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