[cont. from previous post]
Those who harboured the Girondin fugitives in Saint-Émilion lived under constant threat of retribution. At the beginning of October the Representative of the Convention Tallien had marched into the little town, replacing the municipal government and placed several officials under arrest. Summary executions now took place in nearby Libourne, The Bouquey household was subject to repeated searches and, according to Louvet, an "intimate friend" of Guadet - identity unknown - had signaled his intention to betray the fugitives' whereabouts. Madame Bouquey was finally pressurised by her relatives into relinquishing her guests. In the early hours of 13th November 1793 they said their tearful farewells. Valady made for Périgueux where he had relatives (he was later captured and guillotined) and Louvet, the sole member of the group to survive, subsequently set out for Paris. The rest remained in the local area. Guadet and Salles returned to Saint-Émilion where they hid in Guadet's father's house, whilst Madame Bouquet secured Buzot, Barbaroux and Pétion a new refuge with a wigmaker in the town.
The Arrest of Guadet and Salle
In the following months the manhunt intensified. In February 1794 Tallien was replaced as Representative in Bordeaux by Marc-Antoine Jullien, who pursued the search with renewed vigour. Volunteers were enlisted, particularly from the Protestant community of nearby Sainte-Foy. The quarries and underground passages around Saint-Émilion were searched using the fearsome local "dogues". (Vatel met the son of the butcher Marcon, who reported that his father, one of the search party members, had bred "enormous and terrible" dogs, famed in the region for fighting.)
When this strategy failed, the pursuers turned their attention again to the Maison Guadet, which was situated just outside the town walls on the road from Lussac to Montagne. On 17th June 1794 Guadet and Salle were found hiding in an attic room. It was said that they were placed in irons and left in a cabaret in Saint-Émilion. Guadet père, his sister and two of the servants were confined under guard. Robert Bouquey, Madame Bouquey, her father aged seventy-seven, and their servant Anne Bérard were also arrested as accomplices, their house searched and the underground refuge discovered. At about half-past two that same afternoon the prisoners were all loaded onto a cart to be taken to Libourne. The elder Guadet was seen to comfort his son, who was distraught at having compromised his family: "If we die, it is for a good cause" (see Vatel, vol. 3, p.702) The two deputies were executed in Bordeaux on 19th June 1793 and the members of the Guadet family on 20th July, just seven days before the fall of Robespierre. Guadet's brother, Saint-Brice Guadet initially escaped arrest, but was apprehended and guillotined on the 21st June.
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| The arrest of Guadet in Saint-Émilion; engraving by Duplessis-Bertaux https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b6950462q |
