RV-'SSiSL? Wlii\«-,«*..7« ■ ^^^^ft »sZ^.v''. ►c:l^'"^^v» sfflt^^ffi* :•-,-■■ o ^^.-.-rr-- .<--,- 137 h33 BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME FROM THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF Henrg m, Sage 1891 ^,....2..^,./..7...-2.^ ......^ 6.::^.jr./.a.f.... DC 137.15.A33"'"'"""^ "^^ 3 1924 024 '293' 619 The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924024293619 MARIE ANTOINETTE AND THE DIAMOND NECKLACE "Audi alteram partem." MARIE ANTOINETTE AND THE DIAMOND NECKLACE FROM ANOTHER POINT OF VIEW.ftU I BY " f!:>;';-^'' F. DE ALB IN I. * "Le devoir de I'histoire est de ne rien adopter l^gerfement; son devoir aussi est de ne rien taire." L. Blanc. LONDON: SWAN SONNENSCHEIN & Co., Limited Paternoster Square 190b 3> PREFACE. The interest shown in this characteristic episode of an epoch fraught with surprises does not seem anywise to diminish ; on the contrary the subject still appears to stimulate curiosity. No opportunity, however, has been offered the general public for forming any unbiassed opinion. To do so, both sides of the question must be examined and canvassed dispassionately, whereas we have hitherto been treated "ad nauseam," to a sort of stereotyped account of the affair, whence any embarassing details, tending to disturb its harmonious context, have been eliminated, or kept carefully in the background. The judicial tribunal in France which took cognizance of the intrigue was, as we well know, scandalously corrupt, and the trial resulted in a miscarriage of justice — as admitted. In short neither was equity satisfied nor the truth fathomed. The author has attempted to supply a want by present- ing to the reader an impartial analysis of the "Affaire du Collier " from another standpoint, so that he may be in a position to form an independent opinion on this "mysteri- ous imbroglio "— as it has been so appropriately entitled. PREFACE. The correspondence of Marie Antoinette and her mother, extracted from the Archives of Vienna, and published by Messrs. Arneth and Geffroy, with which the majority of readers is not acquainted, forms the principal basis of the Part relative to the Queen. These letters throw quite a new light upon the much dejjated subject of her character and proclivities. CONTENTS. Page List of Illustrations ix Authorities Quoted or Consulted. ... xi Introductory xvn PART I. Jeanne de Valois i PART II. The Necklace 39 PART III. The Trial 74 PART IV. The Queen 102 Appendices: Illustrative or explanatory WITH other curious DETAILS 1 63 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. I. The Countess de La Motte, from an original authenticated by herself . . . . Oo face Part I., p. i). ■ 2. The Necklace, reproduced from the original engraving, \ the actual size (to face Part JI., p. jg). 3. The Cardinal, from the original engraving of the period (to face Part III., p. 74). 4. Marie Antoinette, from the original painting by Mme. Vig€ le Bran (to face Part IV., p. 102). i>- AUTHORITIES QUOTED -^ OR CONSULTED. Receuil de Pieces concernant le Cardinal judicial de Rohan, etc. Documents. Consisting of Memoires pour, Reponses pour, Re- quetes, Sommaires, Defenses, Plaidoyers, etc. 28 pieces. Paris 1786. Memoires pour servir a I'histoire des Georgel. evenements de la fin du dix huitieme si^e, etc., par I'Abbd Georgel. Paris 18 17. Marie Antoinette et le proces du Collier, Campardon. etc., par' £. Campardon. Paris 1863. Memoires du Comte Beugnot, etc. Bmgmt. Paris 1866. Affaire du Collier, Chapitre IV, tome 2. Louis Blanc. Histoire de la Revolution Frangaise, par M. Louis Blanc. • Paris 1865. Marie Antoinette et I'intrigue du Collier, Louis par M. Louis Combes. Paris 1876. ^''"^"■ ( An address to the Public explaining the La Motk, motives which have hitherto delayed the '^f'^Z".,. *° the Public. publication of the Memoirs of the Countess 1/ XII AUTHORITIES QUOTED OR CONSULTED. de Valois de La Motte ; which contains a justification of her conduct; and exposing the various artifices which have been used for the suppression of their appearance. London 1789. La Motte, Memoires Justificatifs de la Comtesse de Mimoins. Valois de La Motte, ecrits par elle meme. Imprimes a Londres 1788. Life. The life of Jane de St. Remy de Valois heretofore Countess de La Motte, etc., written by herself. London 1791. La Motte, Memoires inedits du Comte de La Motte- Sf'^"'" Valois sur sa vie et son dpoque, publics L. Lacour. d'apr^s le manuscrit autographe, avec un historique preliminaire, des pieces justificatives et des notes, par Louis Lacour. Paris. Poulet-Malassis 1858. Peucket. Memoires tires des archives de la police de Paris, etc. Paris 1838. d'Abrantis. Histoire des salons de Paris, tableaux et portraits du grand monde, etc. Bruxelles 1837. Coimache. Reminiscences of Prince Talleyrand, edited from the papers of the private secretary to the prince. London 1848. AUTHORITIES QUOTED OR CONSULTED. XIII Correspondance secrete inedite sur Louis am-. Seer. XVI., Marie Antoinette, la cour et la villa, ^""'''■ etc., publi^e par M. de Lescure. Paris 1866. Louis XV. et Louis XVI. Paris 1867. Michekt. Souvenirs de la Marquise de Crequy, par CHquy, le Comte de Courchamps. Paris 1834 — 5, Memoires historiques et politiques du r^gne Souliwi^ de Louis XVI., etc. Paris 1801. Memoires du Comte Alexandre de Tilly. Titty. - Paris 1828. La Bastille devoilee ou receuil de pi^es Bastille authentiques pour servir a son histoirel; devoilee. Paris chez Desenne 1789. The story of the Diamond Necklace. Vizeteliy. London 1867. Histoire de Marie Antoinette — ^Josephe — Montjoye._ Jeanne de Lorraine, etc. Paris 1797. Marie Antoinette et la Revolution Fran- Viel-Casul. gaise, etc., par le Comte Horace de Viel-Castel. Paris 1859. Histoire de Marie Antoinette. Paris 1863. GoncouH. Louis XVI. et sa cour. Paris 1858. A. Renie. XIV AUTHORITIES QUOTED OR CONSULTED. ^ Lafont M6moires secrets et universels des mal- d'Ausonne. ■^^■q^^ gt de la moit de la reine de France, etc. Paris 1836. Campan. M^moires sur la vie privee de Marie Antoinette, etc. Londres 1823. Feuilletde Lcttres et documents inedits de Louis Conches. xVL, Marie Antoinette et Madame Elizabeth. Paris 1864. Berlin. Memoires de Mdlle. Bertin. Paris 1824. ! Besenvai. Memoires de M. le Baron de Besenval. Paris chez Buisson 1805. 1 Croker. Essays On the early Period of the French Revolution, by the Rt. Hon. J. W. Croker. London 1857. Lescure. La Princesse de Lamballe. Paris 1864. Lescure. La vraie Marie Antoinette. Paris 1863. Avenel. La vraie Marie Antoinette, d'apres la correspondance secrete. Paris 1874. V Vienna Correspondance secrete entre Marie The- X^!"" ""^^^ ^* ^^ Comte de Mercy- Argenteau avec les leftres de Marie Th6r^se et Marie Antoinette, publiee par MM. d'Arneth et A. Geffroy.— 3 Vols. AUTHORITIES QUOTED OR CONSULTED. XV Foreign Reminiscences, by Lord Holland, Holland. New- York 185 1. Memoires du Due de Lauzun, 1741 — 83. L.Lacour. Paris 1858. Memoirs of Barras, edited by G. Duray. Barras. 1895. Life of Marie Antoinette. 1886. Prof.Yonges. Essay — "The Diamond Necklace." Carlyk. Receuil de pieces authentiques, secretes, Memoires et interessantes, pour servir d'eclaircissement "* ^'^'^"^"'^ Bassenge. a I'affaire concernant le cardinal Prince de Rohan. Paris 1786. INTRODUCTORY. "Un prelat d'un grade Eminent A degrade si bien son Eminence. Que, pour prouver son innocence, H faut en faire un Innocent." Chanson du Jour (I'jSb). A Queen of France ; a Cardinal of illustrious descent ; and an adventuress of royal extraction ; — such are our leading " dramatis personae" in " a series of the most surprising dramatic representations ever exhibited on any stage." ' Rather more than a century since, the 'l^^- subject of this " serio-comic drama" excited the curios- ity and wonder of an audience embracing the civilized world; and to the present day it remains an historical enigma, bristling with difficulties innumerable, — all vaunted solutions notwithstanding. We propose in the following pages to examine both the orthodox and heterodox interpretations of the affair; and more particularly to criticise the official solution, with a view of testing the soundness of its inductions by an impartial analysis of the " intrigue" as therein represented. ^ > Carlyle. ' The official solution is given at length in M. Campardon's "Marie Antoinette et le proems du Collier" etc. This work is regarded as & sort of Text Book and contains what may be called the orthodox version of the affair. XVin INTRODUCTORY. For such of our readers as are not fully conversant with the nature of this " intrigue" the following brief outline of its leading features may, perhaps, prove useful. ' Jeanne de The adventuress and heroine of our drama Vaiois. is Jeanne de Saint Remy de Valois, a lady descended from a natural branch of the House of Valois, but more generally known as Countess de La Motte, the name she acquired by marriage. Her retuted ^° ^'^ Strength of Royal descent, her favour with family misfortunes and highly romantic the Queen. adventures, Madame de La Motte succeed- ed in establishing throughout the Parisian world a very general belief that the Queen, Marie Antoinette, had graciously interested herself in her future welfare, and had even honoured her with private audiences, preparatory to a public, or official reception ; — further, that the restoration of a portion of her ancestral estates, which had now reverted to the crown, was in actual contemplation and a mere question of time. The prevalence of this belief is not questioned. ' „, „ Our hero is Louis Rene Edouard de The Car- dinal de Rohan, Cardinal, Prince and Bishop of Rohan. Strasbourg, Grand Almoner of France, etc. ; in short one of the highest personages in the kingdom, and sovereign in the German portion of his diocese. His Eminence, in addition to his high birth and posi- tion, was otherwise a very conspicuous individuality; notorious for certain proclivities rather difficult to INTROnuCTORY. XIX reconcile with his sacred calling. The relations well- known to have existed between the Cardinal and Madame de La Motte were of a very tender and intimate nature, and, under such circumstances, her rising favour with the Queen very naturally formed a common topic of their confidences. Being, for some variously explained offence, under the cloud of the Queen's displeasure, which interfered with certain ambitious projects, the Cardinal thought he might utilise the opportunity thus offered, through Madame de La Motte's intimacy with Marie Antoi- nette, by making her the medium of reconciliation and a return to favour. Madame de La Motte, a woman of superior intel- ligence, naturally accepted the role he suggested; and eventually the intercessions of the fair solicitress on the Cardinal's behalf were presumed to have proved successful, since his Eminence was given to understand that he had permission to address the Queen by letter, and submit for her consideration any justification he desired to offer for past offences. The Cardinal did not fail, of course, to The take full advantage of this permission, and a Correspond- regular and very extraordinary correspond- ence ensued, and was continued, through the agency of Madame de La Motte, for over twelve months. The existence of this curious correspondence is admitted; but the Queen's replies are pronounced forgeries. XX INTRODUCTORY. Interview in Be that as it may, the recipient of these the Gardens. ^.^^^^1 ^^^j charming "billet-doux", who never questioned their authenticity, became naturally impatient, even importunate, for a personal interview, which gave rise to certain difficulties and consequent delays; eventually, however, the Countess named a particular evening when the Queen, she affirmed, would if possible accord him a few minutes' private audience in the gardens of the Palace of Versailles. An interview in the gardens undoubtedly took place, though not precisely of the nature the Cardinal had desired. In lieu of Her Majesty a substitute was found to personate royalty, and his Eminence figured, apparently, in the light of a dupe. Theexpiana^ Two widely-different explanations have Hons given, been advanced to account for the fore- going facts. The official solution represents the Countess in the character of a gross impostor, trading on the credulity of the Cardinal from purely interested motives. Her reputed favour with the Queen is pronounced a myth ; the correspondence a forgery ; and the " mystification" in the gardens simply a necessary phase in her system of fraud. Another version— that given by Madame de La Motte— represents the Queen as being behind the scenes throughout, a party both to the correspondence and the "mystification". This scene in the gardens with a fictitious Queen is said to have been planned INTRODUCTORY. XXI at her suggestion; — it is further advanced that H. M. was actually on the ground as a spectator to watch the proceedings, and much enjoyed the absurdity of the situation. The epistolary intercourse in the mean- TheNecklace while continued, and some six months after X'«^^« V" the scene in the gardens we find the Car- the Queen, dinal engaged in negotiating, ostensibly for "^^ •^' the Queen, the purchase of that far-famed diamond Necklace manufactured by Messrs. Boehmer and Bas- senge, and originally destined for Madame du Barry. This magnificent jewel was then valued at some £ 80,000, and according to certain arrangements accepted by the jewellers, this amount was to be liquidated by instalments. The agreement was drawn out in the Cardinal's own handwriting, and signed "Marie Antoinette de France." The Cardinal acknowledges having received this necklace from the jewellers on the ist February, 1785, and declares he delivered it the same day into the hands, as he believed, of the Queen's confidential messenger. The first instalment not being forthcoming at the date agreed on, the jewellers became rather alarmed about their money; — after communicating with his Eminence, who assured them he had received his authority direct from Her Majesty — they preferred their application for payment to the Queen. XXII INTRODUCTORY. Who denies Marie Antoinette thereupon distinctly de- J "f^' nied all knowledge of the negotiation. transaction. Not knowing whom or what to believe, and becoming more and more alarmed about their £ 80,000, Bcehmer and Bassenge eventually decid- ed to bring the matter to the notice of the King. The afifair thus became public. Trial and Submitted to the jurisdiction of Par- Verdict. liament, the trial lasted months. The Car- dinal was acquitted on the grounds of having been a dupe of the Countess, who — it was assumed — had palmed off a fictitious intimacy and forged correspond- ence, a false Queen and supposititious Queen's mes- senger; thereby appropriating the entire necklace. Sentence. She was Sentenced first to be stripped naked and publicly flogged, then imprisoned for life. This barbarous sentence was duly carried out in all its horrors, but she managed to escape from confine- ment with the evident, indeed admitted, connivance of the authorities. ^ The Countess took refuge in England, and there published those curious "Memoires Justificatifs " which constitute in fact her defence and contain her version of the intrigue. '^ ThequesHon It wiU be Seen at once from the fore- st issue. going sketch that the whole question hinges on the possible implication of the Queen. 1 See Appendix VII. 2 See Appendix I. INTRODUCTORY. XXIII Was she, or was she not, in any way mixed up in the affair? This theorem was inadmissible in 1785, being regard- ed as too sacrilegious, too impious to discuss. Yet the argument, after all, resolves itself into a question of probabilities, and must be canvassed irre- spective of persons, and apart from any partialities of sentiment which interfere, so sadly, with all historio- graphical accuracy. MARIE ANTOINETTE AND THE DIAMOND NECKLACE. PART I. JEANNE DE VALOIS. " Madame de La Motte avait-elle ^t^ r^ellement admise dans rintimit^ de Marie Antoinette ? Les lettres qu'elle remettaieut au Cardinal, ^taient-elles vraies ou sup- poses?" Z. Blanc. "Ou est la v6rit6? C'est la question qu'on est oblig6 de se poser a chaque pas daus celte malheureuse affaire, ou tout n'est qu'incertitudes et contradictions." L. Combes. Jeanne de SaINT-REMY de VALOIS de Jeannede Luz, the celebrated Countess de La Motte v^iois. Her of necklace notoriety, was of illustrious and ances- descent, issue of the blood-royal of France trai gran- through a natural son of Henry 11. of Valois. Her ancestors, the Barons de Saint-Remy de Valois, had resided for about two centuries at Bar- sur-Aube in Champagne, lords of several manors and broad domains, — comprising the estates of Essoyes, Fontette, and Verpilliere. ^ 1 "Immenses propriet^s" — writes Beugnot. This Count's Memoirs contain much valuable information regarding the subject of our inquiry. He was behind the scenes during a great portion of the time that the events described occurred, and has thrown considerable light upon certain parts that have been designedly obscured. I 2 JEANNE DE VALOIS. At the period when our story opens, how- Subsequent '^ destitution ever, all this grandeur was but a dream and misery ^f ^^ . ^^j ^a.^ ]^^^^ succeeded by of the family. . , ,, . the most abject destitution with all its concomitant miseries. The last baron, Jeanne's father, 1762. died in the "hotel-dieu " at Paris, his mind for some time previous having wellnigh given way under its weight of degradation and sufferings. He left his children — there were then three, two girls and a boy — the heritage of beggary, with some old genealogical title- deeds, — sole item saved from the family wreck. The children Vagrancy became thus their doom, and vagrants. public charity their sole means of existence. Their surviving parent — a woman of considerable personal attractions, but of utterly worthless character — made beggary a profession, sending the unfortunate children into the streets to solicit alms of the passing public. She traded, in short, on their royal descent and present destitution; on the sympathies excited by their piteous tale and touching appeals for aid. A soldier, with whom this woman had subsequently formed a connection, took up the trade. He appro- priated the titles and impudently solicited charity as the Baron de Valois. Condemned for fraud and sen- tenced to five years' banishment, this self-constituted step-father disappears from the scene, and with him also disappeared their most unnatural mother, who heartlessly deserted her children, leaving them, almost naked, to the mercy of strangers, or to starve. JEANNE DE VALOJS. Theit royal descent and titles recognised by Louis XVI. The wretched orphans were, ultimately, Madame de befriended by the Marchioness de Boulain- Boulain. ■' w 2 liters villiers, who may be really said to have shelters the picked them out of the gutter. This ben- '"t'"'"'- evolent, warm-hearted lady proved a second mother to the young castaways; — took them home, clothed and .educated them, and stood their constant friend and benefactress as long as she lived. Under her sheltering wing the children grew up. Whenever their interests, — and more especially the future of her favorite Jeanne, the elder daughter, — were under consideration, neither trouble nor expense was ever spared. Through her influence at Court the strong claims of this young family upon royalty, for protection and provision, were brought eventually to the notice of the throne. The young "baron",' who was then serving as lieutenant in the navy, was presented to Louis XVI. ; the royal descent of the family was recog- nised, and they were authorised to take the name and assume the " armes-brisees " of Valois. ^ Their birth thus publicly acknowledged, the grant of some provision, suitable to their origin, devolved naturally upon the state. Owing to a fortunate coincidence 1 Brevet of 27 June, 1777. In 1786 he commanded the"Surveil- lante" and was decorated with the cross. 2 Lafont d'Aussonne. Jeanne was designated, at the same time, Mademoiselle de Valois, and her sister Mademoiselle de Saint-Hemy. See also "The Story of the Diamond Necklace", by H. Vizetelly. Scandalous provision by the Govern- 4 JEANNE DE VALOIS. some of the old family estates had lately reverted to royalty, therefore— as Beugnot points out, — the King had only to forego his claim upon this property to be enabled to restore to the Saint-Remys some portion of their ancient patrimony; but unfortunately there was no question of any restoration or even of a provi- sion adequate to their recognised position. To Made- moiselle de Valois was granted a pension of 800 frs. — a pittance hardly sufficient to provide the necessaries of existence, and decent clothing. This "scandalous thirty pounds"— as Carlyle calls it, — was mistaken economy ; such miserable parsimony on the part of the king exhibited a strange inconsis- tency of conduct, not to use any stronger expression. It seems, indeed, to have been his intention to get rid of these unwelcome claimants upon the royal bounty by driving the son into the Church, and his sisters into a convent. Threats would appear to have Longckamps been even employed to induce the sisters i77S—g- to take the veil. ' But a life of seclusion was not at all suited to the tastes of Mademoiselle Jeanne. Her ruling ambition was to regain some of her ancient patrimony — an ambition undoubtedly fostered by Madame de Bou- lainvilliers who never failed to utilise every available opportunity of promoting its realisation. In 1779 we 1 "Ainsi s'eteinJrait honorablement une famille qu'on ne pouvait produire ^ un plus grand jour sans faire coQtracter au Roi I'obligation de lui fournir une fortune proportion^e h. son origine." Beugnot. JEANNE DE VALOIS. 5 find the two sisters at Bar-sur-Aube, the Bar-sur- home of their infancy, bent on gathering " ^' '^^^' all possible information touching the "biens de sa famille", as Jeanne explains, by instituting inquiries on the spot. Shortly after their arrival here, a certain Ma- dame de Suremont appears to have offered the sisters a temporary home on economical terms, with an_ additional attraction in the society "un peu libre" that frequented her house. ' We can easily understand that the young damsels found this offer, and the incidental free and easy society, very much more to their taste than a conventual life. Here it was that the Count Beugnot first made the acquaintance of the fascinating Jeanne, and quickly became so completely subjugated by the spells of the fair enchantress that his father, dreading the ma- trimonial results that seemed imminent, hurried him off post-haste to Paris. Here too it was that Jeanne found, in M- <* ^<^ the nephew of her hostess, her future hus- band M. de La Motte, — a person of good family and descent, but, unfortunately, of little or no means. She describes him as " elegant in person and polished in manners," which description was apparently just, since M. Lafont d'Ausonne, who met him in 1829 • Beugnot. 6 JEANNE DE VALOIS. when quite an old man, acknowledges his distinguished bearing and manners. ' Maniage At the time of the marriage, which took June 1780. place within twelve months, M. de La Motte was serving in the " gendarmerie", then the first cavalry regiment in France and refuge of the poorer nobility. All the privates ranked as ofificers and wore the cross of Saint Louis. ^ He was subsequently appointed to the regiment of Guards of the Count d'Artois, through the interest of the Baron de Crussol, son-in-law to the Marchioness de Boulainvilliers. ' It is clearly evident that the means of Death of ' Madame de existence of this young couple must have Bouiainvii. been extremely limited, in fact they ap- ' parently started with little capital beyond their wits to fall back on, and this not very brilliant pro- spect was, shortly afterwards, still further obscured by the death of the Marchioness, who fell a victim to small-pox. ■* This was, of course, an irremediable loss to Jeanne, who again found herself cast, as it were, adrift upon the world, burdened with an illustrious origin and, in 1 "Sa mise elegante et soignee, ses maniferes parfaitement polies, son salut distingu6, parlait en sa faveur", — and M. d'Aussonne was not the person likely to exaggerate any of his advantages moral or physical. 2 Beugnot. ' In the "brevet" of 1784, raising the pension of Madame de La Motte to 1500 frs.) her husband is designated: "Sieur Comte de La Motte" Premier Memoire pour^ etc. * She died in the arms -of Madame de La Motte, who tended her throughout the attack, with the tenderness and devotion of a loving daughter JEANNE DE VALOIS. 7 addition, an impecunious husband, and without any means of supporting her position with even decency. We have been so far dealing (as briefly as possible), with the antecedents of Madame de La Motte before any question of a presumed intimacy with the Queen, and its consequences, was on the "tapis." We now proceed to take into consideration the circumstances more imme- diately leading up to, or connected with, this intimacy and the subsequent purchase of the diamond necklace. The position that Madame de La Motte Madame de occupied in society first claims our attention La Mom's as being one of those points that have po"f'on in been so studiously misrepresented by the party interested in discrediting her life, and it is only comparatively lately that we have been in a position to correct some of the old false-colouring. Although now, as we have seen, thrown once more upon her own resources, Madame de La Motte was no longer without allies to fall back on. Madame de Boulainvilliers had made a point of introducing her to many friends, more particularly to friends at Court whose position or influence she thought might prove useful and beneficial ; the houses of persons of distinc- tion, we learn, were thrown open to her ; she reckoned among her acquaintances people of rank, m. Renee and interested numerous protectors. ' "" *^" ^''d- ' "On s'interessait a. cette femme, dernier rejeton d'une branche royale, a qui la monarchie n'assurait pas meme du pain: aussi les relations ne lui manqu^rent point." A. Renee. 8 JEANNE DE VALOIS. Beugnot From Count Beugnot, her old suitor, who ttto i-jSs. ^^g intimately acquainted with her goings- on in Paris and elsewhere, we glean further informa- tion on this head. The tone of her house — he says — and the society she both received and frequented were decidedly good ; he enumerates some of the persons he was in the habit of meeting at her table, remarking that he only refers to those details in order to correct one of the errors committed in representing Madame de La Motte as a contemptible adventuress of no social position. ' Viscount Barras, who was one of her intimate ac- quaintances, writes, ^ "Baron de Valois, a naval officer, introduced me to his sister, the Countess de La Motte; she was beautiful, good, and kindly, and reputed to enjoy great influence; she kept up an extensive establish- ment and entertained largely" . . . "She proposed to me to marry her sister. This union was about to take place when the course of events prevented it. Madame de La Motte went to Court, and lived in fine style." There is in fact abundant evideflce forthcoming to establish the fact that Madame de La Motte was— as ■ This was not only a misrepresentation, but very bad policy ; since the lower the position Madame de La Motte held in the social scale the more inconceivable would appear the Cardinal's credulity. The only shadow of excuse for his belief in her story was founded on the hypothesis that she was, from position and descent, o. person likely to have been distinguished by the royal favour. ' Memoirs of Barras^ edited by G. Dumy, 1895. JEANNE DE VAI^OIS. 9 she asserts — well received by the leading society of the day. She was an "adventuress" undoubtedly; but what drove her to that calling? She was no adven- turess either by birth or by choice, but an object of much sympathy in 1776, when her royal descent was recognised by "that scandalous thirty pounds"! Her life, in fact, had embraced so much of the strange and romantic element in its past, that it attracted general attention, and her position evoked much commiseration even from the highest quarters. Madame Campan admits that she was Mndame "protected to a certain extent by Madame, Campan's admissions, belle-soeur du Roi". Madame de Provence ^nd Viz- it also appears, brought her case to the eteiiy. notice of the Queen, who we are told— "was about to yield to the impiression it made upon her sensibility" when the King interposed with a veto. Talleyrand is very clear on this point. Talleyrand He represents Jeanne de Valois as having «">" '^f''"'- friends at Court devoted to her cause and thoroughly convinced of her innocence. He testifies to the interest exhibited by Marie Antoinette and by Madame EHza- beth, the King's sister; further adds that the Queen had the greatest desire to see Madame de La Motte, and was only prevented receiving her at Court by express command of the king, ' who resisted, in this instance, the wishes both of the Queen and of his sister. ' He therefore corroborates Madame Campan. ' Colemache. lo JEANNE DE VALOIS. Due de The Due de Penthievre, we learn, always Penthievre. ghowed Madame de La Motte the most marked attentions. She was dining at Chateau Vilain, the duke's seat, shortly before her arrest, and on her departure the duke escorted her as far as the door of the second salon — an honour he always reserved for princesses of the blood. ' Among the autographs of M. F. de Guines and Conches' collection, figures a letter dated Baron de Sept. 13th, 1/85, written by Madame de Crussol. T ht 1 • 1 • • ■ . La Motte dunng her imprisonment in the Bastille. It is addressed to the Due de Guines, one of the Queen's most distinguished favorites, ^ and is "couched in terms of extreme familiarity", as M. de Conches observes. There is likewise a letter from her to the Baron de Crussol, who ' was a member of the Queen's select society at the little Trianon. , We therein see the familiar style in which she was in the habit of corresponding with him, and the very intimate character of their friendship, which had also been one of long standing. • Beugnot. 2 "Toujours si particuli^rement protege par la Reine" Vienna Correspondence. 3 "Cette lettre" — writes M. F. de Conches — "est une demande de continuation de secours, ou, si I'on veut, une lettre d'amour interress^, pleine de tendresse et d'un tour agrfiable dans certaines parties ... la La Motte y parle de la Duchesse de Duras, qu'elle compte de voir la semaine prochaine. C'est une bien vertueuse et digne femme; je la verrai seule. Le public ne doit en ?tre instruit, ce qui pourrait faire causer, attendu qu'il m'a ^t6 d6fendu de ne voir persoune, crainte que je ne parle." Vol. I. p. 171. JEANNE DE VALOIS. ii We see that the Duchesse de Duras, "dame du palais" to the Queen, had made arrangements for a private interview with the condemned in the prison of La Salpetri^re, and — what is certainly suggestive — only a short time before she effected her escape from confinement, an escape confessedly connived at. ' Besides the duchess, other ladies of position, moving in the first society, visited Madame de Valois when in prison. The Princesse de Lamballe, we are told, present- ed herself, more than once, at La Salpetriere on kind offices intent, evidently an emissary from the Queen. ° It is undeniable, in short, that Madame de La Motte moved in good society, interested numerous friends, and had warm and influential supporters in the. back- ground. The notice, indeed, that her birth, misfor- tunes, and romantic adventures attracted, only served to increase the difficulties of the situation. She was drawn, by the sheer force of circumstances, into a position she had not the means, without extraneous assistance, of supporting. Wealth, with all that its possession commands, and to emerge from obscurity — that was the dream of ' It is also worthy of note that in this intimate communication with her friend we find very pointed allusion to one of the complaints she subsequently publicly advanced — the jealous precautions taken to prevent her indulging in any inconvenient liberties of speech, to shut up her mouth in fact. ^ Bertin, Lafont d'Ausonne, Blanc, Lescure. 12 JEANNE DE VALOIS. her life, and her wild struggles to realise this dream coloured her whole existence. And realise it she undoubtedly did. This brings us to the next question under Her means ° of existence dispute : — viz. her means of existence. Her and source gj-yj^ gf living betokened a command of of affluence. . .