François Claude Amour, Marquis de Bouillé

François Claude Amour, Marquis de Bouillé was born in 1739.  His mother would die shortly after his birth and his father would follow a few years later.  He was raised by an uncle who managed to purchase his commission in army.  He saw great success during the Seven Years’ War in Germany.  His conduct was noted to the extent that he was given the privilege of escorting captured standards to be presented to the King.  He was also made a colonel.  His successes continued when he was made governor of Guadeloupe then Martinique and St Lucia.  When the American War of Independence broke out and France joined America’s side he captured Dominica and Saint Eustatius.

Despairing of the Revolution and a committed Royalist he helped organise the King’s attempted Flight.  The plan had been for the Royal Family to reach Montmedy where Bouille and troops loyal to his command would welcome them.  However his suggestions of a different route and to take multiple carriages were rejected.  His troops presence on the roads possibly caused the heightened paranoia which saw the Royal Family stopped and sent back to Paris at Varennes.  The general would be blamed by many Royalists for the farce and would judge the moment right to flee across the border.  Many Revolutionaries also saw him as a figure of evil and he would be named in La Marseillaise as an enemy of the Republic

He would assist the Prussian King Frederick William II before sailing for Britain.  Where he would publish his memoirs before dying in 1800.

The Marquis de Bouille on the character of Louis XVI.  Taken from Memoirs Relating to the French Revolution by the Marquis de Bouille, Cadell and Davies, London (1797) p15

Louis the Fifteenth however died, and was succeeded, by a prince young and inexperienced with all the virtues which are an ornament to private life, but none of those qualities which were to ,become necessary in a situation so difficult. Instead of retaining the ministers of his predecessor, he dismissed them all without exception, choosing for his counsellor and guide a man above seventy, who having been a minister at the age of fifteen, had retired from his employment in the prime, and vigour of his life, and was now to direct: a young monarch and govern a kingdom in the infancy of his old age.  He was a man without resolution, without virtues, without abilities, but at the same time mild, affable, and complying. He employed under him men by no means qualified for their office, remarkable rather for probity than talents.

The Marquis de Bouille on Louis XVI’s principal minister Maurepas.  Taken from Memoirs Relating to the French Revolution by the Marquis de Bouille, Cadell and Davies, London (1797) p45

M. de Maurepas, principal minister, had governed the kingdom during the former part of the reign of Louis the Sixteenth, but instead of remedying the disorders of the state, he rather augmented them. I have already described the levity and negligence of his character; he was more attentive to the little intrigues of a court, than to the great concerns of a nation more studious of his own ease and enjoyments than of the safety of the state. It is easy to conceive what must be the lamentable effects of such a character upon the administration of a great kingdom, and even upon the habits and decisions of a young prince, whose good sense and purity of heart would have secured the happiness of his people, had the earlier part of his reign been under the guidance of a man of more virtue and capacity than this minister.

The Marquis de Bouille on Louis XVI’s foreign minister Comte de Vergennes.  Taken from Memoirs Relating to the French Revolution by the Marquis de Bouille, Cadell and Davies, London (1797) p46

On the death of M. de Maurepas, the king transferred his confidence to M. de Vergennes, who rather influenced than directed his conduct.  This person, by nature timid, was fearful of giving offence to the court and great men: he wanted vigour and genius, but was in other respects a man of good sense and an enlightened understanding.

Alarmed at the critical situation in which the kingdom flood, he explained its condition to his majesty: he observed that in the present state of affairs, it was absolutely necessary to have recourse to some extraordinary means, and to establish a new plan of administration to avoid a violent catastrophe.

The Marquis de Bouille on Louis XVI’s minister Calonne and the calling of the Assembly of Notables.  Taken from Memoirs Relating to the French Revolution by the Marquis de Bouille, Cadell and Davies, London (1797) p48

The plan of M. de Calonne was connected with that of the provincial administrations, which were meant to be substituted to the arbitrary establishment of the intendants. It was to be supported by an assembly of the notables of the kingdom, formed with a view to counterbalance the parliaments. These measures were the more acceptable to the king, as they tended to fulfil the dearest wish of his heart, that of relieving the most numerous class of his subjects.

