carriage, made to hold six people, which | green, the perch under the carriage and had been specially built for them. It was the wheels the customary yellow. Ma. drawn by four strong Norman horses. dame de Tourzel tells us that there was Fersen's coachman, Balthasar Sapel, was nothing remarkable about it, and the riding one of the horses, M. de Moustier, minutes of the town council of Ste. Méne. a tall bodyguard, was on the box. M. de hould, which give an account of Drouet's Malden, a second bodyguard, had already exploit, make precisely the same remark. conducted the king or queen, or both of It attracted no attention in itself, and an them, from the Tuileries to the Petit Car- older carriage would probably have broken rousel, and had ridden in a dicky behind down several times on the road. At the hackney coach. M. de Valory, a third Claye, the next post, the waiting-maids bodyguard, was spurring on one of Fer- were overtaken, and the whole party prosen's horses towards Bondy, in order that ceeded in the full daylight to Meaux. the relays might be ready when the trav- The king was full of spirits. At last he ellers arrived. The hackney coach was said: "I have escaped from that town of driven up close to the travelling-carriage. Paris where I have drunk so much bitterThe doors of both were open, so that it ness; be assured that once in the saddle was possible to step from one to the I shall be very different from what you other. The whole party was transferred, have seen me up to the present moment." and the hackney coach having served its Hs read out loud the long memoir which purpose, was tumbled into a ditch. Fer- he had left behind him to be presented to sen mounted the box, and sat by the side the Assembly. He anticipated the happiof Moustier. He called out to his coach-ness with which he would endow France, man, "Get along quick, drive as fast as the return of his brothers and of his faithpossible." It was now two o'clock in the ful servants, and the possibility of remorning, and the dawn was already break-establishing the Catholic religion, and ing in the east. The carriage had been repairing the evils of which he had been waiting at the barrier for two hours, and the unwilling cause. At about eight valuable time had been lost. Fersen ap- o'clock he looked at his watch and said, peared conscious of this. He cracked his Lafayette is now in a terrible fix." whip and called out, “Quick, Balthasar, has been said that the king walked up the your horses are out of breath, go faster," hills, " enjoying the blessed sunshine," and the coachman urged his roadsters, and generally conducting himself impruthinking that his master might kill his dently. As a fact there was very little own horses if he pleased. Sapel says sunshine to be enjoyed, for the day, al that they reached Bondy in half an hour, though the longest in the year, was a dull three leagues, or seven and one-half miles one. The king only left the carriage distant. At any rate they went a good once during the journey, and then spoke pace. Here they found Valory with a to no one. The travellers were amply new relay of six horses standing ready supplied with provisions, and took all they in the road. Fersen, after begging earnestly to be allowed to accompany the royal party, took an affectionate farewell. Happy would it have been if the king had granted his request! He leaped upon his horse, from which Valory had just dismounted, and rode by a cross-road to Le Bourget. He left that morning for Mons, where he arrived in safety.* 66 Tourzel, i. 311. It mate distances between Paris and Varennes, and the † Tourzel, i. 312. We give in a table the approxiprobable time at which the royal family arrived at each place. Paris to Bondy 12 La Ferté to Montmirail 20 mevesle arrive at 3 A.M. miles. IO 10 4.30 A M. 7.30 A.M. 17 noon 13 2 P.M. 13 5 P.M. allowing for the breakdown. 6.30 P.M. Pont-Sommevesle Ste. Ménehould Clermont to Varennes Total Comte de Provence's Narrative, p. 70. "The sun, which had not before appeared during the whole day, now displayed himself." This was quite towards evening. needed in the carriage. The children | sars? The king felt as if an abyss had walked up one or two of the long hills, opened beneath his feet. The horses but caused no delay. Between Chain- were quickly changed, and the berline trix and Châlons the horses twice fell rattled on; but a heavy weight was on the down, and broke the harness. This took travellers' hearts, which foreboded a coman hour to repair, but, as far as we know, ing calamity. the carriage stood well. Châlons was reached at about five