„ money, even exhibited a certain affluence; it becomes, therefore, important to consider the sources whence this affluence sprang. Retuted ^^ '^ unquestionable that what M. Renee "gaiian- euphemistically calls "la gallanterie" was tertes.' ^^^ of the means employed to further her ends. ' Her morality was the current morality of the day. It was an era of feminine intrigue; women owing their influence to the prevailing moral deprav- ity, and quite unscrupulous as to the means whereby they acquired power. Society revelled in an atmosphere of corruption, and few of its votaries could venture to cast the first stone, or offer, perhaps, the excuses Madame de Valois might advance in extenuation of • their conduct. She has been credited with several lovers; prob- ably — as is pretty generally the case— the list has been exaggerated. Personally highly attractive, and of singularly captivating manners, she was fully alive to the effects of her "irresistible fascinations," and ' "Tourment^e par I'ambition d'uQ sang m^conmi, elle s'agitait, avec un sorte de rage, pour sortir I'obscurit^ ; elle y employait tout ce qui etait k son usage, — I'intrigue et la gallanterie"- JEANNE DE VALOIS. , 13 doubtless exercised these powers to the greatest pos- sible advantage. It is hardly probable that the Count j^^y^ d'Artois, the king's brother, who figures the Count on the roll of her admirers, was suffered rtois. to sue in vain. He has, indeed, been indicated as the channel through which she succeeded in approach- ing the Queen. Anyhow, from his character, posi- tion, and well-known intimacy with Marie Antoinette, he was a wooer Madame de La Motte would think it worth her while conciliating and winning over to her cause ; and since her husband, in his Memoirs, alludes to the Count's " tentatives pour m'enlever mon epouse," there appears to have been some foundation for the pretty general "on dit." From the tone of her letters to the Baron The Baron de Crussol, it might be presumed that he was a favored suitor as well as a fast friend to the last. The nature of the connection that existed riie Cardi- between Madame de Valois and the Car- naideRohan. dinal de Rohan cannot be mistaken or questioned, though his partisans and the Church party tried, natur- ally, to ignore the scandal. Beugnot clearly estab- lishes the fact, which indeed was publicly accepted at the time. ' ' He had an opportunity of reading some of the letters de Rohan was in the habit of writing to her. "It is fortunate," he tells us, '' for the memory of the Cardinal, that these letters have been burnt, it is, at the same time, a loss for the history of the human passions. 14 JEANNE DE VALOIS. Mademoi- As grand Almoner the cardinal had the selk^ Vaiois control over a million and a half to assist makes his acquaint- "la noblesse pauvre", and the Marchioness ance. (jg BoulainviUiers, shortly before her decease, had introduced her favourite to this prelate, and solicited in her favour his interests and sympathy. Here was a protector of the character, position, and means exactly suited to the present requirements of Madame de La Motte, for though no immediate results followed that introduction, Madame Jeanne evidently came to regard him subsequently in the light of a very promising ally, who might perhaps prove a stepping-stone for her ambitious projects. ' Madame de Vaiois was by all accounts a very attractive and fascinating woman, with personal advantages undoubtedly striking. Fine and expressive deep blue eyes, with dark well-arched eyebrows; mouth rather large, but garnished with admirable teeth; . a profusion of chestnut hair; complexion remarkably fair and clear — "of dazzling whiteness"; beautiful hands and small feet; an "ensemble" that one can easily imagine, as indeed is acknowledged, might prove irresistible. She seduced all she came ' The Prince de Rohan was scandalously notorious. This high dignitary of the Church, cardinal, bishop of Strasbourg and Grand Almoner, — writes M. Droz — retained at the age of 50 " tous les gouts d'une jeunesse dissolue"; — certain portions of the funds entrusted to his keeping as Almoner, for distribution in aid of the unfortunate, he turned aside to feed his debaucheries. M. A. Ren^e is equally explicit: — "Dans tout le sibcle il nes'^tait pas vu UQ pr^lat de moeurs plus effrontSes." JEANNE DE VALOIS. 15 across; "her enchanting smile went straight to the heart." ' Such were the batteries she prepared now to open upon the doomed cardinal, and the result could scarcely have appeared the least doubtful. Count Beugnot had at one time favoured the Coun- tess with his views and opinions as to the best method of soliciting alms. Such are only effective — he main- tained—from a carriage, or from the church doors. Being essentially a practical woman, Jeanne thought she would utilise this advice by securing the loan of his carriage and footman for her contemplated visit to his Eminence. This appeared to offer a very favourable opportunity for testing her friend's theories in a highly convenient manner. And the result proved eminently satis- Madame de factory. Her first interview only lasted interview half an hour, but promised well — was "full withthe Car- ol hope" for the future. The second took ^""^ ' '"^ ^' place shortly after, at his Eminence's express invitation, conveyed in a "billet doux" of a very affectionate character, and terminated as was intended I Madame Jeanne found herself complete mistress of the situation. Here we have, undoubtedly, the real Beugnoes origin of Madame de La Motte's apparent "''^""'"y- command of money, and to this prolific source it was attributed by the general public. This view of the ' Beugnot, Michelet, Talleyrand. i6 JEANNE DE VALOIS. subject is fully borne out by Count Beugnot, whose testimony has all the weight due to an eye-witness and one admittedly behind the scenes. He does not mince matters, but directly attributes her affluence to the intimate character of her relations with the Car- dinal, and tells us further that "subsequent events only tended to confirm this opinion." The Con- ^"*- *^'^ would not, of course, suit the writ- ventionai ers on the conventional side, who maintain, '°^^' on the contrary, that prior to the summer of 1784, Madame de Valois was living in a state of abject destitution, and that her subsequent opulence originated in the fraudulent misappropriation — first of a sum of 50,000 frs., then of a further sum of 100,000 frs., and finally from the plunder of the necklace, all due to the Cardinal's "extreme creduUty." Dates therefore become here a question of much importance, since August 1^84. is indicated as the epoch of her first swindling transaction, and command of money. Let us examine how far the data supplied by these writers support their theory. Targefs ^^ '® admitted by the Cardinal's advocate, admissions. M. Target, that as far back as 1782, when i-jSz-fj 3. liyiug in furnished apartments at the Hotel Rheims, the de La Mottes kept a footman and a jockey, two or more women servants, and their private carriage ; thus exhibiting " le faste mal-adroit de la mis^re", since their sole resources consisted — as represented — of a pension of 800 frs. and the occasional charitable JEANNE DE VALOJS. 17 donation of a few louis from the Cardinal's benevolent purse. ' Better quarters are taken and occupied the following year; but the "aisance apparente" of this estab- lishment, in the rue Neuve-Saint-Gilles, which cannot be controverted, is represented as " an augmentation of their real misery". In addition to a carriage and four servants, we find reference to half a dozen silver dishes, which certainly figure rather awkwardly as indicating abject destitution. ^ M. Campardon, the great orthodox ^ Camtar- authority, follows suit and represents the don's admis- de La Mottes as regular beggars previous """'' to the summer of 1784; but it peeps out that, in addition to those indications of comfort and ease already cited, these reputed paupers had also a country villa at Charonne. The latest author on the subject under Vizeteiiy on •consideration, Mr. H. Vizeteiiy, similarly """'"'^J"'- exhibits Madame de La Motte as living from hand to mouth, without means or credit, with the prospect of beggary looming in the distance ; with the wolf at the door, and no bread to eat but that of charity; • The " benevolent" donations of the Cardinal were thus limited by his advocate, with the double object of exhibiting Madame de La Motte without means, while covering his client's unclerical relations with her. ' This " silver service " was borrowed from a friend, the Baron de Bienvilliers, who seems to have had no hesitation in trusting it to the keeping of these "paupers" for even six months. 2 i8 . JEANNE DE V ALOIS. on the eve of finding herself driven into the streets and highways again to implore charity, in the name of Valois, of the passing stranger. To avoid this disagreeable prospect it is suggested she becomes a liar and forger, and is preparing to become a thief. Yet the same writer acknowledges that in the summer of 1783 — or twelve months before the pre- sumed fraud — the de La Mottes undoubtedly exhib- ited a certain display in their style of living in their spacious apartments in the rue Neuve-Saint-Gilles, a quiet and very respectable street consisting entirely of private houses. They had, at the same time, apart- ments at Versailles in the Hotel de Jouy. In the spring of 1784 they had removed to the Hotel de la Belle Image, one of the most aristocratic quarters of the royal town, where all the apartments were of a very superior class. The "service of silver" is mentioned, and they are credited with their "habitual extrav- agance." The foregoing is certainly no picture of misery and indigence inducing crime; yet so far we have been dealing only with the admissions of the strictly con- ventional school. When we seek for more disinterested testimony we get considerable light thrown upon what has been left designedly obscure. TalUy- Prince Talleyrand met Madame de Valois rand's des- one evening at supper at the Hotel-Cardinal. criph^ in ^]^jg ^^g jjj jj^g2_ Q^ g^riy i^ 1783, at the time she was prosecuting her suit with each JEANNE DE VALOIS. 19 successive minister for the restoration of the family estates. He was much struck with her persuasive and fascinating manners, and the Princess de Guemenee, who was present, and had been much prejudiced against " cette intrigante " — as she called her — softened gradually under the irresistible charm of her manner, and even invited her to meet a party of influential friends at her own apartments the following evening. Talleyrand describes her at this supper as covered with jewels, her diamonds rivalling in beauty those of the princess, and this display was exhibited while speaking of herself as " une pauvre solliciteuse," to whom a miserly Government would only grant the beggarly pension of 800 frs. ' From Count Beugnot we learn that pre- Bemnots vious to the date of her presumed fraud in description the August of 1784, the de La Mottes 'IJ^/J""' rented, not apartments, but the entire house in the rue Neuve-Saint-Gilles, where they lived sump- tuously and kept their carriage. He and a certain Madame Colson, — a relative of Madame de La Motte, living with her as a sort of " dame de compagnie " — had been in the habit, whenever they met, of cri- ticising their extravagance, — an expression evidently implying extravagancies of some standing. Moved, perchance, by the pardonable 1784. vanity of displaying her newly acquired wealth midst ' Colemache. 20 JEANNE DE VALOIS. the scenes of her early miseries, she wrote to the Count, then down at Bar-sur-Aube, (1784) totheefifect that she purposed spending a short time there and had sent on in advance her horses, wardrobe, etc. In due time, we are told, a heavy-laden waggon arrived, drawn by a fine team and followed by two saddle-horses of great value. The steward in charge makes requisitions sufficient to have victualled the best house in the place for months. The de La Mottes arrive subsequently in an elegant "berline", preceded by a pair of outriders. The Count Beugnot is invited to supper; a supper served by four footmen in liveries covered with gold lace. The service of silver is perfect and of the latest design. Madame Jeanne dresses in a style indicating excess of magnificence, her person sparkling with diamonds, of which she had a splendid set, and in addition an equally fine one of topazes. This display was in August, 1784. It may have been convenient, perhaps Some of the ■" ' r sr Cardinal's necessary for the Cardinal to plead imbecil- munificence jj-y rather than acknowledge the real source to Jeanne. , . , , . whence Madame Jeanne derived this com- mand of money, but Beugnot, who has no such motive for hiding the truth, is very explicit on this head. He informs us that 126,000 frs. had been supplied to Madame de La Motte from the funds of the Grande- Aumonerie, and 30,000 frs. in addition from the Car- dinal's private resources. These 1 50,000, together with JEANNE DE VALOIS. 21 further subsequent advances, — "secours sans mesure sur la Grande-Aumonerie" — render absurd the pretence that she was driven to forgeries or theft in order to avoid beggary. Had she wanted more it was to be had — we are told — for the asking. ' Tlys fact has been studiously ignored by interested writers, since it annihilates the convenient argument based upon Jeanne's presumed poverty as the motive for crime, and exposes a priestly scandal. The crude fact, however, is not to be gainsaid. Instead of being, as represented, the needy recipient of the Cardinal's " benevolent charities" Madame de La Motte was sumptuously provided for out of the funds of the Grande-Aumonerie, supplemented by intermediate ad- vances from his private purse. ^ We now come to consider the question ^^^ reputed of Madame de Valois' reputed intimacy intimacy with Marie Antoinette. ^' Queen. Was it a fiction or a fact? Through all the vicissitudes of her eventful youth Jeanne never lost sight of her primary object, — the recovery of the Fontette estates ; and in all her in- triguings and manceuvrings we can trace clear indi- cations of the design she had formed of trying to interest the Queen on her behalf. She never let slip ' "EUe aurait pu exiger davantage; le temps des refus 6tait deja bien loin." Beugnot. - Michelet, Droz, Beugnot. The denial by the Cardinal that he had ever supplied any funds to support the display exhibited by Madame de La Motte formed the real basis of her ruin. 22 JEANNE DE VALOIS. any opportunity which she imagined might conduce to that end. During the supper at the Hotel-Cardinal, to which we previously drew attention, she contrived — we are told — to extract a promise from Prince Talleyrand to interest his mother to further her aims on this head. His mother was then a "dame du palais." But in the chief design she had in view, of gaining personal access to the Queen, her most valuable ally she undoubtedly found in the Cardinal. „, „ , From causes that have been variously, The Queens •' animosity though never satisfactorily, explained, and against the which it would be outside our object to Cardinals discuss here. His Eminence had incurred the animosity of Marie Antoinette. ' It remains even uncertain at what precise period this angry feeUng arose, but it undoubtedly existed. The Cardinal, whose ambition centred in the ministry, was in de- spair; his only path lay through the Queen, and his chances of success, therefore, appeared hopeless, un- less he could somehow dispel this prejudice. He had already made more than one fruitless attempt, and now fancied he saw a more promising opening through Madame de Valois, if she could only gain the royal ear as she hoped. Their views in fact were identical and culminated in the Queen. Dinner at Bcugnot, who had proved eminently use- the'-'-Cadran ful in Confirming the genealogy of Madame Bleu," 1782. ^g Valois and preparing her "Memoire" > See Appendix No. 2. JEANNE DE VALOIS. 23 for presentation to the King, gives the most amusing description of a "tete-a-tete" dinner at the "Cadran Bleu", which came off very shortly subsequent to her second interview with the Cardinal. Quite elated by the very signal success of her attack on the episcopal fortress, and with an excess of candour most enter- taining, Madame Jeanne gives her friend to understand that, while duly appreciating and grateful for all his past services, such was no longer the description of assistance of which she stood most in need. She sought counsel of a different kind. She wanted to find out the best way of getting at the Queen and the Comptroller-General. She intended — she said — to reside permanently at Versailles, to be on the spot ready to avail herself of any opportunity that might offer of interesting the Queen in her favour. She needed advice as to what she ought to do under such circumstances, and what not to do; how to weave a good intrigue and carry it out successfully, etc. For this "role" she naively gives Beugnot to understand she did not think he was quite up to the markl This curious example of their friendly confidences contains important information, and comes from excel- lent authority — none better. It fully corroborates Madame de La Motte's own Memoirs, wherein she points out how the Cardinal encouraged and urged her on in her endeavours to approach the Queen. We see that very shortly after their acquaintance commenced, she was actively engaged in prosecuting 24 JEANNE DE VALOIS. her designs regarding the Queen, and carrying them out practically; not bent on inventing — as has been pretended — a fictitious intimacy, and " entering boldly on a career of imposture by trafficking on a credit that had no foundation, by seUing an influence which she could not exercise ". ' Her aims and intentions, we see, were bona fide, and centred in the Queen. Beugnot's testimony is quite conclusive on this point. Did she succeed? Madame de La Motte retails at some length in her Memoirs, how she found herself incessantly thwarted in all endeavours to gain access by indirect means to the royal presence, owing to the jealousies that then surrounded the throne and rendered abortive every successive attempt; how, when utterly disheartened, by repeated failure and humiliating repulses, she was eventually persuaded by the Cardinal to hazard what he called a "coup d'eclat" — apply direct to the fountain head, throw herself at the feet of the Queen and plead her own cause "in propria persona". Madame de The Cardinal's secretary, the Abbe Vaiois pre- Georgel, corroborates this statement. " luion 7o the Seizing the first convenient opportunity Queen, znd that offered, success — so she asserts — at '■'7 4- length crowned her perseverance. The Queen, already — as we have seen — very favourably disposed, was as condescending and gracious as could 1 Vizetelly. 2 Son Eminence lui conseilla de s'adresser directemeut a la Reine. JEANNE DE V ALOIS. 25 possibly have been hoped, and promised her petition for the restitution of her ancestral estate an attentive consideration. The practical Jeanne, with characteristic First pH- energy, followed up this first success by a ^"'^ '"'"'' views. written appeal for a private audience, which was graciously conceded, and carried into effect through the medium of Madame de Misery, first lady of the chamber. "Adieu, nous nous reverrons"; such were the part- ing words of Marie Antoinette, at the termination of an eminently promising interview, which took place in the apartments of Madame de Misery. A second audience followed in due course, and was succeeded by others. Her Majesty, we are told, gave Madame de Valois to understand that, from considerations of a personal nature, she would be unable to espouse her cause publicly, but would indirectly render all the aid in her power. She further suggested that Madame de Valois should send for her brother, who, as head of the house, was the proper channel through which any petition for restitution of the estates should pass. ' Such is the account given by Madame de La • We must bear in mind that the Queen had previously shown a disposition to take some interest in Madame de Valois, though the King's "veto" had prevented it assuming any practical shape. She might, therefore, be readily conceived willing to carry out privately, if the opportunity presented itself, what she had been unable to do in a public or official manner. 26 JEANNE DE VALOIS. Motte of the origin of her relations with Marie Antoinette. Observa- There are two points in this story that tiomonfore- demand attention. Madame de La Motte going state- ^^^^^ Madame de Misery as the medium mint. of communication, and we have unquestion- able evidence that this lady was just the sort of person to have lent herself to an intrigue of this kind, and Madame de assisted in the way described. The Austrian Mtsery. Ambassador, Count Mercy d'Argenteau, tells us he had been obliged to intervene on several occasions to restrain the indiscretions of this lady, who had quite a "penchant a I'intrigue". From him we learn she had previously induced Marie Antoinette to grant audiences to certain ladies who solicited favours, the receptions taking place in the apartments of Madame de Misery. ' This lady, therefore, had evidently a vocation for the role Madame de La Motte assigns her, and it is clear it would not have been a very extraordinary or unprecedented circumstance for Marie Antoinette to have granted a private audience to Madame de La Motte in the apartments of Madame de Misery, as the former maintains she did. The caution Again, Madame de La Motte tells us regarding that an imperative injunction was imposed -^ Madame.:- j^y ^j^g (^^^^^ as the price of her goodwill. ' Vienna Correspondence. JEANNE DE VALOIS. 27 The interviews were to be kept a profound secret, not even excepting, indeed notably from, " Madame." ' "It is important to observe" — she continues — "that Her Majesty, in speaking of ' Madame', made use of expressions of an extremely unfavourable character; laid special stress upon the duplicity of that princess ; recommended me not to put any trust in her; not henceforth to confide my affairs to her keeping, even counselling, me not to see her at all : — counsel I could only interpret in the light of an express prohibition." Now this caution regarding "Madame" attributed to the Queen by Madame de La Motte happens to coincide exactly with the private opinions entertained by Marie Antoinette respecting her sister-in-law. These opinions have been fully laid bare in the same work (Vienna Correspondence) where the disgust " Madame's " duplicity excited is expressed in no very measured terms. We see, therefore, that Madame de Valois' medium of communication was the very person of all others most likely to have acted in that capacity; also that the language put into the Queen's mouth really ex- pressed Her Majesty's private opinions and sentiments. These coincidences are very remarkable if we are to regard the whole thing as a myth. Its very general acceptance, fully admit- ^'*« ^'«'''- . . . , ,. ^ . macy accept- ted, argues m favour of the reality of its ^^ ^^ a/a^; existence. by the public. ' "'Madame' protected her to a. certain extent" at this time, as we learn from Madame Campan. 28 JEANNE DE VALOIS. Camfardon. M. Campardon acknowledges that the belief, so commonly entertained, in Madame de Valois' private influence with Marie Antoinette, was the cause of her being run after by " crowds of people, with avidity." Vixetdly. Mr. Vizetelly writes that a motley group of suitors in search of places, appointments or patro- nage, the redress of real or imaginary grievances, etc. would wait in her antechamber for an interview, and then supplicate her intercession in their favour; further that it was on the strength of this wide-spread belief the unfortunate jewellers solicited her influence with the Queen, to induce Her Majesty to purchase their magnificent necklace. Target. Target admits "she deceived the whole world on this point." Campan. And Madame Campan acknowledges it is quite impossible to understand how Madame de Valois contrived to make the public believe, as she certainly did, that she was "une amie de la Reine." Beugnot. Beugnot likewise testifies to the pre- valence of this belief. The general public of Paris seems never to have questioned the reality of her relations with the Queen, and it is almost impossible to comprehend how any fictitious intimacy of the character thus described, could have been palmed off upon the public for a length of time, as pretended, without detection. JEANNE DE V ALOIS. 29 The Cardinal, anyhow, thoroughly be- The secret lieved in the reality of these relations correspond- from first to last, ' and one can, therefore, '""' readily picture how anxiously he watched the rising pulse of this private intercourse, and urged Madame Jeanne to seize some favourable moment for introduc- ing his name and pleading his cause. The Memoirs of Madame de La Motte go on to explain how this was eventually brought about, though . the endeavour at first produced no satisfactory results, so irradicable appeared the prejudice of the Queen. Some time having elapsed unmarked by any progress to- wards the desired end, the Cardinal, at Madame Jeanne's suggestion, hazarded the effect of a written solicitation for an interview, receiving in reply a verbal permission to write and justify^ if he could, his past conduct. This justificatory epistle is dated 4 April, ^ and elicited, eventually, a few lines of acknowledgment from the Queen. This led of course to a rejoinder, and thus originated a most curious correspondence, extending over twelve months and consisting, it is said, of over 200 notes. 1 Intimately connected as he was with Madame de La Motte, and directly interested on this point, the argument advanced by the Church party, that he was grossly taken in, seems too absurd, even were there DO other evidence forthcoming against it. 2 It is given at length in the Memoirs of Madame de La Motte, who also gives a few of the presumed notes from the Queen, which, passing all through her hands, she found an opportunity of copying before handing them on to the Cardinal, who made away with the originals when arrested. 30 JEANNE DE V ALOIS. r,, The existence of this correspondence is not Observa- "^ tions thereon questioned. It is admitted that the whole by various intrigue would, otherwise, be stripped of writers. & ! > rr- all probability, be devoid of common sense. Campardon The Queen's replies, however, are pro- ""'^ nounced forgeries, the handiwork of Wz- Georgel. i tt i • dame de Valois. L. Lacour. " It is difficult," as M. Lacour replies, " to comprehend so extended a series of forgeries on the part of a woman, ' spirituelle' certainly, but, only a short time since, entirely ignorant of the language of the Court; forgeries addressed to a distinguished diplomatist; a man master of various attainments; an 'habitue^ of Versailles from his youth upwards; a person of eminence who had every facility, as well as the greatest interest, to make sure he was not imposed upon. How explain that such a fraud could have been carried out, an entire year, without the Cardinal detecting the imposition?" Louis Blanc. Again: — "Are we to conceive that, writ- ing and receiving such letters — ' lettres d'amour,' the Cardinal never sought for further successes, or at least to verify the success he had achieved f With constant access to Versailles, and frequent opportunities of crossing the path of the Queen, are we to suppose that, month after month, not one word was ever drop- ped, not a sign or allusion made to these letters, — and to such letters ? But a word would have exposed the whole fraud." JEANNE DE V A LOIS. 31 The climax of absurdity is reached when we are asked to believe that throughout the continuance of this most extraordinary correspondence — wherein the Queen expresses herself in terms of unequivocal in- terest, confidence, familiarity and affection, — she con- stantly exhibited a " freezing aversion " for the Cardinal and kept him strictly at a distance. Not a word or sign when they met, indicative of any return to favour. ' It is difficult to accept such glaring inconsistency of conduct except on the hypothesis of some secret understanding, which a public demeanour of coldness was intended to cover; — a r61e in which Marie An- toinette was undoubtedly proficient, as we shall see by and by. ' When we come to consider the arguments Authorities advanced to rebut 'the suggestion of any '"^ein^tacv intercourse having existed between Marie Antoinette and Madame de Valois, we find they consist of pure negations. Mr. Vizetelly, in support of the Queen's Vizetelly. personal denial, names Lacretelle, Besenval, Lauzun and Campan, "as people likely to be well-informed on the subject;" — not a very happy selection. Without questioning in any way the " truth j^. Lacre- and honesty" of M. Lacretelle, it is sufficient "'^'■ to observe that he only speaks as to his convictions, not to his personal knowledge. 1 Vizetelly. " Part 4. "The Queen." 32 JEANNE DE VALOIS. Besenval. Besenval does not say a word about the intimacy. In fact Besenval's star had set, his hour of favour passed away. He was not then in the Queen's intimate confidence, so could not have any direct per- sonal information to give on the subject. Lauzun. I.auzun was also, in his turn, now left out in the cold, and since his Memoirs terminate in 1783, they could scarcely contain any allusion to an intimacy which commenced subsequently. Campan. Madame Campan certainly denies it ; the value, however, of her uncorroborated testimony is highly questionable. ' The Queen, in the present instance was, we must bear in mind, on her defence. Under such circum- stances she would certainly deny what it might be dangerous or imprudent to acknowledge. The Arneth Correspondence leaves no doubt on this head. " • Mr. Vizetelly further argues: — " that it is impossible to believe in this intimacy for a single moment, since those who lived in the Queen's service and society were unanimous in maintaining that the Countess was never once admitted to the Queen's presence." This is very sweeping, though slightly indefinite; but since the intimacy was presumed to be clandestine, the Queen's more immediate surroundings would have been precisely that portion of her society from whom it was to be kept a profound secret. Had Madame ' See Appendix, No. 3. = See Part 4. "The Queen." JEANNE DE VALOIS. 33 de Misery been cited as an authsrity in denial, or Mademoiselle Dorvat, — both named by Madame de La Motte as privy to the intimacy, — it would have been more to the point. ' No satisfactory evidence, or even convincing argu- ment, has ever been advanced against the possibility of this intimacy and correspondence. We are asked to reject them as inadmissible, as a pure fable, and yet this "fable" is at the same time declared to have been of so extraordinary a character, so difficult, not to say impossible, to have been invented and carried through, that this argument has even been urged as a plea in favour of the Cardinal : — that it was scarce- ly surprising he should have accepted it for gen- uine ; that he could hardly have been expected, under the circumstances, to have questioned its reality. ^ In other words the reality would have seemed less inconceivable than the "fable"! ' One of the most interesting and amusing fhe episode incidents in relation to this intimacy and "f"^' ^'■Bos- correspondence, their first-fruits, indeed, as 1 7 4- regards the Cardinal, was the episode of the "Bos- quet ". It was not of course to be expected that his Eminence would rest contented with any mere epis- tolary intercourse. Personal communication with the 1 Besides Madame de Misery and Mademoiselle Dorvat, Madame de La Motte names some half dozen others who were privy to her relations with the Queen, none of whom have been cited in denial. 2 Target. 2 See Appendix, No. 4. 3 34 JEANNE DE VALOIS. Queen was his aim and the subject of constant soli- citations, and the persistence he showed on this point resulted in an admitted fact, though of a nature far more akin to fiction, — that extraordinary midnight rendezvous in the gardens of Versailles. Madame Madame de La Motte represents the farce de Valois' ^g owing its origin to an intended test of version "/^ ,_,,.,, ,. the '■'■mysti- t"^ Cardmal s discretion — he was quite noto- fication." rious for his indiscretions — before the Queen would venture to risk the chances of a private re- ception of his Eminence. To this end, the idea of foisting a personal substitute for royalty occurred to the Queen, who suggested that Madame de Crussol should play the part, and arranged the whole plot, even fixing on the spot in the Gardens where the meeting should take place. Originally conceived as a test of the discretion of the Cardinal, the Queen soon came to regard the intended " mystification" in the light of an amusing comedy, and determined to be present as a spectator on the occasion. Mademoi- A personal representative having been seiled'Ohva. decided on, and the original selection of Madame de Crussol being regarded, on consideration, as injudicious, a Mademoiselle d'Oliva was hunted up and chosen to personate royalty. ' 1 D'Oliva or d'Olisva, was an assumed name, the anagram of Valois, under which Madame de La Motte temporarily disguised a certain Mademoiselle Marie Nicole le Guay, of rather dubious antecedents. JEANNE DE V ALOIS. 