From Reviews (ADR) by Arthur D. Rypinski: Hyacinthe Simon Deutz was born in Cologne in 1802. A convert from
Judaism, Deutz was recommended to the
Duchess de Berri
by Pope Gregory VII
as a suitable person for a secret mission. Identified by the French
authorities as an agent of the Duchess de Berri, he secured his freedom by
betraying her. After the failure of her abortive uprising in La Vendée,
the Duchess went into hiding in the city of Nantes. Deutz visited her, in
the guise of delivering dispatches, and reported the Duchess' hiding place
to Dumas' friend
General Dermoncourt,
who promptly arrested her.
In his memoir,
Vendée et Madame,
which were probably ghost-written by
Dumas, General Dermoncourt writes of Deutz, "I will forgo the repugnance
which a military man naturally feels to mention a being of this
description, whom I should never pass in the street without bestowing a
horsewhipping upon him, did I not think my horse would be degraded by being
afterwards flogged with the same whip."
Many years later, Dumas recounted the betrayal and arrest of the Duchess de
Berri in his novel
Louves de Machecoul.
From A Bibliography of Alexandre Dumas père by Frank Wild Reed: Dumas took a great deal of interest in the abortive attempt of Madame la Duchesse de Berry in La Vendée. We see this in his "Mémoires." He no doubt was attracted still more by the important part taken therein by his father's and his own friend, General Dermoncourt. This last, wishing to record this experience (he was military governor of Nantes at the time of the arrest of the princess), and not being accustomed to writing for the press, persuaded Dumas to re-write the work from his rough notes, and possibly verbal details. (For this refer to "La Vendée et Madame," page 64.)
During 1836 there appeared an anonymous pamphlet, entitled "Deutz, ou Imposture, Ingratitude et Trahison; par l'auteur de 'La Vendée et Madame' " ; Paris, Dentu, 8vo., pp. xi., 132.
According to M. Barbier, M. de Nanne definitely credits Dermoncourt (i.e., Dumas) with this. It is also to be noted that Dumas seemed to be particularly familiar with the doings of Deutz, as we see in his "Mémoires" and his "Dernier Roi des Français : 1771 to 1851." Mr. R. S. Garnett states, in his translation of the last-mentioned work ("The Last King"), that this pamphlet on "Deutz" was signed by "M. Davy," which, it will be remembered, was a frequently used nom-de-plume of Dumas.
References :—
Dumas: "Mes Mémoires," Chapters CCLIV., CCLV. and CCLVI.
Dumas: "Le Dernier Roi des Français," Vol. II., Chapters VII. and VIII. (Mr. Garnett's translation: Vol. II., Chapters LXVII. and LXVIII.)
Dermoncourt: "La Vendée et Madame" (of the original version written by Dumas), Chapters XI. and XII. (Chapters XI. to XIII. in the English translation).
Dermoncourt : "La Vendée et Madame," Second edition (with which Dumas had no connection), Chapters V. to VII.
Barbier: "Dictionnaire des Ouvrages Anonymes," Vol. I., Column 917.
