BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF THE COMTE AUGUSTE DE LA GARDE-CHAMBONAS

Auguste-Louis-Charles de La Garde,[1] a man of letters and a poet of some repute in his time, was born in Paris in 1783. The following is a copy of his certificate of baptism:—

The Old Parish of
Saint-Eustache,
Anno 1783.
(Registry of Paris.)		On Wednesday, the fifth day of March of the year seventeen hundred and eighty-three, there was baptized Auguste-Louis-Charles, born on the previous day but one, the son of Messire le Comte Scipion-Auguste de La Garde, chevalier, captain of Dragoons, and of Dame Catherine-Françoise Voudu, his wife, domiciled in the Rue de Richelieu. Godfather—Messire Jean de la Croix, captain of Dragoons; Godmother—Dame Elisabeth Vingtrinien, wife of M. Etienne-Antoine Barryals, Bourgeois of Paris.[2]

The child’s mother died in giving it birth. The father only survived the beloved young wife for a little while, and feeling his end to be near, confided the orphan to the head of his family, the Marquis de Chambonas (Scipion-Charles-Victor Auguste de La Garde), camp-marshal (equivalent to the present grade of general of brigade), and subsequently a minister of Louis XVI.[3]

M. de Chambonas took charge of the infant, looking upon it as a second son, and treating it with the most constant affection. Consequently in all his works, and in his Unpublished Notes, Auguste de La Garde always refers by the name of ‘father’ to the relative who had replaced his dead parents.[4]

During his early childhood, he was often entrusted to his godmother, Mme. de Villers.[5] She was the friend of Mme. Bernard, the wife of the Lyons banker, whose daughter was to attain such great celebrity under the name of Mme. Récamier. Brought up together, as it were, these two children conceived for each other a sincere affection, which neither time nor distance ever cooled. When, on his return from foreign parts, Auguste de La Garde came to Paris in 1801, he at once took up his abode at Mme. Récamier’s, who, moreover, gave him the support so necessary to the youthful wanderer who possessed no resources of his own. Hence, it will cause no surprise to meet in the Recollections of the Congress of Vienna with pages breathing a profound sense of gratitude to Mme. Récamier.

Young La Garde began his studies under the guidance of the Abbé B——, after which he was sent to the College of Sens. (His ‘father’ had been governor of the town in 1789, and its mayor in 1791.) M. de Chambonas, after having commanded the 17th division of the army of Paris for a very short time, was called to the ministry of Foreign Affairs, the 17th June 1792, to replace Dumouriez, who had resigned. His stay there was also very short. Having been denounced publicly in the Legislative Assembly for having withheld information with regard to the movements of the Prussian troops, and becoming more and more suspect every day, he quickly abandoned the post.

On the 10th August he was among those who endeavoured to defend the Tuileries, and was even left for dead on the spot. It was only towards the end of 1792 that M. de Chambonas made up his mind to quit Paris. He did not cross the frontier, but managed to reach Sens; where, in safe hiding, he succeeded in spending unmolested the years of the Reign of Terror. He had taken with him his son, who subsequently married Mlle. de la Vernade, at Sens (and who was the grandfather of the present Marquis de Chambonas), and also his adopted son.