Dans la trilogie romanesque des Sainte-Hermine, Les Blancs et les Bleus
précède, selon la stricte chronologie historique, Les Compagnons de Jéhu
et Le Chevalier de Sainte-Hermine - le grand roman de Dumas perdu et
retrouvé en 2005. (Il est vrai que le grand Alexandre, fin raconteur,
s'est arrangé pour qu'on puisse lire les trois récits, indifféremment,
dans l'ordre ou dans le désordre.) Suivant cette fois la grande histoire
pas à pas, le romancier nous fait vivre, de la fin de 1793 à l'été de
1799, sur fond de rivalité sanglante entre royalistes (les Blancs) et
républicains (les Bleus), l'irrésistible ascension d'un jeune officier
corse du nom de Bonaparte, qui s'illustre tour à tour à Toulon, dans le
Paris de la Révolution finissante, en Italie, en Egypte... Sur cette
route soigneusement balisée chevauchent aussi deux héros bien dumasiens :
Roland de Montrevel (le Bleu) et Charles de Sainte-Hermine (le Blanc, frè
re a?né du fameux " chevalier "), et deux héro?nes aussi opposées qu'il
se peut : la douce et touchante Aurélie de Saint-Amour, la bien nommée,
et l'intraitable Diana de Vargas. Sans oublier le joker de service : le
beau Coster de Saint-Victor (que l'on retrouvera dans Le Chevalier de
Sainte-Hermine), dandy " blanc ", amant d'Aurélie et bien près de
succomber aux charmes venimeux de la terrible Diana... N'en disons pas
plus... sinon que Dumas s'entend à nous faire respirer comme jamais les
parfums mêlés du danger et de la gloire. Et précisons tout de même que la
présente édition, réalisée par Claude Schopp - le ma?tre incontesté des é
tudes dumasiennes - se distingue fortement de toutes les autres dans la
mesure où le texte de Dumas se trouvait jusqu'ici encombré d'erreurs qui
n'avaient jamais été corrigées... et amputé des derniers chapitres, qu'on
lira ici pour la première fois !
