The Count van Horn
During the minority of Louis XV., while the Duke of Orleans was Regentof France, a young Flemish nobleman, the Count Antoine Joseph Van Horn,made his sudden appearance in Paris, and by his character, conduct, andthe subsequent disasters in which he became involved, created a greatsensation in the high circles of the proud aristocracy. He was abouttwenty-two years of age, tall, finely formed, with a pale, romanticcountenance, and eyes of remarkable brilliancy and wildness.He was of one of the most ancient and highly-esteemed families ofEuropean nobility, being of the line of the Princes of Horn andOverique, sovereign Counts of Hautekerke, and hereditary Grand Veneursof the empire.The family took its name from the little town and seigneurie of Horn, inBrabant; and was known as early as the eleventh century among the littledynasties of the Netherlands, and since that time by a long line ofillustrious generations. At the peace of Utrecht, when the Netherlandspassed under subjection to Austria, the house of Van Horn came under thedomination of the emperor. At the time we treat of, two of the branchesof this ancient house were extinct; the third and only surviving branchwas represented by the reigning prince, Maximilian Emanuel Van Horn,twenty-four years of age, who resided in honorable and courtly styleon his hereditary domains at Baussigny, in the Netherlands, and hisbrother, the Count Antoine Joseph, who is the subject of this memoir.The ancient house of Van Horn, by the intermarriage of its variousbranches with the noble families of the continent, had become widelyconnected and interwoven with the high aristocracy of Europe. The CountAntoine, therefore, could claim relationship to many of the proudestnames in Paris. In fact, he was grandson, by the mother's side, of thePrince de Ligne, and even might boast of affinity to the Regent (theDuke of Orleans) himself. There were circumstances, however, connectedwith his sudden appearance in Paris, and his previous story, that placedhim in what is termed "a false position;" a word of baleful significancein the fashionable vocabulary of France.The young count had been a captain in the service of Austria, but hadbeen cashiered for irregular conduct, and for disrespect to Prince Louisof Baden, commander-in-chief. To check him in his wild career, andbring him to sober reflection, his brother the prince caused him to bearrested and sent to the old castle of Van Wert, in the domains of Horn.This was the same castle in which, in former times, John Van Horn,Stadtholder of Gueldres, had imprisoned his father; a circumstance whichhas furnished Rembrandt with the subject of an admirable painting. Thegovernor of the castle was one Van Wert, grandson of the famous John VanWert, the hero of many a popular song and legend. It was the intentionof the prince that his brother should be held in honorable durance, forhis object was to sober and improve, not to punish and afflict him. VanWert, however, was a stern, harsh man of violent passions. He treatedthe youth in a manner that prisoners and offenders were treated in thestrong-holds of the robber counts of Germany in old times; confined himin a dungeon and inflicted on him such hardships and indignities thatthe irritable temperament of the young count was roused to continualfury, which ended in insanity. For six months was the unfortunate youthkept in this horrible state, without his brother the prince beinginformed of his melancholy condition or of the cruel treatment to whichhe was subjected. At length, one day, in a paroxysm of frenzy, the countknocked down two of his gaolers with a beetle, escaped from the castleof Van Wert, and eluded all pursuit; and after roving about in a stateof distraction, made his way to Baussigny and appeared like a sceptrebefore his brother.The prince was shocked at his wretched, emaciated appearance and hislamentable state of mental alienation. He received him with the mostcompassionate tenderness; lodged him in his own room, appointed threeservants to attend and watch over him day and night, and endeavored bythe most soothing and affectionate assiduity to atone for the past actof rigor with which he reproached himself. When he learned, however, themanner in which his unfortunate brother had been treated in confinement,and the course of brutalities that had led to his mental malady, he wasroused to indignation. His first step was to cashier Van Wert from hiscommand. That violent man set the prince at defiance, and attempted tomaintain himself in his government and his castle by instigating thepeasants, for several leagues round, to revolt. His insurrection mighthave been formidable against the power of a petty prince; but he was putunder the ban of the empire and seized as a state prisoner. The memoryof his grandfather, the oft-sung John Van Wert, alone saved him from agibbet; but he was imprisoned in the strong tower of Horn-op-Zee. Therehe remained until he was eighty-two years of age, savage, violent, andunconquered to the last; for we are told that he never ceased fightingand thumping as long as he could close a fist or wield a cudgel.In the mean time a course of kind and gentle treatment and wholesomeregimen, and, above all, the tender and affectionate assiduity of hisbrother, the prince, produced the most salutary effects upon CountAntoine. He gradually recovered his reason; but a degree of violenceseemed always lurking at the bottom of his character, and he