TUILERIES

LA PATRIE EN DANGER

THE fiasco of June 20 and the energetic protests of the nation convinced the revolutionary leaders that such flimsy pretexts as “ the dismissal of the three patriot ministers ” and the King’s Veto on the two decrees would not avail to bring about the deposition of Louis XVI, and that consequently some more potent means must be employed to rouse the people. Calumny and corruption had failed, but terror might yet prove effectual. The fear of foreign invasion was one that they well knew could always be depended on to rouse the patriotism of the nation, so when at the beginning of July Prussian troops arrived on the frontier, an admirable pretext was provided for creating a panic throughout the country by the proclamation of “ La Patrie en danger.” The country certainly was now in danger of invasion, for the outrages endured by the Royal Family on the 20th of June had not only incensed the King’s brothers and the émigrés, but had alarmed the Emperor of Austria and the King of Prussia. Frederick William at last realized that the revolutionary propaganda he had helped to disseminate had gone too far and was endangering the cause of monarchy, consequently some feint must be made of marching to the rescue of the Royal Family of France ; but that he was never disinterested in this intention cannot be doubted in the light of after events.[1]

True, the famous “ Manifesto of Brunswick,” which was proclaimed in Paris on the 3rd of August, expressed the deepest concern for the safety of the King and Queen of France, but merely had the effect of greatly aggravating the danger of their position.

According to the terms of this proclamation, the Emperor of Austria and the King of Prussia announce that the great interest nearest to their hearts is “ that of ending the domestic anarchy of France, of arresting the attacks which are directed against the altar and the throne, of re-establishing the legitimate power, of giving back to the King the freedom and safety of which he is deprived,” etc. At this point the Manifesto strikes a more diplomatic note, for it goes on to say : “ Convinced as they are that the healthy portion of the French people abhors the excesses of a party that enslaves them, and that the majority of the inhabitants are impatiently awaiting the advent of a relief that will permit them to declare themselves openly against the odious schemes of their http://yamaguchy.netfirms.com/webster/frenchrev/fr_rev_05.html (1 of 39)5.4.2006 10:40:19

 

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oppressors, his Majesty the Emperor, and his Majesty the King of Prussia summon them to return at once to the call of reason and justice, of order and of peace.” The first part of this passage was undoubtedly true ; the vast majority of the nation was impatiently awaiting deliverance from the intolerable oppression of the Jacobins, but to follow up this conciliatory overture with commands and threats was to alienate even that loyal portion of the people who would have rallied around the standard of the King. Thus although their Majesties are represented as declaring that they have “ no intention of interfering with the internal government of France,” and that “ their combined armies will protect all towns and villages which submit to the King of France,” nevertheless those inhabitants who fire on the troops “ will be punished with all the rigour of the laws of war ”; further, that if the Tuileries are again invaded, or the least assault perpetrated against the Royal Family, “ their Imperial and Royal Majesties will take an exemplary and never-to-be-forgotten vengeance by giving up the town of Paris to military execution and to total subversion, and the guilty rebels to the death they have deserved.” This amazingly injudicious document, which is frequently regarded as a monument of Prussian or of royal arrogance, was in reality not the work of a foreigner or of a royal prince at all, but of a French émigré, the Marquis de Limon, formerly financial adviser to the Duc d’Orléans,[2] and though approved by the Emperor and the King of Prussia, it met with violent remonstrance from the democratic Duke of Brunswick, who at first refused to append his signature to it, and only complied at last in obedience to the commands of the aforesaid monarchs.

According to Beaulieu, De Limon consulted in the matter a certain Heymann, who had served in a regiment of the Duc d’Orléans ; both these men had formerly played an active part in the Orléaniste conspiracy.[3] It is not, therefore, impossible that the famous Manifesto was inspired by Orléaniste influence, and that the misguided Comte de Fersen, and through his influence Marie Antoinette, in according it their approval played into the hands of their enemies. Fersen, always illusioned as to the good faith of the King of Prussia, undoubtedly imagined that the armies of Prussia could be counted on to save the Royal Family, and, realizing the cowardice of the revolutionary leaders, he believed that the threat of reprisals might be used with advantage to intimidate them.

But the revolutionary leaders, better acquainted with the real policy of Frederick William, were not intimidated, and in their turn made use of the Manifesto to alarm the French people.

The people of France, though less alarmed than revolutionary writers would have us suppose, were, nevertheless, indignant at the truculent tone of the Manifesto. “ No country,” writes Dr. Moore, who arrived in Paris this August, “ ever displayed a nobler or more patriotic enthusiasm than pervades France at this moment, and which glows http://yamaguchy.netfirms.com/webster/frenchrev/fr_rev_05.html (2 of 39)5.4.2006 10:40:19

 

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with increasing ardour since the publication of the Duke of Brunswick’s Manifesto and the entrance of the Prussians into the country.”

