SILHOUETTES OF STRANGE WOMEN.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17035, 8 May 1923, Page 8

SILHOUETTES OF STRANGE WOMEN.

rii. ‘ i “ MADAME ROLAND.” j The " Star has mad#* arrangement* . for the publication of a series of articles entitled " Silhouettes of St,range Women." The articles give authen- j tic a-nd entertaining aooounts of the j careers of certain women who earned more than temporary or local celebrity. (Written for the “ Star ” by V. M. METHLEY). Beauty, brains and personality—a woman who possesses these qualities can go far. and all were given at her birth to Manon Jeanne Phlipon. She was born in the year 1754. in a house on the Quai d'Horloges at Paris, overlooking the river—a house above . s shop, where her father carried on his business. But Monsieur Phlipon, and his wife also, were above their class in breeding and education. He was a handsome well-read man, and fie had determined from the first that little Manon. his precious only daughter. should have every possible advantage in upbringing. I From the first, the little girl was i unusually pretty and unusually clever. I She devoured books, and rather scan-, j dalised her mother by neglecting her needlework in order that she might j study Latin and Greek. She scandalised the good nuns ot the convent where she was sent to school still more, when they discovered that she had sewed classic and profane works inside the covers of her breviary and missal that she might read them during the Qffices ! For Manon—like a great many other girls and boys of that age in France—was an a.rdent Republican, in theory. *md more or less of a pagan as well, although she passed through a phase of intense religious devotion as a young child. Her Republicanism was increased by a visit which she paid to her relations in the Palace of Versailles, where an aunt and cousin held subordinate positions. Manon slept in the attics, and watched the Court from a distance—hating the beautifully dressed ladies and gentlemen, hating, above all, the lovely, careless Queen. And that unreasoning hatred was never quite forgotten by the fierytempered, brilliant girl, who felt that ; her brains were better than those of any Court ladv of them all ! Pretty as she undoubtedly was. it was no wonder that Manon Phlipon had plenty of admirers, but she caret! for none of them. They were foolish and brainless, she said they neither read nor thought. It must be owned that then, and always, Manon was just a little priggish, a little self-com-placent, and conscious of her own cleverness and undoubted wit. She passed her time in study, and in making pleasant little excursions to Meudon or Fontainebleau with her parents—but her father was beginning to get rather uneasy. Manon was nearly twenty-five, an age considered one of confirmed spinsterhood in those days, and. she showed no intention of marrying. -Just at this point, Manon went to stay with a friend near Lyons, and met Monsieur Roland de la Platiere. He was a man of forty-five, very learned it? the science of agriculture, of silk-worm culture, and a philosopher of note as well. He was bald, tall, serious and stiff, certainK not frivolous. and absolutely devoid of humour—but for tho moment he seemed to Manon Phlipon her ideal. For the moment, also, Roland was certainly genuinely in love with the beautiful girl, twenty years his junior. A certain amount of opposition had the effect of making him almost ardent, and they were eventually married in the year 178 CC There followed several years of a life which was peaceful and monotonous enough, spent mostly in Lyons and the neighbourhood. Manon Roland soon made the fatal discovery that she was much cleverer than her husband —and that she did not really love him. But she was very devoted to their one little girl, she respected Roland exceedingly, and she hoped that, in time, she might he able to raise hrrti to a high position in the State. In the meanwhile she was terribly bored, and welcomed the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789 with intense enthu - biasrn. Madame Roland had never forgotten that she was a Republican, and she soon induced Roland—who prided himself on his Ancient Roman austerity—to move to Paris, into the centre of things. He was not brilliant enough, either as a statesman or an orator, to come forward easily, but he had solid and valuable qualities, and his wife had brilliance enough for both. Roland ha 1 written—with her help—some pamphlets which had attracted the attention of prominent Revolutionaries, and this paved the way. After the disastrous flight of the Royal Family to Varepnes, and when what was known as the Girondist party came into power, Roland found himself amongst them, and raised to the position of Minister of the Interior. The party of the Gironde met at the Rolands’ house —Barbaroux, Brissot, Valazo, Buzot. Petion, Gensonne, Vergniaud —mostly young and ardent men. From the very first it was the wife, rather than the husband, who hejd this party together: it was from thr? wife, rather than the husband. that they gained the name of “ Rolandists.' 5 Not that she interfered much—indirectly. She sat at her needlework, beside Roland's desk, whilst the politicians argued and discussed around her in the drawing-room of the Ministry of thi Interior: now and then she put in ;i word which showed her quick brain her marvellous insight, and almost a‘ the young men worshipped her —especi ally Buzot.