o'clock in the afternoon, at least two hours late. But an hour or more had been lost in leaving Paris, and an hour by the accident. As it was, the royal party had travelled more than seven miles an hour including stoppages, and that was a very good pace. Nothing has been more misrepresented than the slowness of the royal journey. Carlyle says that they travelled sixty-nine miles in twenty-two hours, "slower than the slowest dray rate." From Paris to Châlons is at least one hundred and fifty miles, and twenty-three hours is the very utmost that can be allowed for the jour ney, including all accidents and all stoppages. Twenty-one hours would be nearer the mark. This gives the rate of over seven miles an hour for the whole journey, whereas travellers of those days often did not exceed three or four miles, and did not consider themselves aggrieved if they were detained several hours by an accident.t At last the town of Châlons-sur-Marne was safely reached. The king believed that this point once passed all danger was at an end. At the first post along the road a detachment of Bouille's army would be met, the precursor of many others, who would envelop the king and protect him safely to his frontier fortress. The horses were changed at the Châlons post-house, at the end of the town near the eastern gate; and tradition says that, as they were starting off, the team fell badly and again broke the harness; a presage of evil omen for their success. On they fared, past the triumphal arch which had greeted Marie Antoinette on her arrival as dauphine, past the Pilgrimage Church of our Lady of the Thorn with its miraculous well, past the road from Rheims, the city of the coronation, till in a deep and solitary valley they reached the lone posthouse of Pont-Sommevesle, where the promised succor was to be met. Not a soldier was to be seen. Where was Choiseul? Where were the Lauzun hus In the correspondence between Bouillé and the king there had always been talk of an escort. One reason why Bouillé had been acquainted so early with the king's plans was because his command extended over so large a part of France, and he had so wide a discretion over the movements of troops. Lately, however, his command had been curtailed, and the minister of war had intimated that troops were not to be moved without his authority. It is a mistake to place the fault of having an escort to the account of the king. Just before the flight we find Bouillé writing to Fersen, that he is to take great care about the security of the road as far as Châlons. Fersen replies, that it is not necessary to take any precaution between Paris and Châlons, that the best course is to take none, and that Bouillé would be wise to place soldiers nowhere on the Paris side of Varennes unless he can thoroughly trust them, for soldiers will create suspicion, which it is their first object to avoid. Still Bouillé is to be credited with the masterly skill with which he arranged that his troops should be passing through the towns on the king's line of journey, just at the time when they seemed to be preparing for military movements to repulse the Austrians who were approaching the frontier. The means by which this was effected, and the details of the military operations, will require a fuller explanation. The regiment of Royal Allemand, on which Bouillé could count better than on any other, was posted at Stenay, a little town on the Meuse, ten miles from Montmédy, and about half-way between Sedan and Verdun. On the day of the king's flight about fifty troopers of the Royal Allemand were sent in advance to Mouzay, a village a short distance from Stenay on the road to Dun. At the beginning of June two squadrons of the Lauzun hussars, each one hundred strong, were sent from Toul to the frontier of the Meuse. A squadron and a half (one hundred and fifty men) were to remain in barracks at Dun, where there was a bridge over the The Meuse which the king must pass. remaining half-squadron, fifty strong, was sent to Varennes. But on the pretext of Fersen, i. 130. the barracks of Dun being too small, the | escort an expected treasure. The officer numbers of soldiers at Varennes were in-in command of the detachment was Lieu. creased to about one hundred. Two other tenant Boudet, but they were under the regiments appeared to Bouillé to be trust-general direction of Goguelat. On arriv worthy; the Royal dragoons, commanded ing at Clermont, Goguelat found Damas by the Duc de Choiseul, and the Monsieur dragoons, commanded by the Comte de Damas. The bulk of these regiments had been sent by order of the minister of war, against