Pierre Vergniaud - Voice Of The French Revolution - Paperback

PIERRE VERGNIAUD Voice of the French Revolution BY CLAUDE G. BOWERS THE MACMILLAN COMPANY New York 1950 PIERRE VERGNIAUD ACKNOWLEDGMENTS IN THE research for the writing of this book, I am immeasurably in debted to M. Albert Krebs, librarian of the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, who has been both tireless and enthusiastic in running down leads to new, hitherto unused material in Paris, Bordeaux, Limoges, Ver sailles, and Saint-Emilion, and has found manuscript material never seen or used before by historians. Trained in historical research, he has given invaluable suggestions and aid. I acknowledge my indebtedness to M. Julien Cain, Administrator-General of the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, and to the Secretary-General, M. Marcel Rieunier, and to the kindness and patience of the personnel of the Bibliotheque Nationale for their uniform courtesy and interest. Thanks to the excellent functioning of the photographic service of the first library of France, it has been possible to transmit rapidly a great number of documents of importance. In the Archives Nationales in Paris, I am deeply indebted to the discriminating advice and direction of M. Caron, Honorary Director of the Archives of France, an eminent historian of the French Revolu tion and to the late Camille Bloch, a member of the Institute of France, Inspector-General of Archives and Libraries, and a professor of the Sorbonne, who had an intimate insight into that troubled era. In the Archives of the Seine, the Comte de Vaux de Foletier, chief archivist of the department, has been most generous in permitting ac cess to important documents. Fruitful research in the historic library of the Ville de Paris and at the CarnavaletMuseum was made possible through the assistance of M. Frangois Boucher. I am grateful to the Municipal Library of Versailles, where it was possible to examine the papers deposited there by Charles Vatel, and to the Lambinet Museum, where objects left to the museum by Vatel are lodged. KRRSAS CITY MO. PUBLIC IE Y In Bordeaux, M. Xavier Ved re, chief archivist of the city MM. Loirette and Betge Bresetz, archivists of the department their assist vi Acknowledgments ant, M. dAnglade and the chief librarian of Bordeaux, M. Desgraves, have rendered invaluable service in the making of minute inquiries. My profound gratitude is due the distinguished scholar and specialist on the Revolution in Bordeaux, M. Roger Brouillard, a pupil of the late lamented Claude Perroud, and to the well known collector, M. Meaudre de Lapouyade. In Limoges, M. Pierre Vandermarcq, who sacredly preserves the souvenirs of his great ancestor, has been most generous in making ac cessible 150 letters of Vergniaud, of which a large part are unpublished, and other family documents. In Saint-Emilion in the Gironde, Dr. Le Barazer, a descendant of Ducos, the brilliant young member of the Assembly and Convention, a disciple and idolater of Vergniaud, with whom he lived in Paris and for whom he gave his life, placed at my disposition the fascinating un published letters of Ducos, written during the period treated and never, to my knowledge, used before. These, together with the little-used let ters of Madame Ducos to her husband which were seized on his arrest and buried in the Archives Nationales in Paris, constitute an invaluable source of intimate information. In Paris, I am greatly indebted to M. Louis Vergniaud, adescendant of the Girondin, for his interest and kindness in permitting access to certain family documents and letters. To Professor Michel Lheritier, specialist on the Revolutionary his tory of Bordeaux, whose first two volumes of a definitive study of the Revolution in the Gironde are cited in the text, I am especially grateful for reading the manuscript and for suggestions and encouragement. M...