The Sword of Honor; or, The Foundation of the French Republic

by Eugène Sue

  CHAPTER VII.

  TRIUMPHANT INSURRECTION.

  Called to my place in the battalion of my Section, the Section of thePikes, I found myself on guard at the National Assembly on this night ofthe 9th of August. About half after eleven, just as I finished my watch,I heard the assembly beat, and the bells ringing. Soon there arrived inhaste, some alone, some in groups, a large number of the popularRepresentatives. Awakened by the tocsin and the drum, they wererepairing to their meeting place, laboring under the presentiment ofsome untoward event. Otherwise the greatest quiet reigned about thequarter of the Tuileries. Being now off duty, I hastened to one of thepublic galleries of the Assembly, which, despite the lateness of thehour, were not long in filling with an eager, restless crowd, composed,for the most part, of women, young girls, and old men. The maleconstituency which usually attended the sessions was this time occupiedelsewhere; that is to say, they had scattered to the ends of Paris wherethey were preparing the revolt. All the working men were under arms.

  In the center of the semicircle formed by the great hall of the RidingAcademy, in which the Assembly was sitting, rose the rostrum, with thearm-chair of the president. Behind the chair opened a sort of recess,enclosed by a grating. It was the place assigned to the short-handwriters, or _logotachygraphes_ as they were called, persons skilled inthe art of writing with the speed of speech, who were charged withtranscribing the discourses of the speakers.

  It was the common word in the galleries that all the Sections of Pariswere assembling in arms in their respective quarters, and that theircommittee-men had gone to the City Hall to exercise the powers of theCommune of Paris. It was also said that the federates of Marseilles,gathered at the Cordeliers, had sent a patrol into the neighborhood ofthe Tuileries, and arrested, near the Carousel, a counter-patrol ofroyalists, among whom were the journalist Suleau, Abbot Bourgon, and anex-bodyguard named Beau-Viguier. Further it was declared that twothousand former nobles had been called together at the Tuileries, aswell as a large number of veteran officers or body-guardsmen, to defendthe palace. Some said that the Swiss regiments, re-enforced by thosefrom the barracks of Courbevoie, were at the palace, supported by aformidable battery of artillery, and that Mandat, commander of theNational Guard, had announced that he would crush the insurrection. Theapproaches to the palace were guarded by gendarmes afoot and on horse.Everything pointed to a desperate resistance should a struggle beengaged between the people and the defenders of the Tuileries.

  About two o'clock in the morning the Representatives, to the number ofabout two hundred, decided to convene the session. The tocsin,accompanied by the distant din of the drums beating the assembly or theforward march, was still to be heard. In the absence of the presidentof the Assembly, Citizen Pastoret took the chair, and the secretariesassumed their places at the table.

  Hardly had the session been opened when the delegates of the LombardsSection appeared. The leader of the deputation, wearing a red cap andcarrying his gun, strode forward and cried:

  "Citizen Representatives, the court is betraying the people! TheLombards Section has joined the insurrection, and at break of day willdo its duty in the attack on the Tuileries. We go to meet our brothers."

  "The people should respect the law and the Constitution," was the answerof Pastoret.

  At these words of Citizen Pastoret, loud murmurs arose from the extremeLeft. Pastoret yielded the chair to Morlot, the president, who had comein; and at the same time there appeared at the bar of the Assembly threeofficers of the old Municipal Council.

  "You have the floor," said the president to them.

  Pale and quavering one of the officers spoke: "The alarm bell sounds inParis! The ferment is at its height! Everywhere the Sections aregathering in arms. Several of our colleagues, sent to the City Hall tolearn how matters stood, have been arrested. The insurgents arepreparing to march at daybreak upon the Tuileries."

  "An act of high justice!" cried one of the members of the Left. "Withinthe Tuileries' walls resides the bitterest enemy of the public good! Hemust be annihilated by the sovereign people!"

  The words were greeted with enthusiastic applause from the galleries; inthe midst of which a hussar hurriedly approached the chair and delivereda letter to the president. The latter read it, and touched his bell asa signal for silence. When the cries of the gallery had partiallysubsided, he said:

  "Gentlemen, I am advised by the police officials that every minutemessengers come from the Sections asking for Monsieur Petion at the CityHall, assuring them that the rumor has spread that he went to-night tothe palace, and that he runs great danger of death; it is feared theroyalists may assassinate him."

