Describing the church ofSt. John of the Minstrels, so called, because it was founded by a couple of fidlers, in 1330.M. du Lauresays, "Among the figures of saints with which the great door is decorated, one is distinguished who would play very well on the fiddle, if his fiddle-stick were not broken."
There is a parcel-post as well as a letter penny-post in Paris.
The salary of the executioner was eighteen thousand livresper annum;[21]his office was to break criminals on the wheel, and to inflictevery punishment on them which they were sentenced to undergo.
There are no longer anyEspions de Police, or spies, employed by government. "That army of thieves, of cut-throats, and rascals, kept in pay by the ancient police, was perhaps a necessary evil in the midst of the general evil of our old administration. A body of rogues and traitors could be protected by no other administration than such a one as could only subsist by crimes and perfidy. Those were the odious resources of despotism. Liberty ought to make use of simple and open means, which justice and morality will never disavow."
There is a school at the point of the isle of St. Louis, in the riverSeine, to teach swimming; persons who chuse to learn in private pay fourlouis, those who swim among others, half that sum, or half-crown a lesson; if they are not perfect in that art in a season, (five summer months) they may attend the following seasongratis.
THE common people are in general much better clothed than they were before the Revolution, which may be ascribed to their not being so grievously taxed as they were. An English Gentleman who has gone for many years annually from Calais to Paris, remarks, that they are almost as well dressed on working days at present, as they were on Sundays and holidays formerly.
All those ornaments which three years ago were worn of silver, are now of gold. All the women of the lower class, even those who sit behind green-stalls, &c. wear gold ear-rings, with large drops, some of which cost two or threelouis, and necklaces of the same. Many of the men wear plain gold ear-rings; those worn by officers and other gentlemen areusually as large as a half-crown piece. Even children of two years old have small gold drops in their ears. The general dress of the women is white linen or muslin gowns, large caps which cover all their hair, excepting just a small triangular piece over the forehead, pomatumed, or rather plaistered and powdered, without any hats: neither do they wear any stays, but onlycorsets(waistcoats or jumps.) Tight lacing is not known here, nor yet high and narrow heeled shoes. Because many of the ladiesci-devantof quality have emigrated or ran away, and that those which remain in Paris, keep within doors, I saw no face that was painted, excepting on the stage. Most of the men wear coats made like great-coats, or in other words, long great-coats, without any coat: this in fine weather and in the middle of summer made them appear to me like invalides. There is hardly any possibility of distinguishing the rank of either man or woman by their dress at present, or rather, there are no ranks to distinguish.
The nation in general is much improved in cleanliness, and even in politeness. The French no longer look on every Englishman as a lord, but as their equal.
The inns on the road fromCalaistoParis, are as well furnished, and the beds are as clean at present as almost any in England. AtFlixcourtespecially, the beds are remarkably excellent, the furniture elegant, and there is a profusion of marble and of looking-glasses in this inn. The plates, dishes, and basons which I saw in cupboards, and on shelves in the kitchen, and which are not in constant use, were all of silver, to which being added the spoons and forks of the same metal, of which the landlord possesses a great number; the ladies and gentlemen who were with me there, going to and returning from Paris, estimated the value at, perhaps, a thousand pounds sterling. Now, if we allow only half this sum to be the value, it is, notwithstanding, considerable. Every inn I entered was well supplied with silver spoons, of various sizes, and with silver four pronged forks; even those petty eating-housesin Paris, which were frequented by soldiers andsans-culottes.
There are no beggars to be seen about the streets in Paris, and when the chaise stopped for fresh horses, only two or three old and infirm people surrounded it and solicited charity, whereas formerly the beggars used to assemble in hundreds. I did not see a single pair ofsabôts(wooden-shoes) in France this time. The table of the peasants is also better supplied than it was before the revolution.
EXCEPTING the coins which I purchased at the mint in Paris, I did not see a piece of gold or silver of any kind; a few brass sols and two sols were sometimes to be found in the coffee-houses, and likewiseMouneron'stokens.
The most commonassignatsor bills, are those of fivelivres, which are printed on sheets; each sheet containing twenty of suchassignats, or a hundredlivres; they are cut out occasionally, when wanted for change. I do not know that there are any of above a thousandlivres. The lowest in value which I saw were of fivesols, and these were of parchment. Those of fivelivresand upwards, have the king's portrait stamped on them, like that on the coins.
Besides the nationalassignats, which are current all over France, every town has its ownassignats, of and under, but not above fivelivres; these are only current in such town and its neighbourhood.
Theassignatsof and above fivelivresare printed on white paper, those which are under, are for the convenience of the lower class of people, of which few can read, printed on different coloured paper according to their value; for instance, those of tensolson bluepaper, those of thirty on red, &c. though this method is not correctly adhered to.
I had projected many excursions in the neighbourhood of Paris, which were all put a stop to, in consequence of the events of the tenth of August, of which I shall give a true and impartial narrative, carefully avoiding every word which may appear to favour either party, and writing not as a politician, but as a spectator.
I had written many anecdotes, as well aristocratical as democratical, but as I was unable properly to authenticate some of them, and that others related to excesses which were inevitable, during such a time of anarchy, I thought it not proper to prejudice the mind of the public, and have accordingly expunged them all. I have only recounted facts, and the readers may form their own opinion.
Some particulars relative to the massacre in August, 1572, are inserted to corroborate the description of the similar situation of Paris, in August, 1792, though not from similar causes. Theexecrable massacre above-mentioned was committed by raging fanatics, cutting the throats of their defenceless fellow-creatures, merely for difference in religious opinion.
