The Countess De Charny - Volume II (2 page)

The first time was at Versailles, in October, 1789. The second on the Champ de Mars in July, 1791.

Lafayette had one last remaining hope. The following day he was to review the National Guards, in company with the king. He could not doubt the enthusiasm the presence of their old commander would inspire; and Lafayette might take advantage of this enthusiasm to march upon the Assembly, and place the Girondists under arrest, while, during the commotion that would ensue, the king could make his escape to the camp at Maubeuge.

This would be a bold move, but in the present condition of affairs it was the only safe one.

But, unfortunately, Danton went to Petion’s lodgings at three o’clock in the morning to notify him of the conspiracy. At daybreak Petion issued an order postponing the review.

Who had betrayed the king and Lafayette? The queen.

REACTION. 17

Had she not said she would rather perish through some other i^erson than owe her salvation to Lafayette?

Her desire was fulfilled, for she was fated to perish through Danton’s instrumentality, finally.

At the very hour the review was to have taken place, Lafayette left Paris and returned to the army. He had not abandoned all hope of saving the king, however.

18 LA COMTESSE DE CHARNY.

CHAPTER II.

VERGNIAUD.

Lafayette’s doubtful victory, followed by his hasty retreat, had this singular result. It discomfited the Eoyalists, who were supposed to be the victors, and elated the Girondists, who were supposed to be defeated. It aided them, too, by disclosing the precipice into which they were liable to fall.

The Court must not be allowed time to repair its error, and the force of the revolutionary current must be renewed and strengthened after this brief set-back. Every one attempted to devise the best means of accomplishing this, and every one fancied he had found it; but the imj)racti-cability of each method became apparent on discussion, and had to be abandoned.

Madame Roland, the soul of the party, advocated a stirring appeal in the Assembly. Who alone could create this great commotion? Who alone could strike such a blow? Vergniaud.

But why was this Achilles lingering in his tent; or, rather, why was this Rinaldo dallying in Armida’s garden? He loved.

And it is so difBcult to hate when one loves! Vergniaud adored the beautiful Madame Candeille, the famous actress, poetess, and musician. His friends sought him in vain, or, rather, they found him only at the feet of this charming woman, with one hand resting on her lap, and the other listlessly sweeping her harp-strings; and every night he was at the theatre to applaud the divinity he worshipped all day.

VEKGNIAUD. 19

One evening two deputies left the Assembly in despair. Vergniaud’s inaction made them tremble for the fate of France.

These two men were Grangeneuve and Chabot. Grangeneuve was a Bordeaux deputy, the friend and rival of Vergniaud, and, like him, a Girondist.

Chabot had been a Capuchin monk, and was the author — or at least one of the authors — of ” The Sans Culotte Catechism.”

They walked on in silence for some time ; then, fancying he could read his companion’s thoughts in his gloomy face, Chabot asked: —

“What are you thinking about, Grangeneuve?”

” I am thinking that all these loiterers are enervating the country and killing the Revolution; for if the people give royalty much more time, the people are lost. I am thinking, too, that there is only one appointed time for a revolution, and that those who allow the opportunity to escape them will never find it again, and will be held accountable by their Maker and by posterity.”

“And you really believe that God and posterity will hold us accountable for our inaction and procrastination?”

” I am afraid so.

“Look here, Chabot,” continued Grangeneuve, after a brief silence, “I am firmly convinced that the people are disheartened by this last check, and that they will not recover their enthusiasm without the aid of some powerful lever or some sanguinary event. They need the stimulus of rage or terror to revive their waning energy.”

“And how is this rage or terror to be excited?”

“That is the very thing I have been cogitating about,” replied Grangeneuve; “and I think I ‘ve devised a means, provided T can find a man possessed of sufficient nerve and resolution to carry out my jjlan.”

” Speak ! ” said Chabot, with a firmness of accent that settled all doubts in his companion’s mind. “I am capable of doing anything to destroy those I hate; and I hate kings and priests.”

