Chapter XV: Appendix: Adams, John (3)

Suleon, the editor of a newspaper, having insulted Théroigne in a leading article, she, in company with a band of devoted adherents, laid in wait for him; and although he was at the time actually one of a patrol of the National Guard going their rounds, seized him by the coat collar and dragged him into the middle of the street, where she and her companions despatched him with their sabres.

She professed opinions similar to those of the Girondins, and when the fall of this party was imminent, declaimed loudly in their favour in public places. On one occasion when making a speech in the gardens of the Tuileries a number of women belonging to the so-called Société Fraternelle, stripped her naked and flogged her on the spot. This terrible punishment drove her mad, and she never recovered her reason. She died at the age of fifty-four in the public madhouse of La Salpêtrière, where, with one or two brief intervals, she had been confined for over twenty-four years.

METHERIE, JEAN CLAUD DE LA.

Born near Macon, 1743; died in Paris, 1817.

A medical doctor and a great celebrity in his day as a chemist. He made many remarkable discoveries, particularly on the subject of oxygen and other gases. During the last thirty years of his life he devoted himself to the study of mineralogy and geology. He was appointed in 1812 Professor of Natural Science to the Collège de France, which post he retained until his death.

MERLIN, ANTOINE CHRISTOPHER.

Born, 1762; died, 1833.

The eldest of four remarkable brothers, who all took a prominent part in the days of the Revolution and the Empire. Intended for the Church, he resolutely refused to take holy orders, and leaving his home in Lorraine at the age of twenty-one, arrived in Paris with only twenty-five louis in his pocket. He obtained a place as usher in a military school. The following year he was reconciled to his family, and his father being President and Procureur of Thionville, he agreed to act as his head clerk, intending eventually to succeed to his parent’s appointments.

When the Revolution commenced, Merlin joined the Jacobin party, returned to Paris, and in 1791 represented Moselle in the Legislative Assembly. According to his views, Royalty, clergy, and nobility were alike to be annihilated without delay. Living as he had done upon the road to Coblentz, he had been able to watch emigration upon the spot. He wearied the Assembly by his rages and recriminations, accumulating, as he said, proof upon proof of treason. His violent speeches, his fierce activity, and his wild passion made him a leader in the Jacobin Club. He demanded the deportation to the American penal colonies of all priests who refused the oath, the confiscation of the property of every _émigré_, and the establishment of a Committee of Public Safety.

After the abolition of the Monarchy these proposals were all adopted, and he made an audacious appeal to insurrection. “It is not with speeches,” he said, “but with cannon we should attack kings in their palaces, if we wish to ensure the liberty of the people.”

When the Tuileries was invaded upon June 20, the spectacle of the Royal family, abandoned by their friends and covered with insult and opprobrium, affected him to tears. “You weep,” said the Queen, “at the sight of a great King brought so low.” “Madame,” he answered, “my tears are not for a King but for a good father of a family and his estimable wife, who are suffering misfortune.”

He took an active part in the events of August 10. He persuaded the King and his family to leave the Château of the Tuileries, protecting them on their way to the Assembly. At the peril of his own life he saved later in the day those of the Duc de Choiseul and a number of the officers of the Swiss Guard.

After these events his conduct in the Legislature was more violent than before. His cry was: “War upon Kings, and peace for Nations.” At the moment of the invasion he encouraged the people to meet the enemy at the frontier. Commissioner of the Assembly, he rode over the five Departments surrounding Paris, obtaining money, horses and provisions everywhere he went; through his eloquence volunteers flocked to the Republican flag. He used his influence to prevent massacres of prisoners and suspected persons.

His joy at the proclamation of the Republic was intense. He took his seat in the Convention on the benches of the _Montagne_, and soon became as ferocious as the most ferocious of his companions. He declared it would be an honour to stab, with his own hand, any person who aspired to become a tyrant. He pressed forward the trials of the “infamous Louis” and the “infamous Antoinette.” He defended Robespierre against Louvet, and was a mortal enemy to Roland.

At the time of the trial of Louis XVI. Merlin was with the army at Mayence, he therefore did not vote for the King’s death; but he wrote to Paris on January 8, 1793: “We are surrounded by the dead and dying. In the name of Louis Capet our brothers are slain, and yet Louis Capet still lives!” Merlin, who was in supreme command, showed great ability and prodigies of courage during the siege of Mayence, which lasted from March to July of the same year, but famine and the superior number of the enemy prevailed, and the town capitulated on July 24, 1793.

On his return to Paris he was arrested as a traitor, and accused of selling Mayence to the enemy; but was triumphantly acquitted, a victim being found to assuage the vanity of the Republic in the person of General Alexandre de Beauharnais, the first husband of the Empress Josephine, who, being a noble, was a more agreeable offering to the guillotine than Merlin.

Merlin for a short time commanded part of the Republican army in La Vendée, but was recalled and returned to the Convention after an absence of nearly a year. During this time the political condition of France had undergone a complete change.

Merlin, who had now become more a soldier than a politician, joined no party, until a few days before the fall of Robespierre.

He made a speech in favour of Danton, and also brought forward a motion (which was carried) that all the riches and art treasures of conquered nations should be brought to Paris. It was upon this very motion Bonaparte acted when he first began to plunder the art collections of Italy. Merlin terminated his speech in these words: “People of foreign nations may complain; the remedy is, however, in their own hands,--let them destroy their monarchs.”

