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/ 



A FRIEND OF 
MARIE -ANTOINETTE 

(LADY ATKYNS) 




Madamk Chari.oitk Atkyns. 
{After a miniatun' in the possession of Count Lair.) 



[Frontispiece. 



A FRIEND OF 
MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

(LADY ATKYNS) 

TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH 

OP 

FR^D^RIC BARBEY 

WITH A PREFACE 
Br 

VICTORIEN SARDOU 

OF THB FKENCH ACADXUT 




LONDON 
CHAPMAN & HALL, Ltd. 

1906 



"x 



PREFACE 

When I brought out at the Vaudeville in 1896 my 
play, entitled Pamela, Marchande de Frivolites, in which 
I had grouped together dramatically, with what veri- 
fiimilitude I could, all the various Royalist attempts at 
rescuing the son of Louis XYL, the Dauphin, from 
the prison of the Temple, there were certain scholars 
who found fault with me for representing an English- 
woman, Lady Atkyns, as the protagonist, or at least 
the prime mover in the matter of his escape. Some of 
them went so far as to accuse me of having invented 
this character for the purpose of my piece. 

Lady Atkyns, certainly, has left but few traces of her 
existence ; she was a Drury Lane actress, pretty, witty, 
impressionable, and good — ^it seems there were many 
such among the English actresses of the time. Married 
(we shall see presently how it came about) to a peer, 
who gave her wealth at least, if not happiness, and who 
does not appear to have counted for much in her life, 
Lady Atkyns became a passionate admirer of Marie- 
Antoinette; she was presented to the Queen at Yer- 
Btulles, and when the latter was taken to the Temple, 

253012 



VI 



PREFACE 



the responsiye Englishwoman made every effort to find 
her way into the prison. She succeeded by the use of 
guineas, which, in spite of the hatred professed for Pitt 
and Coburg, were more to the taste of certain patriots 
than the paper-money of the Republic 

Lady Atkyns suggested that the Queen should 
escape dressed in her costume, but the Royal prisoner 
would not forsake her children. There is a tradition 
that in refusing the offer of her enthusiastic friend, 
Marie-Antoinette besought her good offices for the 
young Dauphin, while putting her on her guard against 
the intrigues of the Comte de Provence and the Comte 
d'Artois. However, most of these facts were still in 
doubt, resting only on somewhat vague statements, 
elliptical allusions, and intangible bits of gossip, picked 
up here and there, when, one day, my friend Lendtre, 
who is great at ferreting out old papers, came to me, 
all excitement, with a document which he had come 
upon the evening before in a portfolio among the 
Archives of the Police. 

It was a letter, dated May, 1821, and addressed to 
the Minister by the director of the penitential establish- 
ment of Gaillon. This official was disturbed over the 
proceedings of a certain " Madame Hakins or Aquins." 
Since the false Dauphin, Mathurin Bruneau, sentenced 
by the Court of Rouen to five years' imprisonment, had 
become an inmate of that institution, this foreigner 
had installed herself at Gaillon, and had been seeking 
to get into communication with the prisoner. She 



PREFACE vii 

seemed even to be bent upon supplying him with the 
means of making his escape. 

I drew from this the obvioos conclusion that if in 
1821, Lady Atkyns could bring herself to believe in the 
possibility of Mathurin Bruneau being the son of Louis 
XVI., it must be because she had good reasons for being 
convinced that the Dauphin had escaped from the 
Temple. And this conviction of hers became of con- 
siderable importance because of the rdle she herself had 
played (however little one knew of it) in the story of 
^e Royal captivity. 

It was quite dear that after her promise to the 
Queen, the faithful Englishwoman, who, as we have 
seen, was not afraid to compromise herself, and who was 
generous with her money, must have kept in touch at 
least with all the facts relating to the Dauphin's 
imprisonment, learning all that was to be learnt about 
the Temple, questioning everybody who could have 
had any contact with the young captive — ^warders, 
messengers, doctors, and servants. K after such in- 
vestigations, and in spite of the official records and of 
the announcement of his death on June 9, 1798, she 
could still believe twenty-six years later that the prince 
might be alive, it can only be because she was satisfied 
that the dead youth was not the Dauphin. 

Had she herself got the Dauphin out of prison? 
Or had she merely had a hand in the rescue ? By what 
process of reasoning had she been able to persuade 
herself that an adventurer such as this Bruneau, whose 



Vlll 



PREFACE 



imposture was manifest, could be the Dauphin ? Why, 
if she believed that the Prince had been carried away 
from the Temple, had she kept silence so long? If 
this was not her belief, why did she interest herself in 
one of those who had failed most pitifully in the im- 
personation of the prince ? Lendtre and I could find 
no answer to all these questions. To throw light upon 
them, it would have been necessary to undertake minute 
researches into the whole life of Lady Atkyns, following 
her about from place to place, learning where she lived 
during the Bevolution, ascertaining the dates of all her 
sojourns in Paris, studying all the facts of her existence 
after 1795, together with the place and date of her 
death, the names of her heirs, the fate of her corre- 
spondence and other papers — a very laborious piece of 
work, still further complicated by the certainty that it 
would be necessary to start out upon one's investigations 
in England. We did not abandon all idea of the task, 
however ; but time lacked — time always lacks 1 — and 
we talked of it as a task that must wait for a year of 
leisure, knowing only too well that the year of leisure 
would never come. 

Chance, upon which we should always count, settled 
the matter for us. Chance brought about a meeting 
between Lendtre and a young writer, just out of the 
Ecole des Chartes, M. Fr^d^ric Barbey, very well 
informed, both through his earlier studies and through 
family connections, concerning what it is customary to 
designate " la Question Louis XT 11." M. Barbey had 



• ^ 



PREFACE 



IX 



the necessary leisure, and lie was ready to undertake 
any kind of journey that might be entailed ; he revelled 
in the idea of the difiBiculties to be coped with in what 
would be to him an absorbing task. Len6tre introduced 
him to me, and I felt certain from the first that the 
sdatter was in good hands. M. Barbey, in truth, is 
endowed with all the very rare qualities essential to 
this kind of research — ^a boundless patience, the /air of 
a collector, the aplomb of an interviewer, complete 
freedom from prejudice, and the indomitable industry 
and ardent zeal of an apostle. 

M. Barbey set out for England at once, and came 
back a fortnight later, already possessed of a mass of 
valuable information regarding the early life of our 
English Boyallst, including this specific item : Lady 
Atkyns died in Paris, in the Rue de Lille, in 1836. 
An application to the grefe de paix of the arrondisse- 
ment resulted in M. Barbey's obtaining the name of the 
notary who had the drawing up of the deeds of succes- 
sion. At the o£5ce8 of the present courteous possessor 
of the documents, after any amount of formalities 
and delays and difficulties, over which his untiring 
pertinacity enabled him to triumph, he was at last 
placed in possession of an immense pile of dusty papers, 
which had not been touched for nearly seventy years : 
the entire correspondence addressed to Lady Atkyns 
from 1792 down to the time of her death. 

That was a red-letter day! From the very first 
letters that were looked at, it seemed that henceforth 

h 



X PREFACE 

all donbts would be at an end: the Boyal youth had 
assuredly been carried away from the Temple 1 Between 
the lines, beneath all the studiously vague and discreet 
wording of the correspondence, we were able to follow, 
in one letter after another, all the plotting and planning 
of the escape, the anxieties of the conspirators, the pre- 
cautions they had to take, the disappointments, the 
treacheries, the hopes. . • • At last, we were on the 
threshold of the actual day of the escape I Another 
week would find us £ftce to face with the Dauphin I 
Three days more • . • I To-morrow . . • t Alas I our 
disappointment was great — ^almost as great as that of 
Lady Atkyns's fellow-workers. The boy never came 
into their hands. Did he escape ? Everjrthing points 
to his having done so, but everything points also to 
his having been spirited away out of their hands just 
as he was being embarked for England, where Lady 
Atkyns awaited feverishly the coming of the child she 
called her King — ^her King to whose cause she made 
her vows, but on whose face she was destined probably 
never to set eyes, and whose fisite was for ever to remain 
to her unknown* 

Such is the story we are told in this book of Fr^d^ric 
Barbey's — a painful, saddening, exasperating story, 
extracted (is it necessary to add ?) from documents of 
incontestable authenticity, now made use of for the first 
time. 

But can it be said to satisfy fully our curiosity? 
Is it the last word on this baffling ** Question Louis 



PREFACE xi 

XVn./' the bibliography of which runs already to 
several hundreds of volumes? Of course not! The 
record of Lady Atkyns's attempts at rescuing the Prince 
is a singnlarly important contribution to the study of 
the problem, but does not solve it. What became of 
the boy after he was released ? Was this boy that they 
released the real Prince, or is there question of a sub- 
stitute already at this stage ? Did Marie-Antoinette's 
devoted adherent succeed merely in being the dupe of 
the people in her pay ? At the period of her very first 
efforts, may not the Dauphin have been already far from 
the Temple — ^hidden away somewhere, perhaps gone 
obscurely to his death, in the house of some disreputable 
person to whom his identity was unknown ? For must 
we not place some reliance upon the assertions of the 
wife of Simon the shoemaker, who declared she had 
carried off the Prince at a date seven months earlier 
than the first steps taken by Lady Atkyns ? It is all 
a still insoluble problem, the most complex, the most 
difficult problem that the perspicacity of historians 
has ever been called upon to solve. 

The most important result of this new study is 
that it relegates to the field of fiction the books of 
Beauchesne, Chantelauze, La Sicoti^, and Eckart 
among others ; that it disproves absolutely the assertions 
of tiie official history of these events — the assertion that 
there is no room for doubt that the Dauphin never left 
his cell) that he lived and suffered and died there. Hence- 
forward, it is an established fact, absolutely irrefutable. 



xii PREFACE 

that daring nearly five months, from November, 1794, 
to March, 1795, the child in the jailer's hands was not 
the son of Louis XVL, bnt a substitute, and mute. 
How did this deception end ? Was the issue what was 
expected? The matter is not cleared up; but that 
this substitution of the Prince was effected is now 
beyond dispute, and this revelation, instead of throwing 
light upon the impenetrable obscurity of the drama, 
renders it still more dense. This mute boy substituted 
for the boy in prison, who was himself possibly but a 
substitute ; these sly and foolish guardians who succeed 
to each other, muddling their own brains and mystifying 
each other ; these doctors who are called to the bedside 
of the dying Prince, and who, like Pelletan, long after- 
wards invent stories about his death-bed sufferings — 
though at the actual time of his death they were either 
so careless or so cunning as to draw up an unmeaning 
procks'Verbal, as to the bearing of which commentators 
for more than a century have been unable to agree ; — all 
these official statements which establish nothing; the 
interment recorded in three separate ways by the three 
functionaries who were witnesses ; the obvious, manifest, 
admitted doubt, which survived in the minds of Louis 
X VIIL and the Duchesse d'AngoulSme ; the manoeuvres 
of die Restoration Government, which could so easily 
have elucidated the question, and which, by mdladresse 
or by guilefulness, made it impenetrable, by removing 
the most important documents from the national 
archives ; finally, the foolish performances of the fifteen 



PREFACE xiii 

or 8o lying adventorers who attempted to pass them* 

selves off as so many dauphins escaped from the Temple, 

and each of whom had his devoted adherents, absolutely 

convinced of his being the real prince, and whose absurd 

effusions, when not venal, combine to produce the effect 

of an inextricable maze ; these were the factors of the 

" Question Louis XVIL" The worst of it all is that 

one must overlook no detail : it is only by disproving 

and eliminating that we can succeed in bringing out 

isolated facts — ^solid, indisputable facts that shall serve 

as stepping-stones to future revelations. 

It is necessary to study, scrutinize, and reflect. One 

opinion alone is to be condemned as indubitably wrong : 

that of the historians who see nothiug in all this worthy 

of investigation and of discussion, to whom the story of 

the Dauphin is all quite clear and intelligible, and who 

go floundering about over the whole ground with the 

calm serenity of the blind, assured of the freedom of 

their road from obstruction, and that they cannot see 

the obstacles in their way. Fi6d6nc Barbey's work 

unveils too many incontestable facts of history for 

it to be possible henceforth for any one to see in 

this marvellous enigma nothing but fantasies and 

inventions. 

VICTOMEN SARDOU. 



INTRODUCTION 

To tell once again the oft-told story of Queen Marie- 
Antoinette ; to go over anew all the familiar episodes of 
her sojourn at the Tuileries^ her captivity in the Temple, 
her appearance before the Bevolutionary tribunal, and 
her death ; to append some hitherto undiscovered detail 
to the endless piles of writings inspired by these events, 
and in our turn sit in judgment aUke upon her conduct 
and the conduct of her enemies, and, as a natural 
sequence, upon the Bevolution, its work and its issues : 
to do any or all of these things has not been our inten- 
tion. 

This book has a less ambitious aim — that of restoring 
the picture of a woman, a foreigner, who was brought 
by chance one day to Versailles on the eve of the 
catastrophe, whom the Queen honoured with her friend- 
ship, and who knew no rest until she had exp^ided all 
her energy and all her wealth in efforts to procure the 
liberty not only of Marie-Antoinette herself, but of 
those belonging to her. How Lady Atkyns set out 
upon her project, whom she get to help her, what 
grounds for hope she had, and what hindrances and 



xvi INTRODUCTION 

diflappointments she experienced, the degrees of success 
and of failure that attended all her attempts — these are 
the matters we have sought to deal with. 

In the maze of her plots and plans, necessarily 
mixed up with the enterprises of the imigris and of 
the agents of the counter-revolution — ^up above the 
network of all these machinations within France and 
without — one luminous point shines forth always as 
the goal of every project: the tower of the Temple. 
All around the venerable building strain and struggle 
the would-be rescuers of its prisoners. Its name, now 
famous, instils into the Boyalist world something of 
the terror that went forth of old from the Bastille. 
What went on exactly inside the dungeon firom 1792 
to 1795? The question, so often canvassed by con- 
temporaries, is still where it was, crying out for an 
answer. However hackneyed may seem the matter of 
the Dauphin's imprisonment, we have not felt warranted 
in deliberately avoiding it. Had we been so minded 
when embarking upon this study (the voluminous 
bibliography of the subject is calculated to discourage 
the historian!), we should in any case have been 
forced into its investigation by a heap of hitherto 
unpublished documents which we unearthed. 

This leads us to the enumeration of the sources 
whence we have drawn the materials for our work. 

All that has been hitherto known of Lady Atkyns 
amounts to very little. M. de la Sicoti^e, coming 
upon her name in the course of his study of the life of 



INTRODUCTION xvii 

Louis de Frott^i refers to her merely in a brief note, 
necessarily incomplete.^ Four years later, M. V. 
Deiaporte, on the occasion of the centenary of Marie 
Antoinette, published in his JEtvdea a correspondence 
in which the name of the Queen's English friend re- 
peatedly appeared. These papers caught our attention. 
Under the friendly guidance of M. Delaporte we sought 
to recover the papers which Lady Atkyns left behind 
her on her death. In the course of systematic researches, 
into the nature of which we need not enter here, we 
were enabled by an unlooked-for piece of good luck to 
lay hands upon the entire collection of Lady Atkyns's 
correspondence, covering her whole life. This corre- 
spondence, docketed and arranged by the notary en- 
trusted with the regulating of the affairs of the deceased, 
was found lying in the archives of the notary's study, 
where, by the permission of the present owner of the 
documents, I was able to consult them. 

The letters are all originals. Some of them, of 
which copies had been made by some one unidentified, 
had been destined probably for use in supporting claims 
put forward by Lady Atkyns. Many letters, unfortu- 
nately, are missing, having been confided by the too 
trustful lady to members of the Boyal Household or 
to Louis XVIIL himself. 

To know what value to attach to these letters, it was 

^ Hie particnkn gireii by 0. Alger in EnglUhmm f» ihe ^nnck Beuolw 
tton, Ixmdon, 18S9, pp. 125-126, reproducing and oondeDcdng information 
already aYaOable, indnding that which we owe to the Comteaee MaoNamara, 
are not of any interest 



xviii INTRODUCTION 

necessary to know something about the writers. Apart 
from General Louis de Frott4, who has been made the 
subject of a detailed biography, the characters mixed 
up with Lady Atkyns's adventures appear for the first 
time upon the stage of history. 

The Archives Nationalea^ and those of the Ministry 
for War and the Ministry for Foreign Affitirs, enable us 
to recall these forgotten worthies with sufficient accuracy. 
We have made use in the same way of tiie Municipal 
Archives of Dunkerque in our account of the flight of 
the Chevalier de Conteme and his companion out of the 
kingdom ; of the Archives of Lille ; and of the Archives 
of the Grand Duchy of Baden, preserved at Carlsbad. 

This bald enumeration suffices to indicate the spirit 
in which our task has been conceived and carried out. 
In a question such as this, obscured and confased by 
any number of dubious second-hand and third*hand 
testimonies and untrustworthy narratives, it was 
necessary to get hold of absolutely irrefutable docu- 
ments. Letters from contemporaries seemed to us to 
fulfil better than anything else the conditions thus im- 
posed. They have made it possible for us to supple- 
ment in large measure the information acquired from 
the Archives of the State : many of these letters are 
derived from private family archives which have most 
generously been placed at our disposal. 

Thanks to these friendly helpers, we have succeeded 
in completing a task undertaken in a spirit of filial 
afiection. We cannot forget her who guided and took 



INTRODUCTION xix 

part in our reseaiches and helped with her sympathy 
and encouragement. To her it ia that we most make 
onr first acknowledgment of indebtedness, and then 
to the historian to whom this book is inscribed, and 
whose valued and assiduous help we have never lacked. 
We have to express our gratitude also to all tiioee 
who have helped us with their advice and good offices : 
the Due de La Tremoille, Member of the Institute ; the 
Marquis de Frott^; Comte Lair; General de Butler; 
our lamented cmfrirey M. Parfouru, archivist of the 
Department of Dle-et-Vilaine ; and to M. Coyecque ; 
11 Lucien Lazard, assistant archivist of the Depart- 
ment of the Seine ; M. Schmidt, keeper of the Archwes 
Natianales; M. Desplanque^ municipal librarian at 
Lille ; 11 Georges Tassez, keeper of the Lille Archives ; 
M. Edmond Bir^ ; M. le Dr. Obser, the learned editor 
of the political correspondence of Earl Friedrichs von 
Baden ; M. L6once Pingaud ; 11 Barthdlemy Pocquat ; 
our colleague and friend, M. E. L. Bruel ; and to Mr. 
Freeman O'Donoghue, of the Print Boom of the British 
Museum. 

Pabis, 

jrarcA22,1905. 



CONTENTS 

PAOB 

I. Thb Ghbvalier ds Fbott6 1 

n. London 86 

IIL Thb Odtbsby of a Bbeton Magistratb 69 

lY. Thb Mtstbbt of thb Tbhflb .... 94 

V. Thb Mtstbbt of thb Templb (continued) .125 

VI. Thb Pribndb of Lady Atkyns .189 

VIL Thb "Littlb Babon" 166 

YIIL After thb Stobm 206 

EpiLOGxnB 229 

AfPBNDix 285 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



Madamx Ghablotti Atetks .... Franiitpieee 

(4A^ A «it»ta<iir« in the poueition of CowU Lair,) 

TO FACE PAGB 

Cha£Lottb WalpoiiB, m **The Oahp*' .... 12 

{After OM efigrtmiig in the BrUisk Ifuseum.) 

Jban-Gabbibl PsLTiSfi, 1765-1825 U 

{AJUr am enfframt^ in the British Museum.) 

MABn-PlEBBB-LOTriB, COVTSTT DB FbOTTE, 1766-1800 . . 140 

(After a portrait htionffinffjo the Margie de Frotte,) 



A FRIEND OF 
MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

(LADY ATKYNS) 
CHAPTER I 

THE CHEVALIEB DE FROTTlt 

At dawn, on April 7, 1790, a singular disturbance 
was going on in the streets of Lille. In the northern 
districts, not far from the citadel, troops of soldiers 
stood all along the avenues, filled the squares, ran- 
sacked the courtyards of the houses. Shots went off 
every instant, and the extraordinary thing was that 
this fusillade from the soldiers was directed against 
other soldiers. In the midst of the smoke, the deafen- 
ing noise, and the cries of the awakened townsfolk, 
were to be seen the blue uniforms, with sky-blue facings, 
of the Regiment of the Crown, one of the four quartered 
in the garrison.^ 

1 Victor Derode, Butoire de LHU ei de la Flandre Wallonne, 1848, in 
8to, Tol. iii p. 26. For the account of these military distorbances at LUle, 
we have alao made nse of a MS. narrative by the Cbeyalier de Frott^, 
ArMva NaiionaieB D. XXIX., 36 ; and of a statement addressed to the 
King by the Marquis de Livarot, regarding his conduct, a printed copy of 
which is at the Bibliothdque Nationale, L.E. 4008. 

B 



''ii '• A* 'FRlfil^D <3fF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

Every horseman who appeared was greeted with 
successive volleys; evidently the combat was to the 
death between the light cavalry of Normandy, who 
charged upon the pavements or fought on foot with 
their muskets, and the grenadiers of the Crown and of 
the Soyal-Vaisseauz. 

Moreover, there was no order in this street-fight. 
The oflSicers on both sides were absent, and if by any 
chance some had been present, the excitement and 
anger visible upon the assailants' faces were a proof 
that their intervention would have been useless. 

Riot, in fact, was reigning in the city of Lille, the 
capital of the province ; and this time law and order 
were being upset by those whose duty it was to make 
them respected. But the town, with its 80,000 inhabi- 
tants, had for months been going, nervously and anx« 
iously, through a succession of anything but encouraging 
episodes. The convocation of the States General, the 
formation of the Garde Nationale, the creation of the 
Municipality, and, two months earlier (in February), 
the administrative upset which thrilled the province — 
all this, added to the distress of the kingdom, to the 
general misery, to the exaggerated price of food, and 
to the ruin of commerce, had brought about several 
outbreaks in this manufacturing town, naturally depen« 
dent upon its trade for its well-being. And, at the 
very moment that there came from Paris the most 
alarming news — that is, on April 29, 1789 (coinciding 
almost day for day with the sacking of the Reveillon 



THE CHEVALIER DE FROTTfi 3 

fectory) pillage had its first innings at Lille also ; the 
bakeries were invaded; and three months later four 
houses were attacked by the mob and burnt down* 

Of the troops which then composed the garrison of 
Lille, one part had taken up their quarters in the town ; 
these were the regiments of the Crown and of the 
Boyal-Vaisseaux. The other, consisting of the light 
cavalry of Normandy and the infantry of Colonel- 
(reneral, the leading French regiment, were lodged at 
the citadel, that imposing fortress which is Yauban's 
masterpiece. Certain signs of insubordination had crept 
into the two former regiments ; the revolutionary spirit 
was working actively in the men, and was favoured by 
the permanent contact with the inhabitants in which 
these two regiments lived More remote from this in- 
fluence, away off in the citadel, the " Colonel-Generals " 
cherished sentiments of whole-hearted devotion to the 
King ; moreover, they had over them a body of officers 
whose unadulterated royalism was to display itself in 
the events which we shall now endeavour to set forth. 
As matters were, the least thing would let loose these 
warring elements in the garrison upon one another* 
And what finally did it? A mere nothing, a scuffle 
that broke out on the evening of April 8, between the 
chasseurs and the grenadiers — some say a dueL At any 
rate, two soldiers were killed on the spot. ... In- 
stantly cavalry and infantry take sides for their respec- 
tive comrades. During the night a general attack is 
talked of, on both sides. The officers get wind of it ; 



4 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

but, unluckily, two of the colonels are on leave. The 
Marquis de Livarot, conunandant of the province, tries 
to restore peace by holding a meeting of delegates from 
each corps ; he believes he has succeeded, but scarcely 
has he left them when the fusillade breaks out again in 
every direction. 

The ** Colonel-Generals '' had remained neutral until 
then ; discipline, so carefully maintained by the com- 
manding officers, had prevailed with the men. But 
when, in the evening, they saw the chasseurs of Nor- 
mandy falling back on the citadel for refuge, these 
their comrades of the infantry opened the gates to 
them, brought them in and joined cause with them, 
refusing any longer to listen to their officers, who still 
strove for peace. They carried things, indeed, even 
further than that M. de Livarot and M. de Mont- 
rosier — that last lieutenant of the King — on coming out 
of the gate which led into the square, saw that they 
were surrounded by a group of mutineers, whose attitude 
was menacing. Despite the efforts of the few officers 
who were present, these two were dragged into a case* 
mate, where their situation was simply that of prisoners. 

During this time the most sinister rumours were cir- 
culating in the town, kept alive by the infantry of the 
Crown and the Soyal-Vaisseaux regiments. People 
expected nothing less than to see the cannons of the 
citadel open their throats and vomit down grape-shot 
on the populace. Shortly, on the walls of the houses 
and in the cafSs, the uneasy citizens might read a 



THE CHEVALIER DE FR0TT6 5 

strange proclamation, at the authorship of which all the 
world could guess. It opened with this apostrophe : — 

^'LbT us B8WABX, CITIZXN8, 
LBT us BBWABB, 

and thrice : Lei ua beware. We are deoeived, we are betrayed, we 
are sold ! . . • But we are not yet rained ; we have oar weapons I 
The infernal Fiiz-Jamee ^ is gone with all his crew . . • they have 
contented themselves with keeping back a useless lot. 

'<Xrfroft>,ft0tn/a]iiau«Xfvaro, is said to be in oar citadel; Mantroeierf 
the atrocioas aathor of all oar ills, sleeps peaoefolly. 

** The soldiers, whom they have tried to oorrapt, offer these men 
to OS. . . • What are we waiting for t Why do we not show aU 
France that we are CHHzena^ that we are Pairiois f Is it for the 
orders of oar Commandant that we lookt Bat has not the aristocrat 
of Org^ee already shown as how an worthy he is of the place which 
we have blindly entrasted to himt ... He commands as only that 
he may lead as into the abyss. Seconded by his sycophant, Oarette, 
and by the traitors whom oar cowardice leaves in command over 
OS ; leagaed with the heads of all the aristocratic intrigaes, he now 
seeks to alienate from as otir brave comrades of the Crown, and of 
Boyal-dee-Yaisseaaz. ShaU we let them go t No; . • . batwewiU 
march with them. . • . We will go and seize JAvarot^ Moniroeierf 
and deliver them ap, boand hand and foot, to the atmost severity of 
the aagast National Assembly I 

** Why are not oar conscript Fathers convoked t Is the General 
Goancil of the Coomiane a mere phantom Y Is the blood of oar 
citizens leas precioas than vile pecaniary interests t Woold not oar 
secret enemies flinch before the enlightenment and the patriotism of 
oar Notableet Ah/ OUizens/ Let ua beware^ and once more let ue 
beware t" 

At an extraordinary meeting at the Maison de Ville^ 
the Municipality had convoked the General Council; 

^ These words are onderlined in the text 



6 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

and| in the interval they received a deputation from the 
troops of the citadel, assaring the inhabitants of Lille of 
their good intentions : " The reginients of the Colonel- 
General, and of the Chasseurs de Normandie '' (said the 
envoys) '^ protest to the townsfolk that it has never 
entered into their heads to cause the least alarm to the 
citizens, of whom until now they have known nothing 
that was not admirable ; " and they also announced that 
two delegates had been sent to Paris, on a mission to 
the National Assembly and to the King. * 

The whole night went by, and no solution had been 
found. Towards four o'clock the two regiments which 
had stayed in town were about to leave it on the per- 
suasion of the town councillors ; but the City Guard 
would not let them go, and thus, on the morning of 
April 10, the same difficulties had to be faced anew. 
But this situation could not continue. Messengers 
are despatched to Paris, and with them are sent denun- 
ciators of the " infamous " Livarot, whose conduct is 
considered suspicious; and for eight days he is kept 
under surveillance at the citadel, in defiance of the 
Royal authority with which he is invested. 

Meanwhile, the officer delegated by the '^ Colonel- 
Generals " was making his way to Paris. Despite the 
importance of the mission, it was a young lieutenant 
who had been chosen for it; but the coolness he had 
shown all through the episode, and his determined and 
energetic attitude, had designated him at once as the 
man to be selected. Louis de Frott^ was bom at 



THE CHEVALIER DE FROTT6 7 

Alen^on on August 5, 1766.^ Of noble lineage (his 
family had been established in Normandy since the 
fifteenth century), he had inherited the sentiments of 
duty and fidelity to his King and of devotion to that 
King's cause. Left motherless at the age of six,' edu- 
cated first at Caen, then at Versailles, in the school of 
Grorsas,' he had entered as supernumerary sub-lieu- 
tenant, in 1781, the regiment of "Colonel-General," 
then garrisoned at Lille. The young officer attracted 
every one by his generous, liberal, and affectionate 
character, and by his strong sense of comradeship. It 
was in the regiment that he contracted those solid 
firiendships which were afterwards so beneficial to him, 
such, for instance, as that of the Prince de la Tremoille, 
and of a Norman gentleman named Valli^re. 

A short stay at Besan9on had broken up the long 
months in garrison at Lille ; then he had returned to that 
town, where the disturbances of which we are speaking 
had come to diversify the somewhat monotonous way 
of existence which is inseparable from garrison life. 

Filled with hope for the result of his mission, Frott^ 
rode swiftly to Paris. The prospect of seeing the King, 
of narrating to him, as well as to the War Minister, Le 
Tour du Pin, the recent occurrences at Lille, of assuring 
him of the fidelity of the regiment, of obtaining some 

1 L. de la Bicotidre, Louis de FrottS €t le$ Imurrtctions Normandes^ 
1793-1832, Paris, 1889, two TolmneB in Svo. 

' HIb father married again, a Damont de Lamberville, whose brother was 
one of the best friends of Lonis de Frott^ 

* The fotore jonnalist, founder of the Oownrim' de FeriotZtM. 



8 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

tolerably satisfactory solution of the critical situation — 
all this was spurring on our cavalier. And the thought 
of soon getting back to Lille, his mission crowned with 
success, of reappearing before certain eyes to which he 
was not insensible— everything combined to make him 
forget the length of the journey. 

His stay at Paris was a short one. The future chief 
of the chouans of Normandy realized one of his greatest 
wishes in being admitted to an audience with the King ; 
but the position of the Boyal Family in the midst of 
the prevailing effervescence of feeling, and the atmo- 
sphere of hostility which surrounded them, filled his 
heart with foreboding thoughts. Burning with devo- 
tion, powerless to make valid offers to the Eong, Frott^ 
— who had suggested the bringing together at Lille of a 
nucleus of reliable troops, absolutely to be trusted — 
regained the garrison at the end of a few days, for it 
had been made clear to him that Louis XYL did not 
wish to share in his youthful ardour and its projects. 
He had, however, succeeded thoroughly in the official 
part of his task. When confronted with a deputation 
from the hostile regiments of the Crown and of the 
Royal-Vaisseaux, who came in their turn to plead their 
cause, the representative of the Colonel-Generals had 
been able to cope, with them in defence of his own 
interests; he came back, bringing with him an order 
for the alteration of the whole garrison. The Colonel- 
Generals were transferred to Dunkirk, the three others 
were sent out of the province. As to the unfortunate 



THE CHEVALIER DE FROTTE 9 

Marquis de Livarot^ who was still a prisoner at the 
citadel, a mandate from the Minister summoned him 
to Paris, there to answer for his conduct Needless to 
say, he cleared himself of every accusation, and was 
entirely rehabilitated. 

Frott^ did not spend in idleness the few days which 
preceded the departure of his regiment Besides the 
ordinary arrangements — the giving up of his place of 
abode, the packing of his affairs, the paying of his 
debts ; besides the friends to whom he had to bid fare- 
well ; in short, besides the thousand ties that are con- 
tracted during a stay of nine years in a town which is 
not among the smallest in the kingdom, there was, in 
the Bue Princesse, at a few minutes* walk from the 
citadel, a one-storeyed house of unimposing exterior, 
whose door had often opened to receive the young 
officer. The prospect of not returning there for a long 
time filled his heart with distress and regret. For 
some months this house had been inhabited by a 
foreigner, an English lady, who had come to Lille with 
a reputation for grace and beauty which had proved 
to be not unmerited. At that time there was already 
in Lille quite a colony of English people, who were 
attracted th^ere either by the proximity of their own 
countiy and the closeness of Paris, or by the commercial 
prosperity of the place and its numerous industries. In 
the census returns of the town at the beginning of the 
Revolution, and also in the taxation assessments, we 
have come across many names of evident British origin. 



lo A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

Bat the remarkable thing about the new-comers at the 
Bue PrincesBe, was that they had not arrived from 
England, but from Versailles. They were very soon 
received by the best society of Lille, and questions 
began to circulate about them, every one trying to pene- 
trate a certain mystery which hung about their past life. 

Let us, in our turn, attempt to lift the veil, and to 
find out something about the English lady who is to be 
the heroine of this work. 

Charlotte Walpole, who was bom probably about 
1758,* bore a name that in the United Kingdom is 
illustrious among the illustrious. Was she a direct 
descendant of Sir Robert Walpole, Earl of Oxford, the 
celebrated statesman who administered English politics 
for some years under George L ? It is difficult to 
ascertain. 

The youngest of three daughters,* Charlotte probably 
passed all her youth in the county of Norfolk, the cradle 
of her family, under that gloomy sky, in that ever-moist 
climate, in the midst of those emerald green pastures 
which make that part of England one of the great agri- 
cultural districts. The tranquil, melancholy charm of 
the scenery there, the immense flocks of sheep and goats 

1 This approximate date is famished ns by the death certificate of Lady 
Atkyna ; but these certificates are known to have been for the most part very 
inaccurately made ont, especially with regard to the date of birth, when they 
had reference to a foreigner dying at Paris. 

s WiU of Robert Walpole of March 14, ISOS, by which he bequeathed aU 
his worldly goods to his wife, Blancy Walpole, and to his three daughters, 
Kary, Frances, and Charlotte. Inventory after death of the effects of Lady 
AikyuB.-^Unpvbli$M Fa^pen of Lady Atkyns. 



THE CHEVALIER DE FROTTE ii 

browsing in the pastures, the wide horizon, unlimited 
except by the heavy clouds whidh hang eternally over 
the land — all this fastened upon the imagination of the 
girl, naturally of a very enthusiastic temperament, and 
developed in her that indefinable charm which struck all 
who knew her. Her large eyes, enhanced by very 
marked eyebrows, had an infinitely sweet expression. 
The only existing portrait of her depicts her with her 
hair dressed in the fashion of the time — ^her dark curls 
lightly tied with a slender ribbon, and falling back, care- 
lessly, on her forehead. She had a most original mind, 
a face which changed and lit up with every passing mood, 
a;nd an expression all her own, which made her, as it 
were, a unique personality. All this is enough explana- 
tion of why, at nineteen, Charlotte Walpole went to 
London, with the idea of making use of her talents on 
the stage. 

The capital of England could then boast of only 
three theatres, of which the most frequented, Drury 
Lane, which ranked as Theatre Royal, is still in exist- 
ence, and preserves intact its ancient reputation. It 
was there that, on October 2, 1777, at the opening of 
the theatricid season. Miss Walpole made her first ap- 
pearance in a piece called Lave in a Village^^ a comedy 
probably in the same genre as those of O'Eeefe, and 
then very much to the public taste, which was growing 
weary of the brutal and licentious farces of the preced- 
ing centuries. Five days later Miss Walpole reappeared 
> GeneBt: EUlwry i^ m 8kig9. 



12 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

in The Quaker, and the week after she was seen in the 
role of "Jessica" in The Merchant of Venice, one of 
Shakespeare's masterpieces. After having played^ in the 
spring of 1778, in The Waterman, her success seemed 
assured ; on May 2, Love in a Village was given again 
for her benefit, and she then filled to perfection the part 
of " Bosetta '' ; the season terminated ten days later with 
a representation of The Beggars' Opera, by John Gay. 
There can be no doubt that the young actress had found 
her vocation, and that, moreover, with the consent of 
her family. But, as a matter of fact, there did not 
then prevail in England the sort of disfavour that so 
often attaches to a theatrical career in a certain set of 
society. Miss Walpole's experience is a proof of this. 
During the summer, which she most probably spent in 
the country, she sought to cultivate her talents, and so 
well did she succeed that in the season, which reopened 
on September 15, 1778, she was seen again in London, 
eager to gather fresh laurels. This time she appeared 
in costume, in a sort of operetta entitled The Camp, 
which had a tremendous success all that winter. The 
piece, an imitation of Sheridan by Tickell, represented 
the arsenal and the camp at Coxheath, and Miss Wal- 
pole, as "Nancy," took the part of a young soldier, and 
filled it most admirably, a contemporary author informs 
us.^ We have found an engraving which represents her 
in this costume, doubtless a souvenir of the plaudits 

^ Gtonest : EUtary of the Siage. " This musical entertamment was written 
for the sake of exhibiting a representation of the camp at Coxheath • • . Miss 
Walpole, as a yonng recmit, went through her exercises adroitly.** 




CHAKL<rrTK Wali'ole, in "The Camp." 
{After an ent^ravitii^ in the British Museum.) 



\To/ace f>asv m. 



THE CHEVALIER DE FROTTfi 13 

which she then receivecL In the month of April, 1779, 
she appears again in other pieces by Farqohar. After 
this, the bills for ns have nothing to say; Miss 
Walpole's name is not to be found in them. 

To what must one attribute this sudden silence, this 
disappearance from the stage, just when so fair a future 
seemed opening before the actress ? To a determination 
brought about by her very success itself and by the 
charm she exercised. Several times during the winter 
a young man had been seen at Drury Lane, who 
occupied a front stall and watched very keenly the 
acting of the graceful young recruit of Coxheath; 
so that there was no very great astonishment expressed 
when, on June 18, 1779, The Gentleman^s Moffozine, 
in its society column, announced the marriage of Sir 
Edward Atkyns with Miss Charlotte Walpole, of the 
Theatre Eoyal, Drury Lane.* "The pretty Miss 
Atkyns" — that was henceforth to be her appellation in 
London, and all over Norfolk ! 

If the Walpoles could boast of an illustrious descent, 
the Atkyns' in this respect were in no wise inferior to 
them. In this family, where the Christian names are 
handed down from generation to generation, that of 
Edward is, as it were, immutable ! Illustrious person- 
ages are by no means wanting. An Atkyns had been 
Chancellor of the Exchequer in the seventeenth century ; 
his son had built a splendid manor-house, Ketteringham, 

' 77^ GeniUman*t Magazine and Eidorieal Chrtmide^ by Sylyanns Urban, 
Gent, London, vob ilix., for the year 1779, p. 326. 



14 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

in the same county of Norfolk ; at his death he left it 
to his grand-nephew, who, in his turn, bequeathed it 
to the fortunate husband of Miss Walpole. 

The young couple took up their abode in this antique 
mansion of Ketteringham Hall, the name of which will 
often recur in this narrative. They appear to have 
lived peacefully there for some years, coming only for 
a few weeks in mid-winter to London. ''Happy is 
the nation that has no history," says the proverb ; and 
it is equally true that happy folk have none. So we 
will certainly not, in the absence of any material, create 
one for these young people. 

Nevertheless, it is well to mention the account given 
of them by a friend of our heroine, the Countess Mac- 
Namara, who seems to have been very well acquainted 
with the different particulars of her life. She tells us 
that the young couple, who, if we are to believe her, 
had not many friends in England, decided to go to the 
Continent, and live at Versailles.^ (The €|xplanation 
does not seem a very plausible one.) There the charm 
of the young wife, her pretty voice, the receptions which 
she soon began to give, and to which, thanks to her 
husband's wealth, she was able to lend so much bril* 
liancy, opened to her quickly the doors of all the society 
connected with the Court. In the Queen's set, the 
beautiful Duchess de Polignac, in particular, took a great 
fancy to this graceful foreigner ; and was desirous, in 

1 Diaries o/a Lady of QuaUiy^frwn 1797 to 1814» edited, with notes, by 
A. Hayward, Esq. London : Longman, Green & Co., 1864, pp. 216-219. 



THE CHEVALIER DE FROTTfi 15 

her turn, to make her known to her august friend. 
Thus it came about that Lady Atkyns was introduced 
into the circle of Marie-Antoinette's intimates. Even 
more completely than the others, the new-comer fell 
under the Queen's spelL A current of ardent sympathy 
established itself between the two women. They were 
united by a deep and intimate mutual comprehension 
and sympathy. For any one who knew Lady Atkyns^ 
it was certain that these first impressions would not fade, 
but that they would prove to be, on the contrary, the 
first-fruits of an unalterable friendship. These are the 
only materials one has for the details of that sojourn at 
Versailles. When exactly did the Atkynses resolve upon 
this move ? Their only child, a son, must have been 
bom before it took place. What were their plans in 
coming to the Court ? All these are insoluble problems. 

They were probably at Versailles when the first 
revolutionary troubles broke out. They were present, 
perhaps, at the opening of the States General, that 
great national function; and they were among those 
who shuddered at the taking of the Bastille. When 
the October days brought back the Boyal family in a 
mournful procession to Paris, the young couple were 
already gone — already too far away to enter into the 
anxieties and sufferings of those whom they loved. 

A brief mention, a few words found after patient 
research, in dusty registers, tell us enough to make us 
certain of their fate. This is one of the joys of the 
explorer in this sort— to find buried under the waste 



i6 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

of years of accumulated official papers, a feeble light, a 
tiny, isolated indication, which opens, none the less, an 
infinite horizon before him. 

In the autumn of the year 1789, an Englishwoman, 
named by the officials charged with the collection of a 
special poll-tax, Milady Charlotte, arrived at Lille with 
one servant/ 

In December, she in^Ued herself in the parish of 
St. Andr^, in a house in the Rue Princesse^ then numbered 
837, which belonged to a gentleman named De Drurez. 
Of her husband there is no mention, nor is her surname 
given. Probably she had stayed some time at an inn, 
before settiing down in Rue Princesse ; but what is to 
be concluded from so vague an appellation as '^ Milady 
Charlotte"? Why did she conceal half her name? 
Nevertheless, at Lille there is some information to be 
had about her. We know that she was pensioned upon 
the Royal Treasury, since she is described as a French 
pensioner. 

In the following year she increases her establish- 
ment, keeping one more servant ; her poll- tax, which 
had been 14 louis, now rises to 16. We may add here 
that, in order to satisfy our curiosity, we have examined 
— but in vain — the lists of the pensioners from the Royal 
Treasury at that period ; there is no mention anywhere 

^ ^ Mflady Charlotte, EngltBh, pensioner of France, twelve livres ; for one 
Bervant in 1789, two livres ; twelve livres, two servants for 1790, four livres.** 
-^BegUter of the FoU-taz of the Seven Fariehee^ 1790. Farish qf Si. Andri, 
Bue Frincesscj No. 337, p. 46. Municipal Archives </ LiUe. 



THE CHEVALIER DE FR0TT6 17 

either of Milady Charlotte or of Lady Atkyns — not 
even in those which relate to the Queen's household.^ 

By what right did she enjoy this pension ? By the 
same, probably, as so many of those favoured folk whose 
names fill the famous red-hocka — ^the books whose pub- 
lication was to let loose the fury of the half of France 
upon the Court and the nobility, because they showed 
so plainly what treasures had been swallowed up in 
that abyss. 

As we have said, the documents say nothing of the 
presence of Edward Atkyns at Lille — ^nothing, that is, 
with one exception, which, delicate as it is, cannot be 
passed over in silence. Had disunion already crept 
into the household ? Had the pretty girl from Drury 
Lane found out too late that he to whom she had given 
her heart and her life was no lo&ger entirely worthy of her 
gifts ? Perhaps. At any rate, on March 20, 1791, the 
curate of the parish of St. Catherine at LUle baptized a 
male child, son " of Genevifeve Leglen, native of Lille," 
whose father declared himself to be Edward Atkyns.' 
Henceforth this last individual disappears completely 

1 «< To-day, October 28, 1790, in the AsBembly of the General Council of the 
town of liDe • . . haying heard the solicitor for the Commune, the Council 
proceeded to the continnation of the work of sor-tazation, and of taxation for 
the patriotic contribntion • • . After which, it proceeded to the taxation of 
those able to contribute, havmg an income of more than 400 livres, as follows : 
—Parish of 8t Andr^ . . . Rue Princesse, Milady Charlotte, because of her 
pennon from the Royal Treasury ... 300 liyres . . .^^BtgitUr No. 1 of 
1keI)diberaHonB<fihe(krporiUi<mo/L{ae. Arekivet of LiOe. 

< *'0n the 20th March, 1791,1 the undersigned^Curate of this Parish, baptised 
Antoine-QQentin Atkyns, bom yesterday at 8 o'clock a.m., the illegitimate 
aonof Edward, natire of England, and of QeneTidTe Leglen, natiye of Lille ; 



i8 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

from the scene in which we are interested; we shall 
merely learn that in 1794 Charlotte Atkyns was left a 

widow, 

• « « « « 

This somewhat lengthy digression was necessary in 
order to portray the lady whom Frott4 was to designate 
as ''That heroic and perfect being/' and who was to 
take such a hold upon his life. How did they become 
acquainted? Probably very quickly, in one of the 
numerous drawing-rooms where Lille society congre- 
gated, at balls, at the theatre, in the concert-hall. The 
white tunic, with red facings, of the " Colonel-Generals " 
was eagerly welcomed everywhere. As one of his 
friends wrote to Frott^ : " All the decent people in the 
town will be delighted to see the uniform, if you wear 
it there I " And one can imagine the long talks that 
the young officer had with his fair friend in that winter 
of '89 — talks that circled always around one precious 
topic. Already full of RoyaUst feeling, Frott^ grew 
enthusiastic for the Queen's cause, as he listened to the 
stories about VersaUles, to the reminiscences of her 
kindness, her charm, her affectionate ways— of the 
thousand characteristics, so faithfully recounted by the 
friend who had come under her influence.^ 

attested by M. Warocquier, Junior, registered acoouchewr ; verified by Deroua- 
aeaux, clerk. Qod parents : Antoine-Quentin Derobois, and Therto Cordier, 
the undersigned, 

Signed: '^Derobois. Cordier, 

« P. Datiiefl, Curate," 
CivU BegxMtm. Farisk of St. Caih$riM. Baptumt. Archives of Lme. 
^ '* After baying loved and served the unhappy Marie-Antoinette with a 



THE CHEVALIER DE FROTTjfi 19 

One can divine all the advice, all the prudent counsels 
which were impressed upon our young lieutenant on his 
departure for Paris. Everything combined to make 
him eager to offer his services to the King and his 
belongings. We have seen that his efforts were un- 
successful ; but the journey had not been entirely fruit- 
less, since it had enabled him to bring back to his friend 
some news of the woman she so loved. 

At the end of April the good folk of Lille were to 
bid farewell to the regiments which had caused them 
so much anxiety. While the Colonel-Generals were 
leaving the town by the Dunkirk Gate, the townspeople 
were watching the long columns of the Normandy 
chasseurs^ the grenadiers of the Crown, and the Royal- 
Vaisseaux disappearing in different directions. What 
had been a partial failure in Lille was to break out 
again three months later, in another part of the king- 
dom, for the affray there was but the prelude to the 
revolt of the troops of Chateauvieux, at Nancy, and to 
many other risings. The army, in feet, was every day 
becoming more and more infected by the spirit of revo- 
lution, which crept in somehow, despite all discipline 
and all respect for the commanding officers. And the 
army was no untilled field ; it was well prepared for 

love tbat was almost idolatry.**— ilf^moiret ffuxmueriU de Frotti; La 
Siootidre, Xouta de FraU^ etc., yoL L p. 49. '< exquisite woman, let our 
Beyolation end as it may, and even if yon should have no part in it, yon will 
still and for ever be to me the tender and devoted friend of Antoinette • • • 
and she to whom I hope some day to owe all my happiness." — ^Letter from 
de Frott^ to Lady Atkyns, November, 1794. V. Delaporte, CenUnaire de la 
rnort de Marid'Antainette, ituda rdigieuseaj October, 1893, p. 265. 



