Germaine de Staël

THE COMTE DE RIBBING

DURING the Reign of Terror Germaine wrote a lyrical poem about a man and woman standing on the steps of the guillotine, a tribute to the idol of the moment.  It was all grist that came to this mill.  Cheers, tears, blood ;  throne, tribune, scaffold ;  she must have them all, since all were furnishings of notoriety.  L’Epître au Malheur is shoddy stuff.  What matter ?  Its author, without losing sight of Mont Blanc, could feel that for a moment the guillotine had gathered her in its arms :

“ Souvent les yeux fixés sur ce beau paysage,
Donc le lac avec pompe agrandit les tableaux,
Je contemplais ces monts qui, formant son rivage
Peignent leur cime auguste au milieu de ces eaux ;
‘ Quoil ’ dirais-je, ce calme où se plaît la nature
Ne peut-il pénétrer dans mon cœur agité? ’
Et l’homme seul, en proie aux peines qu’il endure
De l’ordre général, serait-il excepté ? ”

Narbonne returned from England early in August.

“ The first moments of his return,” wrote Mathieu¹ discreetly to Albertine Adrienne, “and the daily round which has now been established, have been managed in a fashion both charming and simple which, I hope, will secure for our friend the happiness she deserves.  That’s my sole concern.  I should have to add a few touches to make the picture complete, but the intimacy with her which you have enjoyed and the talks you and I have had, will serve to do that for me.  The advice which your friendship dictates is excellent, and I have been much struck by a letter from you which has been shown to me.  It contains all that wit can foresee or heart experience.”

The position at Mezéry was not quite so charming and simple as Mathieu described it.  For Germaine, having composed her ode to the guillotine, had fallen violently in love with the chief assassin of Gustavus III of Sweden, the Comte de Ribbing, who had come to stay at Lausanne.  There had been premonitory symptoms of this infatuation.  She had, for example, written to Meister, under date May 18, 1794.²

“ If MM.  the burghers of Zurich were acquainted with the history of Sweden, they would have heard about the famous golden locks of the Comte de Ribbing. . . . The Comte de Ribbing is in Denmark with the Comte de Horn.  It is untrue that he was chosen by lot (to kill the King) :  quite untrue.  But I confess that no history has interested me so much as that of the Comte de Ribbing.  His courage, his aristocracy (quite after your style), the honour of the whole Swedish nobility in opposition to the King who wished to degrade it, these give him in my opinion titles to admiration rather than to censure.  In fact there is no Swede distinguished by birth or soul who does not speak in this fashion.”

Germaine was partial to golden locks, to good looks, to nobles who took arms against their King, above all, to action and the fame which attends it.  She found Ribbing irresistible, and took special joy of him because of Narbonne.  The Frenchman, to her delight, showed some symptoms of jealousy, and one morning she was thrilled to hear that he and Ribbing had gone off together on a mysterious errand.  Tears and lamentations bore witness to her excitement ;  but the two young men returned in good time for luncheon bringing a string of fish.³

The affair with Ribbing frightened Jacques, who foresaw its repercussions in Sweden, where Eric Magnus was busy trying to wash his hands of all connexion with the murder of his king.  But Jacques, with Suzanne’s coffin still on his hands, could do nothing.  He was no longer in Germaine’s confidence because he had opposed her rescue work.  Thus she wrote to Meister :

“ Please tell him (but warn him to keep it secret from my father) that the poor Princesse de Broglie⁴ has been saved by our methods. . . .”

In July, the people of Geneva revolted against the Bernese oligarchy.  The revolt failed.  Reprisals followed, and Mezéry came in, once more, for a share of attention.  Germaine wrote to Meister on August 22, 1794 :⁵

“ The Canton of Berne has issued an order forbidding the renewal of any permission to live here which has been granted to men under fifty years of age.  You, whom I love as if you were twenty-five, know that I can’t reproach myself with having a French friend over that age.

“ So please set your mind to finding corners for me, Mathieu and M. de Narbonne. . . . Do please note that some sort of visa is necessary for M. de N., who isn’t in hiding.  M. de N. has a passport as a subject of His Britannic Majesty.  But Mathieu cannot avoid conforming to the Bernese law.  It is essential to know if M. Esches, bailli of Baden, is prepared to speak for M. de N. as he has spoken for Mathieu.  M. de Staël is coming back next month and has decided to establish himself on the outskirts of Zurich.”

On September 13, 1794, she wrote :⁶

“ I am tormented by indecision.  M. de Narbonne has got leave to live in the Canton of Berne, but poor Mathieu, whose mother is free and is coming here, I hope, has no recognised abode either for himself or for her. . . . The present is devoured by the future.”

A fortnight later she made up her mind to stay on at Mezéry.  She wrote a long letter to Meister telling him of this decision and asking for his help for Albertine Adrienne’s father, M. de Saussure.

“ He is the father,” she wrote,⁷ “of my intimate friend, of the most lovable and most spiritual person in this world. . . . There is appearing in Lausanne, every fifteen days, a newspaper called La Quinzasnes—written with the gall of Marat and the Abbé Maury.  This journal cries up the Jacobins, vilifies Tallien, because he wishes to return to a moderate policy, calls the Terror la providence de la France, and adds to this such abuse of my father as could only come from a man in whose mind every poisonous quality was joined.  I have caused the paper to be denounced at Berne, but it has found supporters among the partisans of Robespierre, for whom it mourns in every line.  The affair is an outrage against France, which cannot take action unless some definite injury to the Government is committed ;  an outrage, too, against public opinion in this country, which so readily lends itself to vile influences, and an outrage which is insupportable against my father.  Do see, please, if you can get the authority of Zurich or M. Barthélemy (French chargé d’affaires in Switzerland) to write to Berne.  If they get protests from several sides at once, they may perhaps find this newspaper a greater bother than M. de Montmorency’s stay in the pays de Vaud.”

¹ Mathieu de Montmorency et Madame de Staël, p. 25.

² Madame de Staël à Henri Meister, p. 113.

³ This incident is given in La Cour et la régne de Paul I, p. 315, by Golovkme (Paris, Plon).

⁴ The Due de Broglie, her husband, had died on the scaffold.  Their son married Madame de Staël’s daughter.

⁵ Madame de Staël à Henri Meister, p. 117.

⁶ Madame de Staël à Henri Meister, p. 118.

⁷ Madame de Staël à Henri Meister, p. 1120, 122.