When the 9th Thermidor arrived, Merlin at once entered into direct antagonism with Robespierre, and as head of the Committee of War despatched various brigades of the Parisian _Gendarmerie_ in detachments to various positions in the city. He descended into the street, haranguing the people, whom he called upon to rise in defence of the Convention. Henriot was arrested by Merlin’s soldiers, and the same men made the celebrated seizure at the Hôtel de Ville of Robespierre and the proscribed representatives. The real success of the 9th Thermidor rising is entirely due to Merlin. On August 17 he was elected President of the Convention, and he prosecuted the Jacobins without mercy, insisting upon the dissolution of that club (of which he had once been a leading member), “Let us close,” said he, “this cavern of brigands and murderers.” It was mainly through his influence that this society was dissolved.

In October 1794 he was again despatched to the army of the Rhine, and gave further proof of excellent generalship and military ability. The taking of Mannheim, the occupation of Luxemburg and another siege of Mayence marked this campaign.

After his return to Paris he assisted in quelling the insurrection of April 1, 1795, in the Faubourgs of Paris. He was even then only thirty years of age; and strange to say (although he was still a member of the Five Hundred), his political and military career may be then said to have closed. He saw with disgust the Republic alienating itself from the people and entirely depending upon the army. His dreams of universal freedom were over, and he did not seek re-election in 1798. He retired to Commençaux near Chauny, and devoted himself to the cultivation and improvement of an estate he had purchased during the _Ventes des Biens Nationaux_, and the only public function he exercised was the modest one of _juge de paix_.

As he was absent from Paris during the trial of Louis XVI. the law against regicides did not affect him. He was threatened with banishment on account of the message he sent the Convention on January 8, 1793, but he addressed a letter to the Ministers of Louis XVIII. which gained his pardon; it terminated in these words; “_Messeigneurs_, I was twenty-seven when I wrote from Mayence; I am now fifty, and my opinions have changed. I rely upon the clemency and justice of his Majesty Louis XVIII.”

MIRABEAU, HONORÉ GABRIEL RICHIETTI, COMTE DE.

Born, March 9, 1749; died, April 2, 1791.

At the age of three he suffered from the smallpox, which disfigured him for life and completely transformed his features. His father was a bigoted Jansenist, despotic, harsh, and cruel to his son, whose ardent nature and genius he did not in the least understand. He compelled Honoré, at the age of fifteen, to enter the army. After five years with his regiment, the young man had shown such aptitude for military study that he was about to receive promotion, when his father discovered that he had lost forty louis at play; was in debt, and engaged in an amorous intrigue with a young woman of the people. The old marquis, therefore, obtained a _lettre de cachet_, by which his son was imprisoned in the fort of the _Ile de Rê_. Here Mirabeau wrote his famous “Essay upon Despotism.” After his release he went with his regiment to Corsica, where he conducted himself with so much distinction as to be recommended for a captaincy of dragoons. But his arbitrary old father would not consent to this, as he now wished his son to leave the army and to embrace a rural life.

The result was a breach between father and son, though a reconciliation was effected a few months later. The maternal grandmother of young Mirabeau died in 1770, and left a vast fortune, which her daughter attempted to secure entirely for herself by obtaining a separation from her tyrannical husband. The result was a lawsuit lasting fifteen years, during the whole of which time Mirabeau was in the painful position of a son between two parents who furiously hated one another. In 1772 Mirabeau married, under pressure from his father, the only daughter of the Marquis de Mariguana, a plain girl of eighteen, reputed to be a great heiress. He never received any fortune with her, beyond an annuity of 3000 francs, for her father survived his son-in-law twelve years, dying in 1803.

The young couple lived for some time quietly together in the Château of Mirabeau, but Mirabeau’s fortune was not in any way equal to his rank, and he soon contracted heavy debts; this again excited his father’s anger, and he caused him to be arrested in 1774. Mirabeau was therefore reimprisoned, this time in the Château d’If, in the Gulf of Marseilles. From the Château d’If he was transported to Fort de Jaux in the Jura. The governor, who sympathised with him, accorded him semi-liberty, and he was able to make acquaintances in the town of Portarlier, where he was hospitably received by the leading families. One of these was that of the Marquis de Monnier, an old man of seventy, with a young, beautiful and intelligent wife. Mirabeau became her lover, and he and she eloped, first to Switzerland, and then to Holland, where they took up their abode in Amsterdam. The two fugitives were arrested, and Mirabeau was imprisoned in the Castle of Vincennes, where he remained for four years, his lengthy incarceration being the result of the efforts of his implacable father.

He wrote in prison his _Lettres à Sophie_, and executed much literary work. After personally conducting two law cases, one to cause the revocation of the act against him as ravisher of Mdme. Monnier, and the other to re-establish his conjugal rights over Mdme. Mirabeau--both of which he won, after showing prodigious eloquence, though he had never before spoken in public--he proceeded to London, where he printed “Considerations upon the Order of Cincinnatus.”

When the States-General assembled, Mirabeau endeavoured to obtain a membership; but his own order, the nobility, refused to accept him as a candidate. He therefore hired a shop in the town of Aix in Provence, and wrote over the door “Mirabeau, Cloth Merchant.” He was elected by the _Tiers État_ Deputy for Aix.

After the opening of the States-General, Mirabeau soon became the most noted orator in the Assembly, and although on the side of liberty and freedom he showed much moderation and common sense. It is probable that had he lived France might have enjoyed the benefits of a constitutional monarchy, and all the horrors of the Revolution been averted; but his irregular life had destroyed even his robust constitution, and he expired on April 2, 1791, aged forty-two.

MOUGE, COMTE DE PELUSE, GASPARD.

Born at Béaune in Burgundy, 1746; died in Paris, 1818.

