Madame Roland: A Biographical Study

by Ida M. Tarbell

Conversations et correspondance de M. Champy avec M. Roland.

À M. Roland de la Platière sur sa “Lettre au Roi,” 17 Juillet, 1792.

Almanach des Bizarreries Humaines. Par J. C. Bailleul. 1889.

INDEX

• Abbaye, Madame Roland imprisoned in the, [261] et seq.
• Antoine, [145].
• Assembly, National, see National Assembly.
• Barbaroux, and the Rolands, their plans, [202]–205, [206];
  • his fate, [309]–311.
• Beaumarchais, his Figaro first given, [85];
  • quoted, [121].
• Beugnot, Comte, his words concerning Madame Roland in prison, [296], [299].
• Buzot, François-Nicolas-Léonard, at the home of the Rolands, [145];
  • Madame Roland’s passion for, [224], [225];
  • his early career, [226], [227];
  • attracts Madame Roland, [227];
  • his nature, [228];
  • correspondence with Madame Roland, [228], [230];
  • his wife not his equal, [227], [230];
  • his personal attractions, [231], [232];
  • his love for Madame Roland, [230], [234], [242]–244;
  • his relations toward M. Roland, [244];
  • his struggle against the Mountain party, [247]–249;
  • his opinion of Danton and Robespierre, [247], [249];
  • in harmony with M. Roland, [249];
  • his efforts to prove his patriotism, [250];
  • could not approve the Terrorists, [250], [251];
  • his relations with the Rolands well understood, [251];
  • characterized by Marat as frère tranquille, [251];
  • his words on the Republic, [255]–257;
  • flees from Paris to Evreux, [262], [263];
  • Madame Roland’s letters to, from prison, [274]–280;
  • his last days and death, [309]–311.
• Cannet, Henriette, offers to take Madame Roland’s place in prison, [292].
• Cannet, Sophie, Manon Phlipon’s friendship with, [12]–15.
• Cercle Social, the, patriotic club, [142], [143].
• Chalier, sent home to Lyons by Roland “with honors,” [211].
• Champagneux, M., starts the Courrier de Lyon, [128];
  • in constant correspondence with the Rolands, [155];
  • arrested, [284].
• Champagneux, brother of above, husband of Eudora Roland, [98], [308].
• Champ-de-Mars, the massacre of, [162], [163].
• Chauveau-Lagarde, ambitious to defend Madame Roland in her trial, [299].
• Clavière, at the home of the Rolands, [145]–147.
• Commune, the, [208];
  • and M. Roland, [212], [213];
  • vigorous action of, [212].
• Conciergerie, Madame Roland imprisoned in the, [292], [295], [296].
• Condorcet, his pamphlet on “Whether a king is necessary to the conservation of energy,” [159].
• Constitution, the, formed by the Assembly and accepted by Louis XVI., [168], [169].
• Constitutionalist party, the, [174].
• Convention, National, see National Assembly.
• Conversation, French, character of, [147], [148].
• Creuzé-la-Touche, shelters Eudora Roland, [306].
• Dames de la Congrégation de Notre Dame, Convent, Manon Phlipon at, [9] et seq.;
  • instruction given at, [10].
• Danton, at the head of the insurrectionary element, [205], [206], [214];
  • Madame Roland’s antipathy to, [214]–217;
  • the only mediator between the Gironde and the Mountain parties, [215];
  • his brutality, [217], [222];
  • “the one man who could support the Gironde, save the King and his country,” [223];
  • his words concerning Madame Roland, [245];
  • Buzot’s opinion of, [247], [249].
• Desmoulins, Camille, his inability to understand the general admiration for Madame Roland, [151], [152], [206].
• Dumas, Mathieu, his words on the publication of Roland’s letter to the King, [198].
• Dumont, his comment on Madame Roland’s persuading her husband to publish his letter to the King, [198].
• Dumouriez, General, Madame Roland’s distrust of, [181], [182];
  • Roland made overtures to, [223].
• Encyclopédie méthodique, M. Roland’s contributions to, [76], [77].
