Paris in '48; letters from a resident describing the events of the revolution

Preface

In 1900 my friend, the late Baroness Bonde, entrusted to me the pleasant task of editing her letters, and at the end of the same year she died. This little volume thus becomes a memorial of one of the accomplished and charming women of the last century. The letters, which were written in Paris during the time of the Revolution of 1848 which she witnessed from day to day, are doubly interesting from her intimate acquaintance with the diplomatic circle, and her power of fresh and vivid description combined with shrewd appreciation of character. The notes which I have appended are designed to furnish historical details sufficient to explain her allusions to the men and the incidents of the time, and I have added a short connected sketch of the events which preceded and led up to the political crisis. Where subsequent history has thrown more light on some of the leading actors, I have indicated the fact, and here and there I have

^^3 vi PREFACE.

substituted English for the French phraseology which the writer borrowed from her associations, along with much of the lightness and verve of the French style.

Here is the short autobiographical sketch which Madame Bonde gave me : —

" The following letters, written more than fifty years ago, were never intended for publication, as will easily be seen by any one who may be tempted to read them. They were a daily almost hourly correspondence with my friend Mrs. Ashburnham, whose husband was officially emiployed in London. They had lived for some years in Paris, and both had been much in French society and took the deepest interest in that most extraordinary revolution.

" In those days, when electricity was in its infancy, when mails were stopped and letters opened, newspaper correspondents were often unable to convey intelligence, but I had a constant opportunity of sending my letters direct by private hand to Mr. and Mrs. Ashburnham, and they were eagerly devoured by them and their friends. The Duke of Wellington and Lord Palmerston were said to have clamoured for them, as did also many others, so that Mrs. Ashburnham had them copied as she feared they would be worn out, and she thought they ought to be kept in the family.

" I had many requests to allow them to be published.

PREFACE. vii

but they were too personal, and would have required more weeding than I then had time for ; but now, after the lapse of half a century they can no longer give offence, and a very dear friend has offered to take the matter in hand.

'* It may interest some to know how I happened as an Irishwoman to be so much in France, and how I was intimately acquainted with so many celebrities and men in office of that day, so I shall add a very brief biographical sketch.

" My father Sir Richard Robinson of Rokeby in Ireland, with my mother a daughter of Lord Mountcashel, settled in Paris in 1819, and for more than thirty years it was our real home, varied by a few, very few, trips to England. The first revolutionary epoch in my life was when the Bourbons made way for the Orleanists under Louis Philippe, and I saw the barricades of July, 1830, when, returning from the country with my father, we assisted at the storming of the barracks of the Rue de la Pepiniere and when, after seeing two men shot, I was dragged into a porter's lodge, with the exclamation : '// ny a pas de bon sens de laisser un enfant dans la rue sous un feu croise.' The fact was that all communications were cut off, and my father had been so anxious for my mother and the younger children, that he returned to Paris and, not knowing what to do with me, took me with him, on my promising not to cry — a promise that I need not say I faithfully fulfilled ; and I fancy viii PREFACE.

my taste for tumultuous times dates from this period, when I received * le bapt^me du feu.'

"After this, my mother's salon became very Orleanist, though we still saw many relics of the past. 1 remember, among others, going to see ' le beau Dillon ' in his dotage, and M. de Vaudreuil much in the same state ; their wives were much younger, and gave graphic accounts of the Court of Marie Antoinette where their husbands were the Queen's favourites. I also saw the Princesse de Vaudremont, of the House of Lorraine, who managed the escape of Lavalette, and heard both Count Lowenhielm and Lord Aboyne (afterwards Lord Huntly) relate how they had danced at Versailles with the unfortunate Queen. Among the salons I frequented in my youth was that of the Princesse de Chimay, the once famous Madame Tallien, then called * Notre dame de Thermidor.' Later on I became better acquainted with other celebrities ; — Prince Talleyrand, whom I remember playing at whist, while the young friends of his great-niece curtseyed to him as they passed through to the ballroom ; Count Pozzo di Borgo and Baron de Vitrolles, who always boasted that they brought back the Bourbons. I once sat next Marshal Soult (the Due de Dalmatie) at a dinner given to him by the Duchesse Decazes on his return from the coronation in London. He was extremely disagreeable, and evidently thought me unworthy of the place I occupied, nor can I remember why I was there. Marshal Marmont (the

PREFACE. ix

Due de Raguse) whom I met in exile some years after, was a daily visitor at my house in Hamburg.

