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25 - Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette by Henriette Campan · Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette

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Speaker 1: Volume two, Chapter nine of Memoirs of the Court of
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Speaker 1: Marie Antoinette by Madame Coppa. This LibriVox recording is in
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Speaker 1: the public domain. Nine. In the beginning of the year
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Speaker 1: seventeen ninety two, a worthy priest requested a private interview
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Speaker 1: with me. He had heard of the existence of a
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Speaker 1: new libel by Madame Lamute. He told me he had
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Speaker 1: observed in the people who came from London to get
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Speaker 1: it printed in Paris nothing more than a desire of gain,
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Speaker 1: and that they were ready to deliver him the manuscript
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Speaker 1: for a thousand louis if he could find any friend
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Speaker 1: of the Queen disposed to make that sacrifice for her peace.
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Speaker 1: That he had thought of me, and that if her
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Speaker 1: Majesty would give him the twenty four thousand francs, he
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Speaker 1: would deliver me the manuscript upon receiving them. I communicated
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Speaker 1: this proposal to the Queen, who rejected it and desired
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Speaker 1: me to answer that at the time when she had
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Speaker 1: powered to punish the hawkers of these libels, she deemed
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Speaker 1: them so atrocious and improbable that she despised the means
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Speaker 1: of arresting their progress. That if she were to be
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Speaker 1: imprudent and weak enough to buy a single one of them.
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Speaker 1: The Jacobey might possibly discover the circumstance through their espionage
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Speaker 1: that were this libel bought up, it would be printed, nevertheless,
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Speaker 1: and would be much more dangerous when they apprized the
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Speaker 1: public of the means she had used to suppress it.
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Speaker 1: The Baron Doubier, gentleman in ordinary to the King, and
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Speaker 1: my particular friend, had a strong memory and a plain
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Speaker 1: and easy way of communicating the substance of the discussions,
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Speaker 1: debates and decrees of the National Assembly. I went daily
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Speaker 1: to the Queen's apartments to repeat all this to the King,
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Speaker 1: who used to say, on seeing me, ah, here is
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Speaker 1: the Postillon percelais the name of the newspaper at the time.
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Speaker 1: Monsieur d'ubier came one day and said to me, the
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Speaker 1: Assembly has been much occupied with an information laid by
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Speaker 1: the workmen of the Sefre Manufactory. They brought to the
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Speaker 1: President's office a bundle of pamphlets, which they said where
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Speaker 1: the life of Marie Antoinette. The director of the manufactory
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Speaker 1: was ordered up to the bar and declared he had
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Speaker 1: received orders to burn the printed sheets in question in
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Speaker 1: the furnaces used for baking his china. While I was
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Speaker 1: relating this business to the Queen, the King gulled and
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Speaker 1: held his head down over his plate. The Queen said
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Speaker 1: to him, do you know anything about this, sir? The
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Speaker 1: King made no answer. Madame Dizabet requested him to explain
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Speaker 1: what all this meant. Still silent, I withdrew hastily. A
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Speaker 1: few minutes afterwards, the Queen came to my room and
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Speaker 1: informed me that the King, out of regard for her,
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Speaker 1: had purchased the whole edition struck off from the manuscript
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Speaker 1: which I had proposed to her, and that Monsieur de
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Speaker 1: la Pote had not been able to devise any more
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Speaker 1: secret way of destroying the whole of the work than
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Speaker 1: that of having it burnt at Sevre among two hundred workmen,
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Speaker 1: one hundred and eighty of whom must in all probability
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Speaker 1: be Jaccobe. She told me she had concealed her vexation
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Speaker 1: from the King, that he was in consternation, and that
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Speaker 1: she should say nothing, since his affection and his good
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Speaker 1: intentions towards her had been the cause of the accident.
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Speaker 1: Some time afterwards, the Assembly received a denunciation against Monsieur
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Speaker 1: de Montmory, the ex Minister, was accused of having neglected
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Speaker 1: forty despatches from Monsieur Janet the Charles d'a faire from
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Speaker 1: France in Russia, without having even unsealed them, because Monsieururey
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Speaker 1: acted on constitutional principles. Monsieur de Montmorrey appeared at the
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Speaker 1: bar to answer this accusation. Whatever distress I might feel
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Speaker 1: at the moment in obeying the order I had received
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Speaker 1: from the King to go and give him an account
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Speaker 1: of the sitting, I thought I ought not to fail
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Speaker 1: in doing so. But instead of giving my brother his
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Speaker 1: family name, I merely said, your Majesty's Charles da fire
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Speaker 1: at Saint Petersburg. The King did me the favor to
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Speaker 1: say that he observed a reserve in my account, of
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Speaker 1: which he approved. The Queen condescended to add a few
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Speaker 1: obliging remarks to those of the King, by which I
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Speaker 1: was already so much affected that I withdrew in great emotion. However,
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Speaker 1: my office of journalists gave me, in this instance so
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Speaker 1: much pain that I took an opportunity, when the King
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Speaker 1: was expressing his satisfaction to me that the manner in
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Speaker 1: which I gave him this daily account to tell him
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Speaker 1: that its merits belonged holly to Monsieur Dobier, who attended
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Speaker 1: all the sittings, to give me a summary of them.