• Faugère, M. P., and the Roland Memoirs, [308], [309].
• Feuillants, the, [176], [189], [201].
• Financial errors of the French government, [113]–117, [121], [122].
• France, financial errors of the government, [113]–117, [121], [122].
• Garaud, [146].
• Garran, [145].
• Genlis, Madame de, her lack of knowledge at twelve, [10].
• Gironde, the party of the, character and principles of, [171]–176;
  • Madame de Staël’s words concerning, [173];
  • its attitude toward the Mountain and constitutionalist parties, [174]–176;
  • the Girondin ministry, [178];
  • join the Jacobins, [205];
  • struggle between the Mountain party and, [255];
  • expulsion and trial of twenty-two members of, [259];
  • twenty-one executed, [290].
• Gluck, his Danaïdes first given, [85].
• Grandpré, his assistance to Madame Roland in prison, [269], [270].
• Grégoire, [146].
• Greuze, Manon Phlipon’s visit to, [57], [58].
• Guillon de Montléon, Abbé, his words concerning M. Roland, [91];
  • his words concerning Madame Roland, [150], [151].
• Hannaches, Mademoiselle d’, and Manon Phlipon, [19], [20].
• Heinsius, his portrait of Madame Roland, [152], [153].
• Insurrection, party of the, [205]–207.
• Jacobins, too conservative for the Rolands, [143];
  • the Girondins join, [205].
• Lafayette, Marquis de, [157], [200].
• Lanthenas, and the Rolands, [127], [128], [216], [233], [237].
• Le Clos, the country home of M. and Madame Roland, [94] et seq.;
  • amusements at, [101];
  • Madame Roland’s life at, [99]–111.
• Louis Noailles, [145].
• Louise, Madame, sister of Louis XVI., did not know her alphabet at twelve, [10].
• Louis XVI., appears with Marie Antoinette in the National Assembly, [129], [130];
  • his flight and return, [156]–159;
  • “worse than a stick in a wheel,” [158];
  • efforts to secure a trial of, [161], [162];
  • accepts the constitution, [168];
  • names a cabinet to suit the Girondins, [178];
  • Madame Roland doubts the good faith of, [183];
  • hesitates to sign measure to raise army for protection of Paris against foreign attack, [189];
  • Roland’s letter to, concerning the public perils, [190]–199;
  • his words to Roland concerning the letter, [197];
  • the red cap placed on his head in the riot of the 20th of June, [200].
• Lyons, M. and Madame Roland at, [91]–93;
  • M. Roland’s manuscripts in the archives of the Academy of, [92], [93];
  • disorders in, [134]–137;
  • rumors of a Prussian and Austrian invasion, [137];
  • the Rolands detested in, [138];
  • its devotion to the aristocracy, [165].
• Mandat, murdered, [208].
• Marat, joins the Commune, [212];
  • his character, [218];
  • and M. Roland, [218], [219];
  • attacks M. and Madame Roland in his journal, [222], [223];
  • his words concerning Buzot, [251];
  • his characterization of Madame Roland, [252].
• Marie Antoinette, her appearance in the National Assembly, [129], [130];
  • her flight, [156].
• Mesmer-study, [85].
• Mirabeau, Madame Roland’s words concerning, [290].
• Morris, Gouverneur, quoted, [163];
  • his words concerning the attitude of affairs in Paris, [177].
• Mountain party, the, its character, [174]–176;
  • M. Roland’s struggle against, [247];
  • Buzot’s struggle against, [247]–249;
  • struggle of the Gironde party with, [255].
• National Assembly, the, [124];
  • King and Marie Antoinette appear in, [129], [130];
  • Madame Roland’s dissatisfaction with, [129]–131, [138]–142;
  • M. Roland a deputy to, [138];
  • measure to raise army to protect Paris against attack of foreigners, voted by, [189];
  • Roland’s letter to the King presented to the, [197]–199;
  • Madame Roland appears before the Convention, [253];
  • struggle in, between the Mountain and Gironde parties, [255];
  • expulsion and trial of members of the Gironde, [259];
  • Madame Roland’s letter to, from prison, [269], [270].
