Re: The troubled fate of the French Crown jewels during the 1848 revolution Archived Message
Posted by Torkel on January 18, 2017, 5:25 am, in reply to "The troubled fate of the French Crown jewels during the 1848 revolution"
I just now had the opportunity to read this. Thank you very much for translating this account of the events for us, very interesting! --Previous Message-- : As mentioned by Lorenzo in one of his posts : above, the history of the French Crown : jewels during the troubled days of the : revolution of February 1848, which caused : the sudden collapse of Louis-Philippe's : regime, is worth a novel full of suspense : and drama. Bernard Morel's Les Joyaux de la : Couronne de France (pages 331-333) gives a : thrilling account of these days (the : additional information in italic and between : brackets are by myself): : : "On 24th of February, 1848, around : noon, the government was more and more : unable to resist the riots. Troops stationed : near the Tuileries [the royal palace] and : the Palais-Royal [the Parisian palace of : the Orleans family] gathered within the : Carrousel courtyard [the Tuileries Palace's : main courtyard, facing the Louvre] , whose : gates were closed. M. de Verbois [the : treasurer of the Civil List service, whose : offices and personal apartment were in a : wing perpendicularly adjacent to the : Tuileries Palace; the Crown jewels were : stored in a strongbox hidden inside a brick : wall of the Civil List service's offices] , : left without instructions, took the : initiative, helped by his wife and by a : maid, to take the assets in banknotes and : coins deposited by the Royal family and kept : by the Civil List service, and to bring them : to one of his friend's home, who lived in : the nearby Rue des Pyramides. Then, while : unsuccessfully looking for General : Jacqueminot [general officer commanding the : National Guard] to ask him for a platoon of : guards to protect the treasure of the Civil : List, Verbois saw the rioters entering the : Carrousel courtyard, forcing the troops : backwards. Verbois went back to his friend's : home Rue des Pyramides. The mob then entered : the apartments and the underground floors of : the Palace. : : Around 2.00 PM, a groop of rioters began : shooting to the door of the underground : cellar situated just below the treasure's : cashier desks, which were not kept by : soldiers. A workman of the Civil List : service, named Nô, came downstairs to the : cellar, told the rioters he would help them, : and opened the door. The overexcited men : demanded only wine, and Nô showed them the : place where Verbois' wine bottles were : stored. But as there were only few bottles, : Nô feared they might threaten to go upstairs : where the treasure was kept. Nô claimed that : a platoon of soldiers was upstairs and : convinced the rioters to withdraw and led : them instead to the cellars of General : Jacqueminot. There, in the kitchen, they ate : a lunch which had been prepared for the : General, and rushed onto his 10,000 bottles : of wine! All this resulted in a violent : orgy, and the day after, twelve lifeless : bodies were found on the wine-soaked : floor... : : Meanwhile, taking advantage from this : distraction, Nô managed to reach the : Tuileries in order to look for a platoon of : guards. He came back with Sergeant Bex and : six grenadiers, whom he helped to enter into : the Treasure's offices, where they formed a : small protection platoon with a few : employees and workmen of the service. Yet, : around 7.00 PM, because of the general : confusion, some people succeeded to enter : the office in which were kept the registers : recording the gifts, subsidies and : gratifications granted by Louis-Philippe. A : lot of files were possibly embarrassing for : several members of the former opposition, : now at the head of the new revolutionary : regime... The files were torn off or : lacerated, and burnt. This resulted in the : beginning of a blaze, prompting the soldiers : and firemen to arrive; the soldiers : exchanged a few gunshots with the occupants : and ousted them from the offices. : : While the orgy in the cellars was still : going on, a clerk went to Schefer, central : cashier, to prevent him of what was : happening in the Treasure's offices. Schefer : was sick, but gave a key to his son, who : came and opened one of the boxes of the : Civil List, witnessed by several attendants. : He withdrew 331,000 Francs in banknotes and : 34,000 Francs in coins. Someone took two : purses of coins into his bag, committing the : other people present to do