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Speaker 1: And I ventured to request the King would suffer that
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Speaker 1: excellent man to come and give him an account of
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Speaker 1: the sittings himself. I went so far as to add that,
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Speaker 1: at a time when the King's feelings were wounded by
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Speaker 1: the conduct of so many faithless subjects, it appeared to
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Speaker 1: me that men warmly devoted as Monsieur Doubier was deserved
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Speaker 1: the honor of being about his majesty. I assured the
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Speaker 1: King that if he would permit it, that gentlemen might
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Speaker 1: proceed to the Queen's apartments through mine unseen. The King
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Speaker 1: consented to the arrangement. Thenceforward, Monsieur Dobier was admitted into
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Speaker 1: the interior and gave the King repeated proofs of zeal
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Speaker 1: and attachment with much intelligence. The Quirie of Saint Gristache
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Speaker 1: ceased to be the Queen's confessor when he took the
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Speaker 1: constitutional oath. I do not remember the name of the
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Speaker 1: ecclesiastic who succeeded him in that office. I only know
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Speaker 1: that he was conducted into her apartments with the greatest mystery.
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Speaker 1: Their majesties did not perform their Easter devotions in public,
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Speaker 1: because they could neither declare for the constitutional clergy nor
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Speaker 1: act so as to show that they were against them.
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Speaker 1: The Queen did perform her Easter devotions in seventeen ninety two,
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Speaker 1: but she went to the chapel attended only by myself.
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Speaker 1: She desired me beforehand to request one of my relations,
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Speaker 1: who was her chaplain, to perform a mass for her.
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Speaker 1: At five o'clock in the morning, it was still dark.
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Speaker 1: She gave me her arm and I lighted her with
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Speaker 1: a taper. I left her entirely alone at the chapel door.
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Speaker 1: She did not return to her room until the dawn
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Speaker 1: of day. This piece of duty, formed with so much mystery,
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Speaker 1: could not tend to edify the public, but demonstrates the
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Speaker 1: Queen's religious principles. Dangers increased daily. The Assembly was strengthened
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Speaker 1: in the eyes of the people by the hostilities of
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Speaker 1: the foreign armies and the army of the princes. The
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Speaker 1: communication with the latter party became more active. The Queen
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Speaker 1: wrote almost every day. Monsieur de Gauglas possessed her confidence
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Speaker 1: for all correspondence with the foreign parties, and I was
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Speaker 1: obliged to have him in my apartments. The Queen asked
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Speaker 1: for him very frequently, and at times which she could
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Speaker 1: not previously appoint. All parties were exerting themselves, either to
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Speaker 1: ruin or to save the king. One day I found
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Speaker 1: the Queen extremely agitated. She told me she no longer
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Speaker 1: knew whereabouts she was, that the leaders of the Jaccubae
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Speaker 1: offered themselves to her through the medium of du Mourriier,
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Speaker 1: or that du Mourier, abandoning the Jacoba, had come and
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Speaker 1: offered himself to her, that she had granted him an audience,
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Speaker 1: that when alone with her, he had thrown himself at
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Speaker 1: her feet and told her that he had drawn the
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Speaker 1: bonneirouge over his head to the very ears, but that
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Speaker 1: he neither was nor could be, a Jacobin. That the
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Speaker 1: revolution had been suffered to extend even to that rabble
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Speaker 1: of destroyers, who, thinking of nothing but pillage, were ripe
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Speaker 1: for anything, and might furnish the Assembly with a formidable army,
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Speaker 1: ready to undermine the remains of a throne already too
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Speaker 1: much shaken. Whilst speaking with the utmost ardor. He seized
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Speaker 1: the Queen's hand and kissed it with transport, exclaiming, suffer
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Speaker 1: yourself to be saved. The Queen told me that the
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Speaker 1: protestations of a traitor were not to be relied on,
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Speaker 1: that the whole of his conduct was so well known
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Speaker 1: that undoubtedly the wisest course was not to trust it.
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Speaker 1: That Moreover, the princes particularly recommended that no confidence should
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Speaker 1: be placed in any proposition emanating from within the kingdom,
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Speaker 1: that the force without became imposing, and that it was
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Speaker 1: better to rely upon their success and upon the protection
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Speaker 1: due from Heaven to a sovereign so virtuous as Louis says,
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Speaker 1: and to so just a cause. The Constitutionals, on their part,
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Speaker 1: saw that there had been nothing more than a mere
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Speaker 1: pretense of listening to them. Bernave's last advice was as
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Speaker 1: to the means of continuing a few weeks longer the
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Speaker 1: Constitutional Guard, which had been denounced to the Assembly and
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Speaker 1: was to be disbanded. The denunciation against the Constitutional Guard
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Speaker 1: affected only its staff and the Duc de Brissac. Bernave
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Speaker 1: wrote to the Queen that the staff of the Guard
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Speaker 1: was already attacked, that the Assembly was about to pass
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Speaker 1: a decree to reduce it, and he entreated her to
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Speaker 1: prevail on the King the very instant the decree should
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Speaker 1: appear to form the stash afresh, and to make it
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Speaker 1: up of persons whose names he sent her. I did
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Speaker 1: not see the list, but Bernave said that all who
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Speaker 1: were set down in it passed for decided Jacobay, but
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Speaker 1: were not so in fact, that they, as well as himself,
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Speaker 1: were in despair at seeing the monarchical government, attacked that
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Speaker 1: they had learned to dissemble their sentiments, and that it
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Speaker 1: would be at least a fortnight before the Assembly could
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Speaker 1: know them well, and as certainly before it could succeed
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Speaker 1: in making them unpopular. That it would be necessary to
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Speaker 1: take advantage of that short space of time to get
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Speaker 1: away from Paris, and that immediately after the nomination of
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Speaker 1: those whom he pointed out, the Queen was of opinion
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Speaker 1: that she ought not to yield to this advice. The
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Speaker 1: Duc de Brisac was sent to allons, and the guard
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Speaker 1: was reduced. Belnave, seeing that the Queen did not follow
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Speaker 1: his counsel in anything, and convinced that she placed all
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Speaker 1: her reliance on assistance from abroad, determined to quit Paris.