• Noailles, Louis, [145].
• Notre Dame des Marais, the Gothic church at Villefranche, [88].
• Nouvelle Héloïse, Rousseau’s, its influence on Manon Phlipon, [32]–35.
• Paine, Thomas, at the home of the Rolands, [146];
  • forms a republican society in Paris, [159].
• Paris, gold and silver smiths in the western end of, [1];
  • measure to guard the city against attack of foreigners, [188] et seq., [201];
  • life in, during the Revolution, [293], [294].
• Pétion, at the home of the Rolands, [145];
  • a Girondin, [171];
  • counsels calm, [205], [208];
  • his fate, [309]–311.
• Phlipon, Madame, mother of Manon Phlipon, her character, [3];
  • her control over her daughter, [5];
  • her death, [31].
• Phlipon, Marie-Jeanne, called Manon, afterwards Madame Roland, her parents, [2]–6;
  • her birth, [5];
  • her character as a child, [5], [6];
  • early reading and education, [6] et seq.;
  • effect of Plutarch’s Lives on, [7], [8];
  • her religions zeal, [9];
  • enters the convent, Dames de la Congrégation de Notre Dame, [9], [10];
  • her life and work there, [10]–14;
  • her friendship with Sophie Cannet, [12]–15;
  • her piety, [11], [12];
  • her letters to Sophie Cannet, [14], [15];
  • her secret resolve to return to convent life, [15];
  • her dislike for the vanities of life, [16], [17], [20], [21];
  • her love of nature, [17];
  • Meudon her favorite spot, [17];
  • her visit to Madame de Boismorel, [18], [19];
  • her early contempt for the social conditions, [19]–21;
  • a secretary to Mademoiselle d’Hannaches, [20];
  • makes an eight-day visit to Versailles, [21];
  • her description of her impressions there, [22];
  • her attitude toward the King and government at twenty years of age, [22]–24;
  • prefers a republic, [22], [23];
  • her reading after leaving the convent, [24]–26;
  • her cahiers, [26];
  • deeply interested in philosophy, [26], [27];
  • studies Christian dogma severely and rationally, [27], [28];
  • her mental and spiritual condition, [28]–30;
  • the influence of Rousseau’s Nouvelle Héloïse on, [31]–35;
  • her words concerning Rousseau and his works, [34], [35];
  • her notions of a future husband, [35]–38;
  • applicants for her hand, [35], [36];
  • her love affair with Pahin de la Blancherie, [38]–44;
  • her Loisirs, [40], [58];
  • her interest in Sainte-Lettre, [44], [45];
  • refuses M. de Sévelinges, [46], [47];
  • her interest in Roland de la Platière, [45], [52], [53];
  • her interest in M. Pittet, [54];
  • the dulness of her life, [54];
  • her visit to Rousseau, [55], [56];
  • her visit to Greuze, [57], [58];
  • her relations with her father, [58], [59];
  • conceals from Sophie Cannet her feeling for Roland de la Platière, [60];
  • Platonic arrangement with Roland, [61];
  • correspondence between Roland and, [61]–69;
  • difficulty with her father in her betrothal to M. Roland, [67]–69;
  • leaves her father, and retires to the convent, [69], [70];
  • marries Roland, [71];
  • her account in her Memoirs of the courtship and marriage, [71], [72].
  • See Roland, Madame.
• Phlipon, Pierre Gatien, his engraving shop, [2], [3];
  • his character, [3], [4];
  • his home life and family, [4], [5];
  • displeased with Pahin de la Blancherie, [40];
  • his relations toward his daughter, [58], [59];
  • grows dissipated, [68];
  • his attitude toward M. Roland, [68], [69];
  • death, [140].
• Pittet, M., Manon Phlipon’s interest in, [54].
• Plutarch’s Lives, effect of, on Manon Phlipon, [7], [8].
• Rebecqui, [202].
• Republic, excitement at the name of, [158]–160;
  • not welcomed by the people, [161].
• Republican, the, journal, [159], [160].
