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Page 36
During the trial Moreau delivered a defence, which I knew had been
written by his friend Garat, whose eloquence I well remember was always
disliked by Bonaparte. Of this I had a proof on the occasion of a grand
ceremony which took place in the Place des Victoires, on laying the first
stone of a monument which was to have been erected to the memory of
Desaix, but which was never executed. The First Consul returned home in
very ill-humour, and said to me, "Bourrienne, what a brute that Garat is!
What a stringer of words! I have been obliged to listen to him for
three-quarters of an hour. There are people who never know when to hold
their tongues!"
Whatever might be the character of Garat's eloquence or Bonaparte's
opinion of it, his conduct was noble on the occasion of Moreau's trial;
for he might be sure Bonaparte would bear him a grudge for lending the
aid of his pen to the only man whose military glory, though not equal to
that of the First Consul, might entitle him to be looked upon as his
rival in fame. At one of the sittings a circumstance occurred which
produced an almost electrical effect. I think I still see General
Lecourbe, the worthy friend of Moreau, entering unexpectedly into the
Court, leading a little boy. Raising the child in his arms, he exclaimed
aloud, and with considerable emotion, "Soldiers, behold the son of your
general!"
--[This action of Lecourbe, together with the part played in this
trial by his brother, one of the judges, was most unfortunate, not
only for Lecourbe but for France, which consequently lost the
services of its best general of mountain warfare. His campaigns of
Switzerland in 1799 on the St. Gothard against Suwarrow are well
known. Naturally disgraced for the part he took with Moreau, he was
not again employed till the Cent Jours, when he did good service,
although he had disapproved of the defection of Ney from the
Royalist cause. He died in 1816; his brother, the judge, had a most
furious reception from Napoleon, who called him a prevaricating
judge, and dismissed him from his office (Remusat, tome ii. p.
8).]--
At this unexpected movement all the military present spontaneously rose
and presented arms; while a murmur of approbation from the spectators
applauded the act. It is certain that had Moreau at that moment said but
one word, such was the enthusiasm in his favour, the tribunal would have
been broken up and the prisoners liberated. Moreau, however, was silent,
and indeed appeared the only unconcerned person in Court. Throughout the
whole course of the trial Moreau inspired so much respect that when he
was asked a question and rose to reply the gendarmes appointed to guard
him rose at the same time and stood uncovered while he spoke.
Georges was far from exciting the interest inspired by Moreau. He was an
object of curiosity rather than of interest. The difference of their
previous conduct was in itself sufficient to occasion a great contrast in
their situation before the Court. Moreau was full of confidence and
Georges full of resignation. The latter regarded his fate with a fierce
kind of resolution. He occasionally resumed the caustic tone which he
seemed to have renounced when he harangued his associates before their
departure from the Temple. With the most sarcastic bitterness he alluded
to the name and vote of Thuriot, one of the most violent of the judges,
often terming him 'Tue-roi';
--[Thuriot and the President Hemart both voted for the death of the
King. Merlin, the imperial Procureur-General, was one of the
regicides.--Bourrienne.]--
and after pronouncing his name, or being forced to reply to his
interrogatories, he would ask for a glass of brandy to wash his mouth.
Georges had the manners and bearing of a rude soldier; but under his
coarse exterior he concealed the soul of a hero. When the witnesses of
his arrest had answered the questions of the President Hemart, this judge
turned towards the accused, and inquired whether he had anything to say
in reply.--"No."--"Do you admit the facts?"--"Yes." Here Georges busied
himself in looking over the papers which lay before him, when Hemart
warned him to desist, and attend to the questions. The following
dialogue then commenced. "Do you confess having been arrested in the
place designated by the witness?"--"I do not know the name of the
place."--"Do you confess having been arrested?"--"Yes."--" Did you twice
fire a pistol?"--"Yes."--"Did you kill a man?"--"Indeed I do not know."--
"Had you a poniard?"--"Yes."--"And two pistols?"--" Yes."--"Who was in
company with you?"--"I do not know the person."--" Where did you lodge in
Paris?"--" Nowhere."--"At the time of your arrest did you not reside in
the house of a fruiterer in the Rue de la Montagne St. Genevieve?"--
"At the time of my arrest I was in a cabriolet. I lodged nowhere."--
"Where did you sleep on the evening of your arrest?"--"Nowhere."--"What
were you doing in Paris?"--"I was walking about."--" Whom have you seen
in Paris?"--" I shall name no one; I know no one."
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