The Chevalier De Maison Rouge

CHAPTER I.

THE ENROLLED VOLUNTEERS.

IT was on the evening of the 10th of March, 1793 ; ten

o'clock was striking from Notre Dame, and each stroke

sounding, emitted a sad and monotonous vibration.

Night had fallen on Paris, not boisterous and stormy,

but cold, damp, and foggy. Paris itself at that time was

not the Paris of our day ; glittering at night with thou-

sands of reflected lights, the Paris of busy promenades,

of lively chat, with its riotous suburbs, the scene of

audacious quarrels and daring crime, but a fearful, timid,

busy city, whose few and scattered inhabitants, even in

crossing from one street to another, ran concealing them-

selves in the darkness of the alleys, and ensconcing them-

selves behind their porte-cocheres, like wild beasts tracked by the hunters to their lair.

As we have previously said, it was the evening of the

10th of March, 1703. A few remarks upon the extreme

situation, which had produced the changed aspect of the

capital before we commence stating the events, the re-

cital of which form the subject of this history. France,

by the death of Louis XVI. , had become at variance with

all Europe.

To the three enemies she had first combated, that is to

say, Prussia, the Empire, and Piedmont, were now joined

England, Holland, and Spain. Sweden and Denmark

alone preserved their old neutrality occupied as they

1

A DUMAS VOL XI.

2 THE CHEVALIER DE MAISON ROUGE.

were besides in beholding Catherine II. devastating

Poland.

The state of affairs was truly frightful. France, more

respected as a physical power but less esteemed as a moral

one, since the massacres of September and the execution

of the 21st of January, was literally blockaded, like a

simple town, by entire Europe. England was on our

coasts, Spain upon the Pyrenees, Piedmont and Austria

on the Alps, Holland and Prussia to the north of the

Pays Bas, and with one accord, from Upper Ehine to

Escant, two hundred and fifty thousand combatants

marched against the Republic. Our generals were re-

pulsed in every direction. Miacriuski had been obliged

to abandon Aix-la-Chapelle, and draw back upon Liege ;

Steingel and Neuilly were driven back upon Limbourg ;

while Miranda, who besieged Maestricht, fell back upon

Tongres. Valence and Dampierre, reduced to beat a

retreat, did so with a loss of half their number. More

than ten thousand deserters had already abandoned the

army, and cleverly scattered themselves in the interior.

At last, the Convention, having no hope except in

Dumouriez, despatched courier after courier, commanding

him to quit the borders of Bribos (where he was prepar-

ing to embark for Holland), and return to take the com-

mand of the Army of the Meuse.

Sensible at heart, like an animated body, France felt

at Paris that is to say, at its heart's core each and every blow leveled at it by invasion, revolt, or treason, even

from quarters the most distant. Each victory was a riot

of joy ; every defeat an insurrection of terror. It is

therefore easy to comprehend what tumult was produced

by the news of these successive losses, which we are now

about to explain.

On the preceding evening, the 9th of March, they had

had at the Convention a sitting more stormy than usual ;

all the officers had received orders to join their regiments at the same time, and Danton, that audacious proposer of

improbable things (but which nevertheless were accom-

plished), Dantou, mounting the tribune, cried out ;

THE CHEVALIER DE MAISON ROUGE. 3

" The soldiers fail, say you ? Offer Paris an opportu-

nity of saving France ; demand from her thirty thousand

men, send them to Dumouriez, and not only is France

saved, but Belgium is reassured, and Holland is con-

quered."

This proposition had been received with shouts of

enthusiasm ; registers had been opened in all the sections, inviting them to reunite in the evening. Places of public

amusement were closed, to avoid all distraction, and the

black flag was hoisted at the Hotel de Ville, in token

of distress. Before midnight five-and-thirty thousand

names were inscribed on the registers ; only this evening,

as it had before occurred in September, in every section,

while inscribing their names the enrolled volunteers had

demanded that before their departure the traitors might

be punished. The traitors were, in fact, the " contre-

revolutionists " who secretly menaced the Revolution.

But, as may be easily understood, the secret extended to

all those who wished to give themselves to the extreme

parties who at this period tore France. The traitors were

the weaker party, as the Girondins were the weakest. The

Montagnards decided that the Girondins must be the

traitors. On the next day, which was the 10th of March,

all the Montagnard deputies were present at the sitting.

The Jacobins, armed, filled the tribunes, after having

turned out the women ; the mayor presented himself

with the Council of the Commune, confirming the report

of the Commissioners of the Convention respecting the

devotedness of the citizens, but repeating the wish,

unanimously expressed the preceding evening, for a Tri-

bunal Extraordinary appointed to judge the traitors.

The report of the committee was instantly demanded

with loud vociferations. The committee reunited im-

mediately, and in a few minutes afterward they were in-

formed by Robert Lindet that a tribunal would be formed,

composed of nine judges (independent of all forms, and

acquiring proof by every means), divided into two per-

manent sections, and prosecuting, directly by order of

the Convention, all those who were found guilty in any

4 THE CHEVALIER DE MAISON ROUGE.

way of either tempting or misleading the people. This

was a sweeping clause, and the Girondins, comprehend-

ing it would cause their arrest, rose en masse. Death,

cried they, rather than submit to the establishment of

this threatened imposition.

