Fifteen years had passed since his first arrest. Latude continued to forward petitions for his release, and always got the same answer, that the proper moment for it had not yet arrived. But he was once more transferred to Vincennes and again managed to escape. Taking advantage of the evident laxity of supervision he slipped away in a fog. He could not keep quiet but wrote to M. de Sartine, now the Lieutenant of Police, offering terms. If he were paid 30,000 francs for the plans and public papers he had drawn up, he was willing to forget and forgive the cruelties practised upon him. Failing to receive a reply, he went in person to Fontainebleau to press his case upon the Duc de Choiseul, who forthwith ordered him back into imprisonment. After three weeks of freedom he found himself again inside Vincennes.
As time passed, he also exhibited signs of madness, and was at last also transferred for a time to Charenton, from which he was finally released in 1777. He went out on the 5th of June with orders to reside at Montagnac, and in little more than a month was again in trouble for writing his memoirs a little too openly. He passed through the Little Châtelet and thence to Bicêtre, the semi prison-asylum, and stayed there generally in an underground cell and on the most meagre diet for seven more years, and was then interned once more at Montagnac. The latest official account of him was in Paris, living on a pension of 400 francs a year from the treasury; but a public subscription was got up for him, and after the Revolution, in 1793, the heirs of Madame de Pompadour were sentenced to allow him an income of 70,000 francs a year. Only a part of this was paid, but they gave him a small farm on which he lived comfortably until his death at eighty years of age.
[CHAPTER XI]
LAST DAYS OF THE BASTILE
Closing days of the Bastile—Latest inmates—Lally-Tollendal suffers death for alleged treason—Damiens attempts life of Louis XV—Sentence and execution—Dumouriez in the Bastile—Linguet and his experiences—Marquis de Sade—Cagliostro—The Revolution—Attack upon the Bastile—Weakly defended—Garrison massacred—De Launay, the governor, murdered—Demolition of the Bastile—Last days of Vincennes—The Temple prison survives in part—The last home of Louis XVI—Prisons in great request through Revolutionary epoch—Treatment in them more horrible than in old days—Unlimited atrocities.
The days of the Bastile’s existence were numbered. It had not long to stand, but it maintained its reputation to the last. Philosophers, princes, libellous poets, unfortunate commanders and traitors to the State rubbed shoulders within.
De La Chalotais, the Attorney-General of Brittany, was committed in connection with a rising in his province and disputes with its Governor, the Duc d’Aiguillon; but chiefly for his hostility to the Jesuits,—a circumstance which culminated in the expulsion of the society from France and many of the Catholic countries of Europe. The Prince of Courland, Charles Ernest, an undeniable swindler and adventurer, was arrested and sent to the Bastile on a charge of forgery and detained there for three months. Marmontel, the historian, was committed, accused of writing a satire against the Duc d’Aumont, and has preserved an interesting account of his reception in the Castle.
“The Governor, after reading my letters,” writes the historian, “allowed me to retain my valet.... I was ushered into a vast chamber, in which were two beds, two baths, a chest of drawers and three straw chairs. It was cold, but the gaoler made a good fire and brought plenty of wood. At the same time he gave me pen and ink and paper on condition of giving an account of how each sheet was employed. I found fault with my bed; said the mattresses were bad and the blankets unclean. All was instantly changed.... The Bastile library was placed at my disposal, but I had brought my own books.” The dinner brought him was excellent. It was a maigre day and the soup was of white beans and very fresh butter, a dish of salt cod for second service, also very good. This proved to be the servant’s dinner and a second came in for Marmontel himself, served on china and fine linen with forks and spoons in silver, and was gras, consisting of an excellent soup, a succulent slice of beef, the fat leg of a boiled capon, a dish of artichokes, some spinach, a fine pear, some grapes, a bottle of old Burgundy and a cup of fragrant coffee. After all this he was still offered a chicken for supper. “On the whole,” says Marmontel, “I found that one dined very well in prison.” His stay in the Bastile was for a few days only, as the libel was the work of another, whom Marmontel would not betray.
Scant favor was shown to French officers of those days who were unsuccessful in war. One Dutreil was accused of misconduct in the defence of Martinique, and after trial by court martial was sentenced to military disgrace, to have his sword broken, the cross of St. Louis torn from his breast, and to be imprisoned for life. He came first to the Bastile with two other officers and passed on thence to the Isle of Sainte Marguerite to occupy the same prison as the whilom “Man with the Iron Mask.” The harsh measure meted out to French officers who failed is much commented upon by the French historians. Too often disaster was directly traceable to neglect to provide means and the lack of proper support. It was seen already in India, and Dupleix bitterly complained that the government gave him no assistance, kept him ill supplied with money and sent out the most indifferent troops.