Aï i'XAN BREGMAS UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA BOOK CARD Please keep this card in book pocket SI I h I :r_. ( ; 5 [ 5 ! I S THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL ENDOWED BY THE DIALECTIC AND PHILANTHROPIC SOCIETIES PQ2227 •B5M3 18924 Che Li&ratP This book is due at the LOUIS R. WILSON LIBRARY on the last date stamped under "Date Due." If not on hold it may be renewed by bringing it to the library. DATE DUE RET. DATE DUE RET. M u. ! IAR 2 9 "01 TJ7W AUG 4 mid m 2Jm . 1 S à Form No. 513 \ Portrait of St. Just. Copyright, 18Ç4 By Estes & Lauriat THE FIRST REPUBLIC, VOLUME I. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2014 https://archive.org/details/firstrepublicorwOOduma_0 PREFACE. In the preface to " The Company of Jehu," I told how that novel came to be made ; and those who have read the book know very well what I borrowed of Nodier, the eye-witness of the death of the four Companions : I borrowed my finale of him. Now, " The Whites and the Blues," being a continu- ation of "The Company of Jehu," no one will be surprised that I borrow again of Nodier. During his long illness, which was only the gradual extinction of his strength, I was one of his most constant visitors ; and as he had not had time, owing to his incessant labors, to read my books when he was well, no sooner was he ill and confined to his bed than he collected about him the seven or eight hundred volumes I had published up to that time, and devoured them. The more knowledge he got of my ways of work, the more his confidence in my literary ability increased ; and every time I spoke to him of himself he would answer : — " Oh, as for me, time was always lacking. I never had leisure to do more than pencil sketches ; whereas you, if you had taken this or that subject of which I have made a novel in one volume, — you would have made one in ten." iv PKEFACE. It was then that he related to me the facts filling four pages which I made into the three volumes of " The Company of Jehu," and it was then, also, that he told me the story of Euloge Schneider, declaring that I should probably make ten of it. " Yes," he said, " some day, my good friend, you will write those volumes, and if any part of us survives hereafter, I shall enjoy your success up there, and my vanity will tell me I had something to do with it." Well, I wrote " The Company of Jehu," and ever since the success of that book I have been tormented with the idea — taking my point of departure for a new book from Nodier's " Episodes of the Revolution," just as I took my finale from his " Thermidorean Reaction " — I have been tormented, I say, with the idea of writing a great novel on the First Republic, entitled " The Whites and the Blues," from the facts I took from his lips and from his written recollections. But just as I was beginning to set to work a scruple seized me. This time, it was not a matter of borrowing a few pages from my old friend, it was the actual putting of himself upon the scene. So, I wrote to my dear sister, Marie Mennessier, and asked her to permit me to do a second time, with her permission, that which I had done once without it ; that is to say, graft on a wild stock of my own a slip from her paternal tree. To that request she replied as follows : — Take what you wish and all you wish, my brother Alexandre ; I give my father into your hands with as much confidence as if he were your own. His memory is in good iands, and his recollections too. Marie Mennessier-Nodier. PREFACE. v After that, nothing could stop me; and as my plot was all laid out, I went to work at once. The publica- tion of the book begins to-day ; but in giving it to the public I have a duty of the heart to do, and I thus accomplish it : This book is dedicated to my illustrious friend and collaborator, Charles Nodier. I say collaborator, because if any one takes the trouble to look for another, he will have his trouble for his pains. Alex. Dumas. CONTENTS. THE PRUSSIANS ON THE RHINE. Page I. From the Hôtel de la Poste to the Hôtel de la Lanterne . 11 II. The Citoyenne Teutch 19 IIL Euloge Schneider 28 IV. Eugène de Beauharnais 36 V. Mademoiselle de Brumpt 44 VI. Maître Nicolas 56 VII. Filial Love, or the Wooden Leg .... 61 VIII. The Provocation 69 IX. Charles is arrested ........ ,„:,.,.'.- ... . 76 X. Schneider's Trip 82 XL An Offer of Marriage => . 85 XII. Saint-Just 90 XIII. Euloge Schneider's Wedding 97 XIV. Wishes 102 XV. The Comte de Sainte-Hermine 109 XVI. The Fatigue Cap 117 XVII. Pichegru .124 XVIII. Charles's Reception 131 XIX. The Spy 137 XX. A Dying Prophecy 144 vin CONTENTS. Pagb XXI. The Day before the Fight 151 XXII. The Battle 157 XXIII. After the Battle 163 XXIV. Citizen Fenouillot, Commercial Traveller in Wines 169 XXV. The Chasseur Falou and Corporal Faraud 175 XXVI. The Envoy of the Prince 182 XXVII. Pichegru's Answer 189 XXVIII. A Drum-Marriage 198 XXIX. Six Hundred Francs for those Prussian Cannon ! . . 207 XXX. The Organ 214 XXXI. In which we begin to perceive the Organ- Grinder's Plan 221 XXXII. The Toast 227 XXXIII. The Order of the Day . . . 234 XXXIV. Faraud and Falou 242 XXXV. In which Abattucci fulfils the Mission he received from his General, and Charles that which he received from God. . . 248 THE THIRTEENTH VENDÉMIAIRE. I. A Bird's-Eye View 255 II. A Glance at Paris: The Incroyable . . . 259 III. The Merveilleuse . . . . » 264 IV. The Sections 268 V. The President of the Section le Peletier 273 VI. Three Leaders 279 VII. General Round-head and the Chief of the Company of Jehu ......... 284 VITI. The Man in the Green Coat 289 IX. An Incroyable and a Merveilleuse . . . 294 CONTENTS. ix Page X. Two Portraits . .... 299 XI. Aspasia's Toilet , 304 XII. Sic vos non vobis 308 XIII. The Eleventh Vendémiaire 312 XIV. The Twelfth Vendémiaire 316 XV. The jSTight of the twelfth and thirteenth Vendémiaire .321 XVI. The Salon of Madame la Baronne de Staël, Swedish Ambassadress 325 XVII. The Hôtel of the Rights of Man .... 338 XVIII. Citizen Bonaparte 342 XIX. Citizen Garat 347 XX. The Outposts .... » 354 XXI. The Steps of Saint-Koch ........ 