From the first there had been a feeling stronger than ordinary friendship between Buzot and Madame Roland: later, it was to develop into something so very strong that both of thorn Were glad to die and to leave a world where they were separated by honour and duty. Few people knew of that love-story; it was only known to the public many years later through certain letters of Madame Roland's, but throughout she behaved in a manner which makes us respect and honour her greatly. Buzot was married ; she was married and she would do nothing that could hurt Roland, who adored her and trusted in her. That sums up her outward attitude- but. inwardly, she suffered terribly. Meanwhile, the party of the Gironde attained its greatest power, just before the terrible events of August, 1 792. Tn June Roland, inspired by his wife, who actually wrote it herself, sent a most unwise “ Open Letter ” to Louis dictating to him in a way which tio king could submit with a shred of dignity. Louie retorted by dismissing Roland s

and a crisis was precipitated. which ended in the storming of the Tuilerios and the dethronement of the King. Not that the Girondius brought tins about ; they stood stunned before this blow inflicted by Dan ton and his associates —Danton. who had tried vainly to win the friendship of the Gironde and save France, and who had always been rebuffed by the personal enmity of. Madame Roland, who hated him. The Gironde really went down with the King, whom, at the last moment, they tried to save. Only a few months after his execution, they were themselves attacked and driven from the As sembly. On December 7. 179*2, Madame Roland herself had been arrested on a charge of bad citizenship. On that occasion, she defended herself brilliantly before the Assembly and was acquitted. But when the downfall of the Girondists came about, in May, 1793, Madame Roland was arrested again, and imprisoned for more than five months before she was brought to trial, whilst Roland fled, with others of the party, into Normandy, where the Girondists still had ,power. It was perhaps in prison that \ladamu Roland showed herself the greatest. Always cheerful, always keeping her clothes fresh and pretty and her miserable cell clean and sweet, growing a few flowers in pots, and writing—writing always—she was never heard to com plain. She wrote her Memoirs, letters to her friends, and especially to Buzot— -thusj last some of the most tragic love-let ters ever written and which were never to be received by the- man she loved. She wrote pages of advice to her little daughter—pages of exhortation to poor, lonely Roland; she wrote her defence, and made it bravely, when she was brought to trial in November. 179,3. But it was of no avail. The Revolutionary Tribunal was quite determined j that she should die. and she was condemned to the guillotine. Manon Roland went to her death on November 8. dressed, as Count) Bougnot tells us, in fresh white, with black velvet ribbons, and looking like a young girl with her fresh skin au-i glossy brown hair. He tells us ot her cheerfulness, to -, how she seemed happy to die —and per , haps that was only too trite in the eass of Manon Roland. She died as bravely and as cheerfully as she had lived, bowing to the great statue of Liberty in the Place de la Republique. with the famous words: “Oh. Liberty, what crimes are com mitted in thy name!” And when Roland, away at Rouen heard the news of her death, he wen i out along the wet autumn roads an 1 drove the slim sword of his walking cane into his own heart —leaving a ine.i sage that life was impossible without her. And. indeed, the death of Moann Roland left all the world the poorer With all her faults, she was one the great women of that stormy period Next Tuesday the story will be toll of the Chevalier D’Eon. the woman who imposed herself as a man upon the courts and armies of Europe, end who-*- * secret is still undetermined.