" All the beauties of the Empire — Madame de Vicence, Madame Augeraud (became Madame de Ste. Aldegonde), and Madame de St. Jean d'Angely, — frequented our Tuesday evenings, where I also saw the three Sheridan beauties, the two Bulwers, Lord Brougham, Monckton Milnes, Lord Alvanley, the then Lord Granville and his most agreeable son. Cousin, Montalembert, the painter Gudin, and a number of others since become celebrated. Whilst for a short time in England and at the Miss Berrys', whose interesting conversation went back to the days of Walpole, I met Macaulay, Sydney Smith, old Lady Holland, and an agreeable Dr. Allen, whom she called 'her Atheist.' I forget whether I took any part in the table talk, but I enjoyed it greatly and I shall never forget the great kindness shown to the young girl by these social stars.

"After the 17th of August, 1848, Mrs. Ashburnham's departure to Constantinople and my own removal to Sweden necessarily slackened our correspondence, and my subsequent letters were not returned, but before I left Paris my last experience of revolutions was at the time of Louis Napoleon's coup d'etat. I then had husband and children, and was no longer allowed, nor even anxious, to visit more barricades or assist at more popular meetings.

" My grandchildren and my great-grandchildren

X PREFACE.

now occupy most of my thoughts, to the exclusion of much that is interesting in public affairs of the day ; to them these letters have value as concerning very, very ancient history, bordering on the legendary ; to me, however, they are the realities of yesterday which, from my daily experience during a long life, has much in common with to-day and to-morrow.

"FLORENCE BONDE,

"Stockholm, 1900."

I may add a little by way of supplement to this simple memoir.

Madame Bonde's grandfather the Rev. John Friend took the name of Robinson on the death of his uncle Lord Rokeby, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of Ireland, whose heir he became ; her father served in the Peninsular War. He married, in 18 13, Lady Helena Moore, daughter of the Earl of Mountcashel and of Lady Margaret King. Their daughter was born at Florence on the i8th of October, 1817 ; her parents' residence was in Paris till 1843, ^^^ that city again was her mother's home from 1847, when her father died, till 1859.

Baron Knut Bonde whom Miss Robinson married in 1849, belonged to an old Swedish family. He was an intim.ate friend of King Oscar I., and was

PREFACE. xi

employed by him in many private diplomatic missions, especially during the Crimean War. His influence assisted to maintain friendly relations between England and Sweden during the critical period from the beginning of 1854, when Sweden announced her neutrality.

The Baroness herself was constantly at the palace as a confidential adviser, and she was likewise an influential correspondent of the Times and the D^bats. Her view at the time of her death remained that of fifty years ago, namely, that the best security for the country of her adoption is in England's strength : without it, as she wrote me in one of her last letters, " Russia would not hesitate to annex Norway and become a naval power."

CONSTANCE £. WARR.

Introduction

" It is not with impunity that a nation learns such a lesson of blood and crime as that of '93. The virus must work in her for long after, ready to burst out at any time of disturbance."

This comment of M. P. de Coubertin, in his lucid presentation of the course of events in France since 1 8 14, may serve as a preface to Madame Bonde's graphic and searching description of the crisis in 1848. By way of introduction to her letters, it is sufficient to trace very briefly the steps by which the French nation, after sweeping away the * ancien regime,' began slowly to build up its civil and political liberties.

France, up to 1789, had only the semblance of a constitution. The King's will was everywhere paramount, there being no great Barons of the Realm, as in England, to hold him in check. France, as another writer observes,^ " has had nobles, but never an Aristocracy." When some extraordinary tax was to be

1 Andre Lebon, "France as it is," 1888.

B levied, the King convoked the States-General, regarding which it was said " The nobles fight, the clergy pray, the rest pay." The Parliament or High Court of Justice was summoned to register royal edicts, and might refuse its assent ; but the edict was ratified notwithstanding, through the formalities of a ' Lit de Justice,' or ' Audience.' In the administrative sphere all the local representative bodies had been superseded by the Intendants, the King's officials, who (except in a few provinces) levied taxes and carried out the royal mandates without the consent of the community, and without appeal.

