Читать книгу A Residence in France During the Years 1792, 1793, 1794 and 1795, Complete - Charlotte Biggs - Страница 62

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Dear Brother,

The fears of a timid mind uſually magnify expected evil, and anticipated ſuffering often diminiſhes the effect of an apprehended blow; yet my imagination had ſuggeſted leſs than I have experienced, nor do I find that a preparatory ſtate of anxiety has rendered affliction more ſupportable. The laſt month of my life has been a compendium of miſery; and my recollection, which on every other ſubject ſeems to fail me, is, on this, but too faithful, and will enable me to relate events which will intereſt you not only as they perſonally concern me, but as they preſent a picture of the barbarity and deſpotiſm to which this whole country iſ ſubject, and to which many thouſands beſides myſelf were at the ſame inſtant victims.

A few evenings after I concluded my laſt, the firing of cannon and ringing the great bell announced the arrival of Dumont (ſtill Repreſentative en miſſion in our department). The town was immediately in alarm, all the gates were ſhut, and the avenues leading to the ramparts guarded by dragoons. Our houſe being in a diſtant and unfrequented ſtreet, before we could learn the cauſe of all thiſ confuſion, a party of the national guard, with a municipal officer at their head, arrived, to eſcort Mad. de ___ and myſelf to a church, where the Repreſentant was then examining the priſoners brought before him. Almoſt as much aſtoniſhed as terrified, we endeavoured to procure ſome information of our conductors, as to what was to be the reſult of thiſ meaſure; but they knew nothing, and it was eaſy to perceive they thought the office they were executing an unpleaſant one. The ſtreets we paſſed were crouded with people, whoſe ſilent conſternation and diſmayed countenances increaſed our forebodings, and depreſſed the little courage we had yet preſerved. The church at our arrival was nearly empty, and Dumont preparing to depart, when the municipal officer introduced us to him. As ſoon as he learned that Mad. de ____ was the ſiſter of an emigrant, and myſelf a native of England, he told us we were to paſs the night in a church appointed for the purpoſe, and that on the morrow we ſhould be conveyed to Arras. For a moment all my faculties became ſuſpended, and it was only by an effort almoſt convulſive that I was able to aſk how long it was probable we ſhould be deprived of our liberty. He ſaid he did not know—"but that the raiſing of the ſiege of Dunkirk, and the loſs of ſix thouſand troops which the French had taken priſoners, would doubtleſs produce an inſurrection in England, par conſequent a peace, and our releaſe from captivity!"

You may be aſſured I felt no deſire of freedom on ſuch terms, and ſhould have heard this ignorant and malicious ſuggeſtion only with contempt, had not the implication it conveyed that our detention would not terminate but with the war overwhelmed every other idea. Mad. de ____ then petitioned that we might, on account of our health, (for we were both really unwell,) be permitted to go home for the night, accompanied by guards if it were thought neceſſary. But the Repreſentant waſ inexorable, and in a brutal and deſpotic tone ordered us away.—When we reached the church, which was to be our priſon till morning, we found about an hundred and fifty people, chiefly old men, women, and children, diſperſed in melancholy groupes, lamenting their ſituation, and imparting their fears to each other. The gloom of the building was increaſed by the darkneſs of the night; and the noiſe of the guard, may of whom were intoxicated, the odour of tobacco, and the heat of the place, rendered our ſituation almoſt inſupportable. We ſoon diſcovered ſeveral of our acquaintance, but this aſſociation in diſtreſs was far from conſolatory, and we paſſed the time in wandering about together, and conſulting upon what would be of moſt uſe to us in our confinement. We had, indeed, little to hope for from the morrow, yet the hours dragged on heavily, and I know not if ever I beheld the return of light with more pleaſure. I was not without apprehenſion for our perſonal ſafety. I recollected the maſſacres in churches at Paris, and the frequent propoſitions that had been made to exterminate the gentry and clergy. Mad. de ____ has ſince confeſſed, that ſhe had the ſame ideas.

Morning at length came, and our ſervants were permitted to enter with breakfaſt. They appeared ſorrowful and terror-ſtricken, but offered with great willingneſs to accompany us whitherſoever we ſhould be ſent. After a melancholy ſort of diſcuſſion, it was decided that we ſhould take our femmes de chambres, and that the others ſhould remain for the ſafety of the houſe, and to ſend us what we might have occaſion for. This ſettled, they returned with ſuch directions as we were able to give them, (God knows, not very coherent ones,) to prepare for our journey: and as our orders, however confuſed, were not very voluminous, they were ſoon executed, and before noon every thing was in readineſs for our departure. The people employed by our companions were equally diligent, and we might very well have ſet out by one o'clock, had our caſe been at all conſidered; but, I know not why, inſtead of ſo providing that we might reach our deſtination in the courſe of the day, it ſeemed to have been purpoſely contrived that we ſhould be all night on the road, though we had already paſſed one night without reſt, and were exhauſted by watching and fatigue.

