New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-12-27
FRENCH PRISON LIFE.
THE JOURNALS OF TIE DUCiIESSE DE
DURAS.
PRISON JOURNALS DURING THE FREACli Khx ,.
IJHrIoN Ey the Duchessc de Duris nee Noallcs.
Translated by Mrs NJ. Carey. 1dmo. PIP. Id
Dodd. Mead a Co.


Luton Ey the Duchessc dc Durls. nee Noa.llec
Translated by Mrs. NJ. Carey. ldino. PIP. Id
Dodd Mead * Co.
The Duchessc de Duras, whose experiences IN
various prisons during the Revolution are mere
described. was a member Of that famous Noaiilcs
family to which Lafayette belonged The ReVo-
luton PLAYED havoc with them, and the escape
of the writer of these memoirs from the gullotlne
was, as in many other casS, matter Oh hiere
chance Torn from her chateau OF Mouchy
separated from her father and mother, ana con-
signed to a prison at Chantilly, she employeu
herself actively TO secure her transfer 10 Paris
where her parents had been taken, to the end
that she might he imprisoned with them She
appa renty secured her object, being sent 10
Paris. but on arriving there all her petitions to
be allowed to join her parents were rejected
This illustrates one of the most odous traits
brought into prominence by the Terror Men
grew cruel for the sake of cruelty. To infict
mental or bodily pain upon priests or emisres /;
to make their situation as wrctched and intoerable
as possible: to insult and outrage all natural Tics
and relations; TO tear young girls from their pro-
tectors and expose them TO the gravcst danger, 70
lacerate the maternal spirit; and to keep these
tormcnts up without intermission to the very
steps of the scaffold, appeared to afford the
despots of the hour the most unqualified pleasure
In the mass OF prison memoirs and journals when
have been published since the Terror came to an
end this systematized cruelty and ingenuity ap-
piled to truly internal ends, darllen still more
a series of pictures sufficiently gloomy without
such an addition.
In the case of the Duchesse de Duras the treat
ment of the narrator appears the more brutal De-
cause ii is clear that she was sinsularly gentle,
submissive and patient under unmerited suffer-
ing. This makes it all the palmer that the Ill
treatment Of the prisoners had no relation TO any
real or imagined state policy necessity, but
that it originated in a perverslon OF feeling,
morbid and vicious development in the Terrorlsts.
or course allowance should be made for the fact
that responsible posts in the prisons were Mt thls
time deliberately put in the hands OF the most
ignorant and ferocious Of the Sansculottes But
not only the agents were savages; those VINO
ruled them had fallen TO the same low plane.
We do not expect from the pious Madame dc
Duras such full and uneNpurgated account Oh
life in the prisons as men OF the world such aS
.Iourgniac Saint-AIeard or Bcngnot, or the baron
Rioufre wrote. She confines herself to q plain
and wcli-restrained description Of her own ex-
perience. and in some respects she seems to have
been less prosecuted than the generality OF her
companions. Thus she was allowed sometimes
the commissary or the iailer, if piqued with
her. would seek revenge by blleting some female
thief or dissolute creature upon her. As a rule,
however. she had to share the dcprivatlons anu
the indiynites forced upon all the prlsohcrS'
The food was always insufficient in quantity ana
bad in quality. and complaint only made matters
worse Once placard was hung conspicuousN
in the mess hall, declaring that the PRISONERS
should have no more food than was just enough
to sustain life.
Nor was it easy TO supplement the meaerc
and repulsiye prison diet by private perGuisi-
lions. for on entering the prison every one was
searched vigorously. and none was permitted ~
r, in more than fifty francs in assignats Madame
do Duras somehow contrived to obtain llttic
chocolate. and upon this she mainly subsisted
She does not complain much of her hardsDIps'
but now and then simple statement liiumlm'o'
the situation. As this for instance: ohe d''S
the soldiers came with drawn saDres into tie
apartment of Madame de Boursonne former lady
in-waiting to Mesdames), who was very III IRON
hemorrhage, and had constant fever lhey
went I'D 70 her bed, examined her closely, ana
eoid aloud that they would not have the trouble
of visiting her long She came near dying
after they went out Such domiciliary VlsitS
had become too familiar TO evoke much comment
and even so gross an outrage as the above il
only thought deserving of being chronlcled With
out remark Madame de Duras met III the prison
one day an old nun, whom did not Know, Den'
with age and nfrmities, who seemed 10 DC sui
ferng terrible pain in the side OF her FACE
One of her companions told me that as she was
getting into the wagon that brought her to Chan
tillv she made the sign Of the cross and one
Of thc soldiers of the escort was so indignant
fpiu FIJI m
which broke several OF her teeth Well may the
rentle memoirist calculate low horrible
upon hearing this story; and yet the bruta
heating of an aged nun was Il mere trfe to what
bonncnpd every day and hour in the prisons
dnrino the Terror The Duchess had vainly i'm
plored leave to rejoln her father and mother and
after some time she learned that they had beer
taken TO tho prison of La Force, and thence to Tho
scafold. both being murdered on the same day.
This was at the time when the pretended
communicates in the prisons were invented by the
Terrorists to afford for wholesale butcheres
As ia the pfiests, it is even doubted whether
they were ever condemned before being be-
headed" Madame de DuIas gives an interesting
illustration of the optmist feeling which, in spite
of everything, prevailed in the prisons She says
of the prisoners that some Of them deluded them
selves as certain sick persons do during epidemics
though already attacked by the disease, saying
lie who Just died had a hemorrhage; have not
The other complained Of a pain in his back;
have not felt anything Of the sort just SO
with the prisoners; they said 10 each other
Those who were beheaded were in correspondence,
with the emigrcs, they were aristocrats, money
was found Oh their persons, etc. They tried t.
persuade themselves that they were not in the
category of those who were every day being
condemned ! looked at the situation in different
light: it appeared TO me Impossible if the Reign
of Terror continued, that any one Of our class
should escape Madame de La Fayctte was IL
the prison with her. Both had lost five members
of their family. Both were overwhelmed with
grief But the brave Madame de Duras thought
only of hnnnrino the memory of her dear Onet