Early in life he attained extraordinary knowledge in mathematics, chemistry and geometry. At the age of sixteen he made a plan of his native town with only the aid of geometrical instruments he had manufactured himself. This plan was exhibited in the Hôtel de Ville of Béaune, and was there seen by a distinguished engineering officer, who invited its creator to enter the famous College of Mézières. This offer was accepted; Mouge became Professor of Mathematics in this College, and was admitted to the Academy of Sciences in 1780. He retained this post until the Revolution closed both College and Academy.

In 1792 Mouge was appointed Minister of Marine; he held this position for a year--from August 11, 1792, to August 12, 1793.

At this moment the indignation of Europe against France had reached its height; the whole continent was prepared to attack her. The French Government, without money and without credit, required fourteen armies--and they obtained them. A million men were at their disposal, but these men were unarmed. Until this period all war material, iron, bronze, steel, even gunpowder had been supplied from abroad; but importation had now ceased. Mouge now showed the resources of his genius; he wrote, “All we require to aid the triumphs of our soldiers, all we formerly asked for from the stranger is concealed in our soil--it remains only for us to pluck it out.”

He placed himself at the head of a body of metallurgists, mechanics and chemists, and directed night and day the manufacture of arms and explosives. Bells were turned into cannon, old iron hardened into steel, and saltpetre extracted from the simplest materials. An immense quantity of powder filled the magazines, and cannons and other weapons were cast or forged in enormous quantities.

These great efforts ended, Mouge determined to open, at his own expense, a house where he might entertain and instruct a number of young men destined for the artillery of engineers. This establishment was the nucleus from which the _École Polytechnique_ sprang.

In 1792, when Mouge was Minister of Marine, he received with kindness a young artillery officer who was out of employment. This same artillery officer, four years later, became the conqueror of Italy.

Mouge received an order to proceed to Italy to value, collect, and attempt to preserve, those works of Italian art it was proposed to remove to France. He received the warmest greeting from Bonaparte, who gave him every token of friendship.

Mouge was despatched by Bonaparte in 1797 to Rome--when the Pope was forced to fly and the Roman Republic established--with the order to bring statues and pictures from the Vatican to Paris.

He accompanied Napoleon to Egypt, together with many other men of science, to bring back the spoils of that country, in the same way they had removed those of ancient Rome. While the French occupation of Egypt continued, Mouge made many discoveries there, and explored the Temples of the Nile, travelling as far as the Second Cataract. He followed Bonaparte to Syria, and was his constant companion during that disastrous expedition. When Napoleon quitted Egypt surreptitiously for France, August 22, 1799, Mouge was one of the passengers on board the small frigate which carried General Bonaparte and his destiny.

On his return to France, Mouge continued his scientific work. After the establishment of the Empire, he was appointed Governor and Director of the _École Polytechnique_, Senator, and given the title of Comte de Peluse. He retained these honours until the second Restoration, when Louis XVIII. erased his name from the list of the Institute, besides depriving him of the Directorship of the _Polytechnique_, which he (Mouge) had founded.

Mouge felt this deprivation deeply, and the last three years of his life were passed in melancholy depression and regret. He died in 1818, at the age of seventy-two.

MOITTE, PIERRE-ETIENNE.

Born, 1722; died, 1780.

A celebrated French engraver. His works are now of high commercial value.

NECKER, SUZANNE CURCHOD.

Born at Crassier in the Canton of Vaud, 1739; died at Lauzanne,
1794.

Her father was a Protestant pastor, who educated her. At the age of twenty she had a perfect and intimate knowledge of modern and classical literature. She was tall and handsome, her manners amiable and dignified. Her parents were poor; she was therefore obliged to give private lessons in families. Gibbon, the historian, knew and admired, and even desired to marry her. His father, however, absolutely refused his consent on account of Mdlle. Curchod’s want of means.

Having lost both her parents she went to Paris as the companion of a Mdme. de Verenenon, a rich widow. Mdme. Verenenon possessed a suitor, one Monsieur Necker, a wealthy banker of about thirty-two years of age.

When M. Necker met the young companion he transferred his affections to her, and they were married in 1764. Their union was a very happy one.

Mdme. Necker’s salon was one of the most agreeable and cultured in Paris, her _habitués_ being Buffon, Thomas, St. Lambert, Suard, Marmontel, Saurin, Duclosé, Diderot, D’Alembert, De la Harpe, Guibert, Abbé Delille, Abbé Arnaud, Abbé Morellet, Comte de Creutz, Duc d’Azeu, Marquis de Caraccioli. Her greatest friends were Buffon and Thomas.

During her husband’s first Ministry, Mdme. Necker occupied herself particularly with the Paris Hospitals, then in a deplorable condition, and at the moment when the Revolution drove her from France, she was busy arranging a model hospital she had founded at her own expense.

She died, aged fifty-four, at Lausanne.

She had an only daughter, the celebrated Madame de Staël, born in 1766. The relations of mother and child were, unfortunately, never happy, as the amiable, pious, but rigid Calvinist mother could in no way understand the character or disposition of her brilliant daughter. M. Necker, on the contrary, made his child his friend and companion from her early girlhood, and in consequence a violent jealousy existed between the mother and daughter, which as years went on embittered both their lives, and continued until Mdme. Necker’s death. M. Necker died ten years later, in 1804.

NEUFCHÂTEAU, NICHOLAS FRANÇOIS, COMTE DE.

Born, 1750; died, 1828.