Bouillé's wish, into Alsace, but the depôts, consisting of some of the best troops, remained behind. These Bouillé ordered to march to Mouzon, a town on the Meuse between Stenay and Sedan. On the way they were to rest two days at Clermont, and to despatch a squadron of forty men to Ste. Ménehould, on the pretext of escorting a treasure. Thus, with the specious appearance of guarding the Meuse fortresses, Bouillé contrived to collect troops in the various towns through which the king's flight was to take place. The two squadrons of dragoons, two hundred and ninety men and two hundred and fifty horses, forming one column under the command of Monsieur de Damas, the contingent of Royal dragoons being under the command of Captain d'Andoins, arrived at Clermont on the morning of Monday, June 20th. They were quartered in the town, with the exception of forty men, under the command of Captain St. Didier, who were lodged at Auzéville, a village a mile and a half distant. Scarcely had the inhabitants of Clermont recovered from the excitement of their arrival, when forty Lauzun hussars, wearing bearskins with red caps, halted in the square of the town. Monsieur de Goguelat, an officer possessing the confidence of the king and queen, had been sent by them to Bouillé to help him in making the last arrange ments. The choice was unfortunate, because of all the blunderers in this affair none was so bad as Goguelat. He dis. obeyed the most important orders that were given him, and everything left to his discretion was badly done.* Goguelat, starting from Montmédy, had reached Varennes on Sunday evening. On Monday morning he took with him forty out of the one hundred Lauzun hussars who were quartered at Varennes. Their or ders were to pass through Clermont to Ste. Ménehould, to proceed the next morning to Pont-Sommevesle, to await the king's arrival, or, as they were told, to * Yet the king and queen trusted him and forgave him after the failure of the flight. Bouillé specially asked for him, and Fersen writes of him to Bouillé : "C'est un homme sûr, il ne faut que le modérer." (Fersen, i. 129.) and the other dragoon officers breakfasting in the Hôtel St. Nicholas. He delivered the verbal order which he had received from Bouillé, that the dragoons were to be saddled the following day at five o'clock in the afternoon. After luncheon, Goguelat rode on to Ste. Ménehould, distant about ten miles. His soldiers were not to be billeted upon the population, but were to lodge in public houses in the town. He therefore saw no need to inform the muncipality of his arrival, or to sound his trumpets on entering as was the usual custom. This caused great irritation. Ste. Ménehould was strongly af fected by the patriotic fever. A National Guard had been formed there, but it had not been armed. The irregular entry of the troops was resented by the population, and when they left the next morning for Pont-Sommevesle they were hissed. At daybreak on Tuesday morning Lagache, a quartermaster of the Royal dragoons, was sent by Damas to Ste. Ménehould to prepare a lodging for thirty-three men and horses, who were to escort the so-called treasure on its arrival from PontSommevesle. He found quarters in an inn looking on the great square and on the magnificent Hôtel de Ville built in 1740, not far from the post-house estab. lished in 1788, and kept by Drouet.* At about nine o'clock, just after the departure of the hussars, a sound of trumpets was heard on the side of the forest road. Captain d'Andoins, who was in command of the troop, being warned by Lagache, took care to sound his trumpets, and to inform the municipality of his arrival. He drew up his soldiers in the great square, reported himself to the mayor, and was well received. This completed the chain of Bouille's guard, which extended in unbroken series from Pont-Sommevesle to Montmédy. What had caused the desertion of the first link in the chain; how was it that the king on arriving at the post-house, where he felt certain of his escort, had found no one to meet him? The Duke de Choiseul, commander of the Royal dragoons, had been sent by Bouillé from Metz, in order to give the king the last information about the prepa rations for the flight. Fersen expressed book. There is a plan of Ste. Ménehould in M. Ancelon's at the time a doubt as to whether he was or, if this was impossible, he was to carry the best instrument for the purpose.