PRUSSIA ТПЕ AUXILIARY OF RUSSIA.9
mortality will not always rest content with a terrestrial empire, and the people the most ready to appreciate the pleasures of art, will also be the first to comprehend the new evidences of the Divine revelation.* It is, then, only just to admit that the Prussian government is worthily preparing its people to perform a part in that renovation of religion, whose approach is already announced to the world by signs that cannot be mistaken.
Prussia will soon discover that her philosophy is insufficient to impart mental satisfaction. Though this glorious future may be expected, the city of Berlin belongs at present to the least philosophical country in the world — to Russia; and, notwithstanding this, the German people, seduced by the display of a skilful administration, turn their thoughts towards Prussia. They fancy that it is from this quarter they will obtain those liberal institutions which many yet confound with the conquests of industry, as though luxury and liberty, opulence and independence, were synonymous.
The grand fault of the German people, whose character was personified in Luther, is an inclination to animal enjoyments. In our times nothing opposes this inclination ; every thing contributes to foster it. Thus, sacrificing their liberty and independence to the barren hope of a prosperity altogether material, the Germans, enchained by a political system that addresses the senses, and by a religion of intellect, fail in their duty towards themselves and towards the world. Nations, like individuals, have their vocation,
* " Les nouvelles preuves des revelations du cieL" в 5
10FRENCH MINISTER AT BERLIN.
If Germany forgets hers, the fault is mainly owing to Prussia, the ancient focus of that inconsistent philosophy, by courtesy denominated a religion.*
France is now represented in Prussia by a minister who unites all the requisites of an enlightened modern diplomatist. jNTo mysterious airs, no affected reserve, no unnecessary concealment, betray the opinion that he might entertain of his own importance. One scarcely recollects the post he occupies, until reminded of it by the ability with which its duties are fulfilled. Appreciating with the happiest tact the wants and the tendencies of modern society, he tranquilly proceeds in advance of the future, without, however, disdaining the lessons of the past; in a word, he is one of the small remaining number of those men of former times who are now become so necessary to the present.
Originally from the same province as myself, he has related to me details connected with the lùstory of my family, with which I was unacquainted, and from which I derived much gratification. This I admit without hesitation, for that pious admiration with whieh we contemplate the heroism of our fathers ought not to be identified with pride.
I knew that there existed in the archives of the French legation at Berlin, letters and diplomatic notes possessing a high interest for the world in general, and for myself in particular: they are my father's.
* These remarks on protestantism may be less offensive to the English reader, when he recollects that it is German protestantism by which they are more immediately suggested. — Trans-
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In 1792, when but twenty-two years old, he was selected by the ministers of Louis XVI., who had then been constitutional king for about a year, to manage a delicate and important mission to the Duke of Brunswick. The object was to induce the Duke to decide in refusing the command of the army allied against France. It was hoped, and with reason, that the crisis of our revolution would prove less dangerous to the country and the king, if foreigners did not attempt violently to interfere with its progress.
My father arrived at Brunswick too late. The Duke had given his word. The confidence which the character and ability of young Custine inspired in France, was, however, such, that, instead of being recalled to Paris, he was sent to the Prussian court, to make new efforts to detach King William II. from that same coalition whose armies the Duke of Brunswick had promised to command.
Shortly before the arrival of my father at Berlin, M. de Ségur, the French ambassador in Prussia, had failed in this difficult negotiation. My father was sent to replace him.
King William had not treated M. de Ségur well. On one occasion, the latter returned home so exasperated, and under such an impression that his reputation as a skilful diplomatist was for ever compromised, that he attempted self-destruction. The blade of his weapon did not penetrate very deep, but M. do Ségur left Prussia.
This occurrence puzzled all the political heads in Europe: nothing could at that time account for the extreme ill-will of the king towards a man so distinguished both by his birth and talents. I have heard в 6
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from a very good source an anecdote, which throws some light on this hitherto incomprehensible circumstance. M. de Ségur, at a time when in great favour with the Empress Catherine, had often amused himself by turning into ridicule the nephew of Frederick the Great, afterwards King Frederick William II.: he used to laugh at his love affairs, and even his person ; and, in accordance with the taste of the time, he had drawn satirical sketches of this prince, and of his favourites, which he had sent in a note to the Empress.
After the death of Frederick the Great, political circumstances having suddenly changed, the Empress a¡ïain sou
Another fact equally curious preceded the arrival of my father at the court of Prussia. It will serve to show the sympathy which the French revolution then excited in the civilised world.
The draught of the treaty of Pilnitz was about being framed, but the allied powers particularly desired to keep France in ignorance of its stipiúations as long as possible. The minutes of the treaty were already in the hands of the King of Prussia, and no French agent had as yet obtained any knowledge of them.
