CHAPTER I

The political duels

At the beginning of the year 1833 which now opens before us, the eyes of all France were turned towards the Château de Blaye, in which Madame la duchesse de Berry had been incarcerated.

On 28 January a question was put to the Government by M. de Dreux-Brézé in connection with a petition addressed to the Chambre des Pairs, by several pensioners of the old Civil List, relative to the detention of the princess. It should be said that, for the most part, with but few exceptions, the moral feeling of France rose up against that detention as it has since risen against that of Abd-el-Kader. M. de Dreux-Brézé had asked leave to speak, and it had been granted. He mounted the tribune.

"As the Chamber has allowed me to speak," he said, "I will permit myself to point out to it that the right of petition laid down by the charter has, for some time past, become an illusory right in the Assembly. A great number of petitions relative to the law about the state of siege have been addressed to the Chamber, but as yet no report has been brought in upon it. Now I ask you, why has no such report been drawn up? If it is not done when the Chamber has decreed a law upon the subject, what becomes of the right of petition? But there are other petitions of a higher order which I am amazed not to see brought forward; I mean those relating to the captivity of an illustrious princess whose fate is attracting the notice of France and Europe. I cannot be ignorant of their existence, since they have nearly all been addressed to me to place before the Chamber; I will, therefore, seize the opportunity which is offered to me by the publicity of its debates to testify to the petitioners my deep gratitude for the confidence with which they have honoured me. I received a petition this morning relative to the same object, containing seventeen hundred signatures. How is it, gentlemen, that, in contempt of the right of petition, thousands of signatures are allowed to be buried in portfolios which demand the setting at liberty of Madame la duchesse de Berry? And under what circumstances? It is impossible not to feel the liveliest fear for her person and well-founded alarms in other directions; for, taking into account the unhealthiness of her place of detention, her captivity is not merely an arbitrary act, but becomes an attempt upon her life! I do not propose, gentlemen, to enter into a discussion here which, at this juncture, would be irrelevant; but I ask the Chamber to fix at once the day for a debate on the numerous petitions which plead for the liberty of Madame la duchesse de Berry."

The Keeper of the Seals next mounted the Tribune, and replied--

"The speaker complains of the place in which the Duchesse de Berry is detained. Would he allow perpetual civil war in la Vendée? That is doubtless not his idea, but one might reasonably interpret his views in that way, when he asks for the liberty of the Duchesse de Berry, seeing the use to which she put her liberty."

Next, the Ministre de l'Intérieur added a few words, saying that, even if the Château de Blaye were an unhealthy dwelling-place, it was a matter of public knowledge that the town had never been attacked by any sort of epidemic. He did not, therefore, understand the animosity of those persons who stated that the place of detention had been chosen with the intention of undermining the health of the august prisoner.

The incident led to nothing at all. The Chambre des Pairs, after the Duc de Fitz-James and M. de Chateaubriand's resignation, was nothing but a kind of record office where the laws of the Chambre des Députés were registered. Now, it came to pass, in spite of the Keeper of the Seal's statement and that made by the Ministre de l'Intérieur, that the health of the Duchesse de Berry soon caused enough uneasiness for the Government to dispatch MM. Orfila and Auvity to Blaye. Their departure was announced in a Government newspaper, _Le Nouvelliste,_ I believe. It confined itself to saying that the two famous practitioners had to examine into an important question of forensic medicine. The vague curtness of the statement roused comments on all sides. _Le Nouvelliste,_ being forced to give an explanation, inserted the following paragraph:--

"Many newspapers have printed a thousand conjectures as to the mission of MM. Orfila and Auvity at the Château de Blaye. That mission contains nothing to justify the multitude of comments to which it has given rise. _The condition of Madame la duchesse de Berry presents nothing to cause disquiet; only, for some time, she has been sufficiently out of health_ for it to be deemed advisable to afford her the opportunity of consulting the two men who are the most deserving of confidence, M. Orfila, doyen of the medical faculty, and M. Auvity, one of whom is her ordinary doctor and the other her consulting physician. The situation of the prison in which Madame la duchesse de Berry is confined necessitates this natural proceeding, and it is in that sense we called the mission of the two doctors _forensic."_

In consequence of this declaration, _Le Corsaire_ surmised that the Duchesse de Berry's indisposition was that of pregnancy. The following day, a young Carlist, M. Barbot de la Trésorière, appeared at the offices of the paper to call the author of the article out in a duel or, failing the author, the responsible manager, M. Viennot. M. Viennot replied that he could only accept responsibility for the article in the event of the author not accepting responsibility. He asked to be allowed a day before he could return an answer to M. Barbot de la Trésorière. That gentleman thought the request quite fair, but manifested a desire that the reply should be very definite, the aim of the Carlist party being to prevent any shadow of suspicion falling upon the reputation of the illustrious prisoner. Hardly had the last words been uttered before one of the editors of the _Corsaire_ came out of the editorial office. He had heard everything and came up to M. de la Trésorière.

"Monsieur," he said to him, "I am the author of the article which you claim to regard as insulting. My name is Eugène Briffault and I am entirely at your disposition."

