interrupted the examination. The judge of the
peace, who looked sad, sat with his head resting on
his hand. I threw myself at his feet and implored
his clemency. The wife and the two daughters
of the judge visited this scene of sorrow, and assisted
me in softening him. He was a worthy and feeling
man, a good husband and parent, and it was evident
that he struggled between compassion and duty.
He kept referring to the laws on the subject, and,
after long researches said to me, “To-morrow
is Decadi, and no proceedings can take place on that
day. Find, madams, two responsible persons,
who will answer for the appearance of your husband,
and I will permit him to go home with you, accompanied
by the two guardians.” Next day two friends
were found, one of whom was M. Desmaisons, counsellor
of the court, who became bail for M. de Bourrienne.
He continued under these guardians six months, until
a law compelled the persons who were inscribed on
the fatal list to remove to the distance of ten leagues
from Paris. One of the guardians was a man of
straw; the other was a knight of St. Louis.
The former was left in the antechamber; the latter
made, every evening, one of our party at cards.
The family of M. de Bourrienne have always felt the
warmest gratitude to the judge of the peace and his
family. That worthy man saved the life of M.
de Bourrienne, who, when he returned from Egypt, and
had it in his power to do him some service, hastened
to his house; but the good judge was no more!
The letters mentioned in the narrative were at this
time stolen from me by the police officers.
Everyone was now eager to pay court to a man who had
risen from the crowd in consequence of the part he
had acted at an, extraordinary crisis, and who was
spoken of as the future General of the Army of Italy.
It was expected that he would be gratified, as he
really was, by the restoration of some letters which
contained the expression of his former very modest
wishes, called to recollection his unpleasant situation,
his limited ambition, his pretended aversion for public
employment, and finally exhibited his intimate relations
with those who were, without hesitation, characterised
as emigrants, to be afterwards made the victims of
confiscation and death.
The 13th of Vendemiaire (5th October 1795) was approaching.
The National Convention had been painfully delivered
of a new constitution, called, from the epoch of its
birth, “the Constitution of Year iii.”
It was adopted on the 22d of August 1795. The
provident legislators did not forget themselves.
They stipulated that two-thirds of their body should
form part of the new legislature. The party opposed
to the Convention hoped, on the contrary, that, by
a general election, a majority would be obtained for
its opinion. That opinion was against the continuation
of power in the hands of men who had already so greatly
abused it.