20 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

the seed of the BevolutioDy which lost no time in taking 
root there. 

This explains the discouragement which nearly all 
the officers felt. They were gentlemen of unflinching 
Royalist sympathies, but they perceived the fruitlessness 
of their efforts to re-establish discipline and to preserve 
their authority. Frotte was especially a prey to this 
feeling. We shall see that during his time at Dunkirk 
he found it impossible to conquer the hopeless lassitude 
that was growing on him. And yet Dunkirk is not 
fax from lille, and he knows that he has left behind 
him there a friend who will console and guide him. 
But his restless, questioning turn of mind makes it 
difficult for him to reconcile himself to accomplished 
facts. He can feel no sympathy for this Revolution, 
which now strides over France as with seven-leagued 
boots; he has, indeed, an instinctive repulsion for it. 
Frotte is an indefatigable scribbler, and in the long 
idle hours of his soldier-life he confides to paper all 
his fears and discouragements, while keeping up, at the 
same time, a regular correspondence, especially with his 
friends Yalli^re and Lamberville. It is a curious fact, 
already commented on by his biographer, M. de la 
Sicoti^re, that this intrepid and active officer, this 
flower of partisans, who spent three*fourths of his time 
in warfare, was yet the most prolific of writers and 
editors. 

At Dunkirk he encountered among the officers of 
the regiment Yiennoisi which shared with his own the 



THE CHEVALIER DE FROTTfe 21 

garrison of the place, a very favourable disposition 
towards his plans. His Royalist zeal, fostered by his 
friendships, was to find an outlet. Already the National 
Assembly, eager to secure the army on its side, had 
issued a decree obliging the officers to take the oath 
not only to the King, but to the nation, and to what- 
ever Constitution might be given to France. Nothing 
would induce our young gentleman to take such an 
oath as that He never hesitated for a moment, and 
he succeeded in influencing several of his brother officers 
to think as he did It was thus that he announced his 
decision to his father : — 

" YoQ already know, my dear father, that an G»ath is now exacted 
from QB offioera which disgustB every honourable and decent feeling 
that I have. I could not take it. I know you too well, father, not 
to be certain that you would have advised me to do juat what I have 
donei And of course I did not depend only on my own poor judg- 
ment; I consulted most of my brother officers, and amongst those 
whom I esteem and love^ I have not found one who thinks differently 
from myself. Our dear chief, too, M. de Th6on, has been just the 
good fellow we always thought him." ^ 

His friend Vallike, on hearing of his conduct and his 
intentions, wrote to him in enthusiastic admiration. 

*' I am truly delighted to hear " (he wrote some days before his 
arrival at Dunkirk) "that the regiment Yiennois is almost of the 
same way of tlunking as our own, so that we are sure to get on well 
with theoL Then there are still some decent Frenchmen, and some 
subjects who are faithful to their one and lawful master ! Alas ! there 
are not many of them, and one can only groan when one thinks 

1 National Archives^ D. XXIX. 36. 



22 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

how many old and hitherto oourageous legions . • • have stained 
irretrievably their ancient glory by this betrayal of their soTereign. 
Well, my dear fellow, we must hope that you will have some peace 
now to make np for all that yon have been going through. Unfortu- 
nately, the immediate future does not seem likely to make us forget 
the past, or to promise us much happiness. If the scoundrels who 
are persecuting us, and ruining all the best things in Europe, take 
it into their heads to disband the Army (as one hears that they 
may), be sure to come here for ref uga Everything is still quiet 
here. ... If their fury still pursues us, we will leave a country 
that has become hateful to us, and go to some foreign shore, where 
there will periiaps be found some kind folk to pity us and give us a 
home in their midst. ** ^ 

The first hint at emigration ! Frott^ was already 
thinking of it ; often he had envisaged the idea, but, 
before giving up all hope, he wanted to make one last 
effort. 

The proximity of LUle enabled him to keep up un- 
broken relations, during the summer and winter of 
1790, with the officers of the garrison he had just left 
A plot had even been roughly sketched out with Lady 
Atkyns' assistance ; but a thousand obstacles retarded 
from day to day any attempt at carrying it out, and 
once more our poor young soldier was totally dis- 
couraged. Despairing of success, disgusted with every- 
thing, he began to meditate escape from an existence 
which yielded him nothing but vexations, and, little by 
little, he ceased to brood seriously over the thought of 
suicide. He spoke of it openly and at length to his 

' Unpublished letter to Frott^ May 7, 1790. National Archives, D. 
XXIX. 36. 



THE CHEVALIER DE FROTTE 23 

friend Lamberville, in a str^ge composition which he 
called My profession offaith^ and which has been ahnost 
miraculously preserved for us.^ This confession is dated 
February 20, 1791. We should have given it in its 
entirety if it were not so long.* After a quasi-philo- 
sophical preamble — Frott^ was addicted to that kind of 
thing — ^he described to his friend the miserable state of 
mind that he was in, with all hid troubles and his 
griefs. In his opinion, a man who had fallen to such 
depths of ill-fortune could do but one thing, and that 
was, to give back to (^od the life which he had received 
from Him. 

" My ideas about suicide are not " (he added) " the outcome of 
reading nor of example ; they are the result of much reflection. I 
have long since familiarized myself with the idea of death; it no 
longer seems to me a sad thing, but rather a certain refuge from 
the troubles of life. . . . When I consider my own situation, and 
that of my country; when I think of what I have been, what I am, 
and what I may become, I can find no reason for valuing my own 
life. Moreover, I live in an age of crime^ and it is my native land 
that is most subjected to its sway." 

And Frott^ went on to describe his past life to his 
friend, telling him of the way he had behaved hitherto^ 
of the principles that had guided him, the hopes he had 

> In the course of a search made at Dunkirk, in Frott^*8 dwelling-place 
(in dicnmstances of which we shall speak directly), the greater part of the 
articles seised were sent to the Oommittee of Research of the National 
Assembly, and it was in the Archives of this Committee that we discovered 
them. NaUoMd ArMvu.'D.lSXnLU. 

* The entire text will he found, pnbUshed by M. A. Savine, in the 
NawdU Bevue BdroBpeOive, 1900^ vcL ziii. pp. 217-233. 



24 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

cheiiBhed in the brighter opening days of life ; then the 
disappointments and the discomfitures that had over- 
whelmed hinL The events he had lived through filled 
his mind with bitterness. 

** I was born to be a good son and a good friend, a tender lover, a 
good soldier, a loyal subject — in a word, a decent fellow. But it 
breaks my heart to see how my compatriots have altered from 
kindly human beings to crasy ruffians, and have so accustomed 
themselves to slaughter, incendiarism, murder, and robbery, that they 
can never again be what they used to be. They have trampled 
every virtue under foot; they torture the hearts that still love 
them. • • . And my own profession, soldiering, is dishonoured; 
there is no glory about it now; my country is in a state of anarchy 
which appals me." 

Very evident in these pages, written in a delicate 
cramped handwriting, is the continual bent towards 
self-analysis, towards minute details of feeling, towards 
a lofty and remote attitude, so markedly characteristic 
of Frott^'s prose. 

Many pages of the thick, ribbed paper, fastened to- 
gether with a sky-blue ribbon, are filled with the same 
kind of reflections ; then he suddenly breaks off alto- 
gether. Had he carried out his intention ? Was that 
why he ceased to write ? Not at all ; for two months 
later, on April 10, there is a further confession, and the 
young soldier-philosopher begins by admitting that he 
has changed his mind; he defends himself on that 
point, and says that reflection has made him resolve to 
give up such gloomy views for himself. First of all, the 
fear of causing irreparable grief to his father had made 



THE CHEVALIER DE FROTXfe 25 

him pause (and yet their relations do not seem to have 
been so affectionate as of yore) ; ^ and then the desire to 
settle certain debts, considerable enough, that he would 
leave behind him. 

"In fact," (he aajn) ** since fresh troubles are overwhelming me, 
I have decided not to choose this moment for suicide. I toatU to be 
qmie calm, on the dap thai I tet oui on the Great Jonwney. • . • The 
month of August saw my birth ; it shall see my death. . . • But I 
don't want to play for effect. I try my best to seem just the same 
and to let no one guess what I am thinking of . . . . Then there's 
another reason for my going on with life. Bince I was bom a noble- 
man of France, I want to do my duty as one. « . . My sword may 
still be of some use to my King and to my friends; and since I must 
die, I want my death to benefit my family and my country. • • . I 
shall fasten up this confession, until the moment comes for me to 
die. If I have the good luck to fight, and die in the cause of 
honour, this, my dear Lamberville, will console you a little, for it 
will prove to you that death was a comfort to me. If disorder and 
dissolution are still reigning in France when August comes, if there 
has been no attempt to restore order — ^then I shall lose all hope, 
and all the reasons that I give you here will acquire full force. I 
shall not be able to hesitate. I shall then take up my pen again to 
add my last wishes, and my last farewell to my tenderest and dearest 
friend.** 

In spite of the melancholy tone of these pages, 

1 * Ton will have got a letter from me, explaining my apparent neglect ; I 
wrote it the day before I went to Vaux, as well as I remember. Tour father, 
who may have told yon in a moment of irritation that yon were a burden to 
him (it was only a letter after all), charged me then to send you his love. My 
sister has often spoken of yon with the most sincere and tender affection. 
Yon wonld be most unkiod if you did not write to her ; she would haye every 
reason to be angry with you; you would pain her, and that would pain your 
&ther • • • Dear fellow, don't, dorCt despair ; you make me veiy uneasy by 
the way you write.*'— Letter from Lamberville to FrotU. April 6, 1791. 
NaiWMd ArMvei, D. XXIX. 86. 



26 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

their author had fi^alI7 taken the advice which came 
to him from all directions, from people who loved him 
and were in his confidence, and who deeply grieved to 
hear of such a state of mind There was none more 
loyal than that yomig Valli&re of whom we have 
already spoken. At that time he was on leave in 
the Caux district Frott^ and he were very intimate, 
and Vallifere knew every step that was made towards 
the carrying out of the pot which had been arranged 
simultaneously at Lille and at Dunkirk. 

" I am very sorry," he wrote to hU friend on November 13, 1790, 
'Hhat the things you had to tell me oould only be entrosted to me 
verbally. However, in the absence of farther knowledge, there 
was nothing for me to do bat simply come here,i where in any case 
I had business, and where I am now waiting qaietly for the carry- 
ing out of the promises you made me, being, as you know, folly 
prepared. Bat, my dear fellow, I see with amaaement that nothing 
as yet is happening to verify your forecast. Oan you possibly have 
been prematorely sanguine^ or has the plan miscarriedt Perhaps it 
is merely a question of delay — ^Well I That is all rights and I hope 
that's what it is." > 

Two months later, Valli^re, who had doubtless gone 
to Paris to make inquiries, gave the following account 
of his journey : — 

*^ I came back on the 3rd instant ; and I shall have no diffictdty 
in telling you of all my doings in Paris, for I did nothing in the 
least out-of-the-way. I lived there like a good quiet citizen, who 
confines himself to groaning (since he can do nothing better) over 

^ To Fours, in the Eure district, whence the letter comes. 
< Letter from YaUidre to Frott^ November 18, 1790. Natiotidl ArcMvet^ 
D.XXIX.86. 



THE CHEVALIER DE FROTTE 27 

all the aflUoiing things he sees* I went from time to time to see 
our * August Ones,' and they always put me in a furious temper." 

Our "August Ones," as Valli^re mockingly called 
them, were the members of the Constituent Assembly, 
and they were busied with the elaboration of that 
gigantic piece of work, the Constitution, which was 
to substitute the new order for the old traditions of 
France. Little by little the edifice was growing, built 
upon the ruins of the past. The sight of it filled with 
vexation and fury those who, like Frott^, deplored the 
fallen Royalty, the lost privileges, the dispossessed 
nobility, of the old order. For the rest, our chevalier, 
during his stay at Dunkirk, had frequent news about 
his hii friend at Lille. One day it would be a brother 
officer who would write, **I played cards yesterday 
with your fair lady, who looked as pretty as an angel, 
if angels ever are so pretty as we're told they are. She 
is going to have her portrait painted in oils by my 
favourite artist. I dare say she'll manage somehow to 
get a copy done in miniature for her Chevalier I " ^ 

Or another time he would be told to come to a 
concert at which a place had been taken for him. . . . 
In a word, the time went on ; and, kicking against the 
pricks, our young soldier awaited the moment when he 
might bring his plans to realization. 

From month to month the spirit of insubordination 

1 Letter dated " LUIe, December 14 " (1790). The address rans : *' To 
M. le Vioomte de Frott^, officer in the Regiment Colonel*General of Infantry 



28 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

which had crept into the regiment with the events at 
Lille was gaining ground, and showing itself more and 
more overtly. The Garde Nationale recently formed 
at Dunkirk showed signs of it At the head of this 
was an enterprising officer, of the '^ new order/' named 
Emmery, who sought persistently to win the troops 
of the garrison over to his own way of thinking. But 
he found his match in the colonel of the regiment, 
the Chevalier de Th6on, a staunch Royalist, who had 
no intention of pandering with the enemy. In a small 
place like Dunkirk, shut up between its ramparts — 
the barracks were in the middle of the town — it was 
physically impossible to prevent the soldiers from 
coming in contact with the townsfolk. M. de Th^on 
and his officers (the majority of whom were on his 
side) had seen that very clearly ; and suddenly, in the 
month of June, they resolved to try a bold stroke. 
Dunkirk was only five leagues from the Austrian 
frontier, which was some hours' distance from Brussels, 
where already the forces of resistance of the anti- 
revolutionary party were concentrating. They resolved 
on winning Belgium to their cause, on gaining over 
the troops, and on offering their services to the Prince's 
Army, which was forming beyond the frontier. 

Before executing this scheme, Louis de Frottd is 
secretly sent to Brussels. He there sees the Marquis 
de la Queville, formerly a member of the Constitutional 
Assembly, and deputy of Riom, who has become agent 
for the Princes ; but little attention is paid to Frott^'s 



THE CHEVALIER DE FROTTE 29 

proposals, and no promises of any kind are made. 
Frotte returns somewhat discouraged to Dunkirk. 

Suddenly, like a clap of thunder, resounds the news 
which is to throw the kingdom into confusion for three 
days. During the night of June 20-21 the Royal 
Family have escaped from the Tuileries, despite 
Lafayette's guards, and the berlin which holds them 
is driving rapidly towards the frontier. Directly the 
exploit is known messengers set off in all directions, 
despatched by the National Assembly; they take 
chiefly the northerly roads, where everything points 
to the probable finding of the fugitives. The authorities 
at Dunkirk, in their turn, receive despatches from 
Paris, and take extra precautions. 

This was quite enough to let loose the thunderstorm 
that was gathering in the garrison. 

On June 23, at 11 a.m., the grenadiers of the 
Colonel-General, who had been skilfully worked upon 
by some of the agitators, signed the following pro- 
testation, and refused to follow their officers. They 
actually succeeded in raising the whole garrison. 

^ When the Oommonwealth is in danger " (so one may read in 
their manifest), '* vhen the enemies of oar blessed rerolntion raise 
an audacious resistance, vhen a cherished King abandons his people 
and flies to his enemies' side — the daty of all true Frenchmen is 
to unite, to join forces ! There should be but one cry — ^Liberty ! 
Resolute to conquer, ve should confront our enemies with a body of 
men who are ready to dare all at the lightest sign, and to wash <^ 
with the blood of traitors the insult done to a free people 1"^ 

1 Municipal ArMves of Dunkirh, p. 60. 



30 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

Then came the announcement of a federative compact, 
to which were summoned the representatives of the 
municipality, the National Guards, and the Club of the 
Friends of the Constitution. 

And here arises a question. Were Frott^ and his 
friends aware of the King's intentions ? It is difficult 
to be sure ; but, hasty as their decision apparently was, 
it had really been fixed for some time, as is clearly 
shown by the following lines written by Frott6 to his 
father at that very time : 

** It vas arranged this morning that I am to go to Fumes with 
several of my comrades, on Saturday ; and there, dear father, I 
shall await your wise decision as to whether I shall return home to 
you or go to join the Prince de Cond^" 

Fumes is a small village about fifteen kilometres 
from Dunkirk. It was then on Austrian territory, and 
had been chosen as the rendezvous for the fugitive 
officers. 

On Friday, June 24, in the afternoon, each of these 
" gentlemen '* received a secret message from Colonel 
de Th^on, giving them his instructions. 

*'Set out for Fumes" (he told them) <' immediately on reading 
this ; make no preparations ; just take whatever money you may 
have, and do not worry about your other possessions ; they will be 
seen to later. I invoke the aid of Heaven upon our enterprise — ^may 
we all meet that same night at Furnes. 

"Your friend for life, 

"TnioN.'* 

At the same time, he made to his soldiers a last 



THE CHEVALIER DE FROTTE 31 

supreme appeal, conjuring them to respond to it, and 
to come back to the path of duty. 

''Soldiers, your King waa put in irons and the news of his 
capture is false. Surely it is impossible that the leading regiment 
should fail to join him, to form his bodyguard, and to shield him 
from the knives of the asaassinB who have, of course, been sent after 
him, We^ who bear the ensign of the General of Infantry, shall 
find all good Frenchmen and true patriots . . . raUying round our 
colours. Believe me, when that happens, the Boyalist party, which 
Is very nimierous, will declare itself, and when it sees that it can 
do so without endangering its sovereign's life^ will flaunt the white 
cockade. Let us, too, wear this as our symbol of France — not the 
colours of a regicide and factious prince, the scandal of his country 
and the author of all the evils which are now rending it. Your 
officers, your real friends, await you at Fumes, where the august 
brother of your Queen has given orders (as on aU the frontiers) that 
the faithful servants of the unhappy Louis XYL are to be received, 
when they arrive there on Us service. . • . 

«< Gome there, then— meet there, renew your early oath of fidelity 
to the most upright of kings. But as for such as you as are infected 
with the maadms of the Club, such of you as think you are patriots, 
because you have neither faith, nor law, nor honour — such as these 
had better stay in their dens. Only those are adjured to come 
whose hearts stiil tell them they are Frenchmen. Long live the 
Kingl"» 

But it was too late. The hour for such an appeal 
had gone by. 

Towards five o'clock on the evening of the same day, 
just as the rolI*call was ending in the barracks, the 
oflScers of the Colonel-Generals (and several brother- 
soldiers from the Yiennois regiment) left the town in 

1 Iftfmctjpol Ardiiv€$ of Dunkirk, p. CO. 



32 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

groups of three. They took with them the white cornette 
of the infantry, and the flags of their regiments^ which 
they had torn from the handles. They had not been 
able to make up their minds to leave their colours 
behind. When they had passed the ramparts some 
of them went to the right over the downs which run 
along the coast, and which the fugitives intended to 
use as their path to the frontier ; the others struck into 
the open country, and crossed the canal; as soon as 
they were out of sight, however, they rejoined the first 
lot At eight o'clock that evening the boatmen on 
the Fumes ferry took over two more, and these were 
MM. d'Averton and De La Motte. 

Now, at that hour, the Royal berlin and its £reight 
had just left la Ferti-sous-Jouarre, on the high-road to 
(Mlons, and was proceeding slowly through the dust, 
followed and accompanied by a noisy, drunken crowd, 
towards Meauz. It was caught at Yarennes ; and the 
fugitives, foiled in their attempt, went back to Paris, 
from that day forth to be their prison. 

The news of their capture, so unluckily contradicted 
by de Th^on in his manifesto, might possibly have 
altered the plans of the officers from Dunkirk. But 
we hardly think so. Their arrangements had long 
since been made, and the Yarennes episode gave them, 
suddenly, an opportunity to carry them out. But 
imagine their discomfiture when they heard of the 
dramatic ending of the attempt 

It was again Frotti who had been sent to Brussels, 



THE CHEVALIER DE FROTTE 33 

to carry to kis Kiog the standard of the regi- 
ment. 

He arrived there at night, met the Marquis de la 
Queville, and learnt the truth from him. Instead of 
the King, it was the King's brother, the Comte de 
Provence, whom Frott6 found there; for Mimsieur^ 
more fortunate than the others, had reached the frontier 
without any trouble. 

Thus the affair had partly failed. There was nothing 
for the fugitive officers to do but go and join the ever- 
increasing tribe of SmigrSs who lined the frontier. They 
withdrew to Ath, in Hainault, the rendezvous of many 
exiles.^ 

What happened at Dunkirk when their absence was 
discovered ? On the 25th, at 5 a.m., a ** good patriot,'' 
M. Franjois, awoke the commandant of the Garde 
Nationale, M. Emmery, and presented to him the 
manifesto of the " Sieur de Th^on." The alarm spread 
instantly through the town ; it was with indignation 
that people heard the news of the desertion of the 
officers, who had even been so infamous as to carry 
off the regimental colours. The soldiers chose new 
officers, and held a meeting on the parade-ground. M. 
Emmery came to them, and tried to pacify them by 
offering them one of the colours of the Garde Nationale, 
to replace those which had been filched from them. He 

> It was from that place that thejr addressed, on July 3, 1791, a petition 
for the restoration of their efiects left in the garrison, and also asked for the 
liberation of their regimental chaplain, whom the Corporation had had arrested, 
on the charge of having aided the ^Hot^Archives (^Dunkirk, p. 60. 

D 



34 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANroINETTE 

was enthusiasticallj received. Hopes rose high once 
more. Grenadiers and gardes naiionaux met in warmest 
comradeship ; and the tricolour was sent for, and pre- 
sented to the regiment, which was drawn up in battle- 
array. Vengeance was vowed against traitors and 
enemies of the Bepublic. ''From that moment there 
reigned boundless confidence, perfect joy, and assured 
tranquillity." 

But this was not all. It had to be ascertained whether 
the runaways had left anything behind thenu The 
Justice of the Peace for the Quartier-du-Midi, Pierre 
Taveme, betook himself to the officers' quarters in the 
barracks. On the first storey, under the landing, there 
was a door which led into the room that was known to 
have been Frott^'s. That door was sealed, as were those 
of all his brother-officers' rooms. Five days later the 
seals were broken. The inspection brought nothing 
noteworthy to light. In Frott^'s room they found 
two helmets, a cross-belt, and a gorget. The others 
were still less exciting ; a cap and two portmanteaus, 
" containing a little music," were found in M. Deram- 
pan's quarters; a cap and a double-barrelled gun in 
M. Metayer's ; a trunk in M. de Dreuille's ; a cap and 
a cross-belt in M. Demingin's, and so on. The Boyal 
tent contained a cabriolet belonging to M. de Th^on ; 
the stables, '^ near the fuel-stores," yielded another old 
cabriolet, the property of M. de Frott6. Everything 
was confiscated, and taken to the Municipality. 

The only thing which interested the authorities was 



THE CHEVALIER DE FROTXfe 35 

a trunk full of papers, which had been seized in Frott^'s 
quarters. It was examined, but no proofs were found of 
the suspected conspiracy. It was then tied up, sealed, 
and sent to the Research Committee of the National 
Assembly, with a curt account of the occurrence. On 
the evening of June 28 this was read to the Deputies 
of the Assembly, some of whom were very angry on 
hearing the defiant appeal of de Th^on to his soldiers.^ 
« • • • « 

Was Lady Atkyns at lille to hear the issue of the 
adventure? She had more probably left France by 
that time, terrified by all that was going on around her, 
and the more so that she was alone, for her friends on 
every side had left her. 

While her lover was languishing among the hfdgris 
(made miserable by their inaction and selfishness) she 
regiuned her old home at Eetteringham, uneasy in her 
mind, but not despairing. She saw plainly what her 
own path was to be ; for her love for the Queen and 
the Queen's people was henceforth to rule her life, and 
cany her on from one devoted action to another. 

1 Jfom/eur, June 30, 1791. 



CHAPTER II 

LONDOJT 

While the Court and the Anny of the imigrh 
were being organized at Coblentz and Worms^ under 
the direction of Monsieur, Comte de Provence, of the 
Comte d'Artois, and of the Prince de Cond6, and while 
rivalry and jealousies and a thousand other causes of 
dissension were abeady cropping up in that environ- 
ment (so often and always so unfavourably depicted), 
other troops of similar fugitives were leaving the 
eastern coast and, embarking from the Channel port, or 
stopping first on the islands of Jersey and Guernsey, 
were gradually arriving on English soil, there to find 
an assured refuge. In the last months of 1791, and in 
the beginning of 1792, they came thither in thousands. 
Bretons, Normans, nobles, ecclesiastics, journalists, young 
officers, fleeing persecution, pillage, arbitrary arrests, 
came hastening to enjoy the hospitality of Great 
Britain. 

London was soon full of refugees ; but the majority 
of these unfortunate folk, despite their illustrious names, 
were in a state almost of destitution. 



LONDON 37 

The more proeperous ones, those who had been able to 
rescue something from the shipwreck, succeeded in find- 
ing homes in the suburbs — ^modest boarding-houses, or 
little cottages — where they installed their families. But 
these were the exceptions ; and in every street French 
gentlefolk were to be met with who had no property 
but what they carried on their backs. Many of them 
knew no English ; and still overwhelmed by the dangers 
they had passed through, and thus suddenly plunged 
into strange surroundings, without resources, without 
even a handicraft, went wandering despairingly about 
the city, in search of bread. 

They were not allowed to starve. Most admirably 
did English charity accept this influx of new 
inhabitants. 

The last years of the reign of Louis XVL, together 
with the War of Independence in the United States, had 
markedly chilled the relations between France and her 
neighbours across the Channel. Bevolutionary ideas 
from the frontiers had at first met with some sympathy 
amongst this favoured people, who had been in the 
enjoyment of true liberty for a century. But when 
EngUsh folk came to know of the excess which these 
ideas had resulted in, of the anarchy which had been let 
loose in all directions, of the violence which was the 
order of the day — their distrust, indignation, and horror 
effaced that earlier sympathy. 

Eling George IIL, supported by his Minister, Pitt, 
felt from that time an aversion which grew to implacable 



38 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

hatred for anything even remotely connected with the 
French Revolution.* 

On the other hand, he (and, indeed, almost the whole 
of the aristocracy) welcomed the refugees, and en- 
couraged their sojourn in the kingdom — glad, no 
doubt, of the opportunity for displaying his opinion 
of the new ideas, by helping on the exodus of a part 
of the inhabitants of France, an exodus which would 
contribute to the weakening of that country. 

Whatever the reason may have been, there is abundant 
evidence of the inexhaustible charity that the new- 
comers met with in English society. Benevolent com- 
mittees were formed, presided over by dukes and 
duchesses, marquises and marchionesses.* When the 
first necessities of the poor creatures had been provided 
for by the establishment of cheap restaurants, hotels, 
and bazaars, their friends sought out occupations for 
them, so that they might be in a position to earn their 
own livelihood. The clergy were the first to profit 
by this solicitude. The decree of August 26, 1792, 
ordaining the deportation of non-juring priests, had 
driven them in a body from the continent. It was 
well for those who were thus driven out, for of their 
comrades who remained the most part were in the 
end persecuted and entrapped. The greater number 
chose England for their place of refuge. They came 
thither in crowds — so much so that, at the Terror, 

^ Albert Sorel, VEwtc^b H la EevoUOicn Frangaue, toL ii. p. 382. 
> ForneroD, ffisMre Q^nSraHe de$ imigrA^ Paris, 1884, vol. u. p. 50. 



LONDON 39 

there were as many as 8000.^ Many were Bretons. 
One of thenii Carron, came to London preceded by 
a reputation for holiness. He had founded at Rennes 
a cotton-cloth factory which gave employment to more 
than 2000 poor people. The famous Decree of August 
26 affected him, and thus forced him to abandon his 
enterprise. He went to Jersey, and recommenced his 
work there; but left the island at the end of some 
time, and came to settle in England. There he set 
up an alms-house for his destitute coreligionists, and 
acted the part of a sort of Providence to them. Nor 
was he the only one they had. 

Jean-Fran9ois de la Marche, Bishop of Saint-Pol*de^ 
L^n, had, ever since the early months of 1791, incurred 
the wrath and fury of the Attorney-General of the 
department of Finisterre. This prelate, who was pro- 
foundly loved in his diocese, refused to give up his 
bishopric, which had recently been suppressed by the 
National Assembly. He was accused of fomenting 
agitation in the department, and of inciting the cur^s 
to resistance. He was violently denounced at the 
National Assembly, and treated as a disturber of the 
public peace. Summoned to Paris to exculpate himself, 
together with his colleagues, the Bishops of Treguier 
and Morbihan, he took no notice of the order, and to 

1 Abbtf de Labersac, Jowmal hUtorique H riligieuaoj de VhfUgroHon ei d^ 
poriaHan du clerge de France en Angteterre^ dedicated to His Majesty the 
King of England, London, 1802, Bvo, p. 12. (The author styles himself: 
Vicai^eneral of Narbonne, Abb^ of Noirlac and Boyal Prior of St-Martin de 
Brivd, Fienoh ^Mgrl) 



40 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

escape arrest^ which threatened him, and for which he 
was being pursued by the Cavalry Police, he had but 
one resource — to get right away from Brittany. He 
came to London in the first batch of Smigrh. From 
the outset he had but one idea: to look after his 
companions in misfortune, to help them in their need, 
to find employment for them. To this end he served 
as intermediary between the Government and the 
priests, pleading the cause of these latter, and keeping 
registers of the names and qualificaticms of all with 
whom he became concerned. 

In spite of so nfiany reasons for melancholy, one 
thing that struck the English people was the extra* 
ordinary gaiety of nature displayed by most of the 
hfiigria so soon as they found themselves in security. 
These good folk, many of whom landed half-starved, 
exhausted and ragged, were somehow not entirely 
disheartened, and, indeed, on commencing life afresh, 
displayed an extraordinary spirit and cheerfulness. 
Very quickly, even in the alien country, they formed 
into circles of friends who saw each other every day,* 
eager to exchange impressions, reminiscences, and 
hopes, to get news from the Homeland and from those 
members of their families who had not been able to 
leave it; they felt keenly the need of a common 
existence, in which they could cheer and encourage 
one another. And what a kindly grace they showed, 
what a brave spirit, amid all the little disagreeables of 

^ Coant d^HanssoDYille, Souvtnirt tt M&ange$j Paris, 1878| Bvo. 



LONDON 41 

a way of life so different from that of the good old 
days t At the dinners which they gave on^ another, 
each would bring his own dish. "'Twas made," says 
the Comit d'Haussonville, ''into a little attention to 
the visitors of the house for a man to take a taper 
from his pocket, and put it, lighted, on the chimney- 
piece!'' In the daytime the men-folk gave lessons 
or worked as secretaries (or bookbinders, like the 
Count de Caumont, for instance). The women did 
needlework, which the English ladies, their patronesses, 
busied themselves in selling at bazaars.^ 

But side by side with the gentlemen who took their 
exile so patiently and philosophically, there was a 
whole group of Smigrh who longed to play a less 
passive part. These were the men and women who 
had fled from France and brought their illusions with 
them — those inconceivable illusions which mistook so 
entirely the true character, importance, and extent of 
the Bevolution, and could still, therefore, cherish the 
hope of some kind of revenge. Totally misunder- 
standing the feelings of the English €k)vernment, 
unable to comprehend the line taken by Pitt and his 
Cabinet, and blinded by their stubborn hatred, these 
men and women actually imagined that, to their 
importunate appeals. Great Britain could respond by 
furnishing them with arms, soldiers, and money to 

> Oauthier de Brecy, MimoireB veiridiqueB et ingemu delavie jprivSe, morale 
ei politique €Pun homme de Uen^ "writteA by himself in the eighty-first year of 
his age, Paris, 1834, Syo, p. 286. 



42 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

eqaip a fleet, form an army, and go back to France 
as the avengers of the *' hideous Revolution.'' They 
assailed the Minister with offers, counsels, and schemes 
— for the most part quite impracticable ; were refused, 
but still cherished their delusion. Some of them were 
honest, but many were of that class of adventurer with 
which the Emigration was swarming, and which was the 
thorn in the side of all the anti-revolutionary agencies. 
The well-warned Grovemment could give them but one 
reception. Pitt had not the least idea of listening to 
the proposals of these gentry and personally intervening 
in favour of the RoyaUsts of France.^ 

England at that time was deeply concerned with 
Indian affairs ; and, in spite of the lively sympathy in- 
spired by the grievous situation of the Royal Family at 
the Tuileries, she could not dream of departing, at any 
rate just then, from an attitude of benevolent neutrality. 

In her manor-house of Eetteringham, where she 
spent the winter of 1791-92, Lady Atkyns was not 
forgetful of her French friends. The Gazette brought 
her week by week news of the events in Paris, of the 
troubles in the provinces, of the deliberations of the 
National Assembly. But what she looked for first of 
all was intelligence about the inhabitants of the Tuileries, 
whose agitated and anguished lives she anxiously 
followed. Separation redoubled her sympathetic adora- 
tion of the lady whom she had seen and worshipped at 
Versailles. Thus we can imagine what her grief must 
> Sorel, VEwrope et la BMltiUian Franfoue, vol HI pp. 288, 289. 



LONDON 43 

have been on hearing the details of that 20th of June — 
the invaded palace, the interminable line of the people 
defiling before the King, the attitude of Marie- Antoin- 
ette, protecting her son against the ferocious curiosity 
of the petitioners, and surrounded only by a few faith- 
ful allies who made a rampart for her with their bodies. 
Lady Atkyns* heart had fedled her as she read of all 
this. The day of the Tenth of August, the massacre of 
the Swiss Guards, the flight of the King and Queen, 
their transfer to the Temple Prison, and incarceration 
there — ^these things redoubled her anguish. She went 
frequently to London for information, and returned, 
sad and anxious, to her dear Norfolk home, made 
miserable by her impotence to do anything that might 
save the Queen. 

With her great love for the Royalist cause, she 
naturally associated herself warmly with the benevolent 
efforts of English society to help the SmigrSs. She 
knew many of the names, and when she heard talk of 
D'Harcourts, Beauvaus, Yeracs, Fitz-Jameses, Morte- 
marts, all the life at Versailles must have come back 
to her — the Queen's "set,** the receptions, the fes- 
tivities. 

It was during one of her visits to London that she 
made the acquaintance of a man whom she had long 
wished to know, and whose articles she always eagerly 
read — ^I allude to Jean-Gabriel Peltier, the editor of the 
Acta of the Apostles^ that extravagantly Royalist sheet 
which had such an immense vogue in a certain circle 



44 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

since the days of *89. Peltier was bom near Angers ; * 
his real name was Dudoyer— of a business family. Af tet 
an adventoroos youth, and a sojourn at Saint-Domingo 
(where, it seems, he did not lead a blameless life), he 
came to Paris at the beginning of the Bevolution. 
According to a police report of doubtful authenticity, he 
flung himself heart and soul into the revolutionary 
cause, speechifying side by side with Camille Des- 
moulins at the Palais-Royal, flaunting one of the first 
rebel flags, and marching to the Taking of the Bastille. 
Then, all of a sudden, he turns his coat, becomes a 
blazing Royalist, and founds a newspaper with the 
curious title of The Acts of the Apostles. ¥oi the space 
of two years he then attacks violently, recklessly, every- 
thing and everybody so mistaken as not to agree with 
his own ideas. The style of the paper is sarcastic, and 
frequently licentioua The author has been found fault 
with for his insults and his invectives; his sheet has 
been styled '^ infamous ; " but when we remember the 
prevailing tone of the Press at that time, and the con- 
dition of the public mind, is it not only fair to grant 
some indulgence to the quartette — ^Peltier, Rivarol, 
Champcnetz, and Sulau — who took in hand so 
ardently and enthusiastically the interests of the 
King? 

On August 10, when he had dismissed the other 
editors of the Acts of the Apostles^ and stopped the 

1 On October 21, 1765, at Gonnord, Maine-et-Loire, Canton of Tonaro^ 
arrondissement of Augers. 



^■:-i^^€%te 




^■jsiL'j!?.ii}a)E, 




Jean-Gabkikl Pki.tier, 1765-1825. 
[A//cr an engraving in the liritish Mn.unni.) 



\Toface f>ag:e 44. 



LONDON 45 

publication of the paper, Peltier, feeling no longer safe 
in Paris, took the step of emigrating. He came to 
London with the idea of founding a new periodical, 
which was to be called The Political Correspondence of 
the True Friends of the King. 

Tall and thin, with powdered hair, and a lofty bald 
forehead, always inveighing fervently against some- 
thing or other (so Chateaubriand depicts him), Peltier 
answered in some degree to the traditional type of 
journalist in those days, when ^'journalist" meant at 
once gazetteer, lampoonist, and pamphleteer. Judging 
by his writings alone, one can understand the small 
confidence that his English acquaintances placed in 
him ; but under his somewhat eccentric mode of expres- 
sion Peltier concealed a very real and deep devotion to 
the King's cause. 

His acquaintance with Lady Atkyns dates from 
November, 1792. This lady spent a great part of her 
long leisurely days in the country in reading. She 
was told of the recent publication3 by Peltier ; she had 
known only of some of these, and instantly off she writes 
to the journalist, asking him for the first numbers of 
the book which he is bringing out Needless to say, 
her desire is at once gratified.^ She devours the writ- 
ings of the author of The Acta of the Apostles ; she 
joins in his anger, shares his admirations, and a regular 
correspondence begins between these two persons, drawn 

> Letter from Peltier to Lady Atkyns, dated from London, Norember 15, 
Vl92.^UnpMM^ Paj^en of Lady AOeyns. 



46 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

together as they were by a common sympathy for the 
Royal Family of France. 

When they have exchanged reminiscences of past days, 
they come to consider the present. Lady Atkyns has been 
fretting for weeks over her inaction. A thousand thoughts 
disturb her, all converging towards the same idea : 
can she do anything to save the King and the Queen ? 
Does she not possess a considerable fortune, and who is 
to prevent her from arranging to devote a part of it to 
the realization of her dream ? And in truth this woman, 
who was a foreigner, who was bound by no real tie of 
any kind to the inmates of the Tuileries, was actually to 
attempt, through the strength alone of her love and her 
heroic devotion, what no one had yet succeeded in. A 
superhuman energy sustained her; one thought only 
was henceforth to rule her life, and not once did she 
falter, nor doubt, nor lose the ardour of her feeling. 

To whom better could she address herself than to 
him who seemed to understand her so well ? Peltier 
was told of her intentions. Their letters grew more 
frequent, their project begins to take shape. 

" In truth, madame" (Peltier writes), *• the more I read yon, the 
more joor seal astonishes and moves me. You are more intrepid 
and more ardent than any Frenchman, even among those who are 
most attached to their King. But have you reflected upon the 
dosen doors, the dozen wickets and tickets that must be arranged 
for, before you can get into Court f I know that to tell you of 
difficulties is but to inflame your desire to orercome them ; more* 
over, I do not doubt that your new scheme has taken all these 
difficulties into account." 



LONDON 47 

When this plan had been modified and approved by 
Peltier, it stood thus : First of all, to find two safe 
correspondents in Paris, to whom letters and a state- 
ment of the scheme could be sent. And these two men 
were there, ready to hand — ^both whole-heartedly Royal- 
ists, both tried men. They were MM. Goguelat and 
Grongenot. The first, who was M. de Bouill^s aide-de- 
camp, had taken an active part in the Varennes affair, 
but he had not shown the greatest discretion, for all he 
had succeeded in doing was to get wounded. The 
second, who was the King's steward, had been in the 
secret of the flight. The plotters also meant to get 
into relations with the two physicians of Louis XVL, 
MM. Lemonnier and Vicq d'Azyr, who would give 
most valuable aid in the passing of notes into the 
Temple Prison, for and to the prisoners. But the great 
difficulty would be the King. How was he to be 
brought to their way of thinking ? Would he consent 
to listen to the proposals they were to transmit to him ? 
" That " (declares Peltier) " is what no one can be sure 
of, considering the state of prostration that he must be 
in after such terrible and incessant misfortunes." 

Nor was this all. They had to find an intelligent 
and nimble agent, who could cross from England to 
France once, twice, many times if necessary ; who could 
have interviews with the persons indicated, and, above 
all, who could manage to procure detailed plans of the 
Temple Prison. An ordinary courier would not do. 
Well, it just happened that Peltier had relations with 



48 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

a foreign nobleman^ Hungarian by birth, whom he had 
come to know by chance, and who even helped him 
with his publications. He had, in fact, made this 
gentleman his collaborator. His name was d'Auerweck, 
and as he happened to be in France at that very 
moment, he could easily betake himself to Paris, and, 
in Peltier's opinion, would fill most admirably the 
delicate post with which he was to be entrusted. 

Finally, throughout the plot, they were to make use 
in correspondence of a ''sympathetic" ink, "which 
could only be read when held near the fire." 

Here is the cost of the first preparations : — 





X 


«. 


d. 


Journey to Paris by diligence 

Return ... ... ... ... ... 


6 
6 


6 
6 






Travelling expenses, etc. (at least) ... 
Expenses at Paris for, say fifteen days ... 
Tips to servants 


6 
3 
6 


6 
3 
6 








26 5 

That is a sum of about 650 francs. Needless to say, 
the journalist 4migrS^ like most of his compatriots, 
was entirely unable to give the smallest contribution to 
the expenses of the enterprise ; but Lady Atkyns was 
there, ready for any sacrifice ; they were to apply to 
her for everything necessary. 

In conclusion, Peltier pointed out again the diffi- 
culties of a general escape. 

*< Above all, madame, do not forget that I foresee a great difficulty 
in bringing oat the tbree principal members of the family. They 



LONDON 49 

may possibly think themselTeB fl»f er in the Temple than on the 
high-road. The penonal riak which you are ronning makes me 
shudder. Toor courage is worthy of the admiration of all EnropCy 
and if any harm comes to yon, as the result of so heroic an enter- 
prise, I shall be among those who will deplore it most," 



Three days later another letter came to Kettering- 
ham, telling of the good progress of the attempt. 
Peltier was going to despatch his servant to Amiens, 
whither the Baron d'Auerweck had gone, and the latter 
would in this way receive his instructions. 

But there was no time to lose. The storm was 
muttering in Paris. Pressed by the " Forward " groups, 
frightened by the redoubled insurrections, the Con- 
vention had been compelled to proceed to the trial of 
the King. "Circumstances are becoming so urgent," 
wrote Peltier, " that we have not a moment to lose ; 
they talk of trying the King so as to calm down the 
insurrections that are breaking out everywhere." 

And, indeed, it was necessary to make haste. After 
the discovery of the papers in the famous " Iron Press " 
in the Tuileries, the Convention had agreed that the 
King should appear before them. On December 10 
Robert Lindet made his report, and the next day 
Barbaroux presented *^ the deed enunciating the crimes 
of Louis Capet." On the same day the King appeared 
before the bar of the Convention, there to answer the 
thirty-one questions which were put to him. 

Like lightning, this terrifying news crossed the 
Channel, and reached London in a few hours. Peltier's 

B 



50 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

rooms filled with horrified people, *' who met there all 
day long to weep and despair." 

^* I cannot oonoeal from yoa, madame," wrote Peltier that evening 
to hiB friend, ** that the danger to the Bojal Family is very great 
at thia moment. Truly I cannot hope that they will still be alive 
at the end of the fortnight. It is heartrending. Ton will have 
seen the English fafen. Ton will have read Robespierre's abomin- 
able speech, and how it was applauded by the Tribunes ; and, above 
all, you will have seen about these new documents, which have been 
twisted into a crime of the unhappy King's because people mil not 
see that all the steps he took to regain his authority were taken for 
the good of his people, and that his sole object was to save them by 
force if necessary from the evils which are destroying them, now 
that they no longer have a King." 

But even yet all was not lost If they arrived too 
late to save the King, there was still the Dauphin, "to 
whom every one should look." In a few days the Baron 
d'Auerweck would be in Paris, and they would know 
exactly how much they might still hope for. 

"A Transylvanian nobleman/' was the description 
Peltier had given when writing about this new coUa* 
borator.* The epithet, although most attractive — 
suggestive as it was of that land of great forests all 
wildness and mystery — ^was not perfectly exact. The 
family of Auerweck, though perhaps of Hungarian 
origin, had established itself at Vienna, where the father 

1 ** In case of our not being able to find M. Gogaelat, I have my eye upon 
a very naeliil man whom I have known for many years, and who was, indeed^ 
a collaborate in some of my political woxks— he is the Baron d^Anerweck, a 
Transylvanian nobleman, a Boyalist like onrselvesi of finn cbaracter, and very 
dever.*'— Letter Irom PeMer, Dea 3, 1792. 



LONDON 51 

of oar Baron died as a captain in the Austrian service. 
His wife — ^whose maiden-name had been Scheltheim — 
had borne him four children, two boys and two girls. 
The two latter were married and settiied in Austria. 
The elder son, who was bom at Vienna about 1766, 
was named Louis (Aloys) Qonzago; he added to his 
fiftmily name that of an estate, Steilenfels, and the title 
of Baron — so that the whole thing, when given out 
with the proper magniloquence, was quite eflFective. 

" By the particular favour of Marie-Th^rke," Louis 
d'Auerweck entered very young the Military Academy 
of Neustadt, near Yieima. On leaving it, he spent four 
years in a Hungarian regiment, the " Eenfosary ; ** but 
garrison-life bored him, and, independent and ambitious, 
he longed to shake off the yoke of militarism which 
hampered him in his schemes. 

Unfortunately, we have only his own record of his 
younger days,^ and it is matter for regret that no 
more trustworthy information is to be had. For very 
curious and interesting is the life of this adventurer, 
who was undeniably intelligent and clever, but who was 
also an intriguer and a braggart; who knew French 
well, and therefore posed as a finished diplomatist, with 
pretentions to philosophy and literature; who, in a 
word, was filled with a sense of his own importance, 

1 In two autobiographical memoira, one written at Hambnig, Jtme, 1796, 
and annexed to a despatch from the French Minister there, Beinhard 
{Archive rf ths Foreiffn Office Hambnrg, ▼. 109» folio 367). The other 
was written at Paris, July 26, 1807 (^o^ionoZ Atckives, F. 6446). Both 
natdxa]] J aim at presenting the author in the most fayoniable light 



52 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

and fatally addicted to " playing to the gallery." Some 
quotations £rom his writings will give a better idea of 
him than any description* 

Hardly has he left Austria — his reason for doing so 
we shall learn from himself — than he sets off on a sort 
of educational tour, beginning at Constantinople and 
going on to the Mediterranean. He visits, one after 
the other, Greece, Malta, Sicily, Spain, the South 
of France; he even goes so far as Chamb^ry and 
Lyons. An opportunity turns up, and off he sets 
for Paris. 

