•v<^ >■•: '-'j::> ■ m^^ "o '• %. 0* '' • ^ ^O o > *^^' ^' -^^ '-'^V^;;^ %/ :'^^ O M ^0 -^ 4 o «^ * «. « ' O,"^ *.rdfr/p>;. r^ .. - r.^^.<. ^ .v^ .-jf^z/x-v. -n^o^ 'oK o " a " CI k'^ '^0 ^V t. .^ /^V^-. -^Z ;^^', \^^^ ..^^"„ 4 o ^^0^ r o MEMOIRS OF ^'^ i ■ • ■ > ;. i>7.^v COUNT MIOT DE MELITO MINISTER, AMBASSADOR, COUNCILLOR OF STATE AND MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTE OF FRANCE, BETWEEN THE YEARS 1788 AND 1815 EDITED BY GENERAL FLEISCHMANN FROM THE FRENCH BY MRS. CASHEL HOEY- and MR. JOHN LILLIE IVITH NOTES AND AN INDEX PREPARED ESPECIALLY FOR THE AMERICAN EDITION. Ikkii'h^ NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 743 AND 745 Broadway 1881 X ,Mfe7 A2-3 CoP^'RIGHT CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS i88i {All rights rescKZ'ed.) ITHB UBRART OF CONGRESS WASHINGTON fJ PREFACE BY THE EDITOR. My purpose in placing before the public the recollections of Count Miot, my father-in-law, as a contribution to the large number of works which treat of the Great French Revo- lution and the events of the early years of the nineteenth century, is to aid writers who desire to throw a new light upon the history of those times. I believe that no mate- rials supplied by contemporaries can be superfluous for the accurate and sufficient representation of all that was memorable, great and terrible in that epoch, and for a true estimate of the influence which it has exercised and still exercises upon the destinies of mankind. Count Miot passed through a great revolution, but his recollections of it were untinged by personal regret. He had nothing to disguise or to excuse. It was for many years his constant habit to write down every evening all that he had learned or observed during the day. These notes of the events in which he was nearly concerned con- tain important details, for the most part unknown, and place the origin of those events in a clear and accurate light. In arranging them to meet the eyes of the public, I have thought it advisable to suppress all that possesses interest for the family of Count Miot only, but I have scrupulously refrained from adding anything that might IV PREFACE BY THE EDITOR. affect the nature of the impressions which were produced! by the events on the mind of the author. This book; must not, therefore, be confounded with the fabricated! Memoirs so profusely offered to the pubhc within the last: thirty years — works not indeed without merit, and ini many instances written with ability, but in which their' reputed authors have little share. ^ The readers of his Memoirs will probably agree with or differ from Count Miot's views and judgment of men and things, according to their own opinions, likes, and dislikes ; but they cannot fail to close the book with sen- timents of esteem and regard for its author, as a good man, and one who sincerely loved his country and man- kind. General Fleischmann. CONTENTS. Preface PACK ill CHAPTER I. The Author enters upon his career — The training-camp at Saint- Omer — Comte de Guibert — The effect produced upon the troops by an ill-timed attempt to introduce the Prussian system of mili- tary organisation— The camp is abruptly broken up — The changed aspect of the Court of Versailles at the close of the year 1783 — The various parties at the Court — The deputies of the Tiers Etat are ill-received— Opening of the States-General — Establishment of the National Guard — The Court forms projects hostile to the Na- tional Assembly — The banquet of the Body Guard — Intention of the Court to leave Versailles — Events of the 5th and 6ih of Octo- ber — The King and the Royal Family are taken to Paris CHAPTER II. The loth of August, 1792— The Author escapes a decree of accusa- tion — M. Lacu6e provisional Chief of the War Department — Joseph Servan, Minister — The Author ceases to be Chief of Divi- sion at the Ministry, and enters the Administration of Military Affairs as Comptroller-General — Servan is succeeded in the Min- istry by Pache and Hassenfratz, who disorganise its administra- tion — Pache is dismissed, and succeeded by Beurnonville — The Author resumes his former post at the Ministry — Bouchotte suc- ceeds Beurnonville — The Author is made Secretary-General in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under Deforgues — Sketches of some of the leaders of the Terror — Fall of Deforgues, who is suc- ceeded at the Foreign Office by a schoolmaster named Buchot — The Author, denounced as a " Moderate," is placed under a de- cree of accusation, together with MM. Otto, Colchen, and Rein- hart — Thejf are saved by the 9th Thermidor — The Author is ap- pointed Commissioner of Foreign Aft'airs — His communications with the Committee of Public Safety — Treaties of peace with Tus- cany and Prussia 18 VI CONTENTS. CHAPTER III. PAGE The Author is appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to the Grand Duke of Tuscany — The I2ih Germinal — The Author embarks at Marseilles for Genoa, and proceeds from thence to Florence — Report to the Committee of Public Safety on the political state of Florence — Difficulties caused by the presence of the French Emi- gres at Leghorn, and by the ill-will of the Tuscan authorities tow- ards the Republic — General Buonaparte appointed to the com- mand of the Army of Italy — Opening of the campaign and series of victories obtained by the young General — The Governments of Italy take steps towards obtaining peace — The Author determines to proceed to Buonaparte's headquarters 35 CHAPTER IV. The Author's interview with General Buonaparte — Conclusion of the armistice between the General and Prince Pignatelli, Pleni- potentiary at Naples — The Author returns to Florence — He goes away again to visit General Buonaparte at Bologna — His inter- view with him — The Author does not succeed in preventing the violation of the neutrality of Tuscany and the occupation of Leg- horn by the French — In returning from Leghorn, General Buona- parte stops at Florence, visits the Grand Duke, and dines with him — A treaty being concluded between the Pope and the French Republic, the Author goes to Rome to secure the fulfilment of i>s conditions — The gloomy fanaticism reigning in Rome — Some dis- contented Italians having claimed the intervention of the French tor the purpose of introducing Republican Institutions in Italy, the Author, instructed by the Directory to inform them of his views, strongly opposes the project — Being superseded by Cacault in the duty of superintending the fulfilment of the terms of the armistice at Rome, the Author returns to Florence — Rumours of the reverses experienced by Buonaparte produce great excite- ment in Italy — The Governments no longer conceal their tenden- cies, and the Author sends M. Freville to Paris to point out to the Directory the necessity of excluding Austria from all influence in Italy, and of destroying the Papal Government— The Author is appointed Ambassador at Turin, but before entering upon the exercise of his functions, he has to undertake a mission to Cor- sica as Commissioner- Extraordinary of the Government — Sketch of the State of Tuscany, the conditions of life, and customs of the Florentines 48 CHAPTER V. Letter from General Buonaparte — The Author embarks at Leghorn and arrives at Bastia, where he finds Salicclti — He is instructed to adopt a system of conciliation, and to endeavour to reconcile party divisions — He publishes a proclamation accordingly — Politi- cal situation of Corsica — Some seditious risings are repressed and CONTENTS. vii tranquillity re-established — Administration and laws organised, first in the department of Golo, and next in that of Liamone — Journey from Bastia to Ajaccio by Corte and the Col de Guizza- vano, and from Ajaccio to Bonifacio by Gartena 79 CHAPTER VI. rhe Author leaves Corsica with Joseph Buonaparte, goes to Flor- ence, and from thence to Milan — He visits General Buonaparte, then residing with his family at Montebello, after a brilliant cam- paign terminated by the treaty of Tolentino — The peace prelimi- naries of Leoben and the transformation of the Governments of Venice and Genoa — Lukewarm Republicanism of the General — A remarkable conversation in which Buonaparte reveals his future plans — The Author goes to Turin — Political situation of Pied- mont and its Government — Embarrassment caused to the Author "by the secret agents maintained in Piedmont by the Directory with revolutionary objects — The Sardinian Government, support- ed by Buonaparte, displays excessive severity in putting down the partial insurrections in Piedmont — The Author goes to Milan to have an interview with Buonaparte — Situation of the different parties in the Directory and the Councils in Paris before the Coup (T Etat of the i8th Fructidor — Buonaparte decides on supporting the Revolutionary party — The Author accompanies General and Madame Buonaparte in an expedition to Lake Maggiore— He re- turns to Turin after having agreed with the General upon the course he is to take there — The i8th Fructidor — Its consequences as regarded the position of the Sardinian Government, which as a result of the treaty of Campo-Formio, found itself deprived of Buonaparte's support — The Directory separates the General from the Army of Italy by giving him a command in the interior — Buo- naparte, in going to Rastadt, passes through Turin — His conver- sation with the Author — The position of the Sardinian Govern- ment becomes more and more precarious go CHAPTER VII. rhe Author is recalled from the Embassy at Turin, and is succeeded by Ginguene — Joseph Buonaparte, having left Rome after the as- sassination of General Duphot, stays with the Author at Turin, on his way to Paris — Berthier marches on Rome, overthrows the Pope's Government and proclaims the Roman Republic — Monge and Dannou, being sent by the Directory to organise the new Re- public, pass through Turin — The hostile dispositions of the Directory toward the King of Sardinia are more and more openly displayed — Ginguene, accompanied by Garat, arrives at Turin on his way to Naples as ambassador there — The Author presents his letters of recall to the King of Sardinia, and takes advantage of his leisure to make an excursion in the Alps — On returning, he leaves for Paris — Sketch of the state of Italy at the beginning of 1798, and of the events that took place after the departure of the Author 117 Vlll CONTENTS. CHAPTER VIII. PAGB The Author arrives in Paris — He finds certain changes in the man- ners and habits of Parisian society — He is received coldly by the Members of the Directory, and by the persons who frequent their 'sd/ons — He sees Buonaparte — The General's motives for under- taking the expedition to Egypt — Popular rising at Vienna, in consequence of which the French Legation leaves that city — The Directory, fearing that war with Austria will break out afresh, de- cides on sending General Buonaparte ta Rastadt — The dangers with which the Directory would be threatened by the ambitious projects of the General, cause them to rescind this decision, and Buonaparte leaves at once, to embark at Toulon — The Author is summoned to join a Council called together on account of dis- putes in the Department of the Interior — Failures of the Direc- tory in the management of public affairs — Reverses of the French arms— Partial overthrow of the Directory, and Ministerial changes — The Author goes to Holland with Deforgues, who is appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to the Dutch Republic — In passing through Morforitaine he hears that Buonaparte's brothers had sent a communication to the General which may induce him to return to France— Deforgues and the Author travel by way of Lille, Bruges, Antwerp, Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Harlem, and arrive at Alkmaer, the headquarters of Brune — Situation of mili- tary affairs in Holland — The travellers proceed to the Hague — Political state of the country— Capitulation of the Duke of York, and evacuation of the territory of the Dutch Republic by the Anglo-Russian army 131 CHAPTER IX. The news of the Revolution of iSth and 19th Brumaire reaches the Hague— The Author, who is summoned to Paris to fill the office of Secretary-General to the Ministry of War. leaves the Hague — The physiognomy of Paris —Narrative of the events of Brumaire — Interview of the Author with Buonaparte- Sieyes' plan for a Constitution is rejected— The Constitution of year VIII. is adopt- ed—The Author is appointed a member of the Tribunate — The nat^ire of that Institution — A spirit of opposition within it is de- veloped at an inopportune moment- Rapid increase of the au- thority and power of the First Consul, who adopts monarchical forms more and more decidedly — Rumours of conspiracies serve as a pretext for arbitrary measures— Fouch6 and Lucien Buona- p.irte quarrel violently in the presence of the First Consul— The system of fusion of parties carried out with success by the First Consul i_j3 CHAPTER X. The peace negotiations with Austria are broken off. and a renewal of hostilities is decided upon— The First Consul endeavours to make the people believe in his attachment to the Constitution and to % CONTENTS. IX reassure the friends of Liberty — He leaves Paris, to take com- mand of the Army— His victories — The state of feeling in Paris after the departure of the First Consul — Rumours of changes to be made in the Constitution in favour of the power of the First Consul, and for the purpose of introducing the principle of hered- itary succession-^Discussioa on me consequences of the possible death of the First Consul — The news of the victory of Marengo cuts this short, and throws Paris into transports of joy — Great position of the First Consul — His return to Paris — Negotiations for peace are opened with Austria — The dispositions of the bellig- erent parties — The real designs of the First Consul more and more clearly revealed — His solicitude to gain the affection of the army — Arbitrary condemnation of General Latour-Foissac — Mod- ification of laws concerning the " emigres''' — Manifestation of the sentiments of the First Consul on religious matters— Steps are talcen to bring about an understanding with the Pope — The hered- itary idea makes progress in the public mind — The palace of Saint-Cloud is placed at the disposal of the Government — Great influence of Cambaceres and Talleyrand over the First Consul — The Author is named Councillor of State 165 CHAPTER XI. A treaty of Peace with the United States is signed — Incident con- nected with the date of that Treaty — The active part taken by the First Consul in the deliberations of the Council of State — The proposed law on the formation of lists of Eligibles is abandoned — The Republican conspiracy of Ceracchi and its consequences — Reform of the laws on Emigration — Letter from Louis XVIII. to the First Consul — Arrival of Count von Cobentzel to negotiate for peace — Rudeness of the First Consul to that Minister, who leaves Paris on his way to Luneville — Dissensions between the First Consul and his brother Lucien — Violent dispute between the lat- ter and Fouche — Lucien is removed from the Ministry of the In- terior and appointed Ambassador to Madrid — The Author is selected for a second Mission to Corsica — Opinions expressed by the First Consul during the debates of the Council of State 187 CHAPTER XIL Moreau gains a victory at Hohenlinden over the Austrians — Cele- bration of that victory in Paris — The Author prepares for his jour- ney to Corsica, but his departure is deferred in consequence of the attempt of the 3d Nivose — Details of that event — Its immediate result — Wrath of the First Consul with the Terrorists — Extra- legal measures proposed against that faction, by means of uncon- stitutional powers conferred on the Senate — Extraordinary sit- ting of the Council of State— Reports by the Police — Debate, and decrees of the Consuls now converted into a Senatus-Consultum — The Police prove that the authors of the attempt of the 3d Nivose belong to the Royalist party, and arrest the real criminals X CONTENTS. — Successful issue of the peace negotiations at Lun6ville — The Author sets out on his journey, having received his instructions from the First Consul — Disorganised slate of the south of France — Admiral Ganteaume and his squadron — The Author leaves Tou- lon in the war-sloop Hirondclle and lands at Calvi 203 CHAPTER XIII. State of Corsica at the period of the Author's arrival — His proposed system for the administration of the country — Difficulties thrown in his way by the partisans of the Bonaparte family, and the military authorities — He dismisses General Muller, Commandant of the Division, from the island — Improvements introduced into the country — An account of the Author's excursion to Monte-Ro- londo — Curious fete given in his honour at Cervione — The organic laws of the Concordat concluded with the Pope — The Life-Con- sulship — Little interest shown by the Corsicans in voting for it — Numerous adverse votes among the troops— Journey to Monte d'Oro — Information concerning the Bonaparte family and their \ origin — The Author is recalled, and Corsica is again placed under the rule of the Constitution — Sketch of the state of the island and the customs of the inhabitants 224 CHAPTER XIV. The Author returns to Paris — His reception by the First Consul — Monarchical customs and strict etiquette with which the First Consul surrounded himself — Joseph Bonaparte imparts the secret designs and great projects of the First Consul to the Author — Lord VVhitworth, the English Ambassador in Paris — General Moreau is feted at the Ministry of War — Government-mourning on the occasion of the death of General Leclerc — New coinage witK the effigy of the First Consul — Lavish endowment of the Senate — The political relations between France and England be- come strained — Irritation of the First Consul with the English Press — Conversation between Bonaparte and Lord Whitworth — Colonel Sebastiani's Report, published in the Moniteur — The Kinj^'s speech to Parliament is hostile to France — Effect pro- duced by it in Paris — Progress of the crisis and of the negotia- tions, official and secret, prior to the definitive rupture between France and England — Simultaneous departure of Lord Whitworth from Paris and of General Andreossy from London— Appendix : Lord Whitworth's Despatch of February 21, 1803, to Lord Hawkes bury 247 CHAPTER XV. Commencement of hostilities — Severe treatment of the English in France — The First Consul's anger with England is shared by the great Bodies of the State — Disloyal Conduct of the English Gov- CONTENTS. XI PAGE ernment towards France — rFrench troops enter the Kingdom of Naples and occupy Hanover — A strict etiquette is established by the Fiist Consul — A theatrical representation at the Palace of Saint-Cloud is followed by the delivery of an Ode composed by M de Fontanes — Adoption of the first chapters of the Civil Code — Remarkable shcire taken by the First Consul in the debates on this work — His journey to Belgium — Servility shown towards him by the authorities, Civil, Military, and Clerical — Disgust felt by the Parisians at such excessive flattery — The First Consul's on- ward progress towards supreme power — He causes propositions to be made to Louis XVHI., who declines his offers — Dissensions between Napoleon and his brothers — Disagreement between France and Russia — First preparations for an invasion of England — M. de Fontanes, President of the Legislative Body — Re imposi- tion of taxes on food, under the name of droits-7'eunis 279 CHAPTER XVL Reconciliation between Napoleon and Joseph Bonaparte — ^Real, Councillor of State, is entrusted with the Superintendence of Po- lice — Establishment of General Commissioners of Police in the principal towns of France — Debate on this subject in the Council of State — Plot against the First Consul's life by Georges Cadou- dal and Pichegru — Complicity of Moreau — Details of the exami- nation of the accused — The Chief Judge's report on the facts of the case is communicated to the Chief Bodies of the State — Their replies — Examination of Moreau's papers by Regnault de Saint Jean-d'Angely and the Author — State of the contributions levied by Moreau in Germany — Plan and intentions of the principal con- spirators — Royalist character of the plot — Pichegru and Cadoudal are arrested— The discoveries made by the Police respecting this conspiracy compromise indirectly a great number of persons — Cares and troubles of the First Consul — The Due d'Enghein is seized at the Chateau d'Ettenheim in Baden by a detachment of French troops — The Prince is brought before a military commis- sion at Vincennes, is condemned to death, and shot — Consterna- tion in Paris — Bonaparte's speech to the Council of State con- cerning this event — Ball given by Talleyrand three days after the death of the Due d'Enghein 297 CHAPTER XVn. The First Consul is obliged to accept the principle of heredity in the succession to the supreme magistracy — Address from the Senate, asking for that guarantee of stability — Public opinion is in favour of Heredity — Preliminary debate on the date of the adoption of that principle, and on the title to be assumed by the Chief of the State — Bonaparte makes it a point that hereditary power should be offered to him by the Revolutionary Party — Restrictions placed by him on the hereditary system — The question is discussed by the Council of State — The First Consul reverts to the idea of adopting the son of Louis Bonaparte as his successor — He makes an overture to Louis with that view — Indignation of the latter and xii CONTENTS. of Joseph Bonaparte— The First Consul is reconciled with his brothers, ami resolves to include ihein in the succession - Louis is appointed Gcnt-ral of Division, and Joseph accepts command of a regiment of the line -^A Privy Council summoned at St. Cloud adopts heredity, and decrees that lionaparte shall assume the title of Emperor, and shall be consecrated and crowned as such- The First Consul sends a message to the Senate to elicit a clearer statement on the new institutions that are to be established — The Senate appoints a Committee for that purpose — At the Tribunate, a motion, offering the Crown to Bonaparte, is made by Curee, and seconded by Simeon — The Senatus-Consultum adopting the proposition of the Tribunate is submitted to the Council of State, and is definitively adopted by that body — The Senate conveys to the First Consul at St. Cloud the law proclaiming Napoleon Bona- parte Emperor of the French 316 CHAPTER XVIII. Ct'eation of the great Dignitaries of the Empire — The denomination of Ciiizc-n is abolished and the title of JAj/zj-Z^ ;/r restored — Failure of a tragedy by Carrion-Nisas at the Theatre Fran9ais — New oath taken by members of the great authorities of the State— New seal of State— Trial of Georges Cadoudal, Pichegru, and their accom- plices—Suicide of Pichegru— Verdict — Moreau is condemned to two years' imprisonment —Clemency of the Emperor — Eagerness of the numerous place-hunters and seekers after favour at the Im- perial Court -Negotiations in Rome to induce the Pope to come to Paris and consecr.ite the Emperor— Dissensions in the Council of State respecting the date and ceremonies of the coronation- Debate on the framing of the Criminal Code — Attempt of the Gov- ernment to abolish trial by jury— The Author visits Prince Joseph at Boulogne— Simplicity of the habits of the latter ; his affected disdain of the high rank to which he is raised by the elevation of his brother Napoleon— The army at Boulogne — Preparations for the descent on England — The Author, summoned to St. Cloud, is appointed by the Emperor to undertake the High Police of the Northern Departments of France— His conversation with Napo- leon on the subject of Prince Joseph 337 CHAPTER XIX. The ceremonial of the distribution of the crosses of the Legion of Honour in Paris— The Emperor proceeds to Boulogne and per- forms the same ceremony at the camp — His return to Paris is fol- lowed by that of Prince Joseph — Russia and England — The Em- peror's satisfaction at the prospect of a Continental war — He dis- closes gigantic projects to his generals in order to stimulate their ambition — He detaches himself from the Republican party, and inclines to the old nobility — The ambassador of Austria is fur- nished with new letters of credit to the Emperor of the French — The Pope consents to come to Paris for the Coronation — That solemnity is definitely fixed for the beginning of December — The formation of the Emperor's household and of those of his brotheis CONTENTS. xiii PAGE — Curious omission in the wording of the National Vote on the Iniperial succession— Discussion on the ceremonial of the corona- tion — Violent altercation between Napoleon and Joseph — An ex- planation takes place between the Emperor and Prince Joseph at Fontainebleau, in consequence of which the latter conforms to the views of his brother — The result of the votes of the people on the Imperial system is taken in State to the Tuileries by the Sen- ate — Coronation and consecration of the Emperor and Empress, followed by numerous fetes — Solemn opening of the Legislative session — Addresses