In this uncertain and unpleaſant ſtate we waited till near ſix o'clock; a number of ſmall covered waggons were then brought, accompanied by a detachment of dragoons, who were to be our eſcort. Some time elapſed, aſ you may ſuppoſe, before we could be all ſettled in the carriages and ſuch a cavalcade put in motion; but the concourſe of people that filled the ſtreets, the appearance of the troops, and the tumult occaſioned by ſo many horſes and carriages, overpowered my ſpirits, and I remember little of what paſſed till I found we were on the road to Arras. Mad. de ____'ſ maid now informed us, that Dumont had arrived the evening before in extreme ill humour, ſummoned the municipality in haſte, enquired how many people they had arreſted, and what denunciations they had yet to make. The whole body corporate trembled, they had arreſted no one, and, ſtill worſe, they had no one to accuſe; and could only alledge in their behalf, that the town was in the utmoſt tranquillity, and the people were ſo well diſpoſed, that all violence was unneceſſary. The Repreſentant became furious, vociferated tout groſſierement a la Francaiſe, [In the vulgar French manner.] that he knew there were five thouſand ariſtocrates in Peronne, and that if he had not at leaſt five hundred brought him before morning, he would declare the town in a ſtate of rebellion.

Alarmed by this menace, they began to arreſt with all poſſible ſpeed, and were more ſolicitous to procure their number than to make diſcriminations. Their diligence, however, was inadequate to appeaſe the choleric legiſlator, and the Mayor, municipal officers, and all the adminiſtrators of the diſtrict, were in the morning ſent to the Caſtle, whence they are to be conveyed, with ſome of their own priſoners, to Amiens.

Beſides this intelligence, we learned that before our ſervants had finiſhed packing up our trunks, ſome Commiſſioners of the ſection arrived to put the ſeals on every thing belonging to us, and it was not without much altercation that they conſented to our being furniſhed with neceſſarieſ—that they had not only ſealed up all the houſe, but had placed guards there, each of whom Mad. de ____ is to pay, at the rate of two ſhillings a day.

We were too large a body to travel faſt, and by the time we reached Bapaume (though only fifteen miles) it was after twelve; it rained dreadfully, the night was extremely dark, the roads were bad, and the horſes tired; ſo that the officer who conducted us thought it would be difficult to proceed before morning. We were therefore once more crouded into a church, in our wet clothes, (for the covering of the waggon waſ not thick enough to exclude the rain,) a few bundles of damp ſtraw were diſtributed, and we were then ſhut up to repoſe as well as we could. All my melancholy apprehenſions of the preceding night returned with accumulated force, eſpecially as we were now in a place where we were unknown, and were guarded by ſome of the newly-raiſed dragoons, of whom we all entertained very unfavourable ſuſpicions.

We did not, as you may well imagine, attempt to ſleep—a bed of wet ſtraw laid on the pavement of a church, filthy, as moſt French churches are, and the fear of being aſſaſſinated, reſiſted every effort of nature herſelf, and we were very glad when at the break of day we were ſummoned to continue our journey. About eleven we entered Arras: the ſtreets were filled by idle people, apprized of our arrival; but no one offered us any inſult, except ſome ſoldiers, (I believe, by their uniform, refugees from the Netherlands,) who cried, "a la Guillotine!—a la Guillotine!"

The place to which we were ordered had been the houſe of an emigrant, now converted into an houſe of detention, and which, though large, waſ exceſſively full. The keeper, on our being delivered to him, declared he had no room for us, and we remained with our baggage in the court-yard ſome hours before he had, by diſlodging and compreſſing the other inhabitants, contrived to place us. At laſt, when we were half dead with cold and fatigue, we were ſhown to our quarters. Thoſe allotted for my friend, myſelf, and our ſervants, was the corner of a garret without a cieling, cold enough in itſelf, but rendered much warmer than waſ deſirable by the effluvia of a ſcore of living bodies, who did not ſeem to think the unpleaſantneſs of their ſituation at all increaſed by dirt and offenſive ſmells. Weary as we were, it was impoſſible to attempt repoſing until a purification had been effected: we therefore ſet ourſelves to ſprinkling vinegar and burning perfumes; and it was curiouſ to obſerve that the people, (all gens comme il faut [People of faſhion.]) whom we found inhaling the atmoſphere of a Caffrarian hut, declared their nerves were incommoded by the eſſence of roſes and vinaigre des quatre voleurs.

As a part of the room was occupied by men, our next buſineſs was to ſeparate our corner by a curtain, which we had fortunately brought with our bedding; and this done, we ſpread our mattreſſes and lay down, while the ſervants were employed in getting us tea. As ſoon as we were a little refreſhed, and the room was quiet for the night, we made up our beds as well as we could, and endeavoured to ſleep. Mad. de ____ and the two maids ſoon forgot their cares; but, though worn out by fatigue, the agitation of my mind conquered the diſpoſition of my body. I ſeemed to have loſt the very faculty of ſleeping, and paſſed this night with almoſt as little repoſe as the two preceding ones. Before morning I diſcovered that remaining ſo long in damp clothes, and the other circumſtances of our journey, had given me cold, and that I had all the ſymptoms of a violent fever.

I leave you to conjecture, for it would be impoſſible to detail, all the miſery of illneſs in ſuch a ſituation; and I will only add, that by the care of Mad. de ____, whoſe health was happily leſs affected, and the attention of my maid, I was able to leave the room in about three weeks. —I muſt now ſecrete this for ſome days, but will hereafter reſume my little narrative, and explain how I have ventured to write ſo much even in the very neighbourhood of the Guillotine.—Adieu.