« The inxiorations made by Joseph II., auoh as the introduction 
of the Register and militaiy oonflcription, caused him to be employed 
as an engineer, and as a member of the administrative body formed 
to carry out these different schemes. His independent character 
instantly displayed itself in a sphere where it was no longer re- 
pressed by that duty of blind obedience which is the very being of 
the Army. JHe could now venture to have an opinion and to 
express it, he could criticise the root-idea on the form of an enter- 
prise by displaying its difficulties or foretelling its non-success (fore- 
casts, moreover, which time has proved to be sound); he could 
speak of the violation of national justice, of a legitimate resistance 
to arbitrary power. His experiences under fire, his activity, and 
his oratorical talent gave him a position among the malcontents 
which he had not sought in any way. In consequence, he ventured 
on something more than mere speaking and writing. His travels, 
his qualities, his independent and decided character have won for 
him friendships and acquaintanceships which have given him the 
advantage of never finding himself out of place in any important 
centre of affairs. To this he owes that knowledge of the hereditary 
prejudices and the sudden caprices of Cabinets, which when joined 
to an equal knowledge of the character of their chi^s, ministers, 
constitutes diplomaey, T6 assiduous study he attributes that 



LONDON 53 

understanding of the true interestB of Grovemments, and of their 
respective powers, which constitutes intemcUional poliiica.** 

Such was the personage to whom Lady Atkyns and 
Peltier entrusted their enterprise. If they looked after 
him carefully^ granted him only a limited discretion, 
and took the fullest advantage of his intelligence and 
his talents, they would probably make something of 
the Hungarian nobleman. This was not the Baron's 
first visit to Paris ; he knew the capital well. He had 
come there at the beginning of the Bevolution, in 1789, 
and, if we are to believe his own account, " he saw the 
results of all these horrors, but was merely laughed at. 
If all mankind could have been armed against the 
Bevolution, he would have armed them I '* Moreover, 
he had kept up many connections in Paris. By his 
own account, the Austrian Minister, Thugut, whom he 
had formerly met at Naples, had taken him into his 
confidence. In short, his friends in London could not 
have made a better choice, as he wrote &om Amiens to 
Peltier on the receipt of his proposal. 

^ I start for Paris at foil speed at five o'clock to-morrow morning. 
I need not tell you that from this moment I shaU devote myself to 
the business of which you have spoken to me, nor need I add that 
this devotion is entirely disinterested. If I had not already proved 
those two things to you, I shonld not be the man yoa require. 
But, just because I feel that I%ava the head and the heart necessary 
for your enterprise, I tell you frankly that it can only be carried 
out at great expense. The business of getting information — ^which 
is only a preparatory measure — is made difficult, if not impossible, 
unless a considerable sum of money can be spent. ... I believe 



54 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

myself authorued to speak to you in this way, because I have the 
adTantage-Hrare enough amongst men— of being above suflpidon 
with regard to my own interests."^ 

On Wednesday, December 19, d'Auerweck entered 
Paris, and put up at a hotel in the Rue Coq-H^ron, 
where he gave his name as ScheltheinL He instantly 
set to work to get the letters he had brought with him 
delivered at their addresses, and to make certain of the 
oo-operation which was essential to him. But there 
was a disappointment in store ; (xoguelat, upon whom 
so much depended, was away from Paris, and, as it 
happened, in London. It was necessary to act without 
him^ and this was no easy matter. The excitement 
caused by the trial of the King enforced upon the 
plotters a redoubled caution. D'Auerweck got uneasy 
when he found no letters coming from Peltier in answer 
to his own. He went more frequently to Versailles, 
and to Saint-Germain, and kept on begging for funds. 
On December 25, the day before M. de S^ze was to 
present the King's defence to the Convention, d'Auer- 
week wrote to Peltier — 

*<The persons ^ou know whom I mean) do not care to arrive 
here before Thursday, which is very natural, for there is all sorts of 
talk as to what may happen to-morrow. • • . You promised me to 
write by each poet; but there can be no doubt that you forgot me 
on Tuesday, the 18th, for otherwise I must have had your letters 
by this time. One thing I cannot tell you too often : it is that I 

1 Letter from Baron d'Auerweck, December 17, 1792. It is addressed to 
Peltier under the name of Jonathan Williams.-* UnpMiahed Fapen of Lady 



LONDON 55 

oonaider it essential to take to you in person any dooomenta that I 
may be aide to prooore.'' ^ 

The documents in question were those which Peltier 
had alluded to, some days before, in a letter to Lady 
Atkyns : ** I heard to-day that there was some one in 
Paris who had all the plans that you want in the 
greatest detail;"' and at the end of the month he 
returned to the subject-— 

** I am expecting, too, a most exact plan of the Temple Prison, 
taken in November; and not only of the Temple, but also of tho 
cavea that lie under the tover — oaves that are not generally known 
Q^and which vere used from time immemorial for the burial of the 
ancient Templars. I know a place where the wall is only eighteen 
inches thick, and debouches on the next street." 

It becomes evident that Peltier and Lady Atkyns, 
almost abandoning any hope of saving tibe King, whose 
situation appeared to them to be desperate, now brought 
all their efforts to bear upon the other prisoners of the 
Temple. 

^U His Majesty persists in his reluctance to be rescued from 
prison, at least we may still save his poor son from the assassins' 
knives. A well-informed man told me, the day before yesterday, 
when we were talking of this deplorable business, that people were 
to be found in Paris ready, for a little money, to carry off the 
Dauphin. They would bring him out of the Temple in a basket, or 
else disguised in some way. • • • I believe that to save the son is to 
save the father also. For, after all, this poor duld cannot be made 
the pretext for any sort of trial, and as the Crown belongs to him 

1 Letter from d'Auerweck to Peltier, Paris, Hotel Goq-H6roo, No. 16 
December 26, ll92.'^UnpMished Papen tfLady AikynB. 
' Letter from Peltier to Lady Atkyns, London, December 7, 1792.— iMc^ 



56 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

by law on his father's deathi I believe that they vonld keqp the 
latter alivei if it were only to checkmate those who would rally 
round the Dauphin. But^ in the interval^ things may have time to 
alter, and circumstances may ati last bring about a happy change 
in this disastrous state of things." 

The month of December went by in this painful state 
of Buspense. What anxiety must have fretted the heart 
of the poor lady, as she daily followed in the Gazette 
the course of the Royal Trial I On New Year's Day 
she had some further words of encouragement from 
her friend in London. All was not lost ; Louis XVI. 
could still reckon, even in the heart of Paris, upon 
many brave fellows who would not desert him; and 
besides, what about the fatal consequences that would 
follow on the crime of regicide ? The Members of Con- 
vention would never dare — never . • . 

Fifteen dajrs later comes another missive ; and this 
time but little hope is left. The " Little Baron "—this 
was what they called d'Auerweck — ^was not being idle. 
Peltier had made an opportunity for him of seeing De 
S^ze, the King's counsel. 

'< This latter ought to know for certain whether the King does or 
does not intend to await his sentence or to expose himself to the 
hazards of another flight ; but there seems to be very little chance 
of his consenting to it. Whatever happens " (added Peltier), '< your 
desires and your efEbrts, madam, will not be wasted, either for your- 
self or for history, I possess, in your correspondence, a monument 
of courage and devotion which wiU endure longer than London 
Bridge. ... A trusty messenger; who starts to-morrow for Paris 
a£fbrds me a means of opening my mind to De 86ze for the third 
time/' 



LONDON 57 

Bat it was too late. On January 15 the nominal 
appeal upon the thirty-three questions presented to the 
Members of Convention had been commenced ; two days 
later the capital sentence was voted by a majority of 
fifty-three. 

On January 21, at the hour when the guillotine had 
just done its work, the following laconic note reached 
Ketteringham to say that all was over : — 

" My honoured friend, all we can do now is to weep. The crime 
ia consununatel Judgment of death was pronounced on Thursday 
evening. D'Orleans voted for it, and he is to be made Protector. 
We have nothing now to look forward to but revenge; and our 
revenge shall be terrible.'* 

Think of the look that must have fallen upon that 
date, '' January 21 ! '' The postmark of the letter still 
shows it quite clearly, on the yellowed sheet. 

Could they possibly have succeeded if the King Jiad 
listened favourably to their proposal ? It is difficult to 
say. But it is certainly a fact, that during the last six 
months of 1792 there had been on the water, near 
Dieppe, a cruising vessel which kept up a constant com* 
munication with the English coast The truth was that, 
finding the Bouen route too frequented, Peltier had 
judged the Dieppe one to be infinitely preferable. It 
was that way that the fish merchants came to Paris. If 
they had succeeded in getting the King outside the 
Temple gates it is probable that his escape would have 
been consummated. But the prison was heavily guarded 



58 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

at that time, and during the trial these precautions 
were redoubled. 

At any rate, there is no doubt that Louis knew of the 
attempts to save him from deatL Some time after the 
event of January 21, Clery, speaking of the King to 
the Municipal, Goret, remarked — 

*' Alas ! my dear good master oould hare been sared if he had 
chosen. The windows in that place are only fifteen or sixteen feet 
above the groond. Eyerything had been arranged for a rescue, 
while he was still there, bat he refused, because they could not save 
his family with him.*' 

There can be no doubt that these words refer to the 
attempt of Lady Atkyns and Peltier/ The assent of 
the King had alone been wanting to its execution. 

It is well known what a terrible and overwhelming 
effect was produced in the European Courts by the 
news of the King's execution. In London it was 
received with consternation. Not merely the ^i- 
gris (who had added to their numbers there since the 
beginning of the Revolution) were thunderstruck by 
the blow, but the Court of King Greorge was stupefied 
at the audacity of the National Assembly. The Court 
went instantly into mourning, and the King ordered the 
French Ambassador, Chauvelin, to leave London on the 
spot. Some days later war was officially declared 
against France.^ 

1 NarratiTe of the Municipal, Charles Goret, in Q. Lendtre's book, La 
OapHvite et la Mart de Marte-AntoineUe, Paris, 1902, Sto, p. 147. 
« February 1, 1793. 



LONDON 59 

The King's death caused the begmning of that 
straggle which was to last so many years and be so 
implacably, ferociously waged on both sides. 

* « « « * 

Any one but Lady Atkyns would have lost heart, 
but that heroic woman did not allow herself to be cast 
down for an instant Amid the general mourning, she 
still cherished her hopes ; moreover, those who had been 
helping her had not abandoned her. The " Little Baron " 
was still in Paris, awaiting orders, but the gravity of 
the situation had obliged him to leave the Hotel Coq- 
Hdron, where his life was no longer in safety. Well, 
they had failed with the King ; now they must tempt 
fortune, and save the Queen and her children. The 
lady at Ketteringham was quite sure of that. 

« Nothing is yet dedded about the Queen's fate " (Peltier had 
^nritten to her at the end of January), **but it has been proposed at 
the Oommune of Paris to transfer her either to the prison of La 
Force or of La Oonoiergerie.^ 

Then Lady Atlrfms had an idea. Why should she 
not go in person to Paris and try her chance ? Pro- 
bably the surveillance which had been so rigorously kept 
over the King would be far less severe for the Queen. 
And one might profit by the relative tranquillity, and 
manage to get into the Temple, and then — who could 
tell what one might not devise in the way of carrying 
the Queen off, or of substituting some one else for her ? 
She never thought of all the dangers around her, and of 



6o A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

the enonnotisly increased difficalties in the path for a 
foreign lady who knew only a little FrencL Peltier, 
to whom she confided her plan, tried to dissuade her. 

^ Ton will hardly have arrived before innnmerable embarrasa- 
ments wiU crop up ; if you leave your hotel three tunes in the day, 
or if you see the same person thrioe, you will become a suspect." 

Bat his friend's persistence ended by half convincing 
him, and he admitted that the moment was relatively 
favourable, and that it was well to take advantage of it, 
if she wished to attempt anything. 

UnluckOy, things were moving terribly fast in Paris. 
There came the days of May 31 and June 2, the efforts 
of the sections against the Commune, civil war let loose. 
In the midst of this storm. Lady Atkyns feared that the 
whole affair might come to nought ; her arrangements, 
moreover, were not completed. Money, which can do so 
much, decide so much, and which had already proved so 
powerful — ^money, perhaps, was not sufficiently forth- 
coming. Suddenly there is a rumour that a conspiracy 
to favour the Queen's escape has been discovered. 
Two members of the Commune, Lepitre and Toulan, 
who had been won over to the cause by a Royalist, the 
Chevalier de Jarjays, had almost succeeded in carrying 
out their scheme, when the irresolution of one of them 
had ruined everything; nevertheless, they were de- 
nounced.* Public attention, which had been averted for 
a moment, now was fixed again upon the Temple Prison. 

1 On this plot, see Paul Qaolot, Un Oomphi sow la Terreur, Paris, 1902, 
duodecimo. 



LONDON 6i 

And the days go by, and Lady Atkyns sees no 
chance of starting on her enterprise. 

We come here to an episode in her life which seems 
to be enveloped in mystery. One fact is proved, 
namely, that Lady Atkyns succeeded in reaching Marie 
Antoinette, disguised, and at the price of a large sum of 
money. But when did this take place? Was the 
Queen still at the Temple, or was it after she had been 
taken to the Conciergerie ? The most reliable witnesses 
we have — and they are two of Lady Atkyns' confidants 
— seem to contradict one another.^ A careful weighing 
of testimony and an attentive study of the letters which 
Lady Atkyns received at this time lead us to conclude, 
with much probability, that the attempt was made after 
the Queen had been transferred to the Conciergerie; 
that is to say, after August 2, 1793.' 

^ These are the Chevalier de Frott^ and the ConntOBS MacNamara. 

s In the narratiye of the Chevalier de Frott^, who mentions the Temple 
Prison (published by L. de la Sicotidre, Lcuii de FrotU et lea Instgrrections 
Normandei, voL i.p. 429), we consider that a somewhat natural confiiaion has 
arisen. It is, in fact, very difficult to assign any date earlier than August 6 
for an attempt at the Temple ; for on that date there is a letter from Peltier 
addressed to Lady Atkyns at Eetteringham, and there can be no doubt that if 
the lady had already left England, Peltier would have been aware of it On 
the other hand, the letter published by V. Delaporte (p. 256), and given as 
written at the end of July, 1793, must he iuUeguerU to August 2. These 
phrases: ''They will not promise for more than the King and the two 
female prisoners of the Temple ; they will do what la possible for the Queen ; 
hut everyihing is changed, and they cannot answer for anythiog, and, as to 
the Queen, they can say nothing as yet, for they have tried the Temple 
Prison only** — ^these phrases plainly show that the Queen was no 
longer at the Temple then. Finally, since in his letter at the beginning 
of August Peltier once more tried to dissuade Lady Atkyns from coming 
to Paris, it seems rational to conclude that the lady had not yet carried 
out her plan. 



62 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

Some days before this Peltier had again brought her 
to give up her resolve, assuring her that she was vainly 
exposing herself to risk — 

" If you wish to be uaef ol to that family, you caa only be ao 
by directing operations from here (instead of going there to get 
guillotined), and by making those sacrifices which you have already 
resolred to make." 

It was of no use. The brave lady listened only to 
her heart's promptings, and set out for Paris. If we 
are to believe her friend, the Countess MacNamara ^ — 
and her testimony is valuable — she succeeded in win- 
ning over a municipal official, who consented to open 
the doors of the Conciergerie for her, on the condition 
that no word should be exchanged between her and the 
Royal prisoner. Moreover, the foreign lady must wear 
the uniform of a National Guard. It was Drury Lane 
over again ! She promised everything, and was to con- 
tent herself with offering a bouquet to the Queen ; but 
under the stress of the intense emotion she experienced 
on meeting once more the eyes of the lady whom she 
had not seen since the days at Versailles, she let fall a 
note which she held, and which was to have been put 
into the Queen's hand with the bouquet. The Municipal 

1 The testimony of the Comitess MaoNamara was obtained by Le Normant 
des Varannee, SisMre de Lott4$ XVIL, Orleans, 1890, Svo, pp. 10*14, and he 
had it from the Viscount d*Oroet, ^i^ho had known the Goontess. Although 
we cannot associate ourselves with the writer's conclusions, we must acknow- 
ledge that whenever we have been able to examine comparatively the state- 
ments of Viscount d'Orcet relating to Lady Atkyns we have always found 
them verified by our documents. 



LONDON 63 

officer was about to take possesBion of it^ but, more 
prompt than be^ Lady Atkyns rusbed forward, picked 
it up, and swallowed it Sbe was turned out brutally. 
Such was the result of the interview. But the English 
lady did not stop there. By more and more promises 
and proceedings, by literally strewing her path with 
gold, she bought over fresh allies, and this time she 
obtained the privilege of spending an hour alone with 
the Queen — at what a price may be imagined I It is 
said that she had to pay a thousand louis for that single 
hour. Her plan was this : to change clothes with the 
Queen, who would then leave the Conciergerie instead 
of her. But she met with an obstinate refusal. Marie- 
Antoinette would not, under any pretext, sacrifice the 
life of another, and to abandon her imprisoned children 
was equally impossible to her. But what emotion she 
must have felt at the sight of such a love, so simple, 
80 whole-hearted, and so pure I She could but thank 
her friend with tearful eyes and commend her son, the 
Dauphin, to that friend's tender solicitude. She also 
gave her some letters for her friends in England.^ 
On leaving the Conciergerie, one thought filled the 



1 It has been aooght to establish a connection between tlus story and the 
conqviracy of the Mnnicipal, Michonis (the ** Afiair of the Carnation '*}, aided 
by the Gheyalier de Pougevide, which faSLed by the fanlt of one of the two 
gondaimeB who goaided the Queen. There may be some connection between 
the principal acton in these simnltaneons attempts, but we admit that we 
have been unable to get any proof of it It was necessary to take so many 
precaatton% to avoid as fiir as possible any written allusions, and to veil so 
Impenetrably the machmery of the plots, that it is not surprising that' the 
doeomentSy cort and dry as they are, reveal to ns so few details. 



64 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

mind of Lady Atkyns : she would do for the son what 
she had not been able to do for the mother — she would 
drag the little Dauphin out of the Temple Prison. 

Did she return to England immediately afterwards? 
Probably. For one thing, she had not lost all hope, 
and, like the rest of her friends, she did not as yet fear 
instant danger for the Queen's life. This is proved by 
a note from Peltier, written in the course of the month 
of September, which reveals the existence of a fresh plan. 

"They miut set oat on Thursday mornmg at latest; if they 
delayed any longer, the approach of the Austrian troops, and the 
movements which have taken place at Paris, might, we fear, deter- 
mine the members of the Convention to fly and take with them the 
two hostages whom we want to save. One day's, two days' delay 
may make aU the difference. If they are to start on Thursday 
morning, and go to Brighton and charter a neutral vessel, they have 
only Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday to spend, day and night, in 
getting everything ready. First of aU, we must get some louis 
d'or, and sqw them in their belts. Then we must get some paper- 
money, if it's only for the journey along the coast to Paris, so that 
they may not be suspected. . • . We must have time to prepare 
passports that will do for the three persons who are to go. These 
passports must be made to look like the letters that Mr. Dundas is 
sending for the Jacobins who are being d^>orted from France. 
They are thus less likely to be suspected. • • . The Temple affiur b 
all arranged ; but, as to the Condergerie one, nothing is known as 
yet; the last letters from the Paris agents are dated July 26th. 
We are sure that the persons interested have taken measures, but 
we do not know what they ara It would not be a bad plan to 
have some money in reserve for this purpose. It would be dreadful 
to think we had missed our chance for the sake of two or three 
hundred louis, which would make 1500 guineas. Therefore each 



LONDON 65 

man ought to carry on his person about 450 louisi or 200 doublo- 
lonis, becanw about 50 louis would be spent in paper-money. 

''There will ako be a line of communioation between France and 
Engl a nd, by means of M— — , who resides near Dieppe, on the 
coast, and who up to now has reoeiyed and passed on constant com- 
munications. We shall have to know of all the movements either 
of the armies, or of the fleets, so as to direct our operations accord- 
ingly. • . . Gircumstances have made it very dangerous to employ 
foreigners, since the Decree of August 5 has banished them from 
France. But what difference is there between doing a thing one's 
self and causing it to be donet The glory which one shares with 
others is glory none the less so long as the great purpose is attained 
• . . How can I be sure if this plan does succeed, it will not be 
displeasing to the lady who would have liked to carry off her friends 
with her own hands, and then to lead them in triumph, etc., etc. ? . • . 
But as we are concerned, not with an opera, but an operation, the 
best proof ot affection will be to sacrifice that glory and that joy. 
And, besides, that lady will not then be running the risks which 
formerly made existence hateful to me. If my friends perish in this 
affiur, I shall at least not have to listen to a son's and a mother's 
reproaches for the loss of their Charlotte. ..." 1 

It is clear from these lines that the communications 
established with the Temple and outside it were still 
kept in working order against a fSEtvourable opportunity. 
The agents in question were probably those who have 
been already mentioned, two of whom were the body- 
guards of the Queen. But Lady Atkyns' money had 
also had its effect, even among those " Incorruptibles " 
which the Revolution created in such numbers ; and the 
events which we shall now read of can only be explained 
by the co-operation, not only of one or two isolated 
persons, but of a quantity of willing helpers, cleverly 

1 Note b Peltier^f handwriting.'^IJnpu^^Metf Papen of Lady Atkyns. 

F 



66 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

won over, and belonging to a circle in wldch it could 
scarcely have been hoped that they were to be found. 

In the midst of all this, the Baron d'Auerweck (whom 
we last saw in Paris), judging, doubtless, that his pre- 
sence there was unavailing, went back to London. The 
situation in France was more than critical. The for- 
mation of a fresh Committee of Public Safety, the 
activity of the Revolutionary Tribunals, in a word, the 
Terror in full blast, rendered any stay in Paris impos- 
sible for already suspected foreigners, and our Baron 
made haste to bring to his friends all the latest 
information. 

Peltier, who was impatiently awaiting him, on com- 
municating his arrival to Lady Atlrfms, wrote thus : — 

" My heart is too full of it for me to speak to yoa of anything 
but the arrival of my friend, the Baron d'Auerweck. He left 
France two days ago, and is now here^ after having nm every 
imaginable risk, and lost everything that conld be lost. . . • We 
have the Paris news from him np to the 23rd ; the Queen was still 
safe then. The Baron does not think she will be sacrificed. Danton 
and the Cordeliers are for her, Robespierre and the Jacobins against. 
Her fate will depend upon which of the two parties trimnphs. The 
Queen is being closely guarded—the King, hardly at alL The 
Queen maintains a supernatural strength and dignity." ^ 

It was in London itself, at the Royal Hotel, that 
Lady Atkyns received these lines. She had hastened 
there so as to be better able to make inquiries. 

But the Decree issued by the Convention, on October 

1 Undated letter from Peltier to Lady Atkyns.'—UnfMUhed Pojpers of 
Lady Athynt, 



LONDON 67 

3, ordering the indictment of the " Widow Capet," give 
a curious contradiction to the assurances given by 
d'Auerweck. After all, though, who could dare to fore- 
cast the future, and the intentions of those who were 
now in power ? The ultra-jacobin politicians knew less 
than any one else whither Destiny was to lead them. 
Had there not been some talk, a few weeks earlier, of 
getting the Queen to enter into the plan of a negotia- 
tion with Austria? So it was not surprising that 
illusions with regard to her reigned in Paris as well as 
among the Anigres in London. 

Eleven days later Marie- Antoinette underwent a pre- 
liminary examination at the bar of the Revolutionary 
Tribunal. The suit was heard quickly, and there were 
no delays. Of the seven witnesses called, the last, 
Hubert, dared to bring the most infamous accusations 
against her, to which the accused replied only by a dis- 
dainful silence. Then came the o£5cial speeches of 
Chaveau-Lagarde and of Tronson-Ducoudray — a mere 
matter of form, for the ** Austrian woman " was irre- 
vocably doomed. 

On the third day, October 16, at 4.30 a.m., in the 
smoky hall of the Tribunal, by the vague light of dawn, 
the jury gave their verdict, " Guilty " ; and sentence of 
death was immediately pronounced. Just on eleven 
o'clock the cart entered the courtyard of the Con* 
ciergerie Prison, the Queen ascended, and, aft^ the ofb- 
described journey, reached the Place de la Revolution. 
At a quarter past twelve the knife fell upon her neck. 



68 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

All was over this time — all the wondrous hopes, the 
last, long-cherished illusions of Lady Atkyns. The 
poor lady heard of the terrible ending from Peltier. 
Her friend 8 letter was one cry of rage and despair, 
more piercing even than that of January 21. 

*<It has killed me. I can see yonr anguish from hwe, and it 
doubles my own. My anger oonsomes me. I hare not even the 
relief of tears ; I cannot shed ona I abjure for ever the name of 
Frenchman. I wish I could forget their language. I am in despair ; 
I know not what I do, or say, or write. O God 1 What barbarity, 
what horror, what evils are with us, and what miseries are still to 
come! I dare not go to you. Adieu, brave, unhappy lady !" ^ 

Many tears must have fallen on that treasured sheet. 
And still, to this day, traced by Lady Atkyns' hand, 
one can read on it these words : " Written after the 
murder of the Queen of France.^* 

Were all her eflForts, then, irremediably wasted ? She 
refused to believe it. And at that moment two fresh 
actors appeared on the scene, whose help she could 
utilize. From the friendship of one, the Chevalier de 
Frott^ (who came to London just then), she could con- 
fidently hope for devoted aid. The other, a stranger to 
her until then, and only recently landed from the Con- 
tinent, was destined to become one of the principal 
actors in the game that was now to be played. 

> UnpMUhed Papers of Lady Atkyns. 



CHAPTER III 

THE ODYSSEY OF A BRETON MAGISTRATE 

On December 8» 1740, in the Rae de Montfort, at 
Bennes, there were great rejoicmgs in one of the finest 
houses of that provincial capital. Monsieur Tves-Gilles 
Cormier, one of the rich citizens^ had become the father 
of an heir the night before ; and this heir was to be 
named Yves-Jean-Fran9ois-Marie. The delighted f&ther 
was getting ready to go to the Church of Saint-Sauveur 
(about two steps from his abode), there to present his 
son for the Sacrament of Holy Baptism. 

He had invited to this solemnity his relative, Master 
(Messire) Jean-Francois Cormier, Prior and Rector of 
Bazouges-du-Desert,^ and his neighbour, the Director 
of the Treasury in the States of Brittany, M. de Saint- 
Cristan. Madame FranQoise Lecomte, wife of the 
Sieur Imbault, Chief Registrar of the Chamber of La 
Toumelle, in the Parliament of Brittany, and Dame 
Marie- Anne Lardoul were also among the guests, who 

1 Baasoogeo-dn-DeBert, ne-et-Vflaiiie, arrondistement of Fongdres, diBtrict 
of LoQTigoMa-Dtert. 



70 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

enhanced by their presence the splendour of the cere- 
mony.^ When the bells rang out the cortkge was 
entering the chnrch porch; shortly afterwards it 
reissued thence, and went towards the house attached to 
the Treasury of Brittany, where Mme. Cormier (formerly 
au Egasse du Boulay) was impatiently awaiting their 
return. 

The Cormiers were a family highly respected at 
Rennes. By his own labours, Yves Cormier had made a 
fine fortune, which placed him and his above any kind 
of need. Four years later a second child, a daughter 
this time, was bom. She was given the names of 
Fran9oise-Michelle-Marie. 

Tves-Franjois grew up, a worker like his father, a sage 
follower of parental advice, and both intelligent and 
gifted. After leaving school he entered the Law 
Schools at Rennes, and before he was twenty he had 

^ Here is the baptismal certificate of Tyes Cormier : — 

** Yves-Jean-Fran^ois-Marie, son of M. Tves-Gilles and Dame Marie-Anne- 
Fran^oise E^iasse (dlia$ £!gace), bom yesterday, baptized tliis day^ December 
8, 1740, by me the Rector mideisigned ; and held to the Holy Baptismal 
Font by M. Jean-Fran9oiB Cormier, Prior-Rector of Bassouge-da-Desert, and 
by Dame Marie- Anne Lardoul ; the father being present, and others nnder- 
signed: — 

Marie-Anne LardouL Cormier, Prior-Rector of la Baionges. 

Perrine Cormier. Fran^oise Lecomte — Imbault. 

De Saint Cristan. Cormier. 

Mangonrit. P. F. d'Onltremer, Rector/' 

Munkipai Archives of BewMt^ series G.Gr., Parish of Saint- SauvsuTf 
Begister of BaptismSy Marriages^ and Burials for 1740. We owe the greater 
part of oar information relative to the sojonm of Cormier at Rennes to the 
kindness of our lamented eof^firert^ M. Parfonru, departmental archivist. 



A BRETON MAGISTRATE 71 

got his degree and been entered (on August 18, 1760) 
as a barrister. Less than a year later the position of 
Crown Counsel at Kennes falling vacant, the young 
barrister applied for it, his youth notwithstanding, and 
obtained it (by Lettres de provision) on August 10, 
1761. 

This was a rapid advance in his career, and his 
parents might justly be proud of it ; but fortune meant 
to lavish very special favours on the young magistrate, 
for on October 27 in the following year, another posi- 
tion falling vacant in the same department — that of 
Crown Prosecutor — Yves Cormier, exchanging the 
sitting magistracy for the standing, obtained the 
place. Crown Prosecutor at twenty-two I This was 
a good beginning. 

For fifteen years he practised at Rennes. That town 
was going through troublous times. The arrival of the 
Due d'Aiguillon as Governor, and his conduct in that 
position, created an uproar in the ancient city, jealous, 
as it had Mways been, of its liberties. The states pro- 
claimed themselves injured in their rights. Led by La 
Chalotais, they obstinately fought against the claims of 
the King's representative, the Duke d'Aiguillon. And 
there ensued an interminable paper-war — pamphlets, 
libels, insults — which did not cease even with the 
imprisonment of La Chalotais and his followers. 
Ancient quarrels against the Jesuits were mixed 
up with these complaints of the encroachments of 
Boyal ascendency; and the angry Chalotistes ended 



72 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

hj accasing them of being the cause of all their 
misfortones. 

It was naturally impossible for the Crown Prosecutor 
to escape being mixed up in a business which caused 
such rivers of ink to flow^ and created such an endless 
succession of lawsuits. A police report accused him 
'^ of haying * done a job ' in the La Chalotais affair." 
But he had only played a very passive part in it. His 
name only figures once ^ in the voluminous dossiers so 
meticulously rummaged through of late years ; and that 
is in a defamatory pamphlet (which, moreover, was torn 
and burnt by parliamentary decree), denouncing him as a 
participator in those Jesuit Assemblies, upon which the 
full wrath of the Breton parliamentarians descended.' 
The utmost one can say is that Cormier perhaps in- 
clined towards the Due d'Aiguillon's party, which, 
moreover, his position as Crown Prosecutor more or 
less obliged him to do. 

Was it at that time that he began to pay repeated 
visits to Paris? Very likely. At all events, from 
1776 Yves Cormier practised only intermittently. His 
father was dead. He lived with his mother on the 
second floor of the Bue de Montfort house. Tired of 
bachelor life, the young magistrate, who was then 
entering his thirty-sixth year, resolved to marry. He 
had met in Paris a young lady from Nantes, who 

1 Baiih^^my Focqaet, Le pouvoir dbiolit et Vetprii provincial: Le Due 
tPAiffuUhn et La Chahtais, Paris, 1900-1901, 3 vols. 8vo. 

s It was entitled, ToMeau des a$aembl6e$ iearhkse^ frijuentet dei Jesuites 
^ kurs affUSs a Bennes. 



A BRETON MAGISTRATE 73 

belonged to a family of rich landowners in Saint- 
Domingo. Her name was Suzanne-Rosalie de Butler ; 
she was a little younger than he, and had rooms in the 
La Tour du Pin Hotel, Rue Vieille-du-Temple. 

On July 10, 1776, in presence of notaries of the Du 
Ch&telet district, M. Cormier and Mademoiselle de Butler 
signed their marriage contract.^ By a rather unusual 
clause, the future husband and wife, '' departing in this 
respect from the custom of Paris," declared that they 
didn't intend to sign the usual communautS de biens, 
but that each would retain as his and her own property 
whatever they brought to the marriage. 

The husband's property consisted of his appointment 
as Crown Prosecutor at Rennes, and, further, of different 
lands and estates which his father had bequeathed to 
him, at and near Rennes, and, finally, in *^ his furniture, 
linen, wearing-apparel, etc., which were stored in his 
place of abode." The magistrate's wardrobe was re- 
markably well stocked, to judge by the enumeration we 
give below.' It must have been a difficult matter to 
choose between the "winter, spring, autumn, and 

> Ardiivei 0/ Madire Matel^ notary f 0/ Fans. 

< "Memo, of the •fleets belonging to M. Cormier.— TTtn^, tpringf and 
autumn garments : A coat, vest, and breeches of velvet with fignred stripes. A 
ooat, vest, and breeches of reddish-brown satin^ wiU diamond bnttons. A coat, 
Test, and breeches of velvet patterned with laige flowers ; and also of 
velvet patterned with small bouquets. Two pairs of black satin breeches. 
A coat in purple embroidered cloth, with coloured bndd, the vest of 
gold striped cloth, embroidered same. A grey cloth drese-coat, lined 
crimson satm, vest of gold ribbed doth. A green doth dress-coat and vest, 
braided with gold. A grey quilted coat, vest, and breeches. Two quflted 
vesta^ one green, the other fawn, A redingote in best napped doUu A 



74 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

Bummer garments ; " the breeches of " velvet patterned 
with large flowers," or with "little bouquets"; the 
coats of purple doth, grey cloth, embroidered gowr- 
gouran, black-and-olive taffetas, or green musulmane! 
And then there were jewels, and there were carriages 
for one person called dSsobligeantes, to say nothing of 
hats, frills, and lace cuffiL 

Nor did Mile, de Butler fall in any way below this 
standard. Her father, Count Jean-Baptiste Butler, 
deceased, had bequeathed her, in joint tenancy with her 
brother, Patrice, a rich state in Saint*Domingo, one of 

knitted ooat, lined plush ; the vest of quilted grey satin. Goat, vest, and 
breeches in pale yellow velvet. Goat, vest, and breeches in black 
▼elret A hazel-coloored cloth, coat striped blue, lined blue, vest silver 
ground, ribbed. A coat of gaurgauran^ embroidered lined marten fur, 
vest of satin embroidered en gay, breeches of gaurgouran^ with garter 
embroidered. Silk waistooat, striped bine and white. Two reddish- 
brown pelisses, one with gold bugles, lined white fiir. Riding-coat and vest 
of Siiesian cloth, embroidered in gold, steel buttons. Swnmer garmeaU : 
Black-and-olive silk coat and embroidered vest. C!oat of mundmane, vest 
and breeches embroidered gold. Blue lustrine coat, vest, and breeches, sQver 
buttons. Qrey muwlmane dress-coat and breeches, lined pink-snd-green 
muslin, embroidered gold. Dress-coat grey-and-blue ribbed cloth, embroidered 
silver and lilac, and two pairs of breeches. Dress-coat grey mundmane^ ditto 
breeches, vest of ^ouiyouran, embroidered lilac, and muslin vest, embroidered 
gold, lined lilac. Beddish-brown dress-coat, lined green ; diUo breeches. • . . 
Grey camlet dress-coat, embroidered bronze spangles, white vest, em- 
broidered black. Goat in lUac etemdU^ white dimity vest, embroidered and 
piped cold. White-and-lilac silk vest Goat, vest, and breeches crimson 
gowrgowran^ embroidered white, with tassels. Dress-coat, purple gowgwvran. 
Grey-and-white striped camlet riding-coat. Two vests and two pairs 
breeches. Striped eireo^ (old). Two vests and two pairs breeches white 
eircagti, striped white. White quilted vest. Vest and breeches, yeIlow*and- 
white oircaga. Pair of trousers, grey cotton ribbed. Grey sQk trousers. 
White cotton-doth trousers. Damask dressing-gown and vest Taffetas 
dressing-gown and vest. Three . hats.**— ulrc&tves qf Maik^e Motd, notary, of 
Faris. 



A BRETON MAGISTRATE 75 

the most flourishing colonies at that time. This state 
was the farm and dwelling-house of Bois-de-Lance in 
the parish of Sainte-Anne de Limonade, "with the 
negroes, negresses, negro-boys and negro-girls ; pieces 
of furniture ; utensils, riggings, horses, beasts, and all 
other effects of any kind whatever, being on the said 
estate." This document recalls the state of slavery 
in which the Colony then was. By a second mar- 
riage Comte de Butler had had a son, Jean-Fantal^on, 
who was thus the half-brother of the future Mme. 
Cormier, and who had also some liens on the property 
in question.^ Suzanne de Butler further brought her 
husband some estates in France, arising from her father's 
succession ; and a very complete array of household 
furniture, which was enriched by articles in " mahogany, 
tulip-wood, and the wood peculiar to the island," etc. 

The marriage was celebrated some days later. Once 
settled at Paris, it became difficult for the Crown Prose- 
cutor to keep his appointment at Rennes. Neverthe- 
less, he did not resign it until January 23, 1779. Two 
years earlier their first child had been bom, a boy, who 

1 Jean Baptiste Batler had married firstly, at Boohelle, in 1741, his wife 
being Sosanne Bonfils, by whom he had one son, Jacques-Pierre-Charles 
FatricB (bom at Boohelle, 1743, died 1793, married in 1769, Germaine-Marie- 
F^cit^ de Batler) ; and one daughter, Marie- Anne-Snzanne-Bosalie Butler, 
who became Mme. Cormier. He married, secondly, at Saint-Domingo, Jolie 
de Tronsset d'H^riooart, by whom he had a son, Jean Pantaloon, bom at 
Bdnt-Domingo, 1753 ; captain of dragoons in the Militia of the Colony from 
1768 to 1772 ; musketeer, 2nd company, May 24, 1772 ; sub-lieutenant, 
January 14, 1777; capuin, February 28, 1778, promoted December 5, 1784; 
captain commanding, May 1, 1788 ; chief of squadron, June 12, 1790.— 
Arehivu of War Office. 



76 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

was baptized at the Madeleine in Paris, and named 
Achille-Marie. The parents were probably at that time 
living in the enormous house which Mme. Cormier 
bought in the following year, No. 15 in the Bue Basse- 
du-Bempart It was a handsome house with a court- 
yard and several entrances. 

On March 10, 1779, arrived another son, who was 
called Patrice, after his maternal uncle. His godmother 
was a sister of Mme. Cormier, married to a former 
naval officer. 

The management of his own estates, and, more 
particularly, those of his wife, occupied the greater part 
of Cormier's time in the years preceding the Bevolution. 
Of middle height, inclining to stoutness, with greyish 
hair and an energetic type of face, the sometime Breton 
magistrate was quite a personality, for he spoke remark- 
ably well, and, besides being most intelligent, had a real 
gift of persuasion. The times that were now at hand 
seemed likely to provide him with a prominent position 
on the revolutionary scene. 

We know that, in view of the elections to the States- 
General, a Boyal Ordinance of April 13, 1789, had 
decreed the provisional division of Paris into sixty dis- 
tricts.* A year later this mode of division, being no 
longer useful, was replaced by a division into forty-eight 
sections — those sections which, from August 10 onwards, 
were to exercise so potent a political influence. Cormier 

1 Ernst Melli^, Les iecHon$ de Paris j^endani la Revolution fron^iae^ 1898, 
p. 7. 



A BRETON MAGISTRATE 77 

was active from the very first. The section of the 
Place Venddme had scarcely been formed before he 
occupied a prominent position therein. We see him first 
as Commissary of the Section, then as President of its 
Civil Committee. The General Assembly held its meet- 
ings in the old Church of the Capuchins in the Place 
Venddme ; and Cormier, whose home was close by, took 
part in the deliberations. He would have played a 
more active part if other business had not taken up 
most of his time. 

Amongst the numerous monarchical clubs which then 
sprang up in Paris, one had just been founded whose 
members, for the most part rich planters from Saint- 
Domingo, used to meet in the Place des Victoires, at 
the Hdtel Massiac. Their object was to counterbalance 
what they held to be the pernicious influence exercised 
by a new society originating in England. This was 
the Friends of the Blacks, and had for its principal 
object the amelioration of the coloured race.^ The 
movement, begun by Wilberforce across the Channel, 
met with many adherents in France, for it accorded well 
with the new ideas of enfranchisement and liberty pro- 
claimed by the National Assembly. This very soon 
became clear to the landowners of the Leeward Islands, 
who lived on the labour of their slaves, and whose whole 
well-being depended on their continued existence as 
such. Saint-Domingo was then in a state of astonishing 

1 A.Cnianamel,Ze8c7ti5«eon<rv-ri«K>?u4»<mna«re9. A collection of docnmentB 
relating to the history of Pwis. Parii, 1895, 8to, pp. 67 d ieq. 



78 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

prosperity. The sugar plantations and the cultiyation 
o£ indigo and cotton had made it one of the chief 
colonies. If Wilberforce's theories were to prevail 
there, it was all over with the planters and the white 
people, who formed the minority of the population. 

Founded on August 20, 1789, the Hdtel Massiac 
Club intended to oppose with all its strength the current 
of sympathy for the blacks, which threatened to over- 
flow the Assembly. Its members meant to prevent at 
any cost the concession of rights to the mulattos 
inhabiting the island, which would be the preliminary 
to granting similar rights to the slaves. And for three 
years the planters devoted all their energies to this task. 

Cormier, as a landowner in Saint-Domingo, was, of 
course, in accord with his compatriots. On August 24, 
1789, he was made a member of the club, and a fortnight 
later he was occupying the position of vice-president 
After a period of absence — his name disappeared from 
the proceedings for several months — he reappeared at 
the sittings at the commencement of 1791. From that 
time forth he played a foremost part in the club ; had 
charge of all its correspondence and papers ; and these, 
now lying in the National Archives, have yielded us a 
quantity of letters and speeches, and many memoranda 
covered with his microscopic handwriting. In the spring 
he was made president of the club ; and the position was 
no sinecure. Tragic news arrived from Saint-Domingo 
during the summer. At the end of August there was 
a rising of the mulattos and negroes, and the angry 



A BRETON MAGISTRATE 79 

populace bamed and pillaged the plantations^ and 
massacred the white folk, male and female. 

The Colonists, very inferior in numbers as they were, 
were powerless to resist them, and clamoured for help 
from their compatriots and for support from the 
Assembly. Letters came to the club, more terrifying 
every day ; the planters were in despair. Many of 
them had their families out there, and they shuddered 
to think of their dear ones at the mercy of the blacks. 

The club held many extra meetings and discussions, 
but every effort that was made by its members met 
with furious opposition in the Assembly. At last, in 
desperation, they resolved to write and despatch an 
address to the King, pointing out to him the deplor- 
able state of the Colony, and appealing for his inter- 
vention. The address, which was probably the work 
of Cormier, after having depicted the calamities which 
were overwhelming Saint-Domingo, hinted at the cause 
of these woes; they were (it pointed out) a direct 
sequence from the recent Decrees of the Assembly. 

<< For three years it has been the untiring aim of the Assembly to 
8OW broadcast in our midst the seeds of trouble and revolt. In vain 
we multiply our efforts to esoape their snares ; and now a society 
ftnmded by foreigners and cranks for our min and the hnmiliatioa 
of France, and using ignorance and credulity for its pernicious ends, 
is inundating us with incendiary writings, and flaunting its emis- 
saries in our yery workshops." 

The planters, for all their impassioned denunciation, 
had proved powerless to avert the detested action of 



8o A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

the Friends of the Blacks ; therefore they now brought 
the King to take their part. 

** Our cause is that of all the Amerioan OolonieB ; oar oanse is 
that of French Comineroe, which most inevitably be mined if we 
are ruined ; our cause is that of the creditors of the State, whom 
these events will bring to bankruptcy; our cause is that of six 
millions of men employed directly or indirectly in the navigation, 
the commerce, and the victualling of the Colonies ; our cause is that 
of the monarchy, which will lose all splendour when we are no 
longer wealthy, which will lose all power on the sea if we are to 
perish. Sire, you are the Supreme Head of the Executive, you are 
the preserver of the Public Peace^ and the guardian of the public 
rights. We beseech your Majesty to take the French Colonies 
under your protection. We beseech yon, while our total ruin is not 
yet consummated, to oppose your authority to the new designs of 
these men, who will never be satisfied until they have filled our cup 
of misery to the brim. We ask for powerful aid for our almost 
de&pairing brethren ; we ask for the most searching inqoiries, and 
the most elaborate justice upon the authors of these cabals.'' 

There were a hundred signatures of Colonists and 
members of the club to this bold and convincing mani- 
festo of Cormier's, when it was read at the session of 
November. First, it was decided to print 3000 copies 
to be sent broadcast throughout France. 

On the next day, Wednesday, towards eleven o'clock 
a.m., a group of black-garbed men assembled at the 
Tuileries Palace, in the Hall of the Nobles. As each 
arrived, he was presented by one of their party — a 
broad-shouldered, energetic-looking personage — to a 
gentleman before whom each bowed respectfully : this 
was M. Bertrand de MoUeviUe, Minister of the King, 



A BRETON MAGISTRATE 8i 

and head of the Naval Department The men thus 
severally presented to him were none other than the 
members of the Massiac Club, headed by their Pre- 
sident, M, Cormier. When every one had arrived, they 
set off towards the Royal apartments. The King was 
in his study. The Colonists were permitted to enter, 
and were then presented one after the other to His 
Majesty, after which Cormier began to speak : — 

*<Sire^ the news irom Saint-Domingo has caused consternation 
among the Colonists of that unhappy land. But confident of your 
Majesty's sentiments towards them, and assured of that fatherly 
solicitude of which France has already enjoyed so many touching 
evidences, they have set forth their fears and their desires in the 
address which they have the honour to present to you. They 
implore your Majesty's gracious consideration of it." 

The King, when he had been informed of the 
calamitous events in the Colony, tried, in a voice full 
of emotion, to calm the anxiety which he saw in every 
face. ''I still hope, gentlemen," he said to them, 
** that the evils are not so great as rumour would have 
them* I shall see that all measures are taken to give 
powerful help to the Colonists in the shortest possible 
time.'* And in speaking privately to one or two of the 
delegates he reafiirmed these promises of succour. 

Their business finished, the planters were about to 
withdraw, when somebody suggested a further appeal, 
this time to the Queen. The proposal was eagerly 
acclaimed, and Count de Duras brought almost directly 
an affirmative reply. Without going back to the 

G 



82 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

courtyard, but by way of the Royal apartments, the 
visitors were conducted to the ground-floor, and found 
themselves in presence of the Queen. Cormier spoke — 

" Madame^ in our time of great misfortanei we felt the need a£ 
seeing your Majesty, that by so doing we might both find consolation 
and study an example of lofty oonrage.'* 

Marie- Antoinette, more moved than even the King 
had been, replied in a broken voice, striving to repress 
her tears — 

^ Gentlemen, be assured of the interest that we take in your 
misfortunes, and assure • . • the Colony also . • . that the King 
will leave no stone unturned to send them "* 

She was unable to finish; the anguish of those 
before her, the thought that they also were watching 
in agonizing uncertainty the ruin of their dearest 
hopes — ^such a conmiunion of kindred suffering was 
too much for the Queen. Moreover, what now could 
be done by the fugitives of Varennes? Every day 
it was growing clearer that they were prisoners in 
this Tuileries Palace. 

The Queen left them, to hear Mass. During her 
absence Mme. de Tourzel, the Dauphin's governess, 
happened to enter the apartment where the planters 
still lingered, thrilled and touched by the scene that 
had just taken place. She presented the little Dauphin 
to them. He opened his eyes wide at the sight of all 

1 MSmoireB de Mme. la Dnchesat de Toursd^ published by the Due Dee 
Can, Paris, 8rd edition, 1893, Tol. ii. p. 16, 



A BRETON MAGISTRATE 83 

the black coats. ** Monseigneur was very, very sorry/' 
said Mme. de Tourzel, '* when he was told of all the 
sad things that are happening in the Colony ; he feels 
very deeply for all the sorrows of the gentlemen." 

*' Tes, indeed I do/' said the Dauphin, in his little 
voice. 

One can imagine the impression which would have 
been leffc by this picture upon these serious men, come 
to invoke their Sovereign's aid, and most of whom were 
ardent defenders of the Royalist cause. Their presi- 
dent, in particular, was never to forget this reception ; 
and the vision of the little Duke of Normandy, with 
his fair curling hair, his clear eyes, and his ineffably 
sweet expression, was to remain for ever in the man's 
heart Perhaps he heard, later on, the charming story 
that Mme. de Tourzel tells in her memoirs, of how, 
when the delegates were gone, and the Dauphin alone 
with his mother, he was told in a few words of the 
Colonists' misfortunes, and forthwith begged her to 
give him their address. 