The Montagnards, in reply to this apostrophe, de-

manded the vote in a loud tone.

" Yes," replied Ferrand, " let us vote to make known to the world men who are willing to assassinate innocence

under the mask of the law."

They voted to this effect ; and, against all expectation,

the majority decided first, they would have juries ;

second, that these juries should be of equal numbers in

each department ; third, they should be nominated by the

Convention. At the moment these three propositions re-

ceived admission, loud cries were heard ; but the Conven-

tion, accustomed to receive occasional visits from the

populace, inquired their wishes, and were informed, in

reply :

" It was merely a deputation of enrolled volunteers,

who, having dined at the Halle-au-Ble, demanded to be

permitted to display their military tactics before the Con-

vention."

The doors were opened immediately, and six hundred

men, armed with swords, pistols, and pikes, apparently

half intoxicated, filed off amid shouts of applause, and

loudly demanded the death of the traitors.

" Yes," replied Collot d'Herbois, addressing them,

" yes, my friends, we will save you you and liberty, notwithstanding these intrigues."

These words were followed by an angry glance toward

the Girondins, which plainly intimated they were not yet

beyond reach of danger. In short, the sitting of the

Convention terminated, the Montagnards scattered them-

selves among other clubs, running first to the Cordeliers

and then to the Jacobins, proposing to place the traitors

beyond the reach of the law, by cutting their throats the

samenigh*

The wife of Louvet resided in the Rue St. Honore, near

THE CHEVALIER DE MAISON ROUGE. 5

the Jacobins. She, hearing these vociferations, descended,

entered the club, and heard this proposition ; then quickly retraced her steps, and warned her husband of the impending danger. Louvet, hastily arming himself, ran

from door to door to alarm his friends, but found them

all absent ; then fortunately ascertaining from one of the

servants they had gone to Petion's house, he followed

them there. He found them quietly deliberating over a

decree, which ought to be presented on the morrow, and

which, by a chance majority, they hoped to pass. He re-

lated what had occurred, communicated his fears, in-

formed them of the plot devised against them by the

Cordeliers and Jacobins, and concluded by urging them,

on their side, to pursue some active and energetic

measure.

Then Petion rose, calm and self-possessed as usual,

walked to the window, opened it, and then extended his

hand, which he drew in covered with moisture.

" It rains," he said ; " there will be nothing to-night."

"Through this half-opened window the last vibration

of the clock was heard striking ten.

Such were the occurrences of the 10th of March, and

the evening preceding it occurrences which, in this

gloomy obscurity and menacing silence, rendered the

abodes destined to shelter the living like sepulchers

peopled by the dead. In fact, long patrols of the Na-

tional Guard, preceded by men marching with fixed

bayonets, troops of citizens, armed at hazard, pushing

against one another, gendarmes closely examining each

doorway, and strictly scrutinizing every narrow alley

those wore the sole inhabitants who ventured to expose

themselves in the streets. Every one instinctively under-

stood something unusual and terrible was taking place.

The cold and drizzling rain, which hud tended so much

to reassure Potion, hud considerably augmented the ill-

humor and trouble of these inspectors, whose every meet-

ing resembled preparation for combat, and who, after

recognizing one another with looks of defiance, exchanged

the word of command slowly and with a very bud grace.

6 THE CHEVALIER DE MAISON ROUGE.

Indeed, it was said, seeing one and the other returning

after their separation, that they mutually feared an attack from behind. On the same evening, when Paris was a

prey to one of those panics (so often renewed that they

ought, in some measure, to have become habitual), this

evening the massacre of the lukewarm revolutionists was

secretly debated who, after having voted (with restriction

for the most part) the death of the king, recoiled to-day

before the death of the queen, a prisoner in the temple

with her sister-in-law and her children. A woman, en-

veloped in a mantle of lilac printed cotton, with black

spots, her head covered and almost buried in the hood,

glided along the houses in La Eue St. Honore, seeking

concealment under a door-porch, or in the angle of a

wall, every time a patrol appeared, remaining motionless

as a statue, and holding her breath till he had passed, and then again pursuing her anxious course with increasing

rapidity, till some danger of a similar nature again com-

pelled her to seek refuge in silence and immobility.

She had already, thanks to the precautions she had

taken, traveled over with impunity part of La Rue St.

Honore, when she suddenly encountered, not a body of

patrol, but a small troop of our brave enrolled volunteers, who, having dined at La Halle-au-Ble, found their patriotism considerably increased by the numerous toasts they

had drunk to their future victories. The poor woman

uttered a cry, and made a futile attempt to escape by La

Rue du Coq.

" Ah, all ! citoyenne," cried the chief of the volunteers (for already, with the need of command, natural to man,

those worthy patriots had elected their chief). "Ah!

where are you going ? "

The fugitive made no reply, but continued her rapid

movement.

" What sport," said the chief ; " it is a man disguised, an aristocrat, who thinks to save himself."

The sound of two or three guns escaping from hands

rather too unsteady to be depended upon announced to