duke de la Rochefoucault inaugurated the “Society of Christian
Morals” in 1821, and soon afterwards became President of the school of
_Arts et Métiers_, founded by him at Liancourt, now transferred
to Châlons, and member of the Councils of Agriculture, Hospitals and
Prisons. In 1823 the reactionist Ministry, who disapproved of his
political views, relieved him of all his public but strictly honourable
functions, on the ground of his age (76). Not daring to deprive him of
his Presidency of the Committee on vaccination, they suppressed this
Committee altogether. On March 21, 1827, whilst the Duke was speaking
in the Chamber of Peers, he was suddenly seized with a fit, and expired
four days later.
On the day of his funeral, a number of old students of his school
of _Arts et Métiers_ came to the church, with the intention of
carrying his coffin; when they attempted to do so, they were suddenly
charged by a troop of mounted _gens d’armes_ in the Rue St.
Honoré, and the Duke’s coffin fell in the mud, his coronet and other
symbols of the peerage being trampled under foot.