"What are you going to do with it?" the Queen 
asked him. 

" I want to put it in my left pocket, because that's 
the nearest to my heart." 

Before finally withdrawing, the delegates went also 
to Mme. Elizabeth, who received them with equal sym- 
pathy. They were leaving the palace, when, on passing 
in front of the chapel, they met with the Queen, 
who was returning to her apartments, after having 



84 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

heard Mass. "Gentlemen/' she said to them, "I 
was not able to answer you just now, but the cause 
of my silence will have spoken to you eloquently 
enough." 

On the evening of the same day, in their night- 
session, the planters broke into applause at the reading 
of the account of their visit to the Tuileries. What a 
memory it was ! And yet, how much they had still to 
fear ! They had been able to read between the lines of 
the kindly Royal speeches ; they knew that the good- 
will of their Sovereigns would have to encounter the 
hostile intentions of the National Assembly, and that 
the promised help would be long in coming. And, in 
fact, the Decree of December 7, while ordering the 
despatch of troops, put a very stringent limitation to 
their powers, and confirmed the rights accorded to the 
coloured races. 

Nevertheless, the club did not lose heart Its 
activity during the winter and spring of 1792 is proved 
by a copious correspondence, and many reports of ses- 
sions, presided over with praiseworthy care and r^u- 
larity by the sometime magistrate of Rennes. These 
strenuous functions, however, did not prevent him from 
fulfilling his civil duties. We find him mounting 
guard, like others, at the guard-house of the head- 
quarters of his section,^ and attendmg the meetings of 

> ''Section armed with pikes. 

** National Guard, fourUi legion^ seventh section, second company. 

** Citizen and dear comrade — 

^ You will be good enough to report yourself at headquarters on 



A BRETON MAGISTRATE 85 

that section where he is a member of the Civil 
Committee. 

Another winter, that of 1792, goes by, and alarming 
symptoms in the spring of '93 seem to indicate that the 
year is not to end tranquilly. In Paris political life is 
the only life ; the eflTervescence grows and grows. The 
difficulty of provisioning the capital, the deamess of 
food, and the consequent great distress, bring about a 
state of instability and demoralization which is bound 
to express itself in action, and which will break out on 
the slightest pretext Moreover, the people, already 
indignant, are exasperated by the flight of so many 
nobles from the kingdom — a flight which serves to 
reinforce the hiigrS contingent. 

Cormier perceives the gravity of the situation. Two 
alternatives present themselves to him — either to leave 
Paris and the country and join those who are working 
at the frontiers for the restoration of the Monarchy, or 
to win over the Western Department, in which, how- 
ever, revolt is already brewing. If this breaks out it 
will be a most formidable insurrection. The second 
plan will have the advantage of taking him to the 
neighbourhood of Rennes, where he still has interests ; 
and, after a period of waiting, he can, according to the 

Friday, Maroh 29, at eleven a.m., to mount goard for 24 hours in the goard- 
loom there. I am, dear comrade, yonr fellow-citizen, 

Signed: ''Thoicas. 

<<Pari8, March iS7, 1792. 

** Ton are informed that, according to law, this service must be performed 
personally, and punctually. To the Citisen Ck)rmier, 15, Rue Bassc'^^^o^tonaJ 
Arehivet, F 5162. 



86 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

course of events, either place his abilities at the service 
of the Royalist cause, or retire definitely from active life. 

And there is nothing to keep him in Paris. The 
members of the Massiac Gub are the objects of daily- 
increasing suspicion on the part of the '^patriots/' 
These ''aristocrats" have got themselves detested for 
their obstinate self-defence, for their tenacious hold 
upon their properties, and for their continued struggle 
for the maintenance of slavery. If things go on as 
they are doing now, in a few months the dub will be 
so universally attacked that its only course will be to 
close its doors. In these circumstances Cormier does not 
hesitate. He will leave his wife at Paris; she is a 
sensible woman, full of resource — she will know how to 
take care of the house in the Rue Basse-du-Rempart, 
and, supported by her younger son, she may in the 
future be of the greatest assistance to the party. 

Desirous of completing their elder son's education, 
the Cormiers had sent him, a year before this, to Ham- 
burg ; he there spent six months with a worthy citizen 
of the Place Schaarmarkt ; ^ and then left, to go to the 

1 <«To the AdminiBtrative Citizens of the Mimicipality of the Ist 
arrondisiemerU : — 

^ 9tb Mesddor, year VI. 

^ Marie- Achille Cornier, junior, informs yon, in compliance with his parents' 
wishes, and in pursuance of his own desire of acquiring knowledge which will 
enable him to be independent of his family (whose property was situated at 
Saint-Domingo), he left France in the monUi of March, 1791, and has now 
gone to Holstein, in order to learn the German language there and to continue 
lus other studies, which he hopes will afford him the opportunity of becoming 
useful to his family, whose estates in the Colonies had been burnt down ahnost 
immediately before his departure/'— jVo^umoZ Archives, F 5621. 



A BRETON MAGISTRATE 87 

little town of Itzehoei in Holsteini wheie he continued 
his studies. 

So everything seemed to confirm Cormier in his inten* 
tion. On June 25, 1792, he begged his colleague, M# 
de Grandchamp, to represent him as President — " for a 
fortnight ; " and, by way of excuse, he pointed out that 
it was the first time he had been away for four years. 
We then lose sight of him for some days, and when we 
next encounter him, he is settled, from the end of July 
onwards, in Brittany, at Gael, near Montfort. It 
would be di£Scult to account for this sojourn in a remote 
locality if we did not recoUect that the sometime Crown 
Prosecutor had inherited several estates from his father 
in that neighbourhood ; and where coidd he have found 
a safer or more tranquil retreat than in one of these, 
during that troublous period which followed June 20, 
when the proclamation of the "Country in Danger" 
disturbed the whole of France, and drums were beating 
in all the towns and countrysides — ^when, in a word, the 
Tenth of Av^gust was at hand % Just before that bloody 
dawn, there arrived at Madame Cormier's house an 
official-looking personage, escorted by a quartermaster 
of the National Gendarmerie. She had been anticipate 
ing something of the kind for so long that she knew at 
once what her visitors wanted. In reply to her 
questions, the stranger, who was no other than a Com- 
missary of the Place Yenddme section, displayed a 
warrant for arrest from the Surveillance Committee of 
the National Assembly, issued in due form against the 



88 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

President of the Colonial Club. ** He had not expected 
any such visit, and was away from home, at Calais," 
answered ** the lady his wife ; " and that being so, the 
Commissary, to make up for it, had to request that he 
might be taken to M. Cormier's room, and, once there, 
proceeded to make a thorough search in every comer of 
it When he had made a dean sweep of all the papers 
he found, tied them up in bundles, and deposited them in 
two band-boxes, he took it into his head to move away 
the fire-screen. In the grate a heap of blackened paper 
was still smoking. He had been too late for that, also. 

Cormier had clearly been happily inspired to get off 
in time. Although he could not exactly have been 
accused of conspiring against the public safety, still the 
mere fact of his position makes it doubtful that, once 
arrested, he would have escaped the ** Septemberers,'' 
who in a few weeks' time were to commence the chapter 
of their exploits. 

He judged it prudent not to leave his retreat at GaSl 
before the spring of 1793. At Paris, the tempest still 
raged, most assuredly not calmed by the King's death ; 
in the provinces — ^added to other causes, such as the 
general risingand the application of the Civil Constitution 
to the clergy — ^the execution of " Louis Capet " led to an 
outbreak of ^* Chouannerie : " it was at that very moment, 
indeed, that the Insurrection in La Vendue exploded^ 
captained by those brilliant chie&, Stofflet, Cathelineau, 
Bonchamp, and Larochejaquelein. At the news of their 
rapid successes, Cormier, called on by them, quitted Gael ; 



A BRETON MAGISTRATE 89 

and if we are to believe the certificates '^ of presence '' 
given by the Vendean generals, it was he who directed 
the correspondence of the Royalist Army during the 
early operations.^ The former President of the Massiac 
Club was very much in his element among such active 
and varied functions, requiring a systematic brain. His 
pen never rests ; his letters, addresses, orders, teem in 
the insurgent districts, and yet his name remains un- 
known ; one scarcely comes across it even in the abun- 
dant publications devoted to the history of Chouannerie. 
The defeat of Mans in December, 1793, when a part of 
the Catholic and Royal Army was routed, did not cool 
Cormier's zeal. The theatre of war was altered, that 
was all. He went nearer to Bennes, and '^ worked " in 
the districts of Foug^res and of Rennes. If we believe 

1 Literal copy of a certificate given to the Comonaille, on the 3rd Prairial, 
4th year of the Republic, on paper stamped in red with the stamp of said 4th 
year, by the citizen Scepeanx to the citizen YvesJ.-F.-M. Cormier: — 

** We, the inhabitants of the lands formerly insargent^ bat now tranqnil, 
and subject to the Laws of the Bepublic of France, certify to all whom it 
may concern, that the Citizen Tves-J.-F.-M. Cormier, native of the Commune 
of Bennes, Department Ile-et-Vilaine, bom December 7, 1740, height 5 feet 2 
inches, grey hair, medium mouth, round chin, full face, has constantly been 
entrusted with correspondence of the Vendean Army, from its formation to 
its defeat at the town of Mans ; and that, since then, he has held consecutively 
the same office in those Communes formerly insuigent, classed under the 
bead of * Chouans ; * and we further declare that the Citizen Tves . . . Cormier 
has never hindered submission to the Laws of the Republic, in virtue of which 
we give him the present certificate to be to him of whatever use and value it 
may with the oonstitated authorities, the misfortunes of the country making 
it impossible to procure any other testimonials* . • • (Executed at the 
Comouainey the drd Pteirial, 4th year of the Republic) [May 22» 1796]. 
Qiven in duplicate, at Paris, 10th Measidor, VUI. 

Signed: << D*Autichamp. Scepeauz.** 

{NoHanal Arehivn, F 5162.) 



90 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

the aforementioned certificates, he did not desist from 
his labours during the months and years that followed. 
Both before and after the pacification of La Mabilais, 
Cormier, according to them, had continued to live in the 
revolted departments, fighting in the ranks of the 
Chouans. But we must not confide too much in these 
testimonials, which were for the most part written and 
produced for a certain very definite purpose — ^that of 
clearing the subject of them from a charge of emigration. 
By proving his share in the operations of the Yendean 
Army, he proved also his presence in France. Now, the 
famous " lists of the Emigres " contained the name of 
** Cormier, father and soit" So the necessity is evident 
for our magistrate to insist in any and every fashion 
upon the part which he had taken in the rising at 
La Vendue, even if this insistence were in absolute 
opposition to the truth. 

By a lucky chance there is other testimony to be had 
(and that of undoubted authenticity), which enables us 
to get at the truth of the matter. It consists of Cormier's 
own letters, written at that time. While he, some 
years later, maintained that he had never quitted 
French soil, we know for certain that, at the beginning 
of 1794, perhaps soon after the Queen's death, he 
landed in England, and, instantly joining the restless 
throng around the Princes, was soon playing a promi- 
nent part in its midst. 

We meet him with de Puisaye, with the Bishop of 
Arras, with Dutheil, hovering around the English 



A BRETON MAGISTRATE 91 

Ministers and associating himself with the leaders of 
the imigrda in trying to induce England to agree to an 
effective, that is to say, an armed, intervention. 

The history of these attempts is inextricably complex. 
Ministers' halls and corridors were crammed with un- 
employed soldiers, needy nobles, agents, spies — each 
with a scheme more dazzling than the others. There 
were many adventurers who were never taken at any 
other valuation, and whose incessant activity deceived 
nobody. But there were also personages of consider- 
able importance, and of illustrious name, who came 
there with undeniable reputations, and who could not 
easily be repulsed. In the variety of their schemes 
and the abundance of their offers, it is necessary to 
disentangle and take into consideration all kinds of 
secret motives, petty views, personal grudges, or even 
jealousies, against their compatriots. Every one wanted 
to act, and every one wanted the best part ; and as 
their various rivalries displayed themselves, the general 
confusion increased. 

One of the favourite meeting-places of this set of 
people was the office of Peltier, the journalist. All the 
news came there ; they could get the latest information 
from France, and discuss the chances of the parties, the 
military operations on the frontiers, and, above all, the 
intentions of the British Grovernment 

A quartette was soon formed in the office of the 
sometime editor of the Acts of the Apostles. It was 
made up of Peltier and his second in command, the 



92 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

Baron d'Auerweck (whom we have akeady met); of 
Connier, and of a fourth arrival, who is no stranger to 
ns — ^the Chevalier Louis de Frott^. 

After his exploits at Dunkirk, the ex-officer of the 
Colonel-Generals had spent many months in the Army 
of the Emigration. Accompanied by his friend and 
inseparable, La Tremo'iUe, he had taken part in the 
first campaign of 1792, under the Duke of Brunswick. 
The inexplicable retreat of this last with his 80,000 
men, the lack of sympathy that the two officers felt 
with the Austrians, and the incessant squabbles that 
went ou, disgusted them with the whole affair. They 
left for Italy, and reached Milan and Turin — not with- 
out adventures on the way ; then, in the spring follow- 
ing, they re-entered Conde's army, which was now in 
the Emperor's pay.^ Fresh vexations awaited them 
there — ^for the general Royalist rising that had been 
arranged to come off simultaneously at Lyons, in the 
South, and in the Jura, fell through in a pitiable 
fashion. And from La Vendee there came, on the 
other hand, the news of many successes by the 
Chouans. 

Frott6 made up his mind. He would go and rejoin 
his compatriots; he would come to France itself and 
fight the Revolution there. To do this, a short stay 
in England was indispensable. He could obtain re- 
sources there, and he had none at the moment. Who 
could say that he might not even be entrusted with an 

1 L. de la Siooti^re, Loui9 de FrotiSt vol. I pp. 34, ef teq. 



A BRETON MAGISTRATE 93 

official command ? At any rate, that was how, in the 
early months of 1794, the Chevalier de Couteme came 
to disembark at London like the rest We shall not be 
surprised, knowing as we do his relations with Lady 
Atkyns, and her relations with Peltier and d'Auer- 
weck, to find Frott4 very quickly made free of that 
little circle of intimates. 

His admiration for his fair friend of Lille was far 
from haying decreased; and he now listened to the 
details, by her own lips, of her repeated offers for, and 
her unalterable devotion to, the Royal family. He 
even came, under her influence, to share the hopes 
which she, brave lady ! still cherished. 



CHAPTER IV 

THB MYSTERY OF THE TEMPLE 

Amidst the medley of feelings produced upon her 
mind by all the events happening in Paris — all the 
insurrectionary outbreaks, all the plottings and arrests 
— ^neither Lady Atkyns nor her friends withdrew their 
gaze from the prison of the Temple. As though this 
edifice with its four towers exercised some mysterious 
attraction, extending far and wide, their thoughts 
returned persistently to this one spot, hidden away in 
the enclosures of the old palace and closed in by a net- 
work of other structures. What news was there of the 
happenings within those sinister high walls? Baron 
d'Auerweck, who was the best-informed, having just 
come from the Continent, retailed all that he had 
gathered from public rumours and from personal in- 
quiries which his relations with people inside the prison 
enabled him to make. 

Madame Elizabeth and her niece still lived in the 
suite occupied by the Queen. The little Dauphin had 
been snatched away from his mother on the night of 



THE MYSTERY OF THE TEMPLE 95 

July 3, 1793, and handed over to the care of the boot- 
maker, Antoine Simon. Simon and his wife — as a 
recent work has made quite clear — were very far from 
being guilty of the cruelties to the child attributed to 
them by tradition. Chosen for his task by Chaumette, 
whose authority at the Temple was supreme, and 
looking up to him as his master, Simon was a rough 
specimen, uncouth somewhat in his ways, and too fond 
of the bottle, violently republican in his sentiments, but 
at bottom a decent fellow, and not wantonly cruel nor 
ill-natured. His wife is shown to have had a good 
heart ; she had been seen at the bootmakers' hospital, 
where her conduct won the praise of all, working very 
actively and thoroughly at her task. She was known 
to be a great chatterbox. Such as she was, Madame 
Simon undoubtedly felt much sympathy with the child 
confided to her care. 

What did Simon and his wife do with the young 
Dauphin ? Did he fade away in their hands, into the 
living spectre, the martyr succumbing to blows and 
bruises that the Eckards and de Beauchesnes and 
Chantelauzes would have us believe? Assuredly not. 
Doubtless the complete change in his existence, the 
sense of being closed in and confined, must have told 
upon the small prisoner. After the splendours of 
Versailles, it must have been hard upon him to be 
subjected at once to so severe a regime and to have for 
company a household of vulgar, common people, with- 
out education. And tears must have coursed down his 



96 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

cheeks. But there is a galf between this and the 
stories of systematic cruelties^ and we may well refuse 
to belieye in anything of this kind until ample proof is 
forthcoming. 

Suddenly, on January 19, 1794, it became known in 
the Temple quartier that the Simons were giving up 
their functions and settling down somewhere else.^ 
What was the reason of this ? Explanations differ. It 
is certain that Simon had no heart for his duties, and 
that he must have emitted a sigh of satisfaction when 
he left the Temple. He showed the child before he 
quitted to the four men who were told off to replace 
him, and received from them a voucher to the effect 
that he was in good health. 

Henceforth, for the next six months, the Dauphin is 
to be immured in his prison, and no one is to penetrate 
within ; the door of his cell is to be bolted and barred, 
and food is to be ministered to him through a grille. 
The four Commissioners of the Ck>mmune entrusted 
with his care will take it turn about to spy at him 
through the peep-hole in the door, but none of them 
will set foot inside. 

What are we to think of this confinement ? What 
was the meaning of it ? We feel that it is out of the 
question at this time of day to formulate any clear-cut 
explanation of it. So great an air of mystery hangs 
over all that happened in the Temple during this year of 
1794 and down to June 8, 1795, that it would be vain 



THE MYSTERY OF THE TEMPLE 97 

to attempt to elucidate this imbroglio of deeds plotted 
in the dark, and performed by actors each of whom 
played his part independently of the others. The 
various personages mixed up in them were so situated 
that they could not see the goal towards which they 
were called upon to work. What we desire to do, with 
the help of the correspondence at our disposal, is to 
show that Lady Atkyns was the leading spirit of a 
Royalist Committee, formed for the purpose of securing 
the Dauphin's escape, and that not only his escape was 
practicable, thanks to the intervention of people high in 
authority — ^probably of Barras — ^but that it was, in fact, 
carried out. 

A sort of bureau had been instituted at Paris for 
turning to account the sources of information contrived 
within the Temple, and for keeping au courant with the 
prison regulations and the methods adopted for watch- 
ing over the Boyal captive. There was a house in 
Rue Basse-du-Rempart in which M. Cormier lived 
formerly, and which, on setting out for La Vendue, he 
left to the care of his wife.^ In this house they had a 
pied d, terre ready to their hands, and in Mme. Cormier, 
nee de Butler, a person on whom they could absolutely 
rely, active-minded, enterprising, the very person of all 
others to help the projects of the Royalists in London. 
It is she who, during these first weeks of the year 1794, 
will be keeping her husband and his friends au courant 

1 A carious plan of this house is to be found at the Bibliothdqiie Nationale, 
Print Department, Paris topogn^hy, the Madeleme quarter. 

H 



98 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

with all she can find out about the Dauphin and his 
gaolers, and the way in which he and his now numerous 
partisans in Paris are kept under watch. It is impos- 
sible for her, we may be sure, to correspond direct with 
London, and we are in the dark as to her methods of 
communication ; but in these days there are any 
number of couriers carrying news and despatches from 
the Continent to England. Soon, to avoid suspicion 
and work in greater safety, Mme. Cormier, henceforth 
referred to always by her maiden name, will secure a 
decree of divorce &om her husband on the ground that 
he is Emigre ^ thus apparently breaking up all connection 
with the former president of the Club Massiaa^ Had 
she not had her name removed already, a year earlier, 
from the ill-fated list of emigres f 

It is time for us now to make fuller acquaintance 
with the members of this circle of intimate friends 
surrounding Lady Atkyns, and concentrating all their 
efforts upon the furthering of her plans. 

Two figures stand out conspicuously : M. de Cormier 
and the Chevalier de Frott^. These alone have been 
let into the secret of the first operations ; these alone 
can daim to have full knowledge of the desires and 
hopes of the Queen's friend. Cormier, "our big 

1 The decree of divorce of Maiie-Anne-Sozaime-Boealie Bntler, foity-4iiiie 
years old, bom at La Rochelle, resident in Paris, Rue Basse, section des Piques, 
daughter of Jean-Baptiste Butler and' of Suzanne Bonfik; and Tves-Jean- 
Fran9oi8-Marie Cormier, aged fifty-six, bom at Bennes, department d'lle-et- 
Vilaine, son of the late Tves-Gilles Cormier and of Marie-Anne*Fran9oise 
Egasse. 



THE MYSTERY OF THE TEMPLE 99 

friend," as he is designated iQ their correspondence, is 
a strong support. His experience, his good sense, his 
relations with the English Government, inspire con- 
fidence at first sight in all who are brought into contact 
with the corpulent Breton, and all are quickly won 
over by the charm of his fluent and persuasive speech. 
Despite authentic certificates of residence, according to 
which his son has not quitted Holstein, where he is by 
way of pursuing his studies during this and the follow- 
ing year, the ex-magistrate has not been willing to 
forego his son's companionship, and there are constant 
allusions to him in his letters. A prey to frequent 
attacks of gout, Cormier requires to have some one 
at hand to look after him affectionately. 

Frott^, a man of some intellect, with a fine presence 
and a martial air about him, and with the advantage of 
being acquainted with the recent happenings in Nor- 
mandy and La Vendue, is well fitted for helping Lady 
Atk3nis in her plans. He also has been able to get into 
intimate relations with the Government, to secure a 
hearing for his views, and thus to acquire real influence. 
In these two men Lady Atkyns possesses powerful 
lieutenants, who henceforth wUl be indispensable to 
her, and to whom she will have to unfold her ideas 
impartially and equally. For while each of them is 
eager to devote himself entirely to her enterprise, little 
by little, imperceptibly almost, and according as difii- 
culties crop up in their path, feelings of jealousy and 
envy will make themselves evident between the two. 



loo A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

By length of service, and by reason of so many 
tender remembrances therewith connected, Frott^ con- 
siders himself entitled to the premier place in the 
confidence and regard of his fair friend. His letters 
are full of burning aflfection and admiration for her, to 
whom he is ready to sacrifice everything. 

*' It IB only in yonr society,** he writes, ** that I am my real self. 
You are in possession of all my secrets, and you share all those 
feelings which oaose me to have any joy in life and for which none 
the less I should be ready to die. Adien I Do yon understand 
mef What am I to think of the heroine to whom I derote my 
entire future and who may make all my life's happiness t Do yon 
understand me t Adieu I If I speak to ears and to a heart that 
refuse to listen to me • . . then I am not at the end of my troubles. 
Oh, most charming of women, whatever may be the outcome of tins 
Revolution of ours — even though you should have no share in it — 
you will ever be in my eyes the tender and devoted friend of 
Antoinette, the woman who would have sacrificed everything for 
the Queen's son, the woman to whom I would fain owe all my 
happiness." ^ 

Side by side with these two men we find a third 
individaal, whose name recurs very often in the con- 
versation, and who will also play his part. The Baron 
d'Auerweck, the "little baron/' comes to ofier his 
services to Lady Atkyns, and to profit by her gene* 
rosity, which he knows to be inexhaustible. He is not 
to be admitted into all the secrets of the committee — he 
is to be spoken to in general terms. D'Auerweck, with 
his philosophical whims and unceasing chatter, bombards 
his benefactress with his letters, in which he retails to 

1 Y. Ddaporte, article already quoted, Jfeucfei, October, 1893; p. 265. 



THE MYSTERY OF THE TE!VfPlJB ic5i'- 

••• ••• :*. :• : 

her all the rumours current in Lon^tfn 'regsCn^iifg* ifie' 
child in the Temple. On intimate terms with the 
journalist Peltier, d'Auerweck acts as his collaborator, 
80 to speak, keeping him au caurant with the progress 
of the enterprise as far as he is in a position to do so. 

Finally, there is the Bishop of Saint-Fol-de-L6on. 
The bishop has not broken off his relations with the 
indefatigable lady, for whom he professes an immense 
admiration. His assistance is by no means to be 
despised, for among the ever-increasing crowds of ^mi* 
grSs now pressing to London there are quite a number 
of persons who are under obligations to him. Wheu 
Lady Atkyns leaves Ketteringham and comes to stay 
for a time among her friends, we find the venerable 
prelate visiting her on several occasions.* 

She entertains him with an account of the steps she 
is taking. Little by little her money will be exhausted ; 
but what matter provided she succeeds ? Not content 
with seeing her gold dispensed at Paris by her paid 
supporters, the generous Englishwoman has made up 
her mind to acquire a ship which she has had secured 
for herself by an SmigrS, the Baron de Suzannet, and 
which had been entirely rigged out at her expense.* 
This vessel plies continually between the English coast 
and the continent, after January, 1794 ; her captain is 
instructed to communicate by means of signs agreed 

1 UnpMiihed Papers i^ Lady Atk^M. 

* Note in Lady Atkyns^ own handwriting at the end of ft letter of Cormier's, 
dated March 24, 1794. 



Ida A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

!!•;•**•'.*••• • • '**^ 

'ap6ii wit^'peopl^' stationed along the French coast, 
generally at Dieppe. In this way news can always be 
conveyed from Paris, while tiie ship will be ready at 
the right moment to pick up the young Dauphin and 
carry him off into security. 

This was the condition of things at the beginning of 
1794, when, on Monday, March 24, Cormier received a 
piece of news which at first unbalanced him. His wife 
had been arrested in Paris, and there was nothing to 
indicate how this mishap had come about. 

<<What terrible news, Uadame!" he wrote to Lady Atkyns; 
''my wife has been arrested I I am inconsolable. I know no 
details as yet." 

On reflection, however, he realizes that the nature of 
his former duties, taken in conjunction with his present 
position as an emigre^ suffice to account for what had 
taken place. 

" There is every reason to believe," he proceeds, ^' that nothing 
has been discovered regarding onr plot, and that it is merely as the 
wife of the President of the Hassiao Club that she has been put 
under arrest. At least, I flatter myself that this is so. If I get 
no news here, I shall set out for the place where news will be 
forthcoming soonest. Nothing will ever make me abandon our 
project and the object of our desires. Tou shall have my news at 
the earliest possible moment^ either from here or from Choram." 

Now, on this very day Hubert was mounting the 
scaffold, a victim to the accusations of Bobespierrej 
whose despotism was triumphant. He who had been to 
a great extent responsible for looking after Louis XVIL 



THE MYSTERY OF THE TEMPLE 103 

liad now fallen in his torn, to be followed a few weeks 
later (April 13) by his friend Chaumette, Here is 
what Cormier had to say on the subject — the news had 
reached him with wonderful speed— 

''Bobespierre has triumphed over the othersi and he has had 
Hubert, Vinoent, etc., arrested and guillotmed* Bobespierre had 
declared himself anxious to stop the flow of blood • • . ; he had 
qK>keii up for the prisoners in the Temple. Fresh letters are 
arrivkig here. It is certain, I think, that my wife has not yet been 
charged with anything, or even suspected of anything in r^;ard to 
the prisoners." 

The event was inopportune. Cormier had just decided 
to leave London for the coast, where he was to receive 
certain information and to take counsel with his agents. 
Now his plans were all upset. He would have to 
postpone the journey and redouble his precautions. 

At the end of five days there was ground for taking 
a hopeful view of things. There was every reason to 
believe that Mme. Cormier s arrest would not have any 
grave results. 

''What annoys me most," writes Cormier to Lady Atkyns on 
March 28, '' is the fact that the news had got back to Paris, with 
conmientaries which may do harm both to my wife and to our 
aflbirs." 

As a matter of fact^ Peltier and d'Auerweck hastened, 
on hearing of what had happened, to convey their 
sympathy to their friend, and, like true journalists, 
spread the tidings in every direction, thus intensifying 
Cormier's uneasiness. 



104 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

*' But I must only try and put aside this anxiety,'' he continuesy 
*' as I have so many others. I hare not yet started ; I shall not 
start before Monday or Tuesday, because I must wait for replies 
from Dieppe, which cannot arrive before Sunday or Monday. Have 
no fears ; my courage will not fail me — indeed, at present it is taking 
the shape of a feeling of rage, which I am trying to keep down. Tou 
will have learnt from the public prints that the statement has gone 
out that the King has been carried off to the army of the Prince of 
Saxe-Coburg. This false report has troubled me a good deal. I 
don't want attention to be directed that way just now, especially 
as something has happened which would increase our confidence — 
something which I cannot at present confide to paper. Do not 
exert yourself too much, madame; do not measure your effibrts by 
your courage. Your friends beg this of you." 

In all these letters of the Breton magistrate there is 
a real ring of sincerity. The admiration he feels for 
this interesting woman resolves itself into a whole- 
hearted devotion to her cause, and if, later, her large 
fortune and her generosity seem to have too large a 
part in Cormier's thoughts and too great an influence 
upon his actions, at least he must be credited with 
absolute frankness throughout. 

The death of Sir Edward Atkyns on March 27, 1794, 
gave Cormier an opportunity for expressing his sympathy 
with the widow, and of enlarging still further upon his 
feelings. The scant mention made of Sir Edward, 
indeed, in the correspondence of this little circle suggests 
that the relations between husband and wife must have 
become perceptibly colder of late. It is probable that 
the baronet looked with disfavour upon his wife's 
schemes and the heavy outlay they entailed. 



THE MYSTERY OF THE TEMPLE 105 

''A score of times/' writes Cormier, ** I have token pen in hand 
this morning to express to you the intense interest with which 
I haver learnt of the sad event which occurred, and as often my 
courage has failed me. Tmly you have been the victim of many 
misfortunes. Will the Fates never have done pursuing you t Tou 
must only make use of the great qualities Providence has given you 
to bear up against what has befallen. Tour courage is exceptionaL 
Make the most of a quality which is rare with men, but rarer still 
in women. As for me, I vow I shall not give in imder my mis- 
fortune, and shall not be put off by any perils. • . • I have not 
started yet, and shall not start to-morrow, not having yet received 
the letters I was expecting, If they come to-morrow, I shall start 
on Thursday. So that this delay may not cause you anxiety, I may 
mention that in the last letters which have come to me, he who left 
last . . • asks me not to start until I heard again from him. He 
has not been beyond D(ieppe), and the others have returned from 
F(aris) to take counsel with him— I don't know on what.'* 

These last words show that something was already 
happening on the Breton coast, and that it was desired 
to send news of interest to Cormier. But the departure 
postponed so often was still impracticable, and Cormier 
began to lose patienca 

"I am still kept here," he writes. ''It is becoming incensing. 
I feel aa though I were being chained up, but prudence and 
common sense keep me quiet. I get news regularly from D(ieppe). 
I hAve just received a third letter enjoining me to make no movement 
until they give me the word, and insisting that the success of our 
project and the safety of him who is so precious to us depend upon 
this. I don't understand, however, their not telling usiwhy and how. 
... I have lost patience, and have sent one of these gentlemen.^ 
(That is not the same as myself.) I am afraid that JT^mAlin may 
really have been killed ; I can't make it out at all." 

^ M. M. de Corbin (note on the letter in Lady Atkyns' handwriting). 



io6 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

Who was Hamelin? It is difficult to guess. It is 
difficult to identify a great many of the individuals of 
whom there is question in these letters, and who are 
designated by borrowed names. The most elementary 
prudence called for absolute secrecy concerning the 
names of the agents who were working for our com- 
mittee, and although the messages were carried by the 
most trustworthy emissaries, it was always possible that 
one of them might be arrested en route. This doubles 
our difficulty in clearing up the imbroglio, and enhances 
a mystery already sufficiently troublesome. 

Failing Mme. Cormier, who was still under arrest, 
and whose absence had been making itself felt more and 
more, another arrangement had been made for securing 
news from Paris. At what expense ? Heaven knows ! 
But once again money had set tongues going and pro- 
cured the needed help. Cormier, coming back to the 
question of his departure, writes again (April 14, 1794) 
to his friend to tell her of the messages he has sent 
from England : — 

<* I shall not Btart untU this evening/' he tells her. "You can 
gness why. I have just despatched two messengers. Things are 
moving, bat very slowly. However, let as not lose heart. If we 
go slowly we go all the more sorely, and every day achieve some- 
thing which helps to advance oar schemes and to keep as in 
secarity. Therefore do not be impatient.'' 

The weeks passed by, and that fateful day '^ 9th 
Thermidor," which was to bring with it such a boule-^ 
versement in Paris, was drawing nigh. At the Temple 



THE MYSTERY OF THE TEMPLE 107 

there had been no change — the Dauphin was still 
sequestrated from the outside world. 

On May 11, 1794, Robespierre visited the prison, and 
had a brief interview with Marie-Therfese, but we have 
no information as to what happened. 

The 9 th Thermidor arrives and throws the dictator 
down from his pedestal, thereby proclaiming the end of 
his reign of terror. General Barras, invested with the 
command of the armed forces within the city, begins to 
take an important part in the management of affairs. 
One of his first acts, it will be remembered, after he 
had triumphed over Robespierre's party, was to go to the 
prison of the Temple, on July the 28th, accompanied 
by his brilliant staff, bedecked with gold. The miser- 
able aspect of the child after being shut up for months 
caused the general to take immediate steps, and by his 
order of July 29, 1794, a special guardian, chosen by 
himself, named Laurent, a native of Martinique, was 
brought to the prison, there to be entrusted with 
the sole care for nearly five months of the young 
Capet 

A careful study of the documents bearing upon this 
period of the captivity of the Dauphin makes it quite 
clear that in the hands of his new guardian he was 
looked after in a fashion which contrasted strongly with 
the previous neglect, and that he soon became attached 
to Laurent, who proved himself good-natured, kind, and 
even affectionate in his attitude towards his charge. If 
strange things came about in the Temple at that time, 



io8 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

we may be certain that Laurent knew about them, and 
we may assume that Barras was the prime mover in all 
that happened. 

It is impossible, as we have said before, to recapitu* 
late all the arguments which tend to bring home to the 
general some complicity in the fate of Louis XVIL, 
and which implicate a large number of persons, most of 
them people of influence in the world of the Convention. 
Other writers, notably M. Henri Provins,* have done 
this so conscientiously and thoroughly that there is no 
need for us to attempt it. We may content ourselves 
with making public a series of documents and newly 
ascertained matters, the gist of which bears out exactly 
all that we knew already of Laurent's conduct at the 
Temple. Lady Atkyns and her friends could not have 
done without him. It is true that his name never 
appears in their communications, for reasons already 
given, but the striking connection between the events 
within the prison walls and their effects in London 
. upon the Royalist Committee proves beyond doubt the 
relations subsisting between them. Between the lines 
of these documents we get to understand what Cormier 
meant by " new combinations." Lady Atkyns has been 
at pains to say it herself in one of her notes which she 
used to make upon her correspondence, and which often 
serve to explain her actions. 

In his anxiety about the future, did Cormier entertain 
fears lest all remembrance of his heroine's devotion 

1 Henri Provins, Lt dernier roi ISffitime de France, Tam, 1889, 2 yob. 



THE MYSTERY OF THE TEMPLE 109 

would vanish with her if by some mischance her enter- 
prise should fail, or if she herself should lose her life ? 
Who knows? However that may be, it is the case 
that on August 1, 1794, he had two statements drawn 
up (the text of which, unluckily, is not forthcoming), in 
which Lady Atkyns recorded all that she had achieved 
down to that date for the safety of those who were so 
dear to her. 

*< These records are to my knowledge the absolate truth," attested 
Cormier at the foot of the deposition, << and I declare that ever 
since I first knew Ladj Atkyns, she has always shown the same 
parity of principles, and that all she has here stated is true in every 
particular." 

These documents were to have been handed over for 
preservation, with a number of others, to a solicitor or 
some trustworthy person in London. 

Meanwhile, renewed efforts were being made to bring 
about a good service of news to the Continent and 
Paris. As time passed. Lady Atkyns' friends realized 
more and more that it would have been madness to 
proceed with a regular attempt at a sudden rescue in* 
the actual conditions of things. In truth, the calm 
which had followed the 9th Thermidor, and which gave 
Pans time to take breath, was making itself felt within 
the Temple. Laurent's nomination was evidence of 
this. Any attempt to act at once would have been 
sheer folly. What was to be done was to *^ get at " 
those who had any kind of influence within the Temple 
or without, whilst taking care not to let too many 



no A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

people into the secret of the enterprise. Here, again, 
nnluckilyy the wise secrctiveness of all their papers 
prevents ns from ascertaining any names. Those who 
were tempted by Lady Atkyns' gold to compromise 
themselves in any way, took too many precautions 
against being found out. 

Lady Atkyns, however, was not idle. Two sailing 
vessels were continually plying between different points 
on the French coast. A third, which she had recently 
purchased, had orders to keep close to land between 
Nantes and La Bochelle, ready at any moment to receive 
the Dauphin.^ 

The cost of keeping these three ships was consider* 
able, and Lady Atkyns had great difficulty in providing 
the money. She was in the hands of agents whose 
services, indispensable to her, could be depended upon 
only so long as the sums they demanded were forth- 
coming. We can imagme the feelings of anxiety and 
despondency with which she must have read the 
following letter from Cormier. What answer was she 
to make to him ? (The person to whom she had applied 
for financial help appears on several occasions in their 
correspondence under the designation of "le diable 
noir.") 

<* Yoar diable noir'i reply is very little conaolation to me,'' writes 
Cormier ; " he has promised and postponed so often. For Heaven's 
sake, see to it that he does not promise as this time also to no 

^ Note in Lady Atkyns* handwriting at the foot of a letter from Cormier, 
dated June 8, 1795. 



THE MYSTERY OF THE TEMPLE rii 

purpose ! . . • I gather that 70a were to have two definite replies 
to-day — ^I shall be in Fargatorj until five o'clock. Mon Dieul 
Mon Dieu ! I wonder what you will send me, or rather what you 
will be able to send met Our own courage alone does not suffice — 
we hare to keep up the courage of others, and they are losing heart. 
Worst of ally there is that ayaricious Jew of a captain ! We are 
absolutely dependent upon him. If we lost him where should we 
get another to take his placet I beg of you, in the name of the 
one you know, to do all you possibly can, to exert all your resourcesi 
to prevent his having to leave me empty-handed.'' 

And to ezcnse the ultimatum-like tone of his letter, 
Connier adds — 

"Forgive the urgent persistent style in which I write I But 
when one is writing about business matters and matters of this 
importance, one has to forget one is writing to a woman — especially 
when it is a question of a Lady Atkyns, who is different from the 
rest of her sex." 

The occasions for entering into communication with 
their agents on the Continent are more propitious now 
than ever, but many efforts are frustrated owing to the 
sharp watch which is kept along the coast. 

**They have tried eleven times to land since Saturday last," 
writes Cormier, ** and failed every time. There were always either 
people in sight or else there were transports sailing from Havre to 
Dieppe or from Dieppe to Saint-Yalery, etc., etc. There has been 
a lot going on evidently, for signals have been given on fifteen or 
twenty different occasions. That shows how important it is to 
effect a landing. They returned simply to make this fact known to 
me, and went back again without coming on shore— except the 
captain, who came for an hour and who is positive they have some- 
thing to hand over to him. I believe this myself, for I learn also 
this morning that the Government boat which plies along the coast 



112 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

of Brittany has made thirty vain attempts during the last three 
weeks.** 

We can imagine the mental condition of poor Lady 
Atirpis on receiving letter after letter in this strain* 
She no longer goes away from London at this period, 
feeling too remote in the country from the centre of 
news. She stays either at the Boyal Hotel or else 
with friends at 17, Park Lane. Here it is that she 
receives Cormier, Frott^, Peltier. When there is a 
long interval between their visits her fears grow apace. 
What would she not give to take an active part herself 
in the enterprise 1 ** No messenger arrived — ^no news, 
therefore, from France," that is the message that comes 
to her only too often. And Cormier writes, full of 
excuses for his persistent appeals — 

« Forgive my tone," he writes. *< I apologize a thonsand times for 
being such a worry to you, but I can't help it in regard to so 
important a matter, calling for so much energy and hurry. You 
have Yoliintarily abandoned the position ensured yon by yonr sex 
and great advantages in order to play the r6h of a great and 
high-minded statesman. There are discomforts and disadvantages 
attached to thi» new estate, and it is my misfortune to have to 
bring this home to you. I can but console myself with the thought 
of your goodness and of the great cause which we have embraced 
and which is the subject of all our anxieties. May God prosper it, 
and may it bring you glory and me happiness ! " 

In the mouth of any one but Cormier these protesta- 
tions would arouse one's distrust ; but what we already 
know of him, and what we are to learn presently of his 
later conduct, serve to reassure us in regard to him. 



THE MYSTERY OF THE TEMPLE 113 

In spite of all his good will, however, Cormier is 
constantly being interrupted in his work. Now it is 
the health of his son, Achille, which disquiets him, now 
he is a prey to terrible attacks of gout which will give 
him no rest. 

^ I have been bent doable for two nights and a day," he writes 
to his friend on September 1, 1794, *' without being able to change 
my position. It takes four persons to more this great body of 
mine. I am a little more free from pain at present, and I take up 
my pen at the earliest possible moment to send you this explanation 
of my silence." 

It is at this moment that Louis de Frott^, who has 
been a little in the background, comes again to the front 
of the stage. Since his arrival in London, the young 
officer, without neglecting the society of the Royalist 
Committee, has been spending most of his time in the 
offices of the English Oovernment, endeavouring to im- 
press upon Windham '' the desirability of carrying out 
his ideas, and the ease with which they may be brought 
to fruit, as he has made up his mind to devote himself 
to them." One project he has specially ai heart, that of 
receiving some kind of official mission from the Govern- 
ment which will enable him to land in Normandy with 
adequate powers and to give new life there to the 
Boyalist insurrection. Should he succeed, the help he 
" would thus obtain would lead to the execution of our 
cherished plans," he writes to Lady Atkyns, and she 
will reap at last " all the honour that will be due to the 
generous sacrifices that she has made," 

I 



114 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

But in his interview with the Minister he does not 
think it necessary to speak of their relations with the 
Temple. This secret is too important for him to 
confide it to any one* ^'Too many people know it 
already/* These words, hinting a delicate reproach, are 
meant, perhaps, to put his fair friend upon her guard. 
Perhaps they mean more than that. Read in the light 
of subsequent letters from the young emigre, they serve 
as a key to his private feelings — to his dislike at having 
to share her confidence with so many others, and to his 
jealousy later of the man who has so large a place in her 
heart These feelings, still slight, soon become more 
marked, and presently we find that they are reciprocated. 

For the time being, however, both Frott^ and Cormier 
worked with the same ardour at their allotted tasks. 
Frott^, proceeding with his negotiation with Windham, 
counted now upon support from Puisaye, his famous 
compatriot recently come to England. Cormier writes 
to her to report that, despite apparent dilatoriness, their 
agents have not been inactive. 

«<! have reoeired letters through the oaptain,'' he tells her on 
October 1, 1794, "which satisfy me, brief as they are. Here is 
what they have to tell me : <Be at ease in yonr mind; they imagine 
they are working for themselves, and really they are working for 
us, and we shall have the profit. Be patient and don't lose trust.' 
The captain had orders to return at once to-day, but he will not 
start until to-night or to-morrow morning, and we have news by 
the packet-boats meanwhile that order reigns in Paris." 

Day after day passed by, bringing new reports, none 



THE MYSTERY OF THE TEMPLE 115 

of them positive, of the death of the little Dauphin. 
Lady Atkyns knew not what to make of the situation. 
Presently — eight days after the last — ^there came an- 
other letter from Connier, to reassure her. 

<* I have great faith in joor judgment," he declares, << and your 
preeentiments are ahnost always right, but I reaUy do not think 
that you have ground for disquiet now* Three agents of ours at 
the Temple are either at work silently or else they are in hiding. 
All we know for certain is that they have not been guillotined, as 
they have not been mentioned in any of the Usts." 

His wife was still unfortunately detained, but there 
was prospect of her being shortly at liberty, and then 
she would write to him. If the agents had taken it 
upon themselves to modify their project — the one 
thing that was to be feared — ^they could not possi- 
bly have succeeded in sending particulars yet of this. 
But an explanation of the mystery was soon to be 
forthcoming. 

" The Dauphin is not to be got out by main force or 
in a balloon," Cormier had once written. Any attempt 
at carrying him off under the very nose of his warders 
and of the delegates of the Commune would have been 
madness. All idea of such a rescue had long been put 
aside. How, then, was the matter to be dealt with ? 
By such means as circumstances might dictate — ^by 
finding a substitute for the young prisoner, a mute who 
should play the rdle until an occasion should offer for 
smuggling away the real Dauphin, concealed meanwhile 



ii6 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

somewhere in the upper chambers of the Tower. Mme. 
Atkyns did not herself approve of this plan. 

** I was strongly opposed to it^" she notes at the foot of a letter 
from Oormier dated June 3, 1795, ''as I pointed out to my friends 
that it might have an undesirable result^ and that those who were 
being entrusted with the carrying off of the Dauphin, after getting 
the money, might declare afterwards that he had not been got out 
of the Temple." 

She saw reason to fear that at the last moment she 
would be done out of ike recompense of all her efforts, 
and that the Royal child would not be entrusted to 
her care. 

However, it was clear that once the plan was agreed 
upon it was necessary in order to carry it out to secure 
the help of the gaoler Laurent, who had had the 
Dauphin under his charge during the last four months. 
Laurent's complicity may be traced through the docu- 
ments bearing upon the whole episode. 

Let us examine first of all Laurent's own famous 
letters, the first of which, dated November 7, 1794, 
synchronizes with the events we have been following. 

It is well known that only copies of these letters are 
in existence — the originals have never been discovered. 
They were published first in a book which appeared in 
1835, Le Veritable Due de Normandie, the work of an 
adherent of the pretender, Nauendorff, Bourbon-Leblanc, 
whose real name was Gabriel de Bourbon-Russet, dit 
Leblanc. From the fact of the originals being missing, 
the authenticity of these letters has long been a matter 



THE MYSTERY OF THE TEMPLE 117 

for debate. A close examination of them, side by side 
with all the other documents upon which we have come 
in the course of our researches, results, we think, in 
justifying our belief in their genuineness. 

Cormier, then, was not mistaken in supposing that his 
agents had modified their plan. The letter in which 
he confided his suspicion to Lady Atkyns was dated 
October 8, 1794. On the last day of the same month 
he wrote to her again : — 

" I have to thank you cordially for your kind letter of yesterday. 
I have had no time to answer it properly, not beoaose of the gout, 
for that has left me. In fact, my mind is so fully ocoapied that I 
have no time to trouble about any kind of malady, and am, in fact, 
at my wits' end with excitement. Howeyer, I must just send you 
this brief note in haste (for it is just post time) to bid you not 
merely be at rest but to rejoice I J am ahh to assure you poaiiivelp 
thai ike Matter and his belongings are saved ! There is no doubt aboiU 
it But say nothing of this, keep it absolutely secret, do not let it 
be suspected even by your bearing. Moreover^ nothing will happen 
Uhdag^ or to-morrow, or (he dag after, nor for more than amcnth, huJt I 
amquiie sure of what Isag,and I was never more at my ease in my own 
mind* I can give you no details now, and can only tell you all 
when we meet ; but you can share my feeling of security. I am 
glad to say I have good news of my wif e^ but I must continue to 
keep a sharp look out all round me.** 

This letter evidently alludes to what had happened 
at the Temple. The young Dauphin, we may conclude, 
was halfway on his road to liberty. Lodged in the 
garrets of the Temple tower, and with the little mute 
as his substitute down below, he was not yet out of 



ii8 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

peril But an important step had been taken towards 
the ultimate goal. 

