192

Her Notes to Marat.

"Charlotte Corday, having resolved on speedily terminating the career of Marat, inquired for the abode of the friend of the people. She was directed to the Rue de l'Ecole de Médecine, No. 44; but, as she was informed that none but his intimate acquaintance were admitted to see him, she sent him the following note:

"Citizen,

"I have just arrived from Caen. The interest you feel for the welfare of the country, doubtless renders you anxious to be made acquainted with the events which have taken place in that part of the Republic. I will call on you about one o'clock. Have the goodness to receive me.'

"Marat sent no answer to this note, either because he supposed it to have been written by some idle adventurer, or, because his bodily suffering had for a time extinguished his revolutionary fanaticism. But, Charlotte Corday was not daunted. She sent a second note, more urgent than the first, but which received no more attention. At length, on the 15th of July, she wrote for the third time. last letter, she alluded to misfortunes which had gathered over her head, and conjured Marat to receive her, on account of the important secrets which she had to reveal to him, touching the safety of the Republic.

In this

"The messenger who delivered this note, had no sooner left Marat's house, than Charlotte Corday, who had followed him closely, entered the anti-chamber. She was there accosted by two females, who told her that she could not see Marat, because he was at that moment taking a bath.

"She insisted, and some altercation ensued. Marat, whose chamber adjoined the anti-room, hearing loud voices, rang to inquire what was the matter. On being informed that a lady wished to see him, and that she was the same person who had written to him several times, he felt a fatal curiosity to see her. He accordingly rose from the bath, and when he was ready to receive her, Charlotte Corday was introduced. Her beauty and prepossessing manners inspired Marat with so much confidence that he dismissed his attendants, and remained alone with the woman, who, in a few moments, was to deprive him of life. The conversation commenced on the affairs of Calvados.

Last Words of Marat.

193

Charlotte Corday, though pre-occupied by the terrible object of her visit, maintained her share of the conversation with great calmness, and furnished the information which Marat sought. She gave him the names of the public functionaries and deputies, who were in open rebellion against the National Assembly, and Marat declared that, within a fortnight, they should all be brought to the scaffold.

"These words were his sentence of death. Charlotte Corday drew from her bosom a sharp knife and plunged it into the breast of Marat. He had no power, either to defend himself or to evade the mortal blow. He merely exclaimed: A moi, ma chère amie!' and, in a few moments, breathed his last.

"The outcry brought his pretended wife, and the infamous woman Théroigne into the room. They beheld Marat weltering in his blood, and the heroine standing beside with the knife in her hand. She was pale and motionless, and made no attempt to escape, as has been erroneously stated. The women, however, placed chairs and tables against the door to prevent her going out, and then, throwing open the window, they called for help.

"A man who was employed in folding some hand-bills in another room, was the first to enter. On seeing what had happened, and being informed who was the perpetrator of the deed, he seized a chair, and, striking at Charlotte Corday, felled her to the ground. But she raised herself up, and, with that fortitude which rendered her superior to any fate that might await her, she stood in silence, expecting the storm of popular fury to break over her head. It is indeed difficult to conceive what could have shielded her from the first movement of jacobinical indignation."

"I will here quote some passages from a report of the tragical event, drawn up by Chabot, by order of the Committee of Public Safety. This report, with all its falsehoods, is a higher eulogium on Charlotte Corday than anything I could say."

"When she was conducted to the Abbaye, the immense crowd, who were uttering yells of grief and indignation, dispersed at the desire of the commissioners who accom

VOL. I.-17

194

Charlotte Corday Arrested.

panied her. She fainted; but, in a few moments, recovered, and she said to the deputies:

"I thought they were going to tear me in pieces. Is it possible that these people, who have been described to me as so many cannibals, obey with such docility the commands of their magistrates?"

"Such," continues Chabot, "is the confidence of this woman in the speedy success of the projects of the counter-revolution, with which the insurgents have filled her head, that when her death is alluded to, she treats the matter with inconceivable contempt and indifference, though she had not sufficient courage to take her own life."

"What Chabot pronounces to be want of courage, was in fact the strongest proof of sublime courage and virtue. Charlotte Corday was too magnanimous to commit suicide. Chabot adds (and this is another falsehood) that, from information obtained by the Committee of Inspection relative to the plot, it was evident that the signal for attempting its execution was to be the assassination of the most energetic patriots;-that it was hoped, by this means, to excite a violent movement in Paris, to arm the citizens against each other,-that, amidst these dissentions Wimpfen, Puysaie, and the departmental troops were to proclaim Louis XVII., to appoint as his council the fugitive deputies, and to dissolve the Convention.

