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 CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
Cornell University Library 
 DC 137 .37.V84 
 
 The king who never relgnedibeng memoirs 
 
 3 1924 022 593 317 
 
THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924022593317 
 
im. 
 
 tJ^U^fi ff <)^-it*ian t^./A4,'M^. 
 
THE KING WHO 
 NEVER REIGNED 
 
 BEING MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII BY 
 ECKARD AND NAUNDORFF WITH A 
 PREFACE BY JULES LEMAITRE OF THE 
 ACADEMIE FRANCHISE, TOGETHER 
 WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BY 
 MAURICE VITRAC AND ARNOULD 
 GALOPIN, TO WHICH IS ADDED JOSEPH 
 TURQUAN'S "NEW LIGHT UPON THE 
 FATE OF LOUIS XVII" 
 
 New York 
 
 THE JOHN IV[(tBR/ipE COMPANY 
 
 t Publishers \ 
 
 ':<-. 'I IQOQ "--i 
 
 / 
 
PREFACE 
 
 One of the characteristics of our time seems to 
 be curiosity, and especially curiosity about matters 
 of minor importance. Are newspapers responsible 
 for this fact ,? Or is curiosity answerable for the 
 rage for interviews, tit-bits of information and 
 articles upon topical subjects now so prevalent ? 
 Honours are probably divided; at all events the 
 origin is of little importance. 
 
 This curiosity concerning past events has helped 
 to insure success to the numerous " Recollections " 
 and " Memoirs " which have been, and are now 
 being, published. The memorialist of old days was 
 a reporter, though he knew it not, for did he not 
 note down daily events and show us celebrities in 
 their homes ? And if he was sometimes biassed in 
 his opinions or only told half the truth, after all he 
 was not unlike his confrere of to-day. 
 
 Another reason for this success is the fact that 
 these memoirs are often quite as dramatic and as 
 excijting as the modern novel ; they even possess 
 one distinct advantage, because they are usually 
 true or partly true. Now most readers, now-a- 
 days, love realistic details and what they are pleased 
 to call " dramas in real life." 
 
vi PREFACE 
 
 And thus the taste for history, at least for the 
 history of unimportant events and for amusing 
 anecdotes, such popular subjects for conversation 
 and discussion, became universal. But at the same 
 time, we must confess that many errors and false 
 reports were circulated from time to time by party- 
 men and unscrupulous politicians. 
 
 How, then, can we satisfy this taste for the 
 private history of past centuries while strictly 
 keeping to the truth ? This question has been 
 answered by those well-known scholars, MM. 
 Maurice Vitrac and Arnould Galopin. Having 
 chosen a celebrated event or personage, they con- 
 sult some contemporary authority ; perhaps they 
 ask the actor himself to make his confession, which 
 confession they verify by other contemporary 
 evidence and complete by numerous documents 
 for which, during the last thirty years, critics have 
 been searching our libraries and archives. And 
 that is not all. Old engravings have been ex- 
 amined, the oldest and rarest have been taken from 
 the portfolios in which they have lain for so many 
 years. And thus, these contemporary drawings, by 
 placing before our eyes the scenery, costumes and 
 gestures of those days, give life and animation to 
 the picture. 
 
 Such is the idea of MM. Maurice Vitrac and 
 Arnould Galopin. They have already realized this 
 scheme in a particularly happy manner in a series 
 of volumes upon " Fouchi^ " La Famille Royale au 
 
PREFACE vii 
 
 temple" " La Rigence" " Sous la Terreur" " 1814;' 
 " Madame de Pompadour" " I] Imperatrice "Josephine" 
 " Le Due de Lauzun" etc. We wait impatiently 
 for the continuation of this amusing representation 
 of past events by " Memoirs," engravings and old 
 secrets nov^r revealed for the first time. 
 
 Jules Lemaitre 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 To face page 
 Frontispiece 
 
 LOUIS XVII (from a German print) 
 
 LOUIS XVI .... 
 
 THE SEPARATION OF LOUIS XVI FROM HIS FAMILY 
 
 LOUIS XVII AT THE AGE OF EIGHT 
 
 MARIE-ANTOINETTE BEFORE THE REVOLUTIONARY 
 TRIBUNAL ..... 
 
 MADAME ELIZABETH AT THE AGE OF TEN 
 
 THE INVASION OF THE h6tEL DE VILLE 
 
 PELLETAN . 
 
 NAUNDORFF 
 
 THE TEMPLE PRISON 
 
 CHARLES X 
 
 MARIE-ANTOINETTE 
 
 ANTOINE SIMON . 
 
 LA DUCHESSE d'aNGOULEME 
 
 NAPOLEON BONAPARTE . 
 
 32 
 
 72 
 
 84 
 100 
 
 no 
 
 122 
 
 178 
 232 
 268 
 298 
 
 338 
 342 
 
 VIU 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 The work which we now publish contains two 
 very distinct and, we might almost say, opposite 
 parts. 
 
 The first part comprises Eckard's Memoirs upon 
 the captivity and death of Louis XVII, while the 
 second part is composed of NaundorfFs Recollec- 
 tions. It may be as well to explain why we chose 
 these two works. 
 
 Although Eckard's book is no longer very new, 
 it is extremely valuable. Historians who, from 
 time to time, have written about Louis XVII, 
 quote largely from this work ; we may say that 
 these memoirs have formed the basis for all 
 ulterior researches. And it could hardly be other- 
 wise. For Eckard was not content with searching 
 and consulting printed documents and manuscripts 
 treating of this subject ; but he also interrogated 
 numerous survivors of the revolutionary epoch, 
 and thus he learnt, from those qualified to inform 
 him, many details which, but for him, would 
 never have been known. In order to be just, we 
 must confess that, as time went on, several other 
 historians added to the original foundation ; and 
 
X INTRODUCTION 
 
 the works of De Beauchesne, Chantelauze and La 
 Sicotiere contributed in no small measure to the 
 history of the Dauphin, Louis XVII. We are 
 enabled by numerous notes to complete, as much 
 as is necessary, Eckard's text. Thus completed, a 
 new edition of Eckard's Memoirs worthily repre- 
 sents the monument erected by eminent historians 
 to the memory of the child in the Temple. These 
 historians, and De Beauchesne in especial, have 
 shown marvellous ingenuity in their researches, 
 and have made use of first-class material. We 
 can see that they had but one object in view, and 
 that object was to search patiently for the truth ; 
 and they were aided in this sometimes ungrateful 
 task by their deep affection and pity for this 
 fair-haired child whose last years were so cruelly 
 embittered, and who, familiar with sorrow and 
 already weary of life, sank into the grave at the 
 early age of ten years. 
 
 The first portion of our work comprises the 
 life of the Dauphin written by historians who 
 only relate established facts and admit of nothing 
 which has not been proved by reliable documents. 
 This history is scornfully termed " official " by 
 those authors who declare that the little prisoner 
 escaped and survived the cruel treatment to which 
 he had been subjected. If, by this, they mean 
 that the most eminent historians of aU national- 
 ities, holding the most opposite opinions, have 
 always declared such an escape impossible, and 
 
INTRODUCTION xi 
 
 that NaundorfF and the Dauphin were not the 
 same person, they are right. But we must be just 
 towards the partisans of the theory of escape and 
 survival. Some of these authors have expended 
 an enormous amount of labour, and, in order to 
 sustain their thesis, have tried to rewrite the 
 history of France since the Revolution. Their 
 efforts, however, have not met with all the success 
 expected by them ; after nearly half-a-century of 
 labour they have been unable to produce one single 
 historical proof to support their assertions. Even 
 in a land where " veiled ladies " ^ still find people 
 sufficiently credulous to believe their statements, 
 these historians have met with few supporters. 
 They have failed in their task. Why ? Because, 
 even if truth had been on their side, their method 
 of writing history was too faulty. Their judgment 
 was doubly erroneous. They thought that, in 
 order to discover the truth, they need only collect 
 second or third hand evidence : volumes of value- 
 less evidence gain nothing by being placed in 
 juxtaposition, thus : + = 0. They finally 
 agreed to consider the theory of escape as hypo- 
 thetical, and endeavoured to prove that history 
 could furnish many examples of such escapes. 
 Now, it is a scientific principle that a hypothesis 
 only becomes unconfutable when it is confirmed 
 by facts. However, this method of reasoning, 
 
 ^ An allusion to the celebrated " veiled lady " of the Dreyfus 
 case. — Translator's note. 
 
xii INTRODUCTION 
 
 applicable in natural science, is inapplicable in 
 historical matters ; for on one hand historical facts 
 do not lend themselves to experiments, and on the 
 other hand they lack the rigidity of physical 
 realities. And so, although we acknowledge the 
 efforts of the naundorffistes^ many of whom are 
 thoroughly sincere and disinterested, we think it 
 best to republish Naundorff's Memoirs. These 
 memoirs form the second portion of our volume. 
 We shall read, as related by himself, the life of 
 the false Dauphin from 1795 to 1830. We con- 
 sider that these memoirs prove the fallacy of 
 Naundorff's cause. 
 
 Besides the material impossibility of escape as 
 related by him, we shall read the account of 
 Naundorffs life from 1795, date of the pretended 
 escape, until 18 10, when he appeared in Berlin. 
 No novelist could be so utterly wanting in 
 imagination as to write such a ludicrous tale. 
 No one could be credulous enough to believe this 
 grotesque narration of peregrinations, maladies 
 and imprisonment in mysterious and unknown 
 places. It is inadmissible that a man can forget 
 his own history from his tenth until his twenty- 
 fifth year. , Naundorff evidently wished to say 
 nothifig concerning this period of his existence. 
 And'; again, we can and we do notice in his 
 improbable narrative several gaps, incongruities 
 and contradictions. If Naundorff invented these 
 childish tales, if he voluntarily left in the shade 
 
INTRODUCTION xiii 
 
 that period of his life dating from his escape until 
 his reappearance, it was because he did not know 
 enough of the history and the current events of 
 that period to be able to concoct his romance ; he 
 knew nothing of La Vendee, although he declared 
 that he had been there, and he knew a great deal 
 about Italy, where he had probably lived for some 
 time. We find that, when forced to rely upon 
 his own imaginative faculties, he can only invent 
 ridiculous falsehoods. This fact alone would con- 
 demn the whole affair, even if we could persuade 
 ourselves to believe in the story of his escape, 
 notoriously false and less ingenious than many of 
 the tales invented by the twenty-five false Dauphins 
 who, from time to time, endeavoured to usurp this 
 same rdle. 
 
 Maurice Vitrac and Arnould Galopin 
 
PART I 
 
 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 
 By Eckard 
 
THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII. 
 
 Louis XVII only lived ten years and a few 
 months ; the title of king was only borne by him 
 for a very short time, and he exercised none of the 
 august functions attached to that title. For this 
 reason many writers concluded that his life offered 
 little matter worthy to be recorded by the zealous 
 historian. 
 
 And yet it would be difficult to find, either in 
 modern or in ancient history, a subject giving us a 
 more horrible, more interesting or more realistic 
 idea of the cruelty of man and of the nothingness 
 of human grandeur. 
 
 Louis-Charles de France was born at Versailles, 
 March 27, 1785 ; he was baptized on the day of 
 his birth, Monsieur, the king's brother, being his 
 godfather and Madame Elisabeth his godmother, 
 as proxy for the queen of Naples. After the 
 ceremony the prince, having been taken back to 
 his apartments, M. de Calonne, chief-superintendent 
 of the Finances and treasurer of the Ordres du Roi, 
 3 17 
 
18 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 presented him with the Ordre du Saint-Esprit. ^ 
 His Majesty, at the moment of the child's birth, 
 had bestowed upon him the title of due de 
 Normandie, which title had not been given to 
 the sons of the royal house of France, since it was 
 borne by Charles, fourth son of Charles VH, who 
 later became due de Berry, de Normandie et de 
 Guyenne, and died at Bordeaux in 1472. 
 
 Several writers, including M. de Montjoye, in 
 speaking of the young prince, assert that the 
 king bestowed upon him the title of due de 
 Normandie in memory of the hearty and affec- 
 tionate welcome accorded to his Majesty by the 
 inhabitants of that province during one of his visits 
 to Cherbourg. But the departure of Louis XVI 
 to inspect the magnificent works executed at his 
 command in the seaport town did not take place 
 until June 21, 1786, fifteen months after the birth 
 of Louis-Charles. The childhood of Louis-Charles 
 was uneventful. No one took much notice of him 
 until France was bereaved by the death of his 
 
 1 Ordre du Saint-Esprit: an order of knighthood instituted 
 December 31, 1578, by Henri III of France in commemoration 
 of his election to the crown of Poland and of his accession to the 
 throne of France on the feast of Pentecost. The number of 
 knights was limited to one hundred, including nine ecclesiastics ; 
 they wore a four-armed cross in gold adorned with a dove, the 
 Symbol of the Holy Ghost, suspended from a wide blue ribbon. 
 To obtain this order, the postulant had to be a Catholic, a member 
 of the nobility, and to possess the order of Saint-Michael. The 
 order was abolished in 1789, but re-established during the 
 Restauration i it was finally abolished in 1830. — Translator's note. 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 19 
 
 elder brother. The Dauphin, who had reached 
 an age when the nation was beginning to hope 
 that he would fulfil its expectations, died in 
 Meudon, June 4, 1789, to the grief of the Court 
 and of the whole kingdom ; and yet he was 
 fortunate to depart this life at the moment when 
 happiness was preparing to take a long farewell of 
 the royal family. By the death of his brother, 
 the due de Normandie became heir to the crown. 
 He then assumed the title of Dauphin, which title 
 had been borne by the eldest sons of the kings of 
 France ever since Hubert II, dauphin de Viennois, 
 ceded his estates to Philippe de Valois in 1 349. 
 
 The new Dauphin had just passed his fourth 
 birthday. His shape was perfect, his face noble 
 and smiling, his head adorned with beautiful curls 
 which hung down over his shoulders ; his features 
 bore the same kindly expression seen in the count- 
 enance of Louis XVI, and traces of the queen's 
 dignity were already visible. Every morning, this 
 charming, vivacious child used to run into the 
 gardens of Versailles and gather flowers to place on 
 his mother's dressing-table before she arose. When 
 bad weather prevented him from gathering his 
 bouquet, he used to say sadly : 
 
 " I am not pleased with myself, I have done 
 nothing for Mama to-day ; I don't deserve her 
 first kiss." 
 
 The king wished to cultivate in his son this 
 love for nature, so well calculated to develop his 
 
20 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 bodily strength. He gave him a little plot of 
 ground situated on the terrace of the palace in front 
 of his own private apartments. The young prince 
 was provided with all the necessary garden tools 
 and spent all his spare time in this garden. 
 
 Never did the queen forget her children. At 
 the time when calumnious reports declared that 
 she was engrossed in idle pleasures, she was spend- 
 ing the greater part of her time in fulfilling her 
 maternal duties. Every day at ten o'clock, an 
 under-governess used to bring her children to see 
 her ; in her presence, they received their daily 
 instruction from their different masters. The 
 Dauphin's happy disposition expanded like a flower, 
 thanks to this affectionate care ; he already showed 
 signs of splendid qualities and promised to inherit 
 all the virtues of his august parents. 
 
 That few children have ever shown such a 
 precocious mind is proved by the following anec- 
 dote. One day, on the eve of the queen's birthday, 
 Louis XVI wished his little son to present his 
 mother with a very beautiful bouquet and to 
 compose, unaided, his little letter of good wishes. 
 
 " Papa," replied the prince, " I have got a 
 beautiful everlasting in my garden ; it will serve 
 both for my bouquet and for my letter of good 
 wishes. When I give it to Mama, I shall say 
 to her, ' I hope. Mama, that you will resemble 
 this flower.' " His repartees were admired for 
 their charm and ingenuity. One day, while 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 21 
 
 learning his lessons, the Dauphin began to hiss. 
 His tutor, the Abb6 d'Avaux, rebuked him. The 
 queen, entering unexpectedly, gently expostulated 
 with him upon his conduct. " Mama," replied 
 he, " I was hissing at myself because I had just 
 said my lesson so badly." Another day, while in 
 the garden of Bagatelle, the excited little Dauphin 
 was about to rush through a hedge of rose bushes. 
 " I ran up to him," says M. Hue. "' Monseigneur,' 
 cried I, holding him back, ' one of those thorns 
 might blind you or tear your face.' He turned 
 round and, looking at me with a noble, determined 
 air, replied, ' Thorny paths lead to glory.' " 
 
 Alas ! that such interesting details should in 
 future be mingled with the narration of numberless 
 and unexampled misfortunes ! The Revolution 
 broke out. After the taking of the Bastille several 
 persons, well known for their devotion to the 
 royal family, were massacred. Among the families 
 exposed to the fury of the populace, none had more 
 to fear than the de Polignac family ; its members 
 had enjoyed top many favours not to have excited 
 jealousy. Fearing for the safety of the duchesse 
 de Polignac and of her family, the queen com- 
 manded them to leave her. The duchesse refused 
 to go ; the queen insisted and Madame de Polignac 
 obeyed. Under pretence of going to take the 
 waters, the latter went abroad, but as the royal 
 children's governess could not absent herself 
 indefinitely, she resigned her position. The queen 
 
22 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 chose Madame la marquise (now Madame la 
 duchesse) de Tourzel to fill this important post. 
 
 Towards the end of September, the storm which 
 had been gathering in Paris threatened to burst 
 over Versailles.^ A dinner given by the king's 
 bodyguards and honoured by the presence of his 
 Majesty, the queen and the Dauphin, served as a 
 pretext to give the signal for insurrection. On 
 October 5, a mob formed of the inhabitants of 
 t\it faubourgs started off for Versailles ; between four 
 and five o'clock in the afternoon, the procession 
 appeared in the avenues leading to the palace. 
 Shortly afterwards, bands of brigands invaded, and 
 took possession of, the royal apartments. Fearing 
 for his son's life, the king ran to the chamber of 
 that precious child ; in order to hide from the 
 rebels he was obliged to pass through a dark, 
 subterranean passage. He carried the prince in his 
 arms ; during his flight, the candle which he was 
 holding suddenly went out. He crept along in 
 the dark uijtil he reached his own apartment, where 
 he found the queen, who, having hastily put on a 
 skirt and thrown a dressing-gown over her 
 shoulders, had taken refuge there. Madame 
 Royale, Monsieur, Madame, Madame Elisabeth 
 
 ^For the first part of Eckard's Memoirs, containing the 
 events of October, the life in the Tuileries, the terrible deeds of 
 August 10, and the captivity of the royal family in the Temple 
 as briefly related by a fervent royalist, we recommend our readers 
 to consult the notes contained in the Journal de Cliry recently 
 published by us. 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 23 
 
 and the marquise de Tourzel had also gone there 
 for shelter. The royal family, thus reunited, were 
 better able to await the fate which threatened them. 
 At last some of the national guards who, 
 although perfidious orders had hitherto prevented 
 them from doing their duty, had remained faith- 
 ful to the royal family, rescued several body- 
 guards from the hands of the assassins, and leading 
 them to the palace, together they chased the 
 brigands from the royal apartments : the lives 
 of Louis XVI and of the queen were no longer in 
 danger. La Fayette went up into the king's 
 apartment and requested him, in the people's name, 
 to come that very day to take up his abode in 
 Paris; he, described in the most alarming terms the 
 danger which his Majesty would incur if he 
 refused to do so. Forced to consent to all these 
 demands, the king stepped on to the balcony, and 
 announced his intention of starting with his whole 
 family for the capital. " Let the queen show 
 herself ! " cried several voices. The queen 
 appeared holding the Dauphin in one hand, and in 
 the other Madame Royale. A horrible cry went 
 up, " No children ! " What a wish ! The queen 
 immediately re-entered with her children, whom she 
 placed in the king's arms ; then proud and calm, 
 she appeared on the balcony and gazed down at the 
 crowd. The populace, struck with admiration, 
 applauded. The leaders of the rebellion were 
 disconcerted. 
 
24 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 The royal family were not even allowed suffi- 
 cient time to make the necessary preparations for 
 their departure. At one o'clock, the king, the 
 queen, the Dauphin, Madame Royale, Monsieur, 
 the king's brother, Madame, Madame Elisabeth, 
 and the marquise de Tourzel entered their 
 carriages. During the journey, or rather during 
 this seven-hours' torture, they were escorted by a 
 crowd composed of mud and blood bespattered 
 brigands armed with pikes, rumbling gun-carriages 
 and drunken women with dishevelled locks, singing 
 obscene songs and uttering horrible shrieks, 
 
 Louis XVI went to dwell in the 'tuikries, 
 uninhabited by our kings since the minority of 
 Louis XV. No preparations had been made for 
 the king's arrival ; the apartments were totally 
 devoid of any of the comforts usually enjoyed by 
 private persons endowed with a certain fortune. 
 This palace practically became the prison of the 
 royal family. Paris seemed appeased by the 
 presence of this august family. For a few days the 
 populace gave full vent to their extravagant delight. 
 " There will be no more poverty now," cried they ; 
 " we've got the baker, the baker's wife, and the 
 baker's little boy." Such were the names given 
 by them to the king, the queen and the Dauphin. 
 
 Shortly after the king's arrival, the Assemble 
 nationale^ thought fit to visit their Majesties in 
 
 ' AssembUe nationale or censtiiuante, an assembly instituted at 
 Versailles, May 5, 1789, under the title of £tats ginirauic. It 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 25 
 
 order to offer them their respects. The deputies 
 passed from the king's apartment into the queen's 
 chamber. After having thanked the president for 
 his congratulations, the princess, taking in her arms 
 the heir to the throne, showed him to the Assemblee. 
 Cries of " Long live the king ! long live the queen ! 
 long live the Dauphin !" were enthusiastically 
 repeated. For a brief space, Marie Antoinette 
 forgot her misfortunes. 
 
 But soon the disturbances recommenced. On 
 February 4, 1790, Louis XVI went to the 
 Assemblee nationale and besought the members to 
 unite their efforts to his, so that the people, who 
 had been led astray, might realize his endeavours to 
 promote their interest. " I love my good people 
 with all my heart," said the king, " and when my 
 friends wish to console me for my sorrows, they 
 tell me that my people return my love." His 
 Majesty left the chamber amid loud applause. 
 
 was originally composed of 291 members of the clergy, 270 mem- 
 bers of the nobility, and 595 members of the tiers itat (or common- 
 alty). The nobility and clergy having refused to sit with the tiers 
 itat, the members of the latter body formed themselves into a 
 deliberating assembly which they called the AssembUe nationale 
 (June 17, 1789). Louis XVI, displeased by this act of inde- 
 pendence, first tried to dissolve the assembly, and then caused the hall 
 at Versailles, in which they held their meetings, to be closed. The 
 deputies then assembled in the Salle du Jeu de Paume (June 20), 
 and swore that they would not separate until they had obtained a 
 constitution for France. The king, having vainly tried, during the 
 slance of June 23, to intimidate the assembly, was finally obliged to 
 accept the union of the three orders Qune27, 1789). — Translator's 
 note. 
 
26 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 A deputation escorted the king back to his 
 palace. The queen, holding the Dauphin by the 
 hand, came to meet them. 
 
 " I share," said she to the deputation, " in all 
 the king's sentiments. I join with heart and soul 
 in all that his love for his people can prompt him 
 to say or do. Behold my son ! I shall ever seek 
 to remind him of the virtues of this best of fathers. 
 I shall teach him, while he is still young, to respect 
 public liberty and to observe the laws of his country. 
 I hope that some day he will be their most staunch 
 supporter." 
 
 This scene, which ought to have produced 
 excellent results, only irritated the f actionists ; they 
 excited the populace to commit fresh excesses. 
 In these moments of alarm, the queen entirely 
 forgot her own danger and thought only of her 
 children. Her courage was put to the test on the 
 night of April 13, 1790. The rebels talked of 
 taking the palace by storm and uttered fearful 
 threats against his Majesty. Several shots were 
 fired. The king rose and hastened to the queen's 
 apartment ; she was not there ; he then went into 
 the Dauphin's room, where he found her clasping 
 this beloved child to her heart. He said to her, 
 " Madame, I have been looking for you : you have 
 made me very anxious." 
 
 " Sire ! " replied the queen, " I was at my post." 
 What a touching picture ! 
 
 A little garden, enclosed within the walls of the 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 27 
 
 palace grounds and situated at the end of the terrace 
 by the side of the river, was given to the Dauphin. 
 Several members of the garde nationale served as 
 escort to the prince, and when they were not too 
 numerous, he used to invite them to enter his little 
 garden. One day, when they happened to be more 
 numerous than usual, he excused himself very 
 prettily, saying, " I am very sorry, gentlemen, that 
 my garden is so small, because it deprives me of 
 the pleasure of inviting you." 
 
 A company of young men had been formed in 
 Paris under the title of " the regiment of the 
 Dauphin." Many bourgeois hastened to put down 
 their children's names. " I belonged to this little 
 company," says M. Antoine, from whom we borrow 
 this anecdote ; " we were allowed to drill in the 
 presence of the young prince. On the occasion of 
 our first visit, we found him in his garden sur- 
 rounded by several gentlemen. ' Will you kindly 
 consent to become the colonel of this regiment ? ' 
 said one of them to him. 
 
 " ' Yes,' replied the Dauphin, ' I love the 
 grenadiers of my garden, but I should prefer to 
 be at your head.' 
 
 " ' That will mean, good-bye to your Mama's 
 bouquets and flowers ! ' 
 
 " ' Oh ! that won't prevent me taking care of 
 my flowers. Many of these gentlemen tell me 
 that they also possess little gardens : so if they 
 love the queen as much as their colonel loves her. 
 
28 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 Mama will have whole regiments of bouquets every 
 day.' " 
 
 "Our cheers," adds M. Antoine, "proved to 
 him how dearly we loved his august parents." 
 
 Whenever the Dauphin went to visit his little 
 garden, he was ready to welcome any children who 
 might wish to speak to him. He often gave money 
 to those who declared that their parents were in 
 distress. One day a woman entered the garden 
 where he was attending to his plants and begged 
 him to obtain a favour for her. " Ah ! Mon- 
 seigneur," cried she, " if I could obtain it, I should 
 be as happy as a queen ! " 
 
 " Do you think so ? " answered the Dauphin, 
 " as happy as a queen ? I know one who does 
 nothing but cry ! " 
 
 And yet this unfortuna'te queen eagerly seized 
 every opportunity to show the young prince to the 
 French nation. On the fite of the Federation, 
 July 14, 1 790, just as the king was raising his hand 
 in order to pronounce the oath which had ever 
 been engraved in his heart, and by which he pledged 
 himself to seek the happiness of his people, the 
 queen, who was seated in a gallery situated above 
 the throne, took the Dauphin in her arms and 
 presented him to the Assemblee ; the lovely child 
 immediately lifted up his innocent hands as if to 
 call down the blessings of heaven upon his father 
 and upon all France. This deed, following the 
 queen's gesture, aroused frantic applause. Cries of 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 29 
 
 " Long live the queen ! Long live the Dauphin ! " 
 were heard on all sides. M. Hue said, "One would 
 have thought from these cries that France had once 
 more begun to worship her rulers ! " 
 
 The Federates from Dauphine were especially 
 devoted to the Dauphin. The royal child, although 
 only five years of age, knew how to appreciate 
 their devotion. He looked as if he were proud to 
 bear the name of a province so deeply penetrated 
 with patriotic sentiments. 
 
 Louis XVI, who had faithfully followed in the 
 footsteps of the Dauphin, his father and first 
 mentor, wished to be his son's first mentor. He 
 himself instructed him in foreign languages and 
 gave him lessons in history and geography, in which 
 he was well versed. 
 
 The queen was no less anxious that her children 
 should possess, not only bodily and mental em- 
 bellishments, but also those qualities of heart so 
 necessary to persons destined to occupy a throne ; 
 and, as if wishing to revenge herself for all the 
 calumnious reports then in circulation about her, 
 she hastened to distribute charity on every side. 
 She profited by these occasions to awaken in the 
 Dauphin's breast the same tender emotions which 
 beat in her own ; and finally, she taught him to 
 deprive himself of a portion of the sum devoted 
 every month to his pleasures and to use it to succour 
 the poor, thus finding his greatest happiness in 
 depriving himself of some trifling bauble. One 
 
80 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 day, her Majesty took him to the Foundling 
 Hospital, and after having ordered what she con- 
 sidered necessary for the inmates' comfort, she 
 noticed in the young prince's countenance the pity 
 awakened by this touching spectacle. " My son," 
 said the queen to him, " all these poor children 
 whom you see here are orphans abandoned by their 
 parents. Do not forget this fact, but remember, 
 whenever you can, to soften their cruel lot." What 
 a happy fate France would have enjoyed under a 
 prince thus carefully educated ! 
 
 By such means, the queen cultivated in the 
 Dauphin's heart the kindness and compassion 
 which seem to belong to the Bourbons and which 
 he already manifested on many occasions. He 
 was even careful never to wound any one's feelings. 
 One day, in a fit of absence of mind, he placed 
 some marigolds {soucis'^) in one of the queen's 
 posies ; having perceived them just as he was 
 about to present the bouquet to her, he immediately 
 tore them out, crying : " Ah, Mama ! you have 
 got quite enough without these ! " 
 
 The liveliness of the young prince often helped 
 to turn his august mother's thoughts from her 
 ever-present sorrows. 
 
 M. Bertrand de MoUeville relates a scene 
 witnessed by him : 
 
 "While the queen was talking to me, the 
 
 1 The French word souci has two significations — marigold and 
 care or anxiety. ' 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 31 
 
 little Dauphin, as beautiful as an angel, was 
 amusing himself by singing and jumping about 
 the room, brandishing a little wooden sword and 
 shield in his hands. Some one came to fetch him 
 to supper, whereupon he flew towards the door. 
 
 " * What ! my son,' said the queen to him, 
 ' are you going away without making your bow 
 to M. Bertrand ? ' 
 
 " ' Oh, Mama,' cried the charming child, still 
 continuing to jump, ' M. Bertrand is one of our 
 friends. Good-evening, M. Bertrand ! ' And he 
 rushed out of the room. 
 
 " ' Isn't he |a dear little boy ? " said the queen 
 to me when he had gone. ' How happy he is ! ' 
 she added, ' to be so young ! He does not feel 
 our sorrows, and his mirth gladdens our hearts ! ' 
 
 " Too deeply moved to make any reply," says 
 M. de MoUeville, " I wiped my eyes in silence." 
 
 Louis XVI, having been ill, proposed to profit 
 by the fine weather and to go to Saint-Cloud, 
 where he wished to perform his devotions and 
 pass a part of the summer and autumn. As this 
 journey coincided with Holy Week, the rebels 
 made a pretext of the king's well-known devotion 
 to the faith of his fathers, to arouse evil passions 
 against him. It was reported that this journey 
 had been planned to facilitate the escape of the 
 royal family. On April i8, just as his Majesty 
 was about to enter his carriage, a crowd of people 
 rushed forward and tried to hinder his departure ; 
 
32 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 the rioters even had the impudence to point their 
 guns at his carriage. The most insolent speeches, 
 the most abominable suggestions resounded in the 
 king's ears. He drank the cup of bitterness to the 
 very dregs. At last the king, after two hours of 
 continual struggle, unwilling to set one portion of 
 the garde nationale at odds against their companions, 
 was forced to re-enter the palace, that is to say, his 
 prison. 
 
 This scene grieved the Dauphin, who much 
 regretted that he was not going to Saint-Cloud, 
 where he had expected to pass many happy hours. 
 On returning to his study, he tried to forget his 
 disappointment by reading. As chance would 
 have it, he took up a book entitled, T!he Children's 
 Friend, by Berquin. He opened it and started 
 with astonishment. The Abbe d'Avaux asked him 
 what was the matter. " Guess, monsieur Vabbi, 
 what title I read on opening my book ? 'Tis a 
 story called, ' The Little Prisoner ! ' " 
 
 The king soon felt obliged to beg the eccle- 
 siastics who offfciated in his chapel to leave him. 
 The rebels finally declared that the king and the 
 queen must go, on Easter Sunday, to the church 
 of Saint-Germain I'Auxerrois to hear mass said by 
 a priest, an intruder who had dispossessed the 
 venerable cur6, only guilty of obedience to his 
 vows. Madame Elisabeth, more fortunate, calm 
 and determined, caring naught for the threatening 
 placards directed against her person, repaired to 
 
LOUIS XYI. 
 
 (1791.) 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 33 
 
 the chapel of the palace, accompanied by Madame 
 la duchesse de Serent, her lady of the bedchamber, 
 who, faithful to her mistress, had hastened to 
 rejoin her ; this princess then heard mass said by 
 one of her chaplains. 
 
 Louis XVI, weary of so many insults, which 
 his patience only seemed to multiply, resolved to 
 free himself from this painful state of bondage. 
 He followed the example of one of his ancestors, 
 Charles V, who, having been kept prisoner in 
 Paris like himself, left the tyrant-ridden capital by 
 stealth. But Charles, more fortunate than Louis, 
 some time afterwards received a deputation from 
 the repentant Parisians, who, overcome with re- 
 morse, begged him to return to the capital. 
 
 The king's departure for Montmedy took place 
 during the night of June 20-21. Louis XVI 
 and Madame Elisabeth first left on foot by the 
 principal entrance to the palace ; the queen fol- 
 lowed them at a quarter before twelve o'clock ; 
 the Dauphin and Madame Royale, accompanied 
 by the marquise de Tourzel, preceded them and 
 waited for their Majesties during one hour on the 
 place du Petit-Carrousel. 
 
 The secret of their departure having been 
 betrayed, the carriage containing our unfortunate 
 sovereigns was stopped at Varennes by armed men 
 who were lying in wait for it. The king, by 
 order of the Assemblee, was brought back to Paris 
 under escort. During the monarch's absence, the 
 
 3 
 
34 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 Comites had decreed that as soon as their Majesties 
 arrived at the Tuileries, a warden was to be appointed 
 under the orders of the commander-in-chief of the 
 Paris garde nationale to watch over, and to be re- 
 sponsible for, the safety of his Majesty ; a special 
 guardian was also to be given to the heir-apparent; 
 the Assemblee later was to appoint a tutor for the 
 young prince. This decree, containing several other 
 provisions, was executed with the exception of the 
 article concerning the nomination of a tutor for 
 the Dauphin, a post which, we shall see, was for 
 long to occupy the attention of the Assemblee 
 nationale and of the, Legislative} 
 
 The details of the painful return to Paris of 
 the king and the royal family are well known. An 
 immense throng filled all the thoroughfares traversed 
 by the procession. The queen, the Dauphin, 
 Madame Royale, Madame Elisabeth, the marquise 
 de Tourzel and Barnave were seated in the king's 
 carriage. It is said that the calm courage displayed 
 by the royal family made such an impression upon 
 Barnave that, during the journey, he treated the 
 
 ^ Assemblie ligislative : an assembly composed of 745 members 
 who, according to the rules of the Constitution, could not belong 
 to the Assemblie nationale or constituante. This assembly lasted 
 from October i, 1791, until September 21, 1792. During the 
 first few months of its existence, it passed a decree condemning 
 the Imigris and refractory priests — which decree the king refused 
 to sanction. The ligislative, badly seconded by Louis XVI and 
 the ministers then in power, was finally obliged to give place to 
 the Commune de Paris, which then took the reins of government 
 into its own hands, — Translator's note. 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 35 
 
 young prince with the greatest respect and 
 kindness. 
 
 The carriages entered through the garden. 
 Several madmen wished to commit deeds of violence ; 
 the garde nationale restrained their fury. "As for me," 
 said M. Hue, " I arrived at the carriage door just 
 in time, and I held out my arms to receive my 
 master's son. M. le Dauphin was accustomed to me 
 as a sort of big playfellow, and hardly did he catch 
 sight of me when his eyes filled with tears. Al- 
 though I did my best to take the young prince in 
 my arms, an officer of the garde nationale seized 
 him, carried him into the palace, and placed him 
 on a table in the cabinet du Conseil. I entered the 
 apartment at the same moment. 
 
 " The king, overcome with fatigue, retired to 
 his own apartments, and his family imitated his 
 example. Just then an officer of the garde nationale 
 wished to seize M. le Dauphin for the second 
 time ; the king protested. This time by his 
 Majesty's orders, I took the young prince in my 
 arms and carried him to his apartment, where I 
 gave him in charge of Madame de Tourzel. 
 Hardly was M. le Dauphin in bed," adds M. Hue, 
 " when he called me. He wanted to tell me all about 
 his journey. ' As soon as we had reached Varennes,' 
 said he to me, ' they sent us back again — I don't 
 know why, do you ? ' As some of the officers of the 
 garde nationale were in the apartment, I represented 
 to M. le Dauphin the necessity of mentioning 
 
86 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 his journey to no one. Since that day he never 
 allowed himself to speak of it, at least not in the 
 presence of those whom he had reason to suspect. 
 But on rising the next day, M. le Dauphin told 
 me, in the presence of the guards placed in his 
 chamber by M. de La Fayette's orders, that he had 
 had a horrible dream, that he had dreamt that he 
 was surrounded by tigers and other wild beasts who 
 were trying to devour him. The guards looked 
 at each other but dared not utter a word. These 
 same guards, however, treated him with kindness 
 during all the time that they were in attendance 
 upon him." 
 
 This dream, alas ! was all too quickly realized. 
 
 After their return from Varennes, the royal 
 family found themselves virtually captives in the 
 hands of the tyrants. It was not until several 
 weeks had elapsed that the queen obtained permis- 
 sion to walk with the Dauphin ill the Tuileries 
 gardens. The Dauphin often turned his steps 
 towards the gallery of the Louvre adjoining the 
 palace. He loved to question the artists, and he 
 always listened to their replies with great attention. 
 The latter admired the young prince's beauty, his 
 noble carriage and his charming little speeches. 
 He particularly enjoyed trying to guess, with the 
 aid of knowledge gleaned during his lessons in 
 mythology and history, the subjects represented by 
 the pictures and statues. One day the Khhh d'Avaux 
 asked him the meaning of one of these paintings. 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 37 
 
 " I think that those persons are Pyramus and 
 Thisbe ; there is a blood-stained veil, but I can't 
 see any lioness." The celebrated Vien, who hap- 
 pened at that moment to be standing near the 
 Dauphin, said that several artists had already made 
 the same remark. 
 
 At last on September 3, the numerous guards 
 by whom the royal family were surrounded were 
 withdrawn, because on the morrow the constitu- 
 tional act, but lately completed, was to be presented 
 to the king for his acceptance. The Assemblee 
 having, in the preceding month of July, suppressed 
 all orders of knighthood, all decorations and marks 
 of distinction, now decreed that the king and the 
 Dauphin (as they then called the heir to the 
 throne) should alone wear the blue ribbon of the 
 Ordre du Saint-Esprit.^ 
 
 On September 14, his Majesty repaired to 
 the Assemblee and declared his willingness to accept 
 the new Constitution. During the president's 
 speech the crowd perceived the queen, the Dauphin 
 and Madame Royale seated in a box. The 
 applause bestowed upon the king was, upon several 
 occasions, directed towards the queen and the heir 
 to the throne. The names of the august family 
 were repeated on all sides. The hall re-echoed 
 with cries of joy and love inspired by their pre- 
 sence as well as by the hope of a happier future. 
 
 During the captivity of the king and queen, 
 ^ See note, page 18, 
 
38 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 the Abbe d'Avaux had been unable to give any 
 lessons to his pupil. One day, when the abbe had 
 begun to resume them in the queen's presence, the 
 young prince wished to commence with his gram- 
 mar lesson. " Gladly ! " answered his teacher ; 
 " your last lesson, if I remember rightly, was upon 
 the three degrees of comparison : the positive, the 
 comparative and the superlative. But you will 
 have forgotten everything." 
 
 " You are mistaken," replied the Dauphin, " I 
 will prove it to you. Listen : the positive is when 
 I say, ' My abbe is a kind abbf ; the comparative is 
 when I say, 'My abbe is kinder than another abb€^\ 
 the superlative," continued he, looking at the 
 queen, " is when I say, ' Mama is the kindest and 
 most amiable of all Mamas.' " 
 
 The queen, unable to restrain her tears, took 
 her son in her arms and pressed him to her heart. 
 
 The young prince, who had sometimes heard 
 the queen speak Italian, asked to be taught that 
 language. He showed such aptitude that his 
 teacher was enabled, in a very short time, to let 
 him read Telemachus in the original and converse 
 with his august mother. 
 
 Nevertheless this study did not prevent him 
 from making rapid progress in the Latin tongue. 
 We have seen several of his early translations and 
 exercises : at first each of the latter only consisted 
 of very short sentences. We noticed the following : 
 " True friends are useful to princes. I know a 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 39 
 
 prince who easily flies into a passion. Flatterers 
 are very dangerous to princes." During these 
 lessons, the tutor used to explain briefly the 
 meaning of the theme or apply it to recent 
 events. 
 
 At seven years of age, the august child was 
 well versed in arithmetic ; he was familiar both 
 with the elements of geometry and geography. 
 The celebrated Abbe Grenet, professor at the 
 Unkersite de Paris, had invented a hollow globe, 
 lit by a lantern which was placed inside ; it was 
 on this globe that the Dauphin took his geography 
 lessons. 
 
 During the year following the acceptance of 
 the Constitution, the Dauphin continued to study 
 with the same avidity with which he joined in the 
 games suitable to his age ; but, eager for in- 
 struction, he often asked his tutor as a reward to 
 be allowed to prolong the hours devoted to study. 
 
 The Dauphin had just attained the age of seven 
 years. At that age, according to a Court custom, 
 the royal child had to be confided to the care of a 
 governon The Assemblee Constituante had en- 
 deavoured, as we have already seen, to deprive the 
 king of the right to choose the person to whom the 
 education of the heir to the throne was to be en- 
 trusted. The leaders of the Assemblee legisjative 
 wished to keep the whole affair in their own hands 
 and to choose, as governor to the son of the royal 
 house of France, some one whose opinions would 
 
40 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 coincide with their own interests. Sieyes, Con- 
 dorcet and Petion were the most popular candidates 
 for this post. Several individuals, many of whom 
 were utterly unknown to fame and even vicious 
 and untrustworthy persons, likewise offered their 
 services. The publicity given to this ridiculous 
 list of candidates seems to have forced the Assemblee 
 to renounce its no less ridiculous claim. On April 
 1 8, 1792, a message from the king, read by 
 Duranthon, keeper of the seals, in the presence of 
 the Corps legislative^ announced that his Majesty 
 had nominated the chevalier de Fleurieu as 
 governor to the Dauphin. This unexpected news 
 disconcerted the leaders of the Assemblie. Later 
 on, we shall see how much truth is contained in an 
 anecdote recently published, in which it is stated 
 that the above-mentioned important post had been 
 promised by the king to a man who later earned 
 for himself an unfortunate celebrity. The king and 
 queen, however, still continued to superintend the 
 Dauphin'sjeducation ; not content with giving their 
 advice, they themselves set him an example of the 
 instability of fortune and of human grandeur. This, 
 no doubt, was their only pleasure, the only allevia- 
 tion to their anxieties amid the incessant riots and 
 insurrections which preceded the horrible events of 
 June 20. 
 
 This execrable day proved the sovereignty of the 
 populace in all its hideous, insolent reality. The 
 events of that day were directed against Louis XVI, 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 41 
 
 who, overwhelmed by the outrages committed on 
 his sacred person, seemed for a moment to cease 
 to be a king, without, however, ceasing, even for a 
 minute, to exhibit all the noble, imposing and 
 celestial qualities common to royalty. 
 
 While the rebels were taking possession of his 
 Majesty's apartment, the queen, seated in her own 
 chamber, held her children in her arms and bathed 
 them with her tears. Having learnt from M. 
 d'Aubier, one of the king's gentlemen-in-waiting, 
 the danger which threatened his Majesty, she 
 cried, " My duty is to die by the king's side." 
 Several persons, who were standing close by, 
 represented to her that her devotion would be 
 useless, that she would be murdered before she 
 could reach the king's apartment ; that, though 
 she was a wife, she was also a mother; and that 
 her children were in such a state of terror that she 
 could not possibly leave them. The queen was 
 about to yield to their entreaties, when a sudden 
 burst of angry voices made her rush towards the 
 door, crying to M. Hue, " Save my son ! " 
 
 " At these words," says that historian, " I took 
 the august child and carried him to Madame 
 Royale's apartment, sufficiently far removed to 
 prevent him from hearing the tumult. The young 
 prince, sobbing, asked what the king and queen 
 were doing. It was difficult for me to appear un- 
 concerned. Happily the princesse de Tarente, one 
 of the queen's ladies-in-waiting, now appeared and 
 
42 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 announced that her Majesty had at last retired to 
 her son's apartmeni I immediately carried the 
 Dauphin there. Hardly had Madame de Tourzel 
 given him into the queen's arms, when reiterated 
 blows were heard upon the door of the adjoining 
 room. At this noise I rushed towards a corridor 
 leading from the room in which the queen was 
 sitting to the king's bedroom. I opened the door, 
 the queen and her suite took refuge down this 
 passage, the entrance to which was so cleverly 
 hidden by the wainscoting that no one could have 
 suspected its existence. Hordes of rebels now 
 pressed forward into the room. In one moment 
 their hatchets demolished the panelling round the 
 secret door ; but although the wall was completely 
 stripped, they did not find the entrance to the 
 secret passage. Except for this mistake, the 
 queen's last refuge would have been most certainly 
 discovered. 
 
 '*A11 communication between the king and 
 queen being interrupted, they were for some time 
 unable to learn anything of their respective fates. 
 The king, utterly at the mercy of the insolent 
 populace, was forced to allow them to place upon 
 his head the infamous red cap, the head-dress and 
 rallying sign of the Jacobins. 
 
 " At last Bligny, one of the king's valets, escaped 
 from the apartment and went to fetch help, which 
 he found in -the persons of the devoted battalion of 
 the Filles-Saint-Thomas, ever steadfast in their 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 43 
 
 fidelity to their sovereigns. Already the grenadiers 
 of this battalion were flying, under the command of 
 M. de Boscary de Villeplaine, to the defence of 
 the royal family. They took possession of the 
 cabinet du Conseil and at last succeeded in quelling 
 the rebels. The people asked to see the queen. 
 Her Majesty appeared holding her children by the 
 hand and surrounded by the above-named persons 
 who, during the crisis, had never left her. The 
 table in the king's study served as a barrier to keep 
 the multitude from pressing round the queen. The 
 latter stood behind this table, having on her right 
 hand the Dauphin and on her left the princess, her 
 daughter, and surrounded by several members of the 
 garde nathnale, watched the rebels file past her. . . . 
 
 "To crown their insolence, they threw upon 
 the table the red cap, demanding that this disgusting 
 head-dress should soil the head of the Dauphin. 
 The queen having signed to me to yield to the 
 wishes of the multitude, I obeyed ; but M. de 
 Montjourdain, one of the officers of the battalion, 
 together with several commanders and members of 
 the garde nathnale, remarked that, on account of the 
 great heat, the young prince could not bear the 
 weight of such a heavy cap upon his head, so I took 
 it ofi\ 
 
 " Night was falling : it was more than time to 
 put an end to this long agony which had already 
 lasted five hours. The king, worn out by heat and 
 fatigue, was brought back to the cabinet du Conseil 
 
44 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 by a deputation from the AssembUe (who had finally 
 decided to come to the king's aid) and by the 
 garde nationale. He passed from this apartment 
 into his bedroom^ where he was joined by the royal 
 family. There he was able to give way to his 
 sorrow ; he clasped the queen, his children, and 
 Madame Elisabeth to his heart. What an affecting 
 scene ! 
 
 " Several deputies had crowded ' round the 
 Dauphin eager to ascertain his mental capacities 
 and to see how much he really knew. They 
 questioned him upon divers subjects, among other 
 things upon geography and the recent division of 
 France into departments and districts. The young 
 prince's apposite replies astonished his interlocutors. 
 
 " Amid all the horrible scenes enacted on that 
 day, the Dauphin, like Louis XVI, preserved that 
 calm exterior inseparable from innocence, and stood 
 motionless by the queen's side, gazing at the 
 brigands who were far more agitated than their 
 august victims. 
 
 " On the morrow the factionists tried to excite 
 the populace, as they had done on the previous 
 evening, by reminding them that this was the 
 anniversary of the monarch's flight and that they 
 must now make him pay for his desertion. The 
 drums beat to arms ; the queen immediately 
 hastened to join her son, who, when he saw her, 
 asked ingenuously, ' Mama, isn't yesterday over 
 yet ? ' Nt), unhappy prince, it was not over ; 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 45 
 
 that horrible day was only beginning, that horrible 
 day when you and your unfortunate family were to 
 be shut up in a prison only to be exchanged for the 
 tomb." 
 
 On July 14, the second y^ife of the Federation, 
 the king, followed by the Dauphin wearing the 
 uniform of the garde nationale, and accompanied 
 by the royal family, repaired to the ^cole militaire. 
 An ordinary carpet indicated the place reserved for 
 them. The effects of June 20 were noticeable 
 on every side, everything showed what a change 
 had been wrought in the hearts of the people by the 
 demagogues' manoeuvres : hardly a cheer was 
 raised ! Soon the federates finished their task of 
 perverting the mind of the capital, which honest 
 folk, always timid and fearful, hastened to desert 
 and to abandon to the anarchists. Songs full of 
 insolent and scandalous allusions to the king and 
 queen mingled with threats against the royal family. 
 Insurrections and riots became more frequent ; at 
 last, on August 3, Petion appeared at the bar of 
 the Assemblee and demanded the dethronement of 
 Louis XVI. 
 
 In dethroning the king, this insolent mayor and 
 the men of his party wished to give the crown to 
 the Dauphin, in whose name they intended to 
 govern by means of a Conse.il de regence chosen by 
 themselves. Petion was convinced that he would 
 be chosen as regent or chief of the Conseil de regence. 
 " I can see," said he in the very hall of the 
 
46 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 Assemblee after having read the famous petition, 
 " I can see that the regency will devolve to me ; 
 I am powerless to prevent it from so doing." 
 Petion's conduct caused the king great pain. " If 
 my person is distasteful to them," he humbly said, 
 " I am willing to abdicate." 
 
 It is probable that, according to M. Hue, if the 
 king had consulted only his own inclinations, he 
 would have gladly consummated the sacrifice, 
 but he feared, by abdicating, to compromise the 
 Dauphin's rights and to bring down even greater 
 evils upon his family and upon his kingdom.. 
 
 Of the fearful catastrophe of August lo, we 
 will only retrace those circumstances directly con- 
 nected with our subject. During that horrible 
 night, the queen, more fearful for the safety of the 
 king and of her children than for her own person, 
 continually passed to and fro between the apart- 
 ments of the king and the other members of her 
 family, trying to calm and reassure them. Between 
 four and five o'clock in the morning, while the 
 queen and Madame Elisabeth were in the cabinet 
 de Conseil, M. de la Chenaye, one of the leaders of 
 the band, entered, " To-day," cried he to the two 
 princesses, " to-day will be your last day on earth. 
 The people have got the upper hand. What 
 bloodshed there will be ! " 
 
 " Sir," replied the queen, " save the king, save 
 my children ! " 
 
 The queen immediately hastened to the 
 
MEMOIRS UPO]^ LOUIS XVII 47 
 
 Dauphin's room. The young prince awoke ; 
 his smiles and kisses somewhat softened his 
 mother's affliction. " Mama," said the Dauphin, 
 kissing the queen's hands, " why should they hurt 
 Papa ? He is so kind I " 
 
 We know that the king, by Rcederer's per- 
 fidious advice, had consented, notwithstanding his 
 reluctance, to take shelter in the Assemblee, and to 
 submft, together with the queen, in order to avoid 
 a greater crime, to humiliations more bitter than 
 death itself.^ The unfortunate sovereigns started at 
 nine o'clock in the morning ; they traversed several 
 rooms in which many true Frenchmen and faithful 
 nobles were waiting to defend their Majesties. 
 With streaming eyes, trembling for the danger 
 which threatened their sovereigns, the courtiers 
 gathered round the king, and begged to be allowed 
 to follow him and the royal family. 
 
 " You will cause the king's death ! " said 
 Rcederer. 
 
 " Remain here," commanded his Majesty. 
 "We shall soon return," added the queen, 
 trying to reassure them. 
 
 Even the Dauphin, in all his youthful charm 
 and beauty, tried his powers of persuasion upon 
 his subjects and his devoted courtiers. He 
 went up to one of them, M. de Saint-Priest by 
 name, and said, "Stay here. Papa and Mama 
 command you to stay here, and I beg you to 
 do so ! " 
 
48 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 Precautions were immediately taken in order 
 to protect, by a military escort, the royal family 
 during their journey from the palace to the 
 AssembUe nationale. The members of the Par- 
 liament, with Roedtrer at their head, formed a 
 circle round the king, the queen and the royal 
 family. The king walked alone somewhat in 
 advance ; the queen held the Dauphin by his 
 left hand while Madame de Tourzel held his 
 right hand. Then came Madame Royale and 
 Madame Elisabeth. A few faithful servants and 
 an escort formed of the garde nationale and several 
 Suisse s completed this mournful procession. 
 
 The king, accompanied by the infuriated 
 populace, reached the salle of the AssembUe with 
 great difficulty and took up his position by the 
 president's side, while the queen and the royal 
 family sat down in the ministers' benches. A 
 horrible-looking man, wearing a sapper's uniform, 
 named Rocher, who had been abusing the king in 
 the coarsest terms, snatched the Dauphin from the 
 queen's arms and carried him to the bureau. A 
 few minutes later, the king and his family were 
 taken to a closet belonging to the editor of a 
 newspaper entitled the Logographe. The prin- 
 cesse de Lamballe and the marquise de Tourzel 
 accompanied them. 
 
 The heat in this closet, which was only eight 
 feet square by ten feet high, was suffocating. This 
 and many other horrors endured by the royal family 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 49 
 
 constituted one of the cruellest trials ever borne by 
 human creatures. 
 
 During this disastrous day, the anarchists caused 
 the Assemblee to declare, in their Majesties' very 
 presence, the convocation of a Convention nationale ^ 
 
 ^ Convention nationale : a political assembly which succeeded to 
 the Assemhlie Ugislative and lasted from September 2i, 1792, 
 until October 26, 1795. This assembly had been convoked 
 after the insurrection of August 10, 1792, and the fall of Louis 
 XVI. It proclaimed, on the occasion of its first meeting, the 
 Republic, and impeached the king, who was guillotined January 
 21, I795. It soon saw itself threatened by a coalition of all the 
 sovereigns in Europe ; this event was very nearly fatal to France. 
 
 The Convention was composed of the Girondins, moderate 
 republicans, and the Montagnards, who professed more advanced 
 opinions. This assembly instituted the Tribunal rivolutionnaire 
 and the Comith de Salut public et Sureti gMrale. 
 
 The Montagnards having got the upper hand, the Girondins 
 were forced to fly into the provinces, where many of them perished 
 by the guillotine. At the same time the frontiers of France were 
 invaded by Austrian, Prussian, Spanish and Pi^montais troops. 
 The Convention immediately decreed that steps should be taken to 
 repulse the invaders, and passed sentence of death upon the imigris 
 who, by their perfidious treachery, had caused such a state of 
 affairs. 
 
 The Reign of Terror was now proclaimed. Owing to the 
 bravery of the French soldiers under Carnot's leadership, France 
 once more beheld her frontiers free from any imminent danger, 
 and was even able to take the offensive. 
 
 Unfortunately, further dissensions among the members of the 
 Convention hastened the end of this assembly, which, although it 
 lasted until the 4th brumaire, an III (October 26, I79S)> 
 virtually ended with the fall of Robespierre (July 28, 1794). 
 
 Among the valuable institutions which France owes to the 
 Convention we may mention the Institut, Ecole polytechnique, Ecole 
 normale supirieure, Conservatoire des arts et metiers, Uniti des Poids 
 et mesures, etc. — Translator's note. 
 4 
 
50 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 and the temporary cessation of the king's authority ; 
 he and his family were to remain as hostages ; a 
 project was to be presented that same day for the 
 nomination of a governor for the royal prince, 
 together with other equally insulting proposals 
 which,, with the exception of the three first, were 
 never put into execution. As to the precautions 
 taken to insure the safety of the royal family and 
 the protection of their habitations, all these were 
 scandalously neglected. 
 
 Condorcet, whom the revolutionists had ap- 
 pointed as governor to the Dauphin, hastened to 
 draw up a fallacious address in which the Assemblee 
 informed Europe of the strange resolutions made 
 by its members and invited the nation to form a 
 Convention nationale and thus to decide the fate of 
 France. 
 
 It was not until one o'clock in the morning 
 that the king was allowed to leave the closet in 
 which he had spent sixteen horrible hours. No 
 one had been able to obtain any nourishment; a 
 little fruit and some eau de groseilles supplied by a 
 neighbouring cafe was all they could procure. 
 
 Overcome with heat, fatigue and want of sleep, 
 the Dauphin dozed in his mother's arms ; it was 
 a touching sight to behold that innocent creature 
 surrounded by noisy regicides. 
 
 During the day they had prepared a lodging 
 belonging to the architect of the salle des seances ; 
 the royal family were conducted thither. This 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 51 
 
 lodging formed part of the former Couvent des 
 Feuillants ; it consisted of four cells communicating 
 with each other. The first of these served as an 
 anteroom ; the king slept in the second ; the third 
 was occupied by the queen and Madame Royale, 
 while the fourth was for the Dauphin and Madame 
 de Tourzel ; lastly, Madame Elisabeth and the 
 princesse de Lamballe shared, in the same corridor, 
 an apartment separated from these four rooms ; 
 numerous soldiers guarded the doors. 
 
 The palace having been pillaged, the members 
 of the royal family found themselves without linen 
 or food. The duchess of Sutherland, wife of the 
 English ambassador at the Court of France, having 
 a son of the same age as the Dauphin, sent the 
 young prince all he could want in the way of 
 clothing. 
 
 On August 13, the day fixed for the king's 
 removal to the Temple, the procession started off 
 at five o'clock in the afternoon. The king, the 
 queen, the Dauphin, Madame Royale, Madame 
 Elisabeth, the princesse de Lamballe, the marquise 
 de Tourzel and Mile. Tourzel her daughter, took 
 their places in the first carriage. They were 
 escorted by a huge multitude formed of cannibals, 
 furies and men armed with divers weapons. Dur- 
 ing this mournful journey, threats and oaths were 
 heard on all sides. The royal family, overwhelmed 
 with grief, did not reach the Temple until nightfall. 
 
 On their arrival, the illustrious victims were 
 
52 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 first taken to that part of the Temple called the 
 palace: there they found themselves bereft of 
 every comfort. There was not a single kind of 
 privation which the tyrants did not inflict upon 
 them ; the state of the necessary objects furnished 
 to the royal family was such that M. Hue was 
 obliged to use torn sheets for the Dauphin's bed. 
 While the barbarians of the Commune^ were pre- 
 paring to convert the principal tower, not only 
 into a prison, but into the most frightful abode 
 imaginable, the king and the royal family con- 
 tinued to inhabit the palace during the daytime; 
 at night their Majesties, together with their attend- 
 ants, were shut up in the small tower. 
 
 Louis XVI slept on the second floor. The 
 queen and Madame Royale occupied a room on 
 the first floor ; the Dauphin, Madame de Tourzel, 
 
 ^ Commune de Paris : this commune, which was organized 
 after the taking ot the Bastille (July 14, 1789) and took the 
 place of the former town-council, held its meetings at the Httel 
 de Ville. By the decree of May 21, 1790, the Commune de 
 Paris was divided into 48 sections with a mayor at the head of 
 a£&irs, together with 16 guardians, a municipal council composed 
 of 32 members, a general council of 96 notables, a procurator- 
 syndic and two substitutes. The mayor Bailly, having given 
 offence by his moderation and secret sympathy for monarchy, was 
 replaced in 1791 by Pdtion. The Commune rivolutionnaire was 
 established after the insurrection of August 10, 1792, and quickly 
 became a very powerful institution. The real leaders of the 
 Commune, Robespierre, Danton, Billaud-Varennes, etc., organized 
 the Comitk de Surveillance, of which Sergent and Panis were two of 
 the most active agents. The Commune lasted until the fall of 
 Robespierre, July 27, 1794. — Translator's note. 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 53 
 
 his governess, and Madame Bazire, the prince's 
 waiting-woman, were lodged in a side room, while 
 the princesse de Lamballe slept in a sort of ante- 
 room. Opposite the king's chamber a room, 
 originally intended for a kitchen and still contain- 
 ing the necessary cooking utensils, served as a 
 lodging for Madame Elisabeth and Mile, de 
 Tourzel. 
 
 During the night of August 19-20, two 
 municipal officers came, by order of the Commune, 
 to the tower and removed the princesse de Lam- 
 balle, the marquise de Tourzel and Mile. Pauline, 
 her daughter. The queen, her children and 
 Madame Elisabeth, overwhelmed with horror of 
 the present and with fears for the future, held 
 these faithful friends in their arms for several 
 minutes ; forced at last to separate, they bade each 
 other a sorrowful farewell. 
 
 MM. Hue and Chamilly, together with other 
 persons in the service of the royal family, were 
 likewise removed from the Temple. A few days 
 later, however, M. Hue was brought back to wait 
 upon the king. Clery, whom the king wished 
 to wait upon the Dauphin, in whose service he 
 had been for some years, was likewise taken into 
 the tower on that same night. 
 
 Louis XVI not only found consolation in 
 exercising his religious duties, but he also found 
 much pleasure in superintending his son's educa- 
 tion. The hours devoted to study, recreation and 
 
54 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 repasts were carefully regulated. The king usually 
 arose about six o'clock, when his valet used to go 
 to the queen's chamber, where he proceeded to 
 dress the prince. 
 
 At nine o'clock the queen, her children and 
 Madame Elisabeth went up-stairs to breakfast in 
 the king's room. 
 
 At ten o'clock the king descended to the 
 queen's apartment, where he spent the rest of the 
 day. He then gave his son instruction in the 
 Latin tongue, and in history and geography. The 
 queen, for her part, occupied herself with Madame 
 Roy ale's education. 
 
 At one o'clock, when the weather was fine, 
 the royal family used to go into the garden. 
 During the walk, the young prince would play 
 at ball or quoits, run races or indulge in some 
 other game suitable to his age. The prisoners 
 were not allowed to walk in the garden during 
 Sanson's absence. The Dauphin, accustomed to 
 fresh air and plenty of exercise, suffered much 
 from this privation. 
 