Voici donc enfin réédité Les Blancs et les Bleus, premier volet de cette
trilogie dumasienne qui se poursuit avec Les Compagnons de Jéhu et se
termine avec Le Chevalier de Sainte-Hermine ! Alexandre Dumas nous livre
ici une épaisse tranche de l'Histoire de France, une des plus riches, une
des plus denses, nous racontant " comme on doit les savoir, ces grands
faits de nos chroniques ". De décembre 1793 à ao?t 1799, le grand ma?tre
du roman historique nous conduit ainsi dans un Strasbourg menacé par les
troupes austro-prusiennes, où le jeune Charles Nodier rencontre Eugène de
Beauharnais, Saint-Just, le général Pichegru ; à Paris, où un général,
qui s'est déjà illustré en reprenant Toulon aux Anglais, sauve la
Convention de l'insurrection royaliste ; en Bretagne où les chouans de
Cadoudal combattent les Républicains, dans la région de Bourg-en-Bresse o
ù les compagnons de Jéhu, menés par le comte de Sainte-Hermine, volent
l'or de la République pour alimenter la rébellion ; en Italie puis en
Egypte d'où Bonaparte voguera vers son destin impérial... Grande fresque
romanesque ne ménagent ni les péripéties, ni les personnages, Les Blancs
et les Bleus saura vous faire aimer l'Histoire.作者: cygnuszzz 时间: 2012-8-24 23:00
目录
CONTENTS
PROLOGUE
THE PRUSSIANS ON THE RHINE
01. From the Hotel de la Poste to the Hotel de la Lanterne
02. The Citizeness Teutch
03. Euloge Schneider
04. Eugene de Beauharnais
05. Mademoiselle de Brumpt
06. Master Nicholas
07. Filial Love, or the Wooden Leg
08. The Provocation
09. In which Charles is Arrested
10. Schneider's Journey
11. The Marriage Proposal
12. Saint-Just
13. The Wedding of Euloge Schneider
14. Wishes
15. The Count de Sainte-Hermine
16. The Foraging Cap
17. Pichegru
18. Charles's Reception
19. The Spy
20. The Dying Man's Prophecy
21. The Night Before the Battle
22. The Battle
23. After the Battle
24. Citizen Fenouillot, Commercial Traveller for Champagne
25. Chasseur Falou and Corporal Faraud
26. The Prince's Envoy
27. Pichegru's Reply
28. The Drum-Head Marriage
29. The Prussian Artillery for Six Hundred Francs
30. The Organ
31. In which the Organ-Grinder's Plan Begins to Develop .
32. The Toast
33. The Order of the Day
34. A Chapter which is but One with the Following Chapter
35. In which Abatucci Fulfils the Mission that he has Received fromhis General, and Charles that which he Received from God
THE THIRTEENTH VENDEMIAIRE
01. A Bird's-Eye view
02. A Glimpse of Paris The lucroyablcs
03. The Merveilleuses
04. The Sections
05. The President of the Section le Peletier
06. Three Leaders
07. General Roundhead and the Chief of the Companions of Jehu
08. The Man in the Green Coat
09. An Incroyable and a Merveilleuse
10. Two Portraits
11. Aspasia's Toilet
12. For which voltaire and Rousseau are to Blame .
13. The Eleventh vendemiaire
14. The Twelfth vendemiaire
15. The Night of the 12th and the 13th vendemiaire
16. The Salon of Madame de Stael, the Swedish Ambassadress
17. The Hotel of the Rights of Man
18. Citizen Bonaparte
19. Citizen Garat
20. The Outposts
21. The Steps of Saint-Roch
22. The Rout
23. The victory
24. The Sword of the vicomte de Beauharnais
25. The Map of Marengo
26. Marie-Rose-Josephine Tascher de la Pagerie, vicomtesse Beauharnais.
27. Where an Angel Steps a Miracle is Performed
28. The Sibyl
29. Fortune-Telling
30. The Pretended Incroyable
31. "Macbeth, thou Shalt be King!"
32. The Man of the Future
THE EIGHTEENTH FRUCTIOR
0I. A Glance at the Provinces
02. The Traveller
03. The Chartreuse of Seillon
04. The Traitor
05. The Judgment
06. Diane of Fargas
07. "What was Talked About for More than Three Months in the Little Town of Nantua
08. A New Companion is Received into the Society of Jehu under the Name of Alcibiades
09. The Comte de Fargas
10. The Trouillasse Tower
11. Brother and Sister .
12. In which the Reader will Meet some Old Acquaintances
13. Citizens and Messieurs
14. The Cause of Citizen-General Bonaparte's Ill-Humor
15. Augereau
16. The Citizen-Directors
17. Mademoiselle de Sainte-Amour's Sick-Headache
18. The Mission of Mademoiselle de Fargas
19. The Travellers
20. "The Best of Friends Must Part" .
21. Citizen Francois Gotilin
22. Colonel Hulot
23. The Battle
24. Portia
25. Cadoudal's Idea
26. The Road to the Scaffold
27. The Execution
28. The Seventh Fructidor
29. Jean-victor Moreau
30. The Eighteenth Fructidor
31. The Temple
32. The Exiles
33. The Journey
34. The Embarkation
35. Farewell, France!
THE EIGHTH CRUSADE
01. Saint-Joan-d' Acre
02. The Prisoners
03. The Carnage
04. From Ancient Days to Our Own
05. Sidney Smith
06. Ptolemais
07. The Scouts
08. The Beautiful Daughters of Nazareth
09. The Battle of Nazareth
10. Mount Tabor
11. The Bullet Merchant
12. How Citizen Pierre-Claude Faraud was made a. Sub- Lieutenant
13. The Last Assault
14. The Last Bulletin
15. vanished Dreams
16. The Eetreat
17. Wherein we see that Bonaparte's Presentiments did not Deceive Him
18. Aboukir
19. Departure
作者: cygnuszzz 时间: 2012-8-30 19:37
CHAPTER 1
From the Hotel de la Poste to the Hotel de la Lanterne
On the 21st Frimaire of the year II. (11th of December, 1793), the diligence from Besancon to Strasbourg stopped at nine o'clock in the evening in the courtyard of the Hotel de la Poste, behind the cathedral.
