PRISON LIFE DURING THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 7
ADDENDA 139
MADAME LATOUR'S MEMOIR 159
EVENTS OF THE 21ST OF JULY, 1794 199
NARRATIVE OF AN EYE-WITNESS OF THE AFFAIR
OF JULY 22, 1794 209
LETTER FROM MADAME LA DUCHESSE DE DURAS,
NÉE NOAILLES, TO MONSIEUR GRELET 227
EXTRACT FROM THE 'MÉMORIAL EUROPÉEN,'
APRIL 24, 1809 229
PRISON LIFE DURING THE
FRENCH REVOLUTION.
I was put under arrest, together with my father and mother, on August
23, 1793, at our château of Mouchy-le-Châtel, in the Department of the
Oise. I was taken to the prison at Saint-François à Beauvais, in the
old convent, on the 6th of October of the same year and to that at
Chantilly on the 20th of the same month. There I remained until the 5th
of April, 1794, when I was transferred to Paris, to the Collège du
Plessis, from which I was liberated on the 19th of the following
October.
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PRISON LIFE DURING THE
FRENCH REVOLUTION.
WRITTEN IN 1801, THE YEAR IX. OF
THE REPUBLIC.
The period of my confinement in different prisons during the Reign of
Terror was so harassing that the idea of writing out its details did
not then occur to me; but when I had the consolation of seeing my son
once more, he was desirous of learning all about it. I feared that I
should be overcome by my feelings if I tried to relate the details to
him, and consequently determined to write the following memoirs.
My parents retired to their estate of Mouchy-le-Châtel, in the
Department of the Oise, in the month of September, 1792. I accompanied
them thither, and was their sole companion. They resolved, from
prudential motives, to receive visits from no one. This privation cost
my father nothing, for he was naturally shy, though the positions he
had occupied had forced him to live constantly in the great world. My
mother, who loved him dearly, accustomed herself to retirement with
submission to the will of Providence, with the naturally happy
disposition maintained through all the events of her life.
She loved system in all things, and she introduced it so successfully
into our daily life that it passed rapidly. Reading, work, play, and
walking filled up every moment. My parents took pleasure in furnishing
refreshment to the harvesters during their weary labour, in
sympathizing with their troubles, and in helping them by kindnesses. In
spite of the position in which the Revolution placed my father, and the
natural repugnance which he declared he felt for those who were engaged
in it, he gave volunteers the means of paying their way. My father had,
if I may so express myself, a passion for charity. His hands were
always ready to bestow, and whenever he received a sum of money he
would in a few hours declare, with satisfaction, that he had none of it
left.
He could keep nothing when he knew that others were suffering; hospital
visiting, aid rendered in private, all sorts of kind deeds and
comforting words,--in fact all good works were familiar to him; in
these alone he found happiness.
I have seen him refuse things which he might have considered necessary
for himself in order to add to the number of his charities. Yet my
father was born with a very unhappy disposition; the fortune, the
honours, and all the pleasures that his position secured him were
spoiled by the most miserable discontent. I frequently endeavoured,
firmly and respectfully, to show him that Heaven had bestowed every
gift upon him, and that nothing was wanting to his position. He
listened patiently to what I had to say; but I did not succeed in
convincing him. I worried myself and gained nothing. My mother, on the
contrary, often said to me that if she should return to society she
would not desire to change her manner of living in the least. She had a
charmingly happy disposition, and was never out of humour for a moment.
Several times during the Revolution it was proposed that I should
emigrate. One of my relatives sent for me at different periods, and
urged me to consent to do so. I always refused, having a great
repugnance to leaving my country, and desiring to watch over the old
age of my parents, who were already separated from some of their
children.
How great would have been my regret had I not remained with them up to
the moment when I was deprived of my liberty. I shall retain to my
latest breath the memory of their kindness, and the tenderest gratitude
for the good example and daily lessons in virtue which I received from
them.
But to return to the details of our family life at Mouchy. Every day I
was filled with wonder to see my father, who from his youth had been
accustomed to command (he had at the age of seven been given the
reversion of the governorship of Versailles, after his father's death),
obey without complaint the Revolutionary laws and all those who
executed them. Everything worried him under the old régime, yet during
the Reign of Terror he was calm because he was entirely resigned to the
will of God. Religion had regulated all the actions of his life. It was
really, for him, eternal happiness.
We suffered great anxiety during our sojourn at Mouchy. We were utterly
ignorant of the fate of my elder brother.[1] A price had been put on
his head and the notice of it posted at the corners of the streets of
Paris, and the newspapers had stated that he had been guillotined. One
afternoon, in the month of October (the 10th), we saw approaching us
quite a large body of troops composed of Hussars and National Guards
from different villages of the estate of Mouchy. It was preceded by a
commissioner of the Committee of General Security, named Landry, who
came to arrest my brother, believing that he was concealed in the
castle. We were surprised, but not frightened. It was absurd to suppose
that he would have chosen his own father's house for his hiding-place.
They searched everywhere under pretext of taking him and of seizing
arms, but they found nothing.
The official report made by the commissioner and the municipality
proves this.
The drawing up of the report and the search lasted from five o'clock in
the evening to eleven. Landry, called upon my father to denounce his
son, though he could not even know whether he was alive or not. He
answered with much dignity that such a demand was as harsh as it was
unusual, and that he would not accede to it; yet he asked Landry, to
take something to eat, and lent him one of his saddle horses to take
him back to his carriage. My father, who was naturally very fiery, knew
how to control himself when the importance of the occasion required it.
