Chapter 9 CHANTILLY DURING THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

NO sooner had Chantilly been deserted by its owners than a detachment of the National Guard of Paris was sent down to the Chateau. The twenty-seven cannons were first seized: then all the arms found were taken away; and finally the whole property was confiscated. Next a band of six hundred soldiers arrived, devastated the place, and removed what they pleased. Fortunately, the art-treasures did not attract them, as is proved by the Inventory made in 1793 of the pictures and furniture then at Chantilly-a document which took forty days and cost 2,130 francs to draw up.

Throughout the period of the Revolution the Chateau at Chantilly was used as a prison for political offenders; and the first arrivals were forty-one persons from Beauvais,[15] amongst whom were M. des Courtils de Merlemont, Knight of St. Louis, with his wife and son. On the road thither they were deliberately exposed to the insults of the mob, but they escaped the execution which they anticipated. Arriving at two o'clock in the morning, they were thrust into the Chapel, but later on they were lodged in the Chateau itself, which had been already demolished to such a degree that none of the rooms were wind or weather tight.

The moats had been allowed to dry up, so that they began to exhale unwholesome odours; and the number of sick persons amongst the prisoners soon amounted to over three hundred. The corpse of a young woman, who was the first to die, was transported on the back of the concierge to one of the still-existing chapels on the Pelouse built by Madeleine de Savoie, wife of Anne de Montmorency. Amongst the prisoners was the Duchesse de Duras, daughter of Philippe de Noailles, who had defended to the last the person of Louis XVI, and who, in consequence, ended his life on the scaffold. In some notes descriptive of her misfortunes, her arrival at Chantilly is most dramatically related: "We were first locked up in the chapel, which was still elaborately gilded, and where in the days of the Condés I had often heard Mass. It was now filled with sacks of flour, on one of which I took my seat, whilst the Commissioner mounted upon the altar. He was accompanied by one Marchand, whom I recognised as the son of my aunt's chambermaid. This vulgar man concentrated all the insolence of the Committee of Public Safety. He derived much pleasure from saying rude and insulting things regarding the nobles and the clergy, and even expressed a wish that I should be lodged as uncomfortably as possible." Fortunately he departed soon after this speech and the Commissioner, more humane, apportioned to the Duchess one of the better rooms. From her window she could see into the courtyard, and she descried many of her acquaintances amongst the prisoners and their children there assembled. She describes the food as scanty and of very poor quality. They dined in the gallery, where she could remember the brilliant fêtes given by Prince Louis Joseph de Condé not so long before.

The death-rate amongst the prisoners, to whom even the most necessary relief was denied, after a few months became so great that Chantilly had to be entirely evacuated; and it was then proposed that it should be used as a military hospital-a proposal which was, however, not carried out. Subsequently the Chateau d'Enghien[16] was converted into barracks, whilst Chantilly with its woods and parks found purchasers amongst the Black Band, who were then buying up the castles and palaces of the hated aristocrats with the sole purpose of demolishing them and profiting by just what could be got out of them as building material, etc. Of the so-called Grand Chateau, erected by Mansart during the time of the Grand Condé, nothing remained but the foundations; for it was razed entirely to the ground. The adjoining Petit Chateau of the Montmorencys, however, as already stated, miraculously escaped.

Under Napoleon I, Chantilly in 1805 became the property of the State, but the revenue of its woods was assigned to Queen Hortense, who also figures upon the list of the owners of this famous estate. A military school was presently established in the Chateau d'Enghien, and the magnificent stables were once again devoted to their proper uses.

Meanwhile Prince Louis Joseph de Condé since he left France had sojourned with the Elector at Worms, as Commander of the army of the French emigrés, whilst the Comte d'Artois had formed his camp at Coblenz. The former subsequently found a refuge for his family and his regiment with the Tsar Paul; but eventually, when he saw that he could no longer serve France and his King, he retired with his son to Wanstead House, near Wimbledon. Over the doorway of this most attractive abode the Seigneur of Chantilly inscribed the motto "Parva domus magna quies."

Here he married as his second wife Marie Catherine de Brignole, the widowed Princess of Monaco, who had long been his constant and faithful friend, especially during his exile. She shared with him his literary and artistic interests, and she put her whole fortune at his disposition when he was in need. His daughter, Louise de Condé, after many vicissitudes, at last found quiet and rest in a Benedictine convent, where she took the veil. In 1807 she received a terrible shock when the news reached her of the tragic death of her beloved nephew, the Duc d'Enghien, and she felt it to be her duty to leave her seclusion and proceed at once to condole with her father and brother in their overwhelming sorrow. She started immediately for England, where she was received on landing with Royal honours: Pitt, Lord Moore, and the two surviving Condé Princes coming to meet her.

The execution of the Duc d'Enghien has left a stain on Napoleon's character; it was not only a crime, but what was worse, it was a blunder; for d'Enghien at the time of his arrest was living in strictest seclusion at Ettenheim in Baden with the Princesse Charlotte de Rohan, to whom he was deeply attached, and, it was said, had married. He was therefore absolutely innocent of the conspiracy against the Republic, of which he was accused; and it is affirmed that it was only because Bonaparte could not get hold of the legitimate Princes-Artois and Berry-whose claims to the throne of France he grudged and feared, that he took his revenge upon the Duc d'Enghien. He had tried in vain to entrap these Princes, and failing committed this act of personal revenge on the eve of proclaiming himself Emperor, in order to frighten the Royalists, who, as he declared, were continually conspiring against him. When this dastardly murder became known there was a cry of indignation all over Europe. The Russian Court went into mourning, and Napoleon found it necessary to lay the blame upon Talleyrand and Murat. The grief of the unhappy father at the loss of his only son and the last scion of his race was so great that he became a prey to chronic melancholy; but Louis Joseph, the grandfather, strove bravely to live down his anguish.