The Notables of the kingdom were summoned for the 29th of January 1787. Of this assembly I was a member. It had not been held since the year 1626, under Louis the Thirteenth. At that time the prime minister was Cardinal Richelieu, and he directed all its movements, making them subservient to his own views and projects; this was not the case in the present instance.

The opening of the assembly of the Notables had been put off till the 22nd of February, during which interval M. de Vergennes died, and M. de Calonne lost his support. Another inconvenience attending this delay was, that it gave time to the Notables and to the public to recover from their first surprise it likewise afforded intriguers an opportunity of putting in practice those schemes which they had formed to frustrate the plan of the government.

The Marquis de Bouille on Louis XVI’s finance minister Necker and the calling of the Estates General.  Taken from Memoirs Relating to the French Revolution by the Marquis de Bouille, Cadell and Davies, London (1797) p70

Necker, with stricter morals, had the same political principles, and these had been strengthened by the experience he had acquired under his former administration. During that period, in the execution of his projects of financial reform, he had to encounter the opposition of the parliaments and privileged bodies, and was at last sacrificed to the cabals of the court. This then he judged a favourable moment to humble, and even annihilate the first orders of the state. He thought, no doubt, the middling class of the people, humiliated and jealous of the prerogatives enjoyed by these orders, could easily accomplish what the government dared not undertake.

With respect to the parliaments, all that was necessary to crush the power newly erected by them was, in the approaching assembly of the States General, to give a preponderating influence to the third estate, and to render these meetings periodical.  Becoming then only a popular assembly, the States General, he imagined, might be made the instruments of his ambition, and the supporters of his plan for the restoration of the finances.

Necker viewed France with the eyes of a citizen of Geneva; and Louis, already prepossessed, saw it through those of his minister; he readily adopted his fatal system, and the monarch placed himself at the head of a conspiracy against the monarchy, which he sacrificed in the hope of making his subjects more happy; for never prince loved his people better, as no one ever more fully experienced their ingratitude.

The Marquis de Bouille defends Louis XVI’s reign as king.  Taken from Memoirs Relating to the French Revolution by the Marquis de Bouille, Cadell and Davies, London (1797) p71

Frenchmen! When I reflect: on the crimes with which a great number of you are polluted, my pen drops from my hand! With what savage barbarity did you treat the most humane, the most benevolent of princes, and the best of men! What sacrifices did he not make, if not for your happiness, at least to comply with your wishes!

If these are effaced from your memory, I will remind you of them. On his accession to the throne, you earnestly desired the restoration of the parliaments which Louis the Fifteenth had been obliged to abolish this he granted. The ministers he chose appeared to him to be men of the greatest wisdom, integrity, and abilities and such he always fought during the whole of his reign if he sometimes erred, it was the public opinion which misled him. He abolished the corvée, and changed the ancient penal code, which still contained too many vestiges of the ignorance and barbarity of your forefathers. He first tried the experiment of provincial administrations, which he wished to establish over the whole kingdom, for the purpose of introducing economy into the collection of the public taxes, and to prevent partiality in levying and assessing them. He destroyed the abuse of lettres de cachet a moderate use of which your prejudices rendered still necessary. He emptied the state prisons, which soon contained only men dangerous to society, confined from motives of humanity. Constantly studying the ease and happiness of his people, he assembled the Notables of the kingdom, to prepare the means of accomplishing his purpose. You have seen with what ardour he desired the abolition of the gabelle and other taxes of a burdensome nature if this was not affected, the fault must not be imputed to him.