• Robespierre, at home of the Rolands, [145];
  • his words concerning a Republic, [160], [161];
  • criminal accuser, [171];
  • in open rupture with the Girondins, [189];
  • joins the Commune, [212], [221], [222];
  • Buzot’s opinion of, [247], [249].
• Revolution, the French, the Rolands welcomed, [112] et seq.;
  • preliminary outbreaks of, [117]–120;
  • the word révolution long used in private, [118];
  • call for States-General in 1788, [123];
  • the fall of the Bastille, [124];
  • disorders in Lyons, [134]–137;
  • rumors of a Prussian and Russian invasion, [137];
  • the Revolutionary temper, [149];
  • the flight and return of the king, [156]–159;
  • the massacre of the Champ-de-Mars, [162], [163];
  • disorders and riots everywhere, [183], [184];
  • the riot of the 20th of June, [199], [200];
  • the insurrectionary element organizing, [206], [207];
  • the Commune, [208], [212], [213];
  • the September massacres, [219]–222;
  • the execution of the twenty-one Girondins, [290];
  • the daily life of Parisians during, [293], [294].
• Roland, Eudora, daughter of Madame Roland, born, [75];
  • her husband Champagneux receives “conscience money,” [98];
  • her education by her mother, [102];
  • her life, [305]–309;
  • her resentment toward her mother and admiration for her father, [308].
• Roland, the chanoine, brother of M. Roland, [89], [140].
• Roland, Madame, first year of married life, [73]–75;
  • at Amiens, [75];
  • her child, [75];
  • helping her husband on the Encyclopédie, [77];
  • absorbed in her domestic life, [78];
  • her efforts in Paris to secure a title for her husband, [79]–84;
  • secures for her husband the position of inspector at Lyons, [84];
  • her correspondence with her husband while in Paris, [85], [86];
  • interest in Mesmerism, [85];
  • returns to Amiens, [85], [86];
  • trip to England, [86];
  • life at Villefranche-sur-Saône, [87] et seq.;
  • her relations toward M. Roland’s mother and brother, [89], [90];
  • in correspondence with Bosc, [90];
  • not pleased with and not popular at Villefranche, [90], [91];
  • not pleased with Lyons, [92];
  • home life at Le Clos, [94], [99]–111;
  • education of her daughter, [102];
  • her letters on Rousseau’s Julie and the education of children, [103]–108;
  • her devotion to her husband unabated during life at Le Clos, [108], [109];
  • her trip to Switzerland, [109], [110];
  • a sympathetic witness of preliminary outbreaks of the Revolution, [112], [117] et seq.;
  • cramped for money after marriage, [120];
  • her idea of “complete regeneration” of social affairs, [124], [125];
  • her political convictions and plan of action, [125]–133;
  • her influence over her husband and friends, [126]–129;
  • her words after the fall of the Bastille, [129];
  • concerning the King’s and Marie Antoinette’s appearance in the National Assembly, [129], [130];
  • displeased with the constitution, [130];
  • her firmness, [132];
  • detested in Lyons, [138];
  • her dissatisfaction with the National Assembly, [129]–131, [138]–142;
  • goes up to Paris, [138], [140];
  • her irritation at the aristocrats, [142];
  • gives up going to theatres, and goes to political clubs, [142], [143];
  • her words concerning Jacobins, [143];
  • her esteem for Brissot, [145];
  • her comments on the discussions of patriots that gathered at her house, [146]–148;
  • her words on the necessity of uniting efforts, [148], [149];
  • her supremacy over group of patriots around her, [149], [150];
  • her inflexibility, [150];
  • her personal charms, [150]–152;
  • the portraits of, [152]–154;
  • her joy at the flight of the King, [156], [157];
  • her words on the return of the King, [158];
  • endeavors to secure a trial of the King, [161], [162];
  • she loses heart, and returns from Paris to Villefranche, [164];
  • her disgust with Lyons, [165];
