A Future Greater than this World

This story deals with the theme of execution.

“I am certain that is Charette, General Travot.”

“How do you know it is not just another ‘Charette’?”

“All the fake ones are gone already, sir. Just trust me. It’s him. . . What did I tell you? I know his face.”

“He looks dead.”

“No, sir, he has only fainted; I hit him on the shoulder and head, but not fatally. It’s him! It’s him! Let the whole nation celebrate, for today we have captured the most hunted man in the country!”

— “Yes. . . I am Charette. . . I will surrender to Travot, him alone— he is French. . .”

“Surrender then, General Charette. I am Travot.”

— “I surrender. . . I . . . . .”

“Well, Pierre, I guess he’s out again. Let’s get him to the chateau. He won’t be in a condition to face his trial if we leave him like this.”

“Yes, sir, I will hoist him on my shoulders.”

“Accused, identify yourself.”

“I am Francois Athanase Charette de La Contrie of Fonteclose, ‘King of the Vendee,’ Supreme Lieutenant of the rightful heir to the French throne, Louis XVIII, King of France and Navarre. I am thirty-two years old.”

“Francois Athanase Charette, you are accused by the French Republic of fighting doggedly for the restoration of the monarchy and of war crimes against Patriots, of breaking your word, and of causing needless destruction while evading justice.”

“Ah, yes, I did all of those things, gentlemen of the jury, and I regret none of them. First of all, you can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs. I fought for the right side. You closed the churches, you tried to force us to fight for you, you started everything, and I responded. Your war crimes run circles around mine and the needless destruction you caused is a hundred times more intense than mine. As for breaking the treaty we signed, you would have sooner or later anyway.”

“Are you aware that you have been the most hunted man in the entire country?”

“That was the source of my greatest pride.”

“Are you prepared to face death for your evil views?”

“Ha! I have faced death every day for three years for my willingness to defend the Bas-Poitevins. My views, you cannot call them. My views are foggy and indistinct, and no one but myself knows them. The better question is whether you, my accuser, will be able to face death whenever it comes to you– and you have the dread of never knowing, while I am guaranteed a certain and honorable end– without remembering the hero Francois Athanase Charette de La Contrie, whom you condemned to death some chilly March day in the year 1796. And you will shiver, wondering if you will be remembered, and if so, for what. It is time for you to act, time for you to do something that will inspire generations to come. Condemning a hero will not do it.

“I will be linked forever to the hills and the woods of the Vendee, to the flowing Loire and the epic battles that were played out on either side of it. I will be remembered as the one who took a thousand towns, whose white panache invited the fire of a thousand enemies but fell to none of it. I will be remembered as the one who failed, but also as the one who tried, and as the one who almost succeeded. I do not have the gentleness of Cathelineau and Bonchamps and my other allied generals, but I endured for the longest. What did General d’Elbee say at his trial, which you did just over two years ago? Ah, it seems to me that was centuries ago. If you put Charette on trial, accuse him of failing to protect his allies, accuse him of abandoning the Upper Vendean Army because he was jealous of plunder. Let me tell you the story, Chief Accuser man:

“It was after the battle of Torfou, and d’Elbee and Bonchamps wanted to destroy your Mainz army we had just beaten. I wanted to take Saint-Fulgent because it was in my region. General Lescure sided with me, and Bonchamps was abandoned. But we took Saint-Fulgent– you remember, that was where a Swiss Guard played the ‘Ca Ira’ on his harmonica to taunt the Republicans– and Lescure did not give me enough plunder. So I left them. Your Mainz army got away. That was the biggest mistake of my career, sir, but I still can’t say I regret it. If someone regrets something, it implies he thinks things would have gone better if he had done something differently. But if I had stayed in the Upper Vendee things could have gone even worse. . . You will forgive me, Bonchamps… One does not want to recall any stains on his life as he faces the firing squad.”

“You will not deny any of the charges brought against you, which act might save your life?”

“I assure you, saving my life is not worth losing my honor. And if I did deny things, you would condemn me anyway, and then vaunt: ‘There is that Charette fellow who revoked his past to preserve his future, which failed.’ Be assured, sir, my future is greater than this world. I am sick of the world. I am tired of being wounded, of being chased, of being accused, of being mocked, of being jailed, of being cursed. I do not want to live in such filth. I am a king who will not stoop to that level. I will die, and I will live eternally in the hearts of my people. All the things you Republicans do to us are intended to vilify us. You think that if you treat us as though we are evil, all the world will believe we are. To those who see clearly, you are only sullying yourselves. We are not ‘La Race Rebelle,’ the Rebel Race. We are not ‘La Race Maudite,’ the Cursed Race. We are not ‘brigands,’ or thieves. We are men. We are a legend. We are the legend of La Vendee.”

“The accused will not deny the charges against himself. It is a pity because we all desired going into his offenses. . . It is unanimous. Francois Charette is found guilty of working against the French Republic in numerous and grave ways and is condemned to death by firing squad.”

“Thank you, sir. By stemming a government before it takes over you prevent it ever becoming corrupt, and guarantee that its memory will last eternally unblemished. You take me from a dead kingdom, and send me to a Kingdom that will never be defeated. Also– when I stand before the soldiers, tell them to aim for my heart. That is where one strikes a brave man.”