The duel acceded to, the rest of the affair was for the seconds to settle. The seconds had an interview and arranged that the meeting should take place next day at eight in the morning in the bois de Boulogne. At the agreed hour, the two adversaries met upon the ground. Pistols had been the weapons selected. The two adversaries were placed at a distance of thirty yards from one another: at the third clapping of hands they were to fire simultaneously. Both fired at the same instant. M. Briffault's bullet missed; M. Barbot de la Trésorière's buried itself in M. Briffault's shoulder to such purpose that it could never be extracted. The wound was serious. M. Briffault was carried to Étienne Arago's, manager of the Vaudeville. It need hardly be said that there the injured man was nursed with brotherly devotion. And yet, on the very same day on which the duel had taken place, _La Quotidienne_ contained the following passage:--

"30 January--MM. Orfila and Auvity have just returned from Blaye, where they accomplished the mission with which they were entrusted. What that mission was, the Government does not say. But we will, because, with Madame, we think that it is a case where the sacrifice of the most sacred conventions is demanded by honour itself.

"For about a week past, infamous rumours have been spread abroad concerning Madame's condition. Respectable people of all parties have heard them with disgust, and we owe it to truth to declare that the Liberal opposition has loudly pronounced its indignation. One does not imagine that those in authority are generally in ignorance of such shameless insinuations; one presumes that some, at all events, of those in authority are a party to the calumny; but it would not occur to any one that they were the first to be themselves the dupes. Base words were repeated, it is true, and especially by M. Thiers, but one could not believe in a miracle of stupid malignancy.

"Well, they were deceived; less guilty, if you like, but more inept than could be imagined; what they said they believed; you understand? Let us, however, pass rapidly over these shameful matters. We will restrict ourselves to showing to what excess of blindness certain men can be led astray when possessed by base passions. Thus, then, the two learned doctors went to the citadel of Blaye. Behold them in the presence of Madame! They stammer and try to speak; they speak; but they had not uttered three words before Madame understood them. Then it was (we report it from evidence which certainly cannot be questioned) that, under this ordeal, cruel for any woman, offensive to a woman of the blood royal, then it was, we say, that Madame rose, armed with her character, to a sublime effort, above common charges and vulgar susceptibilities. Calm, without apparent emotion, less agitated, probably, than the men before her, the princess addressed them powerfully; she spoke to their conscience, she invoked their sense of honour, called upon them to fulfil their mission _fully,_ she demanded that their professional opinion should be pronounced fully, entirely, unquestionably; she wished that before God and men they should testify what they knew of the widow of the Duc de Berry, the mother of Henri V.! The two learned men obeyed Madame's commands; formed their opinion, found out all that it was necessary they should know and then withdrew, blushing for shame.

"A first report was rapidly dispatched to the men who had believed.... Hence, a clumsy disavowal, which we have printed with all the mistrust it is bound to inspire. Authority dare not go further; it has not the courage to confess what it expected from the two professional men, or what it learnt from them."

The affair, as one can see, was begun by the Carlist party, both as an armed struggle and as written polemics, and it was entered into as boldly as possible. We shall see that it was upheld by the Republican party with equal ardour.

The report of MM. Auvity and Orfila, in fact, appeared in _Le Moniteur_ of 5 February. It contained no particulars likely to establish opinion as to the supposed condition of the princess; so the newspapers continued to give rein to their conjectures. _Le Corsaire,_ especially, stuck to its announcement of Madame's pregnancy. The upshot of it all was that a fresh challenge was made to her. _Le Corsaire_ gave its readers the following information:--

"People have called at our offices to ask the reason for an article we recently published about the Duchesse de Berry. We replied that we did not recognise the right of any individual to call us to account in the name of the Duchesse de Berry, and we refused all information on the subject. We added that we were prepared even to accept the ill-will of the Legitimist party on this head. The word _slanderous_ applied to the rumours spread about the duchess does not concern us: it belongs to those in high quarters, from whence the rumours have issued; their origin is now a matter of public notoriety. The editor of the article has expressly declared that he maintains that what he has written is _true._ Time alone can destroy or confirm his opinion. As for the political attitude of the Carlist party; which we have represented as thinking far more of conspiring than of fighting, we will call to mind the actual words of the prisoner of Blaye. When she saw the lists of those devoted to her, she exclaimed, 'They offer me their names, but not their arms!' That exclamation was reported only a month ago in a widely circulated paper and has not been denied.

"It is not the first but the second time that _Le Corsaire_ has been exposed to such attacks, and one of its editors, M. Briffault, has even had the misfortune of being wounded by a so-called Legitimist whose right he had recognised of taking up the cause on behalf of the prisoner of Blaye. It is rather singular that the susceptibility of the Carlist party concerning the princes of the fallen family has only shown itself since what they call the attempted defeat by the patriotic party in June. It is true that royalty boasts of having made the Republicans turn pale; but all royal personages were not, perhaps, vanquished on that day along with Louis-Philippe. True, again, many patriots were dispersed, banished, imprisoned, in consequence of those June days; but there are enough left outside prison for the champions of legitimacy to be certain of finding some one to deal with them at every opportunity; only, in disputing the honour of killing M. Briffault, they should have waited till his wound was first cured.