35 The scene that subsequently took place in the gardens of Versailles would be pronounced incredible, had it not been judicially authenticated; it was more like an act in some comedy. The spot selected was a retired and shady bosquet, and the hour midnight. A man, wrapped in a mantle, hat well over his brows, advances with stealthy and cautious tread towards a presumably-royal lady, who, in a few gracious words, assures him the past is for- gotten, the future hopeful, and, in token thereof, presents a rose. The favoured recipient presses the flower to his bosom, and mutters a few broken ex- pressions of acknowledgment and gratitude, gently raising and imprinting a kiss on the daintiest of feet. Suddenly, on an alarm of approaching footsteps, the scene vanishes, the actors disappear. ' The spectators retired separately, all perfectly satis- fied with their night's entertainment. The only disputed point is whether the j^^ ^^^ Queen was or was not present as a spectator. Queen pre- The account of the affair as given by ""*^ Madame de Valois is circumstantial, and the testimony ' The depositions of d'Oliva confirm the statement of Madame de La Motte, that it was she, Madame de Valois, who warned the actors of approaching footsteps, and not Villette. This is an important point. The Cardinal had an object in bringing Villette upon the stage and making him "un des principaux acteurs de la scene de la d'Oliva." But the role here attributed to him is contradicted by the depositions of Villette and Madame de'La Motte, likewise by Mademoiselle d'Oliva. Campardon, p. 77- 36 JEANNE JDE VALOIS. of the chief actors substantiates to a certain point, her statements. The fair representative of royalty, the false Queen, gives in her depositions some details, in reference to the presence of the real Queen, that are very remarkable. She testifies that the instructions of Madame de La Motte,— while conducting her to the place of rendez- vous — were as follow: — "Vous remettrez cette rose, avec la lettre, a la personne qui se presentera devant vous, et vous lui direz seulement: — 'Vous savez ce que cela veut dire.' "La Rein'e s'y trouvera, pour voir comment se passera votre entrevue. Elle vous parlera. EUe est la. Elle sera derri^re vous," etc. It appears therefore, that the actual presence of the Queen was a prominent feature in the programme. Madame de La Motte pointedly told this witness that the Queen would be present during the interview; even directing her attention to the spot where Her Majesty was actually then waiting to watch the proceedings. ' Now these pointed and precise details in reference to the intended presence of Marie Antoinette, which are ignored by interested writers, were quite super- fluous for the carrying out of the plot. Except on the hypothesis that the Queen was an actual spectator they were meaningless and absurd. 1 M. Campardon evidently found this portion of her deposition embarrassing, not easy to explain, so he omits altogether to notice it! JEANNE DE V ALOIS. 37 Another point in the deposition of this witness invites attention. She says she returned to Paris from Versailles "dans une voiture de la Cour." This remarkable evidence has never been gainsaid or explained, — simply passed by in silence 1 ' "La farce etait jouee et la Reine s'etait amusee," writes Madame de La Motte; but since she asserts that, following the suggestions of her husband, she had previously revealed to the Cardinal the motive of the plot and the intended presence of a supposititious Queen, the farce would seem to have been played out with Marie Antoinette for dupe, instead of de Rohan, who simply lent himself with very good grace to the contemplated deception, hoping that, by hu- mouring the fancy of the Queen, he would reap a plentiful harvest of«royal favour in return. This inconvenient, though highly natural, view of the " mystification " is of course ignored ; yet consid- ering the obligations under which Madame de Valois stood to t|ie Cardinal, and the very intimate nature of their connection, such betrayal of the Queen's plot was almost obligatory. Perfectly conversant, as was 1 Les La Mottes disposaient done des voitures de la Cour, eux qui, assure-t-on, n'y etaient pas admis ! " "Comment explique-t-on cela? Mais on ne I'explique pas. On se borne k le passer d^daigneusement sous silence et tout est dit." Louis Combes. Madame de La Motte maintains that portions of this really honest witness' depositions have been suppressed or changed, and "La der- ni^re pi^ce du fameux Collier", from the pen of a thorough anti- Valois author, contains an observation of similar character. 38 JEANNE DE V ALOIS. the Cardinal, with the Queen's appearance and bearing, the contemplated imposition would have seemed too hazardous for her to risk, too open to detection. Mere prudence, therefore, if no other motive, would have suggested the necessity of taking the Cardinal into her confidence in the manner she and her husband have explained. ' This appears the only conceivable solution of the "Bosquet" farce, in which— as Michelet observes — "there was nothing improbable; on the contrary it was quite in harmony with the well-known tastes of the Queen." • The Count writes: — "Le Cardinal ftait instruit du role que Mademoiselle d'Oliva allait jouer." "Lettre du 22 Sept. 1790, trouv^ parmi les papiers du roi." Soulavie '^ . Georgel post-dates this scene in the park twelve months. Madame de Campan is altogether silent on the subject! Reproduced from tlie original. J actual size. PART II. THE NECKLACE. "Faites attention k ce miserable Collier, je ne serais nuUe surpris qu'il ne renversat le trone." Tal/eyrancf. "A glorious ornament, fit only for the Sultana of the world. Indeed, only attainable by such; for it is valued at l,8oo,cxjo livres; say in round numbers and sterling money, between eighty and ninety thousand pounds." Carlyle. We now make a plunge in " medias res". The past, with its fictions or €acts as the case may be, was but the prologue serving to introduce our leading " dramatis persons". We now come to the drama itself. If what has gone before somewhat taxes our comprehension, what has to follow will certainly not lessen the strain. The Cardinal is officially represented an imbecile, in order that Madame de Valois my appear in suffi- ciently black colours. We have seen him exhibited as swallowing, through an apparently "insatiable gul- let", the fictitious intimacy, fictitious correspondence, fictitious Queen ; — and, on the strength of these fables, pouring untold wealth into the lap of the fair enchant- ress who wove the magic spell that prostrated his intellectual faculties. 40 THE NECKLACE. Again are we called upon to assist at an exhibition of infantine credulity, of all-unquestioning faith, — a faith so blind, indeed, that it accepts the absurdest of signatures for the genuine sign-manual of royalty, and, on the strength of such flimsy authority, surrenders, into the hands of some imaginary envoy the most superb jewel the world had ever beheld. " O sancta simplicitas" 1 The Neck- Carlyle has given a highly figurative lace. description of this unique production, suffi- cient to set every woman's imagination in a blaze and her mouth watering. To complete the picture we have that more prosaic and rare engraving of the "gor- geous gem " published at the time of the trial, and still to be occasionally met with, figuring among the judicial documents. ' This "parure merveilleuse " was originally designed for Madame du Barry : — " that foul worm, hatched by royal heat, on foul composts, into a flaunting butterfly ; now diswinged and again a worm 1 " as Carlyle de- signates, with more of strong-flavoured metaphor than politeness, or refinement, the then reigning favourite -of the French monarch, Louis XV. "le bien aim6." Unfortunately for Madame du Barry, and also for MM. Bcehmer and Bassenge, jewellers, who owned this wonderful jewel, their mutual patron, the fifteenth Louis, inopportunely died. ' Each brilliant there appears in its natural form and size. (In Author's collection.) THE NECKLACE. 41 His death we are assured, by His Reverence the Abbe Georgel, was more orthodox in character and more edifying than had been his life, which morally left much to be desired. Having made the " amende honorable" to God, and exhibited a praiseworthy devotion of three days' duration, this royal pen- itent "fell asleep in the Lord," — as the Abbe ex- presses it. " Asleep in the Lord, Monsieur I'Abbe I " exclaims. Carlyle. "If such a mass of Laziness and Lust fell asleep in the Lord, who, fanciest thou, is it that falls asleep —elsewhere ? " The necklace was thus thrown on the hands, of the jewellers, and jewellers have, as a rule, an eye to business. No poetical phantasma did this jewel present to their matter of fact vision, but just so much capital sunk and labour profitless. It was not, therefore, sur- prising, but only natural under the circumstances, that they should turn their eyes towards that fair young girl who had now become Queen, in the hope that she might be inclined, or induced, to relieve them of this truly royal adornment. These hopes had, apparently, some legi- "^^^ Queen's i- , t . r i,r • A passion for bmate grounds to rest on, for Mane An- diamonds. toinette had "a fantasy" for jewelry, "a passion for diamonds." ^ That a young girl should have a rage for jewelry ' Vienna Correspondence. 42 THE NECKLACE. is not strange; that a new and rather wilful Queen, should indulge her humours and fantasies is only natural; that she should run into considerable extra- vagances is not very surprising. These and other tastes of Marie Antoinette are not inexcusable, far from it; — but it is quite inexcusable that facts should be systematically distorted, and that "gouts fastieux" should be transformed, by certain clever historical romancers, into — " une sirapUcite pastoralfe." ' In reply to her mother's remonstrances on the sub- ject of her diamond extravagances, Marie Antoinette simply expresses surprise that so much fuss should be made. about "pareilles bagatelles." Nature of Madame de La Motte was accused, and the quesHon. eventually convicted, of having induced the Cardinal de Rohan, by false pretences and represen- tations, to purchase the necklace ostensibly for the Queen ; and of having then, deceitfully and artfully, obtained possession of it from the Cardinal and ap- propriated it to her own use. How the How was the necklace acquired? and Necklace j^^^ disposed of ? These are the first points was ' '■ acquired, to take into consideration. ^ • Within two years of becoming Queen her extravagances had reached so high a pitch as to call for serious remonstrances, even to necessitate an appeal from, the Austrian Ambassador for her mother to interfere. Her "gout de d^penses", her "d^penses dfisordonu^es " were dangerously affecting her renown and the financial distress of the state. Vienna Correspondence. 2 See Appendix No. 5. THE NECKLACE. 43 According to the depositions of the jew- Depositions ellers, the preliminary proceedings were as °^ *^' J''^' follow : — Towards the end of December 1784, one Achet, an officer in the service of "Monsieur", the king's brother, and an old friend of the jewellers, deputed his son-in-law Laporte to sound the friendly dispositions of a certain "Dame de Valois, qui avait acc^s aupr^s de sa Majeste la Reine, qui deignait Thonorer de ses bontes." Laporte happened to be rather intimate at the time with Madame de Valois, and the appeal was made, admittedly, at the immediate request of the jewellers, ^ with the avowed object of soliciting her interest to move the Queen to purchase the necklace. The result did not prove quite so satis- ist appeal to factory as could have been desired. The "^' ^'""f "* lady "etait indecise si elle ferait cette necember demarche." She showed, however, some nS4~ natural curiosity to see the necklace. The jewellers were, of course, only too 2nd appeal delighted to satisfy her curiosity, and ac- ^9''* ^"^■ cordingly Achet, accompanied by Bassenge, the junior partner, took the necklace on the 29th December, to the residence of Madame de La Motte, and again solicited her interest with the Queen; but Madame de Valois would give no positive promise, explaining ' "A la prifere des joailliers". Target. 44 THE NECKLACE. that, however much she might desire to be of use to Bassenge, she did not like mixing herself up in the matter. 3rd appeal Three weeks passed by without the 21 January jewellers hearing anything further on the subject, and they naturally concluded that Madame de Valois did not choose to move in the matter. They expressed their disappointment to Achet and urged him to send Laporte again to see whether Madame de Valois could not be induced to vouchsafe a more favourable response. ' In reply to this third application Madame de La Motte requested the jeweller to call, and she informed Achet and Bassenge, on their arrival, that she had reason for thinking that they might eventually suc- ceed in disposing of their necklace, and would prob- ably receive more news in the course of a few days. She could say nothing further on the subject at present, she mysteriously added, but cautioned them to take every possible precaution in respect to any arrange- ments the negotiator, " un tres-grand Seigneur," might propose. Observa- From the foregoing account of the prelim- tions on the jjjary steps in the negotiation, which we depositions of the jew- have extracted from the jewellers' own eilers. " M6moires," we glean some important facts. Three applications were made by the jewellers to • They told Achet that they would willingly give a thousand louis to anyone who should succeed in negotiating the sale. THE NECKLACE. 45 Madame de Valois, to solicit her interest in their favour. The motive of these appeals was the very general belief entertained of her intimate relations with the Queen. The chief medium of communication was an officer in the service of the king's brother and about the Court; not likely, therefore, to have been easily duped by any simulated intimacy. In reply to the first two appeals Madame de Valois declined to make any move in the matter. An interval elapses of three weeks, unmarked by any sign on her part. On a third apphcation being then made by the impatient jewellers, Madame de La Motte gives them some hope, but cautions them to be very circumspect in their dealings in case of sale 1 ' It is perfectly clear that the idea of employing Madame de Valois as a medium of intercession with the Queen, originated with the jewellers. They took the initiative, sought her; and she figures in a purely passive role throughout. For what took place during the interval of three weeks, between the 2nd and 3rd appeals, and for very much of all that subsequently occurred, we are unfor- ' If Madame de La Motte contemplated appropriating the necklace, why should she care to caution the jewellers? Why did she thus place an obstacle in her path calculated to risk the success of her plot? The easier the terms, the easier would the plunder have fallen Into her hands. Provided the Cardinal got the necklace, would she have cared whether the jeweller got his money or not? 46 THE NECKLACE. tunately obliged to fall back upon the statements of the Cardinal and Madame de Valois. Statements ^^ ^ general rule the assertions of both of the Car- Madame de La Motte and the Cardinal ^Madam"de ^°'^'^ ^^ regarded as equally untrust- VaioU equal- Worthy, and only admitted when supported ly suspicious, jjy collateral evidence, or very strong pro- babilities. By comparing the stories of these two confederates we may be enabled sometimes to decide, or form an estimate, as to their relative claims to verisimilitude; but it is manifestly unjust when both defendants were evidently, indeed confessedly, lying to the very best of their abilities, to admit the mere "ipse dixit" of the Cardinal as conclusive evidence against Madame de Valois. Version of ^^^ account given by Madame de La Madame de Motte of the preliminary proceedings does ""*■ not differ materially from the depositions of the jeweller. She then goes on to say that nearly three weeks having elapsed without any allusion to the subject of the necklace, the circumstance had well-nigh passed out of her mind when the Cardinal happened to drop in on a visit. He wore on his finger a remark- ably fine diamond, a recent purchase, and this led the conversation to the necklace she had so lately seen. Madame de La Motte continues : — "Whereupon I told him nearly all I have just THE NECKLACE. 47 related, relative to the solicitations of Laporte, Achet, and Boehmer. "The Cardinal paid great attention and showed some surprise, observing 'Cela est tres singulier; en avez-vous parle a la Reine?' '"Non, je n'ai pas voulu m'en charger.' " ' Infiniment singulier que ces gens se soyent adresses a vous. Et ils vous ont dit savoir que la Reine avait grande envie de ce collier.' '"lis me I'ont dit.' "'J'ai quelques raisons de le croire.' "The Cardinal then, rather abruptly, changed the conversation." Two or three days afterwards the Cardinal applied to her for the address of the jewellers ; whereupon, turning the matter over in her mind, she wondered whether His Eminence, whose embarrassed state of affairs was rather notorious, might be possibly con- templating "ce qu'on appelle une affaire," — in other words procuring the necklace on credit, with the design of converting it into ready money, — and becoming rather alarmed lest she might be compromised in any way, having given the jewellers' address, she decided to give them a private caution, of the nature they have described in their depositions. This step she looked upon as an act of mere pru- dence on her part. Let us now turn to what the Cardinal ^. ^t' ^'"■" dinars ver- says on the subject. «<;». 48 THE NECKLACE. He declares that on his return from Saverne, on the Sth January, Madame de La Motte showed him a note from the Queen, ' in which her Majesty expressed herself as being desirous of acquiring the necklace, but privately, and not wishing to enter personally into any of the details of purchase etc., that it would be agreeable to her if the Cardinal would undertake the necessary arrangements, and fix the epochs for payment, as might be most convenient. "II crut sans balancer; il se prepara done a obeir, et n'apergut qu'une occasion precieuse de marquer son respect et montrer son zele." So pleads his advocate, M. Target. Georgel says the Cardinal was summoned by letter from Saverne specially for this object, and " His Eminence longs for wings that he may ex- 1 The Cardinal on his defence, pretended that the Queen's notes were addressed to Madame de La Motte, in fact denied having ever corresponded with Marie Antoinette. Campardon says: " Le Cardinal pr^tendit que Madame de La Motte lui montrait des lettres de Marie Antoinette a elle adressfes; que ces lettres contenaient les ordres qui I'avaient d€termin6 a acheter le collier." The Cardinal's advocate excuses this subterfuge as "une n6cessit6 de position." Georgel acknowledges that the Cardinal, when in the Bastille, was much troubled as to what had become of his letters to the Queen, and confessed that their nature was such that they were alone sufficient to compass his destruction. BeuRnot, who assisted in destroying innum- able letters and papers of Madame de Valois, the eve of her arrest, did not come across a single one of these letters; this would rather indicate they had reached their intended destination. THE NECKLACE. 49 ecute the Queen's commission with the greater despatch." This letter conveying the summons has never, of course, been forthcoming, and as regards the Abbe's metaphorical wings, it is evident, when we come to deal with facts, the Cardinal adopted a very singular way of manifesting his vaunted eagerness. Arriving on the Sth January, as we have seen, he did not open any negotiations till the 24th; taking, in fact, about three weeks to make up his mind whether he would or would not seize this precious opportunity of ex- hibiting his respect and zeal. However, at the expiration of nearly He opens the three weeks, namely on the 24th January, negotiaHom the Cardinal makes his appearance at the g " establishment of MM. Boehmer and Bas- senge, and asks to look at "divers bijoux;" the jew- ellers of course taking advantage of the opportunity to exhibit their necklace. The Cardinal then mysteriously opens negotiations; acknowledges he is commissioned to inquire the lowest price that would be taken for the necklace; that it was not for himself, and that he was not sure he would be permitted to name the purchaser, in which case he would make "des arrangements particuliers " ; but his instructions were to treat with Boehmer alone. On the manifest impossibility being pointed out, of com- pleting so important a negotiation with only one of the partners, the Cardinal said he should be obliged 4 50 THE NECKLACE. to refer for further authority, and the interview came to an end. ' Two days afterwards the jewellers are view., 26th sent for, when the Cardinal informs them January. j^^ -^^ permission to treat with both, under, however, the express condition of the greatest secrecy. A -etment ^^^ terms of the agreement, drawn up in signed (for the Cardinal's own handwriting, are there- sgth Jan.) upon duly signed by the jewellers, " sous la date du 29 Janvier," or three days in advance,— why so? No explanation is vouchsafed 1 The Neck- On the 1st February, 1785, or five days lace deliver- ^fter the agreement was signed, both jew- ed over to . ,_,,.,,.... Cardinal ist cUers Wait upon the Cardmal by invitation, Feb. zjSs. and hand over into his keeping the neck- lace. He then, for the first time, acquainted them of the circumstance that the Queen was the real pur- chaser, and exhibited the Agreement " approved" and signed, "Marie Antoinette de France." This doc- ument, he explained, he should have to keep in his own possession, and, in support of what he said, showed the jewellers part of a note, folded so that ' This restriction is remarkable. The Cardinal's referee was either the Queen or Madame de Valois, according as the correspondence was genuine or a forgery. We know that Marie Antoinette had on previous occasions transacted business with Boehmer; this might account for her being desirous that any private transaction should be negotiated solely through him; but why should Madame de La Motte give any such limitation? She was not even personally acquainted with Boehmer. THE NECKLACE. 51 they could only read the following words : — " je n'ai pas coutume de traiter de cette mani^re avec mes joailliers. Vous garderez ce papier chez vous et ar- rangerez le reste comme vous le jugerez convenable." This note, he told them, was from the Queen. ' The acquisition of the necklace was a " fait accompli", and by the terms of agreement the first instalment of 400,000 frs. was to be paid in August. * The Cardinal's advocate starts by advanc- , , The non- mg that " a criminal hand had certainly descHpt sig- traced the characters of an august name nature and 1 1 ■ < ,. , its origin. m order to obtam, by means of that name, a rich suite of diamonds." The signature, therefore, is forged in order to obtain possession of the necklace. But it is equally urged ' that the name of the Queen was never mentioned by the Cardinal until after he was in possession of the necklace. Of course, under such circumstances, the signature would have been useless to him, and the evident object of his advocate was to show that the sig- nature was forged subsequently by Madame de Valois to deceive the Cardinal, and thus induce him to part with the jewel. ' Deposition of Bassenge. ' The secret negotiation is completed in February 1785, and the appointment, by the Queen, of Bcehmer to the post of Crown jeweller is dated March, 1785. The coincidence is curious. ' "Pour obtenir le Collier, il n'a point parle de la Reine. Quand il le possbde, il en parle pour la premibre fois." Target. 52 THE NECKLACE. This argument, however, will not bear the slightest scrutiny. The jewellers signed on the 26th and the bargain was complete. Why then was not the necklace at once handed over to the Cardinal? Why was the Agreement dated the 29th, i. e. three days in advance, and the necklace not delivered up till the ist? Why this unnecessary delay of five days on the part of one "so impatient to execute his commission with the greatest despatch"? Madame de '^^^ answer is plain enough ; the jewellers Vaioi^ did require the signature of the Queen. expam tons .pj^^ caution of Madame de La Motte had and confes- sions regard- borne fruit, and they refused to part with tng tt. ^jjgjj, necklace unless the Queen's signature was appended to the document ; so the Cardinal had to bring the Agreement to Madame de Valois, to convey to H. M. for signature. The Queen, however, refused to sign though it was submitted twice with that view. Hence the delay of five days! The second refusal, however, was accompanied, Madame de La Motte explains, by certain observa- tions on the part of H. M. of an ambiguous, if not suggestive, character; anyhow, Madame de La Motte interpreted them after her own fashion, since she con- fesses to having got Villette to affix the "approuve" and nondescript signature, without, however, attempt- ing to imitate the Queen's autograph. This latter point is admitted. THE NECKLACE. 53 It is unnecessary here to discuss the excuses Ma- dame de La Motte offers for her conduct in this matter. We are not defending her acts, but simply inquiring into facts without criticising their morality. We leave that to the students of ethics. It is quite enough for our purpose that Madame de La Motte acknowledges having suggested the nondescript auto- graph and having got Villette to execute it; the Cardinal joining, as an accessory, in thus deceiving the jewellers who were unacquainted with the or- dinary signature of the Queen. Yet it is pretended that His Eminence himself accepted the same for genuine. This signature is pronounced "absurd" "grotesque"; the result of " the grossest ignoravce" and only serving " to expose the duplicity" of its iflventor. The imposition, in short, is palpable to everybody — except the Cardinal 1 His advocate is forced to admit that this was "simply astounding." Rather too astounding indeed for belief. The plea of innocence on the part of the Cardinal is inadmis- sible. He was evidently an accomplice as Madame de Valois maintains. The Cardinal, we see, received the neck- 7.^^ ^^^^. lace in its integrity. What became of it? la" handed Into whose hands did it fall when it passed JJJ^ ^~ out of his keeping? This point still remains a mystery unsolved, all vaunted elucidations notwithstanding. 54 THE NECKLACE. The Cardinal offers the following explanation: On the same day he received the necklace he took it to Versailles to deliver to the Queen. Arrived there, he goes — in accordance with instructions, genuine or spurious as the case may be, from the Queen, — to the apartments of Madame de La Motte. The myste- Very shortly afterwards, ' an envoy is rious envoy, announced on the part of H. M., and bearer of a note. His counsel explains what then occurred, thus : "Le Cardinal se retire, par discretion, dans une alcove a demi ouverte; I'homme remet le billet; la dame de La Motte le fit sortir un moment, se rap- proche de M. le Cardinal, lui lit ce billet portant ordre de remettre la boite au porteur. On le fait rentrer, la boite lui est livree, et il part. ^ "M. le Cardinal croit y voir le dernier acte d'une commission fidelement remplie." The Cardinal, therefore, had come from Paris to deliver the necklace in person to the Queen; but no sooner does her messenger present himself than His Eminence hides — "par discretion." Yet he at once confidingly hands over to this person the equivalent of one million eight hundred thousand francs. Who was the messenger? Did the Cardinal know the individual whom he so confidingly trusted? 1 "Peu de moments aprfes." 2 This "lui lit ce billet " is amusing. Was it also "par discretion" that the Cardinal did not think of reading the note himself!'! THE NECKLACE. 55 Driven here into a corner by questions he did not wish to answer, the Cardinal explains that he imagined him to be the same person, "habille en noir", who warned the actors in the "bosquet" comedy of the approach of "Madame" and the Countess d'Artois. The Cardinal thus endeavours to bring Villette upon the scene, but — as we have already seen — he took no immediate share in the mystification proceedings; moreover, the Cardinal himself supplies the best proof that this envoy could not have been Villette. When asked to describe his personal appearance he completely contradicts his previous deposition by giving a description quite the reverse of Villette. This is admitted. ' The description, in fact, answered to that ^■*« Q«ien's of Lesclaux, the Queen's confidential valet. Lesdaux. This, of course, was a very awkward dif- Contradict- ficulty, a difficulty only to be met by trymg „ry exfiana- to invent some plausible explanation ; con- twns. sequently it is suggested Villette might have been disguised so as to resemble the Queen's valet. M. Campardon starts by boldly asserting that the messenger was none other than Villette in masquerade ; "whom Rosalie, Madame de La Motte's lady's maid, admitted that same evening at 1 1 o'clock." ' The ' " It is trae that a striking difference existed between the individual described by the Cardinal, and Retaux de Villette." Vhttelly. 2 "A qui la femme de chambre, Rosalie Briffault, ouvrait la porte ce soir-la a onze heures et qu'elle introduisait dans I'appartement." Campardon. 77. 56 THE NECKLACE. hour of delivering over the necklace, therefore, must have evidently been after 1 1 p. m. Let us see how this explanation agrees with facts as detailed by Campardon himself, by Georgel, and by the Cardinal. Campardon makes use of the expression "vers le soir" for the time the Cardinal arrived at the apart- ments of Madame de Valois, and then proceeds to tell us that he had scarcely entered^ when Madame de Valois announced the arrival of the Queen's con- fidential valet. Georgel relates that the Cardinal — duly advised of the hour named for the delivery of the necklace — entered the apartments of Madame de Valois "le premier fevrier sur la brune". The text of the Queen's note, making the appoint- ment, named 9 o'clock, ' and the Cardinal's version introduces the envoy "peu de moments aprfes". It is, therefore, manifestly impossible to bring Villette upon the scene of the delivery of the necklace since he did not enter the house till (11 p. m.) long after it had been handed over to the keeping of the Queen's envoy. ' Every attempt to identify this man with • "Etait a peine entr^." 2 "This evening at 9 o'clock you must be at the Countess' house with the casket, and in the usual costume. Do not leave till you hear from me." Vhttelly. Is not the expression "in the usual costume" curiously suggestive of prior meetings? a "Vers le soir", "sur la brune", of an evening in the month of February, can scarcely be extended to II at night! THE NECKLACE. 57 Villette has signally failed. The Cardinal, Georgel, Campardon, d'Oliva, Villette and Madame de Valois,— all depose or contribute evidence to prove the contrary. Madame de Valois maintains that the Cardinal was perfectly well acquainted with the envoy, who was none other than the " valet-de-chambre de confiance de la Reine", and that he received the casket from the Cardinal's own hands. ^ From this point of view the entire aspect of the transaction changes, and becomes intelligible, and natural. The Cardinal hands over the necklace to a well-known trustworthy agent; the absurdities vanish, and we can more readily recognise "le dernier acta d'une commission fidelement remplie."' The necklace vanished, never again to The calm re-appear. Month after month glides by ^'f"^' '>^' storm. Without, apparently, any suspicions arising to disturb the general satisfaction and perfect security of all who were interested in the affair. The Cardinal indubitably believed the necklace had passed into the possession of the Queen. He neither doubted the personality of the envoy nor the reality of the trans- ference. This point forms the essence of his defence, and all his subsequent actions are in unison with such ' M. Louis Blanc writes: — "Le messager ^tait valet-de-chambre de la Reine, il se nommait Lesclaux, et I'on doit supposer que le cardinal le connaissait puis qu'il lui remit sans hesitation, sans information prise, sans regu sign^, uDe bolte qui ne contenait pas moins d'un million six cent mille livres." 58 THE NECKLACE. conviction, — a conviction that remained unshaken to the very last. The Cardinal believed, and Madame de Valois maintained that Marie Antoinette received the necklace. This, of course, the champions of the Queen stoutly deny, and no evidence is, unfortunately, forthcoming to decide the point. But their zeal carries them further, and they affirm she knew nothing whatever about the negotiations, which had been carried on in her name, till the intrigue became public. It is easy to expose the fallacy of this pretence even by their own admissions. St. James' It appears that the opulent banker St. interview james had, sometime previously, advanced with Car- f /» dinai, Feb. the jewellers a very considerable sum n^s- {800,000 frs.) on the security of their necklace, and this loan expired the very same month it was delivered to the Cardinal. They therefore solicited their creditor to extend the time for repay- ment from February to August, explaining their motive for making the application by confiding to him the private purchase of the necklace just effected by the Queen, through the agency of de Rohan, to whom they referred the banker. St. fames ^*" J^™^^, thereupon, made a point of cautions the seeing the Cardinal on the subject, who '^"" '" at once confirmed what the jewellers had stated; it is also admitted that St. James THE NECKLACE. 