ON Thursday, the 9th of August, the legislative body completed the general discontent of the people, (which had been raised the preceding day, by the discharge of every accusation againstla Fayette) by appearing to protract the question relative to the king'sdéchéance(forfeiture) at a time when there was not a moment to lose, and by not holding any assembly in the evening.
The fermentation increased every minute, in a very alarming manner. The mayor himself had declared to the representatives of the nation, that he could not answer for the tranquillityof the city after midnight. Every body knew that the people intended at that hour to ring the alarm-bell; and to go to thechâteauof theTuileries, as it was suspected that the Royal Family intended to escape to Rouen, and it is said many trunks were found, packed up and ready for taking away, and that many carriages were seen that afternoon in the court-yard of theTuileries.
At eight in the evening thegenerale,(a sort of beat of drum) was heard in all the sections, thetocsinwas likewise rung, (an alarm, by pulling the bells of the churches, so as to cause the clappers to give redoubled strokes in very quick time. Some bells were struck with large hammers.)
All the shops were shut, and also most of the great gates of the hotels; lights were placed in almost every window, and few of the inhabitants retired to their repose: the night passed however without any other disturbance; many of the members of the National Assembly were sitting soon after midnight,and the others were expected.Mr. Petion, the mayor, had been sent for by the king, and was then in thechâteau; the number of members necessary to form a sitting, being completed, thetribunes(galleries) demanded and obtained a decree to oblige thechâteauto release its prey, the mayor; he soon after appeared at the bar, and from thence went to thecommune(mansion-house.)
It was now about six o'clock on Friday morning (10th) the people of thefauxbourgs(suburbs) especially ofSt. AntoineandSt. Marcel, which are parted by the river, assembled together on thePlace de la Bastille, and the crowd was so great that twenty-five persons were squeezed to death.[22]At seven the streets were filled with-armed citizens, that is to say, withfederates(select persons sent from the provinces to assist at theFederation, or confederacy held last July 14) fromMarseille, fromBretagne, with national guards, and Parisiansans-culottes, (without breeches, these peoplehavebreeches, but this is the name which has been given to the mob.) The arms consisted of guns, with or without bayonets, pistols, sabres, swords, pikes, knives, scythes, saws, iron crows, wooden billets, in short of every thing that could be used offensively.
A party of these met a false patrol of twenty-two men, who, of course, did not know the watch-word. These were instantaneously put to death, their heads cut off and carried about the streets on pikes (on promena leurs têtes sur des piques.) This happened inla Place Vendôme; their bodies were still lying there the next day. Another false patrol, consisting of between two and three hundred men, with cannon, wandered all night in the neighbourhood of thetheatre français: it is said they were to join a detachment from the battalion of Henri IV. on thePont-neuf, to cut the throats ofPetionand theMarseillois, who were encamped on thePont St. Michel(the next bridge to thePont-neuf) which caused the then acting parish assemblies to order an honorary guard of 400 citizens, whowere to be answerable for the liberty and the life of that magistrate, then in the council-chamber.Mandat, commander-general of the National Guard, had affrontedM. Petion, when he came from thechâteauof theTuileries, to go to the National Assembly; he was arrested and sent to prison immediately.
The insurrection now became general; thePlace du Carrousel(square of theCarousals, a square in theTuileries, so called from the magnificent festival which Lewis XIV. in 1662, there gave to the queen and the queen-mother) was already filled; the king had not been in bed; all the night had probably been spent in combining a plan of defence, if attacked, or rather of retreat; soon after seven the king, the queen, their two children (the dauphin, seven years old, and his sister fourteen) Princess Elizabeth, (the queen's sister, about 50 years old) and the Princessde Lamballe, crossed the garden of theTuileries, which was still shut, escorted by the National Guard, and by all the Swiss, and took refuge in theNational Assembly, when the Swiss returned to their posts in thechâteau.
The alarm-bells, which were incessantly ringing, the accounts of the carrying heads upon pikes, and of the march of almost all Paris in arms; the presence of the king, throwing himself, as it were, on the mercy of the legislative body; the fierce and determinate looks of thegalleries; all these things together had such an effect on the National Assembly, that it immediately decreed the suspension of Lewis XVI. which decree was received with universal applause and clapping.
At this moment a wounded man rushed into the Assembly, crying, "We are betrayed, to arms, to arms, the Swiss are firing on the citizens; they have already killed a hundred Marseillois."
This was about nine o'clock. The democrats, that is to say, the armed citizens, as beforementioned, had dragged several pieces of cannon, six and four pounders, into thecarouselsquare, and were assembled there, on thequais, the bridges, and neighbouring streets, in immense numbers, all armed; they knew the king was gone to the National Assembly, and came to insist on hisdéchéance(forfeiture) or resignation of the throne. All the Swiss (six or seven hundred) came out to them, and permitted them to enter into the court-yard of the Tuileries, to the number of ten thousand, themselves standing in the middle, and when they were peaceably smoking their pipes and drinking their wine, the Swiss turned back to back, and fired a volley on them, by which about two hundred were killed;[23]the women and children ran immediately into the river, up to their necks, many jumping from the parapets and from the bridges, many were drowned, and many were shot in the water, and onthe balustrades of thePont-royal, from the windows of the gallery of theLouvre.
The populace now became, as it were, mad, they seized on five cannon they found in the court yard, and turned them against the château; they planted some more cannon on thePont-royaland in the garden, twenty-two pieces in all, and attacked the château on three sides at once. The Swiss continued their fire, and it is said they fired seven times to the people's once; the Swiss had 36 rounds of powder, whereas the people had hardly three or four. Expresses were sent several miles to the powder-mills, for more ammunition, even as far asEssonne, about twenty miles off, on the road toFontainebleau. The people contrived however to discharge their twenty-two cannon nine or ten times.[24]From nine to twelve the firing was incessant; many waggons and carts were constantly employed in carryingaway the dead to a large excavation, formerly a stone quarry, at the back of the new churchde la Madeleine de la ville l'Eveque(part of theFauxbourg St. Honoré, thus called.)