"It is, indeed, extraordinary, if one cannot write a single word about the Duchesse de Berry without having sword at hand when replying to everybody interested in making a heroine of her. Who amused themselves by breaking lances before the July Revolution, either for or against the virtue of the Duchesse de Berry? And yet, slanderous rumours, whether true or untrue, were not wanting then any more than now. But the duchess is a captive, she is under misfortune! This ought to make the hearts of her attendant cavaliers bleed; but, as for us, who remember only too vividly how she danced at the Tuileries whilst the heads of our friends were being cut off on the place de Grève, it must be acknowledged that consideration from our side can only proceed from motives of pure generosity.

"The Carlist party is taking a very bad way to procure the kindly feeling of the patriotic press for the prisoner of Blaye; it should suffice for them to wish to impose silence on us as to scandalous details, whether they exist or not; but, when they go on to talk so that we feel obliged to dwell on gossip, which it is our usual custom to ignore, certainly we will recognise these gentlemen's right to testify against us in their devotion to the person of the Duchesse de Berry in as large numbers as they please; they will find at our office a long enough list of people disposed to offer them every occasion for distinguishing themselves which they may desire. These gentlemen must be counting much on the approach of a third Restoration for their devotion to begin to count, to allow themselves to be flung in prison, to insult the July Revolution by pamphlets, novels, signed protests, street processions, challenges addressed to patriotic papers; it would seem that the moment has arrived for proving the famous Republican-Carlist alliance. All right, that need not matter! Let the devoted knights state their numbers; let them but show themselves and get the question settled. In any case, we shall not go in search of persons to help us who take half-way views."

Such articles as these were not calculated to pacify political hatreds. _La Tribune_ took up the cause of _Le Corsaire_ and an ardent polemic took place between it and _Le Revenant._ The editor of the latter paper was then M. Albert de Calvimont, now préfet de l'empire. _Le National,_ in its turn, interfered, and _Le Revenant_ found itself confronted by three adversaries. M. Albert de Calvimont received a collective challenge for himself and his friends from _La Tribune._ He replied for himself personally, but declined to be implicated on the grounds they wished to impose upon him. At the same time, they replied to an aggressive article by Armand Carrel by sending him a list of a dozen persons from whom to select one name. The report soon went about amongst us that a challenging list asking for twelve opponents had been sent to Armand Carrel. I rushed off to Carrel; there was a crowd at his door to inscribe their names, and I wrote down mine as did the others. I had not seen Carrel for a long time; we were not personally on cool terms with one another; but _Le National_ attacked the romantic school bitterly, and our intercourse had become infrequent. I probably owed the favour of being asked in to see him to the rarity of my visits. He was breakfasting with the charming lady of whom I have had occasion to speak, whose life, in the midst of all these riotings and duellings, was a perpetual torture, disguised beneath a smile of easily detected sadness, but which was still a smile. As far as I can remember, Grégoire was at breakfast with them.

"Ah! so it is you!" Carrel said to me; "something very important must be on the way to bring you."

"What does it matter, dear friend, what circumstances cause my presence?"

"Have you come to fight?"

"I have come to do what I can ... they told me you had received a list of twelve Carlists. If you are hard put to find a dozen Republicans, make use of me; I shall make one, at all events."

"But suppose I am in no such difficulty?..."

"Then, dear friend, excuse me from taking part in this row."

"You are not keen about it."

"I think the cause ridiculous."

"What! ridiculous?"

"Yes, in my opinion, you should wait in silence for official news from Blaye. The Duchesse de Berry is, first and foremost, a woman; and by what right do you say of a princess, because she is a princess, what you would not say of the widow of your grocer?"

"What is one to do?" said Carrel, who felt at heart and from the chivalrous point of view that I was right in my view of the question.

"I must go through with it."

"Have you sufficient force?"

"Pistols, yes--swordsmen, no...."

"Then you will fight with pistols?"

"No, I shall employ swords."

"Why do you arrange that?"

"It is a matter of sentiment, you see. I have twice fought with swords: twice I have pinked my enemy: I have only once fought with pistols, and, although my adversary shot very badly, and the bullet struck the ground six yards off me, yet it went through the calf of my leg."

"Will you have a few rounds with me?"

"If you do not mind."

"Come then."

We went into a kind of saloon which contained foils and masks, and we placed ourselves on guard. I shot badly, as I have said--although Grisier, out of friendliness towards me, had spread my reputation as a good shot, thus sparing me more than one duel--only, at that time, having had occasion to do a small service to a good fellow called Castelli, who was a first-rate swordsman and served as teacher to all the celebrated masters, he had found no other means of satisfying himself about me than to come from time to time to give me a lesson. The result was that without being aware of it (his lessons were so excellent), I found I was better than I thought myself to be. As Grisier's pupil, I put myself on the defensive rather than attacked. Carrel gave me several lunges, which I avoided either by leaping aside or by parrying them. Carrel was easily carried away by excitement, and I felt that his exercise showed signs of great excitement.

"Take care," I said to him, "by such action as that on the ground you run great risk of being stopped short or touched during parry and thrust."

"True," he said, flinging away his foil; "but I am as fatalistic as a Mussulman: what will happen has been decreed beforehand."