One evening, returning home late and on foot, M. de Ségur observed an unknown person wrapped in a cloak, who appeared closely to follow him ; he quickened his pace, this person did the same ; he crossed
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the street, the other crossed with him ; he stopped, the mysterious stranger stopped likewise, at a short distance. M. de Ségur, being without arms, and fearful that this rencontre might be connected with the personal ill-will of the king, began to run as he drew near to his own residence, but notwithstanding his haste, he could not prevent the pursuer from arriving at his door, just as it opened. He cast down at the feet of M. de Ségur a roll of papers, and instantly disappeared. The latter, before picking them up, directed several of his people to follow this unknown individual, but they could not overtake him.
The papers contained the projet of the treaty of Pilnitz, copied word for word, in the cabinet of the Prussian king; and thus it was that France, aided by those who were secret converts to her new doctrines, attained the first information of this celebrated document.
Circumstances more powerful than the talents or the will of men, rendered futile the negotiations of my father with the Berlin cabinet; but notwithstanding the failure of his object, he obtained the esteem, and even the friendship, of all those with whom business brought him into contact, (not excepting the king and the ministers,) which indemnified him, personally, for the ill success of his political mission.
"When my father was about to return to his government to give an account of his negotiations, his mother-in-law, then a French refugee at the same court at which he represented France as minister, joined her entreaties to those of his other friends at Berlin, to induce him to change his intentions, forsake the con-
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stitutional cause, and remain among the emigres until a more favourable time for serving his country should arrive. These entreaties, though accompanied with the prediction of the evils that would await him on his return, and though the scenes of the l()th of August, the imprisonment of Louis XVI
., and the frightful anarchy which reigned throughout France, had terrified all Europe, did not influence my father, or deter him from what he considered his duty to those who had employed him, and to whom he owed an account of his mission. True to the ancient motto of his house — " Faits ce que dogs, adveìgne quepourra*," — and, in spite of the prayers of his friends, he departed for the country where the scaffold was preparing for him.
He found public affairs there in such disorder, as to induce him to renounce politics and join the army of the Rhine, commanded by his father, General Custinc. There he honourably served as volunteer in two campaigns, and when the General who had opened the road of conquest to our arms returned to Paris to die, his son accompanied him, to defend him, and to share his fate. It is the diplomatic correspondence of my father, during the period of his mission at the court of Berlin, that our present Prussian minister has kindly permitted me to peruse.
These letters are admirable models of diplomatic style. The maturity of mental power, the justice, yet determined energy of character, the extent of information, the clearness and precision of thought which they evince, are really extraordinary, when the age of
* Do tby duty, let come what will.
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the writer is considered. M. de Noailles, who was at the time French ambassador at Vienna, expressed in letters (also preserved in our archives at Berlin) sentiments the most flattering to the new diplomatist, to whom he predicted a brilliant career. Little did he imagine how short that career would be ! !
The death which my father sought and met in Paris under the influence of a sense of duty, was attended with a circumstance, unknown to the public, that in my opinion invests it with a character of sublimity. The circumstance deserves to be recited at length ; but as my other parent will occupy a conspicuous part in the recital, I will first relate another story which will give some idea of her character.
My travels are my memoirs. I do not therefore scruple to commence those to Russia with a history that more concerns myself personally, than the topics on which I shall have to dwell hereafter.
It was while with the army, and before his recall to Paris, that General Custine was apprised of the death of the king. His expressions of indignation on this occasion were not moderated even in presence of the commissioners of the convention. These overheard him say, " I serve my country against foreign invasion, but who would fight for those who now govern us ? " These words, reported to Robespierre by Thion-ville, decided the fate of the General.
My mother at that time lived in a retired manner in a village in Normandy. The moment she learnt the return of General Custine to Paris, this noble-minded young woman conceived it to be her duty to quit her asylum, and her child, who was then quite an infant, to repair to the assistance of her father-in-
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law, with whom her family had been for some years on bad terms, owing to a difference in political opinions.
It was a great trial to her to part with me, for she was a mother in the truest sense of the word ; but misfortune always had the first claim upon her heart.
Could General Custine have been saved, it would have been by the devotion and courage of his daughter-in-law. Their first interview was most touching. No sooner did the veteran recognise my mother than he believed himself safe. In fact, her youth, her extreme beauty, her mingled heroism and timidity, so interested the journalists, the people, and even the judges of the revolutionary tribunal, that the men who were determined on the death of the General, felt it necessary first to silence the most eloquent of his advocates, his daughter-in-law.
The government, however, at that time, had not thrown off all appearance of law; yet the men who hesitated to throw my mother into prison did not scruple to attempt her assassination. The Septem-briscurs, as these hired ruffians were called, were placed for several days about the precincts of the Palais de Justice; but though my mother was warned of her danger, nothing could deter her from daily attending the trial, and seating herself at the feet of her father-in-law, where her devoted mien softened even the hearts of his murderers.