Soon after noon the Swiss had exhausted all their powder, which the populace perceiving, they stormed thechâteau, broke open the doors, and put every person they found to the sword, tumbling the bodies out of the windows into the garden, to the amount, it is supposed, of about two thousand, having lost four thousand on their own side. Among the slain in thechâteau, were, it is asserted, about two hundred noblemen and three bishops: all the furniture was destroyed, the looking-glasses broken, in short, nothing left but the bare walls.
Sixty of the Swiss endeavoured to escape through the gardens, but the horse (gendarmerie nationale) rode round by the street ofSt. Honoré, and met them full butt at the end of the gardens; the Swiss fired, killed five or six and twenty horses and about thirty men, andwere then immediately cut to pieces; the people likewise put the Swiss porters at thepont-tournant(turning bridge) to death, as well as all they could find in the gardens and elsewhere: they then set fire to all thecasernes(barracks) in thecarousel, and afterwards got at the wine in the cellars of the château, all of which was immediately drank; many citizens were continually bringing into the National Assembly jewels, gold, louis d'ors, plate, and papers, and many thieves were, as soon as discovered, instantly taken to lamp irons and hanged by the ropes which suspend the lamps. This timely severity, it is supposed, saved Paris from an universal pillage. Fifty or sixty Swiss were hurried by the populace to thePlace de Grêve, and there cut to pieces.
At about three o'clock in the afternoon every thing was tolerably quiet, and I ventured out for the first time that day.[25]
Thequais, the bridges, the gardens, and the immediate scene of battle were covered with bodies, dead, dying, and drunk; many wounded and drunk died in the night; the streets were filled with carts, carrying away the dead, with litters taking the wounded to hospitals; with women and children crying for the loss of their relations, with men, women, and children walking among and striding over the dead bodies, in silence, and with apparent unconcern; with troops of thesans-culottesrunning about, covered with blood, and carrying, at the end of their bayonets, rags of the clothes which they had torn from the bodies of the dead Swiss, who were left stark naked in the gardens.[26]
One of thesesans-culotteswas bragging that he had killed eight Swiss with his own hand. Another was observed lying wounded, all over blood, asleep or drunk, with a gun, pistols, a sabre, and a hatchet by him.
The courage and ferocity of the women was this day very conspicuous; the first person that entered theTuileries, after the firing ceased, was a woman, namedTeroigne, she had been very active in the riots atBrussels, a few years ago; she afterwards was in prison a twelvemonth atVienna, and when she was released, after the death of the Emperor, went toGeneva, which city she was soon obliged to leave; she then came toParis, and headed theMarseillois; she began by cleaving the head of a Swiss, who solicited her protection, and who was instantaneously cut in pieces by her followers. She is agreeable in her person, which is small, and is about twenty-eight years of age.
Many men, and also many women, as well of the order ofPoissardes(which are a class almost of the same species and rank with our fishwomen, and who are easily distinguished by their red cotton bibs and aprons) as others, ran about the gardens, ripping openthe bellies, and dashing out the brains of several of the naked dead Swiss.[27]
At six in the evening I saw a troop of national guards andsans-culotteskill a Swiss who was running away, by cleaving his skull with a dozen sabres at once, on thePont-royal, and then cast him into the river, in less time than it takes to read this, and afterwards walk quietly on.
The shops were shut all this day, and also the theatres; no coaches were about the streets, at least not near the place of carnage; the houses were lighted up, and patroles paraded the streets all night. Not a single house was pillaged.
The barracks were still in flames, as well as the houses of the Swiss porters at the end of the gardens; these last gave light to five or six waggons which were employed all night in carrying away the dead carcases.
THE next day, Saturday the 11th, about an hundred Swiss who had not been in the palace placed themselves under the protection of the National Assembly. They were sent to thePalais Bourbonescorted by the Marseillois, withMr. Petionat their head, in order to be tried by a court-martial.
The people were now employed, some in hanging thieves, others withMademoiselleTeroigneon horseback at their head, in pulling down the statues of the French Kings.
The first was the equestrian one in bronze of Lewis XV. in the square of the same name, at the end of theTuileriesgardens; this was the work ofBouchardon, and was erected in 1763. At the corners of the pedestal were the statues, also in bronze, of strength, peace, prudence, and justice, byPigalle. Many smiths were employed in filing the iron bars within the horse's legs and feet, which fastened it to the marble pedestal, and thesans-culottespulled it down by ropes, and broke it to pieces; as likewise the four statues above-mentioned, the pedestal, and the new magnificent balustrade of white marble which surrounded it.
The next was the equestrians statue ofLewis XIV.in thePlace Vendôme, cast in bronze, in a single piece, by Keller, from the model of Girardon; twenty men might with ease have sat round a table in the belly of the horse; it stood on a pedestal of white marble ofthirty feet in height, twenty-four in length, and thirteen in breadth. This statue crushed a man to pieces by falling on him, which must be attributed to the inexperience of thepullers-down.
The third was a pedestrian statue ofLewis XIV.in thePlace Victoire, of lead, gilt, on a pedestal of white marble; a winged figure, representing victory, with one hand placed a crown of laurels on his head, and in the other held a bundle of palm and olive branches. The king was represented treading onCerberusand the whole group was a single cast. There were formerly four bronze slaves at the corners of the pedestal, each of twelve feet high; these were removed in 1790. The whole monument was thirty-five feet high, and was erected in 1689, at the expence of the Dukede la Feuillade, who likewise left his duchy to his heirs, on condition that they should cause the whole group to be new gilt every twenty-five years; and who was buried under the pedestal.