Five travellers descended from it, but the youngest only merits our attention.
He was a boy of thirteen or fourteen, thin and pale, who might have been taken for a girl dressed in boy's clothes, so sweet and melancholy was the expression of his face. His hair, which he wore cut a la Titus a fashion which zealous Republicans had adopted in imitation of Talma was dark brown; eyelashes of the same color shaded eyes of deep blue, which rested, with remarkable intelligence, like two interrogation points, upon men and things. He had thin lips, fine teeth, and a charming smile, and he was dressed in the fashion of the day, if not elegantly, at least so carefully that it was easy to see that a woman had superintended his toilet.
The conductor, who seemed to be particularly watchful of the boy, handed him a small package, like a soldier's knapsack, which could be hung over the shoulders by a pair of straps. Then, looking around, he called: "Hallo! Is there any one here from the Hotel de la Lanterne looking for a young traveller from Besancon ?"
"I'm here," replied a gruff, coarse voice.
And a man who looked like a groom approached. He was hardly distinguishable in the gloom, in spite of the lantern he carried, which lighted nothing but the pavement at his feet. He turned toward the open door of the huge vehicle.
"Ah! so it's you, Sleepy- head," cried the conductor.
"My name's not Sleepy-head; it's Codes," replied the groom, in a surly tone, "and I am looking for the citizen Charles."
"You come from citizeness Teutch, don't you?" said the boy, in a soft tone that formed an admirable contrast to the groom's surly tones.
"Yes, from the citizeness Teutch. Well, are you ready, citizen?"
"Conductor," said the boy, "you will tell them at home "
"That you arrived safely, and that there was some one to meet you; don't worry about that, Monsieur Charles."
"Oh, ho!" said the groom, in a tone verging upon a menace, as he drew near the conductor and the boy.
"Well, what do you mean with your 'Oh, ho' ?"
"I mean that the words you use may be all right in the Franche-Comte*, but that they are all wrong in Alsace."
"Really," said the conductor, mockingly, "you don't say so?"
"And I would advise you," continued citizen Cocles, "to leave your monsieurs in your diligence, as they are not in fashion here in Strasbourg. Especially now that we are so fortunate as to have citizens Lebas and Saint-Just within our walls."
"Get along with your citizens Lebas and Saint-Just! And take this young man to the Hotel de la Lanterne."
And, without paying further heed to the advice of citizen Codes, the conductor entered the Hotel de la Poste.
The man with the torch followed the conductor with his eyes, muttering to himself; then he turned to the boy: "Come on, citizen Charles," he said. And he went on ahead to show the way.
Strasbourg, even at its best, was never a gay, lively town, especially after the tattoo had been beaten for two hours; but it was duller than ever at the time when our story opens; that is to say, during the early part of the month of December, 1793. The Austro-Prussian army was literally at the gates of the city. Pichegru, generalin- chief of the Army of the Ehine, after gathering together all the scattered forces at his command, had, by force of will and his own example, restored discipline and resumed the offensive on the 18th Frimaire, three days before; organizing a war of skirmishing and sharpshooting, since he was powerless to offer battle. He had succeeded Houchard and Custine, who had been guillotined because they had met with reverses, and Alexandre de Beauharnais, who was also in danger of being guillotined.
Furthermore, Saint-Just and Lebas were there, not only commanding Pichegru to conquer, but decreeing the victory. The guillotine followed them, charged with executing their decrees the instant they were made.
And three decrees had been issued that very day.
The first one ordered the gates of Strasbourg to be closed at three o'clock in the afternoon; any one who delayed their closing, if only for five minutes, did so under pain of death.
The second decree forbade any one to flee before the enemy. The rider who put his horse to a gallop, or the footsoldier who retreated faster than a walk, when turning his back on the enemy on the field of battle, thereby incurred the penalty of death.
The third decree, which was due to fear of being surprised by the enemy, forbade any soldier to remove his clothing at night. Any soldier who disobeyed this order, no matter what his rank, was condemned to death.
The boy who had just entered the city was destined tosee each of these three decrees carried into effect within six days after his arrival in the city.