In the middle of the most: corrupt court he preserved the pious morals, a mild and enlightened piety in the midst of irreligion and atheism, and personal economy in the midst of unbounded luxury. Ever steady in the principles of goodness, and ever ready to comply with your requests, he freely consented again to assemble the States General, which the policy, or rather the wisdom and prudence; of his predecessors had long discontinued. He resigned into the hands of your representatives, intoxicated with the fumes of liberty, his sovereign authority, desiring only to reserve the portion necessary to secure your happiness; they stripped him even of that, whilst a licentious and ungovernable mob insulted him and threatened his palace.  Witness the 14th of July, and the 5th of October, when, still more insolent and outrageous, they came to tear him from his residence by force. He was earnestly solicited to put himself at the head of his troops, to escape from and repress their fury. He could have done it, and he would then have disconcerted all the projects of those conspirators who have involved you in guilt; but from motives of humanity he refused. He was dragged like a criminal to your capital, where the palace of his ancestors became his prison; loaded with injuries and insults, his life and that of his family were continually in danger; the bitterest reproaches and most indecent invectives were heaped upon them. Eluding at last the vigilance of the villains who meditated his death, he escaped from their hands, wishing to save them from still greater crimes. Far from the walls of Paris he fought a place of refuge whence he might make you hear the voice of reason, and explain to you your real interest: but he was arrested as a fugitive, reconducted to his prison, and from thence, being first stripped of his sceptre and his crown, after a long and final confinement, he was led to the scaffold. His august head fell under the hands of the executioner, and the fame fate awaited that part of his family which remained still exposed to the barbarity of his sanguinary judges. The Athenians, whom you formerly resembled in politeness, in the elegance of your manners, and in the delicacy and futility but whom you now much more resemble in levity and cruelty, put to death Socrates the wisest of men, and they repented of it; you have deprived of life the most virtuous of kings, and still celebrate the anniversary of a day which fixed upon the French nation a stain that no time can efface, nor all the laurels of your conquering chiefs can cover from the eyes of astonished and terrified posterity.  Prove at least by your repentance, that the crime of a few was not that of all; show that, enchained by the tyrants who then governed, and whose crimes divine vengeance has already punished, the French nation has not been the accomplice to their monstrous cruelties, but the instrument, or rather the victim, of their sanguinary ambition!

The Marquis de Bouille on the calling of the Estates General.  Taken from Memoirs Relating to the French Revolution by the Marquis de Bouille, Cadell and Davies, London (1797) p88

Necker, faithful to his principles, suffered a fermentation to be excited among the people, by writings dispersed through the provinces, calculated to prepare the public mind for a revolution. The States General consisted of men very proper for the execution of his purposes. The ecclesiastical members were principally chosen from among the inferior clergy, without livings or property opposed to those of the higher order, who were fewer in number. Among the representatives of the nobility were many of those subtle, daring, enterprising men, who had introduced themselves with a view to corrupt and divide that order: lastly, the third estate were allowed a double representation. This assembly was open to that description of men, so numerous and so dangerous in France, who lived by their talents, their literary abilities, and their industry, deriving their importance from the weakness and credulity of mankind. Lawyers, principally of the lowest class, physicians, artists, writers of little or no eminence, and men without either rank or property; such were those who now represented, or were eligible to represent the French nation; that nation whose passions, already in a state of fermentation, they strove still more to inflame.

The Marquis de Bouille on the Great Fear.  Taken from Memoirs Relating to the French Revolution by the Marquis de Bouille, Cadell and Davies, London (1797) p92

The scarcity of corn, which threatened the people with famine, was the reason given for the insurrections which took place throughout the whole kingdom, from the time of the meeting of the States General, till the fourteenth of July, and the retreat of the troops assembled under Marshal Broglio in the environs of Paris: from that time quite different motives were assigned; the fear of a counter revolution by the aristocrats, the great majority of whom had already fled into other countries; apprehensions lest foreign armies should enter France these were the pretexts made use of to alarm the people and keep them in continual agitation ; it was from this period that they took arms in every part of France, forming themselves into companies, battalions, and regiments, under the name of national guards; nor did the government think it prudent to oppose this popular torrent, but distributed among the people muskets from the arsenals, and even cannon, which they demanded in a manner that showed they would not bear a refusal.