the same, in : order to transport the money safely to the : Banque de France; but he was never seen : again... The rest of the money, including : the 331,000 Francs in banknotes shoved by a : grenadier into his bearskin cap, arrived : safely to the Banque de France. But the : Crown jewels were still in the Treasure's : offices, hidden in the wall, as well as the : jewels of the Princess of Joinville [one of : Louis-Philippe's daughters-in-law] and : various assets worth 3 to 4 million Francs. : : Verbois, from his friend's home Rue des : Pyramides, had seen the blaze in the : subsidies office of the Civil List service. : He then came back to the office with his : son-in-law, Harenbourg, and Baron Fain. They : held a quick meeting in presence of Sergeant : Bex, and decided to bring the Princess of : Joinville's jewels and the assets to the : Finance ministry on the next day [the : Finance ministry was located, at the time of : these events, between Rue du Mont-Thabor and : Rue de Rivoli, on the North side of the : Tuileries gardens, so not very far from the : Palace] . This was done in the morning of : the 25th February, with the jewels and : assets placed onto a barrow, covered with : thick blankets. But the Crown jewels still : remained in their strongbox hidden in the : wall, because it was necessary to bring the : three keys together to remove it... : : Still on the 25th February, Verbois, holder : of one of the three keys, went and met at : 4.00 PM chief-of-staff Guinard and the : Inspector General. They decided to summon : for the next day at 10.00 AM the other two : holders of the keys in order to open the : Crown jewels strongbox, in the presence of : Goudchaux, the Finance minister. : : On 26th February, at 10.00 AM, the holders : of the three keys, Verbois, Maréchal and : Crown jeweller Constant Bapst, were there at : the time scheduled, but the Finance minister : had still not arrived at noon. At the same : time, General Courtais [commanding officer : of the National Guard, newly appointed by : the republican revolutionary authorities] , : popped up and declared that, considering the : situation, the jewels had to be transported : immediately to the headquarters of the : National Guard. The strongbox containing the : jewels was then taken from the wall in which : it had been kept hidden for more than 15 : years, and opened. General Courtais put into : his jacket the records and inventories which : were in the strongbox, while the jewel : caskets were taken from the strongbox and : laid onto the table, or even onto the : ground. This careless handling of the jewels : raised sharp protests from Constant Bapst, : who demanded a strict responsibility for : everyone and a descriptive record of the : jewels taken from the strongbox. But General : Courtais refused. Bapst bitterly declared : that such careless handling made the : stealing of jewels very easy and possible, : and that he would rather have thrown his key : into the Seine river if he had known that : things would go this way. But General : Courtais took absolutely no regard of the : former Crown jeweller’s critics and ordered : the persons and a few national guards : present in the room to take the many jewel : boxes and to follow him. Courtais himself : gave the example, taking in his hands the : box containing the crown of Charles X. Some : of the smallest boxes were shoved into the : pockets, prompting renewed vain yells from : Constant Bapst: " Nothing in the : pockets! ". But everything went so : quickly and in such a confusion that any : serious supervising turned out impossible. : About twelve persons carried the various : jewel boxes: General Courtais, Carson and : Lacour (employees of the Civil List’s : Treasury), Laurin and Barvin (cashdesk : clerks), Pessar (office clerk), Nô : (workman), Allary (postal clerk) and a few : national guards. Verbois and Bapst both : refused to carry any box. : : Following General Courtais, still holding : the royal crown, the small group went to the : office of chief-of-staff Guinard through a : dark underground corridor, stumbling at each : step because of the empty bottles with which : the floor of the corridor was covered. : Courtais ordered the people carrying the : jewel boxes to lay them down in a corner of : Guinard’s office; the boxes were covered : with a blanket and remained them until 4.00 : PM under the supervision of the employees of : the Civil List and several national guards. : A finance inspector, de Codrosy, then : arrived and had immediately a document drawn : up, recording the number of