the exiles
the temple suggested associations which were not entirely without remorse for the political consciences of those who had been taken there.
some of them, after they had sent louis xvi. to the temple, that is to say, after they had closed the prison doors upon him, had opened them again only to send him to the scaffold, which means that several of the prisoners were regicides.
accorded their liberty in the interior of the prison, they rallied around pichegru, as being the most eminent personality among them. pichegru, who had nothing to reproach himself with as far as louis xvi. was concerned, and who, on the contrary, was being punished for the too great pity which he had evinced for the bourbons—pichegru, the archeologist, historian, and man of letters, placed himself at the head of the group who asked permission to visit the apartments of the tower.
lavilleheurnois, former master of requests under louis xvi., secret agent of the bourbons during the revolution, and a participant with brotier-deprêle in a conspiracy against the republic, acted as their guide.
"here is the chamber of the unfortunate louis xvi.," he said, opening the door of the apartment in which the august prisoner had been confined.
rovère, the same to whom ramel had applied, and who had told him that there was nothing to fear from the concentrated movement of the troops—rovère, the former lieutenant of jourdan coupe-tête, who had apologized to the assembly for the massacre at the glacière, could not support this sight, and withdrew, striking his forehead with his hands as he went.
[pg 549]
pichegru, now as calm as though he had been again with the army of the rhine, deciphered the inscriptions which were written in pencil on the woodwork and scratched with a diamond on the window pane. he read this one:
"o god! pardon those who have killed my parents!
o my brother, watch over me from heaven!
may the french be happy!"
there could be no doubt as to who had traced those words, but he wished to assure himself of the truth. lavilleheurnois asserted that he recognized the handwriting of madame royale; but pichegru sent for the porter, who assured him that it was indeed the august daughter of louis xvi. who had written these lines, so replete with christian spirit. then he added: "gentlemen, i beg of you not to efface those lines so long as i am here. i have vowed that no one shall touch them."
"very well, my friend," said pichegru; "you are a worthy man." and while the other spoke, delarue wrote beneath the words: "may the french be happy!"
"heaven will hear the prayers of the innocent."
meanwhile, although they were separated from the world, the prisoners had the satisfaction of learning upon several occasions that they were not forgotten.
on the very evening of the 18th fructidor, as the wife of one of the prisoners was leaving the prison, she was accosted by a man she did not know.
"madame," said he, "you are doubtless connected with one of the unfortunate men who were arrested this morning."
"alas! yes, sir," she replied.
"well, then, permit me to send him, whoever he may be, this slight loan, which he can repay in better times." and so saying, he put three rolls of louis in her hand.
an old man whom madame laffon-ladébat did not know came to her house on the 19th fructidor.
"madame," he said, "i feel for your husband all the esteem and the friendship which he deserves. be good enough[pg 550] to give him these fifty louis. i regret exceedingly that i have only this small sum at present to offer him." and then, noting her hesitation and divining its cause, he added: "madame, your delicacy need not suffer. i am only lending this money to your husband; he can repay me when he returns."
almost all the men who were condemned to exile had occupied the foremost offices of the government for a long time, and it is a remarkable fact that on the 18th fructidor, when they were about to be exiled, they were all poor.
pichegru, the poorest of all, when he learned that he was not to be shot, as he had at first supposed, but only exiled, was much disturbed about his brother and sister, whose sole support he had always been. as for poor rose, we know that she was able to support herself with her needle, and was richer than any of them. had she known of the trouble which had befallen her friend, she would surely have hastened to him from besan?on and opened her purse to him.
that which most disturbed the man who had saved france on the rhine and who had conquered holland, the richest of all the provinces; who had handled millions, and refused to sell himself for millions; was not married, and was accused of having received a million in money, of having exacted a promise of the principality of arbois, with two hundred thousand livres' income and reversion to his wife and children, and the chateau of chambord, with twelve cannon which he had captured from the enemy—that which most disturbed this man, who had no wife or children, who had given himself for nothing when he might have sold himself for a great price, was a debt of six hundred francs, which he had not paid.
he sent for his brother and sister and said to the latter: "you will find at my lodgings the hat, coat and sword which i wore when i conquered holland. put them up for sale with the inscription, 'the hat, coat and sword of pichegru, who has been exiled to cayenne.'"