requiredto be treated with the greatest caution and mildness, for the leastcontradiction exasperated him.In this state of mental convalescence, he began to find the supervisionand restraints of brotherly affection insupportable; so he left theNetherlands furtively, and repaired to Paris, whither, in fact, itis said he was called by motives of interest, to make arrangementsconcerning a valuable estate which he inherited from his relative, thePrincess d'Epinay.On his arrival in Paris, he called upon the Marquis of Crqui, and otherof the high nobility with whom he was connected. He was received withgreat courtesy; but, as he brought no letters from his elder brother,the prince, and as various circumstances of his previous history hadtranspired, they did not receive him into their families, nor introducehim to their ladies. Still they fted him in bachelor style, gave himgay and elegant suppers at their separate apartments, and took him totheir boxes at the theatres. He was often noticed, too, at the doors ofthe most fashionable churches, taking his stand among the young menof fashion; and at such times, his tall, elegant figure, his pale buthandsome countenance, and his flashing eyes, distinguished him fromamong the crowd; and the ladies declared that it was almost impossibleto support his ardent gaze.The Count did not afflict himself much at his limited circulation in thefastidious circles of the high aristocracy. He relished society of awilder and less ceremonious cast; and meeting with loose companions tohis taste, soon ran into all the excesses of the capital, in that mostlicentious period. It is said that, in the course of his wild career, hehad an intrigue with a lady of quality, a favorite of the Regent; thathe was surprised by that prince in one of his interviews; that sharpwords passed between them; and that the jealousy and vengeance thusawakened, ended only with his life.About this time, the famous Mississippi scheme of Law was at its height,or rather it began to threaten that disastrous catastrophe whichconvulsed the whole financial world. Every effort was making to keep thebubble inflated. The vagrant population of France was swept off from thestreets at night, and conveyed to Havre de Grace, to be shipped to theprojected colonies; even laboring people and mechanics were thus crimpedand spirited away. As Count Antoine was in the habit of sallying forthat night, in disguise, in pursuit of his pleasures, he came near beingcarried off by a gang of crimps; it seemed, in fact, as if they had beenlying in wait for him, as he had experienced very rough treatment attheir hands. Complaint was made of his case by his relation, the Marquisde Crqui, who took much interest in the youth; but the Marquis receivedmysterious intimations not to interfere in the matter, but to advise theCount to quit Paris immediately; "If he lingers, he is lost!" This hasbeen cited as a proof that vengeance was dogging at the heels of theunfortunate youth, and only watching for an opportunity to destroy him.Such opportunity occurred but too soon. Among the loose companions withwhom the Count had become intimate, were two who lodged in the samehotel with him. One was a youth only twenty years of age, who passedhimself off as the Chevalier d'Etampes, but whose real name was Lestang,the prodigal son of a Flemish banker. The other, named Laurent de Mille,a Piedmontese, was a cashiered captain, and at the time an esquirein the service of the dissolute Princess de Carignan, who keptgambling-tables in her palace. It is probable that gambling propensitieshad driven these young men together, and that their losses had broughtthem to desperate measures: certain it is, that all Paris was suddenlyastounded by a murder which they were said to have committed. What madethe crime more startling, was, that it seemed connected with the greatMississippi scheme, at that time the fruitful source of all kinds ofpanics and agitations. A Jew, a stock-broker, who dealt largely inshares of the bank of Law, founded on the Mississippi scheme, was thevictim. The story of his death is variously related. The darkest accountstates, that the Jew was decoyed by these young men into an obscuretavern, under pretext of negotiating with him for bank shares to theamount of one hundred thousand crowns, which he had with him in hispocket-book. Lestang kept watch upon the stairs. The Count and De Milleentered with the Jew into a chamber. In a little while there were heardcries and struggles from within. A waiter passing by the room, lookedin, and seeing the Jew weltering in his blood, shut the door again,double-locked it, and alarmed the house. Lestang rushed downstairs, madehis way to the hotel, secured his most portable effects, and fled thecountry. The Count and De Mille endeavored to escape by the window, butwere both taken, and conducted to prison.A circumstance which occurs in this part of the Count's story, seems topoint him out as a fated man. His mother, and his brother, the PrinceVan Horn, had received intelligence some time before at Baussigny, ofthe dissolute life the Count was leading at Paris, and of his losses atplay. They despatched a gentleman of the prince's household to Paris, topay the debts of the Count, and persuade him to return to Flanders; or,if he should refuse, to obtain an order from the Regent for him to quitthe capital. Unfortunately the gentleman did not arrive at Paris untilthe day after the murder.The news of the Count's arrest and