The Sword of Honor; or, The Foundation of the French Republic

"What will we have gained by driving out Charles, Polignac, and the skull-cap bands?" added the other two workingmen.

"My men, here in two words is the meat of the matter. To-day, in 1830, the proletarians of the towns and the country, in other words the immense majority of the people, produce, almost by their labor alone, the riches of the country; and yet they live in misery. Why is it thus? Because you have no political rights."

"And what help would political rights be to us?"

"Suppose you were all electors, as you were under the great Republic. You would elect your representatives; these representatives would make the laws. So that, if you chose for representatives friends of the people, is it not clear that the laws they made would be favorable to the people? The law could decree, for example, as in the time of the Republic, the education of children, instructed and maintained by the state, from the age of five to twelve. The law could decree assistance for disabled proletarians, for widows with children. The law could decree the abolition of slavery in the colonies, equality of civic rights between man and woman. The law could assure work to citizens in times of unemployment, and sustain them against the exploitation of capital. The law, in short, could change your condition completely, for the law is sovereign. The law can perform everything within the limits of the possible; so then, by their number, the proletarians composing the great majority of the citizens, they would be assured of having a majority in the elections; whence it follows that if they had well chosen their representatives, all the laws made by these would be in favor of the proletariat. Do you follow me, friends?"

"In virtue of our political rights we would choose the representatives who make the laws, and they would make them in our interests," answered the first workingman. The other two also added: "That is easy to understand."

"That is why," continued John Lebrenn, "as long as you remain without political rights, your condition will continue precarious and miserable."

"But how can we obtain these political rights?" asked one of the workingmen.

"By combatting all governments which refuse to recognize your rights or which pluck you of them, as did Napoleon, the accursed Corsican, and as the Bourbons have done."

"It stiffens one's spine," returned the artisan, "to know that by fighting against Charles X and Polignac we will obtain rights which will permit us to choose the representatives who will make laws in our favor. On to the barricades, then! Let us strike a blow that will count, against the gendarmes, and the officers of the troops."

"To the barricades! Death to the gendarmes!" repeated the other two artisans.

"In conclusion, my men," resumed Lebrenn, "I tell you in all sincerity, it is possible, although doubtful, that we may with this one blow reconquer the Republic, which alone can free you in mind and body, and restore to you the exercise of your sovereignty. Now, my men, decide."

With ringing enthusiasm the three workingmen shouted:

"To the barricades!"

"Down with Charles X and Polignac!"

"Down with all the Jesuits and skull-caps!"

And all present joined in the battle-cry:

"Long live the Republic! To the barricades!"

CHAPTER II

ORLEANS ON THE THRONE

Four days later, namely, the 31st of July, Marik Lebrenn lay on his bed, sorely wounded. Bravely defending, with his father, his friends, and a little army of workingmen of St. Denis Street, on the 28th, the barricade raised by them the preceding day a few steps from the Lebrenn domicile, he had his arm broken by a ball. The wound, grave in itself, was further complicated by an attack of lockjaw, induced by the stifling heat of those summer days. Thanks to the care of Doctor Delaberge, one of his father's political friends and one of the heroes of July, Marik had come safely through the lockjaw, in spite of its usual deadliness. But for the three days he had remained a prey to a violent delirium; his reason had now returned to him hardly an hour ago.

Beside his cot was seated his mother; his wife, bent over the bed, held her infant in her arms.

"How sweet it is to return to life between a mother and a darling wife, to embrace one's child, and moreover to feel that one has done his duty as a patriot," murmured Marik feebly, but happily. "But where is father?"

"Father is unwounded. He went out, an hour ago, to be present at a final meeting with Monsieur Godefroy Cavaignac, the valiant democrat," answered his mother.

"And our friends, Martin, Duresnel, and General Oliver?"

"You will see them all soon. Neither the General nor Monsieur Martin was wounded. Duresnel was grazed slightly by a bayonet."

"And Castillon? And Duchemin?"