On Sunday the 12th, at about noon, the equestrian statue, in bronze, ofHenry IV.which was on thePont-neuf, was pulled down; this was erected in 1635, and was the first of the kind in Paris. The horse was begun at Florence, byGiovanni Bologna, a pupil ofMichael Angelo, finished byPietro Tacca, and sent as a present toMary of Medicis, widow ofHenry IV.Regent. It was shipped atLeghorn, and the vessel which contained it was lost on the coast of Normandy, nearHavre de Grace, the horse remained a year in the sea, it was, however, got out and sent to Paris in 1614.
This statue used to be the idol of the Parisians; immediately after the revolution it was decorated with the national cockade; during three evenings after the federation, in 1790, magnificent festivals were celebrated before it.
It was broken in many pieces by the fall; the bronze was not half an inch thick, andthe hollow part was filled up with brick earth.
The fifth and last was overthrown in the afternoon of the same day; it was situated in thePlace Royale; it was an equestrian statue in bronze, of Lewis XIII. on a vast pedestal of white marble; it was erected in 1639. The horse was the work ofDaniel Volterra; the figure of the king was byBiard.
The people were several days employed in pulling down all the statues and busts of kings and queens they could find. On the Monday I saw a marble or stone statue, as large as the life, tumbled from the top of theHôtel de Villeinto thePlace de Grêve, at that time full of people, by which two men were killed, as I was told, and I did not wish to verify the assertion myself, but retired.
They then proceeded to deface and efface every crown, everyfleur de lis, every inscription wherein the words king, queen, prince, royal, or the like, were found. The hotelsand lodging-houses were compelled to erase and change their names, that of thePrince de Gallesmust be calledde Gallesonly; that ofBourbonmust have a new name; a signau lys d'or(the golden lily) was pulled down; even billiard tables are no longernobleorroyal.
ThePont-royal, the new bridge ofLewis XVI.thePlace des Victoires, thePlace Royal, theRue d'Artois, &c.have all new names, which, added to the division of the kingdom into eighty-three departments, abolishing all the ancient noble names ofBourgogne, Champagne, Provence, Languedoc, Bretagne, Navarre, Normandie, &c.and in their stead substituting such as these:Ain, Aube, Aude, Cher, Creuse, Doubs, Eure, Gard, Gers, Indre, Lot, Orne, Sarte, Tarne, Var, &c.which are the names of insignificant rivers; to that of Paris into forty-eight new sections, and to all titles being likewise abolished, makes it very difficult for a stranger to know any thing about the geography of the kingdom, nor what weretheci-devanttitles of such of the nobility as still remain in France, and who are at present only known by their family names.
BUT to return to those "active citizens, whom aristocratic insolence has stiledsans-culottes, brigands."[28]
On Sunday, they dragged a man to theHôtel de Ville, before a magistrate, to be tried, for having stolen something in theTuileriesas they said. He was accordingly tried, searched, and nothing being found on him, was acquitted;n'importe, said these citizens,we must have his head for all that, for we caught him in the act of stealing. They laid him on his back on the ground, and in the presence of the judge, who had acquitted him, they sawed off his head in about a quarter of an hour, with an old notched scythe, and then gave it to the boys to carry about on a pike, leaving the carcase in the justice-hall.[29]
At the corner of almost every chief street is a black marble slab, inserted in the wall about ten feet high, on which is cut in large letters, gilt,Loix et actes de l'autorité publique(laws and acts of the public authority) and underneath are pasted the daily and sometimes hourly decrees and notices of the National Assembly. One of these acquainted the citizens, thatMandat(the former commander-general of the national guards) had yesterday undergone the punishment due tohis crimes; that is to say, the people had cut off his head.
During several days, afterthe day Iprocured all the Paris newspapers, about twenty, but all on the same side, as the people had put the editors of the aristocratic papers,hors d'état de parler(prevented their speaking) by beheading one or two of them, and destroying all their presses.
They, about this time, hanged two money changers (people who gave paper forlouis d'or, crowns, and guineas) under the idea that the money was sent to the emigrants.
On the Saturday morning, at seven, I was in theTuileriesgardens; only thirty-eight dead naked bodies were still lying there; they were however covered where decency required; the people who stript them on the preceding evening, having cut a gash in the belly, and left a bit of the shirt sticking to the carcase by means of the dried blood. I was told, that the body of a lady had just been carried out oftheCarouselsquare; she was the only woman killed, and that probably by accident. Here I had the pleasure of seeing many beautiful ladies (and ugly ones too as I thought) walking arm in arm with their male friends, though so early in the morning, and forming little groups, occupied in contemplating the mangled naked and stiff carcases.
The fair sex has been equally courageous and curious, in former times, in this as well as in other countries; and of this we shall produce a few instances, as follows:
ON the 24th of August, St. Bartholemew's day, 1572, the massacre of the Hugonots oror Calvinists, began by the murder of AdmiralColignithe signal was to have been given at midnight; butCatherine of Medicis, mother to the then King Charles IX. (who was only two and twenty years of age)hastened the signal more than an hour, and endeavoured to encourage her son, by quoting a passage from a sermon: "What pity do we not shew in being cruel? what cruelty would it not be to have pity?"
InMr. Wraxall'saccount of this massacre, in hisMemoirs of the Kings of France of the Race of Valois, compiled from all the French historians, he says,Soubise, covered with wounds, after a long and gallant defence, was finally put to death under the queen-mother's windows. The ladies of the court, from a savage and horrible curiosity, went to view his naked body, disfigured and bloody.