59 then made it his business to acquaint the Queen that the jewellers "were pretending that their necklace had been purchased by her." ' Madame Campan acknowledges that, after his interview with the Cardinal; the banker „ ™^„„i, thought it his duty to reveal to H. M. the version and confidences that had been made to him -"^^^^aft--.^. on this head. respecting "the bargain that had been effect- ed with Bcehmer," and she suggests "leg^rte", in the manner of this communication, by way of offering some excuse for the strange behaviour of Marie Antoinette regarding these "confidences". The Queen's conduct, certainly, under the inconsistent circumstances, and also her subsequent bear- conduct of ' ing towards the jewellers, appear curiously ' * G«««»- inconsistent, not to say suspicious, and her sincerity very questionable. The confidential communication conveyed by St. James was to the effect that the bargain had been effected, and the necklace sold to the Queen. ^ If the report were unfounded, what more simple than to fathom the source of such a strange error by sending for the jeweller? The Queen, however, pretended that St. James had given her to understand that the jewellers were still ' Campardon. St. James' motive in thus bringing the circumstance to the notice of the Queen was, doubtless, of a personal nature; — namely to satisfy himself as to the reality of a transaction in which he was so deeply interested. ^ Campan and Campardon, 6o THE NECKLACE. nursing the hope of selling her the necklace, and that out of regard for her personal tranquillity ' she ought to institute inquiries etc. She dismissed the subject very shortly by simply directing Madame Campan to "ask Bcehmer the first time she might happen to meet him, what he had done with the necklace." Now it is manifest that if the Queen had only been told that the jewellers still hoped to sell her the necklace, there would have been nothing novel in the communica- tion; nothing of a confidential nature, or demanding any caution ; and since she acknowledges being warned that "her personal tranquillity" was at stake, and inquiries urgent, it is sufficiently evident that the nature of the confidence was veiy different from what she pretended. However, Madame Campan — as directed — had an in- terview with Bcehmer on the subject, who informed her that the necklace was sold. First inter- '^^^^ interview Madame Campan herself view of Ma- proves took place in the month of Feb- "^"tan wwi ''"^''y ' ^^"^ '* apP^ars she had a subsequent Bcehmer interview with him on the 3rd August, Feb. 178s. which is duly retailed, and in the course of their conversation she pointedly alludes to that prior interview, "il y a six mois", consequent upon the caution given by St. James ; the previous interview, therefore, must have been in February. Madame Campan, indeed, fixes this date with yet 1 "Pour sa propre tranquillity." THE NECKLACE. 6i more certainty: — "La chose la plus embarrassante" — she admits—" pour le Cardinal fut I'entretien qu'il avait eu, en fevrier 1785, avec M. de Saint James, a qui il avait confie les details de la pretendue commission de la Reine." Both Madame Campan and M. Cam- The Queen pardon, therefore, clearly show that the '"(°"^'^,°/^^ Queen was made acquainted with the at the time it reported acquisition of the necklace for occurred. her the very same month it was effected. We have further corroboration of this Georgeiin fact from the Abbd Georgel, who tells us "'■'">'""■''■ the jewellers themselves brpught the matter to the notice of the Queen at a very early date. The purchase having been effected so mysteriously, it was manifestly an object of the highest importance for them to ascertain that the necklace had actually passed into her possession. This he maintains they did, and further that they seized " a very early opportunity " of thanking H. M. in presence of the Abbe Vermond, whom they knew to be in her confidence. This evidence was not allowed to figure at the trial. ' We can readily understand how important it was to suppress this interview! Towards the end of June, we are told — ^■*' ^°°i°°° , , . , 11., /"■ reduc- but this date appears very problematical — ^;„„_ ' The jewellers " furent obliges de taire ce qu'il — ^M. de Br^teuil — ne voulait pas qu'ils d^clarassant." Georgel.^ "M^moirespourservir". 62 THE NECKLACE. Officialver- the Cardinal receives one of those contested ston. billets from the Queen, containing the de- mand for a reduction of 200,000 frs. in the price agreed upoh, " otherwise it would be returned on the hands of the jeweller." Whether the note in question came from the Queen or from Madame de Valois, the demand was certainly most extraordinary. The necklace had been some five months in pos- session. Admitting, for the moment, that Madame de La Motte had appropriated it, as assumed, what pos- sible interest, or object could she have had in abating the price? If the jewellers consent she gains nothing — not even time. If they refuse the result would be exposure, since she would have had to restore an object already broken up and a portion converted into money. What possible motive, therefore, could Madame de Valois have had for forging such a note? M. Campardon can only reply: "Pour compliquer un peu la situation." As if it were not complicated enough already 1 ' Version of I* would certainly be equally difficult Madame de to conceive the Queen making any such demand at the eleventh hour as pretended ; but Madame de Valois asserts that this abatement was demanded "about a month after the Queen was 1 Mr. Vizetelly passes over this incident without any comment. THE NECKLACE. 63 in possession of the Collar,"— certainly a far more probable story. Moreover, Georgel informs us that the jew- corroborat- ellers referred to this in that " very early " td by Abbe interview with H. M., which they were for- ""'^'' ' bidden by the minister, de Breteuil, to divulge. These two statements, therefore, agree, and corrobo- rate one the other. However, certain revised arrangements Revised ar- were undoubtedly made, by which it was "-""S""'"''- covenanted that 700,000 frs. instead of 400,000 frs. should be paid the jewellers on the ist August, in consideration of this reduction. No postponement of the date for payment, but an aug- mentation, by 300,000 frs., of the amount to be paid ; and this is laid at the door of Madame de La Motte, — why ? "To complicate the situation"?! Jewellers On the 1 2th July the jewellers presented letur 12th the following note to the Queen: 7"ty- "Madame, nous sommes au comble du bonheur d'oser penser que les derniers arrangements qui nous ont ete proposes, et auxquels nous nous sommes soumis avec zele et respect, sont une nouvelle preuve de notre soumission et devouement aux ordres de Votre Majeste, et nous avons une vraie satisfaction de penser que la plus belle parure de diamants qui existe servira a la plus belle et a la meilleure des Reines." ' ' It is assumed, officially, that this note refers to the aban^Lt of the 200,000 frs.; but, since that incident evidently occurree^Kme .balj^Lt I urree^Kn 64 THE NECKLACE. This letter was dictated, or corrected by the Cardinal. "The Queen" — writes Madame Campan — "entered the library, where I was skimming over the pages of some book. She held the note in her hand. She read it out to me, remarking that, since I had that morning solved the enigmas in the Mercure, I could doubtless interpret the meaning of the enigma that 'ce fou de Boehmer' had just sent her. " Unintelligible, enigmatical, requiring in fact explana- tion; yet the Queen burnt the note, at a handy bougie, observing: — 'Cela ne vaut pas la peine d'etre garde'." One would, certainly, have imagined that the sim- plest way of solving the enigma was to keep the note and send for Boehmer to explain matters. This Ma- dame Campan suggested, but the Queen replied that it was not necessary. months previous, it more probably had reference to the following. About the middle of July the Cardinal learnt, directly or indirectly as the case may be, that the Queen had disposed of the 700,000 frs. due next month for the first instalment, and consequently that payment would have to be postponed two months longer; but that 30,000 frs. would be forthcoming to date by way of interest. It is pretended that Madame de Valois herself provided these 30,000 frs., and gave them to the Cardinal on the 30 July as a blind to prolong her fraud; — "to reassure alike the Cardinal and the jew- ellers" — ^"to perpetuate the delusion of the Cardinal" — "pourperpet- uer son erreur." Vizetelly and Campardon. In one of the Queen's notes — as given by Madame de Valois — dated 19 July, reference is made to her having previously mentioned her disposal of the 700,000 frs. and to the remittance of 30,000 frs. by way of remuneration for the payment being delayed. The dates, therefore, correspond, or fit in. THE NECKLACE. 65 We now arrive at the 3rd August, 1785, Thementfui an eventful and not over-pleasant day for -^ "^' ^'^ ■^' the unfortunate jewellers. The Queen had burnt their note of the 12th July as not worth keeping, and declined the suggestion of a personal interview. She was, evidently, in no hurry for any explana- tions. Three weeks pass by when Madame Campan chanced to run across Boehmer, and the conversation that ensued is very remarkable as well as highly instructive. Madame Campan gave Boehmer to under- ^^^ ;^^^^. stand that the Queen could not make any- view between thing of their note of the 12th July; that cfm^^nLd H. M. knew nothing about any negotiations Bcehmer, for the purchase of the necklace or of its •^'"'^ ^"■^' acquisition; that there must certainly be some mistake on his part, or else he must have been grossly taken in, etc. But Boehmer retorts that it is she, Madame Campan, who is mistaken, not he ; that she, evidently, was not admitted to the Queen's confidence in the matter, who — he explained — was merely playing a part in feigning ignorance; that the note was perfectly intel- ligible to H. M. since she had undoubtedly purchased the necklace through the medium of the Cardinal; further that the Queen was really on very good terms with his Eminence, though publicly pretending not to be so, etc. 5 66 THE NECKLACE. The particulars of this interview Madame Campan duly retails to her royal Mistress the first opportunity. ' Bcshmer de- ^ovj it is quite clear that Marie An- niedanaud- toinctte shunned facing the jeweller at this tence. time, for it appears she had refused to see Bcehmer, who presented himself at the Trianon imme- diately after this conversation, soliciting an audience. It was not until Madame Campan, when retailing, subsequently, the particulars of the interview, earnestly entreated H. M, to receive him, urging that her per- sonal interests were really in question, etc. — it was then only that the Queen yielded, and sent for the jeweller. Bcehmer in "^^^ sccne that took place on his arrival the Queen's is almost incredible. fresence,g Marie Antoinette had been informed, first Aug. through the medium of Saint James, and now again directly by Madame Campan, that the necklace was stated to have been purchased by her through the agency of the Cardinal ; yet with this fact ringing in her ears she commenced by inquiring : " Par ' It is evident Bcehmer must have immediately informed the Cardinal of this intervievr, for we have a memorandum in His Eminence's handwriting to that effect, which was found at the Hotel de Strasboxirg, where it had been overlooked. " On this day, 3 August, Bcehmer went to Madame Campan's country house, and she told him that the Queen had never had the necklace, and that he had been cheated." Vizetelly. This was a warning quite sufficient to open the Cardinal's eyes had Madame de La Motte deceived him, as pretended, and appropriated the necklace. THE NECKLACE. 67 quelle fatalite elle avait encore a entendre parler de sa foUe pretention de lui vendre un object, etc.?"' Saint James had warned her, Boehmer had written, Madame Campan had repeated all the details of her late conversation with Boehmer, — still the Queen does not comprehend that the jewel is soldi Or pretends that she does not ? " Boehmer, anyhow, thought the Queen was mocking him, for he addresses H. M. thus: — "Madame, il n'est plus temps de feindre. Daignez avouer que vous avez mon collier, et faites-moi donner des secours ou ma banqueroute aura bientot tout de voile." Boehmer certainly exhibited in energetic language "his determination to be no longer trifled with, even by royalty itself." Surprises spring up as we proceed in our examination of this conventional fiasco, and we are fully prepared for such; but that any subject, more especially one so graced by the royal favour, should have had the audacity to give vent to such insolence in bearing and language, and that any royal lady, having no cause for self-reproach, should have quietly borne it, — such a surprise is rather bewildering. 1 "On ne pourrait trop s'dtonner de I'opionatrete de la reine a s'imaginer qu'on veut lui vendre le collier, quand tout le monde lui crie aux oreilles qu'on le lui a vendu." Louis Combes. 2 II est Evident que la reine se moquait de lui en feignant de croire qu'il plaidait de nouveau pour la vente de sou Collier." Louis Combes. 68 THE NECKLACE. Reported confession by Madame de Valois to Bassenge, j On this same 3 Aug. Madame de Valois is represented as having, voluntarily, con- fessed her fraud on the Cardinal to Bassenge, by telling him the signature to their security was supposititious. Why so unmeaning a move on her part? M. Target is unable to reply, and can only suggest: — "Pour hater la conclusion". Yet, only three or four days previous, Madame de Valois was credited with having sacrificed 30,000 frs. to delay the chance of her fraud being discovered ; to reassure the Cardinal, throw dust in his eyes, and "perpetuate his delusion".' It is scarcely worth while discussing the point; it is really too absurd, especially when we are further asked to believe that Bassenge, trembling for the safety of his 1,600,000 frs., rushed off to the Cardinal "to give expression to his inquietudes and ask for explanations" ; but that his inquietudes and contemplated demand for explanation practically evaporated in smoke ; that the jeweller never breathed a word about the untoward "confession" — sole object of the interview P This was even rather too strong for M. Campardon to adopt. He consequently holds that the Cardinal was, anyhow, then made fully aware how completely he had been hood-winked and duped by Madame de And Bas- senge^ s inter- view with the Car- dinal. Cardinal's eyes opened to Madame Valois pre- sumed dupli- city, s ^«S- 1 Vizetelly. "Pour perpetuer son erreur." Campardon. 2 Target. He does not, however, of course, say anything about the THE NECKLACE. 69 La Motte. Such, at least, is the latest orthodox theory, and the Cardinal's memorandum of the 3rd August shows that, if Madame de La Motte had deceived him in the way suggested, his eyes were by this time sufficiently opened to her fraudulent conduct. Such being the case, we might naturally anticipate some explosion of wrath on the part of the duped Car- dinal, against the author of his humiliation and shame, — against that "monstre d'ingratitude et d'imposture." But he has no upbraidings whatever to Jeanne offer; on the contrary, the same evening, ^t""^' *V"> days in the or following morning, he takes under his Paiais Car- immediate and special protection this causa ^^"<^h ^"S- causans of his social disgrace ; receives into his own house this "monster of ingratitude and im- posture." ' Madame de La Motte explains the motive of this strange move on the part of His Eminence. He im- portuned her and her husband, she says, to spend a few days under his roof, with the ulterior design, as it proved, of persuading them, "en ami," to retire for some months to one of his estates on the other side of the Rhine; his object — only too plain — being to get them out of the way, fearing any indiscretions on their part; also that their seeming flight to a distant Cardinal's solemn declaration to Bassenge that he had treated directly with the Queen, in regard to the necklace, and not through any interme- dium. This came out, however, in the trial. 1 Target. 70 THE NECKLACE. country might, in case of need or accidents, draw suspicion upon them. There is much to support this statement. It appears the Cardinal undoubtedly did send his private secretary, Carbonni^res, to escort Madame Jeanne to the Palais Cardinal, ' and the Abbe Georgel further admits that he did propose to send her over to his estates beyond the Rhine. These admissions tend to show that Madame de La Motte has given the true version of this incident. But the Count and his wife had no idea of availing themselves of the Cardinal's benevolent offer of a retreat beyond the Rhine; so after a visit of a couple of days they leave the "Palais Cardinal" for their own country house, to inaugurate the festivities of their new home at Bar-sur-Aube. "They had been long looking forward The La Mot- ^ , . tes at Bar- to Spending the present autumn in their sur-Aube. ^g^ abode, which was rapidly becoming a model of elegance and taste." ' The Count had written to his friend Macdermott, in London, to send over to Bar-sur-Aube, "where he was going to reside ", the jewels he left to be mounted, with Gray of Bond Street. ' "Here they received and returned visits in tranquil security." * ' Campardon. = Vizetelly. a "Pieces Justif. pour le Cardinal." ^ Vizetelly. THE NECKLACE. 71 "Neither husband nor wife showed the least sign of inquietude. They kept an excellent table and gave a succession of fetes." ' Yet we are told that " the mine was on the point of being sprung, and the Valois feared that the explosion would take place before she could make good her retreat." ' A question naturally arises as we reach this point of our enquiry. How the How came the affair to be made public? ^^^;^ ^^. With such high interests at stake, why came public. was it not quietly hushed up? The Cardinal having, confessedly, been egregiously duped, why did he un- necessarily publish his imbecility? " Once fairly undeceived, it became evident that the necklace was lost and must be paid for. Nothing, in fact, remained but to come to terms with the jewellers and hush up the affair." So writes M. Campardon ; and the stereotyped version clearly proves that the Cardinal's eyes had been most effectually opened to the presumed duplicity of Madame Jeanne fully eight days before the jewellers laid the matter before the King on the 12 August. This is admitted. ' 1 Beugnot. 2 Vizetelly. ' M. Target even tells us that about the middle of July the Cardinal chanced, for the first time, to come across some bona fide letters of Marie Antoitiette, when struck by their unwonted character, he exclaimed: — "Je suis trompij" But what of that? Jeanne the enchant- 72 THE NECKLACE. How, then, was it that no steps were taken to enter into some arrangement with the jewellers, who would only have been too glad to come to terms? The Cardinal's conviction that the Queen had the necklace rested — we are assured — solely on his blind infatuation and faith in Madame de Valois ; yet he is exhibited as equally confident, and taking no steps to compromise the affair, after he had been made fully aware of this lady's presumed treachery, which " had fallen upon him hke a thunderbolt." ' The Cardinal is thoroughly "undeceived" as regards Madame de Valois; still does he persist in ignoring every act of treachery imputed to her; still does he persist in maintaining his direct personal relations with Marie Antoinette, and in re-asserting that she had the necklace; and he persisted in doing so to the very last. The jewellers did not present the memorial to the King till the 1 2 August. There was, therefore, abund- ance of time to hush up the affair by engaging to pay for the Collar as suggested; yet the Cardinal takes no action whatever towards satisfying them, though, as he was well aware, they were in direct communi- cation on the subject with the minister, de Breteuil, his bitterest foe. ress speaks, and, at the sound of her magic voice, he disbelieves the evidence of his own eyes, and restores her his entire confidence. This was when she brought the 30,000 frs. for interest (3Cth July). "II en conclut que ses yeux ont i\.i tromp^", pleads Target. 1 Georgel. THE NECKLACE. 73 How account for this? There is only one explanation. The Cardinal was not at any time "disillusioned" as pretended, and for the simple reason that he had never been really deceived by Madame Valois. Whatever her "dis- closures" to Bassenge may have been, they were no "disclosures" to him, no "confession," or revelation of treachery on her part. He was an evident accom plice to the fraudulent signature. This supplies what is wanting to explain the strange bearing, and otherwise inexplicable conduct of the Cardinal de Rohan throughout; and he must have had very good reasons of his own, quite independent of Jeanne de Valois, for feeling so perfectly satisfied that the Queen had had the necklace and would, eventually, pay on the ist October, as finally arranged; that date, however, was still some distance off. But the jewellers had no such confidence to rest on, did not know whom or what to believe, and were, naturally, getting into an agony of uncertainty about their million and a half. De Breteuil offered the one inducement that was necessary to loosen their tongues — " assured them they should be paid for their necklace." Instigated by him, they presented their The jew el- "Memoire" to the King, on the 12th '«". '««««f- rtaltse the August.' jCing^ I2th The affair consequently became public. ^"S- ^7^S- ' Vizetelly. PART III. THE TRIAL. "Le proces fut un jeu." Michelet. "Pendant dix mois les avocats firent des M^moires, et ce qui ^tait inexpliqufi finit par devenir inexplicable." A. Renee. ^, ^ It was the 15 August, 1785, the festival The C a r- d in a I sum- oi "^^ Assumption, and the Court was in monedbefore attendance in the Grand Gallery of Ver- sailles, awaiting the arrival of royalty on its way to the customary Mass, when the Cardinal — who was present " en rochet et en camail", surrounded by his officiating priesthood — received an unexpected summons to the King's cabinet, and there found him- self in the immediate presence of the royal couple, of the Baron de Breteuil, of the Count de Vergennes, and the "garde-des-sceaux", Miromesnil. Madame Campan has given her version of what took place at this improvised court of inquiry, an account her readers would naturally take for an authen- tic description of the scene "d'apr^s le souvenir des confidences de sa maltresse". Nothing of the kind; a. I Mu itfr THE TRIAL. 7S Madame Campan has simply borrowed her details, almost verbatim, from the columns of "Le Journal des Debats". In the portions interpolated she exhibits her customary errors, " volontaires ou involontaires". ' The account given in the " Debats" is yersion of as follows, omitting the interpolations "a the '■'■Jour- la. Campan". "^!, f'.^ "Lorsque la Cardinal fut entre, le roi lui dit: — "'Vous avez achete des diamants a Boehmer?' '"Oui, Sire.' "'Qu'en avez-vous fait?' "'Je croyais qu'ils avaient ete remis a la Reine.' "'Qui vous avait charge de cette commission?' " ' Une dame de condition, appelee Madame la Com- tesse de La Motte-Valois, qui m'a presente une lettre de la Reine, et j'ai cru faire ma cour a sa Majeste en me chargeant de cette negociation.' " Alors la Reine interrompit : "'Comment, Monsieur, avez-vous pu croire, vous a qui je n'ai pas adresse la parole depuis huit ans, que je vous choississais pour conduire cette negociation, et par I'entremise d'une femme d'un pareil ordre?' " ' Je vois bien que j'ai ete cruellement trompe ; I'envie que j'avais de plaire a sa Majeste m'a fascine les yeux; je n'ai vu nuUe supercherie," et j'en suis fache'." The rest of the account does not contain any details 1 "Erreurs innombrables volontaires ou involontaires." Michelei. 76 THE TRIAL. affecting our inquiry ; but we glean an important item of information from the foregoing extract. „, „ ,. It will be seen that the Cardinal takes The Caratn- aVs bearing no notice whatever of the Queen, though *(Z7en *^' ^^^ ^^*^ addressed him personally, but replies to the King. ' This fact is indisputable. M. Lafont d'Ausonne tells us that the Cardinal, on retiring, made a profound bow to the King; but, seeking and meeting the Queen's eye, "il osa la' braver comme s'il eut ete son egal." Besenval, who says he had the details direct from the Queen, informs us that when Her Majesty ad- dressed the Cardinal, " il affecta de ne point lui repondre, et continua a s'adresser au Roi." Georgel, who of course derived his information from the Cardinal, shows that this contemptuous behaviour was intentional, since he acknowledges that His Em- inence, in reply to Her Majesty's observation, simply "jeta sur la reine un regard peutetre trop peu respectueux." And the Queen, referring in one of her letters to some prior audacity of the Cardinal, writes: — "il a montre dans le proems la meme insolence. II m'avait bravee devant le roy lui-meme." All accounts, therefore, agree that the Cardinal treated the observations of the Queen with silent 1 Madame Campan has changed the whole point of this significant bearing on the part of the Cardinal by substituting '■'■voire Majeste" for "jo Majeste"- THE TRIAL. 77 contempt. This bearing is quite in harmony with the firm conviction he entertained that the Queen was simply acting a part. He still adhered to her direct implication^ and actual receipt of the necklace. This belief had never really been shaken— that is evident. On leaving the audience-chaniber the cardinal Cardinal was publicly placed under arrest arrested. and, in charge of an officer of the King's body-guard, had to run the gauntlet of an astonished and curious Court, and of the gapiiig crowd invariably present on these occasions. While making their way towards the Hotel de Rohan, in the rue des Reservoirs, he managed to scribble a memorandum for the Abbe Georgel, which he found an opportunity of shpping into the hand of a confidential "heyduc" on reaching his hotel. Off speeds this trusty envoy for Paris, „ his horse dropping dead on reaching the notes de- courtyard of the " Palais Cardinal". Poor '"'"y'- brute, he had played his part in the drama, and not an unimportant one, for Georgel got the message in time to carry out its instructions, and that portion of the famous correspondence, comprising the Queen's letters, was destroyed. What light they might have thrown upon our darkness 1 The Cardinal was transferred that night to Paris, and on the following one conveyed to conveyed to the Bastille. Hours, however, were allowed *^' Bastille., to elapse before any search was made "^' ' ~''^' amongst his papers^! 78 THE TRIAL. "Chose etonnante," observes Besenval. Were they afraid of discovering too much? asks M. Louis Blanc. Madame de La Motte and her husband were, as we have seen, down at Bar-sur-Aube, enjoying themselves after their own fashion, and showing no signs of fear or anxiety. In the height of their festivities arrive tidings of the arrest of the Cardinal. Now had Madame de Valois been really in the agony of fear as represented by her enemies, and had she possessed the spoils of the necklace, she could easily have made off with her plunder and reached a refuge of safety; the means and opportunity were at hand. Beugnot, who was present, importuned her to make her escape and offered the means, and she had abundance of time to have started for England, as he so strongly urged. But she refused. Arrest of - "The Countess was sound asleep when the Madame de officers of justice arrived" on the i8 Aug.' August. It is worthy of note that these emissaries of justice, sent to arrest this accomplice in a presumed plunder of diamonds, make no search or inquiries after jewelry, but are specially instructed to take possession of every scrap of writing they can lay hands onl The hus- Strange to say, her husband was left at band allow- perfect liberty ; " nous ne savons, en v^rite, escape. pQurquoi," observes M. Campardon. He 1 Vizetelly. THE TRIAL. 79 was not only not wanted, but his presence was evi- dently not desired, for the officers refused to allow him to accompany his wife, though he solicited per- mission to do so. ' Four or five days after Madame de La Motte had been lodged in the Bastille, down came the police to look after her husband, and very naturally found that their bird had taken wing for England, as was probably expected and desired. Taking Beugnot's advice, he thought it Takes refuge more desirable, and safer, to place the ^" "^''" ' channel between him and the proximate alternative of free quarters in a state prison of very dubious reputation. " The value of the decision to which the The Trial parliamentary tribunal appointed to judge " /"^ce. the case, came; the* justice of its verdict and of the punishments awarded; depend upon whether the trial was a genuine one. Was it undertaken with a view of eliciting the truth? Was it conducted with fairness and impartiality? M. Campardon has published a very elaborate defence of Marie Antoinette "d'apres le procedure devant le parlement de Paris", — a work which has been pro- nounced irrefutable, and satisfactorily exonerating the Queen from any complicity in the affair. 1 «Ce detail important, rapports dans la "Mdmoire justificatif " de la Dame de La Motte, n'est dementi par aucune des pieces de la procedure." Louis Combes. 2 Besenval, Beugnot. 8o THE TRIAL. By taking the parliamentary proceedings, as they have come down to us, for a base, it is very easy to prove the de La Mottes guilty, the Cardinal a dupe, and the Queen a perfect stranger to the intrigue; but cui bono? That was the conclusion arrived at — with intent — in 1786. Why go over the same ground again? To prove his argument by the records of the judicial proceedings to which the affair gave rise is, from our point of view, to beg the whole question. We must first satisfy ourselves that M. Campardon's foundation is sound ; decide in short, whether we are justified in placing confidence in the tribunal of justice, before accepting its authority as anywise conclusive. Michelets Michelet has epitomised the whole pro- strictures. ^eedings graphically: "Ce grand proems n'a ete que juge; — eclairci? — examine? Non." "Le proces fut un jeu." It is impossible to question the justice of this stricture. Corruption and intimidation appear to have been the levers by which the legal machine was worked. Few were exempt, from witnesses even to the judges. This is evident from the admissions of orthodox writers. Corruption "During the continuance of the process" ofthejudges. _^ritgg j^^, Vizetelly—" every effort was Vizetelly "i^de by the Grand Almoner's friends to quoting increase the number of his adherents among ampan. ^^ councillors who had to judge the case. Mesdames de Marsan, de Brionne and the Prince THE TRIAL. 8i de Soubise visited all the members of the Grand Chamber in turn and solicited them in the Cardinal's behalf. We know that the prime minister, the Count de Vergennes, was a secret partisan of the Grand Almoner, and we know, moreover, that M. de Lau- rencel, the ' Procureur-Gendral's ' substitute, drew up a list of names of members of the Great Chamber, wherein he set forth, against each, the means that had been employed to gain that particular councillor's vote. "From this document it would seem that ladies of the highest position did not scruple to accept large bribes to exercise their powers of seduction in the Cardinal's behalf, and it was by these means, we are told, that some of the most venerable among the judges had been corrflpted." M. Campardon admits that it was spe- Campardon. cially from amongst those who were to officiate as his judges, that the Cardinal found his warmest adher- ents and partisans: "le parlement fut gagne presque en entier." One of the most recent apologists of Professor Marie Antoinette, Professor Yonge, writes '"'^"' that this parliament was "wholly destitute of every quality which ought to belong to a judicial bench, — of a regard for truth and justice, and even of a know- ledge of the law." " Corruption, without shame or disguise, was allowed to sway the highest judicial tribunal in the country." 6 82 THE TRIAL. Yet this was the tribunal upon whose fiat M. Cam- pardon based his defence of the Queen and Cardinal I The wholesale corruption of the judges, however, was not the only auxiliary called into action on behalf of His Eminence. The "Rapporteur" and "Greffier" were gained over to such an extent that they would alter the sense of the depositions, or adjourn the pro- ceedings if they feared the Cardinal was likely to say anything self-incriminating, or injurious to his in- terests. ' Manauvres The Abbe Gcorgel was the presiding ge- of Georgei. njus and very soul of the defence. During the " confrontations", when the accused are always deprived of the assistance of Counsel and not even permitted to hold communication with them, the Cardinal's advocate and friends experienced considerable "inquietude" lest he should make any damaging avowals. The position was felt to be "tres-alarmante". But in this awkward dilemma the "vulpine" Abb^, as Carlyle styles him, came to the front and proved quite equal to the occasion. He managed very cleverly to evade the law by carrying on a secret correspondence with his noble client under a disguised form, intelligible to the Car- dinal alone, who, by means of this "subterfuge in- nocent", was enabled to let the Abbe know all that took place at the "confrontations" without anyone suspecting it. The Abbe also gave the Cardinal the ' Anecdotes du regne de Louis XVI. THE TRIAL. 