More than twelve years had still to elapse before their exile was ended, and then, for a brief period, on the collapse of the Napoleonic Empire, the Bourbon Monarchy was restored in France. At last, in 1815, the two Condés returned to Chantilly from England and found the old place, with the exception of the Petit Chateau, which they henceforth made their chief abode, a pile of ruins, and themselves almost strangers. The Princess of Monaco had died in England; and the Duc d'Enghien, upon whom all hope had centred, had been ruthlessly slain. In spite of all these misfortunes Louis Joseph remained faithful to the old home and began to repurchase his former possessions acre by acre. Some portions of the property had passed into alien hands; as, for instance, the site of the great waterfall, which had been separated from the original grounds by a wall. One of the alterations made at this time was the filling in of the moat, which hitherto had divided the smaller from the larger Chateau; and later the present Entrance-Hall was built on that site, whilst two new rooms decorated in the style of the period were added where the covered bridges had formerly stood. These new buildings gave access to the rooms formerly occupied by the Grand Condé, which, by a strange piece of luck, the Revolutionists had not demolished. The old Prince held these apartments in high honour; and they were the first to be redecorated and exquisitely panelled. During the four remaining years of his life he was continually occupied in restoring his ancestral palace to that dignity which he remembered so well in the past. He also succeeded in recovering the larger number of the works of art which the Montmorencys and the Condés had accumulated, not only at Chantilly but also at Ecouen and the Palais Bourbon in Paris. Most of these treasures had fortunately fallen into good hands, for during the worst horrors of the Revolution there had been men in France who had succeeded in preserving the art treasures belonging to the old family mansions which their proprietors had been compelled to abandon. Alexander Lenoir was one of these faithful guardians, and it is certainly due to his efforts that so many of these monuments and works of art in France were not destroyed. Conspicuous amongst them were the valuable collections at Chantilly.

But after the long exile of the owners no more entertainments were held at Chantilly such as had been given so lavishly in happier days. After the great reverses which Louis Joseph and his son had undergone they seemed to indulge in one pleasure only, namely, that of the chase-the single luxury which they allowed themselves. They kept a splendid pack of hounds-the descendants of which still survive and are lodged in a corner of the great stables-and in spite of his great age the Prince himself appeared on horseback almost daily; often alone, but sometimes accompanied by his son, and hunted until quite late in the afternoon. Though past his eightieth year, he still had vigour enough, even on his return from a day's hunting, to shoot the wild duck which abounded in the moats. He died at Chantilly in his eighty-second year during the absence of both his son and his daughter, and was buried at Saint-Denis. As a true Condé he was very imperious and held strong opinions of his own: but he was tenaciously faithful in his friendships; and it was, no doubt, this fidelity to the Royal cause which characterised his conduct during the Revolution, and made him sacrifice everything rather than give up his Royalist principles.

His son, the Duc de Bourbon, had not the iron nature of his father. He refused to take the title of Prince de Condé on his father's death, since he knew that this title must die with him. He, who had begun life under such happy auspices, long before his death became a broken man. His wife, the Duchesse de Bourbon, Louise Marie Thérèse Bathilde of Orléans to whom he became reconciled after a long separation, died suddenly whilst attending a patronal festival at Saint-Geneviève. She fainted whilst at her devotions, and on being transported to the Sorbonne died before her husband could be summoned. Her favourite nephew, the Duc d'Orléans-afterwards King Louis Philippe-was the only member of her family present when she expired.

It was at about that time that Louis Philippe's fifth son was born-a child who eventually became the last Seigneur of Chantilly. He was held at the baptismal font by the last Condé, who from this time formed a great affection for his godson. He used to walk with him in the grounds of Chantilly and narrate to him all the memorable events which had taken place in this ancestral abode; and Henri d'Orléans, then but seven years old, would listen with the greatest attention, and long after remembered the colloquies held with his princely sponsor and benefactor-the last of the line of Condé. He thus refers to him: "When recalling my childhood, I picture to myself M. le Duc de Bourbon, dressed in his habitual grey coat, white silk stockings, and light shoes, walking about in the grounds of Chantilly on cold December days. Leaning on his stick he would sometimes stand still and relate to me what had happened in years gone by at the old place; how he had known it in its splendour during his youth; and how all these sad changes had come upon it. He loved to recall also the grand festivities given by his father to King Louis XV, to Marie Antoinette, and to the Emperor and Empress Paul of Russia."

Plate XVIII.

LOUIS HENRI JOSEPH DE BOURBON, LAST PRINCE DE CONDé.

Musée Condé.

Danloux

In 1830 Marie Amélie, Queen of Louis Philippe of France, visited Chantilly with her son, Prince Henri d'Orléans, and was received by the last of the Condés. A fortnight later the news was brought there that this princely line had come to an end. It has been alleged that the unfortunate liaison which the Duke had contracted with a heartless and low-born woman-one Sophie Dawes, the daughter of a fisherman in the Isle of Wight, and known as the Baronne de Feuchères-contributed greatly to embitter the last days of his life. After pocketing all she could, Madame de Feuchères on the death of the Duke left for England rather suddenly, and from that time was heard of no more.

Louise, Princesse de Condé, died several years before her brother at the Temple as Prioress of the Benedictine Nuns. She had borne with much fortitude great trials; for during the Revolution she had to flee from place to place for safety, until she found at last a shelter within the walls of a convent-thus fulfilling the prophetic words of her friend, Gervaisais, "C'est un front à porter une couronne ... ou un voile de religieuse."