 At two o'clock the whole family went up into 
 the tower for dinner. After this repast, they 
 repaired to the queen's chamber, where their 
 Majesties played a game of backgammon or 
 piquet; this was the Dauphin and Madame Royale's 
 playhour. Their games were a source of sweet 
 consolation to the king and queen. 
 
 At four o'clock the king used to take a short 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 55 
 
 rest, while the princesses sat round him read- 
 ing. Perfect silence always reigned during his 
 slumbers. , . . 
 
 As soon as the king awoke, Clery gave the 
 young prince writing and arithmetic lessons. He 
 then took him to Madame Elisabeth's room, 
 where he played either at ball or at battledore 
 and shuttlecock. 
 
 At nightfall the royal family would gather 
 round the table while the queen and Madame 
 Elisabeth by turns read aloud some historical work 
 or a favourite book. This pastime usually lasted 
 until eight o'clock. 
 
 The Dauphin's supper was then served in the 
 presence of the royal family. The king, in order 
 to amuse his children, used to make them guess 
 riddles chosen from back numbers of the Mercure 
 de France. 
 
 The Dauphin was then put to bed. The 
 queen or Madame Elisabeth always sat by the 
 Dauphin's bedside while the king was supping.- 
 Having finished his repast, his Majesty immedi- 
 ately repaired to his son's room. After receiving 
 his children's kisses and giving his hand to the 
 queen and Madame Elisabeth as a sign of farewell, 
 the king retired for the night. 
 
 The princesses then occupied themselves with 
 their tapestry-work. The queen and Madame 
 Royale were often obliged to leave this pleasant 
 employment in order to mend their own clothes. 
 
56 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 and those of the king and the Dauphin. Madame 
 Elisabeth, on several occasions, was forced to 
 spend part of the night in repairing his Majesty's 
 garments. 
 
 Shortly after the king's entry into the Temple, 
 a municipal ofEcer, formerly master of a Parisian 
 boarding-school, now commissary to the Commune, 
 gave M. Hue a note in which he asked to be 
 nominated tutor to the Dauphin, and begged the 
 faithful servitor to speak to the king in his favour. 
 His Majesty happening to appear just at that 
 moment, Thomas (for that was the petitioner's 
 name) swore fidelity to the king's cause, and 
 expressed his indignation at the daily insults 
 showered upon his Majesty's head by several of 
 his unworthy colleagues. " I should demean my- 
 self," said the king, "if I appeared to feel their 
 treatment. If God ever allows me to resume the 
 reins of government, they will see that I know 
 how to forgive." The municipal officer seized 
 this opportunity to produce his petition. " For 
 the present," replied the king, " I am quite 
 competent to continue my son's education." 
 
 The Dauphin was seven and a half years old 
 when he was first shut up in the Temple. In 
 order to make him familiar with our poetry, the 
 king taught his son to recite numerous passages 
 from Corneille and Racine. He also showed him 
 how to draw maps to help him in his geography 
 lessons. The prince's precocious mind eagerly 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 57 
 
 responded to the king's loving care. Clery declares 
 that his memory was so wonderful that he could 
 indicate the departments, districts, towns and rivers 
 on a map covered by a sheet of paper, M. Hue 
 explains his Majesty's method of teaching geo- 
 graphy ; the king first marked on a sheet of 
 parchment the boundaries of the different depart- 
 ments and the position of the mountains, rivers 
 and streams ; the Dauphin then added the names. 
 This was how the king taught his son the new 
 geography of France. 
 
 The Temple Ubrary was not rich in educational 
 works. The king doubtless regretted the valuable 
 books upon geography and chronology, and especi- 
 ally the herbarium which M. de la Borde, formerly 
 head valet to Louis XV, had delighted in preparing 
 for the education and amusement of the Dauphin. 
 This herbarium would have served not only to 
 instruct the Dauphin, but it would have afforded 
 many a pleasant hour to the royal family. These 
 valuable objects had been destroyed or stolen from 
 one of the royal apartments in the palace during 
 the events of August lo. 
 
 One day the Dauphin, while receiving his 
 Latin lesson, mispronounced rather a difficult 
 word ; the king did not scold him. One of the 
 commissaries then present had the impudence to 
 remark in a rough tone to his Majesty, "You 
 ought to teach that child to pronounce better than 
 that ; at the rate things are going on, he will 
 
58 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 probably have to speak on more than one occasion 
 in public." 
 
 " You are quite right," replied the king gently ; 
 " but he is very young, and I think we ought 
 to wait until time and habit have loosened his 
 tongue." 
 
 They were obliged to discontinue the arith- 
 metic lessons. A municipal guard, having noticed 
 that the royal pupil was learning the multiplication 
 tables, declared that he was being taught to speak 
 and write in ciphers. The Conseil general de la 
 Commune, upon this man's denunciation, forbade 
 all instruction in arithmetic. 
 
 The municipal officers were so touchy upon 
 this subject that when, on September 2, M. Hue 
 was removed for the second time from the tower 
 of the Temple, one of the chief crimes imputed 
 to him by the Conseil general de la Commune was 
 that he had employed hieroglyphics in order to 
 facilitate correspondence between the king and 
 queen. These characters, as M. Hue explained, 
 were simply a book of arithmetic tables which he 
 was in the habit of placing every evening upon 
 the Dauphin's bed before retiring to rest, so that 
 the young prince might prepare for the king's 
 lesson before taking his first breakfast. 
 
 On September 3, Mathieu repaired to the 
 Temple. He cried to the king in an angry tone, 
 " They are beating to arms, the tocsin has been 
 rung ; the enemy are at Verdun, We shall all 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 59 
 
 perish, but you shall be the first to die." The king 
 listened with the greatest calmness. The terrified 
 Dauphin burst into tears and ran into the next 
 room ; the queen and Madame Royale could with 
 difficulty console him : he thought that his august 
 father had fallen a victim to the anger of the 
 infuriated municipal officer. 
 
 That same day, another commissary appeared 
 uttering horrid threats ; he also said, " If the 
 enemy approach, the royal family must perish ; I 
 pity the Dauphin, but as he is the son of a tyrant 
 he, also, must perish." 
 
 Clery describes the tortures inflicted upon 
 Louis XVI by the horrible Rocher, now turnkey 
 in the Temple ; we quote the following anecdote 
 from his memoirs : 
 
 " One day, during supper, numerous cries were 
 heard, ' To arms ! to arms ! ' The municipal 
 guards and the gaolers thought that the enemy had 
 arrived. The horrible Rocher, with blazing eyes, 
 grasped his sword and cried to the king, ' If they 
 come, I shall kill you ! ' This alarm had been 
 caused by the arrival of several patrols whose 
 commanders had mistaken the password." 
 
 However, the horror of the persecutions endured 
 by the royal family was sometimes softened by marks 
 of fidelity and compassion. One of the municipal 
 officers on guard for the first time in the Temple, 
 entered just as Louis XVI was giving a geography 
 lesson to his son. The Dauphin, on being asked 
 
60 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 in what part of the world Luneville was situated, 
 replied with a smile, "In Asia/' The commissary 
 noticed the mistake and said to the young prince, 
 " What ! don't you know where your ancestors 
 reigned ? " The king was delighted with this 
 remark. The queen began to converse in a low 
 tone with the commissary; she concluded by saying, 
 " Our misfortunes would be easier to bear if your 
 colleagues resembled you." 
 
 Although the members of the royal family were 
 permitted to walk in the garden, their pleasure 
 often became a veritable torture owing to the 
 insults showered upon them by the horrible gaolers 
 of the Temple. The king and queen might have 
 escaped this humiliation by remaining in the tower, 
 but their beloved children needed fresh air. During 
 these few minutes of liberty, they loved to watch 
 the innocent gaiety so natural to children of tender 
 years, so strangely contrasting with this melancholy 
 spot. For their children's sake, their parents daily 
 endured, without complaining, the cruellest insults. 
 
 This brief hour of recreation afforded another 
 touching spectacle to the royal family. A number 
 of faithful subjects, by placing themselves at the 
 windows of the houses situated near the Temple, 
 hastened to profit by these few moments in order 
 to behold their king and queen ; it was impossible 
 to mistake their meaning and their wishes. Clery, 
 on one occasion, thought that he had recognized 
 the marquise de Tourzel ; her marked desire not to 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 61 
 
 lose sight of the young prince whenever he wan- 
 dered any distance from his august parents caused 
 him to believe that he had guessed aright. He 
 mentioned this observation to Madame Elisabeth. 
 On hearing Madame de Tourzel's name, th« 
 princess, who thought that the marquise had 
 perished among the victims of September 2, 
 could not restrain her tears. " What ! " cried she, 
 " is she still alive ? " 
 
 Among the persons who came every day to the 
 vicinity of the Temple in order to catch a glimpse 
 of the royal family, we must also mention M. Hue, 
 who, after having spent nearly a fortnight in the 
 dungeons of the Commune in daily expectation of 
 death, had been liberated. Longing to re-enter the 
 Temple, not only did he apply to Petion, but he 
 determined to see Chaumette, at that time pro- 
 curator-syndic to the Commune; he received abetter 
 reception than he had dared to expect. This vain 
 man, who firmly believed that he had been chosen 
 by Providence to govern France, made some grave 
 confessions to M. Hue concerning the treachery of 
 many persons in the king's service who, in reward 
 for their information, received daily sums of one or 
 more louis payable in gold. In referring to the 
 royal family, Chaumette displayed some interest in 
 the Dauphin's fate. " I want," said he, " to give 
 him a good education ; I shall take him away from 
 his family, so that he may forget his exalted rank. 
 As to the king, he will perish. The king loves 
 
62 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 you. ..." At these words M. Hue could not 
 restrain his tears. Notwithstanding this courteous 
 reception, Chaumette turned a deaf ear to the 
 faithful servitor's request. 
 
 On September 29, while the king was 
 preparing after supper to leave the queen's apart- 
 ment in order to retire to his own, six municipal 
 oiEcers who, that very morning, had confiscated 
 all his Majesty's pens, ink, paper, pencils, etc., 
 appeared and read an order to him stating that he 
 was to be transferred to the principal tower of the 
 Temple. Although prepared for this event, the 
 king was deeply grieved. The queen, the Dauphin, 
 Madame Royale and Madame Elisabeth sought to 
 guess from the expression upon the conimissaries' 
 faces the real meaning of this sudden change of 
 residence. The king bade farewell to his terror- 
 stricken family ; this separation, harbinger of other 
 misfortunes, constituted one of the cruellest moments 
 which their Majesties had yet passed in the Temple. 
 
 On the morrow, Clery having followed the 
 king to his new prison, obtained permission to 
 fetch some books from the queen's chamber ; he 
 found the august family overwhelmed with despair. 
 Tears glistened in every eye; sighs and groans were 
 heard on all sides. Their cries were not utterly 
 useless ; the Cerberus in charge of the weeping 
 family allowed them to meet that day for dinner. 
 
 This particular order was never mentioned 
 again. The royal family continued to meet at 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 63 
 
 meal-time, as well as during their walks, and the 
 king was allowed to pursue his son's education 
 uninterrupted. 
 
 The queen anxiously awaited the hour when 
 she would be able to inhabit the apartment then 
 being prepared for her in the principal tower. 
 But this arrangement did not please the guards, 
 for they envied her one of her sweetest consola- 
 tions, that of having her son by her side ; they 
 envied her for being able to take care of him, to 
 find in his kisses a solace for her sorrows ; they 
 asked, and obtained, permission from the Gonseil 
 general de la Commune to deprive her of the 
 Dauphin, whom they restored to the king. This 
 separation took place at the end of October ; the 
 queen had received no warning ; we may imagine 
 her terrible grief. 
 
 The king was now lodged in the principal 
 tower, the royal family's new abode ; a bed was 
 placed for the Dauphin in his Majesty's room, 
 which was on the second floor. The queen, 
 Madame Royale and Madame Elisabeth occupied 
 the third floor.^ 
 
 1 The queen's apartment occupied the third floor of the 
 principal tower. As it consisted, like the other floors, of one big 
 room, it had been divided, by wooden partitions and imitation 
 canvas ceilings, into four small rooms. On entering an anteroom 
 one saw three doors leading to three different rooms. Opposite 
 to the entrance was the queen's room with Madame Royale's bed 
 in one corner j the window, grated and screened by a shutter 
 through which one could only see the sky, looked towards the rue 
 
64 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 Since their Majesties had been once more 
 united in the tower, the hours given to repasts, 
 
 du Temple. From Madame Elisabeth's window one could see 
 the rue de la Corderie ; the third room, looking in the rue de 
 Beaujolais, was occupied by the woman Tison. In the anteroom, 
 the walls of which were covered with a paper resembling freestone, 
 were some chairs and a walnut-wood table, together with a couch 
 for the use of any member of the Commune on duty on the "women's 
 floor." The paper in Marie Antoinette's room was adorned 
 with green and red disks. The furniture consisted of a four-poster 
 with green damask curtains, a coverlet, three mattresses, including 
 a hair mattress, a bolster and a quilt of Marseilles work, a mahogany 
 chest of drawers with a marble top and a toilet mirror, a sofa with 
 two cushions, a large mahogany folding-screen and two tables de 
 nuit. Madame Royale's bed consisted of a bedstead with head 
 and foot boards, three mattresses, a bolster, and two cotton quilts. 
 The second window in this room, looking into the rue de la 
 Corderie, had been blocked up and hidden by a mantelshelf 
 ornamented with a mirror and a clock representing — oh ! irony of 
 fate ! — Fortune overturned. The corner turret, papered like the 
 room, served as a cabinet for the queen and Madame Royale. The 
 paper on the walls of the rooms occupied by Madame Elisabeth and 
 the woman Tison was yellow. The furniture was much plainer ; 
 the king's sister slept in an ordinary iron bedstead adorned with 
 curtains in toile de Jouy lined with green taffeta, three mattresses, 
 a feather bed, a bolster, and a coverlet of Marseilles work ; a chest 
 of drawers in veneered wood with a marble top, a walnut-wood 
 table, two chairs, two arm-chairs covered with chintz completed 
 the furniture of this room ; a mantelshelf and mirror were placed 
 against the window looking towards the rue de Beaujolais. The 
 turret had been adapted as a garde-robe. Tison's room was 
 furnished in a similar manner. All these details concerning the 
 furniture are taken from two inventories, one of which was drawn 
 up upon the entry of the royal family into the great tower, 
 October 23, 1792, and the other, January 19, 1793 ; both these 
 documents are preserved at the Archives Nationaks (carton E, 6206). 
 Consult also Beauchesne, Louis XFII (vol. i.), Chantelauze, and 
 Curzon, Le Logis du Temple. 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 65 
 
 reading or exercise, as well as the hours devoted to 
 the education of the Dauphin and Madame Royale, 
 had undergone but slight alteration. After dinner, 
 the young prince and his sister used to play 
 either at battledore and shuttlecock or at skittles. 
 Madame Elisabeth usually seized this opportunity 
 to converse with Clery or to give him her orders. 
 The Dauphin and Madame Royale, at Madame 
 Elisabeth's suggestion, indulged preferably in noisy 
 games so that her conversation with Clery might 
 not be overheard ; when the municipal guards ap- 
 proached, the children used to warn her by signs. 
 The playfulness and roguish tricks of this august 
 child often helped the king and queen to forget that 
 they were prisoners. His conduct and his speech 
 were remarkable for tact and prudence seldom seen 
 in so young a child. Never was he heard to 
 mention the 'Tuileries, or Versailles, or any object 
 which might have reminded the king and queen 
 of sad memories or caused them painful regret. 
 One day, while he was gazing at a municipal guard 
 whom he said he recognized, the fellow asked him 
 where he had seen him. The young prince, fearing 
 to grieve the king, steadily refused to answer ; at 
 last, leaning towards the queen he whispered, 
 " We saw him during our journey to Varennes." 
 
 In the month of November, the king's face 
 became very swollen ; ^ he asked to be allowed to 
 
 1 This malady, which attacked all the members of the royal 
 family, was probably the mumps. — Translator's note. 
 5 
 
66 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 see his dentist ; they refused. Fever attacked 
 him ; he was then permitted to consult M. Mon- 
 nier, his chief physician. The king's illness lasted 
 ten days. Shortly afterwards, the young prince, 
 who slept in his Majesty's room, and whom the 
 municipal guards had refused to transfer to the 
 queen's chamber, was attacked by the same fever. 
 The queen's anxiety was greatly increased by the 
 fact that she was not allowed, notwithstanding her 
 earnest entreaties, to pass the night by her son's 
 bedside. 
 
 Her Majesty, together with Madame Royale 
 and Madame Elisabeth, were soon attacked by the 
 same malady. 
 
 Clery, in his turn, also fell ill. The Dauphin 
 vied with his august family in their efforts to 
 bestow care and attention upon their valet. The 
 Dauphin hardly ever left his bedside and gave him 
 to drink with his own hand. Such kindness soon 
 restored this useful servitor to health and strength, 
 and he recovered ; but he never forgot the follow- 
 ing act of thoughtfulness. One day during his 
 convalescence Clery, having put the Dauphin to 
 bed, retired in order to make room for the queen 
 and the two princesses who had come to kiss the 
 august child in his bed and to bid him good-night. 
 Madame Elisabeth, having been prevented from 
 speaking to Clery by the presence of the municipal 
 guards, profited by this occasion to slip a little 
 box of ipecacuanha lozenges into the Dauphin's 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 67 
 
 hand, at the same time begging him to give them 
 to his valet upon his return. The princesses then 
 went up to their own rooms, the king retired to 
 his study and Clery went to his supper. About 
 eleven o'clock he returned to the king's room in 
 order to prepare his Majesty's bed. Clery was 
 much surprised to find the child still awake ; fear- 
 ing that he was unwell, Clery asked him why he 
 had not been to sleep yet. " Because my aunt 
 gave me a little box for you," he answered, " and 
 I did not want to go to sleep until I had given it 
 to you ; you've only just come in time, for my 
 eyes have already closed several times." The next 
 moment the Dauphin fell fast asleep. 
 
 When, on December 31, Louis XVI was 
 dragged before the bar of the Commune^ the 
 Dauphin was again placed in his mother's charge. 
 
 That day was one of the saddest in the king's 
 whole existence. At five o'clock in the morning 
 the drums all over Paris began to beat to arms. 
 Shortly afterwards, the garden of the Temple was 
 invaded by cavalry and guns. Clery informed his 
 Majesty of the reason for these preparations. He 
 went up-stairs with the Dauphin to breakfast in the 
 princesses' apartment. The queen, who had like- 
 wise been informed of the cause of all this com- 
 motion, pretended not to notice it. But the con- 
 tinual presence of the municipal officers prevented 
 the royal family from giving way to their fears just 
 at the time when they were most anxious. At ten 
 
68 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 o'clock they were obliged to separate ; their mutual 
 glances expressed the thoughts their lips dared not 
 utter. The Dauphin descended as usual with his 
 father. At eleven o'clock, while the king was 
 giving his son a reading-lesson, two municipal 
 guards came to fetch the young prince in order to 
 take him into the queen's chamber. The king 
 wished to know the reason of this sudden departure; 
 the commissaries replied that they were obeying an 
 order from the Conseil de la Commune. His Majesty 
 tenderly embraced his son and told Clery to take 
 him away. This servitor, on his return, informed 
 him that he had given the young prince into the 
 queen's arms. The king seemed reassured. He 
 then sat down in an arm-chair and, leaning his head 
 upon one of his hands, became absorbed in his 
 reflections. The municipal guard upon duty in 
 the Temple that day now entered. 
 
 " What do you want ? " cried the king in a loud 
 voice. 
 
 " I was afraid that you were unwell." 
 " I thank you," replied his Majesty very sadly. 
 " But it is extremely painful to me to be deprived 
 of my son." 
 
 The mayor Chambon, who was to conduct him 
 to the Commune, did not arrive until one o'clock. 
 Among other things, the king said to him, " I 
 could have wished, sir, that the commissaries had 
 left my son with me during the two hours I have 
 been waiting for you." 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 69 
 
 As soon as the monarch had been escorted 
 back to the Temple, he asked to be taken to his 
 family ; this consolation was refused. " But at 
 least," cried the king, " my son may pass the night 
 with me, for his bed and his clothes are here." 
 The child's kisses would have softened his bitter 
 grief. His Majesty, notwithstanding his entreaties, 
 could obtain no answer and was obliged to await 
 the Commune s decision. The Dauphin passed that 
 night and the following nights upon a mattress in 
 the queen's chamber. After four days of anxiety 
 and reiterated entreaties, the king received notice 
 to the effect that, " The queen and Madame 
 Elisabeth were to hold no communication with 
 the king during his trial ; that his children might 
 visit him if he wished, but only on the condition 
 that they were not to see their mother and their 
 aunt until after the last examination." Having 
 read this fiat, the king said to Clery, " You see in 
 what a cruel predicament they have placed me ! 
 As for my daughter, it is impossible ; as for my son, 
 I realize how such a proceeding would grieve his 
 mother. I must consent to this fresh sacrifice." 
 Thus Louis XVI, ever generous, even at the ex- 
 pense of his dearest affections, would not separate 
 the children from their mother whom, alas ! he 
 was only to behold once more, and under what 
 circumstances ! 
 
 On Sunday, January 20, at two o'clock in the 
 afternoon, the members of the Conseil executif 
 
70 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 presented themselves before the king. The minister 
 of justice, Garat, with his hat on his head, acted 
 as spokesman. After hearing the fatal decree, 
 Louis XVI asked to be allowed to see his family in 
 private and without any witnesses. It was necessary 
 to obtain the Convention's consent ; the reply came 
 at six o'clock. The municipal guards, however, 
 objected, and declared that the Commune had com- 
 manded them never to let the king out of their 
 sight. It was finally decided, in order to conciliate 
 both parties, that the king was to receive his family 
 in the dining-room, so that the guards could watch 
 his movements through the glass window fixed in 
 the wooden partition, but that the door was to be 
 closed so that he might not be overheard. 
 
 At half-past eight o'clock at night, the royal 
 family descended to the king's apartment ; the 
 queen appeared first, holding her son by the hand ; 
 then came Madame Roy ale and Madame Elisabeth. 
 They flung themselves into the king's arms. A 
 mournful silence, only broken by long-drawn sighs, 
 reigned for several minutes. The queen wished to 
 take the king aside. " No," said the king, " let us 
 go into this room; I may only see you there." 
 They entered and Clery closed the glazed door. 
 The king sat down, with the queen on his right 
 hand, Madame Elisabeth on his left and Madame 
 Royale opposite to him ; the Dauphin stood leaning 
 against the king's knee. Every one was in tears ; 
 they mingled their sobs and cries ; the princesses. 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 71 
 
 leaning towards the king, embraced him several 
 times. At last, worn out with weeping, their tears 
 ceased to flow. They now only spoke in whispers. 
 The commissaries, standing behind the gla2ed door, 
 listened eagerly, but in vain ; they could hear 
 nothing. They saw, however, that whenever the 
 king spoke, the princesses' sobs redoubled, lasted 
 for several minutes, and then ceased when the king 
 began to speak again. It was easy to see that he 
 had informed them of his condemnation. 
 
 During this painful scene, whichlasted one hour 
 and three-quarters, this child, born to occupy a 
 throne but who was only to inherit his father's 
 misfortunes and his crown of martyrdom, pressed 
 his Majesty in his trembling arms, covered his 
 hands and his clothes with kisses, and hiding his 
 face in his father's lap, shed bitter tears. The 
 barbarous guards saw the unhappiest of monarchs 
 bless his unhappy children ; they saw them em- 
 brace each other ; they witnessed their speechless 
 agony. 
 
 At a quarter-past ten o'clock the king and his 
 family rose from their seats : Clery opened the 
 door ; the queen was embracing the king's right 
 arm, their Majesties each held one of the Dauphin's 
 hands ; Madame Royale, on the left, was clasping 
 the king round the waist, while Madame Elisabeth, 
 on the same side but more in the background, had 
 seized her brother's left arm ; they moved towards 
 the door uttering groans and piercing cries which 
 
72 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 must have been audible outside the walls of the 
 tower. 
 
 " I assure you," said the king to them, " that I 
 will see you to-morrow morning at eight o'clock." 
 " Do you promise ?" they repeated with one 
 voice. 
 
 " Yes, I promise." 
 
 " Why not at seven o'clock .? " asked the queen. 
 
 " Very well, then : yes ! at seven o'clock," 
 replied his Majesty. 
 
 He uttered his adieux in such a touching 
 manner that their sobs redoubled. Madame 
 Royale, who had been clasping the king in her 
 arms, fell fainting at his feet. Clery raised the 
 princess and helped Madame Elisabeth to support 
 her. The king, anxious to put an end to this 
 heartbreaking scene, found courage to tear himself 
 from his wife's arms, and to bid farewell to his 
 sister and to his children, whom he tenderly em- 
 braced. " Adieu ! adieu ! " cried he and re-entered 
 his room. 
 
 On the following day, January 21, a day 
 ever to be regretted, the king said to Clery in a 
 piteous tone, " I am going to ask that you may be 
 allowed to stay with my son ; take care of him in 
 this fearful abode. Remind him, tell him how 
 I grieved for the misfortunes which he is now 
 obliged to endure. One day, perhaps, he will 
 reward your devotion." 
 
 The royal family had passed the night in the 
 

 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 73 
 
 greatest consternation. With terror-stricken hearts 
 they awaited this last interview. Heedless for 
 aught but the dictates of his own heart, the king 
 wished to keep his promise to the queen. But M. 
 I'abbe de Firmont,^ his Majesty's confessor, begged 
 the king not to allow the queen to undergo this 
 fearful ordeal, as she would be unable to bear it. 
 " You are right, sir," said he, " it would kill her ; 
 it were better to deprive myself of this sad consola- 
 tion and to let her live in hope for a few more 
 minutes." 
 
 A few moments later, the king called Clery 
 and said to him, " Give this seal to my son . . . 
 and this ring to the queen ; tell her that it grieves 
 me to part with it. . . . This little packet contains 
 the hair of all the different members of my 
 family, you will give her that also, . . . Tell the 
 queen, tell my dear children and my sister, that 
 I had promised to see them this morning, but 
 I wanted to spare them the sorrow of such a cruel 
 parting : how painful it is to me to have to leave 
 them withoi^t receiving their last kisses ! . . ." 
 
 His Majesty wiped away a few tears and 
 re-entered his study. Just as he was about to leave 
 the prison, he turned towards the municipal guards, 
 
 ' The I'abbd Edgeworth de Firmont, an Irish priest, who assisted 
 Louis XVI during his last moments. After many unsuccessful 
 attempts to escape, he finally left France and joined Louis XVIII 
 at Mittau, where he eventually died from a fever contracted while 
 tending some French prisoners of war. — Translator's note. 
 
74 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 saying, " Gentlemen, I should like Clery to stay 
 near my son, who is accustomed to him ; I hope 
 that the Commune will accede to my request." 
 
 At nine o'clock in the morning, the ominous 
 sound of rolling drums announced that the king 
 was about to be removed from the Temple. The 
 queen, bathed in tears, besought the commissaries 
 to allow her to go down-stairs, so that she might 
 embrace the king for the last time : they replied 
 that they had received no orders to that effect. 
 
 Monsieur was at Ham, in Westphalia, when 
 on January, 28, 1793, he heard the frightful news 
 of the death of his august brother. His Royal 
 Highness was " overcome with horror when he 
 learnt that the greatest criminals the world has ever 
 known had just crowned their numberless sins by 
 the most horrible of all crimes." ^ 
 
 He wrote to the French refugees then dwelling 
 in foreign lands and informed them that he had 
 taken the title of Regent, a title he was authorized 
 to assume, by right of birth, during the minority of 
 Louis XVII, his nephew, and that he had bestowed 
 on Monsieur le comte d'Artois the title of lieu- 
 tenant-general of the kingdom. His royal highness 
 the regent accordingly issued that same day a 
 Declaration and Letters-Patent ; these were printed 
 in Paris by Crapart, and thousands of copies 
 distributed all over France. The regent also 
 announced the deplorable event to the different 
 
 ^ Termes de la Diclaration de Son Altesse Royale. 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 75 
 
 European Courts. The empress of Russia, 
 Catherine II, hastened to recognize in the person 
 of Louis XVII the rightful heir to the throne of 
 France. Nearly all the other Powers imitated her 
 example. Meanwhile the royal family in the 
 Temple were so deeply plunged in grief that they 
 had become almost insensible to their own mis- 
 fortunes and to the coarse treatment accorded 
 them by Tison and some of the barbarous 
 gaolers of Louis XVI. Maternal love finally 
 prev iled in the queen's heart ; the thought 
 that she owed herself to her children gave 
 her courage and even hope. 
 
 From that moment, the unhappy queen, con- 
 centrating all her thoughts upon the Dauphin and 
 Madame Royale, devoted herself entirely to con- 
 tinuing their education. " Madame Elisabeth 
 assisted the queen ; she loved her brother's children 
 with a mother's love. Notwithstanding the 
 paucity of works necessary for their education, the 
 latter was not neglected : the two princesses' mental 
 resources were more than adequate to the task ; 
 not a single moment of the day was lost ; the very 
 games were designed for a useful end. It was 
 impossible to see, without feeling touched, the 
 young king scarcely eight years old, leaning on a 
 little table, attentively reading the history of France, 
 then repeating what he had just read, and eagerly 
 listening to his mother and his aunt's remarks. 
 The most ferocious commissaries could not help 
 
76 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 feeling some emotion, though, to tell the truth, 
 they soon blamed themselves for their weakness." 
 
 The queen thanked heaven that her enemies had 
 left her this one consolation for her misfortunes. 
 Ever generous, ever magnanimous, she excused her 
 persecutors ; she forgave them and wished her 
 children to forgive them. She made the young 
 king promise that, if he ever recovered his regal 
 authority, he would imitate his father's clemency. 
 This excellent prince could never consider his 
 enemies except as men who had been deceived and 
 led astray, less by their own passions than by the 
 crimes which engender great revolutions and which 
 few people are sufficiently virtuous to withstand. 
 
 Some of the municipal guards, deeply touched 
 by the sad fate of the queen, the young king and 
 the royal family, formed a plan to liberate them 
 from the Temple. Toulan, one of the men who 
 showed the greatest zeal and rendered the most 
 valuable services to these illustrious victims during 
 their sojourn in the temple, was the first to con- 
 ceive this bold scheme, which he submitted to the 
 queen. But her Majesty wished that this scheme 
 might be examined first of all by one of her most 
 faithful servitors, M. le chevalier de Jarjaye, 
 formerly brigadier-general (now lieutenant-general), 
 to whom Louis XVI had often confided important 
 secret missions. Toulan, the bearer of the queen's 
 message, waited upon this officer. 
 
 After several interviews, M. de Jarjaye said that 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 77 
 
 he thought success was possible, but he considered 
 that it was absolutely necessary to confide the 
 secret of this perilous undertaking to a second com- 
 missary on duty in the Temple, and that M. Lepitre 
 was the only suitable person. 
 
 When M. de Jarjaye had arranged the pre- 
 liminaries of this plan of escape, and when he had 
 caused a suit of men's clothes and other garments to 
 be made for the queen and Madame Elisabeth, the 
 commissaries smuggled these different clothes into 
 the tower. The princesses, wearing tricoloured 
 scarfs and provided with free passes such as the 
 municipal officers possessed, were to leave the 
 tower in these disguises. 
 
 Great difficulties lay in the way of rescuing 
 Madame Royale and especially the Dauphin, who 
 was very carefully guarded ; however, a plan was 
 invented. A man was employed every morning 
 to clean the lamps and to light them at night ; he 
 was usually accompanied by two children who 
 helped him in his work ; he always left the Temple 
 before seven o'clock. It was therefore arranged 
 that, after his departure and when the sentinels had 
 been relieved, one of Toulan's friends, a zealous 
 royalist, was to enter the Temple by means of a card 
 like those given to the workmen employed in the 
 building, go up into the queen's chamber carrying 
 his tool-chest under his arm, and receive the 
 children from Toulan, who was to scold him 
 because he had not attended to the lamps ; having 
 
78 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 descended with the children, he was to leave the 
 Temple and take them to the appointed place of 
 meeting. 
 
 Three cabriolets ^ had been prepared for the 
 journey. The queen and the young king were to 
 get into the first with M. de Jarjaye. Madame 
 Royale was to be escorted in the second by M. 
 Lepitre, and Madame Elisabeth was to occupy the 
 third with Toulan. The whole affair had been 
 arranged in such a manner that the gaolers would 
 be unable to pursue the fugitives until five or six 
 hours had elapsed after their departure. The pass- 
 ports being in order, would give them no trouble 
 on the road. 
 
 At first it had been settled that the fugitives 
 were to seek shelter in la Vendee, which was 
 beginning to rise in revolt ; but the distance 
 appeared too great and the difficulties too numerous. 
 It seemed easier to reach the coast of Normandy, 
 and from there to get taken over to England. M. de 
 Jarjaye, who had a boat at his disposal on the coast 
 near Havre, decided that this was the wisest plan. 
 " M. de Jarjaye," says M. Lepitre, " declared that 
 he would see to everything, that he had the 
 necessary means, and that we could depend upon 
 his talents and zeal, which were proof against 
 everything." 
 
 We recommend our readers to read in M. 
 Lepitre's Souvenirs, the account of all the 
 1 Cabriolet : a hackney carriage. 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 79 
 
 precautions taken tp insure success to this plan of 
 escape. The latter was to have taken place in the 
 beginning of March, when an insurrection, planned 
 intentionally, occasioned the pillage of the sugar 
 and coffee warehouses in the capital, and caused, 
 without any reason, the barriers to be closed, and 
 all passports to be suspended for a time. 
 
 The escape of the august prisoners, and 
 especially that of the young king, who, as we have 
 already said, was most carefully guarded, was 
 rendered by this and subsequent events impossible. 
 The queen's escape did not present the same 
 difficulty ; therefore M. de Jarjaye determined to 
 beg this princess, whose life was in imminent 
 danger, to profit by the resources still remaining to 
 her, and to escape from her tormentors. 
 
 Toulan, whose marvellous zeal and courage we 
 cannot sufficiently praise, who acted as messenger 
 between her Majesty and M. de Jarjaye, was 
 charged to place before the queen all the details 
 concerning this new scheme. This time Toulan, 
 who was to act alone, was to smuggle the queen 
 out of the Temple and to conduct her to a certain 
 spot where the princess would find M. de Jarjaye, 
 who, for his part, was to take precautions to insure 
 the safety of this unfortunate queen. 
 
 Her Majesty approved this plan ; everything 
 had been arranged. But on the eve of the day 
 chosen for her departure, the queen, unable to bear 
 the thought of parting with her children and 
 
80 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 Madame Elisabeth, wrote to M. de Jarjaye a letter 
 which we have seen, written entirely by her 
 Majesty's own hand, and which M. Chauveau- 
 Lagarde, the defender of the queen and Madame 
 Elisabeth, first published in his Note historique sur 
 les proces des deux princesses. 
 
 Here is this wonderful letter, word for word 
 with the original : " We have dreamt a beautiful 
 dream. That is all. But we have gained much, 
 for this episode has shown that we were wise to 
 place our confidence in you. You will ever find 
 me dignified and courageous ; but my son's welfare 
 is all important to me. Though I might have 
 rejoiced to leave this prison, I could not consent 
 to leave him. Without my children, I could enjoy 
 nothing. I do not even regret my resolution." 
 
 After having made this decision, fearing that 
 the queen would soon be deprived of all means of 
 communicating with her family, her Majesty and 
 Madame Elisabeth begged M. de Jarjaye, in the 
 beginning of May, to send to Monsieur and to 
 Monseigneur le comte d'Artois the seal, ring and 
 packet containing the hair of the royal family, 
 which the king, shortly before his departure from 
 the Temple, had instructed Clery to carry to the 
 queen. Towards the end of March 1793, the 
 queen and Madame Elisabeth confided this precious 
 trust to M. de Jarjaye, who, in the beginning of 
 May, had the good fortune to send these objects to 
 Monsieur, who was then at Ham in Westphalia. 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 81 
 
 On March 26, Toulan and M. Lepitre had 
 been denounced before the Conseil general de la 
 Commune on account of their behaviour to the 
 royal family. Hebert demanded that they should 
 be dispossessed of their office. They therefore 
 ceased to be numbered among the commissaries 
 charged to watch over the prisoners in the Temple. 
 Some time afterwards the unfortunate Toulan paid 
 with his head his noble devotion t-o the royal 
 family. 
 
 These diffisrent plans for escape had not been 
 concerted without awakening Tison's suspicions. 
 This gaoler, accustomed to use the most shocking 
 language in his conversation with the commissaries 
 whom he knew to be villains, feigned a certain 
 amount of pity in the presence of those whom he 
 considered honest and kind-hearted, Eind even went 
 so far as to rave about the young king's charming 
 qualities. This was how this crafty, cruel man 
 endeavoured to worm himself into the secrets of 
 the municipal guards and to discover their real 
 opinions. 3ut although the princesses were upon 
 their guard against his machinations, although 
 Madame Royale, during her mother's absence, 
 always remained in one of the turrets with her 
 brother, so that the prince, who was still very 
 young, might not involuntarily commit some in- 
 discretion, and thus give Tison cause to suspect 
 any plot, the latter hastened to denounce them 
 before the Conseil general de la Commune. 
 
82 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 It was on April 19 that this villain and his wife 
 accused the queen and Madame Elisabeth of 
 " having bribed several municipal ofBcers to keep 
 them informed of current events, provide them 
 with newspapers and help them to communicate 
 with their absent friends." On the morrow, 
 Hebert, ever the implacable enemy of the royal 
 family, hastened to the Temple in order to make a 
 thorough search, which operation lasted until four 
 o'clock in the morning. The young prince was 
 asleep ; they dragged him out of bed that they 
 might examine his mattress and even his clothes. 
 The result of this vexatious visit was the discovery 
 of a stick of sealing-wax. 
 
 From that moment the royal family lost all 
 hope. The Commune now only sent to the Temple 
 commissaries who were known for their severity. 
 A wall was erected in the garden and shutters were 
 placed before all the windows. Even greater 
 precautions were taken when it was known that 
 Dumouriez had gone over to the Austrians, that 
 his soldiers had deserted and that the Prussians had 
 been successful. In the month of May the young 
 prince fell ill. The queen asked the Conseil geniral 
 to send M. Brunyer, the royal children's physician, 
 in whom she had great confidence, to see the sick 
 child. Her Majesty's request was refused. At 
 the end of four days, the illness having increased, 
 the prison doctor was sent to the Temple. The 
 queen and Madame Elisabeth nursed the king and 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 83 
 
 never left him night or day, as they had done 
 when, after the death of Louis XVI, Madame 
 Royale fell ill and, owing to want of proper 
 medical advice, suffered much from swollen limbs. 
 Certain newspapers had revealed the fact that the 
 princesses treated Louis XVII as the king of 
 France, that the ro.yal family went every morning 
 to salute him and to render to him all the homage 
 due to royalty. These and many other rumours 
 circulated by the Jacobins drew people's attention 
 to what was going on in the Temple. Some time 
 after this, the section du Finistere (faubourg Saint- 
 Marceau) asked that the other Parisian sections and 
 the rural cantons might assemble in order to draw 
 up an address to be sent to the Convention demand- 
 ing that the queen and Madame Elisabeth should 
 be tried, and that sure measures should be taken to 
 prevent Louis XVII succeeding to his father's 
 throne. 
 
 The struggle between the Jacobins and the 
 Girondins left neither party any leisure to attend 
 to these demands. However, after May 31, the 
 Jacobins, now masters of the battlefield, hastened 
 to examine the numerous denunciations which 
 they themselves had uttered against the royal 
 family. Events accelerated the execution of their 
 sinister plans. 
 
 Some time before these events took place, 
 LuUier, attorney-general to the Commune, confided 
 to the deputy Herault de Sechelles that, owing to 
 
84 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 his position, he had been able to ascertain the ex- 
 istence, not only in the provinces but even in the 
 Convention itself, of a considerable party in favour 
 of the young prince ; that, when this party had 
 grown sufficiently powerful, Louis XVII was to be 
 rescued from the Temple and presented to the 
 people holding in his hand the Constitution of 179 1 . 
 H^rault de S^chelles hastened to publish this secret 
 to the whole world. 
 
 It is true that schemes were made to restore 
 the throne to Louis XVII, and in justice we must 
 confess that several members of the Convention 
 hoped to reestablish the former monarchy on its 
 original foundations. But how many factionists 
 only feigned to support these schemes in order to 
 win over to their own side the still numerous 
 friends of royalty, to crush rival factions and to use 
 the young king and the queen, his mother, to 
 further their own ambitions ! These divers 
 schemes served, at least, as a pretext to the leaders 
 of the revolution (who mutually accused each 
 other of royalism) to send their brethren to the 
 scaffold. We will not interrupt our account of 
 the young king's personal history by relating details 
 of clumsy plans concerted with the nominal aim of 
 rescuing the young prisoner ; we will only mention 
 those schemes which, by awakening terror in the 
 hearts of the anarchists, influenced the fate of the 
 young king and the august prisoners in the Temple. 
 
 One of the most remarkable of these schemes 
 
LOUIS XYII. 
 At the age of Eight. 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 85 
 
 was a certain plan divulged by Cambon, agent for 
 the Comite de Salut public^ in the presence of the 
 Convention, ]\i\y 13, 1793. After a lengthy state- 
 ment concerning the condition of France, the 
 deputy said, " We are in an extremely awkward 
 position ; the whole Republic is in ebullition, the 
 southern and western towns are arming in order 
 to effect what they are pleased to term the re- 
 establishment of order and the punishment of the 
 guilty, etc." He then concluded as follows : 
 
 " A few days ago some officers from a Parisian 
 section came to the Comite and denounced a plot 
 whereby the son of Louis XVI was to be abducted 
 on July 1 5 and proclaimed king under the title of 
 Louis XVII. General Dillon, together with twelve 
 other officers, was to be placed at the head of the 
 conspirators' army ; the authors of this plot were to 
 repair to the different Parisian sections and to take 
 possession of as many of them as possible under the 
 pretext of combating the anarchists and re-establish- 
 ing order ; they believed that they could count 
 upon sixty persons in each section ; that the first 
 thing to be done would be to spike the guns, to 
 
 ^ Comiti de Salut public : a committee originally composed of 
 nine and later of twelve members, instituted April 6, 1793, by a 
 decree from the Convention nationale ; for nearly a whole year it 
 enjoyed unlimited authority in France until^ it was replaced in 
 1795 by the Direct aire. 
 
 The Comiti de Silreti gknhale, also instituted in 1793, was 
 charged to denounce to the tribunal rivoluttonnaire all the con- 
 spiracies and plots to weaken the latter's power. — Translator's note. 
 
86 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 seize the muskets stored in the guard-houses, and to 
 assemble on the place de la Revolution ; the con- 
 spirators were then to separate into two columns, one 
 of which was to march along the boulevards and 
 seize the young Louis, and the other was to repair 
 to the Convention and force its members to proclaim 
 him king ; Marie- Antoinette was to be proclaimed 
 regent during his minority ; the authors of this 
 revolution were to form the king's bodyguard and 
 to be decorated with white watered-silk ribbon 
 badges bearing an inverted eagle and these words, 
 ' Down with anarchy ! Long live Louis XVII !'" 
 
 Cambon added that after the denunciation of 
 this and other similar plots, the Comite had caused 
 Dillon to be arrested, together with the principal 
 authors of this scheme ; the general had admitted 
 that certain persons had proposed to him that he 
 should put himself at the head of a band of indivi- 
 duals who were anxious to support the efforts of 
 the departments and to give the upper hand to 
 " honest folks," but he had denied the existence of 
 any plot to give the crown to Louis XVII. 
 
 Lastly, Cambon concluded his statement by 
 announcing that, in consequence of this informa- 
 tion, the Comite had signed, on July i, a mandate 
 declaring that the son of Louis XVI was to be 
 separated from his mother and his family, and to 
 be given into the charge of a tutor nominated by 
 the Conseil gineral de la Commune. This mandate 
 was approved by the Convention. 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 87 
 
 The queen was totally unprepared for this 
 terrible separation. At the time of the king's 
 death she had feared that he might be taken away 
 from her ; but as he had been left for the last six 
 months in her charge, she had begun to hope that 
 her tormentors would not deprive her of this dear 
 child. 
 
 On July 3, at ten o'clock at night, six com- 
 missaries from the Commune came to inform her 
 Majesty of the fatal decree ordering the transfer of 
 the son of Louis XVI to another part of the tower. 
 The queen refused to give her consent to such a 
 proceeding, and earnestly entreated that her son 
 might be left in her care. She placed herself in 
 front of the bed in which the child was lying, and 
 strove to defend him against the attacks of the 
 municipal guards. Madame Royale and Madame 
 Elisabeth, equally terrified by this separation which 
 presaged still more ominous measures, covered 
 with their kisses the unhappy prince who had 
 taken refuge in his mother's arms. The whole 
 family shed torrents of tears; they even stooped 
 so low as to beg humbly for a little pity; but 
 nothing could soften the hard hearts of the com- 
 missaries who, probably, had never possessed any 
 tender feelings. They were in a hurry to go ; 
 they threatened to fetch the soldiers on guard to 
 help them to obtain possession of the child. 
 Obliged to yield to force, the queen and the 
 trembling princesses dressed the young prince. 
 
88 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 When they were about to drag the child away, 
 the queen, kissing him for the last time, said to 
 him : " Remember, my son, remember a mother 
 who loves you ; be good, gentle and virtuous." 
 It would almost seem as if, when the queen re- 
 commended him to be virtuous and gentlp, she 
 foresaw that he would have need of these qualities 
 in order to tame the tiger charged to watch over 
 him. At last the commissaries tore the young 
 prince from the queen's arms ; she begged that she 
 might be allowed to see her son again, if only 
 during meal-time ; they scarcely deigned to reply 
 to her prayers; the barbarians knew very well 
 that she would never again behold her child ! . . . 
 Separated from all whom he loved on earth, 
 the young Louis refused to take any nourishment; 
 for two days and nights he wept without ceasing. 
 He never ceased to ask for his mother, his sister 
 and his aunt. To whom did he address his 
 prayers ? . . . To the infamous Simon,^ on whom 
 
 ^ Many historians of the royalist party, including Eckard, 
 represent Simon as a perfect fiend. Recent authorities, however, 
 declare that the touching scenes quoted by their confrlres were 
 invented and that Simon, although rough and brutal in his manner, 
 did not go so far as to martyr the Dauphin. M. Len6tre has 
 written an interesting article upon the prince's tutor in his Vieilles 
 Maisons, vieux Papiers (edited by Perrin, Paris), from which some 
 of the following details are quoted, Antoine Simon, born at 
 Troyes in 1736, the son of a butcher, came to Paris while still 
 very young. Having being apprenticed to a shoemaker, he obtained 
 his lettres de maitrise ; but either by ill-luck or by his own fault, 
 he only vegetated and remained a mere cobbler in miserable 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 89 
 
 the Commune had bestowed Ithe title of tutor, 
 to that drunken shoemaker, Robespierre's protege, 
 
 circumstances. In November 1766 he married the widow of a 
 master-shoemaker, Fr^d6ric Munster by name ; this woman brought 
 him her first husband's stock-in-trade as her dower. As business 
 did not prosper, the shoemaker purchased a cheap eating-house 
 situated in the rue de Seine, where he lived from hand to mouth, 
 reduced to borrow money and to have recourse to many other 
 expedients imtil, his goods having been seized, he was obliged to 
 leave the rue de Seine for a tiny lodging in the rue des Cordeliers, 
 on the second floor of a house adjoining the Ecole de Mkdecine, 
 
 Simon was then forced to resume his former trade of cobbler, 
 and in order to buy the necessary materials and implements, he 
 endeavoured to borrow money from his step-daughter ; on her 
 refusal he pawned, at the Mont de Piki, two gold watches and 
 the clothes of his wife, Marie-Barbe. The latter fell ill soon 
 afterwards and died in the HStel Dieu, March ii, 1786. Things 
 prospered no better with the shoemaker, now a widower ; he was 
 now without any resourtes, no one would give him credit ; wher- 
 ever he went he was besieged by duns. 
 
 However, a few months later, Marie-Jeanne Aladame, char- 
 woman to Madame Fourcroy, consented to share his miserable 
 existence, and on May 20, 1788, married Antoine Simon in the 
 church of Saint-C6me. Simon vv'as then fifty-two years of age ; 
 his wife was forty-three. Antoine Simon was a tall, rough-look- 
 ing individual, with broad shoulders, lank, black hair and dark 
 skin ; but he was not considered a bad fellow by his neighbours. 
 As to Marie-Jeanne, born in Paris, the daughter of a carpenter 
 who died while she was still a child, her big features gave her 
 a harsh appearance-; but she was a good creature and an excellent 
 housekeeper. She owned a small annuity which had been left to 
 her by the wife of a wine-merchant as a reward for long and 
 feithful service. 
 
 The newly-wedded pair then left Simon's lodging in order to 
 set up in the rue des Cordeliers, on the third floor of one of those 
 old houses, still in existence, behind the statue of the celebrated 
 conventionnel Danton. The shoemaker now found himself in the 
 
90 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 well worthy of such a monster's protection. A 
 few days after this cruel separation had taken place, 
 
 very centre of the revolutionary circle. Marat, Danton, Fabre 
 d'Eglantine, and Camille Desmouliris were his neighbours; and 
 when the storm burst, they were all gathered together in the 
 section des Cordeliers. So when Danton was nominated minister, 
 August lo, 1791, honours were showered on the club and Simon 
 came in for his share : he was appointed commissary of the Com- 
 mune provisoire. From that moment, having nothing to lose, he 
 flung himself headlong into the rushing, boiling stream. On 
 September 2, 1792, he was sent with Michonis to try and stop 
 the massacres at .Bic^tre and at the Salpitrihe ; his intervention, 
 however, was unsuccessful. On September i, 1792, he drew 
 up the inventory of the papers and property of the prisoners in 
 Orleans, which prisoners were massacred while passing through 
 Versailles. 
 
 Marie- Jeanne helped in a more peaceful manner to further the 
 cause of new opinions by caring for the federates from Marseilles, 
 wounded during the events of August 10 and installed, in her 
 own neighbourhood, in the Convent des Cordeliers, which had been 
 converted into a hospital on that occasion. The wounded soldiers 
 declared her to be a courageous and devoted nurse ; and when she 
 asked the Convention to repay her for the tisanes and other remedies 
 which, owing to the smallness of the subsidy allowed to her, she 
 had been obliged to buy with her own funds, Chaumette and the 
 Marseillais declared that her demand was quite justified and helped 
 her to obtain satisfaction. It was probably while she was nursing 
 the " brave federates " that the woman Simon made the acquaint- 
 ance of Marat, who was a doctor in the same Hipital des Cordeliers. 
 Perhaps this was the first link in the chain of events which gave 
 the Simons their comfortable post in the Temple. Chaumette 
 must also have had a large share in the shoemaker's nomination 
 as tutor to the Dauphin. This scheme to turn the Dauphin into 
 a little democrat by purging him of all his aristocratic leaven, by 
 having him educated by the very plebeian and very vulgar Simon, 
 is certainly very conformable to the character and ultra-democratic 
 principles of Anaxogaras Chaumette, in other words Gaspard 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 91 
 
 Drouet, Chabot and other commissaries from the 
 Comite de Surete genirale repaired to the Temple, 
 
 ! — 
 
 Chaumette. On the other hand, Chaumette had been nominated 
 prosecutor to •the Commune in December 1792, and had therefore 
 charge of the prisoners in the Temple. He needed a staunch 
 patriot to guard the royal child, a guardian whom the ever- 
 wakeful conspirators would be unable to corrupt ; all these cir- 
 cumstances tend to prove that the esteem enjoyed by the woman 
 Simon in the HSpital des Cordeliers was a valuable factor in the 
 fortunes of the worthy couple. 
 
 It was on July 3, 1793, that Marie-Jeanne and her husband 
 took their places in the coach which had come to convey them to 
 the H&tel de VUle, where they were to receive confirmation of their 
 nomination to the Temple. This was an unexpected stroke of 
 good luck, and the change from a sordid lodging to a comfortable 
 abode on the second floor of the Temple was more than they 
 had ever dared hope for. With food and lodging free, Simon 
 received, as tutor to the young prince, the sum of 6,000 livres ; 
 his wife, for her share in taking care of the child, received 4,000 
 livres. Simon probably profited by this post to indulge in his 
 favourite pastimes, such as gambling, and his equally favourite 
 drinking bouts. A brawler, like every born drunkard, naturally 
 coarse by birth and by education, he must have made the Dauphin 
 suffer more by his presence and rough manners, than by actual 
 deeds of cruelty ; on different occasions, he even showed a certain 
 amount of solicitude for his pupil. Be this as it may, Simon, for 
 some unexplained reason, notwithstanding all his advantages and 
 the poverty which he knew was in store for him if he gave up this 
 post, soon wearied of his rSle of gaoler. This change of living 
 had also affected the health of Marie- Jeanne, for in the beginning 
 of December 1793 she suffered from congested liver. At last a 
 decision passed by the Commune forbidding plurality of functions 
 obliged Simon to choose between his post as member of the Con- 
 seilginiral de la Commune and that of tutor to the Dauphin. Was 
 Simon carried away by his enthusiasm for civism or, knowing 
 that several plots had been made to rescue the prisoners in the 
 Temple, did he fear for his own head ? However, he gave in his 
 
92 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 less to prove, as they declared, that the rumours 
 of Louis XVIFs escape were false, than to satisfy 
 
 resignation, and on January lo, 1794, left the Temple. During the 
 whole' day long, Marie-Jeanne, still suffering from a recent attack 
 of asthma, dragged her goods and chattels down those steep stairs. 
 At nine o'clock at night, the couple left the Temple for the last 
 time. During their stay, the Dauphin had been comparatively 
 happy ; his keepers had allowed him to run and play about his 
 room as well as in the gardens. Simon had had a little billiard- 
 table brought for him ; a case of mechanical birds also helped to 
 amuse him ; and in order to prevent him feeling the separation 
 from his sister, they had even found a little companion pf his own 
 age, the daughter of the washerwoman Clouet. The commis- 
 saries Chabot and Drouet, charged to ascertain the presence of the 
 young prince, noticed no signs which could make them think that 
 he had been subjected to ill-treatment. Dr. Thierry, who attended 
 the child and paid him seventy-seven visits, would have noticed 
 any bruises or marks of blows if the Dauphin had really been 
 ill-treated by his keepers. During two short illnesses the woman 
 Simon had nursed him with the greatest care and devotion. It 
 was under these conditions that the tutor gave his pupil into the 
 charge of the commissaries from the Convention ; the fact is proved 
 by an extract from the Moniteur, at that time the official news- 
 paper. 
 
 On leaving the tower of the Temple,, the Simons did not 
 return to their lodging in the rue des Cordeliers, but we find them 
 installed in an apartment, consisting of two rooms and a kitchen, 
 in a house adjoining the Temple and looking into the stable-yard 
 of that building. Simon, no doubt as a reward for his zeal and 
 devotion to civism, was nominated, on April 6, 1794, inspector 
 of army baggage-wagons, a post which he did not occupy for very 
 long, for in the month of July he returned to the section des Cor- 
 deliers and hired two rooms in the former Convent des Cordeliers 
 still keeping his lodging in the Temple and his apartment in the 
 rue des Cordeliers, as proved by the seals affixed to these three 
 domiciles on his death (G. Len6tre). Finally, a fortnight after his 
 removal to the Cordeliers, the storm of the 9th thermidor burst 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 93 
 
 themselves in what manner the orders of the Comite 
 de Salut public had been executed, and to give private 
 instructions to Simon and to thp other keepers 
 on the treatment to be accorded to the son of 
 Louis XVI and to the princesses. 
 
 The anarchists saw by the events at that time 
 taking place all over France that their reign of 
 tyranny was almost at an end. The Austrians took 
 possession of Conde, Valenciennes, and other places. 
 Caen and several towns in the west of France now 
 only acknowledged the young king's claims and 
 refused to obey the Conveniion ; la Vendee was 
 becoming more and more formidable. Lyons out- 
 lawed the montagnards ; and Toulon, proclaiming 
 Louis XVII king of France and Navarre, joyfully 
 surrendered to the English. 
 
 We can imagine the impression made by these 
 events upon the minds of the Constitutionneh whose 
 hands still reeked of the blood of Louis XVI. The 
 president of the Assemblee, the ferocious Billaud- 
 Varennes who, owing to the above ominous events, 
 
 and swept Simon away. He was arrested at the section des Cor- 
 deliers and executed the following morning. 
 
 A year later Marie-Jeanne, then in a very bad state of health, 
 inherited the shoemaker's humble fortune. Thanks to the surgeon 
 Naudin, she was permitted as a favour to remain at the Cordeliers. 
 At last, on April 12, 1796, she was admitted to the Hospital for 
 Incurables in the rue de Sevres (now the HSpital Laennec). The 
 sisters of Saint Vincent de Paul, who directed this establishment, 
 testified to her good conduct and her excellent character. It was 
 here that, on June lo, 1819, the companion of the Dauphin's 
 " tutor " died. She was buried in the cemetery of Vaugirard. 
 
94 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 had been made a member of the Comite de Salut 
 public together with his worthy colleague CoUot 
 d'Herbois, uttered these prophetic and horrible 
 words : " When the heads of the conspirators " 
 (Clavieres and Lebrun, whose death he was to 
 demand before another week had elapsed), "as 
 well as the head of Marie-Antoinette, have fallen 
 under the knife of the guillotine, you may tell the 
 powers in coalition against you, that one thread 
 alone holds the sword suspended above the head 
 of Capet's son ; and that if they dare to encroach 
 one step farther on your territory, he will be 
 the people's first victim. It is only by taking 
 such vigorous measures that we can hope to estab- 
 lish this, our new form of government." 
 
 We see that this deputy knew the meaning of 
 the aforesaid vigorous measures, and was already 
 announcing the queen's death and the fate in store 
 for her unhappy son. The treatment accorded to 
 this unfortunate prince was very probably sug- 
 gested by the Commune, and especially by the 
 Gonventionnels montagnards. Simon dragged the 
 innocent victim into the very room once occupied 
 by the king, and kept him there in solitary con- 
 finement; he alone had the right to visit the 
 child. He covered him with abuse ; the position 
 of the son of Louis XVI was rendered doubly 
 painful by the cruel treatment endured in the very 
 room where everything reminded the poor child 
 of his father's loving care and affection. 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 95 
 
 The tender years, the innocence, the beauty of 
 the young king could touch neither the inexorable 
 gaoler nor his wife, a veritable vixen, who had 
 come to dwell with him in the Temple. They 
 obeyed their instructions to the very letter ; in 
 their exaggerated enthusiasm for democracy, they 
 did all that lay in their power to destroy the 
 child's bodily and mental faculties. They wanted 
 to make him share their political opinions, imitate 
 their coarse manners and sing their regicidal songs. 
 The august child resisted for a long time ; we 
 may judge of his resistance by the following 
 anecdote : 
 
 On August 9, the Convention proclaimed the 
 acceptance of the Constitution by which France 
 was to be established as a Republic. Simon, 
 hearing the cannon announcing this event, said to 
 the prince : 
 
 " Capet ! cry ' Long live the Republic ! ' " 
 
 The child refused. The gaoler, having vainly 
 told him several times to obey, began to swear and 
 to threaten him. 
 
 " You may do what you like," said the young 
 king, in a" firm voice, " but I will never repeat 
 those words ! " 
 
 This characteristic reply was immediately im- 
 parted to all the guards on duty that day in the 
 Temple. 
 
 But this resistance only served to increase 
 the misfortunes of Louis XVII, He now heard 
 
96 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 nothing but revolting expressions and blasphemous 
 oaths. Simon forced him to do all manner of 
 dirty house-work ; his wife cut oiF the young 
 prince's hair, the only ornament which still adorned 
 his royal forehead ; she stripped off his black 
 clothes and made him wear a carmagnole} Simon 
 was not content with this unjust conduct towards 
 the child, his prisoner ; he even had the cruelty to 
 strike him, not only once but several times. One 
 day he said to him in an ironical tone, " Well, 
 Capet, now you're a Jacobin ! " So saying, he 
 placed a red cap upon the head of the descendant 
 of Henri IV and Louis XIV. 
 
 The royal child's rare moments of recreation 
 were used as a means to humble him. One day 
 Simon brought him a jew's-harp, the favourite 
 musical instrument of the young Savoyards. 
 
 " Here," said he to the prince, with a horrible 
 oath, " your mother and your aunt play the 
 harpsichord, you must accompany them upon your 
 jew's-harp. What a fine row you will make ! " 
 
 Another day when the young king, ever think- 
 ing of his mother, refused to sing some infamous 
 verses which had been composed against her, Simon, 
 foaming with rage, seized an andiron, and would 
 have felled the unfortunate child to the ground 
 had the latter not skilfully avoided the blow. 
 
 ^ Carmagnole : a short jacket ; also a republican song composed 
 in 1 792 on the occasion of the taking of Carmagnole, in Pi6mont, 
 by the French, — Translator's note. 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 97 
 
 My pen refuses to write any more details of 
 this cruel treatment. . . . 
 
 The princesses finally discovered that the young 
 prince sometimes walked about on the tower of 
 the Temple in order to take the air, and that, by 
 standing at one of their windows, they could see^ 
 him pass. They spent long hours at their case- 
 ment in the hope of seeing him pass by ; and if by 
 chance they caught a glimpse of his passing shadow, 
 they were overjoyed. This ray of happiness was 
 changed to grief when they saw that the child no 
 longer wore mourning for his father, that his head 
 was covered by the infamous red cap, when they 
 learned that oaths and curses were continually 
 uttered in his presence, and that his tormentors 
 had tried to force him to sing shameful and regi- 
 cidal songs. It was said that even Tison was 
 horrified by Simon's conduct ; it was Tison who 
 revealed to the queen her son's deplorable 
 condition. 
 