The Marquis de Bouille on Lafayette.  Taken from Memoirs Relating to the French Revolution by the Marquis de Bouille, Cadell and Davies, London (1797) p127

La Fayette was at the head of this party, which then governed in consequence of the advantage that general had obtained over the duke of Orleans the 5th of October.  But La Fayette was incapable of executing what he had undertaken. He was a romantic hero, who, though principal in a conspiracy of the most criminal nature, wished to preserve the appearance of probity, honour, and disinterestedness; in short, he wished to pass for the mirror of chivalry. By a combination of fortunate circumstances, rather than by any talents of his own, he had attained a degree of elevation that might have enabled him to dictate laws, to give a government to France, and to have raised his fortune to the highest pitch an individual can aspire to: but instead of this he ruined himself like a madman, and in his fall implicated the king, the monarchy, and the whole nation.

The Marquis de Bouille on the events of 5th to the 6th October 1789 and the role he believed Duke D’Orleans played .  Taken from Memoirs Relating to the French Revolution by the Marquis de Bouille, Cadell and Davies, London (1797) p129-130

On the 5th of October the sans culottes  in the pay of the duke of Orleans, taking with them the whole populace of Paris proceeded to Versailles for the purpose of massacring the king and royal family, and placing that prince on the bloody throne.  The Duke of Orleans was the most atrocious, and at the same time the meanest of villains ; he had all the cunning necessary to put in motion a great party.... Defeated in his hopes of ascending the throne by the murder of the king, whose life, though they destroyed his power, was protected by La Fayette and the constitutionalists, he formed the project: of exciting a civil war in France, in which, that he might more certainly succeed, he wished to destroy all subordination in the army, and in some degree to disband it; to unite the soldiers with the people , having first persuaded them to renounce all obedience to the established authorities ; and to employ both against the king and the aflembly, for the purpose of placing himself at the head of the nation. In all the garrisons he had agents, whose object was to seduce the soldiers by inciting them to licentious and excess, and holding out to them the prospect of pillage.

The Marquis de Bouille recounts the King informing him of his intention to flee Paris in January 1791.  Taken from Memoirs Relating to the French Revolution by the Marquis de Bouille, Cadell and Davies, London (1797) p267-269

About the latter end of January I received notice from the king, that he hoped to be able to accomplish his departure from Paris in the month of March March or April ; he desired me to inform him what route he must pursue to arrive at Montmedy, and what plan I had adopted to secure his retreat to that place. I wrote him word, that there were two roads which led from Paris to that fortress ; one through Rheims and Stenay, upon which there were very few towns which it was essential to avoid ; the other through Chalons, Saint Menehoud, and either Varennes, or Verdun, a fortified town the more dangerous, as its garrison, inhabitants, and municipalities were debatable. To avoid this inconvenience then, it was necessary to take the road of Varennes, in which town however no post-horses were to be procured ; another disagreeable circumstance which must be submitted to. I next urged his majesty to engage the emperor to march a body of troops to the frontier of Luxembourg near Montmedy, in order that I might have a pretext for assembling an army on my side, and for making all the preparations necessary for the camp I had projected ; this would likewise, I observed be an additional security to his majesty,  when he should arrive at the place of his retreat.

In a few days I received an answer to this from his majesty,. in which he informed me, that he preferred the road to Varennes, wishing to avoid Rheims, where he had been crowned, and where he was more known to the people; he at the fame time told me, that he had received a formal promise from the emperor to march a body of twelve or fifteen thousand men to the frontiers, on the shortest notice.

What his majesty's projects were on his arrival at Montmedy, or what conduct he intended to adopt towards the assembly, I never could learn ; though whoever is acquainted with the religious character of the king can entertain no doubt, that when his majesty solemnly engaged to support the constitution, it was his intention scrupulously to observe his oath…

I imagine then that his majesty would have been guided in his conduct by the disposition of the people and army, and that he would not have employed force, unless he found it impossible to make any reasonable arrangement with the assembly, which, however, was earnestly desired by several of its principal members, at the head of whom were Mirabeau, Duport, and even the Lameths. These clearly perceived the defects of their constitution ; they faw that it naturally paved the way to a republic, which they did not desire, and, perhaps, to an anarchy, which they dreaded; the greater part of them confessed that they had followed no plan in the fabrication of their government, and had been unavoidably carried farther than they intended.