It seemed dear that Laurent, Thomme de Barras, 
was having a share in this, and had at least rendered 
possible the execution of the project The letter which 
he wrote eight days later to a general, whose identity 
has never been established, bore out exactly what 
Cormier had said ; here it is : — 

* (General, 

** Your letter of the 6th came too late, for your funt plan 
had been carried out already — ^there was no time to lose. To- 
morrow a new warder is to enter upon his duties— a Republican 

named Oommier, a good fellow from what B tells me, but I 

have no confidence in such people. I shall find it very difficult to 
convey food to our P— % But I shall take care of him ; youneed 
not be anxious. The assassins have been duped, and the new 
municipal people have no idea that the little mute has been sub- 
stituted for the Dauphin. The thing to be done now is to get him 
out of this cursed tower — ^but how t B tells me he cannot do 
anything on account of the way he is watched. If there were to be 
a long delay I should be uneasy about his health, for there is not 
much air in his oubUeUe — ^the hon Dieu would not find him there if 
he were not almighty t He has promised me to die rather than 
betray himself, and I have reason to believe that he would. His 
sister knows nothing ; I thought it prudent to pass the little mute 
off on her as her real brother. Meanwhile, this poor little fellow 
seems quite happy, and plays his part so well, all unconsciously, that 
the new guard is convinced that he is merely refusing to speak. So 
there is no danger. Please send back our faithful messenger to me^ 
as I have need of your help. Follow the advice he will convey to 
you orally, for that is the only way to our success, 
« Jhe Temple Tower, Korember 7, 1794.^' 

The contents of this letter, taken together with its 



THE MYSTERY OF THE TEMPLE 119 

date, accord in a remarkable way with Cormier's com- 
munication to Lady Atkyns. 

There is another striking argui^aent in favour of the 
authenticity of Laurent's letters. When they were 
produced by the pretender Nauendorff, they were for 
the most part in complete contradiction to all that was 
known of the Dauphin's captivity and the testimonies 
of those connected with it Certain facts to which they 
made allusion were known to nobody. Thus Laurent 
states clearly on November 7 that a new warder — whom 
he calls (xommier instead of Gk)min — ^is to come to the 
Temple next day and to be associated with him« Now, 
in 1835, when this letter was published, what was 
known of Gomin ? Next to nothing, and the little that 
was known did not tally with Laurent's statements. 
Simeon Despreaux, author of a book entitled ^* Louis 
XVIIL,'' published in 1817, did not even know of 
Gomin's existence. Gomin himself made a formal 
declaration before the magistrates that he entered the 
Temple about July 27, 1794, before Laurent was there 
at all. Many years later it was foimd, on examining 
all the documents referring to the Temple that were 
kept in the National Archives, that Laurent's state- 
ments were quite correct 

Some days after this letter to Lady Atkyns, Cormier 
infoimed Frott6 of the great news, in the course of a 
visit paid him by the latter* 

** I know all about it,** he said, acoording to Frott^s aoooimt of 
the internew afterwards in a letter to Lady Atkyns, ** because they 



120 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

oanld do nothing withoat me ; but everything is now ready, and I 
give yon my word that the King and France are saved. All the 
neoessary steps have been taken. I can tell yon no more. ... Do 
not question me, don't try to go further into the matter. Already 
I have told you more than I had any right to, and from Mr. Pitt 
down to myself there is now no one who knows more about it than 
you do. So I beg of you to keep it absolutely to yourself." 

From November, 8, then, Laurent is no longer sole 
guardian of the young Prince. His duties are hence- 
forth shared with Gomin. What kind of relations 
subsisted between the two? It is hard to say, for 
it is even more difficult to find out the truth about the 
Temple during the subsequent months than during 
those which went before. 

We find one innovation introduced during these 
months which is worth noting. It is no longer the 
delegates of the Commime who have to pay the daily 
visit to the prison, but the representatives of the 
Comitea Civils of the forty-eight divisions of Paria 
Now, among all those who visited the Dauphin none 
left any record, with one exception, to which we shall 
come presently. All that we can learn from Gomin's 
own statements, so often contradictory, is that through- 
out the period the child placed under his care uttered 
no word. The warder takes no further notice of this 
strange conduct, Laurent having satisfied him that 
if the Dauphin will not open his mouth it is because 
of the infamous deposition against his mother that he 
was made to sign. It is unnecessary to point out 
how improbable was this explauation, the Dauphin's 



THE MYSTERY OF THE TEMPLE 121 

examination having taken place on October 6, 1793, and 
Laurent not having come to the Temple until July 29, 
1794. (xomin, however, asked no further questions, 
and Laurent experiencing no farther anxiety in regard 
to him, sought what means he could of bringing about 
the desired end. 

Six weeks pass, however, without further progress, 
and then on November 5 Laurent hears, to his great 
satisfaction, that his master has become a member of 
the Committee of Public Safety. This new office would 
surely enable the general to carry out his plan and 
relieve the anxious guardian from the heavy responsi- 
bility lying on his shoulders. 

It was, therefore, not without surprise that on 
December 19 Laurent and Gomin saw three Com- 
missioners of the Committee of Public Safety make 
their way into the prison and up the stairway of the 
Tower to the Dauphin's cell. These three visitors — 
Harmand la Meuse, Matthieu, and Reverchon — asked 
to see the Dauphin, so that they might question him 
and satisfy themselves as to the way in which he was 
kept under supervision. At a time when there were so 
many rumours current about the Temple, and when 
rescues were openly talked about, when every day 
brought forth some new sensational report, it was only 
natural that the Convention, in order to silence these 
rumours and calm public opinion, should institute an 
officiaf inspection of the prison in this way. 

In a work which he published twenty years later, 



122 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

Ha r mand de la Mease tells ns all that we know of this 
Tisiti and of the impression made upon the delegates by 
the little mute usheied into their presence. Suffice it 
here to record that this narrative (written with an 
eye to the good graces of Louis XVIIL) makes it quite 
clear that it was a mute whom they saw, and that all 
efforts to extract replies were quite in vain. 

Harmand repeats the explanation of this persistent 
silenee which had been furnished by Laurent. He 
ignores the fact that the Dauphin had talked with the 
Simons, had been interviewed by Barras, and had 
been heard to speak on several other occasions. 

Assuredly, Harmand and his colleagues — his narrative 
allows it to be seen on every page — ^very soon realized 
that they were not in the presence of the Dauphin. 
This is proved by the fact that, despite the very distinct 
terms of the resolution of the Committee entrusting 
them with this mission, and the object of which was 
to dispel the rumours current in Paris, " they decided 
they would make no public report, but would confine 
themselves to a secret record of their experience to the 
Committee itself.'' 

However natural and intelligible all this may have 
been to those who knew what was in the mind of the 
Convention and the exigencies of the situation at this 
period, to Laurent it was a matter of stupefaction. 
Barras had sent him no warning, and his position was 
getting more and more difficult, for his colleague, who 
had, of course, to be taken into his confidence, was 



THE MYSTERY OF THE TEMPLE 123 

beginning to be nervous about participating any further 
in the intriguei and might betray him any day. At 
last he loses patience, and expresses himself as follows 
to his friend the unknown general : — 

*' I have joat received your letter. Alas, your request is impossible. 
It was easy enough to get the 'victim' upstairs, but to get him 
down again is for the moment impossible, for so sharp a watch is 
being kept and I am afraid of being betrayed. The Gommittee of 
Public Safety sent those monsters Matthieu and Beverchon, as you 
know, to establish the fact that our mute is really the son of 
Louis XYL (General, what does it aU meant I don't know what 
to make of B *s conduct. He talks now of getting rid of our 
mute and replacing him by another boy who is ill. Were you 
aware of this t Is it not a trap of some kind. I am getting very 
much alarmed, for great care is being taken not to let any one into 
the prison of our mute, lest the substitution should become known, 
for if any one examined him they would discover that he was deaf 
from birth, and in consequence naturally mute. But to substitute 
some one else for him I The new substitute will talk, and will do 

both for our haU-reseued P and for myself with him. Please 

send back our messenger at once with your written reply. 

■*The Temple Tower, Febraary 5, 1795." 

Let us note the date of this letter — ^February 5. 
Therefore the visit referred to must have taken place 
before February 5. Now, Eckard, one of the earliest 
biographers of the Dauphin, having in the first edition 
of his book made the date December 2, 1794, altered 
it afterwards to February 13, 1795. De Beauchesne 
makes it February 27. Chantelauze, February 26. 

On referring to the original documents at our dis- 
posal, however, we find that Laurent^s letter is borne 



124 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

out. In his book, I^ dernier roi legitime de France^ 
M. Provins shows that the visit must have taken place 
between November 5, 1794, and January 4, 1795, as it 
was only daring this period that the three delegates were 
all members of the Committee. A recent discovery of 
documents in the National Archives establishes the fiftct 
that it took place on December 19, 1794. 



CHAPTER V 

THB MYSTERY OF THE TEMPLE {continued) 

Meanwhile the feelings of jealousy and suspicion 
wliich had sprung up between Cormier, still Lady 
Atkyns's principal lieutenant and confidant, and the 
Chevalier de Erottd were becoming more and more 
marked. At the beginning of October, 1794, Cormier 
learns of a correspondence in progress between Lady 
Atkyns and a person whom he imagines to be his rival 
(but who turns out to be merely the " little baron "), and 
his ill-humour breaks out in the form of reproaches. 

** Chance has willed that I should beoome acquainted with the 
tact that some one has been getting up a correspondence with you,'' 
he writes to Lady Atkyns, ** in such a way as to prevent me from 
hearing of it . . • You wiU admit that I am justified in assuming 
there are reasons why this correspondence is being kept secret 
from me." 

But he proceeds to assure Lady Atkyns that she still 
retains all his admiration and respect, and to protest 
that he only acquaints her with the discovery that he 
has made because of his attachment to her. Filled 
with mistrust of Erott^, Cormier withholds from him 



126 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

particulars as to the progress of affairs at the Temple, 
and only vouchsafes his information now and again in 
vague terms. *' I refused to give Frott4 the names of 
the agents/' he wrote to Lady Atkyns some months 
later. '^Please remember that I shall always be 
proud of that" 

It is not astonishing that Frott^ should show some 
surprise at the way in which he was being treated, 
though he was prevented by other causes of annoyance 
— his failure to get any satisfaction out of the British 
Government and the repeated postponements of his 
departure — from taking his position in this respect too 
much to heart. 

Lady Atkyns herself was keeping him at a distance at 
this time and avoiding him when she came to London. 
When he asks for an interview, she refuses on the 
pretext of her widowed state and public opinion. 

*< I wished to avoid seeing or writing M. de Frott^/' she herself 
records at a later period, <' as I was not in a position to talk to him 
about the means being taken for the rescue of the King." 

However, on the eve of setting out from England 
into the unknown, the Chevalier makes one more effort 
to see her. 

*< You do not write to me," he begins his letter (December 27, 
1794), "and I should be angry with you if I ooukL be angry with 
any one, now that I have all my wishes fulfilled. In three days 
everything has changed, and I have nothing more to ask for in 
England. The longed-for moment has come. P[uisaye] wants me. 
I go with him, and all my requests are granted. We start on 



THE MYSTERY OF THE TEMPLE 127 

Tboracby at latest. It is important that I should see you. I beg 
of you to set out at once and spend twenty-four hours here, but 
without any one knowing of your journey, lest its object should be 
suspected. Try to be here by Monday evening, and let me know 
where I could see you.** 

This time the appeal was too strong to be resisted 
It was in the depths of winter, and the letter arrived at 
Ketteringham in the evening ; bat Lady Atkyns hired 
a post-chaise at once, and set out a few hours later, 
and travelled all night in stormy weather to London, 
arriving there in the morning. She seems, however, to 
have resisted the temptation to let Frott^ into the secret 
of the Temple doings. Perhaps she had a presentiment 
that the Chevalier, for all his protestations of fidelity 
now, would fall away later and pass into the camp of 
some other pretendant to the throne. 

We have spoken already of the endless intrigues 
which were being hatched round the British Grovem- 
ment by the hordes of irmgrh and broken-down exiles 
from the Continent For these gentry, mostly penniless 
and forced to beg their livelihood, no resource was too 
base by which they could get into favour with the 
Ministers. Besides scheming in a thousand different 
fashions against the common enemy, the Revolution, 
they stuck at nothing in their efforts to throw suspicion 
upon each other. The little court which had gathered 
round the Comte D'Artois on the Continent was also a 
hotbed of plots and schemes, the influence of which made 
itself felt in London. Every one spied on every one else. 



128 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

In the midst of this world of intruders a sort of 
industrial association came into being in the course of 
the year 1794, for the purpose of inundating France 
with fishlse paper-money. It was hoped that in this 
way a severe blow would be dealt at the hated Jacobins 
and their friends. These nefarious proceedings soon 
became known, and called forth the indignation of some 
of the better class of emigrh^ among them the honest 
Cormier. 

His position among his compatriots was not at this 
time of the best. They had no love for this man of 
firm character, faithful to his principles and incapable 
of lending his countenance to such doings. He himself 
soon came to realize this. 

« One doesn't know whom to trnst," he wrote to Lady Atkyna. 
" I am sure some one has furnished the Goyemment with a long 
report upon my projects. I am on the track of the man who 
I think is guilty. There is no reason for you to be anxious on the 
subject I shall soon know what has been done, and both the 
traitor and the Goyemment shall be outwitted/' 

About this time a flood of memorials of all sorts 
poured in by mysterious channels upon the British 
Government, maintaining that "the general desire of 
the French was for a change in the ruling family." 
Cormier discovered that they all were traceable to the 
same source, and we find him declaring energetically 
that ^' the blasphemous scoundrels " who were respon- 
sible for them all belonged to one clique. 

His indignation, in which he found few sympathizers, 



THE MYSTERY OF THE TEMPLE 129 

made him a number of enemies, and the disfavour with 
which he was already regarded in French circles soon 
changed into downright hatred. The fact that he 
denounced the false paper-money to the British Grovem- 
ment — and not in vain — ^was a cause of special bitterness 
against him. By way of revenge, they could think of 
nothing better than to accuse him of being himself 
guilty of the very offences against which he had set 
his face. 

*' They are trying to make out that I am the owner of ships 
which I use for the purpose of eonveying this false paper-money 
to Brittany," he writes to Lady Atkyns. ''They have stated this 
to the Gh>Termnent. Fortonatelyi my whole conduct and reputation, 
and aU that I have done to destroy this shameful traffic, serve to 
show the improbfkbility of such aoousations." 

But, in spite of all his energy and determination, 
Cormier's enemies were too strong for him. It was in 
vain that he demonstrated his good faith. Calumny 
had done its work. 

The British Government had decided, in concert with 
the Comte d'Artois, to send an important mission to the 
Netherlands, with a view, doubtless, to establishing 
relations with the Stadtholder, whose position was 
becoming critical owing to the sequel to the Bevolution. 
The man to be entrusted with this mission would have 
to be some one who had given proof of his qualifications. 
Cormier seemed cut out for the post, and he stood in 
readiness for it, enjoying the prospect of thus getting 
into touch again with France, and of perhaps being able 

K 



I30 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

to serve the interests that were so dear to hinu But he 
had reckoned without his foes. Their efforts were 
redoubled, and in the course of November Cormier 
learnt that another had been entrusted with the mission. 
His anger and disappointment can be imagined. He 
decided that, in spite of all, he would leave England 
and betake himself to Holland on private business. 
Doubtless he imagined also that it would be an advan- 
tage to be near the French frontier, and that he would 
be the better able to follow the course of events at the 
Temple. It was a risky step to take, for there was 
nothing to guarantee his complete security in the 
Netherlands. 

However that might be, his decision was taken, and 
on November 25, 1794, Baron d'Auerweck i^Tote to 
Lady Atkyns to acquaint her with the news of 
Cormier's departure, conve3ring to her at the same 
time many apologies for his having himself neglected 
to write to her to take farewell. During the months 
that follow the ^'little baron** replaces the Breton 
magistrate as principal correspondent of Lady Atkyns. 

It is a strange personality that stands revealed in 
these letters of Baron d'Auerweck. Keen and resource- 
ful, the baron lays himself out to exploit to the utmost 
the valuable friendship of the English lady, thus be- 
queathed to him, as it were, by Cormier. Trained by 
Peltier, d'Auerweck seems to have modelled himself 
upon his master, and to have become in his turn the 
accomplished publicist, plausible, fluent, supple, with a 



THE MYSTERY OF THE TEMPLE 131 

gift of raillery and sarcasm, together with a tarn for 
philosophy. Lady Atkjms, though not onappreciative 
of his copious epistles, shows clearly that she estimates 
him at his real value, and is careful not to take him too 
much into her conlBidence. It must be enough for him 
to know that there is still reason to hope that the 
Dauphin may be saved. D'Auerweck himself is not in 
a position to give her much information in return. His 
letters consist rather of a bright and lively commentary 
upon the political situation and the course of events 
generally in France. 

Upon Cormier's decision to leave England the Baron 
expresses himself in downright language, and makes it 
a text for a disquisition upon his elder's character. 

** Cormier^s departure has disturbed me a good deal,'' he writes to 
Lady Atkyns, ''the more so that, with a little prudenoe, he coold 
have spared himself this onpleasantneas, and might have suooeeded 
in getting what he wanted. A man who has passed his whole life 
in the magistracy ought, at the age of fifty-six, to know something 
about men, but Cormier has never got further than the A B of 
such knowledge. I have had some rather hot disputes with him 
over his rash confidence, his purposeless explosions, Ids sudden 
friendships that ended in ruptures, thus increasing the number of 
his enemies. . • . But we both of us felt the parting. I must do 
him the justice of admitting that there is a lot of kindness and 
sympathy in his character. I think he has the same feeling of 
friendship for me that I have for him. It is my wish to serve him 
whenever the opportunity may arrive." 

By an unfortunate coincidence, the political situation 
in Holland was undergoing a disquieting change at the 
moment of Cormier's arrival. Until then England had 



132 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

exerdfled a decisive inflaence there, both bj reason of 
the presence of her army and through counsels of the 
Stadtholder. But in the autumn of 1794 a popular 
feeling in favour of the Revolution began to make itself 
felt, fanned by the hostility aroused against the un- 
disciplined English troops, with their looting and 
pillaging, and intensified by an unlooked-for piece of 
news: the French, led by Pichegru, had crossed the 
frontier and were advancing by long marches, and 
seizing all the places they passed through on their way. 
In a few weeks the power of the Stadtholder would 
have gone t Though clothed in rags, the soldiers of the 
National Convention were welcomed with transports of 
delight Never did troops show such discipline, it 
should be added. 

But Pichegru was not alone. Beside him marched 
representatives of the Couvention, eager to institute in 
the United Provinces the principles of the Revolution 
and to establish the guarantees of order and security 
inseparable therefrom. 

Therein lay the danger for those who, like Cormier, 
were to be found in flagrante delicto of emigration. On 
November 8, 1794, an order came from the Committee 
of Public Safety to the representatives with the army, 
commanding them to seize the Stadtholder, together 
with his wife and children, as well as to arrest im- 
mediately all Smigrea who might fall into their hands. 

Knowledge of this important decree had not come to 
London on December 15, for on this date we find 



THE MYSTERY OF THE TEMPLE 133 

d'Auerweck writing to Lady Atkyns that he has had 
news of Cormier, ** who is now at La Haye in good 
health and spirits.'' 

The extreme cold which prevailed this year con- 
tributed in a remarkable degree, as is well known, to 
the success of Fichegra's operations in Holland. Shut 
in by the ice, the powerless fleet was obliged to surrender 
to the French cavalry — a memorable incident in the 
military annals of the Bepublic. The famous dams, 
which were to be opened and to flood the country 
and submerge the French, became useless by reason 
of the frost In short, Pichegru triumphed throughout. 
He made his entry into Amsterdam on January 10, 
1795, and eight days later the Stadtholder embarked 
for England. The Dutch Bepublic had come into being. 

Cormier's fate throughout this period must have been 
a matter for anxiety to Lady Atkyns, but the absence 
of anything in the shape of definite news from Paris as 
to the state of things at the Temple continued to be to 
her a source of far greater disquietude. The vague 
assurance as to the Dauphin's well-being, which d'Auer- 
weck transmitted to her from time to time, counted for 
nothing, as she knew herself to be better informed as 
to what had been under way. 

What had been happening ? A third letter, addressed 
by Laurent to his correspondent, under date of March 3, 
1795, enlightens us a little : — 

" Oar little mnte has now been smnggled away into the palace 
ot the Temple and well oonoealed. There he will remain, and if 



134 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

need be can be paned off as the DanpIuiL The triumph is 
altogether yonra, general. You can now be quite at ease in your 
mind — send me your orders and I shall carry them oat. Lasne 
will take my place now as soon as he likes. The best and safest 
steps have been taken to ensore the Dauphin's safety. Consequently 
I shall be able to get to you in a few days, and shall be able to tell 
you all further details orally." 

These lines herald a momentous alteration in the 
regime of the prison. First of all, there is the question 
of Laurent's leaving it Presumably his presence is no 
longer needed there. This suggests that success is 
assured. And Lasne — ^how is it that his name makes 
its appearance here for the first time ? We shall find 
him declaring in 1834 that his service in the Temple 
began in Fructidor year IL, that is to say, between 
August 18 and September 16, 1794.^ In that case 
Laurent would have had him as his colleague for several 
months already ! The Temple documents preserved in 
the National Archives, and examined fifteen years later, 
establish the fact that Lasne did not, indeed, enter 
upon his duties until March 31, 1795, thus bearing out 
the accuracy of Laurent's statement. 

We see, then, that the little mute has been trans- 
ferred to the palace of the Temple — that is to say, into 
one of the many empty suites in the great maze of 
buildings that surrounded the Tower. Here he has 
been, or perhaps will soon be, joined by the Dauphin 
himself, for means of retreat from this labyrinth of 

> Hia depodtion at Uie Bichemont trial.— Plu>yiN8. 



THE MYSTERY OF THE TEMPLE 135 

buildings are infinitely greater than from the fourth 
storey of the Tower. 

To replace the mute, another substitute has been 
found, a scrofulous boy who may be expected soon to 
die. All barriers to the Dauphin's escape will thus be 
removed. So much we gather from Laurent, and all his 
statements are borne out by documents which have been 
left by Royalist agents. 

This second substitution effected, Laurent was able 
to quit his post with an easy mind, and we find that he 
did actually leave the Temple on March 29, 1795. His 
successor, Lasne, arrives two days later. Gomin, who 
perhaps knows part of the truth through Laurent (and, 
moreover, his rdle is more especially to attend to Marie 
Th^r^se), is careful not to confide in him, knowing well 
the risk he would run by so doing. Lasne finds in the 
prison a boy who is evidently very ill, in great suffering, 
whose death is soon to be expected. What would be 
the use of asking questions ? It is enough for him to 
attend to the child as best he may during the few 
weeks of life that still remain to him. 

Spring had passed and June had arrived before Lady 
Atkyns was again to see the familiar handwriting, 
rounded and minute, of her friend the Breton magis* 
trate. The letter bore the postmark of Hamburg. What 
was Cormier doing on the banks of the Elbe ? He would 
seem to have had some perilous adventures. Probably 
he had been arrested as an ^igri and had escaped the 



136 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

guillotine by some happy chance. However that may 
be, the news he had to tell of events in France came as 
a great relief to his correspondent. 

" We have been better served, my dear friend, than we onrselTeB 
arranged. Our agent* have not kept to our plan, but th^ have 
done wisely. • . . But we must have patience. Things are in such a 
condition at present that they can be neither hastened nor delayed. 
A false moTe might have very bad results." 

Within a week of the arrival of this letter, an 
announcement, that came to many as a suiprise, found 
its way round London. It was offici&Uy reported that 
the Dauphin had died in prison on June 8, 1795. Had 
not Cormier's assurances come in time to buoy her up, 
so categorical a statement might well have given Lady 
Atkyns a severe shock. She knew now, however, that 
it could not be of her boy that there was question. 

Some weeks pass in silence, and Lady Atkyns, 
impatient for news, urges the '^ little baron " to set out 
for Hamburg. He starts in the first week of July, but 
is delayed at Ocfordnese, whence he writes to her on 
the 16th. At last he reaches his destination, but means 
of communication are so uncertain that several more 
weeks elapse before she hears anything further. Sep- 
tember finds d'Auerweck returning to London with a 
letter from Cormier to Lady Atkyns. Li October, 
again unable to curb her anxiety, she had just decided 
to seud d'Auerweck to Paris, when, to her deep grief 
and dismay, she learnt suddenly from Cormier that 
everything had gone wrong — ^that " they had all been 



THE MYSTERY OF THE TEMPLE 137 

deceived, shamefully deceived." The child that had died 
on June 8 was, indeed, the second substitute, and the 
Dauphin had undoubtedly escaped, but others had got 
possession of him, and the boy handed over to Lady 
Atkjnis' agents was the young mute. 

" Yes," he writeB, <* we have been taken in totaUy and completely. 
That is quite certain. Bat how have they managed to do it t And 
did we take OTery step that could be taken to make this impossible t 
These are matters yon will want me to go into in detail, and I shall 
not fiul to do so; but I must wait until I have time to trace the 
sequence of events from a diaiy day by day for a year past. The 
entries for the first two months are missing for the present — the 
least interesting period certainly, since down to that time, and 
for several months afterwards, only the project of carrying off the 
Dauphin was being kept in view, the project which had to be 
abandoned afterwards in favour of another which seemed simpler 
and more feasible, as well as less perilous." 

Cormier's long letter left Lady Atkjms completely in 
the dark as to what exactly had happened. They had 
been tricked somehow — ^that was all she knew. 

To us, as to her, the names of most of the many 
participants in this mysterious intrigue remain unknown. 
Laurent went off to San Domingo in the foUovring year, 
where he died on August 22, 1807. Gk)min, to some 
extent his accomplice in the matter of the substitution, 
followed Marie Antoinette's daughter to Austria, and 
was careful to keep what he knew to himself. Ab for 
our three friends, Cormier, Frottd, and d'Auerweck, we 
shall learn presently the reasons for their silence. 

The one person who has tried to dear up the obscurity 



138 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

of these happenings inside the Temple is the wife of the 
bootmaker, Antoine Simon, the Dauphin's first warder. 
Considerations of space prevent us from entering here 
upon any detailed examination of her evidence, but we 
must not pass it by without a word* Mme. Simon, 
after her husband's death during the Reign of Terror 
— ^he was guillotined in Thermidor — ^withdrew to the 
asylum for incurables in the Rue de Sevres, where she 
was to spend the remainder of her existence. Here she 
was heard on many occasions to assert that she was 
convinced the Dauphin was alive, having seen him 
carried off when she and her husband were leaving the 
Temple, on the evening of January 19, 1794. If this 
were true, it would result that that child looked after 
by Laurent was not the Dauphin at all ! This does not 
fit in with the version that we have put together from 
Laurent's own letters and the various other documents 
which we have been able to examine. But even if it 
were true, the poignant question would still call for an 
answer — ^what became of the young Dauphin after his 
escape ? Into whose hands did he fall ? 



CHAPTER VI 

THB FRIEin>S OF LADY ATKYNS 

What was the Chevalier de Frott^ doing all this 
time ? What steps was he taking towards the realiza- 
tion of what he had called so often the goal of his life, 
and towards the execution of the promises he had made 
with so much ardour and enthusiasm ? 

Transported with joy on hearing that the British 
Oovemment at last contemplated listening to his pro- 
jects and sending him to Normandy, Frott^, when 
leaving London, betook himself with four comrades-in- 
arms to Jersey — the great rendezvous at that time for 
the insurgents engaged in dangerous enterprises on the 
Contin^it^ and seeking to find landing-places on the 
French coast. 

It was the middle of winter — snow was falling 
heavily, and there were strong winds. Several weeks 
passed, during which the patience of our imigrSs was 
severely taxed. Nothing was more difficult than to 
efiect a landing in Normandy under such conditions. 
Apart from the difficulty of finding a vessel to make 



I40 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

the croBsmg, it was necessary to choose some spot 
where they might succeed in escaping the vigilance of 
the troops stationed all along the clifb, whose forts 
presented a formidable barrier. In short, Frott4 and 
his friends found themselves con&onted with serious 
obstacles. 

On January 11, 1795, they were observed to leave 
Guernsey in a small sailing-vessel manned by English 
sailors, taking with them three Emigres who were to act 
as guides. What happened to them ? No one knows 
exactly. Certain it is merely that the boat returned 
rudderless and disabled, with Frott^ and his four com- 
panions. According to their own account, they took a 
wrong direction in the dark, and sailed along the coast 
in the midst of rocks. Their guides landed first, and 
disappeared from sight under a hail of bullets, and it 
was with great difficulty that they themselves had been 
able to get back to Guernsey. 

At the beginning of February they made another 
effort, and succeeded in landing near Saint-Brieua 
Frott4 at once made his way inland to join the in- 
surgents, but ill fortune followed him« He had not 
been a fortnight in the country when he learned, to his 
surprise, that the Chouans under Cormatin had just 
concluded a truce to prepare the way for peace. His 
feelings may be imagined. To have waited so long for 
this I So much for his hopes and castles in the air t 
But there was no help for it On February 17, 1795^ 
the treaty of Tannaye was concludedi and a month 




Marie-Pi KKRE- Louis, Count de Frotte, 1766-1800. 
{.1//fr a portrait belonging to the Marquis de Frotte.) 



[I'o/iue /^age 140. 



THE FRIENDS OF LADY ATKYNS 141 

later Frott^, who had kept moving about over La 
Vendue and Normandy unceasingly to survey the 
ground, established himself at Bennes, where he assisted 
at the conference of La Mabilais, which was to confirm 
the truce already agreed to. 

U the turn taken by events had led him off tempo- 
rarily in a different direction, his mind never abandoned 
the secret purpose which had brought him to France. 
Nevertheless, a change, at first imperceptible, but after- 
wards obvious enough, was coming over him. 

The reader will not have forgotten the way in which 
a feeling of antagonism had grown up between Cormier 
and the Chevalier. The ill-will cherished by the latter 
for his quondam firiend had not disappeared. On the 
contrary, the belief that Lady Atkyns was keeping him 
deliberately at arm's length had intensified the jealousy. 
The result was inevitable. Chagrined at being thus left 
on one side, and at being supplanted, as he felt, in his 
fair lady's affections, he soon began to devote himself 
entirely to his new role as a Chouan leader, and ceased 
to interest himself any longer in the drama of the 
Temple. In truth, he was not without pretexts for this 
semi-desertion of the cause. 

On March 16, anxious to explain himself to Lady 
Atkyns, he writes to tell her just how he is feeling on 
the subject He would have her realize that there is no 
longer any ground for hopes as to the Dauphin's safety. 
When in touch with the representatives of the Conven- 
tion who took part in the conference at La Mabilais, he 



142 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

had taken one of them aside, it seems, and questioned 
him frankly as to whether the Bepublican Government 
would consent to listen to any proposal regarding the 
young Prince, and whether he, Frott^, would be allowed 
to write to the Temple. The member of the Convention 
made reply, after taking a day to consider the matter 
and to consult his colleagues, that what Frott^ suggested 
was out of the question. 

"Your devotion,^ he said, ^* would be frnitlessy for under Robes- 
pierre the unhappy boy was so demoralized, mentaUy and physicaUy, 
that he is now aknost an imbecile, and can't live much longer. 
Therefore you may as weU dismiss any snch idea from your head^ 
yon can form no notion of the .hopeless condition the poor little 
creature has sunk into/* 

These lines, reflecting the view then current among 
the official representatives of the Convention, stand out 
strikingly when we recall the situation at the Temple 
in this very month of March, 1795, and the absolute 
order given to Frott^ not to allow the child to be seen. 
They tally at all points with what we know of the 
substitution that had been effected. To this substitu- 
tion, indeed, Frott4 hiniself proceeds to make an explicit 
allusion towards the end of the letter. 

** Perhaps the Conyention is anxious," he writes, " to bring about 
the death of the child whom they have substituted for the young 
King, so that they may be able to make people believe that the 
latter is not really the King at alL" 

: As for himself, he has made up his mind. He will 



THE FRIENDS OF LADY ATKYNS 143 

make no farther efforta for the deliverance of the 
Dauphin. 

On April 25, 1795, the La Mabilais Treaty was 
signed, and Frott6, who refused to subscribe to it, went 
off again to Normandy, confident of seeing the struggle 
recommence, and impatient to set going a new insur- 
rection. Had he received any reply from Lady Atkyns 
to his outspoken missive ? Assuredly not If she gave 
any credence to his statements at the time, they must 
soon have passed out of her memory, for, thanks to 
Cormier, June found her quite confident again of the 
success of their plans. Not knowing, therefore, what 
to say to her old admirer — ^Cormier having forbidden 
her to tell him the names of their agents — she deter- 
mined to keep silent 

Shortly afterwards, on the day after June 8, the 
report of the Dauphin's death reached Normandy. The 
proclamation of the Comte de Provence — ^for how many 
weeks must he not have been waiting impatiently for it 
to be made — as successor to the throne of France in his 
nephew's place was read to the insurgents. Frottd, 
who for some time already had been responding to the 
advances made to him by the pretendant, now formally 
placed his sword at the service of the new King. 

What would have prevented him from taking this 
step ? Would a personal interview with Lady Atkyns 
have had this effect ? Perhaps ; but devoted now to his 
new mission, passing &om fight to fight, Frott^ was no 
longer his own master. 



144 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

Nevertheless, at the end of 1795, some feeling of 
remorse, or else the desire to renew his old place in the 
goodwill of Lady Atkyns, who had twice asked him to 
write and tell her about himself, moved Frotte to take 
pen in hand once again. He had been engaged in fighting 
for several months, concerting surprises and ambuscades, 
always on the qui vive. He had twice narrowly escaped 
capture by the enemy. In spite of this he managed to 
keep up an interesting correspondence with his com- 
panions operating more to the south and to the west, 
in La Vendue and in Le Bocage, and with the chiefs of 
his party in London, who supplied the sinews of war, as 
well as with Louis XYIIL himself, in whose cause he 
had sworn to shed the last drop of his blood. There 
is no reason to be astonished at finding our '' G^n^l 
des Chouans " expressing himself thus, or at the changed 
attitude adopted by him, dictated by circumstances and 
the new situation in which he has now found himself. 
Here is how he seeks to disabuse Lady Atkyns of the 
hope to which she is still clinging : — 

" No, dear lady, I shall not forget inj devotion to you before I 
forget my allegianoe to the blood of my kings. I have broken faith 
in no way, but, unfortonately, I have none bat untoward news to 
give you. I have been grieved to find that we have been deceived 
most completely. For nearly a month after landing I was in the 
dark, but at last I got to the bottom of the afftur. I was not able 
to get to see the unfortunate child who was bom to rule over us. 
He was not saved. The regicides — regicides twice over — having 
first, like the monsters they are, allowed him to languish in his 
prison, brought about his end there. He never left it. Just reflect 
how we have all been duped, I don't know how it is that without 



THE FRIENDS OF LADY ATKYNS 145 

having ever received my letters yoa are still labouring under this 
delusion. Nothing remains for 70a but to weep for our treasure 
and to pumsh the miscreants who are responsible for his death. 
Madame alone remains, and it is almost certain that she will be sent 
to the Emperor, if this has not been done already/' 

These lines but confirmed what Frottd had written 
in the preceding March, after his talk with the repre- 
sentative of the Convention. The news of the Dauphin's 
death having been proclaimed shortly after that, there 
had been no longer any difficulty in persuading the 
Chevalier to take up arms in the service of the Comte 
de Provence. He discloses himself the change that has 
come over his sentiments. 

» How is it," he writes to Lady Atkyns, <' that you are still under 
the delusion, when all France has resounded with the story of the 
misfortunes of our young, unhappy King! The whole of Euri^e 
has now recognised His Royal Highness, his uncle, as King of 
France. . . . The rights of blood have giren me another master, 
and I owe him equally my zeal and the service of my arm, happy in 
having got a number of gallant Royalists together. I have the 
honour of being in command of those fighting in Normandy. That 
IS my position, madame. You will readily understand how I have 
suffered over the terrible destiny of my young King, and nothing 
intensifies my sorrow so much as the thought of the sadness you 
yourself will feel when you learn the truth. But moderate your 
grie^ my friend. You owe yoiirself to the sister not less than to 
the brother." 

And to enforce this advice, Frotte recalls to her the 
memory of the Queen, which should serve, he thinks, to 
remove all scruples. 

u Remember the omnmiinds of your august friend, and you will be 

L 



146 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

able to bear up under j<mr misfortuneB. Yoa will keep up jour 
■pints for the sake of Madame. Toa will live for her and for your 
friends, to whom, moreover, you should do more justice. Adieu, 
my unhappy friend. Accept the homage of a true Royalist, who 
will never cease to be devoted to you, who will never cease either to 
deplore this deception of which we have been victims. Adieu.'* 

Was this farewell, taken in so nonchalant a fashion, 
to denote a final sundering of two hearts united by so 
many memories in common? It would appear so. 
Lady Atkyns was so strong in her convictions that the 
only effect of such words would be to make her feel 
that all was over between her and the Chevalier. 
Later, when he made an effort to renew relations with 
her and asked her to return the letters he had written 
to her, she would seem to have refused point blank, 
from what she wrote to a confidant. 

He must, however, have got hold of some portion of 
their correspondence, for on his return to his chateau of 
Couteme, this indefatigable penman, in the scant leisure 
left him by his military duties, filled several note-books 
with reminiscences and political reflections tending to 
justify his conduct. In one of these note-books, which 
have been carefully preserved, he transcribed fragments 
of his letters to his friend — fragments carefully selected 
in such a way as not to implicate him in the affair of 
the Temple, once the death of the Dauphin had been 
announced. Had he lived, he would doubtless have 
learned what had really happened, as set forth in the 
documents we have been studying ; but his days were 
numbered. 



THE FRIENDS OF LADY ATKYNS 147 

His end is well known : how, having fallen into an 
ambush, he and six of his companions were shot by 
Napoleon's orders, in despite of a safe-conduct with 
which he was furnished, on February 18, 1800, at 
Yemeuil. If in the course of these five years he did 
learn the full truth about the Dauphin, he doubtless 
abstained from any reference to it out of regard for the 
King. He carried his private convictions in silence to 
the grave. 

The news of his death was received with emotion in 
London. Peltier, who had had good opportunities for 
forming an opinion of him, gave out a cry of horror. 
" This act,'' he wrote in his gazette, " covers Bonaparte 
for ever with shame and infamy." 

• ••••• 

The small circle of Lady Atkyns' London friends lost 
thus one of its members. Meanwhile, Lady Atkyns 
had been making the acquaintance of a French woman 
who had been living in England for some years, and 
whose feelings corresponded to a remarkable degree 
with her own. This lady had found a warm welcome 
at Richmond, near London, on her arrival as an imigrS 
from France. 

Pale, thin, anxious-looking, the victim of a sombre 
sorrow which almost disfigured her face, Louise de 
Chatillon, Princesse de Tarente, wife of the Due de la 
Tremoille, had escaped death in a marvellous way. A 
follower of Marie-Antoinette, from whom she had 
been separated only by force, she had been arrested 



148 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

on the day after August 10 as having been the 
friend of the Piincesse de Lamballe. Shut up in 
the sinister prison of TAbbaye, she had felt that death 
waa close at hand. From her dungeon she could see 
the men of September at their work and hear the cries 
of agony given forth by their victims. At last, after 
ten days of imprisonment, she was liberated^ thanks to 
an unexpected intervention, and in the month of 
September, 1792, she succeeded in finding a ship to 
take her to England 

Hers was a strikingly original personality, and it is 
not without a feeling of surprise that one studies the 
portrait of her which accompanies the recent work, 
Souvenirs de la Princesse de Tarente. The drama 
in which she had taken part, and the bloody spectacle 
of which she had been a witness, seem to have left their 
mark on her countenance, with its aspect of embittered 
sadness. Her eyes give out a look of fierceness. Save 
for the thin hair partially covering her forehead, there 
is almost nothing feminine in her face. Seeing her for 
the first time, Lady Atkyns must have received an 
impression for which she was unprepared. They took 
to each other, however, very quickly, having a bond 
in common in their memories of the Queen. Both 
had come under the charm of Marie-Antoinette, their 
devotion to whom was ardent and sincere. The Queen 
was their one great topic of conversation. Few of their 
letters lack some allusion to her. 

Knowledge of Lady Atkyns' devotion to the Royal 



THE FRIENDS OF LADY ATKYNS 149 

House of France, of the sacrifices she had made, was 
widespread in the world of English society, and the 
Princess, having heard of her, was anxious to meet the 
woman, who, more fortunate than herself, had been able 
to afford some balm to the sufferings, to prevent which 
she would so willingly have given her life. The Duke 
of Queensberry brought about a meeting between 
the two ladies. What passed between them on this 
occasion ? What questions did they exchange in their 
eager anxiety to learn something new about the Queen ? 
Doubtless the most eager inquiries came from the 
Princess, and bore upon the achievements of Lady 
Atkyns, her visit to the Conciergerie, her talks with the 
illustrious prisoner. For weeks afterwards there was 
an interchange of letters between the two, in which 
is clearly disclosed the state of affectionate anxiety of 
the Princess's mind. They address each other already 
by their Christian names^ Louise and Charlotte. Lady 
Atkyns shows Mme. de Tarante the few souvenirs of 
the Queen she still possessed, the last lines the Queen 
wrote to her. It is touching to note, in reading their 
correspondence, how every day is to them an anniver- 
sary of some event in the life of the Queen, full of 
sweet or anguishing memories. 

<<How flad I was yesterday !" writes the Princess. <at was the 
anxuTersaiy of a terrible day, when the Queen esoaped assassination 
only by betaking herself to the King's apartments in the middle 
of the night. Why did she escape? To know you — ^bnt for that 
the Almighty would sorely have been kind enough to her to have 
let her tall a victim then.** 



ISO A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

For all the affection which suiroonda her, Mme. de 
Tarente constantly bemoans her solitude. 

"I am in the midst of the world,'' she writeB, ''yet all alone. 
Yesterday I longed so to talk of that which filled my poor heart, 
bat there was none who would have understood me. So I kept 
my trouble to myself. I was like one of those figures you wind 
up which go for a time and then stop again. I kept falling to 
pieces and pulling myself together again. Ah, how sad life is 1 " 

In the sommer of 1797 the Princess came to a 
momentous decision. The Emperor and Empress 
of Russia, whom she had known formerly at the French 
Court, having heard of her trials and of the not very 
enviable condition in which she was living, pressed 
her to come to Eussia, where she would be cordially 
greeted. After long hesitation she decided to accept, 
but it was not without genuine heartburnings that 
she separated from her English friends, from her 
Charlotte most of all. She left London at the end of 
July, and arrived at St Petersburg a fortnight later. 
Very soon afterwards she wrote Lady Atkyns an 
account of the journey and of her first impressions 
of her new surroundings. 

The Emperor and Empress received her in their Peter- 
hof palace with the utmost consideration. Appointed 
at once a lady-in-waiting on the Empress, she found 
herself in enjoyment of many privileges attached to 
this post The house in which she was to live had 
been prepared for her specially by the Emperor's com- 
mand. Finally, she was decorated with the Order of 



THE FRIENDS OF LADY ATKYNS 151 

St Catherine, and the Empress on her f^ day pre* 
sented her with her portrait Different indeed is her 
position from what it had been at Bichmond« 

" I never drive oat without tour horses, and even this is my own 
doing, for I ought not» as a ladj-in-waiting, to have less than six* 
They tell me I shall be obliged to get myself made the uniform of 
the Order of St Catherine, and that would cost me 1200 roubles, 
that is, 150 louis."* 

But the very marked favour met with by the 
Princess could not but disquiet some of the courtiers 
at the Palace. Within a week of her arrival, one of 
the ladies in attendance upon the Empress, Mme. de 
Nelidoff, at the instigation of Prince Alexandre Koura* 
kine, hastened to represent Mme. de Tarente's con- 
duct and the unusual honour that had been shown her 
under the most unfavourable light to her Majesty the 
Empress; and her jealousy thus aroused (so one of 
Mme. de Tarente's friends tells the tale), she had no 
difficulty in settling matters with her husband, and 
when the Princess next entered the imperial presence, 
the Emperor neither spoke to her nor looked at her. 

The snub was patent, but the Princess seems to have 
taken it nonchalantly enough. The friendly welcome 
accorded to her by St. Petersburg society, the kindness 
and affection she met with from the Gk>lowine family, 
in whose house she soon installed herself, there to 
remain until her death, enabled her speedily to forget 
the intrigue of her enemies at the Court The incident 
is barely alluded to in her letters to Lady Atkyns, 



152 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

which continue to be taken up chiefly with reminiscences 
of their beloved Qaeen. 

Towards the end of 1798 the two friends are sun- 
dered bj Lady Atkyns' decision to return to France, 
impelled by the desire to be near those who had played 
80 important a rSle in her life, and to meet again those 
friends who had co-operated in her work — ^perhaps also 
to meet and question those who might be in a position 
to enlighten her regarding the fi^te of the Dauphin. 
This decision she communicates to the Princess, who 
opposes it strongly, warning her against the imprudence 
she is about to commit. Lady Atkyns persists, and the 
Princess at last loses patience. *^ I have so often com- 
bated your mad idea," she writes nobly, ** that I don t 
wish to say anything more on the subject." 

In the spring of 1814 the news came to St. Peters- 
burg of the defeat of the armies of Napoleon and the 
accession of Louis XYIIL Immediately large numbers 
of exiles, who were but waiting for this, made haste back 
to France. Mme. de Tarente contemplated being of 
their number, but before she could even snake arrange- 
ments for the journey, death came to her on January 
22, 1814. 

• ••••• 

Hamburg, where our friends Mme. Cormier and the 
'kittle Barcm" took refuge in 1795, was ahready a« 
powerful city, rich by reason of its commerce, and its 
governing body, conscious of its stoength, were not the 
less jealous of its independence. Its unique position. 



THE FRIENDS OF LADY ATKYNS 153 

in the midst of the other German states, the neutrality 
to which it dung and which it was determined should 
be respected, sufficed to prevent it hitherto from looking 
askance at the ever-growing triumphs of the armies of 
the French Bepublic, and the Convention, too much 
taken up with its own frontiers, had done nothing to 
threaten the independence of the Hanseatic town. 

This fact did not escape the hiigrSs, who were find- 
ing it more and more difficult to evade the rigorous 
look-out of the Revolutionary Government, and soon 
Hamburg was filled with nobles, ecclesiastics, Chouans, 
conspirators. Royalist agents, just as London had been 
some years earlier. Safe from surprises, and in constant 
communication with England, Germany, and Italy, this 
world of wanderers had discovered an ideal haven in 
which to hatch all their divers plots. Clubs were 
started by them, called after celebrated men. Rivarol 
was the centre of one set, noted for its intellectual 
stamp and its verve and wit. The publications also 
that saw the light in Hamburg enjoyed a wide liberty, 
and this it was that opened the eyes of the Republican 
Government to the state of things. 

On September 28, 1795, there arrived at Hamburg, 
Citoyen Charles-Fr6d4ric Reinhard, official representa- 
tive of the Convention, formerly head of a department in 
the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Paria There could 
be no mistake about the nature of the instructions with 
which this personage was provided. If the condition 
of the commercial relations between the two states was 



154 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

the official pretext for his embassy, an investigation 
into the affairs of the migrea was its real object. The 
Senate of the town were qnick to realize this. How- 
ever, Beinhard's conciliatory bearing and lus expressed 
dislike for the police duties imposed upon him by 
the Directoire prevented his mission from having too 
uncompromising an aspect He could not shut his eyes, 
of course, to what was going on, and, in spite of his 
repugnance to such methods, he was forced to employ 
some of the tale-bearers and spies always numerous 
among the imigres. In a short period a complete 
system of espionage was organized It did not attain 
to the state of perfection secured by Bourienne later 
under the direction of Fouch^, but its existence was 
enough to enhance the uneasiness of the Hamburg 
Senate. Their refusal to acquiesce in certain steps 
taken by the Directoire forced Beinhard to quit the 
town previously, in the month of February, and to take 
up his abode at Bremen, afterwards at Altona. This 
suburb of Hamburg, separated from it only by an arm 
of the river, was yet outside the limits of the little 
republic, and suited his purpose excellently as a place 
from which to conduct his observations. Everything 
that went on in Hamburg was known there within a 
few hours. 