"An Italian first cut offColigni'shead, which was presented toCatherine of Medicis. The populace then exhausted all their brutal and unrestrained fury on the trunk. They cut off the hands, after which it was left on a dunghill;in the afternoon they took it up again, dragged it three days in the dirt, then on the banks of theSeine, and lastly carried it toMontfaucon(an eminence between theFauxbourg St. Martinand theTemple, on which they erected a gallows.) It was here hung by the feet with an iron chain, and a fire lighted under it, with which it was half roasted. In this situation the King and several of the courtiers went to survey it. These remains were at length taken down privately in the night, and interred atChantilly."
"During seven days the massacre did not cease, though its extreme fury spent itself in the two first."
"Every enormity, every profanation, every atrocious crime, which zeal, revenge, and cruel policy are capable of influencing mankind to commit, stain the dreadful registers of this unhappy period. More than five thousand persons of all ranks perished by various species of deaths. TheSeinewas loaded with carcases floating on it, andCharlesfed hiseyes from the windows of theLouvre, with this unnatural and abominable spectacle of horror. A butcher who entered the palace during the heat of the massacre, boasted to his sovereign, baring his bloody arm, that he himself had dispatched an hundred and fifty."
"Catherine of Medicis, the presiding demon, who scattered destruction in so many shapes, was not melted into pity at the view of such complicated and extensive misery; she gazed with savage satisfaction on the head ofColigniwhich was brought her."
Sullyonly slightly mentions this massacre of which he was notwithstanding an eye-witness, because he was but twelve years of age.
Mezeraygives the most circumstantial account of it; he says, "The streets were paved with dead or dying bodies, theportes-cochêres, (great gates of the hotels) were stopped up with them, there were heaps of them in the public squares, the street-kennels overflowedwith blood, which ran gushing into the river. Six hundred houses were pillaged at different times, and four thousand persons were massacred with all the inhumanity and all the tumult than can be imagined."
"Among the slain wasCharles de Quelleue Pontivy, likewise calledSoubise, because he had marriedCatherine, only daughter and heiress ofJean de PartenayBaronde Soubise: this Lady had entered an action against him for impotence; His naked dead body being among others dragged before theLouvre, there were ladies curious enough to examine leisurely, if they could discover the cause or the marks of the defeat of which he had been accused."
Brantome, in his memoirs ofCharles IX.says, "As soon as it was day the king looked out of the window, and seeing that many people were running away in thefauxbourg St. Germain, he took a large huntingarquebuse, and shot at them many times, but in vain, for the gun did not carry so far."[30]
"He took great pleasure in seeing floating in the river, under his windows, more than four thousand dead bodies."
A French writer,Mr. du Laure, in a Description of Paris, just published, says, "About thirty thousand persons were killed on that night in Paris and in the country; few of the citizens but were either assassins or assassinated. Ambition, the hatred of the great, of a woman, the feebleness and cruelty of a king, the spirit of party, the fanaticism of the people, animated those scenes of horror, which do not depose so much against the French nation, at that time governed by strangers, as against the passions of the great, and the ill-directed zeal of the religion of an ignorant populace."
A few more modern instances of female fortitude are given in a note.[31]
ON that same Saturday morning the dead Swiss, the broken furniture of the palace, and the burning woodwork of the barracks, were all gathered together in a vast heap, and set fire to. I saw this pile at twenty or thirtyyards distance, and I was told that some of the women who were spectators took out an arm or a leg that was broiling, to taste: this I didnot see, but I see no reason fornot believing it.
On the afternoon of this day, the coffee-houses were, as usual, filled with idle people, who amused themselves with playing at the baby-game ofdomino.
No coaches except fiacres (hackney-coaches) were now to be seen about the streets; the theatres continued on the following mornings to advertise their performances, and in the afternoon fresh advertisements were pasted over these, saying, there would berelâche au theatre(respite, intermission.) A few days after, some of the theatres advertised to perform for the benefit of the families of the slain, but few persons attended the representation, through fear; because thesans-culottestalked of pulling down all the theatres, which, they said,gataient les mœurs, (corrupted the morals) of the people.
Ever since the 10th, I knew the barriers had been guarded, to prevent any person from leaving Paris, but I now was informed that that had been the case, three days previous to that day, which may seem to imply that some apprehensions were formed, that violent measures would take place somewhere.
About this time the officers were obliged by thesans-culottesto wear worsted instead of gold or silver shoulder-knots; and no morecloudycarriages were to be seen in the streets.
Portraits of the king, with the body of a hog, and of the queen, with that of a tygress were engraven and publicly sold. A book was published, entitled,Crimes of LouisXVI. the author of which advertised that he was then printing a book of theCrimes of the Popes, after which he intended to publish the crimes of all the potentates in Europe.
As I could not get out of Paris, to make any little excursions to nursery and other gardens,toVincennes, toMontreuil, and as the inhabitants of Paris were too much alarmed to retain any relish for society, (public places out of the question,) I was desirous of getting away as soon as possible, and applied first to the usual officers for a pass, which was refused. That ofLord Gower(the ambassador) was at this time of no use, but it became so afterwards, as shall be mentioned.
On the Monday (13th August) I wrote a letter of about ten lines to the President of the National Assembly, soliciting a pass. This I carried myself, and sent it in by one of the clerks. The President immediately read the letter, and the Assembly decreed a pass for me; but the next day, when I applied for it to thecomité de surveillance, (committee of inspection) it, or they, knew nothing of the matter. I then went to themairie(mayoralty house) but in vain.