Son of a schoolmaster in Lorraine, Nicholas François was educated at a Jesuit College, where he was known as “the Infant Prodigy.” At the age of fourteen he published a volume of poems and fables, imitations of Ovid, Horace, and Virgil; and was crowned by the Academy of Dijon. Voltaire, then seventy-two years of age, invited the youthful genius to Ferney, and wished to make him his private secretary (1767), but the Comte de Henin, who was the patron of François, insisted upon his _protégé_ leaving Ferney and accepting a post in the magistracy. The town of Neufchâteau solemnly adopted their illustrious young citizen, who from thenceforward added the name of Neufchâteau to that of François.

He was brought under the notice of Maréchal de Costires, then Minister of Marine, who appointed François Procurator to the General Council in the Colony of St. Domingo, now the Island of Hayti.

After spending five years in the West Indies, the young magistrate obtained leave of absence, and started for France, bringing with him the literary work of five years, including a complete translation of the works of Ariosto. His ship was wrecked, and he was cast on a desert island; all his manuscripts going down with the ill-fated vessel. François Neufchâteau considered this loss to be the great catastrophe of his life. He was finally rescued, reaching France in safety, and receiving a pension of 3000 livres (£120), proposed to devote his life to literature and poetry.

The events of 1789 altered the current of his existence. He was elected a member of the Assembly, and the following year sent as Commissionary to the Vosges for the organisation of that new Department.

He was eventually appointed President of the first Legislative Assembly.

He refused the Ministry of Justice, choosing instead the humbler but safer position of _juge de paix_ in the Department of Vosges.

His friends persuaded him to return to Paris to superintend the rehearsal of his play “Pamela” (translated from one of Goldoni’s comedies) at the Théâtre Français. Produced on August 1, 1793, this innocent and simple drama achieved an immense success, and was played for eight consecutive nights. The curtain was just about to rise upon the ninth performance, when a message from the Committee of Public Safety arrived to stop the play, the author was summoned before the Committee the same evening, and ordered to bring with him the manuscript of the piece. Neufchâteau submitted humbly to all demands as to corrections and excisions, altered, as desired, the fourth and fifth acts of the play, and even gave it a different ending. Robespierre and his Council permitted the performance of the revised play. It was reproduced September 1, and again ran for eight nights; upon the ninth evening this verse was applauded:--

Ah! les persécuteurs sont les seuls condamnable,
Et les plus tolérants sont les plus raisonnable.

Before the play was finished, the Committee of Public Safety served the following order at the Théâtre Français:

“The _Théâtre Français_ is to be immediately closed, the actors, actresses, and _employées_ arrested, together with the author of ‘Pamela,’ and conveyed to the Prison of La Force.”

In this prison Neufchâteau remained eleven months, until August 4, 1794, when he was released, and shortly afterwards appointed Judge of the High Court during the Directorate, after being Governmental Commissionary for some time in the district of the Vosges. He became Minister of the Interior in 1797. In all these appointments he gave many proofs of capacity, judgment, moderation, and kindliness of heart.

When the Consulate was established he was not only made a Senator, but occupied the Presidential Chair of the Senate until 1808, when he abandoned politics for scientific and literary pursuits. He was deprived of his peerage (Napoleon had made him a Count of the Empire) at the Restoration, but allowed to retain his membership of the Academy.

Although married four times, he left only one surviving son. A painful malady rendered Neufchâteau a helpless invalid for the last ten years of his life, but he retained his lively philosophic character to the last, and was constantly surrounded by friends and admirers, who enjoyed his witty as well as learned conversation. He continued his literary work until his death.

His moral tales, poems, and philosophical and historical treatises are now forgotten; but his writings upon scientific agriculture are still consulted by experts in that science.

LE NÔTRE, ANDRÉ.

A celebrated designer of gardens. Born, 1613; died, 1700.

Louis XIV. commissioned him to lay out the park and gardens of Versailles, and gave him entire control over the royal gardens of France. The geographical situation of Versailles made any arrangements for gardens, fountains, and terraces extremely difficult, but Le Nôtre overcame all difficulties, and fed the fountains by constructing a canal to carry off the waters of a neighbouring marsh, which was thus rendered a fertile and cultivated spot.

Le Nôtre created the gardens of Marly, and also constructed the splendid terrace at St. Germain. He laid out the gardens of Chantilly for the Prince de Condé of the day. Those at Fontainebleau and St. Cloud were also designed by him. Proceeding to England in the reign of Charles II., he laid out and arranged the present Parks of Greenwich and St. James. The lake in the latter was constructed by Le Nôtre.

Le Nôtre was a man of the most simple and natural nature, and for that very reason was probably one of the greatest favourites, among his servants, of Louis XIV. This anecdote, which is historically true, describes the character of the man: In 1678 he made a visit to Italy to study the beautiful gardens which surround the great villas of that country. He was received in audience by Pope Innocent XI., who treated him with much distinction, and Le Nôtre, as he was taking leave, remarked: “I have now nothing more to desire; I have seen the two greatest men in the world--your Holiness and the King of France.” “There is a great difference between us,” replied the Pope; “the King of France is a great and victorious Prince, I am but a poor priest, the servant of the servants of God.” Le Nôtre, delighted with this reply, slapped the Pope familiarly on the back, saying, “Holy Father, do not be despondent; you look in perfect health, and may live to bury every present member of your sacred College.” Innocent XI. burst into a fit of laughter, and Le Nôtre threw himself on the Pope’s neck, kissing him affectionately. Le Nôtre retired, delighted with his interview, and proceeded to write full details of it to Bontemps, the confidential valet of Louis XIV.; this letter was read aloud at the Petit Levée of the King. Several courtiers doubted the truth of its contents, but the King said, “Why not? Whenever I return from a campaign and give Le Nôtre an audience he always embraces me, so he most likely embraces the Pope also.”