359 XXII. The Rout 363 XXIII. Victory 367 XXIV. The Sword of the Vicomte de Beauharnais 370 THE FIRST REPUBLIC; OR, THE WHITES AND THE BLUES. PROLOGUE. THE PRUSSIANS ON THE RHINE. L FROM THE HÔTEL DE LA POSTE TO THE HÔTEL DE LA LANTERNE. On the twenty-first Frimaire, year II. (11th of December, 1793), the diligence from Besançon to Strasbourg drew up, about nine in the evening, in the interior courtyard of the hôtel de la Poste, which stands behind the cathedral. Five travellers got out ; only one of whom, the youngest of the five, will occupy our attention. He was a child, about thirteen or fourteen years of age, thin and pale, who might have been taken for a girl dressed in boy's clothes, so quiet and gentle was the expression of the face. His hair, which was cut à la Titus, a fashion which zealous republi- cans had copied from Talma, was a dark chestnut ; eyebrows of the same color overshadowed a pair of light-blue eyes, which rested on men and things, like piercing interrogations, with remarkable intelligence. The lad's lips were thin, his teeth handsome, his smile charming ; and he was dressed in the style of the day, if not elegantly, at least so neatly that it was easy to see a woman's hand had passed that way. The' conductor, who seemed to take some special care of the boy, gave him a little package, not unlike a soldier's 12 THE FIRST REPUBLIC. knapsack, which, thanks to a pair of straps, could be carried on the back. Then, looking about him, the conductor called out, — " Holà ! is there any one here from the hôtel de la Lan- terne waiting for a young gentleman from Besançon ? " "•I am," said a rough, coarse voice; and a stable-man, hidden by the darkness in spite of the lantern he carried in his hand, which lighted only the pavement at his feet, came up to the lumbering vehicle on the side of the open door. " Ha ! it 's you, Sleepy ! " exclaimed the conductor. " My name 's not Sleepy, I 'm called Codes," replied the stable-man, in a surly tone, " and I have come to fetch citizen Charles — " " Sent by the citoyenne Teutch, are not you ? " said the lad, in a gentle voice, forming a charming contrast to the rough tones of the hostler. " Yes, that 's so. Well, are you ready, citizen ? " " Conductor," said the child, "will you tell them at home — " " That you got here safe, and they met you — yes, yes, Monsieur Charles." " Oh, oh ! " exclaimed the stable-man, in a tone that was almost threatening, walking close up to the conductor and the lad, "oh, oh ! " " What do you mean with your ( oh, ohs ! ? " " I mean that the language you are talking may be that of Franche-Comté, but it is n't that of Alsace." " Really ! " said the conductor, in a jeering tone ; " so that is what you want to say to me, is it ? " " And to give you a bit of advice," added citizen Codes, "which is, to leave your monsieurs inside your diligence, inasmuch as they are not in fashion in Strasbourg, above all now that we have the honor of receiving within our walls the citizen-representatives Saint- Just and Lebas." " A fig for your citizen-representatives ; take this young man to the Lanterne." And without paying further heed FROM LA POSTE TO LA LANTERNE. 13 to citizen Coclès' advice, the conductor turned in to the hôtel de la Poste. The man with the lantern looked after him, muttering ; then turning to the lad he said, — " Come, come on, citizen Charles," and, walking first, he showed the way. Strasbourg is at no time a lively city, above all, at two hours after taps ; but it was less lively than ever at the time this tale begins, that is to say, early in December, 1793. The Austro-Prussian army was literally at the gates ; Pichegru, general-in-chief of the army of the Rhine, after collecting all the remnants of the corps he could find, had, by force of will and example, re-established discipline and resumed the offensive on the 18th Primaire, that is, three days earlier, organizing (inasmuch as he was too weak to offer battle) a war of skirmishers and sharp-shooters. He succeeded Houchard and Custine, both guillotined on account of their reverses, also Alexandre de Beauharnais, who was about to be guillotined also. Saint- Just and Lebas had come to Strasbourg not only to order Pichegru to conquer, but to decree victory. The guillotine followed them, to execute instantly any sentence they pronounced. Three decrees had been issued that very day. Pirst : it was ordered that the gates of Strasbourg should be shut at three in the afternoon, under pain of death to whoever delayed the closing even five minutes. Second : it was for- bidden to fly before the enemy ; the penalty of death was decreed for whoever turned his back on the battle-field, whether a cavalry man who galloped his horse, or a foot- soldier who ran. Third : it was ordained, in consequence of the surprises planned by the enemy, that every man should go to bed in his clothes. Death was decreed for all, sol- diers, officers, or chief officials, who should be discovered undressed. The lad who now entered the town was to see within six days the execution of each of these decrees. 14 THE FIRST REPUBLIC. As we have said, all these circumstances, added to the news received from Paris, made Strasbourg, a naturally dull town, duller still. The news from Paris was the death of the queen, the death of the Duc d'Orléans, the death of Madame Roland, the death of Bailly. There was also talk of the probable capture of Toulon by the English ; but this was only a rumor which lacked confirmation. Neither was the hour of the lad's arrival one which was likely to make Strasbourg seem gay to him. By nine o'clock at night the dark and narrow streets were deserted and left to the patrols of the Civil Guard and the Company of the Propaganda, whose duty it was to keep public order. Nothing could be more lugubrious for a traveller just arriv- ing from another city which was neither the scene of war nor a frontier town, than the sound of the nocturnal march- ing to and fro of these armed bodies, stopping now and then, with gruff orders and clang of weapons, as they met other bodies, exchanged the pass-word, and went on. Two or three of these patrols had met our young arrival and his conductor without taking any notice of them, when suddenly another body advanced, and the words " Qui vive ? " resounded. There were three ways of replying to the nocturnal qui-vive in Strasbourg ; all three indicating in a sufficiently characteristic way the different shades of opin- ion. The Indifférents replied ; " Friends." The Moder- ates replied : " Citizens." The Fanatics replied : " Sans Culottes." " Sans Culotte ! " replied Codes, energetically. " Advance ! " cried an imperative voice. " Ha, good ! 99 said Coclès, " I know that voice ; it is citizen Tetrell's ; that's all right." "Who is citizen Tétrell ? " asked the lad. "The friend of the people, the terror of aristocrats, a pure patriot." Then, advancing like a man who had noth- ing to fear, he added : " It is I, citizen Tétrell, it is I ! " "Ah, you know me, do you?" said the leader of the patrol, a giant nearly six feet tall, who attained a height of FROM LA POSTE TO LA LANTERNE. 