Between each sitting of the court she employed her time in privately soliciting the members of the committees and of the revolutionary tribunal. A friend of my father's, in costume a la carmagnole, generally accompanied her, and waited for her in the anti-room.
In one of the last sittings of the tribunal her looks
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had drawn tears even from the women in the gallery, commonly called " the furies of the guillotine," and the tricoteuses of Robespierre. This so enraged Fou-quicr-Tinville, that he sent secret peremptory instructions to the assassins outside.
After the accused was re-conducted to prison, his daughter-in-law prepared to descend the steps of the palace, in order to regain, on foot and alone — for none dared openly to accompany her — the hackney coach, which waited for her in a distant street, My mother, naturally timid in a crowd, stood trembling at the head of this long flight of steps, pressed on all sides by an enraged and blood-thirsty populace. Her eyes involuntarily sought the spot where Madame de Lamballe had been murdered some time before. She felt her presence of mind departing, as from the ferocious mob the cry, " It is the daughter of the traitor, it is La Custine," mingled with horrid imprecations, reached her ears. How was she to pass through this crowd of infernal, rather than human beings ? Already some, with naked swords, had placed themselves before her; others, half clothed, had caused their women to draw back — a certain sign that murder was about to be enacted. My mother felt that the first symptom of weakness she might betray would be the signal for her death : she has often related to me that she bit her hands and tongue so as to bring blood, in her endeavour to preserve a cahn countenance at this juncture. At length she observed a fish-woman among the foremost of the crowd. This woman, who was revolting in appearance, had an infant in her arms. Moved by the God of mothers, the daughter of the traitor approached this mother, (a mother is
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something more than a woman,) and said to her, " What a sweet babe you have in your arms!" " Take it," replied the parent, who understood her by one word and glance; " you can return it to me at the foot of the steps."
The electricity of maternal feeling had thrilled through these two hearts. It communicated itself also to the crowd. My mother took the child, pressed it to her bosom, and held it as an ægis in her arms.
Man, as the child of nature, resumed lùs superiority over man brutalised under the influence of social evils. The "civilised" barbarians were vanquished by two mothers. She, who was mine, descended, thus rescued, into the court of the Palais de Justice, un-saluted by even an abusive word. She returned the infant to her who had lent it: they parted without interchanging a syllable : the place was not favourable to thanks or explanations, and they never saw each other afterwards; but assuredly the souls of these mothers will meet in another world.
The young woman thus miraculously saved, could not save her father. He died, and to crown the glory of his life, the veteran soldier had the courage to die a Christian. A letter to his son attests this humble sacrifice, the most difficult of all, in an age of practical crimes and philosophical virtues. In proceeding to the scaffold he embraced the crucifix. This religious courage ennobled his death, as much as his military courage ennobled his life; but it gave great offence to the Brutus's of Paris.
During the trial of General Custine, my father had published a sober but manly defence of the former's political and military conduct. This defence, which
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had been plaearded on the walls of Paris, only served to bring upon the author the hatred of Robespierre. He was imprisoned soon after the death of his father. At this period the Reign of Terror was making rapid progress : to suffer arrest was to receive sentence ; the process of trial had become a mere form.
My mother had obta
ined permission to see her husband daily. Ascertaining that his death was determined, she put in requisition every means that might enable him to escape. By aid of large bribes and larger promises, she Avon over even the daughter of the o`aoler to second her design.
My father was not tall. He was slightly and elegantly made. It was arranged therefore that he should put on the clothes of his wife in the prison, that she should dress herself in those of the gaoler's daughter, and while the latter was to reach the street by another stair, the prisoner and his wife were to pass out together by the ordinary passage, which the two women had been, purposely, in the habit of doing very frequently.
Every thing was duly arranged, and a day fixed, for the execution of this plan. On that day my mother, full of hope that it was her last visit, repaired to the prison, though only on the previous evening the convention had published a decree against all who should aid or connive at the escape of a political prisoner.
This monstrous law was purposely placed before the eyes of the prisoners. My mother, on arriving at the appointed hour, found Louise, the young woman whose good will as well as interested services she had enlisted, in tears, on the prison stairs. Upon
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enquiring the eause, she learnt, to her inexpressible surprise, that it was owing to her husband having peremptorily refused to entertain any farther the projected plan of escape. My mother, fearing they had been betrayed, turned, without reply, to gain her husband's apartment. Louise followed her, and apprised her, in a low voice, that he had read the law. She immediately guessed the rest. She knew his inflexible character, and his high and delicate sense of honour: despair almost deprived her of all physical power. " Come with me," she said to Louise, " you will have more influence with him than I; for it is in order to avoid exposing your life that he is about to sacrifice his own."
Russia in 1839 -Empire of the Czar: A Journey Through Eternal Russia Page 4