Madam Lebrenn exchanged a look of intelligence with her daughter-in-law, who had gone to put her child in his cradle, and answered, "We have as yet no news of those brave champions, Castillon and Duchemin."

"Then they must be badly hurt," exclaimed Marik, anxiously. "Castillon would not have gone without coming to see me, for it was he who picked me up when I fell, on the barricade."

"Our friends are probably in some hospital," suggested his wife, soothingly. "But please, do not alarm yourself so; you are still very weak, and strong excitement might be bad for you. We can only tell you that your father is unscathed, and the insurrection victorious."

"Victory rests with the people! It is well; and yet, what will it profit them?"

John Lebrenn and General Oliver now entered the sick-room. Madam Lebrenn rose and said to her husband, with all a mother's joy: "Our son has come entirely to himself, as the consequence of the long sleep which already reassured us. About half an hour after you left he awoke with his head perfectly clear. Our last anxieties may now be set aside; the convalescence begins well."

Lebrenn walked quickly over to the bed, looked at Marik a moment, and then embraced him tenderly, saying: "Here you are, out of danger, my dear son. Ah, what a weight was on my heart! The joy I feel consoles me for our deception – "

"My friend, I beg you – " interposed Madam Lebrenn. "The physician bade me shield our dear patient from all emotion."

"Perhaps it would, indeed, be better to leave Marik in ignorance of the result of our victory; but now it is impossible longer to hide from him the truth."

"You may tell me everything, dear father. Disillusionment is no doubt cruel, but we have already reckoned with that possibility in our forecasts. Whatever the government may be which succeeds that of Charles X, it will still be an improvement over the abhorred regime of the Bourbons."

"Well, then, my son, here is our disappointment: The Republic has been crowded out by the intriguers of the bourgeoisie, and the Duke of Orleans has been acclaimed Lieutenant-General of the kingdom. In a few days the deputies will offer him the crown."

"Our friends then let their guns cool after their success? And did not Lafayette intervene in this matter of kingship?"

"Here," replied John, "is how the comedy was played. Seeing the triumphant progress of the insurrection, and recognizing that Charles was as good as gone, his friends flocked over to the Orleanists. The Chamber of Deputies met last evening in the Bourbon Palace, in solemn session. It was there that Lafitte, elected to the chairmanship of the Assembly, proposed outright to confer upon the Duke of Orleans the Lieutenant-Generalship of the realm. The majority applauded, and named a committee to go to the Chamber of Peers, also in session, and inform them of the decision of the deputies. The peers spared no enthusiasm in acclaiming the Lieutenant-Generalship of Orleans, in order to safeguard their own places, their titles, and their pensions. One single voice protested against this act of turpitude, that of Chateaubriand. At the City Hall, meanwhile, a municipal committee was in waiting there before the arrival of Lafayette. It was composed of Casimir Perier, General Lobau, and Messieurs Schonen, Audrey of Puyraveau, and Mauguin. These two last republicans and anti-Orleanists urged upon the committee to institute a provisional government, but the majority would not hear of it, wishing, on the contrary, like Casimir Perier, to treat with Charles X; or, like General Lobau, to turn over the office to Orleans. In fact, Messieurs Semonville and Sussy having presented themselves in the name of Charles X, who then proposed to abdicate in favor of the Duke of Bordeaux, Casimir Perier consented to listen to their overtures. But Audrey of Puyraveau cried out indignantly, 'If you do not break off your shameful negotiations, sir, I shall bring the people up here!' His language intimidated Perier, and the Bourbon go-betweens retired, followed by Mauguin's words, 'It is too late, gentlemen.'