15 seven feet by means of his hat and the feathers that sur- mounted it. "Of course!" said Coclès; "who doesn't know citizen Tétrell in Strasbourg?" and then, as he passed the giant, he added : " Good-night to you, citizen ïétrell." "You know me, that 's all very well," returned the giant; "but I don't know you." " Oh, yes, you do ! I am citizen Coclès, whom they used to call ' Sleepy ' in the days of the tyrant. In fact it was you yourself who baptized me with that name when you kept your horses and dogs at the Lanterne. Sleepy ! don't you recollect Sleepy ? " " To be sure I do ; and I gave you the name because you were the laziest rascal I ever knew. And that young lad, who is he ? " " That ? " said Coclès, raising his lantern to the level of the boy's face. " Oh, that 's only a brat his father has sent here to be taught Greek by Euloge Schneider. " What does your father do, little man ? " asked Tétrell. " He is judge of the court at Besançon, citizen," replied the child. "But you ought to know Latin before you learn Greek." The boy drew himself up. " I know Latin," he said. " Know Latin, do you ? " "Yes, at Besançon my father and I never talk anything else." " The devil ! you seem to me pretty far advanced for your years. How old are you, eleven or twelve ? " "Nearly fourteen." " And what makes your father send you here to be taught Greek by citizen Euloge Schneider ? " "My father isn't as strong in Greek as he is in Latin. He taught me all he knew of it ; and now he sends me to citizen Schneider, who speaks it fluently, having held the Greek professorship at Bonn. Here is the letter my father gave me for him. Besides, he wrote him a week ago to let him know I was coming to-night ; and it was he who took 16 THE FIRST REPUBLIC. a room for me at the ' Lanterne ' and sent citizen Coclès to meet me." So saying, the lad gave a letter to citizen Tétrell, to prove that what he said was true. " Here, Sleepy, bring your lantern," said Tétrell. "Coclès, Coclès," insisted the hostler, obeying, neverthe- less, the order given him under the other name. " My young friend," said Tétrell, " let me tell you this letter is not for citizen Schneider, but for citizen Pichegru." " Ah, I beg your pardon, I have made a mistake ; my father gave me two letters, and I must have given you the wrong one." Taking back the first letter, he handed up the second. " Ah ! this time it is all right," said Tétrell. " ' To Citizen Euloge Schneider, public prosecutor.' " " Eloge Schneider," corrected Coclès, thinking the baptis- mal name of the public prosecutor was lopped of some merit. ' " Give your guide a lesson in Greek," said the leader of the patrol, laughing ; " tell him that Euloge is a name which means — come, young man, what does it mean ? " " ' Fine speaker,' " replied the boy. " Well answered, faith ! do you hear that, Sleepy ? " " Coclès," repeated the hostler obstinately, more anxious about his own name than that of the public prosecutor. During this time Tétrell had drawn the boy a little aside, and bending his tall form so as to reach the child's ear, he said, in a low voice, — " Are you going to the hôtel de la Lanterne ? " " Yes, citizen," replied the lad. "You will find there two of your townsmen, who have come from Besançon to defend the adjutant-general Perrin, who is accused of treason." " Yes, citizens Dumont and Ballu." "That 's it. Well, tell them they have not only nothing to hope for their client by remaining here, but it will not be FROM LA POSTE TO LA LANTERNE. 17 safe for themselves to do so. It concerns their own heads ; you understand ? " " No, I don't understand/' said the boy. " What ! you don't see that Saint-Just will chop their necks as if they were a pair of chickens if they stay? Advise them to cut and run, and the sooner the better." "Prom you?" " No, mind you don't say that, or they '11 make me pay for all the broken china, — or rather, all that is n't broken." Then, straightening up, he said aloud, "It is all right; you are good citizens, you can go your way. Forward, march ! " And citizen Tétrell, at the head of his patrol, left citizen Codes proud of having talked for ten minutes with a man of that importance, and citizen Charles much troubled at the confidence just made to him. The pair walked on in silence. The weather was dull and murky, as it mostly is in December in the north and east of France ; and though the moon was nearly at the full, heavy black clouds, racing along like the waves at the equinox, obscured it constantly. In order to reach the hôtel de la Lanterne, situated in what was formerly called the rue de l'Archevêché and is now the rue de la Déesse-Baison, it was necessary to cross the market-place, then occupied by a scaffold, against which the lad, in his absorption, came near jostling. "Take care, citizen Charles," said the hostler, laughing; "don't knock over the guillotine." The boy gave a cry of horror and started back. Just then the moon shone out brilliantly for a few seconds. The horrible instrument was visible, and a pale, sad gleam struck athwart the knife. " Good God ! do they really use it ? " said the boy, draw- ing closer to Codes. " Use it ! " cried the hostler, joyously ; " I should think so, and every day too ! To-day it was Mother Eaisin's turn. Though she was eighty years old she had to go VOL. I. — 2 18 THE FIRST REPUBLIC. under. She called out to the executioner : ' It is n't worth while to kill me ; wait a bit and I '11 die of myself.' But that did n't help her ; they tipped her off as if she was but twenty." "What had she done?" " Given a bit of bread to a famished Austrian. She said as he did n't ask for it in German she thought he was a townsman." The poor lad, who had never before left his father's house, or known so many diverse emotions pressed into one day, felt chilled to the bone. Was it the weather, or was it Codes' talk ? Casting another look at the instrument of death, which the moon, again veiling herself, was sending back into darkness like a phantom of the night, he said, shivering, — " Are we far from the hôtel de la Lanterne ? " " Faith, no ! for here it is ; " replied Codes, pointing to an enormous lantern hanging above a porte-cochère, and lighting the street for fifty feet around it. " I am glad," muttered the lad, his teeth chattering. Then, running the rest of the way, which was not more than twenty or thirty feet, he opened the door of the inn, which opened on the street, and sprang, with a cry of satis- faction, into the kitchen, the immense chimney of which had a blazing fire. To this cry another cry responded, — that of Madame Teutch ; who, though she had never seen him, was certain, from the appearance of Coclès with his lantern on the sill of the door, that this was the youth entrusted to her care. THE CITOYENNE TEUTCH, 19 IL THE CITOYENNE TEUTCH. The citoyenne Teutch, a stout, rosy Alsatian from thirty to thirty-five years of age, had a truly maternal affection for the travellers with whom Providence provided her, more especially if they happened to be young and pretty children about the age of the boy who had just come to her kitchen fire, where, by the bye, he was alone. She went to him at once, and seeing him stretch his feet and hands to the blaze, and continue to shudder as if cold, she cried out, — "Ah, you dear little fellow! what makes you shudder like that ? Heavens ! how pale he is ! " " Ha, ha ! " laughed Codes, in his coarse way ; " he shud- ders because he 's cold, and he is pale because he went head foremost into the guillotine. It seems he had never seen one, and it scared him. They are such fools, children are ! " " Hold your tongue, you idiot !" 