citizen garat
on several points, and particularly along the pont-neuf, the sentinels of the sections and those of the convention were so near to one another that they could easily talk together.
a few unimportant skirmishes occurred during the morning. the section poissonière stopped the men and the guns who were on their way to the section quinze-[pg 315]vingts. that of mont-blanc captured a convoy of provisions intended for the tuileries. a detachment from the section le peletier took possession of the bank. and finally morgan, with a corps of five hundred men, almost all émigrés or chouans, all wearing collars and pompons of green, advanced toward the pont-neuf, while the section of the comédie-fran?aise descended by way of the rue dauphine.
about four o'clock in the afternoon nearly fifty thousand men surrounded the convention. it seemed as though gusts of fierce breath and furious menace could be felt in the air. during the day the conventional party held several parleys with the sectionists. both sides were feeling their opponent's pulse. for example, toward noon, representative garat was directed to carry a decree from the convention to the section de l'indivisibilité. he took an escort of thirty horsemen, fifteen chasseurs and fifteen dragoons. the battalions of the museum and the french guards, which had joined the convention, and which were stationed in and about the louvre, presented arms when he appeared.
as for the pont-neuf, it was guarded by republicans, under the command of that same general cartaux who had been bonaparte's superior officer at toulon, and who was not much surprised to find the positions reversed. at the pont du change, garat found a battalion of sectionists who stopped him. but garat was a man of action. he drew his pistol and commanded the thirty men to unsheath their swords. at sight of the pistols and the naked steel, the sectionists let them pass.
garat was charged with the task of winning the adherence of the section de l'invisibilité to the convention. but despite his persuasions, it persisted in its determination to remain neutral. garat's next duty was to ascertain whether the battalions of montreuil and popincourt intended to support the sections or the convention; he therefore made his way to the faubourg. at the entrance of the main street he found the battalion of mon[pg 316]treuil under arms. at sight of him, they shouted with one accord: "long live the convention!"
garat wanted to take the battalion back with him, but they were waiting for popincourt's force, which had also declared for the convention. they told him, however, that two hundred men of the quinze-vingts section had remained behind, and were desirous of going to the assistance of the convention. garat learned where they were, and went to them to question them.
"march at our head," they said, "and we will follow you."
garat put his fifteen dragoons at their head and his fifteen chasseurs in the rear, and marched in front of the little troop, pistol in hand; and the two hundred men, of whom only fifty were armed, started for the tuileries. they passed before the montreuil battalion; the popincourts had not arrived as yet. the montreuils wished to march with them, but their commander demanded an order from barras. upon his return to the tuileries, garat sent him one by an aide-de-camp. the battalion started at once and arrived in time to take part in the action.
meantime, cartaux had assumed command of the detachment with which he was to defend the pont-neuf. he had only three hundred and fifty men and two pieces of artillery. he sent word to bonaparte that he could not hold the position with so small a force.
for reply he received the following, in an almost illegible scrawl:
you will hold out to the last extremity.—bonaparte.
this was the first written order ever given by the young general; it is a good example of his concise style.
but about two o'clock in the afternoon, a column of a thousand or twelve hundred men, composed of sectionists of the unité and the fontaine-de-grenelle, advanced upon that part of the pont-neuf contiguous to the rue dauphine. there it was stopped by a military outpost. then[pg 317] one of the sectionists, carrying a magnificent bouquet, tied with tri-colored ribbon, came forward from the ranks. cartaux sent an aide-de-camp to forbid the column to advance unless they could show an order from the committee of public safety or from general-in-chief barras.
the aide-de-camp returned, accompanied by the commander of the unité, who declared, in the name of the two sections, that he bore the olive-branch and wished to fraternize with the general and the troops under his orders.
