The husband’s property consisted of his appointment as Crown Prosecutor at Rennes, and, further, of different lands and estates which his father had bequeathed to him, at and near Rennes, and, finally, in “his furniture, linen, wearing-apparel, etc., which were stored in his place of abode.” The magistrate’s wardrobe was remarkably well stocked, to judge by the enumeration we give below.[57] It must have been a difficult matter to choose between the “winter, spring, autumn, and summer garments;” the breeches of “velvet patterned with large flowers,” or with “little bouquets”; the coats of purple cloth, grey cloth, embroidered gourgouran, black-and-olive taffetas, or green musulmane! And then there were jewels, and there were carriages for one person called désobligeantes, to say nothing of hats, frills, and lace cuffs.
Nor did Mlle. de Butler fall in any way below this standard. Her father, Count Jean-Baptiste Butler, deceased, had bequeathed her, in joint tenancy with her brother, Patrice, a rich state in Saint-Domingo, one of the most flourishing colonies at that time. This state was the farm and dwelling-house of Bois-de-Lance in the parish of Sainte-Anne de Limonade, “with the negroes, negresses, negro-boys and negro-girls; pieces of furniture; utensils, riggings, horses, beasts, and all other effects of any kind whatever, being on the said estate.” This document recalls the state of slavery in which the Colony then was. By a second marriage Comte de Butler had had a son, Jean-Pantaléon, who was thus the half-brother of the future Mme. Cormier, and who had also some liens on the property in question.[58] Suzanne de Butler further brought her husband some estates in France, arising from her father’s succession; and a very complete array of household furniture, which was enriched by articles in “mahogany, tulip-wood, and the wood peculiar to the island,” etc.
The marriage was celebrated some days later. Once settled at Paris, it became difficult for the Crown Prosecutor to keep his appointment at Rennes. Nevertheless, he did not resign it until January 23, 1779. Two years earlier their first child had been born, a boy, who was baptized at the Madeleine in Paris, and named Achille-Marie. The parents were probably at that time living in the enormous house which Mme. Cormier bought in the following year, No. 15 in the Rue Basse-du-Rempart. It was a handsome house with a courtyard and several entrances.
On March 10, 1779, arrived another son, who was called Patrice, after his maternal uncle. His godmother was a sister of Mme. Cormier, married to a former naval officer.
The management of his own estates, and, more particularly, those of his wife, occupied the greater part of Cormier’s time in the years preceding the Revolution. Of middle height, inclining to stoutness, with greyish hair and an energetic type of face, the sometime Breton magistrate was quite a personality, for he spoke remarkably well, and, besides being most intelligent, had a real gift of persuasion. The times that were now at hand seemed likely to provide him with a prominent position on the revolutionary scene.
We know that, in view of the elections to the States-General, a Royal Ordinance of April 13, 1789, had decreed the provisional division of Paris into sixty districts.[59] A year later this mode of division, being no longer useful, was replaced by a division into forty-eight sections—those sections which, from August 10 onwards, were to exercise so potent a political influence. Cormier was active from the very first. The section of the Place Vendôme had scarcely been formed before he occupied a prominent position therein. We see him first as Commissary of the Section, then as President of its Civil Committee. The General Assembly held its meetings in the old Church of the Capuchins in the Place Vendôme; and Cormier, whose home was close by, took part in the deliberations. He would have played a more active part if other business had not taken up most of his time.
Amongst the numerous monarchical clubs which then sprang up in Paris, one had just been founded whose members, for the most part rich planters from Saint-Domingo, used to meet in the Place des Victoires, at the Hôtel Massiac. Their object was to counterbalance what they held to be the pernicious influence exercised by a new society originating in England. This was the Friends of the Blacks, and had for its principal object the amelioration of the coloured race.[60] The movement, begun by Wilberforce across the Channel, met with many adherents in France, for it accorded well with the new ideas of enfranchisement and liberty proclaimed by the National Assembly. This very soon became clear to the landowners of the Leeward Islands, who lived on the labour of their slaves, and whose whole well-being depended on their continued existence as such. Saint-Domingo was then in a state of astonishing prosperity. The sugar plantations and the cultivation of indigo and cotton had made it one of the chief colonies. If Wilberforce’s theories were to prevail there, it was all over with the planters and the white people, who formed the minority of the population.
Founded on August 20, 1789, the Hôtel Massiac Club intended to oppose with all its strength the current of sympathy for the blacks, which threatened to overflow the Assembly. Its members meant to prevent at any cost the concession of rights to the mulattos inhabiting the island, which would be the preliminary to granting similar rights to the slaves. And for three years the planters devoted all their energies to this task.
Cormier, as a landowner in Saint-Domingo, was, of course, in accord with his compatriots. On August 24, 1789, he was made a member of the club, and a fortnight later he was occupying the position of vice-president. After a period of absence—his name disappeared from the proceedings for several months—he reappeared at the sittings at the commencement of 1791. From that time forth he played a foremost part in the club; had charge of all its correspondence and papers; and these, now lying in the National Archives, have yielded us a quantity of letters and speeches, and many memoranda covered with his microscopic handwriting. In the spring he was made president of the club; and the position was no sinecure. Tragic news arrived from Saint-Domingo during the summer. At the end of August there was a rising of the mulattos and negroes, and the angry populace burned and pillaged the plantations, and massacred the white folk, male and female.
The Colonists, very inferior in numbers as they were, were powerless to resist them, and clamoured for help from their compatriots and for support from the Assembly. Letters came to the club, more terrifying every day; the planters were in despair. Many of them had their families out there, and they shuddered to think of their dear ones at the mercy of the blacks.