As we have said, all these circumstances, added to the news which had just arrived from Paris, increased the natural gloominess of the city.
This news told of the deaths of the queen, the Due d' Orleans, Madame Eoland, and Bailly.
There was talk of the speedy recapture of Toulon from the English, but this was as yet a mere rumor.
Neither was the hour liable to make Strasbourg appear to advantage in the new-comer's eyes. After nine o'clock in the evening the dark, narrow streets were wholly given up to the patrol of the civic guard and of the company of the Propagande, who were watching over the public welfare.
Nothing, in fact, could be more depressing and mournful to a traveller newly arrived from a town which is neither in a state of war nor on the frontier than the sound of the nocturnal tramp of an organized body, stopping suddenly at an order given in a muffled tone, and accompanied by the clashing of arms and the exchange of the password each time two squads met.
Two or three of these patrols had already passed our young traveller and his guide, when they met another, which brought them to a halt with the challenging, "Who goes there?"
In Strasbourg there were three different ways of replying to this challenge, which indicated in a sufficiently characteristic way the varying opinions. The indifferent ones replied, "Friends!" The moderates, "Citizens!" The fanatics, "Sans Culottes!"
"Sans Culottes !?" Cocles energetically answered the guard.
"Advance and give the watchword!" cried an imperious voice.
"Ah, good!" said Codes, "I recognize that voice; it belongs to citizen Tetrell. Leave this to me."
"Who is citizen Terrell ?" asked the boy.
"The friend of the people, the terror of the aristocrats, an out-and-outer." Then, advancing like a man who has nothing to fear, he said: "It is I, citizen Tetrell!"
"Ah! you know me," said the leader of the patrol, a giant of five feet ten, who reached something like a height of seven feet with his hat and the plume which surmounted it.
"Indeed I do," exclaimed Codes. "Who does not know citizen Tetrell in Strasbourg?" Then, approaching the colossus, he added: "Good-evening, citizen Tetrell.”
"It's all very well for you to know me," said the giant, "but I don't know you.”
"Oh, yes you do! I am citizen Cocles, who was called Sleepy-head in the days of the tyrant; it was you yourself who baptized me with the name when your horses and dogs were at the Hotel de la Lanterne. Sleepy-head! What, you don't remember Sleepy-head?”
"Why, of course I do; I called you that because you were the laziest rascal I ever knew. And who is this young fellow?”
"He," said Cocles, raising his torch to the level of the boy's face "he is & little chap whom his father has sent to Euloge Schneider to learn Greek.”
"And who is your father, my little friend?" asked Tetrell.
"He is president of the tribunal at Besanon, citizen,”
replied the lad.
"But one must know Latin to learn Greek.”
The boy drew himself up and said: "I do know it.”
"What, you know it?”
"Yes, when I was at Besangon my father and I never spoke anything but Latin.”
"The devil! You seem to be pretty well advanced for one of your age. How old are you? Eleven or twelve ?”
"I am almost fourteen.”
"And what made your father send you to Euloge Schneider to learn Greek?”
"Because my father does not know Greek as well as he does Latin. He taught me all he knew, then he sent me 12 to Euloge Schneider, who speaks Greek fluently, having occupied the chair of Greek at Bonn. See, this is the letter my father gave me for him. Besides, he wrote him a week ago, informing him that I would arrive this evening, and it was he who ordered rny room to be made ready at the Hotel de la Lanterne, and sent citizen Codes to fetch me.”
As he spoke the boy handed citizen Tetrell the letter, to prove that he had told him nothing but the truth.
"Come, Sleepy-head, bring your light nearer," said Terrell.
"Codes, Codes," insisted the groom, obeying his former friend's order nevertheless.
"My young friend," said Tetrell, "may I call your attention to the fact that this letter is not addressed to citizen Schneider but to citizen Pichegru?”
"Ah! I beg pardon, I made a mistake; my father gave me two letters and I have handed you the wrong one.”
Then, taking back the first letter, he gave him a second.
"Ah! this time we are right," said Tetrell. "To the citizen Euloge Schneider.”
"filoge Schneider," repeated Codes, correcting in his own way the first name of the public prosecutor, which he thought Tetrell had mispronounced.