from the Legislative Body and the Tribunate —An incident relating to the terms used in those addresses 352 CHAPTER XX. The Emperor again offers the crown of Lombardy to Prince Joseph, who refuses it — He wishes to bestow it on the son of Prince Louis, but the latter also declines Napoleon's proposal — In conse- quence of this refusal, the Emperor destines Eugene Beauharnais to the throne of Italy, and raises him, as well as General Murat. to princely rank — Hostile attitude of the Northern Powers — The Emperor explains at the Council of State the real object of ihe preparations for a descent on England — He addresses a letter on behalf of peace to the King of England, but without effect — Napo- leon contrives that a deputation from the Italian Republic, con- verted into a Monarchy, shall offer him the crown of Italy, which he accepts — The Pope leaves Paris to return to Rome — The Em- peror, after a reconciliation with his brother Joseph, proceeds to Milan, to be crowned King of Italy, and appoints Prince Eugene his viceroy — Joseph returns to the Boulogne camp — The Author proceeds to Belgium on a special mission from the Government — Prosperity and good dispositions of the inhabitants — Public works for the establishment of a military port at Antwerp — An- nexation of the Ligurian Republic to France — Return of the Em- peror from Milan — The continuance of peace on the Continent becomes more and more doubtful — The combined squadrons of France and Spain are obliged, after a disastrous engagement, to take refuge at Corunna — The Emperor hastens the preparations for the embarkation of the troops at Boulogne — The Viennese Cabinet despatches its armies to Bavaria, and sends an ultimatum to Paris— War is decided on, and the troops assembled at Bou- logne are ordered to the Rhine — Restoration of the Greek Calen- dar — The Emperor's allocution at the State Council — Provisions for regulating the powers of the Government during the Emper- or's absence — After having presided at a State Sitting of the Sen- ate, Napoleon sets out to join the army 369 CHAPTER XXI. Unpopularity of the war with the inhabitants of Paris — Embarrass- ment of the Bank of France and of the Public Exchequer— Declara- tion of War by Austria and Russia — The impression produced in France — -Marvellous successes of the French Army — Defeat of the combined fleets of France and Spain at Trafalgar — Battle of Aus- xiv CONTENTS. terlitz — Mopes of peace entertained by the Parisians in conse- quence of the arrival of Austrian Plenipotentiaries at Napoleon's headquarters- Displeasure of the Emperor— The Presburg Treaty of Peace — The Emperor commands Prince Joseph to place him- self at the head of a French army, and drive the King of Naples from his States, as he had broken his neutrality in the recent war —The Emperor, on his way back from Vienna, stays at Munich to arrange a marriage between Prince Eugene and Princess Au- gusta of Bavaria— The author receives commands to join Prince Joseph at Naples — He has an audience to. take leave of the Em- peror — He receives instructions from M. de Talleyrand — He leaves Paris — He sees Lucien Bonaparte at Rome and arrives at Naples a week later than Prince Joseph— Situation of affairs — Formation of a Ministry — Two letters from the Emperor — Gigan- tic projects — Hard work of the Government at Naples — Silent op- position of Prince Joseph to the Emperor's views — General Rcg- nier occupies Calabria — Prince Joseph resolves on visiting that province 3S7 CHAPTER XXn Prince Joseph's journey in the Calabrias — On April 3d, in Prov- inces, the travellers are met by a courier bringing tidings of the Emperor's decree calling Prince Joseph to the throne of Naples, and creating Prince Murat Grand Duke of Berg, and Marshal Berthier Prince of Neuchatel — The new King's State entry into Naples — The English seize on the island of Capri — Trial and ex- ecution of the Marquis of Rodio — A Council of State is instituted — The Neapolitan and French parties in the administration — The eruption of Mount Vesuvius— The English land in the Gulf of Saint Euphemia, defeat General Regnier, and force the French to evacuate the Calabrias, which rise in insurrection — The surrender of Gaeta— Massena marches against the Calabrias, puts down the insurrection, and drives out the English — Administrative meas- ures of the Government — Excursions made by the Author in the neighbourhood of Naples — Embarrassment caused to the Govern- ment, by the imminent danger of war in the north— The French victories remove this danger, and the Administration is in conse- quence carried on with greater regularity — Financial difficulties — The^convents of St. Benedict and St. Bernard are suppressed, but the mendicant orders are maintained — The King and the Author disagree on this subject — A change in the ministry — The auspi- cious influence of the peace of Tilsit upon the Neapolitan Govern- ment — Encouragment of Arts and Sciences— Public works and improvement in the capital 405 CHAPTER XXHI. The solemnity of the miracle of St. Januarius — King Joseph being summoned to an interview with Napoleon at Venice proceeds thither and learns that the Emperor intends him for the throne of Spain — Joseph agrees to his brother's project -Attempted assas- sination of Salicetti, the Minister of Police — The islaml of Corfu % CONTENTS. XV is revictualled by a squadron under Admiral Ganteaume — Sensa- tion produced at Naples by the display of a French Naval force — Arrival of Queen Julia — The King sets out to join the Emperor at Bayonne — Before relinquishing the throne of Naples, he institutes a new order of Knighthood, instead of that of St. Januarius, founds a Royal Society of Science and Literature, and gives a Constitutional Statute to the Kingdom — Joseph abdicates the throne of Naples, to which the Grand Duke of Berg is raised by the Emperor, under the name of Joachim Napoleon — The Author leaves Naples to follow King Joseph to Spain — He stays in Rome, where the rupture between Napoleon and the Pope is the cause of hostile measures — ^^At Lyons he meets King Murat on his way to take possession of the throne of Naples — Melancholy ac- count given by that prince of the state of affairs in Spain — He at last joins King Joseph at Miranda de Ebro — Appendix : Letter from Rome on the rupture between the Pope and the Emperor — Secret instructions given by the Holy See , 422 CHAPTER XXIV. Alleged secret Articles of the Treaty of Tilsit — King Joseph leaves Bayonne for Spain on July 8, 1808 — Marshal Bessieres' victory near Medina de Rio-Seco throws open the road to Madrid — Hav- ing entered the capital on July 20, he withdraws from it on the 29th of same month, in consequence of the catastrophe at Baylen, which also causes the French troops to fall back on the Ebro — The King takes up his residence at Miranda de Ebro, where the Author joins him on September 10— Appendix : Details of the capitulation of General Dupont at Baylen 438 CHAPTER XXV. Capitulation of General Junot in Portugal — The French army leaves the line of the Ebro and falls back on Vittoria — The Emperor arrives at that city on the 7th of November — He deeply offends Spanish pride by the insulting violence of his language — He orders his numerous troops to advance, and follows them on the loth of November — Marshal Souk's victory over the army of Estremadura opens the gates of Burgos to the French, and the Emperor removes his headquarters thither on the nth — Frightful ravages committed by the French army on its march — King Joseph's indignation and grief affect his health — The good under- standing between the brothers is again impaired, Napoleon look- ing upon Spain as his own conquest, and allowing no authority there except his own — The Author advises Joseph to relinquish the crown of Spain, but is not listened to — Marshal Lannes hav- ing beaten the troops of Castafios, near Tudela, the Emperor re- moves his headquarters to Aranda de Duero — Engagement at Somo-Sierra — The King, who constantly follows the Imperial Headquarters, at last joins Napoleon at Chamartin, near Madrid, the inhabitants of which place seem resolved on its defence — Re- tiro is attacked and taken — Madrid capitulates and the French xvi CONTENTS. take possession of the town — The Emperor continues to exercise the sole sovereign authority, and the King retires to Prado — Numerous confiscations are ordered by Napoleon — The Austrian armaments, and the march of the P^nglish troops under Sir John Moore, who threatens Valladolid, induce the Emperor before leav- ing Madrid to effect a reconciliation with Joseph— Arrangement come to by the two brothers 453 CHAPTER XXyi. The King leaves his retirement and proceeds to Aranjuez, and thence to Ocafia, where Marshal Victor is — The beauty of Aran- juez — The King takes up his residence at Florida— A Spanish division under the Duke del Infantado is defeated by Marshal Victor — Precipitate retreat of the English, who are pursued by Marshal Soult — The King reconstructs his household and makes his entry into Madrid — A favourable change in the feelings of the inhabitants is apparent 472 : CHAPTER XXVn. Impossibility of a lasting reconciliation between the Spanish Nation and their new King, because of the state of subjection in which the latter was kept by the Emperor — Sui render of Saragossa — Vic- tory gained by the Duke de Belluna over General Cuesta — Creation of a Council of State — The attempt to recruit the Finances by the sale of National property — Increasing dissensions between the King and the Emperor, the result of which was to paralyse every Government measure and to render Joseph's authority nugatory — Appendix : Some particulars concerning the second siege of Saragossa 477; CHAPTER XXVIII. A second English army lands at Lisbon, and forces Marshal Soult to evacuate Portugal, and fall back, with Marshal Ney, on As- torga and Salamanca — The Junta brings two new armies into the fiePd, intended to cooperate with the English — At the same time the Junta adopts the system of guerilla warfare — The King at the head of the fourth army corps marches against General Venegas, who declines battle and retires to the Sierra-Morena — The gueril- las advance to the gates of Madrid — The English succeed in join- ing the army of General Cuesta, and march against the Duke of Belluna — The King leaves Madrid to proceed to the headquar- ters of the latter — llis departure creates great alarm in the capital — Retreat of Cuesta and the English after the battle of Talavera — Defeat of Venegas at the battle of Almoncciad — The King re- turns to Madrid on August 15— Suppression of the Monasteries — Government Reforms — The King makes an excursion to San Ilde- foriso and to Segovia — Description of these places — Return of the King to Madrid — His efforts to improve the Governmental system CONTENTS. xvii are rendered vain by the enmity of the nation — The Emperor is displeased with the conduct of the war in Spain — A fresh army levied by the Junta and commanded by General Arizaga, appears in La Mancha, and marches on Madrid — It is dispersed near Ocafia by the King — General Kellerman defeats another Spanish army commanded by the Duke del Parque, at Alba de Tormes— The King resolves to undertake the conquest of Andalusia 485 CHAPTER XXIX. Departure of the King for the Andalusian Expedition — Having passed through Toledo, Madridejos, etc., he arrives at Almagro, where he joins Marshal Victor with the First Corps, and where military operations are commenced — The army, the centre formed by the Fifth Corps and the Reserve, and the right and left wings by the First and Fourth Corps, enters the passes of the Sierra- Morena, and takes possession of them without great opposition — It advances by way of La Carolina, Baylen, and Andujar, and oc- cupies Cordova, where the King is well received by the inhabi- tants — Description of the principal buildings of Cordova — The colonies of Andalusia — On reaching Carmona, the King, instead of marching directly on Cadiz to surpris»the Junta there, resolves to pass through Seville — He is warmly received by the inhabitants of that city, the capital of Andalusia — This gives him confidence, and he thanks the army in an emphatic order of the day — Seville, its public buildings and its environs — The summons sent to Cadiz by the Duke of Belluna having produced no effect, the King leaves Seville, and proceeds by way of Utreraand Xeres to Puerto- Santa-Maria — Attempts to enter into negotiations with the Junta of Cadiz are repulsed, and the necessity of a siege in form is recognised — The King, after visiting the town of San Lucar, re- turns to Xeres, and thence takes the road for Ronda and Malaga — Enthusiasm excited among the people by Joseph's entry into the latter town — Antequera and its antiquities — Cueva de Minga — The King's entry into Granada— Description of that city and its buildings — Jaen and its ancient Cathedral — Return of the King to Andujar, and end of the Andalusian expedition 502 CHAPTER XXX. ^ews from Paris concerning the Emperor's intentions with re- gard to Spain disperse the delusions respecting the King's position, to which his journey through Andalusia had given rise —An Imperial Decree of February 8, 1810, precedes the dis- memberment of Spain by Napoleon — The Author vainly en- deavours to persuade Joseph to relinquish the throne of Spain — On the occasion of the Emperor's marriage with Marie Louise, the King sends the Duke of Santa Fe to Paris, and directs him at the same time to negotiate the revocation of the decree of February 8 — Having arrived at Andujar, the King, acting on the advice of Marshal Soult, decides on returning to Seville — He is coldly received — Death of M. de Cabarrus, Minister of Fi- xvlii CONTENTS. nance — The King returns to Madrid— The Duke of Santa F6 fails in his negotiation -The King tries in vain to oppose the severe measures of the Fmperor — Ferdinand VII., banished to Valen- say, asks for the hand of a niece of the Emperor — Napoleon is not unwilling, but the young lady refuses her consent — The King de- spatches the Marquis d'Almenara with a kind of ultimatum to his brother — Constant encroachments of the French Generals on the authority of the King — The Emperor demands the cession of the Spanish provinces on the left bank of the Ebro, in exchange for r^ortugal— The King declines the propositiqn — The King journeys the Guadalaxara — Alcala de Henarez — On returning to Madrid the King despatches M. Clary to Paris, bearing a letter to Queen Julia, in which he requests her to inform the Emperor that he in- tends to leave Spain, unless his position there be altered — Mas- sena's expedition to Portugal — Battle of Busaco — Retreat of the English to the unassailable passes of the Torres-Vedras — Wretch- ed condition of the French army in Portugal — Santa Fe and Al- menara return to Madrid — Propositions of the Emperor made through the Marquis d'Almenara — They are debated in a private council, found to be impossible of execution, and rejected — The Author again endeavours to induce the King to leave Spain, or to repair to Paris to treat personally with the Emperor ; the King cannot make up his mind to this, and continues to temporise 537 CHAPTER XXXI. Critical position of the French army in Portugal — Successes of Suchet's army in Catalonia — The town of Valencia makes some advances towards treating with the King — Message from Queen Julia giving the King an account of an official interview with the Duke de Cadore — Documents in charge of a French courier are seized by the Spaniards and published in their newspapers — Sen- sation produced in Spain — The King seems disposed to follow the course of action advised by the Author, but soon falls back into a slate of irresolution — Reduction of Badajoz — Utter failure of the expedition to Portugal, and retreat of Massena — Marshal Victor meets with a reverse — Misunderstanding between the chiefs of the French Army— Disturbances in Madrid on account of the high price of bread — Altercation at the Ministerial Council — The King, having resolved on leaving Spain, fixes his departure for the 1st of April, iSii — The news of the birth of the King of Rome, which reaches Madrid on the 29th of March, delays the ex- ecution of this plan — The King at last takes his departure for France on the 23d of April — Reflections on Joseph's political position — Interview between the two brothers — The Emperor promises the King certain concessions — Napoleon sets out for Cherbourg, and the King for Morfontaine — Impression produced on the Author by the appearance of Paris — The Emperor's reply to a deputation of French merchants— Napoleon's unsatisfactory reply to his brother's complaints — Baptism of the King of Rome — The Emperor's ungracious reception of the Author — After a final interview with his brother on the 12th of June, Joseph leaves for % CONTENTS. XIX Spain on the i6th ; the Author decides on accompanying him — The King reaches Spain on the 27th of June, and Madrid on the 15th of July 559 CHAPTER XXXII. rhe military situation — A Committee is formed to prepare the convo- cation of the Cortes — Union of Catalonia to the French Empire — Imminent rupture between France and Russia — Unfortunate re- sult of this with respect to the effective force in Spain — The Eng- lish occupy the fortified bridges on the Tagus — Organisation of fresh bands of Guerillas — Famine in Madrid — Discouragement among the French troops — Valencia surrenders to Marshal Suchet, and Ciudad-Rodrigo to the Duke of Wellington— Before setting out on his Russian campaign, the Emperor gives instructions for regulating the military and political affairs of Spain — The English take Badajoz and threaten both North and South at once — Mar- shal Soult refuses to obey the King's orders — Marshals Suchet and Marmont follow his example — M. Deslandes, the King's pri- vate* secretary, is killed while on a journey by the guerillas — Cru- elties practised by the guerilla bands — Endeavours to convene the Cortes — The English act on the offensive against Marshal Mar- mont — The King, at the head of reinforcements drawn from the Army of the Centre, goes to the help of the Duke of Ragusa — Be- fore he can reach the Marshal, the latter joins battle with the English and is defeated and wounded — Disastrous consequences of this defeat — The King crosses the Sierra da Guadarrama and returns to Madrid 580 CHAPTER XXXIII. rhe English army crosses the Sierra of Guadarrama, and occupies the plain which surrounds Madrid — The French evacuate the cap- ital — The King at the head of the Army of the Centre, preceded by an immense convoy, withdraws towards Valencia — Sufferings of the troops and of the convoy during the march across La Mancha from heat and want of water — They reach the fertile plains of the kingdom of Valencia — The King enters the city of Valencia— Ac- cusations against the King contained in a despatch from Marshal Soult to the Duke of Feltre, which falls accidentally into Joseph's hands — Colonel Desprez is sent on a mission to the Emperor — Marshal Soult evacuates Andalusia — Conference between Soult and the King at Fuente de Higuera, in which it is decided that the Armies of the South and of the Centre shall unite with that of Portugal — The two first effect their junction at Ocafia— The Eng- lish, after failing in their siege of the fortress of Burgos, fall back hastily on the Douro and evacuate Madrid — Excesses committed by them while retreating — The three Armies of the South, the Centre, and Portugal effect their junction at Pena-Aranda — Changes made by the King in the command of the army — Lord Wellington avoids an encounter and retreats to Portugal — The three French armies enter the cantonments assigned them by the King XX CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXXIV. Painful impression made on the French in Madrid by the accounts received of the Grand Army in Russia — Results of those disasters on Spanish affairs — The Army of the South is concentrated on the Douro — The King, accompanied by his guard, removes to Valla- dolid — The forces under the King's command are reduced by more than one third, owing to the recall of a great number of subalterns and veteran soldiers to France, and to the detachment of a corps commanded by General ClauseL. to act against Mina — Lord Wellington appointed generalissimo of all the Spanish ar- mies by the Cortes — Evacuation of Madrid — The English general commences his operations at the head of 100,000 men, and arrives on the Tormes on the 26th ot May — The French fall back on Burgos, and are pursued by the enemy — The King orders the citadel of Burgos to be blown up, a considerable number of French soldiers losing their lives by the explosion — The King's army reaches the passes of Pancorvo on the 15th of June — Dis- sension in the King's council of war as to whether we shall or shall not defend- the defiles— The French fall back on the Ebro — The English having crossed the river, the French take to flight, and take up a position on the Zadora, before Vittoria, on the 19th of June — The opportunity of retreating to the Salinos Pass behind Vittoria having been missed, the King is obliged to meet the enemy — Position of the army on the morning of the 21st — The battle commences, and the French, after an obstinate resistance, are forced from their first, and shortly afterwards from their sec- ond position — The high road to France being held by the enemy, we retreat towards Salvatierra — The English hussars turn our re- treat into a rout, and we reach Salvatierra in the evening — We continue to retreat, the Army of Portugal forming our rear-guard — The King, with the Armies of the South and Centre, reaches Pampeluna on the 23d— Having rejoined the Army of Portugal, he crosses the Bidassoa on the 2Sth of June, and fixes his head- quarters at St. Jean de Luz — The Author is ordered on a mission to the Emperor in Germany, and sets out for Vichy, where he in- tends to see Queen Julia on his way through — The Queen per- suades him not to persist in his journey to Dresden, and retracing his steps he joins the King near Bayonne — Joseph establishes himself with his suite at the Chateau de Poyanne, but at the expi- ration of a week receives permission to reside at Morfontaine, where he arrives with the Author on the 30th of July, 1S13 CHAPTER XXXV. Objections made by the Police to Joseph's occasional visits to Paris — Bernadotte joins the allies against France Curious assemblage of persons at Morfontaine -Scnatus-Consultum authorising the levy of 280,000 men — Adverse state of public opinion— Leipsic on i8th and 19th of October — Progress of disaffection towards the Emperor — Arrival of Napoleon at St. Cloud— The King's inter- view with the Emperor — Napoleon insists that his brother shall abdicate the throne of Spain — Hesitation of the King — The situa- CONTENTS. xxi tion becomes more difficult — Opening of the Corps Legislatif— The Emperor tries in vain to lead public opinion in a favourable direction — The King, in a letter to the Emperor, dated 29th of December, at last consents to abdicate on certain conditions — His letter remains unanswered — On hearing of the summary dissolu- tion of the Corps. Legislatif Joseph writes a second time to his brother — The Emperor delaying to reply, the King sends the Au- thor to Paris to investigate matters — Narrative of the events which brought about the dissolution of the Corps Legislatif — Sensation produced in Paris and the departments by that measure — Inter- views of the Author with the Duke de Vicenza and King Louis — Joseph removes to Paris and establishes himself at the Luxem- bourg — Third letter from the King to the Emperor, who considers it too emphatic— An interview with the Prince of Neuchatei again angers the King, who wishes to retire —The Author persuades him to confer with his Spanish Ministers — After this conference Joseph writes a fourth letter to the Emperor, which is at length approved — It is agreed that the King shall bear henceforth the title of King Joseph — The Author returns to the Council of State — Treaty of Valensgay, restoring the throne of Spain to Ferdinand VII. — Prog- ress of the Allied Armies — The Emperor, before placing himself at the head of his army, regulates the form of government during his absence—Grand audience, to which the officers of the newly organised National Guard of Paris are admitted — Napoleon sets out on the 25th of January, 18 14 A 641 CHAPTER XXXVL Preliminaries of Peace are proposed by the Plenipotentiaries of the Allies — Napoleon, flushed with the military successes obtained in February, rejects them — He nevertheless communicates them to an Extraordinary Council at Paris, which unanimously advises their acceptance — The numerical superiority of the enemy nulli- fies the advantages gained by the French — Conspiracy in favour of a Provisional Government is organised in Paris by Talleyrand — Consternation in Paris at the news of the rupture of negotiations at Chatillon — The Emperor throws himself on the rear of the ene- my, who nevertheless continues to march on Paris — Measures to be taken for the safety of the Empress and the King of Rome are discussed in a Council of Regency, which decides