A Conspiracy Under the Terror: Marie Antoinette, Toulan, Jarjayes

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Preface

It might have been expected that, after the 2ist of January, the King's death would have fiilly satisfied the revolutionary passions which the Convention had so willingly obeyed, and that the prisoners who were still at the Temple — the Queen, Madame Elisabeth, and the royal children — would no longer have had to fear for their lives. Such vain hopes, however, were not lasting, and it soon became plain to all who were interested in the fortunes of the Royal Family that its members, and especially Marie Antoinette, would soon be in danger of death. Far from being appeased by misfortune, the hatred which had so long been felt against Marie Antoinette, who was called r Autrichienne (* the Austrian *), had grown more violent and more bitter against her since the war had become almost general, and had united PrussU, Austria, England, Spain, Holland, and Sardinia in their struggle against France, or rather against the French Revolution.

ift Events were fast succeeding one another, and

00 the situation was now assuming a very gloomy aspect.

ID

X vi A CONSPIRACY UNDER THE TERROR

The Girondins, who were in power, and who composed the Cabinet at the time of the execution of Louis XVI., did not seem capable of resisting the storm, and it was easy to foresee a time when this party would be powerless in the struggle against the revolutionary agitation ; for it was composed of men relatively moderate, but wanting the energy needful in the awful events which were then taking place. Everything went to show that the populace would soon be triumphant.

Justly frightened at such a prospect, a few wise and thoughtful men met together and formed the bold but perilous plan of snatching from their jailers the Temple prisoners — two women and two children, for these jailers were now ready to become their executioners.

Three different attempts were made to save the Royal Family. Ranking first in date was the attempt made by Toulan and the Chevalier de Jarjayes. The second was planned by Michonis and Cortey at the instigation of the Baron de Batz, that extraordinary conspirator whose existence has remained in many points, in spite of all investigations, mysterious and obscure. The third, which was barely outlined, seems to have been limited to a visit which the Chevalier de Rougeville, introduced by Michonis, paid to the Queen in her cell at the Conciergerie.

* A Conspiracy under the Terror ' relates the first of those three attempts.

PREFACE vii

It may interest the reader to know how I came to write this narrative.

One day, some fifteen years ago, I was shown a few autograph notes from Marie Antoinette and an autograph letter from the Comte de Provence. They belonged and still belong to a lady ^ who received them from a descendant by marriage of the Chevalier de Jarjayes, to whom they were addressed. Their authenticity, therefore, cannot be suspected.

The letter was then partly unpublished, and the notes had never been printed. These were invaluable documents ; for not only have Marie Antoinette's autographs dating from her captivity always been few in number, but, several of them having been destroyed, they have now become very rare.

Written on small pieces of coarse paper, yellow with age, the characters were not in the least faded, and reproduced with perfect clearness the unfortunate Queen's well-known handwriting. One of them is in mysterious language, and consequently rather difficult to interpret. The others contained allusions to various people whose names are not mentioned, and to facts which are not defined ; they thus call for attention and excite curiosity.

It was while trying to solve these historical problems that the main facts in this volume came almost of their own accord to my notice. A very learned monograph, written by M. Lion

' A relative of the author.

viii A CONSPIRACY UNDER THE TERROR

Lecestre and published in the * Revue des Questions Historiques ' for April 1886, served me as a guide ; and thus it was that I wrote * A Conspiracy under the Terror.'

I did not limit myself to the single narrative of the plan of escape formed by Toulan and the Chevalier de Jarjayes — ^Toulan is too interesting a character to be dismissed so abruptiy ; and, as I found in a dossier of the Revolutionary Tribunal a whole series of documents, notes, and letters concerning him, I followed this heroic Gascon on to" the end of his adventurous life.

Beyond the pleasure the reader may derive from a closer acquaintanceship with Toulan, he will be able more closely to associate himself with the society to which this man belonged ; whilst the life of Toulan is a good example of the manners of the half lower-class, half middle-class people during the revolutionary tempest.

Need I say that I have endeavoured to judge men and events impartially, and that my sole ambition has been to approve myself a truthful historian ? , As I said in an earlier Preface, * I have tried to form an opinion by the aid of documents, and have not sought for documents in order to uphold an opinion.'

PAUL GAULOT.