It was at this period that Beinhard received a visit 
from a somewhat sinister individual, named CoUeville, 
who came to offer his services to the Directoire. He 
volunteered to keep Beinhard informed as to the doings 



THE FRIENDS OF LADY ATKYNS 155 

of the emigres^ to whom he had easy access. On March 
5, 1796, he turned up with a lengthy document con* 
taining a wealth of particulars regarding one of the 
principal agents of the princes — ^no other than our 
friend d'Auerwecki for the moment a long way from 
Hamburg, but soon expected back. '* He is one of the 
best-informed men to be met anywhere/' CoUeville 
reports. *' He has travelled a great deal, and is au courant 
with the feeling of the various courts and ministers.'^ 

It must be admitted that the spy was well informed 
as to the character and record of the ^* little Baron.'' 
D'Auerweck would seem in intimate relations with a 
certain Fictet, "Windham's man." Through him he 
was in correspondence with Verona. He was known to 
be the "friend of the Baron de Wimpfen and of a 
M. de Saint-Croix, formerly lieutenant-General in 
the Bayeuz district. In his report upon d'Auerweck, 
Colleville had occasion inevitably to mention his friend 
Cormier. He stated, in fact, that at the moment 
d'Auerweck was located at Mme. Cormier's house in 
Paris in the Bue Basse-du-Bempart 

Colleville could not have begun his work better. 
D'Auerweck was not unknown to Beinhard, who, five 
months before, in a letter to Delacroix, the Minister for 
Foreign Affairs, had mentioned the fact of his presence 
in London, " where he was in frequent touch with du 
Moustier and the former minister MontcieL" 

By a curious coincidence, on the same day that 
Beinhard got his information, the Minister of Police in 



156 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

Paris^ the Citoyen Cochon, had been made aware that a 
congress of hfiigrh was shortly to be held at Hamburg. 
The agent who sent him this announcement drew his 
attention at the same time to the presence at Hamburg 
of a person named Cormier. 

^'It should be possible to find out through him the nameB of 
those who will be taking part in the Cbngress. He is a magistrate 
of Bennes who has been oontinnallj mixed up in intrigue. His 
wife has remained in Paris. . . • The oorrespondenoe of this Cormier 
ought to be amusing, for he is daring and has esprit/' 

Reference is made in the same communication to 
" the baron Yarweck, a Hungarian, passing himself off 
as an American, living in Paris for the past five 
months." 

This was enough to arouse the attention of the 
Directoire. The persistence with which the two names 
reappeared proved that their efforts had not slackened. 
By force of what circumstances had they been drawn 
into the great intrigue against the Revolutionary Party ? 
It is difficult to say. For some months past Cormier's 
letters to Lady Atkyns had been gradually becoming 
fewer, at last to cease altogether. Having lost all hope 
in regard to the affair of the Temple, the ex-magistrate, 
placing trust in the general belief as to what had 
happened, came to the conclusion that it was vain to 
attempt to penetrate further into the mystery, and he 
decided to place his services at the disposal of the 
Princes. 

The Minister for Foreign Affairs lost no time about 



THE FRIENDS OF LADY ATKYNS 157 

sending instructions to Reinhard, charging him to keep 
a sharp watch on the meeting of the Smigrh and to 
learn the outcome of their infamous manoeuvres. He 
should get CoUeville, moreover, to establish relations 
with Cormier, " that very adroit and clever individual.'* 
In the course of a few days Beinhard felt in a position 
to pull the strings of his system of espionage. 

Two very diflFerent parties were formed among the 
hmgris at Hamburg. That of the " Old Royalists," or 
of the " ancien rigime^' would hear of nothing but the 
restoration of the ancient monarchy ; that of the '' new 
r^W " felt that it was necessary, in order to reinstate 
the monarchy, to make concessions to Republican ideas. 
Cormier would seem to have belonged to the former, of 
which he was the only enterprising member. His 
brother-in-law, Butler, kept on the move between Paris 
and Boulogne, and Calais and Dunkirk, with letters and 
supplies of money from England. D'Auerweck had left 
Paris now and was in England, eager to join Cormier 
at Hamburg, but prevented by illness. 

Cormier was now in open correspondence with the 
King, to whom he had proposed the publication of a 
gazette in the Royalist interest. He was in frequent 
communication, too, with the Baron de Roll, the Marquis 
de Nesle, Rivarol, and the Abb^ Louis, and all the 
'^ monarchical fanatics." Despite his age, in short, he 
was becoming more active and enterprising than ever. 
Too clever not to perceive that he was being specially 
watched, he was not long in getting the spy into his 



158 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

own service by means of bribes, and making him 
collaborate in the hoodwinking of the Minister. The 
report that had got about concerning his actions, how- 
ever, disquieted the Princes, and at the end of June 
Cormier is said to have received a letter from the 
Gomte d'Artois forbidding him '*to have anything more 
to say to his affairs,'' and reproaching him in very sharp 
terms. At the same period, Butler, to whose ears the 
same report had found its way, wrote to rebuke him 
severely for his indiscretion, and broke off all commu-* 
nication with him. Meanwhile, he was in pecuniary 
difficulties, and borrowing money from any one who 
would lend, so altogether his position was becoming 
criticaL Soon he would have to find a refoge dsewhere. 

When, in the autumn, Baron d'Auerweck managed to 
get to Hamburg, he found his old firiend in a state of 
great discouragement, and with but one idea in his 
head — ^that of getting back somehow to Paris and living 
the rest of his days there in obscurity. 

The arrival of the *^ 18th Brumaire " and the establish* 
ment of the Consulate facilitated, probably, the realiza- 
tion of this desire. There is no record of how he brought 
his sojourn at Hamburg to an end. D'Auerweck we 
find offering his services to Beinhard, who formed a 
high estimate of his talents. His offer, however, was not 
entertained. At this point the '* little Baron'' also 
disappears for a time from our sight 

It is about this period that Cormier and d'Auerweck £eJ1 
definitively apart, never again to cross each other's path. 



THE FRIENDS OF LADY ATKYNS 159 

Reassured by the calm that began to reign now in 
Faris^ and by the fact that other emigria who had re« 
turned to the capital were being left unmolested, Cormier 
made his way back furtively one day to the Rue Basse- 
du-Rempart, where the Citoyenne Butler still resided. 
The former president of the Massiac Club returned to 
his ancient haunts a broken-down old man. Like so 
many others, he found it difficult to recognize the Paris 
he now saw, transformed as it was, and turned inside 
out by the Revolution. Wherever he turned, his ears 
were met with the sound of one name — ^Bonaparte, the 
First Consul. What did it all matter to him ? His 
return had but one object, that of re-establishing his 
health and letting his prolonged absence sink into 
oblivion. The continual travelling and his ups and 
downs in foreign countries had brought him new mala* 
dies in addition to his old enemy the gout He had 
lost half his fortune, through the pillaging of his estates 
in San Domingo. Thus, such of his acquaintances as 
had known him in the old days, seeing him now on his 
return, sympathized with him in his misfortunes and 
infirmities. 

He seemed warranted, therefore, in counting upon 
security in Paris. The one thing that threatened him 
was that unfortunate entry in the list of emigres^ in 
which his name figured with that of his son. In the 
hope of getting the names erased, he set out one day 
early in November, 1800, for the offices of the Pre- 
fecture of the Seine. There he took the oath of fidelity 



i6o A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

to the Cionstitution. It was a step towards getting the 
names definitely erased. His long stay in Hamburg 
was a serious obstacle in the way, but both he and his 
son looked forward confidently now to the success of 
their efforts. 

Suddenly, on August 21, 1801, a number of police 
officials made their appearance at Cormier's abode to 
arrest him by order of the Minister of Police. His first 
feeling was one of stupefaction. With what was he 
charged ? Had they got wind of his doings in England ? 
Had some indiscretion betrayed him? He recovered 
himself, however, and led his visitors into all the various 
apartments, they taking possession of all the papers 
discovered, and sealing up the glass door leading into 
Achille's bedroom, he being absent at the time. This 
investigation over, Cormier and the officials proceeded 
to the Temple, and a few hours later he found himself 
imprisoned in the Tower. 

What thoughts must have passed through his mind 
as he traversed successively those courts and alleys, and 
then mounted the steps of the narrow stairway leading 
to the upper storeys of the dungeon I 

In the anguish of his position had he room in his 
mind for thoughts of those days in London when the 
name of the grim edifice was so often on his lips ? 

Three days passed before he could learn any clue 
as to the cause of his arrest. At last, on August 24, 
he was ordered to appear before a police magistrate 
to undergo his trial An account of this trial, or 



THE FRIENDS OF LADY ATKYNS i6i 

%nte9*rogatoire, is in existence, and most curious it is to 
note the way in which it was conducted. The warrant for 
his arrest recorded that he was accused *' of conspiracy, 
and of being in the pay of the foreigner." These terms 
suggested that Cormier's residence in England, or at 
least in Hamburg, was known to his accusers. Had not 
the Minister of Police in one of his portfolios a dossier 
of some importance, full of aU kinds of particulars 
calculated to " do " for him ? Strange to relate, there 
is to be found no allusion to this doubtful past of his 
in the examination. 

After the usual inquiries as to name, age, and dwell- 
ing-place, the magistrate proceeds — 

*' What is your ooonpation t ** 

**I have none except trying to get rid o( gont and gravel.'' 

^ Have yon not been away from France during the Bevolntion t ** 

*^ I have aenred in the war in La Yend^ against the Bepublio 
from the beginning down to the capitulation. Tou will find my 
deed of amnesty among my papers." 

** What was your grade t " 

*' I was entrusted with correspondence." 

** With whom did you correspond abroad!" 

"With the different agents of the Prince— the Bishop of Arras, 
the Due d'Harcourt, Gombrieul, etc." 

"Did you not keep up this correspondence after you were 
amnestedt" 

** I gave up all the correspondence eight months before peace was 
decUred." 

^Do you recognize this sealed cardboard box t" 

"Yesjdtoyen." 

And that was all! Cormier's replies, howereri so 
innocent on the surface, seem to have evoked suspicion, 

M 



i62 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

for on August 30 (12 Fructidor) he was brought up 
again for a second examination. 

"With whom did you oorrefpood especially in the West}" he 
waiatkecL 

"With So^peanz, d'Antichamp, Bdgny, and Brolefort.'' 

"And now what oorreBpondenoe have you kept in this 
country t" 

" None whaterer.'* 

•< What are your relations with the Oitoyen Bntler t " 

" I have had no commumoation these last two years, though he 
is my brother-in-law." 

"Whereishenowf 

"I have no idea. I know he passed throngh Philadelphia on 
his way to San Domingo. I don't know whether he ever got there 
or whether he returned." 

" When was he at Philadelphia t" 

" He must have been there or somewhere in the United States 
not more than two years ago." 

Thus no effort was made in the second inquiry any 
more than in the first to search into hb past It 
should be mentioned that immediately on his return 
Ck>rmier had made haste to destroy all documents that 
could compromise him in any way. 

After a detention of three weeks he was set free, his 
age and infirmities doubtless having won him some 
sympathy. He and his son — ^for Achille had been 
arrested at the same time — ^were, however, not accorded 
complete liberty, being placed en surveillance, and 
obliged to live outside Paris. On September 20 they 
were provided with a passport taking them to Etampes, 



THE FRIENDS OF LADY ATKYNS 163 

whence they were not to move away without permission 
from the police. 

At this period Fouch^ had immense powers, and was 
organizing and regulating the enormous administrative 
machine which developed under his rule into the 
Ministry of Police. The prisons overflowed with men 
under arrest who had never appeared before the 
ordinary tribunal, '^on accoimt of the danger there 
was of their being acquitted in the absence of legal 
evidence against them.'' He was reduced to keeping 
the rest under what was styled ** une demusurveillance." 
His army of spies and secret agents enabled him to 
keep au courant with their every step. 

The reports furnished as to Cormier's behaviour seem 
to have satisfied the authorities, for at the end of a 
certain time he was enabled to return to Paris. Having 
learnt by experience how unsatisfactory it was to be 
continually at the mercy of informers, he now set him- 
self energetically to trying to secure a regular and 
complete amnesty. His petition was addressed to the 
First Consul on June 18, 1803, and in it he described 
himself as "crippled with infirmities," and it was 
covered with marginal notes strongly recommending 
him to the mercy of the chief of the state. 

At last, on October 10, the Minister of Police acceded 
to his request, and Cormier received a certificate of 
amnesty, freeing him henceforth from all prosecution 
''on the score of emigration." With what a sense of 
relief must not this document have been welcomed in 



i64 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

the Rue Basse-du-Rempart I Bent under the weight of 
his sufferings, Cormier enjoyed the most devoted care 
at the hands of his iamly. His younger son, Patrice, 
had returned to Paris after an existence not less 
adventurous than his father*s. He had thrown him- 
self into the insurrection in La Vend^, and for three 
years had served in the Royalist army of the Maine. 
Benefiting, like his father, by the general amnesty, he 
found his way back to the paternal roof in Paris, 
itnd went into business, so as to throw a veil over lus 
past, until the day should come when he might appear 
in uniform again. 

Achille, the elder, devoted himself entirely to his 
fiather, but the old man was not to enjoy much longer 
the peace he had at length secured for himself. The 
loss of almost all his income forced him, moreover, to 
quit his residence in the Rue Basse-du-Rempart, and to 
betake himself to a modest pension in the Faubourg 
Saint Antoine, in which he occupied a single room, in 
which he kept only a few items from the furniture of 
his old home — some rose- wood chairs, a writing-table, 
a desk with a marble top, a prie-dieuj and a small 
wooden desk, *^dit d la Tronckin** The rest of his 
furniture he sold. It was in this humble lodging that 
he died on April 16, 1805, aged sixty-five. Some 
months later Mme. Cormier died at the house in Rue 
Basse-du-Rempart 

It is strange to reflect that Lady Atkyns, in the 
course of her many visits to Paris, should not have ever 



THE FRIENDS OF LADY ATKYNS 165 

sought to meet again her old friend. The Emperor's 
role was gaining in strength &om day to day. Of 
those who had played notable parts in the Bevolution, 
some, won over to the new Government, were doing 
their utmost to merit by their zeal the confidence 
reposed in them ; the others, irreconcilable, but crushed 
by the remorseless watchfulness of a police force un- 
paralleled in its powers, lived on forgotten, and a&aid 
to take any step that might attract attention to them. 
This, perhaps, is the explanation of the silence of the 
various actors in the drama of the Temple, once the 
Empire had been established. 



CHAPTER VII 



THE "LITTLE BAKOK'* 



CoRMiEB^s departure did not for a single moment 
intemipt the fiery activity of Baron d'Auerweck, nor 
his co-operation in the most audacious enterprises of 
the agents of Princes and of the Princes themsdves. 
He losty it is true, a mentor whose advice was always 
worthy of attention, and who had guided him up to 
the present time with a certain amount of success ; but 
the ingenious fellow was by no means at the end of his 
resources. The life which he had led for the past five 
years was one which exactly suited him. A practically 
never-ending list might be drawn up of acquaintances 
made in the course of his continual comings and 
goings, of encounters in this army of emissaries serving 
the counter-Revolution, and of particularly prosperous 
seasons. Besides the d'Antraigues, the Fauche-Borels, 
and the Dutheils, there was a regular army of sub- 
ordinates, bustling about Europe as though it were a 
vast anthilL 

Amongst them d'Auerweck could not fail to be 
prominent, and he was soon marked as a clever and 



THE ''LITTLE BARON" 167 

resourceful agent. His sojourn in Hamburg also 
continued to arouse curiosit7 and observation on the 
part of the representatives of the Directoire. They 
recognized now that he was employed and paid by 
England. ''He serves her with an activity worthy 
of the Republican (xovemment/' Reinhard wrote to 
Talleyrand ; and it was well known that Peltier's former 
collaborator, always an energetic joumaUst, assisted in 
editing the Spectateur du Nord. 

An unlooked-for opportunity to exploit his talent 
soon offered itself to d'Auerweck. 

The Deputies of the ten states, which at that time 
formed the Empire, had been brought together by the 
congress which opened at Rastadt on December 9, 1797, 
and for eighteen months there was an extraordinary 
amount of visits to and departures from the little 
town in Baden. The presence of Bonaparte, who had 
arrived some days before the commencement of the 
conference in an eight-horse coach, with a magnificent 
escort, and welcomed throughout his journey as the 
victor of Arcole, increased the solemnity and scope 
of the negotiations. All the diplomatists, with their 
advisers, their secretaries, and their clerks, crowded 
anxiously round hint Agents from all the European 
Poweis came to pick up greedily any scraps of informa- 
tion, and to tiy to worm out any secrets that might 
exist. Rastadt was full to overflowing of spies and 
plotters, and the name of this quiet, peaceful city, 
hitherto so undisturbed, was in every one's mouth. 



i68 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

From Hamburg the ''little Baron'' followed atten* 
tively the first proceedings of the Congress tiirough 
the medium of the newspapers, but the sedentary life 
which he was leading began to worry him. In vain he 
wrote out all day long never-ending political treatises, 
crammed with learned notes on the European situation, 
wove the most fantastic systems, and drew up " a plan 
for the partition of France, which he proposed to a certain 
M. du Nicolay;" aU this was not sufficient for him. 
D'Auerweck was on friendly terms with the Secretary 
of the French Legation, Lemaltre by name (who, by 
the way, had no scruples about spying on him some 
years later, and informed against him without a blush), 
and, giving full play " to his romantic imagination and 
to his taste for sensational enterprises," he one day 
submitted to his confidant a scheme to ''kidnap the 
Minister, Reinhard, and carry him off to London ; his 
attendants were to be made intoxicated, his coachman 
to be bribed, ten English sailors to be hidden on the 
banks of the Elbe ! " At the back of these schemes 
of mystery there figured a certain " Swiss and Genevan 
Agency," which at the proper time would, he declared, 
generously reimburse them for all their expenditure. 
But, for all these foolish imaginings, d'Auerweck dis- 
played a knowledge of the world and a sound judgment 
which struck all those who came in contact with him, 
and it was certain that with strong and firm guidance 
he was capable of doing much good and useful work. 
In the winter of 1798 we are told that " he left Hamburg 



THE "LITTLE BARON'' 169 

secretly" for an unknown destination. Lemattre be« 
lieved that he had buried himself "in the depths of 
Silesia/' but he had no real knowledge of his man. 
For, as a matter of course, d'Auerweck was bound to be 
attracted to such a centre of affairs as Bastadt then 
was, in order to make the most profitable use of his 
ingenuity, seeing that, according to report, the British 
Government, which was making use of his services, in 
fear of being kept in the dark as to what was going on, 
had begged him " to go and exercise his wits in another 
place/' 

He made Baden his headquarters, for the proximity 
of Bastadt, and his intimacy with the de Glelb family, 
which has already been mentioned, led him to prefer 
Baden to the actual field of battle, at which place he 
must have come under suspicion as an old English 
agent. One of the Austrian envoys at the Congress 
was Count Lehrbach ; and d'Auerweck managed to get 
into relations with him, and even to be allowed to 
do secretarial work for him, on the strength of the 
connection which he declared he had possessed with 
Minister Thugut during the early days of the Bevo- 
lution and the confidence which had lately been reposed 
in him. He had reason to hope that with the help of 
his ability and his gift of languages he would soon be 
able to secure active employment. And, indeed, it was 
in this way that d'Auerweck succeeded in re-establishing 
himself at once, to his great satisfaction, as an active 
agent, with a footing in the highest places, ferreting 



I70 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

out the secretB of the Ambassadors, and carrying on an 
underhand correspondence openly. His intention was, 
donbtlessi to return to Austria as soon as the Congress 
was over, by the help of Count Lehrbach, and there to 
regain the goodwill of his former patron, the Minister 
Thugut. 

But the sanguinary drama which brought the Con- 
ference to such an abrupt conclusion completely spoiled 
his plans and undid his most brilliant combinations. 
We can realize the universal feeling of consternation 
throughout the whole of Europe which was caused by 
the news that on the evening of April 28, 1799, the 
French Ministers, Bonnier, Boberjot, and Debry, who 
had just made up their minds to betake themselves to 
Strasburg, along with their families, their servants, 
and their records — a party filling eight carriages — ^had 
been openly attacked as they were leaving Bastadt by 
Barbaczy's Hussars; that the two first-mentioned 
gentlemen had been dragged from their carriages and 
treacherously murdered, and that the third, Debry, had 
alone escaped by a miracle. Even if the outrage of 
Bastadt was '* neither the cause nor the pretext of the 
war of 1799," its consequences were, nevertheless, very 
serioua 

One of these consequences, and not the least im- 
portant, was that Bonaparte's police, magnificently 
reorganized by Fouch6, redoubled its shepherding of 
hiigres and agents of the Princes, who swarmed 
in the country - side between Basle, the general 



THE "LITTLE BARON" 171 

headquarters of the spies^ and Majence. Once an arrest 
took place, the accused was certain to be suspected of 
having had a hand in the assassination of the pleni- 
potentiaries, and if by any bad luck he was unable to 
deny having been present in the district, he found it a 
very difficult task to escape from the serious results of 
this accusation. 

A few months after this stirring event, Baron 
d'Auerweck, tired of such a stormy existence, and 
seeing, perhaps, a shadow of the sword of Damocles 
hanging over his head, determined himself to break 
away from this life of agitation, and to settle down 
with a wife. During the last days of the year 1799 
he was married at Baden to Mademoiselle Fanny de 
Gelb, a native of Strasburg, whose father had lately 
served under Cond6 ; she also had a brother who was 
an officer in the army of the Princes. But, in spite of 
a pension which the mother, Madame de Oelb, was 
paid by England on account of her dead husband's 
services, the available resources of the future establish- 
ment were very meagre indeed, for the *' little Baron " 
had not learned to practise economy while rushing 
about Europe; so, as soon as the marriage had been 
celebrated, the turn of the wheel of fortune forced the 
young wife to leave the Grand Duchy of Baden and to 
wander from town to town in Germany and Austria. 

They Ravelled first to Munich and then to Nurem- 
burg, but d'Auerweck's plans were to establish himself 
in Austria dose to all his belongings. He had the fond 



172 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

hope of obtaming employment from Minister Thugut, 
to whom he reintroduced himaelf. But he experienced a 
bitter disappointment, for his on first attempt to submit 
to his Excellency the greater part of his last work (in 
which he had embodied, as the result of desperate toil, 
his views on the present political situation, the outcome 
of his conversations with the representatives of the 
different European states, his reflections and his forecast 
of events) d'Auerweck found himself unceremoniously 
dismissed. Thugut flatly refused, if the story is to be 
believed, to have anything further to do with a man 
who was still suspected of being an English emissary. 
Consequently he was obliged to abandon his idea of 
establishing himself in Austria, and to hunt for other 
means of existence, more particularly as Madame 
d'Auerweck had just presented him with his first child 
at Nuremburg. He turned his steps once again in the 
direction of the Grand Duchy, and after successive 
visits to Friburg, Basle, and Baden, he decided to make 
his home in Schutterwald, a village on the outskirts of 
the town of Offenburg.- There he determined to lead 
the life of a simple, honest citizen, and renting a very 
humble peasant's cottage, he installed his wife and his 
mother-in-law therein. He himself set to work on the 
cultivation of his garden, devoting his spare moments 
to writing, so as not to lose the knack, the sequel to his 
PMlasophical and Historical Eeflections. 

He soon got to know his neighbours and all the in- 
habitants of the country very well He was considered 



THE *aiTTLE BARON" 173 

to be a quiet, unenterprising man, ** with a positive dis- 
like for politics, although loquacious and vain." It was 
impossible to find out anything about his past life, for 
the prudent Baron considered it inadvisable to talk of 
this subject, but he was always looked upon " as an 
argumentative man, who wanted to know all that was 
going on, whether in reference to agriculture, to thrift, 
or to politics." In spite of the apparent tranquillity in 
which he was allowed to remain, d'Auerweck followed 
with a certain amount of anxiety all the events which 
were happening not far from him, on the frontier of the 
Bhine. Troops were continually passing to and fro in 
this district ; the French were close at hand, and their 
arrival at Offenburg inspired a feeling of vague unrest 
in him, although he never recognized, to tell the truth, 
the danger which threatened him. He had taken the 
precaution to destroy, before coming to Switzerland, his 
vast collection of papers : all that mass of correspon- 
dence which had been accumulating for the last few 
years, those reports and instructions, all of which con- 
stituted a very compromising record. At last, after a 
residence of some months, to make matters safe, he 
contrived, thanks to his marriage, to be enrolled as a 
freeman of the Grand Duchy ; for it seemed to him 
that as a subject of Baden he would be relieved of aU 
further cause of alarm. 

But all d*Auerweck's fears were reawakened by the 
much-talked-of news of the Due d'Enghien's arrest on 
March 15, 1804, and by the details of how the Prince 



174 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

had been captured openly in the jurifidiction of Baden, 
at Ettenheim, that is to say, only a short distance from 
Offenburg. He absented himself for some days from 
Schutterwald, so the story goes, and took himself to the 
mom] tains. 

Just at the same time there arrived at the offices of the 
Ministry of Police in Paris a succession of memoranda, 
mostly anonymous, referring to Baron d'Auerweck, and 
to hiB presence in the neighbourhood of the Rhine. 

Some of them came from Lemattre, Reinhard's former 
secretary at Hamburg. Many of them, inexact and 
inaccurate as they were with regard to the details of the 
alleged facts, agreed on this point, viz. that the indi- 
vidual *' was one of those men, who are so powerful for 
good or bad, that the security of every Government 
requires complete information as to their resting-places 
and their doings.'' Then followed a medley of gossiping 
insinuations, the precise import of which it was difficult 
to discover. 

**I shall never forget/' said one, "that, when d'Auerweck left 
Hamburg two months before the assassination of the French 
Ministers in order to take up his quarters only three leagues away 
from Rastadt, he said : * J am abotU to undertake an operaHon whieh 
VfiU make a great sensationf and ickich wiU render great serviee to <Jb 
cauee of the Coalition.' " 

** Now supervenes a whole year, during which his doings and his 
whereabouts are most carefully concealed/' wrote another ; "howeyer, 
I am certain that he is acting and working pertinaciously against 
the interests of France. I have heard him make this remark: 
* We $haU take some time doing t7, hut at last we ehaU conquer you*'* 
A third added : "His tranquillity and his silence are but masks for 



THE "LITTLE BARON" 175 

his activity, and I, for one, could never be persnaded that he has 
all of a sudden ceased to correspond with Lord OrmtnUe in Lon- 
don, with the Count de Bomanzof^ with a certain Nicolai in St. 
Petersburg, with Prince Belnumte^ with the Chevalier de Saint- Andre^ 
with Boger de Danuu in Italy, with Dumowdier^ who is, I believe, a 
Hohenlohe Prince in Berlin, and directly with the Count de lille." 
Finally, d'Auerweok, according to the same report, ^ complaisantly 
displayed a spot in the shape of the fleur-de-lys, inside his fist, 
declaring that 'this is a sign of descent; it is a mark of pre- 
destination ; I of all men am bound to devote myself and assist in 
the return of the Bourbons ! ' '' 

It would be a fatal mistake to believe that these fairy 
tales, all vague and absurd as they often were, remained 
lost and forgotten in the despatch-boxes of the Ministry 
of Police. The region, near as it was to Rastadt, where 
d'Auerweck was reported to have made his appearance, 
was a valuable and important indication, which of itself 
was sufSicient to make the man an object for watchful 
suspicion. The ominous nature of the times must, of 
course, be remembered Fouch4, who had just been 
restored to fiEtvour, and had been placed for the second 
time at the head of the Ministry of Police, was anxious 
to prove his zeal afresh, to please the Emperor and 
to deserve his confidence, while his mind was still 
troubled by the execution of the Due d'Enghien, by the 
exploits of Georges Cadoudal, and by the discovery of 
the English Agency at Bordeaux, which were all fitting 
reasons for attracting the Minister's attention and for 
exciting his curiosity. So, when on October 11, 1804, 
his Excellency decided to make further searching in-> 
vestigations into d'Auerweck's case, and gave precise 



0.^ 



\* 



176 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

orders to the prefects of the frontier departments of the 
Grand Duchy, it is doubtful whether he was careful to 
note in his charge the principal reasons for attaching 
suspicion upon the Baron, viz. those which had to do 
with the assassination of the plenipotentiaries at 
Rastadt 

It was some time before the required information 
could be obtained, and though the first inquiries about 
d'Auerweck made hj Desportes, the prefect of the 
Upper Rhine, added little in the way of news, they 
agreed, nevertheless, in certifying that the Baron lived 
very quietly in the outskirts of OflTenburg — 

" tbat he there deToted himself entirely to his agricultural ooeu- 
pations, and that the kind of life he led did not foster any snspioion 
that he kept up his old campaigns of intrigue.'* 

Six months later, Desportes, in returning to the 
subject, showed himself more positive than ever, for he 
affirmed — 

" that no active correspondence can be traced to d'Auerweck, and 
that he saw scarcely any one. He is a man of a caustic and 
critical turn of mind, who often lets himself go in conyersation 
without reflection in his anxiety to talk brilliantly, A point which 
is particularly reassuring about him is that he is without credit, 
without fortune, and of no personal account, and that if he wanted 
to mix himself up afresh in intrigues he would choose some other 
place than Offenburg, where there are now only three imigritf the 
youngest of whom is seyenty-seven years of age." 

But, in spite of these very positive statements, the 
Minister preserved his attitude of mistrust, which was 



THE "LITTLE BARON •* 177 

strengthened by the arrival of fresh notes, in which the 
same denunciations of the ''little Baron " were repeated. 
He was described as being "restless by inclination, 
violently fanatical in all his opinions, and longing to 
make himself notorious by some startling act/' But 
his position was made worse by the infonnation which 
was received, that in the autumn of 1805 d'Auerweck 
had absented himself from home for several days, 
frightened, no doubt, by the proximity of the French 
armies, which were dotted about on the banks of the 
Bhine. How could this sudden flight be accounted 
for? And his alarm at the sight of the Emperor's 
soldiers at dose quarters ? Such conduct struck Fouch^ 
as being very suspicious. He ordered a supplementary 
inquiry, and this time he did not content himself with 
the information afforded by the prefect of the Upper 
Rhine, but let loose one of his best bloodhounds on 
his scent. At the time, two years ago, when prepara* 
tions were being made for the kidnapping of the Due 
d'Enghien and for watching his residence at Ettenheim, 
recourse was had to the services of the Commissary of 
Police, Popp by name, who was stationed at Strasburg. 
In this frontier town near Basle an active and intelligent 
man was needed, who could maintain a constant watch 
on the underhand practices of the Boyalist agents. 
Commissary Popp seemed to be made for the job. His 
handling of the Due d'£nghien*s affairs earned the 
approval of Napoleon ; and Fouchd, since his reinstate- 
ment in the Ministry, recognized in him a clever 



178 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

and expert fonctionaiy, on whom lie could always 
count. 

This was the man who was charged with the task of 
spying on d'Auerweck^ and throughout the whole of 
1806 Popp was hard at work on this mission. His 
original authentications differed very little £rom what 
Desportes had written, and there was nothing to prove 
that the Baron had in any way departed from his passive 
attitude. 

<< I have not duoovered,** wrote Popp oa April 22, 1806, <<that 
he 18 in oorrespondenoe with the Engliah agitation, or that be shows 
any inclination to excite and embitter people's tempers. I believe 
that he, like many others, is more to be pitied than to be feared." 

Some weeks later Popp managed to loosen the tongue 
of an ecclesiastic, a dweller in those parts, and from him 
he got information about the business and movements 
of the Baron. '' He is quite absorbed in rural economy, 
which is his chief thought to all appearances," he 
reported to Fouch^ ; but then, stung to the quick by 
the repeated orders of his chief (who never ceased £rom 
impressing upon him the necessity for the closest watch 
on d'Auerweck's traffickings), Popp, impatient for an 
opportunity to prove his zeal, began to magnify his 
words by introducing subtle insinuations. 

By this time d'Auerweck had come to the conclusion 
that his stay at Schutterwald was too uncomfortable, 
and having heard of a bit of land at a reasonable price 
in Elgersweier, which was not far from Offenburg, 
indeed about the same distance from the town, he made 



THE "LITTLE BARON" 179 

up his mind to take shelter there and to build a little 
house, which would be his own property. The question 
was asked how could he^ whom every one looked upon 
as a penniless man, obtain the funds required to com- 
plete this bargain ? Without doubt he borrowed from 
his mother-in-law, Madame de Gelb, who had always 
lived with him, and whose modest income was so 
pleasantly augmented by the pension which she received 
from the English Government. And so, in the middle 
of the summer of 1806, the "little Baron'' transported 
his penates to Elgersweier, where he settled his belong- 
ings very comfortably. By this time two other sons, 
Armand and Louis, had been added to the one bom at 
Munich, and shortly after arriving at the new home 
Madame d'Auerweck gave birth to a daughter, who was 
named Adelaide. 

Commissary Fopp knew all about these happenings, 
and his supervision never slackened for an instant. 
Encouraged by his success in arranging the preliminaries 
for the affair at Ettenheim, he was perfectly prepared 
to repeat the operation. With this in view, he began to 
show the Minister, in ambiguous language at first, his 
very good and sufficient reasons for desiring d'Auer- 
week's presence in France. If necessary, he urged, we 
could easily get permission from the Grand Duke of 
Baden to arrest him in his own home. This suggestion 
was expressed very cautiously at first, but was soon 
made more explicit, although there was not the slightest 
shadow of an excuse for such violence, for all his 



i8o A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

statements [agreed in demonstrating the perfectly 
peaceful nature of the '' little Baron's " existence. 

*'It would be adviBable to make oerUin of his person," wrote 
Fopp, ** and my opinion will always be the same if certain difficulties 
with the House of Austria happen to be renewed ; for d' Auerweck, 
posted as a sentinel on the opposite bank, and doubtless possessing 
friends on our side^ would be one of the very first bearers id. inf (x*- 
mation about our military position and political topography.** 

About the same time, Bourrienne, one of Minister 
Reinhard's successors at Hamburg, arrested an 4migrS 
who had lately landed from London, and who was 
supposed to be in possession of important secrets. 
This was the Viscount de Butler, Cormier's half-brother, 
who, after having ^* worked,'^ as we have seen, for the 
Royalist Committee in London, now found himself 
stranded in Hamburg in the greatest misery. It was 
decided to send him to Paris, as he offered to give up 
certain documents. He was imprisoned in the Temple, 
and there questioned by Desmarets, who extracted from 
him all kiods of information with regard to his missions. 
Naturally, Butler related all he knew about d'Auerweck, 
how he had made his acquaintance, and what sort of 
terms he was on with Dutheil and with Lord Grenvilla 
As his answers proved satisfactory he was sent back to 
Hamburg, where Bourrienne continued to make use of 
him for many years. 

Finally, to complete the bad luck, the police were 
warned of a certain Sieur de Gelb, a former officer in 
the army of the Princes, whose behaviour had been 



THE "LITTLE BARON'' i8i 

discovered to be very mysteriouSy and who paid frequent 
yiaits to the frontier. Now, this hnigrS was no other 
than Baron d'Auerweck's brother-in-law. 

All these stories, deverly made the most of and care- 
fully improved upon, served to greatly excite the curiosity 
of the Minister of Police, all the more as the Boyalists 
were showing much increased activity in many places. 
To add to the effect, Normandy became the theatre of 
several audacious surprises, such as coaches being robbed, 
convoys plundered, and attacks on the high road, many 
of which were the handiwork of the inhabitants of 
the castle of Toumebut, led by the Viscount d'Ach^ 
and the famous Chevalier. Besides, the Emperor was 
waging war in Prussia at the head of his armies, a 
thousand leagues from Paris, and in his absence the 
conspirators' audacity redoubled; but he did not lose 
sight of them, and from his distant camps he kept so 
closely in touch with all that was happening in France 
that he compelled Fouch^'s incessant vigilance. An 
event which took place next year, when war with 
Germany broke out afresh, dearly demonstrated once 
more the danger of attracting for too long the attention 
of his Excellency the Minister of Police. 

One evening, in the month of June, 1807, a policeman 
on his rounds noticed in one of the squares in the town 
of Cassel a young man behaving very strangely, and 
speechifying in the middle of a crowd. He drew near, 
and ascertained that the individual, who was very 
exdted, was pouring forth a stream of insults and 



182 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

threats against Napoleon, whom he went so fiGu: as to 
call '' a good-for-nothing scamp/' This was quite enoagh 
to decide the representative of public order upon arrest- 
ing the siUj fellow. He was taken off to the police 
station and questioned. He stated that his name was 
Jean*Rodolphe Bourcard, " formerly a ribbon manufeic- 
turer/' aged twenty-three years, and that he was a native 
of Basle, in Switzerland In the course of his examina- 
tion it was discovered that he had arrived the same day 
from Hamburg, and that he was full of some very sus- 
picious projects. His story caused him to be suspected, 
and a report was promptly drawn up for transmission 
to Paris. Cassel was destined before very long to become 
the capital of the new kingdom of Westphalia, created 
for Jerome Bonaparte, and the police supervision of 
imigria was exercised as strictly there as in every other 
part of France. While waiting for orders a search was 
made in the lodging-house whence the prisoner had 
come. Nothing much was found in his scanty luggage ; 
some papers, one of which was ** a plan and a description 
of the battle of Austerlitz," and besides this two or 
three apparently mysterious notes. One of them con- 
tained the words : " Must see Louis — without Louis 
nothing can he doner Everjrl^ing was minutely collected 
together, and some days later Bourcard was sent off for 
a compulsory visit to Paris. 

He was put in the Temple, and, although it was easy 
to see from his talk and his strange behaviour that he 
was a madman, subject to fits of violence, Fouche could 



THE *' LITTLE BARON" 183 

not make up his mind to let him go. The examination 
of his record and the papers which were found in his 
possession had suddenly given the Minister an ingenious 
idea. Who could this Louia be who was obviously 
connected with Bourcard? Certainly a Soyalist spy, 
since the man of Basle had just come from Hamburg, 
the headquarters of these people. And the Becord 
Office of the Ministry contained many notes referring 
to a '' well-known agent of England and of Austria," 
Baron Louis d*Auerwedc of Steilengels, who was known 
to be living on the banks of the Rhine. There was no 
room for doubt : this person *' had assumed the name of 
Louis in the various missions which he had undertaken." 
Was not this the man who was denoted by Bourcard's 
note? 

Fouch^ was fascinated by this solutioUi and, anxious 
to have it verified, he seized upon the unhoped-for 
opportunity which had presented itself. And that 
was why an order was sent from Paris on July 17, 
1807, to immediately effect the arrest of the "little 
Baron." It would, however, have been impolitic and 
almost impossible to make use of the same violent 
measures which had been employed in the Due d' 
Enghien's case. Besides, Massias, the French Charg^ 
d'Afiaires at the Grand Duke of Baden's court at 
Carlsruhe, when he received Fouch^'s letter, considered 
it necessary, in order to carry out his chiefs commands, 
to obtain the Qrand Duke's permission and assistance 
before moving in the matter. 



i84 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

**Biatt^ be wrote to Foach6» ''my eereii yean* ezperienoe had 
firmly oonTinoed me ihat^ if I ask for this penon'a arreet by tbe 
ordinary prooeia of an official letter, be will be warned and will 
manage to make bis eioape, ao I think I abonld set off the same day 
for Baden, where the Baixm de Gemmingen, the Cabinet Minister, 
is now staying with his Royal Highness, for I haye on several 
occasions received prods of his kindly disposition towards me.'* 

Maaaias waa not miataken; hia application to the 
Sovereign of Baden met with immediate and complete 
anccesa. For the latter, who knew none of the details of 
the caae — ^not even that d'Anerweck waa his own subject 
— and did not want to offend the Emperor, listened to 
his representative's petition, and the same day issued 
orders, from his palace of La Favorite in the outskirta 
of Baden, to M. Molitor, the Orand Ducal Commissary^ 
to act in concert with Massias, and with the help of 
the police of Baden to arrest Baron d'AuerwecL For 
Massiaa had pointed out that if the order were sent 
in the first place to the bailiff of Offenburg, ''where 
d'Auerweck must have formed many friendships," there 
were a thousand reasons for fearing that the latter 
would receive warning, *' for he is a vigilant man and 
is on his guard. At Mgersweier no one had the 
slightest inkling of the impending danger. The '' little 
Baron ** had just returned from one of those expeditions 
which the police were watching so carefully, and had 
gone in to see his wife, who had lately given birth 
to her fourth child. For d'Auerweck had settled 
down a short time before in his new home, and 
was perfectly content to enjoy the peaceful existence. 



THE "LITTLE BARON" 185 

which allowed him to move about and finish his His- 
torical Notes on Hugues Capet, and his Dissertation upon 
ths Secularization of Germany under French Methods. 

So it can be imagined what a crushing blow was 
dealt him when Commissary Molitor and his assistants 
appeared at Elgersweier unexpectedly on the evening 
of July 23, 1807. We can picture the " little Baron's '* 
agitation, his distorted face, as he went himself to 
admit the police o£Bicers ; his wife's despair ; the house 
rummaged from cellar to garret; the cries of the 
children woken up by the hubbub ; Madame de Gelb's 
indignation ; and then the setting forth, in the midst 
of the police, of the unhappy head of the family, in 
spite of his useless protestations, and the broken-hearted 
family, overwhelmed by stupefaction, in their ravished 
home. 

The prisoner soon recovered his presence of mind, 
and at Offenburg, where he was taken, he set to work 
to prepare his defence to the best of his ability, and 
he soon drew up a justificatory document, which was 
designed to confound his accusers. At the same time 
— ^luckily for d'Auerweck — the Qrand Duke found out 
that it was one of his subjects who was concerned, and 
he withdrew the authority for arrest which he had 
given, and issued orders to keep the Baron and his 
papers for his disposal. The preliminary examination 
of these documents plainly demonstrated the flimsy 
nature of the charge, and that there was no justification 
for the outrage which had been committed. 



i86 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

The day after the feitef ul event, Madame de Gelb went 
to La Favorite, and, throwing herself at her Sovereign's 
feet, implored him to protect her son-in-law. She 
described the falsity of the charges brought against 
him, the distress of the mother and of the four children. 
The Grand Duke could not but be touched by this 
petition, although he was anxious not to displease 
M. Fouch& 

'<I am timnsported with delight," Maasias said to CoancOlor 
Qfimmingen, "at having ao tacoesafally ezeonted the oommandB of 
the Minister of Polioe, for they were not easy oi aooomplishment; '* 
and he added, in order to appease the Grand Duke's fears and 
regrets, '*This aflEair seems to have taken a tarn, which is very 
fortunate for the prisoner; and I hare already advised his 
Excellency the Minister about it. You can assure his Royal 
Highness that I will do my very best to fimsh off the case in a 
way that shall be agreeable to both Qovemments." 

But such a result seemed very unlikely, for it would 
have required very strong compulsion to make Fouch^ 
renounce his plan, more especially now that the arrest 
was an accomplished hct It seemed absolutely neces- 
sary to him to extradite d'Auerweck and to fetch him 
to Paris; and he had already, by August 5, warned 
the Prefect of the department of Mont Tonnerre and 
Moncey, the Inspector-GK^neral of Police, to be in 
readiness "to take charge of and to escort Lord 
d'Auerweck" 

It was just at this time that Commissary Popp, 
whose assistance had not been utilized as much as he 
hoped it would be, began to be worried by the silence 



THE "LITTLE BARON'* 187 

which was observed as far as he was concerned^ and he 
entreated his Minister not to allow the Baron to slip 
out of his hands. 

** It was very distasteful to have to make this arrest," he said, 
" and it was only effected because it was necessary ; and you can 
guess how carefully, under these circumstances, we have examined 
his papers, which it was of supreme importance to lay our hands 
upon." 

However, these papers, which Fopp so confidently 
reckoned would expose the Baron's intrigues, were 
found to consist only of purely private correspondence, 
altogether wanting in political interest; besides the 
historical works undertaken by d'Auerweck, the search 
of his house had only brought to light some insignifi- 
cant letters, amongst which were "a bundle of love 
letters which d'Auerweck had exchanged with a young 
emigree now settled in London. It appears that this 
entanglement did not meet with the approval of the 
young lady's uncle, the girl having lost her parents 
when she was fifteen years of age." 

The Grand Duke, having heard these particulars, was 
all the more unwilling to hand over his unfortunate 
subject to Fouche and his myrmidons. He was con- 
vinced " of his perfect innocence." Therefore the Baron 
de Dalberg, his Ambassador in Paris, was charged " to 
urge His Excellency, Minister Fouch^, most forcibly 
to cease from troubling these persons, who were very 
sincerely to be pitied." But he only encountered the 
most obstinate resistance. Fouche had received the 



i88 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

plea of excnlpatioii, which d'Auerweck had drawn up 
two days after his arrest, but he decided it was insuffi- 
cient, " because it only touched lightly on many of the 
principal details of his intrigues, and it did not refer at 
all to his doings before 1800/' and in the margin of the 
sheet he recorded his sentiments in a kind of Gross- 
examination. 

<*With whom had he had dealings since his second journey to 
Farisf Where did he lodge t To whom in London had he written f 
Did be not hide himself in a house in the Bae Basse^la-Bempartl 

** What commissi<ni had he been charged with at Rastadtf Had 
he not made this extraordinary remark to some one before he left 
Hamburg: * I am going to Basiadi; you toiU soon hoar of a great 
event, in which I $kaU haioe kad a hand'^i 

And Fonch^ went on to allude to the Baron's harried 
flight at the time when the French troops were drawing 
near. 

" Why did you fly at the time of the commencement of hostilities 1 
You are not a Frenchman 1 If you had not intrigued against 
France, or even if you had ceased to intrigue, why did you leave 
your wife because our troops were about to arrive, since you were a 
German and settled in Germany on the territory of a Prince, who 
is on good terms with this same France! But we have reason to 
believe that you were still carrying on your intrigues. We have 
reason to think that you came secretly to Paris five or six months 
ago. You were seen in the Bue de Richelieu. Further, we have 
reason to think that, stationed sji you were on our frontier, you 
were perilously inclined by your long experience as a spy to continue 
to spy on us, and that you did not confine yourself to a correspond- 
ence with our enemies, but actually controlled men of the class 
of those whom you directed at Bastadt according to your own 
acknowledgment." 



THE "LITTLE BARON ** 189 

Such were the complaints formulated by the Minister, 
and they were sufSicient, it must be admitted, to con- 
vince him of the importance of his capture. Even if 
the Baron's past life since 1800 could be voluntarily 
ignored — although this past life could not fail to arouse 
a host of just suspicions — there still remained his com* 
plicity in the drama of Bastadt, and also the coincidence 
— ^though not a very convincing one — of Bourcard's 
arrest with the Baron's presence on the banks of the 
Rhine. So Fouch^, in his reply to Baron de Dalberg, 
who had begged him to comply with his requests, 
wished to show that he had made up his mind. 

** You mideratand, momneor, irom what hag passed,*' he wrote on 
August 29, '' that Baron d'Auerweok cannot be set free, and that it 
is necessary to oonyey him to Paris in order to give his explanation 
of the fresh and singnlar information which has been received 
about him. Your Excellency may rest assured that his examina- 
tion wiU be conducted with perfect impartialily, such as he may 
desiroy and that he will obtain the fullest justice, if he can clear 
himself." 