  • her disappointment in her child, [166];
  • decides to return to Paris, [166], [167];
  • her ideal of government unsatisfied, [169], [170];
  • her supreme confidence in herself, [170];
  • considered herself better than her husband, [170];
  • her feeling against the old régime, [170];
  • her attitude on her return to Paris, [176], [177];
  • her life and habits after her husband entered the Ministry of the Interior, [179], [180];
  • her influence in choosing persons for positions in the department, [180], [181];
  • her mistrust of General Dumouriez and others, [181], [182];
  • doubts the good faith of the King, [183];
  • her measures to meet perils threatening Paris, [188] et seq.;
  • she writes letter to the King concerning the perils, [190];
  • persuades her husband to publish the letter to the King, [197], [198];
  • meets Barbaroux, [201], [202];
  • her plan carried, [210];
  • her antipathy to Danton, [214]–217;
  • her words concerning Robespierre, Marat, and Danton, [221], [222];
  • her disgust at the brutal turn of affairs in the Revolution, [222];
  • attacked by Marat, [222], [223];
  • would not compromise with the insurrectionary force, [223], [225];
  • her passion for Buzot, [224], [225], [227]–244;
  • her first interest in Buzot, [227], [228];
  • her correspondence with Buzot, [228]–230;
  • her disillusionment in regard to the Revolution, [230], [231];
  • her hope in Buzot, [231];
  • attracted by Buzot’s personal charms, [231], [232];
  • the waning of her affection for her husband and of her friendship with Bosc, Lanthenas, and Bancal, [233];
  • her notions of duty and devotion, [234];
  • her relations with various friends during her life, [235]–241;
  • influenced by the “new ideas” of love and marriage, she accepts the love of Buzot, [242], [243];
  • she tells her husband of her love for Buzot, [243];
  • her relations to her husband thereafter, [244];
  • Danton’s words concerning, [245];
  • holds her place in the struggle, [251];
  • abused by Marat, [252];
  • her position compared with that of Marie Antoinette, [252];
  • appears before the Convention, [253];
  • danger to her life, [253], [254];
  • attempts to leave Paris, but falls ill, [258];
  • her vain endeavor to reach the Convention to plead her husband’s cause, [259]–261;
  • put under arrest, [261], [262];
  • her imprisonment in the Abbaye and Sainte Pélagie, [264], [265];
  • her fortitude in prison, [266], [267];
  • made a prominent actor in the public tragedy by her imprisonment, [267], [268];
  • her letters from prison to the Convention and to the ministers, [269], [270];
  • her conversation with a committee visiting her prison, [270], [271];
  • defending herself against accusations and calumnies, [271]–273;
  • her “Last Thoughts,” [273], [284];
  • doubt as to the object of her passion alluded to in her last letters, [274];
  • her letters to Buzot from prison, [274]–280;
  • would ultimately have left Roland for Buzot, [280];
  • her life and occupations in prison, [280]–283;
  • her Historical Notes written at the Abbaye prison, [283], [284];
  • her Memoirs and other writings, [284]–289;
  • rapidity and ease with which she wrote, [285];
  • Rousseau’s Confessions the model of her Memoirs, [287], [288];
  • her anguish and despair, [289], [290];
  • her words concerning Mirabeau, [290];
  • she resolves to kill herself, [291];
  • conveyed to the Conciergerie, [292];
  • refuses assistance from her friends, [292];
  • had hoped, during her imprisonment, for a popular uprising, [292], [293];
  • her life in the Conciergerie, [295], [296];
  • her second examination, [296]–298;
  • her defence, [298];
  • her trial, [299], [300];
  • sentenced to death, [301];
  • her words to Chauveau-Lagarde, refusing his assistance as counsel, [299];
  • her trip to the guillotine, and death, [301], [302].
  • See Phlipon, Marie-Jeanne.