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Speaker 1: He obtained a last audience. Your misfortunes, Madame said he,
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Speaker 1: and those which I anticipate for France, determined me to
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Speaker 1: sacrifice myself to serve you. I see that my advice
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Speaker 1: does not agree with the views of your majesties. I augur,
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Speaker 1: but little advantage from the plan you are induced to pursue.
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Speaker 1: You are too remote from your succors. You will be
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Speaker 1: lost before they reach you. Most ardently do I wish
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Speaker 1: I may be mistaken in so lamentable a prediction, But
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Speaker 1: I am sure to pay my head for the interest
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Speaker 1: your misfortunes have raised in me and the services I
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Speaker 1: have sought to render you. I request for my sole
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Speaker 1: reward the honor of kissing your hand. The Queen, her
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Speaker 1: eyes suffused with tears, granted him that favor and remained
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Speaker 1: impressed with the most favorable idea of this Deputy's elevated
10:34
Speaker 1: sentiments made benye Zebet participated in this opinion, and the
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Speaker 1: two princesses frequently spoke of Balnave. She also received monsieur
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Speaker 1: dupas several times, but with less mystery her connection with
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Speaker 1: the constitutional deputies transpired. Alexandre de la Met was the
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Speaker 1: only one of the three who survived the vengeance of
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Speaker 1: the Jacobe. Note by the editor, after what we have
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Speaker 1: just stread respecting Balnave, after his well known labours in
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Speaker 1: the cause of liberty, his efforts to support the throne,
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Speaker 1: his talents, and his eloquence, the latter circumstances of his
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Speaker 1: life possess a high degree of interest. The Biograffy de
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Speaker 1: Boussell relates them in these words, when, after the revolution
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Speaker 1: of the tenth of August seventeen ninety two, the iron
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Speaker 1: closet of the Castle of the Chuillery had been discovered
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Speaker 1: and forced a considerable number of documents which had been
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Speaker 1: imprudently preserved in it, and which were communicated to the
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Speaker 1: Convention by Gallille, who had just succeeded d'Antin in the
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Speaker 1: administration of justice, proved that the court had established and
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Speaker 1: maintained during the latter months of the session of the
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Speaker 1: Constituent Assembly, and from the time of the meeting of
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Speaker 1: the Legislative Assembly, constant communication with the most powerful members
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Speaker 1: of those assemblies. Balnave being accused on the fifteenth of
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Speaker 1: August seventeen ninety two, with Alexandre de la Mete, ex
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Speaker 1: member of the Constituent Assembly. Viertrand de Molville, Dupart de Tertre,
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Speaker 1: de Portallier, Montmory and Telbill, ex ministers of the Marine,
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Speaker 1: of Justice, of War, of foreign affairs and of public contributions,
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Speaker 1: was arrested at Grenauble and shut up in the prisence
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Speaker 1: of that town. He remained there fifteen months, and his
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Speaker 1: friends began to indulge the hope that he would be forgotten,
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Speaker 1: when an order arrived that he should be removed to Paris.
12:24
Speaker 1: At first he was imprisoned in the Abbeyille, but transferred
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Speaker 1: a few days afterwards to the Conciergerie, and almost immediately
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Speaker 1: taken before the revolutionary Tribunal. He appeared there with wonderful firmness,
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Speaker 1: summed up the services he had rendered to the cause
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Speaker 1: of liberty with his usual eloquence, and without losing anything
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Speaker 1: of the dignity of misfortune, and made such an impression
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Speaker 1: upon the numerous auditory present at the debates, that, although
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Speaker 1: accustomed to behold only conspirators worthy of death, in all
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Speaker 1: those who appeared before the tribunal, they themselves considered his
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Speaker 1: acquittal certain. The decree of death was read amidst the
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Speaker 1: deepest silence, but Bernave's firmness was immovable. When he left
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Speaker 1: the court, he cast upon the judges, the jurors, and
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Speaker 1: the public looks expressive of contempt and indignation. He was
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Speaker 1: led to his fate with the respected du Par de Tetre,
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Speaker 1: one of the last ministers of Louisaiy's. When he had
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Speaker 1: ascended the scaffold, Bernave stamped, raised his eyes to heaven
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Speaker 1: and said, this, then, is the reward of all that
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Speaker 1: I have done for liberty. He fell on the twenty
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Speaker 1: ninth of October seventeen ninety three, in the thirty second
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Speaker 1: year of his age. His bust is now in the
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Speaker 1: grenab Le Museum. The consular government placed his statue next
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Speaker 1: to that of Verneu on the great staircase of the
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Speaker 1: Senatorial Palace. And note the National Guard, which succeeded the
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Speaker 1: King's Guard, having occupied the gates of the Tuilleris. All
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Speaker 1: who came to see the queen were incessantly insulted with impunity.