83 results of the conference of his council, and thus directed his line of conduct, and was even in a position to suggest his responses. To crown the whole, M. Depresmenil, "conseiller de parlement", found means of forwarding to the Abb6 certain private information, interesting particulars etc. the knowledge of which proved of the utmost service in conducting the defence of the Cardinal. Not a doubt of it I — and thus these "days of agony " passed happily by ! I All this certainly shews very clever manipulation on the part of the Abbe, and exhibits the zeal of the Cardinal's relations and friends in a strong light; but it exposes, at the same time, the inherent weakness of a cause which it was found necessary to uphold by wholesale corruption, and expedients of so bare- faced a character. The Queen's party, on the other side. The Queen's was equally active. The Baron de Breteuil, /'*'''/• whose hatred of the Cardinal knew no bounds, thought that in this scandalous affair he had found the oppor- tunity of satisfying his revenge by compassing the ruin of his rival. Ignoring every principle De Breteuil of justice, he sent an emissary to Madame ^^^kes over- ,TTi- • 1 rr n ■ , • , turcsto Ma- OS. Valois With offers of mdemnity and dame de support if she would furnish sufficient proof Valois; also to inculpate his old enemy. He likewise andthejew- made certain overtures to St. James, and eiiers. to the jewellers, offering the latter payment in full 84 THE TRIAL. for their necklace, under conditions of a similarly corrupt character. It is acknowledged that there are strong reasons for believing that the Home Secretary, and other enemies of the Cardinal, insinuated to Madame de Valois, through various channels, that if she would only pro- duce some good evidence against the Grand Almoner no other victim would be required. ' Georgeion And what does Georgel say? this subject. -^ . i. ., , , i r » "Quant a ce que malignite a cherche a insinuer que la Souveraine, pour entrainer la perte du Cardinal, fit promettre I'impunite a Madame de La Motte, c'est un blaspheme qui n'aurait jamais souille ma plume, si cette horrible croyance n'avait eu des partisans." But this "horrible croyance" had very numerous disciples, and from the tone of the Abbe's observation it is clear that he regarded the "blasphemy" as founded on fact. M. de Breteuil it also appears showed a most curious solicitude about the selection of the counsel for Madame de La Motte. Through M. de Crosne, lieutenant of police, he tried to persuade Count Beugnot to undertake the defence; not, we can readily understand, from any promptings of interest on her behalf, but because he had been made aware that Beugnot regarded the necklace portion ' Vizetelly. THE TRIAL. 85 of the intrigue as an incident of comparatively trifling importance, while he looked upon the midnight rendez- vous and correspondence as a capital offence for which the Cardinal should be arraigned under a charge of high treason. This was precisely what the Queen demanded. Blinded by passion, Marie Antoinette seems to have been so intent upon revenge as to have quite overlooked the requirements of justice, and is even said to have demanded of the King the life of the Cardinal. The King, moreover, is believed to have promised that he should not escape the scaffold. ' There can be no doubt regarding these advances, with offers of indemnity, made to Madame de Valois, with the double object of shielding the Queen and sacrificing the Cardinal; and her bearing during the trial, and likewise after condemnation, indicates her confidence of the highest protection being enlisted on her side, if she only followed the line of defence traced out for her. ^ But this became more and more difficult as the trial proceeded, and involved her in inextricable contradic- tions. She had to modify her defence according to the evidence produced. Forced to substitute some ' Vizetelly. M. Ren6e writes:— "EUe le haissait en femme offens6e, etl'orgeuil bless^, chez elle, ne pardonnait pas." s "Madame de La Motte fut superbe d'assurance et de sang froid, assurance extraordinaire qui tdmoignait d'une ferme conviction qu'on ne pouvait, ou qu'on n'oserait la frapper." Combes. 86 THE TRIAL. absurd fable for the reality and driven at times into a corner, she would give expression to exclamations and menaces which struck the tribunal with terror.' „, The Cardinal's defence was a lie through- Co >-i/««a/ out, which, as M. Campardon explains, was an a ois « ^^^ n^cessite de position". That was his lie to t he '■ best of their only chance, the sole requisite being "una ahthttes. ferme et solide impudence pour bien men- tir" ; for who would dare to pit the "yes " of Madame de Valois against the "no" of a prince of the Church?' And Madame de La Motte was equally driven to lies ; nor, indeed, does she hesitate to acknowledge the fact. In reply to an observation from the Cardinal, that she had made some statement which she well knew to be false, she significantly remarks : — " Comme tout le reste, Monsieur; depuis que ces Messieurs nous interrogent, vous savez que ni vous ni moi ne leur avons dit un seul mot de verite". Three years later, in 1789, the Cardinal confessed that both of them, during the trial, had been bent upon hiding the real facts. ' "Madame de La Motte" — writes M. Louis Blanc,— " fut conduite a mentir aux depens du Cardinal, qui, de ' " EUe laissa dchapper des cris qui glac^rent d'effroi le tribunal : — Qu'on y prenne garde! si Ton me pousse a bout, je parlerai." L. Blanc. "Je ne p&irai qu'en r^vfilant des mystferes d'iniquit6 qui feront connattre de grands personages encore caches derri^re le rideau." Gtorgel. 2 Michelet. 3 Mountjoye. THE TRIAL. 87 son cote, se sentait perdu s'il ne mentait aux depens de Madame de La Motte. " La est la clef du proems." It is evident, therefore, that we must seek the truth outside the trial, from among those items of infor- mation which were not permitted to appear, or from those which slipped out accidentally, and were con- tested — but never refuted. Any damnatory evidence which could Evidence as not be admitted had to be got rid of toCardinafs personal somehow; so a process of eliminating, or relations pooh-poohing inconvenient testimony was ■^'tk the adopted whenever the occasion demanded. The depositions of the banker St. James and of the jeweller Bassenge are to the point. Their evidence was highly incriminating. The contested relations between the Queen and Cardinal were openly testi- fied to. The banker deposed: Deposition That the Cardinal told him he had seen in the Queen's hands the 700,000 frs. destined by her for the first instalment due in August; that the Queen had, at the time, offered to hand over this money to the Cardinal for transmission to the jewellers ; that he had not taken advantage of the offer, a circumstance he had since regretted. This deposition is sufficiently circumstantial, but M. Target disposes of it in a very summary fashion. He observes, in the first place, that, if St. James 88 THE TRIAL. believed he had heard the Cardinal make use of such strange words, he ought to have felt certain that he must have misunderstood him, and should never have ventured to repeat the same. He then insists that the Cardinal did not tell him he had seen the 700,000 frs. in the hands of the Queen, but that he had seen a note from her in which it was said she had the 700,000 for the purpose in question. The deposition was in respect to a sum of money in the Queen's hands ; and the explanation is that there was neither Queen nor money seen, but merely a note in the hands of Madame de La Mottel M. Campardon supports this argument ; " it must, of course, have been an error of memory, or else St. James did not correctly catch the words of the Cardinal, who was not impudent enough to tell such a lie." Unfortunately for these ingeniously plausible sug- gestions, the evidence of St. James on the point does not stand alone. Deposition Itoozedout, during the "confrontations", ofBassenge. ^^^ ^^ Cardinal had made a most remark- able affirmation as to his personal relations with the Queen in reply to a question put to him by Bassenge, who, alarmed about his money, had asked him whether he placed implicit confidence in his " intermediaire" — meaning Madame de Valois. The reply relight easily have been the simple assurance as required ; but how did the Cardinal meet the enquiry? THE TRIAL. 89 There was no question of any " intermediaire" at all. He replies: "Je vous aflfirme que j'ai traite direc- tement, et je vous I'assure en levant le bras en signe d'affirmation ; allez-vous-en rassurer votre associe." The Cardinal further impressed upon Bassenge the necessity of his not divulging the secret he had thus confided to his keeping, and threatened, should he do so, that he, the Cardinal, would most certainly deny the fact. Could any evidence be stronger or more to the point? The expressions are clear and impressive; the affirmation solemn, even imposing. No pretext here for suggesting any mistake or error of memory. The revelation is crushing, and the awkward testi- mony cannot be gainsaid; so M. Campardon, driven to his wits' end for some explanation, can only assume that the Cardinal lied — with intent. His Eminence, therefore, must evidently in this case have found the necessary impudence M. Campardon so niggardly denied him on the previous occasion 1 It thus appears that, in addition to the particulars pre- viously confided to Bcehmer, of his private understanding and interviews with the Queen, evidence was given during the trial that the Cardinal had likewise revealed to St. James and Bassenge, in strictest confidence, the personal communications he had held with Marie Antoinette relative to the purchase of the necklace. This evidence remains unrefuted, however much it may be conveniently extenuated or pooh-poohed. 90 THE TRIAL. Well might Madame de Valois exclaim: "Si Ton n'eut pas pris a tache d'etouffer la verite sur les l^vres m^me ou elle cherchait a s'ouvrir un passage, eut-on passe aussi leg^rement qu'on I'a fait sur des circonstances aussi essentiellesf" "A quoi servirent done les depositions?" Subornation Madame de La Motte further complains of witnesses. ^^ ^^ shameful manner in which witnesses were tampered with, — "subornation criante." The jew For instance, the promise of, payment ' "'"• in full for their necklace was offered the jewellers under certain conditions; they have also acknowledged — as we have seen — that they were obliged, by the minister de Breteuil, to keep back certain facts, when giving evidence, which might appear to involve the Queen. ' Let us glance at some of the other leading wit- nesses: — the Father Loth, the Baron de Planta, Cagli- ostro, Villette and d'OUva. Pat/ier Loth. The Father Loth was an unmitigated knave. He had been a protege of Madame de La Motte, fat- tening on the prosperity of his benefactress without ever exhibiting any scrupulousness as to the sources of her opulence. His priestly conscience reposed in the deli- cious calm of blissful enjoyment, so long as fortune smiled on his lady patroness. No sooner, however, had the Bastille enclosed Madame Jeanne, than this ' Georgel, "M^moire pour servir, etc." THE TRIAL. 91 elastic conscience woke, suddenly, to a most harassing perception of the manifest nefariousness of her past life— the life by which he had benefited, and so gladly shared. At first he kept studiously out of sight, through fear of being charged as an accessory, so notorious had been his relations with the accused; but when thor- oughly reassured as to his personal safety, and taught to see in which direction his future interests lay, he was ready enough to feather his nest. He then assumed an importance he never, in reality, had any title to claim. He became quite communica- tive, and assured Georgel that Madame de Valois had admitted him into her entire confidence. Among other presumed revelations, he told him he had " sur- prised" her, the eve of her "evasion", burning papers, which she "confessed" were the Cardinal's letters to the Queen. As if the wily Jeanne, "surprised" in destroying papers, would have "confessed" what those papers were, and to a man she suspected rather than trusted 1 For, as a matter of fact, this reverend father was never taken into her confidence as he falsely pretended. The Count Beugnot shows that he was really much mistrusted, never admitted to any of the plans of the principal actors, and reduced to the humiliating alternative of listening behind doors to his infinite disgust. 92 THE TRIAL. But, in consideration of his services to the cause of the Cardinal, he received an appointment to the order of Malta, with Quarters in the Temple. ' The Abbe Georgel's admissions regarding this witness furnish proof how carefully he had been "coached", and the advantages made clear, of studying "expediency" in giving evidence. On the subject of the correspond- ence, we are told, he was studiously reticent, — why? Because, explains Georgel, the topic was of a nature that might prove more injurious than advantageous to the cause of His Eminence, and it was from this point of view that the Father Loth thought it " expe- dient" to frame his deposition! We take our sketch of the antecedents of the Baron de Planta — "a black sheep of the choicest breed" as Mr. Vizetelly styles him — from the Abbe Georgel. Baron de This adventurer had played at Vienna Planta. ^-jjg j-^jg gf ^jj u obscrvateur utile" to his Eminence, his services being recognised by "gratifi- cations". Turning this deUcately expressed French into plain English, we may fairly infer that his or- dinary functions embraced those of a confidential spy. The Cardinal had picked him up in Vienna, " vegetat- ing sadly," having previously held a commission, as Captain, in the Swiss regiment which he had been compelled to quit; then a Majority in the Prussian service, from which he had been sent about his busi- ' " Correspondance secrfete in6>'t I^JARitE ANT03KiiTT£ Jrc/iii/f'' i/'.-JiU/'i'l/ii', ft'i/w tA' fi'ii/ifc ' ;\r(' ti Vic/l/w /t' 2 ytU'Cinorc, 1700 . i *'«8<»«TS|iS«!^Jc}&(-«l*«S'^.«!fBWl8ESiSI««8»'iK^^ l^y THE QUEEN. 103 it has certainly never been brought home to her; neither is the suggestion quite reconcilable with facts, or probabilities. ' If it was really believed Madame de La Motte had appropriated the necklace, why were not inquiries in- stituted forthwith? Why was no search made for the jewels by the officers of justice sent to arrest her? The Cardinal had made his declaration ; a diamond robbery had been committed; a person is taken up on suspicion of being implicated; — yet the search is limited to papers! Minute instructions are given to lay hands upon every scrap of paper, but not a word do we hear about diamonds. The Count, her husband, is not even apprehended, but gets the broadest of hints to make off with the spoil. Well might M. Campardon have felt rather at a loss for an explanation on this head, and been forced to confess his inability to offer any! Madame de La Motte acknowledges ^-^^ ^'^ having received, in the form of a gift from ^^.^^ the Queen, a very valuable portion of the diamonds. These stones she showed to the Cardinal, who advised her to dispose of them privately, and not in Paris for fear they might be recognised; con- sequently in April 1785, the Count crossed y,^^ ^^^^^ to London and sold most of them to the in London jewellers. Gray of Bond Street. We have ^^''- '^^^• ' The attempt to implicate Villette as personating the Queen's messenger, signally failed as we have seen. I04 THE QUEEN. a detailed account of this transaction in the "Me- moires Justificatifs," according to which the Queen retained 256 of the finest and some 98 other stones. ' When the trial was impending, the Car- Ca vb Ti- nier e in dinal despatched his confidential Secretary, LondonNov. Carbonni^re, to London to see what evidence could be picked up that might tell against the de La Mottes. The plan of action here sug- gested was quite simple. He would only have to prove the sale of the diamonds to Gray in order to throw all suspicion upon Madame de La Motte. If she had sold some, why not all .? Such, he might safely reckon would be the general verdict. But this, evidently, did not at all meet the views of the Queen's party, consisting of the Abbe de Ver- mond, the Minister de Breteuil, the " procureur-general" de Fleury, the "premier-president" d'Aligre etc. No sooner had the Baron de Breteuil, "I'homme de la Reine," learnt the intentions of the Cardinal than he set the police in motion to arrest Carbonni^re. ' Warned, however, in time, he had changed his line 1 In a letter addressed to M. de Montmorin, the Minister, dated 22ud September, 1790, and found among the private papers of the King taken on the loth August, the Count writes : — " Madame de La Motte n'a regu des fragments du collier que les pieces marquantes, et dont la trace pouvait Stre suivie. Mon Spouse m'a donn6 ces pieces, que j'ai vendues, en m'assurant que c'fitait un present de la Reine." » On the hypothesis that the Queen had bestovired a portion of the jewels upon Madame de Valois, she would naturally object to their private disposal being brought home to her husband. THE QUEEN. 105 of route, and succeeded in reaching London in spite of many difficulties and obstacles. ' Through his agency the Cardinal managed Gray' i to obtain from the jewellers a statement statement. which exhibits considerable variations from the Count's version, and credits him with the sale of a larger portion of the necklace. This document, however, was not drawn up till the month of November, and the sale had been effected in April ; yet it professes to reassign to each unmounted stone, from memory, its proper position in a necklace the jeweller had never seen; solely on the authority of an engraving shown him seven months after the transaction had occurred. ° When this document was produced in evidence it was looked upon as so " very suspicious" in character that the " procureur-general " refused to admit it. The de Rohans, however, appealed to the "garde des sceaux", Miromesnil, and carried their point. The Magistrates were " forced " to accept and employ it. ' Thus to force the hands of justice, compel it to accept a document "infiniment suspecte", which, if accepted, settled the whole affair, wjis — as Michelet points out — "indigne et enorme." It is impossible, under such circumstances, to regard 1 Droz. s Since the La Mottes never denied the possession and sale of these diamonds, this evidence was really of small importance, except on the trial, where it was confessedly misused. ^ Georgel. io6 THE QUEEN. this evidence as anywise satisfactory, still less admit it to be of sufficient weight to controvert the state- ments of the de La Mottes. Those writers who are bent upon proving Madame de La Motte guilty have, of course, eagerly accepted Gray's document. They contrive to make out, with this help, that she and her husband realised in Paris and London some .£'20,000. However, even this estimate, based upon a "highly suspicious" document, represents but a comparatively small part of the es- timated value of the necklace. A large number of the diamonds originally com- posing this unique jewel, stones at once recognisable by their very exceptional quality, have never been since traced. This fact would rather indicate that the necklace had fallen into the keeping of no needy adventuress, but of someone who could afford to re- tain, or, if necessary, sacrifice it. Anyhow, the question as to what became of these missing jewels remains unanswered, unless we admit the Queen's implication as advanced by Madame de Valois. That is the point at issue — a question that could not be raised in 1786. The question naturally arises: — Would the Queen's implication be a more incredible solution than the highly incredible one that has been offered for our acceptance ? Much would, of course, depend upon the Queen's idiosyncrasies. THE QUEEN. 107 Had Marie Antoinette in character and conduct, realised that legendary Queen with whom we are all so familiar, — " princesse la plus decente, la plus circon- specte, la plus irreprochable, qui jamais ait ete vue sur le trone," ' the immaculate portrait, in short, por- trayed by "the faithful and devoted," — any such hypo- thesis as her possible implication in so scandalous an intrigue might be dismissed as too gross an incongru- ity to be canvassed ; but, as is now generally admitted, these courtly historiographers gave us fiction in lieu of the reality. They raised up an ideal impersonality, and an enthusiastic flock prostrated itself before the idol. ^ One of our later authorities, M. de Les- La vrate cure, a most zealous champion of the Queen, MarieAntoi- deplores these " exaggerations of the faith- "''*' ^' ^■ _ de Ltscure, ful", who, in opposition to the dissolute and criminal Marie Antoinette portrayed by the revolu- tionists, raised up an abnormal individuality, " not only exempt from crime, but faultless; not only faultless, but without blemish. ' He laments these " servile exaggerations, the stupid zeal of those who have con- stituted themselves champions of a memory that has no need of such defence." Unfortunately the "Vraie Marie Antoinette" of M. ' Lafont d'Aussonne. 2 "Hole que la sensiblerie des salons avail forg^e." Arneth and GefFroy. Introduction. ' " Femme aux graces ang^liques, Spouse aux s^raphiques vertus etc." io8 THE QUEEN. de Lescure is equally painted with all the brilliant colouring of enthusiastic admiration, and is almost as poetical and overcharged as the rhapsodies he starts by condemning. The MM. de Goacourt, whose history of MM. de , , , Goncomt on Marie Antomette is particularly recommend- the same ed by M. de Lescure as an " authentic study," have also exhibited for admiration the pic- ture of a fair young Archduchess, whose daily instruction a loving mother anxiously superintends and controls, even in the minutest details ; guiding her tasks ; giving personal supervision ■ to her writing lessons ; com- plimenting her on her progress etc. ; never choosing to trust the talents of her daughter to the obsequiousness or indulgence of courtly governesses. ^ Madame So much for fiction ; let us now turn our Camfan in .... , r r , contradic attention to a few facts. fto«. We are indebted to Madame Campan for a glimpse of the truth. She admits us behind the -scenes at the rehearsal of an amusing farce. The cares of the Cabinet, she says, left the Empress but little time for either nursery or schoolroom. ' This so-called biography more resembles a. historical romance. Written in a strain both laudatory and apologetic, every favourable trait that idolatry has handed down is here recorded and embellished, while any less favourable characteristic is transfigured by their eloquent and euphemistic pen. We read of her: "vivacitfo", "joliesaudaces", " bonheurs indiscrets de la parole ", and " gracieuses ignorances" ; her "gait£ foUe, l^g^re, p^tulante"; "la mobilitiS, la naievetfi, I'^tourderie, I'espi^glerie, le tapage de ses mille grdces," etc. Similar qualifying euphemisms are current throughout. THE QUEEN. 109 Although daily reports were made touching the health of the children, she would, at times, pass eight or ten days without even seeing them. The highly attractive pictures of maternal tenderness and devotion, exhibited before distinguished guests invited to the imperial circle, were just so many "tableaux vivants" got up by the Empress for their express edification, with the design of gaining credit for a personal supervision that had no reality. ' The "grandes maitresses" having no control or supervision to fear, sought only to render themselves agreeable by culpable indulgence, and the education of the young Archduchess was, in consequence, sadly neglected. "Belles lettres" and history, even that of her own country, were a " terra incognita." She knew nothing of Latin, though we read that the young Archduch- esses were drilled to listen with apparent attention and intelligence to Latin harangues and make responses in the same language. Drawings were exhibited as her handiwork, which she confessed she had scarcely touched. She could not write French at all correctly, and as regards music she was quite ignorant of its first elements. ' It would appear that sufficient care was not always taken to secure teachers whose characters would bear investigation. The French Ambassador was instructed to remonstrate on the selection of two of the masters appointed, and their services had to be dispensed with. One was a notorious "mauvais sujet." no THE QUEEN. The Dauphine herself acknowledged the "char- latanerie " of her education. ' _,, . _ Fortunately we are no longer at the He Marie mercy of " historiens r^parateurs et expia- Antoinette. toirgs." In the "Vienna Correspondence" published by MM. d'Arneth and Geffroy are to be found most valuable "data" to guide the historian. We are here enabled to follow the innermost life of the Dauphine and young Queen in detail, consequently are in a position to form our own opinion regarding her character and accomplishments. The material is 1 And yet Messrs. Weber and Mountjoie have described her on arriving in France, as mistress of every accomplishment, — ^proficient in French, English, Latin, Italian, drawing, music and dancing, geo- graphy and history! The Empress her mother sums up (in 1771) her daughter's talents and accomplishments in the following words : — " La lecture vous est plus n&essaire qu'a une autre, n'ayant aucun autre acquis; ni la miisique, ni le dessin, ni la danse, peinture et autre sciences agr^ables." Again: — "Ni vos talents ni savoir; vous savez bien que tout cela n'existe pas." The contrast is rather remarkable, and we see that Madame Campan and "La vraie Marie Antoinette" de M. Avenel, which describes her ignorance as "la plus crasse", are nearer the truth than the " gracieuses ignorances " of MM. de Goncourt ; and although these gentlemen partic- ularised the lessons in vfriting as the item of instruction to which the Empress had given special attention, the young Dauphine, it appears, could scarcely form her letters correctly. Marie Therfese is constantly finding fault with her correspondence needing such continual correc- tions. She sends two of her daughter's letters, as samples of her deficiences, to Mercy, who is driven to acknowledge that both in writing and spelling "il y avait beaucoup a d6sirer." Vienna Carres. We only draw attention, en passant, to this point because M. Vizetelly, who does not fail to bring to our notice the "bad hand- writing and worse spelling" of Madame de La Motte, for whom excuses might easily be advanced, passes by in silence similar short- comings, without such excuse, of the Queen. THE QUEEN. iii at hand wherewith to solve that much disputed problem ; all is laid bare for our analysis. We are given, at last, the veritable Marie Antoinette as she reveals herself in her own letters, as she is portrayed by those of her mother, and as she is daily stereographed by her mother's confidant, the Count Mercy. ' The authority is unimpeachable. It does not, how- ever, come within our province to follow the lo years' existence of Marie Antoinette therein so fully devel- oped; our task is limited to the question of the di- amond necklace and her possible implication in that affair. We have to take into consideration the asser- tion that has been advanced of the existence of an intimacy of some sort between the Queen and Madame de La Motte, and see whether any of the personal characteristics of Marie Antoinette, revealed in this correspondence, will admit the possibility of such an hypothesis ; our enquiry consequently may be restricted to the moral qualities and conduct, and to any of the personal habits and inclinations of the Queen which may serve to throw any light upon our subject. The chief objects in life with Marie „ ■' Her crav- Antoinette were pleasure and amusement, ings for Its nature and description varied with her «'«"•'«'«««'• years, but " her appetite for pleasure was insatiable." " Her mother and the Abbe Vermond, her mentor and • "M. I'Ambassadeur Mouchard" as Michelet not inappropriately styles him. 2 Professor Yonge. 112 THE QUEEN. preceptor, were in despair. It was found quite impos- sible to fix her attention upon anything of serious import. Her current objection was unanswerable : — "La raison viendrait; mais, avant tout, il fallait s'amuser." Every allowance of course must be made for her extreme youth and inexperience when arriving in France, but it must not be imagined — as has been too often pleaded — that she was thrown on the world of Versailles without guidance and advice. Few enjoyed greater advantages in the way of counsel than Marie Antoinette and few indeed stood more in need of direction. It was not that she lacked advice, there was abundance always at hand; the misfortune was that she too constantly rejected the advice proffered. ' Theoretically, the most submissive of daughters, the most docile of pupils, she accepted her mother's admonitions and the guidance of Mercy, or of the Abb6 Vermond, with a fund of apparent amiability. But she was practically self-willed. The best advice was thrown aside when it crossed any of her innum- erable caprices. Her wilfulness was unscrupulous, both as regards the manner in which it affected its aims and the consequences it might entail. ^ 1 " V. M. n'a jug6 que trop vrai sur Tattachement de la reine k ses volontds, et sur son extreme adresse k saisir tons les faux-fuyants qui peuvent d&outer les remontrances." Again: "Vous trouv^rez dans sa r^ponse une nouvelle preuve combieu elle aime \ fluder tout boa avis." Similar complaints are frequent. 3 "Je conuais ma fille assez," writes the Empress in 1770, "pour Stre bien persuad^e qu'elle viendra k bout de tout ce qu'elle souhaite, et osera beaucoup." THE QUEEN. 113 Her earliest cravings for amusement seem to have found vent in the innocent pastime of romping with dirty dogs and equally dirty children, at the expense of soiling her clothes, breaking the furniture, and turning everything topsy-turvy in her apartments; while her chief out-door amusement was donkey riding. A less harmless diversion was found in "Zs what MM. de Goncourt qualify as her Moqueuse." "bonheurs indiscrets de la parole." Historical ac- curacy would describe this diversion as the art of ridiculing and making fun of her surroundings, in which practice she was quite an adept; knowing how to give to her acts and remarks "tout I'esprit et le sel propre a les rendre plus piquantes," as Mercy explains. The ladies of the Court were catalogued under three classes, "les si^cles, les CoUets-montes, et les Paquets. Madame de Noailles was re-baptised "Ma- dame Etiquette", and others received more or less appropriate nicknames. Marie Antoinette acquired, by way of retaliation, that of " La Moqueuse". This "sobriquet" was, evidently, fairly earned and not to be wondered at, for we find her mother cen- suring her "habit of turning people into ridicule and bursting out laughing in their faces." The donkey riding was naturally succeeded by riding on horseback. This new exercise, however, proved so attractive in every respect, and grew into such a 8 114 THE QUEEN. "passion" that it gave rise to certain fears, and con- sequent objections, on the part of her mother, into the motives of which we need not here enter. But these objections led to an incident which must be recorded, since it illustrates how little dependence could be placed on any promise of the young prin- cess, however solemnly made, and how she would endeavour, by subterfuges, to avoid detection. "I give you my word that I will never follow the chase on horseback." This promise was volunteered to the ambassador Mercy in order to gain his favourable intercession and induce him to support and justify her proceedings in his letters to her mother. To the Empress she writes to the same effect. " I take you at your word," replies her mother who, however, evidently entertained private misgivings, for she adds: — "No excuses, or subterfuges on this point; I hold you to the promise you have made never to follow the chase." The misgivings of the Empress were only too well grounded, for the Dauphine broke her word. Having done so, her next move was to palm off some plausible "subterfuge." "S.A.R." — explains Mercy to the Empress — "has slightly broken the promise she gave never to join the chase on horseback. She followed a stag-hunt under the pretext of having met the chase by pure chance. Madame the Archduchess," he adds, "had strongly THE QUEEN. 