20 LA COiMTESSE DE CIIARNY.

“Well,” said Grangeueuve, “history shows that innocent blood has been shed at the beginning of all revolutions, — from the suicide of Lucrèce to the execution of Sidney. If the vengeance of the populace is to be aroused, a victim must be provided. That victim the Court withholds; so we needs must sacrifice ourselves for the good of the cause.”

“I do not understand you.”

“Very well, then; it is necessary that one of us — and one who is energetic, upright, and well known — should become the real or pretended victim of the Royalists.”

“Goon.”

” The victim must be a member of the National Assembly, so that the Assembly shall take the work of retaliation into its own hands. In short, the victim must be — myself.”

“But the Royalists have no intention of harming you, Grangeneuve. On the contrary, they ‘11 take precious good care not to do it.”

“I know that; and it is for this very reason I say we must find a man of great nerve and determination.”

“What for?”

“To kill me.”

Chabot retreated a step; but Grangeneuve seized him by the arm and said: “You boasted just now that you Avere capable of doing anything to destroy those whom you hated. Are you capable of murdering me?”

Seeing that his friend remained speechless, Grangeneuve continued : —

“My words have no weight, and my life is of very little service to Liberty; while my death, on the contrary, may prove of vast benefit to her. My dead body will be the standard of insurrection, and I say to you — “

He paused a moment; then, pointing with a vehement gesture to the Tuileries, he added, “I say to you that that palace and all its occcupants must disappear in the cyclone.”

Chabot trembled with awe as he gazed at his companion.

VERGNIAUD. 21

“Well?” insisted Grangeneuve.

“Blow out thy lantern, Diogenes; thy man is found.”

“Very well. Let us arrange to have the whole affair over this evening. I will walk here alone to-night” (they were opposite the gates of the Louvre). “If you are afraid that your heart will fail you, bring two other patriots with you. I will make this signal, so that I may be recognised.”

As he spoke, he raised both arms high above his head, then continued, “They must stab me when I do that; and I promise to fall without a groan.”

Chabot wiped his forehead with his handkerchief.

“In the morning my body will be found,” continued Grangeneuve, ” and the Court will be blamed for my death. The wrath and indignation of the people will do the rest.”

” Very well, so be it ! ” and the framers of this strange compact shook hands and separated.

Grangeneuve went home to make his will, dating it one year previous. Chabot went to get his dinner at a restaurant in the garden of the Palais Royal. Afterwards he went to a cutler’s and purchased a knife. Candeille was to play that evening, so the former monk knew where to find Vergniaud.

He repaired to the Comédie-Française, only a few squares away, and went up to the dressing-room of the beautiful actress, where he found Vergniaud, Talma, Chenier, Duga-zon, and several other ardent admirers assembled as usual.

When the play was over, and Vergniaud was preparing to escort the lady to the Eue Richelieu, where she lived, Chabot followed his colleague into the carriage.

“Is there anything you wish to say to mc. Chabot?” inquired Vergniaud.

“Yes, but it won’t take long.”

“Speak out, then.”

“It isn’t time yet,” replied Chabot, glancing at his watch.

“And when will it be time?”

“At midnight.”

22 LA COMTESSE DE CHARNY.

“Oh, monsieur,” murmured the beautiful Candeille, tremulously.

“Don’t be alarmed, madame; Vergniaud has nothing to fear. His country needs him, that is all.”

As the carriage rolled along, its occupants maintained an unbroken silence; but on reaching Candeille’s door Vergniaud asked : —

” Will you come in, Chabot?”

“Xo, I want 3’ou to come with me.”

“Where do you intend taking him? ” asked the actress, anxiousl}’.

” Only a few hundred yards from here. He shall be back again in fifteen minutes, — I promise you that.”

Vergniaud pressed the hand of his lovely sweetheart, made her a reassuring sign, and walked down the Eue Traversière with Chabot. Then they crossed the Eue Saint-Honoréand entered the Eue de l’Echelle. On reaching the corner of that street the monk placed one hand on Vergniaud’s shoulder, and with the other pointed to a man who was pacing to and fro in front of the Louvre.

“Do you see that man? ” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Well, that is our colleague, Grangeneuve.”

“What is he doing there? “

” Waiting for somebody to kill him.”

“To kill him?”

“Yes.”