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Speaker 1: The most menacing cries were uttered aloud even in the
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Speaker 1: They called for the destruction of the throne and the
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Speaker 1: murder of the sovereign. These insults assumed the character of
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Speaker 1: the very lowest of the mob. The Queen, one day,
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Speaker 1: hearing roars of laughter under her windows, desired me to
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Speaker 1: see what it was about. I saw a man almost undressed,
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Speaker 1: turning his back towards her apartments. My astonishment and indignation
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Speaker 1: were apparent. The Queen rose to come forward. I held
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Speaker 1: her back, telling her it was a very gross insult
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Speaker 1: offered by one of the rabble. About this time the
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Speaker 1: king fell into a state of despondence, which amounted almost
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Speaker 1: to physical helplessness. He passed ten successive days without uttering
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Speaker 1: a single word, even in the bosom of his family,
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Speaker 1: except indeed in playing at backgammon, which he played after
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Speaker 1: his dinner with Madame Lezabete, when he was obliged to
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Speaker 1: pronounce the words belonging to that game. The Queen roused
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Speaker 1: him from this state so fatal at a critical period
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Speaker 1: when every minute increased the miss necessity for action, by
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Speaker 1: throwing herself at his feet, urging every idea calculated to
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Speaker 1: excite alarm, and employing every affectionate expression. She represented also
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Speaker 1: what he owed to his family, and went so far
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Speaker 1: as to tell him that if they were doomed to fall,
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Speaker 1: they ought to fall honorably and not to wait to
15:19
Speaker 1: be both smothered upon the floor of their apartment. About
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Speaker 1: the fifteenth of June, the King refused his sanction to
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Speaker 1: the two decrees ordaining the deportation of priests and the
15:31
Speaker 1: formation of a camp of twenty thousand men under the
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Speaker 1: walls of Paris. He wished himself to sanction them, and
15:38
Speaker 1: said that the general insurrection only waited for a pretense
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Speaker 1: to burst forth. The Queen insisted upon the veto and
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Speaker 1: reproached herself bitterly. When this last act of the constitutional
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Speaker 1: authority had occasioned the scenes of the twentieth of June.
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Speaker 1: A few days previously, above twenty thousand men had gone
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Speaker 1: to the Commune to announce that on the twentieth they
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Speaker 1: would play and the tree of liberty at the door
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Speaker 1: of the National Assembly and present a petition to the
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Speaker 1: King respecting the veto which he had placed upon the
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Speaker 1: decree for the deportation of the priests. This dreadful army
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Speaker 1: crossed the garden of the Tuileris and marched under the
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Speaker 1: Queen's windows. It consisted of people who called themselves the
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Speaker 1: citizens of the full bour Saint Arotoine and Saint Massaux,
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Speaker 1: covered as they were with filthy clothes. They all bore
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Speaker 1: the most terrifying appearance, and the steam from them infected
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Speaker 1: the air. People asked each other whence such an army
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Speaker 1: could come. Nothing so disgusting had ever before appeared in Paris.
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Speaker 1: On the twentieth of June, this mob thronged about the
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Speaker 1: tuillery in still greater numbers, armed with pikes, hatchets, and
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Speaker 1: murderous instruments of all kinds, decorated with ribbons of the
16:48
Speaker 1: national colors, shouting the nation forever down with the veto.
16:54
Speaker 1: The king was without guards. Part of these demoniacs rushed
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Speaker 1: up to his apartment. The door was about to be
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Speaker 1: forced in when the king commanded that it should be opened.
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Speaker 1: Monsieur de Bougueville, der Ville de Perville, d'u bill, dead
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Speaker 1: clerk Jenti, and other courageous men, who were in the
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Speaker 1: apartment of Monsieur de Steptaunille, the King's first Valet de Chambre,
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Speaker 1: instantly ran to his majesty's apartment. Monsieur de Bougueerville, seeing
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Speaker 1: the torrent furiously advancing, cried out, put the king in
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Speaker 1: the recess of the window and place benches before him.
17:29
Speaker 1: Six royalist grenadiers of the Battalion of the Filles Saint Omins,
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Speaker 1: made their way by an inner staircase and ranged themselves
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Speaker 1: before the benches. The order given by Monsieur de Bougueville
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Speaker 1: saved the king from the blades of the assassins, among
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Speaker 1: whom was a poll named Lazzuski, who was to strike
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Speaker 1: the first blow. The king's brave defender said, sire, fear nothing.
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Speaker 1: The King's reply is well known. Put your hand upon
17:55
Speaker 1: my heart and you will perceive whether I am afraid
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Speaker 1: or not. Monsieur Vau, commandant of battalion, warded off a
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Speaker 1: blow aimed by a wretch against the King's person. A
18:05
Speaker 1: grenadier of the Filles Saint Omains carried a sword thrust
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Speaker 1: made in the same direction. Madame Enhizabet ran to her
18:11
Speaker 1: brother's apartments. When she reached his room door, she heard
18:15
Speaker 1: loud threats of death against the queen. They called for
18:18
Speaker 1: the head of the Austrian Ah. Let them think I
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Speaker 1: am the queen, said, She to those around her that
18:26
Speaker 1: she may have time to escape. The queen could not
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Speaker 1: join the king. She was in the council chamber, where
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Speaker 1: the idea had also been suggested of placing her behind
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Speaker 1: the great table to protect her as much as possible
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Speaker 1: against the approach of the barbarians, preserving a noble and
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Speaker 1: becoming demeanor in this dreadful situation. She held the Dauphin
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Speaker 1: before her, seated upon the table. Madame was at her side,
18:50
Speaker 1: The Princess de Lamballe, the Princess de Tarante, Madame de
18:54
Speaker 1: la roche Emmon, Madame de Tourzelle, and Madame de Macud
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Speaker 1: surrounded her. She had fixed the tricolored cockade which one
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Speaker 1: of the National Guard had given her upon her head.