imprisonment on a charge of murder,caused a violent sensation among the high aristocracy. All thoseconnected with him, who had treated him hitherto with indifference,found their dignity deeply involved in the question of his guilt orinnocence. A general convocation was held at the hotel of the Marquis deCrqui, of all the relatives and allies of the house of Horn. It wasan assemblage of the most proud and aristocratic personages of Paris.Inquiries were made into the circumstances of the affair. It wasascertained, beyond a doubt, that the Jew was dead, and that he had beenkilled by several stabs of a poniard. In escaping by the window, it wassaid that the Count had fallen, and been immediately taken; but that DeMille had fled through the streets, pursued by the populace, and hadbeen arrested at some distance from the scene of the murder; that theCount had declared himself innocent of the death of the Jew, and thathe had risked his own life in endeavoring to protect him; but that DeMille, on being brought back to the tavern, confessed to a plot tomurder the broker, and rob him of his pocket-book, and inculpated theCount in the crime.Another version of the story was, that the Count Van Horn had depositedwith the broker, bank shares to the amount of eighty-eight thousandlivres; that he had sought him in this tavern, which was one of hisresorts, and had demanded the shares; that the Jew had denied thedeposit; that a quarrel had ensued, in the course of which the Jewstruck the Count in the face; that the latter, transported with rage,had snatched up a knife from a table, and wounded the Jew in theshoulder; and that thereupon De Mille, who was present, and who hadlikewise been defrauded by the broker, fell on him, and despatched himwith blows of a poniard, and seized upon his pocket-book; that he hadoffered to divide the contents of the latter with the Count, pro rata,of what the usurer had defrauded them; that the latter had refused theproposition with disdain, and that, at a noise of persons approaching,both had attempted to escape from the premises, but had been taken.Regard the story in any way they might, appearances were terriblyagainst the Count, and the noble assemblage was in great consternation.What was to be done to ward off so foul a disgrace and to save theirillustrious escutcheons from this murderous stain of blood? Theirfirst attempt was to prevent the affair from going to trial, and theirrelative from being dragged before a criminal tribunal, on so horribleand degrading a charge. They applied, therefore, to the Regent, tointervene his power; to treat the Count as having acted under an accessof his mental malady; and to shut him up in a madhouse. The Regent wasdeaf to their solicitations. He replied, coldly, that if the Count was amadman, one could not get rid too quickly of madmen who were furious intheir insanity. The crime was too public and atrocious to be hushed upor slurred over; justice must take its course.Seeing there was no avoiding the humiliating scene of a public trial,the noble relatives of the Count endeavored to predispose the minds ofthe magistrates before whom he was to be arraigned. They accordinglymade urgent and eloquent representations of the high descent, and nobleand powerful connexions of the Count; set forth the circumstances of hisearly history; his mental malady; the nervous irritability to which hewas subject, and his extreme sensitiveness to insult or contradiction.By these means they sought to prepare the judges to interpret everything in favor of the Count, and, even if it should prove that he hadinflicted the mortal blow on the usurer, to attribute it to access ofinsanity, provoked by insult.To give full effect to these representations, the noble conclavedetermined to bring upon the judges the dazzling rays of the wholeassembled aristocracy. Accordingly, on the day that the trial tookplace, the relations of the Count, to the number of fifty-seven persons,of both sexes, and of the highest rank, repaired in a body to the Palaceof Justice, and took their stations in a long corridor which led to thecourt-room. Here, as the judges entered, they had to pass in review thisarray of lofty and noble personages, who saluted them mournfully andsignificantly, as they passed. Any one conversant with the stately prideand jealous dignity of the French noblesse of that day, may imagine theextreme state of sensitiveness that produced this self-abasement. It wasconfidently presumed, however, by the noble suppliants, that having oncebrought themselves to this measure, their influence over the tribunalwould be irresistible. There was one lady present, however, Madame deBeauffremont, who was affected with the Scottish gift of second sight,and related such dismal and sinister apparitions as passing beforeher eyes, that many of her female companions were filled with dolefulpresentiments.Unfortunately for the Count, there was another interest at work, morepowerful even than the high aristocracy. The all-potent Abb Dubois, thegrand favorite and bosom counsellor of the Regent, was deeply interestedin the scheme of Law, and the prosperity of his bank, and of course inthe security of the stock-brokers. Indeed, the Regent himself is said tohave dipped deep in the Mississippi scheme. Dubois and Law, therefore,exerted their influence to the utmost to have the tragic affair pushedto the extremity of the law, and the murder of the broker punished inthe most signal and appalling