In 1789 Louis XVI. found himself obliged, for lack of funds, to convoke the States-General which had not met since 16 14. He was then disposed to go so far as to abolish the feudal dues and privileges of the nobility and clergy ; but the demand for the redress of such economic grievances went with, and of necessity entailed, the claim for political reform — in other words, for equality of civil rights, and a constitution which should enfranchise at least the higher bourgeoisie, removing the artificial distinction of the * Third Estate,' and setting limits to the royal power.

The Revolution of '93 having swept away with the Monarchy and the privileges in question the whole governmental organisation, France sought in vain in her past for any political tradition or precedent, and was driven from one constitutional experiment to another. After four years of contentions within and wars without, she welcomed a firm hand at the helm and submitted to Bonaparte, first as Consul, then as Emperor. His two successive Constitutions were abortive, so that in 18 14, though the civic equality

INTRODUCTION. 3

gained by the levelling of the Revolution remained, the necessary political readjustment was arrested.

The charter granted by Louis XVIII. in 18 14 created an Upper House of 140 life peers appointed by the King, and a Chamber of Deputies. Trial by jury, f

civil and religious freedom, and the liberty of the press were established, together with a moderate franchise, which made a bourgeois electorate of about 100,000, excluding all who paid less than 300 francs in direct taxes. But, although the motto of his minister, the Due Decazes, was " Royaliser la France et nationaliser la Royaute," the King, in his own belief, was such by Divine right, and he was swayed by the old nobility who were firmly bent on the restoration of their privileges. Within the Chamber the aristocratic Right was strongly entrenched and became aggressive under the influence of the King's brother, the Comte d'Artois (afterwards Charles X.), and the Society of the Congregation, which had been formed during the anti-Catholic tyranny of '93, and was now mainly a political propa- /

ganda. A federation of the Royalist ' irreconciliables ' was directed from the Pavilion Marsan, the Count's residence, and the meeting-place of a private council which he held on his own authority as Colonel-General of the National Guard. Opposed to the ' Ultras ' was a revolutionary Left, chiefly Bonapartist, and active within as well as outside the Chamber, its intrigues leading more than once to insurrections. Nevertheless, the compromise on which the Government rested gave hopes of a true via media^ encouraging and encouraged by an intellectual revival, in which the ' doctrinaire ' leaders of the moderate party in the Legislature were most conspicuous. Under the enlightened r guidance of Lamartine, Thiers, and Guizot, the Revolution began to justify itself in practice as in theory, and the reign of Louis XVlII.was a period of commercial prosperity ; the first Exhibition was held in Paris, and a general Council of Commerce and a free School of Arts and Crafts were founded.

The retrograde policy was in the ascendant from \ 1820, when the murder of the Due de Berry, the heir presumptive, was made an excuse for driving Decazes from office. The repressive measures which followed issued, after the accession of Charles X. in 1824, in a violent crusade against the press, which the talent of the ' doctrinaires ' had made an oro^an of liberal thou2:ht Strong enough to combat the Catholic reaction, and support the new political principles against the theocratic ideal of De Maistre and Lamennais, The

\ restoration of the old social order was threatened in restrictions of the franchise and a proposal to re-establish the * droit d'ainesse ' (the entail of property on the eldest son). Hostile majorities in the Chamber brought the conflict to a climax, and the ' thorough ' ministry of Polignac, with the illegal ordinances of July, 1830, led to the downfall of the Elder Bourbon dynasty, and the succession of the Younger Branch in the person of the Due d'Orleans (Louis Philippe), son of Philippe the cousin of Louis XVL, who earned his sobriquet ' Egalite ' by casting in his lot with the Revolutionists

^^ '93-

Louis Philippe, though he affected a certain bourgeois simplicity, yet insisted on * legitimising ' his position among the hereditary sovereigns, and claimed for himself a personal authority or even autocracy, which was to be supported by ministers of his choice,