that they shall leave Paris — Joseph's proclamation of the 2gth of March — The Emperor at Troyes on the 28th — The Author refuses the King's proposal that he shall leave Paris with the Queen — Reluctance of the Queen and the Empress to quit Paris — On the morning of the 30th the enemy attacks the French positions under the walls of Paris— Departure of Queen Julia with her children — We hear of the arrival of the Emperor at Fontainebleau with a portion of his guard on the 29th — An order from the Grand Judge, Count Mole, directs the members of the Senate to rejoin the Empress-Regent, the Author leaves on the evening of the 30th and reaches Chartres the 31st of March — A cold reception by King Joseph — The Gov- ernment of the Regency is established at Blois — Personages com- posing it — Uncertainty prevails at Blois with regard to the events XXll CONTENTS. that had taken place in Paris and at Fontainebleau — On the 7lh of April a letter from the Duke of Bassano informs the Regency of the abdication of Napoleon — The Author is sent to Paris to obtain passports for the members of the family assembled at Blois and reaches the capital — DilTiculties in fulfilling his mission — He at last obtains the passports, which he sends to King Joseph at Or- leans, who is greatly irritated at a clause in them — The Author is excluded from the Council of State, goes into retirement, and establishes himself and family on an estate near Paris 662 CHAPTER XXXVn. THE HUNDRED DAYS. After Napoleon's return from the Island of Elba the Author re-en- ters the Council of State — Appearance of the Imperial Court at an audience given at the Tuileries — The Author again meets Prince Joseph — Declaration of the Council of State respecting the dogma of the sovereignty of the people — Addresses of the princi- pal tribunals and of the ministers, in favour of there-establishment of Imperial authority — State reception at the Tuileries — The Au- thor is sent as Commissioner-Extraordinary of the Government into the departments composing the 12th Military Division, and goes to La Rochelle — Feeling of the inhabitants of the different departments which he visits — Difficulties encountered by him — Hostile disposition of the inhabitants of a part of La Vendee, and especially the town of Nantes — Unfortunate effect produced by the publication of the Additional Act — Warm reception given to the Author at Poitiers — On his return to Paris, the Author ren- ders an account of his mission to the Emperor — Influence of Prince Lucien, who has returned to Paris, on affairs — The news from Vienna having put an end to all hope of a pacific arrange- ment with the Allied Powers, the Emperor has no other chance but war — Distrust inspired in the Government by the attitude of several general officers, and also by the majority of the nomina- tions to the elective Chamber — Solemnity of the Champ de Mai — Discourse pronounced on this occasion, in the name of the elec- tors, and the Emperor's reply — Solemn opening of the session of the Chambers, on the yih June — The Emperor leaves Paris on the I2th^ for the northern frontier — Abandoning the army after the disaster of Waterloo, he returns to Paris during the night of the 2olh of June — His abdication, strenuously opposed by Lucien, is resolved upon, and sent to the Chambers — The Author hears that his son-in-law has been killed, and his son seriously wounded in the battle of Waterloo — Dispersion of all the members of Napo- leon's family — The Author returns to the country, where the gen- erous protection of the Emperor Alexander secures both him and his family from injury by the allied troops — Death of the Count's son in consequence of his wound — At the end of two years, the Author, having sold his country house, returns to Paris, where, remote from public affairs, and occupied with literary work, he lives in profound retirement 6S5 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO, CHAPTER I. The author enters upon his career — The training-camp at Saint-Omer — Count de Guibert — The effect produced upon the troops by an ill-timed attempt to introduce the Prussian system of military organization — The camp is abruptly broken up — The changed aspect of the Court of Ver- sailles at the close of ihe year 1783 — The various parties at the Court — The deputies of the Tiers Etat are ill-received — Opening of the States- General — Establishment of the National Guard — The Court forms projects hostile to the National Assembly — The banquet of the Body Guard — Intention of the Court to leave Versailles — Events of the 5th and 6th of October — The King and the Royal Family are taken to Paris. I WAS "bom at Versailles in 1762, and my parents destined me from an early age to be employed in the military administration. With the exception of a few excursions, for purposes of instruction, to Havre, Metz, Holland, and the Low Countries, I passed my first years of youthful manhood in the War Office, in which my father was one of the chief clerks. In 1788 I was appointed ** Commis- sary of War, ' ' and sent to one of the military divisions which had recently been established. This, which used to be called " the model division," was commanded by Lieutenant-General the Due de Guines. The celebrated Comte de Guibert, the Marquis de Lambert, both members of the Council of War formed under the Ministry of M. de Brienne, and M. Blanchard, one of the most eminent of the ' ' organizing commissaries, ' ' were included in it. The general officers of the " model division" were the originators of a completely novel system of military administration, which, however, found no favour with the troops. Their plan was to train the French . army in the Prussian discipline and tactics, and the 2 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. national pride repelled those innovations, which were undoubtedly, dangerous at a moment when the public mind was seriously dis-- turbed by other proceedings on the part of the Brienne Ministry. The effects of the ferment protluced by these combined causes? were destined to manifest themselves in the course of Uie ensuing ; year. ^Meanwhile, two training-camps were established ; one at Saint-- Omer, under the command of the Prince de Conde, the other at : IMetz, under that of Marshal de Broglie. I was employed at the : former, which included the troops of. the division in which I. ser\'ed. I arrived in September 1788 at the camp, which was sit- • uated on a wide heath, at a little distance from the town. About 30,000 men were assembled there ; among that number were in- cluded the Swiss regiments of Salis-Sansade and Diesbach. They had already made great progress in the study of the new manoeuvres ; and these foreigners, who adapted themselves to the novel regime more readily than Frenchmen could, were much ad- mired and highly favoured by the admirers of the Prussian disci- pline who composed the staff. Being perpetually quoted as an example to all the other corps, these regiments excited jealousy and aversion rather than emulation, and it may safely be afhrmed that the first seeds of the insubordination afterwards exhibited by the French army were sown by attempts which were both impru- dent and opposed to the national character. The discontent excited by these innovations found expression in the camp in the usual way, by means of jests and songs directed against the "jobbers" (/aiseurs), as they were called, and espe- cially against M. de Guibert, who, being much superior in tal- ent and administrative ability to his colleagues in the Council of War, and therefore supposed to be the most influential member of it, was a butt for every epigram. The malcontents went farther than epigrams ; conspiracies to insult the Count publicly were formed among the young officers ; the manoeuvres directed by him were purposely ill-executed, and made to fail ; his tide, and even his claim to the status of a gentleman were disputed. In short, no means of casting ridicule upon him was left untried, and the unworthy manner in which he was treated at the assembly of the nobles of his province for the election to the States-General was due to the jealousy inspired by his remarkable ability, and the decided repugnance with which the changes he had endeavoured to introduce were regarded. In addition to all this, in spite of the constant occupations and the perpetual movement of the camps, men's minds were not un- influenced by what was happening just then at Versailles. The enterprises of the Brienne ]\Iinistry were the theme of general con- THREATENING SYMPTOMS. versation ; the resistance of the Parliaments was highly applauded ; the conduct of the Court was mercilessly condemned, while its scandals were not only exposed but. exaggerated. Count Charles de Lameth, Colonel of Cuirassiers, was foremost among the mal- contents, and had already made a public profession of the opinions which afterward brought him into such notoriety. Grave discus- sions on the rights of peoples, and the inevitable necessity of a great change, were thus mingled with the sarcasms and epigrams which were ceaselessly showered upon the military innovators. Certain English officers who had crossed the Channel for the pur- pose of witnessing the manoeuvres at the camps, were, on the contrary, objects of openly expressed admiration and esteem. * * There, ' ' it was said, ' ' are free men ; there are the models whom we ought to imitate, and not the machine-soldiers of a despot-king!" Thus, while the throne, around which clouds were gathering heavily, was beginning to totter, its chief prop, the army — which ought to have been treated with the utmost consideration — was wounded in its tastes, feelings, and habits ; and, revolting against a system offensive to it, against an apprenticeship for which the French soldier is unfit, did not hesitate to discuss questions of high policy, and to take an active part in them. This disposition of men's minds could not possibly escape the notice of the Prince who was in command of us. The camp was broken up, and the troops sent back into garrison : but they took thither with them ideas and opinions which had developed them- selves amidst the great gathering of which they had formed a part. According to observations made at the time, the state of affairs at the camp of Metz was almost identical with that at Saint-Omer. Only a deplorable degree of blindness, and that thirst for renown which beset men impatient to secure the triumph of their own hazardous notions, could account for such an act as the massing together of troops, for the sole purpose of worrying them, under such circumstances. The very moment at which they were shak- ing their chains was selected for imposing fresh fetters upon the soldiers, for reducing them to the condition of automatons. Never was a more foolish deed perpetrated, or one that was fol- lowed by results more fatal to those who were guilty of it. I returned to Versailles in October 1788. During my absence, which had only extended over a few weeks, the aspect of the Court had undergone a great change. The respectful silence of the courtiers and the attendants, the strict forms of etiquette formerly so scrupulously observed, had given place to a freedom of speech and a method of expression to which the ears of our princes were unaccustomed. A drawing together of the different classes of 4 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. society had become perceptible, the interior of the Palace was more easy of access, in short, that sort of familiarity which is estab- lished between men by ser/ices requested and promised was mak- ing: itself felt. The two Assemblies of the Notables, the failure of the plans of Cardinal de Lomenie's Ministry, the positive promise of the Convocation of the States-General, the first stirrings of sedition which had manifested themselves in Paris, the return of i\[. Xccker, and the publications of the day, had produced this great change. External customs still existed indeed, but they were frequently violated with impunity. In short, the Court, such as Louis XIV. had made it, existed no longer : it has not re-formed itself since, and probably it never will re-form itself. It is not my intention to recapitulate the events which took place between the Convocation of the States-General and their meeting. I was too far from the councils in which that momentous measure was so lightly discussed and so imprudently adopted, to be able to throw any light upon such a subject. Besides, several writers have handled it more ably than I could do ; I should be obliged either to copy them, or to extract fragments from the pamphlets of the time, were I to write the history of that epoch after my fashion. I\Iy object is not to follow in the track of other writers, but only to relate what I have seen, and how I have seen it. I shall there- fore confine myself to detailing a few particulars of what happened at Versailles from the beginning of 1789, until the 5th of October of the same year, that famous and disastrous day which forced Louis XVI. to take up his abode at the Tuileries, and to quit the sumptuous palace of Versailles, never again to behold it. Prior to those times of disturbance and revolution, when the Court was the whole State, three principal personages divided it among them, and each exercised a more or less decisive influence ; the Queen, Monsieur (afterwards Louis XVIII.), and the Comte d'Artois (aftenvards Charles X.) ; but the Queen's party had always been the strongest The Queen's domination was chiefly exercised through her influence over the mind of her husband, a man of pure life and good intentions, but whose qualities were in- jured by weakness of character and temperament which rendered him incapable of forming and adhering to any resolution ; and this although he was capable of profound dissimulation, the fruit of the evil education which was given to the princes of the House of Bourbon, and which was partially the cause of their misfortunes. The three powers were seldom agreed. The Comte d'Artois, who put no restraint upon his passions, indulged to excess in gambling and profligacy. While he was the intimate companion of the young men of the Court, who were led by his example, he was at the same time duped and robbed by old debauchees, who took THE THREE PARTIES AT COURT. 5 advantage of his inexperience. For the rest, he meddled but httle with the administration of affairs or the selection of Ministers, re- quiring nothing of the latter except money wherewith to pay his debts, which amounted to an enormous sum at the epoch of the first Assembly of the Notables. He did not begin to take part in public affairs until the beginning of the year 1787, when, by de- claring himself against any concession to the ideas of the times, and by supporting M. de Calonne, he exhibited opinions and took a line entirely contrary to those adopted or followed by his brother. Monsieur was a clever man, but he was held to be pedantic. He was disliked in the Queen's circle, where he was nicknamed * ' Hortensius. ' ' Being repulsed by that clique, which, according to him, did not do justice to his merit, he made one for himself, more intimate and less restrained, formed relations, and had love affairs in which the intellectual rather than the animal side of his character was, it was said, engaged. The resentment which he cherished against the Queen, and the natural bent of his mind, led to his appearing in the Assembly of the Notables as the chief of the Liberal party, and to his being regarded as belonging to the sect of the philosophers. Henceforth he stood high in the opinion of the public, and if he had had sufficient courage and real attach- ment to the new ideas to put himself at the head of the movement which was then beginning, he would probably have been able to prevent some of its excesses. But it seems that he aimed rather at rendering himself formidable to the Queen, who had scorned him, and turned him into ridicule, than at achieving a more serious sort of distinction, and when he had gratified his private revenge, he withdrew from the stage on which he had made a brief appearance, and hid himself from all observers. The Queen's party, composed of a number of amiable and clever men and women, but who had no sound importance result- ing from superior ability or the eclat of great services rendered to the country, held exclusive domination at Court, disposed of all patronage, and succumbed, so to speak, under the mere weight of favour, wealth, and honours. But, just in proportion as the circle which the Queen had formed around herself was calculated to secure to her all the enjoyments of intimate friendship in private life, and the satisfaction of making those whom she loved happy, it was also likely to become fatal to her peace so soon as the eye of the public should penetrate it. This was exactly what happened at the moment when the imperative needs of the social condition of the country turned men's minds towards projects of improve- ment, the demand for which became increasingly evident with each rent in the veil which covered so much prodigality. When the crisis came, the Queen found no one among lier intimates who 6 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. could aid or sustain her. Her friends bad no credit with the out- side world ; they enjoyed no public esteem, they were objects either of hatred or of envy ; and their own safety being seriously menaced, what could they do but escape from the country ? They neither could nor would give her any but bad advice, for they themselves must have been the first to suffer by wise counsels. It was impossible for them to snatch her away from the brink of the precipice to which they had led her, and they soon found their only resource in flight. Such was the aspect of the Court of Versailles when the States- General were convoked. Neither good faith nor sincerity had dictated this act. Far from seeking to smooth the difliculties as to the method of deliberation, which were raised by the excited state of public feeling, and the twofold representation granted to the Third Estate, those difficulties were increased by the affected silence maintained on so material a point. The courtier's last hope was that the. obstacles would become so entirely insurmount- able as to render the meeting of the States impossible, and for that end they all schemed. As a result of this system, the Deputies arriving at Versailles — and particularly those of the Third Estate — far from being made welcome by the Court, were offended by sarcasms and jests from the Queen's circle and that of the Comte d'Artois. The language, the manners, even the names of these new-comers were turned into ridicule, and the very men who were destined to shine soon afterwards by their superior talent and by their impressive speeches, and to dictate to the Throne and this heedless Court, were at first regarded as provincials whom the fine ladies and gentlemen of Paris and Versailles might mystify with impunity. An obsolete ceremonial, forms of etiquette that had fallen into disuse since greater freedom had penetrated into the atmosphere of the Court, were revived, and thus, between the other two orders and the Deputies of the Third Estate, a line of demarcation, as marked as it was humiliating, was drawn. In proportion, however, as their reception by the Court was insulting, their welcome in the town was warm and affectionate. They were cordially received into the homes of the citizens, where many of them had arranged to board, and there they freely ex- pressed their resentment and found it shared. Thus, notwith- standing the injunctions of the Court, notwithstanding the depend- ence upon it of nearly the whole population, the people openly declared themselves in favour of the new opinions, and became so strongly attached to them that in the end they were absolutely hostile to the Court. The sequel has shown that the popular ten- dencies were ncjt to be despised. It was in the midst of this agitation that the opening of the PUBLIC DISCONTENT. States-General took place. I was present, as a spectator, at the ceremony which preceded it on the previous day. In the long procession winding through the wide streets of Versailles, the pub- lic remarked with dislike those distinctions of rank and of costume which divided into three separate classes the men on whom our fate was about to depend, and who ought to have possessed equal rights. It was mortifying to see the gold-embroidered cloaks of the noble Deputies, the plumes waving on their caps, the episco- pal purple proudly displayed by the clergy, while a humble cloak of black woollen stuff and a plain round cap, a strange costume revived from the feudal ages, marked the Deputies of the Third Estate. Nevertheless, their firm demeanor, their steady gait, their expression of mingled dissatisfaction and confidence, drew all eyes upon them, and they were received with hearty salutations not offered to the other orders. There was a crowd of courtiers round the Princes, but they passed on amid silence. The King's coun- tenance expressed neither emotion nor interest. He advanced, as usual, without dignity, and seemed to be merely accomplishing some duty of etiquette. Monsieur, who walked with difficulty, was serious and thoughtful ; he seemed to be thoroughly im- pressed with the importance of the day' s proceedings. The Comte d'Artois, casting disdainful glances right and left on the crowd lining the streets, showed evident signs of vexation and ill-humor. The Queen, with anxious brow and close-shut lips, made vain en- deavors to hide her uneasiness and to impart a look of satisfaction to her noble and majestic countenance ; but the weight at her heart, full of anxiety and bitter thoughts, made her unable to maintain it. At length the States-General, which had opened on May 5th, began to assemble in earnest. I followed their debates with eagerness, and shared in all the agitation of the interval between the opening of the States and their transformation into the National Assembly. When the re-establishment of the Nation- al Guard was decreed, I hastened to enrol myself in the section then forming at Versailles. This must have been displeasing to the Court, for it was forbidden to any one belonging to it to join the new militia, and no one wearing the uniform might present himself. And, in fact, I also incurred the blame of the circle in which I had moved since my entrance into society, while some few persons considered that my action did honor to my courage and independence. I deserved, however, neither praise nor blame ; for in this I had simply followed the dictates of my conviction. I did not remain long in the National Guard, where I fulfilled the duties of adjutant. A post confided to me by the Comte de la Tour du Pin, the then Minister of War — that of facilitating the arrival of provisions in Paris — took me, in the capacity of War S MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. Commissioner, to Rouen for a month, and obliged me in the first inst;\nce to suspend my service in the National Guard. After this, the events that took place shortly after my return compelled me to resign it altogether, and to leave my native town. Before my departure for Normandy I had witnessed all the events that took place at Versailles during the three months following the opening of the States-General. 