1 " Thank you, bourgeoise ; is that my pay ? " "No, my friend," said the lad, taking some money from his pocket; "here it is." "Thank you, citizen," said Codes, lifting his hat with one hand and holding out the other. "Hang it! — silver money ! So there is some still in France ! I thought it was all gone ; but I see now, as Tétrell said, that was only a rumor those aristocrats have set going." " You go and attend to your horses," cried the citoyenne Teutch, " and leave us in peace ! " Codes went off grumbling. Madame Teutch sat down, and, in spite of some opposi- tion from Charles, she took him on her knees. We have said he was fourteen, but he looked to be hardly ten or eleven. 20 THE FIRST REPUBLIC. " Listen to me, my little friend," she said to him ; " what I am going to tell you is for your good. If you have silver and gold, don't let anybody see it. Change some of it for assignats. Assignats being legal tender, and the louis d'or being worth five hundred francs, you will get a great profit, and you won't be suspected of aristocracy." Then, passing to another set of ideas, she added, " Poor little fellow, how cold his hands are ! " and she held them to the fire as we do those of children. " >Tow, the next thing to be done," she said, " is to have some supper." "Oh ! as for that, no, madame, and thank you very much; we dined at Erbstein, and I'm not a bit hungry. Ï would rather go to bed ; I feel as if I should n't get com- pletely warm till I am in my bed." " Well, then, they shall warm it, and with sugar too ; and when you are once in bed you must have a cup of what ? milk, or broth? " " Milk, if you please." " Milk, so be it ! Poor little fellow, he is hardly weaned, yet here he is, travelling along the highways all alone, like a man. Ah ! we live in dreadful times ! " And she took Charles in both arms, as if he were a child, put him on a chair, and went to see on the key -board what room she could give him. " Let me think ! " she said. " No. 5, that will do — no, the room is too big and the window does n't shut tight ; he 'd be cold. No. 9, no, that has two beds. Ah ! 14 ! that 's the very one to suit him ; a big closet, and a bed with curtains to keep him from draughts, and a good chim- ney that does n't smoke, with an Infant Jesus over it — yes, that '11 keep him safe. Gretchen ! Gretchen ! " A handsome Alsatian girl, about twenty, dressed in the charming costume which somewhat resembles that of the women of Aries, ran in when called. " What is it, mistress ? " she asked in German. " Get No. 14 ready for this cherub ; take the finest sheets and see they are dry. I '11 beat him up an egg in milk." THE CITOYENNE TEUTCH. 21 Gretchen lighted a candle and prepared to obey. Madame Teutch returned to Charles. " Do you understand German ? " she asked. * No, madame ; but if I stay long in Strasbourg, which seems probable, I hope to learn it." " Do you know why I gave you ISTo. 14 ? " " Yes, I heard you say why in your monologue.' 7 " Heavenly Father ! my monologue ! and what 's that ? " "Madame, it is a French word made from two Greek words : monos which means alone, and logos which signifies speech." " And you know Greek at your age, dear child ! " said Madame Teutch, clasping her hands. " Oh ! very little, madame ; it is to learn more of it that I have come to Strasbourg." " You came to Strasbourg to learn Greek ? " " Yes, with M. Euloge Schneider." Madame Teutch shook her head. "Ah ! madame, he knows Greek like Demosthenes," said Charles, thinking that Madame Teutch denied the learning of his future instructor. " I don't say he does n't ; I say that, well as he may know it, he has n't time to teach you." " What is he doing, then ? " " Do you want me to tell you ? " " Yes, I should like to know." Madame Teutch lowered her voice. " He cuts off heads," she said. Charles quivered. " He cuts — off — heads ?" he said. " Did n't you know he was the public prosecutor ? Ah ! my poor boy, your father chose you a strange teacher." The lad was thoughtful for a moment. "Was it he," he asked, "who had old Mother Raisin's head cut off to-day?" " Ko ; that was the Propaganda ! " "What is the Propaganda?" 22 THE FIRST REPUBLIC. "It is a society for the propagation of revolutionary ideas. They all work on their own lines : citizen Schneider as public prosecutor; citizen Saint-Just as representative of the people; and citizen Tétrell as the head of the Propaganda." " Is one guillotine enough for them all ? " said the youth, with a smile that was older than his years. " They each have one." "Ah ! " said the boy, "my father certainly did not know all that when he sent me here." He reflected a moment; then, with a firmness which showed precocious courage, he said: "But, since I am here, I shall stay." Turning to another idea, he added: "You were saying, Madame Teutch, that you gave me No. 14 because it was small, and had a bed with curtains, and did not smoke." "And for another reason, my little man." " What is that ? " " Because in No. 15 you will have a young companion, — a little older than you, but that does n't signify ; you '11 divert his mind." " Is he unhappy ? " " Yes, very. He is hardly fifteen, but he is already a man. He is here on a melancholy business. His father, who was commander-in-chief of the Army of the Rhine before citizen Pichegru, is accused of treason! He used to lodge here, dear man ; and I '11 bet anything they like that he is no more guilty than you or I. But he 's a ci- devant ; and nobody trusts ei-devants, you know. Well, as I was saying, the young man is here to copy the papers which ought to prove his father innocent. He is a good, pious boy, you see, and he works at his task from morning till night." " I could help him," said Charles ; " I write a very good hand." " That's good ; that's what I call being a comrade." And Madame Teutch, in her enthusiasm, kissed her guest. THE CITOYENNE TEUTCH. 23 " What is his name ? " asked Charles. " He is called citizen Eugene." " Eugene is only a first name." " Yes. He has a surname, and a queer name, too, if I could only remember it. His father was Marquis — Mar- quis — stop, wait — " u I am waiting, Madame Teutch," said the boy, laughing. "That's only a way of speaking; you know what I mean. But the name is — is — what they put on the backs of horses — Harnais [harness]. Yes, yes, that's it, — Beauharnais ! — Eugène de Beauharnais. I think it is because of his de that they call him citizen Eugene, short off." These remarks brought to the lad's mind what Tétrell had said to him. "By the bye, Madame Teutch," he said, "have you two commissioners of the commune of Besançon iD the house ? " "Yes; they have come to defend your townsman the Adjutant-General Perrin." "Will they get him off?" " Bah ! he has done better than wait for the decision." "What has he done?" " Escaped last night." " And they have n't caught him ! 