115 enjoined secrecy, especially as regards me. She believes I am not aware of the circumstance." But other meetings followed, and these the young princess wished to be equally attributed to chance, until Mercy found it necessary to point out "with respectful frankness" as he expresses it : — " que des hasards que Ton pent faire naitre quand Ton veut ressemblent trop a des detours etc." Marie Ther^se, in reply to her daughter's very tardy explanations, when found out, merely observed that her excuses might have been all very well had she been told when the circumstance first occurred, some twelve months past, or more. It is clear that the veritable Dauphine of the Vienna Correspondence did not quite come up to the romantic descriptions of her courtly historians; but we need not dwell longer on a subject that does not directly touch the point we have to consider. We pass on to one of more importance, a characteristic more imme- diately interesting since it leads straight to the question at issue. Since Marie Antoinette persistently denied Marie all connection with Madame de La Motte, Antoinettes and maintained she had never even seen her; '^^ f" ^ veracity. that she knew nothing about the negotiations effected in her name in respect to the necklace until the matter was officially brought to her notice; since also her simple word, in denial, has been advanced as all sufficient ; it becomes a point of some considerable ii6 THE QUEEN. importance to test the value of such negations. Are they to be accepted in all confidence as suggested? What, in short, are the claims of the Queen to veracity? Sincerityand Writing in 1773, the Empress estimates truth, I77S- her daughter's sincerity and truth in the following words: — " Sur ce point, je vous avoue, je ne suis pas tranquille ; je la trouve trop souvent en defaut, et elle sait s'en tirer que trop finement, et donner des tournures, meme au depens de la verite." Perfect mis- Now a Very remarkable instance of studi- tress tn the gj double-dealing, showing a skilfulness art of dissi- mulation beyond her years m acting a part to gam ^77^- an end, is to be met with in the Guines' affair, which led to that "facheux episode", the dis- missal of the minister Turgot. The Guines' Marie Antoinette was now Queen, and the affair. Count de Guines, notorious for his gallant- ries, in high favour. ' The King had recalled this gentleman from his embassy in London at the instiga- tions of his ministers, Vergennes and Turgot; the Queen, we are told, consequently brooded revenge on these "detested" ministers who had had the audacity to thwart her fancies, and the more effectually to carry out her designs, she armed herself with dissimulation. 1 "Tout faisait de lui un personnage qui pouvait prftendre i de grands succ^s aupr^s des femmes ... de Berlia il passa a Londres contiQuer sa vie d'homme \ bonnes fortunes, car, en 1773, il n'^tait question que de ses amours avec Lady Craven. A. Gobez. See also the "M^moires du Due de Lauzun", p. 136. THE QUEEN. 117 While privately doing her best to irritate her husband against Turgot, she evinced in public a marked cool- ness toward her favourite Guines; scarcely deigned to notice him. It was generally thought she had altogether abandoned the cause of the Count. Suddenly the world of Versailles was ^^^ enlightened by a startling proof to the con- over her trary, and at the same time the enormous "^ ™ ' power the Queen now exercised over her husband was manifested in the most striking manner possible. Her growing influence over the King had previously been exhibited in the exile of the Due d'Aiguillon, which was entirely her work in furtherance of "un esprit de vengeance." ' She now makes her submissive husband write a letter to de Guines, (just publicly recalled under a cloud,) expressive of satisfaction at his conduct, and announcing the favour he is pleased to accord by making him a duke. Three times did the Queen make her uxorious spouse re-write this letter, never deeming it suffi- ciently gracious 1 But reparation was not sufficient to sat- J^er vindk- isfy her revenge. Even the dismissal of ^''"^""'• the two ministers was not enough. Her design was to have Turgot lodged in the Bastille. The strongest, the most pressing representations — we are told — were 1 "Vienna Correspondence," also see her letter to the Count of Rosen- berg, July 13th. p. 146. ii8 THE QUEEN. found necessary to arrest the Queen's proceedings, and restrain her outburst of anger, which had no other foundation than the steps he had thought it his duty to take for the recall of the Count from his embassy in London. And delib- And Marie Antoinette then " avec un air erate false- (jg fejnte innocence," deliberately wrote to hood, her mother that she had had nothing to do with the dismissal of this Minister 1 ' Running through the "Vienna Correspondence" we find frequent complaints of the Queen's "habit of prevaricating" and "dissembling," of her "subterfuges" and "want of truth"; — also of her remarkable adroit- ness "a saisir des echappatoires pour colorer ses actions" — as her mother expresses it. Observations In face of the foregoing it can no longer asbearingon bg pretended that the simple unsupported the intrigue. ,.,,■,■■.. denial by Mane Antoinette of any connec- tion with Madame de La Motte is of the slightest 1 "Je ne m'en suis pas mel6e." Mr. Morley writes a propos : — " To levity she added both dissimula- lation and vindictiveness. Against Turgot she conspired with tenacious animosity, because he had suppressed u sinecure which she designed for a court parasite, and because he would not support her caprice on behalf of a worthless creature of her faction." " The Queen wrote to her mother that she had not meddled in the affair. This was a falsehood, for she had even sought to have Turgot thrown into the Bastille." Critical Miscellanies. The Prince de Montbarry gives in his Memoirs the details of a . "terrible scene of violent passion and bitter reproaches to which he had been subjected, for having opposed, unintentionally, the promotion of some officer — ^her prot^g^. The fury of the Queen seemed quite uncontrollable," THE QUEEN. 119 value. It is clear she would not hesitate to deny what she did not choose to confess, and act a part to conceal the truth when it suited her interests. The undoubted skill she possessed in dissimulating easily explains her most extraordinary bearing towards the jeweller Bcehmer — that otherwise incomprehensible inability to grasp a fact that everyone was echoing in her ears. At all events we see that she was quite capable of acting the role attributed to her, — that of cleverly feigning ignorance about a circumstance she did not choose to understand. It is further important to notice a curious identity in the dissimulation confessedly practised by the Queen in this Guines affair, and that she was accused, by the jeweller, of practising in relation to the Cardinal, viz. — feigning a marked coolness towards him in public to cover a private understanding and thereby throw dust in the eyes the world. ' Again: — if — as has been advanced — the Queen, in- fluenced by motives of intense personal animosity against the Cardinal, and " eager for his destruction," had gone so far as to demand his life of the King, ^ such would have been merely a repetition of the style of vindictiveness she had previously attempted against Turgot: and we see how capable she was of dis- guising her wrath — as Madame de La Motte represents her throughout the necklace affair — while secretly ' Campan. 2 vizetelly. I20 THE QUEEN. nursing revenge, and plotting a favourable opportunity for carrying it out. Queen's "^^^ VLC^yA point which has any bearing society and upon the Subject under our consideration javounes. involves the much disputed topic of the personal inclinations, habits, and conduct of the Queen. One of the arguments advanced against the possible existence of any intimacy between the Queen and Madame de Valois is — that the latter was a woman of too bad a reputation to have had any chance of being distinguished by the royal favour. In order to test the value of such an argument we must take a glance at the interior of the Court and the "societe intime" of the Queen. This will give us an idea of the sort of people who had the entree, and enjoyed her favour, and furnish a fair criterion upon which to form our judgment. The Vienna Correspondence, fortunately, supplies all the data required for estimating the characters, morals, manners, and occupations of those who prominently figured in that curious society. It was not until Marie Antoinette became Amusements ,— , , and dissifa- Queen that she was able to enjoy ufe as tions. "Petit g^g understood enjoyment. Trianon then became the centre of attraction, a sort of enchanting " oasis in the desert" midst state formalities and the wearisome pomps of a Court. Here she could indulge to her heart's content in retirement. Here she could satisfy her caprices free from restraint, and, THE QUEEN. 121 surrounded by that intimate society with which she was so enraptured, organise " ce syst^me d'amusements at de dissipations auquel elle est si attachee." ' If we had to accept the teaching of some 1776. of her historians, we should have to picture to ourselves a young Queen " setting herself resolutely to work by her admonitions, and still more effectually by her example, to purify the Court . . . discountenancing vice and impi- ety by her marked reprobation, and reserving all her favour and protection for genius, patriotism, and honour, and virtue." ^ Facts, unfortunately, do not support this picture. The Abbe Vermond discloses the only The Abbe qualification which was found necessary to Vennond. secure a favourable reception by Marie Antoinette. He gives us the 'epitome of a conversation between the Queen and himself, highly curious and instructive, in the course of which the Abbe observed: — "Je n'ai pu, moi, vous rendre raissonnable 1 par exemple, vous etes devenue fort indulgente sur les moeurs et la reputation de vos amis et amies ... a votre age cette indulgence, surtout pour les femmes, fait un mauvais .effet; mais enfin je passe que vous ne preniez garde ni aux moeurs ni a la reputation d'une femme, que vous en fassiez votre societe, votre amie, uniquement parce qu'elle est aimable . . . mais que I'inconduite en tout genre, les mauvaises moeurs, 1 Vienna Correspondence. ' Professor Yonge and MM. de Goncourt. 122 THE QUEEN. les reputations tarees et perdues soient un titre pour 6tre admis dans votre societe, voila ce qui vous fait un tort infini." The Queen listened to this sermon with a smile. She only ventured to make one exception to this sweeping condemnation, in favour of Madame de Lam- balle. • The The high favour of this princess is Madame de contemporary with the " Petit Trianon." She Lamballe of ' Monsieur de is represented by " the faithful " and their Lescure. successors in the stereotyped language. And MM. The disinterested nature of this "pas- sionate" affection is extolled; — an attach- ment of which the princess never took advantage to make it " the motive or excuse for a single importun- ity"; an affection too pure to be subject even to jealousies. Not a cloud, we are assured, obscured this really touching liaison. It is the epoch of the "bals intimes" in the apartments of the "Super- -intendent", as this lady had been nominated in 1775, and of the pastoral " vill^giatures " at the Trianon. The ephemeral liaisons of Marie Antoinette with the Duchess de Pesquigny, with Madame de Saint- Megrin and Madame de Cossd, had been replaced, by a veritable friendship for Madame de Lamballe, who never demanded anything neither for herself nor for others. During 1774 — 5 Marie Antoinette scarcely appeared without her "inseparable." ' Vienna Correspondence. THE QUEEN. 123 But alas 1 as its novelty wore off the favour of the princess languished "eclipsed by the rival star of Madame de Polignac." Though M. de Lescure confesses that the reasons for this change have been shrouded in mystery, ' he proceeds to solve the mystery by explaining how, as a consequence of so assiduous and intimate a daily in- tercourse, the time came when the Queen and Madame de Lamballe found that they really had nothing to say to one another, save repeating what they had already said so many times. The moment of lassitude and satiety naturally arrived; but still he represents the rising favour of Madame de Polignac as simply a passing preference for another lady who had, in the eyes of the Queen, the superiority of novelty. We in no wise question the correctness of this rather naive explanation. Passing preferences for novelties of this description were evidently the favourite pastime of the Queen. " M. de Lescure's portrait of a princess " equally inaccessible to envy as to ambition, lamballe of and who never exhibited the slightest vexa- the " Vienna tion at the ascending credit of Madame de (^"^^"P""^- ° ence". Polignac gradually eclipsing her own," cannot be accepted for historical. The Madame de ' Pour des causes demeurees myst^rieuses, mais faciles a deviner. 2 She confessed to her brother, with a certain reticence, the pas- sionate infatuations she had entertained for certain ladies of her circle. A. yobez. 124 THE QUEEN. Lamballe as she appears in the Vienna Correspondence, does not resemble the heroine of MM. de Lescure and de Goncourt, when we are admitted behind the scenes. Here we are shown a lady who " abused her position by reiterated importunities," and who had no intention of relinquishing the position of first favourite without a struggle. The Queen experienced, we are told, very consider- able embarrassment in her vain endeavours to main- tain even a semblance of harmony between the rival claimants for her favours, and scenes the reverse from agreeable took place. Their jealousies in time became most troublesome and pressing, even importunate. As Madame de Polignac rose in favour so did Madame de Lamballe sink, — indeed "became an object of ennui and disgust." However, since it would not have answered the Queen's designs to manifest, too openly, this change of sentiment, she continued to pass some hours with the princess occasionally, which, we read, bored her consid- erably. Her society, in short, came to be simply " toleree, et presque toujours avec ennui," and the past intimacy was finally ended by her rarely appearing at Court. Madame de In the meantime Madame Jules de Polig- Polignac. jjj^j. jj^j riggn to the position of prime favourite. Now this lady, we learn, from contemporaneous Memoirs hitherto regarded as libellous, "had so little consideration for the source whence she derived THE QUEEN. 125 her power, that she even ventured to introduce her lover into the intimate society of the Queen. ' This connection was so well understood that invita- tions to supper etc. for Madame de Polignac would necessitate invitations being equally sent to her lover, the Count de Vaudreuil. To have omitted this deli- cate attention would have been looked upon as a want of politeness and good taste, which no lady of the "grand monde" would have incurred. Her hus- band never dreamed of objecting. ° Her daughter, who became Duchess de Madame de Guiche, was one of the most charming "^ ' ornaments of her mother's salon — a shocking training certainly for any young girl. ' It is not, therefore, surprising to learn that Madame de Guiche, finding few attractions in her husband, decided on following her mother's example and the prevailing fashion, and selected a very desirable substitute in Count Arch- amband de Talleyrand, one of the most fascinating men of the day, " et surtout a la mode par une foule de succes et d'aventures ; M. de Guiche fut oubUe." * Any similar testimony of the foregoing character has, of course, been invariably looked upon by Royal apologists and by "the faithful" as simply libellous, and treated with. the silent contempt it seemed in their eyes to deserve. ' Soulavie. Memoirs of the Duchess d'Abrantes. Cor. Sec. Count de Tilly. ' "feole bien scabreuse." « D'Abrantes. 126 THE QUEEN. Contemporary Memoirs, however, contain much cor- rect and valuable information, and by comparing them together we gain a pretty just estimate of the scenes they describe. The Count Mercy completely corrobor- ates the foregoing estimate of the claims of Madame de Polignac to morality and decorum. " Madame Jules de Polignac" — he writes — " is quite above what les esprits faibles call prejudices. Her liaison with the Count de Vaudreuil is an acknowledged fact. He is not only her ami trap intime, but also beaucoup trop affiche." Marie Antoinette, we are informed, was perfectly aware of this fact ; indeed did not attempt to deny it when her mother wrote to her on the subject. Countess Now Madame de Polignac unfortunately aAndiau. exercised an enormous and dangerous in- fluence over the Queen, and was herself much under the influence of her surroundings. She was greatly led by an aunt who had brought her up, the Countess d'Andlau, a notorious intriguer of very bad reputation. ' This lady, some twenty years back, had been exiled from the Court and dismissed the service of Madame Adelaide, the late King's daughter, for supplying the young princess with obscene literature, — a circumstance well-known to Marie Antoinette, as Mercy acknowledges. " ' "Perdue de reputation." 2 "II s'agit du 'Portier des Chartreux' illustr^ de gravures trbs- libres. La curieuse et espifegle Adelaide, vierge de quatorze, I'avait trouv6 de son gout, et Mme. Henriette I'eut apr&s sa soeur." See Appendix No. 8. Alic/ulei. THE QUEEN. 127 The presiding genius of this society Countess appears to have been Madame Diane de „'fr* " *■ ^ Poltgnac. Polignac, equally distinguished in the annals of gallantry. She was decidedly plain, we read, and a Canoness ; but these drawbacks were found to be no insuperable obstacle to her practising the current morality. She had a son by the Marquis d'Autichamp, ' who entered the Russian service and fell at Austerlitz. This lady had been "dame de compagnie" to the Countess d'Artois, ^ and the Queen got her appointed "dame d'honneur" to Madame Elizabeth, the King's sister. She was a person of very superior talents, with a remarkable energy of character, and made all bend to her superior will. This selection of the Countess Diane, for the first post in the household of the young Princess Elizabeth, is a very striking proof that morality in a candidate was considered altogether a superfluous qualification. Another lady for whom the Queen con- princess de ceived one of her strong affections, a fa- Guemenk. vourite whose "societe bruyante" she delighted to frequent, was the Princess de Guemenee. "Her reputation was very far from intact." She lived apart from her husband, and her liaison with the Due de Coigny was " a well-known and admitted fact." The Queen was in the habit of frequenting the ' "EUe avait des moeurs fort decri^es." 2 Appendix No, 9. 128 THE QUEEN. evening receptions of this princess, though perfectly conversant with her character and reputation. The Emperor Joseph accompanied his sister on one occasion and was perfectly shocked by the "heavy play", the description of people he met, and the air of licence that prevailed. This princess was, in the Queen's presence, reproached for " suspicious play." The Em- peror told his sister, point-blank, " que la maison etait un vrai tripot." Countess de The Prince de Gu6m6nee consoled him- Dillon. ggif elsewhere ; among others with the Coun- tess de Dillon, another favourite of the Queen. This liaison was equally "chose connue et acceptee." She would appear to have enjoyed very consider- able favour ; had for a time disputed that of Madame de Lamballe; then had a second turn of favour in 1780, when she was made an extra "dame du palais" and caused quite a sensation at Versailles, being regarded as a rival to Madame de Polignac. The foregoing glimpse at a few of the leading ladies of the "societe intime" of Marie Antoinette will give an idea of its moral tone, and characteristics. Though a mere sketch, the outlines are sufficiently clear to enable our readers to fill in the details without too much taxing their imaginations, and we do not need to carry the inquiry further. We are, however, fairly entitled to draw the following conclusion in support of our argument : — though Madame de La Motte may have been "a creature" in the estimation of certain THE QUEEN. 129 writers, it is anyhow admitted she was a very fascin- ating one of most bewitching address and excep- tionally irresistible manners. She further possessed that magnetic "superiority of novelty" so attractive, we have seen, to Marie Antoinette. As regards her antecedents, they would never, evidently have stood in the way, or formed any obstacle to favour in the eyes of a royal lady who, we are told, "passe tout a ceux qui se rendent utiles a ses amusements," and to whom the morals and reputation of a lady were of little moment providing she were "aimable." We will now glance at some of the Amusements amusements of this society, and see how gftiu Queen it passed its time at Trianon and elsewhere. '^"'^ '^^ rr., . r • society. The topics of conversation current among the fair shepherdes^s of those pastoral " villegiatures" at the little Trianon, of which we have heard so much, were ; — " La chanson nouvelle, le bon mot du jour, les petites anecdotes scandaleuses." Such — confesses one of the Queen's apologists — constituted " les seuls sujets d'entretien du cercle intime de la Reine." ' Besenval writes: — "La reine s'amusait de I'historiette du jour, de petites libertes gazees avec adresse, et surtout de la medisance, comma on la prepare a la cour; voila ce qui lui plait. Hors quelques romans, elle n'a jamais ouvert un livre." The Emperor Joseph corroborates the foregoing, since he writes cautioning his sister to "shun such conversa- ' Campan. 9 I30 THE QUEEN. tions, the sole attractions whereof were scandal and the curiosity to learn "les aventures et commerages de la cour" ; and further condemns " the indecencies with which she replenished her imagination by the books she read." The life at Trianon may have resembled in some respects the pastoral spectacles depicted by romantic writers, but it was certainly intermingled frequently with episodes the reverse of pastoral ; it was strangely varied by scenes of dissipation, by frivolities or worse. ' M dame "^^ very practical condemnation by Ma- Eihabeth at dame Elizabeth of the goings-on at Trianon the Trianon, confirms this view. When present, she kept herself quite retired, almost in solitude. Her sojourn there was a simple act of complaisance tempered by circumspection, but not at all to her taste. Had the life there generally resembled the pastoral simplicities handed down to us, would she thus have withheld her countenance, or shut herself off in such seclusion. " When the Queen appeared in public her The "model ^ ^^ ^ prince" the general companion was the Count d Artois. Count d'Ar- '^yi, de Goncourt describes this young prince in the following terms: — "Sortant de I'enfance, le Comte d' Artois annongait ' "On s'amusa d'une grande vari^t^ de jeux peu dficens." SoulavU. 2 See; "Eloge historique de Madame Elizabeth de France", par Ant Ferrand. Paris 1814. THE QUEEN. 131 d^ja le vrai module d'un prince frangais. D^ja il rea- lisait les traits d'un heros de chevalerie, et c'est demain que le monde le surnommera 'Galaor'." Now the veritable Count d'Artois was in Thevmtaile reality a youth who observed neither dignity t""'^^- or measure in his conduct. He was an inveterate gambler, inclined to intemperance, and much given to most decided libertinism. After spending his days in practising one frivolity or another, he would start at midnight for Paris and the Palais Royal, remaining in that choice rendezvous of licentiousness till any hour in the morning. ' We can readily understand that the very familiar intercourse of such a "model prince" with the Queen was looked upon as highly objectionable ; all the more so since it appears he was in the habit of "retailing his confidences to Marie Antoinette," which neces- sitated certain "d'aveux indecents." When admonished on this head, the Queen wrote to her mother in the usual style : " sa ch^re maman peut etre assuree que je sais I'arreter des qu'il commence des polissonneries etc." I The value of these assurances is highly questionable, but we clearly comprehend the nature of such con- fidences, and the "far too familiar footing" of their daily intercourse. Their "shocking familiarity", indeed, formed the subject of repeated remonstrances. ' "II ne pense qu'a une dissipation effr^nee qu'il satisfait sans reserve." Vienna Correspondence. 132 THE QUEEN. Horse Mercy informs the Empress that the Queen racing. niade a pretence of disapproving the general conduct of the Count, but that her observations on the subject were quite at variance with her behaviour, since she appeared to countenance the same by being seen invariably in his company in a way to give rise to the hostile criticism of the public. At the races for instance. Mercy describes the scene at one of the meetings, where the Queen ap- peared completely surrounded by a crowd of young folk, a regular "pele-mele", kicking up a row suffi- cient to drown any conversation, while they pillaged the table of its ample collation. The Count d'Artois was conspicuous as usual, complaining very grievously if he lost, or giving way to a pitiable joy when he won, and presenting the winning jockeys to the Queen. She was his companion everywhere; in the tennis court, where the society was not of the choicest de- scription and betting the order of the day ; or playing billiards in the Grand Salon of the Chateau amidst a " tourbillon de jeunesse " ; driving with him publicly in the "Bois", or to the hounds, in a tete-a-tete open trap in which the occupants stood, and which enjoyed the characteristic nickname of — " un diable " 1 These occasional verbal disapprobations were, in fact, a mere cloak to cover the direct countenance given by the Queen's very inconsiderate conduct. Bagatelle. The Count had, at the time we are speaking of, a favourite hunting-box in the "Bois", THE QUEEN. 133 called "Bagatelle". Its origin was almost fabulous. An old building standing on the site had to be pulled down, rebuilt from bottom to top, newly furnished etc. and a fete given to the Queen all within six or seven weeks. This undertaking formed the terms of a wager between them. Nine hundred workmen were employed day and night. There was a deficiency of materials; so the Count gave directions that patrols of the Swiss Guards should be ordered to seize every cart they came across in the public roads containing any of the materials of which they were short. "This sort of violence revolted the public", but "Bagatelle" was completed and the ball came off, and "Bagatelle" afterwards became a very favourite rendezvous where the Queen, when sledging or hunting, or attending the races, would breakfast or dine with the Count and his friends. During the carnival of i 'J^6 we read that y,^ ,,3 ^ ^^ the Queen contrived to accumulate, "from masques" sheer inattention and the vivacity of her ^*'^' "^^^ ' character," — as Mercy apologetically explains to her mother — a vast number of indiscretions which gave rise to "impressions, very vexatious." There were two balls at the Palais Royal given by the Due de Chartres, at this period in very high favour; also certain " bals-masques" at the opera that were sources of very much "inquietude". Here, surrounded by a crowd of young people, and midst all the incidental familiarities of the disorderly scene, the Queen would 134 THE QUEEN. remain till six in the morning, the Count d'Artois her invariable escort. These balls undoubtedly gave rise to "adventures", and there cannot be any question regarding the char- acter of these adventures, since they necessitated " most energetic representations" being addressed to the Queen. Mercy quite groans over Marie Antoinette's total oblivion of all dignity of conduct, and is driven to point out to her mother the dangerous consequences that might result from "inconveniences" so continually aris- ing, that it was more than he and the Abbe could arrange to anticipate, or ward them off. Their "most energetic representations" were re- ceived, as usual, with an infinity of grace and conde- scension, but they were met with the stereotyped rejoinder, "qu'il fallait bien jouir ua.peu du temps de la jeunesse, que le moment de reflection viendra, et qu'alors les frivolites disparaitront," — a paraphrase of her famous "avant tout il faut s'amuser. Madame Madame Campan retails an incident in Cainfan's connection with these " bals-masques," — version of the "fiacre " ^'^^ aventure si bizarre," as she explains, adventure:' which, though of itself most simple, gave rise to very vexatious suspicions regarding the Queen's conduct. Marie Antoinette started one evening for the opera, she tells us, accompanied by the Duchess de Luynes. Her carriage broke down on entering Paris, and they were obliged to take refuge in a shbp while the " valet-de-pied " procured a cab. . . The cir- THE QUEEN. 13S cumstance would have remained altogether unknown but for the Queen herself who, on arriving at the opera, exclaimed : — " C'est moi en fiacre, n'est-ce pas bien plaisantf" From this moment all Paris was acquainted with the story of the "fiacre." It was said that this night adventure was shrouded in mystery; that the Queen had granted a rendezvous, in some private house, to " un seigneur honore de ses boutes," and the Due de Coigny was openly named. • Parisian rumour was certainly, on this The Vienna occasion, considerably better informed than ■^"'"on. Madame Campan. The Queen really started from Versailles attended by one of her ladies of honour, the most compromising, the Princess d'Henin, not by the Duchess de Luynes. On arriving in Paris she alighted at the private re- sidence of thje- Due de Coigny, as rumour had correctly circulated. From the residence of this gentleman the Queen and princess subsequently started in a private carriage, and masked so as not to be recognised. It was this conveyance that broke down, and being quite alone — ^without even Madame Campan's improvised " valet-de-pied " — they were necessitated to enter the nearest place of refuge, a silk mercer's, and hail the first passing cab. It is clear from the foregoing corrected version that either Madame Campan was ignorant of the real cir- 1 Publicly credited with being one of the Queen's lovers. His liaison with Madame de Gu^men^e was "an admitted fact." 136 THE QUEEN. cumstances of the adventure, or that she suppressed what she knew in order to give a different colouring to the affair. Noctumaks. The Count d'Artois originated in the 'fTf- summer of 1777 a novel species of amuse- ment, in those famous " nocturnales." In August of that year the bands of the French and Swiss Guards were directed to play of an evening on the terraces of the gardens at Versailles, and, as a matter of course, crowds of people congregated includ- ing the populace of the royal borough. In the midst of this "mob"' the members of the royal family were in the habit of promenading, "without any suite and almost disguised". At times the Queen and the prin- cesses would appear together, sometimes they would stroll about separately, each arm in arm with one of their ladies in attendance. These midnight rambles proved highly attractive, and did not — as Mercy had fondly hoped — come to an end with the fine weather, never to be resumed. They were repeated during the summers of '78 and '79 and often prolonged till early morning. Writing to the Empress in 1 779, Mercy acknowledges that notwithstanding all the precautions taken to min- imise " the inconveniences" of the midnight promenades, there had nevertheless resulted far too many ; and what Mercy qualifies, so frequently, as " inconveniences" had a very comprehensive signification. It was found scarcely possible to keep off the crowd and the bad company, THE QUEEN. 137 which often approached much too near the members of the royal family, and exposed them to a "pele-mele peu convenable." It needs but little imagination to picture Explanation the scenes said to have occurred at these camtan "nocturnales." Madame Campan, while try- ing to extenuate their objectionable character, admits that individuals would occasionally sit on the benches by the side of the princesses, and enter into conver- sation, — a kind of adventure which appears to have afforded the royal ladies considerable amusement. For instance : — " Un jeune commis de la guerre, assez spirituel et d'un fort bon ton", spoke to the Queen, who, thinking she had not been recognised, found it highly diverting to chat under cover of her " incognito." This "incognito" appears to have consisted only of a large bonnet and muslin veil, consequently the young gentleman knew perfectly well with whom he had been chatting, and the incident became public "through his indiscretion." "On lui fit dire de se taire." But why? If the subject of their conversation had been so perfectly inoffensive — "the beauty of the night, the charming effect of the music etc," — if there was really nothing to be ashamed of, and the Queen had found diversion in his conversation and encouraged it, why was his very pardonable vanity thus summarily suppressed ? Why shut up his mouth if there was nothing to tell ? 