1 had been present at the famous Royal sitting of June 2^, at the oath of the Tennis Court ; I had seen the foreign regiments in the pay of France enter Versailles, summoned thither in order to dissolve the States-General ; I had seen them marching at night through streets crowded with a silent and starded multitude. I had seen the Queen and her circle with the Comte d'Artois go to the Orangery, where the foreign troops were quartered, applaud their games and dances, share in them, and address words of encouragement and praise to the officers and even to the private soldiers. The headquarters of Marshal de Broglie were at that time established in one of the suites of rooms on the ground-floor of the Palace opening on the South Terrace. I had seen the aides-de-camp and the officers of the staff come in with their reports, and carry away from the very palace of the King orders to march on Paris and punish its inhabitants. Artillery was despatched from Douai and Metz ; in a word, warlike prep- arations, the preludes to sanguinary engagements, were displayed on all sides, in places where, ever since the time of Louis XIV. , nothing had been heard but the sound of festivity, and the pomp of peace and royal magnificence had reigned undisturbed. I had also seen how, in an instant, at the first news of the capital in in- surrection, and of the taking of the Bastille, terror had succeeded to warlike impulse ; how the brilliant staff and the troops brought from so great a distance had vanished like shadows, and the silence of fear had fallen on the Palace so full of tumult a few days before. All this formed a striking picture of the fragility of human designs, when they are neither matured by reflection nor sustained by high- sou led courage. On rallying from the violent shock of July 14, the Court party adopted a more tranquil attitude, and seemed for a time to resign themselves to their fate. But their conduct had been so false and so contradictory, that no approbation was accorded even to this resignation ; and as they had lost all external influence, as sus- picion rested on even their most indifferent actions, as, in short, no one had the least doubt of their bad faith, they had nothing to bestow, and their favor was a burden which those with whom they sought to ally themselves could not bear. Meanwhile the Court had time to breathe, and once more took to listening to perfidious counsels and cherishing chimerical hopes. THE DISSOLUTION DISCUSSED. The Comte d' Artois and the Pohgnacs had indeed gone away, but their influence had not departed with them. They had reached a foreign country and thus secured their personal safety, so they were more than ever urgent in advising violent measures, and represented that the help of foreign Powers would as cer- tainly be lent in carrying such measures into execution. Then once more arose the questions of flight and of the dissolu- tion of this formidable National Assembly. In consequence of a scheme by which the Municipality of Versailles was induced to request the help of some troops of the line in order to secure the safety of the town, the regiment of Flanders was summoned thither. It was at this time, towards the end of August 1789, that I came back from Rouen. The aspect of Versailles was quiet but gloomy. The National Assembly were discussing the most important ques- tions of social order with equal precipitation and improvidence, to the accompaniment of almost universal applause. Threatened — and they could not be ignorant of the threat — by the Court, they threw themselves entirely on the people, whose passions they flat- tered and whose excesses they excused. Thus they laid the foun- dations of that formidable power which in a short time was not only to rival but to exceed their own. The two parties were drawn up opposite to each other, although hostilities had not begun, when the Court thought itself strong enough to throw aside the mask, or rather, in its impatience, it laid that mask by unwittingly, without having made any preparations for acting an openly in- imical part. The Court party were skilful in sowing dissension among the National Guard at Versailles, they had succeeded in in- ducing several who had joined it to abandon the service. They distributed white cockades to some young men, who wore them in the Palace apartments, and this mark of devotion to the Royal cause was rewarded with grateful smiles. The officers of the Flanders regiment were loaded with favors ; reciprocal compli- mentary attentions had led to friendship among that regiment, the Body Guards, and a small minority of the National Guard. The Body Guards gave a grand banquet, to which were invited the officers of the Flanders regiment, those of the National Guard, those of the Household troops who were then stationed at Ver- sailles, and also some gentlemen holding high positions at Court and in the Government, or posts in the municipality or the law. Every one knows that this banquet became an orgy, in which the National Cockade was trampled under foot, and that the Court party, which should have used its authority to prevent such a scan- dalous scene in the palace of the monarch, with inconceivable folly actually went to the theatre where the banquet was held, and en- dorsed its disgraceful excesses by their presence. Every one lO MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. knows that the King, accompanied by the Queen carrying the Dauphin in her arms, made the tour of the table ; that they accepted and proposed toasts, and ended by applauding a sham assault made on the Royal box, in which were the King and the Royal Family, by guests excited with wine and political passion, while a military band played the air — '* O Richard ! 6 mon roi ?" I had declined an invitation to the banquet, and during this strange scene was walking alone in the gardens of Versailles, when I perceived a disorderly crowd rushing towards the windows of the Queen's apartment. I drew near, and saw them forming into irregular dances, with shouts of " Vive le roi !" " Down with the National Assembly !" They continued to indulge in noisy and senseless demonstrations during great part of the night I began then to suspect from what was taking place outside how matters had progressed within, and I felt greatly grieved, foreseeing the fatil consequences of the extravagant conduct of that evening. Nor were those consequences long delayed. Many external symptoms made it evident to the public that the Court was return- ing to its former projects ; intending either to dissolve the Assem- bly, or to leave Versailles and take up its abode in some stronghold on the frontier — the city of Metz being named in particular. In order to carry out the execution of either plan, the four com- panies of Body Guards, of whose opinions and devotion there could be no doubt since the scene of the banquet, had been assembled at Versailles. The Court flattered itself also that some of the officers of the Flanders regiment, and also of the National Guard belonging to the town, who had taken part in the fete, would be carried away by the example of the Body Guards. Thus did they cherish illu- sions, while the ever-growing agitation in Paris, now raised to the highest pitch of excitement by the account of the extravagant scenes just enacted at Versailles, ought to have roused the Court to alarm, and induced it either to give up such ill-concerted designs, or to hasten to put them in execution. But the King had to make up his mind, and Louis XVI. was incapable of coming to a decision. He was as impassive as ever, and altered none of his habits. Every day, as usual, he went out hunting. He was hunting on October 5, and it was in the woods of Rambouillet that a messenger on horseback, despatched at i P.M., brought him the news of the movements taking place in Paris, and of the march of a mob of ruffians on Versailles. I will not attempt to relate here the events of that day and the following (October 6) ; I shall merely relate without comment what I saw and what I did on those two days. At 2 P.M. on October 5 I was informed by one of my comrades, THE FIFTH AND SIXTH OF OCTOBER. II an officer of the National Guard, of what was taking place in Paris. I was not on duty, but I thought it right to put on my uniform and hold myself in readiness for a summons. At half- past three the drtims beat the general roll-call, and I crossed the Place d'Armes, on my way to the headquarters of the National Guard, which was at the barracks of the French Guards on the right of the Place. As I passed before the outer courtyard of the Palace — the gates were closed — the Comte de la Tour du Pin, Minister of War, recognised me and called me in. The Court was almost filled by the Body Guards, on horseback, drawn up in order of battle. * I walked up and down for some time with the Minister, who told me that a terrible crisis was at hand ; that they were expecting the arrival of a mob of men and women, coming from Paris on pretext of asking for bread, but from whom the utmost violence was to be apprehended ; that no precautions had been taken ; that the King had not yet returned from hunting, but that it could not now be long before he came back ; and that in the meantime, as a preliminary measure, the Place had been closed and the Body Guards ordered to mount. He remarked that I was in uniform, and asked me where I was going, and what I intended to do. I replied that the general roll-call had been beaten, and that I was on my way to headquarters. He approved, and begged me not to leave the National Guards now assembling, but to unite my efforts with those of the other officers to induce them effectually to resist the attack with which the Palace was threatened. He added that his son, the Marquis de Gouvernet, who was second in command of the Versailles National Guard, of which the Comte d'Estaing was Colonel, had just mounted, and would bring us orders. 1 was on the point of taking leave of M. de la Tour du Pin, when he begged me to go from him to the Comte de Saint- Priest, then Minister of the King's Household,! in order to learn whether he had received any further information as to what was occurring in Paris, and to propose that they should concert together such measures as it was desirable to take. M. de Saint- Priest received me rather ungraciously, my uniform was not pleasing to him. He seemed to be in a very bad temper, and told me there was nothing to be done, all that was happening was the consequence of the mistaken conduct of the Court and the weakness of the King ; moreover, there was, so far as he knew, only a mob of drunken women and poor ragged wretches to deal with — that they had no arms, and that the least movement of regular troops * The French Guards had left Versailles some weeks before, f The Minister of the King's Household included in his department Paris and the interior of the kingdom. 12 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. would easily put them to flight ; but that action would be neces- san', and above all no fear must be shown. Finally, he told me he would meet the Comte de la Tour du Pin at the Council, which was certain to be called immediately on the King's return. I carried this reply to M. de la Tour du Pin,* and was not a little astonished to find on his staircase a dozen women from Paris. The Suisse had allowed them to come in, and they were seated on the stairs. They seemed exhausted by fatigue and hunger, and had been supplied with food. They told me they had started in advance from Paris in order to ask the King for bread, and that they were followed by a large number, who were coming on with the same intention. While one of them was telling me these things, the others were crying out, " Vive le roi ! let him give us bread !" The Suisse told them to be silent, and they obeyed. The scene was at once piteous and absurd. After I had repeated to the Minister what IVI. de Saint- Priest had said to me, I resumed my way to the barracks ; but instead of going by the Ministers' Courtyard, I crossed what is called the Princes' Courtyard, and I perceived the Duke of Orleans at the window of the apartments on the ground-floor on the right. He was leaning on the ledge of the window, and speaking, with some gesticulation, to a person standing in front of him. He was in full dress, and wore on his coat the Order of the Holy Ghost. It was then about four in the afternoon. I went on to the terrace of the Palace facing south, and there I found a squadron of the Body Guards on horseback. Finally, after making the round of the Palace, I returned to the Place d'Armes and reached the barracks of the French Guards. The aspect presented at that moment by the Place d'Armes was as follows. The Flanders regiment was drawn up in line reaching from the left angle of the Palace gate to the Avenue de Paris. Several persons, among whom I recognized some Deputies of the National Assembly, were walking in front of the troops with the officers of the regiment. Part of the population of Versailles had rushed in to the Place and filled it, but all was quiet, and there was no per- ceptible movement. Opposite the Flanders regiment was the National Guard of Versailles in front of the barracks, but within the wooden barrier which separates the precincts of the barracks from the Place itself. This guard was in small numbers and in very bad order. Instead of finding it complete, as I expected, I saw that the small number of men who were mustered were out of uniform, poorly clothed, and badly armed. None of the men of • The four Ministers, Secretaries of Slate, resided in the first Court of the Palace, called the Ministers' Court. THE NATIONAL GUARD. 1 3 mark in this militia, whether by fortune or position, showed on that occasion ; and those who at reviews or on days of ceremony appeared in brilHant uniform and wearing epaulettes, now kept themselves shut up within doors. The National Guard under arms at the moment — their number did not exceed two hundred — also remarked these facts. Their observations were accompanied by insulting criticisms and abusive language. I felt that no reliance could be placed on men thus ill-disposed, and that far from finding in them a force which we might oppose to the dangers with which we were threatened, they would lend their aid to disorder. I re- mained, nevertheless, at their head, with a few superior officers who arrived one by one. All, however, continued quiet, and the ill-humor of our men was evaporating in more or less abusive talk against their chiefs and the Court, when, although the daylight was beginning to fade (it was about six in the evening), seven or eight of the King' s carriages were seen leaving the great stables situated on the right of the bar- racks, and proceeding by the Rue Satory, to the gates of the Orangery which open on the high road to Chartres and Brittany. At this sight several of the National Guards exclaimed that the King certainly intended to go, and that he must be prevented. The troop wavered, and, heedless of the remonstrances of their officers, about thirty men rushed for\\^ard, and taking short cuts through by-streets, reached the gates of the Orangery and closed them before the arrival of the carriages, which they forced to return the way they came. This unexpected incident destroyed all the projects that had been formed at the Palace.'*' The King, who could have mounted his horse and placed himself at the head of his Body Guard, was disconcerted by a mischance which it would have been very easy to foresee, or to repair, by sending a picket of guards to the gate, and he again sank into his usual state of in- decision, and awaited events. The National Guards who had hastened to stop the Royal car- riages, returned to barracks more irritated and angry than before, and 1 felt certain from their language that nothing would now check them ; those who did not share in their feelings having taken advantage of the dusk to disappear one by one. Thus there remained but fifty or sixty men under arms. It was six o'clock in the evening. At about the same hour, the gates of the Palace were thrown * The carriages were to have received the Court at the foot of the Orangery steps, and nothing then could have prevented the flight of the King. The road was free, and the Body Guards assembled in the court- yard and on the terrace would have supplied a sufficient escort. 14 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. open, and Body Guards from the courtyard as Avell as those from the terrace — their presence being: no longer necessary, since the King had given up the thought of departure — began to defile past so as to return to their Hotel, in the Avenue des Sceaux. These troops, in order to reach the Avenue, had to pass through the Place d'Armes, crossing it in front of the French Guards' barracks, then occupied by us. On perceiving them, part of the National Guard moved forward towards the wooden barrier which, as I have said, separated the precincts of the barracks from the Place ; the rest remained in front of the building The head of the col- umn of Body Guards which were defiling at a trot, four abreast, had barely passed the barrier, when I saw a flash of firearms from among them. At the same moment, the National Guards, with- out waiting for orders, replied by an irregular volley, levelling their guns at the Body Guards. The latter instantly set off at a gallop, before the shooters, terrified at what they had done, had thought of reloading their arms. A gloomy silerice succeeded to this momentary tumult. We after^vards approached the barrier, but could find no trace either of the discharge from the column of the Body Guards, nor of the fire from the barracks. Shortly after, M. de Gouvemet arrived on horseback ; he ordered us to withdraw all the Guard except that part which was on duty. He assured us that the King had no intention of leaving Versailles ; that everything was now tran- quil ; that the Body Guards and the Flanders regiment had re- turned to their quarters ; but that if anything extraordinary should happen, the drums were to beat to arms. As I was not on duty, I withdrew, and repaired to a house where I habitually spent my evenings. I found the company much excited by the events of the day, and especially by the shots they had heard. Each one explained them according to his opinions or passions, some asserting that the National Guard had fired first, and others that one of the Body Guard had fired his pistol at one of the National Guards who was near the barrier. I narrated what I had seen, and as nothing absolutely decisive in favor of one opinion or the other could be drawn from my account, each individual maintained his own, and even to the present day the question remains unsettled. On returning home at eleven in the evening, I again passed by the barracks. I found only a few men there, but near the barrier I remarked a large fire. I approached, and saw, gathered round this fire, a group of men armed with pikes, and women of hideous aspect. They were busied in cutting up a dead horse, and roast- ing the ficsh. I was told that the horse had been found on the Place ; it had been probably killed by a shot from the barracks THE LAST DAY AT VERSAILLES. 1 5 when the National Guards had fired. I could learn nothing far- ther. ^^'- 1 had scarcely reached my house when I heard the drums beat- ing. On inquiry, I found that the National Guard of Paris was approaching, with M. de la Fayette at its head. A grenadier in one of the Paris battalions, who was a friend of my father, came to see us, and quieted our apprehensions as to the aim of this disturbance. He said that the two churches of Versailles had been assigned as quarters to the different battalions, but that he had preferred asking us for a night's lodging. We made him wel- come, and I went to bed. It was then midnight. At seven in the morning, October 6, I heard the drums beating. I arose in haste, and made my way towards the Palace across the gardens. In the courtyards I saw the vanguards of the battalions of the Parisian National Guard, which were arriving in good form, and falling successively into order. M. de la Fayette was at their head. While these troops were advancing and occupying different posts, I ascended the marble staircase and entered the interior of the Palace, all the intricacies of which I knew perfectly. The posts generally occupied by the Body Guard and the Hundred Swiss were vacant ; the guard-room and the antechambers leading to the Queen's apartment were deserted ; there were stains of blood on the floor and on the stairs. The greatest disorder pre- vailed ; men clothed in rags and armed with pikes were hurrying down the steps which I had ascended ; the doors of the Queen's apartment lay open ; not a servant was to be seen, either man or woman ; the furniture, including even the Queen's bed, was knocked about or moved from its place. From all this it was plain that the rooms had been forcibly entered, that the Body Guards, no more numerous than usual, had been taken by sur- prise, and that, after having defended the entry, they had been obliged to yield to force and retreat ; and also that several of them had shed their blood in making a hopeless resistance. -The King's apartment, on the contrary, was closed. I returned by the same way I had come, and then I beheld the National Guard of Paris, in the courtyards, in line of battle, with flags flying and in perfect order. A crowd of people, and numerous groups of men and women, strangers to Versailles, were pressing behind the troops, uttering shouts and howls, and brandishing their pikes, on some of which were human heads. It was a horrible and revolting spectacle ! The furious mob was, however, kept in check by the presence of the National Guard, and a portion of it, even, seeing there was nothing more for them to do, began to return along the road to Paris, whither they bore their bloody trophies. Lost in the crowd, and dumb with horror, I was contemplating l6 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. this fearful scene, when another of a more imposing kind presented itself. The windows of the balcony of the King's apartment, look- ing on to the inner courtyard, called the Marble Court, were thrown open. The King appeared on the balcony, accompanied by the Queen, by his children, and by the Princesses.* Their appearance wiis saluted by cries of ** Vive le roi ! vive la famille royale !" M. de la Fayette and M. Necker stood near the King and Queen, and behind them was a group consisting principally of Body Guards, disarmed and bareheaded. The King seemed to be begging that his faithful servants should be spared, by placing them, in some sort, under the protection of the Parisian National Guard, and M. de la Fayette was endeavouring to explain the mean- ing of the King's gestures. I was at too great a distance to hear distinctly the words that were used, but the National Guard replied by cries of assent. Then the Body Guards, throwing their sashes and white cockades over the balcony, received in exchange tricolor cockades and caps belonging to grenadiers of the National Guard. They fastened in the cockades and put on the caps. After this kind of treaty of peace, confirmed by loud shouts, I heard some voices, at first few in number, but afterward becoming more and more general, and proceeding from every rank in the National Guard, demanding that the King should come to live in Paris. At first these cries seemed to receive no attention, but the clamor soon became so loud, and was mingled with so many threats, that it was impossible to evade a reply. The King and Queen were in consultation with M. de la Fayette and M. Necker on the balcony, and at last, after a quarter of an hour's indecision, the latter came forward — a profound silence prevailed — and I distinctly heard the Minister announce that the King consented to proceed to Paris, and to take up his abode there for the future. M. de la Fayette confirmed this resolution by voice and gesture. A transport of joy impossible to depict or to express instantly per- vaded the crowd, salvos of musketry were fired, and shouts of ** Vive le roi !" resounded on every side. When the tumult had somewhat subsided, the King retired with his family into the pri- vate apartments, and it was announced that the Court would leave Versailles at one o'clock in the afternoon. It was then about 9 a. m. The National Guard of Paris piled their arms in the courtyards of the Palace, and dispersed about the town, while awaiting the hour fixed for the King's departure, when they were to resume them, and escort the Royal travellers. The greater part of the crowd of men armed with pikes had already set out for Paris, fol- lowed by some of the women. In the meantime, the National * Madame Elisabeth and the aunts of the King. % THE king's departure. 