 Hardly had the august mother heard this 
 horrible revelation when, on August 2, at two 
 o'clock in the mornings the commissaries came to 
 awaken the princesses in order to read to the queen 
 the decree ordering her transfer to the Conciergerie?- 
 
 ^ It was on August i, 1793, that Marie^Antoinette was trans- 
 ferred to the Conciergerie. During that day, Hanriot went to the 
 Temple and made a tour of inspection. At eight o'clock that 
 night, the guards were ready with their guns loaded. The police 
 officers, Michonis, Froidure, Marmier and Michel, repaired to the 
 prison at a quarter-past one o'clock in the morning, in order to 
 7 
 
98 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 Madame Royale and Madame Elisabeth asked to 
 be allowed to accompany her ; their request was 
 
 carry out the Convention's commands summoning the widow Capet 
 to appear before the Tribunal rivolutionnaire and ordering her 
 transfer to the Conciergerie. Marie-Antoinette hastily embraced 
 her daughter and her sister-in-law, whom she was never again to 
 behold. Her son had been taken from her on July 3, 1793. A 
 fiacre, escorted by twenty gendarmes, was waiting for her at the 
 foot of the steps of the Palace and deposited her at the Conciergerie 
 at three o'clock in the morning {Papiers du Temple, publih dans la 
 ^^Nouvelle Revue," April I, 1884). 
 
 To tell the truth, the Convention's order had little to do with 
 the fate of Marie-Antoinette. It was only responsible for Marie- 
 Antoinette's transfer to the Conciergerie. For negotiations had 
 already been begun between the Convention and the courts of 
 Prussia and Austria with a view to obtaining, in exchange for the 
 queen, either the cessation of hostilities or an exchange of prisoners. 
 They only wished to hasten the decision of the Powers for whose 
 reply they were anxiously waiting. 
 
 If we believe a dispatch addressed to Lord Grenville by 
 F. Drake, an English resident in Genoa who sometimes corre- 
 sponded with one of the secretaries of the Comiti de Salut public 
 [Historical manuscript Commission : The rescaped {sic) MSS. of J. B. 
 Fortescue, II, 457), it was during a private siance of the Comiti de 
 Salut public, held in Pache's bureau in the Tuileries, on the night 
 of September 4-5, that the queen's fate was decided. Cambon 
 vainly pleaded that they could do nothing until the conclusion of 
 the present negotiations ; Hubert overruled the ComitPs objections 
 by declaring that treachery and corruption were visible on all sides 
 and that the Comiti de Salut public could only continue to exist by 
 passing sentence of death upon Marie- Antoinette, thus binding the 
 sans-culottes and the revolutionary army to its cause as once before, 
 by the death of Louis XVI, it had forced the Convention to come 
 to its aid, Fouquier-Tinville, having been sent for, declared him- 
 self ready to support the designs of the Comiti de Salut public and 
 asked that five members of this jury, of whose political fidelity he 
 was not quite certain, might be discharged. 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVll 99 
 
 refused. What words could describe this cruel 
 separation ! The queen departed, heart-broken at 
 
 Marie-Antoinette, on her arrival at the Conciergerie, was shut 
 up in the council-chamber, a good-sized room looking into the 
 women's court, which would now be the prison canteen. Custine, 
 whose case was then being tried, had just been removed from this 
 chamber. Bertrand, the upholsterer of the prison, provided a 
 folding-bed, a bolster, one thin blanket and a wash-hand basin. 
 •A rough table and two prison chairs were added (Statement made 
 by Rosalie Lamorli^re). Marie-Antoinette remained in this room 
 from August 3 until September 13 or 14. Two gendarmes, armed 
 with swords and muskets, watched over her. The instructions 
 given by the Convention were very strict ; it seems, however, 
 according to the statements made during the Restauration, that the 
 prison subordinates, the turnkeys Richard and Lebeau (or Bault), 
 and the serving-maid Rosalie Lamorli^re, were both humane and 
 kind in their treatment of the prisoner. The Convention allowed 
 the sum of fifteen livres a day for her board ; her expenses for the 
 seventy-five days spent by her in the Conciergerie (August 2 to 
 October 17, 1793) amounted to the sum of 1,407 livres 6 sous 
 (Campardon, Tribunal rivolutionnaire'). We will not repeat the 
 touching incidents which marked the unhappy queen's captivity ; 
 every one who came near her, the faithful and tactful serving-maid 
 Rosalie Lamorli^re, M. de Salomon, the internuncio then im- 
 prisoned in the Conciergerie, Mile. Fouch6, who procured for Marie- 
 Antoinette the services of an unsworn priest, all left memoirs 
 which were eventually published during the Restauration and have 
 since been utilized by all the queen's historians, beginning with 
 Lafont d'Aussonne and ending with the de Goncourts and M. de 
 Nolhac. We will only mention that, on September 3, the Chevalier 
 de Rougeville, thanks to a disguise, was able to enter the queen's 
 prison and to drop a white carnation containing a letter at her 
 feet. A false patrol was waiting in one of the courtyards of the 
 Conciergerie. Unfortunately, the carnation was picked up by a 
 gendarme on duty named Gilbert, for which service he received, as 
 a reward, a lieutenant's commission. The queen was transferred 
 to another room, formerly the prison pharmacy ; the windows of 
 
100 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 the thought that she was going to be separated 
 from those she loved best, and that her son was in 
 
 this room were firmly grated and even partly screened. The 
 former turnkey from the prison de la Force, Bault, whose reputa- 
 tion for severity was well known, came to replace Richard, who 
 was then imprisoned in Sainte-P^lagie, and the supervision of the 
 prisoner became very strict. It was on this occasion that Marie- 
 Antoinette underwent her first examination. 
 
 Amar, in the name of the Comiti de SAreti ginirale, endeavoured 
 to draw up the bill of indictment demanded by the clubs, which 
 bill Fouquier-Tinville was much astonished not to see forthcoming. 
 At first the queen replied in the negative to the question con- 
 cerning the white carnation. However, during the second 
 examination, she retracted her denial. To the other questions con- 
 cerning the queen's political opinion with regard to the Revolution, 
 the intervention of the foreign Powers, the banquet given by the 
 king's body-guards, the flight to Varennes and the events of August 
 10, Marie-Antoinette replied in a shrewd and dignified manner. , 
 
 On the 19th vendimiaire, Fouquier demanded that the papers 
 concerning the trial of Louis XVI should be delivered into his 
 keeping by the Comiti de Salut public ; on the 21st, at six o'clock 
 at night, the Tribunal rivolutionnaire (with Herman as president) 
 proceeded to examine the queen (see Campardon, Tribunal rivo- 
 lutionnaire). We shall hear Herman repeat all the scandalous 
 accusations which, for the last two years, had filled the columns of 
 the daily papers and been discussed by every club orator in Paris : 
 waste of the public funds, criminal correspondence with the foyal 
 emigris and with foreign Powers, reactionary influence exercised 
 over the weak-willed king, Louis XVI, and, lastly, participation in 
 the flight to Varennes and the events of August 10. Tronson- 
 Ducoudray and Chauveau-Lagarde were charged to defend her. 
 On October 15, 1793, Marie-Antoinette took her seat in the arm- 
 chair which her judges, out of respect for her fallen splendour, had 
 placed for her in the salle of the Tribunal rivolutionnaire. Herman 
 presided ; Coffinhal, Maire and Douz6-Verteuil assisted him. 
 Fouquier-Tinville pronounced his address in the stilted, bombastic 
 style then in fashipn. We find the text of Herman's examination 
 
c 
 o 
 
 c 
 
 
/ 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 101 
 
 Simon's hands. At least she did not know, she did 
 not hear, what we are now obliged to reveal. 
 
 in Campardon's excellent work {loc. cit.). Herman dared to allude, 
 in the open court, to the odious examination which Hubert and 
 Chaumette had forced the royal children to undergo in the prison 
 of the Temple. Marie-Antoinette, trembling with indignation, 
 appealed to every mother's heart. After Fouquier's second speech, 
 the president, in a voice cold and sharp, like the knife of the 
 guillotine, summed up the debate. What could the queen's 
 eloquent defenders do against such fearful odds ? At a quarter 
 past four o'clock in the morning Herman read the sentence by 
 which Marie-Antoinette was unanimously condemned to suffer 
 the penalty of death. 
 
 She remained a queen as long as she was still in the presence 
 of the judges and the people ; but when she found herself alone in 
 her prison, Marie-Antoinette became a woman once more. She 
 wrote to her daughter the sublime letter recorded in history ; and 
 when Rosalie Lamorli^re, her devoted serving-maid, entered her 
 cell, she found her lying ready dressed upon her bed and weeping 
 bitterly. She consented, however, to take some nourishment. 
 She was then obliged to take off her black dress, for it was feared 
 that the sight of her mourning garments might remind the people 
 of Louis XVI and excite their fury ; Marie-Antoinette was forced 
 to make her last toilet in the presence of the gendarmes who, not- 
 withstanding her entreaties, refused to let her out of their sight. 
 A sworn priest offered his services, but they were refused ; never- 
 theless this man accompanied the queen to the place of execution. 
 She had, however, been able to obtain religious assistance. Mile. 
 Fouchd's Souvenirs (published in 1824 by the comte de Robiano) 
 assure us that this pious lady managed to introduce into the queen's 
 cell a priest, the ahbi Magnin, who heard her confession and gave 
 her the Sacrament on several occasions. About ten o'clock, Marie- 
 Antoinette was removed from her dungeon and taken to the 
 registrar's office, where the judges again read her sentence to her. 
 Sanson then appeared ; he cut off her hair and fastened her hands 
 behind her back; at eleven o'clock, she left 'the Conciergerie and 
 took her place in the executioner's cart, which drove off towards the 
 
102 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 In order to attain his execrable aim, the gaoler 
 had changed the young prince's diet. He forced 
 him to eat a great deal, and to drink much more 
 than was good for him ; the child had always 
 disliked wine. This new regime told upon the 
 prisoner's bodily and mental health ; he became very 
 stout, but his stature did not increase. The child 
 fell ill and was attacked by a violent fever : they 
 
 place de la Concorde, surrounded by numerous gendarmes both 
 mounted and on foot. A well-known drawing by David shows 
 us the queen of France bereft of all her youth and beauty, but 
 still a queen, dressed in a white piqu6 dressing-gown. Loose locks 
 of hair, rapidly turning grey, fluttered beneath the wretched cap 
 which covered her head. Desessart, one of the witnesses of her 
 death said : " We could perceive no signs of despair in her face." 
 She was calm, and appeared not to notice the cries of " Long live 
 the Republic ! " uttered by the crowd which lined the streets. 
 While the procession was passing close to the Jacobins, the actor 
 Grammont, who was on horseback near the cart, brandished his 
 sword and cried : " Ah ! there she is, that infamous Marie- 
 Antoinette, she's , my friends ! " 
 
 Marie-Antoinette, on her arrival at the foot of the scaffold, 
 jumped lightly and quickly to the ground. " She seemed deter- 
 mined to appear quite unconcerned," says Rouy, another eye- 
 witness of her execution and author of Le Magicien ripublicain ; 
 she spoke neither to the crowd nor to the executioners whom she 
 allowed to prepare her for death ; she herself pulled her cap off her 
 head. Her execution and its ghastly prelude lasted for about four 
 minutes. Punctually at a quarter-past twelve o'clock her head fell 
 under the avenging knife, and the executioner showed it to the 
 crowd amid repeated cries of " Long live the Republic ! " 
 
 Her body, having been carried to the cemetery of the Madeleine, 
 was not buried until a fortnight later (M. de Rocheterie, Histoire 
 de Marie- Antoinette), November i, 1793 ; the sexton Joly took 
 upon himself to dig a grave, for which task he claimed the sum 
 of 15 livres 35 sols. 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 103 
 
 made him take some medicine which was nearly 
 fatal to him ; the prince recovered, however, thanks 
 to his excellent constitution. 
 
 It was only after the queen's departure that the 
 princesses, now alone in their lodging, understood 
 to what depths of depravity Simon had sunk : they 
 learned how he obliged the unfortunate child to eat 
 and to drink too much, and then, when the innocent 
 victim's reason was obscured, used violence in 
 order to make him sing indecent and impious 
 songs. 
 
 These tortures soon influenced the mind and 
 health of the young king to such an extent that 
 he trembled whenever he beheld his keeper, and, 
 terrified by continual imprecations, soon became 
 nothing but a machine in the hands of his tormentor. 
 It was then that, on October 5, 1793, the execrable 
 Simon and the infernal Hebert, in order to put the 
 finishing touch to their crime, forced the unhappy 
 child to sign, without, however, allowing him to 
 read, the examination which they pretended they 
 had made him undergo, but which Hebert had 
 prepared with the help of a certain municipal 
 officer named Daujon, his worthy rival, who 
 boasted that he had written the whole thing 
 with his own hand a few days previously. 
 
 The queen's enemies soon realized the inutility 
 of such a forgery. That is why, on October 8, 
 Pache, Chaumctte, and David, accompanied by 
 several satellites, repaired to the Temple. They 
 
104 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 interrogated Madame Royale and overwhelmed her 
 with insidious and ambiguous questions, hoping, 
 by so doing, to force her to say something which 
 they could use against the queen Her mother's 
 executioners, however, were completely discoun- 
 tenanced by the calm innocence of the young 
 princess. After a sSance lasting three hours, the 
 details of which would make one recoil with 
 horror, Madame Royale was taken back to her 
 chamber. While passing the door of her brother's 
 room she caught sight of the child, and ran forward 
 to clasp him in her arms ; the cruel Simon roughly 
 tore him away. 
 
 Madame Elisabeth was then forced to descend. 
 They repeated in her presence all the infamous 
 accusations with which they had assailed the queen. 
 Like her niece, she defended herself in a few brief 
 and truthful sentences, worthy of a pure-minded 
 woman. 
 
 This seance, which posterity will never cease to 
 execrate, infuriated the regicides ; they now saw 
 that they would be obliged to have recourse to 
 Hebert's proces-verbal. 
 
 In this examination, invented solely in order 
 to blacken the character of the queen, whom the 
 regicides, after having tormented in every conceiv- 
 able manner, now wished to kill, they made a child 
 of ten years of age declare that the princesses had 
 corresponded with foreign Powers, and had con- 
 cocted, together with several municipal officers, 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 105 
 
 sundry counter-revolutionary plots. This examin- 
 ation concluded with the monstrous atrocities 
 quoted by their author, that villain Hebert, in 
 the presence of the jurymen, or rather the queen's 
 assassins ; not one of the judges of the Tribunal 
 rivolutionnaire dared to ask to see this, calumnious 
 document. 
 
 The queen did not deign to reply to this fiendish 
 accusation ; one of the jurors wished to make her 
 answer. She hesitated for a moment, then suddenly, 
 with a dignified air, she turned towards the auditory, 
 and, in a voice trembling with emotion, uttered 
 these words : " If I have not replied, it is because 
 nature refuses to reply to such an accusation when 
 made to a mother. I appeal to all mothers here 
 present." She spoke to furies, and those furies 
 could only reply with tears. 
 
 A few days after this attack upon the queen's 
 honour, Chaumette " impressed " upon the Conseil 
 general de la Commune how " absurd " it was to 
 keep in the prison of the Temple " three indi- 
 viduals " who were only a burden to the community 
 and extremely expensive. At his request the 
 Conseil general agreed that its members should 
 go in a body to the Convention and demand that 
 the prisoners in the Temple should be sent to 
 the common prison and treated like ordinary 
 prisoners. 
 
 The Comite de Salut public immediately sent 
 for the public prosecutor and pointed out to him 
 
106 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 the consequences of such a proceeding ; this project, 
 therefore, was never put into execution. 
 
 The members of the Commune then wished to 
 indict Madame Elisabeth, or rather to deliver this 
 new victim, now fallen from earthly splendour, to 
 their accomplices, the executioners. 
 
 Notwithstanding all their researches, the muni- 
 cipal officers could find neither document nor 
 pretext enabling them to carry out their abomin- 
 able project. But, aided by Simon and his wife, 
 they invented a scheme equal in atrocity to 
 Hebert's horrible machination. 
 
 Accordingly, on December 3, 1793, the com- 
 missaries of the Commune drew up a proch-verbal, 
 in which, thanks to the infamous Simon, the poor 
 ill-treated child's name appeared for a second time. 
 In this document, which would be revolting were 
 it not so absurd, the two princesses imprisoned in 
 the Temple were accused of " forging assignats} 
 and of corresponding and plotting with sundry 
 unknown persons." The commissaries added 
 that : " After these disclosures, they had carefully 
 searched the prisoners' apartment, but that they 
 had found nothing which could cause any uneasi- 
 ness. . . ." This denunciation appeared so absurd 
 to the Conseil general that it dared not pursue the 
 accusation. 
 
 As we have already seen, the gaolers and 
 
 ^ Jssignat : paper-money issued in 1789, the value of which 
 varied according to tKe national funds. — Translator's note. 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 107 
 
 commissaries had never ceased to torment the 
 unhappy prince. The queen, who guessed from 
 whence came such perfidious suggestions, with 
 one word reduced these pretended disclosures to 
 their proper value. The president of the Tribunal 
 revolutionnaire, in his examination, quoted other 
 so-called revelations. " It is very easy," replied 
 the august mother, " to make a child of eight 
 years of age say what one wishes it to say." 
 
 This unfortunate sovereign, foreseeing that her 
 calumniators would again make use of this fearful 
 expedient, expressed her fears in the following 
 touching and sublime letter or testament written 
 by her own hand on the morning of her death : 
 " I must speak to you of a certain subject, though 
 it is extr.emely painful to me to do so. I know 
 that this child must have grieved you : forgive 
 him, my dear sister, remember how young he is, 
 and how easy it is to make a child say what one 
 wishes it to say, even though it may not understand 
 the meaning of its words." 
 
 An impenetrable veil covers the events which 
 took place during the young prince's lonely sojourn 
 in the Temple. On January 19, 1794, he was 
 given into the charge of the commissaries by 
 Simon, who, weary of ill-treating the child, asked, 
 it was said, to be allowed to return to the Conseil 
 general, of which he was a member. The vic- 
 tim's patient resignation had vanquished his cruel 
 tormentor. 
 
108 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 After Simon's departure the king's misfortunes 
 changed, but only in kind, for the murderers of 
 his family, including Chaumette and Hebert, still 
 reigned supreme in the Temple. The smallest sign 
 of interest in the prisoner was considered a crime. 
 
 On March 27 it was necessary to renew the 
 Commission, composed of seven members chosen 
 from the Conseil general, and charged to supervise 
 the prisoners in the tower. Cressant was proposed : 
 several members opposed his election. They de- 
 clared that he had shown pity towards the young 
 Louis, and that he even knew the names of all 
 those who daily mounted guard in the Temple. 
 After a long discussion, Cressant was excluded from 
 the Conseil, and marched off to be examined by 
 the bureau of police. Having interrogated this 
 man, it was discovered that he was by no means 
 an ardent revolutionist ; but as no serious proofs 
 of his treachery were forthcoming, no further 
 proceedings were taken. This exclusion was in 
 reality a stroke of good luck for Cressant, because 
 it saved him from the scaffold, where, on the 9th 
 thermidor, all the members of the Commune perished. 
 
 While the Conseil general was excluding any 
 commissaries who showed pity for the illustrious 
 prisoners, the rulers of the Convention were sending 
 the Commune's agent, H6bert, and the other leaders 
 of this now too formidable faction, to their death. 
 Couthon accused them in especial of having 
 smuggled letters and money into the Temple in 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 109 
 
 order to facilitate the young king's escape. Before 
 very long these tyrants began to disagree among 
 themselves, and the stronger party hurried Danton, 
 Lacroix, and several other deputies to the scaffold 
 as accomplices in a conspiracy (is it possible ?) in 
 favour of the re-establishment of monarchy. But 
 this reaction proved that royalty Was still alive, 
 and that France still looked upon Louis XVII as 
 her rightful sovereign. The anarchists, tortured 
 by remorse, trembled with terror at his name, as 
 they themselves had forced the lovers of order to 
 tremble at their name ; the royalists, at the sacred 
 title of king, felt their courage and hopes revive ; 
 the former rendered involuntary homage, the latter 
 willing homage to Authority and to the legitimate 
 king. 
 
 The Reign of Terror was at its zenith ; the 
 illustrious prisoners, more carefully watched and 
 guarded than ever, could no longer obtain any 
 news of the young king. Madame Elisabeth was 
 occupied in cultivating in Madame Royale's heart 
 those sublime virtues which to-day are admired by 
 France and the whole universe, when, during the 
 night of May 9, they came to tear her from the 
 arms of that princess. Overwhelmed with insults, 
 the sister of Louis XVI was pushed into a fiacre 
 and taken to the Conciergerie ; on the morrow she 
 was tried, condemned and executed.^ 
 
 ^ "Among all the victims of the Revolution," says M. de 
 Beauchesne {Etudes sur Madame Elisabeth), " Madame Elisabeth 
 
110 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 Notwithstanding the ever-increasing danger of 
 being suspected of sympathy for the royal family, 
 
 was the purest and the most illustrious." Elisabeth Marie- 
 Philippine-H61^ne de France was born at Versailles, May 23, 
 1764. She was the youngest child of Louis XV and of Marie- 
 Josephine de Saxe, his second wife. Having been left an orphan 
 while still very young, she was brought up in the principles of 
 austere piety by Madame d'Aumale and Madame de Mackau ; she 
 appeared at court for the first time on the occasion of the marriage 
 of her brother Louis XVI, then Dauphin, to Marie-Antoinette. 
 " Her gentle blue eyes," says one of her biographers (A. Cordier, 
 Madame Elisabeth de France), " gave to her countenance , an 
 expression of sweetness and melancholy which won all hearts to 
 her side. A pleasing mouth, dazzling white skin, and dignified 
 manners caused her to be remarked in society. . . . Although 
 she was not very fond of company, suitors were not scarce. The 
 prince of Portugal first came to pay his addresses to her ; the 
 matter was already far advanced, when a court intrigue put an 
 end to all idea of a marriage for which the princess had displayed 
 a certain amount of aversion ; the future king of Sardinia, at that 
 time due d'Aoste, was the next suitor ; then the emperor of 
 Austria,^ Joseph II, but lately a widower, expressed his intention 
 to marry her." Madame Elisabeth appeared equally indifferent 
 to all these projects. "I can only marry a king's son," she is 
 reported to have said, " and a king's son must dwell in and rule 
 over his father's dominions ; I should then no longer be a French- 
 woman, and I do not wish to lose my nationality." She was 
 seldom seen at court ; the charming residence at Petit-Montreuil, 
 given to her by Louis XVI in 1781 {Revue de I'Mstoire de 
 Fersailles, 1904), had more charms for her than all the splendours 
 of Versailles. During the summer months she could be seen 
 there any day, happy in her retreat, far from all intruders. Her 
 time was spent in pious devotions or in deeds of charity. Rural 
 occupations were also very popular, and at Montreuil, as at 
 Trianon, there was a dairy with cows and a Swiss cowherd. The 
 rest of her time was spent in visits to the M at son de Saint-Cyr or 
 to Madame Louise, who lived at Carmel. Madame Elisabeth was 
 
'i-'"' -i!'ii' ■■- - - 'I I ii. -M'St 
 
 MADAME ELISABETH 
 At the age of Ten. 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 111 
 
 faithful agents continued to make plans, often 
 thwarted, often betrayed, to restore the throne to 
 
 seldom seen in the royal circle ; her piety was shocked by her 
 sister-in-law's love of frivolous society. She much preferred her 
 own friends, Mile, de Causans and Mile. Ang61ique de Mackau, 
 for whom she found husbands : the former married M. de 
 Raigecour and the latter the marquis de Bombelles. With these 
 two friends she exchanged the charming letters lately published 
 by the comte de Fleury. However, the events which happened 
 outside her own little world did not leave Madame Elisabeth 
 utterly indifferent; for in 1786 she began to see more of her 
 brother, over whom she quickly obtained great influence. Already 
 opposed both by birth and by education to the new political 
 opinions then apparent in many quarters, Madame Elisabeth's 
 most sacred feelings were wounded by the religious policy of the 
 AssembUe constituante. In her counter-revolutionary zeal she even 
 surpassed Marie- Antoinette, who, broader-minded and less bigoted, 
 was better able to meet the inroads of modern ideas. So it was 
 not her fault if the king did not take severe measures to stamp out 
 sedition. " We are lost," we read in one of her letters, " if the 
 king is not energetic enough to cut off two or three heads." 
 When Louis XVI decided to repair to the AssemhUe nationale, 
 February 4, 1790, he met with much opposition from his sister. 
 "I consider that civil war is necessary," wrote she, about this 
 time. "... Anarchy will never cease without it ; the longer 
 it is delayed, the more blood will be shed." Neither her brother 
 nor her aunt could persuade her to leave her post. " As for me, 
 I have sworn never to leave my brother, and I shall keep my 
 vow." (Letter of May 29, 1789.) 
 
 From October 5 until August 10 she shared the royal family's 
 anxieties and dangers ; and when the doors of the Temple closed 
 upon them, biographers show us Madame Elisabeth at the king's 
 side reading to him, working with her needle with Marie- 
 Antoinette, encouraging the royal family in the midst of trials, 
 which by her obstinacy she had, perhaps, helped to bring down 
 upon their heads. 
 
 She received the last farewell of Louis XVI on January 20 
 
112 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 the king. One of the most active and persevering 
 of these agents was, no doubt, the baron de Batz, 
 a former member of the Assemblee constituante. 
 
 1793 ; and on August 2 of that same year she bade adieu to 
 Marie-Antoinette. In the following October, while the queen's 
 trial was in progress, Hubert and Chaumette made her undergo the 
 odious examination whereby they wished to prove that Marie- 
 Antoinette had debased the Dauphin. After the queen's departure, 
 the commissaries of the Commune kept her, together with Madame 
 Royale, confined in an unfurnished kitchen in the Temple. On 
 May 9, 1794, she was transferred to the Conciergerie ; for it had 
 been discovered, during Marie-Antoinette's trial, that the comte 
 de Provence and the comte d'Artois frequently corresponded with 
 their sister, and received advice and money, including large sums 
 realized from the sale of her diamonds, frorti her. The sentence 
 was passed On the morrow ; twenty-three other prisoners, includ- 
 ing Madame de Senozan, sister of Lamoignon de Malesherbes, 
 five members of the de Brienne family, Madame de Montmorin 
 and her son (Campardon, Tribunal rivolutionnaire, vol. i, p. 318) 
 appeared with Madame Elisabeth before the tribunal. Besides the 
 above-mentioned offences, Fouquier-Tinville declared that she had 
 shared in all the plots and conspiracies concocted by her infamous 
 brothers arid by the villainous and shameless Marie- Antoinette ; 
 she had been seen by the queen's side at the banquet of the king's 
 bodyguards ; with her own hands she had dressed the wounds of 
 the guards injured in the fray which followed the banquet in the 
 Champs Elysies ; then, on August 10, she had taken an active part 
 in the struggle between the patroits and the tyrants' satellites, and, 
 in her blind zeal, she had helped the people's enemies by providing 
 them with shot ; finally, she had done homage to the little Capet, 
 and had kept alive in his breast the hope that he might one day 
 succeed his father, and by so doing she had encouraged the 
 re-establishment of monarchy. Dumas managed the whole afFair, 
 which was quickly terminated ; the accused contented herself 
 with replying in the negative to all the questions addressed to her. 
 Madame Elisabeth was unanimously declared guilty, and con- 
 demned to death. She was taken back to her prison, where she 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 113 
 
 If we believe a statement made by Elie Lacoste 
 in the name of the Comite de Surete generale before 
 the Convention, ]une 13, 1794, the baron de Batz 
 was originally a paymaster in the French royal 
 army. It was quite certain that, although he was 
 denounced for having promised one million /ivres 
 to any one who would rescue the queen from the 
 Conciergerie, he managed to get his denunciators 
 arrested, and to remain at liberty during the Reign 
 of Terror. According to the above statement, the 
 
 passed the last moments of her life in encouraging her companions 
 in misfortune. About four o'clock in the evening, the execu- 
 tioner's carts came to fetch the condemned. A horde of madmen, 
 uttering imprecations and insults, followed the procession ; Madame 
 Elisabeth endured everything with resignation, and occupied her- 
 self with preparing for death an old woman who was seated by 
 her side. 
 
 At last they reached the place de la Concorde. The sister of 
 Louis XVI, being the most guilty, was to be executed last of all : 
 she took a seat on the bench placed at the foot of the guillotine, 
 and her companions in affliction respectfully saluted her as they 
 ascended the scaffold. According to the royalists, Madame 
 Elisabeth mounted the steps of the scaffold with a firm step; 
 neither the long wait nor the sight of the bloody corpses could 
 shake her courage ; but it was with the deepest emotion that she 
 said to the executioner who was taking off her fichu : " In the 
 name of God, sir, cover my shoulders ! " At last she was 
 executed. M. Campardon, however, who was not a royalist, 
 gives quite ' a different account. The long wait (on August 2 
 Marie-Antoinette's execution alone had lasted four minutes), the 
 dull thud of the knife, which fell twenty-five times in succession, 
 the sight of the pools of blood surrounding the scaffold, had been 
 top much for Madame Elisabeth ; she swooned while ascending 
 the steps of the guillotine, and her body was already motionless 
 when it was placed by the executioner on the fatal plank. 
 8 
 
114 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 baron de Batz, the leader of a very cleverly-com- 
 bined plot to re-establish monarchy, had chosen 
 as his residence a pretty spot called " rErmitage" 
 adjoining the chateau de Bagnolet, near Charonne. 
 It was from this house that the correspondence 
 addressed to the absent agents was dated. The 
 writers took care to give a varnish of patriotism 
 to all their communications ; the real information 
 was traced in invisible ink between the lines of 
 the most popular newspapers of the day : the 
 correspondents, on holding these pages close to 
 the fire, were able to read their leaders' orders, and 
 to learn either the success of the enterprise then 
 in hand, or any delays caused by unexpected 
 events. 
 
 Among M. de Batz's first adherents were the 
 
 marquis de Pons, M. de Sombreuil and his son, 
 
 -y the prince de Rohan-Rochefort, M. de Mont- 
 
 morency-Laval, M. de Quiche, M. de Marsant 
 
 and the prince de Saint-Maurice. 
 
 He himself was finally denounced, but, having 
 been warned in time, he was able to escape. The 
 above-named worthy persons were not so fortunate ; 
 they were arraigned before the bloody tribunal 
 with other individuals unknown to them, but who, 
 thanks to the injustice current at that time, were 
 accused by the reporter, Elie Lacoste, of being their 
 accomplices. On June 17, 1794, they were all 
 sentenced to death for having endeavoured to re- 
 establish monarchy. 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 115 
 
 What shall we say of a pretended conspiracy 
 attributed to Catherine Theos ? Some commis- 
 saries from the Convention had discovered, in the 
 palace of Saint-Cloud, a full-length portrait of the 
 Dauphin painted by the celebrated Madame Lebrun. 
 In a statement invented by the deputy Vadier, 
 the latter pretended that this portrait had been 
 mysteriously hidden behind a bed, that it w^as to 
 be presented to the Ecole de Droit, near the 
 Pantheon, and that it had been concealed in order 
 to further a scheme tending to re-establish monarchy 
 in the person of the young king. This ridiculous 
 story only served to prove that the authors of these 
 imaginary conspiracies had exhausted their powers 
 of inventing imaginary machinations. 
 
 These different plots, however, furnished the 
 tyrants of France with an excuse to make the 
 young king's captivity doubly horrible. Two evil- 
 faced brigands watched day and night over their 
 innocent victim's prison. Who could describe his 
 deplorable condition without shedding tears ? He 
 dwelt alone in a dark room, which he himself was 
 obliged to sweep if he wished to keep it clean : a 
 precaution which, owing to bad food and want of 
 exercise, he was soon unable to take. His bed was 
 never made ; when he got too weak to move, he 
 lay on his miserable couch surrounded by filth, 
 which his keepers would not take the trouble to 
 remove. As his underclothing was hardly ever 
 changed, he soon suffered from the consequences 
 
116 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 of this neglect, and his health became undermined. 
 All intercourse with the outside world was for- 
 bidden ; he did not even see the hand which pushed 
 his wtetched food to him through a sort of hole in 
 the wall ; he heard no other sound than the rattle 
 of bolts. Towards the end of the day, a rough 
 voice used to tell him to go to bed, as they did 
 not wish to give him a lamp. If only he could 
 have enjoyed the blessings of calm repose ! But 
 hardly did he fall asleep, when one of the brutal 
 keepers, delighted to be able to awaken the prince, 
 would imitate Simon's voice and suddenly call 
 out : 
 
 " Capet ! where are you .? are you asleep ? " 
 " Here I am ! " the child would answer, 
 trembling and only half awake. 
 
 " Come here, that I may see you." 
 " Here I am ! what do you want with me ? " 
 " I want to see you. Now go to bed and be 
 quick about it ! " 
 
 Two or three hours afterwards, the other 
 brigand would recommence the same game, and 
 the child was always obliged to obey. 
 
 My pen almost refuses to retrace such horrible 
 scenes ! Completely worn out by this terrible ex- 
 istence, and these endless torments, the unfortunate 
 prince conceived such a deep hatred for the authors 
 of his own and his family's misfortunes, that he 
 determined never again to ask for anything, and 
 never to reply to any of their questions ; he preferred 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 117 
 
 to suffer from want rather than to be obliged 
 to ask the smallest favour of these men, of these 
 monsters whom he so thoroughly despised. This 
 fact shows us that the reasons alleged by the young 
 king's tormentors in order to account for his strange 
 silence were absolutely fallacious ; the august child's 
 silence, only broken upon certain occasions, proves 
 on the contrary that he possessed a kind heart and 
 a noble disposition. 
 
 No doubt France seemed less oppressed after 
 the fall of Robespierre and his accomplices. The 
 lovers of order, ever more numerous, endeavoured 
 to re-establish the throne ; but as their leaders were 
 then, as always, timid and easily disconcerted, as 
 the royalists were still being continually denounced 
 before the bloody tribunal, they were obliged to 
 act with the greatest circumspection. So France 
 had only changed masters ; the new master was as 
 anxious as the old one to deprive her of her lawful 
 sovereign. The Convention had not undergone much 
 alteration ; and Louis XVII, though perhaps less 
 subjected to ill-treatment in his prison, received no 
 better treatment at the hands of his new masters ; ^ 
 
 ^ We find in Barras' Mimoires an account of his visit to the 
 Temple after thermidor. We will now quote the text as copied 
 from the manuscript by M. Georges Duruy : 
 
 " The Comiti de Salut public warned ;me that a plot had been 
 made to rescue the prisoners over whom I had charge in the 
 Temple. I repaired thither. I found the young prisoner lying 
 in a cradle in the middle of the room ; he was crouched down, 
 and it was with great difficulty that I could awaken him ; he was 
 
118 THE KING WHO NEVEH REIGNED 
 
 for among the regicides there were some who, 
 fearing that the provinces would wish to re-establish 
 
 wearing a pair of trousers and a little grey cloth jacket. I asked 
 him how he was and why he was not lying in his bed. He 
 replied : ' My knees are swollen and they hurt me at intervals (sic) 
 when I stand upright ; the little cradle suits me better.' I ex- 
 amined his knees"; they were very swollen, as were his ankles and 
 his hands ; his face was pale and bloated. After having asked him 
 the necessary questions, and having recommended him to take 
 some exercise, I gave my orders to the commissaries and scolded 
 them for the dirty condition of the room, 
 
 " I then went up to Madame's room ; she had dressed early 
 and was ready to receive me ; her room was clean, ' The noises 
 last night probably awoke you ? ' said I to her. * Have you any 
 complaints to make ? Do they give you all you want ? ' Madame 
 thanked me, and replied that she had heard the noises in the night ; 
 she then begged me to take care of her brother. I assured her 
 that I had already seen to his interests. 
 
 " I then repaired to the Comiti de Salut public, and said : ' There 
 have been no disturbances in the Temple, but the prince is 
 dangerously ill. I have ordered his guards to take him out into 
 the fresh air, and I have sent for M. Dussault. You ought to get 
 other advice, so that his condition may be examined and he may 
 receive the care necessitated by the bad state of his health.' The 
 Comiti therefore gave orders to that effect." 
 
 The account left by Madame Royale of this visit confirms 
 Barras' statement. 
 
 " Such was our condition," she writes, " on the gth thermidor. 
 I heard the drums beating and the clang of the tocsin ; I was 
 much frightened. The municipal guards in the Temple seemed 
 quite unconcerned. When they brought me my dinner, I did 
 not dare toask what was happening j at last, on the loth thermidor^ 
 at ten o'clock in the morning, I heard a fearful noise in the 
 Temple. The guards cried : ' To arms ! ' Drums beat, doors 
 were roughly opened and shut. All this commotion was caused 
 by a visit from the members of the Assemblie nationale, who had 
 come to see if everything was quiet. I heard the bolts of my 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 119 
 
 him upon the throne, loudly demanded his removal, 
 while the others, foreseeing the support which the 
 young monarch would find abroad, considered him 
 as a hostage very necessary to their own safety. 
 As to the Comite's ringleaders, how can we dare to 
 write of them ? . . . They watched in silence for 
 the success of their barbarous treatment. When- 
 ever they mentioned the young king's name in 
 their discussions, they continued with one accord 
 to designate him in the coarsest, most revolting 
 terms. We will refrain from reproducing their 
 vituperations. 
 
 For those of our readers who may wish to 
 judge of the Conventionnels^ perplexity as regards 
 the august prisoners' fate, we will quote a few 
 paragraphs from a diatribe uttered, September 21, 
 1794, by the deputy Duhem. 
 
 " And I also," cried he, " I never cease to ask 
 why we allow this rallying-point for the whole 
 
 brother's door being drawn ; I jumped out of bed. When the 
 members of the Convention came to my room, they foimd me 
 already dressed ; Barras was among their number. They were in 
 full dress, which astonished me, as I was unaccustomed to see them 
 thus, and I feared that something was going to happen. Barras 
 spoke to me, called me by my name, and seemed surprised to find me 
 already dressed. They said several things to me, to which I did not 
 reply. They then went away, and I heard them haranguing the 
 guards beneath my window, and exhorting them to remain faithful 
 to the Convention nationale. Cries were raised of ' Long live the 
 Republic ! Long live the Convention ! ' The guards were doubled, 
 and the three municipal guards then on duty in the Temple 
 remained at their post for a whole week." 
 
120 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 aristocracy to exist in our midst ? ... It is absurd 
 for a nation, which has had the courage to conquer 
 its liberty, to keep in its midst a royal scion, the 
 heir apparent to royalty ! ... But this in itself is 
 the act of a sovereign ! It is surely done for a pur- 
 pose ! . . . We have two nations in France : the 
 royalists and the republicans. You will never 
 know peace or safety as long as one of these nations 
 continues to disturb the fatherland. . . ." Duhem 
 concluded by demanding, in the name of the 
 revolutionary government, the expulsion of all 
 suspected persons, including the members of the 
 royal family. 
 
 One example alone will suffice to prove the 
 inconsistency of the anarchists' words and deeds. 
 " When it was proposed to readmit to the Assemblee 
 certain deputies who had been expelled after the 
 events of May 3 1 , Merlin de Douai, at that time 
 member of the Comite de Salut public, asked those 
 of his colleagues who had made this proposal : " If 
 they wished to open the doors of the Temple ? " 
 that is to say, to place the son of Louis XVI upon 
 the throne. What connection could there be 
 between the child imprisoned in the Temple 
 (or those who wished the crown to be restored 
 to him), and those deputies who had conspired to 
 destroy his father and to banish his whole family ? 
 . . . And yet it was thanks to Merlin's interven- 
 tion that these deputies were finally readmitted. 
 But the document which we are now going to 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 121 
 
 reproduce proves beyond all dispute the Govern- 
 ment's intentions concerning the fate of Louis 
 XVII. Its importance obliges us to copy it 
 word for word : it alone reveals to us the young 
 king's real position after the 9th thermidor. 
 Mathieu, a member of the Comite de Surete gSnerale, 
 said during the seance of December 2, 1794: 
 
 " Citizens, I come in the name of the Comite de 
 Surete generale to contradict the calumnious state- 
 ment of a royalist which, during the last few daySj 
 has appeared in the newspapers and has been 
 obstinately repeated in a very reprehensible manner. 
 In this statement, the Comite is represented as 
 having given tutors to the Capet children im- 
 prisoned in the Temple, and as having shown 
 almost paternal solicitude for their well-being and 
 education. 
 
 " Here is the newspaper containing the article 
 imprudently copied by the other Periodistes. The 
 title of this newspaper is the Courrier universel 
 for the 6th frimaire (November 26), edited by 
 NicoUe, Poujade and the elder Bertin. It says : 
 ' The son of Louis XVI will also profit by the 
 resolution of the 9th thermidor. We know that this 
 child was given into the charge of the shoemaker 
 Simon, the worthy acolyte of Robespierre, whose 
 punishment he shared ; the Comite de Suret^ generale, 
 persuaded that, although this child is a king's son, 
 he is not utterly unworthy of commiseration, has 
 just nominated three commissaries, honest and 
 
122 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 enlightened men, to replace the defunct Simon. 
 Two of these functionaries are to superintend the 
 orphan's education : the third is to see that he no 
 longer suffers, as in the past, from want of proper 
 attention.' 
 
 " The Comites first duty in order to annihilate 
 this fabrication of the royalist party," continued 
 Mathieu, " is to present to the Convention a short 
 statement explaining the steps taken by that body 
 in order to insure the safety and well-being of the 
 tyrant's children now in the Temple. 
 
 " Towards the 9th thermidor, a new keieper was 
 placed in the Temple by the Comite de Salut public ; 
 the Comite de Surete generale, however, considered 
 that one keeper was insufficient. The Parisian 
 administrative police was requested to provide a 
 staunch republican to fill this post ; having indicated 
 a suitable person, the latter was deputed to aid his 
 colleague in performing the above important task. 
 As certain prejudiced and distrustful citizens might 
 feel suspicious of two individuals occupying the 
 same permanent post, the Comite decreed that, in 
 order to insure the safety of the tyrant's children, 
 each of the civil committees of the forty-eight 
 Parisian sections should in turn provide a member 
 to fulfil, for the space of twenty-four hours, 
 the functions of keeper together with the two 
 individuals nominated permanently. 
 
 ' " The Comiti considers that such steps are 
 absolutely necessary if we wish to deprive this 
 
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MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 123 
 
 fictitious statement of all appearance of truth and 
 prevent scandal-mongers and malevolent persons 
 from finding fresh pretexts for complaints or 
 disturbances. 
 
 "The Comite de Surete generale has agreed with 
 the Comite militaire upon the question concerning 
 a military guard for this post, which has been lately 
 visited by several representatives ; the two Comites 
 are convinced that the service is performed with 
 care and precision. 
 
 " We see, by the above statement, that the 
 Comite de Surete generale only wishes to fulfil the 
 duty confided to its charge ; that it has no intention 
 of ameliorating the fate of Capet's children or of 
 appointing tutors for them. The Comite and the 
 Convention know how to gmllotine kings, hut they do 
 not know how to educate children. 
 
 " If the royalists wished to make themselves 
 heard, they would be immediately silenced ; in 
 order to reassure the friends of the commonwealth 
 and to prevent conspiracies, too often caused by 
 weak Governments, the Comite ought to announce 
 that it has taken care to defend itself from attacks, 
 and that, faithful to its principles, it intends to 
 make its laws respected and to prevent any mani- 
 festations of perfidious pity for the last remaining 
 scions of our tyrants' race and for this orphan child, 
 in whose fate many individuals seem to take an 
 unjustifiable interest." 
 
 If we needed another proof to show that the 
 
124 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 murderers of Louis XVI and of his august family 
 did not intend to allow their last victim to slip 
 through their fingers, we need only consider their 
 conduct during the siance of December 28 ! On 
 that day, BentaboUe had denounced with much 
 vehemence a work entitled : Le Spictateur frangais 
 pendant le Gouvernement revolutionnaire, published 
 by M. de Lacroix, formerly a magistrate ; in this 
 work a wish was expressed that the nation might 
 be consulted individually upon the Constitution of 
 1793 in order to remove, as the author said, any 
 doubts from the minds of the foreign Powers who 
 still seemed to mistrust the genuineness of the vote 
 for its acceptance. This clever scheme had been 
 invented by M. de Lacroix in order to make the 
 people reject the Constitution, and to put them in a 
 position to demand their rightful sovereigns if, ih 
 the future, they wished to return to the old form of 
 government. 
 
 After a very stormy debate, Lequinio rushed to 
 the rostrum, crying: 
 
 " For several days it has been evident to all 
 of our members that the royalists have begun a 
 new campaign of malevolence and perfidy. Never 
 will you be able to silence the royalists unless you 
 deprive them of their last hope : I mean the last 
 scibn of the tyrants' race. . . . We have already 
 demanded the expulsion 'of this child. I now 
 demand that your governing committee shall take 
 steps to provide you with the means by which 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 125 
 
 to purge the land of liberty of the only remaining 
 vestige of royalty." 
 
 All France, forsooth, would have approved of 
 any measures which, while temporarily depriving 
 her of the presence of her young king, would have 
 saved the young prisoner from his terrible fate, 
 and would, no doubt, have preserved this precious 
 life. 
 
 Hardly had Lequinio uttered this speech, of 
 which we have been obliged to omit divers 
 flagitious expressions, when the arrogant rulers of 
 the Convention ordered the petition to be referred 
 to their committees ; urged by all parties to express 
 an opinion upon this oft-reiterated motion, they 
 announced that the discussion of this important 
 question should commence on the morrow of the 
 fatal anniversary. 
 
 At last, on January 22, 1795, Cambaceres, in 
 the name of the three united committees, viz. the 
 Comitis de Salut public, de Surete generate, and de legis- 
 lation, made the following statement : " Hitherto 
 prudence has forbidden us to treat of this matter; 
 to-day circumstances force us to discuss it, not only 
 in order to baffle guilty hopes, but to ascertain once 
 for all the nation's opinion. We have little to fear 
 by keeping the members of the Capet family in 
 captivity; if we banished them, we should be doing 
 a very dangerous thing." Therefore Cambaceres 
 proposed to pass to the order of the day concerning 
 the liberation of the Bourbons still imprisoned in 
 
126 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 the Temple. His advice was adopted almost 
 without discussion. The regicides soon reaped the 
 horrible harvest of their abominable machinations. 
 The royal child's condition now became so serious 
 that the municipality of Paris thought it necessary 
 to inform the Comite de Surete ginerale, and sent to 
 that body, during the month of February 1795, 
 commissaries charged to announce the fact that 
 " the prisoner's life was in imminent danger." 
 The commissaries were questioned as to the 
 nature of that danger ; they replied that the 
 young prince's joints, and especially his knees, 
 were much swollen, that he always wanted to sit 
 or to lie down, and that he refused to take any 
 exercise; they added that they could not make 
 him utter a single word: that his refusal to take 
 any exercise and his obstinate silence dated from 
 October 5, 1793, the day when the two scoundrels, 
 Hubert and Simon, had made him sign the horrible 
 examination already mentioned by us; the com- 
 missaries were sure that this was the cause of his 
 extraordinary behaviour. 
 
 Having heard this statement, the Comiti de Surete 
 g^nirale nominated H. Harmand, deputy for the 
 Meuse, one of their members who shared in the 
 management of the Parisian police department, 
 to go to the Temple in order to verify the 
 above facts, take provisional measures, and give 
 an account of everything concerning the State 
 prisoners. 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 127 
 
 Let us now leave M. Harmand to speak for 
 himself.^ 
 
 " I sincerely wished to go to the Temple," says 
 he, " but as I haa not voted for the king's death, and 
 as revolutionary opinions were all-powerful at that 
 time, I hesitated; Iknew well enough that if, on 
 my return from the Temple, I drew up a statement 
 favourable to the illustrious prisoners, both I and 
 they would probably suffer for it; so, as I was 
 incapable of making false statements, I asked that 
 some members of the Comite might accompany 
 me. 
 
 " MM. Mathieu and Reverchon, both members 
 of the above committee, were nominated ; and I 
 hope that what I am now going to say will not 
 offend them. 
 
 " Unfortunately circumstances over which I 
 had no control prevented me from noting the 
 exact date of our visit to the Temple, but here 
 are the facts : 
 
 " We arrived outside the door behind whose 
 dreadful bolts and bars the innocent son, the only 
 son of our king, our king himself, was imprisoned. 
 
 " The key grated noisily in the lock, and we 
 beheld, through the open door, a small but clean 
 ante-room without any furniture except an earthen- 
 ware stove communicating with an adjoining room 
 by a hole in the wall ; this stove could only be lit 
 
 ^ The tone in which this statement is written is justified 
 by the fact that it was published in 1814. 
 
128 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 from the ante-room ; the commissaries told us that 
 this precaution had been taken in order to prevent 
 the child from playing with the fire. 
 
 " The other room belonged to the prince, and 
 in it was his bed ; the door was locked outside 
 and had to be opened ; the noise of the keys 
 and bolts made a deep impression upon me — an 
 impression only rendered more painful by time. 
 
 " The prince was seated in front of a little 
 square table covered with playing-cards, , some of 
 which had been bent into the shape of little boxes, 
 while others had been used to build card-houses ; 
 he was busy with these cards when we entered, 
 and he continued to play with them during the 
 whole of our visit. 
 
 " He was dressed in a new slate-coloured sailor 
 suit ; his head was bare. The room was clean 
 and well lighted. 
 
 " The bed was composed of a wooden bedstead 
 without any curtains ; the blankets and sheets 
 seemed clean and of good quality. This bed was 
 behind the door to the left on entering ; further 
 on, on the same side, at the foot of the first bed, 
 was another wooden bedstead without any bedding; 
 a door between these two beds communicated with 
 another room, into which we did not go. 
 
 " The commissaries informed us that this bed 
 had belonged to the cobbler Simon, who, before 
 Robespierre's death, had been placed by the muni- 
 cipality of Paris in the young prince's room in 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 129 
 
 order to wait upon, and to take care of, him. We 
 know with what atrocious barbarity this monster 
 performed his duties. 
 
 " We know that this scoundrel revelled in 
 being able to disturb his prisoner's slumbers ; that, 
 heedless of the fact that sleep is absolutely neces- 
 sary to children of his tender years, Simon would 
 awaken him several times during the night by 
 calling out : "" 
 
 " ' Capet ! Capet ! ' 
 " The prince would reply : 
 " ' Here I am, citizen.' 
 
 " ' Come nearer that I may see you,' replied 
 his tutor. 
 
 " The lamb approached. The execrable tor- 
 mentor would then thrust his leg out of bed, and, 
 kicking him wherever he could reach him, would 
 fell his victim to the ground, crying : 
 " ' Go to bed, whelp ! ' 
 
 " Oh Heavens ! could divine vengeance be 
 appeased by the death of those two monsters, 
 Simon and Robespierre ? 
 
 " The above narration has already been pub- 
 lished, but I reproduce it here because it was 
 related to us by the commissaries. I shudder 
 whenever I think of it. 
 
 " Having heard these frightful preliminary 
 
 details, I went and stood by the prince's side ; he 
 
 did not appear to notice our presence. I told him 
 
 that the Government, having learnt too late of the 
 
 9 
 
130 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 bad state of his health, of his refusal to take any 
 exercise and to reply to their questions concerning 
 his condition, as well as to the suggestion that he 
 should take some remedies and allow a doctor to 
 examine him, had sent us to see him, so that we 
 might verify these facts, and repeat to him, in the 
 name of the said Government, all their offers of 
 assistance ; that we hoped that these offers would 
 be agreeable to him, but that we should make bold 
 to take upon ourselves to give him advice, and 
 even expostulate with him, if he persisted in keep- 
 ing silent and in refusing to take any exercise ; 
 that we were authorized to allow him to extend 
 his walks, and to provide him with all the toys and 
 amusements which he might desire ; I then begged 
 him to vouchsafe some reply. 
 
 " While I was addressing this little speech to 
 him he sat quite still, staring at me, and apparently 
 listening with the greatest attention, but not a 
 word did he answer, 
 
 " I then repeated my offers, as if I thought that 
 he had not heard me, and I particularized in the 
 following terms : 
 
 " ' Perhaps I did not properly explain my 
 meaning, or perhaps you did not hear me, sir ; but 
 I have the honour to ask you whether you would 
 like a horse, a dog, some birds, or any other sort 
 of plaything, or one or more companions of your 
 own age whom we would introduce to you before 
 placing them in your room ? Would you like to 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 131 
 
 go into the garden now, or to walk on the tower ? 
 Would you like some sweets or some cakes ? ' 
 
 " In vain I mentioned everything a child of his 
 age could possibly desire : not a word of reply did 
 I receive, not even a sign or a gesture, although his 
 head was turned towards me and he stared at me in 
 a most strange manner, as if everything was utterly 
 indifferent to him. 
 
 "Then assuming a more decisive tone, I 
 ventured to say : ' Sir, such obstinacy at your age 
 is an unpardonable fault ; it is all the more extra- 
 ordinary because the object of our visit, as you see, 
 is to improve your condition, to procure for you 
 the care and attention necessary to your well-being. 
 How can you expect us to succeed if you always 
 refuse to answer and to say what you would like ? 
 What else can we do ? Have the goodness to tell 
 us what you desire and we will comply with your 
 requests.' 
 
 " He still stared at us, but not a word did he 
 utter. 
 
 " I began again : ' If your refusal to speak, 
 sir, only compromised your own interests, we would 
 wait, not without pain but with more resignation, 
 until it pleased you to speak, because we should 
 then be able to hope that your position was less 
 painful to you than we first thought it to be, since 
 you do not seem to wish to change it. But you 
 are not master of your own actions. Your 
 attendants are responsible for your person and for 
 
132 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 your condition : do you wish to compromise them ? 
 do you wish to compromise us ? For what reply 
 can we give to the Government of which we are 
 the representatives ? Kindly answer, I beg of you, 
 or we shall be obliged to command you to do so.' 
 
 " Not a word, always the same strange stare. 
 
 " I and my colleagues were in despair ; that 
 strange look was so resigned, so indifferent ; it 
 seemed to say : ' What does it matter to me ? dispatch 
 your victim /' 
 
 " I repeat, I could do no more. My heart 
 was heavy with remorse, I was ready to shed 
 bitter tears; but I recovered my equanimity after I 
 had paced up and down the room two or three 
 times. I determined to try what effect a tone of 
 command would produce ; so I placed myself quite 
 close to the prince's right hand, and said : ' Sir^ 
 kindly give me your right hand.' He held it out. I 
 passed my hand along his arm towards the armpit. 
 I felt one tumour on the wrist and another on the 
 elbow ; these tumours did not seem to be painful, 
 for the prince did not shrink at my touch. 
 
 " ' the other hand, sir.' He immediately held 
 it out ; there were no tumours on that arm. 
 
 " ' Allow me to fee I your thighs and knees, sir! ' He 
 stood up. I felt similar excrescences both above 
 and below the knee-cap. 
 
 " The young prince, when standing upright, 
 looked not only as if he was deformed, but as if he 
 was suffering from rickets ; his legs, thighs and 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 133 
 
 arms were very long and thin ; his bust was short ; 
 he was chicken-breasted, and his shoulders were 
 high and narrow ; his head was very handsome in 
 every way, the complexion clear though colourless, 
 the hair light-brown, long, fine and well kept. 
 
 " ' NoWf sir, have the goodness to walk a few paces.' 
 He obeyed at once, went towards the door separating 
 the two beds, and then came and sat down again. 
 
 " ' Do yoik call that taking exercise, sir ? Do you 
 not see, on the contrary, that this indolence alone is 
 the cause of your illness and of the diseases with 
 which you are threatened ? Have the goodness to 
 trust in our experience and good-will. You can 
 only hope to recover your health by yielding to our 
 requests and by following our advice. We are 
 going to send a doctor to see you, and we hope that 
 you will kindly reply to his questions. Show us, at 
 least, that by so doing we shall not displease you.' 
 
 " Not a sign, not a word. 
 
 " ' Sir, have the goodness to walk again, and a little 
 farther this time.' 
 
 " Silence and refusal ; he remained seated in his 
 chair with his elbows upon the table ; his expression 
 did not alter for a single moment ; there was not the 
 slightest trace of any emotion, not the slightest sign 
 of astonishment in his eyes ; it was just as if we 
 wer6 not there, as if I had not spoken. I remarked 
 that my colleagues were silent. 
 
 " We looked at each other in surprise, and we 
 were just about to approach nearer to each other in 
 
134 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 order to compare notes, when one of the com- 
 missaries entered with the king's dinner. 
 
 " We then witnessed another and a still more 
 painful scene, which, unless one had seen, one could 
 not believe. 
 
 " His dinner was composed of a blackish soup 
 with a few lentils floating on the surface, served 
 in an earthenware porringer ; on a plate of the 
 same crockery was a small piece of very tough- 
 looking boiled beef ; a second plate contained more 
 lentils, and on a third plate were six chestnuts, more 
 burnt than baked ; a pewter spoon and fork were 
 placed by the side of the porringer; the commissaries 
 told us that the Conseil de la Commune had ordered 
 that the child was on no account to be allowed to 
 use a knife ; there was no wine. 
 
 " And this was the dinner of the son of Louis 
 XVI, the descendant of sixty-six kings I Such was 
 the treatment accorded to this innocent child ! 
 
 " Ah ! who could endure such a sight ? For 
 we must remember that he was a king's son, a king 
 himself, an innocent victim, thus cruelly forced to 
 eat food only fit for his poorest subjects ! 
 
 " While the illustrious prisoner was finishing his 
 wretched repast, I and my colleagues endeavoured, 
 by our looks of horror, to make the commissaries 
 understand our astonishment and indignation ; in 
 order to spare the prince a painful scene, I signed 
 to these men to leave the room before reprimanding 
 them as they richly deserved. We then told them 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 135 
 
 what we thought of their conduct ; they repeated 
 their assertions, declaring that they had acted in 
 obedience to orders given by the municipality, and 
 that matters had even been worse before their time. 
 
 " When in the ante-room, we commanded that 
 this execrable state of affairs should be altered in 
 future, and that they should immediately begin to 
 add some dainties, and especially fruit, to his daily 
 fare. I wished them to get him some grapes, 
 which were scarce just then. 
 
 " An order to that effect having been given, we 
 re-entered. He had eaten everything. I asked 
 him if he had enjoyed his dinner. No reply. 
 Would he like some fruit ? No reply. The 
 grapes were soon produced, and placed upon his 
 table ; he ate them in silence. We asked him if 
 he would like some more. No reply. 
 
 " We then saw that all our efforts were useless, 
 and that we should never get him to answer us. I 
 told him what we intended to do. I assured him 
 that we were deeply i grieved, because we could only 
 attribute his silence to the fact that we had dis- 
 pleased him ; I added that we should therefore 
 recommend the Government to appoint other 
 commissaries, whom perhaps he would like better. 
 
 " He stared at us, but made no reply. 
 
 " ' Would you like us to go away, sir ? ' No 
 reply. 
 
 " Having said this, we left the room ; as the 
 first door was locked, we were obliged to wait in 
 
136 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 the ante-room for a quarter of an hour, mutually 
 questioning one another upon what we had just 
 seen and heard, and exchanging our remarks and 
 opinions upon the young prince's bodily and mental 
 faculties. 
 
 " Thanks to the above exact though abbreviated 
 narration, every one can and will, no doubt, make 
 the same reflections and the same remarks which 
 we ourselves made, and which I shall refrain from 
 repeating. 
 
 " I have explained the cause of the prince's 
 obstinate silence as quoted by the commissaries. 
 When in the ante-room, I asked them if this 
 strange silence really dated from the day when, 
 forced to yield to barbarous violence, he was made 
 to sign that odious and ridiculous declaration. . . . 
 They repeated their assertions to that effect. 
 Connoisseurs of human nature must draw their 
 own conclusions from this heart-breaking anecdote. 
 
 " Is it possible that a child of nine years of age 
 could make and keep such a resolution ? Such a 
 case is not very probable ; but to those who doubt 
 or deny the probability, I will reply by quoting 
 certain facts and evidence which all my readers can 
 verify for themselves. 
 
 " Before leaving the prince's ante-room, I and 
 my colleagues agreed that, for the honour of the 
 nation, then in utter ignorance of the cruel truth ; 
 for the honour of the Convention, equally ignorant, 
 but whose duty it was to learn the real facts of the 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 137 
 
 case ; for the honour of the municipality of Paris, 
 the authors of all these evils, we should content 
 ourselves with ordering provisional measures (which 
 were immediately executed), and that we should 
 make no public statement, but hold a private meet- 
 ing with the Comite — this meeting took place soon 
 afterwards." 
 
 Why did they take all these precautions ? What 
 did this guilty silence mean ? 
 
 M. Harmand tells us that he was sent on a 
 mission soon after his visit to the Temple ; he was 
 therefore unable to see that his orders for the 
 amelioration of the child-king's fate were carried 
 out. 
 
 Would one not expect that the strict orders 
 given by this deputy and by the Government's 
 representatives would have been obeyed, and that 
 means would have immediately been taken to 
 alleviate the august invalid's sufferings ? But it 
 was not so ; three months passed before this 
 unfortunate child received any attention ; three 
 months : that is to say, just long enough to 
 destroy all chance of a cure. The monsters had 
 voted the father's death in public ; they plotted 
 the son's death in secret. 
 
 Let us return to M. Harmand's narration. 
 
 Our readers will have probably observed that 
 the secret statement presented to the Comite was 
 not couched precisely in the above terms. Would 
 M. Harmand have dared to use, in the presence of 
 
138 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 the murderers of Louis XVI, such expressions as : 
 " the innocent son, the only son of our king, our 
 king himself," and divers other expressions observed 
 in his statement ? 
 
 But the strangest thing in this strange statement 
 is the manner in which M. Harmand insists upon 
 the fifteen months' feigned silence of Louis XVII, as 
 well as the cause to which he attributed it — which 
 cause, he considered, fully explained the young 
 prince's refusal to reply to the questions made to 
 him by the commissaries from the Comite de Surete 
 generale. 
 
 But we are quite convinced that the young 
 king, well aware of the identity of the persons to 
 whom his family owed their misfortunes, could 
 never have regarded with aught but contempt 
 and horror the Conventionnels and members of the 
 Commune, with the exception of a few individuals 
 who for many months had been unable to com- 
 municate with him. So he naturally vouchsafed 
 no reply, other than that expressive look to his 
 keepers and to the authors of his misfortunes : 
 " What does it matter to me ? Dispatch your 
 victim/" . . . The isolation, the utter destitu- 
 tion in which he had been left during the last 
 year of his existence, must have made the martyr- 
 child determine to keep his heroic resolution. 
 