The Marquis de Bouille’s opinion on the Constitution of 1791.  Taken from Memoirs Relating to the French Revolution by the Marquis de Bouille, Cadell and Davies, London (1797) p268

This constitution was in itself so defective, so incomplete, and discovered daily so many errors in its formation, that to maintain and execute it was impossible, as events have since proved ; besides, the con titutionalifts being all men of intriguing, turbulent characters, it was impossible to be faithful to their constitution without being continually on your guard against their schemes and machinations, and this again exposed you to their jealousy and hatred. Respect and attachment to the king, though ordered by the theory of the constitution, were considered by them as criminal. If then the situation of the king was painful and trying, mine was likewise irksome in the extreme. What must be the feelings of a man of honour compelled, by conscience and his duty, to act constantly in opposition to his principles, and obliged to appear in a feigned character before the different factions, who called perfidy whatever tended to oppose their madness and villany?

The Marquis de Bouille recounts seeing a letter in early 1791 from the King on the subject of Mirabeau.  Taken from Memoirs Relating to the French Revolution by the Marquis de Bouille, Cadell and Davies, London (1797) p275-279

In the king's letter was the following passage: "Though these men" (speaking of Mirabeau and some others of the same description,) "are by no means estimable characters, and though I have bought the services of the former at an enormous price, yet I am of the opinion that they can be of some utility to me. Certain parts of their project appear to me worth adopting.”...

He (Bouille was speaking to a Comte he does not mention by name) took care to inform me, that Mirabeau had within a short time received from the king - six hundred thousand livres, besides a monthly allowance of fifty thousand livres and that promises to a great extent had been made him, in cafe he should render his majesty any signal services...

Upon this, the count de * * * told me, that the intention of Mirabeau was to procure the dissolution of the assembly, and the liberty of the king, by the force and will of the nation itself establishing this principle, that the representatives of the people, at this assembly, were not possessed of the powers necessary to make a change in the ancient constitution ; such a measure being contrary to the instructions given by all the provinces to the deputies sent by them to the States General, which instructions had neither been altered nor revoked; and that the king, being deprived of his personal liberty, could not invest with his authority the new laws they had enacted. The validity of this objection being admitted, he then intended to procure addresses from the different departments, praying that the present assembly might be dissolved, a new one convoked, with the powers requisite for making such alterations in the constitution as should appear necessary; and that the king should be restored to his liberty, and the enjoyment of a reasonable authority. These addresses were to be supported by the people of Paris, whom Mirabeau seemed to think at his disposal, when he should have removed some of the leading men of the Jacobin faction, whom he had already denounced to the assembly.

The Marquis de Bouille’s opinions on the Duke D’Orleans and his supposed leadership of the Jacobins in early 1791.  Taken from Memoirs Relating to the French Revolution by the Marquis de Bouille, Cadell and Davies, London (1797) p299-300

The Duke of Orleans had. leaders and secret agents dispersed over every part of France. The Jacobin club at Paris, whose operations he directed, kept up a correspondence with all the rest in the kingdom; there was not a town in France, however small, which did not contain these societies, presided over or led by men of the boldest and most enterprising characters, consummate in crime and villainy. Jacobinism was a monster whose head was at Paris, and whose arms extended over all France; the means its partisans made use of to effect their destructive purposes were alternately force and artifice. They pretended favourable dispositions towards the constitutionalists, whilst meditating the ruin of La Fayette, their chief, whom they pursued rather to gratify the personal vengeance of the duke of Orleans, than from any apprehensions of his power they associated themselves with the friends of the constitution, made the constitution itself subservient to their views, and at the same time waited only till the royal authority should be completely annihilated, to destroy it. If ever there was a conspiracy of greater extent than this, none was ever conducted with more method and ability, nor ever displayed more boldness and energy in its operations.

The Marquis de Bouille relates how he was sent a letter from the King relating his plans for escape in spring 1791.  Taken from Memoirs Relating to the French Revolution by the Marquis de Bouille, Cadell and Davies, London (1797) p304-307

A few days afterwards, I received a letter from the king in cypher; which informed me, that he had fixed on the latter end of April or the beginning of May for the time of his departure from Paris. Having determined to take the road of Varennes for Montmedy, he desired me to establish a chain of posts from Chalons to that place. He informed me that he proposed travelling with his whole family in a single coach, which he had ordered to be constructed expressly for that purpose. In the answer which I returned his majesty, I took the liberty of representing to him, that the road he had chosen would be attended with great inconvenience, from the circumstance of being obliged to place relays of horses to supply the defeat: of post-houses; this I observed would either compel me to impart the secret to some person, or would be the means of exciting suspicions...