At the age of eighty, when he wished to retire, Le Nôtre only obtained permission to do so on the condition he would pay a weekly visit to the King. He died at eighty-seven, and was buried in the church of St. Roch in Paris, in a chapel he had founded.

He refused armorial bearings when offered a patent of nobility, declaring his only crest was a spade.

D’ORLÉANS, LOUIS PHILIPPE JOSEPH, DUC (PHILIPPE EGALITÉ).

Born at St. Cloud, April 13, 1747. Guillotined in Paris,
November 6, 1793.

His tutor was the Comte St. Meurice, and great pains were taken with his education.

He appears to have inherited the character and disposition of his great grandfather, the Regent, without the firmness of disposition and great natural intelligence and perspicuity possessed by that Prince.

In 1769 he married Louise de Bourbon, only daughter of the Duke de Penthièvre. At the wedding he greatly scandalised the Court by his behaviour, although his offence was only that natural to a lively young man. Being accidentally placed on the left, instead of the right, of the bride, he took a running leap and jumped over her train to reach the other side.

Soon after his marriage, he entered on a life of wild dissipation, became a Freemason, declared his admiration for everything English, and imported horses and jockeys from the other side of the Channel. He also made every effort to gain popularity with the people. In 1771 he opposed the decree by which, in the last years of the reign of Louis XV., the Chancellor Maupeon had suppressed the provincial Parliaments of France, and was in consequence exiled to his country seat during the remainder of that King’s reign. Immediately on his accession, Louis XVI. re-established these Parliaments, and the Duc de Chartres (as he then was) returned to Court.

When the war broke out between France and England, the young Duke petitioned that he might act for his father-in-law, the Duke de Penthièvre, who was Grand Admiral of France. This was refused; he was, however, given a nominal command in the fleet of Admiral d’Orvilliers. He was present at the battle of Onessant, where he commanded the squadron of the blue, under the surveillance of Admiral Lamotte Picquet, who was really in charge of this portion of the fleet. The admiral gave an excellent account of the courage and coolness shown by the Prince when under fire.

The French were victorious, but, owing to the incompetency of d’Orvilliers, gained no real advantage from the combat.

The fleet returned to Brest, August 2, 1778, and when the Duc de Chartres reached Paris he was received with so much enthusiasm by the populace as to excite the apprehension of the Court party and to evoke an indignant hostility from the Queen.

Shortly afterwards the Duke returned to his duties on the fleet, and his enemies at Court took the opportunity of his absence to spread against him the most scandalous libels--amongst others that the Duke de Penthièvre was persuaded that his son-in-law desired to supplant him in the post of Grand Admiral, whereas he only desired to act as his deputy. So well did his enemies work, that when Chartres returned after a few months’ absence, he was as coldly received by the populace as by the courtiers. More than this, when he wished to return to the fleet, his command was taken from him and he was compelled to leave the Navy. This treatment was rendered the more bitter, as the first intimation he received of it was in a letter from his avowed enemy the Queen.

From this moment the Duke avoided the Court, although he retained a friendship for the Comte d’Artois, and the two young Princes were companions in pleasure. The Queen, who was greatly attached to her young brother-in-law, used all her influence to draw him away from the “contagion” of Orleans. She persuaded the King to buy the Château de S. Cloud from the Duke (it was the favourite residence of the latter), and although d’Orléans was both furious and chagrined at being compelled to part with his _château_, he had no alternative but to obey the order of his sovereign. The huge sum raised to buy this palace was a serious drain on the exhausted Treasury, and the Queen lived to bitterly regret her imprudent action. A libel was freely circulated and believed all over France, on the occasion of the death of the Prince de Lamballe, only son of the Duke de Penthièvre. It was said that d’Orleans had poisoned his brother-in-law, in order that his wife might be sole heiress to the vast fortune of her father. The Queen went so far as to say publicly she feared a similar fate would soon befall the Comte d’Artois. Driven from the Court by these outrages, the Duke d’Orleans’ amiable and _débonnaire_ nature became utterly soured. In the first Assembly of Notables he became one of the leaders of the Opposition. On November 19, 1787, when the King proposed to this Assembly two edicts--one for the creation of a stamp duty, the other for a graduated loan of 440,000,000 francs--the Duke d’Orleans rose and boldly questioned the monarch, asking him whether this sitting was “a bed of justice” or “an open debate.” “It is a royal sitting,” the King replied. “If that is the case,” answered the Duke, “I protest against this measure; for I declare that the right of voting taxes only belongs to the States-General.” Only two other Councillors agreed with the Duke, and the edicts were immediately carried. Fréteau and Sabatier, the Councillors in question, were immediately exiled to Iles d’Hyères, the Duke of Orleans to Villers. This disgrace immensely increased the Duke’s popularity. He did not return to Paris for a year, and when the States-General was assembled he was elected deputy for Crespy. During the solemn procession at Versailles (May 4, 1789), before the opening of this Assembly, it was noticed with what affectation the Duke sought to mingle with the ranks of the Deputies of the _Tiers État_.

In the first sittings of the States-General, the Duke pronounced energetically in favour of the reunion of all the orders. On June 25 he, together with forty-six other noblemen, joined the _Tiers État_, now the National Assembly; on July 3 he was elected President, but refused the honour. On the 12th the people, exasperated by the fall of Necker, carried the busts of Necker and the Duke about Paris under the leadership of Legendre. It was from the gardens of the Duke’s house (the Palais Royal) that, two days later, the organised mob departed to take the Bastille.