Chapter I. PAGE

The Royalists are Discouraged after January 21 — ^The Chevalier de Jarjayes — General de Bourcet — M. de Jarjayes* Marriage — The First Ladies in Waiting to the Queen — Importance of this Office — Missions given to the Chevalier — ^The Comte d'Artois in Turin — Relations between the Court and Bamave — ^Secret Correspondence — Note in Disguised Language — Roxane and Lucius — ^The Eve of August 10 — ^The Stenographer's Lodge — M. de Jarjayes' Despair — He is on the Point of leaving Paris — February 2, 1793 — The Queen's Envoy — ^Toulan 31

Chapter II

June 30, 1789— The Caf(6 de Foy— At the Palais Royal— The Gardes Fran^aises at the Abbaye— Popular Agitation — The Prison Doors are Forced — ^The Night at the Variety Theatre — ^Appeal to the Assembl6e Constituante — Delegation of Sixteen Members to the King — ^The King's Answer — ^The Pnsoners are set Free — Toulan, his Origin and Marriage — He comes to Paris — District President of the Federation of 1790 — ^A Rioter on August 10 — Member of the Society of the loth of August Men — Member of the Commune — He is on Guard at the Temple on September 19, 1792 — His Devotion to the Prisoners — His Revolutionary Attitude and Language — Minor Services he Renders — His Fears for the Queen after January 21— He makes a Plan to Save her — The Queen's Acceptance — Toulan's Mission to Jarjayes 45

CONTENTS xi

Chapter III. PAGE

Conversation between Toulan and De Jarjayes — The Latter wishes to see die Queen — Difficulties of such an Enterprise — ^The Couple Tison — Precautions taken by the Commune regarding them — Second Interview — Second Note from the Queen — ^Toulan finds a Means — The Chevalier Disguises himself—He enters the Temple — He sees the Queen — Description of Marie Antoinette's Room — The Chevalier's Emotion — Fears of the Queen — ^Third Note— Jarjayes* Answer— Fourth Note 6i

Chapter IV

Frequent Interviews between Toulan and Jarjayes, Toulan, and the Queen — The Prisoners refiise to be separated — Vigilance of the Commissioners at the Temple- Organisation of the Guards' Service — The Two Commissioners — Necessity of finding Accomplices — A Difficult Choice— The Queen decides 71

Chapter V

Jacques Francois Lepitre — His Disposition — Representative of the Paris Commune — Member of the Provisional Commune — On Duty at the Temple for the First Time — His Secret Royalism — He Discloses his Personality to the King and Queen— His Connection with Toulan — He offers a Song to Louis XVII. — He is appointed President of the Passport Committee . . . 75

Chapter VI

Lepitre's Imagination at Work— Reflections— The Queen insists — He must be put in the Secret at any Cost — Money Sacrifice— Appeal to M. de la Borde — Jarjayes refuses this New Aid — Too many Accomplices — Fifth Note— Jarjayes and Lepttre — Agreement —Sixth and Seventh Letters— The Gold Box 80 xii A CONSPIRACY UNDER THE TERROR

Chapter VII. PACK

Plan of Escape— Meeting at Lepttre's House— Toulan brings his Friend Ricard — Parts are Distributed — Precautions taken at the Temple against Indiscretions — ^The Queen and Madame Elisabeth to Disguise, themselves — Clothes are Brought to the Temple by the Commissioners — Toulan's Hat — Three-coloured Scarves — Marie Th^r^se's Disguise — ^The Lamplighter and his Children— Difficulty to bring out Louis XVII. — ^A New Accomplice 85

CHA.PTER VIII.

August 13 at the Temple Gate— Ruse employed by Turgy to follow the Royal Family — Services rendered — Secret Corresppndence — Easy Communications with the People outside — ^The young King — He is to be Carried off in a Basket 92

Chapter IX

Tison and his Wife had to be Baffled in their Watch — Spanish Tobacco — ^A Narcotic— Leaving the Temple — The Queen and Lepttre — Madame Royale and Ricard — ^The young King and Turgy— Madame Elisabeth and Toulan— Rue de la Corderie — The Three Cabs — Flight towards Havre — Amabert— Chances of Success 98