"A deputation headed by the two Garnier-Pagè brothers was sent to General Lafayette to offer him the supreme command of the National Guards of the kingdom; which he accepted. From that moment it was a dictatorship. The General went to the City Hall, amid the transports of the people; he could do anything; he was master, and could have carried the revolution to its logical conclusion! But, with the exception of Mauguin and Audrey of Puyraveau, the municipal committee, in subordinating itself to Lafayette, contrived to frustrate any such intention on his part by at once flattering and frightening him, posing him in his own eyes as the supreme arbiter of the situation, and showing him the responsibility that was falling upon him and the calamities ready to loose themselves upon France if he did not attach himself to the Duke of Orleans; whom, they went on with much ado to show, was able, by an unhoped-for piece of good fortune, to restore order and liberty, while as to the Republic – that was anarchy, that was civil war, that was war with Europe! These words at once tickled Lafayette's vanity and disturbed his honest conscience. He saw before him a role of a certain degree of grandeur, that of sacrificing his personal convictions to the peace of the country."

"In other words, of sacrificing the Republic to senseless fears!" cried Marik.

"History will severely reproach Lafayette for that defection, that lack of faith in the principles he supported, which he propagated for half a century," continued Marik's father. "But, his character not being equal to the dizzy height of the position whither events had wafted him, he slipped; and promised his support to the Orleanists. In July, 1830, as in the old days of Thermidor, our enemies have defeated us by their quickness, although we had right and the people on our side. The Commune should at that time have triumphed over the scoundrels of the Convention, the same as to-day the City Hall should have triumphed over the intrigues of the Bourbon Palace. May this new lesson be studied and taken to heart by the revolutionists of the future."

"Malediction on the Conservative deputies! They deserve to be shot!"

"Our program contained in substance this: 'France is free, she wants a Constitution. She will accord to the provisional government no right but that to consult the nation. The people should not, and can not, alienate its sovereignty. No more royalty. Let the executive power be delegated to an elected President, responsible and subject to recall. The legislative power should be reposed in an Assembly elected by universal suffrage. For these principles we have just exposed our lives and shed our blood, and we will uphold them at need by a new insurrection.'"

"What effect had the reading of this program?" asked Marik.

"It was applauded by the small number who could hear it. Some cried out, in their simplicity, 'That's the program of Lafayette! Long live Lafayette!' But at that moment a singular procession arrived at the City Hall. It was headed by a coach in which sat Monsieur Lafitte, whose bad leg prevented him from walking. Then came the Duke of Orleans, on horseback, attended by Generals Gerard, Sebastiani, and others, and followed by the committee of the deputies who had named him Lieutenant-General of the kingdom. The prince was pale and uneasy, although he affected to smile at the throngs of combatants, who still carried their arms. Their attitude, their words, became more and more threatening. Some guns were even leveled at this man who, after the combat, came to usurp the sovereignty of the people. But a feeling of humanity soon raised them again, and a few minutes later the Duke appeared on the balcony of the City Hall with Lafayette. The latter embraced the Duke, and presented him to the people, with the words:

"'Here, my friends, is the best of Republics – '

"Such was the result for which the people of Paris had fought for three days! It is for this that we risked our lives, that you shed your blood, my son – and that our old friends Castillon and Duchemin died valiantly, as did so many other patriots."

"Great heaven! Father, what say you! Castillon – Duchemin – both dead!"

In agony at his unfortunate words, Lebrenn turned to his wife: "Our son did not know, then, the fate of our friends?"

"Poor old Castillon – I loved him so," sobbed Marik, while his tears poured upon the pillow. "Brave Duchemin – how did he meet his end?"

"In spite of his age," said General Oliver, who had so far been a silent spectator of the scene, "he did not leave my side the whole day of the 27th. His patriotic fervor seemed to double his strength. That night he went home with me. At daybreak of the 28th we rejoined, in Prouvaires Street, the citizens who were defending the barricades there. The colonel who commanded the attack, despairing of ever capturing the barricade, attempted to demolish it with his cannon. A piece was brought up, and at the first round a bullet rebounded and tore into Duchemin's thigh. He fell, crying 'Long live the Republic!' Then he forced a smile on his lips, and with his last breath said to me, 'I die like an old republican cannonier. Long live the Commune!'"