"Do you think I draw well enough to put down my name?"

"Yes; but I will not put you down."

"Why not?"

"Because, although I have received a list and it has a dozen names on it, yet, from among that dozen names _Le National_ has only to select one."

"Well?"

"I choose M. Roux-Laborie."

"Then you are going to fight?"

"Of course!" replied Carrel.

"When?"

"To-morrow."

"It is all settled?"

"Absolutely."

"I presume you have your seconds ready too?"

"Yes."

"Who are they?"

"Grégoire and d'Hervas."

"And you fight with?..."

"Swords. Like you, I am better with the pistol than the sword; but I confess I have a weakness for swords; with the sword, one defends one's life; with the pistol, one renounces it."

"So you do not need me?"

"No."

"Not for anything?"

"No thanks."

"Good luck, dear friend!"

Carrel shrugged his shoulders as much as to say: "That will be as God pleases!"

I went home, where I found two of my friends waiting in readiness to offer themselves to me in case I was on the list. I told them of Carrel's decision. He was so absolutely brave that it surprised no one that he made himself the champion of the Republic, although he was a strange sort of Republican, and took the duel upon himself.

Meanwhile, that is to say on 1 February 1833, the reply of M. Albert de Calvimont was taken to _La Tribune_ by MM. Albert Berthier and Théodore Anne, commissioned to uphold the struggle on personal lines, the only grounds on which M. Albert de Calvimont would accept. There was a lengthy debate between the two seconds of M. Albert de Calvimont and M. Marrast, to whom M. de Calvimont's reply was addressed. M. Marrast, surrounded by all his friends, urged on by them, wanted a real battle, wherein the strength of the two parties should be tested. M. de Calvimont's friends, on their side, could only offer the duel, all other agreements exposing them to a charge of recantation. In the middle of the debate, a communication arrived from _Le National_: it announced the challenge received by Carrel. They conferred together and decided that no engagement ought to be made before knowing what Carrel would do. For the time being, therefore, they confined themselves to showing the communication to M. de Calvimont's two seconds and to adjourning the discussion until night. By then, Carrel's decision was known: he had chosen M. Roux-Laborie, junior, not only because he was a Royalist but, still more, because he was the son of a man who had an interest in the _Journal des Débats,_ a paper devoted to the Royalist cause of July. The details of the duel were settled between MM. Grégoire and d'Hervas, Carrel's seconds, and Théodore Anne and Albert Berthier, M. Roux-Laborie's seconds. Carrel, as instigator, had the choice of arms, and chose swords. Next day, Saturday, 2 February (the day of the first performance of _Lucrèce Borgia),_ M. Roux-Laborie, accompanied by MM. Berthier and Théodore Anne, presented themselves at the barrière de Clichy, where, almost immediately afterwards, Armand Carrel arrived, supported by M. d'Hervas, capitaine de chasseurs, and by Grégoire. The two adversaries each stayed in their carriages whilst the seconds got out and conferred together. Then arose an incident amongst the seconds, which, in the case of a man other than brave and loyal Carrel, would have been made the occasion for giving up the duel. M. Roux-Laborie's seconds, with instructions received from the leaders of the Carlist party, declared that their friend was ready to answer his challenge; but that he desired to fight with some other than Carrel, seeing that the feelings the Legitimists had for the chief editor of _Le National_ were much more those of gratitude than of hatred, Carrel having, before the Assises of Blois, by his open and loyal evidence, saved the life of one of their party, M. de Chièvres, accused of participation in the affairs of la Vendée. Carrel, on that occasion, had done for M. de Chièvres, in 1832, what M. de Chièvres did for Carrel when he was accused in 1823 of plotting against the State.

"If Carrel were wounded," said MM. Théodore Anne and Albert Berthier, "there would be mourning in both the camps, whilst if, on the contrary, M. Roux-Laborie were hit, there would only be grief in one camp, and the match would not be equal."

From every motive M. Roux-Laborie's seconds demand the substitution of Carrel for some other person, whomsoever they liked. M. Roux-Laborie was ready to accept that person whoever it might be.

These observations were transmitted to Carrel. He got down out of his carriage, came up to the seconds and thanked them for their complimentary remarks about himself, but he declared, at the same time, that he was not in the habit of being replaced; he had come to fight and meant to fight. Carrel's resolution was positive and they had to give in to him. They entered their carriages and went in search of a spot suitable for the encounter; they went far before they found it. At last they stopped behind a factory near the île Saint-Ouen. Until then they had found the ground too damp and slippery; there, alone, was the earth solid on account of the deposit of pit-coal. The two adversaries then dismounted from their carriages, bowed politely and put themselves on guard. The engagement was short and sharp. After two or three passes, they both lunged simultaneously. Carrel's sword merely penetrated M. Roux-Laborie's arm. The seconds stopped the duel crying, "There is a wound!"

They went up to M. Roux-Laborie.

"I, too, am wounded," Carrel quietly observed, putting his hand to his abdomen at the same time.