* the news himself. Choiseul did none of Although devoted to the cause of the king, the things that were expected of him. By he was frivolous and hasty, and had not some strange miscalculation, it had been that spirit of calm patience and decision said that the berline was expected to ar which was needed in the difficult crisis. rive at Pont-Sommevesle at half past two However, he was very rich and of high in the afternoon at latest, supposing that rank, was colonel of a distinguished regi- the royal family left Paris punctually at ment, and was able to furnish from his midnight. This would allow a pace of own stables relays which were needed for eight miles an hour, including all stop. the royal party at Varennes. It was ar pages, and without any accidents. A ranged that Choiseul should leave Paris courier, Choiseul says in his defence, was ten hours before the king. At two in the to precede the royal carriage by an hour; afternoon the queen sent to him her pri- therefore, when three o'clock and four vate hairdresser, Léonard. Choiseul took o'clock arrived, and neither courier nor him with him in his carriage without tell- carriage was to be seen, Choiseul began ing him where he was going. They slept to be very anxious. He tells us that the at Montmirail, left that town at four the peasants of a neighboring village, which next morning, and arrived at the post are believed to be those of Courtisols, house of Pont-Sommevesle soon after were assembling in a threatening attitude, eleven. Choiseul found his orderly there thinking that the hussars were come to with two horses. He went upstairs to make them pay their rents. At four put on his uniform. The hussars had not o'clock, therefore, he sends off Léonard, arrived, but they appeared an hour later. the hairdresser, in his own postchaise, Monsieur de Goguelat found Choiseul telling him to inform the detachments still dressing, and delivered to him a large that he feared the travellers would not packet of orders, which he had received pass that day, in short that the whole two days before from Bouillé. Choiseul scheme had probably collapsed. He aspicketed his horses, and gave bread and serts that after this he waited another wine to the hussars. The orders given hour, and finally, at about half past five or by Goguelat to Choiseul were very pre- a quarter to six, retreated with his huscise. He was placed in command of all sars slowly on the road to Orbeval. Unthe troops posted along the road, having fortunately, the account of the Duc de full liberty to employ force, if he thought Choiseul, which has been so often fol best to do so. If he should hear that the lowed, is of the nature of a personal exculking had been arrested at Châlons, he was pation, and cannot be received as evidence. to attack the town and to attempt a rescue. Two things we know for certain — that In this case he was to despatch orders the royal travellers found the road bealong the line, so that he might be sup tween Châlons and Pont-Sommevesle ported. When the king arrived at Pont- absolutely quiet and deserted; they heard Sommevesle, Choiseul was to await his no news of any troops, or of any disturb orders. If the king desired to be recog-ance among the peasantry; and that if nized, the hussars were to escort him with drawn swords to Ste. Ménehould. If the king wished to remain incognito, he was to allow him to pass quietly, but half an hour afterwards was to follow him along the road, and was to post a body of hussars between Ste. Ménehould and Clermont, who were to remain there for fifteen | hours, and intercept every one who came either on horseback or in carriage from the direction of Paris. This would effectually prevent the king's being pursued. Fur. ther, as soon as he became aware that the king was at hand, he was to send M. Goguelat to inform the several detachments, Choiseul had really remained at PootSommevesle till a quarter to six, and then marched slowly towards Orbeval, the berline which arrived at Pont-Sommevesle between six and half past must inevit ably have caught him up. We do not know when Choiseul left Pont-Sommevesle, but we do know that he entirely lost his head.