Just then a servant entered, and said to Lebrenn, "Sir, one of the workingmen who was here four days ago is come to ask news of Marik."

"Let him come in," replied the young man's father.

It was the artisan who, on the 27th, had acted as spokesman for his comrades of St. Denis Street. His head was wrapped in a bloody bandage; he was also wounded in the leg, and supported himself as with a cane, with the scabbard of a cavalry saber.

"I heard that your son was wounded, Monsieur Lebrenn. I came to inquire after him," he said.

"My son's condition is causing us no uneasiness," Madam Lebrenn answered. "Be pleased to take a seat beside his bed, for you also are wounded."

"I received a saber cut on the head and a bayonet thrust in the leg. But they will be healed in a day or two."

Marik held out his hand to the workman, and said: "Thanks to you, citizen, for thinking of me. Thank you for your mark of sympathy."

"Oh, that's nothing, Monsieur Marik," replied the workman, heartily pressing the proffered hand. "Only I am sorry to have to come alone to see you, because the two comrades who accompanied me here – the other evening – "

"They are also wounded?" asked John Lebrenn hastily.

"They are dead, sir," sighed the workman.

"Still martyrs! How much blood Kings cause to flow! What woes they bring to families!"

"Here, dear son, is how the political farce was wound up," began John Lebrenn again, to complete his interrupted account. "The majority of the 221 opposition deputies, typified in Casimir Perier, Dupin, Sebastiani, Guizot, Thiers, and a few other reprobates, were terrified when they saw the insurrection on the 28th grow to formidable proportions. For, had it been defeated, the 221 would have been taken as its instigators, and, as such, assuredly condemned for high treason either to death or to life imprisonment; on the other hand, if it was successful, they dreaded the establishment of the Republic. To conjure off this double peril, they declared in their special sessions that they still regarded Charles X as the legitimate King, and that if he would revoke the ordinances and discharge his minister, they would at all costs stand for the continuation of the elder branch. Penetrated by this thought, they went to Marshal Marmont on the 28th to beg him to cease firing, declaring that if the ordinances were repealed, Paris would return to its duty. The Prince of Polignac, full of faith in his army, would listen to no proposition on the 27th nor on the 28th. He counted on the intervention of God. The stupid monarch and his minister did not begin to recognize the gravity of their situation till the evening of the 29th, when the troops, thoroughly routed, beat a retreat upon St. Cloud. Then the ordinances were repealed, and Messieurs Mortemart and Gerard were appointed ministers. Charles imagined that these concessions would mollify the insurrectionists, and cause them to throw down their arms."

"And what sort of a role did James Lafitte play through all this?" again inquired Marik.

"The minority of the deputies convened at his house, and, from the 28th on, they judged the kingship of Charles to be at an end. Thenceforward, yielding to the counsel of Beranger, they labored actively for the Duke of Orleans. The rich bourgeoisie, the big commercial men, and a certain number of military chieftains, Gerard and Lobau among them, also rallied to the Orleanist party, desiring a new kingdom under which they hoped to place the actual government in the hands of a bourgeois oligarchy. The house of James Lafitte was thus the center of the Orleanist wire-pullings. You asked my advice," continued Lebrenn to the workingman, "in the name of your comrades, before entering the fight. In the light of our present set-back, do you regret having assisted in the revolution?"

"No, Monsieur Lebrenn; I have no regret for having taken up arms. No doubt we have not obtained what we sought, a government of the people. But is it nothing to have cleaned out the Bourbons who wished to enslave us? If we did not get the Republic this time, we at least know how to go about driving out a King and defeating his army. We shall appeal to the spirit of insurrection!"