Whilst M. Roux-Laborie's doctor, M. Bouché-Dugua, was dressing his patient, Dumont, Carrel's doctor, discovered a serious injury to the groin. M. Roux-Laborie was able to be taken away in a carriage, but it was impossible to move Carrel. They ran to the factory and got a mattress which they stretched on the shafts of a cart they found ready at hand, then they placed Carrel on the mattress and his seconds, helped by M. Roux-Laborie's friends, who had remained with them, carried the wounded man to the factory, where they hastened to render him a hospitable reception. Dumont bled Carrel, but his condition was too grave to allow him to be driven to Paris; that would have risked a fatal accident, the movement of the carriage would have led to hæmorrhage. One of M. Roux-Laborie's seconds ran to Clichy and brought back a stretcher, upon which they could take Carrel to his house in the rue Blanche. They sent off quickly for M. Dupuytren, who rushed there. The injury was serious, the sword had gone in nearly three inches, and had penetrated the liver; they could not yet predict the upshot of the accident.

The same night the report of the event spread throughout Paris with the rapidity of bad news. You must have lived at that period of excitement and enthusiasm to have an idea of the magic which attached to the name of Carrel. On the morrow, the duel and its details filled the leading articles of every newspaper. We open the first to hand by chance_--Le Corsaire_--and we read--

"2 _February_ 1833.--It is with inexpressible grief that all fair-minded persons learnt yesterday the news of the wound received by M. Armand Carrel, in a duel with M. Roux-Laborie, one of the Legitimists whose names were sent to _Le National._ But it is quite impossible to give any idea of the indignation and sorrow of patriots upon learning this deplorable event, of Carlists especially, who, by reason of our activity, need not have been driven to despair; what we should have done as a duty, we now fulfil as a sacred obligation. M. Armand Carrel is by virtue of his fine talent, his noble strength of character, by the renown and usefulness of the services he has rendered, and, above all, by the detestation which he has expressed against the enemies of our liberties, is one of those men whose youth has already been a credit to the country. The party which has struck him down has not as much wealth as M. Carrel. Obeying a generous impulse, whilst his reason, at the same time, was opposed to an unjust attack, he acceded to a duel on behalf of the sad cause in which we are now engaged. He was injured in the groin by a sword, but his condition is not past hope, and M. Dupuytren, who went to him, confirms the seriousness of the wound without giving up hope. There is such a splendid future before M. Carrel that we cannot harbour the distressing idea that it may soon terminate. He is one of those men who seem bound up with the destiny of his country. He showed touching sympathy when misfortune struck down one of our friends in the same cause, and we shall not cease to follow him with our gratitude and devotion and with the patriotism which he taught so well, of which he has given us such a fine example."

The whole of Paris called to inquire at Carrel's house. Amongst the twenty first names written in the visitors' book were La Fayette, Chateaubriand, Béranger, Thiers and Dupin. The society _Aide-toi et le Ciel t'aidera,_ appointed a committee of three members to go, in the name of the whole society, to inscribe their names and express their sympathy for the loyal and courageous conduct he had displayed throughout the affair. The committee was composed of MM. Thiard, Lariboissière and Lemercier, of the Institut. On the night of the day when the duel took place, M. Albert Berthier, one of M. Roux-Laborie's seconds, received the following letter from M. d'Hervas:--

"MONSIEUR,--It is with profound regret that, in exchange for your good and generous action of this morning, I feel myself compelled to ask you to fix a duel for to-morrow. M. Carrel is the man I love and revere most in the world. He is seriously wounded, and honour demands that I avenge him. Your obliging conduct of this morning alone kept the request from my lips that I now make you. I know you to be a man of honour, and am certain you will understand me. I spend the night with M. Carrel, where I shall expect your reply to-morrow morning. Choose the arms, place of meeting and time; but I desire that our encounter should take place during the day, for I am obliged to return at night to my regiment.--Accept my respectful greetings,

"D'HERVAS"

On Sunday morning M. d'Hervas received this reply--

"3 _February_ 1833

"SIR,--The police have seized me, and I have only time to reply that, for the moment, it is impossible for me to respond to your challenge. You will understand my situation.--Yours, etc., ALBERT BERTHIER"

A letter pretty nearly in the same terms as that to M. Berthier was written by M. Grégoire to Théodore Anne. But, like M. Albert Berthier, Théodore Anne had also been arrested. He was therefore obliged to postpone the meeting. But, in order that it should be clearly known that only _force majeure_ could hinder the proposed duels, the Republican party inserted the following paragraph in the newspapers, as a public answer to the letters of MM. Berthier and Théodore Anne:--

"We keenly regret, gentlemen, that arrest or a threatened arrest does not permit you to reply to the letter we wrote you yesterday; we hope, as much as you yourselves can do so, that a speedy liberation will allow you to respond to our challenge. However, we will gladly accept in the meantime any Legitimists you may be pleased to substitute until you are yourselves ready.