The officer of the Hussars who commanded the detachment was a very
excellent man. He told us that he was marching with his troop along the
highway from Beauvais, to Paris; that being required by the
commissioner of the Committee of General Security to accompany him to
Mouchy, he had been obliged to obey him, though with great repugnance,
and that he came with the kindest intentions possible. He gave me an
immediate proof of this; for he whispered in my ear that if my brother
was in the house he would advise me to hasten his escape, and that he
would be very glad of it. I have retained a feeling of real gratitude
for this officer, whose name I do not know; he was from the region of
Rouen.
The intense animosity which was shown in the attempt to capture my
brother increased our anxiety concerning our own fate. A report,
circulated by the newspapers, that he was in England somewhat allayed
our anxiety; and Monsieur Noël (my father's man of business, who has
given proof of the strongest attachment to our family) afterward
assured us of its truth. When he entered the drawing-room we were much
agitated, not knowing what news he was about to announce to us.
Various accounts have been given of the manner in which my brother
escaped the scaffold. Some have said that he escaped from prison by the
payment of a hundred thousand crowns to Manuel, then Procureur, of the
Commune; others, that he left Paris disguised as a wagoner, and had
been seen passing along several roads.
The truth is that he was never arrested, and that he found good and
brave men who were kind enough to hide him in their houses; that he
remained for several hours in the very top of the Louvre, stretched
upon a beam, at the very moment when the famous search of September,
1792, was made; and that afterward he escaped by means of a passport to
Granville, where Monsieur Mauduit, his son's old tutor, a naval
commissioner, assisted him to embark for Dover.
Monsieur Mauduit, was guillotined, but he made no mention of my
brother's affairs at his trial. My poor brother, having sailed from
port, thought he had escaped death. A storm compelled his vessel to
return to the port. He was obliged to hide himself in a place so close
that his suffering for want of air came near causing him to betray
himself. The search ended just in time to save his life, and he again
set sail. It is also false that he used large sums of money to get out
of his danger. He was not forced to spend more than two thousand
crowns. The knowledge that he was out of danger diminished our daily
increasing anxiety.
We had peaceful consciences, but the condition of affairs was becoming
very threatening, and the future very disturbing. We often talked it
over. I had the comfort of alleviating the situation of my dear
parents, and they showed great pleasure in receiving my attentions. I
concealed from them the terrible thoughts which constantly came to my
mind, and occupied myself in distracting them from those by which they
were sometimes agitated. We had not even the consolation of religious
worship, the curate of the parish having taken the oath to the civil
constitution exacted from the clergy; but we had had until our arrest
opportunity to hear Mass from a Catholic priest. I prayed to God with
all my heart for grace sufficient to endure all the terrible things
that I foresaw in our future experience. About the 15th of August,
1793, Collot d'Herbois, and Isoré were sent _en mission_ into the
Departments of the Aisne and the Oise. They immediately put into
execution there the decree regarding suspects, though this was not done
in Paris until the 18th of the following September. Consequently all
the priests and nobles were arrested. On the 23d of August the
municipality of Mouchy, notified us of the order to remain under arrest
in our residences until the houses of confinement were ready to receive
us. The mayor, who was a zealous patriot, disposed to enforce an
extreme rather than a moderate execution of the severe laws, told us
that this was a measure for the public safety,--a phrase much in use
during the Reign of Terror,--and that we need not be alarmed. We were
allowed a space of a hundred paces in the park to walk in, and the free
use of the courtyard, provided the grating was closed. We went there
sometimes to talk with the people. This way of living was only an
apprenticeship to the slavery that was impending. One quite singular
fact was that, the population of Mouchy, being small, our own
dependents acted National Guardsmen, and stood sentinel at our gates. I
suppose there were those among them who took pleasure in doing this;
for charity's sake I pass over their conduct in silence.
A very few of them, however, gave my parents strong proof of their
attachment. I will give a list of their names at the end of these
memoirs.
The municipality of Mouchy, sent a petition to the Department of the
Oise, asking to be allowed to keep us within its limits and on its own
responsibility. It referred in kindly terms to our wise and prudent
conduct, and to our submission to the laws. The Department of the Oise,
acceded to the petition relative to my parents; but they did not
consider me old enough, and it had been said at Beauvais, that they
wished to have a titled woman at Chantilly. Consequently a sergeant of
the national gendarmes came with four horsemen to take me to Beauvais.
I was at that moment sick in bed. The village surgeon, named Marais,
and my father's physician considered that I was in no condition to be
moved; but their attestations were not sufficient, and the sergeant
sent for the physician of the Department, who decided that it was
necessary for me to remain at Mouchy, and drew up an official paper in
regard to my condition. I remained about five weeks to recuperate,
during which time several petitions were sent to the Department in my
favour. Monsieur Legendre went to see Collot d'Herbois, and Isoré. But
all these efforts were fruitless.
I was so fully persuaded that I was going to be incarcerated that I
packed up all my belongings, and hoped that my punishment would suffice
for all. It cost me great suffering to leave my honoured parents to
whom I had the comfort of being useful.
I was a little better, and had been for a few days going down into the
courtyard to take the air, when I saw a man arrive dressed in the
uniform of the National Guard,--he was the commander of the Guard at
Beauvais, and his name was Poulain. I immediately suspected with what
mission he was charged, and arranged with him that my parents should
not know of the time of my departure. We agreed that at a signal which
he would give me I should under some pretext leave the drawing-room and
not return to it. It was important that my parents should not undergo
too much emotion. I went up to them quietly and told them of my arrest.
At first they bore the announcement bravely. I avoided saying anything
to them which could agitate them, and conversed with the officer upon
ordinary subjects. He searched neither my packages nor my papers. At
last the moment came when I was obliged to leave them.