99 "No, — not yet." "I am glad. He is a friend of my father; and I liked him, too, myself." " Don't say that here." "But the other two?" " Messrs. Dumont and Ballu ? " " Yes. Why do they stay here if the man they came to defend is out of prison ? " " He will be sentenced for contumacy, and they want to defend him absent as if he were present." " Oh I " muttered the boy, " I understand what Tétrell meant." Then, aloud, "Can I see them to-night ? " he said. 24 THE FIRST REPUBLIC. "Who?" " Citizens Duinont and Ballu." " Certainly you can see them, if you like to sit up ; but they 've gone to the club of the ' Eights of Man/ and they are sure not to come in before two in the morning." " I 'in too tired to sit up," said the lad ; " but you can give them a note from me as soon as they come in, can't you ? " " Certainly." " To them themselves ; into their own hands ? " " To them themselves ; into their own hands." " Where can I write ? " " In the office, if you have warmed yourself." " Yes, I have." Madame Teutch took a lamp from the table and carried it to a desk in a little office railed off from the kitchen, like a bird-cage. The youth followed her : and there, on paper bearing the stamp of the hôtel de la Lanterne, he wrote as follows : — " A townsman, who knows on good authority that you will be arrested soon, advises you to return to Besançon at once." Then folding and sealing the note, he gave it to Madame Teutch. " But you did n't sign it," she said. " There 's no necessity ; you can tell them yourself that the paper came from me." " Yes, I will." " If they are still here to-morrow morning, please let me manage to see them before they go." " Surely you shall." "There, it's done ! " said Gretchen, coming in, her sabots clacking. " Is the bed made ? " asked Madame Teutch. "Yes, mistress." "The fire lighted?" " Yes." THE CITOYENNE TEUTCH. 25 "Then heat the warming-pan, and take citizen Charles to his room. I '11 go and beat up his egg." Citizen Charles was so tired that he followed Gretchen and her warming-pan at once. Ten minutes after he was in bed, Madame Teutch appeared bearing the beaten egg, which she made the sleepy boy drink down, tapping him on each cheek; then she tucked him up maternally, wished him good-night, and went away, taking the candle with her. But the wishes of the worthy woman were only half com- plied with ; for at six in the morning all the guests at the hôtel de la Lanterne were awakened by the noise of voices and the rattle of arms ; soldiers grounded their muskets on the pavement outside, while hasty steps rushed through the corridors, and all the doors were violently flung open one after another. Charles sat up in bed and listened. As he did so his room was suddenly filled with light and noise. Policemen, accompanied by gendarmes, rushed into the room, pulled the boy brutally out of bed, asked his name, his Christian name, what he was doing in Strasbourg, when he had come ; looked under the bed, up the chimney, into the closets, and went out as they came, with a rush, leaving the boy, clad in his shirt, standing quite bewildered in the middle of the room. It was evident that a domiciliary visit (very common in those days) had been made to the hotel, but that Charles was not its object. Perceiving this, the boy thought he had better get into bed, after closing the door of his room, and go to sleep if he could. That resolution taken and accomplished, he had hardly drawn the sheet over his nose when, the noise in the house having ceased, the door of his room opened and gave entrance to Madame Teutch, coquettishly arrayed in, a white wrapper, and holding a candlestick in her hand. She advanced softly, having opened and closed the door without any noise, and made a sign to Charles — who rose on his elbow and looked at her amazed — not to say a 26 THE FIRST REPUBLIC. word. The boy already trained to this life of vicissitudes, although his training had begun only the night before, followed this silent advice, and kept perfectly quiet. The citoyenne Teutch then put her candlestick on the fireplace, took a chair, still with the same precautions, brought it close to the lad's pillow, and sat down. " Well, my little friend," she said, " you ; ve had a great fright, have n't you ? " "Not much of one, madame," responded Charles ; "for I knew very well it was n't I they were after." "You warned your townsmen just in time ! " " Ah ! was it they the police were hunting for ? " "Yes, just so. By great good luck they came in at two o'clock, and I gave them your note. They read it twice ; then they asked who gave it to me. I told them it was you, and who you were ; then they consulted together an instant, and said, ' Come, we had better go ! ' and they went up that minute to pack their trunks, and sent Sleepy to see if there were any seats to be had in the diligence that starts for Besançon at five in the morning. Luckily there were two places left. Sleepy engaged them; but to make sure that nobody else got them, the two gentlemen left here at four o'clock, and they had been an hour on the road to Besançon when the police came and rapped at the door. But just think how careless they were ! — they left the little note you wrote behind them, and the police have pounced on it." " Oh, that does n't matter ; I did n't sign it, and nobody in Strasbourg knows my handwriting." "True, but the note was written on paper with our heading on it ; so they fell upon me, and wanted to know who had written it." " Oh, goodness ! " " Of course you know I J d have my heart torn out sooner than tell them ; poor dear darling, they 'd have dragged you off ! I answered that when travellers ask for paper it is taken to their rooms, and as there are always some THE CITOYENNE TEUTCH. 27 sixty or more travellers here, I couldn't possibly tell which one had used my paper to write a note. Then they talked of arresting me. I answered that I was ready to go with them, but that wouldn't do them any good, as I wasn't the man citizen Saint-Just had sent them after. They saw the truth of that argument and gave in, saying, 1 That's very well for to-day, but you'll see another time!' I said, 4 Well, search the house;' and they searched ! 