 The cause of the prince's silence, as alleged by 
 the commissaries, was fallacious ; for if his silence 
 really dated from October 5, the date of that 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 139 
 
 monstrous examination, how was it that the child 
 consented to sign the odious declaration made in 
 the following month of December ? These allega- 
 tions were therefore untrue. Modern historians 
 have proved that the scoundrels deceived the child 
 in order to make him sign the paper (which he 
 was not allowed to read) containing the so-called 
 examination. And finally — we are obliged to con- 
 fess it — would the brutal Simon, during his three 
 months' office as gaoler to the young Louis, have 
 tolerated any obstinate silence or reproachful looks 
 from his unhappy prisoner ? The municipal guards 
 evidently thought that the above assertions would 
 prevent the public from suspecting that the child had 
 included his keepers in his righteous indignation. 
 
 After having written the above lines, we sub- 
 mitted them to Dr. Nauroy for his approval. This 
 lover of truth and devoted partisan of the Bourbon 
 cause desired to verify our remarks. In his eager 
 search after truth he has ever displayed zeal and 
 ardour well worthy of this splendid cause. Having 
 consulted reliable evidence, he informed us that the 
 reasons given by the commissaries in order to ex- 
 plain the young prince's silence were absolutely 
 false ; that the royal child had never ceased to 
 converse with all those who approached him, and 
 that his silence could only date from the day when 
 he was condemned to suffer complete isolation. 
 
 The victories won abroad by the brave French 
 soldiers had not, however, reassured the tyrants 
 
140 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 who ruled over France, and who were terrified by 
 the success of the Vendeens. Some members of the 
 Convention, chosen from among those who had not 
 voted for the king's death, were charged to begin 
 negotiations with the leaders of the Catholic and 
 royal armies. The chevalier de Charette and his 
 companions in arms, having exhausted their supply 
 of ammunition, cleverly profited by this occasion 
 in order to negotiate with the commissaries from 
 the Comites de la Convention, and to conclude with 
 them, if not a treaty of peace, at least an armistice. 
 All hostilities having ceased on both sides, the 
 royalists flattered themselves that the young king 
 and Madame Royale would eventually be delivered 
 into their charge. Several persons even declared 
 that shortly before the death of Louis XVII the 
 Comite de Salut public had treated with the leaders 
 of la Vendee, and had promised to deliver into their 
 hands the heir to the crown and his august sister 
 before June 1 5 at the latest. These same persons 
 went so far as to say that M. Desotteux, baron de 
 Cormatin, major-general of the Catholic and royal 
 army of Brittany, had been honoured by a com- 
 mand to go to Paris and to fetch the precious 
 offspring of Louis XVI. 
 
 But the faction which had overthrown Robes- 
 pierre, in whose crimes it had often shared, the 
 faction which had hidden its misdeeds behind a 
 mask of moderation, had less cause to fear the 
 fierce tyrant than any event which might restore 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 141 
 
 power to its legitimate masters. The rulers, fearing 
 such a contingency, and well aware of the Ven- 
 deens' position, instead of delivering the young 
 king into the hands of the champions of religion 
 and royalty, prolonged his martyrdom and his 
 sister's tortures. The faithful M. Hue, having 
 learnt that Louis XVII was in a very bad state of 
 health, begged the Comite de Surete generate to allow 
 him to be shut up with the young prince, that he 
 might take care of him. His request was refused, 
 under the pretext that the child was being properly 
 tended by the commissaries then on guard in the 
 Temple ! 
 
 It was not until the month of May, and after 
 several other persons, having learnt of the young 
 king's deplorable condition, had made repeated 
 requests, that the Comites decided to send the cele- 
 brated Desault to see him.^ This honest surgeon, 
 
 1 Pierre Joseph Desault, like Pelletan, bore the title of surgeon- 
 in-chief to the Grand Hospice d' Humaniti (formerly the Httel- 
 Dieu). He was born February 6, 1744, at Magny-Vernois, near 
 Lure, where his parents, who owned some property, had him 
 educated. Having completed his studies at the Jesuit College of 
 that town, he was first destined to the Church. But a marked 
 vocation for natural science obliged his father to send him to the 
 military hospital in Belfort, where for, three years he studied 
 surgery and the art of dressing wounds. On coming to Paris in 
 1764, he profited so well by his professors' instructions that, two 
 years later, he was able to begin a course of lectures upon anatomy. 
 He was attacked about this time by a severe illness, caused by over- 
 work and the petty persecutions of his jealous rivals. In 1776 he 
 obtained admission to the Collkge de Chirurgie, thanks to a clever 
 thesis in which he extolled a new method for operating in diseases 
 
142 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 after having thoroughly examined the sick child, 
 told them that they had waited too long to send 
 
 of the bladder ; his success was so extraordinary that he was 
 allowed, in consideration for his want of means, a certain delay in 
 which to pay the heavy entrance fees. By an unprecedented 
 favour he was nominated professor of anatomy at the Ecole 
 pratique before he had been admitted to the Collige de Chirurgie. 
 The Acadimie de Chirurgie soon nominated Desault first as surgeon 
 to the H&pital de Saint-Sulpice (now the HSpital La?nnec) in the 
 rue de Sevres, and then to the Hbpital de la Chariti (1782). 
 Three years later, on the death of Ferrand, he was given the 
 reversionary post of surgeon-in-chief at the HStel Dieu ; a short 
 time afterwards, the death of the incumbent, Moreau, placed him 
 at the head of the staff of surgeons in that hospital. He profited 
 by this occasion in order to open a school for clinical surgery, and 
 inaugurated, notwithstanding numerous protests, the practice of 
 performing operations in the dissecting-room for the purpose of 
 instructing'the students. Bichat, one of his pupils, left in a well- 
 known pamphlet a very complete account of all his master's 
 surgical discoveries. 
 
 The Revolution did not interrupt the labours of Desault, who 
 was nominated member of the Conseil de Santi in 1792 by 
 Servan. This event, notwithstanding his devotion to the com- 
 monwealth, as proved by his numerous gifts to the nation, drew 
 down upon his head the animosity of Chaumette, who accused 
 him in public of having refused to tend the wounded on August 
 10. After having been twice summoned to appear at the bar 
 of the Commune, Desault was arrested on May 28, 1793, while 
 giving a lecture in the operating theatre of the Hkel Dieu, and 
 imprisoned in the Luxemburg. He was liberated three days later 
 by the Comiti de Sureti glnirale. This mishap did not discourage 
 him, and on leaving the prison he immediately returned to the 
 HStel Dieu and recommenced his lectures upon surgery, which were 
 the only ones which had not been suppressed. After the 9th ther- 
 midor, the Comiti d'instruction publique nominated him professor of 
 clinical surgery at the Ecole de Santi, but lately established j he then 
 conceived the plan of installing a clinical surgery close to the Hitel 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 143 
 
 for him, and that, owing to the lamentable state of 
 the child's health, a cure was almost impossible. 
 
 Dieu in the building of the bishop's palace. But the events of the 
 1st prairial altered all his plans j once again he began to fear for 
 his personal safety. These new trials were too much for his health, 
 already undermined by overwork, and he expired, after a short 
 illness, in the arms of his friend Chopart, in the beginning of June 
 1795. Strange reports began to circulate after Desault's sudden 
 demise. It was said that he had been summoned to the Temple by 
 Barras, shortly after the gth thermidor, and that he had been unable 
 to recognize, in the dumb, sickly child who was then shown to 
 him, the Dauphin whom he had seen a few years before, robust and 
 full of life and spirits. " The child has been abducted ! " he is 
 reported to have said with an oath. They probably feared that he 
 would tell tales. He was invited, when he gave his report, to 'dine 
 with the Conventionneh ; and it was said that he was taken with 
 sudden sickness on returning to his home, and death quickly 
 ensued. Dr. Cabanas wisely remarks that all these facts seem very 
 improbable. Neither Bichat nor any lother of Desault's biographers 
 knew anything about this dinner. However, Desault's widow, 
 his niece (Madame de Calmet), his pupils, and Drs. Adouls and 
 Abeill6 afSrmed and maintained, in spite of contrary evidence, 
 that the unfortunate doctor had been poisoned. The France 
 midicale for August 25, 1905, even thought their evidence worthy 
 of reproduction. And yet in M. de la Sicoti^re's work, Les faux 
 Dauphins, Paris, 1882, we find a clever refutation of this report. 
 Why should the Thermidoriens have wished to poison the surgeon 
 of the Hkel Dieu P Because, having poisoned the Dauphin, they 
 wished his secret to perish with him ? Such a crime would have 
 been useless : isolation and sequestration would have finished the job 
 unaided. Because, on the contrary, Desault had refused to poison 
 the Dauphin ? We cannot believe that such a suggestion could 
 have been made to Desault, who, as a royalist, was well known for 
 his pronounced political opinions. Because he had noticed that 
 another child had been substituted in place of the Dauphin ? 
 Why should they have waited for a month before getting rid of 
 this dangerous witness ? All these theories are improbable and 
 
144 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 He proposed to send the invalid into the country, 
 where, with proper treatment and great care, the 
 august child might perhaps recover his health, if 
 not permanently, at least for a few years. 
 
 The Comites refused to do anything. However, 
 Desault determined to do his best to improve the 
 royal prisoner's pitiable condition. The prince 
 was extremely grateful to the surgeon for his kind 
 care, and proved his gratitude by allowing the 
 doctor to do whatever he liked with him, and by 
 conversing with him instead of keeping silent as 
 he had latterly done in the presence of both gaolers 
 and commissaries. When the latter came to an- 
 nounce that Desault's visit was nearfy at an end, the 
 august child, eager to detain his kind doctor, yet 
 unwilling to ask his keepers to prolong the visit, 
 used to seize the flap of M. Desault's coat in his 
 little hand. On leaving the Temple the honest, 
 kind-hearted Desault, with tears in his eyes, would 
 repeat all the young prince's sayings and requests 
 to M. Nicolle and other intimate friends. 
 
 Desault died suddenly on June i of that same 
 year. A search was made after his death for any 
 notes concerning his visits to the sick prince, but 
 none were ever found. 
 
 On June 5, M. Pelletan,i surgeon-in-chief to 
 
 inconsistent. The post-morUm examination of Desault's body 
 
 made'* by Corvisart points to death from cerebro-spinal meningitis, 
 
 or from typhoid-fever ; there is no mention of death from poison. 
 
 1 Philippe Jean Pelletan was born in Paris, May 4, 1747. His 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 145 
 
 the Grand Hospice, and M. Dumangin, doctor-in- 
 chief to the Hdpital de Sante, were nominated to 
 
 parents being very poor, it was only at the cost of the greatest 
 privations that he was able to complete his studies. In order to 
 obtain the necessary books, which he could not afford to buy, he 
 was obliged to give lessons in anatomy to his companions. He 
 won his diplomas under Moreau at the HStel Dieu, and taught fof 
 some time at the ColUge de Chirurgie. The Convention having 
 declared that the Fatherland was in danger, Pelletan left the hospital 
 and went to the camps, where he became surgeon-major first in the 
 Armie des Pyrinies, and then in the Armie du Nord. On returning 
 to Paris, he soon obtained a position worthy of his talents. He 
 had just been nominated surgeon-in-chief to the Grand Hospice de 
 FHumaniti (as the Hkel Dieu was called at that time) when he 
 was summoned to make a post-mortem examination upon the little 
 dead child in the Temple. 
 
 Pelletan was a member of the Acadimie de Chirurgie, the Ligion 
 d'Honneur, and the newly-established Institut. And yet he was 
 neither happy nor wealthy ; he was very eloquent (his pupils called 
 him the " Chrysostom of Surgery"), a skilful operator, and a great 
 philanthropist ; but his timid, nervous disposition ruined his career, 
 and he was constantly being supplanted, by his rivals and even by 
 his pupils. Although it was he who had instituted the Ecole de 
 perfectionnement, celebrated throughout France, it was Antoine 
 Dubois who reaped all the glory. Pelletan was unable to obtain 
 the post of surgeon-in-chief to the emperor, which post was 
 given by Corvisart to Boyer ; he could not, notwithstanding 
 his great desire, obtain the title of baron of the Empire. The 
 reorganization of the corps savants by the Restauration was another 
 blow. After occupying successively the posts of professor of surgery, 
 operations and obstetrics, he was deprived in 1823 of both post and 
 salary in consequence of a riot among the medical students. So, 
 after thirty years of teaching and forty years of practice, this unfor- 
 tunate man, deserted by his patients, was reduced at seventy-seven 
 years of age to live upon the meagre salary accorded to him as 
 member of the Institut. (See Isidore Bourdon.) Although Pelletan, 
 like most surgeons of his time, contributed largely to the 
 
146 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 attend the young prince in place of the defunct M. 
 Desault. These physicians, hke Desault, confessed 
 
 renovation of his art, he wrote very little ; he published in 1810 a 
 CUnique chirurgicale in three volumes, a somewhat superannuated 
 epitome of an art in which he had already been surpassed by his 
 pupils. His name is only remembered on account of his partici- 
 pation in the post-mortem examination made upon the child who 
 died in the Temple. 
 
 We know that Pelletan declared that he had succeeded in 
 slipping into his pocket the heart of Louis XVII, wrapped in a cloth. 
 However, he could not convince Louis XVIII", who preferred to 
 believe the assertions of Lasne and Dumangin, two eye-witnesses 
 of the post-mortem examination, and refused to accept any relics. 
 
 Thanks to articles in the Nouvelle Revue rhrospective (1894), 
 and I'lntermkdlare des chercheurs (1895), we can follow the history 
 of this heart up to the present day. Pelletan, whose offer was 
 repulsed by the king, having vainly applied to the duchesse 
 d'Angoul^me ; to Decaze, minister of justice j to the keeper of the 
 seals, Pasquier ; and even to the minister of war, the comte de 
 Clermont-Tonnerre, thought that he might be more successful 
 with the archbishop of Paris. Monseigneur Qu61en consented to 
 receive the heart as a deposit in trust, and endeavoured to persuade 
 Charles X to accept it. It was proposed that the king should 
 " deposit the heart beneath the chancel of Notre Dame in the 
 same spot where the entrails of Louis XIII and Louis XIV were 
 buried. A grand mass was to be celebrated in the mother church. 
 If this proposal did not please the king, the heart was to be 
 deposited with the same ceremony in the church of Sainte- 
 Geneviive, close to the altar of Saint-Louis, or even in the vault 
 of the church of Saint-Louis." 
 
 All these plans having fallen through, the heart of Louis XVII 
 was enclosed in a crystal casket adorned with a crown of gi\t fleurs- 
 de-lis. It was still in the archbishop's residence when that building 
 was pillaged in 183 1. A workman named Lescrocart found it in 
 the cardinal's library, together with documents testifying to its 
 authenticity, and thought it his duty to carry it to the son of 
 Pelletan, for the latter had died in 1829. 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 147 
 
 that it was useless to try and save this valuable 
 life, the royal prisoner being so exhausted that they 
 could do nothing for him except endeavour to soothe 
 his last moments. 
 
 These doctors blamed the municipal guards 
 because they had not removed the bars which 
 darkened the windows of his prison, as well as the 
 enormous bolts whose rattling still reminded the 
 innocent victim of the torments endured by him, 
 
 While he was carrying it to his residence, it was wrested from 
 him by some of the rioters, and he was only able to deliver the 
 documents into Philippe Pelletan's charge. The latter, however, 
 was fortunate enough to find the heart, which he recognized by 
 the strong smell of alcohol in which it had been preserved, lying 
 under a heap of gravel. Dr. Corlieu {Mart des rots de France) 
 tells us that Philippe Pelletan endeavoured on several occasions to 
 persuade the comte de Chambord to accept his relic ; he died in 
 1879 without having succeeded. The heart remained in the hands 
 of Pelletan's heirs until 1886, when M. de Maill^ gave into the 
 care of Don Carlos " a crystal casket containing a heart reduced 
 by age to the state of crumpled parchment, and which he declared 
 to be the heart of Louis XVII." This gift caused a perfect explosion 
 of virulent protests on all sides ; the prince de Valori, although he 
 was a faithful supporter of Don Carlos, agreed with Louis XVIII, 
 Charles X, and the duchesse d'Angoul^me. On the. other hand, 
 the " due de Normandie," Naundorff's son, loudly protested against 
 this "new burlesque of history." The physicians S6e, Mathias, 
 Duval, Tillaux, and Laborde, declared with one voice that the 
 question as to whether this heart had or had not belonged to Louis 
 XVII was insoluble. Be this as it may, the relic, after many 
 vicissitudes, now reposes in the chapel of the Castle of FrohsdorfF, 
 beside the blood-stained fichu worn on the scaffold by Marie- 
 Antoinette, and some thorns from the crown of thorns in the 
 Sainte-Chapelle. 
 
148 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 which torments had reduced him to such a hope- 
 less condition. While M. Pelletan was loudly 
 expressing his opinion upon this subject, the young 
 prince signed to him to come nearer, and begged 
 him to lower his voice. " I am afraid," said he, 
 " that my sister may hear you ; and I should be 
 very sorry if she were to learn that I am ill, because 
 it would grieve her very deeply." This little act 
 of thoughtfulness is another proof of the prince's 
 gentle, loving disposition. MM. Dumangin and 
 Pelletan caused the prisoner to be carried into the 
 concierge's parlour, the windows of which looked 
 into the garden. 
 
 The sight of the siinshine and green trees seemed 
 to soothe the august invalid. He endeavoured to 
 show his gratitude ; unable, owing to his great 
 weakness, to speak except in monosyllables, he still 
 tried to smile at his doctors. 
 
 On June 7 the king had a fainting fit, which 
 made his attendants fear that the end was near, and 
 that these prophetic words would soon be realized : 
 
 " My strength is exhausted, my days are cut 
 short, and the tomb alone remains for me." 
 
 On June 8, at two o'clock in the afternoon, the 
 unfortunate Louis XVII gave up the ghost. 
 
 On the morrow, the deputy and regicide, 
 Sevestre, who, on April 13, 1794, had said that 
 " this child would never come of age," made to 
 the Convention, in the name of the Comite de Surete 
 ginerale, the following statement : 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 149 
 
 " Capet's son had been suffering for some time 
 from swellings on the right knee and on the left 
 wrist. 
 
 "On the ist fiorial (April 20) the pain in- 
 creased ; the invalid lost his appetite, and fever 
 appeared. The famous medical officer, Desault, 
 was summoned to examine him and prescribe for 
 him. We knew that this person would make use 
 of all his talents and powers and endeavour to 
 improve his patient's condition. 
 
 " However, the prince's illness became more 
 serious. On the i6th of this month (June 5) 
 Desault died ; the Comite then nominated the 
 citizen Pelletan, the celebrated medical officer, 
 and the citizen Dumangin, physician-in-chief to 
 the HSpital de Sante, to replace him. 
 
 " The above-named physicians issued yesterday, 
 at eleven o'clock in the morning, a bulletin an- 
 nouncing that disquieting symptoms had appeared, 
 and that the invalid's life was in imminent danger ; 
 at a quarter-past two o'clock in the afternoon we 
 received the news of the death of Capet's son. 
 The Comite de Surete generale charges us to inform 
 you of that event, which has been verified." 
 
 On June 10, two days after the death of 
 Lpuis XVII, the commissary of police for the 
 Section du Temple, accompanied by two civil com- 
 missaries, repaired, in obedience to a command 
 received from the Comite de Surete generale, to the 
 tower of the Temple at half-past eight o'clock at 
 
150 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 night, in order to remove his Majesty's body. 
 They found it uncovered ; it was placed, in their 
 presence, in a wooden coffin and immediately con- 
 veyed to the cemetery belonging to the parish of 
 Sainte-Marguerite in the faubourg Saint- An toine.^ 
 
 1 The acte de dich witnessed by the municipality according to 
 the. deed drawn up by the commissaries of police for the Section du 
 Temple, the 22nd prairial, was discovered by M. de Beauchesne 
 among the archives at the Hbtel-de-VtUe and published by him. 
 It says : 
 
 The twenty-fourth prairial of the third year of the Republic. 
 
 Acte de dich of Louis-Charles Capet, on the 23rd of this month, 
 at three o'clock in the afternoon, at the age of ten years and two 
 months, a native of Versailles, in the department of Seine et Oise, 
 residing in Paris, in the towers of the Temple, in the section du 
 Temple, son of Louis Capet, last king of the French, and of Marie- 
 Antoinette- Jos^phe- Jeanne of Austria. 
 
 By a declaration made at the Town-hall by Etienne Lasne, 
 aged thirty-nine years, keeper of the Temple, residing in Paris, rue 
 et section des Droits de I' Homme, No. 48, and by R6my Bigot, aged 
 fifty-seven years, employ^, residing in Paris, vieille rue du Temple, 
 No. 61, a friend of the above-named Etienne Lasne. 
 
 This certificate was witnessed by Dussert, commissary of 
 police in the aforesaid section, on the twenty-second of this month. 
 
 Signatures : 
 Pierre- Jacques Robin (public officer), 
 Lasne (commander-in-chief, section des Droits de F Homme), 
 Bigot. 
 
 On June 10, Dominique Goddet and Laurent Arnoult, civil 
 commissaries for the Section du Temple, repaired, in obedience to an 
 order given by the Comiti de S^ireti ginirale, to the Temple, ac- 
 companied by Pierre Dufour, commissary of police for that section. 
 Lasne and Gomin, the keepers of Louis XVII, and Joseph Gu6rin, 
 civil commissary for the Section de V Homme armi, showed them the 
 corpse of a male child of about ten years of age, which was lying 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 151 
 
 Hardly was the news of the death of Louis 
 XVII known, when a number of persons hastened 
 
 upon a bed, and which they identified as the corpse of Louis- 
 Charles Capet. 
 
 We learn, besides, from one of the commissaries, Gu6rin, who 
 left an account published in the Revue des questions historiques, that 
 rumours of an escape having been circulated upon several occasions 
 in Paris, additional precautions were taken. " Before proceeding 
 to inter the body, the keepers, in order to gather round them a 
 large number of witnesses to the identity of the child whom they 
 were about to bury, invited the two commissaries of the Section du 
 Temple and the entire military staff then on duty in the tower to 
 assist at this ceremony of identification ; those of their number 
 who recognized the son of Louis Capet were requested to certify 
 to that effect and to affix their signatures. They all recognized 
 him and signed the Temple register." 
 
 On June I2, at half-past eight o'clock at night, two civil 
 commissaries and the commissary of police for the Section du 
 Temple repaired to the tower of the Temple in order to remove 
 the body of Louis XVII, as commanded by the Comiti de S&reti 
 gknlrale. They found it uncovered ; it was placed in their 
 presence in a wooden coffin and immediately conveyed to the 
 cemetery of Sainte-Marguerite, in the rue du faubourg Saint- 
 Antoine, where it was interred. The Comiti de Sureti ginirale 
 caused the procession to be escorted by detachments of infantry 
 (Moniteur^ du 26 prairial, June 14, 1795). 
 
 M. Lucien Lambeau has made a special study of the question 
 of the Dauphin's burial. {Le cimetilre de Sainte-Marguerite et la 
 sipulture de Louis XVII, i vol. in 8vo, Daragon, Paris, 1905). 
 Having carefully considered the divers researches made at various 
 times in order to discover the remains of the Dauphin, he tells us 
 of the unsatisfactory results obtained therefrom. 
 
 We gather from this excellent work and its valuable documents 
 that the Dauphin died in the Temple, that he was buried in the 
 common grave in the cemetery of Sainte-Marguerite, and that 
 Louis XVIII was quite justified when he said, " that, as he knew 
 that his nephew was dead, and as he was familiar with even the 
 
152 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 to declare that a slow poison, served up in a dish of 
 spinach, had shortened the unhappy prince's life ; 
 they cited numerous motives apparently justifying 
 such suspicions. 
 
 These persons reminded the public that the 
 report made by the representative M, Mailhe, in 
 the name of the Comite de 'legislation, upon the trial 
 of Louis XVI, finished writh this bloodthirsty 
 sentence : 
 
 " This child is at present innocent ; he has not 
 had time to share in the iniquities of the Bourbons. 
 You must weigh his fate with the interests of the 
 Republic. You must decide this important ques- 
 tion so ably expressed, by Montesquieu : ' Even in 
 states where liberty is most highly esteemed, the 
 laws are sometimes transgressed. And I confess,' he 
 adds, ' that it seems to me that there are times and 
 occasions when liberty must perforce be veiled, as 
 the statues of the gods were veiled in olden times.' " 
 
 These persons remembered that the Deputy 
 Chabot had loudly declared that "it was the 
 apothecary's business to rid France of Capet's son," 
 and that, some time after the 9th thermidor, Brival, 
 the worthy colleague of the above-named Con- 
 ventionnels, had reproached the Comite de Salut public 
 
 smallest details of his demise as well as with all the Revolutionaries' 
 hidden machinations, he thought it unwise to open the door to 
 doubts and suppositions by ordering researches to be made which 
 every one could foresee, as events have since proved, would be 
 useless. 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 153 
 
 for having committed many unnecessary crimes and 
 for not having consummated that particular one. 
 
 We will leave our readers to judge for them- 
 selves of a work upon this subject which appeared 
 about that time. The anonymous author, after 
 having apostrophized Tallien for his conduct in 
 the most virulent terms, says (page 1 69) : " If 
 your cheeks are not bedewed with tears as you 
 read this article, if your heart is not galled by 
 repentance . . . you are not a man. . . . Then, 
 deaf to all else but righteous indignation, I shall 
 unveil the frightful picture of the past, I shall tell 
 on what spot, at what hour, and by what monsters 
 that fatal draught was prepared, and how this 
 innocent victim expired in the Temple!" . . . 
 Lastly, many persons, astonished at Desault's 
 sudden death, spread a report that he had been 
 poisoned because he had refused (at least, so they 
 said) to countenance the criminal designs made 
 upon the person of the son of Louis XVI. This 
 opinion was confirmed by the equally sudden death 
 of the chemist Choppart, who, together with his 
 friend Desault, had been appointed to prescribe for 
 the young invalid, and lastly by the death of that 
 unfortunate prince, who, as we have already seen, 
 soon followed his two physicians to the tomb. On 
 June 9, the day of his death, MM. Dumangin and 
 Pelletan, accompanied by MM. Jeanroy and Lassus, 
 proceeded, in obedience to an order received from 
 the Comite de SHrete generate, to open the body of 
 
154 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 Louis XVII. The pro,ces-n)erbal of this operation, 
 which they quite forgot to date, was drawn up by 
 M. Pelletan, who kept the original document in 
 his own possession. This careful and circum- 
 stantial post-mortem examination of the child-king's 
 body, made by men celebrated for their talents and 
 probity, would seem to dismiss any suspicion of 
 poison. Desault does not appear to have suspected 
 any crime. Although he left no notes upon the 
 treatment prescribed by him for the Dauphin, at 
 least he gave a verbal account of that treatment. 
 We read in the Essah historiques sur la revolution de 
 France, by M. Beaulieu : " While journalists were 
 endeavouring to prejudice public opinion against a 
 form of government incompatible with our morals, 
 customs, and above all with our characters, death 
 deprived the royalists of the one person considered 
 by many people, including several revolutionists, 
 capable of drawing France from the abyss into 
 which she had fallen ; the unhappy son of Louis 
 XVI ended his sad and innocent existence in the 
 prison of the Temple. . . . The misery, the state 
 of neglect in which he had been left, after having 
 been lovingly tended and carefully guarded from all 
 ill, had completely ruined his constitution. A 
 report, still credited by many persons, was cir- 
 culated for some time that this unhappy child had 
 been poisoned ; this mystery will probably never 
 be entirely elucidated. All I know is that the 
 famous surgeon Desault, whose acquaintance I 
 
?'A^aro? 
 
 PELLETAN. 
 Doctor to Louis XYII. 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 155 
 
 made in prison, told me, during one of my visits 
 to him, that he did not believe in this report ; but 
 as M. Desault himself, as well as the apothecary 
 who provided the remedies, died shortly afterwards, 
 public opinion asserted that they had been sacrificed 
 in order to insure secrecy. I repeat what M. 
 Desault, who apparently was speaking the truth, 
 told me. 
 
 " However, as M. Hue remarks, it was not for 
 any feelings of humanity that they refrained from 
 committing this crime. In fact, it would have 
 been less cruel to poison the child-king than to 
 make him endure the slow and painful martyrdom 
 of neglect and isolation to which he was subjected 
 during several months, and which alone caused his 
 death. The monsters who tyrannized over France 
 at that time, and who were well aware of the lively 
 interest displayed by the public in the young 
 prince's fate, were too cautious to jeopardize their 
 popularity and power by making him die a violent 
 death. They thought it less dangerous to compass 
 the ruin of his mental faculties by terrorism and 
 to wear out his bodily force by ill-treatment. ' If 
 by chance,' said they, ' the Parisians ever march, 
 during some popular disturbance, to the Temple 
 and endeavour to proclaim Louis XVII king, we 
 will show them a wretched brat whose stupid 
 countenance and general air of imbecility will 
 soon force them to relinquish any plans for placing 
 him upon the throne.' " 
 
156 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 Louis XVII was the fourth victim cut down in 
 the space of two years by the revolutionary scythe. 
 Monsieur was deeply grieved on learning of the 
 lamentable end of the young king, his nephew. 
 
 Louis XVIII, as heir to the throne by right 
 of birth as well as by the laws of the kingdom, 
 announced his accession to the divers European 
 Powers. To the French nation his Majesty 
 addressed a proclamation which M. Crappart, 
 formerly editor of the Ami du rot, hastened to have 
 printed in Paris and distributed all over France. 
 
 On July 4, his Serene Highness, the prince de 
 Conde, announced the sad event to his army in the 
 following proclamation : 
 
 " Gentlemen : hardly have the unfortunate 
 Louis XVI, his august companion and their 
 venerable sister descended to the tomb, when 
 we behold the stone rolled back in order to 
 restore to these illustrious victims the interesting 
 object of our tender affection, of our hopes and 
 of our respect. The young scion of so many 
 kings, in whose veins ran the blood of Henri IV 
 and Marie-Therese, whose birth alone seemed to 
 promise happiness and prosperity to his subjects, 
 has jus^ succumbed beneath the weight of heavy 
 fetters and a cruel fate. 
 
 " This is not the first time that I have been 
 obliged to remind you that in France we hold 
 that ' the king never dies ! ' Let us swear, then, 
 to the august prince who to-day becomes our king, 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 157 
 
 to shed the last drop of our blood to prove our 
 measureless fidelity and blind submission, together 
 with that undying affection which we owe to him 
 and which fills our souls. 
 
 " We will now demonstrate our wishes by 
 uttering that heartfelt cry so natural, in its deep 
 significance, to all true Frenchmen, that cry which 
 has ever been the presage as well as the reward of 
 your victories, and which the regicides can never 
 hear without astonishment and remorse. 
 
 " After having invoked the God of mercies for 
 our lost king, we will now pray the God of battles 
 to prolong the days of the king whom He now 
 gives us, and to establish the crown of France upon 
 his head by means of victories, if need be, yet 
 rather, if it be possible, by his subjects' repentance 
 and by a blessed reign iof peace, mercy, and justice. 
 
 " Gentlemen, king Louis XVII is dead : 
 
 " Long live king Louis XVIII ! " 
 
 The king having at last recovered his sceptre, 
 one of his first deeds, after attending to the interests 
 of his kingdom, was to search for the martyred 
 members of his family. 
 
 During the jealous usurper's reign a faithful 
 Frenchman, M, Olivier Descloseaux, had carefully 
 guarded the precious remains of Louis XVI and 
 Marie-Antoinette. When they were restored to 
 the nation, France showed, by her grief and 
 veneration, all her heartfelt remorse for the 
 cruel crime perpetrated by her unworthy children. 
 
158 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 These remains were transferred to the royal church 
 of Saint-Denis, the burial-place of our kings. 
 
 The last and youngest martyr of this unfortunate 
 family was not forgotten in this pious act of repara- 
 tion. His Majesty, in the month of February, 
 1 8 1 6, ordered that the mortal remains of the king, 
 his august nephew, were to be sought for, disinterred, 
 and transferred to the church of Saint-Denis. 
 
 Providence had watched over the child-king's 
 remains as it had watched over those of the authors 
 of his being. Providence caused two humble grave- 
 diggers to mark with white chalk the coffin con- 
 taining these relics before placing it in the common 
 grave in the cemetery of Sainte-Marguerite, so 
 that they might be able to identify it if necessary. 
 Besides this precaution, the two grave-diggers took 
 care to keep the Dauphin's coffin apart from the 
 other coffins. Sentries were placed for five or six 
 nights outside the cemetery gate lest any one might 
 wish to steal the body of Louis XVII. But when 
 the sentries had departed, the two grave-diggers 
 removed the coffin from the common grave and 
 placed it in a separate grave already prepared, 
 close to the door leading from the church to the 
 cemetery. They added, as a second distinguishing 
 mark, a cross formed of a number of little pebbles. 
 One of the grave-diggers is still alive, and his 
 evidence is confirmed by his comrade's widow, 
 who had also learnt the secret. 
 
 Certain persons declare that the mortal remains 
 
MEMOIES UPON LOUIS XVII 159 
 
 of Louis XVII were not all confided to mother 
 earth, but that the heart of this affectionate and 
 sensitive child will one day become an object of 
 homage and veneration. We submit to our readers 
 the following private information obtained by us 
 upon this important subject. 
 
 The Comites de la Convention had given a special 
 order that their victim's body was to be placed in 
 the common grave. M. Pelletan, one of the 
 surgeons who assisted at the opening of the body, 
 having been informed of this fact, profited by a 
 moment , of inattention on the part of his col- 
 leagues in order to save the young king's heart 
 from the grave. On reaching home, he placed it 
 in a crystal casket on which were engraved the 
 letters L. C, the monogram of Louis-Charles ; the 
 cover was adorned with seventeen stars arranged 
 in the form of a crown surmounted by a gilt 
 fleur-de-lis. 
 
 Be this as it may, thanks to information already 
 obtained upon the above facts, and the inquiries 
 which will soon be made, we may hope to discover 
 and to identify, in an authentic and solemn manner, 
 the precious remains of Louis XVII. 
 
 The Chambre des Pairs and the Chambre des 
 Deputes hastened, in the name of all France, to 
 participate in the ceremonies of expiation organized 
 by the king's command. On January 17 and 18 
 these two chambers unanimously adopted a law 
 stating that a monument should be erected in the 
 
160 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 name and at the expense of the nation as an 
 atonement for the crime committed January 21, 
 1793, and adding (Article IV) : 
 
 "That another monument shall be erected in the 
 name and at the expense of the nation, to the 
 memory of Louis XVII, the queen, and Madame 
 Elisabeth." 
 
 Lastly, two ordinances given by the king's 
 hand, January 19 and February 14, 1816, enjoined 
 the completion of the Church of the Madeleine 
 in the faubourg Saint-Honore, in which he wished 
 to place the expiatory monuments now being 
 executed, M. Lemot, one of our most celebrated 
 sculptors, has been commissioned to execute the 
 mausoleum of Louis XVII. Among the inscrip- 
 tions consecrated by M. Belloc to the memory of 
 the royal victims of the ferocious revolutionists, 
 we find one dedicated to the young king ; it com- 
 bines, according to the opinion expressed by a 
 learned critic : " all the elegance of ornate design 
 and the inappreciable merit of pure and genuine 
 affection seldom found in monumental inscriptions." 
 
 MEMORIAE . ET . CINERIBUS 
 
 LUDOVICI XVII 
 
 QUEM 
 
 PARENTIBUS SANCTISSIMIS 
 
 INFANDO FUNERE ORBATUM 
 
 NULLAS . NON . AERUMNAS . PERPESSUM 
 
 IN . IPSO . FERE . VITAE . LIMINE , MORS . SUSTULIT 
 
 DIE VIII JUNII AN . M.DCC.LXXXXV 
 
 VIXIT . ANNIS . X . MENSIBUS II . DIEBUS XII, 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 161 
 
 LUDOVICUS xviir 
 
 FECIT 
 
 FRATRIS . FILIO . DULCISSIMO 
 
 AC . SUPRA . AETATIS . MODUM . PIENTISSIMO 
 
 SALVE . ANIMA . INNOCENS 
 
 QUAE . CEU . AUREUM , GALUAE . SIDUS 
 
 BEATO . SPATIARIS . POLO 
 
 VOLENS . HANC . PATRIAM . DOMUMQUE . BORBONIDUM 
 
 PLACIDO . LUMINE , INTUETOR. 
 
 IN MEMORY 
 
 OF 
 
 LOUIS XVII 
 
 WHO, 
 
 AFTER HAVING BEHELD HIS ILLUSTRIOUS PARENTS 
 
 SWEPT AWAY BY A DEATH 
 
 WHICH SORROW REFUSES TO RECOUNT 
 
 AND AFTER HAVING DRAINED TO THE VERY DREGS 
 
 AND ALMOST ON LIFE S THRESHOLD, 
 CUT DOWN BY THE SCYTHE OF DEATH. 
 HE DIED JUNE VIII M.DCC.LXXXXV. 
 HE LIVED X YEARS, II MONTHS, AND XII DAYS. 
 
 LOUIS XVIII 
 
 ERECTED THIS TOMB 
 
 TO THE WORTHY SON OF HIS BROTHER 
 
 A WELL-BELOVED CHILD 
 
 PIOUS BEYOND HIS YEARS. 
 
 DEIGN TO BESTOW ONE GLANCE, 
 ONE GLANCE OF LOVE, 
 UPON FRANCE AND UPON THE BOURBONS, 
 II 
 
162 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 History finds naught to relate of the policy and 
 government of Louis XVII ; but we shall ever 
 regret his promising disposition, and his budding 
 virtues. History, however, will publish to the 
 whole world his unexampled misfortunes. Its 
 stern pen will terrify posterity with the picture of 
 the cruelties, the barbarous treatment endured by 
 the child-king and by other Frenchmen, during 
 those long and painful months of agony, at the 
 hands of madmen, the usurpers of legitimate 
 power. Already the example of the many evils 
 caused by anarchy has borne fruit among other 
 nations, partners in our affliction, and will, no 
 doubt, be of use to us who were the eye-witnesses 
 or victims of those dissensions ! May this terrible 
 lesson preserve our descendants from the love of 
 innovations, from impious governments and from 
 revolutionary frenzy ! Having escaped the perils of 
 those horrible times, and the disasters into which 
 we had been led by blind and ambitious madmen, 
 let us bring the tribute of our gratitude, of our 
 veneration, of our love to the king who, by his 
 great virtues, has reconciled us with so many nations 
 jealous of our glory, and whose love and paternal 
 solicitude will finally win peace and happiness to 
 our side.^ 
 
 ^ Was the child who was treated by Desault and Pelletan and 
 who died in the Temple really the Dauphin ? " No," reply the 
 partisans of the theory of evasion ; " about that time another child 
 was substituted in his place, and it was this child who died in 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 163 
 
 the Temple." In order to prove this assertion, they produced 
 three letters which, if they were authentic,! would prove that 
 a twofold substitution had taken place. They declared that, 
 in the beginning of November 1 794, a dumb child had been put 
 in the Dauphin's place, and that the latter had been hidden in the 
 attics of the Temple ; they also said that, between February 5 
 and March 3, 1 795, this dumb child had been replaced by another 
 child who was wasted by consumption, who would soon die, 
 -and be buried as if he had been the Dauphin himself. What is 
 the real value of these three letters attributed to Laurent, one of 
 the commissaries in the Temple, letters which no one has ever 
 seen, and of which even the naundorffistes only possessed copies ? 
 It is impossible, in historical matters, to credit documents which 
 cannot be produced, and which, as no one can prove the existence 
 of the originals, are only apocryphal. We publish them, however, 
 because we think that, by so doing, we may discover how and 
 why they were concocted. 
 
 In 1 8 14, Harmand de la Meuse published the account, repro- 
 doiced by us, of his visit to the Temple in obedience to a command 
 given by the Convention, in order to ascertain the condition of the 
 French royal children and to see if their rigime had been ameliorated 
 according to the instructions received after Barras' visit of inspec- 
 tion. During Harmand's visit, the date of which he omitted to 
 mention, he was struck by the fact that the Dauphin refused to 
 speak and that, although he looked very fixedly and very attentively 
 at his visitors, he made neither sign nor gesture in reply. Naun- 
 dorflF's friends got hold of this story, and declared that the child 
 was dumb ; they knew that it was useless to assert that the poor 
 little child, stupefied by isolation, and unable to forget Hubert's 
 examination and Simon's insults, had determined never to speak 
 again. They saw that they could turn this story of a dumb child 
 to good account, and they took care to profit by this opportunity. 
 It was quite possible that the Dauphin did hold out his hand and 
 did walk when he was ordered to do so, but might he not have 
 acted thus because he understood the gesture which accompanied 
 the command although he did not understand the command itself ? 
 In order to carry out this substitution the child must perforce be 
 dumb. They need only invent a document stating the existence 
 in the Temple of a dumb child on that particular date. Harmand's 
 
164 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 narration would confirm such an assertion. So the first letter was 
 produced. 
 
 After many variations, the naundorffistes declared that B. signified 
 Botot, Barras' secretary ; the letter was said to be addressed to 
 Frott^. 
 
 General, 
 
 Your letter dated the 6th of this month arrived too late ; 
 your first plan had already been carried out, the moment had 
 come in which to act. To-morrow a new keeper is to enter on 
 his functions ; he is a republican named Commier, a good fellow 
 
 according to B (Botot), but I myself have no confidence in 
 
 such people. I shall find great difficulty in getting food to our 
 
 p (prince), but I shall take good care to get him out of that 
 
 cursed tower. B (Botot) told me that he himself could under- 
 take nothing on account of the strict supervision. If he had to 
 remain very long I should fear for his health, for there is very 
 little air in his oubliette, where the good God Himself could not 
 find him were He not all-powerful. He has promised me to 
 perish rather than betray his hiding-place. I have good reason to 
 believe him. His sister knows nothing ; prudence obliges me to 
 speak to her of the little dumb child as if he were really her brother. 
 
 However, the unhappy child thinks himself very lucky and 
 plays his part so well that the new guards are convinced that he 
 does not wish to speak ; so there is no danger. 
 
 Send back the faithful bearer as soon as possible, for I need 
 your help ; follow }:he advice which he will give you by word of 
 mouth, for it is the only way to insure success. 
 
 Tower of the Temple, Noveimber 7, 1794. 
 
 But this letter was not enough. The child having died 
 June 8, they produced a second letter, in which it was asserted 
 that another substitution had taken place, that of a sick child in 
 place of the Dauphin. 
 
 General, 
 
 I have just received your letter. Alas ! your request is. 
 impossible. It was very easy to get the victim upstairs ; but just at 
 present it is not in our power to get him down again, for the 
 supervision is so strict that at one time I thought that my secret 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 165 
 
 had been betrayed. The ComiU de Sureti glnirdle had, as you 
 already know, sent those monsters, Mathieu and Reverchon, to- 
 gether with M. H, de la Meuse (Harmand), to prove that the 
 dumb child was really the Dauphin. General, what does this 
 farce mean ? I cannot divine it, and I no longer know what to 
 
 think of B 's (Botot) conduct. He wants to get the dumb child 
 
 out of prison, and to put another child in his place. Have you 
 heard about it ? is it not a trap ? General, I fear many things, 
 for no one is allowed to enter our dumb child's cell for fear that 
 the public may discover the substitution. For if some one were to 
 examine the child carefully, that some one would soon discover 
 that the child was dumb from his birth and therefore incapable of 
 speech. But if they substitute another child in place of this one, 
 the new substitute will surely speak and so both I and the nearly- 
 rescued child will be lost ! 
 
 Send your written opinion by our faithful bearer as soon as 
 possible. 
 
 Tower of the Temple, February 5, 1795. 
 
 A third letter was necessary, for they had to prove that the 
 second substitution had succeeded ; of course this letter was forth- 
 coming, and here it is : 
 
 General, 
 
 Our dumb child has been transferred to the palace of the 
 Temple, where he is carefully hidden : he is to remain there, and 
 in case of any alarm he will pass for the Dauphin. To you alone, 
 general, does this victory belong. I am now quite reassured, so 
 command and I will obey. Lasne can take my place whenever 
 he wishes to do so. Many precautions have been taken to insure 
 the Dauphin's safety ; therefore I shall soon appear, and I will tell 
 you the rest by word of mouth. 
 
 Tower of the Temple, March 3, 1 795. 
 
 As we see, they claim that, although no correspondence exisited 
 with Laurent, these three letters really did exist and contained 
 everything necessary, that is to say : all the facts necessary to prove 
 the theory of a twofold substitution but nothing else. These letters 
 were couched in the plainest terms and in intelligible language, 
 just at a time when it was dangerous to Write any letters whatevei*, 
 when many a head was lost for a mere suspicion. Even if the 
 
166 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 originals could have been produced, it would have been necessary 
 to prove their authenticity beyond all dispute, if they wished to 
 convince the public once and for all. Historians versed in the art 
 of historical criticism agree that documents, only copies of which 
 can be produced and which claim to solve all mysterious sides of a 
 question, are probably forgeries. 
 
 Besides, even if we acknowledged that these letters were ot 
 historical value, for the naundorffistes really believed in their cause, 
 what do they prove ? Every one already knew that many attempts 
 had been made to rescue the king, then the queen, and lastly the 
 Dauphin from the tower of the Temple : these letters only prove 
 that one of the last attempts was approved by Barras, but we 
 cannot even ascertain if that approbation was genuine, or if Barras 
 only meant to make fim of the royalists by delivering a false 
 Dauphin into their hands. It would not have been the first time 
 that he had duped them. We know that promises to save the 
 Dauphin's life were often made to the royalists, and that they were a 
 very paying concern. Such schemes, though the object may change, 
 still exist. In our own time, fatherland and faith have often been 
 saved from ruin by great sacrifices. These letters, therefore, could 
 only prove that there had been a twofold attempt to substitute a 
 child, but they could not prove that the Dauphin had been able 
 to escape from the Temple. Besides, they do not prove that the 
 dead child, upon whose body a post-mortem examination had been 
 made, was not the Dauphin. Thanks "to M. B^gis' researches, 
 the numerous proofs of the corpse's identity are now irrefutable. 
 
 When the health of Louis XVII became seriously affected, 
 Desault, the celebrated physician, a thoroughly honest fellow, 
 formerly doctor to the royal children, was appointed to prescribe 
 for him. On the occasion of his first visit, the i8M prairial, an 
 III {M.Z.Y 7, 1795), he observed on the young invalid's joints the 
 same tumours which had already been remarked by Harmand and 
 Barras. He continued his visits twice and even three times a day ; 
 the unhappy child always seemed glad to see him, and, under his 
 doctor's kind care, consented to break the iron rule of silence 
 caused by seven months of isolation (January 8, 1 794- July 30, 1 794). 
 Desault died June i, 1795 {iph prairial, an III), after an illness 
 caused by a malignant fever lasting ten days, and which had 
 already been fatal to two of his colleagues, doctors like himself, at 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 167 
 
 the Hospice de I' Humariiti. His colleague and friend, Pelletan, 
 was appointed on June 5 {l^th prairial) to replace him. This 
 physician had often accompanied Desault on his visits, and had 
 even taken his place during his illness. 
 
 As the child only seemed to be getting weaker, Pelletan asked 
 on the igth prairial that Dr. Dumangin, physician-in-chief to the 
 Hospice de la Charit'e^ might be allowed to help liim. On the 
 20th prairial he paid his usual visit. The sick child was much 
 weakened by chronic diarrhoea, but he showed his gratitude to 
 Drs. Pelletan and Dumangin for their kind care ; he seemed quite 
 resigned to death. 
 
 He succumbed that same day, loth prairial, an III (June 8, 
 1795). Pelletan, having been sent for in great haste, could only 
 declare that all was over. Gomin, one of the keepers, had gone 
 to the Comite de Sureti ginhale to deliver the physicians' daily 
 bulletin ; but the other keeper, Lasne, and the commissary 
 Damont, president of the Comiti civil for the section du faubourg 
 du Nord, on duty that day in the Temple, were present during 
 the last moments of the son of Louis XVI. 
 
 Gomin, having learnt what had happened, immediately re- 
 turned to the Convention. The siance was over ; so the members 
 of the Comiti de Sureti gin'erale told him to keep the matter secret 
 until the morrow, and at once made him write a letter in which 
 they acknowledged the receipt of his information and begged him 
 to tell the two medical officers charged to prescribe for Capet 
 during his illness, to appoint two of their most learned colleagues, 
 so that the body might be opened and its condition ascertained. 
 
 Dumangin and Pelletan chose Lassus, professor of forensic 
 medicine and formerly surgeon to Madame Victoire and to Louis 
 XVI, and Nicolas Jeanroy, professor at the Ecole de Midecine. 
 M. Begis tells us that the post-mortem examination was made in 
 the presence of Lasne, Gomin, the commissary Damont (who had 
 assisted at the last moments of the young invalid), Meunier, Gourlet 
 and Baron, turnkeys* All these persons had known the Dauphin 
 at different periods of his existence ; they expressed no doubts as 
 to the identity of the corpse opened in their presence by the above- 
 named physicians. The proch-verbal of this post-mortem examina- 
 tion is preserved at the Archives Nationales. The naundorffistes 
 found fault with the wording of this document, which, however, 
 
168 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 is in order and properly worded. If the doctors declared that they 
 had opened a body which "they were told" was the body of 
 Louis XVII, it was because such was the custom in those times ; 
 likewise, the commissaries of the CMtelet, in affixing the seals 
 after his decease, contented themselves with declaring that a body 
 had been shown to them, which " they were told belonged to such 
 a person." It was the legal and administrative powers' duty to 
 verify the identity of the deceased, and we shall see that they took 
 care to do so. Besides, the doctors recognized the lesions already 
 remarked by Barras and Harmand ; and Pelletan, by purloining 
 the heart of Louis XVII, proved the authenticity of the proch- 
 verhal beyond all doubt. The memoirs published in the Revue 
 rkrospective in 1894 would establish this fact if [it were necessary 
 to do so. The operation began at half-past eleven o'clock in the 
 morning and ended at four o'clock in the afternoon. 
 
 At eight o'clock in the morning of that same day, four delegates 
 from the Comit'e de Salut public came to ascertain the decease, and 
 to give orders concerning the burial. In order to avert all 
 suspicion, the non-commissioned officers and the soldiers, both 
 going on and coming off guard, were ordered to repair at midday 
 to the room in which the post-mortem examination was taking 
 place ; these persons, to the number of twenty, recognized the 
 corpse and signed their names in the register of the tower. 
 
 Etienne-Joseph Gu6rin, commissary for the section de F Homme 
 armly second commissary on duty in the Temple on the 21st 
 prairial, left among his private papers a rough draft of his state- 
 ment. This document, which was shown by Guerin's family to 
 M. de La Sicoti^re, tells us that the Comiti de Salut public sent an 
 order to the Temple at half-past four o'clock in the afternoon, 
 stating that "the obsequies were to take place according to the 
 usual custom in the presence of a certain number of persons as 
 prescribed by law." At six o'clock that same day, the commissary 
 of police for this section drew up the certificate afterwards quoted 
 by the municipality in the acte de dkh.* " About eight o'clock," 
 
 * This deed was published by M. B^gis from a copy made from the registers 
 burnt in 1871. It is dated imd frairial, and bears the signatures of Lasne and of 
 the commissaries ; it is couched in the usual legal phraseology. M. Kgis, in 
 order to prove its authenticity, reproduces a number of certificates of death 
 (including those of Danton, Marie-Antoinette, Robespierre, etc.), all of which 
 are exactly similar in form. (See page 123.) 
 
MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 169 
 
 says Guerin, " the body, wrapped in a sheet, was laid in a white- 
 wood coffin and placed on a bier by the bearers usually employed 
 for inhumation . . . the body left the Temple by the principal 
 entrance at half-past eight o'clock. The crowd was easily dis- 
 persed and driven back by a detachment of soldiers, who thus 
 formed a barrier at the end of the rue de la Corderie. The funeral 
 procession reached the cemetery of Sainte-Marguerite without any 
 difficulty." 
 
 The proch-verbal of the inhumation, quoted by M. B^gis 
 {loc. cit, pp. 28, 29), signed by Dominique Godet and Nicolas- 
 Laurent Arnould, commissaries for the section du Temple^ informs 
 us that these commissaries, accompanied by the citizens Jacques 
 Garnier, chief of the brigade of the section de Montreuil, together 
 with Pierre Vallon, captain of the same section, and Lasne, com- 
 missary on duty in the Temple, escorted the body to the cemetery 
 of Sainte-Marguerite, in the rue Bernard, faubourg Antoine, the 
 usual burial-ground for that arrondissement, where it was placed 
 in a grave, which was then completed in their presence. The 
 acte de dkh was drawn up at the town-hall, on the 2^th prairial, 
 within the legal limit of time, and couched in the usual terms. 
 
 So we see that the body of Louis XVII was conveyed to the 
 cemetery, not in a cart or a carriage (which might have had a 
 false bottom to serve as a hiding-place for the real Louis XVII, 
 alive and well), but on a bier, in a white-wood coffin, four and a 
 half feet long, without any distinguishing sign, carried by four 
 individuals who shared their task by turns. The coffin was placed 
 in the common grave in the presence of witnesses, who, one might 
 say, had not lost sight of the unhappy Dauphin since his death. 
 
 The supposition that another child had been substituted in place 
 of the Dauphin is thus reduced to naught. 
 
PART II 
 
 EXTRAGTS"^ FROM THE HISTORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 MISFORTUNES OF THE DAUPHIN 
 By Naundorff 
 
CHARLES -LOUIS NAUNDORF. 
 
THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 
 
 The Memoirs of Naundorff first appeared in 
 London in the year 1836, under the title of 
 Extracts from the History of the Misfortunes of the 
 Dauphin. In the present volume, a reprint of the 
 edition of 1836, we have only omitted the first few 
 pages containing an account of the opening scenes 
 of the French Revolution and of the imprisonment 
 of the royal family in the Temple. 
 
 Our narrative commences on the morrow of 
 Thermidor. 
 
 About this time, certain friends conceived a plan 
 for rescuing me from my tormentors : they soon 
 saw, however, that their scheme was utterly 
 impracticable. There was only one entrance to 
 my cell, and this was so carefully guarded that even 
 a mouse could not have crept in or out unperceived. 
 
 The turret containing the staircase which led 
 to my cell had but one door, which was guarded 
 day and night both inside and outside. Any one 
 wishing to obtain entrance to this tower was care- 
 fully searched in the presence of the municipal 
 council, who inhabited the ground floor of the 
 
 173 
 
174 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 building. The same operation was repeated on 
 leaving the tower. It was impossible to quit the 
 building unperceived, for the door was constantly 
 guarded by a sentinel, and the staircase, which 
 communicated with all the other floors, com- 
 municated with the guard-room situated on the 
 ground floor and occupied by the municipal guards. 
 Orders had been given that every one, without 
 exception, was to be examined there. The guards 
 also occupied the first floor, which, like the entrance 
 floor, was composed of one large vaulted chamber. 
 The sentinel guarding the first floor was ordered, 
 whenever he noticed any suspicious-looking person 
 coming in or out of the tower, to bring him before 
 the said council, who then caused the visitor to be 
 escorted out of the building by one or more 
 municipal guards. This strict supervision had 
 been enjoined in consequence of the discovery of a 
 plot to rescue me. Nevertheless, my friends swore 
 to risk their lives in order to wrest me from the 
 hands of my tormentors, who wished to kill me. 
 
 Therefore, as it was impossible to set me free, 
 they determined, by hiding me in the tower itself, 
 to make my persecutors think that I had been 
 rescued. 'Twas a bold plan, and yet it was the 
 only way to facilitate the scheme of escape as con- 
 certed by my friends. Nothing was easier than to 
 make me disappear for a time. Any person leaving 
 my cell, bearing any object belonging to me, was 
 allowed to descend to the first floor unmolested. 
 
THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 175 
 
 My friends were therefore quite sure that I could 
 be carried to an up|3er chamber without running 
 any risk of discovery. In fact, although my sister 
 was imprisoned on the third floor, at that time 
 neither guard nor sentinel were placed outside her 
 cell. Experience had taught my friends that their 
 scheme was quite practicable. So one day my pro- 
 tectors made me swallow a dose of opium, which I 
 supposed to be some sort of medicine, and I soon 
 found myself half-awake and half-asleep. While 
 in this state, I saw them place a child in my bed ; 
 they then hid me at the bottom of the hamper in 
 which this child had been hidden under my bed. 
 I perceived, as in a dream, that this child was only 
 a lay-figure, whose face strangely resembled my own. 
 This substitution took place while the gu^rd was 
 being changed. The new guards, who had orders 
 to certify my presence, contented themselves with 
 glancing at the child; they were quite satisfied 
 when they saw a boy resembling their prisoner 
 apparently fast asleep ; my habitual silence helped 
 to heighten the illusion. Meanwhile I had lost all 
 consciousness. When I recovered my senses, I 
 found myself in a big room, into which I had never 
 been hitherto, crowded with all kinds of old 
 furniture. This was the fourth floor of the tower. 
 They had made a hiding-place for me under the 
 piles of furniture contained in this room, which 
 communicated with a closet, where I later found 
 food and drink prepared for me by my thoughtful 
 
176 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 friends. All the other entrances were carefully 
 barricaded. Before hiding me, one of my friends, 
 whose name I shall have occasion to mention later 
 on, informed me in what manner I might hope to 
 effect an escape. I must consent to suffer all kinds 
 of privations without complaining, and, he added, 
 the slightest sound or movement would be fatal 
 both to myself and to my benefactors ; lastly, he 
 urged me, when I was once hidden, never to ask 
 for help and to continue to play the part of a dumb 
 child. 
 
 On awaking, I remembered my friend's 
 exhortations, and determined to die rather than dis- 
 obey him. I ate, slept, and waited patiently for 
 my friend's arrival. My first saviour sometimes 
 came to visit me at night, when he would bring 
 me what I required. The lay-figure was discovered 
 on the very first evening, but the Government 
 thovjght fit to say nothing about my escape, which 
 they believed to be an accomplished fact. My 
 friends for their part, in order to hoodwink the 
 sanguinary tyrants, had, I believe, dispatched a 
 child bearing my name to Strasburg. Not only 
 did they spread a report to that effect, but they 
 apprised the governors of that town that they were 
 about to confide me to their care. Lastly, the 
 tyrants of France, in order to conceal the truth, put 
 a dumb child about my own age in the place of the 
 lay-figure ; they also doubled the guard, hoping, by 
 so doing, to persuade the public that I was still 
 
THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 177 
 
 in my cell. These extraordinary precautions pre- 
 vented my friends from executing their project 
 exactly as they had wished to do. So I was 
 obliged to remain in that cursed hole, where I felt 
 as if I was buried alive. 
 
 I was about nine and a half years of age at the 
 time and already accustomed, by my long sufferings, 
 to harsh treatment ; little did I care for the cold, 
 although it was the depth of winter when they 
 shut me up in my hiding-place on the fourth floor 
 of the tower, the keys of which my friends had 
 managed to get hold of, so that everything might 
 be ready for my arrival. No one guessed that I 
 was hidden there, for no one ever entered that 
 room. Even if some one had entered, that some one 
 would not have discovered me ; for the friend, who 
 came to visit me occasionally, could only reach my 
 hiding-place by creeping on all-fours. If by any 
 chance he was prevented from coming, I passed the 
 day in gloomy solitude like a wretched prisoner at 
 the bottom of an oubliette. Sometimes I was obliged 
 to wait several days for the appearance of the kind 
 beings who supplied me with food. My readers 
 would, no doubt, like to learn the names of those 
 noble souls, my magnanimous protectors. But I 
 cannot divulge their names. My political enemies 
 oblige me to be cautious ; they threatened to call, 
 as a witness, a certain individual who has already 
 made too many dupes by using my name as a 
 pretext for his perfidious machinations ; so I must 
 
178 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 await the decision of the powers that be. My 
 readers must have patience ; for these political 
 enemies, veritable wolves in sheep's clothing, are 
 guilty of heinous crimes ; it is they who, by their 
 perfidious behaviour, kept and still keep the truth 
 from my sister. It is they who, by their ceaseless 
 and infamous calumny, deceive the daughter of the 
 martyr-king, that angel of virtue, as they call her. 
 They dare to prepare for her a long future of agony 
 and remorse by leading her into error and by 
 depriving her of the happiness of finding her 
 brother once more. 
 
 What was the reason of all these Machiavellian 
 plots ? 
 
 The son of Louis XVI thwarted their plans. 
 And so they combated all my endeavours to make 
 myself known by the vilest intrigues and by 
 exhibiting false dauphins, of whom they always 
 had a number in reserve, and whom they produced 
 as soon as the real due de Normandie dared to 
 raise his voice and demand that justice should be 
 done to him. The ministers of the God of peace 
 and verity were not ashamed to blacken their 
 consciences by endeavouring to hallow these lies. 
 Some of their number, disowning the rights of 
 religion, by an arbitrary act for which God will 
 one day call them to account, spread terror among 
 many loyal individuals who believed in my exist- 
 ence, and who, distraught by painful doubts, sought 
 for a guide and counsellor true to the teaching 
 
THE TEMPLE PRISON. 
 
THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 179 
 
 exposed in our divine Saviour's doctrines. In 
 Writing thus, I do not wish to excite any feelings 
 of bitterness or animosity against any one, still less 
 against my priestly adversaries. I beg you then, 
 dear reader, to understand that my enemies alone 
 have forced me to proclaim cruel facts (which I 
 deplore from the bottom of my heart) in order to 
 justify myself. 
 
 We were still imprisoned in the little tower 
 when we were taken one day to walk in the garden. 
 A young sentry, standing in an alley at the end of 
 the garden, gave us to understand by signs that he 
 was one of our friends ; he had been stationed 
 there in order to prevent us from going any farther. 
 This sentry, who seemed very young and who, 
 although he was twenty-eight or twenty-nine years 
 of age, did not look more than eighteen, was a 
 woman in disguise whose husband had been 
 assassinated on August lo. Later on, I shall have 
 occasion to mention the name of this loyal and 
 amiable sentry, and my sister will thereby be able 
 to see that I am telling the truth. 
 