1 7 Guard of Versailles was assembling on the Place d' Armes, by order of its commanding officers, and I, having put on my uniform, hastened to join the ranks. The Guard was to line the way when the King passed, and as nothing more than a ceremonial parade was in question, there was a numerous muster, and all was in good order. At about one o' clock the cortege began to move. A strong advance guard was formed of several battalions of the National Guard of Paris. Tipsy women were seated on the gun-carriages, singing and waving aloft boughs which they had torn from the trees. But I did not see the heads carried on pikes, of which mention has been made in certain narratives. The men who took those horrible spoils of a night of crime back to Paris were already far away. The King's carriages came next ; they were surrounded by several of the Body Guard ; some seated on the box, or on the shafts of the coaches, and looking much more as though they had sought a refuge there, than as though they were occupying a post of defence. A great many of them still wore the grenadiers' caps, and all displayed the tricolored cockade. As I have already said, we lined the way, and from my position in front of the men I could easily observe everything. The King's face was quite unchanged, but the countenance of the Queen be- trayed agonizing grief, notwithstanding the strong efforts which she made to repress the outward signs of her feelings. Monsieur's carriage followed that of the King, and the others were occupied by persons of the household. There were ten or twelve carriages in all. M. de la Fayette was on horseback, now at the side of the King's carriage, anon riding forward to give orders. Two ranks of National Guards marched in parallel lines with the carriages ; the remainder of that numerous body formed the rear-guard. I followed this strange procession with my eyes until it reached the turn into the Avenue de Paris, where at length it disappeared. During the rest of the day I wandered about the deserted gar- dens and palace, and through the streets of the town, where the silence was broken only by the wheels of the carriages in which the Deputies and Ministers, all eager to leave Versailles, were setting out for Paris. All night the town was patrolled. This was an un- necessary precaution, perfect quiet reigned everywhere. I was at the head of one of the patrolling parties, and this was the last turn of duty I did with the National Guard of Versailles. Two days later I resigned, and set out for Paris, whither I had been sum- moned by M. de la Tour du Pin, who was still Minister of War. CHAPTER II. The loth of August, 1792 — The Author escapes a decree of accusation — M. Lacu6e provisional Chief of the War Department — Joseph Servan, Minister — The Author ceases to be Chief of Division at the Ministry, and enters the Administration of Military Affairs as Comptroller-Gen- eral — Servan is succeeded in the Ministry by Pache and Hassenfratz, who disorganize its administration — Pache is dismissed, and succeeded by Beurnonville — The Author resumes his former post at the Ministry — Bouchotte succeeds Beurnonville — The Author is made Secretary- General in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under Deforgues — Sketches of some of the leaders of the Terror — Fall of Deforgues, who is suc- ceeded at the Foreign Office by a schoolmaster named Buchot — The Author, denounced as a " Moderate," is placed under a decree of accu- sation, together with MM. Otto, Colchen, and Rcinhart — They are saved by the 9th Thermidor — The Author is appointed Commissioner of Foreign Affairs — His communications with the Committee of Public Safety — Treaties of peace with Tuscany and Prussia. I HAD been settled in Paris since October 1789, and I continued in the service of the Military Administration which I had entered at Versailles. I occupied at first the post of " Chief of the Bureau," and afterwards that of " Chief of Division," under the different Ministers who succeeded each other at the War Depart- ment up to August 10, 1792. I was included at this period in the proscription which fell upon a great number of Government employes, and I was to have been arrested and thrown into prison, where I should probably have been one of the victims of the massacres of the 2d of September. But, fortunately as it turned out, I was anxious about the health of my wife and daughter, then at Versailles, and on the very morn- ing of the loth of August I had left Paris by the Clichy Gate, and had made my way to Versailles, across the plain of Sablons, the Bois de Boulogne, St Cloud, and the woods above the ancient palace of our Kings, the pathways of which were perfectly familiar to me. During my progress, the noise of cannon and musket- shots in Paris caused me terrible anguish of mind ; but I only hastened the more quickly on my way, and reached Versailles about noon, trembling with apprehension, ignorant of what had taken place in Paris, and unable to reply to any of the questions put to me. In the evening the details of that terrible day became CHANGES IN THE WAR OFFICE. 1 9 known. I concealed myself carefully on the morrow, fearing to be arrested as non-domiciled, and on the succeeding day (August 12) I took my place in one of the little carriages that for some time had been running between Versailles and Paris. We passed with- out difficulty through the gates, which were closed against all who wanted to leave the city, but freely open to all in-comers. On reaching my father's house I found that a warrant for my arrest had been issued, and that a search had been made for me, in order that it might be put in force. I also heard that my brother-in- law, M. Arcambal, Commissioner-Director of War and Secretar}'- General of the Ministry, and my uncle, M. Vauchelle, chief Clerk of Artillery, had already been arrested. After acquainting me with this sad news, my father added that he had stated that he did not know where I was, but that I might be heard of at the resi- dence of the War Minister. Thereupon I quickly decided on my course of action, which was to proceed to the War Office. I learnt there from my fellow- clerks that emissaries of the Commune had in fact come on the previous day to arrest me ; that, not finding me, they had left one of their number behind to seize me on my return, and enforce the warrant against me, but that the individual, wear}^ of waiting to no purpose, had departed, and had not since reappeared. The Leg- islative Assembly had appointed M. Lacuee, one of its members, to administer the department until the arrival of the new Minister of War. I thought it right to wait upon him, and found him, wearing a tricolor sash, and installed in the Minister's cabinet. I told him that I presented myself, in order that he might not sus- pect me of trying to escape the search now being made for me. He received me politely, said he had no orders to take any steps against me, but that, on the contrary, he requested me to return to my work, and to assist him in the difficult position in which he found himself. He complained of the excesses of the Commune in Paris, which had disorganized every official department by its arbitrary arrests ; and in fact he was equally indignant at the acts of that seditious authority as he was powerless to repress them. I therefore resumed my usual occupations, expecting every in- stant to be arrested at my desk. But I was not arrested ; either it was believed that the warrant had already been executed, or I was forgotten ; at all events, I remained at liberty. I even had the very great happiness of saving one of our friends, M. Jullien, who took refuge in my house, and of aiding with him in the re- lease of my uncle and my brother-in-law, whom I have mentioned above, and who were, marvellous to relate, set at liberty a few da3's before the 2d of September. Meanwhile the Legislative Assembly had appointed Joseph Servan 20 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. Minister of War. He was brother to the celebrated Advocate- General of the same name, and had already occupied that post, to ^vllich he liad been appointed by the King. He had connected himself with the now triumphant (iirondist party, and sent in his resis^nation some months previously. The Assembly had solemnly declared that on quitting his post he carried with him the regrets of France. During his first tenure of office I had frequently been brought into contact with him ; he was acquainted with my opin- ions and knew that I did not share his. In fact, although I oc- cupied a somewhat obscure position, I had not been permitted to conceal my opinions ; and I was naturally opposed to any dis- guise of the kind. I was — and he knew it — what was called at that time a Constitutional Monarchist, a ^Moderate, a "feuillant. " I belonged to the club so-called, although my dislike of assemblies of that kind generally kept me away from it All these circum- stances being known to M. Servan, he could not feel confidence in me ; and although my thorough acquaintance with the details of the Ministry rendered me useful, he felt that by retaining me he might incur censure, and would expose himself to danger witli- out being able to protect me. Nevertheless he received me with some cordialitv, after his appointment to the War Office by the Assembly ; but as my views of my position there were the same as his, we soon agreed to separate. He accepted my resignation of the post of Chief of Division — I sent it in on the pretext of ill- health — and placed me as Comptroller-General in the Administra- tion of Military Affairs, a position little known and quite obscure, where I hoped to be out of the reach of investigation. But it was fated otherwise. The National Convention had just met, and the Girondists who had placed Servan at the head of the War Office, having lost by degrees the powerful influence they had exercised over the Legislative Assembly, Servan was attacked, dismissed, and replaced (October 4th, 1792) by Pache, a creature of the Com- munist party. On the arrival of the new Minister, the whole War- Administration was upset. Every man of intelligence or experi- ence \vas dismissed, and Hassenfratz, placed by Pache at the head of one of the most important divisions of the department, raised-' confusion to its highest pitch ; he persecuted all the former em- ployes by his denunciations, and treated them with the severity in- spired by instinctive ill-will, disguised under the hypocritical mask of enthusiastic republicanism. Nor was I to escape : in the month of December there was some thought of entrusting me with a mis- sion connected with the administration to which I belonged : he refused me my passports and the necessary orders, expressing sur- prise that my name had been left on the list of employes in his de- partment. This expression of opinion on the part of a man who > BEURNONVILLE, 21 vas at that time all-powerful, was equivalent to a sentence of death, md doubtless I should have perished had my persecutor had time o carry his evil intentions into execution. At this critical moment of my fate Pache himself was violently attacked by Dumouriez. The latter had just entered Belgium iter his brilliant victory at Jemappes, and could not carry on the v^ar with a Minister ^vho was disorganizing everything. He had ;-reat influence in the Convention ; prevailed over the Commune, .nd carried the dismissal of Pache early in February 1793. Pache vas succeeded by Beurnonville, who had served with distinction n the Belgian campaign, and was nicknamed by Dumouriez ' ' the ^•ench Ajax" ! Beurnonville, on coming into office, sent for me and offered to estore me to my former post. Since the time when d' Hassenfratz lad declared war against me, and during the trial of Louis XVI. , . had frequently absented myself from Paris, to avoid the dangers hat threatened myself, also the sight of the terrible tragedy then mpending, of that sanguinary execution which shortly afterwards )olluted the capital of France ; but I had not relinquished my labitual residence. I was there when Beurnonville' s propositions vere made to me. I acceded to them, and re-entered the War Office. Under the new Minister the Administration began to work more regularly, and to emerge from the lethargy into which Pache and iassenfratz had plunged it. But this state of things did not last ong. The reverses experienced by the French army, and which n the early part of 1793 forced us to evacuate Belgium ; the de- ection of Dumouriez ; the internal discord in the Convention, a tormy prelude to the Reign of Terror that followed the execution )f Louis XVL and which was now developing itself ; these were mong the causes that combined to efface every trace of a short- ived improvement. Beurnonville, who was sent with Camus, jruinette, Lamarque, and Bancal, Commissioners of the Conven- ion, to arrest Dumouriez, wished to take me with him, as he was 'ery friendly to me. I had agreed to go, when fortunately the lecessity for retaining a confidential person in the War Depart- nent, in which Beurnonville intended to resume his post after a hort absence, led him to decide on leaving me in Paris. We :now the fate that awaited him ; and I should no doubt have ihared his long imprisonment. When, in April 1793, Beurnonville was aiTested by order of Dumouriez, together with the Commissioners of the Convention, ind the post ot War Minister became vacant, the Convention ippointed Bouchotte to succeed him. Bouchotte was Com- mandant of Arms at Cambrai, and had hitherto been undistin- 22 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. guislicd in the military career on which he had barely entered.! It was only the favour of the Paris Commune that had placed him among the candidates. The Commune hoped to find in him a second Pache, and in some respects were not disappointed. The devotion of the new Minister to this odious faction was unques-i tionable ; he gave frequent proofs of it. Nevertheless, under a: plain exterior, with foolish ways, and a bearing which ofteni caused him to be wrongfully accused of total incapacity, Bou4 chotte had talents and qualities for administration, an upright mind, and the capacity for steady application to business. He even displayed great activity, which seemed at variance with his physical organisation. It was while he was Minister that the gar- rison of Mayence was removed to La Vendee, and this strangt enterprise, the management of which devolved upon me, was car- ried through with remarkable precision. At this period, too, the telegraph, an invention which rendered great service to military correspondence, came into use.* Notwithstanding the severity; exercised in those deplorable days towards so many general officers whose lives were taken by the Convention, I had opportunities of observing that Bouchotte was altogether opposed to these con- demnations, and that he saved the lives of many persons who do. not know they are under any such obligation to him. Among i others, I may name General Canclaux. When a man appointed by the Paris Commune made his ap- pearance at the Ministry of War, I believed myself irrecoverably lost, and I confidently expected the reappearance of all the officials who had been formerly employed by Pache, such as Hassenfratz, Sijas and others, who had withdrawn with their chief. But, to my great surprise, Bouchotte did not reinstate them. He even insisted on retaining me, treated me with the fullest confidence in everything regarding the affairs of the Administration, neither in- quired into my political opinions, alluded on any occasion to his own, nor solicited me to embrace them, although I worked with him many hours daily. Nevertheless, I felt my position to be one of constant constraint. A reverse to our troops, an act of forgetfulness or of negligence, anything that should give room for the most trivial denunciation, might bring irretrievable ruin upon me, and I ardently longed to escape from so critical a position. * M. Chappe, the inventor (or supposed to be so) of the telegraph, came to me at the War Office. David, the famous painter, introduced: him, Chappe explained to me the method of using his irtachine, to whirhl he gave the name of tachygraphe (" writes quickly"). I proposed to him; to substitute for this imperfect description that of Uliri^nip/u (" writes froim afar"). He adopted this alteration. The name " telegraph" has be- come, so to speak, a household word. A NEW ERA. 23 I saw that I owed the consideration with which I was treated solely to the necessity that existed for making use of my experience in the Administration, and that so soon as that necessity should subside, I should be left alone and without a protector to repel the attacks upon me that would inevitably be renewed. I was convinced that the Minister would not willingly dismiss, nor would he denounce me, but I was also aware that he had some difficulty in maintaining his own position, and that, as he was obliged to purchase by continual concessions such protection as was afforded him by the party which had placed him in office, he would be unable to defend me, and certainly would not for my sake put his own popularity in peril. While I was in this state of perplexity, an opportunity of leaving my perilous post offered itself, and I eagerly embraced it. Several assistants had been ap- pointed to the War Ministry. One of these, named Deforgues, with whom I had been brought into constant contact, was ap- pointed Minister of Foreign Affairs, on June 24th, 1793. He proposed that I should change into that department with him, and take the place of Secretary-General. I accepted. Bouchotte was with difficulty induced to part with me, but eventually he consented. I therefore relinquished at this time the career I had adopted in my youth, but resumed it, as will appear in the course of my narrative, just after the i8th Brumaire, year VIII. A new era had now begun for me. This change in my career eventually called me to high functions in the public Administra- tion, when, after the Reign of Terror, a regular Government was formed in France. My first experiences in the new course on which I was entering justified the decision I had taken, and realised some of my ex- pectations. I had calculated that, foreign relations with PVance being for the present almost at an end, I should be less exposed to remarks in a department which had next to nothing to do than in the War Office, which at that time was the centre of attention ; and that Deforgues, who, on attaining to the Ministry, had called me to his side in consequence of the events of May 31st, and who was a man of a firm and decided character, would be a more sub- stantial support to me. It was also with great inward satisfaction that I found myself in an Administration where I should have to work with men of high intelligence as well as of honourable char- acter, such men as MM. Otto, Colchen, Reinhart and Boissonade, who were at the head of the principal divisions of the Ministry. The mere difference in speech seemed to me an inestimable ad- vantage ; to the coarse, rough ways adopted in the War Office, succeeded politeness and elegance of manner, the result of a gen- tlemanly education and the habit of association with foreigners. I 24 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. found traces of the former customs of the monarchy still existing in this department. Far from seeking to efface them, Deforgues, who, notwithstanding the j)arty he had joined, had natural good sense and sound judgment, seemed to take pleasure in them, and to desire a restoration of order, decorum, and urbanity. In this way, with less personal danger than I had hitherto in- curred in the terrible storm then devastating France, I passed through the six months which elapsed between June 1793 and the end of the year. During that period I had several opportunities of seeing Danton, the patron of Deforgues, at whose house he fre- quently dined. I was often invited, as were also my colleagues, Otto and Colchen. These dinner-parties often included Lacroix, Legendre, Fabre d' Eglantine, Camille Desmoulins, and less often Robespierre, whom, indeed, I met but once. I will pause here for an instant, and endeavour to describe the impression which was produced on me by the appearance and con- versation of those famous and criminal Revolutionists, whom I saw for a few moments, as it were, in their private life, and away from the bloody stage on which they daily displayed their fur)'. My colleagues and I had our places at the end of the table, and took no part in the conversation ; we were mere observers, and it is the result of my obsen-ations that I am now about to record. Danton, the most remarkable of all the personages whom I have named, had a hideous face. His proportions were athletic ; in that respect he was even thought to resemble Mirabeau. But the complexion of the latter was of a livid pallor, while that of Danton was of a reddish-brown, and his countenance was very animated. The tone of his voice was impressive, he spoke with warmth and energy that appeared natural to him. His elocution was fiery, and always accompanied by violent gesticulations ; at table he generally struck the key-note of the conversation, and made fre- quent use of figurative expressions — " The chariot-wheels of the Revolution will crush its enemies." '* The Revolution is like Saturn ; it will devour its children" — and other phrases of the same kind. }ie felt profound contempt for the Girondists, regarding them as fools who had recoiled before the logical results of their principles. He made no secret of his love of pleasure and of money, and sneered at vain scruples of conscience and delicacy. Intrenched in the club of the Cordeliers, which he looked upon as a citadel always open to him, he believed himself to be unassail- able. The cynicism of his morals exhibited itself in his language, for he despised the hypocrisy of some of his colleagues, and his sarcasms on this vice were principally directed against Robes- pierre ; whom, however, he did not venture to name. Never- theless it was easily to be seen that Robespierre was the enemy FABRE D EGLANTINE. 2$ |whom he most dreaded, although he affected to despise his party. " They would not dare," he often said, and this rash confidence wras his ruin. He thought himself sufficiently strong to leave Paris in the spring of 1794 with impunity, for the purpose of passing a few days on an estate he had acquired at Bar-sur-Aube, He gave himself up when there to the enjoyment of the luxury he had procured by his extortions in Belgium, and thus absented himself jfrom the battle-field. On his return he had lost his influence, and Robespierre, all powerful at the time, sent him to the scaffold. Lacroix, a friend of Danton's and his colleague in his mission to Belgium, where they both enriched themselves, was of gigantic stature, but of fine proportions, and was a handsome man. He lad taken Danton for his model, imitated his manners, and re- :)eated or paraphrased his speeches. The whole of his oratorical talent lay in this imitation. He spoke little, ate a great deal, and applauded the sayings of his master by gesture only. He fol- lowed him to the scaffold. Fabre d' Eglantine's manner of talking was graceful, but affected. Notwithstanding his efforts to conform to the Revolu- tioiaary style of speech, it was evidently antipathetic to him, and the ring of a refined education was heard through a coarse ex- terior. When the conversation turned, as rarely happened, on literary subjects, he eagerly joined in it, and displayed great ac- quirements. He was an admirer of Moliere, and spoke of him enthusiastically. I have heard him make remarks on the works of that great genius which were as striking as they were novel. I remember that, when descanting one day on the merits of the *' Bourgeois Gentilhomme, " he said : " It is a great mistake to think in this play that Moliere intended to insult the middle classes. He aimed it at the nobility, and was merciless. He cer- tainly holds up to ridicule the folly of a bourgeois who wants to pass for a nobleman ; but M. Jourdain, with all his folly, is none the less a very upright man ; a good husband, a good father, a generous and practical friend. The rogue, in the play, is the gentleman, Dorante, who is both a flatterer and a cheat. He is a wretch, who desei*ves only our contempt. All Moliere' s talent was needed to mislead as to his real meaning, and at the same time it required immense courage thus to exhibit the vices of court- iers on the stage, under the very eyes of the Court." This view of Moliere' s genius reveals discernment in the critic, and Fabre d' Eglantine has proved by his own writings for the stage that he could appreciate and successfully imitate him whom he had taken for his model. He was indicted as an accomplice of Danton, and perished with him. Legendre, a Paris butcher, was of small stature, and deeply 26 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. pitted with small-pox. He spoke with the greatest facility. Gifted by nature with extraordinary but quite uncultivated eloquence, his ; speeches in j)ublic, his conversation in private, were full of original and happy turns. He was an ardent patriot, and fell into the greatest revolutionary excesses, but there is no doubt that he acted in good faith and sincerity, following the impulses of a passionate but misguided love of liberty, and a mind never restrained by the curb of reason or reflection. I often admired this man when, on leaving the Convention where he had supportecj the most blood- thirsty proceedings, he would return to private life, and talk to us of its charms with an accent of truth impossible to simulate. He would speak of his own domestic happiness, of his wife and chil- dren, in the tone of the best of husbands and fathers, sometimes ' betraying his emotion by the tears that stood in his eyes. He was an incomprehensible mixture of political ferocity and social virtues, proving that man, with his strange mobility of imagination, can unite in himself the most wondrous contradictions. He was a partisan of Danton, whom he regarded, he said, as the Hercules of the Revolution, and was never weary of praising him when speaking of his talents in a public capacity ; but he blamed him openly for his manner of life, and for his luxurious tastes, and never joined in any of his disgraceful speculations. Animated discussions on this subject would frequently arise between them ; and although Danton always turned the matter into a jest, and pretended to laugh at the preaching of his colleague, Legendre never yielded, and it was evident that his words pierced to the quick. Lastly, this remarkable and singularly-organised man had succeeded in inspiring such a general respect that, notwithstandmg his openly-avowed attachment to Danton, Saint-Just did not ven- ture to include him m the indictment of the latter. And although even after the death of Danton, Legendre continued to defend him, he was never proscribed, but was in a position to attack Robespierre on the 9th Thermidor, and to contribute to his fall. He was therefore an exception, and although one of the most en- thusiastic members of the Convention, he escaped almost alone from the fate which the fiery revolutionists of that terrible time had to endure. After the establishment of the Constitution of Year in. he was elected m^^mber of the Council of Former Members (Conseil des Anciens), and died in his bed, at Paris, at the be- ginning of year VL (end of 1797), being still a member of the Council, and leaving no fortune behind him. Camille Desmoulins was also among the number of those who dined pretty frequently at Deforgues'. His personal appearance was commonplace, he had no external advantages, nor did his conversation belie the grudging hand with which Nature had en- CAMILLE DESMOULINS AND ROBESPIERRE. 