manner. Certain it is, the trial wasneither long nor intricate. The Count and his fellow prisoner wereequally inculpated in the crime; and both were condemned to a death themost horrible and ignominious--to be broken alive on the wheel!As soon as the sentence of the court was made public, all the nobility,in any degree related to the house of Van Horn, went into mourning.Another grand aristocratical assemblage was held, and a petition to theRegent, on behalf of the Count, was drawn out and left with the Marquisde Crqui for signature. This petition set forth the previous insanityof the Count, and showed that it was a hereditary malady of his family.It stated various circumstances in mitigation of his offence, andimplored that his sentence might be commuted to perpetual imprisonment.Upward of fifty names of the highest nobility, beginning with the Princede Ligne, and including cardinals, archbishops, dukes, marquises, etc.,together with ladies of equal rank, were signed to this petition. Byone of the caprices of human pride and vanity, it became an object ofambition to get enrolled among the illustrious suppliants; a kind oftestimonial of noble blood, to prove relationship to a murderer! TheMarquis de Crqui was absolutely besieged by applicants to sign, and hadto refer their claims to this singular honor, to the Prince de Ligne,the grandfather of the Count. Many who were excluded, were highlyincensed, and numerous feuds took place. Nay, the affronts thus given tothe morbid pride of some aristocratical families, passed from generationto generation; for, fifty years afterward, the Duchess of Mazarincomplained of a slight which her father had received from the Marquisde Crqui; which proved to be something connected with the signature ofthis petition. This important document being completed, the illustriousbody of petitioners, male and female, on Saturday evening, the eve ofPalm Sunday, repaired to the Palais Royal, the residence of the Regent,and were ushered, with great ceremony but profound silence, into hishall of council. They had appointed four of their number as deputies, topresent the petition, viz.: the Cardinal de Rohan, the Duke de Havr,the Prince de Ligne, and the Marquis de Crqui. After a little while,the deputies were summoned to the cabinet of the Regent. They entered,leaving the assembled petitioners in a state of the greatest anxiety.As time slowly wore away, and the evening advanced, the gloom of thecompany increased. Several of the ladies prayed devoutly; the goodPrincess of Armagnac told her beads.The petition was received by the Regent with a most unpropitious aspect."In asking the pardon of the criminal," said he, "you display more zealfor the house of Van Horn, than for the service of the king." The nobledeputies enforced the petition by every argument in their power. Theysupplicated the Regent to consider that the infamous punishment inquestion would reach not merely the person of the condemned, notmerely the house of Van Horn, but also the genealogies of princelyand illustrious families, in whose armorial bearings might be foundquarterings of this dishonored name."Gentlemen," replied the Regent, "it appears to me the disgrace consistsin the crime, rather than in the punishment."The Prince de Ligne spoke with warmth: "I have in my genealogicalstandard," said he, "four escutcheons of Van Horn, and of course havefour ancestors of that house. I must have them erased and effaced, andthere would be so many blank spaces, like holes, in my heraldic ensigns.There is not a sovereign family which would not suffer, through therigor of your Royal Highness; nay, all the world knows, that in thethirty-two quarterings of Madame, your mother, there is an escutcheon ofVan Horn.""Very well," replied the Regent, "I will share the disgrace with you,gentlemen."Seeing that a pardon could not be obtained, the Cardinal de Rohan andthe Marquis de Crqui left the cabinet; but the Prince de Ligne and theDuke de Havr remained behind. The honor of their houses, more than thelife of the unhappy Count, was the great object of their solicitude.They now endeavored to obtain a minor grace. They represented that inthe Netherlands, and in Germany, there was an important difference inthe public mind as to the mode of inflicting the punishment of deathupon persons of quality. That decapitation had no influence on thefortunes of the family of the executed, but that the punishment of thewheel was such an infamy, that the uncles, aunts, brothers, and sistersof the criminal, and his whole family, for three succeeding generations,were excluded from all noble chapters, princely abbeys, sovereignbishoprics, and even Teutonic commanderies of the Order of Malta. Theyshowed how this would operate immediately upon the fortunes of a sisterof the Count, who was on the point of being received as a canoness intoone of the noble chapters.While this scene was going on in the cabinet of the Regent, theillustrious assemblage of petitioners remained in the hall of council,in the most gloomy state of suspense. The re-entrance from the cabinetof the Cardinal de Rohan and the Marquis de Crqui, with pale, downcastcountenances, had struck a chill into every heart. Still they lingereduntil near midnight, to learn the result of the after application. Atlength the cabinet conference was at an end. The Regent came forth, andsaluted the high personages of the assemblage in a courtly manner. Oneold lady of quality, Madame de Guyon, whom he had known