Chapter X

Lepttre's Tergiversations— His Fears— The Pretexts he gives for Delaying the Execution of the Plan— No Time to be Lost — ^The Queen Endeavours to overcome his Faint-heartedness— March i, 1793— 'Filial Piety*— Hair from the Queen, the Little King, and Marie Th^r^se^* Poco ama ch 'il morir teme*— <Tutto per loro'— Cap knitted by Madame Elisabeth— Outside Complications 108

CONTENTS xiii

Chapter II

The Queen sends the Articles to Jarjayes through Toulan — Letter sent with Them— The Chevalier's JDouble Mission — At Brussels — ^A Friend of the Queen, le Comte Jean Axel de Fersen — His Journey to Paris in February 1792 — At Hamm — The King's Brother — Old Souvenirs — Prejudice and Fears — ^The Emperor Francis II. — The Queen's Debts — Septeuil, Ex-Treasurer of the Civil List — Letters from Marie Antoinette, Madame Elisabeth, and the Royal Children to le Comte de Provence and le Comte d'Artois— Last Letter from Marie Antoinette to M. de Jarjayes — * Good-bye' . 131

Chapter III

M. de Jarjayes' Departure — M. de Joly— Madame de Jarjayes remains in Paris — Dangers which she runs — M. de Jarjayes at Turin — The Court of Sardinia— The Emigrants' Talk about the Chevalier — Le Comte de Provence's Message— Surprise of this Prince — Letter of Thanks — The Queen is not informed of the Success of the Mission — Madame Royale's Narrative — Cl^ry at Blankenberg 145

XIV A CONSPIRACY UNDER THE TERROR PART IV.

CONSEQUENCES OF THE CONSPIRACY.

Chapter I. PACB

Suspicions — Arthur's First Denunciation — Lepitre's and Toulan's Justification — They are removed from Duty at the Temple — The Tisons give Information — Search at the Prisoners' — Toulan's Hat— Madness of the Woman Tison 157

Chapter IL

Toulan in the Precincts of the Temple— Signals agreed upon — Correspondence through Turgys Intervention — Note from Madame Elisabeth — * Produse' — Political Agitation — The Committee of Twelve — Opposition of the Commune — Petition against the Girondins — Lepitre refuses to Sign — Toulan signs — Insurrection on May 31 and June 2 — Toulan goes into the Suburbs — Attempt by the Baron de Batz unknown to Toulan 165

Chapter III

Prophecies — 'Mirabilis Liber' — Louis XVII. parted from his Mother — Toulan informed of Everything through Letters from Madame Elisabeth — Official Attempt at Release — Maret and Semonville — Austria's Policy — M. de Thugut — ^Arrest of Plenipotentiaries — Popular Exasperation — Reverses in La Vendue — Mayence and Valenciennes surrender — Scarcity of Food — The Com mittee of Public Safety is renewed— Marie Antoinette, sent before the Revolutionary Tribunal, is taken to the Conciergerie — Toulan and Michonis — ^The Chevalier de Rougeville — Re-election of the Commune Council — Neither Toulan nor Lepttre is re-elected 173

CONTENTS XV

Chapter IV. PAGB

Toulan arrested on October 7 — His Self-control — He escapes— October 8 — Lepitre's Arrest— Sainte-P^lajie —The Queen's Trial, October 14-16— Lepttre as a Witness — His Evidence — ^Arrest of Madame de Jarjayes —Sentence and Execution of Marie Antoinette, October 16 .184

Chapter V

Toulan Leaves Paris on October 7 — Neuilly-sur-Mame — Antedated Passport — He returns to Paris — Signals — His Imprudence — Madame Elisabeth's Recommendation — Interview with Turgy — Toulan' s Last Letter — Last Answer, which does not reach him — Flight from Paris — Corbeil — The Auxerre Coach — La Charity — Toulouse 195

Chapter VI

The Rumour of the Accusation has preceded Toulan at Toulouse — Danger of Staying longer in that Town — He thinks of Fleeing— Falsified Passport— Departure from Toulouse on October 26— Arrival in Bordeaux — The Miserable House on the Quay at Royan— Public Writer — The Romance of * Rosalie ' . .201

Chapter VII

Toulan settled in Bordeaux— He tries to Start in Business— His Correspondence with his Wife and Cousin— Ricard — Ricardin — Guy ... 218 xvi A CONSPIRACY UNDER THE TERROR

