Audubon and the Dauphin

476 H•o•, Audubonand the Dauphin Loct.[Auk AUDUBON AND THE DAUPHIN BY FRANCIS H. HERRICK I WAS John JamesAudubon Louis Charles,Dauphin and Duke of Nor- mandy, who by hereditaryright becameKing of France in name, at the moment the head of his father, Louis XVI, fell under the guillotinein Paris, January21, 17937 Was he the little boy prince,who was "in the way", and "not wanted"by hisuncles and many of his countrymen,his potential subjects? Was he that unfortunatechild who, orphanedby regicides,was held a closeprisoner for three impressionableyears of his younglife? Was he the boy who, in consequenceof suchtreatment, accordingto somere- ports, developeda tendencyto scrofula,which we shouldnow call tuber- culosis?Finally, washe the ten-year-oldboy who wasoiSicially declared to have died in the Temple prison,June 7, 1795, a conclusionwhich many historiansaccepted, although there is now strongevidence, as somethink, that the true prince was spirited out of the Tower, but when or how, or whereor how longhe may have lived,are questionswhich have not yet been and perhapsnever will be, answeredwith finality. When everythingis considered,these questions relating to Auduboncan receive but one answer,--a decisivenegative. I repeat them now only becausethey have been seriouslyasked, and incredibleas it may seem, have beengiven a warm welcomeby two recentbiographers. ! Miss Rourke mentions a number of reasons which have led her to favor the fantasticDauphin idea. The fact that Audubonwas first called "Fou- g[re," and later "Jean Rabin," while for a time he used the name "La Forest," is cited with suspicion. When Captain Jean Audubonfinally returnedfrom Santo Domingoto France, late in 1789, "how many child- ren," sheasks, "did he bringwith him?"and, "if he wasaccompanied by a little boy, there is no certainty," shesays, "that this wasthe sameboy who was adoptedas Foug[re," in 1794. If this were not the sameboy, neither shenor Mrs. Tyler know what becameof the first, or have any proof that Audubonwas a substitutechild. Therewas a longperiod, says Miss Rourke, betweenAudubon's birth (April 26, 1785)and his adoption(March 7, 1794) of nearly nine years,and "this gap has neverbeen filled in. Where was this boy during this time? It is well within the range of possibilitythat after his return to France during the Revolution, a boy was entrustedto the care of Captain Audubonwhose identity he was inducedto hide. He may have usedthe approximatebirthday and later the name of the little See "Audubon," by Constance R ourke, New York, 1936, and "I Who Should COmmand All," by Alice Jaynes Tyler, New Haven. 1937. 'Vol.1937 541J HERRICK,Audubon arid the Dauphin 477 boy born in SantoDomingo to coverthe historyof anotherchild. Someof thoseclosest to Audubonduring his lifetime believedimplicitly that he was of noble birth." Miss Maria R. Audubon,the naturalist'sgranddaughter, stated to me in 1914 that Jean Audubonand his wife settled someproperty upon "Jean Rabin, creolede Saint-Domingue,"which he refusedto acceptunder that name, saying,"My own name I have never beenpermitted even to speak; accord me that of Audubon, which I revere, as I have cause to do." This referenceto property probably has to do with the wills of his father and stepmother,in whichthe objectionablename occurs many times. Audubon's dislikeof the Rabin name doesnot seemto have persisted,for in view of the settlementof property under those wills, on July 25, 1817, a power of attorney was drawn in favor of his brother-in-law, Gabriel Loyen du Pulgaudeau. In this curiousdocument the naturalist refers to himself as "John Audubon," and as "Jean Rabin, husbandof Lucy Bakewell," the Jean Rabin alias occurring four times in the text over the signatureof "John J. Audubon" at the end. An English reviewer once expressedregret that I had probed the birth and parentageof Audubon,saying that he preferredto take this illustrious man at his word that he "belongedto every country." Suchwriters forget that a prime duty of every biographeris to make his subject known, and that this is impossibleif he comesfrom nowhere,or as John Neal facetiously remarked,if he is "one of thoseextraordinary men who are erected,--never born at all." Audubon's father "had other reasons,"thinks Miss Rourke, "for sendingFoug•re to America which he did not disclose. They could not have had to do with money. Whatever his reasonswere they persisted,and may have had to do with the boy's parentage." Mrs. Tyler beginsher book with a quotation:"History has the inalien- able right to be written correctly,"to which every honestperson will sub-- scribe,but whichwriters of biographyare too proneto forget. Throughout her book she refersto me as "Robert," a praenomenI have never borne, but sincenames are easilyconfused, I forgiveher. The