  At these words the uneasiness and agitation of the galleries wasextreme. The patriotism, the courage of Petion, his boundless devotionto the Revolution, had made him dear to the people.

  At this moment Petion himself entered the hall and advanced to the bar.Thus reassured on the score of the dangers run at the Tuileries by theMayor of Paris, the galleries broke into loud acclamations.

  "Monsieur Petion," the president said, "the Assembly has been keenlyanxious for your safety. It would be pleased to receive your account ofthe dangers to which it is said you were exposed."

  Petion answered, calm and grave: "Occupied solely with public affairs, Iquickly forget what affects my own person. It is true that to-night, onmy arrival at the palace, I was quite illy greeted. Swords leaped fromtheir scabbards, and I heard threats uttered against me. These did notdisconcert me--"

  The first rays of the sun were beginning to dim the lamps which lightedthe hall; nearly all the Representatives of the people were assembled intheir accustomed places. The Right seemed thrown into consternation byPetion's calmness.

  Of a sudden a deputy came tumbling into the hall, rushed to his seat onthe Right, and, his features distorted, his clothes in disorder, hecried in a voice trembling with emotion:

  "The Tuileries will be attacked! The Sections, in arms, hold all theapproaches to the palace! Whole companies of the National Guard, notablythe cannoniers, are fraternizing with the Sections. The cannon aretrained upon the palace. The troops who defend it are decided on adesperate struggle. Blood will flow, the lives of the King and hisfamily are in danger!"

  The Assembly maintained a solemn silence. One deputy on the Right arose,and with a trembling voice said: "I ask that a committee be appointedthis instant to go and invite the King and his family to come and placethemselves in the heart of the Assembly, to be under our protection."

  "There is no necessity for your motion," answered the president; "theConstitution leaves the King the power of placing himself in the heartof the Assembly whenever he finds it convenient."

  A justice of the peace, in a condition of extreme agitation, presentedhimself at the bar. "Monsieur President," he exclaimed, "a quarter of anhour ago I was in the courtyard of the Tuileries. I witnessed gravethings, which may enlighten the Assembly on the situation at the palace,at this moment when a terrible struggle is about to break out, which maymark the foundering of the monarchy."

  "Speak, sir," replied the president.

  "This morning at six o'clock, the King descended into the courtyard ofthe Tuileries to review the troops. The Queen accompanied him; behindthem went a group of gentlemen in civilian dress, armed some withswords, some with hunting-knives, others with carbines, orblunderbusses. This unaccustomed escort first of all produced a very badimpression upon the National Guard; then, as firm and decisive as wasthe Queen's countenance, that of the King was undecided, embarrassed, Iwould even say sour. He seemed to be still half asleep. Some cries,nevertheless, of 'Long live the King!' were heard from some of thecompanies, but the battalions from Red-Cross and all the cannonierscried 'Long live the Nation!' I even heard some cries of 'Down withVeto!' 'Down with the traitor!' The King turned pale, made a gesture ofwrath, and returned brusquely into the palace. The Queen, left in thecourtyard, approached the staffs of the battalions of Ill-Counsel andArcis which had just arrived, and said t
o them, indicating the group ofgentlemen who attended her, 'These gentlemen are our best friends. Theyfollow us at the moment of danger. They will show the National Guard howone dies for his King--'"

  The justice was interrupted, his voice was drowned in the great tumultwhich arose outside, in the courtyard of the Riding Academy. Nearer andnearer drew the clamors. Many of the deputies rose to their feet; someclimbed down precipitately from their benches, crying in affright, "Thepeople are invading the Assembly!" "Keep your places!" called outseveral of their colleagues to those who had quitted their seats, "Letus know how to die, if die we must, at our posts." The agitation waxedits greatest in the hall and the galleries. In vain the president ranghis bell, begging his colleagues to return to their benches and beseated. His exhortations falling unheeded, he rose and put on his hat,as a sign that the session was closed. The cries without came closer andcloser. Several ushers burst in. One of them, leaping up the steps tothe chair, spoke a few words to the president. The latter clasped hishands with a gesture of extreme surprise. Then he uncovered again, andbegan again to ring his bell vigorously, while the other ushers, goingfrom group to group, or mounting on the benches, spread among theRepresentatives the news which seemed to produce so extraordinary asensation. Little by little calm was established. The president was ableto make himself heard, and said in a voice of emotion:

  "Gentlemen, the King and his family have left the palace. They throwthemselves upon the National Assembly!"