in his infancy,he kissed on the cheek, calling her his "good aunt." He made a mostceremonious salutation to the stately Marchioness de Crqui, tellingher he was charmed to see her at the Palais Royal; "a compliment veryill-timed," said the Marchioness, "considering the circumstance whichbrought me there." He then conducted the ladies to the door of thesecond saloon, and there dismissed them, with the most ceremoniouspoliteness.The application of the Prince de Ligne and the Duke de Havr, for achange of the mode of punishment, had, after much difficulty, beensuccessful. The Regent had promised solemnly to send a letter ofcommutation to the attorney-general on Holy Monday, the 25th of March,at five o'clock in the morning. According to the same promise, ascaffold would be arranged in the cloister of the Conciergerie,or prison, where the Count would be beheaded on the same morning,immediately after having received absolution. This mitigation of theform of punishment gave but little consolation to the great body ofpetitioners, who had been anxious for the pardon of the youth: it waslooked upon as all-important, however, by the Prince de Ligne, who, ashas been before observed,--was exquisitely alive to the dignity of hisfamily.The Bishop of Bayeux and the Marquis de Crqui visited the unfortunateyouth in prison. He had just received the communion in the chapel of theConciergerie, and was kneeling before the altar, listening to a mass forthe dead, which was performed at his request. He protested his innocenceof any intention to murder the Jew, but did not deign to allude to theaccusation of robbery. He made the bishop and the Marquis promise to seehis brother the prince, and inform him of this his dying asseveration.Two other of his relations, the Prince Rebecq-Montmorency and theMarshal Van Isenghien, visited him secretly, and offered him poison, asa means of evading the disgrace of a public execution. On his refusingto take it, they left him with high indignation. "Miserable man!" saidthey, "you are fit only to perish by the hand of the executioner!"The Marquis de Crqui sought the executioner of Paris, to bespeak aneasy and decent death--for the unfortunate youth. "Do not make himsuffer," said he; "uncover no part of him but the neck; and have hisbody placed in a coffin, before you deliver it to his family." Theexecutioner promised all that was requested, but declined a rouleau of ahundred louis-d'ors which the Marquis would have put into his hand. "Iam paid by the king for fulfilling my office," said he; and added thathe had already refused a like sum, offered by another relation of theMarquis.The Marquis de Crqui returned home in a state of deep affliction. Therehe found a letter from the Duke de St. Simon, the familiar friend of theRegent, repeating the promise of that prince, that the punishment of thewheel should be commuted to decapitation."Imagine," says the Marchioness de Crqui, who in her memoirs gives adetailed account of this affair, "imagine what we experienced, and whatwas our astonishment, our grief, and indignation, when, on Tuesday, the26th of March, an hour after midday, word was brought us that the CountVan Horn had been exposed on the wheel, in the Place de Grve, sincehalf-past six in the morning, on the same scaffold with the Piedmontesede Mille, and that he had been tortured previous to execution!"One more scene of aristocratic pride closed this tragic story. TheMarquis de Crqui, on receiving this astounding news, immediatelyarrayed himself in the uniform of a general officer, with his cordonof nobility on the coat. He ordered six valets to attend him in grandlivery, and two of his carriages, each with six horses, to be broughtforth. In this sumptuous state, he set off for the Place de Grve, wherehe had been preceded by the Princes de Ligne, de Rohan, de Croy, andthe Duke de Havr.The Count Van Horn was already dead, and it was believed that theexecutioner had had the charity to give him the coup de grace, or"death-blow," at eight o'clock in the morning. At five o'clock in theevening, when the Judge Commissary left his post at the Hotel de Ville,these noblemen, with their own hands, aided to detach the mutilatedremains of their relation; the Marquis de Crequi placed them in one ofhis carriages, and bore them off to his hotel, to receive the last sadobsequies.The conduct of the Regent in this affair excited general indignation.His needless severity was attributed by some to vindictive jealousy; byothers to the persevering machinations of Law. The house of Van Horn,and the high nobility of Flanders and Germany, considered themselvesflagrantly outraged: many schemes of vengeance were talked of, and ahatred engendered against the Regent, that followed him through life,and was wreaked with bitterness upon his memory after his death.The following letter is said to have been written to the Regent by thePrince Van Horn, to whom the former had adjudged the confiscated effectsof the Count:"I do not complain, Sir, of the death of my brother, but I complainthat your Royal Highness has violated in his person the rights of thekingdom, the nobility, and the nation. I thank you for the confiscationof his effects; but I should think myself as much disgraced as he,should I accept any favor at your hands. I hope that God and theKing may render to you as strict justice as you have rendered to myunfortunate brother."
THE END.* * * * * * * * * * * *
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