2/ dowed him. Gloomy and silent, his countenance wore an ex- pression of profound melancholy, and it was difficult to recognise the orator of the early days of the Revolution of 1789, the orator who, standing on a chair at the Palais Royal, had by his stirring speech produced the great popular movement of that famous period. At the time when I was in the habit of seeing him, he was horror-struck at the terrible scenes which passed before his eyes every day, and was endeavouring to arouse a spirit of humanity. In several numbers of a newspaper entitled " Le Vieux Cordelier, ' ' which was edited by him, he ventured (for it was then an act of the greatest courage) to advocate a return to clemency. Danton laughed at him for what he chose to call his weakness, but Camille Desmoulins, who was also excluded by each so-called patriotic society for having advocated these new doctrines, made no reply. His gloom announced that he already foresaw the fate awaiting him, and the few words that he uttered were always in- quiries or observations on the sentences of the Revolutionary Tri- bunal, on the kind of death inflicted on the condemned, and on the most dignified and decorous way of preparing for and enduring it. His presentiment was soon realised. He was included by Saint-Just in the indictment of Danton and his party, although no appearance even of complicity justified that strange combination, and he was brought before the Revolutionary Tribunal. He was astonished, he says, to find himself associated with rogues, and made a strange and impious reply, but one which is characteristic of the times, * to the interrogatory of the President, who asked him his age. He went to the scaffold in the same tumbril with Danton. I have still to speak of Robespierre. I saw him, as I have already said, once only. Elegant in dress, carefully curled and powdered, composed in manner, he formed the most curious con- trast with the disorder, affected neglect, and coarseness that ap- peared in the attire and manners of his colleagues. His deport- ment was grave, and he took hardly any part in the conversation, speaking only now and then a few sententious words. But not- withstanding the immobility of his pale and sinister countenance, it was evident that he did not feel at his ease, and I learned after- wards that he owed a grudge to Deforgues for having thrown him into the company of men whom he pretended to regard as very uncertain patriots, or what was still more criminal in his eyes, as *' Moderates." Thus the conversation at dinner was con- strained. I also thought I could perceive by the few words uttered by Robespierre that he especially desired to be distinguished as a * Camille Desmoulins replied : "" I am of the age of that good sans- culotte Jesus — thirty-three years. " 28 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. great statesman. He spoke of the foreign relations of France, of the necessity of extending them, and of making a fresh alHance with Switzerland. He hud already made some enquiries in the Foreign Department on the latter subject, and I recollect that ISI. Colchen, who was at the head of the division of the Ministry which includes the Swiss Confederation, received with no little alarm an invitation to a conference at the Minister's at which Robespierre was to be present I recall this anecdote only to show that even at this period Robespierre flattered himself he might become the head of the (iovernment, and that his ambition was to acquire the reputation of a statesman and great politician. After this digression, I resume the thread of my narrative. But before continuing, I would remark that the beginning of the Re- publican Era having been fixed at September 22, 1792, the second year of the Republic commenced on September 22, 1793, ^^^> tlating from that period, the use of the Milgar era was interdicted.* Therefore all dates that I shall mention will be according to the New Era, and I shall merely indicate the years of the Old Calendar to which they refer. I shall follow this plan until January i, 1806, when the Republican Era was abolished and the use of the Gregorian Calendar restored. I passed the remainder of the year 1793 (the early part of year H.) in discharging the duties of Secretary-General at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and I took advantage of the frequent leisure which my post afforded, at a time when we had scarcely any deal- ings with Foreign Powers, to examine the archives of my depart- ment, and to extract from them knowledge of a kind which up to that time I had had no opportunity of acquiring. This period of tranquillity, which I owed to my obscure position, did not last long. Danton, accused on Germinal 12, year H. (April i, 1794) by the Committee of Public Safety, of which Saint- Just was the reporter, had been arrested on the preceding day. Being brought five days later before the Revolutionary IVibunal, his head fell on the scaffold (Germinal 16). The fall of Danton was soon followed by that of Deforgues. He was arrested, and until the Commis- sions which were to take the place of the Executive Council, and that of the Ministers who had been suppressed by a decree of Ger- minal 12 .should be established, the Convention appointed Her- mann to succeed him. 'I'hat provisional Minister did not, how- ever, appear at the Office of Foreign Affairs ; the new Commis- * As ihe New Calendar w.is not decreed until several weeks after Sep- tember 22, 1793, the " Monileur," couniijig from October 16 of that year, is dated the second month of the Republic, and only from October 31 by the new names of the months. The first of these new dates, Decadi, Brumaire, year II., heads the *' Moniteur" of October 31, 1793. BUCHOT. 29 sioners were appointed soon after (Germinal 29, year 11. , April 18, 1794). The "Commissioner of Exterior Relations," a denommation substituted for that of Minister of Foreign Affairs, arrived to take possession of that department. This Commissioner's name was Buchot. He came from the Department of the Jura, where he had been a schoolmaster in a small town. His ignorance, his bad manners, his stupidity surpassed anything that can be imagined. During five months that he was at the head of the department, he did not occupy himself with it in the least, and indeed was incapa- ble of so doing. The heads of divisions had abandoned the idea of working with him ; he neither saw them, nor asked for them ; he was never to be found in his Cabinet, and when it was abso- lutely necessary to obtain his signature for the purpose of legalis- ing documents— he had reduced his functions to this act alone — he had to be fetched from the billiard-table at the Cafe Hardy, where he generally passed his days. On the other hand, apathetic as he was in business, Buchot was fatally active when called upon to second the bloodthirstiness of Robespierre's party, who had appointed him because he was a friend of the President of the Revolutionary Tribunal ; and it was not long before the effects of the hatred he bore to my colleagues and to me became apparent. When Robespierre, threatened by a section of the Convention, multiplied the number of victims whom he sacrificed each day in order to diminish the number of his enemies, Buchot denounced us as " Moderates," who could not too quickly be got rid of. On 8th Thermidor, year H. (July z"], 1794), he obtained a war- rant for the arrest of Otto, Colchen, Reinhart, and myself, from the Committee of General Safety. The next morning, Buchot, with a devilish smile, announced our fate to me, and went out to defend Robespierre's interests at the Commune. But it was the 9th Thermidor ! We were saved, although on the following day, notwithstanding the events of the 9th, an attempt was made to enforce the warrant of arrest. This decree, with a great many others of the same kind, had passed in due course through the office of the Committee of General Safety, which had proceeded to carry it out. In fact it was only through the solicitations of M. Humbert, the chief of the Finance Department of our office, that we obtained the revocation of the sentence, and, free from fear, could share in the universal joy displayed throughout Paris when the fall of the monsters who had enslaved France and drenched her in blood became known. M. Otto only, in consequence of a fur- ther denunciation, was arrested a few weeks after. * * M. Otto was taken to the Luxembourg Prison, but he remained there only a short time, and the suspicions which had led to this act of severity 30 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. For some months after the 9th Thermidor, the National Con- vention, engaged in destroying the remnant of a party whose head only had been wounded, did not set about re-establishing order in the public administration. The Commissioners who had succeeded the Ministers continued to occupy their places, and we beheld the reappearance of Buchot ! He was somewhat humbler and less formidable, but no less incapable. At the end of year II. (Sep- tember 1794) the offices of the Ministry of Exterior Relations were removed from Rue Cerutti (now Rue Lafitte), where they had been j established, to the Hotel Gallifet in the Rue du Bac. 1 At last, the Committee of Public Safety of the National Conven- tion which held the reins of Government, was brought by the force of circumstances to ideas of order, and felt the necessity for a reform of the public administration, which was completely dis- organized by revolutionary excesses, by the internal divisions of the Assembly, and by the incapacity of the lately-appointed officials. The Government, anxious to assume a more dignified attitude towards the European Powers, showed a disposition to listen to the overtures of peace, which the astonishing victories of the French army had induced some of the Foreign Cabinets to make privately. In this new phase of the public mind it was im- possible to leave the Commission of Exterior Relations in the abject and absurd state to which its ridiculous chief had allowed it to sink. MM. Otto, Colchen, Reinhart and myself, were there- upon summoned before the Committee of Public Safety early in Brumaire, year III. Four members of the Committee had been ordered to hold a conference with each of us, in which we were to pass a kind of examination. Merlin (of Douai), Cambaceres, Thuriot and another, whose name I do not recollect, had been selected. I fell to the share of Thuriot. He put questions to me as to my antecedents, asked me whether I had passed through a regular course of study, and knew Latin, and he appeared pleased when I told him I was acquainted with that language, and that I had also learned some others, viz. Italian, English and German. After this interrogatory, which lasted half an hour, he informed me that the Committee of Public Safety intended to propose to the Convention that the " Department of Exterior Relations" should be so organized as to enable it to carry on certain political negotiations which had been already opened, were quickly dispelled. Deforgues, who was much attached to him, was released from the same prison after the 9th Thermidor. He worked with the greatest zeal to obtain the liberty of his companion in misfortune. I was luckily able to assist him in his efforts, and we succeeded in procur- ing an order of release from the Committee of General Safety, armed with which we went to fetch M. Otto from the Luxembourg at five in the morning. AN EX-MINISTER. 31 and that he had thought of me as successor to the present Com- missioner, whose incapacity was generally acknowledged.* We then parted, and on rejoining my colleagues I found that they had undergone much the same sort of examination. The results of this singular conference were not long delayed ; by a decree of Jhe Convention dated i8th Brumaire, year III. (November 8, 1794), I was appointed Commissioner of Exterior Relations. MM. Otto, Colchen and Reinhart were specially attached to the Committee of Public Safety. They were to attend to details, as well as to diplomatic correspondence, and I took up my abode in the offices to which, as I have said before, the Min- istry of Foreign Affairs had been transferred two months pre- viously. These various changes had taken place without the knowledge of Buchot, who learned them from a newspaper which he bought in the street on that evening. I nevertheless called upon him on the day after my nomination, and treated him with the courtesy usual on such occasions. This, however, he seemed to appreciate but little. He only told me that he should be much inconvenienced if I insisted on his immediately vacating the apartments he occu- pied at the Hotel of the Commission. I assured him that, as I had no intention of sleeping there, he was at liberty to remain until he had provided himself with another residence. He thanked me, and said that the Committee had done well in appointing me, but that it was very unpleasant for him to have been brought to Paris, obliged to give up his profession in the country, and afterwards left in the lurch. And then he took it into his head to ask me for a place in my office ! I tried to make him understand that it would be the height of indecorum on his part to accept a secondary post in a department of which he had once been the head. He thought such a scruple very extraordi- nary, and finding that I hesitated to give an affirmative reply, he said that in the event of my not finding him capable of filling the place of clerk, which he was soliciting, he would be satisfied with that of office-boy. I felt ashamed to witness such meanness, and, after a few vague excuses, I left him. He continued to sleep at the Hotel for about a week, but I did not see him again. One morning I was told that he had not come in on the previous even- ing, and that he had removed his property. I am ignorant of what happened to him afterward ; he was an extraordinary charac- ter ; the most singular mixture of baseness, ignorance and ferocity that can be imagined. * This awkward appellation was substituted for that of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which was subsequently restored. 32 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. The organization of the Department of Exterior Relations being decided on, as I have previously stated, a satisfactory activity set in. I worked systematically with the Committee of Public Safety, which at that time consisted of men to whom, whatever we may think of their political conduct in the course of the Revolution, we cannot deny the possession of great ability. Among these are Merlin (of Douai), Cambaceres, Sieves, Fourcroy, Boissy d'An- glas, Carnot, and others. I endeavoured to renew our foreign rela- tions, so far as the isolation in which the coalition of all the Pow- ers against France had placed her rendered it possible to do so. Consuls were despatched to all countries where there was a hope of their being received. A circular letter addressed to the agents of the Republic abroad, instructed them to regard enquiries into the state of science, of art, and of social progress in general, in the countries where they exercised their functions, as one of their first duties. The famous Volne}', with whom I became intimate at that time, and who honoured me with his friendship until his death, drew up at my request a series of questions on political economy, which I forwarded to those agents, and the answers conveyed to us a tolerably accurate idea of the peoples among whom they dwelt.* I ordered foreign publications and newspapers to be sent to me, and formed a plan of founding a library and reading-room on the premises of the Foreign Office, which should be available for all who might choose to come to these for information. Translators paid by the Government would assist persons ignorant of the original languages in their researches. The Committee of Public Safety supported my views, and readily accepted the propositions that I laid before it. We were then endeavouring to emerge from the abyss of anarchy, and it would be unjust not to acknowledge the efforts of the Committee to re-establish order, and to restore France, if I may so express it, to Europe, whence she had been in a manner exiled. Although surrounded by dangers which were the work of the still smoulder- ing factions, and which on the 12th Germinal, 3d Prairial, year III., and 13th Vendemiaire, year IV. (April, May, and October, 1795), threatened it with overthrow ; in constant alarm on account of the famine that was laying Paris waste, and making a popular ris- ing imminent ; obliged to supply the enormous necessities of four- teen armies, so as to enable them to consolidate their first triumphs and obtain fresh successes ; finally, although hampered in all its movements, and suspected in all its purposes, the Committee did * These questions, which are a model of precision and sagacity, were published in Nivose, year III. (January, 1795), together with the Circular 'Letter that accompanied them. They form a small volume in iSmo, which is now rather scarce. THE TREATIES. 33 not flinch from the burden, but evinced the most astonishing activity and the most unwavering fideHty-^I will not say to the confidence reposed in it by the public (neither the nation nor even the Convention honored it with any), but to the greatness of the task imposed on it by destiny. History bears witness that during the administration of the Committee which lasted over a year, from the 9th Thermidor, year II. (July 28, 1794) until the establish- ment of the Constitution of year III. in the month of Vendemiaire, year IV. (October 1759), France was victorious everywhere ; and if not respected abroad, she was at least feared, for during that inter- val several foreign cabinets solicited peace, and so far sacrificed their pride as to treat with a Republic that they had openly scorned. The negotiations entered into by the Committee of Public Safety came to a speedy and prosperous issue. Count Carletti, Envoy from the Grand Duke of Tuscany, came to Paris to negotiate a renewal of neutrality between the French Republic and Tuscany. The treaty of peace concluded by this Minister with the Committee of Public Safety was ratified by the National Convention on 25th Pluviose, year III. (February 13, 1795), on being reported by Richard. * Another more important treaty was signed shortly afterwards (i6th Germinal, year III., April 5, 1795) between Prussia and France. Holland, Spain, and the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel also recognized and treated with the Republic in the course of the same year, f With the exception of the treaty with Tuscany, which, as I have said, was negotiated at Paris, directly, between Count Carletti and the Committee of Public Safety, the others were negotiated and signed at Bale by the French Ambassador, M. Earth elemy, accord- ing to instructions from the Committee. The negotiations entrusted to this diplomatist were conducted with all the skill he had acquired in his long experience of affairs ; but they did not present the difficulties that might have been expected in first trans- actions of this kind between a Government quite recently estab- lished, and long-existing powers which had but lately shown so deep an aversion to the doctrines on which it was founded. It is certain, I have had opportunities of ascertaining the fact, that the advances were not made by the Republic, but that, on the con- trary, all the preliminary steps were taken by the foreign cabinets. Two powerful motives induced the latter to hasten the conclusion * The treaty itself bears date 21st Pluviose (February 9). f Holland on 27th Flor^al (May 15) ; Spain, 4th Thermidor (July 22) ; the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, nth Fructidor (August 28), year III. (1795). 34 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. of peace ; first, the fear of bringing troops full of enthusiasm, elated by a long succession of \nctories, and whom no obstacle seemed able to stop, on their territory ; and secondly, the dread that the principles professed by these troops, and which rendered them so formidable, might penetrate into the heart of the ancient political constitutions of Europe, carrying with them the germs of revolution. The third year of the Republic may then be justly considered as one of the most brilliant in the history of the nation. During the course of this single year France, victorious within, over the tyranny of Robespierre and the revolutionary madness, closed the den of the Jacobins, made for herself a constitution in which, although it had imperfections that might have easily been removed, the first principles of the balance of power were laid down, and a regular Government, offering such sufl^cient guaran- tees that other Governments no longer feared to treat with her, was established. Abroad, she regained a high degree of political con- sideration, made peace with enemies hitherto bent on her ruin, imposed severe conditions on them, and herself submitted to none that could lower her dignity. Finally, she carried her arms into the neighbouring countries, while she no longer suffered a single foreign soldier to tread her soil. Everj'thing promised a great and lasting prosperity for her in the future ; but the rulers whom the Constitution of year III. placed at her head possessed neither ability nor worth ; and when, five years later, she repudiated that constitution, the nation, dazzled with glory, heedlessly adopted institutions which, as they deviated completely from her professed principles and rested on no solid basis, were speedily overthrown. Victory alone was for long years faithful to France, and it daz- zled her ; but her glory was dearly bought at the price of the loss of liberty. CHAPTER III. The Author is appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to the Grand Duke of Tuscany — The 12th Germinal — The Author embarks at Marseilles for Genoa, and proceeds from thence to Florence — Report to the Commit- tee of Public Safety on the political , state of Florence — Difficulties caused by the presence of the French E7nigr/s at Leghorn, and by the ill-will of the Tuscan authorities towards the Republic — General Buona- parte appointed to the command of the army of Italy — Opening of the campaign and series of victories obtained by the young General — The Governments of Italy take steps towards obtaining peace — The Author determines to proceed to Buonaparte's headquarters. The re-establishment of political relations between France and sev- eral of the European Powers, and an impulse of greater activity given to those which had not been entirely broken off, with Swe- den, Denmark, Switzerland, and the United States, had once more thrown open the career of diplomacy. I was only thirty-two years of age ; I was longing for knowl- edge, for travel ; I desired therefore to obtain a diplomatic post, and the Committee of Public Safety showed itself willing to accede to my wishes. I was permitted to choose between the mission to Florence and that to the United States. My tastes led me to select the former. . On 9th Pluviose, year III. (February 6, 1795), I was appointed Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of the Grand Duke of Tus- cany. The decree of the Committee of Public Safety containing my nomination is signed by Cambaceres, Merlin (of Douai), Maret, Pelet, Camot, A. Dumont, Fourcroy, Boissy d'Anglas, Chazal and Dubois de Crance. M. Freville* was appointed Sec- retary of Legation, and M. Finet, a painter, was at my request nominated to reside with me at Florence. In his capacity as an artist he was to negotiate an exchange of pictures between the two Governments, to their mutual advantage. Meanwhile the Grand Duke published throughout his States, on March ist, 1795, the treaty of peace he had just concluded with France, and despatched letters accrediting Count Carletti to the functions of Minister Plenipotentiary in Paris. M. Carletti was * He died at Paris, a Councillor of State and a Peer of France. 