Had d’Orléans possessed at this moment sufficient determination and intellectual force, he might easily have become Lieutenant-General of the Kingdom, with Necker for his Prime Minister. But he had not enough courage, nor, possibly, enough ambition to carry out any definite project; and he drove his partisans, among whom was Mirabeau, to despair by his hesitating and undecided conduct. He remained a member of the Extreme Left of the Assembly, but scarcely ever made a public speech. In October of the same year, the Court party, and also the _bourgeois_, were so exasperated against the Duke of Orleans, that Lafayette himself was persuaded to order the Duke out of France. He was sent to London on an imaginary mission: returned the following summer, was acclaimed by the Assembly, and renewed his alliance with Mirabeau.

After the flight of Louis XVI., in June 1791, the throne was temporarily vacant; and again, had the Duke chosen to come forward, his advances would have been well received by the nation and the Assembly. He did not dare to do so, and so lost his last opportunity.

The next month the new Constitution ordained that French Princes could not be elected to any functions by the votes of the people; Orléans, therefore, publicly renounced all prerogatives or privileges accorded to Royalty, and declared himself a simple citizen.

At that time there was an attempted reconciliation between the King and the Duke, which was doubtless sincere on both sides. The new Minister of Marine, Bertrand de Motteville, arranged that the Duke of Orleans should be one of the Vice-Admirals in the reorganised fleet. The project was communicated to Louis XVI., who expressed himself satisfied, and the Duke was grateful. The King and he, by the medium of de Motteville, had a private interview, and parted on friendly terms. The following Sunday (January 1792) the new Admiral came to the Tuileries to pay homage to the King. It was the dinner-hour, the table for the King and Queen was already laid, and the room was full of courtiers. As soon as the Duke appeared, he became the object for the most opprobrious insults. “Take care of the dishes!” was shouted on all sides--the insinuation being he was about to put poison in them. He was pushed about, his feet were purposely trodden on, and as he descended the stairs several persons spat on his head and clothes. He left in a state of indescribable rage, believing that the King had enticed him to the Palace in order to insult him; the King was really innocent of the whole matter, but sent no message of apology or regret.

From that day Orléans threw himself with energy into the extreme revolutionary party, and by becoming Danton’s banker drew him away from the Court party, in whose pay that corrupt politician had for some time been.

Orléans became Deputy for Paris in the Convention, accepting the name of Philippe _Égalité_, which title was bestowed upon him on September 15, 1792. When the King’s trial took place, “_Egalité_” said Robespierre, “is the only member who has a right to refuse to vote.” But Orléans thought he would save his own head and his credit with the Jacobins by condemning his relative. When his name was called, he said: “Entirely preoccupied by a sense of duty, and convinced that all those who attempted to reign or have reigned as sovereigns over the people merit death--I vote for death.” This speech did not have the expected effect, those who were not indignant being disgusted at it.

On April 6 of the same year the Convention ordered that “all members of the Bourbon family be detained as hostages”; on the 7th, Orléans was arrested and conducted to Marseilles. He addressed petition after petition to the Convention without effect, and was removed to Paris and imprisoned at the Conciergerie on October 3. Both Queen Marie Antoinette and d’Orleans simultaneously occupied cells in this prison for a space of a few days. Two or three weeks after her execution the Duke was put upon his trial; he defended himself with courage and coolness, but his fate was sealed in advance. After condemnation he asked to be executed without delay; and on the same afternoon, four hours after the trial, he was conducted to the scaffold with five Deputies, condemned, like himself, as Girondists. He passed by his former palace on the way to execution, and, pointing to it, exclaimed, with a gesture of contempt, “How they applauded me once!” When he had left the cart and mounted the plank of the guillotine he said to the executioner, “Do not let your fellows pull off my boots until I am dead, they will come off easier then; make haste! make haste!” These were his last words.

PAINE, THOMAS.

Born at Thetford, Norfolk, in 1737; died at New York, 1809.

Paine was the son of a Quaker staymaker. He learnt to read, write, and cypher at a free school, and at the age of sixteen worked at his father’s trade. He twice ran away from home to go to sea; but married in 1759 and settled in Sandwich, still working as a staymaker. His wife dying two years later, he went to London, and obtained a situation as schoolmaster in an elementary school, and toiled hard for two years at his own self-education.

In 1771 he married the daughter of a tobacconist, and joined his father-in-law in trade. His affairs did not prosper, and three years later he became bankrupt. He decided to emigrate to America; having made the acquaintance of Franklin (at that time in London), the latter, as a fellow Quaker, gave him letters of recommendation. Paine was thirty-seven when he embarked for America; on his arrival in Philadelphia he was engaged as editor for a periodical called the _Philadelphian Magazine_. His articles began to excite attention, particularly several against slavery.

He took the most ardent interest in the struggle between England and America. After the battle of Bunker Hill it was still undecided whether the colonists would demand complete independence and separation, or be satisfied with certain concessions on the part of the mother country. It was then Paine published his famous pamphlet “Common Sense,” which produced a tremendous impression, more than 100,000 copies being sold. From an obscure individual he became a celebrity. During the remainder of his life Paine invariably signed himself “Common Sense,” and was convinced that had he not written the work in question the United States, as a nation, would never have come into existence.

The following autumn he joined the American army as _aide-de-camp_ to General Green, and in 1777 he was appointed by Congress Secretary to the Committee of Foreign Affairs; after two years he was dismissed, under the accusation of indiscretion as to diplomatic secrets. In 1781 he accompanied Colonel Laurence, whom Congress had commissioned to try and raise a loan, to France. This mission was a complete success. Louis XVI. lent six millions of francs, and guaranteed another ten millions promised by Holland.