"D'HERVAS, GRÉGOIRE"

It will be seen that the tourney was fully begun and in good earnest. The arrest of MM. Berthier and Théodore Anne only, as one might imagine, exasperated the two parties all the more. The real enemy throughout, as both Carlists and patriots thoroughly realised, was the Government of Louis-Philippe. The following letter was addressed to the editors of the _Revenant_:--

"GENTLEMEN,--We look upon your remarks of yesterday in the _National_ and _Tribune_ as a direct challenge. You refused our challenge yesterday; to-day, after what has just happened between MM. Armand Carrel and Roux-Laborie, we adhere more closely than ever to upholding our views and to the pursuit of your party BY ALL METHODS to gain a just and public reparation. We send you a preliminary list of twelve persons, since yesterday you spoke of twelve on your side. We do not demand a dozen duels simultaneously, but successively, and in the time and places most convenient to you. No excuse, no pretext would save you from cowardice, nor from the subsequent consequences of such cowardice. Henceforth, the first duel will be the declaration of war between your side and ours. There shall be no truce until one of the two has succumbed to the other--

"ARMAND MARRAST "GODEFROY CAVAIGNAC "GARDARIN"

Then came the names of twelve patriots. A similar letter was addressed to the offices of _La Quotidienne._ It was signed by Ambert, Guinard and by M. Thévenin. At the same time, Germain Sarrut, supported by MM. Delsart and Saint-Edme, went to M. de Genoude, who replied to the explanations demanded--

"MONSIEUR,--The editors of _La Gazette_ officially disapprove of the conduct of the men of their party who have incited the contributors of the different newspapers, and they consequently refuse to take any part _whatsoever_ in the quarrel raised between the two parties."

_La Quotidienne,_ in its turn, wrote the following letter in reply to that of Ambert, Guinard and Thévenin--

"M. de Montfort, M. de Calvimont and others, being arrested, or under the pressure of a warrant, the business of the letter from the gentlemen of the _National_ cannot be attended to for the moment--3 February."

This letter was received on the 4th. On the 5th the patriotic papers contained the following paragraph:--

"The letters addressed yesterday by our friends to the champions of the legitimacy have been supported to-day by overtures made by several of them to those gentlemen to induce them to take definite action and not to prolong a situation which hitherto has been neither an acceptance nor a formal refusal. It now appears that equivocation is at an end. They do not accept the challenge."

Meantime, various duels took place. On 2 February, preoccupied by the first representation of _Lucrèce_ _Borgia,_ I had only put in but a brief appearance at the _National_; they did not yet know the result of the meeting there. I found one of my friends there, M. de Beauterne, an impulsive and excitable character. He came to put his name down; but, learning that the list was closed, he decided to act on his own account. We returned together, and he came up to my rooms, asked me for a pen, paper and ink and wrote to Nettement, the editor of _La Quotidienne,_ offering him a meeting. He urged me strongly to do the same; but it was a difficult enough matter for me; Republican though I was, I certainly had more friends amongst the Carlists than among the Republicans. He was so insistent that I had no way of getting out of it. So I took up my pen and wrote--

"MY DEAR BEAUCHENE,--If your party is as silly as mine, and compels you to fight, I ask you, in preference to another, delighted as I shall ever be to give you a proof of my esteem, in default of a proof of friendship.--Yours always, ALEX. DUMAS"

Beauterne pushed his complacency to the point of himself undertaking to deliver the letter. Beauchene was in the country, and not expected to return for a week or ten days; but his concierge was deputed to forward him the letter. On 4 February, the meeting offered by Beauterne to Nettement took place, and the latter received a sword cut across the arm. The bulletins which came to us of Carrel's health were satisfactory. No one was allowed to enter his room except the devoted creature who never left him, and M. Dupuytren, who came to see him twice a day. On 5 February, _Le Revenant_ appeared as blank paper: a note of half a line announced that all its contributors had been arrested. On the 9th, they arrested M. Sarrut. The same day I received a letter from Beauchene: he was detained for a few days longer in the country; but, as soon as he returned, he would put himself at my disposal. However, there was no means of fighting, for each of us had a police spy after us, who stuck to us like our shadows. On the 9th, Carrel was well enough for several of his friends to be allowed in his room. I went with two or three others: M. Dupuytren was there: it was the first time I had seen him. He held forth upon the speedy and easy cure of sword cuts, and promised Carrel he should be on his feet again in another week.

A month before, this is what had happened to the famous doctor: a paymaster had played and lost a considerable sum taken from the regimental exchequer; when he returned home he saw no other alternative but the galleys or death. He chose death. Then, with prodigious _sang-froid,_ after writing down his reason for suicide, he drew his sword, leant the hilt against the wall, with the point to his breast, took a step forward and the sword penetrated six inches. He continued to push till the sword had gone in a foot ... still he went on pushing; the hilt of the sword, as they say in barrack-room parlance, had acted as a plaster. In spite of all he still remained upright. Then remorse seized upon him; the desire for life overtook him and he rang for his servant; only, as he felt weak, he seated himself astride a chair whilst he waited for the servant. In this position, the latter found his master when he entered; at first, he did not understand the situation and did not notice the hilt of the sword against his master's breast, and the eighteen inches of steel coming out from between his shoulders.

"Go and fetch M. Dupuytren," said the officer.

The servant began to ask what was the matter.

"Go! go!" the officer repeated. "_Sacrebleu!_ Can't you see there is no time to lose!"

The officer grew deadly pale; there was a pool of blood at his feet.