"Chabot's report was listened to, in mournful silence, though, in their hearts, the Jacobins did not regret being rid of their ferocious leader. A deputation from the section of the Social Contract, requested to be admitted to the bar; and Gerault, who headed the deputation, thus addressed the Assembly:

"Representatives!.... Marat is no more!.... People! you have lost your best friend!.... We have come to pay homage to the noble actions of his life .... David, where art thou?. Thou hast transmitted to posterity the image of Le Pelletier dying for his country.... .... Thou hast now a subject for another picture.'

"David, who was seated among us, now rose, and, with his sinister expression of countenance, and sharp piercing voice, said:

"I will endeavour to render justice to that subject.'

David's Address to the Assembly.

195

"Having uttered these words, he resumed his seat amidst general applause. Gerault then continued as follows:

66

Legislators! we implore you to make a law, applicable to present circumstances. The mode of execution at present in use, is not sufficiently appalling to avenge the atrocious assassination which has just been committed. Let us annihilate for ever the criminal and the crime. Show the French people the value you attach to human life; and, instead of permitting it to be thus snapped like a thread, let the terror of torture disarm the parricidal hands which threaten the safety of the representatives of the people.'

*

"A warm discussion ensued. On the motion of Chabot, which was supported by Julien de Toulouse, Denoncourt, Fauchet, and Duperret,† were accused. This accusation was the same thing as being sentenced to the guillotine, to which they were shortly afterwards brought. Marat was a deity, at whose altar none but human victims could be sacrificed.

"In the course of the discussion, David addressed the Assembly as follows:

"On the day preceding the assassination of Marat, Maure and I were sent as deputies from the Jacobinical Club, to inquire after his health. We found him in the bath, at the side of which a piece of wood was fixed in such a manner as to serve him for a writing desk. Upon it was placed ink and paper, and Marat with his hand raised out of the bath, was noting down his last thoughts, for the welfare of the people. Yesterday, the surgeon who embalmed his body, sent to me to inquire in what manner we wished to expose it to the public in the church of the Cordeliers. He was wasted almost to a skeleton by the disease (the leprosy) with which he was afflicted. I think it would be extremely interesting to present him as I saw him noting down his ideas for the welfare of the people.'

*I have already mentioned Fauchet's crime:-it was having gained Charlotte Corday admittance to one of the tribunes of the National Convention.

The charge against Duperret, was, having received a letter brought by Charlotte Corday from Barbaroux.

196

Marat laid in state.

"Chabot moved that the members of the Convention should all attend the funeral of Marat; and Bentabole proposed that the nation should pay the debts of the friend of the people.

"The impulse being now given, the most extravagant honours were paid to the memory of Marat. His friends were so reluctant to consign his remains to the grave, that, before they could resolve on the interment, the body was actually in a state of decomposition. It was laid in state, wrapt in a winding sheet, which afforded the spectators a distinct view of the form of the body. Poems were dedicated to his memory by our colleague Andouin, and by Cubières-Palmessaux.* His bust was executed by Beauvalet,† who presented it to the Convention, and it decorated the hall of our sittings. The same honour was assigned to David's picture. An altar was raised to the heart of Marat, in the hall of the Cordeliers Club, and hymns, addressed to the heart, were sung alternately with hymns addressed to the Saviour: this sacrilege is perfectly characteristic of the impiety of the time. The Rue des Cordeliers changed its name to that of Marat, the Council General of the Commune ordered a festival in his honour, and he superseded Mirabeau in the Pantheon. Such are the vicissitudes of popular favour. The mob is ever ready to pull down its old gods, and to set up new ones in their stead.

"Whilst the ceremonies of the Roman canonization were being renewed for the apotheosis of Marat, his friends were

*The Chevalier Cubières was a protégé of the Queen, who brought him up and educated him. He became a Jacobin, and a disciple of Marat and Robespierre. The celebrated Madame Roland surnamed him l'Apollon de l'échafaud. He died after the restoration.

† Beauvalet was a sculptor of considerable talent. He was an enthusiastic Republican.

This portrait, which is a perfect chef-d'œuvre, is in the possession of David's family. It has been twice offered for sale, and on both occasions, the high price demanded for it, (a hundred thousand francs) prevented it finding a purchaser. Madame de Morfontaine gave a hundred thousand francs for the purchase of her father's portrait, (likewise painted by David). It was hung in the Hall of the National Convention, along with that of Marat.