INTRODUCTION. 5

and secured from popular interference by official control over the electorate. Guizot, his minister, was tenacious of his own office and distrustful of any concessions which might, by weakening the bureaucracy or enlarging the electoral area, make personal government impracticable. He upheld for long the vicious system which made State officials eligible to the Chamber ; it contained in 1846 no less than two hundred such functionaries. His command of great majorities was used to stifle the investigation of abuses, to resist every proposal of /

electoral reform, and ultimately to curtail the citizens' rights and liberties. A heavy hand laid on the press and the platform brought about an opposition which ended in catastrophe. " Reform to prevent revolution," was the watchword of this Opposition, and the agitation took the shape of Reform banquets, which were started |

to test the right of public meeting. No less than seventy took place in different towns during the latter half of 1847, and were attended by about 170,000 guests. The crisis was reached the following year, j

when, in spite of Lamartine's rally to the cause of liberty, Guizot carried an address declaring against the freedom of the press, and prohibited a banquet organised in Paris for February 22nd.

An ' emeute ' on /the next day, in which some fifty persons were shot by the troops in the streets, led quickly to an insurrection, which was not arrested by the dismissal of Guizot. The King abdicated, and a Provisional Government took the place of the Monarchy.

The letters open with an account of this ' 6meute,' the first being dated February 24th.

LETTER I. Paris, Thursday, Feb. 24th, 184.8

My Dear Mrs. Ashburnham,

We are in the midst of a revolution more fearful than that of 1830, because the mob are beginning to pillage. I am just returned from a visit to Mons. de Tracy, where the Lafayettes live, and where I hoped to hear some news. On our road we found two barricades, and the troops returning with lowered muskets. Though there are a hundred thousand regular troops in Paris, and two hundred pieces of cannon, the King has given way, and we are wholly and solely defended by the National Guard some of whom are disaffected, at least to the dynasty. The twelve colonels of the twelve legions went to the Tuileries yesterday, and said that unless electoral reform were granted and a change of Ministry, they could not answer for their men. His Majesty gave way, and sent for Mole.^

^ It is interesting to see how this action of the King appeared to a

Feb. 24th.] DISSOLUTION OF THE CHAMBER. 7

This, however, was only one step in the fatal course of concession, and, after some fighting on the boulevard, in which about fifty persons were killed, Odilon Barrot was entrusted with the formation of the Ministry/ He is trying to form a cabinet with Dufaure, Thiers, R^musat, and Lamoriciere, but perhaps it is already too late even for this extreme parti. The Chamber is dissolved, the town in a state of siege, and Bugeaud military governor. Perhaps even now Ledru Rollin, a Liberal to the verge of Communism, is invested with the dictatorship.^

Mons. de Courcelles, who had just seen Mons. Dufaure, says that the consternation is fearful. Universal suffrage will probably be the result of the many mistakes committed by the Ministry. The King's abdication is called for at every barricade, and his extreme cowardice has greatly damped the ardour of his partisans. A fortnight ago this movement might

contemporary ; in itself it was rather reactionary, for Mole, who had been minister under Napoleon, was a great upholder of the royal prerogative, belonged to the old order of things, and was entirely out of sympathy with the forward movements of the time.

1 Barrot had withstood Louis Philippe's personal policy, and was leader of the dynastic Opposition.

2 Ledru Rollin represented Socialism in the Chamber, and supported the demand for universal suffrage. He was not made dictator, but became Minister of the Interior in the Provisional Government, and subsequently stood for the Presidency.

have been prevented ; now, no one knows what he is driving at. E. is in a dreadful state, as her husband was on duty all Tuesday, and is just returned to the barricade. He arrested three men himself, and as yet has escaped unhurt, but you may imagine how anxious we are. Some say we are at the end of the movement, but I suspect that is more because we hope in the / magic number three than for any positive results.^ The Rue Basse du Rempart was running with blood this morning, and some people say they still hear a fusillade. The rappel and the generale are beating everywhere, and one cannot but feel nervous when one thinks of the spirit of anarchy and rapine that is abroad. All the shops are shut, even in our own peaceful quartier^ and as we were going down the Rue d'Astorg, we saw a band of marauders who were attempting to force Madame de Noailles' house, repulsed by the National Guard. Bakers, winemerchants, and charcutiers have been pillaged. Most of the houses with railings have been attacked, and the iron or wooden palings turned into weapons of offence. An American living in the Rue de Ponthieu has been pillaged, and his pictures cut to pieces with swords. I saw a National Guard disarmed