36 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. solemnly received in that character by the Convention on 28th Ventose (March 17), and the minutes of this extraordinary sittinj^ are recorded in French and also in Italian at the National Printing Office. This was the first political triumph obtained by the Republic. M. Colchen succeeded me a few days later as Commissioner of External Relations, and my letter of credit, together with my in- structions, were handed to me on the 9th Germinal (March 24). All being thus in order, I was preparing to start, when a fresh disturbance threatening the Convention led me to postpone my journey, in order that I might observe its tendency and effects. The remnant of Robespierre's faction was still active, and as the conduct of the Committee of Public Safety deprived that party of all hope of regaining power in the Assembly, whether by eloquent speech, or by influence over men's minds, it attempted, by an insurrectionary movement, to lay forcible hands on the authority of which the 9th Thermidor had deprived it. Numerous bodies of armed men, delegated by various sections, forced their way into the hall of Assembly during the session of the 12th Germinal (April i), shouting loudly for bread, for the constitution of 1793, and for the release of the patriots, viz. Collot d'Herbois, Billaud- Varennes and others, who had been arrested some time previously. The Assembly maintained its tranquillity during this attack ; Boissy d'Anglas, especially, distinguished himself by the cour- ageous firmness which was afterwards put to a terrible test. At length the Assembly passed a decree at this memorable sit- ting, which lasted until six o'clock in the morning, ordering the immediate transportation of Collot d'Herbois, Billaud-Varennes, Barrere and Vadier ; and the arrest of several members of the Convention, including Chaudieu, Leonard Bourdon, and others. Pichegru, who then appeared for the first time on the political stage, was entrusted with the command of Paris, and the city was declared to be in a state of siege. Numerous patrols perambu- lated the streets of the capital during the night, and I myself made part of the patrol ordered by the " Section" in which I resided. In spite of some opposition, immediately quelled, the decree of the Convention was carried out. Collot d'Herbois and Billaud- Varennes left for Rochefort, and were sent thence to Sinnamari. Two days later, perfect quiet was restored. Feeling convinced that after this success public tranquillity would not again be dis- turbed for a long time to come — a conviction that shortly after- wards unfortunately proved to be unfounded — and having nothing to detain me in Paris, I began my journey to Italy on the 20th Germinal, year HI. (April 9, 1795). As the war in which France was then engaged against Austria PUBLIC FEELING IN TUSCANY. 37 and the King of Sardinia precluded me from travelling through Upper Italy, I proceeded to Marseilles, whence I embarked for Genoa. We were obliged to put into harbour at San Remo, and I performed part of my journey on horseback, crossing the out- posts of our army of Italy. This army, which was destined to accomplish such great deeds, was at that time ver)' weak. The troops occupied ^difficult posts in the mountains, where they were subjected to the greatest privations. But they endured them with the most admirable resignation, and prepared by heroic patience for the glory that was soon to immortalize them. I found Keller- mann at Alassio, he had come to take command of the place ; and also my countryman Berthier, with whom I had been inti^ mate from my youth, and who had been appointed chief of the Staff. After having consulted with both as to the means of carry- ing on a correspondence, and on the services which the diplomatic post I was about to occupy would enable me to render to the army, I took my leave and proceeded to Genoa, whence I despatched a felucca to Leghorn with my luggage, and I contin- ued my route on horseback by the banks of the Levanto. At last, having thus made my way through Larici, Sarzano, and Pisa, where I found my luggage, I arrived at Florence on the ist Prai- rial, year III. (May 28, 1795). I had passed nearly six weeks on the journey ; but I had profited by the opportunity of visiting Nimes and its antiquities, and the bridge over the Gard, and I had passed a few days at Genoa and Pisa, where many objects worthy of a traveller's attention had detained me. Freed from the terrible agitation of our political troubles, I took a great deal of pleasure in this journey, although anxiety as to what was taking place in Paris, the grievous reports that were prevalent, and the news, true or false, that reached me at every moment, rendered me frequently indifferent to the ever-varying spectacle before my eyes. In this respect, however, I was but serving an apprenticeship to the arduous position in which I was about to find myself in a for- eign land, amid a people where, in consequence of our e:xcesses, every man was our enemy ; where we met with no sympathy in our misfortunes, no excuse for faults or crimes whose perpetrators were abhorred, while the victims were not pitied, and no justice was shown toward those who had punished the guilty. Notwithstanding the manifestation of hostile feeling, which was carefully encouraged by the French emigres residing at Pisa and Leghorn, the news of the neutrality re-established between France and the Grand Duke had been received with universal satisfaction in Tuscany. Even the English, although they affected displeasure, in reality regarded this event with inward satisfaction. It rendered them, in a manner, masters of the port of Leghorn, where by rea- 38 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. son of the neutrality they could land without fear. English mer- chants felt they possessed a guarantee for their property which was denied them in a state of war, when at any moment French troops might enter Tuscany. Moreover, the English, as masters of the sea and {possessors of Corsica, had nothing to fear from our feeble navy ; and our privateers, which were almost the only vessels that hoisted the national flag in those seas, were in greater danger than ever. The English, in fact, blockaded the entrance of the port with their men-of-war, and it was the only place of safety for our priva- teers ; even there they barely found means of escape from enemies who had the upper hand at Leghorn, and did not respect the neu- trality of a feeble prince. Finally, the population of Leghorn, and even its authorities, were entirely devoted to the English, who felt certain beforehand of impunity for the numerous breaches of neu- trality which they committed. In everything, therefore, the advan- tage was on the side of our enemies. These inferences! drew from the particulars first given to me by I\I. Freville. He had preceded me into Tuscany by some weeks, and had come to meet me at Pisa. In the end I was fully con- vinced that he had not been mistaken in his estimate of the situa- tion. After the first few days, which were taken up with the delivery of my letters of credit, with my presentation at Court, and the duties imposed by etiquette, against which I was careful not to offend, in order to show that I was anxious to conform to the cus- toms of the country, I began to investigate matters for myself. After about a month's stay at Florence, and a few days at Leg- horn, the observations which I made were sufficient to enable me to form a tolerably precise opinion, which I communicated to the Committee of Public Safety. The events of the 3d Prairial, year III., which as I had learned on the 13th (May 22, 1795) established the triumph of the National Convention, had endowed the Provisional (jovernment of France with steadiness and con- fidence i-t had not hitherto possessed, and its heads felt the neces- sity, with a view to the execution of their plans, of learning what was the true position of Italy, towards which their eyes were turned, the princii)les of the first government with which they had treated, and the character of those who directed it. I took every pains to satisfy curiosity so well founded, and the following is nearly what I wrote on the subject to the Committee of Public Safety, 20th Messidor, year III. (July 8, 1795). " After the famous era of the Florentine Republic, Tuscany had been erected into a Grand Duchy under the sceptre of the descend- ants of the Medicis, and was scarcely distinguishable from the A MEMORANDUM. 39 Other secondary States of Italy, until Peter-Leopold gave her a more important part to play. Considering this prince in his capacity as a Grand Duke we cannot but recognize in him an enlightened ruler. The wisdom of his commercial regulations, his efforts to reduce the authority of the nobles, and to restore the influence they had lost to the middle classes of society, prepared a happier existence for Tuscany than she had enjoyed during the reign of his predecessor. But while for these reasons he won the approbation of enlightened men, he was in the highest degree dis- pleasing to the class whose privileges and prejudices he attacked. Meanwhile his absolute authority, the unsparing rigour with which he used it when necessary, and the strength afforded him by his great popularity, were sufficient to stifle every germ of discontent. " The death of Joseph II. and the French Revolution brought about a new order of things. Leopold reigned in Vienna, and as Emperor seemed to forget or to repudiate the principles he had professed as Grand Duke. His accession to the Imperial throne, and his death, which took place very soon afterwards, caused the government of Tuscany to devolve on his second son, Ferdinand III. , then hardly more than a youth, and the pupil of the Mar- quis de Manfredini, to whose care his father had confided him. ' ' The retrograde movement of the Emperor Leopold, in declar- ing himself against the French Revolution, became an occasion of triumph to the class he had kept down in Tuscany. His govern- ment and his laws were attacked, his memory was insulted, and a party antagonistic to the system he had established was soon formed. The infl,uence of Manfredini and the inertia natural to a government which was opposed to all violent measures, had the advantage in the struggle with this party ; but eventually, assisted by the emigres, and by English influence, it succeeded in pushing Tuscany into the coalition against France, an imprudent step which nearly caused her ruin. " French victories, the counsels of Maniredini, and still more, perhaps, the tendency to inaction natural to the country, soon made the danger of so impolitic a rupture evident. Peace was solicited, and France acquiesced. ' ' But it would be a great mistake to suppose that this reconcili- ation was the result of friendly feeling, or of any similarity of prin- ciple. All that I have said proves the contrary. Fear has done it all. There exists but one man here, whose actions seem to be dictated by wider views, by philosophic ideas, and by a general philanthropy. That man is Manfredini. ' ' He is attached to the principles of Leopold' s Government, and although perhaps he is not at one with him as to the means of carrying them out, he seems to take a pride in maintaining his 40 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELTTO. system. He has hitherto retained great ascendency over the mind of his pupil, and I must do Ferdinand III. the justice to say that he is himself disposed to follow the path traced out by Manfredini. Meanwhile the opposite party, Unking advantaij^e of the youth and inexperience of the Prince, acquire fresh strength every day, and while waiting until they may venture openly to attack Manfredini, they seek stealthily by every means to weaken his authority and diminish the respect in which he is held. ' ' Leopold's plans have already been abandoned in many respects. The laws on the freedom of trade have beeji modified ; poverty in the country districts and dearness of provisions, the result of the restrictions on trade, are already beginning to be felt. There is a project for restoring the penalty of death which was suppressed by the code of 1774. The power of the priests, which had been con- siderably restricted by means of wise regulations, is again spring- ing up. The men employed by Leopold have been set aside. In a word, this country, which has latterly made such strides towards philosophical ideas .and a better government, and which has even in that respect outstripped other nations, is now evidently falling back, and ready once more to take up the yoke of prejudice, from which the genius of one man had delivered it. " Manfredini is a witness of these ill-starred innovations, but he either makes no effort to arrest them or he feels himself powerless to do so. I am strongly of opinion that it is in order to secure the triumph of his opinions as regards neutrality, that he has thought it well to yield on other points. If I am not mistaken in this conjecture, he has committed, I apprehend, a great blunder. He should have taken up his position on the basis of Leopold's government, and should have deduced the maintenance of neu- trality as a consequence from it. By relinquishing that basis, he gives a great advantage to his enemies. He will be imperceptibly drawn into measures entirely opposed to his own views, and it will be easy afterwards to overthrow him, when surrounded only by the ruins of a government which was the safeguard of his reputation and political existence. " It is quite true that Ferdinand would be unwilling to part with Manfredini. The habit of consulting him in everything, which public esteem has justified, makes him necessary to the Prince. Moreover P'erdinand, although gifted, so far as I have been able to judge, with an upright mind, simple in his habits, much better brought up, and better informed than men of his rank in general, is perhaps more averse than any one else to the measures pressed upon him, and of all persons that one to whom they would be most repugnant. Consequently he seems to me to be thought little of by the n«jbles. and though he is one of the most estimable MANFREDINI S POLICY. 4I men whom I have met with here, I have not heard a single word in his praise. But with all these qualities he is young, and the fears that may be instilled into him for the security of his power, amid the events that are now disturbing Europe, must react on him, and weaken the opposition to the proposed innovations to which his education and his natural character would urge him. " On the other hand, it seems to me equally impossible that he should entirely release himself from the influence of the Emperor, and certainly the Cabinet of Vienna is not in accord with Man- fredini. The hopes of the latter — he did not conceal them from me — were to bring back the Emperor to his former principles, and to make Tuscany mediate for peace between Austria and the French Republic. The steps latterly taken at Vienna, the alliance between Russia and England, the subsidies granted by the last- named Power ; finally, the report that has got abroad, that the overtures of such a negotiation, if there is to be one, would take place at Basel, have wrecked Manfredini's hopes, and conse- quently lessened his influence, which such a negotiation, if crowned with success, would have raised higher than ever. *' I shall not dismiss the question whether France should desire or dread the realization of Manfredini's ideas. My immediate concern is with the consequences to the Government of Tuscany that may ensue from all these facts. " It is evident that the present conjuncture is favourable to that numerous party who are hostile to the system of government adopted by Leopold, and who will make every effort to turn it to their own advantage. That party will therefore intrigue with the object of influencing the selection of a Prime Minister, whose functions comprise those of the department of Foreign Affairs, and whose place may be said to have been vacant for a long time past, for Senator Serristori who occupies it is a mere figure-head. The post, however, must soon become actually vacant through his death or retirement. ' ' Manfredini, having hitherto directed the action of the Govern- ment, without official title, has made no change in the Ministry. He has restricted himself to preparing beforehand a man whom he can trust as a successor to Serristori. Neri-Corsini,* at present Secretary of State, is named for that office. He belongs to an illustrious family ; he is young, and having never left Italy, his ex- perience and his knowledge of affairs seem to me limited to the ancient ways of the astute policy that has always prevailed in the * Since then he has been Councillor of State in France, where I found him, when, in 1813. I resumed my place in the Council of State. He was, like myself, a member of the Interior Section. We little thought, in 1795, at Florence, that we should be colleagues eighteen years later. 42 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. Cabinets of this country. Beinp^ connected with the aristocracy, both bv family interests and by birth, he seems to me to be widely divided from us in principles ; but he acts with dissimulation, and lets his real sentiments appear as little as possible. Nevertheless it is plain that Manfredini has but an ungrateful pupil in this young man, one greatly inclined to go over to the side of his enemies if their party prevails. " Corsini is aware that in such an event he need not aspire to the post now destined for him. He feels that, strictly speaking, he might be able to fill it under the tutelage of Manfredini, but that, left to himself, he could not sustain its weight, and that his youth alone would be a sufficient reason for excluding him. Such a competitor being therefore by no means formidable, the eyes of this political party would turn, after the overthrow of Man- fredini, towards Signor Francesco Serrati, the present Governor of Leghorn, who, by reason of his age, his gravity, the importance of the posts he has filled and the reputation he has acquired, may at any moment be invested not only with the tide but with the actual functions of Prime Minister ; may succeed to Manfredini in the direction of affairs, and may even exercise, though in an opposite sense, equal influence in the general administration of the State." Such was the situation of the Tuscan Government, and such the view of it that I sought to impress upon the Committee of Public Safety, by insisting on the indispensable necessity of serious atten- tion to the war in Italv, which until then had been almost dis- regarded. It will be seen hereafter that I was not greaUy mistaken in my judgment, in the results I foretold, and in the nature of the remedy. But in the meantime I had serious difficulties to over- come, for it is evident that until we had acquired the upper hand in Italy by force of arms, we should possess neither the security of neutrality nor the advantages of conquest. Every prejudice had been aroused against us. The nobles, whose privileges and influ- ence were attacked by the spread of our doctrines, bore us an ill- concealed hatred ; the people, excited by the priests, and also, it must be' confessed, by the violent speeches and odious calumnies of the emigres, were ready, at a word, to rush into the greatest ex- cesses against the French, and many of our countrymen have fallen victims to their fury, on occasions it could be vented with impunity. Amid the hostile feelings prevailing among the two extremes of society, my arrival at Florence had caused a sensation and excited malevolent curiosity. The strangest rumors had preceded me. People expected to see a sort of savage, clothed in an extraordinary manner, using the coarsest language, having no idea of the rules of society, and ready ostentatiously to violate them. My habits, my mode of life, the deference to the customs of the country I ALFIERI. 43 was scrupulous to show, and the care with which I respected even its prejudices, soon dispelled these first impressions ; I was even received by the middle and most cultivated class of its inhabitants, and by men of letters, artists, and men of science, such as Fontana, Fossombroni, Fabbroni, Galuzzi, &c., more favourably than I had ventured to expect, I must, however, except Alfieri, who was then in Tuscany, where he lived on terms of great intimacy with Madame d' Albany. * It is well known that this remarkable genius — one of the most illustrious writers of Italy, who displayed in his work on Tyranny an ardent hatred of despotism, and was one of the warmest apologists of the French Revolution — taking offence at the severity of the decrees of the Constituent Assembly which attacked Madame d' Albany's property, and disgusted prob- ably by the excesses which subsequently dishonoured the cause of liberty, had entirely changed his opinions. He bitterly hated the whole French nation, and had expressed his hatred in most insult- ing verse. I should have liked to have made the acquaintance of a man of such remarkable talent, in the hope of gradually over- coming an enmity which passed the bounds of reason and justice ; but he was too inflexible to yield, and after some overtures, which he rejected, I abstained with regret from any further effort. Meanwhile, although my conduct and my domestic life had, on becoming known, removed the popular prejudice against me, political opinion had not altered, and in proportion as I progressed in the management of affairs, it became more and more adverse. Leghorn was almost daily the scene of contests between the emigres and the little band of Republicans whom trade or privateering brought to the town. Some Frenchmen, taken prisoners by the English, f who had carried them to Leghorn, were insulted and wounded during an altercation which arose between them and the emigres. The populace, being friendly to the English, encouraged these acts of violence, and the Tuscan Government, fearing to com- promise itself, had acted towards the guilty persons with reprehen- sible supineness. My first care, therefore, was to prevent the re- currence of these deplorable quarrels, by demanding the expulsion of those who, regardless of the tranquillity of the country which had given them hospitality, were continually bringing it into diffi- culties, and at the same time were wanting in every sentiment of generosity towards the brave soldiers whose misfortunes should * Madame d' Albany was the widow of one of the last descendants of the Stuarts. Of that House, so celebrated for its misfortunes, there nov/ remained only the Cardinal of York, whom I met at Rome. On his death, the Stuart family became completely extinct. f These prisoners were part of the crew of the men-of-war the ^a-ira and the Censeur. 44 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. have excited the sympathy of their countrymen. Their banish- ment, on which I insisted, was in the interest of the Grand Duke and of the emiij^rt's themselves. The latter would have found a more peaceful retreat in t)thcr parts of Tuscany, and the Govern- ment, by appointing the interior of the country for their residence, would have avoided a continual subject of complaints and recrimi- nations, which constantly compromised it with France, and in the end brought down the arms of the Republic on Leghorn. The most evident self-interest counselled them to follow s< reasonable a course, and yet Ferdinand's Ministers would n( adopt it. Our armies, detained in the Riviera of Genoa, had not yet entered Italy. Not being woiked on by fear, the Ministry] stuck to the tortuous and evasive policy generally adopted by^ Italian cabinets. They made promises only to break them ; thej replied to complaints by other complaints ; accusations were met with rival accusations ; they extended impunity to those who were guilty of the excesses I had denounced, while they demanded the punishment of a few Frenchmen accused by the Tuscan Govern- ment. 1 went myself to Leghorn to ascertain the real state of things, so as to be on my guard against the exaggerated reports brought to me, but my journey was almost in vain. The onl}- thing of which I convinced myself was that Signor Serrati, Gov- ernor of Leghorn, was an open enemy of France. In the very warm discussions which I had with him relative to the affair of the French prisoners to which I have previously alluded, his partiality for our enemies was discernible through his affected assurances of sincere respect for neutrality. He was opposed to all the measures that 1 had proposed, and I returned to Florence convinced that we should not obtain any satisfaction, so long as my demands were not sustained by dread of our arms. But the time was approach- ing when the irresistible strength of victory was to display itself, and the Tuscan Government to perceive too late that its ill-dis- guised partiality had aroused so much resentment, that it could no longer hope to save itself from the torrent w^hich was about to be let loose on Italy. The events of the 13U1 Vendemiaire, year IV. (5th October, 1795) had placed on the political stage a man who was to fill the whole of Europe with his name in less than three years. Buona- parte, who was called to the defence of the National Convention against the combined sections which menaced it, had triumphed easily over the brave but undisciplined crowd led by its ignorant chiefs. The importance rather than the merit of his success had drawn public attention to him ; and when the constitution of year III. placed a Directory composed of five members at the head of the Government, Barras, one of the five, who had put forward the BUONAPARTE. 45 »^oung General during the days of Vendemiaire, either through gratitude or because he recognised his genius, occupied himself kvith his fortunes, arranged a marriage between him^and Madame ie Beauharnais, and, six months later, gave him the comriiand of ihe army of Italy. I'his post was not a popular one. The army of Italy, the small- est of all those we bad in action, was least fit for action.