* It is also certain that Choiseul ought in any case to have waited for the courier Valory. Valory had been ordered, in case the king should not reach Bondy before 3 30 A M., to ride along the road to Montmédy, and to inform the detachments that the enterprise had failed. Choiseul's neglect to wait for Valory in any case, We know that he was at Neuville-au-Pont at a little before eight. whether preceding the king or not, was | Guards in uniform. When the large quite inexcusable. travelling.coach arrived with its outriders Valory, on arriving at Pont-Sommevesle, and postchaise, although it was not spefound the post deserted, and asked no cially remarkable in itself, it naturally questions of the postmaster. He left attracted attention. The dragoons, unmoney to pay for a glass of brandy for fortunately separated from their horses, each of the postboys, and had the new drew up in front of the hostelry of the horses brought out into the road. He Golden Sun to gaze at it. Some of them then mounted a fresh steed, and galloped saluted the travellers, as a mark of retowards Ste. Ménehould. What had hap- spect, not knowing who they were, and pened in that town since the morning? the queen graciously returned their saluD'Andoins had been there with his thirty- tation. D'Andoins kept in the backthree dragoons since nine o'clock. They ground as much as possible, but he had were ordered to remain saddled all day, time to whisper to those in the carriage, ready to march at any moment. At five "Your plans are badly laid; I will go in the afternoon D'Andoins walked out away to avoid suspicion." He also made on the road to Pont-Sommevesle, but saw a sign to Valory to harness quickly, but nothing. Shortly afterwards Léonard, the Valory interpreted this as a wish to hairdresser, arrived with Choiseul's mes- speak to him, and their conversation sage, that the treasure would probably not roused the attention of the crowd. Just pass that day. The dragoons saw their as the fresh horses were being harnessed, colonel's carriage pass with his servant, J. B. Drouet, the postmaster, arrived whom they recognized. Lagache, who from a field which he had been cultivatwas probably in the secret of the flight,ing in the neighborhood. The name of thought it best to test the loyalty of the it, Malassise, still lives in local tradition. dragoons by sounding the assembly. Each trooper left his occupation at the call of duty, and stood in due obedience by his charger. D'Andoins, coming up directly afterwards, rebuked Lagache for the rashness of his conduct in collecting the troopers. He was evidently frightened by the responsibility of facing an irritated democracy, and his chief anxiety was to save his own skin at any cost. He ordered the horses to be unsaddled, in spite of Lagache's remonstrances. Scarcely half an hour after this had been done, Valory galloped up, and twenty minutes later the berline rolled towards the post-house. The arrival of a large and luxurious travelling-coach would cause excitement at any time in a town like Ste. Ménehould; but the town was not in its ordinary condition. The passing of Gogue lat's hussars had exasperated the citizens, and the arrival of the dragoons, an hour after the hussars d left, increased their excitement. At about half past ten in the morning the inhabitants began to assemble in knots in the streets, and at midday a formal request was made to the mayor to deliver to the National Guards, who had been already enrolled, the three hundred muskets which had been sent for their use from Châlons. This was immediately done, and it was arranged that the new force should mount guard every evening at eight o'clock. Valory tells us that Ste. Menehould was the first town on the road where he saw the National He was a young man of twenty-eight, but had served in the Condé dragoons, and had seen the queen at Versailles. He now thought he recognized her. At this moment the king put his head out of the carriage to speak to Valory or to some one else,* and Drouet, by a sudden inspiration, compared the portrait on the assignat, with which Valory had just paid the relays, with the head of the traveller in the berline. He noticed the long aquiline nose, the short-sighted look, the spotted complexion; and when a message from the town council came to ask his opinion, he had no doubt that the berline contained the king and his family. Indeed, the recognition of the king appears to have been made simultaneously by many of the loiterers. Dumas relates in his "Route de Varennes" that an old inhabitant of Ste. Ménehould told him that, as a boy, whilst standing at the door of the poste aux lettres, the postmaster (not Drouet) cried at the sight of the berline, "Voici le roi et sa famille." The suspicion quickly ran from mouth to mouth; it was increased by the action of the brave Lagache, who, determining that one dragoon at least should do his duty and follow his sovereign, clutched his reins in his teeth, and with a pistol in each hand broke through the opposing crowd, firing a shot as he passed. A At one time the king thought of taking M. de voiture quelqu'un qui puisse parler, si cela était nécesIl lui faut en Saint-Priest with him. Fersen says, saire." (Fersen, i. 128.) |