The servant saw there was, indeed, no time to lose and he rushed off to M. Dupuytren. When M. Dupuytren arrived, the wounded man had slipped down in the chair and was laid in a faint over the side. M. Dupuytren drew out the sword with the greatest precaution, applied a twofold bandage and, seeing a written paper, took possession of it: the cause of the suicide was then explained to him. With the paper he found a banker, and the latter gave the officer the 150 louis he had lost. On the evening of the day upon which M. Dupuytren related this to us, the officer had got up and was able to go to his desk. When he opened the drawer, he found the 150 louis.

The man was saved twice over.

Whilst Carrel was advancing to recovery, as M. Dupuytren had predicted, preventative arrests were being continued; but, on 14 February, the Council Chamber found the seconds of M. Roux-Laborie and of MM. Albert Berthier and Théodore Anne not guilty, and they were set at liberty. The first use these gentlemen made of their liberty was to place themselves at the disposal of MM. d'Hervas and Achille Grégoire; only, not wanting to enter upon this succession of duels as a mere matter of principle, they chose their seconds from among the Republicans. Thus, MM. Mathieu and Alexis Dumesnil were M. Berthier's seconds, and Étienne Arago and Anténor Joly those of M. Théodore Anne. But, on the morning of the 15th, MM. Théodore Anne and Albert Berthier received this letter, written by Carrel in duplicate. We have the one addressed to Théodore Anne.

"PARIS, 15 _February_ 1833

"SIR,--I have learnt with keen satisfaction that to-day you have at last been allowed to return to your business affairs and to your friends. I cannot protest too energetically against the motive upon which they dared to found your arbitrary detention; but I particularly want to tell you, sir, how very sensible I have been to the attentions heaped upon me by your generous loyalty at a time when I might have feared to have no claim upon it except the sorrow and active solicitude of my seconds and friends. In this perilous moment, it has been difficult for me to distinguish between the devotion of friends who desired to uphold my cause and share my dangers, and the generous courtesy of the men of honour whom M. Roux-Laborie had selected for seconds. Be sure, sir, I have noticed everything even during the time when sharp suffering seemed to obliterate my light, and I shall never forget the assiduous attentions with which you have lavished upon me personally. I need hardly tell you, sir, how sorry I was that my seconds thought it their duty, yielding to the impulse of the moment, to seek out you and M. Berthier to be their opponents; for the future, I can only count you among the number of people who wish me well, and to whom I in return wish well. Accept this assurance, and believe me, Your most devoted Servant,

"CARREL"

The same day, Carrel came out of doors and went to _La Tribune,_ to _Le National,_ and to pay a call on M. Roux-Laborie, whose wound was much less serious than that of his adversary, but was healing much more slowly, and still kept him to his bedroom. Finally, after Carrel's letter, no further duels were possible. On 17 February, the Republican newspapers contained the following paragraph:--

"17 _February_.--It will be remembered that after the duel between MM. Carrel and Roux-Laborie, M. Carrel's seconds addressed a challenge to the seconds of M. Laborie, MM. Albert Berthier and Théodore Anne. As is known, these two gentlemen had been placed under arrest, charged with inciting to murder. That accusation having beep abandoned, MM. Albert Berthier and Théodore Anne were bound, on recovering their liberty, to warn M. Carrel's seconds that they were now at their disposition; they had added that, not wishing a meeting between them to assume a political character, they chose their seconds from among the political friends of M. Carrel's seconds. The seconds of both sides, having met together, have decided that they could not allow any sequel to this affair to take place, since, on behalf of MM. Berthier and Théodore Anne, the question of the political aspect is abandoned, and the challenge of MM. d'Hervas and Achille Grégoire was only prompted by the danger M. Armand Carrel might then incur, a danger happily and speedily dissipated. Things being in this state, the undersigned seconds decree that any collision between the friends of MM. Armand Carrel and Laborie, when the reasons thereof no longer exist, would be unjustifiable in the light of reason and of honour.

"AMBERT, GUINARD, GRÉGOIRE LECOCQ, ORANNE, seconds to MM. D'HERVAS and ACHILLE GRÉGOIRE; MATHIEU and ALEXIS DUMESNIL, ÉTIENNE ARAGO, ANTÉNOR JOLY, seconds to MM. BERTHIER and THÉODORE ANNE"

On the 14th, as we said, MM. Théodore Anne and Albert Berthier had been set at liberty. On the 15th, Beauchene returned from the country and informed me of his arrival. The following day, our seconds conferred together; but, as I have said, after Carrel's letter, no more duels were possible. Besides, the rumour of the Duchesse de Berry's pregnancy, without being officially declared, began to take a serious complexion. No one any longer had doubts on the subject, when, in the official column of the _Moniteur_ of 26 February, one read--

"On Friday, 22 February, at half-past five o'clock, Madame la duchesse de Berry handed to M. le général Bugeaud, governor of the citadel of Blaye, the following declaration:--

'Compelled by circumstances and by the measures ordered by the Government, although I have the gravest reasons for keeping my marriage secret, I think it due to myself as well as to my children to declare that I was married secretly during my stay in Italy.

"'CITADEL OF BLAYE, 22 _February_ 1833.