19:05
Speaker 1: The poor little Dauphin was, as well as the king,
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Speaker 1: shrouded in an enormous red cap. The Horde passed in
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Speaker 1: files before the table. The sort of standards which they
19:16
Speaker 1: carried were symbols of the most atrocious barbarity. There was
19:20
Speaker 1: one representing a gibbet to which a dirty doll was suspended.
19:24
Speaker 1: The words Marie antoinette la lentene were written beneath it.
19:28
Speaker 1: Another was a board to which a bullock's heart was fastened,
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Speaker 1: with an inscription round it heart of Louisay's. And then
19:35
Speaker 1: a third showed the horns of an ox with a
19:37
Speaker 1: n oob scene legend. One of the most furious Jacobain
19:42
Speaker 1: women who marched with these wretches stopped to give vent
19:45
Speaker 1: to a thousand imprecations against the Queen. Her majesty asked
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Speaker 1: her whether she had ever seen her. She replied that
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Speaker 1: she had not. Whether she had done her any personal wrong,
19:56
Speaker 1: her answer was the same, but she added it it
20:00
Speaker 1: is you who have caused the misery of the nation.
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Speaker 1: You have been told, so, answered the Queen. You are
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Speaker 1: deceived as the wife of the King of France and
20:10
Speaker 1: mother of the Dauphain. I am a frenchwoman. I shall
20:15
Speaker 1: never see my own country again. I can be happy
20:18
Speaker 1: or unhappy only in France. I was happy when you
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Speaker 1: loved me. The fury began to weep, asked her pardon,
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Speaker 1: and said it was because I did not know you.
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Speaker 1: I see that you are good. Sainterire, the Monarch of
20:34
Speaker 1: the Full Bull made his subjects file off as quickly
20:36
Speaker 1: as he could, and it was thought at the time
20:39
Speaker 1: that he was ignorant of the object of this insurrection,
20:42
Speaker 1: which was the murder of the royal family. However, it
20:46
Speaker 1: was eight o'clock in the evening before the palace was
20:48
Speaker 1: completely cleared. Twelve deputies, impelled by their attachment to the
20:53
Speaker 1: king's person, came and ranged themselves near him at the
20:56
Speaker 1: very commencement of the insurrection, but the deputy from the
21:00
Speaker 1: Assembly did not reach the juiligy until six in the evening.
21:04
Speaker 1: All the doors of the apartments were broken. The queen
21:08
Speaker 1: pointed out to the deputies the state of the king's
21:10
Speaker 1: palace and the disgraceful manner in which his asylum had
21:13
Speaker 1: been violated under the very eyes of the assembly. She
21:17
Speaker 1: saw that Merle de Tienville was so much affected as
21:19
Speaker 1: to shed tears while she spoke. You weep, Monsieur Merlay,
21:24
Speaker 1: said she to him, at seeing the king and his
21:26
Speaker 1: family so cruelly treated by a people whom he always
21:29
Speaker 1: wished to make happy. True Madame replied, malay, I weep
21:35
Speaker 1: for the misfortunes of a beautiful and feeling woman, the
21:39
Speaker 1: mother of a family. But do not mistake not one
21:43
Speaker 1: of my tears falls for either king or queen. I
21:47
Speaker 1: hate kings and queens. It is the only feeling that
21:51
Speaker 1: they inspire me with. It is my religion. The queen
21:56
Speaker 1: could not understand this madness, and saw all that was
22:00
Speaker 1: to be apprehended from persons who were attacked with it.
22:03
Speaker 1: All hope was gone, and nothing was thought of but succor.
22:07
Speaker 1: From abroad. The Queen entreated her family and the King's brothers.
22:12
Speaker 1: Her letters probably became more pressing, and expressed her apprehensions
22:16
Speaker 1: upon the tardiness of relief. Her Majesty read me one
22:20
Speaker 1: to herself from the Archduchess Christina Gouveiled, not of the
22:23
Speaker 1: low countries. She reproached her for some of her expressions,
22:27
Speaker 1: and told her that those out of France were at
22:29
Speaker 1: least as much alarmed as herself at the King's situation
22:32
Speaker 1: and her own, but that the manner of attempting to
22:35
Speaker 1: assist her might either save her or endanger her safety,
22:38
Speaker 1: and that the members of the coalition were bound to
22:41
Speaker 1: act prudently, intrusted as they were, with interest so dear
22:44
Speaker 1: to them. The fourteenth of July, fixed by the Constitution
22:49
Speaker 1: as the anniversary of the independence of the nation, drew near.
22:53
Speaker 1: The King and Queen were compelled to make their appearance
22:55
Speaker 1: on the occasion. Aware that the plot of the twentieth
22:58
Speaker 1: of June had their assassin nation for its object, they
23:01
Speaker 1: had no doubt but that their death was determined on
23:04
Speaker 1: for the day of this national festival. The Queen was recommended,
23:08
Speaker 1: in order to give the king's friends time to defend
23:10
Speaker 1: him if the attack should be made, to guard him
23:13
Speaker 1: against the first stroke of a dagger by making him
23:15
Speaker 1: wear a breastplate. I was directed to get one made
23:19
Speaker 1: in my apartments. It was composed of fifteen folds of
23:22
Speaker 1: Italian tafty and formed into an under waistcoat and a
23:25
Speaker 1: white belt. This breastplate was tried. It resisted all thrusts
23:30
Speaker 1: of the dagger, and several balls fired for the purpose
23:33
Speaker 1: were turned aside by it. When it was completed. The
23:37
Speaker 1: difficulty was to let the King try it on without
23:39
Speaker 1: running the risk of being surprised. I wore the immense
23:43
Speaker 1: heavy waistcoat as an under petticoat for three days without
23:46
Speaker 1: being able to find the favorable moment. At length, the
23:50
Speaker 1: King found an opportunity one morning to pull off his
23:53
Speaker 1: coat in the Queen's chamber and try on the breastplate.