Here an officer of the national guard who had been present during the whole of the battle of the 10th, said to me, "La journeé aeté un peu forte, nous avons eu plus de quinze cens des notres de tués," (the day was rather warm; we have had more than fifteen hundred of our own people killed.) This was confirmed by many more of the officers there, with whom I had a quarter of an hour's conversation, and they all estimated the number of the slain at above six thousand, which may probably be accounted for in the following manner, but a demonstration is impossible.
Some assert that there were eight hundred Swiss soldiers in thechâteauof theTuileries; others but five hundred: let us take the medium of six hundred and fifty. They had, as every one allows, six and thirty charges each, and they fired till their ammunition was expended. This makes above three and twenty thousand shot, every one of which must have taken place, on a mob as thick as hailstones after a shower: but allowing for the Swiss themselves, who were killed during the engagement, which diminishes the number of shot, and then allowing likewise, that of two thousand persons who were in the palace, we heresay nothing of the remaining thirteen or fourteen hundred, most of whom were firing as well as they could, perhaps it may not appear exaggerated to say, that out of above twenty thousand shot, four thousand must have taken place mortally; and this includes the fifteen hundred of the national guard, which werecertainlyknown to be missing. Of the other two thousand five hundred slain, the number could not so correctly be ascertained, as they consisted of citizens without regimentals or uniform, and ofsans-culottes, none of whom were registered. All the persons in the palace were killed; of these, few, if any, were taken away immediately, whereas when any of the adverse party were killed, there were people enough who were glad of the opportunity of escaping from this slaughter, by carrying away the corpse. We must then reflect on the number of waggons and carts employed all night in the same offices, and then we shall see great reason to double the number of the slain, as has been done in various publications.
No idea of this number could be formed by seeing the field of battle, because several bodies were there lying in heaps, and of the others not above two or three could be seen at a time, as the streets were after the engagement filled with spectators, who walked among and over the carcases.
Of the feelings of these spectators, I judge by my own: I might perhaps have disliked seeing a single dead body, but the great number immediately reconciled me to the sight.
ANOTHER particular relative to thesans-culottesis their standard, being an old pair of breeches, which they carry on the top of a pike, thrust through the waistband: thepoissardeslikewise use the same standard,though it so happened that I never saw it. On the memorable 20th of June last, a pike-man got on the top of the Tuileries, where he waved the ensign, or rather shook the breeches to the populace.
The pike-staves for the army are of different lengths; of six, nine, and twelve feet: by this means three ranks of pike-bearers can use their arms at once, with the points of the three rows of pikes evenly extended.
The letter which I had written to the President, notwithstanding its eventual ill success, caused several English persons jointly to write a somewhat similar letter; in which, after having represented that theirwivesand childrenwantedthem, they said, they hoped their reasons would appearvrai-semblables, or have the semblance of truth. The Assembly on hearing this burst into a laugh, and passed on to the order of the day.
On the 16th I carried a passport fromLord Gowerto the office ofMr. le Brun, the ministerfor foreign affairs; here I was told to leave it, and I should have another in its stead the next day. The next day I applied for it, and was told, no passports could be delivered.
The matter now appeared to me to become serious, as the courier who had carried the account of the affair of the 10th to London was not yet returned, and that rumours were spread, that the English in Paris were almost allgrands seigneurs & aristocrates; so that I saw only two probable means of safety; one of which was, to draw up a petition to the National Assembly, in behalf of all the British subjects, to get it signed by as many as I could find, and who might chuse to sign it, and to carry it to the Assembly in a small body, which might have been the means of procuring a pass; and in case this was refused, the other plan would have been for all the British to have incorporated themselves into aLegion Britannique, and offered their services according to the exigence of the case.[32]This petitionwas accordingly, on the 18th, drawn up by a member of the English Parliament; translated into French, and carried about to be signed; when at the bankers we fortunately met with a person who informed us, that our passes were ready at the moment, atMr. Le Brun's: thither we went; I obtained my pass at two o'clock afternoon, the petition was torn and given to the winds; I took a hackney coach that instant, to carry me to thePoste aux chevaux, ordered the horses, and before three I was out of the barriers of Paris.
Here follows a copy of my passport.
At the top of the paper is an engraving of a shield, on which is inscribedVivre libre ou mourir(live free or die,) supported by two female figures, thedexterrepresentingMinervastanding, with the cap of liberty at the end of a pike; thesinister, the French constitution personified as a woman sitting on a lion, with one hand holding a book, on which is writtenConstitution Française, droits de l'homme, and with the other supporting a crown over theshield, which crown is effaced by a dash with a pen.
Then follows:
La nation, la loi, le roi; this is also obliteratedwith a pen, and instead is written:Liberté, EgalitéAu nom de la nation.
À tous officiers, civils et militaires, chargés de surveiller et de maintenir l'ordre public dans les differents departemens du Royaume, et à tous autres qu'il appartiendra il est ordonné de laisser librement passerT—— anglais retournant en angleterre, porteur d'un certificat de son ambassadeur.[33]Sans donner ni souffrir qu'il lui soit donné aucun empéchement, le present passe-port valable pourquinze joursseulement.
Donné àParisle 16 aoust l'an 4 de la liberté
Vû à la Mairie le17aoust1792.
L'an 4ede la liberté.
Petion.
Here is an impression, in red wax, of the arms of Paris, which aregules, a three-mast ship in full sail, a chiefazur,seméwithfleurs de lis, or, the shield environed with oak branches and the cap of liberty as a crest. The inscription underneath isMairie de Paris, 1789. On one side of this seal is an escutcheon with the arms of France, crowned, and over the crown there is a dash with a pen. And underneath,
Gratis. Le ministre des affaires etrangeres.
And on the back of the passport,
Vû au comité de la section poissonnierece 18 aoust1792.