• Roland de la Platière, M., [45];
  • his position and career, [47]–51;
  • his character and disposition, [51], [52];
  • first acquaintance with Manon Phlipon, [53];
  • professes love for Manon Phlipon, [60];
  • Platonic arrangement with Manon, [61];
  • correspondence between Manon and, [61]–69;
  • annoyances and obstacles in his love affair with Manon, [67]–70;
  • marries Manon, [71];
  • the first year after his marriage, [73], [74];
  • his contribution to the Encyclopédie méthodique, [76], [77];
  • ambitious to obtain a title, [78], [79];
  • the general prejudice against, [81], [82];
  • his wife obtains for him the position of inspector of commerce at Lyons, [84];
  • his letters to his wife while she was in Paris, [85], [86];
  • trip to England, [86];
  • his life at Villefranche-sur-Saône, [87] et seq.;
  • his mother and brother, [88]–90;
  • disliked in the Academy of Villefranche, [91];
  • the Abbé Guillon’s words concerning, [91];
  • his manuscripts in the archives of the Academy of Lyons, [92], [93];
  • home life at Le Clos, [94] et seq.;
  • sympathized with preliminary outbreaks of the Revolution, [112] et seq.;
  • appreciated the financial errors of the French government, [113]–116;
  • labors against the abuses of the realm, [120];
  • poverty after marriage, [120];
  • his wife’s influence over, [126], [127];
  • becomes embroiled in Lyons, [134]–138;
  • detested in Lyons, [138];
  • goes to Paris as deputy to the National Assembly, [138];
  • his words concerning Jacobins, [143];
  • hard at work in Paris, [143], [144];
  • his zealous spirit, [144];
  • gathering of patriots at home of, [145]–147;
  • pronounces the King “worse than a stick in a wheel,” [158];
  • his pamphlet on the “Advantages of the flight of the king, etc.,” [159];
  • his words on the riot in the Champ-de-Mars, [162], [163];
  • appointed to head of Department of Interior on Girondin ministry, [177]–179;
  • pictured by the Mercure as one of the principal agitators of Lyons, [178];
  • his life and duties as minister, [179], [180];
  • his formulas in reply to requests of departments that he suppress disorders, [185]–187;
  • his conduct exasperating, [188];
  • his letter to the King concerning the perils threatening Paris, [190]–196;
  • discharged from the ministry, [197];
  • presents his letter to the Assembly, [197]–199;
  • meets and plans with Barbaroux, [201]–205;
  • everywhere upheld the Jacobin party, [211];
  • his great energy, [212];
  • hindered in activity by the Commune, [212]–214;
  • at cross-purposes with Danton, [217];
  • antagonized Marat, [218], [219];
  • protests against the September massacres, [219]–221;
  • orders Santerre to quell disorder, [221];
  • attacked by Marat, [222];
  • makes overtures to Dumouriez, [223];
  • Madame Roland informs him of her love for Buzot, [243];
  • resigns from the ministry, [245];
  • withdraws his resignation, [246];
  • his struggle against the Mountain party, [247];
  • his retirement, [254], [255];
  • neglected by the Convention, [254], [255], [258];
  • arrested, [259];
  • in concealment, [276];
  • his last days and death, [303]–305.
• Rousseau, Jean Jacques, the prophet of the sentimental generation, [32];
  • his Nouvelle Héloïse and its influence on Manon Phlipon, [32]–35;
  • his Émile, [33], 34;
  • Manon Phlipon’s visit to, [55], [56];
  • his Social Contract, [125];
  • his Confessions the model of Madame Roland’s Memoirs, [287], [288].
• Sainte-Lettre, M. de, and Manon Phlipon, [44], [45].
• Sainte Pélagie, the prison of, [281], [282].
• Sanson, the headsman, and Madame Roland, [302].
• Santerre, [206], [221].
• Servan, in the ministry with Roland, [188], [189];
  • discharged from the ministry, [197].
• Sévelinges, M. de, Manon Phlipon declines hand of, [46], [47].
• Staël, Madame de, her words concerning Girondins, [173], [174].
• Taxes, heavy previous to the Revolution, [113]–116, [121], [122].
• Tissot, his words concerning Madame Roland, [151].
• Vergniaud, [201].
• Villefranche-sur-Saône, [87] et seq.;
  • the Church Notre Dame des Marais, at, [88];
  • disorders in the district of, [184].
• Volfius, [145].
• Williams, Miss, Bancal’s love for, [233], [241].

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TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES

1. Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling.
2. Archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings retained as printed.