Chapter VIII. PACK

Germaine Toulan in Bordeaux— News from Paris — Trial of Toulan's Accomplices (November 1793) — ^They are Acquitted — Toulan resumes his own Name— Card of Citizenship — He is arrested on 5th of Germinal, Year II. (March 25, 1794)— His Examination— He is denounced to Isabeau — ^The Latter pays no Heed— Toulan in Prison 249

Chapter IX

Increase of the Terror— The Guillotine is taken to the Place du Trdne Renvers^— Toulan in Paris— The Revolutionary Tribunal— Judges and Jurymen— The Indictment — His Companions — Verdict — Sentence of Death — Execution 278

Chapter X. Conclusion , . 287

ILLUSTRATIONS

Marie Antoinette Frontispiece

The Temple in 1792 .... To face p, 13

Facsimile of Letter found among Jarjayes' Papers „ 36

Facsimile of Letter from Marie Antoinette „ 70

Facsimile of Letter from Marie Antoinette ,,132

Facsimile of Letter from the Comte de Provence „ 15a

Part I THE STAY AT THE TEMPLE August 13, 1792 — January 21, 1793

The Return to Paris after the October Days— The Royal Family Prisoners in the Tuileries — ^The Flight to Varennes — The Agony of the Monarchy — Insults to the Royal Family — August lo — The Feuillants.

When Louis XVL, yielding to the demands of the rioters, came back to Paris with his family, after the October days of 1789, it was in reality the beginning of a captivity which was to end in the death of all of them except his daughter, Marie Thirise.

If the King had any delusion when he left Versailles in order to satisfy the wishes of the Parisians, who had expressed them in so strange a manner, he was not long deceived. The Tuileries were nothing more than a kind of prison for their Majesties, with the National Guards, under the command of La Fayette, for gaolers ; and the honours rendered to the royal persons ill disguised the close watch to which they were submitted.

The King made one attempt, if not to recover his authority, at least to evade this humiliating control ; however this plan, badly prepared and quite as badly executed, foiled, on June 21, 1791.

B2

Arrested at Varennes, the fugitives were brought back to Paris, and the only result of their futile attempt was to aggravate and render their position more awkward.

From that time the struggle between the people and the monarchy, which until then had preserved some appearance of respect, became bitter, violent, and unrelenting. Agitated, defiant, spiteful, Paris was in want of a victim ; it had got hold of one and meant to keep it.

Louis XVI. was beaten beforehand. Of all the sovereigns the branch of the Bourbons has given to France he certainly was the least fit either to understand the aspirations of his time or to aid them in so far as they were right, or even to fight them when they might create danger or be fatal. He had a kind heart, but his intellect was very poor ; and his education, as well as a natural tendency, had left in his disposition a sort of bashfulness and want of self-confidence which completely paralysed him. He was afraid of giving orders, and feared more than anything having to speak to an assembly. Besides, nature had not favoured him. True, his features did not lack nobleness, but he looked sad, his gait was heavy without dignity, he took no care of his appearance ; however skilled his hairdresser may have been, his hair was soon untidy from the absence of attention to his dress. His voice, though not harsh, had an unpleasant ring in it ; and if he got excited, it would pass suddenly to a shrill tone.^ In a word, nothing in his physique answered the conception that people might still form of royal majesty.

The Queen, on the contrary, seemed to be gifted with every good quality in which the King was lacking. Legend, which has appropriated the whole of that period, has made a splendid portrait of her ; and dthough history is more sedate, it does not altogether contradict legend on this point. This is the description it has given us through the pen of a contemporary who was in a situation to know, a d who could afford to speak the truth. This was Senac de Meilhan.

* Marie Antoinette of Austria,' he wrpte, * was striking rather than beautiful. None of her features taken apart were particularly good, but their ensemble was extremely pleasing. The word charms, which is so often used, was the real one to describe her graceful face. There was not a woman who could hold her head as she did ; it was poised on her shoulders so as to give grace and dignity to every one of its movements. Her gait was at once light and proud, and reminded one of Virgil's saying, " Incessu patuit Dea." What struck one most in her was this mixture of gracefulness and imposing dignity. She was by no means clever, and did not pretend to be ; yet she had something about her,

^ Mimoires de Madame Campan^ vol. L p. 123, vol. il p. 23a.

