Adrienne’s condition was worsening, Morris rushed word to London Fayettistes, who forced a vote in Parliament—but lost, 132 to 52.
The saga of the Prisoners of Olmütz continued into the new year— behind the dungeon walls in Austria and in the pages of periodicals in the world beyond. Fayettistes were gaining more influence in the French legislature and in the salons of power. “We must return La Fayette to France and to the Republic,” Madame de Staël, the renowned French author, wrote to a member of the Directory. “I guarantee that he will be the best citizen—after you, of course.” 39 In May 1797, the Directory yielded, deciding it could enhance its own popular support by freeing the Prisoners of Olmütz. It instructed Napoléon Bonaparte, commander in chief of the French army in Italy, to demand Lafayette’s release in peace discussions then under way between Austria and France. Napoléon’s army had humiliated Austrian forces in Italy, seized Venice, and encamped seventy miles away from Vienna, poised to capture the capital and crush the rest of Austria. “Obtain, as a condition, if you can, the freedom of La Fayette, Bureaux de Pusy and La Tour-Maubourg,” said the order to Bonaparte. “The national honor is at stake in their release from prison, where they are held only because they started the [French] Revolution.” 40
The French demand was nothing short of blackmail. Napoléon was not a man to be denied. With each conquest, he exacted reparations that covered French military costs and not only enriched France but stripped the nations he conquered of their wealth. Envisioning a French guillotine in the courtyard of the magnificent Schönbrunn Palace and all its art transferred to the Louvre in Paris, the Austrian emperor sued for peace. On July 24, an Austrian officer arrived at Olmütz from Vienna and entered Lafayette’s cell with a court decree: “Because Monsieur de Lafayette is regarded as author of a new doctrine whose principles are incompatible with the tranquillity of the Austrian monarch, His Majesty the emperor and king owes it to reasons of state not to restore his freedom until he pledges not to return to Austrian territory without special permission of the emperor.” 41
Lafayette all but laughed: “The emperor does me honor by treating me as one power to another and by believing that as a simple individual I am so strong a threat to a vast monarchy with so many armies and devoted subjects.” Lafayette rejected the emperor’s terms, saying he had been arrested and imprisoned illegally. “I have no wish ever again to set foot in the courtof the emperor or in his country even with his permission, but I owe it to my principles to refuse to recognize that the Austrian government has any right over me.” Moreover, he demanded that the Austrians release his comrades La Tour-Maubourg and Bureaux de Pusy and their aides. 42
Lafayette’s intransigence was ill-timed and almost cost him, his family, and his friends years of additional imprisonment. A royalist counterrevolution had broken out again in France, and Napoléon pulled a division of troops from the Austrian front and returned to France to crush internal dissent. His emissary broke off negotiations for Lafayette’s release to await further instructions. Before returning to Austria, Napoléon helped stage a coup d’état that replaced the Directory with a three-man junta that added political powers to Napoléon’s military powers. At Napoléon’s suggestion, the “New Directory” decreed five years of universal compulsory military service for all twenty-year-old men in France. The decree not only expanded the army and gave Napoléon free rein to conquer foreign lands, it removed the most rebellious elements from the streets of French cities and scattered them across the face of Europe, where they could no longer threaten the French government. 43
When negotiations resumed for Lafayette’s release, the new French
The saga of the Prisoners of Olmütz continued into the new year— behind the dungeon walls in Austria and in the pages of periodicals in the world beyond. Fayettistes were gaining more influence in the French legislature and in the salons of power. “We must return La Fayette to France and to the Republic,” Madame de Staël, the renowned French author, wrote to a member of the Directory. “I guarantee that he will be the best citizen—after you, of course.” 39 In May 1797, the Directory yielded, deciding it could enhance its own popular support by freeing the Prisoners of Olmütz. It instructed Napoléon Bonaparte, commander in chief of the French army in Italy, to demand Lafayette’s release in peace discussions then under way between Austria and France. Napoléon’s army had humiliated Austrian forces in Italy, seized Venice, and encamped seventy miles away from Vienna, poised to capture the capital and crush the rest of Austria. “Obtain, as a condition, if you can, the freedom of La Fayette, Bureaux de Pusy and La Tour-Maubourg,” said the order to Bonaparte. “The national honor is at stake in their release from prison, where they are held only because they started the [French] Revolution.” 40
The French demand was nothing short of blackmail. Napoléon was not a man to be denied. With each conquest, he exacted reparations that covered French military costs and not only enriched France but stripped the nations he conquered of their wealth. Envisioning a French guillotine in the courtyard of the magnificent Schönbrunn Palace and all its art transferred to the Louvre in Paris, the Austrian emperor sued for peace. On July 24, an Austrian officer arrived at Olmütz from Vienna and entered Lafayette’s cell with a court decree: “Because Monsieur de Lafayette is regarded as author of a new doctrine whose principles are incompatible with the tranquillity of the Austrian monarch, His Majesty the emperor and king owes it to reasons of state not to restore his freedom until he pledges not to return to Austrian territory without special permission of the emperor.” 41
Lafayette all but laughed: “The emperor does me honor by treating me as one power to another and by believing that as a simple individual I am so strong a threat to a vast monarchy with so many armies and devoted subjects.” Lafayette rejected the emperor’s terms, saying he had been arrested and imprisoned illegally. “I have no wish ever again to set foot in the courtof the emperor or in his country even with his permission, but I owe it to my principles to refuse to recognize that the Austrian government has any right over me.” Moreover, he demanded that the Austrians release his comrades La Tour-Maubourg and Bureaux de Pusy and their aides. 42
Lafayette’s intransigence was ill-timed and almost cost him, his family, and his friends years of additional imprisonment. A royalist counterrevolution had broken out again in France, and Napoléon pulled a division of troops from the Austrian front and returned to France to crush internal dissent. His emissary broke off negotiations for Lafayette’s release to await further instructions. Before returning to Austria, Napoléon helped stage a coup d’état that replaced the Directory with a three-man junta that added political powers to Napoléon’s military powers. At Napoléon’s suggestion, the “New Directory” decreed five years of universal compulsory military service for all twenty-year-old men in France. The decree not only expanded the army and gave Napoléon free rein to conquer foreign lands, it removed the most rebellious elements from the streets of French cities and scattered them across the face of Europe, where they could no longer threaten the French government. 43
When negotiations resumed for Lafayette’s release, the new French
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