_Signed_ "'MARIE-CAROLINE'

"This declaration, transmitted by M. le général Bugeaud to M. le président du Conseil, Ministre de la guerre, has been placed at once among the archives of the chancellerie de France."

Not one word concerning Her Royal Highness's pregnancy was suggested in those lines; but one felt perfectly sure that they had only been written on account of her condition. Furthermore, only two and a half months later, the name of the Duchesse de Berry's new husband was officially pronounced in the official report of the accouchement. Here is that report, a curious sequel to that which was addressed to the Tuileries on the day of the birth of the Duc de Bordeaux:--

"On 10 May 1833, at half-past three in the morning:

"We the undersigned,--THOMAS-ROBERT BUGEAUD, membre de la chambre des députés, maréchal de camp, commandant supérieur de Blaye; ANTOINE DUBOIS, professeur honoraire à la faculté de médecine de Paris; CHARLES-FRANÇOIS MARCHAND-DUBREUIL, sous-préfet de l'arrondissement de Blaye; DANIEL-THÉOTIME PASTOUREAU, président du tribunal de première instance de Blaye; PIERRE NADAUD, procureur du roi près le même tribunal; GUILLAUME BELLON, président du tribunal de commerce, adjoint au maire de Blaye; CHARLES BORDES, commandant de la garde nationale de Blaye; ELIE DESCRAMBES, curé de Blaye; PIERRE-CAMILLE DELORD, commandant de la place de Blaye; CLAUDE-OLIVIER DUFRESNE, commissaire civil du gouvernement à la citadelle; witnesses called at the request of General Bugeaud to be present at the accouchement of Her Royal Highness Marie-Caroline, princesse des Deux-Siciles, duchesse de Berry (MM. MERLET, maire de Blaye, Regnier juge de paix, witnesses equally called, being at that time absent in the country and unable to be present), state that we were taken to the citadel of Blaye and into the house inhabited by Her Royal Highness, where we were introduced to a salon next to the room in which the princess was confined.

"M. le docteur Dubois, M. le général Bugeaud and M. Delord, commandant de la place, were in the salon from the first labour-pangs; they declared to the other witnesses that Madame la duchesse de Berry had just been delivered at three o'clock, that they had seen her receive the attention of docteurs Deneux and Menière, M. Dubois having remained in the room until the child was born. M. le général Bugeaud went in to ask Madame la duchesse if she wished to receive the witnesses; she replied, 'Yes, as soon as the child has been washed and dressed.' A few minutes later, Madame d'Hautefort appeared in the salon and invited the witnesses to enter on behalf of the duchesse, and we immediately did so.

"We found the Duchesse de Berry laid in her bed with a new-born infant on her left; at the foot of her bed sat Madame d'Hautefort; Madame Hansler, MM. Deneux and Menière were standing at the head of the bed.

"'M. le président Pastoureau then approached the princesse and addressed the following questions to her in a loud voice--

"'Have I the honour of speaking to Madame la duchesse de Berry?'

"'Yes.'

"'You are really Madame la duchesse de Berry?'

"'Yes, monsieur.'

"'Is the child just born lying by you yours?'

"'Yes, monsieur, it is mine.'

"'What sex is it?'

"'It is of the feminine sex. I have deputed M. Deneux to declare that fact.'

"Then Louis-Charles Deneux, docteur de médecine, ex-professeur de clinique d'accouchement de la faculté de Paris, titular member of the Académie royale de médecine, made the following declaration:--

"'I have just delivered Madame la duchesse de Berry, here present, wife in lawful wedlock of Comte Hector de Lucchesi-Palli, a prince of the House of Campo-Franco, gentleman of the chamber to the King of the Two Sicilies, domiciled at Palermo.'

"M. le Comte de Brissac and Madame la Comtesse d'Hautefort, asked by us if they would sign the statement of the event of which they had been witnesses, replied that they had come here to attend to the Duchesse de Berry as friends but not to sign any sort of document.

"In respect of all this we have drawn up the present report, in three copies, one to be deposited in our presence in the archives of the citadel, while the other two have been placed with M. le général Bugeaud, governor, whom we have charged to hand them to the Government, duly signed after being read over, on the day, month and year dated above."

In our opinion, Madame la duchesse de Berry did a graver wrong than by marrying M. le Comte de Lucchesi-Palli, noble and loyal Sicilian gentleman as he was, whose family I had the honour to become acquainted with during my travels in Sicily. That wrong was in signing the declaration of 22 February and the legal document of her accouchement on 10 May 1833; no human power could have compelled her to do so, and the opposition against the Government was such, at that period, that every official bit of paper not signed by Madame la duchesse de Berry could be, if not out of good faith, at least successfully, repudiated as apocryphal. Between the denial of the Carlist party and the affirmation of the moderate party, public opinion would have been left in a state of indecision.

Thus was one of the most heated periods of the beginning of the reign of Louis-Philippe frustrated. It had a real advantage, because it brought the Carlist party and the Republican closer together, not in opinion so much as from respect. MM. Théodore Anne and Berthier, by joining hands with MM. d'Hervas and Grégoire, whilst Carrel was crossing swords with M. Roux-Laborie, gave that proof of esteem to which I referred when talking to Beauchene, which is given among enemies in default of a proof of friendship.