  Another member of the old Municipal Council presented himself at thebar, saying:

  "Monsieur President, the King asks leave to come to you accompanied byhis guard, which will watch over him, and over the National Assembly."

  At this proposition a part of the Center, the Left, the extreme Left andthe galleries, all gave vent to their indignation. On all sides peoplecried "No! No! The Assembly is under the safekeeping of the people! Nobayonets here! Down with the pretorians! Long live the Nation! Down withthe King!"

  Ringing his bell the president called out loudly: "I propose thefollowing resolution: The National Assembly, considering that it needsno other guard than the love of the people, charges its committee-men towatch over the tranquility within its precincts, and proceeds to theorder of business."

  A thunder of applause overwhelmed the closing words of this motion,which was adopted with an immense majority. The municipal officer tookhis leave to report to the King the decision of the National Assembly,when almost immediately another usher rushed in, crying:

  "The King and Queen ask to be introduced to the care of the Assembly."

  So, indeed, it was. The King was garbed in a suit of violet silk, whichdisclosed his blue sash worn crosswise; he wore a hat of the NationalGuard, for which he had exchanged his bonnet with the white plume. Hispuffy features, empurpled with heat and emotion, and drippingperspiration, expressed a mixture of fear and crafty irritation. Hisobesity made his gait heavy and ungainly. Behind him advanced MarieAntoinette, giving her arm to Count Dubouchage, Minister of Marine, andleading the Dauphin by the hand. Trembling and terrified, the childpressed close to his mother, who, pale and haughty, and more enragedthan frightened, trod with a firm step, casting about her looks ofdisdain. She preceded the King's sister, Madam Elizabeth, who leaned onthe arm of Bigot of St. Croix, Minister of Foreign Affairs. The ladysustained herself with difficulty, and hid her face, bathed with tears,in her handkerchief. Then in order followed the Marchioness of Tourzel,the governess of the King's children, on the arm of Major Hervilly, oneof the King's officers; and finally, behind her, the beautiful PrincessLamballe, the intimate friend of the Queen, accompanied by anotherseigneur of the court.

  Profound was the silence that fell over the Assembly. Louis, who so farhad alone kept his hat on, now removed his National Guardsman'shead-gear and said in a snappish voice that revealed at once fear andsurly anger:

  "I have come here to escape a great crime. I think I am safe among you,gentlemen?"

  "You may count, Sire, on the firmness of the National Assembly. Itsmembers have sworn to die in the defense of the rights of the people andthe authorities recognized by the Constitution."

  Representative Bazire rose to speak: "I propose that Louis XVI and hisfamily be invited to occupy the logotachygraphes' room, which is withinthe Assembly, but without the precincts of its deliberations."

  The proposal was adopted. The royal family and its suite left the hallin order to reach the reporters' booth, the entry to which was in one ofthe corridors. Soon the King and his followers reappeared in the roomassigned to them, which was separated from the chamber of the Assemblyby an iron grating, Louis XVI being placed at the right, the Queen atthe left, the Dauphin between them; and behind these three the otherpersons of the royal suite. No sooner had the King seated himself thanhe received from the hands of Major Hervilly some bread, a plate holdinga fowl, a knife and a fork. Placing the plate on his knees, Louiscommenced to dissect the pullet and devour it with avidity, obedient tothe mandates of that formidable appetite peculiar to the house ofBourbon.

  Outside, in the deputies' chamber, Roederer, the legal attorney of theCommune, had appeared at the bar, and, at the invitation of thepresident, was speaking:

  "I am come, gentlemen, to inform you of what is going on in Paris. I waswith the King this morning, up till the time when Carousel Place and thesurrounding streets were invaded by the Sections in arms and draggingtheir cannon. Seeing a large number of the National Guard fraternizingwith the people, I counselled the King and the royal family to abandonthe palace and place themselves under the protection of the NationalAssembly. The people know that the King is here. The attack on theTuileries being now objectless, it is to be hoped that it will not beentered upon, and that there will be no shedding of blood to bedeplored."