 While I was shut up all alone on the fourth floor 
 of the Temple many things happened which, for 
 certain reasons, I cannot now explain. I can only 
 relate what I learnt from my friend Montmorin, a 
 friend faithful unto death, who, in the old days, was 
 well known to Madame la duchesse d'Angouleme. 
 
 The revolutionary government, on account of 
 its political position, thought fit to conceal this 
 
180 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 state of affairs ; the lay-figure had, therefore, been 
 replaced by a dumb child. Notwithstanding this 
 fraud, as there were many people still alive who 
 had known the real Dauphin, an order was given 
 that no one was to be allowed to enter my cell, so 
 that there might be no risk of betraying the secret. 
 When they wished to verify the existence of the 
 false Dauphin, they sent only those persons who 
 were in the secret or who had never seen me. I 
 cannot understand how, in spite of these pre- 
 cautions, the rumour came to be spread that the 
 real Dauphin was no longer in the tower. These 
 rumours terrified the agitators, who thereupon 
 decided to kill the dumb child. So they mixed 
 with his food certain herbs which made him very 
 ill ; then, in order to avert all suspicion of murder, 
 and to make a show of their fine feelings, they 
 summoned M. Desault, who, however, was not to 
 be allowed to cure the child. M. Desault examined 
 the child, and soon discovered that some sort of 
 poison had been administered to him; he made his 
 friend Choppart, the chemist, prepare an antidote. 
 He then declared that the child whom he was 
 tending was not the son of Louis XVI whom 
 he had once known. M. Desault's words were 
 repeated ; the murderers of the royal family, 
 trembling with fear, saw that the dumb child's life 
 was likely to be prolonged notwithstanding all their 
 endeavours to get rid of him, and put in his place 
 another child suffering from rickets, whom they 
 
THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 181 
 
 procured from one of the Paris hospitals. This 
 proceeding somewhat allayed the ever-haunting 
 fear lest any one should discover that the dumb 
 child was really incapable of speech. In order to 
 prevent any fresh discoveries, they poisoned Desault 
 and Choppart. The last substitute was tended by 
 doctors who, never having seen either the real 
 Dauphin or the sick child, naturally thought that 
 they were prescribing for me. 
 
 Here are a few proofs of my assertions : While I 
 was still shut up with my father and Clery, certain 
 devoted friends agreed one night to rescue my 
 father and myself while other faithful friends 
 mounted guard. Providence, however, willed that 
 this project should be betrayed. In order to pre- 
 vent any more attempts to escape, my tormentors 
 ordered that a bolt should be placed inside the 
 anteroom where the two municipal guards, who 
 shared our prison, slept at night. This was a sure 
 way to prevent any sudden surprise, for the guards 
 themselves were obliged to unbolt the door for any 
 one who wished to enter the ante-chamber. One 
 day, before fixing the bolt, a couple of workmen 
 were sent to make two apertures in the wall ; during 
 the dinner-hour, one of these men approached my 
 father, with whom I was talking in the ante-room, 
 and made signs to him ; when my father and 
 I were alone with him, he gave us three packets 
 containing gold, which we much needed at that 
 time. The workman was going to say something 
 
182 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 else and to confide certain important secrets to my 
 father when some one outside called to him ; my 
 father, thinking that he was about to be searched, 
 concealed the packets of gold about my person and 
 told the workman to leave the room. However, 
 his fears were unfounded ; a few days later, my 
 father told me to give one of these packets to 
 my good aunt. The man who had brought them 
 was called J. P. This worthy man received from 
 my father a letter for our friends abroad, and, 
 by his noble conduct, earned our entire confidence ; 
 so he was later intrusted with the task of effecting 
 my escape, for which many persons occupying high 
 positions in the revolutionary government had 
 received from the hands of a certain personage 
 large sums of money. J. P. appeared and received, 
 not the real Dauphin, but his dumb substitute. 
 According to commands, he took the rescued child 
 to Madame Josephine de Beau|iarnais, who later 
 became empress of the French. This lady, on 
 beholding the child, cried, " Unhappy wretch ! 
 what have you done ? You have made a fatal 
 mistake ; you have delivered the son of Louis XVI 
 into the hands of his father's assassins! " Josephine, 
 in old days, had known the real Dauphin ; it was 
 she who had obtained the dumb child for Barras 
 when it was proposed to substitute a child in place 
 of the lay-figure. The truth of these facts will 
 eventually be proved in the courts of justice. The 
 unhappy child had therefore been rescued instead 
 
THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 183 
 
 of me ; / was still languishing in the tower. 
 Observe that even the important personage who 
 had furnished money for my escape had been 
 deceived ; so the removal of the dumb child was 
 not the work of my friends, as Madame de 
 Beauharnais' words proved : " Unhappy wretch! 
 What have -you done ? " She thought for a 
 moment that our friends' project had been divulged, 
 that if I was taken back to my old prison I could 
 not possibly escape, and that Barras had deceived 
 her in order to get himself out of a tight corner. 
 At that time she was unaware that the dumb child 
 had been replaced by another child, a little invalid. 
 Certain important reasons obliged the government 
 to hasten this unfortunate victim's end. He died, 
 they tell me, on June 8, 1795, and his corpse, after 
 the post-mortem examination, was laid in a box for 
 immediate burial. This box, together with the 
 corpse, was placed in the room once occupied by 
 my father. During this operation I had been 
 given a strong dose of opium. They placed me in 
 the coffin from which they had taken the child 
 whose body had just been opened ; the whole 
 thing was done in the few minutes which pre- 
 ceded the arrival of the bearers who were to fetch 
 the coffin and carry it to the cemetery. Hardly 
 had the dead child been borne to my old hiding- 
 place on the fourth floor of the tower, when my 
 friends, having learnt what was going on, placed 
 the coffin containing me in a carriage. Those who 
 
184 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 were not in the secret thought that I was going to 
 be buried. But the carriage had been specially 
 prepared for this emergency. While driving to 
 the cemetery, I was placed in a box at the bottom 
 of the carriage and the coffin was filled with waste- 
 paper so that it might not seem too light, and, as 
 soon as the coffin had been placed in the grave, 
 my friends brought me back to Paris. While 
 still unconscious, I was confided to the care of 
 other friends. When I awoke I found myself 
 lying in bed in a very clean room, alone with 
 
 my nurse, Madame , the young sentry of 
 
 the Temple garden. Fortunately, the change had 
 ' been quickly effiscted, for hardly was I in safety 
 when the whole secret was discovered. But not- 
 withstanding my persecutors' endeavours to re- 
 capture me, I was now safe and carefully hidden. 
 At that time, people were already saying that it was 
 not I who had been buried. The reports frightened 
 the Government, who gave orders to their agents to 
 disinter the coffin, nail it firmly, and bury it else- 
 where, so that, in case of any researches, no one 
 could find it again. 
 
 Notwithstanding these precautions, investiga- 
 tions under divers pretexts were made on all sides. 
 My friends, fearing that I might be discovered, 
 and judging my absence from the capital as very 
 necessary, disguised me and sent me out of Paris 
 in a carriage. At the same time, in order to put 
 my enemies on the wrong scent, they dispatched a 
 
THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 185 
 
 little native of Versailles under my name, together 
 with its parents, in another direction. While I 
 was on my way to join the army in la Vendee, 
 certain faithful servitors gave me a kind and discreet 
 welcome. The devoted attentions showered upon 
 me did not prevent me from contracting an illness, 
 the inevitable consequence of the hardships endured 
 by me, and which eventually proved too much for 
 my constitution. I remained alone with Madame 
 
 , who never left me, and nursed me with the 
 
 greatest kindness. As soon as I was convalescent, 
 she set to work to teach me the German language, 
 so that I might pass for her son. This lady was a 
 native of Switzerland, and, as I have already said, 
 was the widow of a victim of the events of 
 August lo. During all the time passed with her 
 in our friends' castle I never saw any one else, 
 except on one occasion, when three individuals, 
 wearing a strange uniform, appeared. She told 
 me that these persons were Charette and two of 
 his friends. 
 
 Notwithstanding the deepest secrecy, we were 
 eventually betrayed. One night several gendarmes 
 entered our abode, dragged me from my bed while 
 
 I was chatting with Madame , and hurried 
 
 me off to prison. I knew that a certain Monsieur 
 
 B , whose name I will mention later on, lived 
 
 in the castle with a certain Swiss from Geneva and 
 
 corresponded with Madame . He also had 
 
 another friend, formerly lady-in-waiting to my 
 
186 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 good mother. These were the persons who pro- 
 vided us with money and clothes. 
 
 I sometimes saw Monsieur B in the dis- 
 tance, disguised as an old peasant, but at that time 
 I did not know who he was. He kept up a 
 correspondence with Madame de Beauharnais, who 
 again helped me to escape from prison. I was then 
 
 confided to the care of Monsieur B , in whose 
 
 house I made the acquaintance of a young girl 
 named Marie and of the huntsman Jean, whose 
 real name was Montmorin. My readers, together 
 with all true Frenchmen, will have occasion during 
 the course of my narrative to admire this faithful 
 creature. 
 
 These two friends now took the management 
 of my affairs into their own hands. They found 
 a man and his son who was about my own age. 
 This man was given the necessary means to embark 
 for America, and, after his departure, we set off for 
 Venice, where we stayed some time. We finally 
 left Venice for Trieste, and from there we went to 
 Italy, where we enjoyed the secret protection of the 
 Holy Father, Pius VI. I have in my possession a 
 genuine copy of a document in Latin concerning 
 myself and signed by him, Pius Sextus. 
 
 I have just mentioned the name of the Holy 
 Father. Yes, dear reader, to me he was indeed a 
 father in the best sense of the word. Never have 
 I beheld a more noble or more venerable old man, 
 a king, alas ! who has no imitators. It was in 
 
THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 187 
 
 Italy that Madame met me with her second 
 
 husband. Some time after this happy meeting the 
 man and his son, who had embarked before us, also 
 appeared and offered their services. Yet this 
 happiness was of brief duration, for the revolu- 
 tionary army invaded Italy. My persecutors 
 recommenced their cruel persecution, and we 
 were obliged to hide. We buried our little for- 
 tune in a safe place, and left our retreat at midnight. 
 But it was already too late, for a new and horrible 
 case of treachery (which I will not mention now) 
 flung me headlong into fresh calamities. The man 
 had disappeared with his son, and the house which 
 we had occupied until now, and which belonged 
 to a friend of the Holy Father, was burnt. We 
 fled, and a few days later sailed for England. 
 
 My misfortunes are truly remarkable, but as my 
 object is not to excite pity, I will only relate small 
 portions of my adventures — that is to say, events 
 useful as evidence in my strange case. I cannot 
 refrain, however, from mentioning the horrible 
 
 murder of M. B and poor Marie. After this 
 
 lamentable event, I was captured while at sea and 
 forcibly taken back to France, where my only 
 friend, Montmorin, who had escaped from my 
 persecutors, followed me wherever I went, though 
 I knew it not. As for me, as soon as I had landed 
 in France I was imprisoned. Here two strangers 
 came to see me, and tried to persuade me to become 
 a monk, assuring me that this was the only way to 
 
188 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 escape from my tormentors. I rejected their advice, 
 and, after a long examination, they left me. Some 
 time after, I was taken, in the middle of the night, 
 on board a little vessel and conveyed to a port 
 where several armed men and a carriage were 
 waiting for me. After a journey lasting four 
 days and four nights, I was again imprisoned. 
 A woman, who seemed to me more like a man 
 in woman's clothing than a member of the female 
 sex, was the only person whom I saw. It was she 
 who waited on me. I was subjected to cruel treat- 
 ment in the prison, where I remained until the end 
 of 1 803. Montmorin broke my chains, and, thanks 
 to the good Josephine, I was set at liberty. She 
 had managed, with the help of the minister Fouche, 
 to deceive her husband, Napoleon. My friends, 
 during this winter and the beginning of 1804, 
 busied themselves about my affairs. Pichegru was 
 sent to interview the comte de Provence. The 
 world will scarcely believe that this relative, ob- 
 livious of all family affection, blind to aught but 
 political ambition, used Pichegru's revelations as 
 a weapon against me, betrayed my friends, and 
 revealed my last hiding-place. Obliged to fly, we 
 directed our steps towards Ettenheim, in Germany, 
 the abode of the due d'Enghien, who, during a 
 secret visit to Paris, had been initiated into the 
 mystery of my life-story. I was arrested outside 
 the walls of Strasburg, and placed in solitary con- 
 finement in the fortress of that town until some 
 
THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 189 
 
 gendarmes came to fetch me. I spent three days 
 and three nights in a post-chaise, which never 
 stopped once during the whole journey. In the 
 middle of the third night I was shut up in a 
 dungeon, which I will now describe. 
 
 It must have been nearly midnight when we 
 arrived at our destination ; I was rnade to descend 
 from my carriage and to walk some distance on 
 foot. We stopped outside the entrance to a big 
 building: my guides opened a door, through which 
 we passed and went down a long winding passage 
 which turned so often to the right and to the left 
 that at last I no longer knew where I was. They 
 thrust me into a dark, windowless oubliette and closed 
 the door. I then heard the sound of their heavy 
 footsteps dying away in the distance. Not a 
 glimmer of light could I perceive. I know not 
 how long this horrible nightmare lasted. Suddenly 
 the bolts were drawn, and a man appeared holding 
 a dark -lantern ; he gave me some soup which 
 seemed mixed with wine, which he made me eat 
 in his presence. This man was my gaoler; having 
 made me lie down, he then left me. The soup was 
 very hot, and refreshed me so that I was able to 
 sleep. When I awoke, I looked in vain for any 
 signs of daylight. I could not believe that my 
 prison was a dungeon with no opening except the 
 door ; I thought that I had slept all day, and that 
 this was the second night of my incarceration. I was 
 confirmed in this belief when the man reappeared 
 
190 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 with his lantern. This time he brought me no 
 wine-soup, but he placed on my rough wooden 
 table a pitcher of water and a loaf weighing from 
 two to three pounds, cut into rounds ; he then 
 disappeared without having uttered a single word. 
 Notwithstanding my bitter grief, I fell asleep, and 
 awoke to find myself still in darkness. I arose, for 
 I was hungry. I groped my way towards the 
 table upon which stood the pitcher. I could not 
 find the bread : it had disappeared. Then I began 
 to think that my dungeon must be inhabited by 
 other human beings besides myself. I sank back 
 upon my couch, but sleep refused to close my eyes. 
 I was tormented by the pangs of hunger. I lay 
 listening for any sound near my prison, when I 
 heard my gaoler's footsteps outside my door ; the 
 bolts rattled and then the door opened. This man 
 seemed to me like one of those spectres who only 
 exist in old legends of past events. He brought 
 me more bread and water. In vain did I ask him 
 who had taken the bread which I had not eaten ; 
 in vain did I beg him to tell me where I was. Not 
 a Word would he utter. He went away without 
 having opened his- mouth. I quickly devoured 
 half the bread, drank some water, and then lay 
 down again. On awaking, I searched for the 
 remains of my provisions : but the bread had 
 disappeared. I was therefore obliged to wait 
 patiently for the return of my gaoler. It seemed 
 to me, however, that my sight had altered : either 
 
THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 191 
 
 my eyes were getting accustomed to the darkness 
 or else the daylight was stronger, for I could now 
 distinguish, in the vaulted ceiling of my dungeon, 
 a sort of grating through which a few feeble rays 
 of light struggled to gain admittance to my living 
 tomb. I could now not only see the grating, but 
 I could also see my hands when I held them before 
 my face ; these were the only objects visible ; I 
 could not see my feet. 
 
 I languished for I know not how many days in 
 this horrible prison; my bread was often stolen, 
 but never could I discover the thief. My constant 
 companion, hunger, obliged me to be prudent. So, 
 as soon as I had received my share of bread, after 
 having eaten half, I used to lie down and put the 
 remainder under my bed-clothes. This precaution, 
 however, was useless, for on awaking I found that 
 it had been devoured. I had, it is true, heard a 
 noise near my bedside, though I had been unable 
 to ascertain the cause. I then determined to 
 unravel the mystery : I lay down as usual, placed 
 the remainder of my bread under my bed-clothes, 
 and pretended to sleep. Soon certain visitors, 
 apparently as big as rabbits, began to scramble 
 over my bed ; I stretched out my right hand 
 in order to catch one ; but hardly had I caught 
 the creature, when I felt it bite through one 
 of my fingers. Terrified, I quickly let it go ; 
 the blood was flowing freely, I suffered severe 
 pain: the scar on my finger testifies to the 
 
192 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 truth of this statement. I was now obliged to 
 eat all my bread at once if I did not wish 
 to share it with my long-tailed companions, 
 for I now began to suspect that these creatures 
 were big rats — which I later proved to be the case. 
 These animals often invaded my bed and trampled 
 upon me. If I did not leave them enough bread 
 to assuage their appetites, they redoubled their 
 squeaks ; they would grunt like little pigs if I 
 threw a few crumbs on the floor of my dungeon. 
 Kinder than many men, the greatest harm they 
 ever did to me was to take my bread in order to 
 preserve their own lives. Mankind, on the con- 
 trary, attacked both my person and my honour. 
 
 My couch was composed of a woollen blanket 
 and a heap of straw thrown upon the ground in 
 a corner of my dungeon; my dungeon itself was 
 a cold, damp, quadrangular chamber. Neither 
 underlinen nor warm clothes were provided for 
 me. At last I found myself without even a shirt. 
 My coat and breeches were in rags, and, in order 
 to keep myself warm, I was obliged to wrap myself 
 up in the blanket, which the rats had bitten in 
 a thousand places and used as a nursery. I was 
 nineteen years of age when I was imprisoned in the 
 depths of this subterranean dungeon, a dark hole 
 from which I could see neither the clear light of 
 the sun nor the pale moonbeams. I had for- 
 gotten the meaning of day and night, as well 
 as the divisions of time. I thought, from the 
 
THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 193 
 
 state of my clothes, that my captivity must have 
 lasted at least half a century ; I knew every inch 
 of my dungeon, and my ears could perceive the 
 gaoler's footsteps from afar. This was the only 
 sound I heard except distant drums, which sounded 
 to me like the rumbling of thunder. The grating, 
 through which air and light might have pene- 
 trated, seemed choked with cobwebs. Alone in 
 this hidden spot, abandoned by every one, I thought 
 in the bitterness of my heart that all my friends 
 had forsaken me ; I felt as if I were already 
 sleeping my last sleep. My hair, which I could 
 not see, had grown long and curly. My beard 
 was thick, and when I passed my hand over my 
 face, it felt like the head of a wild beast. My 
 nails were so long that they were constantly break- 
 ing; I could only shorten them by biting them 
 with my teeth. I despaired of beholding once 
 more the surface of the globe, when suddenly I 
 was awakened in the middle of the night by 
 two men who called me by my name. I arose 
 wrapped in my blanket, in a most horrible state 
 of filth, and covered with the straw, which, as 
 it had never been changed, had been ground to 
 chafF by the friction of my body. On beholding 
 me, the wild expression of my countenance, and the 
 dirty rags in which I was clothed, my liberators, 
 overcome with surprise and pity, cried : " Ha ! 
 what does this mean ? " My gaoler, who, with 
 his lantern in his hand, assisted at this scene, 
 13 
 
194 THE KING WHO NEVEH REIGNED 
 
 nodded his head, and said : " Yes, yes, "tis he ! " 
 On this man's left cheek was a long cut, evidently 
 made by a sword ; he took my hand and showed a 
 scar on my finger to my saviours, who seemed to 
 recognize it. These brave friends immediately led 
 me out of my dungeon. 
 
 I fainted on breathing the fresh air of heaven. 
 When I recovered consciousness, I found myself 
 lying in a carriage which sped along as if it had 
 wings. We arrived that same night at a new 
 hiding-place, where I was concealed in an isolated 
 chamber which I never left, so that all risk of 
 recapture might be averted. My friends loaded 
 me with kindness and affection. Their loving 
 care could not destroy the germs of a dangerous 
 illness, complicated by very disquieting symptoms. 
 My own sufferings, and the hopes, noble devotion, 
 endurance and brave efforts of my friends, were 
 nearly annihilated in a single day by a premature 
 death. But Providence, who watched over me 
 and whose immutable plans I dare not try to 
 divine, destined me for another fate. My recovery 
 was almost a miracle; but hardly was I able to 
 totter on my legs when my persecutors discovered 
 my new hiding-place. I set off without delay, 
 accompanied by my sole remaining friend. Mont- 
 morin. We arrived, worn out with fatigue and 
 anxiety, at Frankfort-on-the- Maine in Germany, 
 where we rested for a few days, and went to 
 a Jewish dealer in old clothes, who exchanged 
 
THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 195 
 
 our clothes for others. This was in the spring 
 of 1809. 
 
 In this town I learnt from my friend Mont- 
 morin that I had spent about four years in the 
 dungeon which I have just described — so I was 
 now about twenty-four years of age. I calculated 
 that I had spent seventeen years in prison, including 
 my captivity with my family in the tower of the 
 Temple, for, even when I was in my friends' 
 hands, I was still a prisoner. Knowing that 
 Madame Josephine had befriended me upon 
 other occasions, I asked Montmorin why she had 
 allowed me to languish in misery for so many long 
 months ? He informed me that Bonaparte, her 
 husband, had discovered that she was implicated 
 in a scheme to rescue me from my persecutors, 
 and that, in order to deter her from continually 
 thwarting his plans, he had cleverly hinted to her 
 that he intended to leave the throne of France, 
 after his own death, to her son Eugene. This 
 enchanting prospect overcame the scruples of a 
 woman who certainly could not be accused of 
 disloyalty. Montmorin added : " And yet it was 
 she who rescued you from your last dungeon, and 
 who revealed to your friends the place of your 
 imprisonment, which they could never have dis- 
 covered without her intervention. But do not 
 imagine," continued he, " that she acted thus 
 out of the kindness of her heart : no ! she is a 
 calculating woman. Her husband intends, after 
 
196 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 your death, to divorce her and to take another wife. 
 To this cause you owe your present liberty." 
 
 During my imprisonment with my father and 
 C16ry in the tower of the Temple, several friends 
 had proposed to deliver me from my tormentors' 
 hands. My good mother shared these hopes. 
 She therefore, with her own hand, wrote down a 
 description of all the marks on my body, so that, 
 if by any chance I managed to escape, my friends 
 could recognize me. This paper, together with 
 other proofs, had been confided to the care of 
 Montmorin, who, fearful of losing them, sewed them 
 into the collar of my coat, urging me, at the same 
 time, never to confide it to any one, because its 
 contents could prove to kings and judges the irre- 
 futable authentication of my identity. Some persons 
 immediately declared that the queen of France 
 had tatooed certain marks upon her children's 
 bodies, while others averred that she had branded 
 them with a red-hot ring or some similar object ; 
 many affirmed that she had marked on her son's 
 left thigh a representation of the Holy Ghost in 
 the form of a dove. I swear that all these reports 
 are false ; Madame la duchesse d'Angouleme knows 
 that I am speaking the truth. It is true that I 
 possessed, on my left thigh, a birth-mark shaped like 
 a dove, with its head pointing downwards and its 
 wings spread. This mark, formed by numerous 
 tiny veins, was carefully described by my mother ; 
 my father signed her statement, and sealed it 
 
THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 197 
 
 with the seal used by him in the tower of the 
 Temple. 
 
 Having received news from my friends in 
 France, together with a letter of credit, we hastily 
 left Frankfort and travelled post towards Bohemia, 
 After a long journey we arrived in Germany, where 
 we found, in a town situated in the valley of the 
 Elbe, a certain man who took us to see the duke of 
 Brunswick ; the latter gave us letters of introduction 
 to the Prussian court. We rested in a little town 
 called Semnicht, on the Austrian frontier, and then 
 set off for Dresden, which town we were not allowed 
 to enter. We were obliged to make a long detour 
 in order to reach the kingdom of Prussia. We 
 alighted in a village and lodged at an inn, the name 
 of which I have forgotten. Night came on. As 
 we were extremely tired, we retired, immediately 
 after supper, to a sort of bedchamber, and prepared 
 to go to bed. We had just fallen fast asleep, when 
 we were awakened, arrested as spies, and taken to 
 be examined by the commander of a body of troops 
 lately quartered in the environs : the name of this 
 officer was the baron- von Schill. My friend 
 Montmorin gave him the duke of Brunswick's letter; 
 he seemed quite satisfied, and kept us, near him 
 until the army of Westphalia routed his own little 
 company. I hardly noticed anything during our 
 march ; I heard my companions talk of a junction 
 with the duke of Brunswick's army. We were 
 daily pursued by large bodies of troops, who finally 
 
198 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 attacked us in a certain town. The brave com- 
 mander, no longer able to protect us, made us leave 
 him, and gave us an escort of cavalry commanded 
 by a young officer, a German count, named, if I 
 am not mistaken, Veptel or Vetel. We fell into 
 the hands of our enemies, who rushed upon us in a 
 body ; we tried to fly ; we were obliged to defend 
 ourselves, for they cried : " No quarter ! " The 
 young commander, who had a good horse, was 
 able to escape. My faithful Montmorin, having 
 previously lost his shako, fell, sword in hand, close 
 beside me : a brute, standing behind him, had cut 
 his head open. I myself was wounded ; they shot 
 at me, and my horse dropped down dead ; my left 
 foot having caught in the stirrup, I was unable to free 
 myself. A foot soldier then came up to me and hit 
 me upon the head with the butt end of his musket : 
 the blow stunned me, and for some time I could 
 neither see nor hear. I know not how long my 
 fainting fit lasted, but when I recovered conscious- 
 ness I found myself in a hospital. My head was 
 still so weak that the people standing round my 
 bed looked to me like giants. My limbs and my 
 fingers in especial seemed as long as fir-trees ; my 
 legs felt as thick and as heavy as casks. While in 
 this pitiable condition, I was one day hoisted into 
 a wagon. When I now think of these strange 
 events, they seem to me like a dream. My strength 
 having returned, I perceived that I was imprisoned 
 in the fortress of Wesel, on the French frontier. 
 
THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 199 
 
 All the persons either belonging to the duke of 
 Brunswick's army or to the baron von Schill's 
 company imprisoned there were, by Napoleon's 
 orders, condemned illegally to work in the galleys 
 at Toulon. For some reason unknown to myself, 
 I was included among the despot's unhappy victims. 
 We were then transferred to the centre of France, 
 and imprisoned, like common thieves, first in one 
 dungeon and then in another. As I did not 
 possess a single sou, I was unable to purchase any 
 little comforts for myself. I had been stripped of 
 all my belongings on the battlefield except my 
 coat, which I found lying on my pallet in the 
 hospital at Wesel. We were so harshly treated 
 on the road by our French escort, that even those 
 who might have pitied us were repelled when they 
 heard our tormentors cry: " These fellows belong to 
 the gangs of Brunswick and Schill ! " As I had not 
 quite recovered my strength, this treatment caused 
 a recurrence of my old illness. When at last I 
 fainted while passing through a little village on the 
 route, my escort was obliged to leave me behind. 
 
 I was awakened from my trance by a fine rain, 
 which soon penetrated through my thread-bare 
 clothing. A woman and a girl, who, I think, must 
 have been her daughter, approached and offered 
 me their assistance. I was dying of thirst, and my 
 hands were burning with fever. My head was so 
 weak that I coifld not hold it up. I could see 
 nothing distinctly. I tried to speak, but my lips 
 
200 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 were so parched with thirst that I could not utter 
 a single word. This woman then brought me 
 some milk, which I drank greedily. They fetched 
 a wagon and took me to an hospital in the neigh- 
 bouring town. There I met a convalescent soldier 
 named Friedrichs, a hussar in von Schill's regiment, 
 who was called Frederic by the French soldiers. 
 Friedrichs soon made friends with me ; and when he 
 was quite sure that he could trust in my discretion, 
 he persuaded me to escape in his company. This 
 project was soon put into execution. My health 
 being now quite re-established, we seized the 
 opportunity to escape one night during a severe 
 thunderstorm. We descended into a cellar filled 
 with such strange coffin-shaped boxes that one 
 might easily have mistaken it for a tomb. When 
 there, we found that we had to creep through a 
 closely-barred window ; it looked almost impossible 
 to creep through this aperture. We used the 
 above-mentioned boxes as a ladder, and soon, thanks 
 to our united effiarts, the old rust-eaten bars gave 
 way ; we then crept through the window, and 
 found ourselves in an enclosure surrounded by very 
 high walls guarded by two sentries, who had gone 
 to shelter from the thunderstorm in their sentry- 
 boxes. We took infinite pains not to attract the 
 sentries' attention by making the slightest noise. 
 I bent down, and Friedrichs, mounting upon my 
 shoulders, climbed to the top of the wall. He 
 had with him a wallet containing certain objects 
 
THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 201 
 
 of which I was ignorant at that time ; my friend 
 used this wallet as a sort of rope with which to 
 help me up ; but notwithstanding all our efforts, I 
 could not scale the wall. While endeavouring to 
 do so, I made a slight noise, whereupon cries of 
 " Who goes there ? " were immediately heard on 
 all sides. Thanks to overwhelming terror or to 
 the mercy of Providence, I suddenly found myself, 
 I know not how, on the top of the wall. We 
 jumped down on the other side, where we un- 
 fortunately fell into a ditch. My fall was particu- 
 larly unlucky, for, on trying to rise, I found that I 
 could not walk. I cannot understand how it was 
 that we were not pursued. Friedrichs took me 
 upon his back, and, notwithstanding this heavy and 
 inconvenient burden, he soon reached a thick grove, 
 in which he deposited me. He then set my foot, 
 which I had dislocated in my fall ; this operation 
 was so successful that I soon felt no more pain. 
 The rain was still falling ; it was so dark that, had 
 it not been for the lightning, we could never have 
 found our way. The storm slowly abated and day 
 broke. We thought that we were already far 
 from our late prison, and we were looking for a 
 shelter wherein to hide, when, to our horror and 
 unutterable grief, we discovered that we had 
 returned to the very spot which we had left on 
 the previous night, and that, deceived by the dark- 
 ness, we had been walking round and round in a 
 circle ! We noticed a number of persons pacing 
 
202 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 to and fro in the distance. Perhaps they were 
 only workmen ; however, we took it into our 
 heads that we were being pursued. Happily a 
 field of tall, thick corn offered us a capital shelter. 
 We determined, therefore, to hide until nightfall 
 in this field. Good God ! what a fearful day we 
 spent there ! Never shall I forget it. The rain 
 lasted until about ten o'clock, and it was nearly 
 eleven o'clock when we lay down in the mud. 
 The sky had cleared, and the fierce beams of the 
 sun burned our bodies so cruelly that we were 
 obliged to roll ourselves upon the damp ground in 
 order to cool first one side and then the other. 
 By nightfall we were more like two wild beasts 
 who had rolled themselves in the mire than human 
 beings. We took no nourishment during the 
 whole day. If we wished to moisten our tongues, 
 we were obliged to chew some corn-stalks. How- 
 ever, notwithstanding all these tortures and cruel 
 privations, when the sun sank and no longer 
 scorched us with its rays, we fell asleep. Night 
 had already fallen when Fried richs awoke me that 
 we might continue our journey. We suffered so 
 cruelly from hunger and thirst, that we were 
 obliged to invade a garden and steal some fruit off 
 the trees, which, I think, belonged to a neighbour- 
 ing hamlet. We quickly climbed over the hedge 
 and plundered the trees. We dined and supped 
 off green apples and sour pears, and then we filled 
 our pockets and continued our nocturnal journey. 
 
THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 203 
 
 When day began to break we always crept into a 
 thicket or hid among thick corn. We could only 
 travel by night, as neither of us possessed a pass- 
 port. It is not my intention to relate the endless 
 sufferings endured by us during this long journey, 
 I will only recount those events which are neces- 
 sary to explain my history and to connect divers 
 episodes. I will therefore omit those adventures 
 which can only interest inquisitive persons, and I 
 will now pass on to our life in Germany, where 
 we arrived after a thousand vicissitudes. While 
 in this country I had the great misfortune to lose 
 my friend Friedrichs. This is how it happened. 
 During our wearisome journey he had assumed the 
 task, as he termed it, of foraging when he thought 
 that he could do so with advantage. I know 
 not to what cause he owed his success. He used 
 to leave me, together with his wallet, in some 
 safe spot, and, on his return, he always brought 
 back a supply of bread, cheese, fruit, etc. One 
 day, after a long march in the pouring rain, we 
 reached the frontier of Westphalia, drenched to 
 the skin and worn out with fatigue. When day- 
 light began to appear we took refuge in a forest, 
 where we found a hollow tree, into which we 
 climbed until it was time for Friedrichs to go and 
 replenish our stock of provisions. We always 
 took care to halt in the neighbourhood of a village, 
 even if we still had time to go a little further. 
 Fatigue or some mishap often obliged us to halt 
 
204 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 sooner than we might have wished to do. It was 
 now nearly nine o'clock. Friedrichs' wallet was 
 by my side ; I remained crouched down in the 
 hollow oak-tree, where I fell asleep, as was my 
 custom, quite reassured as to the fate of my friend, 
 who was fulfilling his self-imposed duty. During 
 his absence a big black dog discovered my hiding- 
 place ; his master followed him, and took me from 
 my hollow oak-tree : this man was a shepherd who 
 was tending his sheep near by. He thought that 
 I had deserted from the Westphalian army, and my 
 condition awakened pity in his breast, for he 
 himself had a son in Spain with Napoleon's army. 
 He tried to persuade me to remain with him until 
 nightfall, promising to hide me for some days in 
 his hay-loft, so that I might recover my strength 
 somewhat. I made him understand that I was 
 not alone, and that I must wait for the return of 
 my friend, who had gone to find food in the 
 neighbouring village. The shepherd then asked 
 me to describe Friedrichs to him ; having heard 
 my description, he cried : " Ah ! you will never 
 again, see that brave fellow. The knights of the 
 rope have caught him ! A little while ago I saw 
 them taking him towards the town." " Who are 
 the knights of thq rope .? " asked I. He replied : 
 " They are the new gendarmes, called in these 
 parts Strick Vereiter" He then persuaded me to 
 accept his kind offer and to abandon the search 
 for my companion, which I had resolved to 
 
THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 205 
 
 undertake. He assured me that Friedrichs would ' 
 be better able to save himself if he were alone. 
 While talking to me, in his eagerness to get the 
 better of my determination and to persuade me to 
 come with him, he took possession of Friedrichs' 
 wallet and flung it over his shoulder. When 
 night began to fall I followed him to his cottage, 
 where he introduced me to his old wife, whom he 
 called " mother," adding : " Here is another un- 
 happy son. Be kind to him, and then, perhaps, 
 the good God will watch over our son in Spain." 
 The good old folks then began to cry, for they 
 only had one son. After I had shared their supper 
 they took me to sleep in the hay-loft. The old 
 woman was most kind to me. I enjoyed this 
 touching hospitality until the morning of the 
 third day, when the shepherd led me far from his 
 village along the high-road. He gave me back 
 Friedrichs' wallet, three pieces of silver, some 
 bread and half a boudin ;^ then he bade me farewell, 
 adding : " May God watch over you ! It is useless 
 to tell you my name or the name of my village." 
 So saying, he turned back and quickly disappeared 
 from view. By refusing to tell me his name he 
 prevented me from ever being able to prove my 
 gratitude either to himself or to any member of 
 
 his family. 
 
 As an old soldier, he feared to compromise 
 
 himself by revealing his name to a young man 
 
 1 Boudin, black pudding. — Translator's note. 
 
206 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 whom he supposed to be a deserter. When, for 
 the first time, I saw this good old man standing 
 outside the hollow tree, I thought that he was an 
 inhabitant from some other world, so astonished 
 was I at his strange habiliment. On his head he 
 wore a black felt hat from which hung a long 
 horn. In order to shelter his forehead from the 
 rays of the sun, he had fastened a roof-like brim 
 to the edge of this strange headdress. The rest 
 of his body was hidden by a long white linen coat, 
 and over his shoulders hung a leather pouch 
 adorned with long fringe; in his hand he held 
 a kind of little spade, which he used to sprinkle 
 earth over his sheep. His curiously-fashioned 
 boots looked as if they were at least a century 
 old; his long snow-white hair floated over his 
 shoulders. I often think with pleasure of this 
 worthy man. 
 
 Continuing my pilgrimage, I soon arrived in 
 Saxony, where, my friend the shepherd informed 
 me, I need not fear any trouble with gendarmes 
 during the daytime. He recommended me to 
 follow Friedrichs' method by night, that is to 
 say, to sleep out of doors. I therefore altered 
 my habits, travelling by day and sleeping at night 
 in the open air. Friedrichs had advised me to 
 enlist by preference in the Prussian army. So 
 I began to wend my way towards the town of 
 Berlin, which was the only town I knew, in order 
 to put my project into execution. I asked my 
 
THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 207 
 
 way of all those whom I met. Either they did 
 not understand my question, or else they thought 
 that I was joking, for they misdirected me so often 
 that I ended at last by going exactly in the oppo- 
 site direction to that in which I wished to go. 
 Owing to all these mistakes, I found myself one 
 day in a great, and apparently a boundless, forest. 
 I was dying of thirst; I searched for some wild 
 berries with which to quench my thirst. I even- 
 tually found some black fruit resembling wild 
 raspberries growing on a very thorny tree ; while 
 looking for these berries I lost my way. While 
 I was lamenting my cruel fate, I heard a postil- 
 lion's horn behind me. I turned round and saw 
 a post-chaise in the distance. I then went and sat 
 down on a stone placed by the side of the high- 
 road, on which were engraved the words : " Doctor 
 Martin Luther." As the postillion advanced I 
 begged him to tell me if I was on the road to 
 Berlin, and if he was going there. A young man 
 sitting inside the chaise cried : " Stop, noble 
 brother ! " (a local greeting) and he immediately 
 began to question me, either for sake of curiosity 
 or perhaps because he pitied my miserable con- 
 dition. Touched, no doubt, by my reply, he offered 
 me a place by his side, saying that he would take 
 me as far as Wittenberg. I accepted his kind 
 offer without demur and got into the carriage. 
 During the journey he questioned me freely, and 
 asked what my wallet contained. "I do no 
 
208 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 know," I replied, " for it belongs to my comrade, 
 and I have not yet opened it." " That is strange," 
 replied he ; and, having seized it, he hastened to 
 open it. When my new protector saw that it only 
 contained rags he began to laugh and to chafF me, 
 telling me to throw away this old knapsack be- 
 cause it might compromise me ; he was just going 
 to throw the rags out of the carriage window when 
 he suddenly stopped, crying: "Stop! there's some- 
 thing else in here." So saying, he seized his pen- 
 knife and ripped up one of the seams of the wallet. 
 We found, wrapped in divers pieces of old paper 
 and rag, more than sixteen hundred francs in gold. 
 " Oh ! " cried the stranger, " your comrade was a 
 noble fellow: he gave you all his fortune when 
 you were arrested, whereas he might have claimed 
 it all if he had wished to do so when he felt 
 the pinch of poverty. Certainly he preferred to 
 lose everything rather than betray you. Ah ! 
 what a generous creature ! " he repeated. We 
 reached Wittenberg, and alighted at the H6tel de 
 la Grappe d'or. My first care was to change my 
 clothes. He himself shaved me, arranged my 
 hair, and soon no one would have recognized me. 
 " Now," said this benevolent stranger, " how are 
 you going to cross the Prussian frontier ? They are 
 very strict about passports, and you have none. 
 Well," said he, " we will manage it somehow." 
 He summoned a person, who lent him his equi- 
 page, in which I was taken on the morrow to 
 
THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 209 
 
 Treinpretzen, the first town on the Prussian fi;on- 
 tier. From this place he escorted me in the post- 
 chaise as far as Potsdam, from whence he had me 
 taken in a private carriage to Berlin, where he 
 had preceded me, having left Potsdam before me ; 
 he took lodgings for me in the H6tel de I'Aigle- 
 Noir. 
 
 After resting for a few days, I inquired about 
 the regiment mentioned to me by Frederic; I 
 went to the commander, and, according to my 
 friend's instructions, answered all his questions. 
 However, the officer informed me that his Majesty 
 would not allow foreigners to enlist in his army. 
 Humiliated by this refusal, and certain private 
 events having prevented me from obtaining an 
 audience with the king, I was obliged to make 
 up my mind to do something to gain my living, 
 because my funds, or rather Friedrichs' funds, were 
 beginning to diminish. This was towards the end 
 of 1810. So I hired an apartment at No. 52, 
 Schutzengasse, where I set up as a clockmaker in 
 order to earn my bread. While buying a watch 
 for myself I had made the acquaintance of another 
 clockmaker named Weiler, who helped me in my 
 business, which, in a short time, became quite a 
 prosperous aiFair. The mayor of Berlin then 
 raised objections because I had not been authorized 
 to exercise my profession. He summoned me to 
 appear before him ; by Weiler's advice, I asked 
 
 for permission to reside in the town of Berlin. 
 14 
 
210 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 The mayor then asked for my passport, certificate 
 of birth and certificate of good conduct. Now I 
 possessed none of these documents. Meanwhile, 
 Madame Sonnenfeld, widow of a clockmaker of the 
 same name, a native of Rattsweil, had undertaken 
 to keep house for me. She was an excellent 
 creature ; I confided my secret to her, and told her 
 of this new trouble. She suggested that we should 
 apply to M. Lecoque, a Frenchman who, at that 
 time, occupied the post of president of police in the 
 Prussian kingdom. I approved this plan and wrote 
 to this gentleman, telling him of my royal birth 
 and of my position in Berlin. M. Lecoque came 
 to see me, and, having shown me my letter, asked 
 me if I had written it. I replied in the affirmative; 
 he then questioned me severely, and asked me to 
 furnish him with sorne proofs of my identity. 
 Luckily I still possessed the coat containing my 
 treasure. I unripped the collar in his presence, took 
 out the papers and showed them to him. He 
 recognized my mother's handwriting, as well as my 
 father's signature and seal. He then left me in 
 order to go and receive the king's commands con- 
 cerning my fate. On the morrow he begged me 
 to lend him my papers, as he wished to show them 
 to his Majesty. At first I refused, and insisted 
 upon a personal interview with the king. He 
 informed me that my request could not be gratified 
 just at that time ; " but," he added, " you will see his 
 Majesty as soon as the president of the ministry, 
 
THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 211 
 
 prince von Harttenberg, has read your papers." 
 After having taken the precaution to cut out the 
 impress of my father's seal, I gave M. Lecoque all 
 these papers. How^ever, he only took my mother's 
 document, and departed, promising to help me, and 
 assuring me that I should be subjected to no further 
 persecutions, because he was going to write to the 
 magistrates of Berlin concerning niy affairs. A 
 few weeks later, notwithstanding this promise, the 
 magistrate again summoned me to appear before 
 him. I went to M. Lecoque's house ; he took 
 possession of the summons and told me that I need 
 not be anxious, that I should soon know my fate, 
 and that a slight delay had been caused because the 
 minister had not yet given his decision. A short 
 time afterwards M. Lecoque sent for me, and said: 
 " We cannot let you jemain in Berlin: it is too 
 dangerous both for you and for ourselves. It is 
 not in the mayor's power to exempt you from pro- 
 ducing the necessary papers." He questioned me 
 as to the person whom I had met in the forest 
 near Diebingen. I could tell him nothing, except 
 that I knew that his surname was NaundorfF, and 
 that he was a native of Weimar. M. Lecoque 
 obtained this gentleman's passport from the police, 
 and advised me, if I wished to escape further perse- 
 cution, to set up in business under my friend's name 
 in some small town near the capital. " In order 
 to facilitate matters for you," continued he, " I 
 will send you a licence, so that you will be free 
 
212 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 to choose whatever town you prefer. Therefore, 
 when the mayor of your new residence asks you to 
 produce your papers, tell him that you have left 
 them in M. Lecoque's care." I replied that I had 
 not enough money to defray the expenses of a 
 removal. " Ah ! that is true," cried he. Then, 
 opening his escritoire, he gave me a packet of gold 
 pieces, saying : " Use these for your present needs ; 
 I will take care of your future." A few days later 
 an unknown individual, a member of the police 
 force, brought to my house a licence for Charles- 
 Guillaume NaundorfF. I was left in peace until 
 1812, when I went to live in Spandau by the 
 advice of M. Lecoque, who recommended me to 
 exercise great caution, and repeated that the 
 slightest imprudence on my part would ruin me, 
 because the king of Prussia was powerless to act as 
 he wished to do. I must also, at all costs, take 
 another name if I wished to escape further perse- 
 cution at Napoleon's hands. The president once 
 more examined M. NaundorfFs passport very 
 attentively, so that he might see if the description 
 of that gentleman answered in any way to myself. 
 " Black hair," said he aloud, " black eyes — no ! 
 that won't do. Tell the magistrate," he added, 
 " what I have just told you. I will attend to 
 everything else." He then wrote the names 
 Charles-Guillaume on a piece of paper, which he 
 put in his pocket. I therefore went to Spandau, 
 and when the mayor of that town demanded my 
 
THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 213 
 
 papers so that he could grant me permission to 
 reside in Spandau, I acted as M. Lecoque had 
 advised me to do, and begged the burgomaster to 
 ask my friend to forward my papers to him. My 
 borrowed name having been inscribed on the 
 registers, I obtained permission to inhabit the town 
 of Spandau. I think that the president must have 
 forgotten our agreement, for he gave my name to 
 the burgomaster as Charles-Louis NaundorfF. 
 
 Notwithstanding this inadvertency — if, indeed, 
 it was such — I obtained permission to reside in the 
 town of Spandau, and the deed was solemnly signed 
 in the presence of the town councillors. This 
 event took place in 1 8 1 2, a few months after the 
 retreat of the French army. Regiments passed 
 daily through Spandau. Under these circumstances, 
 M. Lecoque, either from fear of discovery or for 
 some other reason, came to visit me and to give me 
 some more money ; he impressed upon me the 
 necessity of observing the greatest secrecy. I had 
 a twofold reason to follow this line of conduct, for 
 I myself feared that I might be discovered. 
 Luckily, the garrison of the town was composed at 
 that time of Dutch and Polish soldiers. A certain 
 officer, a friend of the French commander, lodged 
 at the house in which I dwelt, and through him I 
 learnt everything that went on. I seem to witness 
 Napoleon's fall with my own eyes. After this 
 event I wrote both to M. Lecoque and the prince 
 von Harttenberg, but I received no reply to either 
 
214 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 of my letters. Russian and Prussian troops then 
 blockaded Spandau, where I found myself an un- 
 willing captive. The town had previously received 
 some Polish reinforcements, whose ranks were 
 infested with yellow fever and decimated by that 
 fell disease. I was endeavouring to leave the town 
 when I, too, fell ill, and soon lost consciousness. 
 As the town was being bombarded by the Prussian 
 and Russian batteries, the inhabitants, including 
 the sick and wounded, were obliged to take refuge 
 in the cellars. Only the poor stranger, abandoned 
 by every one save God and the unhappy Madame 
 Sonnenfeld, only the outlaw of the whole universe, 
 remained exposed to the bombs and bullets which 
 were being hurled simultaneously from ten batteries. 
 Notwithstanding, or rather o,n account of, this 
 danger of which I was at that time ignorant, 
 Madame Sonnenfeld never left my room or my 
 bedside. 
 
 Your faubourgs had already been devastated when 
 the Russians pointed their batteries towards the 
 centre of the town, and that same night, about ten 
 o'clock, fire broke out in all directions. The fire, 
 as if by a miracle, stopped before the house in 
 which I dwelt. I use the word miracle, for the 
 buildings adjoining my residence and under the 
 same roof, were burnt to the gcound ; my room 
 alone escaped and was untouched by the fire. This 
 fact was then so well known that, even to-day, 
 more than six thousand inhabitants of Spandau can 
 
THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 215 
 
 witness to the truth of the above statement. The 
 destruction of this town is an historical fact. 
 
 When I recovered my health and liberty, I 
 applied to the king of Prussia, to the emperors 
 of Russia and Austria, and to the prince von 
 Harttenberg, as well as to M. Lecoque. I never 
 received any replies to my letters. 
 
 In 1816 I sent to Madame la duchesse 
 d'Angouleme, M. Marsin or Marassin, formerly an 
 officer in Napoleon's army; and in order to facilitate 
 an interview with her Royal Highness, I provided 
 him with certain proofs of my identity, and even 
 charged him to play my part. I know not what 
 became of him. They told me that he had 
 been arrested and imprisoned in Rouen, that an 
 individual, bearing the name of Mathurin Bruneau, 
 had been substituted in his place and that he had 
 been got rid of. In order not to interrupt the 
 thread of my narrative, I will confine myself during 
 this story to a short description of this officer and 
 of his behaviour. I shall add, at the end of this 
 volume, some explanatory notes, together with 
 copies of the letters written by myself to the 
 different exiled members of the royal family. 
 
 In 18 1 8 I sent to the due de Berry a formal 
 declaration in the interests of his children's future ; 
 and I had determined to go to France when 
 Madame Sonnenfeld became dangerously ill, and 
 r was prevented from putting my project into 
 execution. " Remembering her devotion to me 
 
216 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 during my own illness, I could not make up my 
 mind to leave her while she was in this condition. 
 It was she, in fact, who had saved my life during 
 the siege of Spandau. She died in 1818. After 
 her death I determined, for private reasons, to 
 renounce all idea of reappearing upon the world's 
 stage, and to resign myself to oblivion. I therefore 
 married, on October 18 of the same year. Mile. 
 Jeanne Finers, who had lost her father, and whose 
 family, of noble descent, had been defrauded of 
 their title and rights by long and cruel misfortunes. 
 My wife, at the time of our marriage, was 
 fifteen and a half years of age, and I swear that, 
 until this day, I have never for a single moment 
 regretted my choice. However, I shall ever regret 
 that I did not keep faithful to my resolution to 
 forget the world and to devote myself exclusively 
 to the welfare of my little family; but man proposes 
 and God disposes. 
 
 , I became a father on August 31, 1819. The 
 letter which I wrote on that occasion to Madame 
 la duchesse d'Angouleme is reproduced at the end 
 of this volume. I was now a citizen of the town 
 of Spandau, which town I inhabited, not for two 
 years only, as the Gazette de Prusse asserts, but 
 from 18 12 until 1821, that is to say, ten consecu- 
 tive years. Meanwhile I was considering how I 
 could force the minister, the prince von Hartten- 
 berg, to give up my papers, which were still in his 
 possession. I therefore determined to take the 
 
THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 217 
 
 part of the burgomaster Dabercow, and I upheld 
 him when he refused to submit to the minister 
 when the latter ordered him to be deprived of his 
 post ; my opposition and the energy with which I 
 upheld my friend, both by word and deed, proved 
 to the minister that I did not fear him. The 
 prince von Harttenberg, wishing to thwart my 
 plans, hinted to the king that it would be as well 
 to appoint the discharged burgomaster to some 
 state post ; and having received orders to that effect 
 from his Majesty's cabinet, the famous struggle, 
 which had been irritating the inhabitants of 
 Spandau for so many months, suddenly ceased, and 
 Dabercow was given a good position in Branden- 
 burg, where he went to reside. This diplomatic 
 transaction vexed me extremely. I left Spandau 
 and went to dwell in the town now inhabited by 
 the former burgomaster Dabercow. I now en- 
 countered fresh difficulties, for, in order to obtain 
 permission to reside in this town, I had to produce 
 my papers. 
 
 No one knew who I was except the former 
 burgomaster of Spandau, M. Kattfuss, who, I fancy, 
 must have learnt the truth either from the govern- 
 ment or from the president of the police. The 
 following incident made me think that I had 
 guessed aright. I was invited one day to a public 
 dinner in the H6tel du Palais, where I was given 
 a seat opposite the burgomaster, who chatted 
 with me and seemed to take much interest in my 
 
218 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 conversation. At the end of the dinner he arose and 
 embraced me most affectionately, saying : " This is 
 not your place ! " I saw tears gleaming in this 
 venerable old man's eyes as he pressed my hand. I 
 have since had reason to suspect that M. Lecoque 
 had confided my secret to him, for M. Kattfuss was, 
 on my arrival in Spandau, chief burgomaster of 
 that town. 
 
 During the year 1820 I wrote for the last time 
 to the due de Berry, who then sent me an answer, 
 in which he informed me that he had been deceived 
 concerning my identity. This letter, which some- 
 what consoled me, was dated, if I am not mistaken, 
 February 3, ten days before his assassination. 
 Certain incidents, which I cjjinnot now reveal, 
 caused me to determine to go to France and to 
 find my sister. A series of events prevented my 
 departure. I was now the father of two children, 
 and my first duty was to provide for their future. 
 Therefore I bought a house in Brandenburg. 
 During this transaction I made the acquaintance 
 of a dishonest fellow, who brought a lawsuit 
 against me, which obliged me, as an honourable 
 man, to remain in Prussia. Two false witnesses 
 appeared and gave evidence against me; and just 
 as I was about to prove their perfidy, I was sud- 
 denly arrested under the ridiculous pretext that I 
 had tried to pass bad money. The examining 
 magistrate who issued the warrant for my appre- 
 hension, anxious to support this abominable lie, 
 
THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 219 
 
 chose to believe the assertions of a witness who 
 swore that he had seen me on September 1 5, about 
 seven o'clock at night, throw a sack apparently full 
 of ecus into the Spree ; in order to make his story 
 appear more plausible, he added that he was so 
 close to me at that moment that the water had 
 splashed his face, although the bridge on which 
 he declared he was standing was thirty feet high. 
 Can we not hear the elders denouncing the chaste 
 Susanna ? 
 
 The prevaricating magistrate made this dis- 
 gusting perjurer swear, in my presence, to the 
 truth of this statement, which was then inscribed in 
 the public register. A few days later he sent for 
 me, and had the impudence to say : " Do you 
 still deny the deed ? Here is a witness who saw 
 you throw the sack into the water." By the mercy 
 of Providence I happened to be absent from 
 Brandenburg on the date mentioned by the witness. 
 The fact that I had been arrested on my return at 
 nine o'clock at night proved how clumsily this 
 false witness had played his cards. Notwithstand- 
 ing this fact, the examining magistrate, wishing 
 to support my accuser, prolonged the proceedings ; 
 I was, therefore, forced to call witnesses from all 
 the four corners of the globe, for, at that hour, I 
 happened to be driving in a public conveyance with 
 several other travellers, all of whom had to give 
 evidence to that effect. It was eventually proved 
 that this witness was a worthless perjurer. I asked 
 
220 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 that he might be dealt with according to the law 
 concerning perjury. The magistrate refused to 
 do justice to me, and persuaded another individual, 
 named Libhert, a student and the son of a pro- 
 prietor of the public coach, to support the false 
 witness. I made the examining magistrate repeat 
 the lie in my presence. This M. Libhert was 
 going to take holy orders. When he appeared, I 
 asked him if he had followed the road prescribed 
 by his religion, and if lying in the open court was 
 a good preparation for the vocation which he wished 
 to adopt. " What do you mean, sir ? " replied 
 he. I then called upon the magistrate to read his 
 evidence. The young man cried out, with great 
 indignation : " Sir, I never uttered those words." I 
 began again, and addressed the lawyer in the follow- 
 ing terms : "This is another of your victims, M. 
 Schulz." He replied very sharply : " Accuse him, 
 if you will." But, turning to the witness, I re- 
 assured him in a few words : " I do not mean to 
 do you any harm, because you are going to take 
 holy orders, because you are still very young, and 
 because you acted under a false understanding. 
 However, you ought to realize in what a difficult 
 position your conduct has placed me." 
 
 I was moved to pardon him for another and 
 a different reason ; this false evidence had been 
 involuntarily reduced to naught by the judge 
 himself. Notwithstanding this justification, which 
 proved beyond all doubt that I had been cruelly 
 
THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 221 
 
 slandered, the examining magistrate notified the 
 cashier Neuman, to whom I had paid for the 
 purchase of my house the sum of six hundred and 
 fifty ecus only a week before my incarceration, to 
 appear before him. This Neuman declared that 
 he had found among the coins paid by me into his 
 hands fifteen bad ecus. Any one can see that this 
 third witness, like his two predecessors, had been 
 bribed to give evidence against me. Can any one 
 suppose that a public accountant would not have 
 immediately detected any false coins .? Is it likely 
 that, if the money had really been bad, he 
 would have waited nearly a week before accusing 
 the person who paid him the said money? More- 
 over, could an accountant, who was in the habit 
 of receiving large sums of money from various 
 individuals, tell for certain the name of the person 
 who either intentionally or unintentionally had 
 given him bad money ? And yet Neuman clung 
 obstinately to his wicked assertion. I then de- 
 manded that he should be sworn, to which operation, 
 as he was unwilling to incur the treatment meted 
 out by me to his two predecessors, he refused to 
 submit. So his evidence was utterly valueless. 
 Emboldened by this and other underhand pro- 
 ceedings the judge ordered me, untried and 
 therefore uncondemned, to be imprisoned. In 
 order to justify this infamous and iniquitous action, 
 the magistrate sent me, shortly afterwards, a copy of 
 the following decree : 
 
222 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 " Whereas the signs pointing to the culpability 
 of the accused, Charles-Guillaume NaundorfF, are 
 not sufficient to condemn him, in this case a 
 sentence is necessary, because he has behaved, 
 throughout his trial, like an impudent liar, claim- 
 ing to be of royal birth, and giving us to understand . 
 that he belonged to the royal house of Bourbon." 
 
 I must now explain the meaning of this strange 
 decree. My invisible persecutors had caused the 
 examining magistrate to question me about my 
 family and my birth. Trusting in his honour and 
 reassured that I need fear nothing, thanks to M. 
 Lecoque's precautions, I replied that I was a native 
 of Weimar ; moreover, I loathed the idea of 
 revealing my real origin amid such repulsive 
 surroundings. The magistrate at Weimar having 
 contradicted my statement, the examining magis- 
 trate repeated : " If you belong to an honourable 
 family, why don't you tell the truth ? " "Sir," 
 replied I, " I am of royal birth, and my unhappy 
 fate is quite undeserved ; but I myself cannot 
 reveal the truth to you. If you wish to unravel 
 the mystery, you must apply to his Majesty the 
 king of Prussia, the prince von Harttenberg and 
 the president Lecoque, all of whom are well aware 
 of my high social position." 
 
 " Pooh ! " cried he, " that is not true ! " 
 
 " It is not for you to judge me," I added ; 
 " write to the king : that is all you have to do." 
 
 " Then," he concluded, " we will refer the case 
 
THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 223 
 
 to the minister von Harttenberg, and await his 
 decision." 
 
 A statement was immediately drawn up and 
 signed by myself, the judge and M. de Renne, 
 who, at that time, was the referendary. From that 
 day no one troubled himself further about my 
 identity, and I was left in peace upon this subject. 
 As an infallible proof of the truth of my assertions, 
 I request my readers to consult the documents 
 preserved among the archives judiciaires. I will 
 now ask a question : who was it who first mooted 
 the idea that I was a member of the Bourbon 
 family ? For I personally contented myself with 
 declaring that I was of royal birth. 
 
 Signs of culpability are mentioned in the decree 
 passed by the Supreme Court : what does that 
 mean ? Was there really the slightest shadow of 
 truth contained in the evidence of these three 
 perjurers ? Was there any truth in the evidence 
 of that knave Neuman, who, like Judas, betrayed 
 his innocent victim in order to ruin him, and like 
 that traitor-deicide, tortured by remorse, a fort- 
 night after my transfer to the prison, in a fit of 
 despair, hung himself in the Palais de Justice in the 
 very apartment in which he had accomplished his 
 crime ? More than ten thousand inhabitants of 
 Brandenburg knew well that it was not I who coined 
 the false money; and no one ever pretended that 
 I was the person who placed that money on the 
 market. On the contrary, all those who have ever 
 
224 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 done any business with me have always spoken very 
 highly in my favour. But the fiat had gone forth 
 that I was to be persecuted ; I was to fall a victini 
 to certain infamous machinations. All Europe 
 shall learn of my misfortunes, and of the under- 
 hand dealings of my enemies, who, in order to 
 perpetrate their criminal designs, assumed numerous 
 disguises. I will quote a few more examples. 
 
 Owing to the lawsuit concerning the purchase 
 of my house, I went to live with a former post- 
 master, M. Schernbeck. This man was a rich 
 widower, who kept a store of several hundred ecus 
 hidden in a coffer in his bedroom. He was an 
 easy-going fellow, and, as I disliked company, I 
 used to spend my evenings with him, and thus I 
 became acquainted with his eldest daughter who 
 kept house for him. One evening M. Schernbeck 
 asked me to help him discover a thief who, he 
 informed me, evidently dwelt in the same house, 
 and who was gradually stealing all his money from 
 him. 
 
 "Are you really so blind," replied I to him, 
 " that you cannot guess who is the culprit ? " 
 
 " What do you mean, sir ? " cried he. 
 
 " Well," I answered, " would you like to see 
 the thief ? " 
 
 " Yes, and at once, if you please ! " 
 
 I then summoned his eldest daughter, closed 
 the door, and told her father to search her pockets, 
 where he found a false key which fitted the lock 
 
THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 225 
 
 of his coffer. His daughter, who was only seven- 
 teen years of age, had been persuaded by some 
 wicked friends to steal from her father. When 
 she saw that her theft had been discovered, she fell 
 on her knees, confessed her sin, and swore that she 
 would alter her conduct. I was happy enough to 
 be able to reconcile the father and daughter. I 
 promised never to reveal the secret, and then left 
 the house, where I began to perceive that I was not 
 a favourite. Schernbcck himself confessed this fact 
 to me, and told me that certain persons had sought 
 to calumniate me. I then chose as my residence 
 the house of a master-tailor named Cravathe. One 
 morning a few weeks later, a police-officer came 
 to inform me that my former host, M. Schernbeck, 
 had been murdered. This officer hinted that I 
 was suspected of the crime. Innocence and calm 
 dignity ever walked hand in hand. I immediately 
 dressed myself and went to the house of the victim, 
 whom I found still alive and seated in his arm- 
 chair, surrounded by police-officers. I begged to 
 be allowed to make investigations in the magis- 
 trate's presence. My request having been granted, 
 I discovered the truth and unmasked the guilty 
 person. I informed M. Zanden, who, I believe, 
 was a relation of the family, of my success. The 
 wretched girl was arrested, and on the morrow she 
 confessed the crime. She received the king's 
 pardon on account of her youth, and was only 
 sentenced to eight years' imprisonment. The 
 15 
 
226 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 whole town of Brandenburg can bear witness to 
 the truth of my statement. 
 