The unfortunate Baron had now been kicking his 
heels for more than a month in the jail at Offenburg, 
where he was kept under observation day and night by 
a sentinel. The heat was intense, and d*Auerweck, 
suffering as he was from an internal complaint, which 
made his detention all the harder to bear, cursed his 
bad luck He reproached his Sovereign in picturesque 
language with having allowed him to be imprisoned 
without any proof of crime upon ** knavish accusations," 
him — 



190 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

" a dtuen, a maa of Taloar, whooe honour no man doubts ; whose 
fur dealing ereiy one confides in; who is not ashamed to show his 
lore of religion, and whose life is by no means a useless one ; who 
has sufldent brains to haTe principles, and snfBcient heart to 
sacrifice himself for his principles when they demand it; whose 
head and heart are in harmony ; who has taken no part in political 
events except according to his oath and his dnty ; who, in shorty 
has for the past five years lived as a peasant in a little hoose, 
which he had built himself, there tending his garden and rearing 
his children," 

The Grand Duke, touched by the truth of these 
reproaches, did his best to avoid granting Fouch^'s 
demand. He believed he had hit upon an expedient 
when he proposed to the Minister to send the prisoner 
only as far as Strasburg, where the French Justiciary 
could examine him comfortably. But Fouch^ showed 
himself unmanageable, so fifteen days later the Grand 
Duke, tired of the struggle, and with the excuse of 
** the ties of friendship and the peculiar harmony which 
existed with the French Court,'' at last consented to the 
extradition of Baron D'Auerweck, although — 

' His Highness considered that he had the right to expect to be 
spared the unpleasantness of having to hand over to a foreign jaris- 
diction one of his subjects, against whom there did not exist any 
properly established suspicions, and whose papers furnished no proof 
against him.** 

Once again the wrathful spectre of Napoleon, ready 
to crush the man who opposed his will, had succeeded 
in triumphing over everything which could be hoped 
for from justice and good laws. 



THE ''LITTLE BARON'* 191 

On September 22 Commissary Molitor took d'Auer- 
weck out of the prison of Offenburg and brought 
him to Strasburg to hand him over to the French 
police. In order to preserve precedent and to save his 
face, the Grand Duke had ordered his councillor to 
announce that — 

''although His Royal Highness, in his particular oondescension, 
had allowed his subject Anerweck to be extradited so as to facilitate 
the information and accusations which were brought against him 
this was done in fuU confidence that he would be treated as con- 
siderately as possible, and that he would not be subjected to any 
unpleasant or harsh treatment in consideration of the peculiar 
dreumstances of his case.'* 

But what M. Fouch^'s instructions were was well 
known, and no one had any misconception on the 
subject, least of all the Grand Duke. The pitiful letter 
which Madame d'Auerweck sent to him next day, and 
in which she appealed to his kind heart and his pity, 
must certainly have aroused some feeling of remorse. 

After a stay of forty-eight hours in Strasburg, 
d'Auerweck started on his journey on September 
25. In the post-chaise which carried him were a 
junior officer and a policeman, charged with his care. 
After crossing the Vosges, they travelled by way of 
Nancy and Chalons, and reached Epemay on the 28th ; 
in a few hours they would arrive in Paris. Taking 
advantage of a short halt in the inn, the Baron 
hurriedly scribbled the following note, which was 
intended to reassure his family : — 



192 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

"I li»T6 arrived here, my good ftud tender friend, as well in health 
at I oonld hope to be, and mnch lees tired than I feared. I write 
these few words to yon to oalm jour mind, and to beg yon again to 
take care of yonraelf . To-morrow, by eight o'clock in the morning, 
we shall be in Paris, whence^ as I hope, I shall be able to write to 
yon. I embrace yon, and beg yon to kiss Charles, Loois, Armand, 
and your mother for me. 

" May God guard yoo. 

'<Epemsi, 28th September." 

The postrchaise entered Paris in the morning of the 
29th, and passed along the quays till it stopped in 
front of the general office of the Minister of Police, 
where the prisoner had to be delivered. Where would 
they take him? For certain to the Temple tower, 
where at this time political prisoners were kept And 
there it was that d'Auerweck was conducted and 
locked up. The order in the gaol-book directed that 
he should be placed in solitary confinement until 
further notice. It was now the Baron's turn to enter 
the gloomy dungeon, which he had so often, twelve 
years before, gazed at curiously £rom afar. It was his 
fate, like his ''big friend" Cormier, to closely inspect 
this building, the name of which evoked such reminis- 
cences of mystery. 

Six days were allowed him in which to prepare, 
without disturbance, his reply to the questions which 
were to be put to him. On October 5, 1807, a 
commissary, sent by the Minister of Police, came to 
see him and to hear what he had to say. A curious 
thing was that the same proceeding which was 



THE "LITTLE BARON" 193 

employed with Cormier at the time of his imprisonment 
was renewed for d'Auerweck's benefit; no reference 
whatever was made to the whole period antecedent to 
1800. Whatever might have been d'Auerweck's con- 
duct daring the Revolution and under the Directoire, 
what his actions were, in what direction he went and 
came, who were his friends, all these points were held 
of no importance by his Excellency M. Fouch^, and 
by Desmarets, who was on special duty in connection 
with the case. What they were most concerned with 
was to find out the object of d'Auerweck's frequent 
absences during the last few years, and to extort a con- 
fession from him of his participation in the murder of 
the plenipotentiaries of Bastadt. They came to the 
point without any concealment, but d'Auerweck was 
on his guard. He flatly denied that he had paid a visit 
to Paris in the months of April and May, as was 
alleged. 

"I did not travel at aU in France^ and I hare not been in Paris 
sinoe the year when the Directoire was installed. I can famish 
the clearest proofs of this fact. I was warned two years ago that 
the French police were watching me, and that they accused me of a 
number of intrigues, the greater part of which I had nothing what- 
ever to do with, for I declare most solemnly that since the July or 
September of 1799 I have taken no part in any matter against 
France. I challenge the world to aUege a single proceeding of 
mine, or a single line, against the interests of the French Govern- 
ment The person who warned me that the French were watching 
me was the late Abbe Desmares, who lived in Offenburg; the 
warning was conveyed in an anonymous letter, to which he never 
owned up, but which I am convinced came from him." 

O 



194 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

As regards his sadden flight firom Baden at the time 
of the approach of the French armies, the Baron ex- 
plained that it was dae to his desire to appease the 
fears of his mother-in-law, Madame de Grelb. Besides, 
they had only to question the authorities of Rothem- 
burg, of Ulm, and of Nuremberg, and to obtain from 
them the counterfoils of his passports, in order to find 
an absolute confirmation of his statements. Then there 
was the question of his connection with Bourcard. 
What could the accused reply to that ? Was it not at 
Ulm itself that he had met ** Monsieur Bourcard, the 
father, who was an official from the Canton of Basle ? " 
D'Auerweck's answer was ready : — 

** I hare not spent more than twenty-four hoars in JJbxL I had 
mj dinner and SMjpiper there. The Austrian army had not at that 
time been forced back upon the town, which was being fortified. I 
only saw three officers at the iahle cTMls, two of them Oroatians and 
one German captain. I had no kind of business with any one. 
Hie man called Bonrcard, a Swiss official, is quite unknown to me.'' 

All his denials were very precise — and they were 
easily to be verified by the means he had suggested — 
so that there was now very little left of the terrible 
evidence which weighed so heavily upon the ''little 
Baron," or of ^'the crime of conspiracy against the 
security of the State," with which he was charged. The 
slight clue, indicated by Bourcard's arrest, but damaged 
by the papers seized at Elgersweier, was completely 
destroyed when the latter was declared to be mentally 
a£Byicted. In short, the tragic advrature which had 



THE "LITTLE BARON" 195 

overtaken d'Auerweck seemed to have been the result 
of the most vexatious misunderstanding ; at least, that 
is what his cross-examiner expressed to him when he 
left him. 

"Ton can now oonuder your case to be finished, and 70a can see 
how it is possible to find one's self compromised by nnf ortonate 
ooincidencesy wUlunU any one being to llameJ* 

Encouraged by this assurance, the Baron suffered 
patiently in spite of the passing of much tima He 
knew that he was not forgotten at the Grand Duke's 
Court Dalberg, the Ambassador, had already managed 
to convey to him some money, with which to defray the 
first expense of his visit to the Temple, and yonder, at 
Elgersweier, Madame d'Auerweck was in receipt of 
assistance from Carlsruhe ; for, as a matter of fact, the 
mother, grandmother, and children, robbed as they 
were of the head of the family, had been suddenly 
plunged into the most terrible state of want 

The poor woman, in spite of her condition, desired 
only one thing : to obtain a passport so as to be able to 
get to Paris. With this object she overwhelmed the 
Ambassador of Baden with letters, in which she also 
implored him to help to set her husband free. 

*^ I know that he is innocent, your Excellency/' she continually 
wrote to him, ** and if your Excellency wants any more proofs of 
my hnsband's peaceful habits, I wiU roat oat all the available 
evidence to prove it. My husband can only benefit by the search 
. . . and I am sure that your Excellency has pity for my terrible 
plight and that of my poor little children." 



196 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

Dalberg ended by getting annoyed with these letters. 

*' I reoeive frequent epistles from Madame d'Auerweok," he wrote 
to Carlsmhe ; '' bat thia mfdg mfaJAmiee is waste of time, because 
I can do nothing as long as the presence of the prisoner is necessary 
for the conduct of the < 



In the mean time, the Baron, by way of killing time, 
drew up a second justificatory memorandum, which must 
doubtless have staggered Desmarets. In it he exposed 
all the hiatus in his cross-examination, and the absence 
of any proof against him. Why was it that he was not 
set at liberty, now that the falsity of the accusations 
brought against him had been so completely demon- 
strated ? For he had just heard that the Minister of 
Police had received a very detailed report, which proved 
his residence, in succession, in the Grand Duchy of 
Baden from 1798 to 1800, in Offenburg from 1802 to 
1803, and in Schutterwald up to September, 1806 ; it 
mentioned his journey to Rothenburg and to Nurem- 
berg in 1805, and declared that — 

" wherever the said d'Auerweck had lived, he had always conducted 
himself peacefnUy and with decency, and had never meddled in 
politics ; that, on the contrary, he had always been occupied with 
bnQding, agriculture, botany, and rural economy, which had been 
partly proved by many of the papers found upon him at the time of 
his arrest^' 

So M* Desmarets and his master were in possession 
of an unquestionable justification of the Baron's pro- 
tests. It was, indeed, inconceivable that they would 
continue to keep him in confinement, and, what is 
worse, without putting any fresh questions to hinL 



THE "LITTLE BARON" 197 

However, early in the month of March, 1808 — and 
d'Auerweck had now been nearly seven months in the 
Temple — ^Baron de Dalberg was informed that Fouch^'s 
intervention was not enough by itself, and that a pardon 
for the prisoner had been submitted to the Emperor, 
who was about to leave Paris for a campaign in Spain, 
but he had refused to sign it. The situation became 
serious. Dalberg fully recognized the difficulty which 
he would experience in delivering the unfortunate Baron 
from prison ; for he was looked upon as ^^ an English 
Agent," and, as such, infinitely more an object of sus- 
picion than if he had been an emissary of any other 
Power. The hatred of England was then at its height, 
and Napoleon's sentiment was that an English spy 
deserved to be taken care of, and, indeed, well taken 
care of. D'Auerweck could not deny that he had at 
one time been in the service of the hated nation ; for all 
that, he laid claim to being a subject of Baden. 

The weeks rolled by, and d'Auerweck began to 
despair. He had, perhaps, a momentary glimmer of 
hope that his deliverance was at hand, when he became 
aware of an unexpected confusion and tumult in the 
Temple. What had happened ? Was Paris once more 
agitated by a change of Government 1 Had the 
Emperor met with defeat ? Alas t It was nothing of 
the kind. But Napoleon had ordered the Temple tower 
to be demolished, and the seventeen prisoners who were 
kept there had to be carted oS to another lodging. 
They were taken to YinceimeSf and d'Auerweck's faint 



198 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

hope was blighted. He was more miserable than ever, 
and, as soon as he had settled down in his new quarters, 
despatched a vehement protest to Desmarets. 

"What 18 ihe reason, in the name of God, that I find myself 
dragged from one place to another six months after the arrival of 
written statements which ought to have proyed my innocence t If 
my character had again been blackened by spite, at least give me 
the opportunity of fixing the lie. I cannot think that any one in 
this world has ever been placed in a more unhappy case than L 
My eyesight is impaired, my health mined, and my wits are worn 
oat. I can only think of my anfortanate children, mined and 
deprived of every necessity, and this in the case of a man who is 
absolately innocent of all wrong-doing/' 

It never once occurred to him that his rigorous im- 
prisonment might be due to some indiscretion connected 
with lus past and with his conduct in 1795, or with the 
part which he had taken in the ^'Temple affair." Why 
should these old times, which were wrapped in a mist 
of obscurity, be remembered ? And, besides, there was 
no reason for suspecting anything of the kind. 

Neither the Grand Duke nor his Ambassador in 
Paris relaxed in any degree their efforts to help the 
Baron, and a voluminous correspondence was carried on 
between Paris and the Court at Baden about him during 
the following years; but, to all Dalberg's demands, 
Fouch^ replied that no one denied Baron d'Auerweck's 
" perfect loyalty ;" the matter depended on the Emperor's 
will, and he refused to pass any final order. In order 
to soften Madame d'Auerweck's affliction — ^for she never 
left them alone — supplies were regularly sent to the 



THE "LITTLE BARON" 199 

prisoner at Vincennes, and he was assured that his 
family were not being neglected or in want. 

** Mj detention is the ontoome of a lengthy series of slanderous 
informationsy" the Baron declared over and over again, " which has 
been woren and pieced together, more or less cleverly, bat the 
falseness of which has already been demonstrated to those who have 
been bribed to utter it." 

He was then informed that yet another accusation 

had been added to the former charges against him : an 

accusation of having published in the Moniteur^ in 1799, 

certain letters dated from Naples, which were insulting 

to the First Consul: Now, the Journal Politique de 

r Europe had at once, in the name of d'Auerweck, given 

the lie direct to these statements. But what had he to 

say for himself? 

** You know perfectly well, monsieur, that for the last two years, 
less ten or twelve days, I have only heard the voice of the Govern- 
ment throDgh the medium of the bolts which have been shot in 
my face.** 

In this way three years slipped by, in the course of 
which Madame d'Auerweck (who, by the way, does not 
appear to have led a very virtuous life in her husband's 
absence) never stopped pestering the Ambassador of 
Baden in Paris with her entreaties ; de Ferrette, who, 
on his arrival in France, had succeeded Baron de 
Dalberg, took up the unfortunate Baron's case, and 
determined to bring it to a conclusion. So as to 
increase the authority of his demands, he managed to 
interest the Minister of the King of Bavaria on 
d'Auerweck's behalf, and the two combined to present 



200 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

a very urgent memorandum, in the summer of 1810, to 
the Minister of Police. This was not Fouch^, for he 
had been degraded for the second time, and his post 
was occupied by Savary, the Due de Kovigo. The 
two Ministers made their application to the latter. 

*< Testerday, at thia onpleaBaiit ball," Ferrette wrote oa Julj 2, 
« I importuned the Duke of Bovigo to let Lord Auerweck out from 
Yinoennes ; this was just before the Emperor arrived. He said to 
me : * His case is not unpardonable, but you may rest assured that 
we are not keeping him looked up like this without very good 
reasons. You must wait.' " 

At last, on October 16, Savary presented to Napoleon 
the anxiously-looked-for report, which advised the 
prisoner's discharge. To every one's astonishment, the 
Emperor only made the following observation : Better 
keep him until universal peace is declared. There was 
nothing to be done bat to submit to this merciless 
imprisonment, and to accept the explanation which was 
given, viz. that d'Auerweck was " a bold intriguer, who 
was to be found everywhere : sometimes in the interests 
of Austria, sometimes in England's/' 

Afterwards, as though to find an excuse for this 
prolonged detention, the Baron was brought in contact 
with one of those persons who are known as Moutons ; 
his line of action was to get on friendly terms with the 
prisoner, and to try to get him to talk, the result of 
these conversations being handed on to the police. A 
man called Rivoire was chosen for this purpose. He 
was formerly a naval officer, but had been arrested and 



THE "LITTLE BARON" 20i 

imprisoned for conspiracy ; he escaped, but was caught 
and put in prison for the fourth or fifth time. The 
" Chevalier de Eivoire " was at the end of his resources, 
and hoped to obtain a remission of his sentence by 
spying on his companions in misfortune. It was im- 
pressed on him that he must specially pump Baron 
d'Auerweck on the subject of the Rastadt assassination. 
The two reports, which he sent to Desmarets during 
the year 1811, give a rather amusing account of the 
success of his enterprise : a success, of course, skilfully 
exaggerated. 

** D'Anerweok is yery snspicioas when ODe begina to put questions 
to him, so I adopted the rose of contradicting him and of only 
grudgingly giving in to him. Then, after having started him in 
the right direction, if I resign myself to listening patiently, he 
obligingly begins to overwhelm me with confidences, both false and 
true, and with all the rubbish which his conceit and his insatiate 
garrulity inspire in him. ; . . He boastedof having rendered the 
most important services to the English, both on the Continent and 
in their own country, where he had exposed and baffled many 
plots, and had been the cause of the arrest and punishment of many 
French agents. • . • When we began to talk about the Bastadt 
affair, he at first repeated the story which had been manufactured 
in order to divert suspicion from the real culprits* 

** Bivoire : ' Only children will believe such a f aiiy tale.' 

** lyAuenoeck (laughing) : ^ That's true ; but we must always tell 
it, and by dint of many repetitions they will begin to believe it. 
The matter concerns other people^s interests. I only left Austria 
when I saw that its Government was fatally weak ; so much so that 
it has to be treated like a spoilt child that does not want to take its 
medicine. Besides myself, there are not more than two people who 
are acquainted with the correct details of this affiedr.' 

" Seeing that he had said too much, he then, like a fool, began to 



202 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

retract, saying, ' Besides, I was attached to a certain Prince's 
Minister, who was not there with reason, and I was perfectly 
neatnd in all that happened.' " 

Rivoire concluded by Baying, " D'Auerweck was the 
leader, or one of the leaders, in this crime, which was 
committed at the instigation of the English Govern- 
ment ; and he forthwith went off to give his report ; and 
he was at this time in London, travelling vid France." 

These fresh accusations, however flimsy their founda- 
tion, were not neglected, and succeeded in so increasing 
the gravity of the Baron's case that his durance was 
prolonged indefinitely. At the same time they served 
to maintain the harshness of his imprisonment. Using 
the Ambassador of Baden in Paris as the go-between, 
d'Auerweck, who declared himself to be seriously ill, 
had begged that he might for the time being be sent to 
a private hospital, where he could be attended to. But 
they questioned whether his illness was only a pre- 
text, and that he was plotting some plan of escape. 
Accordingly the Minister of Police refused his request. 

" The reasons for the detention of this prisoner,'* the Duke of 
Bovigo declared to his colleague of Foreign Affidrs, ^ do not admit 
of his being transferred to a private hospitaL Bat I hare just 
given the adequate order that the doctor, whose basiness it is to 
attend the invalids in the prison of Yincennes, should visit this 
prisoner as often as his state of health may reqaire it.** 

On May 31, 1812, d'Auerweck was told that no 
instructions as to his fate had been given, so, bearing 
his troubles patiently, he sent a fresh request, couched 
in the following humorous style, to Desmarets : — 



THE "LITTLE BARON'' 203 

" The regular annnal annouiK^ineiit that I am still to be kept in 
the dungeon of Yinoennes was made to me yesterday ; will 70a 
at least have the eondesoension to pass an order that it may not be 
in this celler, in which I have lived for three and a half months/' 

Two more years passed before the tribulations of 
d'Auerweck were completed But in 1814, when the 
now victorious Allied Armies drew close to Paris, it was 
decided to send the inmates of the prison of Yincennes 
to Saumur. How d'Auerweck must have prayed for his 
countrymen's speedy arrival, and that this second change 
of residence might be the prelude to his deliverance I 

He had not been two months at Saumur when he 
heard a rumour that the Allies had entered Paris on 
March 31. He was not forgotten in his dungeon, for 
three days later the Grand Duke urgently demanded 
that his subject might be given back to him, ** one of 
the many victims of the reign which has just come to 
an end ; " and the next day the Minister replied that the 
order to set the Baron at liberty had been issued three 
days ago. April 16 was a day never to be for* 
gotten by d'Auerweck and his companions. They were 
overcome with emotion, as can be guessed from the 
following lines, written by Baron de KoUi, the most 
extraordinary adventurer of the Imperial epoch. This 
person had been confined for four years at Yincennes on 
account of an attempt to deliver King Ferdinand YIL 
from Yalenjay, and at Yincennes he no doubt met our 
Hungarian. The two of them could exchange their 
impressions as captives by the good pleasure of the 



204 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

Emperor, both imprisoned without triali and condemned 
to an endless captivity, thanks to regular lettres-de- 
cachet dug up for this occasion only. 

^ I will tiy, though in Tain, to describe this soene, which wiU be 
for ever engraven npon my heart," KoUi relatee. " In the intoxi- 
oation of happiness and in tears, each one throws himself upon any 
one he meets, and clasps him in his arms ; there are ficrty perBons, 
aU strangers to each other, and in a second they are united by 
the bonds of the most tender friendship. As we emerge from our 
tombs, the townsmen press around us, and, undismayed by the 
sight of our miserable state, drag us to the bosoms of their families. 
In a single day we pass from want to opulence.'' 

Those who witnessed d'Auerweck*s return to Elgers* 
weier, prematurely aged as he was by these seven years 
of misfortune, could hardly recognize in him the 
talkative and active man of former days. They all 
had a vivid recollection of that night in the month of 
July, 1807, when trouble hurled itself upon this family. 

However, in spite of confinement and the want of 
fresh air, the Baron's health was not as severely injured 
as one might have imagined. He lived on in his village 
for fourteen years, and delightedly took up again the 
old tasks of an agriculturist, a botanist, and a husband- 
man. ... In his leisure hours he related episodes of 
lus strange past to his family and his neighbours, and, 
when bragging got the upper hand of him, he recalled 
the happy time when he had been raised by Fortune to 
the post of ** Ambassador to his Majesty the King of 
Great Britain I" 

He left Elgersweier in 1828 to return to Offenburg, 



THE "LITTLE BARON" 205 

where lie had fonnerly resided, and there he died two 
years later, on June 8, 1830. Three of his children 
survived him. Charles, the eldest, had a distinguished 
military career; as general in the army of Baden, he 
was governor of the fortified town of (xermersheim. 
Adelaide d'Auerweck lived to be a very old woman, as 
she only died in 1881, at Munich. Finally, Armand 
d'Auerweck left four children, one of whom, Ferdinand, 
emigrated to America, where he is still living. 

The descendants of the '^ little Baron " cherish the 
memory of this life, so rich in incidents, so extravagant, 
and so surprising ; but the part which he played in the 
Temple adventure at the time of the great Revolution 
would have been for ever hidden had not an unforeseen 
chance served to connect him with one of the threads 
of this astonishing intrigue, which attracted so much 
curious attention. 



CHAPTER VIII 

AFTER THE STORM 

We have seen that in spite of the annoanoement of 
the Dauphin's death, and of all that the Chevalier de 
Frott^ had written to her on the subject, Lady Atkyns 
still held persistently to her conviction that the real 
proof of the matter had yet to be discovered, and re- 
mained still determined to solve the mystery. If, as 
she continued to believe, the young King had been 
spirited away, it might still be possible to find him. 

But there were new difficulties in the way. Money, 
for one thing, was lacking now, and she knew only too 
well how necessary money was. Now, too, she was 
alone. To whom was she to apply for assistance ? Of 
all her old associates, Peltier alone was accessible, and 
he was absorbed in his work, as journalist and man of 
letters. 

Why, she asked herself, should she not seek the help 
of a member of the Royal Family of France ? The Comte 
d'Artois, who had taken in his turn the titles of Monsieur 
and of Comte de Provence, since his brother's proclama- 
tion as King, was living in England Why not apply 



AFTER THE STORM 207 

to him ? The ingenuous lady did not think of the very 
weighty reasons why such an appeal must be in vain. 
Convinced that the Dauphin still lived, she imagined 
that she could convert the Comte to her way of thinking, 
and induce him to join her in her search after the truth. 

Encouraged by the attitude taken up by the British 
Government towards her project of inquiring minutely 
into the matter on the Continent, Lady Atkyns decided 
before leaving England to approach the Comte, hoping 
to secure not merely his approval, but also some material 
assistance. Had she not sacrificed a large portion of 
her own worldly goods for the benefit of his family ? 
Thus reasoning, she did not conceive the possibility of 
a refusal. But Monsieur could not regard as anything 
short of fantastic the supposition upon which her project 
was based — the supposition that his nephew still sur- 
vived. To present this hypothesis either to him or to 
his brother the King was to put one's self out of court 
at once. 

We can imagine how her application was received. 
She chose as her intermediary with the Prince the 
Baron de Suzannet, who had facilitated the purchase of 
the ships and equipages which were procured in readi- 
ness for the rescue of the Queen and the Dauphin. 

Having the entrie to the Court, and being one of the 
most notable of the imigris in London, he consented to 
submit his friend's request to McTmeur. Did he foresee 
the issue ? Apparently not. Here is what he writes 
to her on August 19, 1797 : — 



2o8 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

** After the deoisioii M[imrieur] has come to, my dear lady, not 
to give his oonntenaaoe to yoar aflOur imtil it has been taken up by 
others, and after speaking to him so often on the subject, I cannot 
carry the matter any further, and ooald not ask him for money. 
But I see no reason why you should not yourself write to him more 
or less what you have told me, viz. that you were about to return 
to France with the consent of the Goyemment, that you ought to 
be provided with the same amount for returning as you have been 
tar going, but that fifty louis is very scant providon for that — 
especially considering that you have had to hide yourself away here 
so long — and that yon are afraid you will not have sufficient to 
enable you to remain long enough in Paris to get together all the 
particulars required by the Government, and to pay the messenger 
for bringing them here; and you might point out that you have 
acted throughout entirely in the interests of the Royal Family, that 
you do not regret the £1000 ^ which your attachment has cost you, 
or regret them only because you no longer have the money to devote 
to the cause; and that if lf[annettr] for his part could give you 
£50, it would free you from anxiety as to ways and means. . . . 

^ I shall tell M[(m8ietir] that I am aware you have written to 
him, and that I shall convey his answer to you. He has been 
taking medicine to^lay and can see no one. To-morrow he is to see 
some people at the Due d'Harcourt's, if well enough. He will not 
be going away before Wednesday. His address is 55, Welbeck 
Street. I think you would do well to send your letter to him by 
hand, sealed and addressed ' 2 Monsieur Sevl^ enclosed in an outer en- 
velope with his ordinary address : ' Son AUeme Boyale Monaiewr^ frhro 
dtt £oi.' Send me a line to tell me what you have done. AiBAanJ^ 

It was not till after a long delay that Lady Atkyns 
at last succeeded in meeting the Prince at an inn, only 
to meet with a point-blank refusal But she was not to 
be discouraged. The very next day she wrote again to 
the Comte asking for an audience. This time it was 

1 This is far below the actual figure. 



AFTER THE STORM 209 

another member of his suite, the Bishop of Saint-Fol 
de Lton, who replied to her communication — 

" The momeiit I saw Jlf[ofiM6iir] yesterday, my dear lady, he told 
me about your letter, which gave him great pleasure, though it is a 
matter tor great regret to him that he Ib quite unable to do as you 
wish, and as he himself would wish. Since his recent attack he 
has been unable to dress or go out; he has not been able to receive 
any ladies, anxious though he is to welcome those who are here and 
who were attached to the Princess. He could not reodve one 
without its being known, and then he would be expected to receive 
a number of others. You know how things get about and what a 
close watch is kept on Princes, and how careful our Prince must 
be to do nothing that would lay him open to criticism or even to 
suspicion. If his stay here were prolonged, and he found he could 
see other ladies also^ the thing might be managed ; but there would 
be difficulties even then, in view of your secret being perhaps of a 
compromising nature. I am but expressing to you the Prince's 
own views. I hope to see you to-morrow between midday and 
three o'clock." 

The great of this world are never at a loss for pre- 
texts for refusing requests. Monsieur was particularly 
anxious to evade an interview which he felt to be 
undesirable, and therefore confined himself to sending 
her these amiable phrases. 

About the same time M. de Thauvenay, one of the 
ELing's most devoted courtiers, who happened to be in 
London, seems to have promised to use his good offices 
with his master on her behalf, telling him of her record 
and perhaps of her hopes. 

Having exhausted all the means at her disposal in 
England, Lady Atkyns saw that she must manage 

p 



2IO A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

her jouniey as best she could from her own resources, 
and resolved to make yet another sacrifice to this end. 
She had obtained a considerable loan already once upon 
a mortgage on her beautiful estate of Ketteringham. 
As this was her only source of revenue, there was no 
alternative to raising a further mortgage on it, and 
this she managed, though with greater difficulty than 
before. (The property was not, in fact, her own at this 
time, being entailed on her son Edward.) 

She seems to have raised in all about £3000 in this 
way in 1799 and the three following years. 

Some weeks before the '* 18th Brumaire'' and Bona* 
parte's coup detat^ she set out for the Continent. What 
exactly was her purpose ? What use was she going to 
make of her money? It is impossible to say. To 
clothe her errand in the greater mystery, she decided to 
land in France under an assumed name, and to veil her 
personality under the designation of the " Little Sailor " 
(U petit matelot). 

** 1 feel I most again aeiid my good wishes for a pleasant joomey 
to the oharming * Little Sailor,' ^ some unidentified friend writes to 
her on September 7, "and I cannot too often b^ him to bear in 
mind that he leaves behind him in England friends who take a deep 
interest in his welfare, and who will learn with pleasure that he 
has arrived safely at his destination, and, above all, that after ful- 
filling his mission he has escaped aU the unpleasantness and dangers 
to which his truly admirable devotion and seal will expose him . 
I hope one day to prove to the 'little Sailor' how he has long 
filled me with the most genuine sentiments — sentiments which I 
have refrained from expressing for reasons of which the 'Little 
Sailor ' will approve. I cannot say too often to the amiable < Little 



AFTER THE STORM 2U 

Sailor' what pleasure I shaU have in repeating to him in France — 
and in France preferably to elsewhere — ^the assurance of eternal 
and tender attachment that I hare vowed him for ever and ever." 

It is difficult to know what the "Petit Matelot" did 
on arriving in Paris. It was a moment of crisis, for the 
Consulate was being established. Most of those who had 
been mixed up in l^e Temple affair were inaccessible, 
and yet it was important to get into touch with them 
if anything was to be ascertained about the Dauphin. 
It would not have done, however, to provoke suspicion, 
or Fouch^ would have been on her track. 

Certain only it is that for several months she seems 
to have disappeared from sight. At last she was run 
to earth and hunted out by Fouch^'s agents, and was 
obliged to make away to the Loire, where she had 
devoted £riends. 

The Verriere family lived in the country six miles 
from Saumiu:, in Anjou, where many nobles, fleeing 
from the storm, had found a safe refuge. The vicinity 
of the forest of Fontevrault enabled them to gain the 
Yend^, and thus escape the fury of the Revolutionists. 
Mme. Verriere had met Lady Atkyns in Paris years 
before, perhaps during the golden days of Versailles. 
Recalling their former friendliness, Lady Atkyns went 
to them in her trouble. The welcome they extended to 
her justified her hopes, and she dwelt with them for 
some time, until the police had lost aU trace of her. 

About this period, vague reports began to be spread 
about with reference to the imprisonment of the 



212 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

children of Louis XVI. in the Temple. The obscority 
which had cloaked the last hoars of the Dauphin was 
still keeping certain brains at work And a book which 
was published in 1800 helped to reawaken public 
curiosity. In Le Cimeti^e de la Madeleine, a romance 
written by an author until then little known, Begnault- 
Warin deliberately questioned the alleged death of the 
Dauphin, and, in fact, based a story of adventure upon 
the supposition of his being still alive. Written in the 
fashion of the time, full of surprising episodes, and 
bristling with more or less untrustworthy anecdotes 
touching on the captivity of the Royal Family in the 
Temple, this novel had an immense success. If it came 
before Lady Atkyns it must have served to stimulate 
her anxiety to solve the problem she had so much at 
heart 

In the summer of 1801 Lady Atkyns appears to 
have addressed herself to Louis XVIIL, unwarned by 
her failure with Monsieur. In this case also failure 
was to be her portion. 

** Your letter/' ran the reply, signed by M. de Thauvenay (whom 
8he had met some years before), and addressed, as a precaution, to 
Monsieur James Brown, dated October 2, "would have been 
enigmatic to me had I not placed it before my master, who^ by a 
curious series of accidents, had received only a few days before the 
communication you sent him on the 12th of July. In requesting 
me to reply to you, monsieur, he charges me to express to you his 
recognition of your constant interest and indefatigable zeal for his 
welfare, and his regret that he is prerented by his present position 
from learning the particulars of the speculation that your heart has 
formed, and that he cannot have any share in it." 



AFTER THE STORM 213 

Six weeks later Lady Atkyns received a second letter, 
despatched, like the first, from Varsovie, reinforcing the 
above : — 

" I wish," writes M. de Thaavensy, ''that I ooold oonyey to 70a 
the deep and tender feeling with which my dear and venerated 
master has read these new and touching testimonies of your interest 
and friendship, and his deep regret at being unable to enjoy the 
consolations that your sympathetic and generous nature has proffered 
him 1 No, monsieur, I swear to you* no other house has offered him 
any kind of interest in the speculation you have proposed to him. 
I should add that there is no one with whom he would rather have 
shared the chances than with you ; but his position is such that, 
for the moment at least, he can only display passive courage in the 
face of misfortune. I need not remind you, monsieur, that the most 
appreciative and most generous of hearts has eternal claim upon a 
heart such as yours. Never, I feel convinced, will your noble and 
moving sentiment be ipodified by time or place. This conviction 
is sweet to me, and it is with the utmost sincerity that I render 
you once again my tender (if I may use the word) and admiring 
respect." 

It is not easy at first to understand what M. de 
Thaavenay means by this " speculation," in which the 
King refuses to take part. On reflection it seems 
probable that Lady Atkyns's proposal, thus described, 
had reference to the afiair of the Temple, for it seems 
impossible that she should have flattered herself that 
she could see a way to the return of the exiled 
King. 

However that may be, these two letters convinced 
her that it would be useless to prolong her stay in 
France, and she returned to Eetteringham, after an 



214 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

absence of three years, without having effected her 
purpose. 

Two tragic events occurred in the year 1604 to 
startle the French who were still taking refuge in 
England. The first was the arrest and shooting of 
the Due d'Enghien at Vincennes. If Bonaparte had 
punished one of the many schemers who had plotted 
against him on English soil, his action would have 
found defenders. But this execution of a Prince, who 
was absolutely innocent and who had held apart from 
all political intrigues, aroused the same kind of horror 
that had been evoked eleven years earlier by the death 
of Louis XVI. and Marie-Antoinette. 

The Prince de Cond^, the Due d'Enghien's grand- 
father, was staying in England at this time, like 
Monsieur, the King's brother, and their residences were 
naturally the centre of the excitement over this event. 
The Baron de Suzannet describes the state of things in 
their entourage in a letter to Lady Atkyns : — 

''It would seem, madame,'' he writes to her on April 14, "that 
the murder of the Due d'Engbien has horrified not merely all true 
Frenchmen, as was to be expected, but also Englishmen of every 
class, the perfidy as well as the cruelty of it is so revolting to all 
in whom the sentiment of justice and honour is not extinct. I 
shaU not speak of the courageous and heroic death of this iU-fated 
Prince, but of the condition of his unhappy relative& Knee the 
day when Monsieur carried him the terrible news, the Prince de 
Cond6 (save for two journeys to London necessitated by his anxiety) 
has not left his room or been down to dinner. Plunged in grief, 



AFTER THE STORM 215 

he sees no onoi and ifa is maoh feared that his death may follow 
that of the Dae d'Enghien. He lored the Duo as his grandson and 
his pnpili and perhaps eren more as one qualified by Providence to 
add still farther to the glory of his illostrioos name. The sorrow 
of the Dae de Boarbon is not less deep and intense." 

At the same moment, the news of the arrest of 
Cadoudal in Paris, the discoyery of his plot, the sen- 
sational trial of his twelve accomplices, together with a 
number of insurgents — ^forty-seven prisoners in all — 
and finally the execution of the famous brigand on 
the morning of June 25, came to intensify the agitation 
of the French in England. 

Of these events Lady Atkyns heard particulars from 
the Comte de Frott^, father of her friend the General. 
Throughout five years the venerable Comte had followed 
with joy or anguish the career of his son as a leader of 
the insurrection in Normandy. Bepeatedly he had come 
to his aid with money and encouragement. Suddenly 
the fatal bullet had ended everything. Henceforth the 
nnhappy father had followed eagerly everything that 
could bring back the memory of the Chevalier, and he 
had been drawn to Lady Atkyns by his knowledge of 
the long-standing friendship that had existed between 
her and him. 

To add to his sorrow, Charles de Frott^, half-brother 
to Louis, had been arrested and imprisoned by 
Napoleon's police soon after the execution at Vemeuil. 
He was kept at the Temple for two years, without 
apparent reason, then sent to the Fort of Toux, in Jura. 



2i6 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

**I laamt yetterday,'' writes ihe Oomte do Frotit6 to Lftdy 
Atkynt, ''that my unhappy aon has been transferred from the 
Temple to aohitean in Franche Gomtd. How cmel is this perseoa- 
tionl How terrible this imprisonment, not only tor himself bat 
for OS who are boond to him fay ties of kinship and for his friends." 

Thus Lady Atkyns, thoagh in the sedofiion of the 
country, far from London and the Continent, remained 
bound in thought to her life of earlier day& She had 
no one now to love except her son, who was an officer 
in the first regiment of Royal Dragoons. Owing to the 
delicacy of his health, young Edward Atkyns had been 
obliged to go on leave for a time, and his mother 
invited the son of Baron de Suzannet to Eetteringham 
to keep him company. But the visit did not come off, 
and two months later the yoimg soldier died of the 
malady from which he had been suffering for some 
years. 

Two years earlier a somewhat strange incident had 
occurred in France. On February 17, 1802, the police 
court at Vitry-le-Fran^oi had to sit in judgment upon a 
young man named Jean-Marie Hervagault, charged with 
svnndling, passing under a &lse name, and vagabondage. 
This individual, arrested and imprisoned for the first 
time in 1799, claimed to be the Dauphin, escaped 
miraculously from the Temple. The son of a tailor of 
Saint-Lo, Hervagault, in the course of his wanderings, 
had managed to convince a certain number of people 
that he really was tiie Prince. Public curiosity was 
aroused. Many people went to visit the youth in 



AFTER THE STORM 217 

prison. To pat a stop to this movement, the Vitry 
Tribunal condemned the adventurer to four years' im- 
prisonment. His trial disclosed the fact that amongst 
his dupes were many persons of distinction, including 
M. Lafont de Savines. Some weeks later the Yitry 
sentence was ratified at Bouen, and Hervagault was 
incarcerated in the prison of Bicdtre in Paris. But the 
feelings of sympathy and pity that had been called 
forth, Hervagaulfs assertions and his circumstantial 
accounts of the way in which he had been carried off 
from the Temple — ^all these things attracted the more 
attention by reason of the appearance a short time 
before of Beauchamp*s work, Le faux Dauphin actud- 
lement en France. 

Lady Atkyns was quick to secure details as to the 
story of tiie prisoner at Bicdtre. There were many con- 
tradictions in it that must have come home to her. And 
Hervagault mentions the name of the General Louis de 
Frott^ as that of one of his liberators, whereas, in his 
letters to her, the Chevalier had made it quite dear 
that this could not be so. However, it seemed worth 
her while to write to the old Comte de Frott^ on the 
subject 

** I have joftt reoeived yoar letter,'' he replies, August 16, 1804, 
** and I hasten to send yon a line. I have spent a whole week 
rmnmaging among papers. I can assure you that what is stated in 
the book you have sent me is aU fiction. Louis and Duchale are 
mentioned in 1802 because they were both dead. I am almost 
certain that in 1795 (in the month in question) Louis was fighting 
in Normandy, and that he did not leave his companions once all 



2i8 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

thftt year. But we shall go into all this on your return, and no 
doabt will be left in your mind. It yon arrive towards the end of 
the month, tell me at onoe. I ahall call on yon and tell yon all 
I oan, and make yon see why I am oonvinoed that this fellow is a 
poppet in some one ebe^s hands." 

Lady Atkyns was reluctant to give up the &int hope 
that there might be aomething in this Hervaganlt 
narrative, but after some conyersations with the Gomte 
de Frott^, and after comparing the pretender's state- 
ment with documents left by the Chevalier, she was at 
last convinced that the whole thing was a fraud. 

We hear of her again in October, 1809, taking a 
prominent part in the celebrations being held in her 
neighbourhood in honour of the jubilee of George III. 
Then we lose sight of her until 1814, and the triumphant 
return to Paris of Louis XVIIL Lady Atkyns hastens 
now to secure the good offices of the Due de Bourbon, 
with a view to drawing attention to all her sacrifices 
and the sums of money she has expended. 

She is delayed, however, over her contemplated 
journey to France for this purpose, and Napoleon's 
escape postpones for two years more all hope of 
accomplishing her return to Paris. 

When at last the monarchy is restored once more, 
she finds that her aspirations are destined to be dis- 
appointed, despite all the kind words with which she was 
soothed in England, and we find her uttering the word 
** ingratitude," which is henceforth to be so often on her 
tongue. There were so many who held themselves 



AFTER THE STORM 219 

entitled to gratitude and recognition at the hands of 
Louis XVIII. — imigria returned to France after twenty 
years of sorrow and indignities, and now counting upon 
the recoYery of their possessions or on being reimbursed 
in some way by the act of the Sovereign. What an 
awakening they met with when the time came to 
formulate their applications and they found themselves 
obliged to condescend to the drafting of innumerable 
documents, and to put up with interminable delays ! 

On September 27, 1816, Lady Atkyns writes to her 
friend Mme. de Verriere an account of her disappointing 
ezperiencea She had been well received at Court, but 
that was all. 

<< The kind of ingratitude I have been meeting with is not very 
conaoling. They give me plenty of kind vords, bat nothing more. 
I have written a long letter to the man of business, begging of him 
to get the employer to reimburse me a little for the moment, but I 
have received nothing yet, and this puts me out greatly. Perhaps 
something will turn up between now and the end of the week. If 
not I must go and see my poor mother and beg to get my afGurs 
into order." 

The state of her affairs, for long precarious, was now 
giving the poor lady very serious anxiety. By recourse 
to various expedients she had managed to hold out 
until the return of the Bourbons, and to stave off her 
creditors. But she was now at her last gasp. If the 
King refused to help her, to "reimburse " her, she was 
ruined. The Comte de la Ch&tre had assured her that 
her application was under favourable consideration, that 
the King regarded it approvingly, that the Comte de 



a20 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

Pradel, the head of the King's household, had it in hand ; 
but, in spite of this, there was a series of delays. 

At last, worn out with waiting, she writes in her 
naive style to the Comte on October 10, 1816 — 

*< I beg of yoa to be good enough to get the King to decide this 
matter as soon as OTer possible. I most get away to England in 
three weeks to see my mother, who is ill, and I can't possibly do 
this until I know the King's decision in regard to me. I know his 
Majesty is too good to injure one who has given so many prooCs of 
boundless derotion to the Royalist cause and to the entire Royal 
Family. Although I have a splendid estate in England, I am now 
in great di£Bculties by reason of this devotion. I tell you all this, 
Monsieur le Comte, so that^ like the good Frenchman you are, you 
may do me this kindness of getting the King to give you his orders. 
I have run every conceivable kind of evils during these twenty-four 
years. I beg of you to excuse all the trouble I am giving you, and 
I have the honour to be. Monsieur le Comte, 

** Your very obedient servant, 

'Chablottk Atktbb." 

This appeal seems to have been no more successful 
than the preceding ones, for three months later we find 
Lady Atkyns still awaiting the promised audience. To 
distract her thoughts from the subject, she goes about 
Paris — ^a new city now to her — is present at sittings of 
the Chamber of Deputies, and hears the speech from 
the Throne. On All Souls' Day she joins in the solemn 
pilgrimage to the Conciergerie. Who could have been 
more in place on such an occasion ? But with the sad 
thoughts evoked by the sight of the Queen's prison 
were mingled regrets that the sanctuary had not been 
left as it was. The place had been enlarged^ and a 



AFTER THE STORM 221 

massive, heavy-looking tomb stjood now where the bed 
had been. 

**! knelt before this tomb/* she writes to Mine, de Yerri^, 
*'bnt I should have preferred to have seen the prison room 
unaltered, and the tomb placed where the Queen used to kneel 
down to pray. The place has been made to look too nice, and a 
simple elegance has been imparted to it which takes away all idea 
of the misfortunes ci that time. I would have left the bed, the 
table, and the chair. There is a portrait of the Queen seated on 
the bed, her eyes raised heavenwards with the resignation of a 
martyr. This portrait is Tory like, especially the eyes, with that 
look of angelic sweetness which she had. There is another tomb 
with a crucifix on it, as on hers, upon which are inscribed the 
words : * Que monfiU n^aublie jamais lea derruera mot de eon p^e^ qne 
Je lui ripHe expreeaimefU ; qu*il ne eherche jamais A tfenger noire morL* 
You go in by the chapel, and behind the altar, to get to where the 
Queen used to be. ... I repeated on the tomb what I vowed to 
the Queen — ^never to abandon the cause of her children. It is true 
that only Uadame remains now, but she one day will be Queen of 
France, and if she has need of a faithful friend she will find one in 
me." 

These last lines seem a strange avowal. Lady Atkyns 
seems to be renouncing her faith. What is the explana- 
tion ? It is simple enough. She has realized that as 
long as she puts forward her inopportune plea regard- 
ing the child in the Temple she must expect to find 
nothing but closed doors. Tet she has by her proo& of 
what she alleges, and she is prepared in substantiation 
of her memorials to hand over a selection of the precious 
letters from her Mends which she has received in the 
course of her enterprise. These, doubtless, would be 
accepted, but would never be given bacL What, then. 



222 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

is she to do ? Threatened on the one side by the dis* 
tress which is at her heels ; a prey^ on the other hand, 
to her inalterable conviction, the luckless lady comes 
for a moment to have doubts about her entire past. 
However, this disavowal, as it seems, is but momentary ; 
a calmer mood supervenes, and she returns to her former 
point of view, unable ever to free her mind from doubts 
as to the real fate of the Dauphin. 

The King's generosity in this year, 1816, does not 
appear to have given her much satisfaction. 

" At last I have received a little money," she writes 
to Mme. de Verri^re just before Christmas, when pre- 
paring to return to England, '^ but so little that it is 
really shameful." 

The following spring she is back again in France, 
still carrying on her campaign. From 1817 to 1821 
her letters pour in upon the Ministry of the Royal 
Household. Did they contain indiscreet allusions to 
the affair of the Temple ? Perhaps. In any case, with 
a single exception, all these letters have disappeared. 

We find a curious reference to Lady Atkyns in a 
letter dated January 11, 1818, preserved in the archives 
of the Ciomte de Lair — 

"She is still in Paris," says the writer. <<For the last two 
months she has been going every week 1 She declares now she will 
start without fail on Tuesday morning, but the Lord knows 
whether she will keep her word. . • • She is still taken up with the 
affair in question, and passes all her time in the company of those 
who are mrced up in it. I assure you I don't know what to make 
of it all myself, but it is certain that a number of people believe it." 