1 've come to warn you not to say one word, and if they accuse you, swear by all the devils that you know nothing of that note." " When it comes to that point I '11 see about it, Mean- time I'm very much obliged to you, Madame Teutch." " Ah ! one more bit of advice, my dear little man ; when we are alone you can call me Madame Teutch, — that 's all right and proper; but before the world, say citoyenne Teutch plain up and down. I don't know that Sleepy would do a bad deed, but he's a zealot, and when fools are zealots I don't trust 'em." After delivering that axiom, which proved both her prudence and her perspicacity, Madame Teutch rose, put out the candle on the chimney-piece, inasmuch as morning had dawned since she came there, and left the room. 28 THE FIRST REPUBLIC. in. EULOGE SCHNEIDER. Before leaving Besançon, Charles had asked his father to explain to him the usual habits of his teacher, Euloge Schneider. He knew that he rose every morning at six o'clock and worked till eight ; that at eight he breakfasted, smoked a pipe, and then worked again until he went out to walk between one and two o'clock. Charles considered it advisable, therefore, not to go to sleep again ; daylight comes late at Strasbourg in December, where the narrow streets delay it from entering the lower floors of the tall houses. It was then about half-past seven, and allowing that it took him half an hour to dress and go from the hôtel de la Lanterne to the public prosecutor's house, Charles saw that he would arrive there just as his tutor was going to breakfast. He had just finished dressing himself, as elegantly as his wardrobe would allow, when Madame Teutch came in. "Merciful powers !" she cried, "are you going to a wedding ? " " No," said the lad, "I am going to Monsieur Schneider's." " What are you thinking of, my child ? you look like an aristocrat. If you were eighteen instead of thirteen, they would cut your head off. Here ! off with those fine clothes, and get into your travelling suit, the things you had on yesterday ; they are good enough for the monk of Cologne." And the citoyenne Teutch with a few twirls of her hand whisked off one suit and put on the other, while her young lodger, amazed at her rapid actions, let her do it. EULOGE SCHNEIDER. 29 " There, now ! " she said, " go and see your man, but be sure you call him ' citizen/ and not ' monsieur,' or in spite of your fine recommendations, you may come to grief." The young fellow thanked her for her good advice and asked if she had any more to give. " No," she said, shaking her head, " unless it is to come back as soon as you can ; because I am going to prepare for you and your neighbor in No. 15 a nice little breakfast such as he, ci-devant that he is, never tasted. There, now, off with you ! " With that adorable motherliness which Nature puts into the heart of every woman, Madame Teutch felt an actual tenderness for her new guest, and assumed to herself the management of his affairs ; he, on the other hand, being still young and feeling the need of a woman's kindly affec- tion, which makes life so much easier, was quite disposed to follow her advice as he would have done that of a mother. He let her kiss him on both cheeks, and after learning how to find his way to the house of citizen Euloge Schneider, he left the hôtel de la Lanterne to make his first step into what the Germans call the "vast world," — that step on which the whole future life may depend. He passed the cathedral, where, for want of looking about him, he came near being killed. The head of a marble saint fell at his feet, followed immediately by a bust of the Virgin. He turned to the place whence the two projectiles came, and there beneath the portal of a magnificent edifice he saw, astride the shoulders of a gigantic apostle, a man with a hammer in his hand making great devastation among the saints, fragments of whom had rolled to the boy's feet. A dozen men were standing about, laughing and applauding the profanation. The boy continued his way, went through the grove, stopped at a modest-looking house, ran up three steps, and knocked at a little door. A glum old servant-woman opened it, and put him through a series of questions. When he had answered them all, she showed him, still grumbling, into the dining-room, remarking, — 30 THE FIKST REPUBLIC. " Wait there ; citizen Schneider is coming to breakfast, and you can speak to him, as you pretend you have some- thing to say." Left alone, Charles threw a rapid glance round the room. It was very plain, panelled with planks, and contained no ornaments whatever except two crossed sabres. The terrible agent of the Revolutionary committee of the Lower Rhine now entered the room. He passed close to the lad without seeing him, or at any rate without showing by word or look that he did see him, and sat down at the table where he instantly attacked a pyramid of oysters, flanked on one side by a dish of anchovies and on the other by a jar of olives. Let us employ the slight pause that ensued to give in a few words the physical and moral portrait of the strange man to whom Charles had been consigned. Jean-Georges Schneider, who had given to himself — or taken, as the reader pleases — the name of Euloge, was a man of thirty-seven or thirty-eight years of age, ugly, stout, short, common, with round limbs, round shoulders, and a round head. That which first struck the eye in his unpleasant appearance was the hair cut short like a brush, while at the same time his enormous eyebrows were allowed to grow as hey pleased in length and thickness. These bushy brows, which were black and tufted, overshadowed a pair of tawny, savage eyes, fringed with red lashes. The man had begun life in the Church, hence his nickname of the "monk of Cologne," which his assumed name of Euloge had not done away with. Born in Franconia, of poor agricultural parents, he owed to the good disposition he showed in childhood the protection of the vicar of his parish, who taught him the rudiments of Latin, and sent him to the Jesuit school at Wurzburg, where his rapid progress won him, at the end of three years, admission to the Academy. Expelled for bad conduct, he fell into the depths of poverty, and finally entered the convent of the Franciscans at Bamberg. When his studies were ended he was thought competent for EULOGE SCHNEIDER. 31 employment as professor of Hebrew, and was sent to Augs- bourg. Thence he was summoned in 1786 to the post of preacher at the court of Duke Charles of "Wurtemberg. He preached with great success, and devoted three fourths of his salary to his needy family. It is said that he there joined the sect of Illuminati, organized by Weishaupt, which explains the ardor with which he adopted the prin- ciples of the French Revolution. At this epoch in history, full of ambition, impatient of control, goaded by ardent passions, he published so free and liberal a catechism that he was forced to cross the Rhine and settle in Strasbourg, where he was appointed, 17th of June, 1791, episcopal vicar and dean of the faculty of theology ; after that, he not only did not refuse to take the civic oath, but he preached in the Cathedral, mingling, with extraordinary fire, political ideas and religious instruction. Before the 10th of August, all the while defending him- self as a republican, he had advocated the overthrow of the king. After that date he fought the royalist party with desperate courage, that party having strong hold in Stras- bourg, and especially in its neighborhood. This struggle led to his being elected, towards the end of 1792, mayor of Haguenau. Finally, having been appointed, February 19* 1793, public prosecutor to the courts of the Lower Rhine., he was invested on the 5th of the following May with