a kind of inspiration, which always prompted her to say the right thing at the right time and in the most appropriate words. Then, it was her heart rather than her mind which dictated her speeches and her answers. . . /

And to this portrait Senac de Meilhan adds the following judicious remarks : * Entirely her own mistress at the age of twenty, a foreigner, handsome, amiable, all-powerful over the heart and mind of a king who was as young as herself, surrounded by seduction, she acted many a time unwisely, and was applauded for actions which later on were to be imputed to her as crimes. Being the object of public enthusiasm, she was not warned of her faults nor of her unwise conduct. . . .' ^

Later on she paid dearly for her imprudence. When the Revolution broke out the people, who always go from one extreme to the other, hated her just as passionately as they had loved her. She was in their eyes the evil genius of monarchy, the origin and the cause of public misfortunes.

Was it possible for her to swim against the tide ? Certainly not, for it was beyond human strength. Having realised the situation, she was equal to circumstances when danger appeared ; but her efforts were paralysed by her unpopularity. She was obliged to bear with apparent resignation, although she revolted at it inwardly, the humiliating » Portraits et Carac^res^ p. 74.

lot which was in store for the kst representatives of monarchy, thanks to her husband's weakness.

It is easy to imagine what the months which followed the return to Paris before the final fall must have been for her. This period, which extends from June 26, 1791, to August 10, 1792, was perhaps not the most bloody, but certainly the most troubled, we might say the most painful period.

It was constant uncertainty and confusion ; every day witnessed a change in the unsettled mind of the Sovereign, who took the most opposite resolutions.

Sometimes he seemed to take a step in favour of the Revolution, and then staunch Royalists would blame him openly for his weakness ; at another moment, through an abrupt change, he relied entirely on his supporters, and the constitutional party charged him with duplicity. Below these parties the crowd, which was undergoing the hardships of a severe winter, hunger, slack work, believed all the accusations and called out, * Treason ! ' To crown all misfortunes, emigration deprived the King of his natural defenders, and achieved the ruin of the Throne more surely by compromising monarchy abroad.

During this time the Queen, who was surrounded by enemies and obliged to suspect everyone around her, dared hot write openly to those whom she knew to be stiU her friends. She hardly dared run the risk of entrusting a faithful servant with an unsigned note, in which names were disguised and in which she dissembled her thoughts under conventional and figured language.

Just like any other human mind, hers was divided between alternatives of fear and hope. She was afraid for her children ; she feared for royalty, if not for the King, that they would have to endure the worst humiliations. She anticipated for herself a frightful fate. Nevertheless, she struggled on.

It was impossible for her to commend the faithful battalions or to put on the popular uniform of the National Guards, which the King himself dared not put on, because he was afraid of breaking the constitution ;^ she could not speak before the Assembly, nor make a royal speech, for she was a woman and not even a regent. However she made use of circuitous means ; she tried to flatter, to win over those fierce republicans, whose very name made her motherly heart tremble.

She had already made Barnave's conquest on his return from Varennes, and she kept up a r^ular correspondence with him. She induced Guadet, the stern Girondin, to come one night to the Tuileries and talk with the King ; and she would not let him go before he had been brought to her son's cradle and had kissed the royal child on the forehead. She had even stooped lower for help, ^ Memoirs ofM.de Vaublanc^ p. 174.

and had used seductive methods which were not quite so dignified.

Bribery was tried whenever it had a chance of being successful, and Danton, who was as mercenary as Mirabeau, sold himself for one hundred thousand crowns.

But Barnave, Guadet, or Danton could not stop the revolutionary movement any more than Mirabeau could. Barnave had tried to do so, but without conviction, and he at least fell honourably. Guadet and the Girondins were powerless. Danton did not even trouble himself about earning his money.^

The Queen could hardly enjoy a few hours' sleep during the long months of agony for the monarchy. She used to be awakened at dawn, and would not allow the blinds to be pulled down or the shutters to be closed, for she could not bear darkness. It was then, during the short intervals when everything was calm in the city, that she entertained illusions, and at times dreamed of a near deliverance. One night as the moon was shining brightly, lighting up her room, she contemplated it, and then, making a confidant of the female guardian who was near her, said, * In one month I

^ I shall give elsewhere the documents upon which such an opinion of Danton is based. In the meantime, I beg the reader will kindly refer for this matter to vol. x. of the Histoire de la RhfoluHan Frangcdse^ by Louis Blanc, p^ 409 and following.

lo A CONSPIRACY UNDER THE TERROR

shall not look at this moon without being rid from my chains, without the King being free.^

On July 3, a fortnight after the Tuileries were invaded for the first time, she was still writing to her best friend, the Count of Fersen, 'Our situation is horrible, but do not be over-anxious ; I feel I have courage, and something tells me that we shall soon be happy and out of danger. This thought sustains me. . . .' *

Last and fleeting hours when mad expectations surge up before they vanish for ever !