23:57
Speaker 1: Note by Madame Campan Monsieur Gentie, the first valet of
24:01
Speaker 1: the wardrobe, assisted me to try on this under waistcoat,
24:04
Speaker 1: which the King wore on the fourteenth July seventeen ninety two.
24:08
Speaker 1: But Monsieur de Pellys had a second maid a few
24:10
Speaker 1: days before the tenth of August, and note the queen
24:15
Speaker 1: was in bed. The King pulled me gently by the
24:18
Speaker 1: gown and drew me as far as he could from
24:20
Speaker 1: the queen's bed, and said to me, in a very
24:22
Speaker 1: low tone of voice, it is to satisfy her that
24:25
Speaker 1: I submit to this inconvenience. They will not assassinate me.
24:30
Speaker 1: Their scheme is changed. They will put me to death
24:33
Speaker 1: another way. The queen heard the king whispering to me,
24:37
Speaker 1: and when he was gone out, she asked me what
24:39
Speaker 1: he had said. I hesitated to answer. She insisted that
24:44
Speaker 1: I should, saying that nothing must be concealed from her,
24:47
Speaker 1: and that she was resigned upon every point. When she
24:51
Speaker 1: was informed of the king's remark, she told me she
24:53
Speaker 1: had guessed it that he had long since observed to
24:56
Speaker 1: her that all which was going forward in France was
24:59
Speaker 1: an imitation of the revolution in England in the time
25:01
Speaker 1: of Charles the First, and that he was incessantly reading
25:04
Speaker 1: the history of that unfortunate monarch in order that he
25:07
Speaker 1: might act better than Charles had done at a similar crisis.
25:11
Speaker 1: I begin to be fearful of the king's being brought
25:13
Speaker 1: to trial, continued the queen, as to me, I am
25:17
Speaker 1: a foreigner. They will assassinate me. What will become of
25:21
Speaker 1: my poor children? These sad ejaculations were followed by a
25:26
Speaker 1: torrent of tears. I wished to give her an anti spasmodic.
25:32
Speaker 1: She refused it, saying that it was only for women
25:34
Speaker 1: who were happy to feel nervous, that the cruel situation
25:37
Speaker 1: to which she was reduced rendered these succors useless. In fact,
25:42
Speaker 1: the queen, who during her better times was frequently attacked
25:46
Speaker 1: by hysterical disorders, enjoyed a more uniform state of health
25:49
Speaker 1: when all the faculties of her soul were called forth
25:52
Speaker 1: to support her physical strength. I had prepared a corset
25:56
Speaker 1: for her for the same purpose as the king's under waistcoat,
25:59
Speaker 1: without her nons, but she would not make use of it.
26:02
Speaker 1: All my entreaties, all my tears, were in vain. If
26:07
Speaker 1: the rebels assassinate me, she replied, it will be a
26:10
Speaker 1: fortunate event for me. They will deliver me from a
26:13
Speaker 1: most painful existence. A few days after the king had
26:18
Speaker 1: tried on his breastplate, I met him upon a back staircase.
26:22
Speaker 1: I drew back to let him pass. He stopped, and
26:26
Speaker 1: he took my hand. I wished to kiss his. He
26:29
Speaker 1: would not suffer it, but drew me towards him by
26:32
Speaker 1: the hand, and kissed both my cheeks without saying a
26:35
Speaker 1: single word. This silent mark of his approbation so confused
26:40
Speaker 1: me that I should afterwards have confounded the remembrance of
26:43
Speaker 1: it with the dreams which frequently brought my unhappy sovereigns
26:47
Speaker 1: again before me, if my sisters had not reminded me
26:50
Speaker 1: that I had communicated this proof of the King's goodness
26:53
Speaker 1: to them shortly after he had given it. The fear
26:56
Speaker 1: of another attack upon the juilery occasioned the most Scrupulus's searches.
27:00
Speaker 1: Among the King's papers, I burned almost all those belonging
27:04
Speaker 1: to the Queen. She put her family letters, a great
27:08
Speaker 1: deal of correspondence, which she thought it necessary to preserve
27:11
Speaker 1: for the history of the era of the Revolution, and
27:13
Speaker 1: particularly Bernave's letters at her answers, of which she had
27:16
Speaker 1: preserved copies into a portfolio which she entrusted to Monsieur
27:20
Speaker 1: de Gique three asterisks. That gentleman was unable to save
27:24
Speaker 1: this deposit, and it was burnt The Queen left a
27:28
Speaker 1: few papers in her secretary. Among them was a paper
27:32
Speaker 1: of instructions to Madame de Toozelle respecting the dispositions of
27:35
Speaker 1: her children and the characters and abilities of the governesses
27:39
Speaker 1: under that lady's orders. This paper, which the Queen drew
27:43
Speaker 1: up at the time of Madame de Torsell's appointment, with
27:45
Speaker 1: several letters from Maria Teresa, filled with the best advice
27:49
Speaker 1: and the most laudable instructions, were printed after the tenth
27:53
Speaker 1: of August by order of the Assembly. In the collection
27:55
Speaker 1: of all the pieces found in the secretaries of the
27:58
Speaker 1: King and Queen. Her Majesty had still, without reckoning, the
28:02
Speaker 1: current money of the month one hundred and forty thousand
28:04
Speaker 1: francs in gold. She was desirous of depositing the whole
28:09
Speaker 1: of it with me, but I advised her to retain
28:11
Speaker 1: fifteen hundred louis as a sum of rather considerable amount
28:14
Speaker 1: might the next moment be very necessary for her. The
28:19
Speaker 1: King had an immense quantity of papers, and unfortunately conceived
28:22
Speaker 1: the idea of privately making a place of concealment in
28:25
Speaker 1: an inner corridor of his apartments, with the assistance of
28:28
Speaker 1: a locksmith who had worked with him above ten years.