the title of Commissioner to the Revolutionary tribunal of Strasbourg. It was then that the terrible lust for blood to which his violent nature drove him first showed itself. Impelled by a feverish activity, when victims lacked him in Strasbourg, he roamed through the neighborhood with his terrible escort, followed by the guillotine and the execu- tioner. At the slightest provocation he would stop in the towns and villages, where they had trusted never to see the fatal instrument. There he would open a court, accuse, condemn, and execute, and in the midst of this bloody orgy, he would declare the assignats (then worth fifteen per cent of their nominal value) at par, and furnish the army with 32 THE FIRST REPUBLIC. more grain than all the other commissioners of the dis- trict put together. From the 5th of November to the 11th of December (the day on which Charles arrived in Strasbourg) Euloge Schneider had put to death, either in Strasbourg, Mutzig, Barr, Obernai, Eppig, or Schlestadt, thirty-one persons. Though our young friend was ignorant of most of these details, and more especially the last, it was not without a feeling of terror that he found himself face to face with the terrible proconsul. But, reflecting that he had, unlike the Vest, a protector in the man who threatened others, he recovered his composure, and sought for some means to begin a conversation; the oysters occurred to him. " Rara concha in terris" he said with a smile, in his thin, boyish voice. Euloge turned and looked at him. " Do you mean to say that I am an aristocrat, you brat ? " "I don't mean anything at all, citizen Schneider; but I know you are a learned man, and I wanted to attract your attention to me, a poor little fellow you have n't deigned to notice ; so I said a few words in a language you know, and quoted an author you like." " Faith, that 's true ; and well said, all that." " As I come recommended to Euloge rather than to citi- zen Schneider, I ought to be a good speaker, so as to be worthy of the recommendation." " And who has recommended you to me ? " said Schneider, turning his chair so as to face the boy. " My father ; and here 's his letter." Euloge took the letter, and recognized the writing. "Ah ha ! " he said, " from an old friend." Then he read the letter from end to end. " Your father," he continued, " is one of the men of our day who write the purest Latin. Will you breakfast with me ? " he added, holding out his hand to the boy. Charles gave a glance at the table, and no doubt his face showed the want of liking he had for a repast so luxurious and yet so frugal. EULOGE SCHNEIDER. 33 " No ; I understand," said Schneider, laughing ; " a young stomach like yours wants something more solid than \ anchovies and olives. Come to dinner ; I have three friends to dinner to-day ; if your father were here he would make the fourth, and you shall take his place. Drink a glass of beer to your father's health." " Ah, that indeed, with pleasure," cried the boy, taking up a glass and touching it to that of Schneider. But as the beaker was a huge one, the boy could only half empty it. " Well," said Schneider, " go on ! " " I '11 drink the rest by and by to the health of the Eepublic," said the boy ; " but the glass is too big for one of my size to drain at a draught." Schneider looked at him with a certain kindness. " Faith ! he 's a pretty boy," he said. Just then the old servant- woman brought in the news- papers, German and French. " Do you know German ? " asked Schneider. " Not a word." " Very good, I '11 teach you." "With Greek?" " Greek ! do you want to learn Greek ? " " That 's my great desire." " Well, we '11 try to satisfy it. Here, take the ' Moniteur Français,' and read it, while I read the * Vienna Gazette.' " There was a silence for a time while each read his paper. " Oh ! oh ! " cried Euloge ; then he read aloud : " ' Stras- bourg is probably taken by this time, and our victorious troops are on the march to Paris.' They are reckoning without Pichegru, without Saint-Just, without me ! " "'We are masters of the outposts of Toulon,'" read Charles from his paper, " 1 and in three or four days we shall enter the town, and the Eepublic will be avenged.' " « What is the date of that ' Moniteur ' ? " asked Schneider. "The 8th," replied the boy. roL. i. — 3 34 THE FIRST REPUBLIC. " What else does it say ? " " ' Robespierre, during the session of the 6th/ " read Charles, "'produced an answer to the manifesto of the Allied Powers. The Convention ordered it to be printed, and also translated into every language.' " " What else ? 99 said Schneider. The boy continued: "'On the 7th, Billaud-Varenne announced that the rebels of La Vendée, in an assault on the town of Angers, had been defeated and driven back by the garrison, with the assistance of the inhabitants.' " " Hurrah for the Republic ! " cried Schneider. " 'Madame Dubarry, condemned to death on the 7th was executed the same day, with the banker van Deniver, her lover. The old prostitute completely lost her head before the executioner cut it off. She wept and struggled, and called for help ; but the people answered her appeals with yells and curses. They remembered the evils of which she and her like had been the cause, evils that have caused the nation's poverty.' " " Infamous creature ! " said Schneider, " after dishonor- ing the throne she now tries to dishonor the scaffold ! " At this moment two soldiers entered the room, whose uniforms, familiar enough to Schneider, made the young lad shiver. They were dressed in black ; beneath the tri- color cockade on their shakos were two cross-bones ; rows of white braid on their pelisses and dolmans resembled the ribs of a skeleton, and their pouches bore skulls sur- mounted by other cross-bones. They belonged to the regiment called the Huzzars of Death, all the members of which were bound by an oath not to make prisoners. A dozen soldiers of this regiment formed Schneider's body- guard, and he used them as messengers. He rose when they entered. " Now," he said to his young visitor, " stay here, or go away, just as you like ; I have to send off my couriers and attend to business. But don't forget that we dine at two, and you are to dine with us." EULOGE SCHNEIDER. 