(After an engraving in the British Museum.)
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Tall and thin, with powdered hair, and a lofty bald forehead, always inveighing fervently against something or other (so Chateaubriand depicts him), Peltier answered in some degree to the traditional type of journalist in those days, when “journalist” meant at once gazetteer, lampoonist, and pamphleteer. Judging by his writings alone, one can understand the small confidence that his English acquaintances placed in him; but under his somewhat eccentric mode of expression Peltier concealed a very real and deep devotion to the King’s cause.
His acquaintance with Lady Atkyns dates from November, 1792. This lady spent a great part of her long leisurely days in the country in reading. She was told of the recent publications by Peltier; she had known only of some of these, and instantly off she writes to the journalist, asking him for the first numbers of the book which he is bringing out. Needless to say, her desire is at once gratified.[36] She devours the writings of the author of The Acts of the Apostles; she joins in his anger, shares his admirations, and a regular correspondence begins between these two persons, drawn together as they were by a common sympathy for the Royal Family of France.
When they have exchanged reminiscences of past days, they come to consider the present. Lady Atkyns has been fretting for weeks over her inaction. A thousand thoughts disturb her, all converging towards the same idea: can she do anything to save the King and the Queen? Does she not possess a considerable fortune, and who is to prevent her from arranging to devote a part of it to the realization of her dream? And in truth this woman, who was a foreigner, who was bound by no real tie of any kind to the inmates of the Tuileries, was actually to attempt, through the strength alone of her love and her heroic devotion, what no one had yet succeeded in. A superhuman energy sustained her; one thought only was henceforth to rule her life, and not once did she falter, nor doubt, nor lose the ardour of her feeling.
To whom better could she address herself than to him who seemed to understand her so well? Peltier was told of her intentions. Their letters grew more frequent, their project begins to take shape.
“In truth, madame” (Peltier writes), “the more I read you, the more your zeal astonishes and moves me. You are more intrepid and more ardent than any Frenchman, even among those who are most attached to their King. But have you reflected upon the dozen doors, the dozen wickets and tickets that must be arranged for, before you can get into Court? I know that to tell you of difficulties is but to inflame your desire to overcome them; moreover, I do not doubt that your new scheme has taken all these difficulties into account.”
When this plan had been modified and approved by Peltier, it stood thus: First of all, to find two safe correspondents in Paris, to whom letters and a statement of the scheme could be sent. And these two men were there, ready to hand—both whole-heartedly Royalists, both tried men. They were MM. Goguelat and Gougenot. The first, who was M. de Bouillé’s aide-de-camp, had taken an active part in the Varennes affair, but he had not shown the greatest discretion, for all he had succeeded in doing was to get wounded. The second, who was the King’s steward, had been in the secret of the flight. The plotters also meant to get into relations with the two physicians of Louis XVI., MM. Lemonnier and Vicq d’Azyr, who would give most valuable aid in the passing of notes into the Temple Prison, for and to the prisoners. But the great difficulty would be the King. How was he to be brought to their way of thinking? Would he consent to listen to the proposals they were to transmit to him? “That” (declares Peltier) “is what no one can be sure of, considering the state of prostration that he must be in after such terrible and incessant misfortunes.”
Nor was this all. They had to find an intelligent and nimble agent, who could cross from England to France once, twice, many times if necessary; who could have interviews with the persons indicated, and, above all, who could manage to procure detailed plans of the Temple Prison. An ordinary courier would not do. Well, it just happened that Peltier had relations with a foreign nobleman, Hungarian by birth, whom he had come to know by chance, and who even helped him with his publications. He had, in fact, made this gentleman his collaborator. His name was d’Auerweck, and as he happened to be in France at that very moment, he could easily betake himself to Paris, and, in Peltier’s opinion, would fill most admirably the delicate post with which he was to be entrusted.
Finally, throughout the plot, they were to make use in correspondence of a “sympathetic” ink, “which could only be read when held near the fire.”