The revolutionary leaders were clever enough to exploit this spirit of patriotism to the utmost, but, as we have seen, the attitude of certain men amongst them towards Brunswick was far from antagonistic. On the 21st of July, just a week before the publication of the Manifesto, the author of the Correspondance secrète writes : “ It is said that it still enters into the plans of the Jacobins to come to an understanding with the Duke of Brunswick by offering him the crown of France.” Four days later this rumour was confirmed in the press, for on July 25, that is to say the very day that Brunswick signed the Manifesto prepared for him, Carra published the following passage in his Annales Patriotiques :

“ Nothing is so foolish as to believe, or to wish to make us believe, that the Prussians desire to destroy the Jacobins… . These same Jacobins ever since the Revolution have never ceased to cry aloud for the rupture of the treaty of 1756, and for the formation of alliances with the House of Brandenbourg ( i.e. Hohenzollern) and of Hanover, whilst the gazetteers, directed by the Austrian Committee of the Tuileries, have never ceased praising Austria and insulting the Courts of Berlin and La Haye. No, these courts are not so clumsy as to wish to destroy those Jacobins who have such fortunate ideas for changes of dynasties, and which, in case of need, can serve considerably the interests of the Houses of Brandenbourg and Hanover against Austria. Do you think the celebrated Duke of Brunswick does not know on what to rely in all this … ? He is the greatest warrior and the greatest politician in Europe, the Duke of Brunswick ; he is very well educated, and very amiable ; he needs perhaps only a crown to be, I will not say the greatest king in the world, but the true restorer of liberty in Europe. If he arrives in Paris, I wager that his first step will be to come to the Jacobins and put on the ‘ bonnet rouge.’ ”

It will be urged that these sentiments were those of only an individual, or of one faction in the Jacobin Club, but how are we to explain the fact that no protest was raised by any of the other revolutionary leaders, and that all these socalled patriots remained on the best of terms with the man who would have handed over the country to foreign despotism ? Moreover, when later on a delegate was needed to send to the frontier in order to parley with the Prussians, Carra was one of the emissaries chosen by the leaders. Not till long after were his treasonable proposals brought up against him by the Robespierristes, and then only as the means for destroying a rival faction. What conclusion can we draw from all this but that the Jacobins had an understanding with Brunswick, and that although the plan of offering him the throne was not entertained by all of them, they were all nevertheless interested in remaining on good terms with him http://yamaguchy.netfirms.com/webster/frenchrev/fr_rev_05.html (3 of 39)5.4.2006 10:40:19

 

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until they had overthrown the monarchy and finally usurped the reins of power ?

The Manifesto of Brunswick, which reached Paris three days after the publication of Carra’s panegyric on its supposed author, merely served to moderate the ardour of the pro-German party for Brunswick and revive their enthusiasm for a Hanoverian monarch. On August 1o the author of the Correspondance secrète writes again : “ The Duke of Brunswick has fallen in the estimation of the Jacobins since his Manifesto ; they think less of offering him the throne. Their present system is for a Republic. However, they are waiting to see what form public opinion will take in this respect during the interregnum. They talk again of the Duke of York.” According to the Mémoires de Barère, the supporters of this change of dynasty were now Brissot, Pétion, Guadet, Gensonné, and Rabaud de St. Etienne. “ On the 17th of July,” a deputy of the Legislative Assembly wrote to Barère, “ on the staircase of the Commission des Onze, at the Assembly, Brissot said to his associates of the moment : ‘

I will show you this evening, in my correspondence with the Cabinet of St. James’s, that it depends on us to amalgamate our Constitution with that of England by making the Duke of York a constitutional monarch in the place of Louis XVI.’ ” [4]

As usual, of course, the English Government was used as a cover to the design concerted with the English revolutionaries. Brissot’s lie is definitely refuted by the author of the Correspondance secrète, who records that the King of England, hearing of this intrigue, wrote to Louis XVI. “ to warn him that the Duc d’Orléans was scheming to give the crown of France to the Duke of York with the hand of Mlle. d’Orléans.” [5]

These, then, were the intrigues at work amongst the Jacobins, whilst the Prussians and Austrians were assembling on the frontier. Of all the revolutionary legends, the legend of the “ patriotic fervour ” displayed by the leaders is the most absurd of all ; the menace of foreign invasion served as a pretext for stirring up the people, not against the invaders, but against the King of France. Whilst on the 11th of July the citizens of Paris, in response to the proclamation of “ La Patrie en danger,” were pouring into the recruiting tents to offer themselves for the defence of the country, revolutionary orators, posted at the street corners, endeavoured to check their ardour. “ Unhappy ones ! where are you flying to ? Think of the chiefs under which you must march against the enemy !

Your principal officers are nearly all nobles ; a Lafayette will lead you to butchery !

Ah ! do you not see that beneath the blinds at the Tuileries they are smiling ferociously at your generous but blind enthusiasm ? ” [6]

“ It is only necessary,” says M. Mortimer Ternaux, “ to glance through the Journal de la Société des Amis de la Constitution ( i.e. of the Society of Jacobins) to see that at the moment when the National Assembly is devoting all its energies to national defence, the http://yamaguchy.netfirms.com/webster/frenchrev/fr_rev_05.html (4 of 39)5.4.2006 10:40:19

 

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Jacobins only speak of our armies in order to denounce the treachery of the generals, and to excite the soldiers against their officers. They are much less occupied with the means of defending the frontiers from invasion than in overwhelming the monarchy.” [7]