Signed by two commissaries at the barriers of St. Denis, at Paris.
Permis d'embarquer à Calais le 22 aoust1792.Signed by a Secretary.
SOME days before the demolition of the statue ofHenriIV. on thePont-neuf, there was a flag placed near that statue, on which was paintedcitoyens la Patrie est en danger; (citizens, the mother-country is in danger) and it still remained there when I came away.
On the Monday aftertheFriday, I saw a paper on the walls, among those published by authority, wherein a person acquainted the public, that on the preceding Saturday, in consequence of some suspicions which had been entertained of his principles, his house had been visited by above thirty thousand persons;[34]and that notwithstanding masons and smiths had been employed in pulling down, breaking open and scrutinizing, the people hadfound nothingto criminate him, and he hadfound nothingmissing in consequence of their scrutiny. I had the pleasure of reading this aloud to an assemblage of elderly ladies, not one of whom could see to read it, as it was placed out of theirfocus, or too high, as they said.
Before the 10th I saw several dancing parties of thePoissardesandsans-culottesin the beer-houses, on theQuai des Ormesand theQuai St. Paul, and have played the favourite and animating air ofça ira, on the fiddle, toeight couple of dancers; the ceiling of these rooms (which open into the street) is not above ten feet high, and on this ceiling (which is generally white washed) are the numbers 1 2 to 8, in black, and the same in red, which mark the places where the ladies and gentlemen are to stand. When the dance was concluded I requested the ladies to salute me (m'embrasser) which they did, by gently touching my cheek with their lips. But a period was put to all these amusements by the occurrences of the 10th; after which day, most of my time was employed in endeavouring to obtain a passport.
On theQuai des Augustins, at six or seven in the morning, may be seen a market of above a quarter of a mile long, well stocked with fowls, pigeons, ducks, geese and turkies: these birds are all termedVolaille. Rabbits are likewise sold in this market. I also saw here a few live pheasants, red-legged partridges and quails in cages, for sale.
I did not see alouis d'orthis time in Paris, it is probable that a new golden coin may be struck of a different value and name, andwithoutthe name of the die-engraver.
There are few, if any,tables d'hôte(ordinaries) in Paris at present, except at the inns. I have not seen any for many years, because the hour of dining at them is about one o'clock, and that is customary to be served in those coffee-houses which are kept byrestaurateurs and traiteurs(cooks) after the English manner, at small tables, and there are bills of fare, with the prices of the articles marked. The most celebrated of these houses is calledla Taverne de Londres, in the garden of thePalais-Royal: here are large public rooms, and also many small ones, and a bill of fare printed on a folio sheet, containing almost every sort of provision, (carp, eels, and pickled salmon are the only fish I have seen there.) An Englishman may here have his beef-steak, plum-pudding, Cheshire cheese, porter and punch just as in London, and at about the same price, (half the price as the exchangethen was.) Thirty-five sorts of wine are here enumerated. That ofTokayis at twolivresfor a small glass, of which a quart-bottle may contain about fifteen.Rhenish, Mountain, Alicante, Rota,and redFrontignanat 6 livres.Champagne, Claret, Hermitage,4l.10f.Port3l.10f.Burgundy3l.Porter2l.10f.Most of the dishes are of silver, and I dined at two or three other taverns where all the dishes and plates were of silver.
The barbers or hair-dressers have generally written on their signIci on rajeunit: rajeunirmeans properly to colour or die the hair, but in this instance it only expresses, here people are made to look younger than they are, by having their hair dressed. I saw a peruke-maker's sign representing the fable ofthe man and his two wives, thus: A middle-aged gentleman is fitting in a magnificent apartment, between an old lady and a young one, fashionably dressed. His head is entirely bald, the old lady having just pulled out the black hairs, as the young one did the grey: and Cupid is flying over his head, holding a nice periwig ready to put on it.
THE authorities for a great part of what follows areMr. Rabaut'sHistory of the Revolution, 1792;Mr. du Laure'sParis, 1791,Geographie de France, 1792, second edition, andVoyage dans les Departemens de la France, 1792.
France is a country which extends nine degrees from North to South, and between ten and eleven from East to West, making six and twenty thousand square leagues, and containing twenty-seven millions of people. In 1790, "There were four millions of armed men in France; three of these millions wore the uniform of the nation." The number of warriors, or fighting men is very considerably increased since that time.
"In this immense population is found at least three millions of individuals ofdifferent religions, whom the present catholicks look upon with brotherly eyes. The protestant and the catholick now embrace each other on the threshold whereColigniwas murdered; and the disciples ofCalvininvoke the Eternal after their manner, within a few paces[35]of the balcony from whenceCharles IX.shot at his subjects."
The capital, when compared to London, for extent is as 264 to 195, (nearly as 7 to 5) thatis to say, according to the calculation beforementioned (p. 28) Paris stands on 699/121square miles of ground, and London on 535/968.
It contains a million and 130 thousand inhabitants, which is fifty thousand more than it did two years ago; these formerly inhabitedVersailles, and left it at the time the court did.
Lyoncontains 160 thousand persons.
Marseille, the most populous, in proportion to the size, of any city in Europe, contains, in a spot of little more than three miles in circumference, 120 thousand persons, which includes about 30,000 mariners on board of the ships in the harbour.[36]
Bordeaux, 100,000. The population of many more cities is given in a note,[37]besides which there are others, the number of whose inhabitants I cannot learn, such asToulouse, Toulon, Brest, Orange, Blois, Avignon, &c.