  Hardly had Roederer pronounced the words when the detonation of anartillery discharge shook the windowpanes of the chamber. The fight atthe Tuileries was on! The first discharge was answered by a rapid fireof musketry, broken every now and again by the thunder of a newcannonade. Stupor seized the Assembly and the galleries. It was a freshroyalist act of treason.

  The almost incessant boom of artillery and rattle of musketry boreevidence to the warmth of the engagement. It is impossible to picturethe anxiety, the heaving agitation of the chamber and the people in thehall. Among the latter, exasperation reached the last pitch. They brokeinto threats, into curses against Veto, against the Austrian woman."Down with the King!" "Down with the Queen!" rang the cry.

  Of a sudden the cannonade burst into still wilder fury. Thereverberations of the artillery fire were so violent that severalwindows in the hall were shivered to bits. But soon the volleysslackened; they became less and less lively and frequent; then oneheard only gunshots, rare, desultory, far between; and then oneheard--nothing.

  Victory, evidently, not a suspension of hostilities, had terminated thebattle. Clearly, also, the victory had been a decisive one. But who werethe conquerors, the inhabitants of the Sections, or the Swiss regiments?Terrible alternative! Under the spell of this incertitude the tumult, atits height some minutes before, fell of itself. A poignant load weighedupon every heart, choked every voice, paralyzed every movement; amournful silence held sway over the house. If the insurrection werevictorious, it was done for Louis XVI and the monarchy! Marie Antoinetteby her attitude and facial expression revealed her belief--she wasconfident the royal troops had won the day.

  The uncertainty was not long in being dispelled. A deputation of membersof the new Commune of Paris presented itself at the bar of the Assembly.It was attended by citizens bearing a banner with the device "LIBERTY,EQUALITY, FRATERNITY."

  The head of the deputation spoke:

  "Citizens, we are the victors! After prodigies of heroism, the peoplehave taken the Tuileries! Long live the Nation!"

  The majority of the Representatives rose in their seats, and allrepeated with enthusiasm:

  "Long live the Nation!"

  The joy, the patriotic exaltation of
the galleries bordered on delirium.The session previously so agitated was now resumed amid relative calm.All doubt as to the triumph of the people being laid, the deputies wentback to their places; the president tapped his bell, and said:

  "I beg the members of the Assembly, as well as the public in thegalleries, to refrain from further interruption. The graver thecircumstances, all the more should we preserve calmness and dignity inour deliberations. The delegate of the Commune has the floor."

  "Citizen legislators," resumed the latter, "in the name of thevictorious people, we have come to demand of you the deposition of LouisCapet." All eyes were turned towards the booth where Louis XVI sat withhis face in his hands. "To-morrow we shall bring to the Assembly therecords of this memorable day of the tenth of August, 1792. This recordshould be sent to the forty-four thousand municipalities of France, thatit may arouse their national pride!" (Applause.) "We announce to youthat Petion, Manuel and Danton are still our colleagues in the Commune.We have named Citizen Santerre commander of the armed force of Paris."

  Seeing the delegate was through, President Morlot announced to theAssembly: "During the invasion of the Tuileries by the people, a box ofjewels was found in the Queen's apartment. A citizen, wounded in theattack, has just thrown it on the table."

  This lofty act, so free from all thought of pillage or petty personalgain, stirred the admiration of the Assembly, and prepared the way forothers of similar stamp. "I propose," said Bazire, rising, "that theAssembly decree that the Swiss citizens and all other foreignersresiding in Paris are placed in the safekeeping of the law and in thehospitality of the French people!"

  The motion was carried unanimously, amidst the echoing applause of thegalleries.

  Several of the combatants from the Tuileries, covered with dust, nowappeared at the bar. One of these, in the uniform of the National Guard,his forehead bound in a bloody bandage, held in one hand his gun, andwith the other dragged after him a Swiss soldier, pale and overcome withterror. The unhappy fellow's red uniform was in ribbons; he seemed readyto swoon. The wounded citizen, leaning on his weapon, drew close to thebar and said with emotion:

  "Legislators, we come to express to you our indignation! Long has aperfidious court trifled with the French people. To-day it has drawn ourblood. We penetrated the palace only over the corpses of our massacredbrothers. We have taken prisoner several Swiss soldiers, wretchedinstruments of tyranny! Some of them have thrown down their arms. As tous, we shall use toward them only the arms of generosity; we shall treatthem as brothers."