 While the lawsuit concerning the purchase of 
 my house was in progress, and previous to the 
 indictment of forgery, the theatre of Brandenburg 
 was burnt down during the night. Before I could 
 defend myself, I found that the government of 
 Potsdam had ordered the magistrate, M. Voigt, 
 to accuse me of the crime. However, I was 
 not arrested. These numerous misfortunes over- 
 whelmed me and crushed me to the ground ; but 
 I tried to console myself with the thought that my 
 fellow-citizens, and my neighbours in especial, still 
 esteemed me, and believed in my innocence ; they 
 showed, by their affectionate sympathy, their in- 
 dignation at beholding my innocence and courage 
 put to such a cruel test by the base conduct of my 
 enemies. Subsequent inquiries and trustworthy 
 evidence proved the enormity of the calumny in- 
 vented by those who wished to blacken me in the 
 eyes of the world. Then, when these inhuman 
 monsters saw that the result of their machinations 
 would only put to sha;me the instigators of these 
 iniquitous plots, they used the ruins of this absurd 
 charge of arson to make the accusation of forgery 
 as already related by me, and, in order to confirm this 
 new calumny, threw me into prison. The two ex- 
 aminations took place simultaneously. Two of the 
 false witnesses who had given evidence against me 
 during the trial concerning the purchase of my 
 
THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 227 
 
 house, went about the town saying that it was I 
 who had set the theatre on fire. Notwithstanding 
 my deplorable condition and the meagre funds at 
 my disposal, these two wretches were, by the 
 mercy of Providence, unmasked and sentenced to 
 the pillory with two years' penal servitude. The 
 accuser paid for his iniquitous conduct with three 
 months' imprisonment. The magistrate at Bran- 
 denburg was condemned to pay all the costs of the 
 lawsuit. There are compensations even in the 
 midst of the cruellest misfortunes, and persecuted 
 innocence occasionally enjoys moments of respite 
 during the most wicked persecutions. While I 
 was in prison M. Voigt came to visit me that he 
 might congratulate me upon my success and inform 
 me that the Supreme Court had cleared my 
 character of the infamous crime imputed to my 
 charge by the government of Potsdam. 
 
 Let my readers remember the certificate of 
 good conduct earned by me at Spandau ; let them 
 remember the genuine and unanimous evidence 
 of more than six thousand inhabitants of that town 
 in which I resided nearly ten years, and then let 
 my readers ask themselves if an habitually honest 
 man is likely to become, in such a short time, a 
 consummate villain. 
 
 My friend, the examining magistrate, was 
 the only person who seemed displeased by my late 
 triumph ; he could not conceal his annoyance, and 
 even dared to insult me one day by saying : " Your 
 
228 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 acquittal after this, your last lawsuit, does not 
 prove your innocence ; you can undeceive yourself 
 if you think that you are going to slip so easily 
 through my fingers." 
 
 " Wretch ! " cried I, " I require you this very 
 instant to make a statement to the Supreme Court, 
 and I demand the help of another examining 
 magistrate." 
 
 Having made him draw up a statement, which 
 he has since destroyed, he said: " I must first finish 
 this case and then I will find you another 
 examining magistrate." 
 
 I have since learnt that this prevaricating 
 magistrate had communicated to the Supreme 
 Court certain infamous calumnies which resulted 
 in my remaining in prison until 1828. 
 
 In that year, the blameless son of the martyr- 
 king was obliged to endure the humiliation of 
 receiving pardon on condition that he ceased to 
 reside either in Brandenburg or in Berlin. In 
 order to keep up my courage, which was rapidly 
 sinking under the weight of all these misfortunes, 
 the baron von SackendorfF found some employment 
 for me in Silesia ; but this stroke of good luck was 
 doomed never to be mine, for I had no money with 
 which to defray my own and my family's travelling 
 expenses. I was completely ruined. It is true 
 that a gentleman, M. von Hagen, son of the 
 prefect, baron von Hagen-Ahoennauen, owed me 
 two thousand six hundred francs on a bill of 
 
THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 229 
 
 exchange. I went to see this gentleman, who 
 promised to pay in two days' time and persuaded 
 me to go and wait for him in Brandenburg ; I 
 did so. 
 
 Hardly had I arrived in this town, when the 
 burgomaster Zanden summoned me to appear 
 before him, and informed me that the public 
 prosecutor (who, in that country, is called the 
 juge du dSme) had been ordered to put me . into 
 prison if I did not immediately leave for Silesia. 
 This harsh treatment obliged me to sell my 
 belongings to the highest bidder, and thus my poor 
 wife was forced to part with the few household 
 treasures which she had hitherto managed to keep. 
 
 I left, together with my family, the town in 
 which I had endured many long and bitter hours, 
 thanks to the inhumanity of my fellow-creatures. 
 I took nothing with me except a few pieces of 
 clockwork, and a bed for my children, the last 
 vestiges of a fortune earned by the sweat of my 
 brow. For pecuniary reasons, I was detained 
 nearly a week in Berlin, and when I reached Silesia 
 I found that my place had already been given to 
 another workman. The town council agreed, for 
 charity's sake, to grant me the sum of sixteen ecus 
 instead of the forty ^cus promised to me. Indig- 
 nant at such treatment, I retired to Grossen, a little 
 town in Prussia : I have forgotten the date of my 
 arrival. I can only remember the fact that we 
 arrived on a Sunday evening, and that night had 
 
230 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 already fallen when I and my family found our- 
 selves in the market-place of Grossen, moneyless, 
 except for the forty-eight francs in my pocket. 
 On the morrow our distress was brightened by 
 a gleam of hope. I begged to be allowed to reside 
 in that town ; on showing my passport from 
 Brandenburg, together with my certificate of resi- 
 dence as the head of a family in Brandenburg and 
 Berlin, and the old certificate of good conduct 
 given to me in 1824, while I was a resident of the 
 former town, my request was granted without 
 further trouble, although I did not possess the 
 necessary papers. Providence did not abandon me 
 in my distress. Kind friends found work for me ; 
 I slaved day and night and I quickly earned the 
 esteem of my fellow-citizens. My intelligence 
 inspired them with confidence, and, thanks to my 
 untiring industry, I soon managed to drive the 
 wolf from the door. 
 
 In a short time I had so many customers that I 
 was obliged to engage a workman to help me. 
 Then the Brandenburg magistrates charged their 
 confrere at Grossen to order me to pay a sum of 
 over one hundred ecusy representing the balance of 
 the costs of my last lawsuit. The magistrate at 
 Grossen refused to comply with this demand, and 
 accorded me his protection ; however, this episode 
 ruined my business and deprived me of my fellow- 
 citizens' esteem. In a short time I spent the little 
 fortune amassed at the cost of such infinite pains. 
 
THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 231 
 
 Notwithstanding the persecution to which I was 
 subjected at the hands of the magistrates at 
 Brandenburg, rumours began to circulate concern- 
 ing my royal origin with such persistency that the 
 commissary of police and syndic of Grossen re- 
 quested me to tell him the truth. He seemed such 
 a worthy man that I determined to confide my 
 secret to him. So I sent him the proofs of my 
 identity ; whereupon he immediately wrote to his 
 Majesty the king of Prussia and to Charles X, 
 asking them to tell him how he was to act. He 
 even wrote to my sister, who sent him the reply 
 which is now in my possession. I prefer to think 
 that my sister was deceived by her friends. At all 
 events, the truth will be proclaimed some day. 
 
 I then wrote to Charles X, and sent my letter 
 through the French ambassador at the court of 
 Berlin, M. le comte d'Agoust. In 1830 I wrote 
 for the last time to my family ; shortly after this 
 the Bourbons were banished from France. I never 
 received any replies to my letters. Notwithstand- 
 ing this cruel injustice, I still felt affection for my 
 family ; and, as soon as I heard of their arrival 
 at Holy rood, I sent an express messenger with 
 despatches to them : as heretofore, they passed 
 over my communications in silence. 
 
 However, my charge d'affaires continued to beg 
 in my name that my case might be tried again in 
 Brandenburg : he declared that it had been con- 
 ducted in an infamous manner, and offered to 
 
232 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 convict the examining magistrate of knavery. 
 Trhe ministers rejected my lawyer's request. He 
 then determined to w^rite to the king himself, and 
 went to Berlin, where he asked for an audience 
 with his Majesty, which, however, he could not 
 obtain. But his dogged determination and his 
 profound knowledge of the laws of his country 
 finally triumphed over all obstacles, and the neces- 
 sary documents were at last given into his charge. 
 Then the prince von Carolatz and his secretary 
 von Seuden came to visit me while I was in 
 Grossen ; as the prince was travelling incognito, I 
 did not know who he was. However, just at the 
 last moment, as hie was about to leave my room, 
 they told me the name of my mysterious visitor. 
 I charged M. Pezold to ask the meaning of this 
 behaviour. I will say no more upon this subject : 
 my pen refuses to relate such unscrupulous conduct. 
 Shortly after this visit my charge d'affaires, the 
 worthy M. Pezold, fell sick ; his valuable life was 
 endangered by a severe internal inflammation : had 
 it not been for Dr. Hesius' clever discernment and 
 prompt measures he must have died. At last he 
 was able to resume his daily occupations. Alas ! 
 'twas but for a short time. One day his landlady 
 brought him a cup of soup ; hardly had he tasted 
 it when, pushing the woman away, he cried : 
 " My God ! you've poisoned me ! " Whereupon 
 he fainted, and died March i6, 1832. The corpse 
 immediately turned black, and the lower part of 
 
CHAKLES -PHILlPrE J'L,/^ 
 COMTE D'AnTOLS.i 
 
 COLOWEL-'IENEHAL UES 
 
 DE TRANt'E IVKMSIEimi 
 FKERE DTT ROI , 
 
 /// GARDES RATIONALES. A-» 
 le q Ortolirt- l"'); 
 
 ■miiiiiB 
 
 CHARLES X, 
 
THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 233 
 
 the abdomen became so swollen that his friends 
 were obliged to take precautions in order to pre- 
 vent any epidemic in the house. I begged his 
 brother, who was then still alive, to have the 
 body examined ; he replied that such a proceed- 
 ing would not bring the dead man back to life. 
 Immediately after this loyal friend's death, seals 
 were placed on all his belongings, and his post was 
 given to a man named Lauriscus, who was to 
 continue the deceased lawyer's business ; this ex- 
 cellent fellow promised to look after my interests. 
 A month later, before I could obtain possession of 
 even one of my papers, he died suddenly, and all 
 M. Pezold's belongings were seized. I have never 
 been able to get back any of my own papers. 
 M. Pezold had pleaded my case in the presence 
 of the ministers in Berlin, and even before his 
 Majesty. On one occasion only did we ever 
 receive any reply from M. Albrecht, the king's 
 chief secretary. 
 
 It is by no means my intention to humiliate 
 the feeble Charles X ; however, his behaviour 
 towkrds me obliges me at least to tell the truth. 
 After the death of my friend Pezold, in 1832, 
 I tried once more to get a letter to him. In 
 accordance with my feelings as an honourable 
 man, I invited him to come to Prussia, so that he 
 might be reconciled with me. The missive was 
 addressed to my sister. 
 
 Let my family say, if they dare, what was in 
 
234 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 that letter ! Well, I never received any reply 
 to that letter or to any other ! I waited for three 
 months in the hope that I should hear something. 
 ... A kind but anonymous friend wrote to me 
 from Berlin that his Majesty, the king of Prussia, 
 by his minister's advice, had ordered me to be 
 arrested and imprisoned in a fortress, but that there 
 was still time for me to escape. I went to the 
 police on the morrow, and asked for a passport 
 for abroad : it was refused on the grounds that the 
 Government alone could give me such a document. 
 Then I asked for a passport to Berlin, so that I 
 could go and protest against such proceedings. I 
 was given a passport in the name of Charles-Louis, 
 a native of Versailles. I then pretended to set out 
 for Berlin ; but instead of following the road 
 leading to that town, I secretly left the kingdom. 
 I soon arrived, without any mishaps, at Dresden in 
 Saxony, where I begged to be allowed to have an 
 audience with the royal family, to whom I was 
 related. Thanks to the intrigues of the king's 
 confessor, Kunitz, the police, under the pretext 
 that my passport was not available for foreign 
 lands, ordered me to leave Dresden. I was there- 
 fore forced to turn my steps towards France. 
 This was a difficult undertaking, however, for 
 I possessed neither passport nor money. I was 
 wondering how I could get over this difficulty, 
 when the all-powerful God came to my aid. A 
 man who had just come from Poland, and whose 
 
THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 235 
 
 acquaintance I had made on my journey, offered 
 to go and visit the French ambassador in Dresden, 
 for he declared that he knew a way by which he 
 could oblige him to put my passport in order 
 for this journey, I accepted his offer. This is 
 what he told me on his return. As soon as the 
 ambassador saw my transport, he exclaimed : 
 
 " But you are not a Frenchman." 
 
 " That does not matter to you, sir," replied my 
 messenger ; " it is not for you to judge my actions. 
 Will you sign it, or will you not ? " 
 
 " I cannot," he repeated ; " you are a Prussian." 
 
 " Once more," replied the stranger, " that is no 
 business of yours. I ask you to sign this passport 
 to France, and I beg you to tell me if you intend 
 to do so." 
 
 " Apply to my secretary, insolent fellow," re- 
 torted the ambassador, shutting himself up in his 
 own room. 
 
 •' His servants had to repeat the latter sentence 
 twice before I consented to go away," said my 
 messenger. 
 
 He finally went to see the ambassador's secre- 
 tary, baron de Belleval, and informed him that the 
 ambassador had sent him to have his passport signed 
 for France. 
 
 " Do you want to go to that country, then ? " 
 asked the secretary. 
 
 And when my friend answered that such was 
 his intention, the secretary shook his head, signed 
 
236 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 the passport, and- gave it back to him. I was 
 waiting for him in front of the embassy. I 
 thanked him and then went home, where I looked 
 over my passport and satisfied myself that every- 
 thing was in order. Though I had overcome one 
 difficulty, there still remained another, and an 
 equally grave one, to vanquish. I had about four 
 sous in my pocket, and my hotel bill was still 
 unpaid. While ascending the stairs I met a little 
 dark-haired man with a youth and two charming 
 girls. The little dark-haired man first took me for 
 one of his acquaintances, and invited me to come 
 into his room, crying : " Ah, there you are ! " This 
 exclamation made me think for a moment that 
 he really knew me. Without more ado I went 
 into his room, where we both discovered our 
 mistake. This little man had a wonderfully 
 angelic countenance, and seemed extremely kind- 
 hearted; he immediately took a great fancy to me, 
 and invited me to visit his family when I passed 
 through the town in which he dwelt, and which 
 was on the road to France. He left the hotel that 
 very day, and on the morrow I took a carriage as 
 far as his house, where I meant to stop and to ask 
 him to help me. During a brief halt in the Plauen 
 valley, my coachman amused himself by consuming 
 a bottle of beer, for which he asked me to pay, as 
 he had no money with him. I did so, and thus 
 reduced, my fortune to one sou. I soon reached 
 the town, and in my new friend's home I found a 
 
THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 237 
 
 very amiable woman, apparently about forty years 
 of age, who welcomed me as if I were a long-lost 
 friend. She went to fetch her husband, and brought 
 her children, who received me with the greatest 
 kindness. In the middle of this affectionate inter- 
 view I told them that I was in great trouble. 
 However, I did not reveal my identity. 
 
 " Well, my friend, that does not matter," said 
 he ; "a real friend must prove his friendship. 
 How much do you want ? " 
 
 I asked for twenty ecus. < 
 
 " Is that all ? " replied he. " Here they are ! " 
 My friend, whose name was Kishauere, was a 
 clergyman in Freiberg, six leagues from Dresden. 
 This gentleman's kind-hearted family begged me to 
 stay at least a couple of days with them. I dismissed 
 my driver, to whom I gave some money with which 
 to pay the hotel-keeper. Two days later my loyal 
 friend's son accompanied me some distance along 
 the road to France. I then bade him farewell. I 
 had been walking for about the space of two hours, 
 when I suddenly beheld, seated under a tree by the 
 side of the high-road, the man from Dresden who 
 had taken so much trouble about my passport, and 
 who was now returning to his own country. As 
 I now had some money, I hastened to offer to 
 pay him for the trouble which he had taken for 
 me. This man was a Suabian. He shouldered 
 my valise and followed me. As he had no money, 
 I paid his expenses at the different inns in which 
 
238 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 we passed the night ; this, together with the fact 
 that he carried my belongings, made people think 
 that he was my servant. 
 
 As cholera was raging at that time, we were 
 taken, on arriving at the Bavarian frontier, before 
 the quarantine officer, and our passports were 
 examined. Having read mine, the officer turned 
 to me, saying : " There were some grand gentle- 
 men here last night who inquired if you had 
 already crossed the frontier." I then asked the 
 names of these gentlemen. I was told that they 
 were the French ambassador and M. de Belleval, 
 his secretary. I said nothing, but, suspecting some 
 treachery, I determined to be cautious. Having 
 reached a little town, we passed the night in an 
 inn filled with fugitive Polish officers. 
 
 We continued our journey on the morrow. The 
 Poles left the town the day after our departure; 
 my friend being a slow walker, they soon over- 
 took us. We then walked together as far as HofF, 
 where they persuaded me to stay in their hotel. 
 One of the officers, promising to repay me, induced 
 me to hire a carriage to take us to Nuremberg, 
 where a society had been formed in order to pro- 
 vide funds and shelter for the Polish fugitives. 
 Two other officers came in the carriage with us, 
 and we soon reached our destination. In the latter 
 town I became acquainted with a merchant named 
 Dreckfler, who declared that I was not the person 
 I pretended to be, and besought me to tell him 
 
THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 239 
 
 who I really was. I know not what caused him to 
 think thus. Nevertheless, the head of the Nurem- 
 berg society treated me with the greatest kindness, 
 and paid all my expenses to France, as well as those 
 of the Polish fugitives, out of the society's funds. 
 In order to hide from the French ambassador's 
 vigilant eye, I accepted his offers of assistance, and 
 thinking that I should no longer want any money 
 for my travelling expenses to France, I shared my 
 little property with the Poles. These fugitives 
 were under the guidance of a priest named Dom- 
 prowski. My companion, a doctor in a Polish 
 regiment, warned me to be careful, as this man 
 meant to do me some harm. At Heilbronn we 
 found the citizens of that town assembled in an 
 hotel, waiting for the arrival of the fugitives with 
 whom I was marching. During the dinner Dom- 
 prowski made a long speech, and at the end of the 
 repast many toasts were drunk. Suddenly cries of 
 " Down with the tyrant ! Down with the traitors ! " 
 were raised. At the same time they all fell upon 
 me, screaming like madmen, and crying out that I 
 was a spy. I know not how it was that Domprow- 
 ski, who was a priest in the Catholic Church, and 
 whqm I should never have suspected capable of 
 such conduct, came to guess that I carried papers 
 of citizenship for the town of Brandenburg. He 
 declared that my passport was a forgery ; and in 
 his desire to do me harm, this wretch actually stole 
 the paper from me. I suppose that he must have 
 
240 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 done so one evening when he shared a bedroom 
 with me. In order to put an end to the disgrace- 
 ful scene caused by this spiteful priest's behaviour, 
 I retired to my own room. Domprowski, having 
 thrown my papers down the drains, accused me at 
 Heilbronn of possessing certain false documents, and 
 in his anxiety to prove his statements, declared that 
 he had discovered me in the very act of trying to get 
 rid of these compromising documents by throwing 
 them down the drains. 
 
 Notwithstanding this vague evidence, I was 
 arrested and thrown into prispn. On the morrow 
 I was taken before the examining magistrate, who 
 asked me why I had thrown my forged passport 
 down the drains. I requested him to call my 
 accuser, so that I might prove him to be an im- 
 postor, and his accusation a ridiculous story trumped 
 up for some unknown end. 
 
 " I cannot do so," he replied ; " the Poles have 
 already left the town." 
 
 " Well," I retorted, " of what do you accuse 
 me? Of carrying a false passport? Can't you 
 read, that you take for a false passport the docu-' 
 ment authorizing me to dwell in the town of 
 Brandenburg, in Prussia? 'Tis a vast pity," I 
 added, "that you arrest honest men at the com- 
 plaint of unknown individuals, whom you allow 
 to escape unpunished." 
 
 He blamed me for this misadventure, which, 
 he said, I had brought upon myself by consorting 
 
THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 241 
 
 with unscrupulous persons. I was then liberated. 
 I returned to the inn, where I was charged so 
 much for my dinner that I found myself without 
 a sou. However, I kept up my courage, and, 
 trusting in Providence, continued my journey all 
 alone. 
 
 My readers must not think that the Polish 
 priest's iniquitous schemes had succeeded : on the 
 contrary. This man was only a tool in the hands 
 of Providence and, while trying to harm me, he 
 involuntarily rendered me a great service. I have 
 since learnt that if I had crossed the French fron- 
 tier I should have been thrown into prison. I 
 could relate many adventures which, I am sure, 
 would greatly interest my readers ; but my object 
 is not to amuse : so I will confine myself to relat- 
 ing simple facts connected with my personal 
 history. I assert nothing which I cannot prove. 
 And whenever my case is given a fair trial in 
 court, I shall be able to clear up many points with 
 the help of valuable and trustworthy evidence 
 which, however, I cannot publish before the 
 proper time, but which will shine forth as the 
 bright sun shines in the heavens at midday. My 
 family at Prague may publish, if they wish, the 
 contents of the papers sent by me to the duchesse 
 de Berri during her sojourn in la Vendee, for she 
 received copies of the original documents. Being 
 at that time in France, treachery forced me to 
 
 take refuge in Switzerland. In Geneva I was 
 i6 
 
242 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 again persecuted and betrayed ; I was detained six 
 weeks in Berne in consequence of a letter received 
 by Madame la duchesse d'Angouleme and sent by 
 the ambassador, M. le comte de Bombelles. I do 
 not lay the blame of my arrest to this ambassador : 
 I never told him who I was ; on the contrary, 
 I am thankful to say that he was extremely kind 
 to me, and that it was owing to his intervention 
 that I was liberated. But I was only able to 
 escape persecution by leaving Switzerland and by 
 going to Paris, where I arrived under an assumed 
 name. May 26, 1833. 
 
 I cannot refrain from mentioning the kindness 
 of the Swiss people who, although they knew me 
 not, stretched out a helping hand to help me 
 during my misfortunes. Oh ! noble and hospit- 
 able nation ! I cannot forget thy compatriots who 
 were so generous towards me ! However, the time 
 for showing my gratitude in public has not come 
 yet ; but I remember all thy deeds of kindness, 
 and the poor serving-maid who watched day and 
 night by my bedside while I lay sick in Berne. 
 
 In 1834 my sister fell ill in Dresden. I had 
 already sent messages to her during her sojourn 
 in Prague ; I wished to make one more effort to 
 enlighten her ; but my friends, misled by my 
 deceitful adversaries, refused to advance me the 
 necessary funds, thereby making me lose much 
 valuable time which my enemies turned to good 
 account. M. Morel de Saint-Didier who, on one 
 
THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 243 
 
 occasion, had managed to obtain an audience with 
 Madame la duchesse d'Angoul6me, was again 
 dispatched on a similar mission, and this time he 
 was accompanied by Madame de Rambaut, who 
 had had charge of me since the day of my birth 
 until 1792. When I arrived in Dresden, August 5, 
 1834, it was too late. Madame de Rambaut and 
 M. de Saint-Didier had been to Prague. Madame 
 de Rambaut had begged in vain for an interview 
 with her Royal Highness ; she received a written 
 answer to the effect that Madame la duchesse 
 (TAngouleme could not believe that Madame de 
 Rambaut had been able at her age to undertake such 
 a long journey. Madame de Rambaut was forced 
 to leave the town within twenty-four hours. 
 M. Morel de Saint-Didier had been received on 
 the previous evening; my sister declared that she 
 would not see me, and that she was now quite 
 convinced that I was an impostor and a very 
 clever one. The result of this, my last endeavour, 
 was utterly vain, because his Majesty the king of 
 Prussia had allowed himself to be persuaded, by 
 certain intriguers, to go incognito to Toeblitz. 
 My sister told him frankly what certain persons 
 had hinted to her, and Frederick the Just graciously 
 assured Madame la duchesse d'Angouleme that I 
 was a lunatic who believed himself to be the son 
 of Louis XVI, but who, in reality, belonged to a 
 base-born German family. Let my readers decide 
 for themselves whether lunatics are usually gifted 
 
244 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 with a talent for inventing clever schemes. These 
 facts are absolutely true. I call upon his Majesty 
 the king of Prussia and Madame la duchesse 
 d'Angouleme to witness to the truth of the above 
 statements. In order to confute the lies and 
 calumnies which then appeared concerning my- 
 self in the different newspapers of the day, I sent 
 M. Laprade, one of my lawyers, to the president 
 of his Majesty the king of Prussia's ministers. 
 He was informed that his Majesty had every 
 reason to believe that I was a disreputable and 
 wicked person. In order to harm me, some 
 Machiavellian politician had evidently collected a 
 mass of lies which, however, my enemies never 
 dared to produce in the open court. Thanks to 
 these shady intrigues and wicked falsehoods, certain 
 powerful persons enjoying much credit with their 
 sovereign managed to deceive the monarch, who was 
 never able to discover the identity of the authors of 
 these scandalous reports and calumnious falsehoods. 
 No matter in what country I uttered my all-too- 
 well-founded complaints, I met with persecution 
 and an obstinate refusal to do justice to me. Hunted 
 from place to place, I still believed that my father- 
 land would consent to shelter me. As soon as I 
 possessed a bed on which I could lay my head 
 beneath the beautiful sky of France, I placed myself 
 under the protection of the law. I only asked for 
 my heritage, for my lawful birthright, my father- 
 land, and a tomb in the land of my fathers. Those 
 
THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 245 
 
 in authority who knew, better than any one else, 
 who I was, fearful lest I should take legal proceed- 
 ings to prove the truth, arrested me without any 
 cause, imprisoned me, and then banished me from 
 France. These same persons obstinately and cruelly 
 declared that I was a Prussian. I challenged them 
 to prove their assertions ; they took good care 
 not to give themselves away, for they knew that 
 nothing can withstand all-powerful truth. In 
 short, their perfidy was indefatigable. If they 
 really thought me an impostor, they would have 
 allowed me to unmask myself in court. Have I 
 left aught undone which might have convinced 
 any honest and unprejudiced onlooker ? My voice 
 was drowned, my person was travestied in a 
 thousand ways by unscrupulous opponents. I was 
 driven from the sanctuary of justice which should 
 belong to rich and poor alike. Yet, with what 
 impudence do they not still repeat the same old 
 lies and the same ridiculous stories ? It is in vain 
 that, in their hatred for the last surviving son of 
 the royal house of France, they transgress the laws 
 of my fatherland and forswear common-sense. The 
 trouble which certain people have taken to deceive 
 the nation will produce fatal results for the guilty 
 instigators. Fate is fickle, and already the ministers 
 of Louis-Philippe who tried to annihilate me have 
 forfeited the confidence of their master and of 
 his family. The nation, in a moment of blind 
 enthusiasm, hastened to proclaim the hero's arrival; 
 
246 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 the history of the future, however, will assign to 
 each actor his proper place ; and those who 
 thought themselves of such importance will become 
 a disgrace to their century. As for me, I may die 
 a victim to truth ; it matters not. I fear neither 
 death nor the malice of my fellow-creatures. 
 Prince, I and my fellow-citizens have been 
 deceived. Heavenly justice will not slumber for 
 ever ; and, sooner or later. Providence will cause 
 truth to triumph here below. And here I pause. 
 I have still many things to relate, many things to 
 say ; but the hour has not come ; honour and 
 honesty are only prized in a country where truth 
 is not the general laughing-stock, and where just 
 and equitable laws, uncontaminated by political 
 intrigues, are obeyed and respected ; I am still 
 looking for that country. Many persons in my 
 dear fatherland have turned against me; by making 
 thoughtless accusations and using immoderate lan- 
 guage in speaking of me, they have much increased 
 my sorrows. Madame la duchesse d'Angouleme's 
 filial devotion to her parents' memory is the only 
 argument which they have been able to find in 
 order to contradict the narrative, alas ! all too true, 
 of forty-six years of suffering. My sister has been 
 deceived ; they have kept the truth from her, and 
 still they boast that they are her friends and the 
 friends of my exiled relations — and yet, if they are 
 Madame la Dauphine's real friends, they ought to 
 desire to see her reconciled with her brother ! And 
 
' THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 247 
 
 this daughter of royalty, whose misfortunes have 
 been respected by no one, has caused me many a 
 bitter and painful moment, owing to her choosing 
 to believe in the falsehoods which wretched 
 mercenaries, bribed by my adversaries, vomited 
 forth against me. Do not mistake my meaning : 
 these are my last words to my compatriots. My 
 calumniators have ever been the secret enemies of 
 Charles X, and the tools of a party which, hostile 
 to the Bourbons, wishes to annihilate royalty. 
 Louis-Philippe himself has been duped by his 
 pretended partisans, and used by them to compass 
 their own ends. He was the plaything of the 
 party which is now endeavouring to undermine 
 the work of those three memorable days, and 
 which is striving to abolish monarchical authority. 
 I am ready to prove before all the sovereigns of 
 Europe, and to proclaim to the whole world, the 
 above assertions. And, in concluding, I repeat : 
 Whoever spreads evil reports concerning myself is 
 a knave. Whoever believes these reports, without 
 demanding proofs, is weak-minded and utterly 
 devoid of any common-sense. As for me, I 
 forgive all my political enemies ; the greater 
 number have foolishly allowed themselves to be 
 prejudiced against me. I pity my fatherland. I 
 place all my hope, I find my only consolation, in 
 the bosom of Providence, who alone can save 
 France. If my death is necessary to prove the 
 truth, I submit, crying : " God's will be done ! " 
 
248 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 I have lost many friends who were faithful unto 
 death ; they were taken from me. My persecutors 
 used both dagger and poison in order to get rid of 
 them. What would be my fate were it not for 
 protection from on high ? 
 
 When God wished to save Jerusalem, He sent 
 His prophets, who were cruelly massacred. And 
 yet God, in His mercy, sent His only Son on earth. 
 Then the Pharisees, the princes of the priests, and 
 the people's masters, cried that the faith was in 
 danger and, by their insidious plots, caused the Son 
 of God to be crucified. Who, then, among the 
 sons of man can hope to escape God's impenetrable 
 decrees ? ^ 
 
 Charles-Louis, 
 
 Due de Normandie. 
 
 * The story of Naundorff's life from 1789 until 1810 is, even 
 according to his friends, utterly ridiculous and improbable. They 
 saw that such a story as this meant ruin to the cause of Naundorff. 
 These persons, including M. E. A. Naville, have, quite recently, 
 tried to fill, at least partially, the gaps in the history of Naundorff's 
 adventures. Having discovered the existence of an old maiden 
 lady who still had a dim recollection of certain stories which had 
 been told to her by relations or friends, M. Naville thought that, 
 with the help of this strange evidence, he could prove that the 
 Dauphin, after his escape from the Temple, had taken shelter in 
 Switzerland. 
 
 If, however, we examine Mile. Leschot's evidence, as retailed 
 by M. Naville, we arrive at quite a different conclusion. 
 
 There lived in Geneva a certain clockmaker named Jean- 
 Frdd6ric Leschot, who, having made some automatons, came to 
 exhibit them in Paris and at the French court. Leschot was 
 authorized by Marie-Antoinette to embrace the due de Nor- 
 
THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 249 
 
 mandie, who no doubt had much enjoyed the performance. 
 During his sojourn in Paris, Leschot became acquainted with 
 Charlotte Robespierre ; it is said that a number of her letters were 
 found among Leschot's papers, which have since been lost. How 
 was it that Leschot, who was then residing in Paris, came to know 
 Mile, de Robespierre, who, at that date, 1788, lived in Arras? 
 How is it that Leschot's name is never mentioned in the memoirs 
 of the Incorruptible's sister ? Mystery ! 
 
 During the Revolution Leschot, under the assumed name of 
 Lebas, helped many emigrh to escape into Switzerland. One day, 
 in the year 1797, an old man dressed like a beggar and accom- 
 panied by a child, came to Leschot's house, passed the night there, 
 and went away the next morning without having told his name to 
 his host. Leschot is said to have remarked a likeness to the 
 Dauphin in this child ; however, the old man did not confide in 
 him. Leschot led his two guests to the canton Valais, where he 
 lost sight of them. He declared that this child who, according to 
 him, was no other than the Dauphin, was hidden in the house of 
 his father-in-law. Dr. Hipily, of Neuveville. Why ? M. Naville 
 supposes that he was sent there because one of the doctor's 
 nephews, formerly an officer in a Swiss regiment, had recom- 
 mended this little town as a safe hiding-place. The doctor died 
 about the year 1800, and his nephew, ths pasteur Himly, sheltered 
 the child, who was now a young man and who, we are told, was 
 one day arrested by the police and then disappeared. All this is 
 very improbable and uncertain. The continuation is still more so. 
 Leschot's son, Fr6d^ric, who during his visits to his grandfather 
 had become very friendly with the stranger, was quite devoted to 
 him. Some one must have told him that this imknown young 
 man was the Dauphin. This was a strange disclosure to make to 
 a child of nine years of age, who was told not to reveal it to his 
 parents. On a certain date, which perhaps corresponds with the 
 date on which the young stranger was arrested, Fr6d6ric's be- 
 haviour seems to be rather uncertain ; he frequently disappeared, 
 was absent for several months or even years, and then suddenly 
 returned home only to disappear again. After hearing Mile. 
 Leschot's version of the story, M. Naville tried to ascertain the 
 dates of these disappearances and endeavoured to connect them 
 with different incidents in the life of NaundorfF, who, as we have 
 
250 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 already guessed, was the unknown child, the fugitive Dauphin, 
 who took shelter one night under Leschot's roof. M. Naville 
 accounts for Frdd6ric's frequent disappearances by the fact that he 
 went to help his friend and to rescue the august person of the 
 Dauphin of France from the dungeons and clutches of his 
 redoutoble enemies. Fr6d6ric's relations, however, declare that 
 he was a disgrace to his family, and that from the day when he 
 first met NaundorflF, he lived the life of an adventurer, was 
 frequently arrested and condemned for divers ofiFences. And it 
 was only owing to his family, who were universally esteemed and 
 respected, that he was able to get out of these innumerable scrapes. 
 And so these same relations, by their intervention in his favour, 
 became acquainted with magistrates and lawyers who never for 
 one moment guessed that this young fellow was a hero. The 
 whole story is quite improbable. 
 
 M. Naville's researches show us one thing, and that is, if 
 NaundorfF and Fr6d6ric Leschot were really friends, they probably 
 enlisted in the army raised by the patriot Schill, and were mixed 
 up in his endeavours to rouse Germany against Napoleon ; but 
 this fact would also show that there was no connection between 
 NaundorfF and the unknown child who was supposed to have been 
 hidden in Dr. Himly's house. Probably, at that time, the idea 
 had not occurred to NaundorfF that he might write an imaginary 
 history of himself and reap material benefit therefrom. 
 
EPILOGUE 
 
 Naundorff arrived in Paris, May 26, 1833, 
 from Crosen, a little town in Prussia situated on 
 the frontiers of Silesia, after a journey which, owing 
 to his meagre resources, must have been extremely 
 fatiguing. He was residing in the house of Madame 
 Rambaud, No. 18, rue Richer, when he decided, on 
 June 13, 1836, to summon Madame la duchesse 
 d'Angouleme to appear in court in order that she 
 might recognize him in. public as her brother and 
 "share with him the fortune left by their parents." 
 Her reply was brief and to the point ; he was 
 arrested a fortnight later, and his papers, to the 
 number of two hundred, were seized. Notwith- 
 standing the efforts of his lawyers, Gruau de la 
 Barre and Cremieux, he was banished frona France 
 after spending twenty-six days in prison. He took 
 refuge in London, where he declared that some 
 one offered him a large sum of money if he would 
 consent to go to Switzerland and to keep quiet 
 there. About this time he was afflicted with 
 religious mania, and founded a church according 
 to the Swedenborg faith — whereupon many of his 
 partisans deserted him. 
 
 251 
 
252 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 He declared that some one tried to assassinate 
 him on the night of November i6, 1838 ; an un- 
 known person fired twice at him while he was 
 walking in the garden attached to his house at 
 No, 2 1 , Clarence Place ; however, he was only 
 slightly wounded. 
 
 Naundorff now interested himself in mechanical 
 inventions. In 1845 ^^ went to Holland upon 
 business connected with the sale of certain bullets 
 which he had invented ; the Dutch Government 
 authorized him, after some demur, to reside in 
 Delft. This was the last stage in NaundorfF's 
 troubled existence. During a journey to the Hague 
 he was attacked by violent colic, followed by intense 
 fever, which left him in such a weak condition 
 that he could scarcely get back to Delft. He sent 
 in great haste for his faithful friend Gruau de la 
 Barre, and begged him to go to England and to 
 fetch his wife and daughter, who were still there. 
 The latter reached Delft August 8. Naundorff 
 died two days after their arrival, August 10, 1845. 
 During his last moments he had scarcely been able 
 to recognize his family. This sudden demise 
 greatly surprised his partisans, for Naundorff was 
 in robust health at the time of his departure for the 
 Hague. Jules Favre tells us that several of the 
 naundorfistes declared that he had been poisoned. 
 The Dutch Government gave Naundorff the 
 inventor a. splendid funeral. Soldiers carried his 
 coffin to its last resting-place ; delegates representing 
 
EPILOGUE 253 
 
 both army and navy followed the hearse. M. van 
 Buren, the lawyer who had been instrumental 
 in obtaining permission for him to reside in 
 Holland, spoke a few words of farewell by the 
 graveside. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 OTHER FALSE DAUPHINS 
 
 The number of impostors, mostly in a low walk 
 of life, who managed to get people to believe that 
 they were the son of Louis XVI is quite bewilder- 
 ing : Hergavault, Fruchard, Marassin, Mathurih 
 Bruneau, Dufresne, Persat, Auguste Meves, Fonto- 
 live, not including Richemont and NaundorfF. 
 During fifty years these lunatics and swindlers 
 endeavoured to impose upon the all too credulous 
 public. M. de La Sicotiere, in his splendid work 
 upon the false Louis XVII, declares that all these 
 false Dauphins founded their claims upon certain 
 information contained in a romance entitled : Le 
 Cimetiere de la Madeleine^ which was published in 
 1 800 by Regnault-Warin. This work consists of a 
 number of nocturnal dialogues between the abbe 
 Edgeworth, who assisted Louis XVI on the 
 scaffold, and the author. Among other things we 
 learn from these conversations that Desault, the 
 surgeon-in-chief at the Grand Hospice de Pllumanite, 
 was said to have received an anonymous letter 
 containing 500 louis in gold, and assuring him 
 that his fortune would be made if he would 
 
 254 
 
APPENDIX 255 
 
 promise not to place any obstacles in the way of 
 the young prince's escape. Desault, like a good 
 patriot, was said to have carried the missive to the 
 Comite de Salut public. But one of Desault's 
 pupils, who usually accompanied him on his visits, 
 and who was a royalist in disguise, after his master's 
 death managed, together with an accomplice, to 
 gain admittance to the Temple, where he put the 
 Dauphin to sleep by administering a dose of opium, 
 concealed him inside a cardboard hobby-horse in- 
 tended as a plaything for the little prisoner, and 
 placed both in a large wicker hamper. A dumb 
 orphan child, a sufferer from rickets, was left in his 
 place. The conspirators then escaped in a cart or 
 carriage, which was waiting for them outside the 
 gate of the Temple. The Dauphin awoke to find 
 himself disguised as a girl. They eventually 
 arrived safely, after a narrow escape from some 
 gendarmes, at Charette's head-quarters at Fontenoi. 
 They received an enthusiastic reception ; salutes 
 were fired. On the morrow the new sovereign 
 was solemnly presented to his adherents in the 
 church of Fontenoi. An emissary arrived soon 
 after from the Convention with instructions to make 
 "overtures of peace to Charette, by which the 
 Dauphin was to be sent back to Paris and re- 
 imprisoned for a time in the Temple. Charette 
 immediately caused the boy to be hidden on a 
 little island situated a few leagues distant froni the 
 mouth of the Loire ; he afterwards decided to send 
 
256 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 him to America that he might be out of harm's 
 way. But the ship which bore Louis XVII was 
 captured by a repubHcan frigate, and the unhappy 
 youth died raving mad in his new prison. This is 
 a brief resume of the work which, soon after its 
 first appearance, fell into the hands of Jean-Marie 
 Hervagault, at that time imprisoned in Vire. This 
 young man was the son of a poor tailor at Saint-L6, 
 who, at the age of fourteen, deserted his father's 
 shop in order to travel and see the world. His 
 pleasing exterior had much to do with his success, 
 and he was able to make many dupes by giving 
 himself out first as Montmorency, then as Monaco, 
 Ursel, Longueville, etc., until he was arrested as a 
 returned emigre or an agent of the Chouans and 
 thrown into prison. The Cimetiere de la Madeleine 
 was like a revelation to him. He determined 
 to go and .seek new dupes in Champagne, where 
 he had already met with much success in 1798. 
 At Chalons and at Vitry he gathered round him 
 quite a little court of servitors and faithful fol- 
 lowers : M. de Bournonville, formerly one of the 
 king's lifeguards, Madame Saignes, the notary 
 Adnet of Vitry, the bishop of Viviers, and Lafont 
 de Savines, a former constitutionnel, who called him 
 his "little Messiah." To all these persons he 
 related a story copied from Regnault-Warin's 
 romance : the child who died in the Temple was 
 the son of the tailor Hervagault, who, for the sum 
 of 200,000 livres, had confided his child to Charette's 
 
APPENDIX 257 
 
 agents. Hervagault declared that Charette had 
 sent the child to England, where he was said to 
 have been recognized as the son of Louis XVI by 
 the due de Bouillon, by several well-known royalist 
 leaders, and even by the king of England. However, 
 the comte d'Artois disowned all connection with 
 him. Hervagault then said that so many attempts 
 were made to poison him that he was forced to 
 take shelter in Rome, where he was unable to stay 
 as the pope feared for his own safety. The latter, 
 before Hervagault's departure, made certain marks 
 with a red-hot iron upon the fugitive's right leg 
 and left arm. This deed was recorded in a state- 
 ment signed by twenty cardinals and deposited at 
 the Vatican. The pseudo-Louis XVII first went 
 to Spain, where he was kindly received by the 
 duchesse d'Orleans, and then to Portugal. Pichegru 
 having called him back to the French coast, he 
 said that he reached Paris, after several other 
 adventures, about the 1 8th fructidor. He was ar- 
 rested in Vitry, February 17, 1 802, as a swindler and 
 a vagabond. His followers attended in court, but 
 many of them refused to believe that he was guilty. 
 He was sentenced to four years' imprisonment. 
 Having been set at liberty, he tried to recommence 
 his old tricks, but the imperial police had their 
 eye upon him ; the false Louis XVII was arrested 
 once more and sent to Bicetre, where he died in 
 1 8 12, declaring to the last, says M. de La Sicotiere, 
 that he was the son of Louis XVI. 
 17 
 
258 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 The other false Dauphins were not so clever as 
 Hervagault. Mile. Le Normand {Memoires his- 
 toriques sur Nmperatrice 'Josephine) relates that a 
 young drummer in Belgiojoso's regiment managed 
 to interest a number of his officers and several noble 
 ladies in Turin, by giving out that he was Louis 
 XVII (i 800). But he was finally obliged to confess 
 that he was only the son of a clockmaker in Paris. 
 About the same time the police arrested an 
 individual who, in order to prove his right to the 
 title of Louis XVII, showed a mark on his right 
 thigh representing several fleurs de lis surmounted 
 by a crown and the initials of the House of Bourbon. 
 
 A letter from the due de Feltre, dated from 
 Ghent, April 4, 181 5, announced, without how- 
 ever giving any details, the existence of a certain 
 man named Fruchard, who called himself Louis 
 XVII, and who seems to have been a royalist agent 
 during the Cent Jours. 
 
 Even NaundorfF himself helped to fabricate false 
 Dauphins : he is said to have picked up an officer 
 of the Grande Armee, Marassin by name, who was 
 returning from Russia in a wretched condition, 
 and after having given him very minute instructions 
 concerning his conduct, he sent him to France in 
 1 8 16 to see what sort of a reception he himself 
 might expect there. Now it happened that 
 Marassin played the part of Louis XVII so well 
 and made so many dupes that he was arrested and 
 imprisoned in Rouen. 
 
APPENDIX 259 
 
 Mathurin Bruneau, the son of a maker of 
 wooden shoes in Vezins, near Cholet, was also 
 inspired by Regnault-Warin's romance. Bruneau, 
 who, like Hervagault,^ seems to have been more or 
 less a maniac, began his career as an impostor at a 
 very early age. He passed for some time as the 
 baron de Vezins. This fraud having been detected, 
 he returned to his native village, which, however, he 
 soon left again. For some time he was an inmate 
 of the workhouse at Saint-Denis, and then he 
 enlisted in the marines. He deserted soon after- 
 wards and went to the United States, where, for 
 ten years, he managed to gain a living by occupying 
 divers humble posts. He landed in 1 8 1 6 at Saint- 
 Malo, having in his possession a passport bearing 
 the name of Charles de Navarre. His story, 
 however, was received with derision. He was 
 sent to Bicetre, and then to Rouen, for having 
 defrauded certain persons of the sum of six hundred 
 francs by declaring himself to be related to the 
 Phelypeaux family. It was while he was in prison 
 in Rouen that he read Regnault-Warin's romance, 
 which, on being released, he hastened to imitate. 
 With the help of three accomplished thieves, whose 
 tool he seems to have been, he succeeded in making 
 several dupes abroad ; he gathered quite a little circle 
 of fanatics and charitable persons round him, and 
 even caused seditious proclamations to be printed. 
 
 Having been condemned, on February 19, 
 i8i8, to five years' imprisonment for swindling 
 
260 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 and assuming a false name, force had to be used to 
 prevent his faithful partisans from rescuing him from 
 Mont Saint-Michel, where he was incarcerated. 
 He died in 1825 ^^ ^ s*^te of imbecility. Certain 
 persons persisted in declaring that they had seen 
 him in Cayenne in 1 844. 
 
 In 18 18 a madman named Jean-Fran9ois 
 Dufresne, a nephew of a statesman, was arrested 
 outside the Tuileries. He asked to be allowed to 
 see the king, declaring that he was Louis XVII, 
 and that he bore certain characteristic marks on 
 his body. Two years later a bailiff from Uzes, 
 also a lunatic, declared that he had been sent 
 from heaven that the king might acknowledge 
 him as the son of Louis XVI. 
 
 We learn from an article upon NaundorfF, which 
 appeared in the Supercheries littkraires, from which 
 we quote the following details, that America also 
 contributed a specimen to this collection of false 
 Dauphins. In 1824 an old soldier, Victor Persat, 
 who had gone mad in consequence of a wound in . 
 his head, published several proclamations in the 
 newspapers of that time : he declared that an 
 organ-grinder had helped him to escape from the 
 Temple during the month of February 1793, by 
 hiding him inside his organ ; another child was 
 substituted in his place. A peddler then took him 
 to a castle close to Riom, where he was brought up 
 under the name of Persat. But the secret of his 
 birth having been revealed to him while he was 
 
APPENDIX 261 
 
 in America, where he had gone to reside after the 
 Russian campaign, he received a kind welcome 
 from the Congress at Washington. On his arrival 
 in France the police immediately seized him and 
 shut him up in Bicetre. 
 
 Another false Dauphin, Auguste Meves, is 
 better known in England than in France. M. de 
 La Sicotiere says that he was a sort of jack-of-all- 
 trades, given to scribbling, daubing inferior pictures, 
 and composing second-rate music. This man could 
 only produce one proof to support his claims : he 
 used to show the marks of an old wound, which he 
 declared had been caused by Hebert, who, one day, 
 had flung him against a door. He could not say 
 how he had managed to escape from the Temple. 
 Having been taken to England, he declared 
 that the Meves family had educated him in 
 accordance with a promise made by his foster- 
 mother to the queen, whose housekeeper she had 
 once been. In order to make his story more 
 probable, he mentioned the names of the marquis 
 de Bonneval, the abbe Charles de Broglie, and 
 several other actors in the affair of the queen's 
 necklace. His memoirs were published' after his 
 death by his children (1868). We learn from the 
 memoirs of M. Gisquet, prefect of the police, of 
 the existence of another unhappy maniac, named 
 Fontaleve, who was condemned at Pontarlier in 
 October 1831 for having declared that he was of 
 royal descent. 
 
262 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 The fall of the Bourbons gave a new impetus 
 to the false Dauphins ; we find that the persons 
 who now assumed this r6le were remarkably in- 
 telligent, well provided with proofs and documents, 
 and protected by powerful individuals who were 
 persuaded to side with them either for hatred of 
 the younger branch of the Bourbons or for sake 
 of greed : several of these individuals founded 
 dynasties which are still in existence. 
 
 It was in July 1^31 that Richemont published 
 his first work : Memoir es du due de Normandie,Jils 
 de Louis XVI, ecrits et publics par son ordre. The 
 identity of this person is somewhat difficult to 
 establish ; he was known by more than eleven 
 different names. M. de La Sicotiere thinks that 
 his real name was Henri-Ethelbert-Louis- Victor 
 Hebert. He was imprisoned in 1821 in Milan, at 
 the same time as Silvio Pellico. He was liberated 
 about the year 1824, when he went to Toulon, 
 where he was employed for some time at the 
 town-hall ; it was said that he was mixed up in 
 certain suspicious and rather shady speculations. 
 According to M. Nauroy {JLes Secrets des Bourbons), 
 he addressed several petitions in his own hand- 
 writing to the two chambers in 1828, in which he 
 called himself the son of Louis XVI. He began 
 again after the Revolution of July, and, according 
 to La Si^cotiere, from that time until his arrest in 
 1833, he was mixed up with all kinds of political 
 intrigues, including royalist, republican and even 
 
APPENDIX 263 
 
 Bonapartist plots. He was a drunken and dissolute 
 fellow. 
 
 About this time he had several well-known 
 men among his supporters : M. de Bremond, the 
 former servitor of Louis XVI, who defended him 
 in the court of assizes ; the cure of la Croix-Rousse, 
 Lyons ; Mother Alphonse, of the convent at 
 Pontarlier, and even a former preceptor to the due 
 de Bordeaux, the abbe Tharin. From 1831 until 
 1833 Richemont published or caused to be pub- 
 lished a number of pamphlets ; among the most 
 important of these documents we find La Revela- 
 tion sur Fexistence de Louis XVII, published by M. 
 Labreli de Fontaine, who declared that he was 
 librarian to the duchesse d'Orleans (1831 to 1832); 
 this pamphlet was accredited to a certain extent by 
 Louis Blanc and Jules Favre ; we also find a reprint 
 of Thomas de Gallardon's Propheties and the 
 Souvenirs of a certain Morin de la Gueriviere. 
 Richemont's love of sensational stories finally wore 
 out the patience of the Government ; his apartment 
 was searched by the police, who found a uniform 
 and a sword, a plumed hat, some seals dating from 
 Malet's conspiracy, and several compromising 
 documents. He was arrested in August 1833 ; 
 during his trial, which lasted from October 30 
 until November 5, 1834, he was accused of con- 
 spiring against the king's life and the safety of the 
 State, of possessing prohibited arms, etc. He 
 could say but little in his defence. He began by 
 
264 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 disclaiming his own memoirs ; he then declared, 
 without, however, giving any proofs, that he had 
 been abducted from the Temple in January 1 794. 
 No one could believe his word. He was con- 
 demned to twelve years' imprisonment. Two 
 striking incidents occurred during his trial : first 
 the keeper Lasne appeared and solemnly swore 
 that the Dauphin had died in his arms in the 
 Temple ; then a white-haired individual, dressed 
 in black, carrying a large envelope adorned with 
 the arms of France, appeared, and declared that his 
 name was Morel de Saint-Didier and that he came 
 to " protest in the name of Naundorff." 
 
 Richemont escaped after a few years' incarce- 
 ration at Sainte-Pelagie and then lived in hiding. 
 His partisans, from time to time, bombarded the 
 naundorffistes with polemical pamphlets. At last, in 
 1850, Richemont published, under the name of 
 M. L. Esp. J. J. Claveri del Curso, a new and 
 enlarged edition of his memoirs, entitled: La Vie de 
 Monseigneur le due de Normandie,Jils de Louis XVI 
 et de Marie- Antoinette. . . . Before reviewing this 
 romance, which is full of improbable and ludicrous 
 incidents, we will follow Richemont to the end of 
 his career. He went back to France after the 
 amnesty of 1840 ; the Revolution of 1848 threw 
 him into the shade, and when, in 1850, he pub- 
 lished the story of his life, no notice was taken of 
 his revelations. A new statement of the case : 
 . La Restauration convaincue d'hypocrisie^ published by 
 
APPENDIX 265 
 
 M. de Savigny in 1851, also passed unnoticed. 
 Richemont died of apoplexy on August 10, 1853, 
 in the chateau of Gleize (near Villef ranch e) , belong- 
 ing to the comtesse d'Apchier, widow of one of 
 Louis XVI's pages. It was said that the imperial 
 Government, after his demise, placed seals on all 
 his private papers. 
 
 One of M. de La Sicotiere's friends relates in the 
 following terms a visit paid by him to Richemont 
 in 1851. "This personage resided in the rue de 
 Fleurus. The house was rather shabby-looking. 
 His wretched apartment consisted of a small bed- 
 room and a kind of sitting-room, the walls of which 
 were adorned with a red wall-paper ; a sofa and a 
 few rickety arm-chairs completed the furniture. 
 The royal host, who was attired in a flowered 
 dressing-gown, was fat and lame ; his nose was 
 covered with pimples, his face was bloated and 
 coarse, and his voice was rough ; in short, he 
 was altogether a very vulgar-looking individual. 
 And yet people declared that he was a typical 
 Bourbon. I myself could not see the resemblance. 
 I was told that he led a very dissolute life, and that 
 he was a fervent worshipper at the shrine of 
 Bacchus. He seems to have been very badly off for 
 funds, especially towards the end of his life. . . ." 
 And now let us hear Richemont's version, which is 
 an exact reproduction of Regnault-Warin's romance 
 {Cimetiere de la Madeleine). He escaped from the 
 Temple in a basket of dirty linen on January 19, 
 
266 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 1794, the day on which Simon gave up his post as 
 gaoler. A dumb child, who was sick and ailing, 
 was concealed in a wooden hobby-horse and left 
 in his place. Ojardias, who, together with the 
 Simons, managed the transaction, gave the Dauphin, 
 in Josephine's presence, into the charge of Frotte, 
 then in hiding in Paris. They left Paris that very 
 day and went to le Bocage, where Louis XVII was 
 acknowledged by the Vendeens at Beaupreau. In 
 June 1795 the comte de Frotte gave the Dauphin 
 into the charge of the prince de Conde. And now 
 Richemont's story becomes altogether fictitious. 
 Conde, after having announced the arrivaj of the 
 son of Louis XVI to the sovereigns of Europe 
 then in coalition against France, proclaimed 
 Louis XVIII king on account of the youth of the 
 lawful heir ; he then confided the child to the care 
 of Kleber, who was to undertake his moral and 
 military education. We next find our hero as an 
 aide-de-camp (at eighteen years of age ! ) at Marengo, 
 where he was wounded while fighting by the side 
 of Desaix, who, on his deathbed, gave him a letter 
 of introduction to Fouche. 
 
 From 1 801 until 1804 he travelled in France 
 and Italy, where he escaped from all danger, thanks 
 to the protection of Fouche and the Virgin Mary. 
 He then went to the United States and Brazil. He 
 returned to France for the events of 1 8 14 and 1 8 1 5, 
 a secret article contained in the treaties having 
 insured his rights. Fouche took him to see the 
 
APPENDIX 267 
 
 dowager duchesse d'Orleans and the prince de 
 Conde, both of whom gave him an enthusiastic 
 reception. However, as Louis XVIII would not 
 give up the throne to its rightful owner, the 
 Dauphin withdrew in order not to expose his 
 fatherland to the perils of another civil war. 
 
 Nevertheless, before leaving France he obtained 
 an interview with the duchesse d'Angouleme, who 
 refused to have anything to do with him in con- 
 sequence of the accusations made by him against his 
 mother in the presence of Hebert and Chaumette. 
 He gave to Fualdes, the virtuous Fualdes, certain 
 private papers which the Government did not 
 scruple to seize. He then travelled in Asia Minor 
 until 1818, when he went back to Italy. There" 
 he was arrested at the request of the French 
 Government and thrown into the prison of Milan, 
 where we find him in the beginning of this, our 
 short resume. The Revolution of July was a direct 
 and just punishment for the crimes of the Bourbons. 
 The old due de Bourbon, who obstinately continued 
 to support the claims of the son of Louis XVI, was 
 strangled by order of Louis-Philippe, who then 
 offered to buy Richemont's silence by giving hinl 
 his daughter Clementine in marriage (!) In 1848 
 he foretold the end of the monarchy of July ; the 
 provisional Government refused to listen to him. 
 The pope, who was now his only protector, gave 
 him a private audience at Gaeta, and confided some . 
 important secrets to him. Richemont's miserable 
 
268 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 death in 1853 was a worthy epilogue to this sordid 
 romance. Our sole object in relating it is to show 
 that, even if the Dauphin's escape was probable, 
 those who tried to usurp his name were utterly 
 unworthy of notice and of a place in history. 
 
 Marie-Antoinette's Last Letter to 
 Madame Elisabeth 
 
 October 16, 1793 
 
 I learnt, during my trial, that my daughter was 
 separated from you. Alas ! poor child. I dare 
 not write to her ; she would not be allowed to see 
 my letter. I do not even know if this will reach 
 ' you. Give them both my blessing. I hope, some 
 day, when they are older, that they will be reunited 
 to you, and that they will be able to enjoy your 
 aiFectionate solicitude. Let them both remember 
 what I always tried to teach them — that our duty 
 and our principles are all-important in this life ; 
 that fraternal affection and mutual trust can alone 
 make them happy. May my daughter realize that 
 she is older and more experienced than her brother, 
 and may she give him all the good advice which 
 her affection for him can prompt her to give ; may 
 my son, in his turn, show to his sister all the care 
 and attention which his affection for her can suggest 
 to him. In shprt, may they both realize that, no 
 matter in what station of life they may find them- 
 selves, they can only hope to be really happy by 
 
^-y/yCOAyf^ -zS^Mi 
 
 ^'t/o^e^te'^^. 
 
APPENDIX 269 
 
 their union. May they take example from us, and 
 remember how, in the midst of our misfortunes, 
 our mutual affection consoled us. Happiness is 
 doubled if we can share it with a friend ; and where 
 can we find dearer, truer friends than in our own 
 family ? May my son never forget his father's last 
 words, which I now repeat once more : Let him 
 never try to revenge our death. 
 
 Louis louis 
 
 (Signature of Louis XVI). (Signature of the young Dauphin). 
 
 Copy of a Letter addressed by Naundorff to the 
 Duchesse d'Angoul^me. 
 
 My Last Letter to my Sister 
 
 You have read, Madame, the last wishes of our 
 good mother, written by her own hand just before 
 her death. " She must help her brother ; union 
 alone can give them happiness." These words will 
 remind you of what she had already said to you 
 during a scene which took place in the chief tower 
 of the Temple. And it is because these words are 
 so absolutely true that our enemies, by spreading 
 infamous calumnies, have done everything which 
 lay in their power to keep you from me ; they have 
 deceived your sisterly affection by giving my name 
 to several of those wretches whom they hold in 
 reserve, and, by fraudulently extracting our secrets, 
 they parody all my endeavours to make myself 
 known to you. God, Madame, has given you eyes 
 
270 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 that you may see, and ears that you may hear. In 
 
 the presence of our beloved mother, before the 
 
 judgment-seat of the Sovereign Judge, you will 
 
 have to explain why you would neither see with 
 
 your own eyes he who has already given you so 
 
 many proofs of his identity, nor hear with your 
 
 own ears the reply to all questions put by you to 
 
 your own brother. ^ 
 
 Charles-Louis, 
 
 Due de Normandie. 
 London, October 14, 1836. 
 
PART III 
 
 NEW LIGHT UPON THE FATE OF LOUIS XVII 
 
 THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 
 Solution of the Problem, by Joseph Turquan 
 
PREFACE 
 
 In choosing the title, " New Light upon the 
 Fate of Louis XVII," I do not pretend to produce 
 any new documents to solve a mystery about which 
 no documents now exist. I only wish to offer a 
 new and a very simple solution of the problem, and 
 to support my theory I shall produce proofs and 
 " qua si-proofs r 
 
 By comparing well-known, or rather manifest, 
 facts which hitherto no one has thought of com- 
 paring, we shall discover the truth ; and in this we 
 shall be aided by two documents which, if we read 
 and compare, will convince the whole world of the 
 truth of our statements. 
 
 In the following pages I shall endeavour to 
 prove : 
 
 Firstly : That the unfortunate son of Louis 
 XVI and Marie-Antoinette was assassinated in the 
 Temple on January 19, 1794, between eight and 
 nine o'clock at night. 
 
 Secondly : That he was secretly and hastily 
 buried, perhaps before life was extinct, in the moat 
 of the Temple. Thanks to the evidence of an eye- 
 witness, whose veracity no one can possibly doubt 
 18 273 
 
274 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 — in which evidence he declared that the child's 
 skeleton had been accidentally discovered — we have 
 been able to ascertain the exact spot in the moat 
 where he was buried. 
 