1 Probably in allusion to its being the third day of rioting.

Feb. 24th.] THE KING ABDICATES. 9

by some boys under twenty, and I assure you it is a service of no small danger to join the patrols. I spend most of the day with E., who is already worn out with anxiety, and quite ill. M. is well and so calm that I can leave her without scruple. I must, of course, send this per post, as the Embassy is inaccessible ; besides, I am sure that in this case you will not mind. I shall write again to-morrow if there is anything settled. Of course I cannot execute your commission immediately. The Rue de la Paix is in military occupation, and not a shop open. 1 have no time for more details ; I am just in time for post. If quiet is restored, there must be a war in three months for Italy. I have just heard there has been a fusillade on the Place de la Concorde — a few killed, many wounded. How will all this end ?

P.S. — I open my letter to say that the King has abdicated, and is off. The Comte de Paris is proclaimed, and the Duchesse d'Orleans Regent. It is a frightful state of things. War is to be declared against Austria and Russia, as Poland, is one of the cries of the mob. The vociferations are fearful.^

^ In July, 1847, ostensibly to suppress a local rising, Austria had occupied Ferrara ; the Pope protested, and England and France sent their squadrons to the Bay of Naples. This action strengthened the national party, and in January '48 Ferdinand II. was forced to grant a Constitution.

lo PARIS IN '48. [Feb. 24th.

II. Feb. 24th, 1 1 at night

It is impossible to sleep after such a day, so I shall begin to chronicle the events that have succeeded each other with fabulous rapidity since my incoherent letter this morning. An aide-de-camp of the Minister of War, who was in the King's cabinet when he abdicated, gave me a detailed account of this most signal piece of cowardice. He had reviewed the troops in the Carrousel on horseback, highly rouged, when a cry was raised, " Voici les Faubourgs ! " ^

No one had any orders, no one gave any. The mob rushed forward, shouting " Vive la Garde Nationale ! " " Vivent les troupes ! " and shook hands with the outposts. The King retreated precipitately with his sons, and a sub-lieutenant of the National Guard rushed alone into the Palace, asking to see him. He was admitted, and in the greatest agitation said, " Your Majesty must abdicate — nous sommes debordes." ^ "Very well," says the King, "in favour of my

Jealousy of Austria prompted France in the desire to support at this juncture Charles Albert of Piedmont, who had decided to champion the national cause throughout Italy.

* The poorer districts, such as the Faubourg St. Antoine and the Faubourg du Temple, had always been centres of revolutionary movements, and their inhabitants were foremost in every popular demonstration.

2 "We are outflanked."

Feb. 24th.] FLIGHT OF THE ROYAL FAMILY. 1 1

grandson." "No, unconditionally," says the young and self-elected mouthpiece of public opinion. Would you believe it ? of all who were congregated round the Royal Person, Piscatory alone said, " Go down and head your troops ; %ht for your crown and your dynasty." He was overruled, and they all marched out of the Palace, except the Duchesse d'Orleans, her children, and the Due de Nemours. The papers will tell you the dreadful scene the unfortunate woman underwent in the Chamber of Deputies. The Convention was nothing to this day's scenes ; shots were fired over the head of Mons. Sauzet into the King's picture, and in the tumult the little Princes were separated from their mother. The Due de Nemours' epaulets were torn off, and he escaped with great difficulty. The Royal Family are gone to Havre to be ready to embark for America. Many houses have been entered in the search for arms, but I cannot hear of pillage, except at the Tuileries. Here all the furniture was tossed out of the windows, the clothes paraded on sticks, the looking-glasses smashed, the portraits hacked with swords, and the carriages burned. The same scenes took place at the Palais Royal, which was set on fire. Report says the Opera is burnt : all the Corps de Garde decidedly are there. I was startled by hearing two shots fired, and of course I have been half an hour at the window, where, however, I have seen nothing but two patrols of National Guard, who will, I trust, maintain as much order as is consistent with the Sovereignty of the People and the total absence of all police and regular force. Upwards of five hundred Municipal Guards have been massacred, and some of the civic guard have been wounded ; but we hope all is settled now, and that the people, having got everything, have nothing left to cry for. A mob with lighted torches has been parading the streets, forcing us all to light up our windows, under penalty of seeing them broken. We are very pacific, and complied, so they cried " Bravo ! " but we are heartily ashamed of our submission to the Republic proclaimed at four, and which has perhaps already ceased to exist. I say this, but I do not hope it ; I am more inclined to think we shall have a despotic democracy with Ledru Rollin for a dictator. You cannot imagine the intense anxiety of this very long day ; we have been running from house to house all day, then rushing to the Mairie to hear about Adolphe.^ At times news reached us of perfect quiet, then of renewed tumults ; the cannon discharged for fun by the people kept us in perpetual