naturalist'sfather is usuallyreferred to as "Admiral Audubon,"which gives a senseof unreal- ity to her text, as the highestrank which Jean Audubon attained in the navy was lieutenant (lieutenantde vaisseaux),one grade below that of captain. In my 'Life of Audubon'I gave a summaryof the naval careerof his father in the merchantmarine and navy of France, as recordedin the officlalrecords of the navy departmentin Paris. Jean Audubonheld the rank of lieutenantfrom October11, 1797,until his retirementfor disability January1, 1801. PerhapsMrs. Tyler followedthe exampleof Miss Maria R. Audubon,who was accustomedto give this exaltedrank to her grandfather, and perhapsshe got it from a letter that Auduboncarried with him 478 HERRICK,Audubon and the Dauphin [Oct.[Auk whenleaving Edinburgh for London,written by Mr. Hay, and addressed, March 15, 1827, to his brother, Robert William Hay, Downing St., West, and in which the followingoccurs: "Mr. Audubonis a son of the late French Admiral Audubon, but has himself lived from the cradle in the United States,having been born in oneof the Frenchcolonies." Audubon certainlyshould have known his father'snaval rank, and alsothat he himself could not have lived from the cradle in the United States, but the last statement is now believed to have been true. Strongpresumptive evidence had led me to concludethat JohnJames Audubonwas the illegitimateson of LieutenantJean Audubon and Made- moiselleRabin, a French cr6oleof SantoDomingo. "Rather than tolerate the suggestionof illegitimacyin regardto their grandfather,"says Mrs. Tyler, "the old ladiesdecided to bear the rigorsof publicity,if needsbe, and to give to the world the informationwhich would disprove this biography.• To that end they releasedme from the promiseto withholdpub- licationof their 'secret,'and perhapsthe world'ssecret also." This family secretof Audubon'snoble birth, which is revealedin Mrs. Tyler's 'I Who ShouldCommand All', was imparted by the naturalistin lettersto his wife, and in his Journals,which were written for her benefit, and for her alone, but with no thoughtof their publication. The significantpassages were copiedby his granddaughter,Miss Maria R. Audubon,into a little black notebook,which I was permittedto seein 1914but, out of respectto her wishesand those of her sister, Miss Florence Audubon, they were only briefly referredto in my 'Life' of their grandfatherin 1917. In the course of our conversationMiss Audubon confessedthat she had really never known who her grandfatherwas, but that in the light of these journal entriesshe had cometo think that he might have been the lost Dauphin. In commentingon this questionMiss Audubonadded that a gentleman,to whom these extractshad been shown,said that possiblythey had been written to obscurethe unwelcomefact of illegitimacy, a wise remark, as the sequelseems to have shown. I then tried to dissuadeMiss Audubon from her expressedintention of destroyingthe originalmanuscript, but to no avail. The entries in this notebook,which form the basisof Mrs. Tyler's 'I Who ShouldCommand All,' have recentlybeen published by StanleyClisby Arthur• in his fair-minded,detailed and altogetherexcellent biography. Mrs. Tyler saysthat I have not recordedone biographicalevent between the year 1794, the year of Audubon'sadoption, and 1800, the year of his baptism, and tries to put young Audubon in "Selkirk's Settlements,"in x See 'Audubon the l•aturaHst: A History of his Life and Time'; in two vols., New York, 1917. 2 See Stanley CHsby Arthur; 'Audubon: an Intimate Life of the American Woodsman,' New Orleans, 1937. ¾ol.1937 54•J HERRICK,Audubon and the Dauphin 479 Canada,at sometime duringthese early years. All of thesequestions will be taken up a little later. u In 1914,at the very outbreakof the World War, a greatflock of docu- mentspertaining to LieutenantAudubon and his family was discoveredat CouSron,the seat of his country villa in France. Outstandingamong them was a curiousbill of Jean Audubon'sfamily physician,Doctor Sanson,of Les Cayes,Santo Domingo,covering a periodof nearly three years,from December29, 1783, to October 12, 1786. It was acceptedand signedby CaptainAudubon, and receiptedby the doctor,when paid on June7, 1787. This is particularlyremarkable in recordingthe birth of a child to "Mlle. Rabin" on April 26, 1785. The inference,supported by other documentary testimony,was that this wasthe identicalchild, who later becameknown as John JamesAudubon, and the preponderanceof evidencein favor of this conclusionis even strongertoday. Jean and Anne Moynet Audubonappeared in the town hall at Nantes, on March 7, 1794, and declaredthat they did "adopt and recognizefrom this moment as their lawful childrento wit: a male child, named Foug•re, born sincetheir marriage

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