* Scherez j— one of the most incapable of French generals — who succeeded kellermann, had been attacked and beaten by the Austrian Gen- eral De Vins. Obliged to evacuate Vado, f his communications with. Genoa were cut off, and when by some subsequent successes he regained the line, he did not know how to profit by it to pene- trate into the plain, but remained in complete inaction. The French, hemmed in between the coast and the mountains, unable to get supplies except by sea — an uncertain and often a dangerous method — could scarcely hold their difficult position, by dint of valour and endurance, against the attacks of an enemy now elated by success. Already people imagined us driven hopelessly from the frontier of Italy, which we had not dared to pass, and fancied the Austrians on the point of invading our Southern Departments. The inimical Governments of Rome and Naples, emboldened by our reverses at Vado, took an active part in the war, and furnished both men and money to our enemy. Venice and Genoa, who had remained neutral, were vacillating, and sought to obtain pardon for not having joined the coalition, by using their neutrality in the service of Austria. Even Tuscany, which had just entered into a treaty with us, assumed an air of patronage, disdainfully deferred her replies to our just complaints, and appointed Signor Serrati as her Prime Minister, replacing him at Leghorn by Signor Spanoc- chi, formerly a naval captain in the service of Naples, regardless of the annoyance which appointments so disagreeable to us and so unfavourable to our interests must necessarily produce. It was with an army apparently so little to be feared, it was with means so limited, and in presence of difficulties so great, that Buonaparte had to act. But he felt his own strength, his genius had already suggested a plan different from all those of the com- manders who had preceded him, and nothing was ever more ad- mirable than the conception of that plan, unless indeed the aston- ishing rapidity with which he put it into execution. Meanwhile the Executive Directory, which had sent me fresh letters of credit, signalised its accession to the Government of the * At the end of year III. and the beginning of year IV. (six last months of 1795). f In the month of Messidor, year III. (July, 1795). 4.6 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MTOT DE MELITO. Republic by energetic measures. It made known to me its in-i tenlion of giving a fresh impulse to the war in Italy, and ordered me to support the generals of the army by every means in my\ power, and to assume a firm and threatening attitude towards the^ Government to which I was accredited, The Directory had dis- missed M. Carletti, the Grand Duke's Minister, from Paris, be- cause he had asked permission to visit the daughter of Louis XVI.. The young Princess was on the point of leaving Paris for Vienna,, and was to be exchanged at the frontier for the former Commis-- sioners of the Convention, General Beurnonville, who had beeni arrested by Dumouriez in April 1793, and MM. de Semonville. and Maret, who were made prisoners by Austria during the same: year, while passing through Switzerland on their way to Constanti-- nople as diplomatic agents of the Republic. The Grand Duke, , alarmed by so decisive a proceeding, put up with it without ven-- turing to complain, although deeply aggrieved ; and Carletti, censured by his own Court for his imprudence, was succeeded ati Paris by Neri-Corsini.* Without in reality approving the conduct l of the Directory, who in this affair appeared to me to offend! against all diplomatic custom, and to punish with uncalled-for severity a merely formal request which they might simply have re- fused, I could not but perceive that its stern action had inspired a salutary fear. If it did not make us loved — an impossibility, no matter what we did — at least it made us feared, and to some ex- tent facilitated my dealings with the Tuscan Government. I took advantage of this state of feeling to obtain from the Government the refusal of free passage through Tuscan territory to the regi- ments sent by the Court of Naples to the Austrian army. During this negotiation, in which I was opposed by family interests, f I was ably seconded by M. Manfredini, who strongly urged the strict observance of neutrality. Of this they made a crime at Vienna, whither a copy had been sent of a letter I had written on the sub- ject to Charles Lacroix, Minister of Foreign Affairs, containing an account of conversations between myself and Manfredini, in which the neutrality question had been discussed. This copy, stolen from the bureaux of the Ministry in Paris by some treacherous per- son who was probably bribed, was used, as an act of accusation, against Manfredini, and he was obliged to qo to Vienna to clear himself. I * The new Minister arrived in Paris on the I5lh Nivose, year IV. (5lh January, 1796). Carletti had already left, and reached Basel on the 7th Nivose (2Sih December, 1795). I The Grand Duchess was a daughter of the Queen of Naples. \ This journey took place in April, 1796. He came back in May. and he assured me himself that he had seen the copy of the letter of which I speak. SPLENDID TRIUMPHS OF THE ARMY. 4/ The fears by which from time to time the Tuscan Government was swayed, were in themselves proof of its weakness. I in vain expected from it the firmness necessary to bring the outrages of which Leghorn was so often the scene to an end. Acts of vio- lence against the French, incited by turns by the emigres^ the Neapolitans or the English, were constantly committed, and pro- voked the bitterest resentment, skilfully augmented by men who coveted her wealth, against the town. They ultimately succeeded in ruining Leghorn. The war in Italy was assuming a formidable aspect. Buona- parte had arrived at Nice at the beginning of Germinal, year IV. (April 1796). I received a first letter from him, in which he an- nounced that he was about to put the army in motion. At the same time he asked me to give him any information I could about the state of Italy. I saw at once by his style, which was concise and animated, although careless and incorrect, that he was no or- dinary man. I was struck with a breadth and depth of view on military and political subjects, such as I had not found in any correspondence which I had held up to that time with the generals of our arm.y of Italy. I predicted, therefore, either great success or great reverses. My uncertainty did not last long. The cam- paign was opened, and a series of victories as dazzling as they were unexpected, succeeding e^-ch other with surprising quickness, raised the glory of our French soldiers, and that of the great cap- tain who led them daily by fresh triumphs to the highest point. It does not enter into the scope of this work to relate in detail the military events of that memorable campaign. The batdes of Montenotte, of Millesimo, of Mondovi ; the engagements at Dego and at St. Jean ; the passage of the bridge of Lodi, are among the great facts of history ; and their names, recalling so much valour, such deeds of daring, such a display of talent, genius so audacious in design, so fertile in resource, have become immortal. The news reached to the centre of Italy, and the bulletins giving de- scriptions of these wonderful deeds of our troops, at first contra- dicted, produced sheer bewilderment, when the force of truth convinced the most incredulous. Nothing was then thought of but how the torrent of war was to be turned away from regions it had not yet reached. The victories of the French, the armistices concluded with the King of Sardinia, and the Dukes of Modena and Parma, and the occupation of the country round Milan, had disconcerted the pol- icy of Upper Italy. I received more attention from the Cabinet of Florence than had yet been shown me. Notwithstanding Neri- Corsini's efforts to oppose it in Paris, notwithstanding his com- plaints of what he called my haughtiness, a proclamation was issued, ordering the emigres to leave Leghorn, and this measure, 48 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. which in reality did them a service, was carried out with all the considemtion demanded by humanity and with the respect due to misfortune. Rome and Naples, especially the former of those two Powers, which was more cxj)osed to immediate attack from the conqueror, began to take steps to obtain peace, or at least a suspen- sion of hostilities. Prince Bclmontc-Pignatelli, ambassador from Naples to the King of Spain, came to Florence with instructions from his Court to make the first advances to me. Count Man- fredini introduced him, and begged me to second the steps he proposed to take with respect to the General Commander-in-Chief of the French army. As an armistice with Naples, of which one condition would be to close the ports of that kingdom against the Fnglish, and to withdraw the Neapolitan cavalry regiments from the Austrian army, seemed to me advantageous both in a political and military point of view, I readily undertook to second the pro- posals of Prince Pignatelli, and I even promised to go myself to Buonaparte's headquarters to open the negotiation. Apart from this motive, which was in itself sulificient to make me undertake the journey, I was resolved upon it for other reasons. It was important for me, with a view to the ordering of my future conduct, to know what political bent a general who had already assumed an almost independent authority, and was inclined rather to dictate orders to the Directory than to receive them, intended to give to our dealings with the various Powers of Italy. Did he intend to transform the conquered States into a Republic, as he was urged to do by all the numerous vehement Republicans who were beginning to make their voices heard throughout the country ? Did he, by leaving these countries under their former modes of government, mean only to keep them dependent on France ? What were his designs respecting Rome and the Pope ? Would he recognise the latter under the twofold aspect of a temporal and spiritual power ? In the views of the advantages to be reaped from our victories in Italy, and of the use we should make of the preponderance they gave us in that country, which I had submitted to the Directory, I had particularly insisted on two results which I looked upon as the real fruit of our conquests : the complete destruction of the power of Austria in Italy, and the overthrow of the Papal Govern- ment. I was firmly convinced that emancipated France had no more formidable and implacable enemy than that Power ; it was therefore indispensable that I should be in harmony with a con- queror who, after subjugating Italy by force of arms, was not the man to neglect its political administration. I was quite sure he would agree with me as to the exclusion of the House of Austria from all power and even from all property in Italy ; but I was not so certain of his views on the other question. CHAPTER IV. The Author's interview with General Buonaparte — Conclusion of the armistice between the General and Prince Pignatelli, Plenipotentiary at Naples — The Author returns to Florence — He goes away again to visit General Buonaparte at Bologna — His interview with him — The Author does not succeed in preventing the violation of the neutrality of Tus- cany and the occupation of Leghorn by the French — In returning from Leghorn, General Buonaparte stops at Florence, visits the Grand Duke and dines with him — A treaty being concluded between the Pope and the French Republic, the Author goes to Rome to secure the fulfilment of its conditions — The gloomy fanaticism reigning in Rome — Some dis- contented Italians having claimed the intervention of the French for the purpose of introducing Republican Institutions in Italy, the Author, instructed by the Directory to inform them of his views, strongly opposes the project — Being superseded by Cacault in the duty of super- intending the fulfilment of the terms of the armistice at Rome, the Author returns to Florence — Rumours of the reverses experienced by Buonaparte produce great excitement in Italy — The Governments no longer conceal their tendencies, and the Author sends M, Freville to Paris to point out to the Directory the necessity of excluding Austria from all influence in Italy, and of destroying the Papal Government — The Author is ap- pointed Ambassador at Turin, but before entering upon the exercise of his functions, he has to undertake a mission to Corsica as Commis- sioner Extraordinary of the Government — Sketch of the State of Tus- cany, the conditions of life, and customs of the inhabitants of Florence. After having confided the guidance of affairs during my absence to M. Freville, I began my journey on the 3d Prairial (May 22, 1796). I went by Prato and Pistoja, and crossing the Apennines by the magnificent road made by Leopold's orders a few years be- fore, I reached Rubiera, and from thence Reggio, without having touched Pontifical territory. This I thought prudent, on account of the hostility which still existed between France and the Pope. It was with a view to placing his States in a direct line of commu- nication with the other possessions of the House of Austria in Italy that the Grand Duke had ordered this road, which terminated at Rubiera, to be made. From Reggio I went by Parma and Placenza to Milan. The armistices recently concluded with the Dukes of Modena and Parma opened a free passage to the French through their territo- ries, and the neighbourhood of our triumphant armies held the population in check. But, in spite of the terror and aston- 50 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. ishment produced by our victories, the aversion of the inhabi- tants was visible on every occasion. Some revolts had broken out, and I was dctainetl one day at Placenza by a riot at Binasco, a lar<;e town between Milan and Pavia. This revolt, in consequence of which the latter city shut its gates and imprisoned the French garrison, assumed a serious aspect, and was only suppressed by sanguinary military executions. As the roads were very unsafe, in consequence of these disturbances, 1 did not cross the Po until tranquillity was re-established on both sides of the river. I reached Milan on the 6th Prairial (May 26, 1796), but found that General Buonaparte was not there. Having retraced his step)s with his ordinar}' rapidity, punished the rioters and reduced Pavia to submission, he had proceeded to besiege Mantua, the only stronghold in all Lombardy which, with the fortress of Milan, still remained in the power of the Austrians. I was therefore obliged to go to headquarters to find him. 1 remained, however, several days at Milan, and there saw Salicetti, the Commissioner of the Executive Directory, with whom I had no previous acquaintance. Judging from the reputation he had acquired in the Convention, and which had preceded him in Italy, I had expected a cold reception, and was not a little surprised to meet a man of the greatest politeness and urbanity of demeanour, and who received me with the utmost courtesy. Salicetti, of whom I shall have to give a detailed account further on in these Memoirs, and of whom I shall say no more here than that he possessed great abil- ity, recognized the necessity of conforming in manner and style of conversation to the fashion of the country in which he now lived. In this, at first sight, he appeared to have perfectly succeeded ;* but in the course of our frequent interviews I found we were not at one as to the political course to be pursued in Italy. I insisted especially that the neutrality of Tuscany must be respected. While admitting the justice of our complaints against its Govern- ment, I mainlaincd that it would be worthy of the generosity of France to pardon its errors, and of her justice to obser\'e the con- fidence manifested by the Grand Duke by his treating with us, and being the first to set the exami)le of the re-establishment of politi- cal relations between the Republic and the Continental Powers. But I soon saw that the Commissioner of the Directory had other views, and differed with me from another motive than that of avenging the injuires which the French had sustained at Leghorn. • He had, however, exercised some severity in driving from Milan certain distinguished citizens whose intluence he feared. Among the num- ber was Signer de Melzi, who afterwards played a great part in the annals of his country. He went to Florence, where I saw a good deal of him, and a friendship sprung up between us which lasted until his death. BRESCIA. 51 It was the wealth of that city which tempted his cupidity. Its riches were all regarded as English property ; and, under that pre- text, should we become masters of Leghorn everything would fall into our hands. The imagination of man had never conceived a more splendid prize. Part of the booty, no doubt, would have to go to the State, but a great deal would remain in the hands of those charged with its distribution. From the moment that I recognized hfs real end I despaired of the success of my own views, and saw that the only chance of prevailing was my having better luck with the Commander-in-Chief. I left Milan on the 15th Prairial (June 3), and directed my steps towards headquarters ; but on reaching Brescia I learned that Buonaparte was expected there from day to day. I therefore remained at Brescia, where I found Prince Belmonte-Pignatelli, who had arrived there before me. On the 1 7th Prairial, Buonaparte came to Brescia from Verona. He had entered the latter city on the 15 th, after having forced the remainder of the Austrian army, commanded by Beaulieu, to recross the Adige and to retire upon Trente by the valley watered by that river. He was on his way back to Milan, and I was with him a few moments after he dismounted. I was quite astonished at his appearance. Nothing could be more unlike the idea my imagination had formed of him. In the midst of a numerous staff, I saw a man below the middle height, and of an extremely spare figure. His powdered hair, oddly cut and falling squarely below the ears, reached down to his shoulders. He was dressed in a straight coat, buttoned up to the chin, and edged with very narrow gold embroidery, and he wore a tricoloured feather in his hat. At first sight he did not strike me as handsome ; but his strongly-marked features, his quick and piercing eyes, his brusque and animated gestures revealed an ardent spirit, while his wide and thoughtful brow was that of a profound thinker. He made me sit near him, and we talked of Italy. He spoke in short sentences and, at that time of his life, very incorrectly. He said that noth- ing would be really done until we were in possession of Mantua ; that then only could we consider ourselves masters of Italy ; that so difficult a siege must necessarily last long ; that we had not the means even of commencing it, and that for the moment we must be content with surrounding the place ; that it could not be doubted but that Austria would put another army on foot in order to succour so important a stronghold, but that she required time in which to assemble an army ; so that we had consequently a month before us, which he intended to employ in advancing toward the centre of Italy, making himself master there, and securing tran- quillity on that side when the war in Upper Italy should recom- 52 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELTTO. mence. His discourse naturally led me to mention the overtures that Prince Belmontc-Pignatelli had made to me at Florence ; I infornictl him of the Prince's presence at Brescia, and of my de- sire to present Pignatelli to him. He said that this was good news, and that he, like me, saw no objection to treating lor an armistice.* I proj)Osed that he should stipulate as one of its con- ditions that the ports of the kingdom of Naples should be closed to the English. " Ah ! that is the policy of the diplomatist," he answered abruptly. " What we must stipulate for just now is that Naples shall immediately withdraw her troops from the Austrian army. The infantry is worthless ; but you are aware that they have four excellent regiments of cavalry which have already given me a great deal of trouble. I should like to get rid of these as speedily as possible. Send ]\I. de Belmonte to me ; the treaty siiall soon be made." And, in fact, the treaty was drawn up, and signed in the course of that day — in less than two hours. I man- aged, however, to have a clause inserted by which it was stipulated that the Neapolitan vessels should separate at the earliest opportu- nity from the English squadron, f This affair concluded, I began to discuss the general policy of ^ Italy with Buonaparte. I saw that he was ill-disposed towards Tuscany and already contemplated the occupation of Leghorn. I tried to discuss that point, but as he was in haste, I saw clearly that he would not listen ; I therefore confined myself to giving him a memorandum| drawn up at Milan, in which I had exhaust- ively treated the question, which I could not argue with him ver- bally. I told him that I had left a copy in Salicetti's hands, although I perceived that the reputed wealth of Leghorn tempted him toward so profitable a conquest. " The Commissioners of the Directory, " he answered impatiently, "count for nothing in my policy. Let them busy themselves, and welcome, with the atlministration of the public revenues, for the moment at least, the rest does not concern them. I do not expect they will long retain their posts, nor will the Directory send me others in their room. On the other hand. Citizen Miot, I will read your Memorandum, * He used the word amnesty, and throughout the whole conversation always made the same error. f This armistice, called simply a suspension of hostilities, is dated from Brescia. June 5 (Kjth Prairial, year IV.), and signed Buonaparte and Helmonte-Pignatelli. It contains five articles only, of which the fourth relates to the Neapolitan vessels. X This Memoir turned on the points previously indicated : the expul- sion of the Austrian power from Italy, and the annihilation of the Papal Government. I also endeavoured to show that the dignity of France, as well as her manifest interest, demanded that she should refrain from a violation of the neutrality of Tuscany. VENICE. 53 and I hope you will meet me at Bologna, where I shall be, no matter what are my futuie plans, in a fortnight's time. I shall send a courier to inform you of my arrival. Adieu. ' ' The horses were harnessed. He crossed the rooms adjoining that in which he had received me, and gave some orders to Murat, Lannes and Junot, his aides-de-camp,* and the other officers in attendance. Every one maintained towards him an attitude of respect, and I may even say of admiration. I saw none of those marks of familiarity between him and his companions that I had observed in other cases, and which was consonant with republican equality. He had already assumed his own place, and set others at a distance. I saw him off, and then returned to my hotel, greatly struck and in some sort bewildered by what had just taken place. I im- mediately occupied myself with committing the particulars of this interview to paper, and I then took leave of Prince de Belmonte, who was returning to Naples by way of Milan, much surprised and delighted at a diplomatic negotiation being concluded during a change of horses. 1 passed the night at Brescia, and left the town next morning for Venice. I was too near that celebrated city not to gratify the curiosity I had long felt, by a visit to it. The mainland of the Venetian Republic was partly in the occu- pation of the French. Dezensano, Peschiera on Lake Guarda, and Verona, an important post at the entrance of the valley of the Adige, were garrisoned by French troops, and, as had always hap- pened in Italian wars, Venice, unable to enforce respect for her neutrality, was again in this campaign fated to supply a field of battle to the annies that were disputing the conquest of that beau- tiful and hapless country. I found, however, no French troops beyond Verona. From the gates and towers of Vicenza and Padua the standard of St. Mark was flying ; the smiling valley of Brenta lay before the traveller, adorned by the luxurious dwellings of the wealthy owners of a hundred magnificent palaces, rising from the banks of the river, whose waters were furrowed in every direction by boats and gondolas. During this journey I forgot the busy scenes I had left behind, and enjoyed the tranquil landscape pass- ing before my eyes, and it was through scenes of continual enchantment that I reached Fusino on the lagoon. There, a far different spectacle presented itself, and I beheld, at last, the superb city, once the proud Queen of the Adriatic, rising from the bosom of the waves on which she seems rather to float than to repose. Venice, when I saw her in June 1 796, was still what she had * General Berthier was not just then with Buonaparte. 54 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. been for twelve centuries. The same government, the same cus- toms subsisted ; 1 hchekl ancient Venice, althou