"The day of retribution will come, my friend," declared Lebrenn. "A few elected men, chosen not by the rank and file of the citizens, but by a small party representing the privilege of riches, has decided upon the form of government for France and has offered the crown to Louis Philippe. They have stained themselves with the guilt of usurping the sovereignty of the people, which is single, indivisible, and inalienable. To this usurpation we shall reply by a permanent conspiracy until the day of that new revolution when shall be proclaimed the Republican government, which alone is compatible with the sovereignty of the people, which alone is capable of striking off the material and mental shackles of the proletariat. The Commune, and the Federation under the Red Flag! Neither priests, nor Kings, nor masters!"

"On that day," re-echoed the stalwart proletarian at Marik's bedside, "we shall all rise in arms, and cry:

"Long live the Republic! Long live the Commune!"

CONCLUSION

—

I, John Lebrenn, concluded the writing of this account on the 29th of December, 1831, the eve of the day on which a daughter was born to my son Marik; she was named Velleda, in memory of our Gallic nationality.

To you, Marik, my beloved son, I bequeath this chronicle, along with the sword I received from General Hoche the day of the battle of Weissenburg. You will join them to the other legends and relics of our family, and you will bequeath them, in your turn, to your son Sacrovir. You will add to these scrolls the history of whatever new events may befall in your time, and our posterity will continue, from generation to generation, these our domestic annals.

And now sons of Joel, courage, perseverance, hope – not only hope, but certitude. In spite of the transient eclipses of the star of the Republic since the beginning of this century, in spite of the disappointment of which we were the victims in 1830, in spite of all the trials which we, and our children, perhaps, have yet to undergo, the future of the world belongs to the principle of Democracy.

—

I, Marik Lebrenn, inscribe here, with unspeakable anguish, the date of April 17, 1832, the evil day on which my beloved father and mother, both at the same hour, although some distance from each other, died under the scourge of the cholera. They retained to the end the serenity of their unsullied lives, and went to await us in those mysterious worlds where we shall at last be reborn, to continue to live in mind and body, and follow there our eternal existence.

THE END

1

See "The Pocket Bible," the sixteenth of this series.

2

See "The Iron Arrow Head," the tenth of this series.

3

This speech, which clearly shows the social tendencies of the most radical party in 1789, is here reproduced almost literally from Luchet, Essays on the Illuminati, chap. V, p. 23.

4

See, for details of these scenes, and the questions and discourse of the initiators, Luchet's Essays on the Illuminati, chap. V. p. 23, and following; also Robinson, Proofs of a Conspiracy against All the Religions and all the Governments of Europe, vol. I, p. 114 and following.

5

See the preceding work in this series, "The Blacksmith's Hammer."

6

The old palace of the Bourbons, now abandoned to cheap lodgings and hucksters' booths.

7

All the persons and facts cited in this story as of historic importance, are authentic.

8

For an exactly parallel line of conduct, see that of Abbot Le Roy, at the time of the invasion of Reveillon's paper factory in the St. Antoine suburb, as given in the admirable History of the Revolution by Louis Blanc. We are glad to render here this public testimony of our sympathy and old friendship for an illustrious campaign in exile.

9

Mirabeau's death was for long attributed to poison.

10

The correspondence found at the Tuileries, in the Iron Cupboard, on August 10, 1792, and the correspondence of the Count of Lamark, published in our day, establish superabundantly the treason of Mirabeau.

11

See "The Abbatial Crosier," volume eight in this series.

12

See "The Infant's Skull," volume eleven in this series.

13

As each year started anew on the autumnal equinox, the dates varied a little from those here given. Those given are for the first year of the era. September, 1792, to September, 1793.

14

The name for the paper notes issued by the Convention.

15

Department of War, Sec. III, Correspondence, 1793-1794.

16

This note is historic.

17

It is fallaciously that tradition reports the attempted suicide of Robespierre. He was assaulted by the gendarme Herda. See the Monitor, session of the 10th Thermidor.

18

The first care of the Royalists in the Convention, the day after the 9th Thermidor, was not to decree liberty to the suspects, but to go in person to open the prisons, whence flocked forth a horde of recalcitrant priests and blood-stained counter-revolutionaries.