Peace having been declared, Paine returned to America. As a return for his services, Congress voted him 5500 dollars in two separate sums, and gave him a grant of 300 acres of land and a house.

Paine proceeded to work out various scientific and mechanical problems, by which he hoped to realise a large fortune, his favourite dream being to throw an iron bridge over the Schuykill. Want of capital, and the impossibility of getting iron properly wrought or cast in America, caused his return to Europe. He proposed to present the model of his bridge to the French Academy of Science, Franklin giving him letters of introduction: the Academy received him well, and their committee made a favourable report. But politics, and not science, were in the air, and no one could be persuaded to put money into the venture. Paine then went to London in hopes of better luck; a Yorkshire ironmaster took up the invention, and an American merchant advanced the money; but the expenses proved far heavier than had been anticipated, the ironmaster went bankrupt, and his creditors arrested Paine, who only obtained his liberty at the sacrifice of most of his little fortune.

The Revolution had now broken out in France, and the English Whig party, which had at first shown much sympathy with the movement, became alarmed and shocked at the excesses and disorders it entailed. In 1790 Burke published his celebrated treatise, “Thoughts on the French Revolution,” which Paine answered by his equally well-known work, “The Rights of Man.” This book excited immense indignation in England among the general public, and its author was burnt in effigy in the streets. The second part of the “Rights of Man,” which was published in February 1792, was still more violent, containing direct personal attacks upon George III. These books delighted the extremists, and were immediately translated into French. The British Ministry issued a royal proclamation forbidding seditious writings, and summoned Paine before the Court of King’s Bench.

At the same time a deputation of electors arrived from France to inform Paine that he had been elected a Member of the Convention; flattered by this distinction, he started at once for France, and an hour after he had sailed the order for his arrest arrived. He was tried by default, and his sentence was banishment for life from Great Britain and Ireland. As he could not speak French, he was unable to take part in the debates of the Convention; but when the King’s trial took place he fought courageously against the death sentence, and caused the following expression of his opinions to be read aloud by one of his fellow members:

To kill Louis would not only be a gross act of inhumanity, but
also of insane folly. His death would augment the number of your
enemies. If I could speak French I would now descend and appear
as a humble suppliant before your bar, imploring you in the name
of my generous American brethren not to send Louis to execution.

This generous action on the part of Paine completely destroyed his credit with the Jacobins, and also in a great measure his general popularity in France. The governing party were from that time his open enemies; Robespierre erased his name from the list of members of the Convention, as “a foreigner who was an enemy to Liberty and Equality.” He was arrested and imprisoned in the Luxemburg.

Thomas Paine remained for more than a year in prison in daily expectation of death. It was only by a mistake on the part of his gaoler in reading out the names of the condemned that he escaped execution. Even the fall of Robespierre did not give him freedom; and he was at length liberated in November 1794, by the influence of Monroe, the American Minister, who claimed him as a citizen of the United States.

He attempted to obtain a seat in the Assembly, but was not elected. The long imprisonment had not only affected his health but also his intelligence. He published a work entitled the “Age of Reason”--a violent attack upon Christianity, which aroused a sensation in England, and evoked much energetic refutation of its teaching. It made Paine a vast number of enemies in the United States, and he rendered the situation still more impossible by publishing in 1797 a letter, full of bitterness and ill-nature, criticising the character and administration of Washington.

He did not leave France until the autumn of 1802, when he returned to America, where he found he had lost the consideration and respect which he formerly enjoyed in the United States.

His last years were spent in loneliness and neglect. He was thought by his enemies to be avaricious, dirty and careless of his appearance, and to indulge in intemperate habits. He died, almost forgotten, in New York in 1809, aged seventy-one, and was buried upon his farm at New Rochelle. In 1837 Cobbett transported the remains to England, where they were reverently received by the Radicals and Chartists of the day.

PIUS VI., GIOVANNI ANGELO, COUNT DE BRASCHI.

Born, December 27, 1717; died at Valence, August 29, 1799.

He was the only child of Count More Aurelius Braschi, the head of one of the oldest families in the Romagna. To his parents’ grief he insisted upon taking holy orders, and was appointed secretary to his maternal uncle, Cardinal Ruffio, Legate at Ferrara. Later Braschi became auditor to the Bishoprics of Ostia and Velletri; while in the latter city, in 1744, when there was an encounter between the Austrians and Neapolitans (the latter commanded by King Charles III. of Spain, then King of Naples), Braschi was able by his presence of mind to save the Neapolitan archives. This circumstance brought him to the notice of the King of Naples, who promised him his protection: shortly afterwards he successfully conducted a mission from the Pope to the King of Naples, and was appointed _Camariere Segreto_ and Canon of St. Peter’s. In 1758 he became a Prelate, and Treasurer-General of the Apostolic Chamber. Clement XIV. created him a Cardinal in 1773, and in 1775 he was elected Pope, under the title of Pius VI.

His reign inaugurated an era of reform; he issued many rules and regulations as to the dress and general conduct of the clergy, which at the time, owing to the indifference and weakness of his immediate predecessor’s administration, left much to be desired.