 Thirdly : That a child of the same age, in 
 feeble health, suffering from an incurable disease, 
 ^ whose days were already numbered, was imme- 
 diately substituted in his place ; so that when the 
 death of this sick child was legally and officially 
 announced, the outside world might think that the 
 Dauphin had died a natural death. 
 
 Fourthly : That the duchesse d'Angouleme 
 knew everything, but not until some time after 
 her return to France. And this would account 
 for the strange inconsistency noticeable in her deeds 
 and words concerning her unfortunate brother. 
 
 Such is my solution of this keenly-interesting 
 
 problem, about which everything has been said and 
 
 written — everything except the truth. 
 
 Joseph Turquan. 
 July 1907. 
 
THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 
 
 A MAN whose sincerity was above all suspicion, 
 who never told a lie, who was the soul of honour 
 and loyalty, the general, comte d'Andigne, father 
 of the marquis dAndigne, also a general in the 
 French army, wounded at the battle of Sedan, for 
 many years senator for Maine-et-Loire, and grand- 
 father of the present conseiller-municipal for the city 
 of Paris, was, in 1801, imprisoned in the Temple 
 for a political offence. This gentleman wrote 
 some excellent memoirs, which were published by 
 that learned scholar, M. Edmond Bire. In the 
 account of his imprisonment in the Temple we 
 read : 
 
 " Several prisoners, in order to occupy them- 
 selves and to beautify their prison, determined to 
 make little gardens of the heaps of earth which 
 had been thrown from the moat into our quarters. 
 M. Fauconnier, the concierge of the Temple, ap- 
 proved our project. We then divided the ground 
 into plots and set to work. The soil thus placed 
 at our disposal was very poor in quality. In order 
 to enrich it, we dug up the turf in the courtyard 
 wherever we could find any. One of the prisoners 
 thought he saw some richer soil lying at the 
 
 27s 
 
276 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 bottom of the moat ; while he was digging it up, 
 he was somewhat surprised to perceive the body 
 of a child of considerable size, which had evidently 
 been interred in quicklime. 
 
 " An isolated body, buried in such a spot and 
 with such extraordinary precautions, made us think 
 that we had discovered the remains of Monseigneur 
 le Dauphin, Louis XVII, who died in the tower of 
 the Temple. The flesh had been entirely destroyed; 
 the skeleton alone remained. One of our number 
 broke off a little bone, which he wished to keep 
 as a relic. The body was re-interred with great 
 respect, and in future we refrained from disturbing 
 it. M. Fauconnier happened to be standing near 
 when I went to look at the skeleton. I asked him : 
 
 " ' Sir, that must be the body of Monseigneur 
 le Dauphin .? ' 
 
 " My question seemed to embarrass him, but 
 he replied without hesitating : 
 
 " ' Yes, sir.' 
 
 "This was in the month of June i8oi."^ 
 
 1 General d'Andign6, Mimoires, vol. ii, p. 46-47, Plon, 
 Paris. These memoirs had been shown to M. de Beauchesne 
 ^rty years before their publication. M. de Beauchesne, in his 
 great and splendid work on Louis XVII, quoted exactly the same 
 passages which we ourselves here quote. M. Charles Nauroy in 
 his Secrets des Bourbons borrowed some of his sentences from this 
 same book. It is strange that neither of these two authors, nor 
 any other writers since them, have attached more importance to 
 such a weighty declaration. Not one of these authors has deigned 
 to do more than touch lightly upon this fact. And yet the 
 knowledge of this point leads us to the solution of the problem. 
 
THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 277 
 
 The supposition that this was indeed the skele- 
 ton of the son of Louis XVI perhaps resulted 
 more from its accidental discovery in that particular 
 spot than from the affirmative reply made by the 
 concierge of the Temple. The latter's assertion, 
 however, is not to be despised. Such a formal 
 declaration is of the greatest importance. If Fau- 
 connier was not an eye-witness of the drama or 
 of the interment of the little body — for M. de 
 Beauchesne tells us that Fauconnier did not enter 
 the Temple until May 4, 1798 — at least he learnt 
 many secrets and traditions which were then still 
 too fresh in the public mind for the truth to have 
 been materially altered. 
 
 Let us also consider the state of public opinion 
 at that time : we must remember and take into 
 account the fact that a certain number of in- 
 dividuals, in those fierce bloody years of civil and 
 foreign wars, held that the murder of a child, the 
 son of the " tyrant " and the " Austrian woman," 
 was a just and natural deed. This crime seemed 
 to them, as well as to certain initiated persons, 
 mute or subordinate witnesses, much less horrible 
 than it seems now-a-days to tender-hearted beings 
 or to the sober historian of modern times. Perhaps 
 these witnesses gossiped with their friends ; but 
 their secrets died with them, and even before them, 
 so unimportant did the deed appear to them in 
 those revolutionary days. 
 
 But let us return to M. d'Andign6's "evidence" : 
 
278 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 it is certainly important. The soldier-memorialist 
 adds in a footnote : 
 
 " I have often regretted that no one has ever 
 verified, by means of an inquiry, the facts which I 
 here relate, and which were as well known to my 
 comrades as to myself. I mentioned my opinion, 
 during the Restauration, to the cardinal de La Fare, 
 archbishop of Sens.^ He replied that Madame la 
 Dauphine was convinced that her unfortunate 
 brother did not die in the Temple, and that, by 
 making inquiries, we should only revive her grief 
 without being able to persuade her to believe 
 otherwise. Unfortunately, swiftly-passing time 
 makes the task of ascertaining the real truth every 
 day more difficult." 
 
 And yet it is thanks to this very lapse of time 
 that we are enabled to unveil the mystery of the 
 Temple, discover the truth, and produce the 
 following proofs. For many things are known 
 to-day which could not be known in those days. 
 
 Let us now consider M. d'Andigne's testimony, 
 or rather " evidence," as we have already called it, 
 It contains several little details which do not strike 
 us at first sight ; when we examine it, however, 
 
 ^ This cardinal de La Fare was an excellent man. He suc- 
 ceeded M. de Saint-Priest in Vienna as Louis XVIII's agent under 
 the Directoire. It was he who, while bishop of Nancy and when 
 preaching before Louis XVI, said (May 4, 1789) : 
 
 " Sire, the nation over which you rule has given many proofe 
 of its patience. It is a nation of martyrs, to whom life means 
 naught but suffering." 
 
THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 279 
 
 many things which seemed obscure, inexplicable 
 or improbable become quite clear. 
 
 They must have been obliged to inter the child 
 without any coffin in the moat of the Temple, because 
 they could bury him nowhere else. 
 
 There must have been some reason, and a very 
 important one, to conceal this death. 
 
 There must have been an equally important 
 reason which made it necessary that all traces of 
 the little corpse should disappear as quickly as 
 possible. 
 
 It was impossible to declare his death (for 
 then, as now, the death-declaration was strictly 
 obligatory) ; it was impossible to make any notification. 
 
 Neither was any acte de dices drawn up. 
 
 Therefore it was impossible to send the body 
 to any cemetery for interment. 
 
 We must therefore conclude from all these 
 facts that the child, whose skeleton had been dis- 
 covered by M. d'Andigne's fellow-prisoners, had 
 died a violent death. 
 
 So some crime must -have been committed. 
 
 Now there had never been more than one child 
 in the Temple — and one only ! — of whom any one 
 could wish to get rid in order to suit real or 
 imaginary interests.^ 
 
 Who was this child ? 
 
 ^ " It is false, absolutely false, that a crime can ever be of use." 
 Speech made by Sylvain Bailly, quoted by the comte de Beugnot, 
 his fellow-prisoner in the Conciergerie. 
 
280 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 The Dauphin. 
 
 It would be very strange — so strange that we 
 may almost consider, the hypothesis as impossible 
 — if another child, precisely of the same age as 
 this child, precisely in the same part of Paris, 
 in a place carefully guarded, into which one 
 could only enter by special permission, and under 
 the supervision of concierges, wardens and soldiers 
 constantly going and coming in all directions, after 
 having been obliged to pass in front of guards 
 placed outside each door (these guards were insti- 
 tuted even before August 13, 1792) — it would be 
 very strange, we repeat, if another child had suc- 
 cumbed in the Temple, and its death had been so 
 shrouded in mystery that no declaration could be 
 made. The child, whose body had been found in 
 June 1 80 1, in the moat of the Temple, could only 
 have been dead for six or seven years. For the 
 skeleton — children's bones are soft, spongeous and 
 friable — was intact and well preserved. Though 
 the quicklime had destroyed the flesh, it had 
 probably helped to preserve the bones. 
 
 But who could have conceived and executed 
 such an atrocious crime, which, as Bossuet said, was 
 " one of those things which it were better never to 
 mention " ? 
 
 Yes, who .? 
 
 We will carefully refrain from recording facts 
 which we ourselves have been unable to verify ; 
 but we will give a few hints which, if we compare 
 
THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 281 
 
 them, will furnish us with the clue to a whole 
 chain of facts — not hypotheses, but facts which 
 will throw an entirely new light upon the problem, 
 and eventually solve it. With the help of this 
 rough outline we shall be able to read the names 
 of the principal actors in this painful drama. 
 
 M. d'Andigne's words, which we have just 
 quoted, would be futile and unconvincing if we 
 did not add one important fact to support our 
 theory. 
 
 The first clue to the truth is contained in M. 
 d'Andigne's statement. 
 
 We shall find the second clue, if we carefully 
 examine and criticize the proch-verbal of the post- 
 mortem examination drawn up in the Temple by 
 the four doctors and surgeons who, on June 8, 1795, 
 opened the body of a dead child, who, they were 
 informed, was the Dauphin. 
 
 Dr. Cabanes,^ having carefully examined this 
 document, tells us that it proves beyond all doubt 
 that the poor little victim succumbed to hereditary 
 diseases, from which the son of Louis XVI and 
 Marie-Antoinette had never suffered, and which he 
 could not have contracted during his imprisonment.^ 
 
 ^ Dr. Cabanas, Les Morts mystirieuses de Phistoire, p* 454-461. 
 
 2 The proch-verhal of the post-mortem examination preserved 
 at the Archives nationales, having been reproduced both in Dr. 
 Caband;s' and M. de Beauchesne's works, we will not reprint it 
 here. We will only mention the opinion expressed by the medical 
 men who assisted at that examination. 
 
282 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 Therefore we can be quite sure that the dead child 
 examined by Drs. Dumangin, Pelletan, Lassus and 
 Jeanroy was not the Dauphin. 
 
 But, on the other hand, we must not infer from 
 this fact that the young prince had been abducted 
 alive from the Temple, Abduction is by no means 
 the only inference to be drawn from this non- 
 identity. 
 
 The Dauphin was not abducted : he was assas- 
 sinated — not murdered inch by inch, as has been 
 reported, not deprived of the fresh air, food or 
 attentions so necessary to a child of his tender years, 
 not done to death by ill-treatment. This story 
 was invented by the royalist party. Although 
 Simon and his wife were both tolerably brutal, 
 given to drinking, dull-witted, cowardly and servile, 
 they treated the fair, delicate child of royalty as 
 they would have treated their own child if they had 
 had one ; in short, just as children were and are 
 treated now-a-days in workmen's families, perhaps 
 somewhat less brutally than people would have us 
 believe. Was not even Sanson capable of feeling 
 compassion ? In those days people were not so 
 foolishly weak, and did not indulge their offspring 
 as is the custom to do in these enlightened times ; 
 parents were by no means anxious to make tyrants 
 of their children ; they themselves were tyrants. 
 
 Simon, like all his comrades, was rather a 
 despot. He was also something else, as we shall 
 see later on. 
 
THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 283 
 
 The Dauphin was assassinated because he was 
 too young to be dragged before the bloody tribunal 
 over which Fouquier-Tinville presided; such had 
 already been his mother's fate, and was soon to be 
 his aunt's. All violent passions quickly degenerate 
 into cruelty when any object stands in their way ! 
 In those days of mad fury we find victory as piti- 
 less as it had been in the time of the Romans and 
 in the history of all savage nations; in those days 
 it was so easy to get rid of any embarrassing object 
 or person that it would have been strange if some 
 unscrupulous individuals had not profited by such 
 facilities. Republican fanaticism was struggling 
 wildly against royalist fanaticism and the only too 
 well-founded fear that the Bourbons would be 
 restored to power ; all these facts explain — with- 
 out, however, excusing — that thanks to the customs 
 and opinions then prevalent, persons were found 
 who, after having felled the majestic tree, could 
 consent to sever the last roots binding that tree to 
 earth. Pascal once said : " One never commits "a 
 bad deed more gladly or more gaily than when one 
 is prompted to do so by some false principle." 
 
 This false principle is the cause, when on the 
 contrary it is not the consequence, of sentiments 
 which do not reflect honour upon the human 
 race ; they include : caste hatred, race hatred, mean 
 egoism, latent barbarity, innate spite, in short all 
 the worst passions which afflict the soul of the 
 " human animal." The amalgam of these passions 
 
284 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 in politics, when it is stronger than the natural 
 laws of humanity and the rights of mankind, is 
 adorned with the high-sounding title of " Reasons 
 of State." 
 
 Reasons of State, on certain occasions, usurp the 
 seat of justice and serve as a cloak to cover the 
 Government's arbitrary deeds. The little Dauphin 
 was assassinated for reasons of State. A quarter of 
 a century later, for reasons of State resulting from 
 the same evil passions, the duchesse d'Angouleme 
 proved herself absolutely relentless towards several 
 political prisoners. Mme. de La Bedoyere, Mme. 
 la marechale Ney, the princesse de la Moskowa 
 and the comtesse de La Valette vainly threw 
 themselves at her feet imploring her to pardon 
 their husbands. She would not allow her uncle, 
 Louis XVIII, to sign any pardons. Let us frankly 
 consider her as she really was ; do not let us 
 shrink from examining this strange specimen of 
 human nature. We want to see the woman in 
 this princess, not the idol worshipped by crowds 
 of time-servers. 
 
 Unfortunately we find that the class and race 
 prejudices of this narrow-minded female politician, 
 together with her loveless existence embittered by 
 secret jealousy of other and happier women — for 
 it was said that she was married to a weakling 
 " of narrow intellect," ^ and she had neither known 
 the raptures of love nor the joys of maternity — 
 
 ^ Journal du markhal de Castellane, vol, ifi, p. 312. 
 
THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 285 
 
 prevailed over the goodness and mercy which, as a 
 Christian, she ought to have shown towards her 
 enemies. For had not her father and mother set 
 her a striking and touching example of mercy ? 
 Kindness and mercy spring from the same source 
 — love. But the unfortunate princess only knew 
 enough of love to realize that it would never 
 come to gladden her own life. In refusing to 
 pardon these political offenders, she was swayed 
 by her temper, truly a vindictive one ! Blood 
 alone possessed the power to calm her nerves, 
 those poor nerves which had suffered so cruelly 
 by her unfortunate marriage with her cousin, the 
 due d'Angouleme. Pity alone can soften our 
 hearts ; the duchesse d'Angouleme was as great 
 a stranger to pity as to love, and she imitated, 
 all unconsciously, the sanguinary errors of her 
 brother's murderers. And, like them, she took 
 good care to produce many excellent maxims to 
 prove that she was innocent of any evil intentions. 
 But how did they get rid of the child-king ? 
 Was he poisoned ? Was he stabbed ? or strangled ? 
 Strangled very probably. For it would never have 
 done to have left any traces in the room so soon 
 to be occupied by the new-comer, and no tell-tale 
 drops of blood must fall on the stairs. After all, 
 the manner is of little consequence. It is only 
 a question of detail, insoluble to-day for lack of 
 written information or verbal tradition ; after all, 
 the means employed to get rid of him are of small 
 
286 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 importance ; we can only make conjectures : the 
 secret of the duchesse d'Angouleme was buried 
 with her. For she knew the terrible secret, as 
 we shall see later on. 
 
 Meanwhile let us confine ourselves to register- 
 ing the pure, simple and evident fact that the 
 child died a violent death. The body of the 
 little Dauphin was buried while it was still warm, 
 perhaps before life was extinct, without any cofEn, 
 in the moat of the Temple, where it was found 
 by M. d'Andigne's companions in June 1801. 
 
 A few years later we find exactly the same 
 case when his cousin, the due d'Enghien, was 
 assassinated after an odious judicial comedy, and 
 buried at night, while the body was still warm, 
 without any coffin, in a trench previously prepared 
 to receive the corpse at the bottom of the moat 
 of Vincennes. 
 
 They had procured from one of the hospitals 
 a child of about the same age as the Dauphin, 
 but a sufferer from rickets, scrofula and con- 
 sumption, doomed to die within a few months 
 on account of the lamentable state of his health.' 
 This unfortunate child even possessed one great 
 advantage in that, by reason of the dangerous 
 maladies from which he suffered, his end could 
 be hastened or delayed either by more or less 
 kind treatment, or by a more or less strengthening 
 or debilitating regime, according to the needs of 
 home or foreign politics. 
 
THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 287 
 
 When the representative Harmand de la Meuse 
 was sent by the Convention with his colleagues 
 Mathieu and Reverchon (December 1 9, 1 794) ^ 
 to visit the little prisoner in the tower of the 
 Temple, he found in the corner of the child's 
 room an earthenware porringer filled with some 
 dark-coloured liquid in which a few lentils were 
 floating. 
 
 They were in a hurry just then to get rid 
 of this invalid, who was becoming extremely 
 embarrassing, as he prevented the conclusion of 
 peace with Spain, etc. 
 
 It was this child who had been substituted in 
 place of him whom they had just suppressed. 
 
 When the Comite de Salut public decreed (July i , 
 1793) that the Dauphin was to be separated from 
 his mother, his own, as well as his mother's doom, 
 was already sealed. For one as for the other, it 
 was only a case of dates, a question to be decided 
 by circumstances. The decree ordered— and this 
 fact makes -our hypothesis more plausible — that 
 the child was to be placed " in a separate apart- 
 ment, situated in the best-guarded portion of the 
 whole building of the Temple." 
 
 Then, on September 14, the Convention followed 
 suit, and published a decree expelling from the 
 Temple all the ci-devant, comte d'Artois' former 
 servitors then employed there, including Turgy, 
 
 ^ See Fr^d^ric Barbey, Madame Atkins et la Prison du Temple, 
 p. 184. 
 
288 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 Chretien and Marchand, valets ; the citoyenne 
 Leclerc, wife of a gendarme, ci-devant huntsman 
 in the service of the comte d'Artois ; and the wife 
 and children of Salmon, his former footman. 
 
 What was the meaning of this wholesale 
 expulsion, unless it was to facilitate the plot for 
 substituting a sick child in place of the Dauphin ? 
 It would have been impossible to perpetrate such 
 a fraud in the presence of all these servitors, 
 who had often seen the son of Louis XVI ; 
 there was not one of them who would not have 
 detected the fraud and immediately revealed it. 
 
 The Commune then nominated new employes, 
 and justified this step by declaring that it was 
 necessary to isolate the royal family from all 
 suspicious neighbours, who, if a royalist attempt 
 were made to abduct the child, might aid and 
 abet the invaders. 
 
 After the death of Marie- Antoinette (October 
 16, 1793), Chaumette, public prosecutor in the 
 service of the Commune, ignorant of the secret 
 plans of the Comite de Salut public, took it into his 
 head to discover that the expenses necessary for 
 the maintenance and service of the prisoners in 
 the Temple were exaggerated ; he persuaded the 
 Conseil general of the Commune to go en masse to 
 the Convention and to demand that the prisoners 
 should be transferred to the common prisons of 
 the Republic, where they could be treated like 
 the other prisoners. 
 
THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 289 
 
 This demand was made November 25. 
 
 The Gomiti de Salut public rejected the pro- 
 position. 
 
 But, when once the representatives of the 
 Commune had departed, the Comite sent for 
 Chaumette that they might have a private and 
 confidential chat with him. 
 
 History, or rather historians, are fond of giving 
 credit to individuals and governments for schemes 
 of which they are often totally innocent. We do 
 not think that we shall be guilty of such an error 
 if we assert that, when Chaumette left the salle, 
 the one or more members of the Comite ^ho had 
 summoned him (probably the Robespierre, Saint- 
 Just and Couthon triumvirat, perhaps Robespierre 
 alone) had convinced him that he was on a wrong 
 track, adding that the little prisoner's fate had 
 already been decided, and that he, Chaumette, 
 leader of the band of ruffians who were ever 
 ready to do any dirty work in the Temple, was 
 commissioned to carry out their orders. 
 
 The Comite de Salut public kept its resolutions 
 entirely secret, and naught was inscribed in the 
 register of its proces-verbaux except what was 
 meant to be inscribed. Therefore a decision made 
 by one or more members, especially a decision of 
 this sort made in secret and not during a regular 
 sitting, could not be mentioned in a proch-verbal. 
 That is why we are obliged, in this matter, to 
 proceed by conjectures, especially when we know 
 19 
 
290 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 on what lines business was conducted by the Comiti 
 de Salut public! To its care were entrusted all the 
 deeds relating to the executive powers. Although 
 the Convention had taken measures to prevent any 
 of the members of the Comite exercising undue 
 influence, it was easy to evade this command. 
 The Comite, composed of twelve members,^ was 
 divided into bureaux, charged to report upon all 
 affairs relating to their respective departments, and 
 these matters were almost invariably decided by 
 the members of each bureau. Carnot, during a 
 considerable period of time, was, with the divers 
 employes chosen by him, at the head of the Comite' s 
 military department. Robespierre, in his depart- 
 ment, the general police bureau, enjoyed quite as 
 much power in civil matters as Carnot enjoyed in 
 military affairs. He was a veritable secretary of 
 state for the home department, his powers enabling 
 him to supervise almshouses, poor-relief funds, 
 police, courts of justice, etc. He was all-powerful 
 in his own department. One day Garnot, in a fit 
 of anger, said to him : " Only arbitrary actions are 
 committed in your .bureau ; you are a dictator ! " ^ 
 And Carnot told the truth. The decree dated 
 January 21, 1793, was signed by Robespierre ; any 
 
 1 Barire, Couthon, H6rault de S6chelles, Saint-Just, Jean-Bon 
 Saint-Andr6, Prieur (de la Marne), Robert Lindet, Maximilien 
 Robespierre, Carnot, Prieur (de la C6te d'Or), CoUot d'Herbois, and 
 B illaud- Varennes. 
 
 2 Tissot, Mkmoires sur Carnot, p. 229. 
 
THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 291 
 
 one who can read can see that the decree of January 
 19, 1794, bears the same signature. Why, then, 
 should we be astonished if the " Incorruptible " did 
 wish to suppress the son after having been instru- 
 mental in causing the father's condemnation ? For, 
 as long as Louis XVII lived, all their efforts were 
 utterly useless. Instead of Louis XVI, they now 
 had Louis XVII: that was all ! Instead of the 
 full-grown monarch, they had a child-king. Must 
 they not get rid of the one as they had got rid of 
 the other ? And it is probable that Robespierre 
 wished to complete his task. 
 
 We have, therefore, every reason to believe that, 
 at the conference held November 25, Chaumette 
 received commands to make the necessary arrange- 
 ments for the secret suppression of the child^king. 
 And all this was done in cold blood, just as if they 
 were merely voting for the purchase of new mili- 
 tary baggage-wagons or decreeing the classification 
 of the highways. 
 
 All these men of the Revolution had the same 
 strange and fatal family likeness : their patriotism 
 or heroism was tinged with dishonesty. 'Tis ' sad, 
 but true. And things must have been in a terrible 
 state for these men thus to interpret their duty 
 towards their country. I know well that this is 
 not Kant's theory, and that no plea can be admitted 
 in the code of Duty ; that, if you admit one plea, 
 you must admit others ; that one cannot pause on 
 the brink of a precipice ; that one must not let 
 
292 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 oneself be governed by passion, but by cool reason ; 
 that the public interest, the country's very salvation 
 can, under no circumstances, justify injustice and 
 murder. ... But in revolutionary times are we 
 governed by passion or by reason ? Alas ! human 
 nature is always the same. 
 
 We will now say a few words about Chaumette 
 and Hebert. The past history of these two men 
 had not been particularly commendable. I think 
 that, when writing their lives, it is better not to 
 go into details. Hebert had a strange idea of 
 honour. It seems that — we quote Camille Des- 
 moulins — the former clerk of the box-office in the 
 Theatre des Varietes, this " charnel-house author," 
 as he called him, had been dismissed for theft. 
 And this was not his only misdemeanour. With 
 his Pere Duchesne in his hand, he wallows on the 
 ground at the foot of his ideal : vileness. Do not 
 try to wean him from his loathsome idol ; do not 
 expect him to be anything but vile. 
 
 As to Chaumette, high-priest of the goddess 
 Reason, he was Hebert's friend : that explains 
 everything. We might cite one or two details 
 which would prove him to be far from honourable. 
 It would not do to be over-nice if one wished 
 to esteem him. And yet some historians have 
 managed to give a touch of poetry to these two 
 creatures who were well worthy of each other, and 
 who eventually completely debased each other ! 
 Sipion, Chaumette's tool, in the capacity of 
 
THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 293 
 
 " tutor," had been ordered to teach the " whelp " 
 his lesson for the repulsive scene of October 7 
 (the Dauphin's evidence against his mother), which 
 lesson had been inculcated to him by his two 
 masters. 
 
 Though we may not like to allow it, we must 
 confess that these individuals were admirably suited 
 to their post in the Temple. But the dastardly 
 coolness, together with the horrible plans conceived 
 by this trio of blackguards, make us shudder. 
 Nothing is more dangerous or more foreign to the 
 straight path of duty, generosity and mercy than 
 when the populace, thanks to political disturbances, 
 manages to climb up into power. 
 
 Alfieri, who, while passing through Paris in 
 1793, was arrested and ill-treated by the revo- 
 lutionary authorities, wrote : " Until then I only 
 knew the tyranny of the upper classes, but now 
 I know what the tyranny of the lower classes 
 means." Shakespeare was familiar with it when 
 he spoke of " the petty tyrants." They were just 
 as tyrannical as the " tyrants " whom they had so 
 often reviled ; they were even a thousand times 
 more tyrannical, for they used all kinds of little 
 refinements of meanness and coarseness unknown 
 to the others. But as they were now the masters, 
 everything was just and right — at least in their eyes. 
 
 Be that as it may, when men are vile enough 
 to concoct the disgraceful scene which took place 
 when the Dauphin was confronted with his mother, 
 
294 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 we may be allowed to suspect that the child's 
 murder had been planned, like any ordinary ad- 
 ministrative combination, from an order given by 
 some one occupying a very high position. That 
 is why two men like Chaumette and Hebert were 
 chosen to supervise the prisoners in the Temple. 
 Who, else, would have accepted such a mission ? 
 
 For they had accepted this mission. Senar, 
 who had been secretary-clerk to the Comite de Surete 
 generate, and who, in this capacity, had learnt many 
 secrets,^ left a memorandum written by his own 
 hand, and reproduced in M. de Beauchesne's work 
 on Louis XVII.^ Simon, according to this author, 
 is said, one day, to have remarked to one of his 
 masters, either Chaumette or Hebert : 
 
 "After all, what do they want to do with 
 him ? Deport him ? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 " Kill him ? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 " Poison him ? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 " Well then, what ? " 
 
 " Get rid of him." 
 
 And Senar adds : 
 
 " He was neither killed nor deported, but they 
 got rid of him." 
 
 1 Some of these secrets were published in his work entitled 
 RivHations puhies dans les cartons du Comiti de Sureti ginirale. 
 
 2 Vol. ii, p. 77. 
 
THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 295 
 
 Senar knew that they wanted "to get rid of 
 him " without killing him or poisoning him, and 
 he related what he had learnt. But he did not 
 know, and very few conventionnels did know, that 
 the first scheme had been quickly abandoned, and 
 that they had decided to " kill him," but in such 
 a manner that people might think that he had 
 died a natural death. 
 
 Chaumette, by a verbal order from the Comiti 
 de Salut public or from one of its members, probably 
 dated November 25, 1793, had found a hypocritical 
 way of arranging everything very comfortably by 
 "killing" the Dauphin and substituting in his 
 place a sick child whose death could be officially 
 announced. Could they prevent a child dying 
 when it had such a feeble constitution ? 
 
 We shall now see that the scene enacted 
 October 7, 1793, bears the same stamp as the 
 crime of January 19, 1794. Both reek of 
 hypocrisy, and both bear the same manufacturer's 
 mark. The brain which conceived the first con- 
 ceived the second. The latter is signed, we might 
 say : we note the same mechanism, the same tissue 
 of lies, the same little game of double-barrelled 
 deceit. A police inspector or an examining 
 magistrate would immediately detect the fraud. 
 Hebert, who had been clerk in a theatrical box- 
 ofEce, prided himself upon having been connected 
 with the stage, as indeed CoUot d'Herbois and 
 Fabre d'Eglantine had once been ; like both of 
 
296 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 the latter, he flattered himself that he could scribble 
 a play on occasion. And Chaumette, who re- 
 organized the Paris almshouses and hospitals, was 
 better qualified than any one else to procure the 
 little invalid indispensable to the execution of this 
 ghastly feat of legerdemain. It was he, moreover, 
 who decreed that the funerals of rich and poor 
 alike were to be conducted on the same lines. Do 
 we not find traces of this idea in the summary 
 burial given to the little Dauphin ? 
 
 Nothing took place in the Temple without the 
 permission, or except by order, of the Commune's 
 prosecutor-syndic, Chaumette. Hebert, his devoted 
 right hand, did nothing without his consent. 
 
 Simon executed all their commands with servile 
 obedience ; did he not owe to Chaumette his post 
 as functionary with a salary of 6,000 Iwres, together 
 with the sum of 3,000 livres for his wife, lodgings 
 in the Temple in the apartment once occupied by 
 Louis XVI, and all the nice little perquisites 
 attached to such a position ? So he asked for 
 nothing better than to be allowed to prove his 
 gratitude to his benefactor. When Chaumette and 
 Hebert ordered him to teach his pupil the infamous 
 lesson which the latter had to repeat first in their 
 presence, and then in the presence of his mother 
 and aunt, Simon did not protest ; he thought it a 
 capital idea ; he considered that it was his duty to 
 obey, and so he obeyed. If his masters had ordered 
 him to strangle his pupil, he would have done so. 
 
THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 297 
 
 He did it, very probably — as we shall see. 
 And for this job, worthy of a licensed assassin, he 
 received a salary equal to a general's pay. And he 
 earned it conscientiously. 
 
 The new scheme for the assassination of the 
 Dauphin certainly dates from the days immediately 
 following the execution of Marie-Antoinette 
 (October i6). About this time ^ it was reported 
 that the Dauphin was being treated with less 
 severity. How can we explain this fact, except 
 that his doom was sealed, and that, "for humanity's 
 sake," they did not wish to embitter his last days ? 
 
 In November and December they began to 
 take the necessary administrative measures in order 
 to facilitate the crime, insure secrecy, and hide all 
 tell-tale traces. At first they only talked and 
 discussed plans. Everything having been arranged 
 and the ground well prepared, the prologue to the 
 drama commenced on January 2, 1794. 
 
 A decree was first passed forbidding any 
 functionary in the service of the State to assume 
 the office of conseiller general de la Commune. 
 
 This decree had a secret meaning. Here is 
 the key : 
 
 Chaumette and Hebert, having been commanded 
 — or perhaps only authorized — to get rid of the 
 prince, thought that it was time to put their 
 theory into practice, and so they decided upon the 
 following scheme : 
 
 ^ Dr. Cabanfe, loc. cit., p. 422. 
 
298 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 They would ask the municipal authorities, 
 under some futile pretext but without revealing 
 the real reason, to publish the above decree ; 
 
 Then Simon, with a fine show of disinterested- 
 ness, preferring " honour " to pelf, was to give in 
 his resignation as tutor to the " little Capet," This 
 action would be worthy of the Romans or of 
 the Spartans, who, in those days, were all the 
 rage. It is needless to add that he was to receive 
 compensation ; 
 
 Then Simon was to give his pupil into the 
 hands of the Commune's delegates ; the latter, 
 after having ascertained and declared in a proces- 
 •verbal that the child was in good health, were to 
 sign Simon's discharge ; 
 
 Then Simon was to take the " whelp " back to 
 its room and there ... he was to perform the 
 duty, the real duty after all, for which he had been 
 summoned to the Temple with a deputy's salary ; 
 
 Then Simon, having done the deed, under 
 pretence of removing his goods and chattels (he 
 was to leave the Temple that very evening), aided 
 by darkness (for in January the days are short, 
 staircases dark and lanterns almost useless, and 
 they were to wait until nightfall to act), Simon 
 was to carry away the little body in a parcel or in 
 a basket, and to throw it into a hole previously 
 prepared in the moat of the Temple. 
 
 Meanwhile, what could be easier than to 
 smuggle into the Dauphin's room, enclosed in 
 
.SIMON [Um^] '--'if''- 
 
 ANTOINE SIMON, 
 
THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 299 
 
 another (or even in the same) basket or in a big 
 cardboard hobby-horse, the little invalid destined to 
 take the place of the dead child ? It was all very 
 simple, as we can see. And Simon, whatever 
 happened, whatever History or posterity or his 
 superiors might think of his behaviour, had nothing 
 to fear ; could he not show his receipt duly signed ? 
 
 The scheme was carried out with the greatest 
 exactitude. On January 2, 1794, as we have 
 said, the Commune passed a decree forbidding any 
 functionary to occupy more than one public post 
 at a time (plurality of offices). 
 
 On January 5 Simon gave in his resignation, 
 was complimented by the civic authorities upon 
 his noble disinterestedness, and his name was put 
 down for future employment in the service of the 
 Commune. 
 
 The Comite de Salut public now only had to be 
 informed of Simon's resignation and "its advice 
 asked concerning the nomination of the citoyen 
 who was to take the place of the citoyen Simon, 
 guardian of the little Capet." ^ 
 
 On January 8 five members of the Conseil 
 general de la Commune repaired to the salle of the 
 Comite de Salut public and accomplished this 
 formality. 
 
 On January 16 the Comite de Salut public^ 
 heartily entering into Chaumette's scheme, and 
 evidently well aware of the conspiracy (or at least 
 1 De Beauchesne, Louis XVII, vol. ii, p. 176. 
 
300 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 some of its members, including the head of the 
 police department) , gave out that " it considered 
 Simon's mission useless, and thought that the 
 members of the Conseil alone ought to have the 
 supervision of the prisoners in the Temple." 
 
 The Conseil gineral then decided that four of 
 its members, as guard-commissaries, to be changed 
 every day, were in future to watch over the prisoners 
 in the tower of the Temple. Why were they to 
 be changed every day ? Because if by chance one 
 of them happened to perceive the child, very 
 probably he would not see it again until several 
 months had elapsed, and would notice nothing ; 
 whereas a permanent guard might, especially at 
 first, detect the substitution. 
 
 Until now, everything had succeeded admirably. 
 There was no reason why the denouement should not 
 be hastened. Moreover, the hour had been well 
 chosen. They were preparing to' celebrate the 
 anniversary of the death of Louis XVI. Cowardly 
 passions were so excited, the mad thirst for blood 
 was so universal, that, if by chance the truth tran- 
 spired, no one could be shocked at such a horrible 
 crime. The anti-royalist zeal of the Parisian 
 populace was not allowed to languish for want 
 of official manifestations. Any one who knows 
 how easily crowds get excited can imagine to 
 what a pitch of excitement the public mind had 
 risen, especially during this hard winter, doubly 
 hard to bear by reason of the terrible poverty then 
 
THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 301 
 
 prevalent. Pierre Charron said — and his remark 
 applies to all periods of history — " We are in- 
 fluenced by the air which we breathe and in 
 which we exist, and in this we do but imitate 
 our first parents." And as we are all more or 
 less influenced by circumstances, according to our 
 individual natures and according to the violence 
 of our passions, often stronger than ourselves, en- 
 slaving us and forcing us to blind obedience — 
 especially when those passions are evil ; as, during 
 great public calamities, during guillotinades, plagues 
 or wars, the sense of tenderness and pity, instead of 
 increasing fourfold, becomes blunt and worn ; as 
 people begin to pay no attention to a deed which, in 
 ordinary times, would make every one shudder with 
 horror — so people were by no means astonished to 
 hear it said that the best way to celebrate the 
 anniversary of the execution of the last king was to 
 slaughter his son. Truly such morals are worthy 
 of the savage tribes in Central Africa. But which 
 of us can be certain, really certain, that in those 
 times, and under the same circumstances, he would 
 not have been attacked by the same moral and 
 mental malaria which assailed these creatures, 
 thirsting to commit murder ? One must have an 
 intimate knowledge of human nature to be able to 
 judge fairly of any epoch ; it is impossible in times 
 of peace, in the still solitude of one's own study, to 
 think calmly and justly of those bloody, turbulent 
 days. Fouche, who had shown himself more 
 
302 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 bloodthirsty than any of his companions, who 
 perhaps had found the cup of remorse more bitter 
 than his unfortunate victims had found the cup of 
 suffering — Fouche, the sanguinary, while engaged 
 one evening, during the Restauration, in private 
 conversation with M. de Caraman, suddenly covered 
 his face with his hands, crying : " Ah ! don't speak 
 to me of those days ; we were all suffering from a 
 bloody fever, we were mad for blood ! " ^ Fouche 
 had good reasons, and very personal reasons, in 
 speaking thus and in trying to forget unpleasant 
 memories ; but it is nevertheless true that, during 
 the Revolutionary epoch — as at all times — every 
 one walked, or rather ran, blindfold. Did not 
 the principal actors in this drama, and Robes- 
 pierre in especial, hold themselves up to the public 
 as models of virtue and sensibility ? And — oh, 
 miracle of sophistry ! — it was in the name of 
 virtue and sensibility that they decided to slaughter 
 this ten-year-old child. 
 
 The crime must have been committed on the 
 evening of January 1 9,^ while Simon was removing 
 
 ^ Baronne de Montet, Souvenirs, p. 429. 
 
 ^ " On January 19 we heard a loud noise in my brother's room, 
 which made us conjecture that he was leaving the Temple ; and 
 we were convinced of this fact when, on peeping through our 
 shutters, we saw a number of parcels being taken away " (^Memoirs 
 written by Marie-ThMsi-Charlotte de France on the captivity of her 
 royal parents from August 10, 1792, until her brother's death, June 9, 
 1795). And to think that, while Madame Royale was watching 
 the removal of Simon's furniture, she probably saw the parcel 
 containing her brother's corpse ! , 
 
THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 303 
 
 his furniture under cover of nightfall. For why- 
 was this change of residence not finished before 
 nine o'clock at night, as M. Lenotre, that indefatig- 
 able searcher of old documents, tells us ? And yet 
 this sorry couple could not have been overburdened 
 ^ith goods and chattels, as the greater part of the 
 furniture belonged to the Temple and to the State. 
 This removal by night was therefore intentional. 
 Why ? That they might remove the little 
 Dauphin's body more easily, and that they might 
 smuggle his substitute into his room. And that is 
 what happened in the dark night, up those winding, 
 badly-lit staircases, while furniture was being pushed 
 roughly about, while men were tramping up and 
 down stairs, opening and shutting heavy doors, no 
 doubt just at the very moment when the room 
 would have to be rather deserted in order to 
 smuggle the little invalid. And he was brought 
 in one of those great baskets used for removing 
 china, or in a cardboard hobby-horse, the so- 
 called present which Simon's wife wished to give 
 to her little friend to console him for her departure. 
 He was immediately placed in the warm bed, but 
 lately occupied by the son of Louis XVL The body 
 of the real Dauphin was obviously wrapped up by 
 Simon, made into a parcel or placed in a basket — 
 according to the preconcerted programme — and 
 carried to the moat. He was thrown — perhaps while 
 he was still breathing — into the hole which had 
 been prepared to receive him, and fiastily covered 
 
304 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 with the quicklime placed by the side of the little 
 mound of loose earth. The grave having been filled, 
 Simon no doubt stamped upon it with all his might. 
 
 Meanwhile the commissaries Legrand, Las- 
 nier, Cochefer and Lorinet had come to receive 
 " Capet's son " from the hands of Simon. The 
 woman Simon, who knew all about the drama 
 which had just taken place, in which she had 
 played a part by putting the new-comer to bed, 
 showed them, by the feeble light of a flickering 
 lantern, a child asleep in a bed at the far end of 
 the roorn. The commissaries went away quite 
 satisfied. The woman Simon then followed her 
 husband, who, having accomplished his ghastly 
 task, had gone to cheer himself up in the wine- 
 shop situated within the Temple walls, and was 
 now drinking with the other servitors to the 
 success of the fete which was to take place two 
 days later. It is probable that he blabbed while 
 touching glasses with his boon-companions. And 
 thus it was that, in 1801, M. Fauconnier, the con- 
 ckrge of the Temple, knew that the Dauphin's 
 remains had been deposited in the moat Surround- 
 ing the old fortress. 
 
 After having drunk heavily and blabbed freely, 
 to the delight of all their companions, the citoyen 
 and citoyenne Simon departed to their new abode, 
 satisfied that they had done their duty and con- 
 vinced that they had saved the Republic. 
 
 M. de Beauchesne, who has so carefully an4 
 
THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 305 
 
 minutely studied all the events which took place 
 in the Temple, had no suspicion of the drama 
 enacted January 1 9, because, although he had read 
 M. d'Andigne's evidence, he did not realize its 
 importance ; he did not know that the child who 
 died in the Temple, June 8, 1795, was not the 
 Dauphin, and that a sick child had been substi- 
 tuted in place of the young prince — and this 
 substitution, when we learn that a child's skeleton 
 had been discovered in the Temple grounds, gives 
 us the key to the problem. 
 
 On the other hand, he informs us most 
 minutely of all the events which happened in the 
 tower on the day following Simon's departure. 
 
 " The Comite decided," he writes, " that Simon 
 was not to have a successor. . . . Chaumette and 
 Hebert, who had the management of all the affairs 
 concerning the Temple, accepted this decision, 
 which left them practically free to act as they 
 thought best. 
 
 " They declared that, although the permanent 
 guard had been withdrawn, they would take good 
 care to insure the safety of the little prisoner; and 
 on the morrow, that is to say, on the ist pluv6ise, 
 an III (January 20, 1794), they ordered that his 
 lodgings were to be limited to one room ; the 
 child was therefore shut up in the end room, which 
 had belonged to Clery, and, later, to the woman 
 Simon during her illness. The door of communi- 
 cation between the ante-room and this door was 
 
306 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 cut down to about three feet from the floor, 
 securely fastened with nails and screws, and grated 
 with iron bars from top to bottom. A shelf was 
 affixed to the top of this partition ; some of the 
 bars were then cut to form a wicket, closed by 
 other movable bars fastened with a huge padlock. 
 The little Capet received his coarse victuals through 
 this wicket ; it was on this ledge that he had to 
 place anything which he wanted to send back." i 
 Does this not prove that they wished to keep the 
 new-comer entirely in the background, so that 
 no one might discover the substitution ? Does 
 it not also prove that they wished, by confining 
 in a prison-like chamber this little invalid who 
 more than any one else needed exercise and fresh 
 air, to hasten the unhappy child's end ? The child 
 of the people was certainly treated with the same 
 cruelty and neglect which had embittered the, last 
 days of the child of royalty. 
 
 " All these arrangements," continues M. de 
 BeauChesne, " were decided and carried out on the 
 I St pluvi6se (January 20). Night having fallen, 
 the work was finished by the light of lanterns. 
 By some cruel calculation, or by some fatal coin- 
 cidence, the royal orphan entered his new prison 
 on the very day on which his father ascended the 
 scaflFold." 
 
 We know that this little prisoner was not the 
 " royal orphan," but his substitute. 
 
 ' De Beauchesne, Louis XV 11^ vol. ii, p. 181. 
 
THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 307 
 
 " Ah ! cruel cowards," cries M. de Beauchesne, 
 addressing the poor child's tormentors, " why did 
 you not put the knife to the lamb's throat ? Oh ! 
 why did you not throw over that little head the 
 bloody net in whose meshes you had already 
 caught other members of his family? Why did 
 you pause in your murderous fury ? It would 
 have been better to have drunk this last drop of 
 royal blood than to have mingled wormwood, gall 
 and poison with it. It would have been better to 
 have suffocated the child, as Richard Ill's emis- 
 saries had already done in the. Tower of London 
 to two other innocent beings, than to have debased 
 and sullied his mind by this slow murder, en- 
 deavouring to kill the soul before you killed the 
 body. You ought to have sacrificed him a year, 
 two years ago ; you ought to have helped those 
 little feet to ascend the rough steps of the guillo- 
 tine. . . . Alas ! History must perforce regret that 
 Louis XVII did not expire in the motherly arms 
 of the scaffold."! 
 
 M. de Beauchesne and History are mistaken; 
 like his father and his mother, the child did not 
 languish very [long. His fate was similar to the 
 fate of the children of Edward IV, They were 
 strangled in the Tower of London: he was strangled 
 in the tower of the Temple. In his place, a little 
 nameless child, sick unto death, was condemned to 
 suffer all the tortures of imprisonment, isolation, 
 ^ M. de Beauchesne, Louts XFIIy voL ii, p. 215. 
 
308 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 filth and never-ending night. . . . The Dauphin 
 was happier than his substitute. 
 
 Poor little children !^ 
 
 The bloodthirsty minions who had just made 
 away with this beautiful boy — ^for the Dauphin was 
 a beautiful child — whom, if not on account of his 
 tender age, at least on account of his beauty, they 
 ought never to have hurt, thought perhaps that 
 they had accomplished a very meritorious deed. 
 These monsters had observed the greatest secrecy; 
 this fact alone ought to have betrayed them : 
 people only hide when they are up to no good. 
 Perhaps they boasted of their crime. But the 
 individuals to whom they boasted in the hope of 
 gaining honour, glory and profit, although they 
 themselves were not over-scrupulous, probably 
 ordered them in a tone which admitted of no 
 reply to keep their tongues behind their teeth. 
 Robespierre, who had commanded Chaumette and 
 Hebert to get rid of the Dauphin, was too wary to 
 allow such witnesses to exist, though they were 
 bound to him by the chains of brotherhood in 
 crime. For the sake of prudence he had to get rid 
 of them just as if they were mere Dauphins. It was 
 
 1 Victor Hugo was not thinking of the Dauphin, however, 
 when he wrote in his Quatre-vingt-treize : " What do we not 
 forgive a child ? We forgive him for being a noble, a prince, or a 
 king. His innocent soul makes us forget the sins of his race ; his 
 feeble body makes us forget his high rank. He is so little that we 
 forgive him for being so great. The slave forgives him for being 
 his master." None of the Dauphin's sins were forgiven. 
 
THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 309 
 
 such an easy matter in those tumultuous, troublous 
 days, when Barere said : " The guillotine is all- 
 powerful ; it alone governs us." And then 
 Fouquier-Tinville and the guillotine were such 
 excellent creatures ! So a few days after January i g, 
 Robespierre got up the case against the hebertistes, 
 and on March 24 Hebert was guillotined. Not 
 much time had been lost in getting rid of him, and 
 thus insuring silence on his part. 
 
 Three weeks later Chaumette, too, was silenced. 
 Care was taken to implicate the prosecutor of the 
 Commune in the case against the dantonistes, 
 although he had had nothing to do with it ; and on 
 April 13 his head fell on the scaffold. Did not 
 Saint-Just, in his sententious, academical affectation, 
 allude to the Dauphin's fate when he said in his 
 report, that report which led to the impeachment 
 of Danton and the dantonistes : " Little does it 
 matter if time leads divers forms of vanity to the 
 scaffold, to the grave, to nothingness, provided that 
 liberty triumphs ! We shall then learn modesty. 
 The French people, after having been oppressed, 
 . . . will, in their turn, become the oppressors of 
 false prejudices and tyrants " ? 
 
 The fact that Hebert and Chaumette were 
 accomplices in a crime which Robespierre was 
 extremely anxious to hide, has been quite over- 
 looked — and for a very good reason — by the 
 historians of the Revolution. And yet this fact 
 was the principal cause, the only one perhaps, for 
 
310 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 which the hebertistes were arrested, condemned and 
 executed. 
 
 Let us observe, meanwhile, that the fact of 
 sending to the scaffold such accomplished terrorists 
 as "the high-priest of the goddess of Reason" and 
 the principal editor of Pere Duchesne, both 
 governors of the Temple, would suffice to prove 
 their complicity in a crime of which Robespierre 
 was anxious to suppress all the witnesses ; this fact 
 proves that the Dauphin had been murdered, and 
 that the instigator of January 21, 1793, was the 
 instigator of January 1 9, 1 794. 
 
 Certainly Robespierre was not the only member 
 of the Comite de Salut public who knew of the 
 secret drama in the Temple. Saint-Just was surely 
 not ignorant of it ; Couthon, Collot d'Herbois and 
 Billot-Varennes were equally well aware of what had 
 happened. . . . And, as we have just read in the 
 extract from Saint-Just's report, it would be very 
 easy to find in their speeches many an allusion to 
 this secret. The Comiti de Salut public did not 
 personally participate in the crime. Robespierre 
 had acted independently, on his own authority. 
 The Comite had been obliged to accept the accom- 
 plished fact, although it did not mean, by so doing, 
 that it approved the crime. On the 9th thermidor 
 Robespierre, together with Saint-Just and Couthon, 
 understood many things about which they had 
 hitherto been in doubt. And yet, as they were 
 bound by a sort of moral engagement, they were 
 
THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 311 
 
 one and all obliged to keep silent on this subject ; 
 but surely the conventionnels must have discussed the 
 matter among themselves. 
 
 Hebert and Chaumette were not the only actors 
 or witnesses of the crime who were suppressed. 
 The others were reprieved, but only for a time ; 
 their turn had still to come. Nearly all ascended 
 the scaffold. 
 
 Of the four members of the Conseil general de 
 la Commune who received the little sick child 
 destined to take the place of the Dauphin in the 
 Temple, three were guillotined. 
 
 Cochefer was executed on the i oth thermidor.^ 
 
 Lasnier,^ who certainly knew the secret of the 
 
 ^ Christophe Cochefer, upholsterer by profession, a native ot 
 Gonesse, in the department of Seine-et-Oise, residing in Paris, rue 
 Merry, No. 413 {Proch-verbal of his execution). Extract from the 
 Moniteur for the 6th fructidor, an II. For it was not until the 6th 
 fructidor, that is to say, twenty-six days after the execution of 
 Robespierre and his scaffold companions, that the Moniteur decided 
 to publish the list of the men executed on the loth thermidor. 
 Barras said : " Even after his execution, on nearly all sides vague 
 fears were expressed that this implacable man, whose inexorable 
 discourses and merciless decrees had caused so much grief and 
 sorrow, might return to life" {Mimoires, vol. i, p. 202). 
 
 ^ Commune de Paris. Conseil giniral. 
 
 1st pluviSse, an II (January 20, 1794), Lasnier says: " One 
 of your decrees orders that the young Capet is to remain under the 
 immediate supervision of the commissaries on guard in the Temple j 
 yesterday, Simon and his wife gave the child, who was in good 
 health, into our care, requesting us to give them a receipt, which 
 we did." 
 
 The Conseil ratifies the receipt given to the citoyen Simon 
 {Moniteur, January 22, 1794). 
 
312 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 drama in the Temple, was guillotined on the 
 morrow, the i ith thermidor} 
 
 Legrand was guillotined the same day.^ 
 The steward of the Temple, Corn, a member of 
 the Conseil general de la Commune^ who, assuredly, 
 knew all about the affair, was also guillotined on 
 the iith.^ 
 
 Simon was guillotined on the loth.* 
 After the events which took place in Thermidor, 
 the Commune was nearly entirely reorganized, and 
 the secret of the Temple was soon forgotten by 
 every one. 
 
 The four " municipal guards" on duty in the 
 tower, who were changed every twenty-four hours, 
 were now " guarding nothing but stones," as one of 
 their number remarked — for no one ever saw the 
 little prisoner. 
 
 As to Simon, he had conscientiously fulfilled 
 all the conditions of the bargain and completed the 
 task for which Chaumette had got him appointed 
 
 1 Jacques Lasnier, man of business by profession, fifty-two 
 years of age, a native of Ozouer-Lafdri^re, in the department of 
 Seine-et-Marne, residing in Paris, rue du Four-Germain, No. 286. 
 
 ^ Pierre- Jacques Legrand, man of business by profession, aged 
 fifty-one years, a native of Paris, there residing, rue d'Enfer, in the 
 City, No. 5. 
 
 * Jacques-Pierre Com, seedsman by profession, aged sixty- 
 three years, a native of Noof, in the department of Orne, residing 
 in Paris, rue Antoine, No. 229. 
 
 * Antoine Simon, shoemaker, aged fifty-eight years, a native of 
 Troyes, m the department of Aube, residing in Paris, rue Marat, 
 No, 32. 
 
THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 313 
 
 to the Temple. He had earned his salary. While 
 waiting for the Commune to nominate him to the 
 post for which his name had been inscribed, he had 
 been authorized to lodge, as we have already seen, 
 in a building a'Sjoining the Temple. On April 6, 
 1794, he was nominated inspector of army baggage- 
 wagons.' Having imprudently returned to Paris 
 a fortnight before the 9th thermidor, his presence was 
 discovered, and he was outlawed by a decree from 
 the Convention^ with ten other former members of 
 the Cornell general de la Commune, arrested and 
 guillotined together with Robespierre, Couthon and 
 Saint-Just. . . . Some of the thermidoriens, em- 
 barrassed, no doubt, by the presence of this brute, 
 who knew too much, thought the opportunity 
 favourable in which to get rid of him, so they 
 inscribed his name on the list of those who were 
 ripe for the guillotine. 
 
 One actor in the drama of the Temple now 
 alone remained. Only a few conventionnels still 
 survived who knew exactly, by tacit connivance 
 rather than by complicity, what means had been 
 employed to get rid of Louis XVH. No doubt 
 they had sworn to keep silent ; that is why the 
 drama, notwithstanding all the ensuing divisions, 
 proscriptions and deportations, was never discovered; 
 
 ' No doubt in place of Etienne Ragondet, ci-devant horse- 
 dealer, commander of the battalion for the Section of the Republic 
 and inspector of army baggage-wagons, guillotined 24th germinal 
 (April 13, 1794) in the same batch as Chaumette. 
 
314 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 that is why they allowed the little invalid, by his 
 death, to corroborate the lie. The Convention was 
 accustomed feebly to disclaim excesses because 
 they were excesses ; but it approved any system by 
 which it could rid itself of any powerful enemies. 
 This terrible Government must not, could not be 
 in the wrong. So strict orders were given that on 
 no account were the two children in the Temple 
 to be allowed to walk or to play together in the 
 garden ; they must not meet, not even in the 
 staircase of the tower ; they must not see each 
 other, not even from a distance. And yet, though 
 some may deny the fact, how many times did 
 Madame Royale beg to be allowed to see her 
 brpther ! This favour was always refused ; they 
 continued to refuse her request even after Thermidor^ 
 Why should they so sternly and cruelly forbid 
 the sister to see her brother, even from afar \ 
 Because the young prisoner would liave imme- 
 diately exclaimed : " But that child is not my 
 brother ! " 
 
 And she who was condemned to live would 
 have loudly declared that they had substituted a 
 child in place of him whom they had condemned 
 to die. 
 
 This also explains why the Convention refused to 
 allow M. Hue to enter the Dauphin's room. When 
 in the beginning of 1795 reports were spread that 
 the Dauphin was ill, Louis XVI's former valet de 
 chambre, truly a faithful servant, begged the Comite 
 
THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 315 
 
 de Surete generale to allow him to be shut up 
 with the young prince that he might take care 
 of him. 
 
 His request was refused. 
 
 Why? 
 
 Because M. Hue, who had seen the Dauphin 
 many times, would have immediately discovered 
 the imposture, and would have denounced the 
 substitution. 
 
 Ah ! that State secret, truly the most odious 
 secret possible to find in the history of a civilized 
 nation, was very carefully guarded. But why were 
 they silent after Thermidor ? Why did they not 
 change the little prisoner's regime — which regime 
 was not sliared by Madame Royale ? . . . For 
 they were now beginning to treat her with more 
 attention ; her hard lot was softened, her food was 
 carefully cooked and nicely served. ... If the 
 little sick child who died in the tower in such 
 misery had really been her brother, he would have 
 been treated like her. Why did they treat him so 
 harshly ? Why did they let this poor child die 
 without having seen his sister, without a doctor, 
 utterly uncared for ? 
 
 For reasons of State. This child, Robespierre's 
 legacy, was in the way ; his end had to be 
 hastened, so that they might get rid of him as 
 soon as possible, for the most insignificant incident 
 might lead to the discovery of the substitution. 
 It was necessary to announce the death of the son 
 
316 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 of Louis XVI as soon as possible, so that people 
 might cease to mention his name. 
 
 This crime had united all the members of the 
 Convention into one brotherhood — the brotherhood 
 of crime. The Assemblee could not openly declare 
 that its Comites hadi allowed such a deed to be 
 perpetrated, had closed its eyes to such a fraud. 
 This twofold shame would have completely ruined 
 the Assemblee. No matter what happened, it must 
 indorse all responsibility and accept the heritage of 
 the past. The few remaining parties to the crime, 
 the survivors of the hecatombs, and especially of 
 the last, the hecatomb of the nth thermidor, took 
 good care not to breathe one syllable of the secret 
 drama. As we have already said, they were bound 
 by vows of secrecy. Could the Convention do other- 
 wise than also] keep silence ? . . . This terrible 
 assembly, which had sent so many persons to their 
 death, was afraid of the grim spectre : it did not 
 wish to commit suicide. But this false position 
 was very painful. On more than one occasion, 
 motions had been made by various uninitiated 
 members — prompted, no doubt, by a desire to put 
 an end to the reports of abduction and imprison- 
 ment which circulated from time to time — demand- 
 ing that the Dauphin and his sister should be 
 liberated ! The Convention felt that it must say 
 something, either give an evasive answer or ex- 
 press some hypocritical sentiments. However, on 
 January 22, 1795, Cambaceres gave a decisive 
 
THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 317 
 
 answer. This declaration had been provoked by 
 the attitude adopted by M. Lequinio, the repre- 
 sentative for le Morbihan. 
 
 M. Cambaceres said : 
 
 " There are only two courses to take with 
 regard to the individuals to whom we refer : we 
 must either banish them from the territory of the 
 Republic, or else we must keep them in captivity. 
 If we adopt the latter course, we may have reason 
 to fear that their presence in our midst may cause 
 endless riots and disturbances. If, on the contrary, 
 we banish them, we shall be placing in our enemies' 
 hands a dangerous weapon which, one day, may be 
 used against us, and occasion undying hatred, cruel 
 vengeance and bloody wars. Shall we not, by so 
 doing, furnish a centre, a rallying-point for the 
 cowardly deserters from the fatherland ? . . . Our 
 enemies are far less dangerous when they are in our 
 power than when they pass into the hands of those 
 who support their cause or who are anxious to 
 espouse their party. . . . Calumny will never 
 weary in her attempts to sully your good name ; 
 whether Capet's children be banished or whether 
 you keep them in captivity, your enemies will say 
 that you are keeping the royal offspring to place 
 them on the throne, or that you are giving them 
 into the enemy's hands that they may serve as a 
 weapon with which to fight the RepubUc. Follow, 
 then, the^ road prescribed by wisdom and energy. 
 Wisdom commands you to be on your guard ; 
 
318 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 energy orders you to strike all the enemies of 
 liberty. . . . We have little to fear by keeping the 
 members of the Capet family in captivity ; if we 
 banished them, we should be doing a very dangerous 
 thing. The banishment of tyrants has nearly 
 always led to their re-establishment. If Rome had 
 kept the Tarquins, she would not have been obliged 
 to fight against them." Thus spake the future 
 prince, arch-chancellor and arch-glutton of the 
 Empire. For reasons of State it was necessary that ' 
 they should vote as he wished, and so the Govern- 
 ment's advice was followed. Never was a nation 
 oppressed so cruelly by despotic monarch or blood- 
 thirsty tyrant; never did Robespierre weigh so 
 heavily upon the consciences of the peculators, 
 " thieves " and " corrupted " who caused the 9th 
 thermidor^ as the memory of this little dead child 
 weighed upon the minds of all his tormentors ! 
 
 It told upon foreign politics, as was inevitable. 
 Let us judge for ourselves. 
 
 In 1794 the king of Spain caused peace 
 overtures to be made to the Government of the 
 French Republic. Charles IVj as a Bourbon, 
 remembered that two little waifs of the House of 
 Bourbon were still living, dragging out a miserable 
 existence in Paris. He asked, therefore, as a first 
 condition, that the son and daughter of Louis XVI 
 
 1 Mallet du Pan described them exactly when he said : "They 
 are valets who, having murdered their masters, have snatched the 
 sceptre from their dead hands." 
 
THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 319 
 
 might be confided to his charge. He said : " Not 
 only his CathoHc Majesty, but the king of Sardinia 
 also, will never consent to a reconciliation with the 
 French Republic until they have obtained satis- 
 faction founded upon human nature's strongest 
 feelings." Tuscany, also, began similar negotiations. 
 
 The French Government was extremely em- 
 barrassed ; how could they send Madame Royale 
 to Spain or Italy with a poor invalid whom she 
 would immediately disown ? What a scandal it 
 would make ! It was quite impossible. They 
 could not accept such a proposition before death 
 had put an end to the sufferings of the dying child. 
 They need only wait a little longer. These ne- 
 gotiations, meanwhile, served to conceal the crime. 
 Who could have imagined such an imbroglio .? The 
 French Government was talking of releasing the 
 Dauphin — who they knew was dead — and was 
 trying to delay the said negotiations until the death 
 of the substitute, so that the crime and the fraud 
 might be buried from sight for ever., When he 
 was dead, they would give the daughter of Louis 
 XVI to any one who cared to take her ; the French 
 Government would make no objections. 
 
 So the Comife de Salut public tried to gain time. 
 Making a great show of dignity in order to hide 
 its embarrassment, for some time it vouchsafed no 
 reply ; but at last it sent the following instructions 
 to Simonin, its representative at the court of 
 Madrid : " If we appear too eager, they will think 
 
320 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 that we wish to make advances ; now, a great 
 nation should never make advances when it is 
 threatened." 
 