1 The writer's brother-in-law.

Feb. 24th.] WEAKNESS OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 13

uncertainty. An officer on horseback proclaimed the Comte de Paris just as I was closing my letter to you this morning, and at five a friend came to tell us of the Republic and the Provisional Government.^

Some say that Lamartine & Co. have taken an ouvrier into their counsels, and I hope it may be so, for some of them are far more peaceable than the socalled enlightened Left. I have not words to express the contempt I feel for the Monarch who by his obstinacy brought on the crisis, and by his cowardice lost the day. On Wednesday it was possible to mitrailler^ and he made concessions ; this morning liberal measures and promises were his only chance, and he ran for it. I fully believe in the re-establishment of public order ; I trust we shall soon be individually safe, but it is horrible to think that this vast city is in the hands of an armed mob, drunk with excitement and with the wine which they drank from the barrels in the royal cellar. Isolated houses are most dangerous at such moments, for many lawless individuals will take advantage of the moment to

1 In tliis Government there were two policies, represented respectively by Lamartine and by Louis Blanc. Lamartine, a Royalist by birth and personal sympathy, foresaw by this time that the Monarchy would be impossible j he threw the influence of" his genius, which had just culminated with the publication of" his "Histoire des Girondins," into the growing Republican movement, and was instantly carried to power.

pillage. The Koerneritz family have left their house, Madame de Magnoncour has taken refuge at her sister's in this street, Madame d'Osmond is gone to the country ; in fact, there is a great sauve-qui-peut among the very rich. Some small traits of character give me confidence in the people and hope for the future. The Duchesse d'Orleans' apartments have not been pillaged, and she is, I am told, gone back to them. All those going out of the Palace are severely searched to prevent theft, and a gold crucifix that was at the head of the Queen's bed was carried to St. Roch and deposited on the altar. It is decidedly not '93 ; but the spirit of '91 is abroad, and we are nearing it. Ministers are put to flight, and Guizot has escaped in disguise. I am happy to say Adolphe is gone home, so now I shall go to bed, and if we are all safe and sound to-morrow, I will continue my narrative.^

III. Friday, Feb. 25th

I was woke by the rappely and of course went over to my sister's as soon as I was dressed. From

1 Guizot, who had been in power since 1 840, was much disliked by the masses. He appealed only to the bourgeois electorate, and paid no heed to the growing discontent of the unenfranchised millions.

Feb. 25th.] THE TROOPS EVICTED. 15

her windows I saw four hundred men come to the neighbouring barracks and demand arms. They were distributed from the windows, and the whole regiment ^ marched out with their knapsacks on, and two days' rations tied up on the top of their great-coats. They shook hands with the people and with the shopkeepers, and walked away singing very merrily, and saying they were going home to their famlHes and provinces. In the mean time the armed men formed into a tolerably regular battalion, headed by a cadet of the Ecole Polytechnique, who addressed them under our window, and promised to take them to the Hotel de Vllle to take the orders of the Provisional Government, after which the rallying point was to be the Place de la Republique, formerly Concorde. The proclamation of the Government contains some necessary reforms, but many Utopian notions, impossible in the midst of the luxuries and vices of a great capital. Lamartlne is the only gentleman among the new Directory, and of course he won't last. I have not an idea who Mons. Flocon may be,^ but Recurt is the ne plus ultra of Communism. Louis Blanc is clever and educated ; so are Arago and Marrast, the editor of the National^ but I do not know much of the rest.^