His position as treasurer had given him an insight into the abuses prevailing in the financial department of the Papal Government, and a reduction or suppression of a number of dishonestly obtained pensions took place. He published various laws for the protection of farmers and corn-dealers, and offered substantial pecuniary rewards to industrious and intelligent peasant farmers. A Congregation of Cardinals was called together to pass regulations to put a stop to the grave disorders occasioned by idleness, mendicity, and too low wages; the system of weights and measures was thoroughly investigated, and one contractor in particular, who had received 900,000 crowns from the Apostolic See during the famine of 1771–72 to buy grain for the assistance of ruined farmers, was forced to restore 280,000 crowns of this money to the Treasury. Pius VI. ordered the drainage of the Pontine Marshes, and employed for this purpose the celebrated engineer, Louis Benck; and although the work was not finished, owing to the Revolution, 12,000 acres were reclaimed. He also cleared the Appian Way, then impassable owing to the vast multitude of stone heaps from ruined buildings by which it was encumbered. Pius VI. embellished, completed, arranged, and classified the “Museo Clementino.” Combined with these reforms he gave great attention to charitable institutions, initiated those schools of the Christian Brothers which are now spread all over the world, and erected many orphanages and refuges for poor children of both sexes.

Pius’s serious troubles began with the accession of that misguided but well-meaning monarch, Joseph II. of Austria. This Emperor’s intentions were excellent, nor was he impious or irreligious, yet by his exorbitant pretensions to sovereignty in every department of the State, and his avowed intention to re-organise on his own responsibility the spiritual affairs of his Empire, he was a powerful agent to the enemies of Christianity. After having continued for some time a correspondence with the Emperor which led to no satisfactory understanding on either side, Pius VI. determined to seek a personal interview with him. Leaving on February 27, 1782, he arrived on March 22 at Vienna. The Emperor received the Pope with the utmost courtesy, but remained inflexible, and Pius VI. soon perceived that his long journey had been in vain. However, Joseph II. treated the Pope with the greatest outward magnificence, and endeavoured to appease him by offering the brevet of a Prince of the Holy Roman Empire to Count Louis Braschi, the Pontiff’s nephew and heir. This the Pope refused, saying: “We are not occupied with the advancement or grandeur of our family, our interests are concentrated on those of the Church.” The following year Joseph II. returned the Pope’s visit, but on his way to Rome he appointed a new Archbishop of Milan without consulting the Holy See; but gave way, however, on this point later, and the result of the visit was the signature of a Concordat between the Pope and Austria, which put an end to the principal misunderstandings, although, until his death, Joseph never ceased to be a source of anxiety and annoyance to his Holiness.

The French Revolution brought more trouble to Pius VI. After the measures taken against the clergy, attacks began to be levelled at the Roman Curia. The Assembly introduced the “Constitution Civile du Clergé,” which, by abolishing the various hierarchical degrees, destroyed the ancient Gallican Church; and Avignon, a part of the Papal States since mediæval times, was formally united to France. The Pope was powerless, and the storm of war began to descend on Italy: Savoy and Nice were invaded, the clergy compelled to fly before the persecutions of the Republic, and the States of the Church were crowded by destitute ecclesiastics of every condition, who were hospitably entertained by the Pope, whose own turn of misfortune was at hand; the French Government accused him of being “an enemy of the changes in the French Government”; they invaded the Pontifical territory, and Pius signed in 1797 the treaty of Tolentio, by which he gave up Bologna, Ferrara, and Romagna, and renounced all claims to the sovereignty over Avignon.

Throughout these reverses Pius VI. showed courage, self-control and prudence. The Directorate were determined to drive him from Rome; they therefore excited a riot in the city, and under pretence of quelling it, despatched an army, commanded by General Berthier, which camped under the walls of Rome, January 29, 1798. (As Bonaparte was at that time in Egypt, and did not return until after the death of the Pope, he took no part in the events which followed.)

On February 15, the French general threw off the mask, entered Rome, and the robbery and sacrilege commenced. Five days later the Swiss Haller, the corrupt treasurer of the French army, seized the person of the Pontiff, flung him by force into a post-chaise, and, without attendants, luggage or any conveniences for a winter’s journey, carried this infirm old man of eighty into exile. He was first taken to Siena, then to the Benedictine mountain fortress of San Cassiano, to Florence, to Parma, to Piacenza, to Turin; at length, worn out and half paralysed, he arrived at Valence on July 14, after enduring five months’ imprisonment, privation and misery, during which time no pity had been shown him, although his physical condition was most pitiful, for he had suffered a paralytic stroke, and from sheer weakness his body had become covered with ulcers. He was incarcerated in the ordinary prison of the citadel at Valence and kept in solitary confinement; but by this time he was indifferent to earthly affairs, and his time spent entirely in prayer. He retained his faculties to the last, and, as a special favour, permitted to receive the last Sacraments at the hands of a fellow prisoner, Mgr. Spina, Archbishop of Corinth.

Pius VI. died on August 26, 1799, at one o’clock in the morning, aged eighty-one years and eight months. His body was buried without any ceremony in the desecrated chapel of the citadel; but after the establishment of the Concordat it was, by the orders of the First Consul, removed to Rome, and now lies there in the Church of St. Peter. He was Pope for more than twenty-four years.

PELLETIER, JACQUES.

Born, 1760; died, 1839.

A rich landed proprietor who adopted revolutionary principles, represented the Department of Cher in the Convention, and voted for Louis XVI.’s death, subject to an appeal to the people. After the 9th Thermidor, he was sent to administer Languedoc, showed firmness, justice and moderation, and in 1795 was one of the Commissioners for the Directorate.

Banished as a regicide in 1816, he was allowed to return to France in 1819, and the last twenty years of his life were uneventful.

PRIEUR, CLAUDE ANTOINE DUVERNOIS.

Born, 1763; died, 1832.