Le patriote a pour amis L'aristocrate a pour amis La gendarm'rie avait promis Amis, restons toujours unis, Oui, je suis sans culotte, moi, En dépit des amis du roi, Les Bretons et les lois. (bis.) (bis.) 30, 1792), misled, no doubt, by the name (bis.) (bis.) Fuyez, fuyez, il en est temps! The Carmagnole' was subsequent in point of time to the famous Marseillaise,' which may be regarded as first and chief in importance among the patriotic songs of France. It was not, however, originally a democratic and revolutionary production. The circumstances of its appearance, the feelings of its author, and, above all, the meaning of its words, prove it to be essentially a patriotic, as distinguished from a party, song. As to its origin, Dumersan and Ségur make a singular error. They state that it was composed by Rouget de l'Isle, in honour of the entry of the Marseillais into Paris (July "Nous entrerons dans la carrière" to have been specially added for the use of children, and that 'the name of Rouget, affixed to the street copies (imprimés de deux liards) of this song, is not that of the author.' The real facts of its origin are as follows:Rouget de l'Isle born at Lons-le-Saulnier in 1760 (the same year, be it noted, which gave birth to Arndt, the greatest German patriotic singer), was stationed at Strasburg, as an officer of Engineers, at the time of the declaration of war by Louis XVI. against Austria, in April, 1792. We call attention to the date and the fact to show that the 'Marseillaise' was the work of one of the King's own officers, engaged in service against his master's presumable enemies, to whom the verses refer. We admit, of course, that the King had no choice, and that the force of circumstances compelled him thus to proceed against the few friends he had left; but it is no wonder, considering the fact of the real danger of France and the close proximity of the enemy to Strasburg (an army of observation being actually in the Breisgau, on the opposite side of the Rhine), that the fire of real patriotism should have been kindled fiercely even in the hearts of Frenchmen who were loyal to their King. Strasburg then, as now, was thoroughly French at heart, and one of the foremost in the national uprising against invasion. In this city, as everywhere, volunteer forces were raised, and it was with the object of encouraging this volunteering that Dietrich, the mayor of Strasburg, requested Rouget de l'Isle to compose a song for the occasion. He did it the same night, and hurriedly noted down at the same time the melody, which has ever since been its musical interpretation. This was rehearsed by a number of soldiers, played by a military band; and the words and music produced an astonishing effect when on the Que veut cette horde d'esclaves, De traîtres de rois conjurés? Pour qui ces ignobles entraves, Ces fers dès longtemps préparés? (bis.) Français, pour nous. Ah! quel outrage! Quoi! ces cohortes étrangères Terrasseraient nos fiers guerriers? (bis.) Grand Dieu! par des mains enchaînées Tremblez, tyrans, et vous, perfides, Tout est soldat pour vous combattre ! Français, en guerriers magnanimes, Portez ou retenez vos coups: Epargnez ces tristes victimes A regret s'armant contre nous; Mais ces despotes sanguinaires, Mais les complices de Bouillé, Nous entrerons dans la carrière Soyons unis, tout est possible Nos vils ennemis tomberont; It is easy to see that a different hand has been employed upon this weak interpolation from that of Rouget de l'Isle, concerning whom we may be allowed to add a few words. No stronger proof of his loyalty could be given than that he submitted to be deprived of his rank for refusing to take the oath after the 10th of August; that during the reign of Terro and even at the very date when the Government commanded his song to form a part of every theatrical performance, he was imprisoned and in danger of his life; and that but for his having happily been spared till the 9th Thermidor set him free with so many more, he would have heard his own song chanted, as the ordinary familiar dirge by the mob surrounding him on his way to the guillotine. He served at a later period in the army of the Republic; was wounded at Quiberon; was promised a reward from the Commission of public recompenses, but overlooked in its distribution; was placed on half-pay under the Empire; neglected at the restoration; pensioned at last in 1830, when seventy years of age, by (bis.) Louis Philippe; and died in 1836. (bis.) (bis.) The 'Chant du Départ' is the next of the songs which popular favour, if not poetic merit, has established as a French patriotic classic. Its appearance dates from 1794. It was written by Marie-Joseph-Chénier, for the anniversary festival of the destruction of the Bastille, and, if we accept Dumersan's account, both the words by Chénier and the music by Méhul were improvised amidst the din and conversation of a crowded drawingroom. The success of both, the words which Les esclaves sont des enfants! CHŒUR DES ENFANS. La république nous appelle, etc. inspired the music, and the music which in- | Les républicains sont des hommes, Our readers who are familiar with the music will be best able to judge how much the song loses from its absence; but we nevertheless venture to offer a version of the whole. LE CHANT DU DÉPART. UNE EPOUSE. Partez, vaillants époux: les combats sont vos fêtes; Partez, modèles des guerriers. Nous cueillerons des fleurs pour enceindre VOS têtes; Et, si le temple de mémoire Nos mains tresseront des lauriers; S'ouvrait à vos mânes vainqueurs, La victoire en chantant nous ouvre la barrière, La république nous appelle, etc. Et du Nord au Midi la trompette guerrière A sonné l'heure des combats. Tremblez, ennemis de la France! CHŒUR DE GUERRIERS. La