I endeavoured then to persuade his majesty to go to Montmedy by the way of Rheims or Flanders, passing through Chimay and crossing the, Ardennes: I represented to him the impropriety of travelling with the queen and his children in a carriage of peculiar construction, which could not fail of attracting general observation; I advised him, on the contrary, to make use of two English diligences for himself and family.  taking with him some person of approved fidelity, who might if necessary show himself, and at the same time serve as a guide, neither the queen nor himself being acquainted with the road I proposed for this purpose, the marquis d'Agoult, major of the French guards, a man of good sense, courage, and firmness, and extremely proper for such an undertaking. I likewise objected to his majesty, the great inconvenience which might result from placing a chain of posts upon the road: if they were weak, they would answer no other purpose than exciting distrust in the minds of the people, who already began to entertain sentiments of that kind, the Jacobins labouring with all their might to alienate their affections as much as possible from the king; if, on the contrary, these detachments were considerable, they would give cause to the most violent suspicions, and even, in some manner, make known the project of his majesty: besides, it was not in my power to put in motion complete corps, but by an order from the king.

The Marquis de Bouille relates how he was sent a letter from the King relating his plans for escape in spring 1791.  Taken from Memoirs Relating to the French Revolution by the Marquis de Bouille, Cadell and Davies, London (1797) p340-341

I waited till it was four o'clock, when day-light beginning to appear, without having heard any news of the king, I hastened back to Stenay, that I might give my orders to general Klinglin and the regiment of royal Allemand, in case any accident had happened to the king which it was in my power to remedy. In about half an hour I arrived at Stenay, when just as I reached the gate, the two officers whom I had sent to Varennes, and (to my great astonishment) the commander of the squadron of hussars stationed in that town, came to inform me, that about half past eleven the king had been arrested there.... On questioning them relative to the causes which had led to this event, all I could learn was, that the troops employed had been seduced, and had not done their duty:  they told me, that the people on hearing the alarm had flown to arms, and that the national guards were flocking from all parts to Varennes.

The Marquis de Bouille discusses the increase in emigration after the King’s failed flight from Paris.  Taken from Memoirs Relating to the French Revolution by the Marquis de Bouille, Cadell and Davies, London (1797) p382

After the king's arrest at Varennes, the emigration, which had hitherto been inconsiderable among the members of the first orders of the state, became now general; it even extended to the respectable part of the citizens, who were alarmed at the licentious conduct of the people. Within the space of a few months after I had left the kingdom, almost all the officers of the army quitted their colours, and came to join the French princes at Coblentz, to which place they had retired. The nobility of the provinces, the major part followed by their wives and children, fought in foreign lands an asylum, abandoning a country where the cry of proscription daily resounded in their ears. The clergy almost in a mass, and with them the chief members of the magistracy of France, fought abroad for a refuge from persecution. The grandees of the kingdom had for the most part long since quitted it. Nobility, riches, even virtue itself was a crime in the eyes of the people. Every road in France was covered with men, women, and children, who, fearing to be buried under the ruins of the tottering monarchy, were abandoning a country which was soon to afford then nothing but a tomb.

The Marquis de Bouille discusses hearing the French declaration of War against Austria .  Taken from Memoirs Relating to the French Revolution by the Marquis de Bouille, Cadell and Davies, London (1797) p459

"You are very happy that the French are the aggressors, otherwise, you would have had no war." This prince (the Swedish King whom he was in correspondence with), as well as myself, regarded a war as absolutely necessary, not only for the purpose of re-establishing order in France, but, likewise, to preserve the general tranquillity qf Europe, through every part of which the Jacobins disseminated their principles, whose dangerous tendency soon appeared, as revolutions began already to be apprehended in the neighbouring state