On re-reading my memoirs I find a great many repetitions, particularly
in the notes where I have several times referred to Madame Latour.
When my honoured father left the prison of the Luxembourg to be removed
to the Conciergerie he said in a sorrowful voice to the prisoners who
accompanied him to the doorway: 'At sixteen I went into the trenches to
serve my king; at eighty I mount the scaffold in obedience to the will
of God.'
The 'Messager du Soir,' though an organ of the Reign of Terror,
inserted the following article in its columns on the 20th of May, 1795,
year III. of the Republic:--
'When the venerable Maréchal de Noailles-Mouchy, who was all his life
the father of the unfortunate, was led out with his good wife to be
beheaded, a wretch cried aloud: "Now the _'sans-culottes,'_ will enjoy
your bread and drink your wine." He answered with that serenity which a
pure conscience bestows upon an honest man: "God grant that you may
have bread for another year, and that you may not be compelled to
devour one another."'
DIFFERENT NOTES AND MEMORANDA RELATING TO MONSIEUR AND MADAME DE
MOUCHY, AND THEIR DAUGHTER-IN-LAW, LOUISE NOAILLES, WHO WAS CONDEMNED
AND EXECUTED THE 4TH THERMIDOR, 22D OF JULY, 1794.
The following was brought to me from the office by Robert Lindet, when
I went to the court sitting at the abbey of St. Germain to reclaim the
last will and testament of my father and mother, which was then
delivered up to me:
_National Convention._
Committee of General Security of the National Convention. Fifth day of
the third decade of the first month of the French Republic, one and
indivisible.
The Committee authorizes Citizen Braut to go to Mouchy, near Beauvais,
for the purpose of arresting the citizen Noailles-Mouchy, (whose son,
the former Prince de Poix, has emigrated), the wife of the said Mouchy,
and all other persons who are suspected; he shall conduct them to the
prison of La Grande Force, make all necessary search and requisitions
for papers, set seals, and bring away everything that seems suspicious.
After the seals have been affixed the citizen Braut, in the virtue of
these presents, shall cause the citizen Mouchy, to be arrested wherever
he shall be found, and also his wife and other suspected persons. He
can moreover call for the assistance of the constitutional authorities
and the armed force.
(Signed)