  At ten o'clock that evening, when the illumination of the lamps had longreplaced the light of day, the National Assembly, having been incontinuous session since the night of August 9, took a recess of anhour.

  At eleven o'clock, when the Assembly reconvened, the reporters' lodgewas still occupied by the royal family. Louis XVI was crushed. Hisflaccid lips, his fixed and sunken eyes, announced his complete mentalprostration. Marie Antoinette, on the contrary, seemed to have preservedall the energy of her character. Her eyes were red and dry; but herglance, when she occasionally allowed it to travel about, bore still itslook of hateful disdain and defiance.

  The Dauphin slept on the knees of Madam Elizabeth, who bent her palebrow toward the child. Dames Tourzel and Lamballe were silent and dazed.

  Almost as soon as the session was reopened, a citizen presented himselfat the bar:

  "Legislators, the Swiss soldiers arrested during the day have beenplaced, according to the orders of the Assembly, in the building of theFeuillants. They have been, like us, the victims of royalist treason; wemust save them."

  From the gallery Mailhe called out: "I have just come from addressingthe people. They are disposed to listen to the language of justice andhumanity. I ask that the Swiss be admitted within these precincts, andthat they be kept here till all danger to them has passed, and till theycan be taken to a place of safety."

  The large space reserved behind the bar for visiting deputations wassuddenly filled with patriots, who brought with them Swiss soldiers,pale and trembling, and several of them wounded. What touching andadmirable episodes took place in this pell-mell of gratitude andgenerosity, which embraced the combatants on both sides! Vanquished andvanquishers fraternized! The Assembly as one man rose spontaneously atthe spectacle, and gave utterance to its enthusiasm by cheers.

  When the first transports of emotion were past and silence had againsettled down upon the Assembly, one of the patriots who brought in theSwiss advanced towards the bar, saying:

  "Citizen President, one of these brave soldiers, who speaks French, asksthe floor, in the name of his comrades, to explain their conduct."

  A young Swiss sergeant stepped forward and addressed the vast audienceas follows:

  "Had the King and the royal family remained at the palace, we would haveallowed ourselves to be killed to the last man in their defense. Thatwas our duty as soldiers. But having learned of the departure of theKing, we refused to fire on the people, in spite of the orders, in spiteof the threats, even, of our officers. They alone are responsible forthe blood that has flowed. It was one of them, and one of the gentlemenof the palace who were the first to fire from the steps of the grandstaircase at the moment that we fraternized with the people from theSections. The latter cried out 'Treason!' fired back in return, and thefight was on. Victory rested with the people."

  A new announcement was now made by the president. "They have justbrought in," he said, "eleven cases of silver plate rescued from theflames at the Tuileries by the brave citizens who hastened to check thefire. They have also brought several bundles of papers discovered in aniron cupboard, a secret cupboard fashioned in the wall of the King'sapartment." (Profound sensation.) "These papers, no doubt of the highestimportance, shall be turned over to the proper committees."

  When the president announced the discovery of the papers in the IronCupboard, Louis XVI seemed unmanned by the shock. His face grew ashen;his first look was shot at the Queen; even she, in spite of her ironwill, shuddered and became paler than her royal spouse. What secretsthat cupboard contained!

  And now was to come the climax of that moving drama, whose precipitateprogress, whose impassioned and unexpected catastrophe surpassedanything the imagination could invent or dream of. Time seemed to marchwith a dizzying haste during that session of two nights and a day--thenight of the 9th of August and the day and night of the 10th.

  The second night was near its close. A committee in extraordinary hadgone to entreat of the Commune of Paris, on that day of August 10,whether the palace of the Luxembourg could not be appropriated as aresidence for the King and his family. At the time it was adopted, thismeasure was in full accord with the hesitant disposition of the majorityof the Assembly, who wished only to decree the suspension of the King'spowers. But the attitude of the people, victorious and fully armed,happily made its weight felt within the Assembly. The choice of Dantonas Minister of Justice testified to the sudden change of mind on thepart of the majority of the popular Representatives. They admitted thenecessity for the deposition of the royal person. Louis XVI was heldprisoner, under accusation of high treason.

  But what part of Paris could serve as his prison?