"go and tell your president," said cartaux, "that it is not to me, but to the national convention that you should carry your olive-branch. let a deputation of four unarmed men be selected, and i will have them conducted in safety to the convention, which alone can receive this symbol of peace and fraternity."
this was not the reply that the leader expected to receive; he therefore replied that, after deliberation, they would return again in a still more fraternal manner. thereupon the leader retired, and the two sections were shortly after drawn up in line of battle along the quai conti and quai malaquais. this disposal of forces denoted hostile intentions which soon became evident.
about three o'clock in the afternoon, cartaux saw a column advancing along the rue de la monnaie, of such strength that its front filled the entire street; and, although he was standing on the highest point of the pont-neuf, he could not see the end of it. a third column arrived at the same time by the quai de la ferraille, while a fourth filed behind the others to cut off the pont-neuf by the quai de l'école.
notwithstanding the order which he had received to hold the position to the last extremity, general cartaux saw clearly that he had not a moment to lose if he wished to retire safely without betraying his weakness to the enemy. the gunners immediately received the order to limber up. two companies led the way as far as the garden of the infanta, followed by the two guns.
the remainder of the troop was divided into four com[pg 318]panies; one facing the sectionists, who were advancing along the rue de la monnaie; another threatening the column on the quai de la ferraille, and the others covering the retreat of the artillery. the column of the pont-neuf remained in the centre to arrest the column of the unité, and to mask the man?uvre.
scarcely had cartaux taken up his position in the garden of the infanta, than he recalled the two companies who were facing the rue de la monnaie and the quai de la ferraille, together with the cavalry. the movement was executed in splendid order, but the sectionists immediately occupied the abandoned post.
in the meantime garat returned with his fifteen chasseurs, fifteen dragoons, and the two hundred and fifty men of the section of the quinze-vingts, of which only fifty were armed. the pont-neuf bristled with bayonets. he thought they belonged to the republicans whom he had left on guard there. but once in their midst he realized, from their green collars and pompons, that he had to do not only with sectionists, but with chouans. at that moment the commander of the sectionists, who was none other than morgan, advanced toward him, and recognized in him one of the men whom he had seen at the convention.
"i beg your pardon, monsieur garat," said he, taking off his hat, "but you seem to be in some trouble, and i should like to assist you if possible. what can i do for you?"
garat recognized him also, and immediately saw through the jest. but preferring to adopt another tone, he drew his pistol, and, cocking it, said: "monsieur, i want a passage for myself and my men."
but morgan continued, still in the same jesting tone: "nothing could be more reasonable, and indeed we owe it to you, if only for general cartaux's civility in yielding this post to us without a struggle. but uncock your pistol. misfortunes happen so easily! suppose it went off by accident; my men would think you had fired upon me, and they[pg 319] would cut you to pieces, you and your little troop, which is only half armed as it is. that would displease me greatly, as people would say that we had taken advantage of our superior numbers."
garat uncocked his pistol.
"but why are you here, anyway?" he asked.
"as you see," said morgan, with a laugh, "we have come to help the convention."
"commander," said garat, jokingly, "you must admit that you have a strange way of helping people."
"come, i see you do not believe me," said morgan, "and that i must tell you the truth. well, then, there are a hundred thousand of us in paris, and a million in france. is that not so, coster?"
the young muscadin whom he addressed, and who was armed to the teeth, contented himself with a nod, accompanied by the single word: "more!"
"you see," said morgan, "my friend here, coster de saint-victor, who is a man of honor, confirms what i have just told you. well, we are more than a hundred thousand strong in paris, and more than a million strong in france, and we have sworn to exterminate the conventionals, to destroy the building in which the king's death-warrant was signed, and whence so many death-warrants, like flights of ill-omened birds, have issued. not only shall the men be punished, but the expiation must extend to the very stones. to-morrow not a member of the convention will be alive; not a stone will remain standing in the building where the convention sits. we shall sow the place where it stood with salt, and the ground on which it was built shall be handed over to the execration of posterity."
"if you are so sure of the results of the day, commander," said garat, resuming his jesting tone, "it ought to make little difference to you whether you have two hundred men more or less to fight against."
"no difference at all," replied morgan.
"in that case, i ask you for the second time to let me[pg 320] pass. i prefer to die with my colleagues, and to find a tomb in this building which you are going to bring down upon our heads."
"then dismount from your horse, give me your arm, and let us go first. gentlemen," continued morgan, addressing his men with that inflection of the voice which, without suggesting the incroyable, betrayed the aristocrat, "let us play fair. citizen garat asks to be allowed to go to the defence of the convention with his two hundred and fifty men, of whom only fifty are armed. his request seems to me to be so reasonable, and the poor convention is in such sore straits, that i do not think we ought to oppose his kindly sentiments."
bursts of ironical laughter welcomed this motion, which did not need to be put to the vote to be passed. a clear path was made at once, and, with morgan and garat at their head, the little column advanced.
"a pleasant journey!" cried coster de saint-victor after them.
