Here is an anecdote that is told on the subject of Carnot. It is said that having been confined to his home during the night of the 17th to the 18th [Fructidor], he asked permission to retire alone to his study. After having taken some papers and money, he went out through a hidden staircase that no one took care of guarding. Arrived in the courts of Luxembourgh, he found Rewbell's carriage there; it was harnessed; he told the coachman that having some business to do in the district, he begged him to carry him there and that he had agreed with Rewbell. The coachman believed him and received him in his carriage. The guards placed at the first gates, not imagining that it was carrying contraband, let it pass. Carnot, drawn by this ruse of danger, went down to the rue d'Enfer from where he took the road to Vincennes; after stopping there for hours, he continued on his way. It is said that he headed for Bâle and this seems very likely.
— M. Peltier, Paris, pendant l'année 1797 vol. XV, p. 450
I'm not quite sure that this episode happened since Carnot wouldn't have lost the occasion to mention it in Réponse à Bailleul. Still, I decided to share it, because I find it personally funny: Rewbell, like Barras and Larevellière, hated Carnot with passion and wanted him dead... Imagine his face if he had he discovered that Carnot had truly managed to escape in his carriage.
The ultimate trolling.