The nation gains five millions sterlingper annumby the reduction of its expences, and by not having any unnecessary clergymen to maintain,[38]and the forfeited estatesof the emigrants are estimated at immense sums.[39]
The heavy taxes on salt (la gabelle) and on Tobacco are suppressed, and those two articles are allowed to be objects of commerce.[40]
"No city in the world can offer such a spectacle as that of Paris, agitated by some great passion, because in no other the communication is so speedy, and the spirits soactive. Paris contains citizens from all the provinces, and these various characters blended together compose the national character, which is distinguished by a wonderful impetuosity. Whatever they will do is done." Witness the taking of theBastillein a single day, which had formerly withstood the siege of a whole army during three and twenty days. And witness the 10th of August.
I have been frequently told by persons in England, that a regular and disciplined army may easily crush a herd of raw and inexperienced rabble, such as they supposed the French were, although ten times more numerous. This may possibly be the event in small numbers, but if we state the case with large numbers, for instance fifty thousand men of the greatest courage, and of the most perfect discipline, and who are fighting for pay, without any personal motive, against five hundred thousand men, whom we shall suppose utterly ignorant of the art of war, but who conceive they are fighting for their liberty and their country, for their familiesand their property, and then reflect on the courage and bravery of these very men, on their impetuosity, theiracharnement, or desperate violence in fight, which may be compared to the irresistible force of water-spouts, and of whirlwinds, it may not appear too partial to conjecture, that such persons may perceive some little reason for suspending, if not for altering, their opinion,[41]and maynow estimate the degree of danger this nation may apprehend from the attacks of extraneous powers,provided its own people are unanimous.
THE paragraph at the bottom of page 11, is intended to be merely descriptive, but not ludicrous, so that the reader is requested to expunge the wordnight.
In the enumeration of the Bishopricks (page 14) I unaccountably omitted the ten metropolitan sees, which are those ofParis, Lyon, Bourdeaux, Rouen, Reims, Besançon, Bourges, Rennes, AixandToulouse: Thus there are eighty-three bishopricks, or one for each department.
After what is said (in page 89) relative to the division of the country, there should, in justice, be added: "To the confused medley ofBailiwicks, Seneschal-jurisdictions, Elections, Generalities, Dioceses, Parliaments, Governments, &c.there succeeded a simple and uniform division; there were no longer any provinces, but only one family, one nation: France was the nation of eighty-three departments." Notwithstanding this, I regret the ancientnamesof the provinces. The oldAtlasof France is become useless, as the whole of its geography is altered. The land is at present divided into nine regions, and each of these into nine departments; Paris and the country about ten miles around (24 square leagues) forms one, and the Island ofCorsicaanother department. In the modernAtlas, after every new name, is putci-devant, and then the old name, thus:Region du Levant, departement de la côte d'or, ci-devant Bourgogne. I called one day, after dining in a tavern, for a bottle of wine of theDepartement de l'Aube, Region des Sources,the landlord consulted hisAtlas, and thenbrought the bottle ofChampagneI required. It will be some time before foreigners are sufficiently familiarized to the new phrases which must be used forGascon, Normand, Breton, Provençal, Picard, &c.[42]
The following paragraphs are taken from the newVoyage de France.
"During fourteen hundred years, priority in follies, in superstition, in ignorance, in fanaticism, and in slavery, was the picture of France. It was just, therefore, that priority in philosophy, and in knowledge, should succeed to so many odious pre-eminences."
"The French people, to whom liberty is now new, are like the waves of the sea, which roll long after the tempest has ceased: and of which the agitation is necessary to depose on the shores the scum which covers them."
"The confusion inseparable from a new order of things, has necessarily caused Paris to swarm with vagabonds; so that far from being surprized that some crimes have been committed, we ought rather to wonder that they are not more frequent."
"WhenLouis XVI.was brought back to Paris (25 June, 1791) the inhabitants offauxbourgspasted a placard (advertisement) against the walls, saying, 'Whoever applauds him shall be cudgelled, whoever attacks him shall be hanged.' An awful silence was observed."
After the account of the Pantheon (p. 28) should be added: In April, 1791, the body orMirabeauwas deposited here; and in July following that ofVoltaire. Soon after thisit was decreed, thatRousseauhad merited the honours due to great men, but that his ashes should remain where they were.
To the lift of engravings of theMaidenmust be added another, prefixed to a little tract, calledGibbet-Law.
Bypremier An de l'Egalité,(first year of Equality) it is not to be understood that every person in France is equal, but that as they have no sovereign, no person is above, but every person is equally under the protection of the law. This matter has been both misunderstood and misrepresented in England.
On the 18th I was out of the barriers of Paris by three in the afternoon, and proceeded toChantilly, where we[43]arrived at nine,and remained for the night. We were informed that two hundredSans-culottesandMarseilloishad walk'd here from Paris, (28 miles) two or three days before, had pulled down an equestrian statue, (probably that of the Constablede Montmorenci) cut off a man's head, carried it about the streets on a pike,à la mode de Paris, caught and eat most of the carp which had been swimming in the ponds which surround the palace above a hundred years, were then in the stables and intended to return to Paris the next day. They did no other damage to the building than breaking theCondéarms, which were carved in stone.
The night of the next day we passed atFlixcourt, and that of the Monday at the Post-house, at the foot of the hill on whichBoulogneis situated.
On Tuesday the 21st we arrived at Calais in the morning; the wind was so violent and unfavorable that we were detained here till the 24th, when we failed, and had a passage of seven hours to Dover.
There was nothing to remark on the road from Paris to Calais, except that the harvest was not yet got in, for want of hands, that the corn waslodged, and sowing itself again; that every person and thing was as quiet as if nothing had happened in Paris, and that no one knew the particulars of whathadhappened.
At Calais many person wore trowsers, after the fashion of theSans-culottes.