"Give your guide a lesson in Greek," laughed the leader of the patrol, "and tell him that the name Euloge means come, my lad, what does it mean ?”
"A fine speaker," replied the boy.
"Well answered, upon my word! do you hear, Sleepyhead?”
"Codes," repeated the groom, obstinately, more difficult to convince regarding his own name than concerning that of the public prosecutor.
In the meantime Tetrell had drawn the boy aside, and, bending down until he could whisper in his ear, he said:
"Are you going to the Hotel de la Lanterne ?”
"Yes, citizen," replied the child.
13 "You will find two of your compatriots there, who have come here to defend and reclaim the adjutant- general, Charles Perrin, who is accused of treason.”
"Yes, citizens Dumont and Ballu.”
"That's right. Well, tell them that not only have they nothing to hope for their client, but their stay here bodes them no good. It is merely a question of their heads. Do you understand?”
"No, I do not understand," replied the boy.
"What! don't you understand that Saint-Just will have their heads cut off like two chickens if they remain ? Advise them to go, and the sooner the better. “ "Shall I tell them that you said so ?”
"No, indeed! For them to make me pay for the broken pots, or, rather, for the pots that are not broken." Then, straightening up, he cried: "Very well, you are good citizens, go your way. Come, march, you others!”
And citizen Tetrell went off at the head of his patrol, leaving Codes very proud of having talked for ten minutes with a man of such importance, and citizen Charles much disturbed by the confidence which had just been reposed in him. Both continued their way in silence.
The weather was dark and gloomy, as it is apt to be in December in the north and east of France; and although the moon was nearly at its full, great black clouds swept across its face like equinoctial waves. To reach the Hotel de la Lanterne, which was in the street formerly called the Hue de 1' Archeveque, and was now known as the Rue de la Deesse-Raison, they had to cross the market square, at the extremity of which rose a huge scaffolding, against which the boy, in his abstraction, almost stumbled.
"Take care, citizen Charles," said the groom, laughing, "you will knock down the guillotine.”
The boy gave a cry and drew back in terror. Just then the moon shone out brilliantly for a few seconds. For an instant the horrible instrument was visible and a pale, sad ray quivered upon its blade.
"My God! do they use it?" asked the boy, ingenuously, drawing closer to the groom.
"What! do they use it?" the latter replied, gayly; "I should think so, and every day at that. It was Mother Kaisin's turn to-day. In spite of her eighty years she ended her life there. It didn't do her any good to tell the executioner: 'It's not worth while killing me, my son; wait a bit and I'll die by myself.' She was slivered like the rest.”
"What had the poor woman done?”
"She gave a bit of bread to a starving Austrian. She said that he had asked her in German and so she thought he was a compatriot, but it was no use. They replied that since the time of I don't know what tyrant, the Alsatians and the Austrians were not compatriots.”
The poor child, who had left home for the first time, and who had never experienced so many varying emotions in the course of one evening, suddenly felt cold. Was it the effect of the weather or of Codes' story ? Whatever it was he threw a final glance at the instrument, which, as the moonbeams faded, retreated into the night like a shadow, and then asked, with chattering teeth: "Are we far from the Lanterne ?” "Faith, no; for here it is," replied Codes, pointing to an enormous lantern hanging over the doorway, which lighted the street for twenty feet around it.
"It's time," said the boy, with a shiver.
And, running the rest of the way, he opened the door of the hotel and darted into the kitchen, where a great fire burning in an immense chimney-piece drew forth a cry of satisfaction from him. Madame Teutch answered the exclamation with a similar one, for, although she had never seen him, she recognized in him the young boy who had been recommended to her care, as she saw Codes appear in turn on the threshold with his light. 作者: cygnuszzz 时间: 2013-3-7 14:02
自译
① 斯特拉斯堡：Strasbour，法国东北部城市。
② 圣·茹斯特：Saint-Just，Louis Antoine Leon de Saint-Just (1767-1794)18世纪法国资产阶级革命时期雅各宾派领袖之一,雅各宾派专政时期任公安委员会委员,为罗伯斯比尔最亲密的战友和助手,1794年7月27日热月政变时被捕,次日被杀害。