jewel boxes : present in the room; he then had the boxes : put into five bags, which were sealed and : loaded into a carriage usually used for : house moves. An escort led by Colonel : Degousée accompanied the carriage, which : arrived at 5.00 PM to the Finance ministry. : The five bags were delivered to de Colmont, : Secretary General of the ministry, Thomas, : central cashier, and Levasseur, General : Comptroller, who affixed new seals onto the : bags. : : On 9th March, 1848, the republican provisory : government issued a new decree, after which, : " considering that the Diamonds of the : Crown belonged to the Nation, and that the : circulation of currency was insufficient : ", the Finance minister was allowed to : sell the jewels at prices which were to be : determined by experts. : : On 12th March, the new Finance minister : Garnier-Pagès had a thorough verification of : the Crown jewels realized, witnessed by : several persons, including Constant Bapst : and Verbois. It was then noted that what : Bapst had feared had happened: one of the : boxes was missing! This box contained a hat : button in diamonds (whose main stone was the : "2nd Mazarin", a 25.37 carat : diamond of an exceptional beauty, which was : part of the 18 diamonds bequeathed in 1661 : by Cardinal Mazarin to King Louis XIV, : surrounded by 20 brilliant diamonds : totalizing 4 carats) and two diamond : pendeloques of two rose-diamonds each (the : two largest roses weighted 13.49 and 12.07 : carats). These jewels represented a value, : according to the last inventory made in : 1832, of 293,112.50 Francs. During the : verification, Garnier-Pagès, dazzled by the : diamond-encrusted royal crown made for : Charles X, noticed the "Regent" : diamond mounted at the top of the crown, and : asked Bapst about its value. " Twelve : millions ", Bapst replied. " Well : , the minister replied, we will sell it to : the Tsar of Russia! " : : The following day, Constant Bapst, who : assured he had seen the box containing the : missing jewels on the table when the : strongbox had been opened, and Verbois : checked back the underground corridor : through which the transport of the jewels : had been processed. After all, the box, : which was of rather small dimensions, could : have slipped from a pocket while everyone : was stumbling. Unfortunately, they found : nothing. The jewels had really been stolen! : And the stealing had certainly happened : during the transport of the jewels, as the : jewels had been under constant supervision : the rest of the time. The police : investigated, but without result. Constant : Bapst wrote to all the main gem-cutters and : gem-retailers of Europe to urge them to : retain any suspicious stone, but to no : avail, except a reply from a London : jeweller. The former Crown jeweller hence : travelled to London, but unfortunately the : jewel noticed by the jeweller was not the : right one. None of the missing stones was : ever found again. : : Finance minister Garnier-Pagès’ remark : almost became a reality. As mentioned : earlier, a decree dated 9th March, 1848, had : opened the way to the sale of the Crown : jewels. On 2nd June, 1848, a commission : composed of Guillemarden, finance general : inspector, Thomas, finance general : treasurer, and former Crown jeweller : Constant Bapst, checked all the parures, : comparing them with the inventory made in : 1832. Fortunately, the decree of 9th March, : 1848, had no further consequence. : Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, nephew of Napoleon : Ist, was soon elected member of Parliament, : and eventually President of the Republic on : 10th December, 1848. He already had the : secret intention to restore the imperial : regime, and he consequently blocked the sale : of a jewel collection of which he intended : to have sooner or later a good use..." : : : To help you locate the various places : mentioned above, here is a cropped version : of a plan of Paris made in 1842, centrered : on the Tuileries Palace ("Palais des : Tuileries"). The Civil List service was : in the wing perpendicular at the north : extremity of the Tuileries Palace, along the : Rue de Rivoli (both the Palace itself and : this adjacent wing are drawn darker). The : Rue des Pyramides is the short street right : in the axis of the Tuileries palace at the : north, between the Rue de Rivoli and the Rue : St Honoré. The Finance ministry is in the : upper left corner of the picture : ("Minist. des Finances") and is : drawn in a darker shade too. : : : : : : : :
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