. AFTER THE STORM 223 

The '' a£fair in question " was the detention at Bic^tre 
of an individoal about whom the most sensational stories 
were current. A maker of sabots^ come over — ^no one 
quite knew how — ^£rom America, Mathurin Bruneau, 
playing anew the Hervagault comedy, had been passing 
himself off as the Dauphin. Arrested and imprisoned 
on January 21, by order of Decazes, the Minister of 
Police, Bruneau had for two years been leading a very 
extraordinary life for a prisoner. 

He was by way of being in solitary confinement, 
but there was in reality a never-ending succession of 
visitors to him in his prison. A certain Branzon, 
formerly a customs-house officer at Rouen, who had 
been condemned to five years' imprisonment with hard 
labour, had become his inseparable companion. With 
the support of a woman named Sacques and a lady 
named Dumont, Branzon got together a species of 
little court round the adventurer, issuing proclama- 
tions, carrying on a regular correspondence with friends 
outside, and playing cards until three o'clock in the 
morning — ^finally composing, with the help of large 
slices out of Le Cimeti^e de la Madeleine^ a work 
entitled Memoires du Prince. Some unknown painter 
executed a portrait of the prisoner as '' a lieutenant- 
colonel or colonel'general of dragoons," and a mysterious 
baron, come from Rouen to set eyes upon his Sovereign, 
took the oath of fidelity to him on the Holy Scriptures 
in the jailer's own room! On April 29, 1817, the 
walls of Maromme, Damdtal, and BoudeviUe, near 



224 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

Boaen, were covered with placards calling upon France 
to proclaim its legitimate King. And all this happened 
under the nose of Libois, the Governor of BicStre. 

There seems, in fact, to be no room for donbt that, as 
has been well said, ** in this prison, in which there has 
been a constant procession of comtes and abb^, and a 
whole pack of women, there has been enacted in the 
years 1816-1818 a force of which his Excellence 
Decazes is the author." The object of this mystification 
was simply to baffle the Duchesse d'Angoul^me in the 
first instance, and to prevent public opinion from being 
led astray in another direction. Bruneau did not stand 
alone. Six months earlier another pretendant, Nauen- 
dor£f, a clockmaker at Spandau, had written to the 
Duchesse d'Angouldme to solicit an interview. It was 
all important to put a stop to this dangerous movement. 
Therefore when on February 9, 1818, the proceedings 
were opened at Bouen, no pains had been spared to 
give the aflfair the appearance of a frivolous vaudeville. 
On February 19 Mathurin was condemned to five years' 
imprisonment. The court was crowded with all kinds 
of loafers and queer characters, many of them from 
Paris, drawn by the rumours so industriously spread 
about. 

Lady Atkyns would seem to have given some atten- 
tion to this new alleged Dauphin without being carried 
off her feet She lost no opportunity of endeavouring 
to get at the truth, it is clear, and this, as we learn 
from a police report, involved a number of visits to the 



AFTER THE STORM 225 

house in which Gaillon was imprisoned, and to which 
Broneau was transferred after his condemnation. It 
was even stated that she had offered sums of money to 
enable Bruneaa to escape. She soon had her eyes 
opened, however, to this new fraud. 

The accession of Monsieur to the throne, in 1824, does 
not seem to have had any favourable result for Lady 
Atkyns, for we find her at last reduced in this year to 
taking a step, long contemplated but dreaded — the 
handing over of Ketteringham to her sister-in-law, Mary 
Atkyns, in consideration of a life annuity. 

She continues, however, to make her way every year 
to France, buoyed up by the assurances of interest in 
her which she has received from officials of the Royal 
Household. At first she stays with friends, the Comte 
and Comtesse de Loban. Then in 1826, when her 
mother dies, aged eighty-six, she establishes herself 
definitively in Paris, taking up her abode in a house in 
the Rue de Lille, No. 65, where she rents a small 
appartement on the first floor. Here she gets together 
the few souvenirs she has saved from Ketteringham — 
some mahogany furniture covered with blue cloth, a 
sofa covered with light blue silk, and portraits on the 
walls of the Dauphin, his father, his uncle, and the Due 
de Berry, 

It was while residing here that Lady Atkyns lived 
through the revolution of Italy, after witnessing in 
turn the reign of Louis XVL, the Terror, the Empire, 
the Restoration, and the reign of Charles X. What an 

Q 



226 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

eventful progress from the careless, happy days when 
she played her part in the dizzying gaieties of Versailles ! 
Some weeks before the fall of Charles X., Lady 
Atkyns drew up yet another petition for presentation 
to the chief of the E^g's household. She did not 
mince her words in this document, 

"I little thought that lack of fonds would be advanced as a 
reason for delaying the execution of the King's orders. I will 
not enlarge upon the strangeness of such an avowal, especially 
as a reimbursement of so sacred a character is in question, 
sanctioned by the Royal will. I would merely point out to you. 
Monsieur le Marquis^ that I have contrived to find considerable 
sums (thereby incurring great losses) when it was to the interest 
of France^ and of her King, and of her august family. Failing 
a suffidenoy of money to liquidate this debt, I have the honour to 
propose to your Excellency that you should make out an order for 
the payment, and I shaU find means of getting it discounted. In 
your capacity as a Minister to the King, your ExceUen<7 will 
be able, without delay, to obtain the amount necessary, minus 
a discount, from the Court bankers. Will you not deign, mon- 
seigneur, to ask them to do this, and I shaU willingly forego the 
discount that may be stipulated for. . • • Finally, monseigneur, I 
beg of you to tell me immediately the day and the hour when 
I may present myself at the Ministry to terminate this matter. I 
must venture to remind you that the least delay will involve my 
ruin, and therefore I cannot consent to it." 

Lady Atkyns's persistence and the King's procrasti- 
nation seem intelligible enough when one learns that 
the sums expended by her, from the time when Louis 
XVI.'s reign was projected down to the last year of the 
Consulate, amounted to more than £80,000. The 
Englishwoman mig&t well speak of the sacrifices she 



AFTER THE STORM 227 

had made and the loss of her fortune at the dictates of 
her heart. 

One other letter we find amongst Lady Atkyns's 
papers — a letter notable for its fine, regular penman- 
ship. It evidently reached her about this date. The 
writer was yet another soi-disant Dauphin, the third 
serious pretendant. The Baron de Richemont — ^his real 
name was Hebert — ^had published in 1831 his Memoires 
du Due de Narmandie, JUs de Louis XVL Merita et 
publih par lui-memefBiLi he was not long in convincing 
a number of people as to his identity. He probably 
owed most of his particulars as to his alleged escape 
from the Temple to the wife of Simon, whom he had 
visited at the Hospital for Incurables in the Rue de 
Sevres. Possibly it was through her also that he heard 
of Lady Atkyns. At all events, he thought it worth 
while to approach her. 

** Revered lady/' he writes to her, *< I am touched by your kind 
remembrance. . . . The idea that I have found again in you the 
friend who was so devoted to my unhappy family consoles me, and 
enables me the better to bear up under the ills that Providence has 
sent me. I shaU never forget your good deeds ; ever present to my 
memory, they make me cherish an existence which I owe to you. 
I cannot tell what the future may have in store for me, but what- 
ever my fate you may count upon aU my gratitude. May the Lord 
be with you and send proq>eri47 to aU your enterprises I He wiU 
surely do so, for to whatever country you may take your steps, you 
will set an example of aU the virtues.- 

'* We shaU see you, I hope, in a better world. Then and in the 
company of the august and ill-fated author of my sad days, you 
wiU be in enjoyment of all the good you have done, and will 



228 A FRIEND OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

receive your doe reoompenae from the Sovereign DiBpexuier of all 
things. 

** There being no other end to look for, I beg of God, most 
noble lady, to take yon onder His protection. 

« Louis Chablsb." 

Richemont shows some aptness and devemess in the 
way he toaches the note of sensibility, and attains to 
the diapason appropriate to the r6k he is playing. Had 
his letter the effect desired ? It is hardly likely, but it 
is the last item in Lady Atkyns's correspondence, and 
we have no means of finding an answer to the question. 

In the night of February 2, 1836, Lady Atkyns died. 
By her bedside one person watched — her devoted 
servant, Victoire Ilh, whose conduct, according to her 
mistress's own statement, '^had at all times been 
beyond praise/' 

The few friends who could attend gathered together 
in due course to pay the last honours to the dead. 
Her remains were conveyed to England for burial at 
Ketteringham, in accordance with the wish she herself 
had expressed. 

Time passed inexorably over her memory, and twenty 
years later there was nothing to recall the life of love 
and devotion of this loyal and unselfidi Englisl^- 
woman. 



EPILOGUE 

Not more than two or three generations separate us 
from the period through which we have seen come and 
go the various actors involved in the enterprise of 
which the prisoners in the Temple were the stake. The 
role that was played by Lady Atkyns and her confidants, 
forming as it did a minor episode in the changeful 
story of the emigration and of the fortunes of the 
Royalists during the Bevolution, deserved to be set 
forth. But the interest attached to such narratives 
becomes greatly intensified the more completely the 
records of those mentioned in it can be traced to the 
end. It seems well, therefore, to see what became of 
the principal performers who have passed before our 
eyes in this slight study. 

Of Cormier's two sons, Achille, the elder, disappears 
from the scene completely, and all our efforts to trace 
him have been in vain. In the case of his brother we 
have been more fortunate. Having served as an officer 
in the army of Vendte, Patrice de Cormier, from the 
moment of the Restoration, sought to return to active 
service. Being on terms of intimacy with Prince de la 
Tremoille, Frott^*s old friend, who was then presiding 



230 EPILOGUE 

over the commiflsion inquiring into the claims of 
Royalist officers with a view to according recompense 
to them, Cormier petitioned for employment in the 
company of light horse. His loyalty was not in doubt, 
for a memorandum supporting his application recorded 
that '* when the allies entered Paris, he secured a drum 
of the National Guard by purchase, and beating it in 
front of a white flag, made his way through the streets 
of Paris." The "Hundred Days" interfered with his 
ambitions, and he was obliged to betake himself to 
England, whence he made his way back to France 
in July, 1815. The warmth with which Prince 
de la Tremoille recommended him to the favour of 
Louis XVIII. showed what value he attached to his 
friendship. 

*' He has accompanied me conataiitlj as my aide^e<»mp/' said 
the Prince, <<on my mission, at the time of my arrest and during 
my escape^ and he has never failed to give me new proofs daily of 
his intelligenoe and seal, of his boundless devotion to the King, and 
of his capacity. If ever services rendered could justify me in 
recommending any one to the favour of the King, this estimable 
ofEicer would be the first I should venture to recommend." 

These words produced their effect On February 24, 
1816, Cormier was appointed " chef de bataillon" in the 
first regiment of infantry of the Koyal Guard. Three 
years later he became a lieutenant-colonel, and as such 
he took part in the Spanish expedition of 1823, under 
the command of the Due d'Angoul^me. Charged 
with the carrying out of an order to the Royal Spanish 



EPILOGUE 231 

troops before Figui^es^ he fell into an ambuscade of 
thirty Constitutional soldiers, and received their volley 
at a distance of a few yards. By a miracle he escaped 
with a wound on the hip, and succeeded in fulfilling 
his mission. 

Promoted to the rank of colonel, November 1, 1823, 
Cormier was stationed at the Garrison at Sochefort 
at the outbreak of the Bevolution of July. Befnsing 
to serve under the new regime^ he sent in his resigna- 
tion to the Minister for War, August 5, 1830. This 
is the last we hear of him. He died in a suburb of 
Paris. 

His uncle, de Butler, after living for some time in 
Hamburg, where he doubtless was regarded by the 
other SmigrSs with suspicion by reason of his 
intimate relations with Bourrienne, Minister to the 
Emperor, returned to England, where he is lost sight 
of. He died at Gothenburg in Sweden in 1815. 

Bereft of his two sons, Comte Henri de Frott^ re- 
mained in England entirely alone for a time, but 
returned to France on the restoration of the Bourbons, 
obtained the rank of mar^chal de camp, and died in 
Paris, February 28, 1823. An enthusiastic Boyalist, 
active and keen, the Comte de Frott^ had never ceased 
to interest himself in the welfare of the ^migrh in 
England, and came to be regarded as their benefactor. 

The career of Jean-Gabriel Peltier was of a more 
singular description. This energetic pamphleteer had 
been editing in London ever since 1802 a journal 



232 EPILOGUE 

entitled L^Amlngu, in wlucli he unceasingly vented his 
spleen against the " Premier Consul." His violence went 
to such lengths that in 1803, on the reiterated demand 
of the incensed Napoleon, he was brought before an 
English tribunal. He was defended by the fiamous 
counsel, James Mackintosh, and received only a mild 
sentence, with the result that he left the court in 
triumph, and attained wide celebrity throughout 
Europe over the affair. In addition to lus news- 
paper work, Peltier was interested in a number of 
publishing enterprises, which helped to make a liveli- 
hood for him. 

Some years later the Fates made him charg^ 
cPaffaires to the Emperor of HaitL The amusement pro- 
duced by this strange appointment may be imagined. 
What made the thing still funnier was the fact that 
His Haitian Majesty paid his representative not in 
money but in kind, transmitting to him cargoes of 
sugar and coffee. Peltier negotiated these from time 
to time for the benefit of his creditors. 

On the return of the Bourbons, Peltier returned to 
France, hoping, like every one else, for his share of 
recompense, but only to be disillusioned. He consoled 
himself with the reflection that if his King treated 
him like a nigger, at least his nigger (the Emperor of 
Haiti !) treated him like a king — 

" Mon roi me tnute comme an n^;re 
Mais mon n^gre a son tonr me traite comme mi roL" 

Unfortunately, the " n^re " soon had enough of hia 



EPILOGUE 233 

epigrams, and abandoned Iiim, and this brought about 
his ruin. Having lost all his means of sabsistence, he 
went back once more to Paris to implore pity from the 
King, but in vain, and on March 29 he died miserably 
in an attic in the Bue Montmartre, aged sixty-five. 



APPENDIX 

We print here a certain number of letters and documents 
foond for the most part among the unpublished papers of Lady 
Atkyns, not used in the body of this book, yet too interesting 
to be entirely omitted The letters of the Princess de Tarente, 
in particular, seem to deserve inclusion in their entirety. 



Letter frtm Jean-Oabriel Peltier to Lady Aikj/ns. 

" London, January 1, 180S. 

^ I have the honour of sendiag you, Madame^ a letter which 
I received yesterday from my friend.^ The ferment Paris is now in 
makes me fear that he may have been obliged to leave the night of 
December 27-28, and it must have been veiy stormy. 

** I have at last managed to get at Mr. Burke in the House of 
Commons. He has promised me an interview at as early a date as 
possible. I introduced M. Goguelat to him, and he seemed very 
glad to make lus acquaintance. He had been driving the evening 
before with M. de Choiseul, Mr. Pitt, Lord Grenville, and Lord 
Loughborough, at Lord Hawkesbury's. We had time only for a 
word. 

" I cannot close my letter, January 1, without sending you i la 
JVofH^ite, my good wishes for the New Year. I know well what 
the object is that you yourself would widi most to see achieved." 

* Baron d'Auerweck. 



236 APPENDIX 

LeUer from Lomi$ de Ratte to Lady AOkfrn. 

*' London, Deoembar 10, 1794. 

* Loven and Ministen who dcm't realise their opportanitijes cften 
regret them afterwarcb when they are gone^ never to be found 
again. This ia what I fear is happening to na ... for yoor 
Qoyemment is allowing precioiu days to pass by without profiting 
by them, and by its dilatoriness may perh^Mi lose all the advantages 
that are oalculated to put an end to our troubles. Could you 
belieTe, dear friend of mine, that it is proposed to put off the 
expedition for some weeks I • • . However, I feel less disquieted 
over it all when I reflect that we must havea great many supporters, 
and very powerful ones, among those who are playing the rdle of 
the enemy, for all these troubles in the interior not to have 
produced more effect in the Assembly. Indeed, if some advantage 
is not derived from tlus, those at fault in the matter should be 
placed in a lunatic asylum. For myself, without knowing Fnisage, 
I should certainly give my vote for his being made Constable if he 
succeeds in spite of all that can be said, because it will be to him 
that the King will be under the greatest obligations. And if any 
one were to ask me the name of the woman whom the King has most 
reason to love,'! should tell him to become my rival, and should 
declare that. King though he was, he could never repay the heart 
that has suffered so much for him. 

^ I have seen M. W[indham], and after giving me a number of 
evasive replies, at last, on my insisting that I wanted to be off, he 
answered rather warmly : * Oh, I can send you off at <mce if you 
like ; but what do you propose to dof I have nothing definite to 
put in your hands. I have others to carry my packets, and I have 
no one except yourself to carry out the mission I have in my 
mind for you« Do have a little patience, and if you follow my 
advice you will be all right. Be sure that I have my eyeon you all 
the time.' So you see I am still in this state of suspense. If only 
you had been able to remain I should not have found the time so 
long. Unable to get away to serve my King, I should have 
consoled myself as much as possible in the presence ol Madame. . • Z' 



APPENDIX 237 

LMwftfm 'BdvUkOxi^ Bq^retentaUve of ^ Dtrecioire in the Hameatia 
TowM, U> the Foreign Minisier, Deheroix.^ 

Very jmyate. 

Extract to be made for the 
Directoire and Police ; 
name of Colleville to be 
kept secret. 

(14tb Frairia)} Altona. This Ist Ffairiali Year IV.of 

the French Republic, 
Citizen Okandet one and undiviAible. 

To be sent at once to (May 20th» 1796). 

the Minister of Police 

^'CmzBir MiNisTBB, 

<< I hasten to reply to yoar despatch, dated the 20th flor^, 
which accords remarkably with one I sent yon from here on the 
21st. It even seems that we have had the same sources of inspira- 
tion, and I shall not be surprised to find that the same Baron 
d' Anerweck, whom I denonnced to you, had been in his turn the 
denouncer of Le Cormier. From the impressions I have been given 
of his character and principles, it is quite possible. However that 
may be, I have lost no time in having an interview with CoUeville, 
who had already told me of the arrival of the Bishop of Arras, and 
who then further informed me (before he knew what my business 
with him was) that this person had written to him yesterday that 
his arrival was postponed, and that perhaps it would not take place 
at all, on account of the prolonged stay of the King of Verona with 
Condi's army. The King (CoUeville assured me) would not leave 
this army, as it had been averred that he would. 

** I b^an by telling CoUeville that I had had a favourable reply 
from you about his afiairs. He assured me of lus gratitude, and at 
once spoke to me of his favourite idea of obtaining permission to 
serve yon elsewhere than at Hamburg— a very natural desire, 
whether one explains it by his conviction that he would playa more 

^ Foreign Office ArMvee^ Hambmg, V. 109, foL 382, 



238 APPENDIX 

ftotive part somewhere else, or by his posaible apprehensioii that his 
relations with us may be in the end disoovered. 

*< I thought it better not to tell the man all I knew. I told him 
that before leaving Hamburg he would have to throw some light 
vpon the things that were going on in that town; and I said 
enough to him to explain what I meant and to pat him on lus 
mettle. He replied that he knew nothing whatever of the meeting 
I had mentioned ; that he was sure that if there was a question ci 
it, Le Cormier, whom he saw every day, would have told him; 
and that the latter had been thinking for some days past of gdng 
into the country with M. de Bloom (who was formerly Danish 
Minister in Paris), but that it seemed that he would not now go. 
He added that he knew enough of the emigrants at Hamburg to be 
certain that, with the exception of Le Cormier, there was not an 
enterprising man in the ^ Anoien Regime' section; that if such a 
plan had existed, he thought it was more than likely that the King 
of Verona's change of position would have caused another to be 
substituted for it ; and that, in any case^ he would investigate and 
explain, and might depend on his giving me all the information he 
could get. He further said that the Prince of Carawey, whom he 
knew privately, was expected at Hamburg from Lucerne within 
the fortnight, and if there was anything to be ieamt from 
him, he (OoUeville) would make it his business to learn it. I 
asked him what Lord Mc. Cartally had come here for. He did not 
know. I hope that I shall have found out whether he has left or 
not before the courier goes. 

** In fact. Citizen Minister, OoUeville's absolute ignorance of the 
meeting you speak of leads me to have some doubt ef its reality. 
But I shall not leave it at that I have already taken measures to 
get hold of my man, and also to have the plotters whom you 
indicate to me well watched from other quarters. I am aware that 
with men of CoUeville's stamp there is always the evil, if not of 
being spied on in our turn — ^which is easily avoided with a little 
prudence— «t any rate of being given information with a double 
purpose. It was as such that I regarded what he told me of a 
general plan of the 4migri$y which was to operate in the very heart 
of the Republic, and to re-establish the Monarchy by the organs of 



APPENDIX 239 

ihe Law itself. He thought himself sure of a man in the Legisla- 
tive body (he told me his name was Madier). He knew all the 
details of the qrstem they were to follow, and the details of the 
prosecution of the 2nd of September were actually to enter into it. 
As to the 2nd of September, I answered, every Frenchman regards 
it with horror, and the scoundrel ought to be punished. The 
Government will certainly take care that an act of justice does not 
become an anti-revolutionaiy instrument. 

** Le Cormier has a brother-in-law called Buter (nc), who goes 
and comes from Paris to Boulogne, Calais, and Dunkirk, carrying 
despatches and money from England. Dr. Theil, who is settled 
in London, continues to serve as go-between for the Princes' 
correspondence. At Hamburg a man named Thouvent does the 
business. 

"The prime mover in the new Bpyalist mancduvres, and the 
designer of the plan they are conducting in the interests of the 
Republic, is (so Colleville says) the Due de le Yanguyon. Maduron, 
that brother of de la Garre, whom I once denounced to you, said 
that he had been arrested once or twice at Paris, and taken before 
the police^ but that he had got out of it by means of his Swiss pass- 
port. It is certain that the imigri$y when they talk of a journey to 
France, do not anticipate any more dangers than if they were going 
from Hamburg to Altona. An Abb^ de Saini-Far, residing at 
Hamburg, has, it is said, a quantity of arms in his house. I told 
you some time ago that he had contracted for some millions of guns. 
I suppose it was at that time for England. My next despatdi, 
Citisen Minister, shall contain more positive information on the 
matter you desire me to investigate. If the meeting is actually to 
take places I think I shall certainly be able to solve the problem 
you suggest to me. 

" Greetuigs and respects, 

" Bbinhabd." 

LeUer of (he Princeu de TareinU to Lady Athene. 

** St. Petenbuzg, Aogost 14-25, 1797. 
** To-day, dearest Charlotte, is, by the old style, the birthday of 
the King id France, and also that of one of his most devoted, though 



240 APPENDIX 

leut nsehil sabjecti — ^myself. This month is one of sad memories. 
It wtm in this month that ker birthday also fell ; that she left the 
Toileries and entered the Temple prison; indeedi Angnst is filled 
with dates unforgettable at all times to the faithful, remembered 
the more poignantly when the day itself recalls them. I had your 
letter yesterday: it gave me pleasure, dear Charlotte. When I 
read it I was nearly asleep, for it was three in the morning, and 
I had oome back from a stapid ball that I had been obliged to 
goto. 

** Yoa are always talking to me about a diary, my dear, but I 
have not the courage to tell yon the wretched history of my life. 
I am just a marliinft wound up. I go on for ever, but without 
pleasure or interest in what I do. I live on in anguish, and my 
letters would be veiy doleful if they were a faithful portrait of 
myself; but we are so far apart, my dear, yon and I, and letters 
pass through so very many hands, that we must only guess at one 
another's meaning — ^we cannot q)eak out. You know my heart — ^it 
will always be the same, and despite appearances, my feelings have 
not altered, I swear to you. But one has to be careful, when one 
can't speak face to face. It is a sacrifice; but who has not sacrifices 
tomaket How many Tve made in the last two months I I've left 
everything to come to a country where I know nobody. Here I am 
friendless among strangers ; naturally I am criticised, and severely. 
All the kindness of LL.MM.n. has woused great e3q>6ctationa in 
society; I feel that^ and, shy as I always am, I get shyer and shyer. 
But indeed I ought to be grateful, for I am received and treated 
with consideration by many people here ; they take a pleasure in 
showing their admiration for my conduct. My conduct! Ah! 
when fate brought one into contact with Her^ was it possible to 
help adoring her t What merit was there in being faithful to Her, 
when one could not possibly have been anything else t 

<< I am sorry, dear Charlotte^ for all the worries that the storm 
caused you on shore; to tell the truth, I felt best at sea^ Do 
believe that I am not a coward, and that I was scarcely frightened 
at all. The weather was rough only twice, when we were entering 
the Cattegat, before the Sound; I think it must have been a tribute 
to the shock caused by the encounter of the two seas. Then on 



APPENDIX 241 

Friday, or rather Thnrsday the 27th, when we were arriying at 
Cronstadt^ the weather was very bad, and I mast confess that that 
evening and night I did feel uneasy. It wasn't cowardice. The 
captain himself was anxious, and, indeed, the heavy rain and the 
darkness of the night, besides the number of small rocks that stick 
out of the water here, and could not be seen at all on account of the 
darkness, made our situation pretty serious, I assure you. Thank 
Heaven, though, I got on very welL When the captain came to 
say ¥re were at anchor, I felt a wonderful gladness, and yet, all of a 
sudden, I began to cry, for I could not help saying to myself: 
' Yes, I'm here t And what have I come for ? Where shall I find 
any friends?' 

** Well, Heaven has not forsaken me. If it had not found friends 
for me, at any rate it has found benefactors, and I am as comfort- 
able as I could possibly have expected to be. At Gourt^ while 
I stayed there, every one, beginning at the very top, was eager to 
show me respect and interest ; and, here in the town, many people 
help to make my life happy and tranquiL There are little groups 
in which I am certain I shall enjoy myself when I am more at my 
ease. I am received most cordially and flatteringly; it seems a 
kindly, quiet sort of set ; every one in eager to be nice to me, and 
there are not too many pe(^la Ease, without which there is no 
such thing as society, is the dominant note in this set. But, 
Charlotte dear, don't imagine that Tm already devoted to these folk. 
I shall never care deeply for any one again, nor make any other 
dose friMidship. It was She who drew us together, Charlotte { my 
love for you shall be my last and dearest devotioo, I promise you. 
Oood-bye, my dear ; I think of you a thousand tunes a day ; I am 
happy now, for I am doing something for you, and to prove my love 
for you is one of the ways to make me happy. If you see H«B,H. 
the Prince of Wales, lay my respectful homage at his f eet^ and teU 
him that my prayers follow him always. Yesterday I bought a 
carriage which is really quite new, and yet it only cost me 115 louis; 
I drove to my ball in it last night (about IS miles from here) 
over a pavement that no one could imagine if they had not driven 
over it! My dear; in one minute I spent as much money as I did in 
the whole of the last year I lived in England. I use only four 

R 



242 APPENDIX 

hcmws, and that shows how moderate I am, for a lady in my 
position Ought not to have less than six. They threaten me with 
having to order the 'St. Catherine' liveries, which would cost 
1200 roables, that is, 150 loois. Compare this picture, dear 
Charlotte, with that of two months ago, when, with my linen frock 
lacked ap under my arm, I was going about alone in the streets, 
knocking at Charlotte's door — and now, driving about in my own 
carriage, drawn by four horses, with two lackeys behind, dressed out^ 
feathers in my hair — in short, a lady of fashion I Doesn't it seem 
like a dream, Charlottef I assure you it does to me ; and I assure 
you alio^ my dear, that the idea of coming seemed impossible — this 
world is not like the one we lived in then. The sacrifice was 
necessary ; it had to be made ; that was inevitable for both of us. 
I believed, at any rate, that I had to make it ; and every minute I 
congratulate myself on having done so. Adieu ! I hope you will 
have noticed the date of one ci my letters; lam the more particular 
about this, since receiving yours of yesterday. Send my letters under 
cover to M. Withworth, your Minister here ; and don't let them be 
quite so thick, so as not to tax your Government too severely. 

*< P.S.^A thousand loving remembrances to your moMiet and 
your son. What a mania for marriage you've got, all of a sudden, 
and where are all your husbands t Ton hid them very well from me, 
for a whole year. I never beheld one of them ; and you have two, 
my dear I I had a good laugh, I can tell you I What are their 
names t And when is either of the two marriages to come off?" 

St. PeterBboig, October 15, 1797. 
**I am alone to-day, my Charlotte; a year ago this very day I 
was with you ; I had the relief of speech, but I could not feel more 
deeply than I do now the terrible anniversary which this shameful 
day marks for us. At this hour we were on the Bichmond Road. 
Yes, Charlotte dear, I am thinking sadly of her^ whom I loved 
more than all the world besides, to whom I would have sacrifioed 
anything. That thought is my one solace now ; that thought stays 
with me still, the thought of Her, of Her aUme. ... It is eleven 
o'clock now. Where was She thent I evoke it all — the whole 



APPENDIX 243 

Boene^ afresh ; I hare read again the lamentable story of her final 
sufieringB, and my heart is oppressed — ^I feel almost orazy — ^I knov 
not what I want to say I I assure you, Charlotte, that it makes 
me happier to tell yon all this ; particularly to-day, when I'm so 
miserable, my friendship with yoa is a consolation — ah! you see I 
cannot write coherently. I feel so ill I wish I could talk to 
somebody, and tell them about myself; but how can 1 1 There is 
no one at all to listen to me. For who can understand all that we 
feel about herf No one, no one. It's better to say nothing, and 
I have said nothing ; I haven't spoken of the anniversaiy, not eren 
to M. de C. If I wasn't feeling so serious, Td tell you that he 
bores me to death. He's the most exacting creature in the world, 
and I am only sorry that I brought him with me. He has done 
not a bit of good here, and he is going back to you. Don't tell 
him that I're spoken of him like this ; he would be horrified. Now 
enough of him I 

*< For a whole week Fre been thinking sadly of to-morrow. The 
little circle of people I know best were to play a little comedy for 
the King of Poland. I thought that the 16th was the day they 
had fixed on. The idea came into my head at a party — a supper- 
party, on Thursday erening, at the Prince Kowakin's. I never 
like to speak of my feelings and my memmes ; one must suffer in 
silence. I was quite determined not to go, Charlotte ; you won't, 
I hope, imagine that I debated Aai for a moment; but I was 
worried, for I didn't quite know how I was going to get out of it 
without saying why. A lady, who is always very very kind to me, 
saw by my face that I was unhappy about something. * What is 
it| dumt' she said to me. < You're sad.' I said, <0h nol it's 
nothing.' *But I see you; I see there's something wrong.' And 
at last I had to tell her. • • • The little entertainment came off 
yesterday. It was charming, but it made me so sad that I could 
not hide my sadness. AU things of that kind have a most curious 
efibct upon me quite different from what they have of other people. 
Still, I must admit (the Comedy was well acted, by people whom 
I see a great deal of), I was interested — ^very much insulted ; and 
yet, when it was over, there was nothing but melancholy in my 
heart. I came home to bed, and to thoughts of Her and you ; and 



244 APPENDIX 

thia morning, I had an immenM letter from yoa which Fll answer 
to-morrow. I haye read it ; and I was very near being late for a 
long long mass — it took two hours. This evening, I had intended 
to spend here, all by mysell I refused a sapper invitation from a 
kind young woman of whom M. de OL will tell yon ; and I meant 
to return here. Another lady (the one I mentioned first) sent her 
husband to tell me that she was ill, and that she would be alone 
and would I not oomet So when I had been to a tea-party that I 
was engaged for, I did go there, but indeed I was very sad, and 
more silent than usual. (How people can treat me as th^ do in 
this country, I don't know — ^they are certainly most kind). I was 
determined, at any rate^ to leave the party before ten o'clock. 
They tried to prevent me^ but I insisted. At ten o'clock I put 
on my gloves, but they said ; ' You shan't go ! ' and at last the 
mistress of the house, thinking of what I had confided to her a 
coupleof days before, said tome: 'Whatdayis to-day t' . . . Seeing 
that she had guessed, I said, turning away with my poor heart 
swelling : * Don't speak to me of the day I ' ... I came back here 
alone to weep for my Queen, and to implore God to make me worthy 
to be with her again, and that soon — ^if he will indeed permit me 
to see her again, where $he surely is. I have much to atone for — 
I feel it, know it ; but I do in truth even now atone for much* I 
swear to you, Charlotte, I have never dared to put into words with 
you what you q)eak of to me to-day, — and with an ^a^atn,' under- 
lined. Do you think that I wished it to be so— tell me, do yout 
No, no ; Oharlotte oouldf never think that I If I did ever tell 
you, Charlotte, all that I could tell you, it's because I love you 
with all my heart, and because I'm sad, and haunted by memories. 
. . « To-morrow, I shall be alone all day; I won't see my brother- 
in-law, or anyone else. My door will be fast shut, and I shall return 
to you, and tell you all I am feeling." 

St Petetsbuig, Ooiober 16, 1797. 

** The date, my dear Charlotte, will be enough to tell you what I 

am mournfully thinking ot I began my day by gmng to church 

to hear a mass tor Her ; and to listen there to those dear sacred 

names of Hers. The mass was said by two T^ppists, and I was 



APPENDIX 245 

very sorry that I had not aaked the Abb6 to say it. . . . What 
odd incidents there are in the history of our resolution ! I await 
the portrait with a respectful interest, and I thank you in adyance 
for all the pleasure it will giye me. Ah, my dear Charlotte, what 
a sad day ! My heart aches so deeply and feels so heavy that it's 
as if I were carrying a load, and if I don't think clearly, I am soon 
enough reminded of everything by the pain of it. I can't speak of 
anything but Her. To-day is mail-day ; so I must defer until next 
time my answer to your last letter, for I must go and talk about 
her to some other friends, who loved her too. I have the dress, 
and it's charming. That's all I can say about it, Adieu. I love 
you for Her and for yourself, with all my heart." 

St. Petersburg, October 16, 1797. 
** When I stopped writing to you last night, I went to bed and to 
rest my poor head. I read for half an hour that lovely romance 
of Paul and Virginia, My candle went out. Just like that» four 
years ago^ some hours earlier — one of the world's choicest treasures 
went out to. ... I gave myself up to sad thoughts ; I imagined to 
myself all that she, so lowly tormented, must have suffered then. 
But somehow I fell asleep, and I slept on untO the fatal hour when 
She must have realized how few more hours were left to her on 
that earth where she was so worshipped. All my thoughts were 
fixed on her, I lay awake for several hours in great agitation ; then 
I went to sleep again, and at eight o'clock I was awakened so as 
to go to hear the mass where her loved name should fall once more 
upon my ears. I set off, accompanied by a French nobleman, whom 
I love and esteem, because he regrets his Sovereigns as I do. His 
kind heart comforted mine; the time I spent with him instilled 
solace into my soul, and I was not so unhappy when I came back 
from mass. I constantly read over with him all that I have writtem 
especially all that I remember her having said in and befwe the 
days of her long martyrdom. He will put it all in order, and 
make these fragments as interesting as they ought to be. I was 
interrupted in this occupation by a man who belongs to this place, 
and whom I met in France, when LL.MM.n. came there to see the 
objects of my love and sorrow. This man — ^whom I like better than 

B 3 



246 APPENDIX 

any othor I haye met here— baa giyen me a tbooaand prooii d hla 
iateieat in me^ which I prize aa oomin^ from a heart like hia. He 
knew the annivenarf , and spoke to me reverently of it ; he la the 
only person I have seen to<lay. Bat my dear Charlotte, I moat 
shut out all eztraneoua thoughts and think only that She eodsta no 
more^ and that her end was hastened by the villany and fool 
revenge of hnman beings, formerly her snbjeots, formerly her 
worshippersi beings with hearta — ^nol they had no hearts, sinoe 
they shed . . , since they put an end to that existence • . . when 
her rank, her character, her face. . • • 

'*Last year I was with you all through this day; we wept 
together for the Queen ol Love ; to-day, alone with my sad heart, 
I can only write to you. Distance separates our bodies; but our 
souls and our thoughts and our t^^^g^ are the same, and I know 
that Charlotte and Louise are together to-day. 



After difimer, 
** I dined alone. I ate little, Charlotte. Last year, I dined at 
your bedside, and I remember that when our dinner had been 
served, you told me an anecdote about the little Prince which made 
me cry. This year I did not cry at dinner ; but I felt even sadder 
than I had felt then. The solitude and isolation, and the want of 
intimate friends, made be doubly sad. But I must not let myself 
think of myself. A voice ordered me to do as I did and I was 
bound to follow it — ^'twas the voice of Right and Well-doing.'* 



Before going to hecU 
** I want to talk to you one moment longer about tins sad day, 
now that it is wrapped in night's shadows. The crime is committed, 
and I bury it in the bottom of my heart; the memory of it lives 
there for ever; but I will speak no m<»e of it, Charlotta All 
to-day I was Her's alone; I forgot every one else^ and I lived only 
for my old friends, just as if I were not in Russia at alL M. de 
Cruasd came while I was at supper, and at half-past eleven he told 



APPENDIX 247 

me^ withoat my in tbe least wantixig to know, where he had 
rapped. . . . 



Morning of the mth. 
^ Many things haye happened to distract me since I came here, 
my Charlotte, as yon may see from the fact of my having written 
to yon on the tenth, 7th Angnst, withoat noticing the date. I should 
never f otgive myself for it, if I had really forgotten, if those events 
had not been as present to my poor heart as they always are, and 
always will be, I should be angry with myself; and I should tell 
you the truth quite franJkly, even if I were to lose by doing so what 
I should not wish to have on false pretences — ^but that fault (if it 
was one) was not through want of heart. No 1 I can answer for 
my heart ; it is good and true. Since you wished it, I wish I had 
written to you on St. Louis' day ; but I would swear that I never 
did write to you unless it was mail-day; and that that was the 
first time I wrote to you several days running. The sad circumstance 
was certainly enough for one to do something out of the way. 
Don't scold me, if you can help it. You're really too fond of 
scolding. To-day it's about a watdi; the nezt^ about yourself] 
My dear, you are very good at curing one of little fancies ; you've 
quite cured me of mine for my little watch, and I no longer think 
at all of the pleasure it used to give me ; but only of what it 
gives you, since it comes from me. You must admit that that's a 
very nice way of speaking about a sacrifice, for I won't conceal 
from you that it wa$ one for me. And as to your watch, Charlotte^ 
I think the watchmaker must have sdd it— I've been vainly asking 
for it, for the last six weeks. When you write several sheets do 
number them. . • •* 

** St PetoEBlniig, Hovembar 6 (1797). 
««Mr. Keith has arrived, my dear Charlotte^ and the morning of 
the veiy day c£ his arrival (Friday) he sent me your letters ; and 
this evening he sent the case, which I think charming, especially the 
top. I assure you that it gave me intense pleasure; but what sacrifice 
have you made me— where did you get all that hair t It can't be of 



248 APPENDIX 

reoent cntfcing ; there are so few white hairs that I ehoold ecarcely 
reoogniie them for those dear treaaes. In London yon showed me 
only & tiny bit. Where did yoa get these! I thank yon most 
gratefully for snch a sacrifioe ; I confess that it woold hare been 
beyond me, and so I feel all the more grateful. Tm so afraid ci 
breaking either of the glasses ; the case Ib so high. I must have 
seen heie like that, but I do not remember it; the earliest memory 
I have of her in seeiog her twenly-one years ago at some races ; and 
I remember her dress better than her charming face. The copy is 
very well done, and I have had the pleasure of wnLmimng it twice. 
It was given to me by artificial lights and next day it seemed quite 
different, the daylight improved it ever so much; I thank you a 
thousand times. It is the most delightful gift I could have had. 
The cameo is very pretty. I imagine it wouldfain be your portrait, 
and is really the portrait of Thor's daughter; she is rather 
elongated, poor little lady, but apparently the qualities of her heart 
atone for the defects of her face. My dear, you're mad with your 
* fashions ' I Let me tell you that, except when I go to Court, Pm 
just as I was in London, almost always in black-and-white linen 
gown. All the women, you know, dress themselves up, if you 
please, nearly every day. I never cared about that kind of thing — 
indeed, I detested it ; and having to dress myself up four times a 
week makes me incredibly lazy on the days that, with joy untold, I 
can rest from all that bother. My friends are always laughing at 
me for my dowdiness — ^so you see what I've come to. As to having 
to wear warm clothing in Russia, as you think one has, you are 
quite mistaken. Once inside the street door, the houses are so 
warm that a very thin dress is by far the best to wear. So muslin 
is better than warm materials. One has to wear fur-cloaks, and 
well padded ones too, when one is going out, even from one house 
to another. That is necessary here; but indoors one would be 
suffocated in padded clothes. I used to think the same as you. I 
had a dress made in London, and I've only worn it once or twice, 
and then I thought I would die of heat; so you see it will hang in 
my wardrobe for a long time. 

*^ Yes, I like caricatures ; why not t I don't see anything wrong 
about them. And I don't care whether they're of Bonaparte, or any 



APPENDIX 249 

other of those gentlemen. To tell 70a the truth, I wish they would 
do something worse to them than only make fun of them ; but now, 
with the way Lord Nelson of the Nile has disposed of Bonaparte, 
one certainly can haye a good laugh at him. He doesn't carry the 
austerity of his principles as far as you do, my dear Charlotte, 

"I shall have the inscription of the Queen's portrait changed; 
her name is wrong. It ought to be *M. A« de Lorraine, Arch- 
duchess of Austria.' The portrait is charming, but all the same it 
is not ihe Queen toe knew ; and I loved her so much better than 
when that portrait was done. Adorable lady I She was always 
beautiful and sweet. My dear, Fm ashamed to say Tve f wgotten 
to tell you that the portrait, though it didn't come on our day of 
mourningi did arrive on November 2, her natal day. I thought of 
Her all day long ; and when Mr« Keith came, it quite distracted 
me, fcHT everything that reminds me of England puts me in such a 
state of mind. I talked to him about the case; and he tells me 
that he had given it to the captain and bagged him to put it in his 
pocket, and that he was to see him again in the afternoon. Imagine 
my uneasiness and impatience I I made a lackey wait at my house 
all day, and about eight o'clock the precious case was brought to me. 
I thank you for it with all my heart. I wish I could send you 
something as precious, but I haven't an idea what to send. For the 
rest, I haven't got anything, not even the black glass for my friend. 
My dear Charlotte, -you will never cure yourself of giving little 
eavfB de paUe; you know that I never guess anything; but 
still ... I That black glass must be for some one who draws, and 
since I take the trouble of doing your commissions, it must be for 
some one I like. Adieu, my dear ! Forgive this small reflection. 
But though you're so used to liberty, you don't allow me many 
liberties, I think. Well, it's better to give them back than to 
have them stolen— and so I do, you see I A thousand kisses 1 " 

Letter from ChmU Henri de Fratti to Lady AAyne. 

•• Tassday, Januaiy 1, 1606. 
** Nobody does you more justice than I do, madame ; nobody 
reveres you more. Hie devotion which the Frendi people displayed 



250 APPENDIX 

during the BeTolutum was no more than their duty. They owed 
the lacrifioe of their lives to the cause of the restoration of the 
Monarchy, and of order to the oonntiy. 

''But you, madam, a native of England, you, with your feeling 
heart, have undertaken for this just cause more than could have 
been hoped for from a lady, and a lady who was a foreigner, and 
whom nothing bound in any way to our sovereigns, our country, 
and our troubles. By risking your life, as you have done several 
times, you have acquired a right to the respectful gratitude of all 
honourable frenchmen. 

" My own present troubles may make me more unhappy in 
certain circumstances, but shall never make me unjust. Appear- 
ances may be against me^ On your return I shall open my heart to 
you, and you shall judge. All I can say here is, that I have lost 
everything. I have a son still, but he is in the enemy's chains, and 
that enemy has means of intelligence everywhere, which informs 
him both of what b and of what is not. lought to be more circom- 
spect than others ; but| all the same, no consideration shall prevent 
me from keeping my promises. If I meet unjust men as I go along, 
80 much the worse for the master whom they serve, and for the 
faithful subjects who may have relations with them, particularly in 
these critical times. What I now have the honour to write to 
you, will be an enigma to you for the present. I will explain to 
you when you return, but I think I may presume that your discern- 
ment will have given you an indication to the solution. No, 
madam, it was not because the money was not delivered to me at 
the time you arranged that I had ceased to ask for it. I remember 
very well that you were kind enough to say you would lend the 
200 francs which I asked you for, if it was possible for you to do 
80. The impulse which moved me in that matter was natural in an 
unhappy father, deserted and mourned for by those who ought to 
have protected him. I added, in speaking to you then, that I had 
inherited some means from my father, which would put me in a 
position to be able to pay this debt ; but that heritage was in 
reality such a small affidr I dare not run the risk of embarrassing 
my friends if Ood were to cut short my career. And (hoi is why I 
ask you not to do anything further in that affair. 



APPENDIX 251 

** Accept my deep regrets for having troubled jon at a moment 
which most be so painful to you. I have shared your too-jusb 
regrets, and all through my life I shall sympathize with anything 
that concerns your affections. It is the natural consequence of 
my respectful and undying attachment for the friend of my un- 
f (wtunate son. 

" My friend assures yon of his respect, and of the sympathy he 
felt in the cruel loss which you have suffered." 

Will of Lady Aikym. 

»Januaiy6,1885. 

^ I, Charlotte Atkyns, give to Victoire Bh, my maid-servant^ at 
present in my service, all e£focts of furniture, linen, wearing-apparel 
and silver that I possess ; and, generally, all objects which may be 
found in my room, in my house, or lodging, at the date of my 
decease, whatever they may be; and also my carriage. I give 
moreover to the said Victoire Ilh, the sum of £120 sterling, which 
is due to me to^lay from Nathaliel William Peach, of 13, SavUle 
Street, London, and of Eetteringham in the County of Norfolk, or 
from his heirs, which sum shall be payed on demand to the said 
Victoire Ilh, after my decease. I further give to Victoire Ilh the 
sum of £1000 sterling, which shall be paid to her within three 
months of my death. 

''I charge these gifts on the Norfolk property, which is at present 
in the possession of the said Nathaliel W. Peach as a guarantee 
for all my debts, I having mortgaged the said property in favour of 
my sister-in-law, the late Mary Atkyns, for £18,000 sterling, and 
in addition for an annuity of £500 sterling payable quarterly each 
year ; and as in consequence the freehold belongs to me, I charge it 
with the payment of my lawful debts, and of my funeral expenses. 

** 1 desire that my body be taken to Ketteringham and interred 
in the family vault ; and that my name and age be inscribed on 
a plain marble stone, near the monument of my late dear son. I 
have mentioned in another will the names of some friends from 
whom I beg acceptance of some souvenirs of my consideration and 
esteem. I give the box which I have left with Messrs. Barnard 



252 APPENDIX 

and Go., N. Bankers, Cktmhill, London, to Mr. Nathaliel W. Feaoh. 
It contains some pieces of silver. I left it there, I think, on 
November 10, 1832. I give the freehold of all my properties in 
Norfolk to Nathaliel W. Peach for the payment of all charges and 
debts, present and future. I give £100 sterling to my servant, 
Jean-Bi^itiste Brard, native of Switzerland, who has served me 
faithfully for five years, and whose conduct has always been regular. 
As to that of Yictoire Sh, ever since she came into my service^ 
it has been beyond all praise. This girl was not bom to wait upon 
others ; she belonged to a very respectable family of Munich. I 
appoint Nathaliel W. Peach my executor. I request that im* 
mediately after my death the Ckmnsel for the British Embassy, 
Mr. Okey (or whoever may be Gounsel at the time) be sent for ; 
and I desire him to be good enough to act for Mr. Nathaliel W. 
Peach here at Paris. 
'<In the name of God, I sign the present testament." 



THE END 



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