138 THE QUEEN. On another occasion it was a " Garde-de-Corps." Here we are assured the subject of their conversation was simply to engage Her Majesty's interest in favour of some petition at Court. Soulavie, however, says the topic of conversation bore a very different inter- pretation, and adds that he derived his information direct from the same " Garde-de-Corps". Gambling in Mercy, we see, was quite driven to de- the Queen's gpair over some of the "jolies audaces" of circle. Marie Antoinette, and his last report, which closes the correspondence (1780), exposes some of the scandalous scenes that frequently occurred, resulting from another "dangerous amusement" which had, since June 1776, quite engrossed her thoughts and occupations — gambling. Marie Antoinette was an inveterate gambler, eschew- ing all moderate stakes, and by her example giving considerable encouragement to high play. During the season of 1779 the Princess de Guemenee was in the habit of holding re-unions every Saturday, at which the Queen would invariably assist, and the soiree was enlivened by "heavy play." When the King was expected, we read that the cards and tables were always most carefully removed out of sight before his arrival! Marie Therese was highly disgusted at these "clandestine" proceedings. Fontaine- The apartments of the Princess de Lam- bleau^ 1776. ^j^jjg likewise served as a rendezvous for gambling. The stakes were " enormous" and the play THE QUEEN. 139 lasted, occasionally, through the night, the Queen remaining till 3 or 5 a.m. The Queen lost heavily and the King was frequently called upon to pay debts of this description. She would lose from 3 to 5 hundred louis a night, playing till early morning. Scandals were the inevitable result. These Scandals. soirees became at times scenes of tumult. Ladies of the Court were reproached for cheating; the Due de Fronsac and the Countess de Gramont had "une sc^ne assez vive en ce genre" ; the Princess de Guemenee in the Queen's presence was accused of suspicious play. Exhibitions of this description, which it was quite impossible to ignore, gave rise to all sorts of unpleasant remarks. Joseph II. wrcrte to his sister on the sub- The Em- ject of her gambling propensities, and the t^oi''^ ^tter , ... to his sister. scandalous cheatmg of certam ladies at her tables at Fontainebleau, concluding his letter by observ- ing that he should not try his eyes by writing further on this head, since he had already, but to no purpose, exhausted his lungs by preaching. The reply of Marie Antoinette, was mild enough, but, as Mercy points out — evasive, since it was based solely on an " echappatoire," and a pretended ig- norance of facts of which she was but too well aware. The use of his lungs, which the Emperor His recalls to mind in the foregoing letter, had '"'"""■''"^''■ reference to the period of his late visit to Paris, when 140 THE QUEEN. he had given his sister counsel and advice on various subjects, and — at her special and earnest request — committed the substance of his remarks to writing, to be retained by her for study and guidance. Letter of Marie Antoinette wrote a highly char- MarieAntoi- acteristic note to her mother on this mothercnthe Subject, which we give in its integrity subject. June as a Specimen well worth recording. It ^4, m7- ig taken from the autograph collection of M. F. de Conches. "Versaille, le 14 Juin 1777. "Madame ma tres chare Mere, "il est vrai que le depart de I'empereur m'a laissde un vuide dent je ne puis revenir, j'^tois si heureuse pendant ce peu de tems que tout cela me paroit un songe dans ce moment-cy, mais tout ce qui n'en sera jamais un pour moi c'est tous les bons conseils et avis qu'il m'a donnd et qui sont graves a jamais dans mon coeur. " J'avouerai a ma chere maman qu'il m'a donnee une chose que je lui ai bien demander et qui me fait le plus grand plaisire, c'est des conseils par ecrit qu'il m'a laissd : cela fait ma lecture principale dans le moment present, et si jamais ce dont je doutte, je pouvois oublier ce qu'il m'a dit j'aurois ailleurs ce papier tousjours devant moi qui me rappelleroit bi^ntot a mon devoir. "Ma chere maman aura vu par le courier qui est parti hier combien le roi s'est bien conduit dans les derniers moments que mon frere a dtdici, en tout j'ose assurer ma chere maman que je le connois bien et qu'il a €\.€. veritablement affecter de ce depart comme il n'a pas tousjours les formes pour lui, il lui est moins ais6 de prouver a I'exterieure ses sentiments, mais tout ce que j'en vois me prouve qu'il est bien veritable- ment attache a mon frere et qu'il a beaucoup d'amitid pour THE QUEEN. 141 lui dans le moment de ce depart ou j'etois le plus au desespoir le roi a eu des attentions et des recherches de tendresse pour moi que je n'oublirai de ma vie et qui m'y attacheroit si je ne I'etois desja. "il est impossible que mon frere n'ait pas €t€ content de la nation d'icy, car pour lui qui scait examind les hommes il doit avoir vue que malgr^ la grande legeretd qui est etablie, il y a pourtant des hommes faits et d'esprit et en general un coeur excellent et beaucoup d'envie de bien faire, il n'y a qu'a bien mener. il en voit un exemple a cette heure dans la marine dont il est tres content et dont j'imagine il rendra conte a ma chere maman je recois a I'instant par la poste une lettre de ma chere maman, qu'elle bontd que dans le moment ou elle a tant d'affaires elle veut bien encore penser a mon jour de nom, cela me rend bien confuse, elle veut faire des voeux pour mon bonheur, ah le plus grand de tous est de la savoir, contente de moi, de meriter tousjours ses bontez et de pouvoir lui persuader quel personne au monde ne I'aime plus tendrement et plus respectueuse- ment que moi "Marie Antoinette." At the expiration of two months all of the good counsel and advice engraven in her heart was obliter- ated and the Emperor's autograph thrown into the fire 1 The foregoing specimen of Marie Antoinette's notes to her mother gives a fair idea of their style, orthog- raphy and, we may venture to add, their practical value when measured by results. We have already had occasion to refer Madame frequently to the Memoirs of Madame (f'>'P'""'«'^ ^ ' her nfara- Campan, and as she is an authority whose uve testu simple "ipse dixit" has often been quoted many. as of sufficient weight to settle any disputed point, it 142 THE QUEEN. is material to point out errors, "voluntary or invol- untary " when provable by other testimony of more trustworthy character. ' We have seen that in the affair of the "fiacre" her version is erroneous in many points, and that her explanations regarding the adventures of the "commis de la guerre" and the " Garde-du-Corps ", are simply apologetic without being anywise satisfactory. We are unable to trace whence her authority was derived in these instances — presumably from the Queen ; but she must, according to her own account, have been most singularly favoured by chance. She is invariably handy when required in the reparative line. The Besen- At one time she is the favoured recipient va episo . q£- ^jjg somewhat strange confidences of her royal mistress regarding a declaration of love. Here the Queen is represented as actually retailing to her lady of the bed-chamber, her own very dignified rebuff to the presumptuous insolence of a Besenval. TheLatizun On another occasion Madame Campan episode. jg j^ witness to the angry words and gesture with which her insulted Mistress is said to have rebuked the equally insolent advances of the Due de Lauzun, dismissing him from her presence with a — "Sortez, monsieur." The Queen's ^^ much question the actuality of these confidencesto " coups-de-th6atre " as given by Madame esenva . Campan ; they scarcely harmonize with facts. ' Michelet. THE QUEEN. 143 We must bear in mind that Besenval had been the acknowledged recipient of certain "confidences plus qu'etranges." It was to this favourite of the day that Marie Antoinette betrayed the secret of the royal al- cove, and bewailed her unfortunate conjugal position. ' This was in '75, and if the baron, under such provoca- tion had indeed fallen at the feet of the Queen with a declaration of love, would she have had anyone more to blame than herself? Did she not almost invite the situation? But how about the Baron's consequent disgrace? Strange to say we come across this gentleman in high favour throughout the year '76; and in '79 he is again the object of another very singular mark of the Queen's continued confidence. He was one of fhe four gentlemen Marie "^^ /"«'' Antoinette specially selected to serve in ^"" ',T'" t J nurses. the capacity of "nurses", when confined to her apartments with the measles. The three others were Coigny, Guines, and Esterhazy. These four con- stituted her " garde-malades " to the exclusion of all the ladies of the household. The situation was natur- ally pronounced "facheuse et choquante." All sorts of vexatious comments and jokes were the consequence. Injurious ideas were suggested ; insinua- tions of intrigues ; personalities etc. formed the general ' " Confidences sur ce qui est personnel au roi " ; — and in a note : '•On comprend aisement quelle sorte de confidence Marie Antoinette avait fait au Baron de Besenval." Vienna Conespondence. 144 THE QUEEN. topic of conversation. It was mooted who were likely to be the ladies selected by the King under similar circumstances; "facetiae" were current everywhere. "Thank Heaven" — concludes Mercy — "that this 'fa- cheuse epoque' is at an end." We can fully understand and sympathise with his sense of relief when we learn that he was obliged to invoke the assistance of Abbe Vermond, in addition to that of the doctor, before he could circumvent the "ridiculous idea" that had becA actually entertained of these "gentlemen-nurses" remaining on duty all night as well by dayl When the attack had subsided, the Queen, accom- panied by her four nurses, started for the Trianon to pass the period of her convalescence in those pastoral amusements we can readily imagine. The tale of the Baron de Besenval's disgrace, there- fore, as given by Madame Campan, is an evident myth. The Due de With regard to the Due de Lauzun, Ma- Lauzun's dame Campan fixes the scene of his disgrace per 10 of as following shortly the affair of the heron's favour. ° ' plume, which was in the Autumn of 1775. La plume de Anyone at all conversant with the me- heron. moirs of the period will have read of this famous plume; of the Queen's expressed admiration; of her acceptance of the plume from this notorious favourite, and then wearing it in public. What can it possibly matter whether the plume had been indirectly demanded, as Lauzun relates; or indirectly offered, as Madame Campan contends.? Anyhow the THE QUEEN. i45 Queen's behaviour in the matter invited the presen- tation ; that is admitted. ' Shortly afterwards the hero of this adventure is — we are told — dismissed for insolence, never again to be admitted into the royal presence. Yet we find this banished gentleman enjoying the acme of favour throughout the ensuing year (1776),^ and in '77 Mercy refers to his continued favour, though trusting he has, at length, succeeded in persuading the Queen to withdraw her confidence, for the future, from this "highly dangerous" favourite. His extraordinary favour really lasted for fully two years, and was notorious. It was simply terminated by the inconstant character of all the Queen's fancies, and not in the dramatic manner Madame Campan would have us believe. " We give the following extracts from y^ q^^^ Marie Antoinette's correspondence as of- «» J^r con- r . . 1 ., 11 jugal relor- fermg a curious and quite a novel sample ^.*^^ of her epistolary talents. They present a very striking contrast to the sentimental effusions she would pen to her mother, are very characteristic and 1 "Fort embarrass^e du present qu'elle s'^tait pour ainsi dire attire, elle n'osa pas le refuser." Camfan. 2 " Parmi le nombre des etourdis auxquels la reine donne un acces beaucoup trop libre, il en est un fort dangereux . . . c'est le Due de Lauzun." Mercy ^ Dec. 1776. ' We have entered more fully into the character of Madame Campan's Memoirs in the Appendix, where our readers will find some interesting particulars regarding this lady which are not generally known. 146 THE QUEEN. serve as an introduction to the subject of her conjugal relations. They are addressed to the Count de Rosenberg. . . . "de bonne foi j'en avouerai plus que Her letter to j i- -i the Countde vous n'en dites, par exemple mes gouts ne Rosenberg, sont pas les memes que ceux du roi, qui April ijth. , , 1 , , n a que ceux de la chasse et des ouvrages mecaniques. Vous conviendriez que j'aurais assez mau- vaise grace aupres ci'une forge ; je n'y serais pas Vulcain, et le role de Venus pourrait lui deplaire." /Am. "Je suis obligee de remonter au depart y«ly isth. (Je M. d'Aiguillon . . . Ce depart est tout a fait mon ouvrage. La mesure etait a son comble; ce vilain homme entretenait toute sorte d'espionnage et de mauvais propos. II avait cherche a me braver plus d'une fois dans I'affaire de M. de Guines ; aussitot apres le jugement j'ai demande au roi son eloignment. II est vrai que je n'ai pas voulu de lettre de cachet, mais il n'y a rien perdu . . . Vous aurez peut-etre appris I'audience que j'ai donne au Due de Choiseul a Reims. On a tant parld que je ne repondrais pas que le vieux Maurepas n'ait eu peur d'aller se reposer chez lui. Vous croirez aisement que je ne I'ai point vu sans en parler au roi, mais vous ne devinerez pas I'adresse que j'ai mise pour ne pas avoir I'air de demander permis- sion . . , Je lui ait dit que j'avais envie de voir M. de Choiseul, et que je n'etais embarrassee que du jour. J'ai si bien fait que le pauvre homme m'a arrange lui-meme I'heure la plus commode ou je pouvais le THE QUEEN. i47 voir. Je crois que j'ai assez use du droit de femme dans ce moment." Such were the terms and style in which Marie Antoinette indulged when writing to Count de Rosen- berg. Such her ideas of the privileges of a wife ! Her mother was horror-stricken: — "quel Hermothet's style, quelle fagon de penser. J'en suis horror. penetree jusqu'au fond du coeur etc." . . . "elle court a grands pas a sa ruine etc." Her brother wrote a propos : — " Si jamais Herbrothei's une lettre comme celle-la s'egarait; si jamais — ■^ammg. comme je n'en doute presque point, — il vous echappe des propos et phrases pareilles vis-a-vis de vos intimes con- fidents, je ne puis qu'entrevoir le malheur de votre vie." The fears and anticipations of the Emperor were only too accurately realised. Marie Antoinette's con- fidences to her familiar circle were something more than indiscretions. Within two years of her marriage Marie Antoinette began to find the society of her husband too often a bore, and did not even take the trouble to hide the fact. Madame de Campan tells us the story of her advancing the hands of the clock, in her impatience to get rid of the King, and start for one of those gambling reunions in the apartments of Madame de Guemenee. Louis XVI., on retiring, found of course none of his personal service ready in attendance. This public indignity, which Madame Campan qual- ifies as a "plaisanterie", got wind, circulated, and 148 THE QUEEN. met with well-merited condemnation. It was quite on a level with the "clandestine'' gambling, where her husband was publicly made to appear "de trop." The Queen's The Queen very soon succeeded in power over acquiring unlimited power over her hus- and cavalier treatment of band, who, Mercy tells us, could not her husband, deny her anything. Louis XVI., was uxo- rious, and Marie Antoinette quite alive to the situa- tion. She knew her power and how to foster it by judicious management, and exercised her power in a supremely cavaUer fashion. "I always command the means of enslaving him," she coolly observes to Mercy. ' In reply to certain suggestions advanced by Mercy as to the beneficial effects of greater attentions, and more consideration for the King's wishes, she gives him to understand that she prefers " le gouverner par la crainte": — and a further hint that the King might, ' Here we have another proof how correct Soulavie was in his descriptions : — " La reine plagait si bien ses complaisances et ses cares- ses, qu'elle trouva les moyens de se I'assujetir." Again: — "Les refus et les concessions de ses faveurs places a propos furent ses moyens pour se I'attacher." Mercy gives identical testimony and is equally clear as to the method she adopted to subjugate the King. In two of the notes given by Madame de La Motte as addressed by the Queen to the Cardinal, we come across expressions identical with the reply given by the Queen to Mercy, just quoted, only couched in slightly more familiar language. See knows how " enchainer k lion . . . lui faire voir et croire" whatever she wishes ... " /« monter" to the point she desires etc., knowing his foible four mot" It is somewhat strange that a note, which so correctly expresses the Queen's actual manner of thinking and speaking of her husband, should be "forged" by a lady who — we are assured — never had any personal intercourse with her! THE QUEEN. 149 if neglected, take to gallantry, was met with the observation — that " he was far too apathetic and timid." But behind Mercy's back and to certain of her so- ciety Marie Antoinette did not hesitate to be far more communicative and indiscreet; so incautiously addressed, indeed, were her sarcasms, that they travelled round to the ears of Mercy, who thereupon represented for- cibly, how highly dangerous it was for Her Majesty thus to allude to the King in terms and tones of such sarcastic indifference etc. Louis XVI. had really no will of his own The King's in opposition to that of his wife. She held ^^ ^^.^ ^-^^ him well-nigh in a state of thraldom. That thrice-written letter to the Due de Guines may be taken as an illustration of his abject submissiveness to the dictations of his wife. With regard to the liaisons that have tiu Queen's been imputed to Marie Antoinette, it must »'«/«*'^ '■"''■- sons. always be borne in mind that, however suggestive any situation might appear, however com- promising certain circumstances undoubtedly were, no amount of mere suspicion can justify condemnation. The subject does not directly bear upon our enquiry, so we may put it on one side. The question has been much canvassed, but except in regard to the Count de Fersen, "le beau Fersen" — nothing re- "Le Beau ally tangible appears to be forthcoming. ' Persen." 1 Nothing beyond common report and suspicions resulting from personal imprudencies. See Appendix No. 10. ISO THE QUEEN. The Count de Viel-Castel, a chivalrous champion of Marie Antoinette acknowledged, certainly, that Madame opinions of Elizabeth entertained "certain suspicions, Madame or rather inquietudes," relative to the con- duct of her sister-in-law, but stops there. We have already alluded to the seclusion observed by this princess at the Trianon, the frivolities of that society being so entirely opposed to her ideas and tastes. The Count attributes to her certain "demar- ches indiscr^tes et des mendes hostiles," and cites, in proof, the visits Madame Elizabeth continued to pay to her friend Madame d'Aumale after she had been exiled from Court. Madame This lady had been dismissed on the d'Aumale. pretext of lending herself to some plot having for its object the estranging the affections of Madame Royale, and withdrawing her from the in- fluence of her mother's example. Such was the public motive assigned for this lady's disgrace. Such a plot, if it really existed, would be suggestive, and very da'maging to the reputation of the mother. We may, perhaps, trace a more probable cause in the fact of this lady having, during the course of a conversation with Madame Elizabeth and others, on the subject of the necklace, spoken of the Queen in a manner "tr^s libre", an offence that came round to the ears of Marie Antoinette. This would reduce • ''Marie Antoinette et la Revolution Frangaise", par le Comte Horace de Viel-Castel, Paris 1859. THE QUEEN. 151 the motive of her disgrace to merely another instance of the Queen's "esprit de vengeance." However, whatever the motive, Madame Elizabeth clearly marked, by her conduct, her own sense of its injustice; and whether the conversation retailed to the Queen had any, or no share in bringing about the dismissal of Madame d'Aumale, we anyhow see that the conduct of Marie Antoinette in connection with the intrigue of the necklace was very freely strictured by those about the Court, even in the presence of the King's sister. ' The course of our enquiries has thus Concluding brought us back to the subject of the "^''""^^i""'- necklace, and here we may bring to an end a not very enviable task. The sketch we have drawn of the Queen and her society will naturally appear one.- sided, since we have had to supplement one-sided romances by throwing light upon those traits of character that have been studiously kept in the dark, and which therefore are not generally known. Such was the task that the nature of the question under consideration imposed upon us. We must bear in mind that Marie Antoinette has been represented as incapable by birth, education, position, and from her own natural instincts, of having ever stooped to countenance any such intrigue as the one we have 1 Madame Elizabeth, we have seen, had shown considerable interest in Madame de Valois, and favoured her being received at Court when that question was mooted. 152 THE QUEEN. been examining. We must remember that history, based on sentiment, had resulted in fiction, and this had to be met by the levelling argument of facts which throw rather a different light on the subject. The same cause that throughout the past century covered the affair with impenetrable obscurity, and rendered impossible any reasonable solution, still op- erates to a very great extent. Every suggestion of the possible implication of Marie Antoinette is looked upon as an outrage, and one is confronted at the outset of any enquiry by a stereotyped version of the affair which sentiment, and perhaps other less disinterested motives, formulated, and which time has sanctified, until it is regarded as well-nigh sacrilegious to question its validity. Yet this solution is based entirely upon an amount of human imbecility admitted to be abnormal, almost supernatural ; while even if one could admit such idiotcy possible, there would still remain innumerable other dif- ficulties to be got over, or explained in a manner accept- able to common sense. The role Take for instance the orthodox role im- attributed to putcd to the Cardinal. th. Cardinal. jf j^^ j^^^j 1^^^^ befooled in the manner pretended, he would, anyhow, have conducted himself in a fashion consistent with that credulity. If he believ- ed the Queen had really condescended to a midnight meeting, and that her letters — so inciting in character — were genuine, he would have been proportionally bold. THE QUEEN. 153 pressing, even importunate, for private interviews. He would never have been put of5f, month after month, as pretended, with frivolous excuses. Such unnatural reserve on the part of the most au- dacious of men under such repeated stimulants is inex- plicable. How, too, could he have accepted under such circumstances the Queen's continued "freezing" demeanour towards him, unless it covered some private understanding? Not a word, not a sign of any recogni- tion. ' Was this consistent with the strange familiarity of the notes he received, or the significance of the rendezvous granted? How explain the extraordinary tranquillity and confidence of the Cardinal after his eyes had been, confessedly, opened? and his strange conduct towards the "perfidious monster" by whom he had been so very grossly deceived? No burst of wrath, no reproaches ; but a friendly shelter and the offer of a safe retreat across the Rhine. Why did he not come to terms with the jewellers and hush up the affair? — or, as the King himself observed to Madame Campan, " Why did he not com- municate either with the Queen or myself? " Why was he instructed to negotiate solely with Boehmer? Why was the agreement dated three days in advance? One could multiply questions of this sort which have never ' The strange coincideace of certain royal ^^ signs of intelligence" being alluded to in the Cardinal's correspondence with the Queen, and again in his '■'■Confidential Decimation", the same being also recorded in the Memoirs of Georgel, cannot be ignored. The circum- stance evidently occurred. 154 THE QUEEN. yet been satisfactorily answered. Can anyone swallow his pretended acceptation of that '■'grotesque'''' sig- nature? How explain his repeated declarations of direct personal communication with the Queen? On three different occasions did the Cardinal affirm his direct relations with Marie Antoinette, and to three different persons. Who received the necklace at the hands of the Cardinal if not the Queen's messenger, as he asserts ? Certainly not Villette ; for the evidence adduced in proof entirely disproves the argument ad- vanced. Why were several hours of grace so oblig- ingly conceded before sealing up the Cardinal's effects? Was it to enable him to make away with any compromising papers? Why, too, were papers the sole object of search by the authorities, and the destination of the necklace quite ignored? „, ., As regards Madame de La Motte she The > role ° imputed to must have been a perfect magician. Every Madame de pjQj ^j^-jj ^vhich this " audocious Schemer" Valois. IS credited succeeds; not a flaw or a hitch anywhere. She not only dupes the Cardinal as to her relations with the Queen, but also the jewellers; also Achet and Laporte, familiars of the Court; also the Due de Ponthievre and "all Paris" besides, without the slightest exposure or detection. She cautions the jewellers to look well to their security, at the risk of marring her whole stratagem; she forges the demand for the reduction of 200,000 frs. THE QUEEN. 155 in the price agreed on — a matter that does not interest her one jot; she threatens to return the necklace, already in pieces 1 She rushes, in fact, headlong into danger when there was nothing to gain; yet each risky move is wonderfully successful. She forges a whole series of characteristic notes of a royal lady with whom she never communicates, and of whom she knows really nothing ; but they succeed most marvellously. She impresses the attendance of one of the royal carriages, and palms off a false Queen upon a court- ier personally well acquainted with the real Queen. Everything succeeds. She is welcomed to the Episcopal palace, at Saverne, with all the honours due to a royal favourite and royal messenget; yet she is, at the same time, an object of charity, the recipient of his Eminence's "benevolences" in the shape of two or three occasional louis 1 The conduct of the Queen, as repre- The Queen's sented by her apologists, is quite incon- ™^' sistent with the ignorance of the intrigue with which she is credited. At the time the negotiation was completed Marie Antoinette received a caution from the banker St. James on the subject. Then followed the jewellers' note. Now this note was evidently either an inconvenient reminder to be ignored, or a mystery to be solved, as, we are told. iS6 THE QUEEN. the Queen suggested. Yet it was not, as prudence would have dictated, laid on one side, while enquiries into the " mystery " were instituted, but carefully burnt. Madame Campan soon after retails the whole of the intrigue to the Queen, explaining how her name had been trailed in dirt; but the Queen was only then with difficulty induced to face the jeweller. It is clear Marie Antoinette had no desire either for explanation or a solution of the mystery. And the comedy of her assumed ignorance that the sale had been effected, after such cautions! And the jewellers' insolent bearing and language so meekly borne. Explain the hesitation evinced in carrying out the judicial sentence, and the curious interest shown ' for the defence of Madame de Valois, the official culprit, her escape confessedly connived at, while the Queen is equally desirous of sending the official dupe to the scaffold 1 Until the foregoing, and other incongruities which we have pointed out in the course of our analysis, are got over, one must admit that the Queen's possible connivance presents to the ordinary mind a less in- conceivable solution than the one offered. , . Perfect mistress in dissimulation as Marie Hypothesis of the Antoinette is shown to have been, this in- Queen' s trigue offered a congenial field of action, implication. ,,.,., r i. . i < whether m furtherance of a political, or other • By de Breteuil, "I'homme de la reine." THE QUEEN. 157 connection with the Cardinal, or the satisfaction of some personal revenge. Her evasive conduct in regard to the jeweller; a feigned ignorance of a well-known fact; a bearing in public of coldness to cover some private understanding and throw dust in the eyes of all ; — such would be mere repetitions of similar scenes previously rehearsed, as we have seen, on another stage ; and it is evidently absurd any longer to pretend that the characteristic proclivities of Marie Antoinette, would render impossible, or even improbable, the idea of her admitting Madame de La Motte into temporary favour on account of her moral shortcomings — quite the contrary. Taking into consideration the very general belief — as admitted — in the existence of this favour, also the absence of direct proof to the contrary; considering again the acknowledged difficulties that would have rendered well-nigh impossible the successful simulation of any such intimacy; one can only fairly conclude that the same was genuine, and not feigned. In view, further, of the very bitter animosity admit- tedly entertained by the Queen towards the Cardinal for some " atrocity" or unpardonable offence ; in view also of the very unscrupulous morality exhibited by Marie Antoinette when her object might be the satis- faction of vindictive feelings, it becomes quite possible to imagine that, " eager for his destruction," she may have made use of Madame de Valois as a medium for entrapping the Cardinal into the commission of iS8 THE QUEEN. an act that might be afterwards utilised to compass his ruin. On this hypothesis the correspondence — dictated probably by the Queen; the scene in the gardens of Versailles — invented presumably as a test, a sort of feeler; and all the subsequent phases of the intrigue become intelligible; each act following as a natural sequence in the contemplated plot. This appears the only reasonable solution to be drawn from the evidence yet forthcoming; and until the orthodox school of writers can devise some other more satisfactory explanations of the self-evident diffi- culties and absurdities of their pretended version of the intrigue, the only common-sense conclusion to be arrived at is that Marie Antoinette was undoubtedly implicated in the Affair. "Anoth ^^^ following extract from the "Remini- Knh in the scences of Prince Talleyrand " would rather chain ofev- ^^^^ j.^ corroborate this view of the subject. He relates: — "There is one more story connected with the jewel, which greatly complicates the mystery of the whole transaction, and which is known but to few persons. During the time that I held the Portefeuille of Foreign Affairs I received a letter from our ambassador at one of the northern courts, wherein he announced to me, with great excitement, the arrival at his court of the Count de M . . . . y and his wife. They had been presented by himself to the sovereign; for, although they might. THE QUEEN. 