république nous appelle, UNE MÈRE DE FAMILLE. De nos yeux maternels ne craignez pas les larmes, Loin de nous de lâches douleurs ! Et nous, UNE JEUNE FILLE. sœurs des héros, nous qui de l'hymenée Ignorons les aimables nœuds, Si pour s'unir un jour à notre destinée, Et que leur sang, dans les batailles, CHŒUR DES FILLES. La république nous appelle, etc. TROIS GUERRIERS. Sur le fer, devant Dieu, nous jurons à nos pères, Nous devons triompher quand vous prenez les A nos épouses, à nos sœurs, A nos représentants, à nos fils, à nos mères; En tous lieux, dans la nuit profonde, Les Français donneront au monde CHŒUR GÉNÉRAL. La république nous appelle, etc. SONG OF DEPARTURE. r at a Think of us, as the battle ye wage, GENERAL CHORUS. Marie-Joseph Chénier, who produced And drench with the life-blood of king and of many patriotic songs in the revolutionary slave, The brand consecrated by age. So with wounds and with glory you'll come period, was son of the French consul at Constantinople, where he was born in 1762. His first entry into life was as an officer in the army, which he soon abandoned to devote himself to literary pursuits. His first dramatic success was dedicated to the King, Louis XVI., for whose execution he afterwards voted. He became, in the Revolution, a prominent member of the Jacobin party, and is even said to have voted for the execution of his unhappy and gifted brother André, who was guillotined in 1794. But there seems to be no foundation for this atrocious charge, which Marie-Joseph answered in his Épître sur la Calomnie' (1797). In May, 1795, Marie-Joseph turned against the terrorists; in the following August he was made president of the Convention; on the 22nd September he was proclaimed the first of French poets! He became a member of the council of Five Hundred. He held prominent posts under the Directory, the Consulate, and the Empire, and died in the year 1811. The best known of his other songs are 'Hymn to Liberty,' 'Song of the 14th July,' Ode on the Death of Mirabeau,' 'Song of Victory' (one of his best), and the 'Chant du Retour,' which is but a very weak effort at providing a pendant for the Chant du Départ.' The next song, which demands our attention, is the celebrated 'Réveil du Peuple,' to which the 9th Thermidor gave rise. It was composed in 1795, and may be regarded. as the Marseillaise of the Muscadins,' having been constantly sung in the theatres and other places during the reaction produced by the tyranny of Robespierre and the Jacobins, LE RÉVEIL DU PEUPLE. Peuple français, peuple de frères, Bonaparte lui montrera Qu'elle est cette lenteur barbare? Ah! qu'ils périssent, ces infâmes, Apaisez-vous dans vos tombeaux: Le jour tardif de la vengeance Fait enfin pâlir vos bourreaux! Voyez déjà comme ils frémissent! Ils n'osent fuir, les scélérats! Les traces du sang qu'ils vomissent Bientôt décéleraient leurs pas. Oui, nous jurons sur votre tombe, Par notre pays malheureux, De ne faire qu'une hécatombe De ces cannibales affreux. Représentants d'un peuple juste, Fait trembler nos vils assassins, Au sein de l'immortalité! We now pass on to a war song, probably dating a year or two after the peace of Bâle, when France was able to turn her attention towards England. It is impossible to give a translation of it, as its chief merit lies in the wit and pun lurking almost in every line. LA DANSE ANGLAISE. Mais l'Anglaise commence. Les Français donneront le bal: D'abord, par le pas de Calais, On doit entrer en danse. Le son des instruments français Marquera la cadence; Et comme l'Anglais ne saura Que danser les Anglaises, Les figures Françaises. Allons, mes amis, le grand rond, The mention of Napoleon in this song, while affording a tolerably good hint as to its date, leads us on to the time when his increasing influence and power, and the ambition which stirred him to establish the empire, made it necessary for him, where he could not stifle republican feeling, at least to put down its public expression. The 'Marseillaise' had been ordered to be played in the theatres by a decree of the Directory, issued on the 18th Nivôse of the year IV., that is, on the 8th of January, 1795. This decree named other songs besides the 'Marseillaise,' notably the Veillons au Salut de l'Empire, and Chénier's Chant du Départ.' It also prohibited the song of 'Le Réveil du Peuple,' already quoted, which, by the way, must not be confounded with a later Réveil du Peuple,' by Festeau, which dates only from 1848. Till Bonaparte's accession to power the songs we have named had free course, but no sooner was he able to suppress them than they were proscribed. They have always been resuscitated on occasions of insurrection or revolution, and relegated again to abscurity when the political crises which evoked them have passed away; but they were in no respect regarded as national or patriotic songs under the first (or, for that matter, under the second) Empire. In fact a great gap exists from 1795 to 1814 in the list of French national songs. Nor is it to be wondered at. For however much the first Empire may have added to the glory of France, it tended to stifle patriotic songs. For such songs spring out of the fears and doubts, the love and devotion of a nation, and when that nation is great and prosperous, when no dangers menace and no uncertainties oppress its children, as there is no need for patriotism, so there is no audience for patriotic singers, no demand for, and no supply of, patriotic songs. When the first Napoleon fell, when the whole universe seemed leagued together against the nation with whose armies he had trampled victoriously over all Europe, then, as there were * As this song was written in 1791, it is hardly necessary to remark that the word empire referred simply to the nation. |