“And who is to kill him?”

“lam.”

Vergniaud looked at Chabot as one looks at a fool.

“Think of Sparta, think of Eome, and then listen,” said Chabot.

Then he told Vergniaud the whole story. As Vergniaud listened, his head drooped lower and lower as he realised his immense inferiority — amorous lion, effeminate tribune that he was — to this earnest and grim Eepublican, who, like Decius, only asked for a gulf into which he could hurl himself to save his country.

VEEGNIAUD. 23

“Very well,” he said. “Give me three days to prepare my speech.”

“And then?”

“Have no fears. In three days I shall either have dashed myself in pieces against the idol; or have over-turned it.”

” I have your word, Vergniaud? “

“Yes.”

” It is the word of a man? “

“Of a Republican.”

“Very well. I have no further need of you now. Go back and console your sweetheart.”

Vergniaud returned to the Rue Richelieu; but Chabot walked on towards Grangeneuve, who, seeing a man approaching, retreated into the darkest corner. Chabot followed him.

Grangeneuve paused at the foot of the wall. Grangeneuve made the sign agreed upon by raising his arms.

Then, as Chabot remained motionless, he exclaimed, “Well, what deters you? Strike, I say!”

“It is not necessary; Vergniaud will speak.”

” So be it,” said Grangeneuve, with a sigh; ” but I believe the other way would have been better.”

How could royalty hope to contend successfully with such men as these?

24 LA COMTESSE DE CHAKNY.

CHAPTER III.

VERGNIAUD SPEAKS.

It was indeed time for Vergniaud to take a decided stand, for perils were rapidly increasing both at home and abroad.

The Council of Ambassadors at Ratisbon had unanimously refused to admit the French minister.

England, though she called herself the friend of France, was organising an immense armament.

The princes of the German States, though they boasted of maintaining a strict neutrality, were secretly admitting the enemy into their territory.

The Duke of Baden had allowed the Austrians to enter Kehl, which was only a league from Strasburg.

In Flanders it was even worse. Luckner was a deaf old dotard who managed to upset all the plans made by Dumouriez, who, though no military genius, was the only man of ability France had sent to meet the foe.

Lafayette was a Royalist at heart, and his last step has proved conclusively that the Assembly, or in other words France, could not count upon him.

While last, but not least, Biron, though a brave and strictly honest man, discouraged by our reverses, favoured a defensive warfare only.

So much for foreign affairs.

At home, Alsace was clamouring for arms, which the Minister of War, who belonged to the court party, took good care not to provide.

In Southern France the Governor of Lower Languedoc and Cevennes , also a Royalist partisan, acknowledged the authority of the nobility of that region.

VERGNIAUD SPEAKS. 25

At the conclusion of mass in a town of Western France, the announcement was made that an armed. assemHage of the friends of royalty would be held in a neighbouring chapel, and five hundred peasants responded to the call. The Chouans were rampant in Brittany and the Vendée, and from nearly every department of the kingdom came anti-revolutionary addresses.

The danger was great, — so great that it was no longer individuals, but the entire country that was in peril. ” The country is in danger ” was whispered on every side.

The Assembly waited anxiously.

Chabot and Grangeneuve had announced that in three days Vergniaud would speak, and the other members counted the moments as they passed.

For two days Vergniaud was not seen at the Assembly. The third day arrived, and everybody was in a state of the utmost anxiety. Not a deputy was absent from his seat, and the galleries were crowded to suffocation.

At last Vergniaud entered the hall, and a sigh of relief ran through the Assembly ; and the galleries applauded as theatre-goers applaud the entrance of a favourite actor.

Vergniaud was barely thirty -three years of age at the time. In temperament he was indolent, and somewhat phlegmatic; but when he intended to speak, he always ])repared his address three or four days beforehand, carefully polishing and furbishing it, as a soldier polishes and furbishes his weapons on the eve of battle.

He was what one would call an eminently effective orator. No thrust satisfied him unless it was brilliantly made and loudly applauded; and it seemed absolutely necessary for him to reserve his efforts for moments of danger and important crises. In short, he was not a man for all occasions, but for great emergencies only.