[pg 551]
his sister did as he bade her, and the following day she came and told him that a pious hand had paid her the six hundred francs and that the debt was cancelled.
barthélemy, one of the most prominent men of the time, politically speaking, since he had negotiated the treaties with prussia and spain, the first which the republic had ever signed, and who could have compelled each of these powers to have given him a million, had for sole property a farm which brought him in an annual income of eight hundred livres.
villot, at the time of his arrest, possessed only one thousand francs. a week before he had lent them to a man who called himself his friend, but who failed to return them before his departure.
laffon-ladébat, who, since the proclamation of the republic, had neglected his own interests for those of his country, and who had once possessed an immense fortune, could scarcely get together five hundred francs when he learned of his condemnation. his children, upon whom had devolved the duty of paying his creditors, did so only to find themselves thereafter in penury.
delarue supported his old father and all his family. rich before the revolution, but ruined by it, he owed the help which he received at his departure to friends. his father, an old man of sixty-nine, was inconsolable, but grief could not kill him. he lived in the hope of seeing his son again some day.
three months later he was told that an officer of the navy, who had just arrived in paris, had met delarue in the deserts of guiana. he at once wished to see and talk with him. the officer's story was of interest to the whole family, and they were all assembled to meet him. the officer entered. delarue's father rose to go and meet him; but just as he was about to throw his arms around his neck, joy killed him, and he fell dead at the feet of the man who said: "i have seen your son."
as for tron?on de coudray, who had nothing but his[pg 552] salary to live on, he was deprived of all his offices when he was arrested, and went away with two louis for his entire fortune.
perhaps i am wrong, but it seems to me, since the historians neglect this duty, that it is well for the novelist to follow in the wake of revolutions and coups d'état, and teach men that it is not always those men to whom statues are erected who are most worthy of respect and admiration.
augereau, after having been charged with the arrests, was appointed to watch the prisoners. he gave them for their immediate keeper a man who had been, until within a month, at the galleys at toulon, where he had been sent after a trial by court-martial, for theft, murder, and incendiarism, committed in the vendée.
the prisoners remained at the temple from the morning of the 18th fructidor until the evening of the 21st. at midnight the jailer woke them, telling them that they were to start, and that they had a quarter of an hour in which to get ready. pichegru, who still preserved the habit of sleeping with his clothes on, was ready first, and went from room to room to hasten his comrades. he went down first, and found ex-director barthélemy between general augereau and minister of the police sothin, who had brought him to the temple in his own carriage. sothin had treated him well, and as barthélemy thanked him, the minister replied: "we know what revolutions are. your turn to-day, ours, perhaps, to-morrow."
when barthélemy, anxious about the country rather than about his own affairs, asked if no harm had resulted from it and if the public peace had not been disturbed.
"no," replied the minister; "the people swallowed the pill; and, as the dose was a good one, they took it without any trouble." then, seeing all the exiles at the foot of the tower, he added: "gentlemen, i wish you a pleasant journey."
then getting into his carriage he drove away.
augereau ordered the roll of the prisoners to be read.[pg 553] as they were named, a guard led them to the carriages past a file of soldiers who insulted them as they went along. some of those men—miserable river bastards always ready to insult those who were down—tried to reach across the others in order to strike the exiles in the face, to tear their clothing, or to bespatter them with mud.
"why do you let them go?" they cried. "you promised us that they should be shot."
"my dear general," said pichegru, as he passed augereau, emphasizing the title, "if you promised those men that, you are doing very wrong not to keep your word."