28:32
Speaker 1: The place of concealment, but for the man's information, would
28:35
Speaker 1: have been long undiscovered. The wall in which it was
28:38
Speaker 1: made was painted to imitate large stones, and the opening
28:42
Speaker 1: was entirely concealed among the brown grooves which formed the
28:45
Speaker 1: shaded part of these painted stones. But even before this
28:49
Speaker 1: locksmith had denounced what was afterwards called the iron closet
28:53
Speaker 1: to the assembly, the Queen was aware that he had
28:55
Speaker 1: talked of it to some of his friends, and that
28:58
Speaker 1: this man, in whom the King from long habit placed
29:01
Speaker 1: too much confidence, was a Jaccobay. She warned the King
29:05
Speaker 1: of it, and prevailed on him to fill a very
29:08
Speaker 1: large portfolio with all the papers he was most interested
29:11
Speaker 1: in preserving and entrusted to me. She entreated him in
29:14
Speaker 1: my presence to leave nothing in this closet, and the King,
29:18
Speaker 1: in order to quiet her, told her that he had
29:20
Speaker 1: left nothing there. I would have taken the portfolio and
29:24
Speaker 1: carried it to my apartment, but it was too heavy
29:27
Speaker 1: for me to lift. The King said he would carry
29:30
Speaker 1: it himself. I went before to open the doors to him.
29:35
Speaker 1: When he placed the portfolio in my inner closet, he
29:37
Speaker 1: merely said the Queen will tell you what it contains.
29:42
Speaker 1: Upon my return to the Queen, I put the question
29:44
Speaker 1: to her, deeming from what the King had said that
29:47
Speaker 1: it was necessary I should know they are. The Queen
29:51
Speaker 1: answered me, such documents as would be most dangerous to
29:54
Speaker 1: the King, should they go so far as to proceed
29:56
Speaker 1: to a trial against him. But what he most wishes
30:00
Speaker 1: me to tell you is no doubt that the portfolio
30:03
Speaker 1: contains a prosevelbal of a cabinet council in which the
30:06
Speaker 1: King gave his opinion against war. He had it signed
30:09
Speaker 1: by all the ministers, and in case of a proceeding,
30:12
Speaker 1: he trusts that this document will be very useful to him.
30:16
Speaker 1: I asked the Queen to whom she thought I ought
30:18
Speaker 1: to commit the portfolio to whom you please, answered she,
30:23
Speaker 1: You alone are answerable for it. Do not quit the
30:26
Speaker 1: palace even during your vacation months. There may be circumstances
30:31
Speaker 1: under which it would be very desirable that we should
30:33
Speaker 1: be able to have it instantly. At this period, Monsieur
30:37
Speaker 1: de Lafayette, who had probably given up the idea of
30:40
Speaker 1: establishing a republic in France similar to that of the
30:43
Speaker 1: United States, and was desirous to support the First Constitution,
30:47
Speaker 1: which he had sworn to defend, quitted his army and
30:49
Speaker 1: came to the Assembly for the purpose of supporting, by
30:52
Speaker 1: his presence and by an energetic speech a petition signed
30:56
Speaker 1: by twenty thousand citizens against the late violation of the
30:59
Speaker 1: residence of the King, King and his family. The general
31:02
Speaker 1: found the Constitutional party powerless and saw that he himself
31:07
Speaker 1: had lost his popularity. The Assembly disapproved of the step
31:10
Speaker 1: he had taken, The King, for whom it was taken,
31:14
Speaker 1: showed no satisfaction at it, and he saw himself compelled
31:17
Speaker 1: to return to his army as quickly as he could.
31:20
Speaker 1: He thought he could rely on the National Guard. But
31:23
Speaker 1: on the day of his arrival, those officers who were
31:26
Speaker 1: in the King's interest inquired of his majesty whether they
31:29
Speaker 1: were to forward the views of General Lafayette by joining
31:32
Speaker 1: him in such measures as he should pursue during his
31:34
Speaker 1: stay at Paris. The King enjoined them not to do so.
31:39
Speaker 1: From this answer, Monsieur de Lafayette perceived that he was
31:42
Speaker 1: abandoned by the remainder of his party in the Paris Guard.
31:47
Speaker 1: Upon his arrival, a plan was presented to the Queen
31:50
Speaker 1: in which it was proposed by a junction between Lafayette's
31:53
Speaker 1: army and the King's party to rescue the royal family
31:56
Speaker 1: and convey them to Ruin. I did not learn the
32:00
Speaker 1: particulars of this plan. The Queen only said to me
32:03
Speaker 1: upon the subject that Monsieur de Lafayette was offered to
32:07
Speaker 1: them as a resource, but that it would be better
32:09
Speaker 1: for them to perish than to owe their safety to
32:12
Speaker 1: the man who had done them the most mischief, or
32:14
Speaker 1: to place themselves under the necessity of treating with him.