35 Nodding to Charles he went into his study, attended by his funereal escort. The privilege of remaining was not so attractive that our young man grasped it. He jumped up the moment Schneider, followed by his two dismal guards, had departed, and seiz- ing the sort of cap with which he covered his head, he darted from the room, sprang down the steps at a bound, and, still running, reached good Madame Teuton's kitchen, crying out : — " Oh î I ? m so hungry ; here I am ! " 36 THE FIRST REPUBLIC. IV. EUGENE DE BEAUHARNAIS. At the cry of her "little Charles," as she called him, Madame Teutch came out of a dining-room, which opened upon the courtyard, and appeared in the kitchen. " Ah ! " she said, " here you are, thank God ! You poor little Tom Thumb, I ? m thankful the ogre has n't devoured you." " On the contrary, he was charming. His teeth are not half so long as you said they were." " God grant you may never feel them ! But if I heard right, yours are pretty sharp. Come in here, and T will go and call your future friend, who is hard at work, as usual, poor boy." And the citoyenne Teutch ran up the stairs with a juve- nility that showed she felt the need of exercising her exuberant strength. While she was gone Charles examined the preparations for the most appetizing breakfast that had yet been served to him. From this examination he was diverted by the opening of the door, which now gave entrance to the young man mentioned by Madame Teutch. He was a lad of fourteen, with black eyes, and curly black hair falling on his shoulders; his dress was elegant, his linen extremely white. In spite of the attempts that had been made to disguise the fact, everything about him was redolent of aristocracy. He went up to Charles, and held out his hand. "Our good landlady tells me, citizen, that I shall have the pleasure of spending some days with you ; and she adds that you have promised to like me a little, which gives me great pleasure, for I am very much disposed to like you." u Yes, yes," cried Charles, " with all my heart ! " EUGÈNE DE BEAUHARNAIS. 37 " Bravo ! " said Madame Teutch, coming into the room ; " now that you have bowed to each other like gentlemen, which is a very dangerous thing to do in these days, you had better embrace like comrades." " I ask nothing better," said Eugène ; whereupon, Charles threw himself into his arms. The two lads kissed each other with the frankness and cordiality of youth. " Ah, ça ! " said the elder, " I know you are called Charles, and my name is Eugène. 1 hope that now we know each other's names, we need not say 1 monsieur ' or i citizen.' Come, let 's sit down, Charles ; I am dying of hunger, and Madame Teutch says your appetite is not deficient." " Hey, that 's polite," said Madame Teutch. " Ah ! those ci-devants, my little Charles, those ci-devants know how to say and do the right thing." " But you must not say so, citoyenne Teutch," said Eugène, laughing ; " a good inn like yours should not admit any but the sans-culottes.^ " Then I should have to forget that I have had the honor of entertaining your worthy father, Monsieur Eugène ; and God knows I can't do that, for I pray for him night and morning." "You must pray for my mother too, my good Madame Teutch," said the young man, brushing the tears from his eyes ; " for my sister Hortense writes me that our dear mother has been arrested and taken to the Carmelite prison. I received the letter this morning." '' Poor friend ! " cried Charles. " How old is your sister ? " asked Madame Teutch. "Ten." " Dear child Î send for her at once. We '11 take care of her ; she mustn't stay alone in Paris at that age." " Thank you, Madame Teutch, thank you ; but she is not alone, fortunately ; she is with my grandmother at our chateau of la Ferté-Beauharnais — But there ! I have 38 THE FIRST REPUBLIC. made you all sad, and I had vowed to keep this new trouble to myself." "Monsieur Eugène/ 7 said Charles, "when people make such vows as that, they don't trust their friends. Well, to punish you, you shall be made to talk of nothing but your father, mother, and sister, during all breakfast-time." The two boys sat down to table, and Madame Teutch served them. The task imposed on Eugène was an easy one. He told his young comrade that he was the last descendant of a noble family of the Orléanais ; that one of his ancestors, Guillaume de Beauharnais, had married, in 1398, Marguerite de Bourges ; and another, Jean de Beau- harnais, had given testimony at the trial of the Maid of Orleans. In 1764 their estate of la Ferté-Aurain had been raised to a inarquisate under the name of la Ferté-Beauhar- nais. His uncle François, who had emigrated in 1790, became a major in Condé's army, and offered himself to the president of the Convention to defend the king. As for his father, who at this time was in prison on a charge of plotting with the enemy, he was born in Martinique, and had there married Mademoiselle Tascher de la Pagerie, with whom he came to France, where they were heartily received at court. Appointed to the States-General by the nobility of the seneschal's-court of Blois, he had, on the night of the 4th of August, been among the first to advise the suppression of titles and privileges. Elected secretary to the National Assembly and member of the Military Committee, he was seen, at the time of the festi- val of the Federation, working eagerly at the levelling for the Champs de Mars, harnessed to the same cart as the Abbé Sieyès. Finally he was sent to the Army of the North, as adjutant-general; he commanded the camp at Soissons, refused the ministry of war, and accepted the fatal position of commander-in-chief of the Army of the Rhine ; the rest is well known. But it was more especially about the beauty and grace and goodness of his mother that Eugène was eloquent ; his EUGÈNE DE BEAUHARNAIS. 39 heart gave out its floods of filial love; he seemed to think of work with double ardor, now that it was for his dear mother Josephine, as well as for his father, the Marquis de Beauharnais. Charles who, on his side, had the tenderest affection for his own parents, took delight in listening to his companion, and was eagerly asking questions about his mother and sister, when suddenly a dull report was heard, which shook the windows of the inn, followed by several other detonations. " Cannon ! cannon ! that 's cannon ! " exclaimed Eugène, more accustomed to the sounds of war than his companion. " To arms ! to arms ! " he cried, " the town 's attacked ! " And then, from three or four directions, came the roll of drums beating the alarm. The young fellows rushed to the door, where Madame Teutch had preceded them. A great tumult was arising in the town ; horsemen, in various uniforms, were riding in every direction, no doubt bearing orders, while the people, hastily arming themselves with pikes, sabres, and pistols, were hurrying toward the gate of Haguenau, shouting : " Patriots, to arms ! the enemy is here ! " Minute after minute the dull roar of the cannon, even more than the human outcries, warned the town of danger, and called the citizens to its defence. " Come to the ramparts, Charles," said Eugene, darting into the street ; " if we can't fight ourselves we can see the fight from there." Charles darted too, and followed his comrade, who, being familiar with the topography of the town, led him by the shortest cut to the gate of Haguenau. As they passed a gunsmith's Eugène stopped short. " Ha ! an idea ! " he cried. Entering the shop he asked, " ^ave you a good carbine ? " " Yes," said the man, " but it is dear." "How much?" " Two hundred francs." The youth pulled a handful of assignats from his pocket