159 strictly speaking, have been considered imigris, not having returned to France during the reign of Napo- leon, yet, as the Count was not at that time the head of his family, and had never meddled in politics, he had a right to claim the protection of the ambassador of his country. The lady had chosen for her debut at court the occasion of a royal birthday, and she had made her appearance laden with all her jewels, and, 'upon her neck,' wrote the baron, 'she wore a neck- lace of the exact pattern of that, concerning which all Europe had been roused before the Revolution-^that is to say, the only difference being, that the three scroll ornaments which are so remarkable, and to which I could swear as being the same, are held by a chain of small rose diamonds instead of the riviere, by which they were joined before.' "The letter gave us all great diversion at home, from the excitement in which it was written ; but the Emperor, to whom I of course communicated the fact, took it more gravely and begged me to ask for a drawing of the necklace, which the ambassador found means to obtain, and which was found to correspond with that preserved among the pieces du proces in the Archives ; moreover, on its being submitted to young Boehmer, he declared his full and entire conviction that the jewel was the same, from the remarkable circumstance of a mistake having occurred in the execu- tion of the middle ornament, one side of the scroll containing two small diamonds more than the other. i6o THE QUEEN. and which he remembered had much distressed his father, but which could never have been discovered save by a member of the trade. It was then remem- bered, and by the Emperor himself first of all, that the lady's mother had been attached to the person of Ma.rie Antoinette, and that she had retired from court and gone to reside abroad soon after the trial of Madame de La Motte I " So you see there is another link in the chain of ev- idence which historians, when writing any further history of the Diamond Necklace, would do well to examine." Madame de Valois was generally reported came of Ma- *° have died in London from injuries receiv- dame de La ed by falling from an upper window of the house she occupied; but there seems to be considerable doubt upon this point. Her husband says that in the last letter he received from her, she told him: — "qu'on allait la transporter a la campagne oi elle esperait se retablir." Reported Shortly after he read, in an English paper, death in ^^ account of her death, which appears to London, in . ^ . , . , , r J JOT, aged have quite satisfied him as to the fate ot a SS- wife he had long since ceased to care for, and he took no steps to verify the report; but since Mme. de Valois had announced that she was going to be moved into the country where she hoped to recover, the reported death in London may have been inserted with the view of anticipating any enquiries as to her existence and whereabouts. THE QUEEN. i6i And we read in the "Supercheries Lit- Reported teraires", tome II, " Au retour de I'emigra- residence in tion, I'Abbe de C. . . , eveque de . . , intra- ^ "''''• "' ■' Com iess e duisit dans une noble maison du faubourg Jeanne, and Saint-Germain une dame mysterieuse sous 'i^'^th m le nom de la Comtesse Jeanne; elle regut a la mort du Marquis de L. une pension viagere de 20,000 frs., dont elle a joui pendant trente annees environ. Elle mourut a Paris, vers le 20 mai, 1844, et le faubourg Saint-Germain fut en deuil. Dans la cham- bre de la defunte, on ramassa quelques papiers a moitie brules. La derniere heure I'avait surprise pendant qu'elle effeuillait dans les flammes les secrets de sa vie. Le feu n'avait pas tout devore, et ce qui restait sufiSsait pour eclairer le myst^re. O stupeur, la Com- tesse Jeanne, cette digne et sainte femme, si veneree, est la Jeanne de Luze de Saint Remy Valois, Comtesse de La Motte, de I'afifaire du collier. Refugiee en Angleterre, les uns disaient qu'elle etait morte d'une indigestion, les autres qu'elle s' etait jetee par la fenetre; on n'en parlait plus, et voici qu'on apprend sa mort dans sa quatre-vingt-neuvieme annee!" The "Reforme du ler juin, 1844," also contains a notice of her demise in Paris, about the same time, and of her having succeeded in preserving, for 30 years, an incognito which death alone had disclosed. So even Madame de Valois' ultimate fate is shrouded in mystery 1 Yet there is nothing improbable in this denouement. i62 THE QUEEN. We have seen Madame de la Motte had numerous influential and powerful supporters, devoted to her cause and thoroughly convinced of her innocence, even among the Queen's "societe intime." We know she was per- mitted to evade the carrying out of her sentence, and that her husband was awarded a pension by Louis XVIII. These facts are eloquent, and we conclude, as we began, in the words of L. Blanc : — " Ou est la verite ? " FINIS. APPENDIX I. When Louis XVI. ascended the throne, Suppression 1774, the suppression of objectionable writ- "J,?/''^"^ ings, or individuals (I), was the practice of oirs, etc. the period. The timorous anxiety too often '^^'^• shewn, and the high prices paid, for the destruction of obnoxious publications even led, in some instances, to their fabrication, by way of speculation, for the purpose of reaping the rewards certain to be offered for their suppression. Marie Antoitfette, we read, was highly sensitive on the subject of these publications against her, and her favourites — male and female. When barely 12 months Queen she sent for the Lieutenant of Police and directed him to take effective measures to suppress the licence with which she was even then spoken of; she wrote letter after letter enjoining the same func- tionary to discover the writers of these pamphlets. ' A mission was despatched in 1774, we ,,. . J. / / TJ Mission of are told, to London, with the object of Beaumar- negotiating the purchase of some libel lately '^^^ toLon- published. The individual selected to carry ' out this secret negotiation was, strange to relate, that 1 A. Jobez 272,503. Vienna Conespondence. i64 APPENDICES. " turbulent speculator " Beaumarchais, one of the most notorious personalities of France. ' This selection was certainly as unfortunate as was the result. One thousand four hundred pounds were paid for the suppression of the work, which was burnt, but — as might have been expected — one copy escapes the flames for the edification of posterity. On his return voyage Beaumarchais passed through Vienna, where his conduct appears to have been regarded as highly suspicious. He was credited by the Austrian Government with being himself the Author of the libel, and the suspicion cost him a month's incarceration ; but no proof was brought home to him. ^ The Goupil ^ similar incident is related by Madame pamphlet Campan as occurring in 1778. ^^^ ' Some 4000 louis were here thrown away upon another outrageous libel on the Queen, in which most atrocious calumnies were — "presentees avec un art qui pouvait les rendre tr^s-funestes a la renommee de la Reine." Goupil, inspector of police, who was commissioned to hunt it up, turned out to be the Author I This fact, however, was not discovered till after the artful representative of authority had pocketed the 4000 louis — "price of the zeal and intelligence" exhibited in unearthing his own manuscript, — but fortunately in time to prevent his contemplated appointment to J Ren6e. " Vienna Correspondence. "Corres. Secrfete." APPENDICES. 165 a post of some considerable importance in further re- compense of his services. Curiously enough his wife, who was very Madame - , . Goupil and pretty, with a strong tendency to mtrigue, the Cardinal. was a sort of prototype of the unfortunate subject of our present enquiry, an original version of Madame de La Motte. She had been intimately acquainted with our Cardinal de Rohan, whom she also had led to hope she would be able to reinstate in the good graces of Marie Antoinette. Madame Campan stops at this point; "the whole affair" — she says — "was hushed up, and none of the details circulated in society." Further details, however, are to be found Madame in the "Bastille Devoilee," to which work the Aincesse her editor refers us. deLambalk. The dame Goupil, it appears, was a pro- tegee of Madame la Princesse de Lamballe, ' who had been in the habit of procuring, through her agency, copies of all the clandestine writings with which the Parisian world was inundated, and which seem to have much excited her curiosity. Madame Goupil succeeded in entirely gaining the confidence and enlisting the interest of this Princess, who contemplated getting her appointed to some place about the Court. In this she evidently all but succeeded, since we 1 This then is another protegee of Madame de Lamballe, the pre- vious one was Madame Cahouette de Villers in 1777. See Appendix No. 6. These dates, however, cannot be trusted. i66 APPENDICES. are told the Queen was on the point of nominating Madame Goupil to a post about her own person when the whole intrigue was laid bare. ' Visit of the Passing on to the subject of the neck- Duchess de i^ce, we find the Duchess Jules de Polignac PoUgnac to , _ , . , _ . i . i London,, >" England in 1787, accompanied by her 0^7- sister-in-law, the Countess Diana. The osten- sible reason assigned for this journey was to drink the Bath waters. ° Whatever may have been the motive that instigated this trip, it is clear that, during the visit of Madame de Polignac to the Duchess of Devonshire, certain ffernegoiia- negotiations were entered into with the de tionswiththe La Mottes, then in London, relative to the deLaMoites. g^andal of the diamond necklace. Some say the object was to recover a'packet of compromising letters alleged to have been written by the Queen ; ' others to purchase the suppression of some Memoirs which Madame de Valois then contemplated publishing, when, we are told, "200,QOO livres purchased a silence which was not kept." * The Baron de Breteuil, it appears, had also de- spatched a confidential agent to treat with the de La ' "La reiue veut que la femme de Goupil soit sa lectrice." ' M, de Lescure admits that this voyage seems to have had no other object than to "sonder le terrain," and ward off the threatening schemes of the pamphleteers. ' For which 4000 louis were paid through the agency of the Minister de Brienne. * Louis Blanc. Consult also Lescure, La Motte, Georgel, Soulavie, Vizetelly. APPENDICES. 167 Mottes for these Memoirs; but on the arrival of his emissary in London he learnt that the Memoires Manuscript had passed into the hands of JusHficatifs the ex-mmister Calonne; "qui sen etait ^^^^ constitue I'editeur." ' These negotiations, whatever their character, failed in their object, since the Memoirs were published in 1789. In 1792 Louis XVL paid a bookseller, named Guef- fier, 20,000 frs. for some subsequent Memoirs, some- times inaccurately called a second edition of the fore- going publication. The entire work was burnt at the Sevres Manufactory, with the usual excep- Vie de tion of a single copy retained by M. La- ^'"^^ ^ porte, Intendant of the Civil List, who had Vahisifgz. negotiated the purchase. There were also -^''»'*"- extant a few copies sold previously in London, and some were found in the Tuileries on the loth August. These 20,000 frs. also miscarried, for the work was reprinted " I'an premier de la Republique." " The Count de La Motte arranged his Memoiresdu Memoirs for publication twice— in 1825 and %^pjf again in 1829. i8j8. The first manuscript, which appears to have existed mostly in the form of "notes", was seized by M. Delavau, prefect of police. The second, whether seized or purchased by the Government, has only come down to us in a mutilated condition; the ' Lafont d'Aussonne. ' F. de Conches, Vizetelly, La Motte, Campan. i68 APPENDICES. entire details relating to the necklace, together with many interesting and curious particulars respecting the royal family and its surroundings, have been sub- tracted. ' This emasculated manuscript has since been published by M. Louis Lacour. ' On his return to Paris, in 1791, the Count was granted an audience by the King, and accorded a credit on the Civil List; and at the Restoration was pensioned by Louis XVIII., with 4000 frs. in addition to 200 frs. a month from the secret funds of the Police. M. Lafont d'Ausonne assures us there is no doubt upon this point, and that the general public was indignant at "so scandalous an instance of royal favour." 1 F. de Conches, La Motte. ' It is easy to understand why so much of it was suppressed; but enough remains to judge of the verisimilitude of the manuscript which the Government dared not submit to the general public. The "notes et d^plches relatives a I'affair du Collier", found among the papers of the King on the 10 Aug., corroborate what is left of the Count's Memoirs in numerous particulars, on every point, in fact, to which they refer. See Appendices Nos. 11 and 12. APPENDIX II. There can be no doubt Madame de La The Queen's Motte supplies one of the chief motives, if animosity . , , . r 1 t-\ I against the not the real foundation, for the Queens cardinal. deep resentment against the Cardinal, when she traces it to his indiscretions, and the unpardonable imprudences of which he had been guilty when speak- ing, or writing, of the Queen to those he regarded his friends, but who retailed his inconsiderate words. He has been credited with having expressed himself to the effect that: "sa coquetterie preparait a I'amant de grandes facilites pour r^ussir aupr^s d'elle", an atrocity that came, we are told, to the earsof Marie Antoinette, and that she never forgave, as one can easily imagine. ' It is clear that her mother, the ambassador Mercy and the Abbe Vermond, did their united best to prejudice her against the Cardinal, but Mercy shows that up to the death of the Empress in 1780, the Queen had never exhibited any personal animus against him. Facts may certainly have come to her knowledge after the death of her mother, but, anyhow, Besenval and Madame de Valois have furnished quite sufficient motive for any amount of malevolence and animosity the Queen might have secretly fostered, until some opportunity offered for retaliation and revenge. ' Besenval. APPENDIX III. Madame MADAME Campan, the " Faithful Waiting- Caw j>o«. Woman" (Yonge), is constantly quoted, by writers of the Conventional School, as an unquestion- able authority; but her claims as such appear to be very questionable. First, perhaps, it will be well to enquire whether this designation of "Faithful" be altogether appropriate, for it has been strongly contested. Herpolitical Oiic of her warmest defenders, and a tendencies. thorough-going royalist, the Rt. Hon. J. Croker, writes: — It is certain Madame Campan was inclined to liberal opinions ; — that her prejudices were all in favour of the Revolution ; — that her private friends and society were also inclined to that party; — that some of her family, and particularly her brother, the once famous citizen Genet, threw themselves, a corps perdu, into republicanism; — and that these, and other circumstances gave Madame Campan herself the reputa- tion of being a partisan of the Revolution, — nay, of having betrayed the Queen. (Essays on the French Revolution, London 1857.) The Queen's Madame Campan undoubtedly was regard- mistrust. ed with Suspicion by her Royal Mistress, in APPENDICES. 171 connection with the revelations that were continually being made of what went on at Court; her conduct was viewed with mistrust ; it was more than conjectured that she secretly furnished the revolutionary party with whatever information she could pick up by means of her position near the Queen. We gather from another royalist, M. le Baron Baron d'Aubier, some very significant facts d^Atibier on in connection with this subject. One of '■*" '"■''■^"^■ Madame Campan's most intimate friends was a certain M. Roux-Fazillac, a person upon whom the Queen had showered favours, and whom she credited with gratitude and devotion; but, after the loth of August, he was discovered to have been "L'espion des Revolution- naires, profitant de son intimite avec Madame Campan, et de I'indiscr^ion de celle-ci." As a member of the Convention, Roux-FaziUac subsequently voted for the King's death. The Baron d'Aubier only calls in question the "dis- cretion" of Madame Campan; does not advance any charge of direct treachery ; but he tells us : — " La reine n'avait pas une confiance aussi illimitee que Madame Campan a voulu le faire croire; je ne suis pas le seul qui I'ai dit." He gives a striking illustration of the Queen's mistrust, as follows: — "Un jour que le Bailli de Crussol faisait a la Reine un rapport confidentiel, la Reine, apercevant Madame Campan placee a cote de la porte, et de mani^re a entendre, mit le doigt sur sa bouche, fit 172 APPENDICES. plus d'un signe pour arreter le recit, et expliqua en- suite comment elle redoutait 1' indiscretion de Madame Campan, dont elle avait deja fait J'epreuve." (Obser- vations sur les Memoires de Madame Campan.) Comie de The foregoing it would appear is not Courchamps, the Only instance on record of the Queen having cautioned people to be on their guard when Madame Campan was present. M. le Comte de Courchamps tells us that the Queen so greatly suspected the fidelity of her femme-de-chambre, that she thought it necessary to warn Madame de Crequy to be careful in her expressions when this lady, of eavesdropping proclivities, was within hear- ing, and he further assures us that this feeling of distrust was shared generally by the members of the Queen's household. (Consult the "Souvenirs de la Marquise de Crequy", par le Compte de Courchamps.) Lafont M- Lafont d'Aussonne enters more fully d'Aussonne, into the demerits of this " femme-de-chambre astucieuse et interessee", and into the reasons why she was regarded with such suspicion. He informs us that for a long time the Queen placed entire confidence in her, until her eyes were opened to the really hypocritical character of her waiting- woman. "Parlant de son auguste maJtresse avec ses parasites et ses familiers, Madame Campan," he says, "se donnait les tons de censurer son caract^re, ses d6marches, et surtout sa tendre amitie pour la Duchesse de Polignac. APPENDICES. 173 There is one fact in connection with this The Duchess lady which is highly significant. At the d-Angouleme refuses to time of the Restoration, when recompenses see Madame were showered upon the faithful adherents Campan. of Royalty in reward for their zeal and devotion, the services of Madame Campan remained altogether un- recognised, nay, more — negatived. "Toutes les pro- testations de fidelite de Madame Campan sont venues tomber, apr^s la Restauration, devant la perseverance avec laquelle Madame la Duchesse d'Angouleme a toujours refuse de lui accorder une seule audience." (Courchamps.) It is impossible to account for so persistent a refusal on the part of the Duchess to recognise the past serv- ices of her mother's "Faithful Waiting- Woman", ex- cept on the assumption that she really had very strong grounds for acting towards her in the way she did. We have seen then that during the time site and her Madame Campan was attached to the Court ^f f y'' '" high favour of Louis XVI., her prejudices, and also her at the court intimate society, had been, — as her own "fNapoUon. partisans admit, — revolutionary. After "Thermidor" she managed to obtain an introduction to Josephine Beauharnais, who had placed both daughter and niece in her educational establishment, then at St. Germain. Through Josephine's interest she made the acquaint- ance, and acquired the patronage, of Bonaparte, then a general in the Revolutionary Army, whose protegee she became, and who eventually, when Emperor, 174 APPENDICES. specially selected her for Superior of his new Educa- tional Institution at Ecouen. " Throughout Napoleon's career, in short," — writes Mr. Croker — "she and her family were at the height at once of Court favour and popular consideration." Her Directly opposed to the well-known Memoirs. sympathies of the Author, the sincerity of her Memoirs seems questionable. The Countess de Cayla in allusion thereto, writes : " After what was told me by my father, who knew the heavy reproaches which the late Queen had addressed to that person, I was not a little surprised to see published, under the name of Madame Campan, exculpatory Memoirs, if I may be allowed the expression, of Marie Antoinette. ' I shall remark by the way that these Memoirs have been published since the return of the Bourbons." M. le Baron d'Aubier credits her with numerous errors, "dont plusieurs ont ete commises tres-volon- tairement." He even tells us, apropos of her critical reflections touching the King's "passivite conjugale," that others, besides himself, "sont prets a dire que Madame Campan nous en a parle plusieurs fois avec detail d'une maniere tres-differente, meme opposee." Her Memoirs therefore do not correspond either with her sentiments or her more intimate conversations. Admission of Even M. Lescure regards her authority M. Lescure. as " assez Contestable sur plus d'un point." 1 "Private Memoirs of the Court of Louis XVHI.", by a Lady. London 1830. APPENDICES. 175 Carlyle says that, in her narrative (of the Of CariyU. necklace) and in her Memoirs generally, she does not seem to intend falsehood; but that she has no notion of historical rigour etc., and " requires to be read with scepticism everywhere." "Nous ne croyons pas," writes M. de of M. Viei- Viel-Castel, while quoting her as authority — Casiei. " qu'elle ait rempli, pr^s de Marie Antoinette, un role aussi important qu'elle se plait a le decrire." " II me serait facile" — writes M. Michelet opinion of — "de relever les erreurs innombrables, Michelet. volontaires ou involontaires, de Georgel et de Madame Campan." The foregoing opinions and direct accusations, abund- antly show that we are justified in regarding Madame Campan with considerable mistrust, and that any state- ments advanced by her, cannot be accepted as con- clusive, unless corroborated, and should undoubtedly be rejected when at variance with the corresponding versions of other writers, or when inconsistent with the teachings of common sense and experience. APPENDIX IV. Vizetelly's ^ STRONG point has been made that there further sug- were DO direct charges brought against the ges om m Qyggjj^ when on her trial in 1793, relative intimacy to this intimacy "with so abandoned a considered. ^oman." ' The Attorney-General — it is advanced — had not far to go for evidence. There was the Count de La Motte himself; there was the Count d'Estaing, who knew both the Queen and the Countess; there were Renee Sevin,. the under femme-de-chambre, and Reine Millot, another old servant : — " Bonne citoyenne, excel- lente patriote," a witness "only too eager to repeat all the scandal current at Versailles respecting the Countess de La Motte and the Queen." It was not, however, idle scandal that was needed, but evidence ; and of those named, the only one who could have directly spoken to the point was the Count de La Motte, then residing at Bar-Sur-Aube, and he had been already sounded on the subject, in 1789, by the Orleans faction. Many inducements were then held out to persuade him and his wife to give evidence against the Queen, to join, according 1 Vizetelly. APPENDICES. 177 to the jargon of the day, — " la meute qui doit attaquer la louve Autrichienne." The attempt failed. The wary Count thought that his interests lay rather on the side of the King. As for Madame de La Motte, she could not be persuaded, by any promises, to quit the safe retreat she had found in London, and risk her neck a second time. Further endeavours, with a similar object, were made subsequently, but the cautious La Motte was not to be caught. He refused to move in so haz- ardous an undertaking. The details of these attempts are given, at some length, in the Count's Memoirs. M. de Conches writes to the same effect, and so do MM. de Goncourt. There can be no doubt, in short, that a plot had existed to bring forward the Count and his wife as witnesses against the Queen ; — that certain direct over- tures were more than once made with that object, but without satisfactory results ; — that eventually the design was abandoned. Without the de La Mottes, they were unable to carry out their plot. APPENDIX V. The two It has been stated that the Necklace refutedoffers i^^^ ^gg^ already twice offered by the of the Neck- ' ' lace to the King for acceptance by Mane Antoinette Queen. and declined. The chief authorities in support of this story ap- pear to be Madame Campan and Mile. Bertin, or whoever wrote her presumed Memoirs; but on com- paring the accounts given by these two ladies, we perceive that, though both say they were present on the second occasion, they strangely differ in their versions of what occurred. This throws a little dis- credit on their evidence. Louis XVI. was by nature parsimonious, economical to an excessive degree — " economie indigne d'un Roi, qui abaissait la personne royale'V ^e had, but two years previously, been obliged to take over a debt the Queen had incurred for jewelry, amounting to some 300,000 frs., a debt that was not yet discharged ; the finances were utterly disorganised. It seems certainly strange, and rather difficult to believe, that, under these circumstances, he should have twice volunteered an outlay of nearly two millions for an object of mere ' MM. de Goncourt. APPENDICES. 179 fantasy for the Queen, while at the same time dis- countenancing and lamenting "le gout qu'elle avait pour les diamants." Even M. Vizetelly doubts this story of the refusal. "Was it natural," he asks, "in one so young and hand- some? Was it consistent? Was it indeed sincere?" We altogether doubt the circumstance having ever occurred. Such could never have escaped either Count Mercy's observation or comments. He, who seized every opportunity of singing the praises of his rather refractory young pupil, would undoubtedly, when writ- ing to the Empress, have made a good deal of so unwonted a trait of self-abnegation on the part of the Queen. But the Vienna Correspondence does not contain any allusion to the subject. APPENDIX VI. Madame de MADAME Campan mentions a previous occasion, in 1777, ' when the Princess de Lamballe had interested herself in another "intrigante," a certain Madame Cahonette de Villers. This lady whose character, we are told, would not stand the least investigation, had a rage for palming herself off, among her friends, for a person in favour at Court, and had formed the design of gaining access to the Queen. The Count Beugnot informs us that Madame de Villers not only contemplated, but succeeded in gaining admission to Marie Antoinette, and obtained "quel- ques graces de son inepuisable bonte." This position she was subsequently convicted of abusing. The account given in the "Bastille Devoilee" admits of no doubt regarding the Queen's temporary interest in this lady. When informed of the abuse that had been made of her confidence, she condoned the offence with a simple reprimand. A similar offence having been repeated, Madame de Villers was lodged in the Bastille, the fact being carefully kept from the know- ledge of the Queen lest she should again insist, as ' Madame Campan is not much to be depended on in her dates. APPENDICES. i8i she had on the previous occasion, on Madame Cahon- ette not being punished. Her detention lasted about five months. In the " Corres. Sec." it is recorded that this lady : "a su s'impatroniser aupres de notre jeune reine, et obtenir meme sa confiance pour differentes petites aflfaires secretes." " EUe a ete, depuis peu, chargee d'un emprunt qui devait etre tenu tres-secret; mais, la prudence ayant apparemment manquee a la negociatrice, le nom de la reine s'est trouve compromis." "Ne croyez rien de tout ce qu'on vous dira." The caution is significant of how the real facts were suppressed. APPENDIX VII. The following extract from the " Memoirs of the Sanson Family" (vol. i, p. 197), relative to the execu- tion of the sentence on Madame de Valois, gives a very graphic description of the scenes that occurred; it is written by the grandson of Charles Henri Sanson, the then functionary of -'haute justice." "Precautions were taken which showed how much they feared the cries of the victim, her protestations or outbursts of fury. They fixed on an early hour, 6 o'clock, that there might be few people present. "On rusa avec elle. EUe eut 6t6 un lion qu'on aurait mis moins d'adresse a le prendre. "L'arret, cruellement impudique disait qu'elle serait fouettee nue. " L'execution donna lieu aux scenes les plus hideuses, " M. de Fleury, the procureur, sent for the executioner and informed him that Madame de La Motte had shewn great violence of manner during her incarceration, and that it was to be feared she would resist. He requested him to arrange the execution of the sentence so as to avoid scandal. A magistrate, who was present, suggest- ed that Madame de La Motte should be gagged, like M. de Lally ; but Charles Henri Sanson objected, reminding APPENDICES. 183 him that the compassion which had been evinced for the old general would be more widely felt and expressed if a woman were subjected to the same violence. It was eventually decided that the execution should take place in the court of the Conciergerie. Charles Henri Sanson asked the procureur to entrust to him the management of this unpleasant affair, in which judg- ment was far more necessary than strength. "He began by obtaining information concerning Madame de La Motte's habits, and he heard from the gaoler that she was on very friendly terms with his wife, who attended her in the prison. Following the instruction of the executioner, this woman entered the prisoner's room and told her that she was wanted outside. Madame de La Motte was in bed ; she turned her face towards the wall, and said that she was sleepy, and could not rise so early. The goaler's wife then told her that it was her counsel who wished to speak with her. This effectually roused Madame de La Motte, who jumped out of bed and lost no time in dressing. As she was leaving the room, one of my grandfather's assistants, who was behind the door, seized her arm and thrust it under his ; another assis- tant did the same on the other side ; but Madame de La Motte, displaying such strength as could hardly have been expected from a woman, shook away their grasp and retreated towards the door. Charles Henri, however, had come forward, and was standing against it. Madame de La Motte stopped and looked at him i84 APPENDICES. with glistening eyes. 'She was,' writes my Grand- father, 'rather small in stature, but extremely well made. Her countenance was sufficiently pleasant to conceal for a time the irregularity of her features ; her expressive physiognomy was full of charm, and it was only after minute examination that one discovered that her nose was very sharp, that her expressive mouth was large, and that her eyes were somewhat small. What was remarkable in her was the thick- ness and length of her hair, and also the whiteness of her skin, and the smallness of her hands and feet. She wore a silk deshabille, striped brown and white, and covered with small nosegays of roses. Her head- dress was an embroidered cap. While she was eyeing Charles Henri as if about to leap at him, the other assistants and four police officers surrounded her. She perceived that resistance was useless, and, speaking to my grandfather, who had taken off his hat : ' What do you want with me?' she said. " ' We wish you to listen to your judgment, Madame,' answered the executioner. "Madame de La Motte shuddered; she clenched her hands, looked down, and then raising her head : ' Very well,' she said. The two assistants who had at first tried to secure her, came forward; but she motioned them away and advanced before them. "When the procession reached the hall, where a parliamentary committee was sitting, the clerk read out the judgment. APPENDICES. 185 "At the very first words which proclaimed her guilt, the strongest emotion appeared on Madame de La Motte's face. Her eyes roUed in their sockets; she bit her lips, and the hitherto pretty face now seemed to be the mask of a fury. "Charles Henri foresaw a storm, and approached her ; and it was well that he did so, for, as the clerk came to the penalties, the unhappy woman's rage burst out with extraordinary violence. She fell back- wards so suddenly that her head must have been fractured on the stones had not my grandfather caught her in his arms. " It was impossible to finish the reading of the sen- tence. Madame de La Motte's strength increased as the consciousness of her fate flushed through her mind, and a protracted struggle ensued between her and the assistants who attempted to pinion her. " She was at length carried down to the court. The scaffold was erected opposite the gate, which had been left open. But it was six o'clock in the morning, and only a limited number of persons were looking on. She was stretched on the platform and received twelve stripes. She never ceased shrieking while the punishment was being inflicted. She invoked ven- geance on the head of the Cardinal de Rohan; and she added that it was her own fault that she had suffered the disgrace which had been inflicted on her, since, had she said but one word, she would have been hanged instead of having been flogged. / i86 APPENDICES. "The second part of the sentence had no doubt escaped her, for when she was seated on the platform she remained motionless, as if completely subdued and powerless. Charles Henri Sanson thought the moment was well chosen for the completion of the penalty. Her dress had been torn, and her shoulder was bare; he took an iron from the grate and applied it to her skin. Madame de La Motte uttered a wild shriek, and, writhing in the grasp of the assistants who were holding her, she bit his hand with such fury that she took a piece of flesh off. She struggled again, and it was with the greatest difficulty that the iron could be applied to the other shoulder. "Justice was now satisfied. Madame de La Motte was put into a fly and taken to the Salpetri^re. As she was alighting she tried to rush under the wheels, and a few moments afterwards she thrust the sheet of her bed into her throat in a frenzied attempt to choke herself. ' " Her imprisonment lasted ten months. She escaped, some said, through the connivance of the Government, in fear of the revelations which M. de La Motte threatened to make unless his wife were released." ' Besenval says the same. APPENDIX VIII. Madame d'Andlau's ideas of education Madame seem to have borne fruit. We read in the " """ "Corres. secrete entre Marie Theresa et le Comte de Mercy Argenteau", published by Arneth, the following: "Les propos defavorables a Mesdames avaient fait le tour de I'Europe. Etonnee de les voir persister a Vienne, Marie Therese en ecrivit au Comte de Mercy pour savoir le vrai. Le Comte ne cacha pas a sa souveraine qu'une tendresse plus que fraternelle aurait existe, disait-on, ,'.•• • « *,^; * H *s • ' ' ' V J ■* !>• ' rr '1. •' . -1 •r r * 's, • o , ^ **i »