32:18
Speaker 1: I passed the whole month of July without going to bed.
32:22
Speaker 1: I was fearful of some attack by night. There was
32:26
Speaker 1: one plot against the Queen's life which has never been
32:28
Speaker 1: made known. I was alone by her bedside. At one
32:32
Speaker 1: o'clock in the morning, we heard somebody walking softly along
32:36
Speaker 1: the corridor, which passes along the whole line of her apartments,
32:39
Speaker 1: and which was then locked at each end. I went
32:42
Speaker 1: out to fetch the Vede de chambre. He entered the corridor,
32:46
Speaker 1: and the Queen and myself soon heard the noise of
32:49
Speaker 1: two men fighting. The unfortunate princess held me locked in
32:53
Speaker 1: her arms and said to me, what a situation insults
32:58
Speaker 1: by day and assassins by night. The Valet de Chambre
33:02
Speaker 1: cried out to her from the corridor, Madame, I know
33:05
Speaker 1: the wretch, I have him. Let him go, said the
33:09
Speaker 1: Queen opened the door to him. He came to murder me.
33:14
Speaker 1: The Jaquabain would carry him about in triumph tomorrow. The
33:18
Speaker 1: man was a servant of the King's toilet, who had
33:20
Speaker 1: taken the key of the corridor out of his Majesty's
33:23
Speaker 1: pocket after he was in bed, no doubt, with the
33:25
Speaker 1: intention of committing the crimes suspected. The Valet de Champre,
33:29
Speaker 1: who was a very strong man, held him by the
33:31
Speaker 1: wrists and thrust him out at the door. The wretch
33:35
Speaker 1: did not speak a word. The Valet de Chambres said,
33:38
Speaker 1: in answer to the Queen, who spoke to him gratefully
33:40
Speaker 1: of the danger to which he had exposed himself, that
33:44
Speaker 1: he feared nothing, and that he had always a pair
33:46
Speaker 1: of excellent pistols about him, for no other purpose than
33:49
Speaker 1: to defend her majesty. On the next day, Monsieur de
33:53
Speaker 1: Cepte had all the locks of the King's in her
33:56
Speaker 1: apartments changed. I did the same by those of the Queen.
34:01
Speaker 1: We were every moment told that the full bour sent
34:04
Speaker 1: on to one was preparing to march against the palace.
34:07
Speaker 1: At four o'clock one morning, towards the latter end of July,
34:11
Speaker 1: a person came to give me information to that effect.
34:14
Speaker 1: I instantly set off two men on whom I could rely,
34:17
Speaker 1: with orders to proceed to the usual places of assembling,
34:20
Speaker 1: and to come back speedily and give me an account
34:23
Speaker 1: of the state of the city. We knew that at
34:26
Speaker 1: least an hour must elapse before the populace of the Faubours,
34:29
Speaker 1: assembled upon the side of the Bastille, could reach the Juilirie.
34:33
Speaker 1: It seemed to me sufficient for the Queen's safety that
34:36
Speaker 1: all about her should be awakened. I went softly into
34:39
Speaker 1: her room. She was asleep. I did not awaken her.
34:44
Speaker 1: I found General der w Blank in the great closet.
34:49
Speaker 1: He told me the meeting was for this. Once dispersing,
34:52
Speaker 1: the General had endeavored to please the populace by the
34:55
Speaker 1: same means that Monsieur Lafayette had employed. He saluted the
34:59
Speaker 1: lowest faisad and lowered his hat down to his very stirrup.
35:04
Speaker 1: But the populace, who had been flattered for three years,
35:07
Speaker 1: required far different homage to its power, and the poor
35:10
Speaker 1: man was unnoticed. The King had been awakened, and so
35:14
Speaker 1: had Madame Dizabet, who had gone to him. The Queen,
35:18
Speaker 1: yielding to the weight of her griefs, slept till nine
35:21
Speaker 1: o'clock on that day, which was very unusual with her.
35:25
Speaker 1: The King had already been to know whether she was awake.
35:28
Speaker 1: I told him what I had done and the care
35:30
Speaker 1: I had taken not to disturb her rest. He thanked
35:34
Speaker 1: me and said I was awake, and so was the
35:37
Speaker 1: whole palace. She ran no risk. I am very glad
35:40
Speaker 1: to see her take a little rest, alas her grief's
35:44
Speaker 1: double mine, added the king, as he left me. What
35:48
Speaker 1: was my chagrin? When, upon awakening and learning what had passed,
35:52
Speaker 1: the Queen began to weep bitterly from regret at not
35:55
Speaker 1: having been called, and to upbraid me, on whose friendship
35:58
Speaker 1: she ought to have been able to rely, for having
36:01
Speaker 1: served her so ill under such circumstances. In vain did
36:05
Speaker 1: I reiterate that it had been only a false alarm,
36:08
Speaker 1: and that she required to have her strength recruited. It
36:12
Speaker 1: is not diminished, said she. Misfortune gives us additional strength.
36:18
Speaker 1: It is a bit was with the king, and I
36:20
Speaker 1: was asleep, I who am determined to perish by his side.
36:25
Speaker 1: I am his wife. I will not suffer him to
36:28
Speaker 1: incur the smallest risk without my sharing it. End of
36:33
Speaker 1: chapter nine