As time goes on the popular tide advances full of anger and hatred. Everywhere one hears the Royal Family insulted ; in fact, insult is on every lip and in every eye. The little Dauphin dare no longer go and play in his small garden at the Tuileries ; the Queen dare not look out of the palace windows. The crowd is eager to show scorn for those whom it has loved and respected for so long ; it is for ever present, spying out every opportunity ; and for want of anything better this crowd, with its natural coarseness, enjoys soiling the King's palace with filth.

No refuge now remains unviolated. Revolution, being triumphant, seems to hunt royalty even to the foot of the altar. The singers of die Chapel Royal, who have embraced the new principles, make a

^ Mifn&ires de Madame Campan, vol. ii. p. 227.

^ The Count of Fersen and the French Courty voL ii. p. 31 7*

THE STAY AT THE TEMPLE ii

point of raising their voices whenever they come to a passage which can be turned into a wicked allusion. They shout, as a heavenly curse, the sacred words : * Deposuit potentes de sede ' (^ He has put down the mighty from their seats * )}

The situation was so horrible that the Queen had come to wish for the end of the crisis, whatever the issue might be. Trusting in some vague words spoken by Danton, she imagined that if the Royal Family were insulted in a more obvious and perceptible way it would awaken the love of the French people for a secular monarchy ; at least she fancied that they could be saved only through circuitous means, and she began to wish they might be imprisoned in a tower by the sea-side.*

Owing to an irony of fate her wish seemed as if it were to be granted her, and at last the catastrophe, so long expected, was at hand. August lo put an end to constitutional monarchy, which had sprung from a double weakness — that of the Royalists, who wanted to maintain the old order of things, and that of the Revolutionists, who wished to establish at once a form of government in keeping with their theories. The situation was made clearer : the King and Royal Family were henceforth nothing more than prisoners, whose lot depended on their rebellious subjects' wishes.

^ Mhnoires de Madame Campctn, voL ii. p. 238. « IHd, voL ii. p. 237.

After having left the Tuileries in the morning Louis XVI., his family, and a few friends spent the whole day in the stenographer's lodge. The following day they were sent for a time to the Feuillants', next to the building where the Assembly met, until the Luxlembourg should be ready to receive them, as that palace had been fixed upon by the Assembly for the King's residence.

But the Assembl^e Legislative had not reckoned on the Paris Commune. As a prelude to the tyranny which it was to exercise for more than a year and a half with extraordinary cruelty the Commune tore up the decree of the Assembly, took possession of the royal prisoners, and as early as August 13 shut them up in the Temple Tower, where they remained under the keeping of commissaries and National Guards.

THE TEMPLE IN 1792 (Musee Carnavalet)

FUBii^

. I

The Temple — The Main Tower— Feelings of the Royal Family at the Beginning of their Captivity — Temporarily Settled in the Small Tower— Life at the Temple— The Kitchens— Mmiicipa) Officers.

The Temple, which was pulled down in 1811, was not a single building, but ah assemblage of buildings enclosed within a large wall ; the grounds measured from 1 20 to 1 30 hectares.^

It was named after the Templars, who had been the first owners.

In 1792 this space was surrounded by walls and separated from the rest of the town, forming thus a kind of city inside Paris. Several noblemen had taken up their abode at the Temple, whence could be seen the Hdtd de Boisboudran, the H6tel de Guise, the H6tel Boufflers, with its pretty garden laid out in English style, an h6tel which was used by the Prince de Conti as his private strong-box ; lastly, the Grand Priory, built towards the year 1667 by Jacques de Souvri, in the part adjoining the Rue du Temple. It became afterwards the usual residence of the Comte d'Artois when he was in Paris.