 It was probably about this time — they said that 
 it was on May 1 1 , the day following the death of 
 Madame Elisabeth — that Robespierre paid a visit 
 to the Temple. But did he really do so ? If he 
 did do so, it was probably in order to ascertain de 
 visa the state of the pseudo-Dauphin's health, and 
 to judge of the shorter or longer period of time 
 during which it would be necessary to prolong the 
 said ' negotiations. Let us note this coincidence, 
 without, however, attaching too much importance 
 thereto, and then pass on. 
 
 As to the Spanish Government, which, unlike 
 the French Government, did not need to waste 
 time, it disclosed its propositions to Simonin with- 
 out further delay. These the latter transmitted to 
 Paris. " The king of Spain," wrote he, " is pre- 
 pared to negotiate peace on the following basis : 
 
 " I. Spain is to recognize the French 
 Republic. 
 
 " II. France is to deliver the children of 
 Louis XVI into the care of his Catholic 
 Majesty. 
 
 " III. The French provinces on the borders 
 of Spain are to form an independent State for 
 the son of Louis XVI, which State he is to 
 govern under the title of king of Navarre." 
 
THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 321 
 
 Thereupon the Comite de Salut public flew into 
 a passion — and for a very good reason. Convinced 
 that the king of Spain would only add other equally 
 unacceptable conditions to that of the release of the 
 children of Louis XVI, it immediately recalled its 
 agent from Madrid. Moreover, it sent orders to 
 the two generals commanding the two armies of 
 the Pyrenees — Dugommier, so soon to die on the 
 field of honour and to be replaced by Perignon, 
 and MuUer, soon replaced by Moncey — to resume 
 hostilities and to advance steadily. These two 
 generals won several victories, and, as the little 
 invalid in the Temple at last consented to die, 
 June 8, 1795, peace was concluded with Spain 
 during the following month. 
 
 Peace was likewise concluded with Sardinia. 
 
 Then, as all obstacles had been removed, Mont- 
 gaillard began secret negotiations with the Austrian 
 Government. This official had much trouble to 
 convince the baron von Thugut that Austria would 
 find it well worth her while to receive the daughter 
 of Louis XVI. But Austria did not want her. 
 Thugut, foreseeing at last that his fatherland might 
 benefit by accepting France's proposals, yielded. 
 The French Government was now in a position 
 to. issue a decree declaring that it was willing to 
 exchange Madame Royale for its subjects then 
 imprisoned in Austria. This decree was dated the 
 1 2th messidor, an III (July 30, iJfjS). 
 
 So we see that, since June 8, the French 
 
 21 
 
322 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 diplomatists had not wasted their time, but that, 
 on the contrary, they had acted with remarkable 
 rapidity. 
 
 Why? 
 
 Because their hands were no longer tied ; because 
 the little prisoner in the Temple no longer stood in 
 their way. 
 
 We may also remark that Spain, in 1794, had 
 asked that the children of Louis XVI might be 
 given into her care ; while in 1795, almost imme- 
 diately after the death of the pseudo-Dauphin, it 
 was France who asked Austria if she would kindly 
 accept the unfortunate sovereign's daughter. 
 
 Why? 
 
 Because France, no longer embarrassed by the 
 presence of the little invalid whom she could show to 
 no one, was only too delighted to get rid of Madame. 
 
 The years, as they fade away into the dark 
 mists of the past, may be likened unto a sphinx. 
 Though we question them, they answer not, yet 
 we can sometimes force them to speak. 
 
 But how many human lives were sacrificed to 
 conceal the crime and fraud ! How many soldiers, 
 both in the French and Spanish armies, fell on the 
 bloody battle-field ! . . . That " unknown philo- 
 sopher," Saint-Martin, would say : " As I thought 
 I beheld the hand of Providence in our Revolution, 
 so I can believe that it is perhaps necessary that 
 sin-offerings should be offered up in order to 
 consolidate the edifice." 
 
THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 323 
 
 Joseph de Maistre considered the edifice 
 " Satanic," but he had to acknowledge that the 
 Revolution was a judgment from God. And prob- 
 ably, when he heard the official announcement of 
 the Dauphin's death, he repeated to himself that 
 verse in the Bible : " Propter peccata patrum filii 
 afHigentur. . . ." 
 
 As to the duchesse d'Angoul^me, she changed 
 her opinion several times upon her unfortunate 
 brother's fate before she was able to arrive at a 
 fixed decision. 
 
 We can quite understand this fact : she did not 
 learn the truth until some time after her return to 
 France. . . . 
 
 When did she learn it ? 
 
 The date of the Dauphin's murder is less easy 
 to prove than to assert ; we can only guess at the 
 date. Let us, however, express a few conjectures 
 founded upon common-sense and the knowledge 
 of human nature. 
 
 At first, as was very natural, she believed the 
 allegations of the two eye-witnesses ; they were 
 honourable men whom, though people have denied 
 the fact, we have no reason to disbelieve. Their 
 names were : Gomin, who entered the Temple the 
 1 8th brumaire, an III (November 8, 1794), and 
 Lasne, nominated April 3, 1795, the successor to 
 Laurent. The latter, it was said, had been ap- 
 pointed by Barras on the morrow of the 9th 
 thermidor at the recommendation of Madame de 
 
324 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 Beauharnais. This report gave rise to the story 
 that Josephine had caused the Dauphin to be 
 abducted from the Temple. 
 
 Lasne and Gomin had attended, until the last 
 day of his life, the child who died June 8, 1795, 
 and whose body, as we already know, had been 
 examined after death by four celebrated doctors 
 and then interred in the cemetery of Sainte- 
 Marguerite. 
 
 We find in the Archives nationales the declara- 
 tion of the Dauphin's demise, the proces-verbal of 
 the post-mortem examination, and the proces-verbal 
 of the interment. All the papers concerning this 
 Dauphin malgri lui, this false Dauphin, were in 
 order. 
 
 Lasne and Gomin related all they knew, all 
 they saw, all they did — only they did not know 
 that the child whom they had tended was not the 
 son of Louis XVI. 
 
 When, in 18 14, the duchesse d'Angouleme 
 returned to Paris, ignorant of all the terrible 
 revelations which she was to hear concerning her 
 brother's death, she ordered researches to be made 
 in the church,^ and probably in the cemetery, 
 also, of Sainte - Marguerite. These researches 
 were, however, unsuccessful. 
 
 A few years ago the Commission du Vieux Paris 
 made similar researches in the same spot, but these 
 also were fruitless. 
 1 Vicomte Sosth^ne de La Rochefoucauld, Mimoires, vol. v, p. 45. 
 
THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 325 
 
 Why? 
 
 Because — in order, no doubt, to avoid any 
 annoyance or manifestations a propos of this coffin 
 — the Revolutionary committee of the Luxemburg 
 section caused it to be removed on the night of 
 the 25th prairial, an III, and transferred to the 
 cemetery of Clamart, where it was immediately 
 interred.-"^ 
 
 After her return to Paris in 1 8 1 4, the duchesse 
 d'Angouleme changed her opinion. Although she 
 still believed that Gomin and Lasne had told her 
 all they knew, she was now convinced that the sick 
 child who died in the Temple in their presence 
 was not her brother. She knew that another child 
 had been substituted, not in order to rescue the 
 prince and thus set him free, but to conceal a 
 crime. 
 
 She was told everything. 
 
 But she herself could say nothing. She appeared 
 anxious to have people think that she believed that 
 her brother had been rescued. She would say 
 nothing more. Cardinal de La Fare's reply to 
 general d'Andign'e^ clearly shows that she desired 
 to place a barrier between herself and the would-be 
 revealers of the mystery. And by a strange fate 
 the very man who had seen her brother's skeleton, 
 and who could have shown her the exact spot 
 where it was buried, was not allowed to have an 
 
 1 M. de Beauchesne, Louis XVII, vol. ii, p. 363-365. 
 
 2 See p. 278. 
 
326 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 audience with her. One would have thought that 
 the cardinal de La Fare, whom, since the duchesse 
 d'Angouleme had made his acquaintance in Vienna, 
 she had learnt to trust, would have known her 
 opinion upon such an important matter. 
 
 And yet he did not. 
 
 Even to him the princess could say nothing ; 
 and when he replied, as we have already read, to 
 that estimable man, general d'Andigne, who had 
 fought for the royalist cause in La Vendee, he was 
 acting in obedience to " orders " and " instructions " 
 given by the duchesse d'Angouleme, who thus 
 hoped to rid herself of the numerous " revealers " 
 of secrets concerning Louis XVIL And they were 
 many, if we believe some one who was sure of his 
 facts when he stated that there were between one 
 and two hundred false Dauphins in existence at that 
 time.^ 
 
 The duchesse d'Angouleme had, therefore, 
 adopted a plausible version — a uniform reply — 
 which she directed her servants to give to all 
 those who wished to know her opinion. 
 
 She kept the terrible truth to herself. 
 
 But how did she learn the truth ? 
 
 We can only conjecture. 
 
 As the duchesse d'Angouleme never vouch- 
 safed the smallest explanation — never gave the 
 simplest detail about her brother's death, as she 
 kept absolute silence on this important subject, 
 
 ^ Vicomte de La Rochefoucauld, Mimoires, vol. v, p. 6. 
 
THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 327 
 
 important both to herself and to the Bourbon 
 dynasty, it was because she could say nothing. 
 
 Why ? 
 
 There is only one explanation. 
 
 She had received either directly, or more prob- 
 ably indirectly, from one of those few initiated 
 survivors of the drama, the exact account of all 
 that had happened. Her informant had made her 
 utter a solemn vow never to reveal the secret. It 
 is more than probable that this person, sick unto 
 death, nearing the end of life's journey, " near unto 
 God's hour," as Bossuet terms it in one of his beau- 
 tiful sermons, wished to free his conscience from 
 this torturing crime. It is also more than probable 
 that he confided his secret to a priest under vows 
 of secrecy, but with the understanding that the 
 holy man was to reveal the terrible truth to the 
 victim's sister after having made her swear that she 
 would keep for ever silent. 
 
 And this was how the duchesse d'Angouleme 
 found herself in possession of the rabid terrorists' 
 secret, and obliged, like them^ to keep it. 
 
 The great religious reaction which followed the 
 vast hecatombs of the endless wars of the Empire, 
 and the return of the Bourbons to France, makes 
 this hypothesis even more probable. 
 
 Let us now examine a few of the numerous 
 facts which all tend to endorse our statements. 
 
 After the re-establishment of the House of 
 Bourbon, when the duchesse d'Angouleme went 
 
328 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 to visit the Temple, she ordered that some cypress- 
 trees and a weeping-willow should be planted on a 
 certain spot indicated by her, on the piece of ground 
 once occupied by the tower of the Temple.^ Do 
 we plant these symbols of death elsewhere but on 
 graves ? . . • Let it hot be said that she caused 
 them to be planted in memory of her unhappy 
 parents' sojourn in the gloomy tower. The king, 
 the queen,, and Madame Elisabeth had their own 
 tomb ; they even had a chapelle expiatoire on 
 the spot once occupied by the cemetery of the 
 Madeleine ; pious hands had planted cypress-trees 
 and weeping-willows in memory of their sufFerings.2 
 The little Dauphin now had his own, planted by 
 his sister's orders, perhaps by her very hand. 
 
 That is why the princess caused a wooden fence 
 — similar to the fences usually used for that pur- 
 pose — to be placed round this gloomy little grove. 
 And the profane thought that, by so doing, she 
 wished to mark the site occupied by the dreadful 
 prison where she had passed so many weary days. 
 Little did she care for archeology ! She only 
 wished to mark, quietly and unostentatiously — 
 being bound by solemn vows — the place where a 
 poor child, her brother, was sleeping his last sleep 
 under the shadow of a weeping-willow.^ 
 
 1 This tower was demolished, as we shall see later on, in 1811. 
 See M. de Beauchesne, Louis XVII, vol. ii, lib. xxi. 
 
 ^ See Souvenirs de quarante ans, p. 285. 
 
 * This weeping-willow is still alive. It stands in the Square 
 du Temple, and marks, as we have just seen, almost the exact 
 
THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 329 
 
 We will now indicate, according to the plans 
 of the old buildings of the Temple, the exact spot 
 whereon the little Louis XVII was buried. We 
 quote from general d'Andigne's memoirs. 
 
 " I can well remember, from the cursory glance 
 obtained in i8oi," says he, "that the Dauphin's 
 body must have been buried about five feet below 
 the surface, from ten to twelve feet distant from 
 the east wall, and forty or fifty feet from the north 
 wall, in a hole previously prepared to receive it, 
 and later opened by a trench in which they wished 
 
 spot occupied by the Dauphin's grave. When M. Alphand, the 
 Le N6tre of Paris, traced the plan of the Square du Temple, he 
 took care not to disturb the weeping-willow, which he knew had 
 been planted by the duchesse d'Angoul^me, but he was unaware 
 that this tree marked the exact spot on which the poor victim had 
 been buried. If he had known this fact, would he have placed 
 on the grave of this child, for whom men had been so pitiless, 
 Schcenewerck's pretty statue, entitled : This age is pitiless ? 
 
 Oh, infernal irony and contradiction of things ! Oh, supreme 
 qui pro quo of fate ! But this biting jest, enthroned on the child's 
 grave, will for ever re-echo adown the centuries in the ears of his • 
 executioners, who, in their turn, were caught in Death's icy 
 clutches, and some ojE whom now rest in magnificent tombs 
 surmounted by epitaphs in which they are likened to saints and 
 angels ! 
 
 This age is pitiless. We see it there on the little grave ! It 
 makes us shudder. Shakespeare could not have imagined anything 
 so dramatic. 
 
 Note. — These lines were written three years ago. I do not 
 wish to alter a single word. I will only add that to-day (1907) the 
 weeping-willow no longer exists, and that Schcenewerck's bronze. 
 This age is pitiless, has been removed, and replaced by a statue of 
 Diogenes, who, lantern in hand, is looking for a man. 
 
 Is he not rather looking for a child ? 
 
330 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 to lay some new foundations, traces of which would 
 facilitate our task. Unfortunately, a triangular 
 plot of ground, measuring fifty odd feet, has been 
 separated from the old enceinte in the angle leading 
 to the Rotunda.^ A fire-brigade station and a wine- 
 shop have been constructed on this spot, so that, 
 if I am not mistaken in my statement that the 
 Dauphin's remains were interred about fifty feet 
 from the north wall, his resting-place must now be 
 hidden by these buildings. 
 
 " These remarks having been inscribed and 
 signed by myself and all those present, I gave the 
 document into the hands of the Mother Superior. 
 
 " After the Revolution of February, the good 
 sisters were banished from their retreat. I do not 
 know what became of the site once occupied 
 by the Temple buildings." ^ 
 
 When we examine the plans of the Temple, 
 and especially those made in 1808 and 1840, 
 engraved in colours and published in a splendid 
 work upon old Paris,^ it is easy to recognize the 
 exact position indicated by M. d'Andigne ; we 
 find it equally clearly indicated in the plan of 
 the Square du Temple (1881), and in the plan 
 of the Temple grounds (i 881), printed in red upon 
 
 1 General d'Andign^ revisited the grounds of the Temple in 
 1840. They were just as he describes them. 
 
 2 General d'Andign^, Mimoires, vol. ii, p. 47. Note added in 
 1852 in the general's own handwriting. 
 
 8 Paris a travers les Jges, 2 vols, in folio, vol. ii (Firmin- 
 Didot). 
 
THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 331 
 
 tracing-paper and superposed over the plans made 
 in 1808 and 1840. Now, in 1808 we find that 
 the grounds and buildings had not altered since 
 1794. 
 
 This examination shows us that the present rue 
 des Archives passes exactly through the middle of 
 the site formerly occupied by the principal tower, 
 that the town-hall of the 3rd arrondissement is 
 built over the old garden, and that the little king's 
 grave is now covered by the north wall of the said 
 town-hall. The weeping-willow was therefore 
 placed, not on the grave itself, but in front of it. 
 The cypress-trees were planted on the grave. 
 
 We can now understand why the duchesse 
 d'Angouleme, who knew everything, when she 
 heard that Simon's widow was still alive and living 
 in the Hospital for Incurables,^ refused to do any- 
 thing for her, whereat the latter complained. 
 Nothing could induce her to see this woman, the 
 accomplice of her brother's murderer ; but al- 
 though she refused to listen to any communications 
 which people might wish to make to her — as she 
 had already done in the case of M. d'Andigne — 
 she sent some of her ladies-in-waiting to question 
 
 1 Police report of November 15, 1 8 16. "... She is astonished 
 that the duchesse d'Angouleme, who knows her condition and the 
 valuable services rendered by her to the princess's august brother, 
 does nothing for her. . . . She says that the Dauphin is still alive, 
 that she is sure of this fact, and that he will eventually come to his 
 own again " (Dr. Cabanas, he. cit., p. 476. See also Charles 
 Nauroy, Les Secrets des Bourbons, p. 80-95). 
 
332 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 the child's gouvernante in the Hospital for Incur- 
 ables. Did they question Simon's widow upon 
 the 'fate of the Dauphin ? No, they only asked 
 her about his daily life, what he had said and done 
 during his captivity in the Temple. 
 
 The minister of the Police generate, M. le 
 comte Decazes, evidently knew nothing about the 
 revelations made to the duchesse d'Angouleme, 
 and of course the latter could tell him nothing. 
 What a strange state of affairs! . . . Perhaps, 
 however, she herself commanded him to make 
 inquiries ; perhaps she allowed the minister of 
 the police to act as he thought best, feeling that, 
 in so doing, she was satisfying the public by 
 pretending to take an interest in researches which 
 could never again have any interest for her. M. 
 Decazes then ordered the most careful inquiries to 
 be made concerning the Dauphin's sojourn in the 
 Temple, his death and burial ; he gathered to- 
 gether all the documents and all the information 
 which he could discover, and declared that he 
 intended to reward all those persons who had 
 rendered any services to the prisoners in the 
 Temple. . . . And that is why he caused the 
 inmate of the Hospital for Incurables to be 
 interrogated. 
 
 This good woman, who knew that Louis 
 XVIII had returned to France and that the Bour- 
 bons had been restored to power, did not wish to 
 get herself into the Government's bad books. On 
 
THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 333 
 
 the contrary, she thought the occasion favourable 
 in which to speak a word for herself. That 
 accounts for the optimist views expressed by her in 
 the presence of the police officers and the royal 
 " interviewers." Her assertions were tinged with 
 a certain amount of truth ; but in her anxiety to 
 make a good thing out of her allegations, she allowed 
 her imagination to run away with her. Did she 
 not affirm the existence of the Dauphin ^ in order 
 to curry favour with the royal family, force them 
 to be grateful, and give her substantial proofs of the 
 said gratitude ? Any one who knows and who has 
 studied the lower classes must be struck by the 
 remarkable facility with which they lie — especially 
 the female portion. So we must not trust too 
 implicitly in the old woman's one-sided assertions ; 
 we should do well to consider them as simple hear- 
 say. Simon's widow declared that the Dauphin 
 did not die in the Temple, that he was not dead, 
 that he was still alive, very much alive, that she had 
 seen him several times, and that he had even visited 
 her in the Hospital for ilncurables. She had in- 
 vented and repeated all these stories in order to 
 force the Bourbons to show their gratitude. 
 
 And let us observe that these declarations could 
 not — at least, so she imagined — compromise her in 
 any way. She thought : " Let them and their 
 
 1 " The love of self was far more highly developed in the 
 woman Simon than in any of her companions " (De Beauchesne, 
 Louis XVII, vol. ii, p. 88). 
 
334 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 police look for him ; let them find him if they 
 can ; I wash my hands of the whole affair." 
 
 We may believe the old inmate of the Hos- 
 pital for Incurables ; but we must be on our guard 
 when she informs us that " a coach was brought 
 containing several pieces of furniture, a wicker 
 hamper with a false bottom, and a cardboard 
 hobby-horse, out of which they took the child 
 who was to be substituted for the prince." But we 
 must not believe her when she declares that " the 
 latter was placed in a bundle of dirty linen, which 
 was put, together with the hamper, in the coach." i 
 This is nothing but the lie of an old woman who 
 is anxious to pay court to those in authority so 
 that she may reap benefits thereby ; and this lie 
 was disproved by the ghastly discovery made in 
 1 80 1 by the State-prisoners in the Temple, and by 
 a hundred other facts ; it was merely a lie made to 
 prove that other lie affirming that the Dauphin 
 was still alive. " When the coach was about to 
 leave the courtyard," she added, " the guards wished 
 to inspect it." But she flew into a passion and 
 pushed them aside, screaming that it only contained 
 her dirty linen, and that they must let her pass. 
 
 It was to mark her brother's tragic death, and 
 not the transitory sojourn of her parents in the 
 Temple, that the duchesse d'Angouleme established 
 a convent on the very spot once occupied by the 
 
 1 Cabandis, he. cit., p. 433. Charles Nauroy, Inc. cit., 
 P- 73-85. 
 
THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 335 
 
 hotel of the grand-prieur^ south of the site whereon 
 the principal tower once stood, and not because her 
 husband, the due d'Angoul^me, in his position as 
 grand-prieur of France, which position he held 
 together with the title of admiral, owned the site 
 of the Temple. 
 
 It was for this same reason that she added, in 
 1823, a chapel to the convent buildings,^ 
 
 Is not the name of the lady chosen to act as 
 Mother Superior in this convent somewhat signifi- 
 cant ? Her name was princesse Louise-Adelaide 
 de Conde, abbess of Remiremont, and she was 
 aunt to the due d'Enghien ! . . , This Bourbon 
 princess, now the head of a community of Bene- 
 dictine nuns belonging to the order of the " Per- 
 petual Adoration of the Holy Sacrament," passed 
 her time praying, on the very spot where one of 
 her relations had been murdered, for the members 
 of her family, one of whom had been buried in 
 the Temple moat in 1794, and the other in the 
 moat of Vincennes in 1804, 
 
 If the duchesse d'Angouleme really believed 
 that her brother did not die in the Temple — as 
 cardinal de La Fare declared to M. d'Andigne — 
 would she have caused a weeping-willow and 
 cypress-trees to be planted on this spot ? Would 
 she have caused a convent and a chapelle expiatoire 
 to be erected as she had done in the cemetery of 
 
 ^ See the valuable plans contained in Paris a trovers les Ages, 
 vol. ii. 
 
336 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 the Madeleine ?/ That is why the royal family, 
 who also knew the terrible secret, and were bound 
 by a solemn vow to keep silent, never mentioned 
 the name of Louis XVII. Little did they care 
 for what people might say, nor for the accusations 
 of insensibility, neglect and egoism, nor for the 
 suspicion of complicity caused by the silence of 
 Louis XVIII, called by some " the usurper " ; this 
 poor little victim seemed to be completely for- 
 gotten, not only in their prayers and public cere- 
 monies, but even in outward signs of mourning.^ 
 
 ^ " Fontaine and Mercier erected this monument," says 
 Chateaubriand, " in accordance with the pious wish expressed by 
 Madame la Dauphine." 
 
 ^ '" This child's very name would have been forgotten in his 
 family epitaph if I had not reminded the Chambre des Pairs . . ." 
 (Chateaubriand, Mimoires d'outretombe, vol. i, p. 269, Edition 
 Ed. Bir6). On January 9, 1816, Chateaubriand pronounced the 
 following splendid speech — alas ! but little known : 
 
 " Surrounded by so many pitiful sights, we still bestow our 
 pity on things least worthy of our compassion. This child-king, 
 this young martyr who sang God's praises in the fiery furnace, 
 has scarcely been mentioned in your divers projects and plans. Is 
 it because he held such a humble place in our existence and history 
 that we forget him ? But how long that life of suffering must 
 have seemed to him ! how full of sorrow was his reign ! No aged 
 king, bending under the weight of regal cares, hath ever borne 
 such a heavy sceptre ! Never did the crown press so heavily on 
 the forehead of Louis XVI, that pilgrim nearing the tomb> as the 
 badge of innocence weighed on the brow of Louis XVII, but 
 lately an infant in its cradle. What has become of that royal 
 ward left in charge of his executioners, that orphan who could say 
 with David's heir, ' My father and my mother have abandoned 
 me ' ? Where is the companion in adversity, the brother of the 
 orphan in the Temple ? Would he hear me if I uttered that terrible^ 
 
THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 337 * 
 
 In 1816 the police made inquiries which, 
 though they were unsuccessful, satisfied the public. 
 
 That is why, when Dr. Pelletan, who had 
 assisted at the post-mortem examination in the 
 tower of the Temple and had surreptitiously re- 
 moved the child's heart and placed it in a bottle of 
 alcohol, offered this heart to Louis XVIII, his 
 offer was rejected. 
 
 That is why the same child's hair, which had 
 been cut off during the post-mortem examination 
 and carefully collected by M. Domont, civil com- 
 missary for the 'Section du Nord on guard in the 
 Temple on the 21st prairial (June 9) and present 
 during the examination, when it was offered in 
 1 8 1 5 by him to the duchesse d' Angouleme, she 
 refused his offer. 
 
 That is why the duchesse d'Angouleme would 
 not authorize any researches to be made in the 
 cemetery of Sainte-Marguerite or in the Marais, 
 where the body of the little sick child, who died 
 in the tower of the Temple on June 10, according 
 to the proces-verbal preserved at the Archives 
 nationales, had been interred — when the cure of 
 
 well-known, too well-known question, ' Capet, are you asleep ? 
 Get up ' ? He rises, gentlemen, in all his celestial glory, and he 
 comes, asking us to give him a tomb ! . . . To the resolution of 
 the Chambre des Diputhy I propose to add an amendment complet- 
 ing the resolution of January 2i : 'We humbly beg the king 
 to command that a monument be erected to the memory of 
 Louis XVII in the name, and at the expense, of the jiation ' " 
 {Opinions et Discourse p. 79). 
 22 
 
338 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 the parish of Sainte-Marguerite, M. Lemercier, 
 came and offered to look for the little Dauphin, 
 whom he believed to be buried there,-^ 
 
 The duchesse d'Angouleme, being bound by- 
 vows of secrecy, could give no explanations what- 
 ever. And that is why, when any one mentioned 
 in her presence the burning question of her 
 brother's death, she always refused to give any 
 explanations or the smallest details concerning his 
 sad fate. Moreover, she did not like people to 
 speak of him before her ; every one realized that it 
 pained her to hear his name mentioned, and so they 
 respected her wishes. Besides, she would not have 
 allowed herself to be drawn into a discussion unless 
 she could have given very palpable proofs of her 
 conviction. She kept her grief to herself: alone 
 with her secret and her sacred memories, she was 
 invariably silent. Her sorrows and her family 
 
 ^ See Ch. Nauroy, Les Secrets des Bourbons, p. 98, note, and p. 99. 
 The vicomte Sosth^ne de La Rochefoucauld, on the contrary, says 
 in his memoirs that the duchesse d'Angouleme caused researches 
 to be made in the church (he does not say the cemetery) of Sainte- 
 Marguerite, All this is very possible, if we compare the dates. 
 These researches were probably made before the princess really 
 knew in whom to believe, perhaps they were made without her 
 consent; the work was, no doubt, accomplished in secret. Be 
 that as it may, even if the duchesse d'AngoulSme already knew 
 the truth, she probably allowed these researches to be made before 
 M. Lemercier offered his services, hoping thereby to settle, once 
 and for all, the question of Louis XVII, and thus to satisfy the 
 curiosity of the public. She probably gave, or ordered to be given, 
 to the curi of Sainte-Marguerite the same reply which the cardinal 
 de La Fare had given to M. d'Andign6. 
 
LA DUCHESSE D'ANGOULEME. 
 
THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 339 
 
 losses could have no interest for the public ; they 
 could only arouse old memories and old passions 
 which it were better to leave, in peace. 
 
 So when, during her exile, after the fall of 
 Charles X, if any one dared to mention the mystery 
 in her presence, she would reply very evasively, 
 hoping thereby to discourage importunate and in- 
 discreet questioners. And in 1832, on her return 
 from England, during an excursion to the Hague, 
 she said to M. de La Rochejaquelein, who was 
 convinced that the Dauphin had been abducted 
 and was still alive : " How could you ever think 
 that, if there had been the smallest doubt about 
 the matter, I should have hesitated to recognize 
 him publicly ? Is it likely that I should prefer 
 my uncle to my brother .? " ^ 
 
 Observe that she gave no reason to explain 
 why she was so certain that he was not her 
 brother. 
 
 And again on December 12, 1833, ^^^ wrote 
 to a certain person who supported NaundorfFs 
 claims : " I am too clearly convinced of the sad 
 certainty of my brother's death to be able to recog- 
 nize him in the person who claims to be that 
 brother." 2 
 
 Yet another time, NaundorfF, whom she would 
 never consent to meet, one day placed himself in 
 
 1 Duchesse de Gontaut, Mimoires, p. 379. 
 ^ Vicomte Sosth^ne de La Rochefoucauld, Mimoires, vol. v, 
 p. 136. 
 
340 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 her path, and, just as she was passing, threw him- 
 self into her arms, calling her " my sister ! " She 
 pushed him aside, and said to the duchesse de 
 Parme, who was walking with her : " Don't I know 
 that he is dead ? " ^ 
 
 Alas ! yes, she knew it, and these words, uttered 
 in her strange, peculiarly harsh and cavernous voice, 
 are most impressive and heart-rending in their sad, 
 despairing resignation. 
 
 Let us now, at the risk of repeating our asser- 
 tions, give a short summary. 
 
 We think that we have clearly proved, by what 
 we have just related, that the Dauphin died a violent 
 death, and that a little sick child of about his own 
 age, chosen from one of the hospitals, and con- 
 demned by reason of his miserable health to a 
 speedy death, was substituted in his place. This 
 poor nameless creature's death was legally and 
 ofBcially announced under the name of the 
 Dauphin. 
 
 As the body of the son of Louis XVI and 
 Marie-Antoinette had been interred at night-time 
 in a corner of the Temple grounds, and covered 
 with quicklime, as had been done to the bodies of 
 the king and queen in the cemetery of the Madeleine, 
 the death of his substitute was useful in that it 
 enabled his guardians to fulfil all the formalities 
 required by law. Everything was in perfect order, 
 and the Administration was unimpeachable. We 
 
 ^ Comte d'Osmond, Reliques et Impressions, p. 87. 
 
THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 341 
 
 know well that, although we may acknowledge 
 that the child whose corpse was examined in the 
 Temple was not the Dauphin, although we may 
 believe in general d'Andign^'s statements, it may 
 be urged that the discovery of a child's skeleton in 
 the moat of the Temple does not prove that the 
 said skeleton belonged to the Dauphin. 
 
 Granted ; but if we compare these two facts, 
 we must necessarily be convinced of the truth of 
 our assertions. The probabilities in favour of our 
 statement that this was the Dauphin's skeleton are 
 such that it must appear absolutely certain to an 
 unbiassed thinker. 
 
 Perhaps it will be interesting to learn that 
 Fouche, the thermidorien, after having been made 
 due d'Otrante, did not like to walk near the tower 
 of the Temple. That" great black silhouette, 
 dominating a whole quartier of Paris, seemed to 
 distress him. Towards the end of the Empire, 
 when, perhaps, he was thinking — who knows ? — 
 of becoming an honest man, he suggested to 
 Napoleon that the building should be demolished. 
 Napoleon, like Fouche, was not fond of monu- 
 ments which had witnessed embarrassing historical 
 events ; he knew, also, that certain reports had 
 been circulated about Pichegru's death, and he did 
 not wish the gloomy tower to keep those reports 
 fresh in the people's memory. The spectre of 
 Pichegru, who had been found strangled in his 
 cell in the Temple — although Napoleon was quite 
 
342 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 innocent of his death — came, perhaps, together 
 with the ghost pf the due d'Enghien, to haunt 
 him and to disturb his dreams of glory. 
 
 And then, this tower reminded the people that 
 they could get rid of troublesome sovereigns with 
 the same facility with which the latter had once 
 got rid of any one who stood in their way. So, 
 when the Empire fell, the tower had already been 
 demolished for four or five years. The ground 
 was now level where, during eight centuries, the 
 majestic pile once stood. Not even a stone 
 remained : etiam periere ruinae. 
 
 If we wish to judge calmly of any epoch, we 
 must call imagination to our aid to help us to live 
 in the past, we must participate in the enthusiastic 
 transports of those feverish days, realize the events 
 and circumstances which caused those troublous 
 times, put ourselves in the place of the principal 
 actors in the drama, and be swayed by the same 
 passions and assailed by the same temptations to 
 which they succumbed. 
 
 We must remember that the conventionnels, in 
 their exalted patriotism, had become quite fanatical ; 
 that the endless perils at home and abroad had 
 exasperated them until they could no longer bear 
 the strain, and that their hatred of the monarchy 
 had almost maddened them; we must remember 
 their youthful ardour (for they nearly all died 
 before attaining their thirtieth year), together with 
 the intoxicating delight of possessing unlimited 
 
_ / < r nit \ 
 NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. 
 
THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 343 
 
 powers in those strenuous, passionate days, under 
 the eyes of an ever-seething populace, and that, 
 under such peculiar circumstances, and when such 
 immortal deeds had been accomplished, they had 
 the right to plead many extenuating circumstances. 
 
 Having said this, we must also remember that 
 if, during an exceptional crisis in the life of a 
 nation — " a crisis of growth," as Taine termed the 
 Revolution — any mud lies in the lowest ranks of the 
 populace or in the people's conscience, it is sure to 
 rise to the surface ; even the finest wines are not 
 entirely free from dregs ; though the flood carries 
 golden nuggets in its bosom, it also carries filth and 
 impurities. Many of the conventionnels, although not 
 entirely devoid of noble and spirited feelings, were 
 subject to fits of meanness ; though some were 
 courageous and unselfish, others cringed in obedi- 
 ence to the petty tyrants of the day instead of 
 boldly asserting their independence. We must 
 remember that Madame Roland called them " an 
 assembly of cowards " ; ^ that the abbe Gregoire, 
 future count and senator during the Empire, said 
 that "the Convention contained two or three hundred 
 scoundrels, and was chiefly composed of cowards." ^ 
 And yet time in its flight has metamorphosed the 
 men whom Madame Roland called " pigmies " ^ 
 into the " giants " of the Convention. 
 
 We cannot agree with those who only give 
 
 ^ Lettre a Buzot, published by Dauban, p. 44. 
 
 ^ Mimoires, vol. ii, p. 45. * Mimoires, vol. ii, p. 95. 
 
344 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 praise when they can do so without any mental 
 reservation ; the Convention, in the matter of mean- 
 ness, had no cause to envy the old court, "that 
 vast storehouse of knaves and imbeciles." 
 
 The Revolution, with all its principal actors 
 and their deeds, is now so far away ; the over- 
 heated passions which caused so many crimes are 
 now as cold as the bodies of their slaves ; every 
 one can now speak openly. And that is why the 
 historian ought to search calmly and impartially 
 for the truth and to examine thoroughly the actions 
 and consciences of those men who, no matter 
 the epithets bestowed upon them by their friends, 
 enemies, contemporaries, or successors, played the 
 principal parts during this crisis in our national life. 
 
 So it is not at all surprising that one or more of 
 these " cowards " and these " pigmies " of the 
 Convention, in conjunction with other " cowards " 
 and " pigmies " belonging to the Commune, should 
 have plotted the drama of the Temple such as we 
 have just related. After having sent the father, 
 mother and aunt to the scaffold, can we be sur- 
 prised that they killed the child ? But the fact 
 that they covered their crime with a veil of 
 hypocrisy is truly surprising. His tender age, if 
 not the law which only allowed the murder of 
 grown persons, ought to have protected him. But 
 these "law-scribbling executioners," as they were 
 stigmatized by one of their most illustrious victims,^ 
 
 1 Andrd Ch^nier. 
 
THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 345 
 
 did they observe any laws ? Did they not know 
 how to distort and violate them according to their 
 good pleasure ? Never have men more blindly 
 obeyed their evil passions, and even those of their 
 neighbours, than in those days — and they fondly 
 imagined and pretended that they were acting in 
 accordance with their principles ! Every day they 
 committed cruel deeds, and thought they were 
 doing good because they tricked out their atroci- 
 ties in pompous, stilted Latin phrases. Verily they 
 seem to have read, not the gentle Jean-Jacques 
 Rousseau, not Voltaire's mad witticisms, but Mas- 
 curat, in which Gabriel Naude gave recipes for 
 what he considered lawful practices according to 
 circumstances : murders, imprisonments and other 
 proceedings equally creditable to politics and civil- 
 ization. Though they were always talking of 
 fraternity and spouting empty phrases full of 
 allusions to equality and liberty, they were longing 
 to strike ; they threatened, and the deed immediately 
 followed the threat. 
 
 This cynical way of looking at things was not 
 pecuHar to the Republicans. The Vendeens, with 
 one or two splendid exceptions, as, for instance, 
 the generous Bonchamp, were all cut to the same 
 pattern. They, also, had no pity for their fellow- 
 creatures. We need but remember the massacres 
 at Machecoul, Charette's brutality and Pageot's 
 atrocious conduct in the Marais. Both sides, bleus 
 as well as blancs, were pitiless. " No mercy ! " 
 
346 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 Was the cry of Commune and Convention. " No 
 quarter ! " was the password of prince and Vendeen. 
 The pages of the history of these intolerant times 
 are staiqed with blood. Happily we can view 
 these men in several lights ; appearances are often 
 deceptive, and many of these men were born for 
 better things. Lebon, of Arras, a tender-hearted 
 fellow, was baptized " the well-named " by his 
 friends. These enthusiastic partisans of civil war, 
 these admirers of Convention, Commune and club, who 
 both in Paris and la Vendee had a greater opinion 
 of themselves than of their duty to their fellow-men, 
 were all afflicted with the same mental disease, the 
 same mad impulses which attacked many a heart 
 more generous than high-principled, and from 
 which both sides alike suffered more or less accord- 
 ing to their passions and prejudices, their interests 
 or their characters. Can one escape the maladies 
 of one's time ? Impulse has much to answer for. 
 Fear at that time was stronger than enthusiasm ; 
 the wildest passions were omnipotent, and, then as 
 now, brutal tyrants drove before them flocks of 
 timid peace-lovers, grumblers, dogs in the manger, 
 turncoats and " the frogs in the marsh." And yet, 
 in private life, with a few exceptions, these men 
 who, to gratify their love of high-flown senti- 
 ments and to shbw off their oratorical powers, used 
 to call each other cowards, bandits, brigands,^ who 
 
 ^ See the Mimoires de La Revelliire-Lipeaux, Paris. Plon. 
 3 vols, in 8vo. 
 
THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 347 
 
 seemed to think fire, pillage and murder necessary 
 to the foundation of all good republics, and who 
 sent each other to the guillotine — these men were 
 easy-going, soft-hearted fellows who loved peace 
 and hard work, cherished their wives and adored 
 their children. We need only look at Fouche in 
 his daily family life : was there ever a better papa ? 
 And he was such a good-hearted fellow ! 
 
 And yet these men murdered the little child in 
 the Temple. They were as pitiless then as the 
 duchesse d'Angouleme was pitiless in 1 8 1 5, But 
 in her case, as in the case of the executioners of 
 her family, this cruelty was caused by the desire 
 for revenge. And to this very day both political 
 parties continue to worship their respective ideals. 
 
 But let us try to look calmly at the matter and 
 repeat with La Bruyere : " It is ever a new source 
 of astonishment to me to behold with what cruelty 
 men treat their fellow-creatures." And yet La 
 Bruyere had witnessed neither the Revolution nor 
 the Empire, nor the first years of the Restauration. 
 
 But how could they find it in their hearts to 
 kill a child ? . . . English history, however, can 
 furnish us with a precedent, a double precedent ! 
 Why should these men be more scrupulous than 
 the English who, when they beheaded their king, 
 Charles I, set the example imitated by the Parisians 
 in order to rid themselves of Louis XVI ? And 
 then, the two children of Edward were murdered 
 in the Tower of London ; the son of " Capet " and 
 
348 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 of the " Austrian woman " could easily be murdered 
 in the tower of the Temple. And then they would 
 let the daughter go free. Besides, this was not the 
 first step in the downward path to bloody crimes 
 and guilt ; they were up to their knees in blood, 
 Vendeens and republicans alike wallowed in it.^ 
 
 What did it matter to the authors and approvers 
 of the September massacres whether they shortened 
 
 ^ General Turreau, having asked M. d'Elb^e, who had been 
 made prisoner by the bleus: "If we were in your power, what 
 would you do with us ? " He replied : " I should do what you are 
 going to do to me." He knew very well that he was going 
 to be shot. (Mme. de Sapinaud, Mimoires, p. 64.) When 
 writing about the inhumanity of those days, I usually prefer to 
 cite female evidence, for women ought to be more humane and 
 charitable than men. Mme. de La Rochejaquelein, who was escort- 
 ing on horseback the carriage in which her first husband, M. de 
 Lescure, lay dying, wrote : " I must confess that on that day, having 
 noticed the bodies of several republicans lying by the roadside, a kind 
 of secret and involuntary madness made me, without uttering a 
 word, urge my horse to trample on those who had killed M. de 
 Lescure." (Mme. de La Rochejaquelein, Mimoires, p. 273.) 
 We find these acts of fanaticism, these bloody deeds of 
 vengeance, this cold-blooded cruelty on all sides and in all civil 
 wars. The Venddens, although we are obliged to esteem thenl, 
 and although they were made the object of a kind of worship, 
 were, no less than the revolutionists of Paris, swayed by these 
 terrible passions. They also had their "guillotine furies." But 
 we find tender-hearted women in both camps. Mile. Pauline de 
 Tourzel (later comtesse de B^arn), having been saved from the 
 September massacres by Manuel, public prosecutor to the Commune, 
 was taken to the house of a lady, who received her with the greatest 
 kindness. " This person," she wrote in her gratitude, " this 
 ■person, to whom I owed these first moments of consolation, was 
 Mme. Carnot, sister-in-law of the future Directeur" (Souvenirs 
 de quarante ans, p. 219). 
 
THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 349 
 
 the life of this child or not ? . . . Many a perverted 
 conscience, by coolly and calmly considering the 
 possibility of committing some bad deed or crime 
 from which it hopes to reap pleasure or profit, 
 finally ceases to feel any horror of that crime. 
 
 Besides, sophisms were just as fashionable in 
 those days as cold-blooded cruelty and false sensi- 
 bility. " It is no good to punish them, we must 
 annihilate them," ^ cried Couthon, speaking of the 
 " enemies of the fatherland," and we know that 
 this saying can be interpreted in many waya. 
 Collot d'Herbois, for his part, said : " What does 
 one care for justice or injustice in revolutionary 
 times ! " 
 
 It has been often said that tl^y wished to 
 poison the Dauphin. The royalist Eckard, in his 
 Memoires historiques sur Louis XVII, quotes several 
 motions made by representatives : Mailhe, Chabot, 
 Brival, etc., tending to get rid of the " little Capet." 
 It would be easy to quote other similar proposals. 
 This proves that the crime was in the air, that the 
 plot was boiling and bubbling, ready to burst forth 
 from the crucible in a molten crimson stream. We 
 may mention that proposals to kill the Dauphin were 
 made after the 9th thermidor, that is to say, more 
 than six months after the unhappy child had been 
 suppressed. So the secret had remained among a 
 few of the initiated ; the 9th thermidor swept away 
 the greater number of those who were concerned 
 ^ Couthon, Rapport du 22 prairial, an III. 
 
350 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 in the plot. Not all of them, however, for 
 Courtois seems to have known the truth, and there 
 was probably some one (he himself, perhaps i) who 
 told, or rather charged a second person to tell, the 
 whole story to the duchesse d'Angouleme. Unless 
 B arras, who was not a republican a la Cato, and whom 
 Taine called " the most shameless of the corrupted," 
 told her the secret in order to escape the law of 
 January 12, 18 16, which banished all former 
 Tegicide-convef2tiof2f2e/s from France. For Barras 
 seems to have possessed fewer rights to royal 
 mercy than any of his companions ; it was he, in 
 fact, who, on the 19th nivSse, an III (January 8, 
 1795), made a motion tending to celebrate in 
 future by a grand fete the anniversary of the day 
 on which the last tyrant-king expiated on the scaffold 
 the crimes with which he had sullied his name. In 
 his Memoires ^ he modestly, all too modestly, 
 reminds us that it was he who took the initiative : 
 " The Commission extraordinaire des Cinq seemed 
 only to have been instituted in order to serve as a 
 scapegoat for the Comites. As the Commission's 
 agent, I was ordered to draw up a report upon the 
 fite of January 21." 
 
 Barras wrote three accounts of his visit to the 
 Temple. Therefore he must have realized the 
 
 1 Courtois, who had purchased the estate of Montboisier, had 
 erected a monument to the memory of M. de Malesherbes, the 
 defender of Louis XVI. 
 
 2 Vol. i, p. 224. 
 
THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 351 
 
 importance of the subject — even from his own 
 exclusively personal point of view. These three 
 accounts are all precisely similar except for a few 
 insignificant details. This does not mean that the 
 author really meant what he wrote ; on the con- 
 trary, perhaps. . . . Like the widow Simon, he 
 was an accomplished liar. M. G. Duruy, the 
 editor of Barras's Memoires, says in his introduction : 
 " What a heart this gentleman must have had 
 who, though he mentions the subject three times 
 in the notes made in his own handwriting, does 
 not once seem touched by the memory of that 
 visit paid to the dying child of his king ! " This 
 is rather a naive remark, when we remember that 
 he is talking of B arras ; but it tends to prove the 
 fact that the child seen by Barras in the Temple 
 on the loth thermidor, at six o'clock in the morn- 
 ing, was not the son of Louis XVI — and Barras 
 knew it ! But does he not allude to his murder, 
 the work of so many active or passive accomplices ; 
 does he not seem to acknowledge that this murder 
 influenced, in some mysterious manner, the fate of 
 the Convention when he wrote the following rather 
 ambiguous sentence : " Although this epoch (the 
 epoch preceding the 9th thermidor) may seem 
 easily explained by human passions, pretexts and 
 the ever-present dread of the enemy at our gates, 
 there must have been other and more mysterious 
 circumstances which caused such a state of uni- 
 versal terror ; philosophers and publicists would 
 
352 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 do well to examine this question very carefully 
 before deciding whether this was an anomalous 
 case in the history of truth or not." ^ 
 
 Tallien was also authorized to remain in 
 France, and he certainly knew as much about the 
 Dauphin as Barras himself knew.^ Perhaps he 
 also spoke ; perhaps it was thanks to his revela- 
 tions that he escaped the fate of his accomplices. 
 It has been said that clemency was shown towards 
 him in gratitude for his conduct on the 9th 
 thermidor ^—h\xt is this really true ? 
 
 But we must let sleeping dogs lie. Once more 
 we must doubt and pass on. Be that as it may, 
 the whole atmosphere in 1793 and 1794 was full 
 of fire and blood ; mad whims and fanaticism 
 obliterated all traces of common-sense, all feelings 
 of humanity ; cartloads of human beings were 
 
 '^ Barras, Mimoires, vol. i, p. 211. 
 
 2 Tallien, however, virent to Bordeaux, October 16, 1793, and 
 remained there until February 22, 1 794. So he did not participate 
 — at least, so we may suppose — in the suppression of the Dauphin. 
 And yet about 1796 the anonymous author of a work, in which 
 Tallien is apostrophized in violent terms upon his conduct, says to 
 him (p. 169) : "If your cheeks are not bedewed with tears as you 
 read this article, if your heart is not galled by repentance . . . 
 you are not a man. . , . Then, deaf to all else but righteous 
 indignation, I shall unveil the frightful picture of the past, I shall 
 tell on what spot, at what hour, and by what monsters that fetal 
 draught was prepared, and how this innocent victim expired in the 
 Temple ! " {Manuel des assemblies primaires et ilectorales de France^ 
 Hambourg et Paris, in lamo, undated. — Quoted by Dr. Cabanas, 
 also in Eckard's Memoirs). 
 
 2 Chancelier Pasquier, Mimoires, vol. i, p. 115, 
 
THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 353 
 
 sent like sheep to the slaughter-house, as in 
 old days religious fanatics burned their fellow- 
 creatures because they did not agree with them 
 concerning the interpretation of sundry passages 
 in the Holy Scriptures. Fanaticism is always the 
 same, no matter what disguise it may assume ; but 
 it is strange that its victims belong chiefly to that 
 class of men so cleverly described by La Bruyere 
 when he said : " A devotee is a person who, under 
 an atheistical king, would be an atheist." And 
 Payan explains the meaning of fanaticism in his 
 letter dated i8th brumaire, an II: "Even if 
 Philippe (d'Orlearis) had been innocent, if his 
 death could have been of any use, he would have 
 had to die." ^ 
 
 This argument, propounded by Payan with 
 astonishing ingenuousness and arbitrary cynicism, 
 explains the " principle " by virtue of which the 
 Dauphin had to disappear. They had declared 
 that " his death might be of use, and so he had to 
 perish." Fine jurisprudence, forsooth, but it was 
 current in those days ! 
 
 It is only too true that those who were impli- 
 cated in the abominable murder of this child then 
 tried to throw all the blame upon the man who 
 was certainly more guilty than his accomplices, 
 but who could no longer defend himself, and 
 whom they made the scapegoat for all the crimes 
 
 ^ Papiers inidits trouvh chez, Robespierre, Saint-Just, Payan, etc., 
 supprimh ou amis par Ceurtais, vol. ii, p, 396. 
 23 
 
354 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 — including their own — committed during the 
 Revolution. This man was Robespierre, whom 
 M. Thiers, so partial, so unreasonably indulgent 
 towards the tkermidoriens, loaded with all the latter's 
 misdeeds. Politicians already knew how to lie at 
 that time. 
 
 In fact we read, among the papers found in 
 Robespierre's lodgings and published by Courtois, 
 a letter giving us some very valuable clues : it is 
 evidently the work of a forger; it is anonymous, 
 although signed Niveau;^ it was probably never 
 sent to Robespierre, but it would seem as if it 
 had been placed among his papers after the loth 
 thermidor — as if it had been put there in order to 
 replace some papers which had been stolen and 
 which the thief took good care not to publish. 
 
 This is what the letter says : 
 
 " A few more heads off and the dictatorship is 
 yours. . . . For political reasons, leave the little 
 Capets and their aunt in peace ; if you killed the 
 boy, the crowned brigands would immediately 
 proclaim as their king the stout gentleman at 
 Ham. ..." This anonymous letter tends to 
 throw the responsibility of the Dauphin's murder, 
 if it were discovered, upon Robespierre. Perhaps 
 it was concocted by one of the latter's accomplices, 
 a thermidorien no doubt, some quack dispenser of 
 humanity and virtue, who, by this letter, wished to 
 throw his pursuers off the scent. Such a hypothesis 
 ^ Niveau = level. 
 
THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 355 
 
 is quite possible if we recollect that he who is 
 afraid of being suspected of a misdeed which he 
 is anxious to conceal, tries to justify himself even 
 before he is accused, tries to deny his fault and to 
 lay the blame upon some one else before any one 
 thinks of suspecting him. 
 
 On the other hand, this letter would tend to 
 prove all the conjectures and " quasi-proofs " con- 
 cerning the murder of the Dauphin as quoted by 
 us. It would seem as if Courtois, or some other 
 thermidorien, one of Robespierre's accomplices, 
 had, by this letter, tried to throw all the blame 
 upon Robespierre — Robespierre of whom they rid 
 themselves according to the laws and customs of 
 those times, as he himself had got rid of Hebert 
 and Chaumette, because he wanted to call them to 
 account for all their thefts, extravagance and other 
 misdeeds. 
 
 In Herault de Sechelles' letter to Carrier we 
 find something tending to prove that the document 
 signed Niveau was a forgery : " When a represen- 
 tative has been sent on a mission, and when he has 
 to strike, he must strike hard and leave all respon- 
 sibility to the executioners ; he must never com- 
 promise himself in writing." ^ 
 
 That is why we possess no written proofs of 
 the drama in the Temple. It is easy to -under- 
 stand that no one wished to leave any traces of it. 
 Besides, many of those who knew the secret 
 1 Hist, parkment^ vol. xxxiv, p. 193. 
 
356 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 perished on the 1 1 th thermidor ; most of the 
 conspirators had already perished, and the few 
 survivors kept their tongues behind their teeth. 
 Barras, who must have known everything, con- 
 firmed the official lie with another lie. Barere, 
 who never compromised himself more than he 
 could help, said nothing ; Levasseur (de la Sarthe) 
 followed suit. ... 
 
 It would be useless to try to discover the 
 names of those responsible for the murder of this 
 child : what does it matter whether they were 
 hebertistes or dantonistes, robespierristes or tker- 
 midoriens f All these men now belong to ancient 
 history. The Convention governed through its 
 two powerful Comites ; and any Government is 
 guilty which cannot prevent or which ignores the 
 arbitrary deeds and cruel actions committed under 
 cover of its own tyrannical misdeeds. We must 
 remember Carrier's terrible but truly apposite say- 
 ing ; when he was summoned before the Conven- 
 tion to give an account of his mission in Nantes, 
 he cried : " Every one is guilty here, every one 
 and everything, even the president's bell is not 
 innocent ! " ^ 
 
 And here we finish our task of examination. 
 
 The lines which we have just read are by no 
 means mere idle gossip overheard in salons or 
 whispered by the fireside ; nor are they more or 
 
 ^ Thibaudeau, MimoireSy vol. i, p. 142. 
 
THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 357 
 
 less literary fancies such as we find in many 
 so-called historical works written in the interest of 
 certain political parties to whom the author lends 
 his pen and his opinions ; in such works he for- 
 gets to consult nothing except reliable evidence 
 and authentic documents ; he looks for everything 
 but the truth. Having no documents to help us 
 in our task — and we have explained in the words 
 of Herault de Sechelles why no documents [exist 
 on the subject — we have refrained as much as 
 possible from expressing mere idle conjectures ; 
 but having compared facts and documents, we 
 drew our own conclusions. 
 
 And thus we discovered the truth. 
 
 Before concluding, we will say one word con- 
 cerning NaundorfF. As medical science had already 
 proved that the child who died in the Temple, 
 June 8, 1795, was not the same as the boy who 
 entered the prison, August 13, 1792, so it proved 
 that NaundorfF could not be the son of Louis XVI 
 and Marie-Antoinette. Let us simply copy the 
 following lines, published in a scientific periodical, 
 concerning the marks or " stigmas " transmitted by 
 parents to their offspring : 
 
 " We find numerous traces of this mark (pro- 
 minent lower jaw) among the members of the 
 French royal family. Louis XVI and Marie- 
 Antoinette both bore the distinguishing features 
 of the House of Habsburg. From this family 
 
358 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 
 
 likeness, M. V. Galippe has drawn an extremely 
 interesting inference, especially important to all 
 those who are interested in the fate of Louis XVII. 
 He considers that the NaundorfFs have not in- 
 herited the prominent lower jaw, and that therefore 
 they are not descended from the son of Louis XVI ; 
 the mark of the Habsburgs should be even more 
 pronounced in their case, as both father and mother 
 bore the distinguishing family marks." ^ 
 
 And yet the vicomte Sosthene de La Rochefou- 
 cauld, after his first interview with NaundorfF, 
 wrote to the duchesse d'Angouleme (November 
 1 6, 1833) : "I found myself in the presence of a 
 man who certainly bore some resemblance to the 
 well-known portraits of Louis XVII and whose 
 features were not unlike the features of the 
 Bourbon family."* 
 
 But who does not know with what facility, 
 after more or less time spent before the mirror, 
 actors manage to resemble any historical personage 
 whom they may wish to represent ? How many 
 have we not seen who, according to Napoleon's 
 contemporaries, could paint their faces to resemble 
 the Emperor ? During the reign of Louis-Philippe, 
 
 * La Nature for November 4, 1905, article by Dr. A. Cartaz 
 on the work by Dr. V. Galippe, member of the Acadkmie de 
 MMecine — L'Hiriditi des stigmates de diglnirescence et les families 
 souveraines, i vol. in 8vo, 456 pages. Masson et Cie., ^diteurs, 
 Paris. 
 
 * Vicomte SosthSne de La Rochefoucauld, Mimoires, vol. v, 
 p. 125. 
 
THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 359 
 
 Gobert of the Thedtre de la Porte-Saint-Martin, and 
 Edmond of the Cirque, became famous for this 
 resemblance. Doubtless NaundorfF, for his part, 
 tried to resemble, as much as possible, Louis XVI 
 and Marie-Antoinette. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Alfieri, 293 
 
 Andign6, Comte d', 275, 277- 
 
 279, 281, 325-326, 329-331 
 Angouldme, Duchesse d'. See 
 
 Marie Thdr^se 
 Antoine, 27-28 
 Artois, Comte d', 74 
 Avaux, Abb6 d', 21, 32, 36, 
 
 38 
 
 Barnave, 34 
 
 Batz, Baron de, 112-114 
 Beauchesne, de, 307 
 Beauharnais, Josephine de, 182- 
 
 183, 188, 195, 324 
 Berry, Due de, 218 
 Billaud-Varennes, 93-94 
 Brentabolle, 124 
 Bruneau, Mathurin, 259 
 
 Calonne, de, 17 
 
 Cambac^r^s, 125, 317 
 
 Cambon, 85-86 
 
 Caraman, de, 302 
 
 Carnot, 290 
 
 Catherine II, 75 
 
 Chabot, 152 
 
 Chambon, 68 
 
 Chamilly, 53 
 
 Charette, Chevalier de, 140, 
 
 255 
 Chaumette, 61-62, lOS, 108, 
 
 288-289,291-297, 299, 308- 
 
 Chenaye, M. de la, 46 
 Choppart, 153, 1 80-1 81 
 Cldry, 59, 65-73, 181 
 Cochefer, Chrostophe, 311 (note) 
 Condorcet, 50 
 Couthon, 108, 310 
 Crappart, 156 
 Cressant, 108 
 
 Danton, 109 
 Decazes, Comte, 332 
 Desault, Pierre Joseph, 141- 
 
 144 (note), 153-155, 180- 
 
 181, 254-255 
 Descloseaux, Olivier, 157 
 Dillon, General, 85-86 
 Domont, 337 
 
 Dufresne, Jean-Franjois, 260 
 Duhem, 1 19-120 
 Dumangin, Dr., 145-149, 153, 
 
 282 
 Dumouriez, 82 
 
 Elisabeth, Madame, 22, 24, 
 32-34, 46, 48, 51-66, 69- 
 72, 78, 82, 104, 106, 109- 
 113 {note), 268 
 
 Enghien, Due d', 188, 286 
 
 Fauconnier, zj^-uyj, 304 
 Finers, Mile. Jeanne, 216 
 Firmont, Abb^ de, 73 
 Fleurieu, Chevalier de, 40 
 Fouch6, 188, 301-302, 341 
 
 361 
 
362 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Fouquier-Tinville, 283 
 
 Garat, 70 
 Gomin, 323-325 
 Grenet, Abb6, 39 
 
 Harmand de la Meuse, 126- 
 
 138, 163 {note), 287 
 Hubert, 82, 103-106, 108, 292- 
 
 297> 305, 308-309 
 Hervagault, Jean-Marie, 256- 
 
 257 
 Hue, 21, 29, 35-36,41-43. 46, 
 
 53, 56-58, 61-62, 141, 155, 
 
 314-315 
 
 Jarjaye, Chevalier de, 76-80 
 
 Lacroix, de, 109, 124 
 
 La Fare, Cardinal de, 278, 325- 
 
 326 
 La Fayette, 23, 36 
 Lasne, 264, 323-325 
 Lasnier, Jacques, 311-312 
 Lassus, Dr., 282 
 Lecoque, 21 1-2 13 
 Legrand, Pierre-Jacques, 312 
 Lepitre, 77-78, 8i 
 Lequinio, 124-125 
 Leschot, Jean-Fr6diric, 248- 
 
 250 {note) 
 Louis XVI, 18-74 
 Louis-Charles (proclaimed Louis 
 
 XVII), 17-74 et passim, 
 
 150-152 {note), 162-169 
 
 {note) 
 Louis XVIII, 74, 156-158, 
 
 267, 332, 336-337 
 LuUier, 83 
 
 Marassin, 215, 258 
 Marie- Antoinette, 19-65, 97- 
 102 {note), 103-107, 268 
 
 Marie Thirhse{Madame Royale, 
 afterwards Duchesse d^Angau- 
 lime), 22-24, 33-34, 37, 48, 
 51-55,59-66,70-72,77-82, 
 104-106, 109, 1 18-1 19 {note) . 
 et passim 
 
 Mathieu, Dr., 121, 287 
 
 Mives, Auguste, 261 
 
 Molleville, Bertrand de, 30-31 
 
 Montgalliard, 321 
 
 Montmorin, 178, 186-188, 
 194-198 
 
 Napoleon I, 341 
 NaundorfF, Karl William, 173- 
 253, 269-270, 339, 357- 
 
 359 
 Nauroy, Dr., 139 
 
 Pelletan, Philippe Jean, 144- 
 147 {note), 148-149, 153- 
 154,159,282,337 
 
 Persat, Victor, 260 
 
 Potion, 45-46 
 
 Pichegru, 188,341 
 
 Pius VI, 186 
 
 Polignac, Duchesse de, 21 
 
 Rambaut, Madame de, 243 
 Reverchon, 287 
 Richemont, 263-267 
 Robespierre, 117, 290-291, 
 302, 308-310, 318, 320, 
 
 354-355 
 Rocher, 48, 59 
 Roederer, 47—48 
 Royale, Madame. See Marie 
 
 "Thithse 
 
 Saint-Just, 310 
 S6chelles, H^rault de, 83-84 
 S6nar, 294-295 
 S6rent, Duchesse de, 33 
 
INDEX 
 
 363 , 
 
 Simon, Antoine, 88-93 {""i^), 
 95-t04, 106-108, 282,292- 
 294, 296, 298-300, 302-305, 
 312 
 
 Simonin, 319-3:^0 
 
 Tarente, Princesse de, 41 
 Th6os, Cath6rine, 115 
 Toulan, 76-79, 81 
 Tourzel, Marquise de, 22-24, 
 33-35, 42, 48,5 i-S3> 60-61 
 
 Tallien, 153, 352 
 
 Vien, 37 
 
RiCHAKD Clav & Sons, Limited, 
 
 BREAD STREET HILL, E.G., AND 
 BUNGAY, SUFFOLK. 
 
I i