A Heroine of Conjugal Lover, Madame de La Fayette [pp. 781-794]

A Heroine of CoijnfgaZ Love.
honor to his character. As the priests
under oath were habitually received
by the commander of the National
Guard at Paris, Madame de La Fayette never dissimulated before them
her attachment to the ancient bishlops; but she mingled in her expressions so much adroitness with
her sincerity that she never wounded
them. Only once she deviated from
the rule of tolerance that she imposed on herself on her husband's
account, and that was when the
newly elected constitutional Bishop
of Paris, came to dine officially with
the general. She would not recognize by her presence the quality of
his diocese, and dined out, although
she knew by doing so it could not
fail to be made a subject of remark.
Meanwhile, the ever-increasing revolutionary delirium multiplied disorders, paralyzed the efforts of the
constitutional party, and rendered
the part of M. de La Fayette more
and more difficult. He was suspected on both sides, by the court
and by the Jacobins, and was rapidly
wearing out the remains of an expiring popularity in an already useless
struggle.
The king, to escape the odious tyranny of which he was the victim,
attempted to fly from Paris; we
know the rest. Arrested at Varennes, brought back to the Puileries, he
and his family were placed in the
closest confinement. The unhappy
prince at last resigned himself to accept the constitution, the Constituent
Assembly terminated its sittings, and
was replaced by the Legislative Assembly, and General La Fayette, sincere in the illusion that the revolution was finished and the future secured, gave in his resignation as
commander of the National Guard,
and set out for Auvergne with his
wife and children. Now in the destiny of Madame de La Fayette there
came a short truce of happiness; the
journey from Paris to Chavaniac
was a series of ovations that popular
enthusiasm spread, for the last time,
before her idol. The Duchess d'Ayen and the Viscountess de Noailles
came a little while to share this apparent and transitory calm; but the
Duke d'Ayen had emigrated to Switzerland, and Madame de Montagu
had taken refuge in England. The
formation of three grand army corps
had been decreed, in imminent danger of a foreign war; the command of
the centre was confided to General
La Fayette, who repaired to his camp
in I79I.
The year I1792 saw the hideous
journey of the 20th of June, soon
after followed by the scenes more
lamentable still, of the ioth of August.
At the news of the wicked attempt
of the 20th of June, the General de
La Fayette did not fear to address to
the assembly, from Maubeuge, where
were then his head-quarters, a letter
in which he declaimed with indignation and vehemence against the
Jacobins; and finally, quitting his
camp, he hastened to Paris and appeared at the bar of the Assembly;
there to brand energetically the violences committed at the Tuileries,
and demand the punishment of the
guilty. Was not this act of courage
alone sufficient honor for a lifetime?
But finally, seeing he had nothing to
hope from the Assembly, he attempted to organize a resistance at Sedan
in order to save Louis XVI. The
triumphant Jacobins replied, on the
ioth of August, by a decree of proscription to the refusal which M. de
La Fayette made to recognize the fall
of the king; a price was put upon
his head, and, constrained in his turn
to seek a refuge in a foreign land,
the patriot of 1789 fell on the frontier
into an Austrian post, was arrested
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